[FairfieldLife] new Transformers III star

[yifuxero]

http://movies.yahoo.com/photos/celebrities/gallery/2646/rosie-huntingtonwhiteley#photo3

[FairfieldLife] Post Count

[FFL PostCount]

Fairfield Life Post Counter
===
Start Date (UTC): Sat Jun 12 00:00:00 2010
End Date (UTC): Sat Jun 19 00:00:00 2010
65 messages as of (UTC) Sun Jun 13 00:00:30 2010

11 TurquoiseB 
 5 emptybill 
 5 WillyTex 
 5 Rick Archer 
 4 nablusoss1008 
 4 anatol_zinc 
 4 It's just a ride 
 4 Duveyoung 
 4 Bhairitu 
 3 Mike Dixon 
 2 Jason 
 2 Hugo 
 2 Alex Stanley 
 2 "do.rflex" 
 1 merlin 
 1 gullible fool 
 1 ditzyklanmail 
 1 brian64705 
 1 Sal Sunshine 
 1 John 
 1 Joe 
 1 Dick Mays 

Posters: 22
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Europe Saturday: BST 1 AM CEST 2 AM EEST 3 AM
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Europe Saturday: GMT 12 AM CET 1 AM EET 2 AM
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Re: [FairfieldLife] Things are changing

[It's just a ride]

On Sat, Jun 12, 2010 at 6:48 PM, Rick Archer  wrote:

>  Who is talking this talk?
>

The citizens.  But that's a start.



> Are those proposing the idea authoritative in any way?
>

What and have their grants and badges lifted?



> Are they being opposed by others in authority?
>

Please read response to previous question.


> The problem is most of the people have graduated.
>
> You mean in terms of the dome being relevant for them?
>
Yes.



> There's also a lot of talk about the years from 2008 to 2012.  These are
> the years of the Phase Transition.
>
> You mean just chit chat around town, or "official" MUM talk?
>
The talk about 2008 to 2012 is actually coming from people like Jeff of
DEVCO.  But not near a mike.




> You might want to look http://invincibleamerica.org/tallies.html and
> notice the red.
>
> I wonder what accounts for the high numbers lately?
>
>
A large influx of ex-pats for one thing.  One would expect the numbers to be
low because MUM is out.  Wait a minute.  There are of 12 student fliers in
MUM.  Least that's how many I counted when I went for an early afternoon
round 2000/2001 time frame.  And the faculty don't have the money to leave
FF do they?  Does my pluralizing faculty make me look British?

 --
"America always choose to do the right thing -- after it's tried everything
else"-- Winston Churchill

RE: [FairfieldLife] Things are changing

[Rick Archer]

From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of It's just a ride
Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 5:12 PM
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Things are changing
 
  
There is talk on IA of going over the list of the banned and unbanning most
of the people.  
Who is talking this talk? Are those proposing the idea authoritative in any
way? Are they being opposed by others in authority?
The problem is most of the people have graduated.  
You mean in terms of the dome being relevant for them?
There's also a lot of talk about the years from 2008 to 2012.  These are the
years of the Phase Transition.
You mean just chit chat around town, or "official" MUM talk?
You might want to look http://invincibleamerica.org/tallies.html and notice
the red.  
I wonder what accounts for the high numbers lately?
 

[FairfieldLife] It's back to the 60s with Moonbeams Brown

[It's just a ride]

Well, for sure the Age of Enlightenment is going to dawn again.   Jerry
Brown has announced his candidacy for governor of California.  I caught the
rerun announcement on C SPAN today.

-- 
"America always choose to do the right thing -- after it's tried everything
else"-- Winston Churchill

[FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record

[Alex Stanley]

I did email her. She has not responded to it.

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "emptybill"  wrote:
>
> She emailed me Friday so she's probably still in town. I'm wondering if Alex 
> has emailed her with an "it's ok to post" message?
> 
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer"  wrote:
> >
> > From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com]
> > On Behalf Of Bhairitu
> > Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 2:06 PM
> > To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record
> >  
> >   
> > All this talk is silly. Either keep the 50 post limit or no limits. 
> > And how do we know that Judy wasn't planning a "vaca" and won't be back 
> > for a week anyway so didn't care. I believe she did that before.
> >  
> > Well, she hasn't posted since she was unbanned, if Alex did that, so she may
> > be out of town, but if her intention was to overpost because she was
> > leaving, why would she have limited it to 51?
> >
>

[FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count and Smokey The Bear Sutra

[emptybill]

Rick and Alex

No tracking,  just me offering 10 posts per week. When someone
inadvertently hits 51-52 then just take off one of mine. No counting -
just following the already published totals. If someone consistently
goes over 50 posts then they are no longer going over inadvertently.

You can then, as Smokey The Bear Sutra says, crush their butts.



   SMOKEY THE BEAR SUTRA BY GARY SNYDER
Once in the Jurassic about 150 million years ago, the Great Sun Buddha
in this corner of the Infinite  Void gave a discourse to all the
assembled elements and energies:  to the standing beings, the walking
beings, the flying beings, and the sitting beings--even the grasses, to
the number of thirteen billion, each one born from a seed, assembled
there:  a Discourse concerning  Enlightenment on the planet Earth.

"In some future time, there will be a continent called America.  It will
have great centers of power called such as Pyramid Lake, Walden Pond,
Mt. Rainier, Big Sur, Everglades, and so forth; and powerful nerves and
channels such as Columbia River, Mississippi River, and  Grand Canyon.
The human race in that era will get into troubles all over its head, and
practically wreck everything in spite of its own strong intelligent
Buddha-nature."

"The twisting strata of the great mountains and the  pulsings of
volcanoes are my love burning deep in the earth. My obstinate compassion
is schist and basalt and granite, to be mountains, to bring down the
rain.  In that future American Era I shall enter a new form; to cure the
world of loveless knowledge that seeks with blind hunger: and mindless
rage eating food that will not fill it."

And he showed himself in his true form of
SMOKEY THE BEAR
A handsome smokey-colored brown bear standing on his hind legs, showing
that he is aroused and watchful.

Bearing in his right paw the Shovel that digs to the truth beneath
appearances; cuts the roots of useless attachments, and flings damp sand
on the fires of greed and war;

His left paw in the mudra of Comradely Display--indicating that all
creatures have the full right to live to their limits and that of deer,
rabbits, chipmunks, snakes, dandelions,  and lizards all grow in the
realm of the Dharma;

Wearing the blue work overalls symbolic of slaves and laborers, the
countless men oppressed by a civilization that  claims to save but often
destroys;

Wearing the broad-brimmed hat of the west, symbolic of the forces that
guard the wilderness, which is  the Natural State of the Dharma and the
true path of man on Earth:

all true paths lead through mountains--

With a halo of smoke and flame behind, the forest fires of the
kali-yuga, fires caused by the stupidity of those who think  things  can
be gained and lost whereas in truth all is contained vast  and free in
the Blue Sky and Green Earth of One Mind;

Round-bellied to show his kind nature and that the great earth has food
enough for everyone who loves her and trusts her;

Trampling underfoot wasteful freeways and needless suburbs, smashing the
worms of capitalism and totalitarianism;

Indicating the task: his followers, becoming free of cars, houses,
canned foods, universities, and shoes, master the Three Mysteries of
their own Body, Speech, and Mind; and fearlessly chop down the rotten
trees and prune out the sick limbs of this country America and then burn
the leftover trash.

Wrathful but calm. Austere but Comic.  Smokey the Bear will Illuminate
those who would help him; but for those who would hinder or slander
him...
HE WILL PUT THEM OUT.
Thus his great Mantra:

Namah samanta vajranam chanda maharoshana Sphataya hum traka ham mam

"I DEDICATE MYSELF TO THE UNIVERSAL DIAMOND BE THIS RAGING FURY BE
DESTROYED"

And he will protect those who love the woods and rivers, Gods and
animals, hobos and madmen, prisoners and sick people, musicians, playful
women, and hopeful  children:

And if anyone is threatened by advertising, air pollution, television,
or the police, they should chant  SMOKEY THE BEAR'S WAR SPELL:
DROWN THEIR BUTTS CRUSH THEIR BUTTS DROWN THEIR BUTTS CRUSH THEIR BUTTS
And SMOKEY THE BEAR will surely appear to put the enemy out with his
vajra-shovel.

Now those who recite this Sutra and then try to put it in practice will 
accumulate merit as countless as the sands of Arizona and Nevada.

Will help save the planet Earth from total oil slick.
Will enter the age of harmony of man and nature.
Will win the tender love and caresses of men, women, and beasts.
Will always have ripened blackberries to eat and a sunny spot under a
pine tree to sit at.


AND IN THE END WILL WIN HIGHEST PERFECT  ENLIGHTENMENT

...thus we have heard...

(may be reproduced free forever)

[FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record

[emptybill]

She emailed me Friday so she's probably still in town. I'm wondering if Alex 
has emailed her with an "it's ok to post" message?

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer"  wrote:
>
> From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com]
> On Behalf Of Bhairitu
> Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 2:06 PM
> To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record
>  
>   
> All this talk is silly. Either keep the 50 post limit or no limits. 
> And how do we know that Judy wasn't planning a "vaca" and won't be back 
> for a week anyway so didn't care. I believe she did that before.
>  
> Well, she hasn't posted since she was unbanned, if Alex did that, so she may
> be out of town, but if her intention was to overpost because she was
> leaving, why would she have limited it to 51?
>

[FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record

[emptybill]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer"  wrote:
>
> From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com]
> On Behalf Of Bhairitu
> Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 2:06 PM
> To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record
>  
>   
> All this talk is silly. Either keep the 50 post limit or no limits. 
> And how do we know that Judy wasn't planning a "vaca" and won't be back 
> for a week anyway so didn't care. I believe she did that before.
>  
> Well, she hasn't posted since she was unbanned, if Alex did that, so she may
> be out of town, but if her intention was to overpost because she was
> leaving, why would she have limited it to 51?
>

[FairfieldLife] Re: Science will win what ?

[anatol_zinc]

Technology uses and misuses Science.
Science, technology, government, business and society are all
intertwined and not so
separate and abstract. Government and business grants have a lot to do
what scientists research that might be favorable to war technology for
instance.
Because the misuse is so heavy on the scale,
was another of the several factors why i left my physics career 39 years
ago
and pursued the science of spirituality instead.

om namah sivaya,
anatol
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Jason  wrote:
>
> Â
> Â Â Â Â Â  There is a difference between Science and
> Technology.  the Technology is based on duality.Â
> Science is pure abstract knowledge.
> >>>

[FairfieldLife] Things are changing

[It's just a ride]

There is talk on IA of going over the list of the banned and unbanning most
of the people.  The problem is most of the people have graduated.  There's
also a lot of talk about the years from 2008 to 2012.  These are the years
of the Phase Transition.

You might want to look http://invincibleamerica.org/tallies.html and notice
the red.  Howard Settle said that if we can get few hundred more flyers in
the Dome that he'd pay all the duties to bring 100 more pundits to VC. It's
a good thing the man from N.O. isn't here to react to what I just wrote.

-- 
"America always choose to do the right thing -- after it's tried everything
else"-- Winston Churchill

[FairfieldLife] Re: What is Science?

[Duveyoung]

A new depth in the tawdry department.

I never accused you of actually drugging young women or raping them thereafter 
-- only that you have the personality to do so if, ahem, push comes to shove.  
Anyone who doesn't throttle their ogling leers -- desires to "hit it" as you 
freely admit to indulging in, is playing with a slippery slope down to 
predation. 

What's your middle name, um, Joran? 

