Llwellyn Posted November 15, 2015 Posted November 15, 2015 Here are some of our friends that we lost on Friday. If they've gone to a place where they suffer, let us join them in solidarity. I have abandoned Yahweh in a heartbeat rather than abandon one of my friends. I consent to suffer for all eternity, along with my friends. Whatever curse there is for the nonbeliever, I volunteer to taste, in solidarity with the nonbeliever. There are Hindus, Buddhists, Pagans, and Atheists in the world. According to the Abrahamic Religions, those people are kindling for Yahweh's fire. The great religions teach "justification by faith" -- believe or be cursed. "The LORD will bring on you all the evil he has threatened, until he has destroyed you." Joshua 23:15. I believe that friendship is the true explanation for life on earth, and for the laws of physics. Job 38 asks me, "Tell me, if you understand, on what were the footings of the earth set?" Now, having the benefit of the modern evolutionary synthesis, and the modern physics, I know that the footings of the earth are set by friendship. Friendship is the purpose which can be considered ultimate, and I will not shift my footing off of that purpose, no matter what suffering may come. Yahweh's purposes, even if they exist, are laughable to me. Platonic "Goodness," even if real, is vanishingly irrelevant next to animal purpose. The inferno, as I experience it, will be my new home of growth, pains, and friendship, as it has been in the past. Friendship is what has built our bones and our minds. Friendship is the reason for scientific order that we assemble out of the lashings of chance. The most fundamental behavior of living things, and humans in particular, is friendship behavior. Evolutionary Biologist C.H. Waddington says: "It is the animal’s behaviour which to a considerable extent determines the nature of the environment to which it will submit itself and the character of the selective forces with which it will consent to wrestle." We have the freedom to give up the solidarity that has resulted in so much worth. But we won't. Let us rather have faith that on this planet, come what may, sense and worth will keep the first place. That men and women the world over shall continue to be friends and will sacrifice themselves for one another. There has been salvation by this faith.
Mythra Posted November 15, 2015 Posted November 15, 2015 That's beautiful Llwellyn. I'll take your hand and march together with you. Fearlessly.
Llwellyn Posted November 15, 2015 Author Posted November 15, 2015 Mythra: Marching with new-found courage, hand-in-hand, into the maelstrom (as come it will for all that), you and I will be the vanguards of a new species. Evolutionary Biologist Ernst Mayr concurs: "The selection pressure in favor of the structural modification is greatly increased by a shift into a new ecological niche, by the acquisition of a new habit, or by both." But really, we will be not a new species, but an atavism of the old breed that in a similar maelstrom evolved into what we now value. Aristotle said long ago: "Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others." "Without friends, no one would want to live, even if he had all other goods."
Mythra Posted November 15, 2015 Posted November 15, 2015 I'll march with you, to hell if necessary. But I may need to look up some of the words you use. Atavism is the tendency to revert to ancestral type. In biology, an atavism is an evolutionary throwback, such as traits reappearing which had disappeared generations before.
Mythra Posted November 15, 2015 Posted November 15, 2015 But I am quite serious about one thing. I would choose hell, and whatever that brings, to worshipping and feigning love for a God who would allow hell to exist.
♦ ficino ♦ Posted November 16, 2015 Posted November 16, 2015 Mythra: Marching with new-found courage, hand-in-hand, into the maelstrom (as come it will for all that), you and I will be the vanguards of a new species. Aux armes, citoyens ! Formez vos bataillons ! Marchons, marchons ! Qu'un sang impur... Abreuve nos sillons !
Mythra Posted November 16, 2015 Posted November 16, 2015 "Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others." Amen. We will not go gentle into that good night. We won't be cowed by terrorists, including Yahweh. Try as hard as they might, we will not be terrorized. You can kill us, you can threaten eternal punishments, but you can't make us live our lives in fear. And, since our solidarity is also with buddhists: The course of our lives is determined by how we react—what we decide and what we do—at the darkest of times. The nature of that response determines a person’s true worth and greatness. Daisaku Ikeda
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