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Goodbye Jesus

Now What?


charley

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Let me preface that I have been coming here and venting, enjoying alternately the challenge and support provided as I have articulated my views, and I value that, and grateful for it, and try to pitch in and help at times.

 

But, most of the time it's all about denouncing. I like to think in terms of not only what I am against, but what I am for, also. So, rather than ask people to join in rants and raves, I'm just curious as to what my fellow non-christians are workng toward achieving in their lives. I'll let someone else give an example first (because I have to go.)!

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For me, I am basically in support of a free society, an non-intrusive government that focuses on protecting the people, and an otherwise simple and unburdened life. Like I've said before, I'm not on any more holy crusades for this or that, so I'm not involved in a heck of a lot of causes or whatnot. Just living my life and looking after my loved ones takes all the time I have. If I vote (which is rare anymore), I try to vote along those lines, for the greaseballs who seem like they're most in line with how I think.

 

So long as people do no harm to each other, I'm all for "live and let live". Be it choice of religion, choice of consenting adult sexual partner, or general respect across religious and racial lines, "live and let live" is how I think it ought to be. For the most part, our ancestors lived like this, and I'd rather humanity return to that. I believe certain crimes deserve death, others incarceration, and others still exile or community service, but with the exception of people infringing on the lives or safety of others, or their right to live as they choose so long as they do it peaceably, I believe in minding my own business and, as Bill and Ted would say, to "be excellent to each other!"

 

I got off my soapbox a long time ago, and unless it's in defense of individual rights or against the various oppressivenesses humans invent, I have no desire to get back on one. I have a life to live, and that is my religion.

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Pure unbridled hedonism. :HaHa:

 

Truthfully? Dunno. Freedom and happiness. What else is there?

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Pure unbridled hedonism

 

There's a lot to be said for that.

 

For the past month, I have been on a seasonal lay-off, and am due to begin work again in a week or so. When working, I'll have to put in 11 or 12 hour days until next december. It'll be fun and the money is great, I have no debt but food and rent, so things are good.

The point is that I seldom have time anymore for this kind of reflection, and I want to make the most of it before I have to think about work all the time.

I really don't know what the hell I'm all about anymore. It used to be, until last year, that I felt a deep meaning in taking care of my mother. There wasn't a lot for me to do, but she wanted and needed me there and I felt satisfaction and pride in being there for her. I realized that this was my opportunity to repay her and was gratefull to have it. Then when she passed away as expected after a long illness, in retrospect it seems like I should have known that I'd have to "re-invent myself", as a sister put it. But, I was just glad to land this job that I have now, and the house I share with my friends, and be able to live well in a great part of town with great neighbors, pleasant and dignified. That's where I'm at.

I guess I have to find a way to relate to people, maybe start a family of my own or something. It's easy to make decisions about starting a family because "it's time to" or "that's what people are supposed to do", But that kind of thinking has never been meaningful to me. Family life, or not, seems like too narrow a field of choice, too. Oh well, at least everyday I eat well, enjoy good humor, and have something valuable to say...apparently not yet today, though.

These are just a few things that have been on my mind. It's great to read how other people think on this. I am obviously in need of inspiration.

I'll probably just move to st.petersburg and be a hedonist for the rest of my life. :wicked:

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I'll probably just move to st.petersburg and be a hedonist for the rest of my life. :wicked:

 

Well, this is one place to do it, that's for sure. Although I spend more time working than going wild.

 

Another place to take your shirt off and go wild (I hope) is Venezuela. I plan to give it a whirl for the month of March on an island just off the coast. It will be a nice break from the cold and should be a blast.

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Eh, I'm pretty selfish lately. I just want to get out of school and get a cherry ass job as a travel nurse for a few years. I have no ambitions of traveling the world but if I do I can take a 3 month assignment in any European country and they pay for housing and such. After I get out of my current program It's off to NYC (shit, you can't beat a free 1 bedroom in manhattan). And then after that maybe set up a little practice with a doctor. THat's it for now. All about helping me, and possibly others every once in a while.

 

**Oh and as far as activism, I haven't seen a good organization that I would like to spend my time volunteering with. But eventually I think I'll find a good group to work with.

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I am all for personal responsibility, intellectual honesty and unbridled hed... ah crap! Vigile beat me too it!

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I've been trying to figure out what I'm "for" for several years. I call it my midlife crisis, though it's been going on for ten years now and I'm tired of it. That's why I'm here on this site, as this is part of figuring out who I am and who I'm not.

 

Regarding your situation, Charley, my guess is you're in your current mindset because you were involved with taking care of your mom and she has now passed away. Twenty-plus years ago, I was heavily involved with taking care of my grandmother the last year of her life, seeing her every evening at the nursing home and making sure she had dinner and was put to bed. I was recruited into doing this by a very domineering aunt who did the "day shift". When she passed away, I felt quite lost for a while and had to get around to living my life, as I was 21, a college student, and living on my own. It took a while to adjust. In addition, having a parent die, as happened to me a couple of years ago when my dad passed away at the age of 87, even when it is expected, can make you feel very mortal. I look around and wonder how many years I have left and ask myself what am I going to do with them.