Edg

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB  wrote:
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung  wrote:
> >
> > Yeah, I do assume some sort of Prime Directive -- in that the 
> > universe is so old and that civilizations so advanced are a 
> > gimme.  ll this snatch and grab had to be regulated long ago.  
> > I can see the exceptions to my speculation having remote 
> > possibility, but come on -- any imperialistic species would 
> > have had comeuppance by the inter-galactic police for the crime 
> > of gluttony.  
> 
> Ahem. 
> 
> Might I point out that the twif saying this is the 
> person who is incapable of imagining a human guy of,
> say, my age enjoying a conversation with a younger
> woman without wanting to (literally, according to
> things he has said on this forum) drug her and take 
> advantage of her, but who believes that little green 
> men from space are, like, so past that shit.
> 
> Might I also suggest that, just in case little green
> men from space turn out to be a reality, Edg carry
> around with him a big tube of K-Y Jelly, because his
> ass and the asses of people who think like him are
> gonna be WAY up at the top of the alien "let's turn
> out the twifs" sexual agenda. *By his own standards*,
> without the handy tube of K-Y, Edg isn't going to be 
> able to sit down for a month, if ever again.
>

[FairfieldLife] Re: What is Science?

[TurquoiseB]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung  wrote:
>
> Yeah, I do assume some sort of Prime Directive -- in that the 
> universe is so old and that civilizations so advanced are a 
> gimme.  ll this snatch and grab had to be regulated long ago.  
> I can see the exceptions to my speculation having remote 
> possibility, but come on -- any imperialistic species would 
> have had comeuppance by the inter-galactic police for the crime 
> of gluttony.  

Ahem. 

Might I point out that the twif saying this is the 
person who is incapable of imagining a human guy of,
say, my age enjoying a conversation with a younger
woman without wanting to (literally, according to
things he has said on this forum) drug her and take 
advantage of her, but who believes that little green 
men from space are, like, so past that shit.

Might I also suggest that, just in case little green
men from space turn out to be a reality, Edg carry
around with him a big tube of K-Y Jelly, because his
ass and the asses of people who think like him are
gonna be WAY up at the top of the alien "let's turn
out the twifs" sexual agenda. *By his own standards*,
without the handy tube of K-Y, Edg isn't going to be 
able to sit down for a month, if ever again.

RE: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record

[Rick Archer]

From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of Bhairitu
Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 2:06 PM
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record
 
  
All this talk is silly. Either keep the 50 post limit or no limits. 
And how do we know that Judy wasn't planning a "vaca" and won't be back 
for a week anyway so didn't care. I believe she did that before.
 
Well, she hasn't posted since she was unbanned, if Alex did that, so she may
be out of town, but if her intention was to overpost because she was
leaving, why would she have limited it to 51?

[FairfieldLife] Re: What is Science?

[John]

Here's a good summary of what the future civilizations (from Earth or beyond) 
can look like from a Physics professor's point of view: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4WXEO3Dmhc










--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Jason  wrote:
>
>  
>       Duvey assumes that advanced civilisations 
> that have mastered Warp speed would be highly 
> moral and ethical.  Duvey assumes that there is 
> some kind of Cosmic 'prime directive'.  
> 
>       I think that this has something to do with 
> resources.  If the availablity of resources dip 
> below a certain point, no ideology works.  If 
> advanced aliens go beyond warp technology and find 
> a way to transmute matter into any element they 
> want, then the resources on earth would be 
> 'chicken feed' and coming after it would be like 
> taking 'candy away from little children'.
> 
>       But the truth can be stranger that fiction. 
>  The frightening possiblity exists.  There is also 
> the reverse possiblity, Highly moral and ethical 
> aliens with standards sooo high that they decide 
> humans are viruses that should be weeded out 
> for something more promising like dolphins...??
> 
> "The enemy aggressor is always pursuing a course 
> of larceny, murder, rapine, and barbarism. We are 
> always moving forward with high mission, a destiny 
> imposed by the deity to regenerate our victims 
> while incidentally capturing their markets, to 
> civilize savage and senile and paranoidal peoples 
> while blundering accidentally into their oil wells 
> or metal mines."
>   ”John T. Flynn, As We Go Marching(1944)
> 
> --- On Sat, 6/12/10, Hugo  wrote:
> Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: What is Science?
> Date: Saturday, June 12, 2010, 7:47 AM
> 
> Wrong, think of the damage to central American cultures the
> arrival of a slightly more advanced group of Spaniards did.
> Or any other country for that matter. Was it ever a good thing
> for them? This is what Hawking was getting at.
> 
> Do you think humans are so great and secure we wouldn't be 
> similarly psychically crushed by any civilisation that has
> the brains to be able to get all this way?
>  
> > Hawking with all this new knowledge actually in his hands yet >denies 
> > Einstein's intuition that the universe is so vast and so >ancient that life 
> > almost certainly has yielded up civilizations that >re BILLIONS of years 
> > older than ours and which could have a complete >mastery of physicality -- 
> > and such beings, Hawking tells us to be >wary of. This comes off as pure 
> > paranoia
> 
> >-- a paranoia of one who has been, let's say it, as if "struck down >by 
> >God," and which is therefore understandable. In effect, Hawking >is saying 
> >that aliens landing would be Gods and that he would advise >us to run 
> >because they can only be ready to "cripple all of us." 
> > 
> > There has never been a person whose mind was not a product of idiosyncratic 
> > physicality. Hawking seems to be no exception.
> 
>  
>  
>

[FairfieldLife] Health Care Reform Bill Best Option: Analysis

[do.rflex]

"Of all the proposals on the table that would
expand health insurance to more Americans, the
final health reform law included those that
covered the largest number of people at the lowest
cost to the federal government."



TUESDAY, June 8 (HealthDay News) -- The new U.S. health care reform  law
was the best option for providing health insurance to the largest 
number of people while keeping federal government costs as low as 
possible, according to an analysis by the RAND Corp., a nonprofit policy
think tank.

Researchers used a specially designed computer model to simulate more 
than 2,000 different policy scenarios and found that the only 
alternatives to the new health reform law were all politically difficult
because they would have included much higher penalties for 
noncompliance, lower government subsides, and less generous Medicaid 
expansion.

Under the new health reform law, about 28 million Americans will be 
newly insured by 2016, according to the analysis.

"Of all the proposals on the table that would expand health insurance 
to more Americans, the final health reform law included those that 
covered the largest number of people at the lowest cost to the federal 
government," study author Elizabeth A. McGlynn, a senior researcher at 
RAND, said in a news release from RAND.

"On balance, the new law appears to have landed on a distinctive  plain
of the policy frontier where the costs and coverage levels  achieved
were reasonable enough to secure passage of the law," she  noted.

The study appears in the June issue of the journal Health Affairs.

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/639889.html

[FairfieldLife] Re: What is Science?

[Duveyoung]

Yeah, I do assume some sort of Prime Directive -- in that the universe is so 
old and that civilizations so advanced are a gimme.  All this snatch and grab 
had to be regulated long ago.  I can see the exceptions to my speculation 
having remote possibility, but come on -- any imperialistic species would have 
had comeuppance by the inter-galactic police for the crime of gluttony.  

If I can go faster than light, I can do anything with physicality -- no need to 
grab planets from the rubes.  Yes, if they landed today, we'd all be depressed 
instantly -- and that might be why they haven't landed.  I can go outside and 
ruin the lives of tens of thousands instantly -- my local anthill is just 
waiting for me to take all their belongings -- ridiculous

Just so, we're ants, maybe even merely microbes comparatively.  If any 
civilization lasts longer than, say, a thousand years past its discovery of 
faster than light travel, I fully expect religion based on "absolutely figured 
out physics" to hold sway on the morality of a species.  

The advanced species have their own problems -- immortality is a drag maybe for 
instance.

Edg--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Jason  wrote:
>
>  
>       Duvey assumes that advanced civilisations 
> that have mastered Warp speed would be highly 
> moral and ethical.  Duvey assumes that there is 
> some kind of Cosmic 'prime directive'.  
> 
>       I think that this has something to do with 
> resources.  If the availablity of resources dip 
> below a certain point, no ideology works.  If 
> advanced aliens go beyond warp technology and find 
> a way to transmute matter into any element they 
> want, then the resources on earth would be 
> 'chicken feed' and coming after it would be like 
> taking 'candy away from little children'.
> 
>       But the truth can be stranger that fiction. 
>  The frightening possiblity exists.  There is also 
> the reverse possiblity, Highly moral and ethical 
> aliens with standards sooo high that they decide 
> humans are viruses that should be weeded out 
> for something more promising like dolphins...??
> 
> "The enemy aggressor is always pursuing a course 
> of larceny, murder, rapine, and barbarism. We are 
> always moving forward with high mission, a destiny 
> imposed by the deity to regenerate our victims 
> while incidentally capturing their markets, to 
> civilize savage and senile and paranoidal peoples 
> while blundering accidentally into their oil wells 
> or metal mines."
>   ”John T. Flynn, As We Go Marching(1944)
> 
> --- On Sat, 6/12/10, Hugo  wrote:
> Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: What is Science?
> Date: Saturday, June 12, 2010, 7:47 AM
> 
> Wrong, think of the damage to central American cultures the
> arrival of a slightly more advanced group of Spaniards did.
> Or any other country for that matter. Was it ever a good thing
> for them? This is what Hawking was getting at.
> 
> Do you think humans are so great and secure we wouldn't be 
> similarly psychically crushed by any civilisation that has
> the brains to be able to get all this way?
>  
> > Hawking with all this new knowledge actually in his hands yet >denies 
> > Einstein's intuition that the universe is so vast and so >ancient that life 
> > almost certainly has yielded up civilizations that >re BILLIONS of years 
> > older than ours and which could have a complete >mastery of physicality -- 
> > and such beings, Hawking tells us to be >wary of. This comes off as pure 
> > paranoia
> 
> >-- a paranoia of one who has been, let's say it, as if "struck down >by 
> >God," and which is therefore understandable. In effect, Hawking >is saying 
> >that aliens landing would be Gods and that he would advise >us to run 
> >because they can only be ready to "cripple all of us." 
> > 
> > There has never been a person whose mind was not a product of idiosyncratic 
> > physicality. Hawking seems to be no exception.
> 
>  
>  
>

[FairfieldLife] Re: What is Science?

[Jason]

 
  Duvey assumes that advanced civilisations 
that have mastered Warp speed would be highly 
moral and ethical.  Duvey assumes that there is 
some kind of Cosmic 'prime directive'.  

  I think that this has something to do with 
resources.  If the availablity of resources dip 
below a certain point, no ideology works.  If 
advanced aliens go beyond warp technology and find 
a way to transmute matter into any element they 
want, then the resources on earth would be 
'chicken feed' and coming after it would be like 
taking 'candy away from little children'.

  But the truth can be stranger that fiction. 
 The frightening possiblity exists.  There is also 
the reverse possiblity, Highly moral and ethical 
aliens with standards sooo high that they decide 
humans are viruses that should be weeded out 
for something more promising like dolphins...??

"The enemy aggressor is always pursuing a course 
of larceny, murder, rapine, and barbarism. We are 
always moving forward with high mission, a destiny 
imposed by the deity to regenerate our victims 
while incidentally capturing their markets, to 
civilize savage and senile and paranoidal peoples 
while blundering accidentally into their oil wells 
or metal mines."
  ”John T. Flynn, As We Go Marching(1944)

--- On Sat, 6/12/10, Hugo  wrote:
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: What is Science?
Date: Saturday, June 12, 2010, 7:47 AM

Wrong, think of the damage to central American cultures the
arrival of a slightly more advanced group of Spaniards did.
Or any other country for that matter. Was it ever a good thing
for them? This is what Hawking was getting at.

Do you think humans are so great and secure we wouldn't be 
similarly psychically crushed by any civilisation that has
the brains to be able to get all this way?
 
> Hawking with all this new knowledge actually in his hands yet >denies 
> Einstein's intuition that the universe is so vast and so >ancient that life 
> almost certainly has yielded up civilizations that >re BILLIONS of years 
> older than ours and which could have a complete >mastery of physicality -- 
> and such beings, Hawking tells us to be >wary of. This comes off as pure 
> paranoia

>-- a paranoia of one who has been, let's say it, as if "struck down >by God," 
>and which is therefore understandable. In effect, Hawking >is saying that 
>aliens landing would be Gods and that he would advise >us to run because they 
>can only be ready to "cripple all of us." 
> 
> There has never been a person whose mind was not a product of idiosyncratic 
> physicality. Hawking seems to be no exception.

