Maybe so, but that wasn't my point and has nothing to do with my point.
The point is, these fanatics are also lunatics. Most of these god-men are also mad-men. --- <authfriend@...> wrote : Of course, as far as Barry is concerned, all those who don't agree with him that human beings are insignificant, have been and always will be fanatics whom history will remember as "tyrants and killers." From: Share Long <sharelong60@...> hey Steve and turq, this just came to me: we can think that we're not a big influence in the universe. But act as if we are a beneficial influence (-: You can act as if you are a banana for all I care. But that doesn't make you one. :-) Historically, those humans throughout history who have most vocally called themselves "spiritual" or "religious" have also been the ones who perpetrated most of the wars and instances of genocide -- from the Crusades to the Inquisition to modern Jihads. It seems to me that it Really Doesn't Matter how they thought of themselves and the influence they believed they had on the world was -- the only thing that matters is what actually happened. I somehow don't think that the heretic being burned at the stake by someone whose face is the very picture of blissful religious fervor is gonna feel quite the same way that the fanatic does. But in the end it all comes down to preference, as far as I can tell. There are humans who seem to feel better about themselves based on feelings they have about their supposed importance, and there are those who feel better about themselves when keeping in mind their essential unimportance. I prefer not to hang with the former. History has a tendency to remember them as tyrants and killers, not as "beneficial." List of major religious wars Lowest estimate Highest estimate Event Location Religions involved 3,000,000 11,500,000 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_war#cite_note-11 Thirty Years' War http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Years%27_War Holy Roman Empire http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Roman_Empire Protestants and Catholics 2,000,000 4,000,000 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_war#cite_note-12 French Wars of Religion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Wars_of_Religion France http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France Protestants and Catholics 1,000,000 3,000,000 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_war#cite_note-13 Nigerian Civil War http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_Civil_War Nigeria http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria Islam and Christian 1,000,000 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_war#cite_note-14 2,000,000 Second Sudanese Civil War http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Sudanese_Civil_War Sudan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudan Islam and Christian 1,000,000 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_war#cite_note-15 3,000,000 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_war#cite_note-16 Crusades http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades Holy Land, Europe Islam and Christian 130,000 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_war#cite_note-17 250,000 Lebanese Civil War http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanese_Civil_War Lebanon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanon Sunni, Shiite and Christian On Tuesday, May 6, 2014 6:25 AM, "steve.sundur@..." <steve.sundur@...> wrote: The other day, on the radio, they had a piece about "something you changed your mind about". And they interviewed a guy, I forget who he was, who said he changed his mind about whether we, as humans, are really as insignificant in the cosmic scheme of things as is sometimes said to be the case. It just happened to be something I had been thinking about as well. Maybe we're not. His point was that, in at least our little corner of the universe, immense as it is, we can seem to raise anyone else. Anyway, it doesn't mean it needs to translate into some egotistical notion about our importance. It's just an observation. Pretty ugly graphic, I'd have to say though. --- <turquoiseb@...> wrote : For those who feel the need to post every so often about how important TMers are, or how important the butt-bouncers of Fairfield are, or even how important to the universe human beings on planet Earth are, here's a graphic to put things into somewhat more accurate perspective. It's a visualization of every human being on the planet -- all 7.2 billion of us -- piled up in the Grand Canyon. The video below the photo explains things -- literally -- a bit more... How Many Things Are There? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6eOcd06kdk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6eOcd06kdk How Many Things Are There? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6eOcd06kdk View on www.youtube.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6eOcd06kdk Preview by Yahoo