 

So, it is a time for you to examine your life, beliefs, values, etc. Don't let anyone force you into anything like getting married or starting a family because it is the thing to do (I'm probably preaching to the choir here). Remember, "to thine own self be true".

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Tough question and I am not really sure of the answer. It's tough taking care of a parent. I took care of my father before he passed away and am taking care of my mother who has some health issues and is getting along in years. Most of my family thinks I should dump her in a nursing home. I used to be an emt and have been in and out of plenty of nursing homes...they all suck.

 

Pretty much I am trying to get through life without getting too caught up in the day to day bullshit. I am not going to piss my life away working 60+ hours a week for a board that doesn't give a shit, I am not digging myself into six digit debt to impress my friends and neighbors. We live in a screwed up society and it seems most everyone is out for themselves.

 

I guess I want to work toward gettign myself into a position to help others. Not sure exactly what that is. I thought I was going into nursing, but got pretty burnt out as an emt and am not convinced that the healthcare system is for me. Not sure where that leaves me....maybe education, maybe some form of outdoor education...who knows.

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Thanks Evelyn. Sounds like good advice.

 

Hi Jaded. We posted at the same time, and this is going in as an edit, so I hope I catsh you. Your situation and value choices sound exactly like mine have been. I'm glad that you posted because you reminded me just how good a choice it was to take care of my mother, that those were good values. I know I have to make another connection with life through people, maybe I will try to do it through work like you mentioned. Haven't considered that very much. Anyways, good luck with you. I had some prior experience doing work for nursing homes, too, and also have known for a long time how rotten they can be. So I support your decision 100%. Plus, I have seen old age being a gradually increasing threat to ones dignity, in first personal liberties like driving being taken away. Then, everyone listens to what you say intently looking for signs of senility, waiting to make decisions for you. Finally, people want to take you out of your own home and surround you with strangers in a nursing home, taking away all privacy and granting priveledges based on how well you follow their rules. Keeping her out of there and helping preserve her dignity is being a good son, the kind a good mother deserves. Yeah, I would do the same thing, again. Thanks for helping me sort this out. Now I see that I just have to look around me and find some way to build my future on the past, just as I had looked after my parents because of all they had done for me. How? Somehow I think it's just going to reveal itself, and I think it will for you, too, buddy.

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I'm for decency, Charley (having nothing whatsoever to do with "Decency Standards" :HaHa: ).

 

Just doing my best to treat people decently and encouraging anyone with whom I have any influence to do the same. Avoiding much contact with those whose life-view is exclusionary, self-righteous, petty and punitive.

 

Husband and son and I work on issues of homelessness and poverty. I am for the eradication of fellow citizens and their children having to sleep on the streets in this wealthiest of all nations.

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I'm for treating animals like living beings. I've decided to use my life to atleast try to help what's left of the planet's animal life before people wipe them out. If I ever get as rich as Bill Gates I would seriously consider building a giant ship, taking two of every animal, and flying off into space.

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I'm for treating animals like living beings. I've decided to use my life to atleast try to help what's left of the planet's animal life before people wipe them out. If I ever get as rich as Bill Gates I would seriously consider building a giant ship, taking two of every animal, and flying off into space.

 

Hmmm, you read like a Peter Singer book :HaHa:

 

I kid, Peter Singer is cool with me.

 

But hopefully I don't get burnt out in healthcare too soon, if at all. If nursing becomes more pain than it's worth, I'll be a teacher.

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What am I for?

 

Individualism. Everyone, even myself, tend to lump people together into generalizations rather than focusing on individual actions and beliefs.

 

While there is a commonality between certain groups, that doesn't mean we have to use it on individuals.

 

Too often you hear these generalizations in order to dehumanize people. It's easier to kill them that way.

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Husband and son and I work on issues of homelessness and poverty. I am for the eradication of fellow citizens and their children having to sleep on the streets in this wealthiest of all nations.

 

That's a big problem that I think most people, me included, work hard to overlook. I was thrust into a degree of awareness of that and related issues when I took a part-time job at a local food-bank in the warehouse. As I'm sure you know, the budgets small, the work was all on me. I had to go to a local slaughterhouse and load a big truck full of donated frozen meat, unload it, sort out donations from individuals,(etc.), and then after the first week I had my first emergency call. Someone called up, had lost their job and needed some things put togrther for his family for a few days. I took the call myself, was sort of taken aback because the guy was just a normal person like anyone, and was so mortified in being needy that I didn't know quite how to speak to him. I really felt it as a fact then that this could happen to anyone. I don't want to give the impression that I was "sheltered" and didn't allready "know" these things like other people, it's just that I pushed them out of my mind. Well, anyway , I put together a lot of great stuff for them and when he came in I was really glad to see that he felt some of the load lifted for a few days. From then on I made it my job to get more of the best I could and really loved it when I could make that connection with people who just needed a break.

So I think I know some of the meaning that you find in your work, pitchu. I like you. You're quite a lady.