 
 


  

[FairfieldLife] Re: Lock-down on the Gulf

[Duveyoung]

Ban BP here and it suddenly is "drilling for oil for Mexico."  Who says that 
America owns all the oil in the gulf?  No one.  

Edg

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu  wrote:
>
> For those of us who would like to end this madness of predatory 
> corporations BP has done us a big favor as they're showing the world how 
> incompetent big corporations can be.  Hopefully this will spark interest 
> in banning the size of companies throughout the world.   To just ban 
> them in the US won't do because they'll just go off to someplace like 
> Dubai and headquarter there.  So we also have to get  the populace in 
> places like that in on program too.
>  
> brian64705 wrote:
> > Flight over the oil spill yesterday here:  
> > http://www.youtube.com/user/jamescfox
> >
> > Flight over BP Oil disaster Day 52 with Marine Biologist, Dr. Carl Safina
> > From: jamescfox | June 11, 2010 | 3,225 views
> > James Fox flew over the BP Gulf oil disaster with Marine Biologist Dr. Carl 
> > Safina who's president of Blue Ocean Institute on day 52 of the BP Oil 
> > spill. What we saw and documented was horrific.
> > This flight was made possible by Gulf Restoration Network. Video produced 
> > by James Fox and Jette Newell with help from Associate Producers Cara Fay 
> > and Ann Morton. 
> >
>

Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Lock-down on the Gulf

[Bhairitu]

For those of us who would like to end this madness of predatory 
corporations BP has done us a big favor as they're showing the world how 
incompetent big corporations can be.  Hopefully this will spark interest 
in banning the size of companies throughout the world.   To just ban 
them in the US won't do because they'll just go off to someplace like 
Dubai and headquarter there.  So we also have to get  the populace in 
places like that in on program too.
 
brian64705 wrote:
> Flight over the oil spill yesterday here:  
> http://www.youtube.com/user/jamescfox
>
> Flight over BP Oil disaster Day 52 with Marine Biologist, Dr. Carl Safina
> From: jamescfox | June 11, 2010 | 3,225 views
> James Fox flew over the BP Gulf oil disaster with Marine Biologist Dr. Carl 
> Safina who's president of Blue Ocean Institute on day 52 of the BP Oil spill. 
> What we saw and documented was horrific.
> This flight was made possible by Gulf Restoration Network. Video produced by 
> James Fox and Jette Newell with help from Associate Producers Cara Fay and 
> Ann Morton. 
>   

Re: [FairfieldLife] Post Count -- For The Record

[It's just a ride]

I'd like to keep post limits in though I filter out the massive posters.


-- 
"America always chooses to do the right thing.  After it's tried everything
else." – Who else but Winston Churchill

Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Earthquake warning for California. Have a nice day.

[Bhairitu]

nablusoss1008 wrote:
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu  wrote:
>   
>> TurquoiseB wrote:
>> 
>>> Because many here seem to believe pretty much any prediction
>>> that someone makes, for no other reason than that they think
>>> knowing the predicted thing ahead of time makes them "special,"
>>> here is very, very special prediction right up your alley.
>>>
>>> http://www.break.com/index/weird-guys-bizarre-earthquake-warning.html
>>>
>>> The scariest thing about this prediction is not, as one might
>>> think, the guy himself and his way of speaking. It's not even
>>> the possibility, however remote, that he might be right. Nope,
>>> the scariest thing by far is the cult of disciples who would
>>> form around him and become his followers if he *was* right.
>>>
>>> Digg, where I found this, predicted a 70% chance of this guy 
>>> being home on prom night. I think that's lowballing it.
>>>   
>> Of course Californians are always on the alert for earthquakes.  We just 
>> had a new moon so the gravitational effects are high.  Those lead to 
>> shifts in the tectonic plates.  Next month there will be a solar eclipse 
>> on the 11th and we have a partial lunar eclipse on the 26th of this 
>> month.   Eclipses are very prone to triggering earthquakes due to even 
>> more intense gravitational effects.   We seem to be having some 
>> increased earthquake swarms in the LA area as well as here in the Bay 
>> Area.   I don't think we're quite as worried about the Golden Gate 
>> Bridge as the incomplete Bay Bridge which in a severe earthquake could 
>> lose the east span as the new span there which will be VERY earthquake 
>> tolerant is unfinished.
>> 
>
>
> And what are you going to do about it ?
>
> Nothing.
>
> Thought so.

Well, like most Californians I have emergency supplies on hand.  I 
always keep at least a couple 24 packs of bottled water on hand and as I 
go through them replace them.   I have some food bars on hand and I have 
first aid stuff.   I also know what to do in event of an earthquake.  A 
couple years ago while I was watching TV one evening a 4.1 hit about 1 
mile away.  I dropped to the floor from my chair as that the way my 
place is set up the safest thing to do.   The thing roared through my 
house like a train going through.  It didn't do much damage outside of 
screwing up my side entrance on the garage which still works but I need 
the frame redone.  It knocked stuff off shelves at the market at the top 
of the hill.

Earthquakes are a way of life around here and occasionally the house 
rocks lightly and I go to the government's earthquake site to see where 
it was centered.  One the other evening was a light one centered about 
40 miles away but still rocked the house.

What else would you do, Nabby?

If you think that bun hopping will prevent them then we have a slightly 
used bridge to sell you. :-D

[FairfieldLife] Latin American countries rising ...

[merlin]

Latin American countries rising to invincibility through Yogic Flying groups
by Global Good News staff writer

Global Good News   11 June 2010

According to a recent report,* nine new projects representing expansion of 
programmes of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi are under development in Latin America. 

1. This week construction starts on a 1,100 square metre hall for the group of 
Yogic Flyers creating national invincibility for Mexico. 

2. In Argentina, local municipality employees will create a group of Yogic 
Flyers for national invincibility, even before the Maharishi Invincibility 
School and Maharishi Tower of Invincibility are constructed in that area. 

3. The first country to become invincible through a Prevention Wing of security 
and military personnel will be announced within a few weeks, when the effect is 
being produced. 

4. Hindu communities in three Latin American countries are rising to support 
national invincibility through schools and groups of Maharishi Vedic Pandits. 

5. Venezuela is now becoming active to stabilize the area by matching the 
invincibility of its neighbour Colombia. 

6. A continent-wide residence course has been organized for the week of Guru 
Purnima** by Fr Gabriel Mejia. During this course hundreds of Yogic Flyers and 
practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation Programme will come together; 

7. Several large courses for medical doctors to be trained in Maharishi 
Ayur-Veda health care will begin after the Guru Purnima course. 

8. Two large Transcendental Meditation Teacher Training Courses will also begin 
at that time; 

9. Construction of two new Maharishi Towers of Invincibility is underway, 
bringing the total to five Towers for Latin America. 


© Copyright 2010 Global Good News® 

[FairfieldLife] Re: Science will win what ?

[Jason]

 
  There is a difference between Science and 
Technology.  the Technology is based on duality.  
Science is pure abstract knowledge.

  Nuclear bombs ,  gas chambers, dangerous 
chemicals, nuclear plants, dangerous radiation 
waste, suicidal processed foods, oil wells, 
weapons for war etc etc are Technological Products 
that were created Commercial Corporate entities.  
It's use is dual and can be used for good and 
evil.

  Science itself is knowledge of abstract 
fundamental principles that govern Nature.

--- On Sat, 6/12/10, anatol_zinc  wrote:
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Science will win what ?
Date: Saturday, June 12, 2010, 8:54 AM

 
Science will win what ?
Quote from some previous post: "science will win because it works"
What an absurd and meaningless thing to say. Doesn't everything work? 
Everything that happens works, but not necessarily for good.
Mindless entertainment works to keep people mindless; does that mean it wins?
Let's see how science works:
Nuclear bombs work,  gas chambers, thousands of dangerous chemicals, nuclear 
plants work very well at producing dangerous radiation waste, suicidal 
processed foods, can dig oil wells so deep cannot control them, go to the moon 
(what the heck for),  produce weapons for war, transplant organs for a few at a 
staggering cost while billions go hungry,…. 
Obviously, I'm leaving out some of the good stuff, to make this point because 
it does appear that survival of human race is at risk.
 
Like Einstein said the mind is a terrible master, but can be a wonderful/good 
servant. Good servant to what? From my own experience and observation of world, 
the mind( thinking itself the master and believing only in material science or 
only in dogmatic religion) is the creator of all the problems; whereas the 
heart is the seat of all the solutions being the source of intuition which 
Einstein talked so favorably about.
Here are some Einstein quotes: 
"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."
"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all 
we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and 
all there ever will be to know and understand."
 "Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere."
"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile."  [sounds like Amma]
"The only real valuable thing is intuition."
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough"
And an article by Einstein on Religion and Science @
http://www.sacred- texts.com/ aor/einstein/ einsci.htm 
I do not agree with Einstein completely, because I have confidence that the 
greatest scientists were and are the ancient sages and the current sages. But, 
at least this article shows that Einstein did not think of "Science VS 
Religion" but saw the necessity of  both, each at its best, should  complement 
each other for beneficial progress and survival of the human race. 
 
I do see edg's point about using famous people's quotes as somewhat a selective 
and questionable process and will contemplate on that …
Om Shanti,
anatol 

 
 


  

Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record

[Bhairitu]

Rick Archer wrote:
> From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com]
> On Behalf Of emptybill
> Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 1:33 PM
> To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record
>  
>   
> Turq
>  
> I'm not opposed to posting limits since they have curbed the over-posters on
> FFL. However, having a bank of 10 unused posts would solve the problem of
> going over the limit from inadvertence.
> I don't have a dog in the fight on most of these contentions between people.
> I also don't have likes or dislikes in who could call upon a free post. My
> offer to Judy is the same for people I have had disputes with in the past -
> like you or Vaj or WillyTex.
> The choice doesn't have to be either/or - limit or no limit. A "10 post
> bank" would solve the problem in a non-punitive way while maintaining the
> present state of order. 
>  
> Yeah, but then Alex and I have to do clerical work keeping track of how many
> posts people have in their "bank".
>
>   

All this talk is silly.  Either keep the 50 post limit or no limits.  
And how do we know that Judy wasn't planning a "vaca" and won't be back 
for a week anyway so didn't care.  I believe she did that before.

RE: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record

[Rick Archer]

From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of emptybill
Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 1:33 PM
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record
 
  
Turq
 
I'm not opposed to posting limits since they have curbed the over-posters on
FFL. However, having a bank of 10 unused posts would solve the problem of
going over the limit from inadvertence.
I don't have a dog in the fight on most of these contentions between people.
I also don't have likes or dislikes in who could call upon a free post. My
offer to Judy is the same for people I have had disputes with in the past -
like you or Vaj or WillyTex.
The choice doesn't have to be either/or - limit or no limit. A "10 post
bank" would solve the problem in a non-punitive way while maintaining the
present state of order. 
 
Yeah, but then Alex and I have to do clerical work keeping track of how many
posts people have in their "bank".

Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Lock-down on the Gulf

[Mike Dixon]

They weren't shot down?





From: brian64705 
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sat, June 12, 2010 11:48:36 AM
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Lock-down on the Gulf

  
Flight over the oil spill yesterday here: http://www.youtube.com/user/jamescfox

Flight over BP Oil disaster Day 52 with Marine Biologist, Dr. Carl Safina
From: jamescfox | June 11, 2010 | 3,225 views
James Fox flew over the BP Gulf oil disaster with Marine Biologist Dr. Carl 
Safina who's president of Blue Ocean Institute on day 52 of the BP Oil spill. 
What we saw and documented was horrific.
This flight was made possible by Gulf Restoration Network. Video produced by 
James Fox and Jette Newell with help from Associate Producers Cara Fay and Ann 
Morton. 

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer"  wrote:
>
> Thom Hartmann on this:
> 
> Thom's blog
> Is BP Enforcing a No Fly Zone?
> Late last month, Mississippi state House Speaker Billy McCoy (D) and Lt.
> Gov. Phil Bryant (R) started a select committee to look into the BP oil
> spill and would hold hearings this week. McCoy said, "The people of
> Mississippi deserve to know how this happened and what the future may hold
> for this most valuable part of our state." However, earlier this week, BP
> wrote a letter saying it wouldn't be showing up for the three-day hearings
> this week. They, after all, are corporate royalty and don't need to respond
> to the demands of mere elected officials of the state whose oil they're
> taking and selling to China. 
> 
> In a related issue, I interviewed extensively a charter airplane operator in
> Louisiana who said that during the first four weeks after the BP Oil
> explosion a area of Temporary Flight Restriction or TFR extended 30 miles or
> so around the Deepwater Horizon and has since expanded to cover virtually
> every place that oil is in the water or hitting wetlands or land. This
> representative noted that the command center for the crisis - out of which
> the Coast Guard and other federal agencies are operating - is headquartered
> in a BP training facility and, until the intervention of Louisiana Senator
> David Vitter, whenever charter flight operators called for permission to fly
> into the TFR they were extensively questioned about who they had on board
> the plane, and if it was the press the right to fly over the area was
> routinely denied. 
> 
> In the past few days, though, since the administration has moved from a
> position of helping BP cover up the extent of their crime by spraying
> dispersants and keeping the press out to a position of actively challenging
> BP, flights are being allowed into the area with press aboard.
> 
> -Thom
>





  

[FairfieldLife] Re: Lock-down on the Gulf

[brian64705]

Flight over the oil spill yesterday here:  http://www.youtube.com/user/jamescfox

Flight over BP Oil disaster Day 52 with Marine Biologist, Dr. Carl Safina
From: jamescfox | June 11, 2010 | 3,225 views
James Fox flew over the BP Gulf oil disaster with Marine Biologist Dr. Carl 
Safina who's president of Blue Ocean Institute on day 52 of the BP Oil spill. 
What we saw and documented was horrific.
This flight was made possible by Gulf Restoration Network. Video produced by 
James Fox and Jette Newell with help from Associate Producers Cara Fay and Ann 
Morton. 

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer"  wrote:
>
> Thom Hartmann on this:
>  
> Thom's blog
> Is BP Enforcing a No Fly Zone?
> Late last month, Mississippi state House Speaker Billy McCoy (D) and Lt.
> Gov. Phil Bryant (R) started a select committee to look into the BP oil
> spill and would hold hearings this week. McCoy said, "The people of
> Mississippi deserve to know how this happened and what the future may hold
> for this most valuable part of our state." However, earlier this week, BP
> wrote a letter saying it wouldn't be showing up for the three-day hearings
> this week. They, after all, are corporate royalty and don't need to respond
> to the demands of mere elected officials of the state whose oil they're
> taking and selling to China. 
>  
> In a related issue, I interviewed extensively a charter airplane operator in
> Louisiana who said that during the first four weeks after the BP Oil
> explosion a area of Temporary Flight Restriction or TFR extended 30 miles or
> so around the Deepwater Horizon and has since expanded to cover virtually
> every place that oil is in the water or hitting wetlands or land. This
> representative noted that the command center for the crisis - out of which
> the Coast Guard and other federal agencies are operating - is headquartered
> in a BP training facility and, until the intervention of Louisiana Senator
> David Vitter, whenever charter flight operators called for permission to fly
> into the TFR they were extensively questioned about who they had on board
> the plane, and if it was the press the right to fly over the area was
> routinely denied. 
>  
> In the past few days, though, since the administration has moved from a
> position of helping BP cover up the extent of their crime by spraying
> dispersants and keeping the press out to a position of actively challenging
> BP, flights are being allowed into the area with press aboard.
>  
> -Thom
>

[FairfieldLife] Karate Kid remake a good one!

[Mike Dixon]

I saw the remake yesterday and was quite impressed. Jaden Smith is a chip off 
the 'Ol block and will be a fine actor as he matures. His father shines through 
him. Of course with Jackie Chan, it's not about Karate, but Kung Fu and he does 
a marvelous job describing the philosophy behind it. This is one to enjoy in a 
cinema.


  

[FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count -- For The Record

[emptybill]

Turq





I'm not opposed to posting limits since they have curbed the
over-posters on FFL. However, having a bank of 10 unused posts would
solve the problem of going over the limit from inadvertence.



I don't have a dog in the fight on most of these contentions between
people. I also don't have likes or dislikes in who could call upon a
free post. My offer to Judy is the same for people I have had disputes
with in the past – like you or Vaj or WillyTex.


The choice doesn't have to be either/or – limit or no limit. A
"10 post bank" would solve the problem in a non-punitive way
while maintaining the present state of order.


--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB  wrote:
>
> It's up to Rick, of course, but on reflection I have no
> problem with removing the posting limit. On one condition.
>
> Leave the Post Count program in place, and allow it to post
> its daily and weekly totals.
>
> I'm not likely to ever go over 50 posts per week, posting
> limits or not. I like the haiku-like structure of having
> to think through what I have to say, and put myself on a
> kind of rant diet. I find it helps to keep the samsaric
> "weight" off.
>
> But I think that everyone here knows that some *would*
> opt for spamming FFL with their rants, either to troll
> for attention and suck that attention vampire-like, or
> use the spam to sell their opinions as superior to the
> opinions of others.
>
> Since all but a couple of the potential abusers of their
> God-given "right to spam" have fled the scene, I have no
> problem with the remaining overposters being allowed to
> do so, as long as everyone is apprised daily and weekly
> how attached to a steady diet of Spam they are, and can
> consider that dietary and lifestyle choice when assessing
> their credibility.
>

[FairfieldLife] Re: A Sense Of Wonder

[WillyTex]

TurquoiseB:
> A Sense Of Wonder...
> 
The process of meditation has as it's centralized 
hypothesis implementing a way to understand and
correlate human consciousness with the 'Ultimate 
Reality', or in Turq's words, to see the 'Wonder' 
of reality, as an Absolute. 

Those who experience the Wonder of reality, transcend 
the field of the mundane, and go beyond the gross
experience of ordinary sense enjoyment.

Note that the designation of 'Wonder', 'Ultimate 
Reality' or 'Absolute' is somewhat of a misnomer - 
it's a common practice of philosophers to postulate 
a hypothesis, in order to avoid the fallcy of the 
'regressus ad infinitum'. Phrases like 'Wonder' and
'Absolute' are straw-men erected by philosophers in 
order to avoid a 'regressus ad infinitum'.

An Absolute is presented in an argument as a 
placeholder for a 'First Cause'. Without a hypothesis, 
we'd be doing nothing more than indulging in endless 
circular logic. 

So, the sense of Wonder is the Transcendental. But,
meditation is not the cause of the Wonder - the
Absolute was already there. Meditation simply provides
the ideal opportunity for experiencing the Wonder of 
the Absolute.

> Some, like Van the Man, take the sense of wonder
> they feel about life and turn it into an appreciation
> for their personal notion of God. Others, like myself,
> stop at wonder. The sense of wonder, for us, is *enough*.
> 
> As a representative of the latter predilection, one of
> the things I've never been able to understand about 
> religionists and those who favor a more dogmatic view
> of spirituality is the sense of *certainty* they tend
> to impose on wonder, somehow feeling that it's either
> appropriate, or does justice to that which inspires 
> wonder.
> 
> Some people are so certain that they "know" how the
> universe works, that God exists, how good and bad are
> defined, what the mechanics of karma are, what "sin"
> is, etc. They actually seem to find solace and a sense
> of comfort in that certainty. They fight fuckin' *wars*
> over that certainty.
> 
> Me, I'm not certain of much of anything. Every time I
> start to be, all I have to do is look around and jump-
> start my sense of wonder. All the sense of certainty 
> flies out the window, to be replaced by the more (IMO) 
> healthy sense of wonder.
> 
> Others look around at the same things I'm looking at 
> and find not wonder, but confirmation of the things
> they are so certain about. Go figure. Their call, and
> their right, and I wish them well with that approach.
> But will their certainty increase their joy and apprec-
> iation of life, or rob them of it by replacing wonder
> with stasis and complacency, because they already
> "know" how everything works? I wonder.
>

[FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count

[Joe]

Only Texas skools Willy.

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "WillyTex"  wrote:
>
> 
> 
> > > Joe sounds really scared of Judy.
> > >
> Joe:
> > You're right Silly Willy. I am SO scared.
> > 
> So, Joe is scared of Judy.
> 
> > Damn boy, how'd you get to be so smart?
> > 
> By going to school?
> 
> >  Must've been all that Texas skoolin!
> > 
> So, you're scared of people that have been 
> to school? Go figure.
>

Re: [FairfieldLife] Who was the 1st person in Christian history to be executed for heresy?

[Mike Dixon]

Wow! Those nutty *religionists*! Just because leaders like mahatma Gandhi and 
the Rev.Martin Luther King organized and participated in boycotts doesn't mean 
anybody else should! How hypocritical to NOT spend your money on products from 
sponsors intent on insulting you or even warning them that you won't buy their 
product.< Barry, it seems to me, you not only want Christians to turn the other 
cheek, but you would also like them tied down and  restrained while you pummel 
the other. I realize you're not into any spiritual authorities other than 
yourself, but M used to say, and said it frequently, that *religious behavior* 
was that of the enlightened, not the unenlightened. Christ said "I have come 
for the sinner, not the righteous." Even St. Peter cut off the ear of a person 
intent on seizing Christ, yet he still inherited the keys to the Kingdom of 
Heaven and was put in charge of the Church, not for perfect religious behavior, 
but for his love of God.
 Perfection is not the path, it's the goal. Nobody has to grin and bare it 
while being insulted, but issuing a Fatwa to kill the person/s insulting you is 
a bit over the top. Aren't you glad Christ gave no man that authority?IMO, I 
think the Christian Right Group trying to kill Comedy Central Show about Jesus 
is more about showing the hypocrisy of the left in that it is NOT OK to insult 
or even offend Islam or any other religion (religious bigotry), except 
Christianity, of which there almost seems to be a *moral* duty to do so. 



From: TurquoiseB 
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sat, June 12, 2010 12:54:50 AM
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Who was the 1st person in Christian history to be 
executed for heresy?

  
Jesus. And yet look how his followers honor his memory.

Re my suggestion in http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/FairfieldL ife/message/ 
249747 that the way "people of faith" react to someone poking fun at that faith 
says a great deal more about them than their claims about that faith, check out 
this article. 