 

 

But hopefully I don't get burnt out in healthcare too soon, if at all. If nursing becomes more pain than it's worth, I'll be a teacher.

 

I've known a lot of nurses, Diane, and the only ones who didn't get burned out were those who were "enterprising", making work for themselves outside of the standard health-care jobs. One guy made his own nursing home (some other freinds and I helped custiomize his house) and he loved that, it was great. Before that, he was a private caretaker of an elderly multimillionaire until he passed away, and that worked out great too. He allways made a ton of money and liked his working conditions. But, of course I don't know you and you just might love hospitals and other traditional nursing positions. My point is that my enterprising friend had a business background and found his unorthodox approaches easy to plan and do. I'm suggesting that if more nurses did the same, supplementing their education with enough business curiccula to do this, they would have some more choices. Doctors would quit acting like such arrogant assholes if they knew that their good nurses could do without them.

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I am for the eradication of fellow citizens and their children...

 

OMG, that's disgusting!!

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I am for the eradication of fellow citizens and their children...

 

OMG, that's disgusting!!

 

Please tell us you're not reconverting... ;)

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I am for the eradication of fellow citizens and their children...

 

OMG, that's disgusting!!

 

Please tell us you're not reconverting... ;)

 

Reconverting!? I never converted in the first place!! :eek:

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I am for the eradication of fellow citizens and their children...

 

OMG, that's disgusting!!

 

Please tell us you're not reconverting... ;)

 

Reconverting!? I never converted in the first place!! :eek:

 

:HaHa:

 

No, I mean pitchu, talking about eradicating children and such. Sounds like she was getting all Sodom and Gomorrah on our asses ;)

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Dammit, Asimov! Dammit, Wolfheart! You two sure make it hard for those of us who are syntactically challenged to come off sounding all noble and high-falutin. :lmao:

 

Actually,

I am for the eradication of fellow citizens and their children...
was a line snuck into last night's State of the Union Address by a writer from The Daily Show. The line was caught and deleted at the last possible minute, just as Cindy Sheehan was being arrested. :wicked:

 

Charley, I was touched by your story. I like you, too.

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...I think that I got some good advice here. Thank you all very much! Also, in commenting in another persons thread about a solution for their sadness, I also found that I would benefit from the advice I was giving. That is interesting, how sometimes it's easier to see someone elses situation clearer than your own. I'm going to try and remember that...

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Dammit, Asimov! Dammit, Wolfheart! You two sure make it hard for those of us who are syntactically challenged to come off sounding all noble and high-falutin. :lmao:

 

Lmao - now you know how the fundies feel ;)

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What am I for?

 

Let natural selection run its course. The strongest shall survive and pass on their genes. The entire scope of human sociology... religion, government, etc is encompassed by this worldview.

 

Now on the surface this might make me sound like some sort of right-wing "the strong shall survive so let's bomb the fuck out of everyone else" type person. Quite the contrary.

 

As a species, we need to evolve to a level where if we are to survive, we must learn that peace and equality and understanding are necessary. If we do not have those, war on an international level and conflict on a local level will threaten our very existence.

 

We need to evolve to a level where we understand the importance of our environment and our connection to it, and that if we do not take care of it we will not survive.

 

It's make or break time for the human race. Either we wise up, or we destroy each other or our environment.

 

That's what I believe in. I guess taken to its logical extreme, that kind of viewpoint essentially says that anyone with a backwards mentality should be removed from the gene pool... but I just hope that through education and understanding we can evolve sociologically rather than genetically, because time is running out.

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I am for taking care of our own business, of independent thought and action and the responsibility being solely that of the actor, where it belongs.

 

I am for a government that will butt-out of peoples' lives, and exist for the minimum that it is needed for (things like infrastructure, and national defense). I am for the tenth ammendment meaning something (that rights not enumerated belong to the people, damnit).

 

I am for respect of the individual, that what actually are rights, not what are perceived as rights, are respected for all humanity, and in fact, all sentient life (well, whenever we run into some).

 

I beleive that it is possible to understand the universe and that magic and prayer is indistinguishable from sufficiently advanced science, and that it is possible to "cheat" certain physical limits (c, the Second Law of Therm. for examples), if you know how. I am for that discovery.

 

I am also for remaining strong in the face of fear. I was cowed for too long and will not do that ever again.

 

I believe, if there is no god that cares for us, then it is up to us to take that role. In the end, we are our own gods, unless we give that up ourselves.

 

Most importantly, I am for people being honest with themselves, as if they won't be, I will. Being dishonest with oneself happens too frequently, sets us back too far too fast, and was something I did for far too long. In a way, it is the ultimate denial of one's own Will, one's own self and identity, and lies like that destroy individuals which in turn destroys everyone around them for a bit, in a ripple.

 

The Creed of the BlueGiant (you wanted to know what I was for and what I believe, well, be careful what you wish for... :ph34r: )

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I am for creativity, free speech, standing up against hate and prejudice (especially things like racism and homophobia), more scientific discoveries, honesty, a peaceful society (which I think can happen in this lifetime), education, and following dreams, even if they seem like pipe dreams.

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