Christian Right Group Tries to Kill Comedy Central Show About Jesus

A new organization has been formed by the US religious right to attack a 
program that hasn't yet reached pilot stage. JC, a Comedy Central cartoon about 
Jesus trying to live a normal life in New York, does not have a completed 
script, but Citizens Against Religious Bigotry (Carb) are calling on 
advertisers to force the channel to abort it.
Carb, starchier than your average lobbyists, are particularly exercised by the 
contrast with the way Comedy Central backed down on airing scenes involving 
Muhammad in South Park, fearing violence. "Does that indicate that Christians 
then are punished because they aren't crazy?" asked the talk show host and Carb 
Michael Medved.
So censorship goes pre-emptive, a TV show doesn't even have to be made in order 
to offend, and the duty to protect the unborn has no relevance to works of 
creativity. I suppose it's not so big a leap as all that to banning things that 
don't exist yet for those who devote their careers to banning things they 
haven't seen.
Religion is all about mystery, and nothing is so mysterious as the minds of the 
professionally offended. One mystery is what kind of God they serve.
He is said to be Almighty, and yet desperately needs sticking up for. His 
emotional maturity is not the subject of any creeds but surely something you 
would assume of the perfect source of all being, if it weren't for his total 
inability to take any joke featuring himself (or sex for that matter). He tells 
his followers to turn the other cheek if they are assaulted themselves, but if 
people make fun of him expects his followers to hit them where it hurts.
The Bible gives us rather conflicting impressions of God's attitudes to this 
kind of thing, but none of them fit very well with the God of Carb. There's the 
God of Moses and his successors, pockets full of locusts, boils and 
thunderbolts, just itching to strike down blasphemers, including those who 
touch the ark of the covenant to stop it from falling. Sure, this sounds very 
religious right, but if he really has such an arsenal at hand and the petulance 
to use it at the drop of an ark, does he really need or want charcoal-suited 
lobbyists fighting his battles for him by attacking the forces of darkness's 
advertising revenue?
The Bible also gives us the rather different example of Jesus, the well-known 
homeless, penniless preacher, who submitted to humiliation and mockery rather 
more savage than anything Comedy Central might deliver, and who told his 
followers that their attitude should be the same as his. He told them not to 
fight back when their faith was attacked and ridiculed, but to count it a 
blessing.
The letters of St Paul repeatedly point out that the way for believers to stop 
others blaspheming is not to deserve it. But the humility, gentleness and 
self-awareness of the New Testament can seem more Christ-like th

[FairfieldLife] Re: Earthquake warning for California. Have a nice day.

[nablusoss1008]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu  wrote:
>
> TurquoiseB wrote:
> > Because many here seem to believe pretty much any prediction
> > that someone makes, for no other reason than that they think
> > knowing the predicted thing ahead of time makes them "special,"
> > here is very, very special prediction right up your alley.
> >
> > http://www.break.com/index/weird-guys-bizarre-earthquake-warning.html
> >
> > The scariest thing about this prediction is not, as one might
> > think, the guy himself and his way of speaking. It's not even
> > the possibility, however remote, that he might be right. Nope,
> > the scariest thing by far is the cult of disciples who would
> > form around him and become his followers if he *was* right.
> >
> > Digg, where I found this, predicted a 70% chance of this guy 
> > being home on prom night. I think that's lowballing it.
> 
> Of course Californians are always on the alert for earthquakes.  We just 
> had a new moon so the gravitational effects are high.  Those lead to 
> shifts in the tectonic plates.  Next month there will be a solar eclipse 
> on the 11th and we have a partial lunar eclipse on the 26th of this 
> month.   Eclipses are very prone to triggering earthquakes due to even 
> more intense gravitational effects.   We seem to be having some 
> increased earthquake swarms in the LA area as well as here in the Bay 
> Area.   I don't think we're quite as worried about the Golden Gate 
> Bridge as the incomplete Bay Bridge which in a severe earthquake could 
> lose the east span as the new span there which will be VERY earthquake 
> tolerant is unfinished.


And what are you going to do about it ?

Nothing.

Thought so.

[FairfieldLife] Re: Earthquake warning for California. Have a nice day.

[nablusoss1008]

> > The scariest thing about this prediction is not, as one might
> > think, the guy himself and his way of speaking. It's not even
> > the possibility, however remote, that he might be right. Nope,
> > the scariest thing by far is the cult of disciples who would
> > form around him and become his followers if he *was* right.
> >
> > Digg, where I found this, predicted a 70% chance of this guy 
> > being home on prom night. I think that's lowballing it.
> 
> Of course Californians are always on the alert for earthquakes.  We just 
> had a new moon so the gravitational effects are high.  Those lead to 
> shifts in the tectonic plates.  Next month there will be a solar eclipse 
> on the 11th and we have a partial lunar eclipse on the 26th of this 
> month.   Eclipses are very prone to triggering earthquakes due to even 
> more intense gravitational effects.   We seem to be having some 
> increased earthquake swarms in the LA area as well as here in the Bay 
> Area.   I don't think we're quite as worried about the Golden Gate 
> Bridge as the incomplete Bay Bridge which in a severe earthquake could 
> lose the east span as the new span there which will be VERY earthquake 
> tolerant is unfinished.
>

Re: [FairfieldLife] Earthquake warning for California. Have a nice day.

[Bhairitu]

TurquoiseB wrote:
> Because many here seem to believe pretty much any prediction
> that someone makes, for no other reason than that they think
> knowing the predicted thing ahead of time makes them "special,"
> here is very, very special prediction right up your alley.
>
> http://www.break.com/index/weird-guys-bizarre-earthquake-warning.html
>
> The scariest thing about this prediction is not, as one might
> think, the guy himself and his way of speaking. It's not even
> the possibility, however remote, that he might be right. Nope,
> the scariest thing by far is the cult of disciples who would
> form around him and become his followers if he *was* right.
>
> Digg, where I found this, predicted a 70% chance of this guy 
> being home on prom night. I think that's lowballing it.

Of course Californians are always on the alert for earthquakes.  We just 
had a new moon so the gravitational effects are high.  Those lead to 
shifts in the tectonic plates.  Next month there will be a solar eclipse 
on the 11th and we have a partial lunar eclipse on the 26th of this 
month.   Eclipses are very prone to triggering earthquakes due to even 
more intense gravitational effects.   We seem to be having some 
increased earthquake swarms in the LA area as well as here in the Bay 
Area.   I don't think we're quite as worried about the Golden Gate 
Bridge as the incomplete Bay Bridge which in a severe earthquake could 
lose the east span as the new span there which will be VERY earthquake 
tolerant is unfinished.

RE: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count

[Rick Archer]

From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of Alex Stanley
Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 7:08 AM
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count
 
  
Cool. I restored her posting privileges. I do think that because she posted
51 times last week, she should only post 49 this week. 
Fair enough.


--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
 , "Rick Archer"  wrote:
>
> From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com

[mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
 ]
> On Behalf Of seventhray1
> Sent: Friday, June 11, 2010 6:50 PM
> To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com 

> Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count
> 
> 
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
 , "emptybill"  wrote:
> 
> > This rule was set up to curb intentional over-posters not to punish
> > inadvertence. Repeat over-posters might warrant this action but this
> > rule Ominance is Pharisaical and absurd. 
> 
> I agree. This was an obvious oversight. Isn't it the spirit, rather than
> the letter of the law we are concerned with? It's pretty obvious when
> someone is disregarding this rule. Why punish this infraction?
> Alex shouldn't have to take the heat for this. Judy has tried to be
diligent
> about the post count, and I'm sure she didn't overpost intentionally. I've
> occasionally "forgiven" people who did that. I accidentally overposted
> myself one week, although several of my posts were administrative. So I
say
> let's cut her some slack this time and not banish her.

[FairfieldLife] Science will win what ?

[anatol_zinc]

Science will win what ?

Quote from some previous post: "science will win because it
works"

What an absurd and meaningless thing to say. Doesn't everything
work? Everything that happens works, but not necessarily for good.

Mindless entertainment works to keep people mindless; does that mean it
wins?

Let's see how science works:

Nuclear bombs work,  gas chambers, thousands of dangerous chemicals,
nuclear plants work very well at producing dangerous radiation waste,
suicidal processed foods, can dig oil wells so deep cannot control them,
go to the moon (what the heck for),  produce weapons for war, transplant
organs for a few at a staggering cost while billions go hungry,….

Obviously, I'm leaving out some of the good stuff, to make this
point because it does appear that survival of human race is at risk.



Like Einstein said the mind is a terrible master, but can be a
wonderful/good servant. Good servant to what? From my own experience and
observation of world, the mind( thinking itself the master and believing
only in material science or only in dogmatic religion) is the creator of
all the problems; whereas the heart is the seat of all the solutions
being the source of intuition which Einstein talked so favorably about.

Here are some Einstein quotes:

"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is
blind.
 "

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is
limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces
the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and
understand."

  "Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you
everywhere."

"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile."  [sounds
like Amma]

"The only real valuable thing is intuition."

"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well
enough"

And an article by Einstein on Religion and Science @

http://www.sacred-texts.com/aor/einstein/einsci.htm


I do not agree with Einstein completely, because I have confidence that
the greatest scientists were and are the ancient sages and the current
sages. But, at least this article shows that Einstein did not think of
"Science VS Religion" but saw the necessity of  both, each at
its best, should  complement each other for beneficial progress and
survival of the human race.



I do see edg's point about using famous people's quotes as
somewhat a selective and questionable process and will contemplate on
that …

Om Shanti,

anatol

[FairfieldLife] Re: Einstein was a man of faith !

[TurquoiseB]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "anatol_zinc"  wrote:
>
> OK, Hugo,
> 
> You are entitled to your POV, just like the rest of us. If it 
> makes you happy, more power to you. If not, maybe go outside 
> your fixed POV and explore a little; that's what real scientist 
> do;  get a hug from Amma or whatever.

The first one's free.

Find me out by the schoolyard fence if you need another.

:-)

[FairfieldLife] BP spill response plans severely flawed

[gullible fool]

 
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37599810/ns/disaster_in_the_gulf/
 
"Love will swallow you, eat you up completely, until there is no `you,' only 
love." 
 
- Amma  


  

[FairfieldLife] Earthquake warning for California. Have a nice day.

[TurquoiseB]

Because many here seem to believe pretty much any prediction
that someone makes, for no other reason than that they think
knowing the predicted thing ahead of time makes them "special,"
here is very, very special prediction right up your alley.

http://www.break.com/index/weird-guys-bizarre-earthquake-warning.html

The scariest thing about this prediction is not, as one might
think, the guy himself and his way of speaking. It's not even
the possibility, however remote, that he might be right. Nope,
the scariest thing by far is the cult of disciples who would
form around him and become his followers if he *was* right.

Digg, where I found this, predicted a 70% chance of this guy 
being home on prom night. I think that's lowballing it.

[FairfieldLife] Re: Einstein was a man of faith !

[anatol_zinc]

OK, Hugo,

You are entitled to your POV, just like the rest of us. If it makes you
happy, more power to you. If not, maybe go outside your fixed POV and
explore a little; that's what real scientist do;  get a hug from
Amma or whatever.



Let me repeat myself from a previous post with a few additions [] :

>From my observation, people define "God" in a limited way and
say I don't believe in such a "God."  Well good for them!
[but basically they are arguing with their own definitions]  How about
we define "God" as the unbounded infinite
awareness/consciousness/supreme-intelligence in which all phenomena
appears, persists temporarily short or long, and disappears? Hmm. May
take a little honest persistent investigation, real science free from
the limitations of fear [and fixed definitions of science, fixed
definitions of religion, fixed definitions of spirituality]



Added comment: or we can let go of all definitions, and start observing
with our own awareness, our own existence, and see where that leads us;
observe and notice without preconceptions not only the forms and noise
but also that which is formless and noiseless.



Maharishi encouraged physicists in the 70's and 80's that it
should be possible to fulfill Einstein's dream of formulating
Unified Field theories. And they did come up with what are called string
theories, if I remember correctly. And it's interesting that the
attributes of the Unified Field string theories basically was/is the
same as the attributes of the God of the mystics or even that of the
core essence of religions if you know where to look ~ a field of seeming
unmanifest nothingness with attributes of
omnipresence-omniscience-omnipotence in which and from which all
manifest creation arises.

Or as many current teachers say,  "by giving up all definitions, all
preconceptions, self-realize the awareness which may seem initially as
total emptiness/nothingness and then observe that it contains
everything."  In other words, don't juts rely on science and
scientist external to yourself, become a real scientist yourself and
experience truth rather that try to define it, which of course you can
always do later for the fun of communicating.

Observe, record, reason, take a break, allow thoughts to stop, allow
intuition, have confidence in your own intuition, observe without
thoughts, repeat, have fun, be happy, get a hug once a year; this is my
science.



peaceful spacious loving awareness,

anatol

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Hugo" 
wrote:
>
>
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "anatol_zinc" anatol_zinc@
wrote:
> >
> >
> > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Hugo" 
> > wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "anatol_zinc" anatol_zinc@
> > wrote:
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Einstein's theory of General Relativity  predicted that light
would
> > bend bypassing a massive planet like the Sun. That was the only
feasible
> > experiment for his untested theory at the time since there were no
> > lasers, etc.
> > > >
> > > > Einstein was asked what if the experiment proves his theory
wrong?
> > He said that would mean the experiment was not done properly.
> > > >
> > > > Amen !
> > >
> > > HUGO:
> > > Wrong about the faith part I'm afraid. That was a measure simply
> > > of how confident he was about his theory of gravity and light.
> > > ..
> > > >>>
> >
> > OK Hugo, so you see a big difference between the word faith and the
word
> > confidence.
>
> Not really, but you were implying Einstein was religious
> about science when he wasn't at all. I guess the difference
> between faith in god and confidence in his theory is that
> his theory was always testable when the existence of a god
> of any sort appears not to be.
>
> One can therefore have confidence in one's theories but
> one can only have faith in god.
>
>
> > Well I'm no psychic,
>
> I don't believe anyone is. And I am confident about that :-)
>
>
> > So let me guess, you might say "I have confidence in myself and
> > no-faith in God." Well what if, myself = God and confidence = faith?
> > You can see how absurd the above assertion is.
>
> I would say I have occasional confidence in myself and no
> faith that there is a god. Couldn't see the point really,
> god is a bit of a failed hypothesis as far as I'm concerned,
> I've read all the holy books and god seems like a part of
> cultures that are so distant it's hard to say what god
> actually was to them. Was he an astronaut or the halucinations
> from a now defunct part of our brains? Was he an invention
> by the ruling class to keep the lower orders in line or was
> he a real live flesh and blood supreme creator being who
> just happens to not want to have anything to do with us any
> more?
>
> Or was he a name people came up with to explain how they
> felt in altered states of consciousness bought on by too
> much mushroom tea or meditation, or both?
>
>
> > It's like the atheist said "I did not believe in God, until I
> > foun

Re: [FairfieldLife] Who was the 1st person in Christian history to be executed for heresy?

[Sal Sunshine]

On Jun 12, 2010, at 2:54 AM, TurquoiseB wrote:

> Carb, starchier than your average lobbyists, are particularly exercised by 
> the contrast with the way Comedy Central backed down on airing scenes 
> involving Muhammad in South Park, fearing violence. "Does that indicate that 
> Christians then are punished because they aren't crazy?" asked the talk show 
> host and Carb Michael Medved.

Well, it *is* an interesting contrast, albeit this
guy's assumption that devout Christians will
somehow be "punished" by this show going
forward is craziness of and by itself.  Yes,
it seems we have a contest going on amongst
the devout in 2 religions to see who can out-crazy
the other.  I'd ask if anybody wanted to bet
on who will fire the first shot--literally--except
that it's not funny.

Sal

[FairfieldLife] Re: What is Science?

[Hugo]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung  wrote:
>
> 
> 
> Hugo, are you offering to be my student?  

Thanks, but no.

The fact Einstein turned out to right about a lot of things 
he thought to be obvious was never under discussion here. 
In fact if you look at another post I just did you'll see 
me defending his confidence in his ideas.

 
> From your acid-toned smarming about my opinions of Hawking, I can >tell that 
> you're not in a studious mood -- and that's dumber than >dumb, because while 
> you can't fix stupid, being stupid on purpose is >a crime for which a proper 
> penalty cannot be assessed -- for what >could limit the cost of the 
> immorality of blinding oneself?  

Actually I'm always in a studious mood, for some reason it
suits you to be offended about my objection to your insulting
attitude towards someone who's struggled with a horrifying
disability his whole life. I don't believe for a minute that
being in a wheel chair has influenced his opinion of whether
or not there is a god or alien life, it isn't like they are
unreasonable posistions to hold.

(Interesting that you interpret my shock at your opinion
of Hawking as acid-toned smarming, says a lot about you.)

 
> Einstein was, by my definition of "spiritual," a Maharishi.  And >his 
> honoring intuition was not merely "for show."  He knew his math >wasn't up to 
> the task of embodying his intuition that God doesn't >play dice, and yet he 
> knew he was right and never once in his life >stopped trying to catch God 
> red-handed running the universe down to >least construct.  

This YOUR interpretation of Einstein, for every quote you can find
of his supporting the mystical I can find more that don't. Many
scientists (Hawking included) use phrases like "mind of god" to
describe deep levels of physics, it doesn't mean they think that
the universe is fundamentally intelligent in the way we are or in
the way Maharishi taught just that they think it possible to know everything in 
a final physical sense, the original paramaters of
creation. 

 
> Anyone who's had a thought should know that every single one of >them comes 
> from a subtle level of existence that is not easily >grasped -- that is, we, 
> as egos, do not compose our own thinking but >that we are as if victims of a 
> "thought machine which makes >decisions without consulting the personality."  

Agreed. As I pointed out in my post to Anatol below.

 
> Einstein peered into his own mind enough to see this and that >despite 
> uncertainty, true randomness is yet but a concept -- not a >proven entity.  
> And just as you and I know that our thoughts >are "ours" despite not being on 
> the "thought making committee," -- >because the thought committee itself is a 
> product of yet subtler >processes -- Einstein knew that there was "cosmic 
> mind" that >also "owned" the underlying the processes of nature even if we 
> could >not have the alacrity to see behind the Uncertainty Curtain of Oz.  

The analogy doesn't fit, thoughts appear in our minds but we
know there is an unconscious process involving large areas of
the brain refering to  past experience, social conditioning etc.
and then deciding what becomes conscious. You can even see it working. The idea 
that universe also appears from a more complex
underlying intelligence is a TM idea not shared by Einstein
or any other working physicist, what you have is miniscule 
potentials in fluctuating fields none of which are fully 
understood. See "mind of god" above.

Unless Einstein actually believed that the universe is under
intelligent control at the very micro level in the way John
Hagelin does, if so I missed it and it's a *very* religious 
concept because it appears to be totally unnecessary and of 
a totally different order of things to him being confident
about gravity bending space and time, those things you can 
visualise, god in control of quantum physics is an invention
by mystics and people who need an ultimate being for some 
reason. And people who like to make money out of others
by linking sciencey sounding phrases with their own bullshit
new age "therapies."

But as I say in my post below, it's possible and so cannot 
be discounted, but as it's unnecessary for an explanation
of how the universe works, why bother? Why bother introducing
unnecessary complexities to nature when simpler ones will do
just as well. I think it's man's programming to seek greater
complexity to explain simpler things, it's a god type hang-up
we've yet to get over.

Darwin did the best job of demolishing this erroneous idea. 
What a hero. Him, Newton & Einstein. What a gang!

 
> Today's science is 100% reporting miracles constantly.

Depends entirely on your definition of miracle. They appear 
miraculous because they are largely unexplained. Have you read 
David Deutsch yet?

Try this:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jun/10/david-deutsch-multiverse-fabric-reality

It should at least give you hope that some quest

[FairfieldLife] Guru Dev - The Three Types of Karma

[do.rflex]

The effects of the actions of a brief time are endured for a long time. 
Consequently the actions of one lifetime cannot be finished and can result in 
suffering in another lifetime...

Until such time as the heap of actions is finished then it will befall you to 
return again and again inside a womb in order to live again. Consequently 
having obtained this human life you should deal with this heap of karma.

The Shastras have divided actions into three types and explained the means to 
accomplish these tasks. 

These karmas are the three divisions - 

sanchita (collected karma), 

prarabdha (already commenced karma) and 

kriyamana (work now being done). 

Sanchita (collected karma) is limitless. This [accumulated karma] cannot be 
dealt with by experience. The way to deal with [such karma] is by obtaining 
gyaan (knowledge) or by endless bhakti (devotion) to the feet of Bhagwan. 


One has to experience the karma that has already begun, there is no other way:

" avashyameva bhoktavyaM kR^itaM karmaM shubhaashubham " 
'One has to endure the consequences of one's karma, both virtuous and sinful' 


By offering our kriyamana karma (current action) to Bhagwan there is no reason 
for it to be binding. In this way, by the method of burning the sanchita karma 
(accumulated action) in the fire of knowledge, experiencing prarabdha karma 
(action already begun) and dedicating kriyamana karma (current action) to 
Bhagwan - one will be liberated from being bound, and really find moksha (final 
liberation, beatitude, redemption, absolution, salvation, freedom).

If the reason that acquisition of knowledge is delayed is because one's sadhana 
(spiritual practice) is neglected, then little-by-little offer your kriyamana 
karma to Bhagwan. Acting in this manner, there will be no reason for the karma 
of this life to be binding. 

Along with this thought be strong for the prarabdha karma which you will 
endure, which even the learned cannot escape. Therefore you should come with 
willingness to the suffering, with endurance and heroism. It is also necessary 
not to give up courage. 

Make no mistake, by this method is happiness gained. By doing this there will 
be an accumulation of punya (meritous) karma, and both this world and the next 
world will be prepared.


~~ Shri Shankaracharya UpadeshAmrita kaNa 6 of 108
from Paul Mason: http://www.paulmason.info/gurudev/upadesh.htm

[FairfieldLife] Re: Einstein was a man of faith !

[Hugo]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "anatol_zinc"  wrote:
>
> 
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Hugo" 
> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "anatol_zinc" anatol_zinc@
> wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > Einstein's theory of General Relativity  predicted that light would
> bend bypassing a massive planet like the Sun. That was the only feasible
> experiment for his untested theory at the time since there were no
> lasers, etc.
> > >
> > > Einstein was asked what if the experiment proves his theory wrong?
> He said that would mean the experiment was not done properly.
> > >
> > > Amen !
> >
> > HUGO:
> > Wrong about the faith part I'm afraid. That was a measure simply
> > of how confident he was about his theory of gravity and light.
> > ..
> > >>>
> 
> OK Hugo, so you see a big difference between the word faith and the word
> confidence. 

Not really, but you were implying Einstein was religious
about science when he wasn't at all. I guess the difference
between faith in god and confidence in his theory is that
his theory was always testable when the existence of a god
of any sort appears not to be.

One can therefore have confidence in one's theories but
one can only have faith in god.


> Well I'm no psychic, 

I don't believe anyone is. And I am confident about that :-)

 
> So let me guess, you might say "I have confidence in myself and
> no-faith in God." Well what if, myself = God and confidence = faith?
> You can see how absurd the above assertion is.

I would say I have occasional confidence in myself and no
faith that there is a god. Couldn't see the point really,
god is a bit of a failed hypothesis as far as I'm concerned,
I've read all the holy books and god seems like a part of
cultures that are so distant it's hard to say what god
actually was to them. Was he an astronaut or the halucinations
from a now defunct part of our brains? Was he an invention
by the ruling class to keep the lower orders in line or was
he a real live flesh and blood supreme creator being who
just happens to not want to have anything to do with us any 
more?

Or was he a name people came up with to explain how they
felt in altered states of consciousness bought on by too
much mushroom tea or meditation, or both?
 

> It's like the atheist said "I did not believe in God, until I
> found out I am God"

I would say idiot rather than athiest, all they did was change
a definition of something to incorporate a change of opinion
about themselves. It isn't like thinking you are god changes
the meaning of any other discoveries in any way whatsoever,
it is merely a religious concept that makes spiritual people 
feel better about themselves. No harm in it but it's a conclusion
based on faith. If you could *prove* you were god, that would be
a different matter but I suspect most people would just say
"that isn't what god means."

 

[FairfieldLife] Post Count -- For The Record

[TurquoiseB]

It's up to Rick, of course, but on reflection I have no
problem with removing the posting limit. On one condition.

Leave the Post Count program in place, and allow it to post
its daily and weekly totals.

I'm not likely to ever go over 50 posts per week, posting
limits or not. I like the haiku-like structure of having
to think through what I have to say, and put myself on a
kind of rant diet. I find it helps to keep the samsaric
"weight" off.

But I think that everyone here knows that some *would*
opt for spamming FFL with their rants, either to troll 
for attention and suck that attention vampire-like, or
use the spam to sell their opinions as superior to the
opinions of others. 

Since all but a couple of the potential abusers of their
God-given "right to spam" have fled the scene, I have no 
problem with the remaining overposters being allowed to 
do so, as long as everyone is apprised daily and weekly 
how attached to a steady diet of Spam they are, and can
consider that dietary and lifestyle choice when assessing 
their credibility.

[FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count

[WillyTex]

Sal Sunshine:
> Everyone here *must* be apprised of 
> Judy's state of mind, and just *why* she 
> went over...  
> 
Unlike yourself, Judy has some insightful
things to say. Most of your messages begin
and end on one line. You just don't seem to
have the intelligence to respond, so Judy
calls you 'stupid Sal' for a reason - not 
because you are stupid, but because you say
stupid things. 

So, it's probably natural for you to resent 
Judy. But, you could at least refrain from 
making stupid posts about Judy when she 
isn't allowed to respond. So, I'm saying 
that you are not only stupid, but you're 
also unethical as well. It's a cowardly
thing to do, but typical of you TM types.

[FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count

[WillyTex]

Alex Stanley:
> I restored her posting privileges...
>
So, there are exceptions to the posting rules. 

But, the rule is just another example of the
TMO mindset - a way to limit the free flow of 
information.

We see this in the TMO all the time - lost Dome 
privileges, banning, and making all kinds of 
rules against visiting other teachers, etc. 

Why would anyone think that a TMer discussion 
group run by TMers would be any different than 
the TMO? According to Turq, TMers they have been
'brainwashed' to the point that when something
happens that they don't agree with, they tell
you to shut up.

FFL is run by TMO people - Rick has been in
the cult for thirty or forty years; Alex's 
brother is a 'Raja', and Petra apparently 
donates thousands of dollars to the TMO. 

The other FFL moderators claim to have some
kind of TMO status. The most frequent posters 
are ex-TMers and TMO types like the two Barrys.

Some of these people are so into the TM cult 
that they still live in Fairfield, even though 
they say they left TM years ago!

[FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count

[WillyTex]

> > Joe sounds really scared of Judy.
> >
Joe:
> You're right Silly Willy. I am SO scared.
> 
So, Joe is scared of Judy.

> Damn boy, how'd you get to be so smart?
> 
By going to school?

>  Must've been all that Texas skoolin!
> 
So, you're scared of people that have been 
to school? Go figure.

[FairfieldLife] Re: Faith, and the demonstration thereof...

[WillyTex]

TurquoiseB:
> This morning I'm pondering the notion of "faith," which
> I define as believing that one knows "the truth" about
> something (or more likely in spiritual circles...
>
You didn't define the word 'spiritual'. Is that a belief 
in 'spirits'? Do you really believe in the spirits of the 
dead? What is a spiritual path? 

You have to have faith that there is a spiritual world 
beyond the world of the senses. Without faith that the 
goal of enlightenment exists, there would be nothing to 
strive for. 

You were not born with an innate sense of the goal of 
enlightenment - you have to take on faith what your 
teachers tell you about the enlightened state. Or, maybe 
you read about enlightenment in a book or magazine, and 
you have faith that there is a transcendental field. 

Enlightenment is not something that you know about 
apriori. The question is really, are we free or are we 
bound? If free, then there is no need for a yoga; if 
bound, by what means can we free ourselves?

Not sure exactly what kind of Buddhist you think you 
are, Turq. Traditionally Buddhists throughout the 
Buddhist world consider that the universe contains more 
beings in it than are normally visible to humans. 
Buddhists have no objection to the existence of the 
Hindu Gods. 

Nevertheless, Buddhists can't take refuge in the gods 
because the gods are not Buddha. That is, they are not 
enlightened. All the Hindu gods, for all their power, 
are not the final truth of things. Power does not 
necessarily entail insight. For Buddhists, the gods do 
not have the liberating insight. 

But, none of this entails that the gods do not exist or 
that the gods cannot have a powerful influence over 
our lives. Thus, the Buddhist has no problem with the 
gods like you seem to have. 

Work cited:

'Buddhist Thought' 
by Paul Williams 
Routledge, 2000 

Read more:

'Buddhism in Practice' 
ed. Donald S. Lopez, Jr. 
Princeton Readings in Religion, 1995

[FairfieldLife] Re: Einstein was a man of faith !

[Duveyoung]

If they are my definitions of the words being used by Einstein in the quotes 
you've linked to, then he and I exactly agree -- exactly.  He speaks pure 
Advaita.

You anti-God-ists refuse to have a legitimate debate and insist on strawdogging 
by this easily thrashed dead-horse meme of "personal God."  

Every time I use the word "God," not a, ahem, soul here has bothered to see if 
I mean "personal God" or "Einstein's object of wonderment."  That's the tell, 
ya see?  You anti-God-ists are out for a fight and pick your issues that you 
think are your aces up your sleeves.  And, bother! if anyone tries to spotlight 
deeper issues.  Anti-God-ists come off as sycophants of Holy Concept -- all bow 
to the power of concepts!  Pray for another concept to arrive.  Sickeningly 
religious if you ask me.

Einstein's quotes clearly show his strongest endorsement of "awareness" and 
"being" as palpable memes that cannot be un-included in a scientific summation 
of the basis of creation.  Awareness is required for any religion, but 
awareness has no need for any particularity when it comes to embodiments.  
Argue all day long about vanilla or chocolate, get off on it and rouse 
yourselves to heights of fervor, but let's all agree that there is such a thing 
as "taste" -- common ground, eh?

That Einstein did not believe in a soul that survives death is the most 
powerful card anti-God-ists can play -- their faces displaying a proud smuggery 
that they've got the top trump.  Note that Einstein says Buddhism would be a 
religion that came close to meeting his need for logic and sanity in a 
relationship with the unknown.  Obviously Buddhism's "void" is a central meme 
that resonates with science's holy grail of the unified field -- for in such a 
field, there can be no defining (G. O. D. = Get Over Defining) since all 
"forces" would be one -- and where there's solely "one" there cannot be a 
second element with the role of observer.  There's your Quantum God.pure 
unified everything more intimate with itself than two entangled photons.  Whew, 
it takes my breath away when I read about today's ESTABLISHED profundities.  

If I were a Christian, I'd be bad-mouthing quantum physics with every Sunday's 
sermoning breath.  And I suppose many of them do.  They'd be the smarties.

I haven't googled it, but maybe Einstein can be found opining that this unified 
field that is so sought by today's (post Bohr) very religious scientists who 
believe so deeply that it must exist is righteously labeled "God," or "Being" 
or "Awareness" -- but always with the dynamic "alive" being integral to any 
defining.  I see nothing in the quotes provided that would obviate this 
possibility -- that the unified field is alive and at least 13 billion years 
old, if not eternal.  "Alive" would mean -- processing awareness that is 
structured by inviolate axioms of relationship.  In this "religion," one might 
say that an electron is being holy when it circles a proton "exactly so."  It 
is sinless, ya see?  There is your alter, there is your saint with perfect 
humility.

Every time I read about how physics is trending, I never see atheism becoming 
more solid.  I see religion's power rent, but transcendentalism is all the more 
supported thereby.  

When I read Einstein's words, I hear a clarion pealing that there is a 
"something" which is beyond grasp by concept but which is as deserving of 
worship which one sees modeled in the electron's constancy as it en-spheres the 
proton.  Indeed, I am humbled thusly, for I have not yet that perfect ability 
to focus on the centrality of existence -- Being -- in such lock-step resonance 
with it.  If I did, I know I would feel ELECTRIC!

Edg -- Priest of the Living Unknown




--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB  wrote:
>
> I don't want to get into any of the knee-jerk defenses
> of faith vs. reason or God vs. things-just-happening; 
> there is a place for both points of view in the world. 
> I'm merely reacting to the oft-repeated-as-if-it-were-
> true claim that Einstein was a religionist or believed 
> in God, almost always repeated by God freaks.
> 
> T'ain't true. He said some things that mentioned God,
> usually as a metaphor for the "laws of nature" as he
> perceived them. These quotes have been touted by people
> with a God to sell, doing the same thing Maharishi did,
> trying to use a public figure to sell their ideas. But 
> the vast majority of Einstein's quotes in letters and 
> talks dealt with his *lack* of belief in any kind of 
> sentient God. His daughter in recent years has released 
> a number of these letters into the public domain, with 
> the effect that Einstein's overall position as a rational 
> humanist with an astounding sense of wonder about the 
> universe, but without the need to project some kind of 
> sentience guiding and controlling it, is clear.
> 
> Here are a few "balancing" quotes from him. Those who
> feel that they need to become angry or lash out

[FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count

[Alex Stanley]

Cool. I restored her posting privileges. I do think that because she posted 51 
times last week, she should only post 49 this week. 

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer"  wrote:
>
> From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com]
> On Behalf Of seventhray1
> Sent: Friday, June 11, 2010 6:50 PM
> To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count
>  
>   
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "emptybill"  wrote:
> 
> > This rule was set up to curb intentional over-posters not to punish
> > inadvertence. Repeat over-posters might warrant this action but this
> > rule Ominance is Pharisaical and absurd. 
> 
> I agree.  This was an obvious oversight.  Isn't it the spirit, rather than
> the letter of the law we are concerned with?  It's pretty obvious when
> someone is disregarding this rule.  Why punish this infraction?
> Alex shouldn't have to take the heat for this. Judy has tried to be diligent
> about the post count, and I'm sure she didn't overpost intentionally. I've
> occasionally "forgiven" people who did that. I accidentally overposted
> myself one week, although several of my posts were administrative. So I say
> let's cut her some slack this time and not banish her.

[FairfieldLife] Re: Inc.: How to Build a Beautiful Company

[TurquoiseB]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB  wrote:
>
> Third, I suggest that the question of where Nabby's holy 
> crop circles come from is now settled. Bill made them:
> 
> > In 1990 came a brush with notoriety when Witherspoon 
> > carved the Hindu symbol for the forces of nature into 
> > a dry lakebed in the desert. The design spanned a 
> > square quarter-mile. Aerial photos from a National 
> > Guard reconnaissance plane sparked a panic over aliens.

Curious, I followed up on this and found the first Google
reference pointing to an online book called "Vital Signs,"
which is subtitled "A Complete Guide to the CROP CIRCLE 
Mystery and Why it is NOT a Hoax," By Andy Thomas. He cites
as part of his debunking of the hoax theory, "In 1990, also 
in the US, Mickey Basin, a dry lake-bed in Oregon, found 
itself host to a huge Hindu symbol known as a sriyantra, 
etched into the soil with 3" furrows. The total length of 
the lines was around thirteen miles." 

Could this possibly be Bill's sri yantra?

I rest my case. Bill Witherspoon is the source of Nabby's 
crop circles. They're not just a conspiracy, they're a 
TM-related conspiracy. Who knew?

:-)

[FairfieldLife] Re: Inc.: How to Build a Beautiful Company

[TurquoiseB]

I rarely respond to a Dick Mays post, but I'll make an 
exception for this post, for several reasons. 

First, like geezerfreak I used to know Bill Witherspoon,
and think it's wonderful that he's doing well.

Second, I think it's worth pointing out that the admirable
structure he's come up with for his business is the utter
antithesis of the way that the TM movement is run. 

Third, I suggest that the question of where Nabby's holy 
crop circles come from is now settled. Bill made them:

> In 1990 came a brush with notoriety when Witherspoon 
> carved the Hindu symbol for the forces of nature into 
> a dry lakebed in the desert. The design spanned a 
> square quarter-mile. Aerial photos from a National 
> Guard reconnaissance plane sparked a panic over aliens.

:-)

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Dick Mays  wrote:
>
> http://www.inc.com/top-workplaces/2010/how-to-build-a-beautiful-company.html
> 
> Top Small Cpmpany Workplaces
> How to Build a Beautiful Company
> Employing open-book management and leadership by consensus, the Sky 
> Factory's Bill Witherspoon has set out to create the perfect business.
> As Told to Leigh Buchanan |  Jun 8, 2010
> Inc. Newsletter
> 
> 
> Andy Ryan
> Blue-Sky Thinking Bill Witherspoon's company manufactures high-tech 
> illusions. Its virtual windows and skylights use backlit images and 
> high-definition LCDs to replicate clouds drifting across perfect 
> skies.
> 
> Related Articles
>   *   The Sky Factory: Bill Witherspoon
>   *   2010 Top Small Company Workplaces
>   *   Do You Have a Winning Workplace Culture?
> 
> Small Business Success
> Inspiring company profiles and best practices for smart business owners
> 
> In the early 1970s, Bill Witherspoon lived for months in a school bus 
> parked in the Oregon desert. A hundred miles from the nearest town, 
> he spent day after day painting the sky and the clouds. He later sold 
> his work for tidy sums. Witherspoon would spend the rest of his life 
> alternating between painting and launching companies. His first 
> company experimented with new methods of agricultural management. In 
> 1982, he co-founded Westbridge Research Group, a developer of 
> ecologically friendly agricultural products that boasted Jonas Salk 
> as a board member. In 1990 came a brush with notoriety when 
> Witherspoon carved the Hindu symbol for the forces of nature into a 
> dry lakebed in the desert. The design spanned a square quarter-mile. 
> Aerial photos from a National Guard reconnaissance plane sparked a 
> panic over aliens.
> 
> During one of his peckish artistic periods, Witherspoon offered to 
> tear out the ceiling in an orthodontist's office and replace it with 
> a skyscape made from painted tiles in exchange for braces for his 
> children. That act of creative barter provided the idea for The Sky 
> Factory, a $3.9 million, 34-employee company in Fairfield, Iowa. The 
> business makes backlit images of sea and sky that are installed on 
> ceilings and walls. Its products are popular in hotels, spas, 
> restaurants, and hospitals.
> 
> When Witherspoon, then 60, launched The Sky Factory in 2002, he 
> wondered, Was it possible to create a company as beautiful as a work 
> of art? A beautiful company, in Witherspoon's mind, starts with the 
> elimination of hierarchies that impede and repress the expression of 
> people's natural curiosity and creativity. The Sky Factory's 
> organizational structure is as flat as its creator's beloved desert. 
> There are no employees, just owners, and everyone cares deeply about 
> doing what is best for the group.
> 
> Both painting and company building start with a blank canvas. In a 
> painting you create beauty with the addition of each brush stroke. In 
> a company you create it with the addition of each talented, engaged 
> person and with each thoughtful act. I thought about how satisfying 
> it would be to build a beautiful company, and how much better for the 
> people who work there.
> 
> I am an optimist and an idealist. In shaping The Sky Factory, I 
> started with the assumption that people are naturally curious and 
> creative. I wanted to craft an environment in which they would act 
> like entrepreneurs, not like robots. My first decision was to give 
> people the opportunity to purchase discounted ownership, and 100 
> percent of employees have participated. The responsibility for 
> revenue and profit belongs to everyone. From that foundation, I 
> derived five principles.
> 
> 1. Share information
> 
> As a company of owners, everyone who works here is naturally 
> motivated to participate in important decisions. To do so, people 
> have to know everything. All information about The Sky Factory is 
> right out on the table -- with the exception of HR issues and 
> salaries. And not to reveal compensation was the decision of the 
> group.
> 
> On Fridays, we have a two-hour meeting. For the first 30 minutes, we 
> go over all the metrics. In additio

[FairfieldLife] Soap Opera Digest

[TurquoiseB]

Dash, a polygamist with three wives, is father to three 
sons: Ram, Lak, and Shat. When a witch doctor comes to 
town complaining that demons are disturbing his ceremonies, 
Ram and Lak help out by telling him they've kicked the 
demons' asses. The witch doctor feels better, and all 
is well.

But Ram is still single, and Dash doesn't like that much, 
and he wants to fix Ram up with a girl whose pedigree 
consists of having been found in a field as a baby. So 
he sets up a kind of a Strongman Contest, in which the 
guy who can flex his pecs and use them to pump string on 
a piece of exercise equipment the best gets the gal. Ram 
wins, and the two get hitched.

All goes well until Dash is starting to circle the drain 
and wants to give his fortune and title to Ram before he 
dies. One of his three wives, in a scene possibly lifted 
from a discarded script of Big Love, demands that Dash 
banish Ram instead. Dash, completely pussy-whipped by not 
one but three wives for many years, goes for it. Ram, the 
equally pussy-whipped progeny of pussy-whippedness, agrees. 

Even though his sweetie wants to come with him, Ram wants 
to tough it out and show how cool and noble he is by doing 
the banishment thang all by himself. Even when his dad Dash 
kicks the bucket and his bro begs him to come back and take 
over the family business, Ram thinks it's more noble to hang 
out in exile and leave his sweetie to the sweet ministrations 
of her vibrator. So his bro installs Ram's best pair of Nikes 
as CEO of the family business instead. Shareholders actually
buy this.

Tune in next week, when Supernookie, an evil babe, attempts 
to seduce the three brothers and, when they're too busy being 
noble to go for it, tries to off Ram's sweetie in a fit of 
whore spite. This winds up seriously affecting Supernookie's 
sense of hearing and smell, and *her* bro doesn't like this 
much, so he decides to kidnap Ram's sweetie (not that Ram 
seems to care, still caught up in being all noble and shit). 
Much mayhem happens, including war, flying monkeys, and 
genocide. Don't miss The Ramayana, episode 2, in prime time 
on a cable channel near you.

[FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count

[nablusoss1008]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer"  wrote:
>
> From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com]
> On Behalf Of seventhray1
> Sent: Friday, June 11, 2010 6:50 PM
> To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Post Count
>  
>   
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "emptybill"  wrote:
> 
> > This rule was set up to curb intentional over-posters not to punish
> > inadvertence. Repeat over-posters might warrant this action but this
> > rule Ominance is Pharisaical and absurd. 
> 
> I agree.  This was an obvious oversight.  Isn't it the spirit, rather than
> the letter of the law we are concerned with?  It's pretty obvious when
> someone is disregarding this rule.  Why punish this infraction?
> Alex shouldn't have to take the heat for this. Judy has tried to be diligent
> about the post count, and I'm sure she didn't overpost intentionally. I've
> occasionally "forgiven" people who did that. I accidentally overposted
> myself one week, although several of my posts were administrative. So I say
> let's cut her some slack this time and not banish her.


Now that is mature talk from you Rick !

[FairfieldLife] Re: Teaching Virtue

[nablusoss1008]

--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Buck"  wrote:
>
> Spiritually, the duping, conning and wasting of time of unsuspecting 
> practicing spiritual people, that would be really bad.  


Much like the Turq is doing on this forum.


In its own category. Particularly bad on principle.  I would bet the science 
about human spirituality would bare that out too.  That is what i see in my 
experience with it.
> 
> Jai Adi Shankara,
> -Buck
>

[FairfieldLife] Who was the 1st person in Christian history to be executed for heresy?

[TurquoiseB]

Jesus. And yet look how his followers honor his memory.

Re my suggestion in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/message/249747
  that the
way "people of faith" react to someone poking fun at that faith says a
great deal more about them than their claims about that faith, check out
this article.

Christian Right Group Tries to Kill Comedy Central Show About Jesus

A new organization has been formed by the US religious right to  attack
a program that hasn't yet reached pilot stage. JC
 ,  a Comedy Central cartoon about Jesus
trying to live a normal life in  New York, does not have a completed
script, but Citizens  Against Religious Bigotry
  (Carb) are calling on advertisers to  force the channel to abort
it.

Carb, starchier than your average  lobbyists, are particularly exercised
by the contrast with the way  Comedy Central backed down on airing
scenes  involving Muhammad in South Park
 , fearing violence. "Does that  indicate that
Christians then are punished because they aren't crazy?"  asked the talk
show host and Carb Michael Medved.

So censorship  goes pre-emptive, a TV show doesn't even have to be made
in order to  offend, and the duty to protect the unborn has no relevance
to works of  creativity. I suppose it's not so big a leap as all that to
banning  things that don't exist yet for those who devote their careers
to  banning things they haven't seen.

Religion is all about mystery,  and nothing is so mysterious as the
minds of the professionally  offended. One mystery is what kind of God
they serve.

He is said  to be Almighty, and yet desperately needs sticking up for.
His emotional  maturity is not the subject of any creeds but surely
something you  would assume of the perfect source of all being, if it
weren't for his  total inability to take any joke featuring himself (or
sex for that  matter). He tells his followers to turn the other cheek if
they are  assaulted themselves, but if people make fun of him expects
his  followers to hit them where it hurts.

The Bible gives us rather  conflicting impressions of God's attitudes to
this kind of thing, but  none of them fit very well with the God of
Carb. There's the God of  Moses and his successors, pockets full of
locusts, boils and  thunderbolts, just itching to strike down
blasphemers, including those  who touch the ark of the covenant to stop
it from falling. Sure, this  sounds very religious right, but if he
really has such an arsenal at  hand and the petulance to use it at the
drop of an ark, does he really  need or want charcoal-suited lobbyists
fighting his battles for him by  attacking the forces of darkness's
advertising revenue?

The Bible  also gives us the rather different example of Jesus, the
well-known  homeless, penniless preacher, who submitted to humiliation
and mockery  rather more savage than anything Comedy Central might
deliver, and who  told his followers that their attitude should be the
same as his. He  told them not to fight back when their faith was
attacked and ridiculed,  but to count it a blessing.

The letters of St Paul repeatedly  point out that the way for believers
to stop others blaspheming is not  to deserve it. But the humility,
gentleness and self-awareness of the  New Testament can seem more
Christ-like than Christian.

If God has  little need of protection from hurt feelings or dented
pride, there  remains the mystery of whose pride campaigners are
defending, and the  obvious answer would seem to be their own. Blasphemy
dents their sense  of honor, by insulting their religion, and what
Christians call serving  God could often be called self-serving.
from
http://www.alternet.org/story/147148/christian_right_group_tries_to_kill\
_comedy_central_show_about_jesus/

[FairfieldLife] Two photos, same subject, different intent

[TurquoiseB]

The intent of the first photo, IMO, is to make money (by selling
magazines).



The intent of the second is merely to make people think.

  [http://funmeme.com/image.axd?picture=Fascism-in-America.jpg]

[FairfieldLife] A Sense Of Wonder

[TurquoiseB]

The phrase in the Subject line, besides being the 
name of a pretty good Van Morrison album, defines
for me the essence of the "spiritual life."

Some, like Van the Man, take the sense of wonder
they feel about life and turn it into an appreciation
for their personal notion of God. Others, like myself,
stop at wonder. The sense of wonder, for us, is *enough*.

As a representative of the latter predilection, one of
the things I've never been able to understand about 
religionists and those who favor a more dogmatic view
of spirituality is the sense of *certainty* they tend
to impose on wonder, somehow feeling that it's either
appropriate, or does justice to that which inspires 
wonder.

Some people are so certain that they "know" how the
universe works, that God exists, how good and bad are
defined, what the mechanics of karma are, what "sin"
is, etc. They actually seem to find solace and a sense
of comfort in that certainty. They fight fuckin' *wars*
over that certainty.

Me, I'm not certain of much of anything. Every time I
start to be, all I have to do is look around and jump-
start my sense of wonder. All the sense of certainty 
flies out the window, to be replaced by the more (IMO) 
healthy sense of wonder.

Others look around at the same things I'm looking at 
and find not wonder, but confirmation of the things
they are so certain about. Go figure. Their call, and
their right, and I wish them well with that approach.
But will their certainty increase their joy and apprec-
iation of life, or rob them of it by replacing wonder
with stasis and complacency, because they already
"know" how everything works? I wonder.