pine apple lime

bookofcowardice:

pine apple lime: bookofcowardice: The philosophers say “Oh I can only ask questions,…

bookofcowardice:

• The philosophers say “Oh I can only ask questions, not give answers”
• The writers say “Oh I can only ask questions, not give answers”
• The artists say “Art can only ask questions, not give answers”

Someone needs to be answering these existential questions!

Science…

If you’re really going to throw a good argument against Christianity at me, than you would know that the weakness is not in our mental capacities (although I’m sure this would follow in your own line of thinking), our primary weakness is in our deep emotional need for comfort from the realities of life. We want to assign life a purpose because our hearts can’t bear the burden of accepting that life is purposeless. Now, I’m NOT going to break down all the cosmological arguments and logical proofs for Christianity, because you are already so disdainful in your own position and you will not be willing to listen. (although if you would ever sincerely like to talk, I’m completely willing) I would like to say though, that what you pointed out is actually one of the reasons I became a Christian. Blaise Pascal, a great scientist and theologian, said that all of man was born with a “God shaped hole.” But I don’t agree that it is within mans prideful nature to want to submit to a deity, therefore I don’t think he is capable of creating one, even to comfort his soul in the harsh truth that life is devoid of meaning. 

Also, if you ARE an existentialist (as I’m assuming you are) then stop being so wishy washy in your responses. Don’t tell me that you’re glad i’ve “found comfort,” and then follow that sentence with how intelligently wistful you are for my bright future of enlightened thinking.

It’s not an argument against Christianity, it’s an argument against your filling in of every answer with ‘God’.  Writing off science and logic because they have no final absolute or conclusive answer and then choosing the blanket of ‘Because God Says So’ because of it’s comfort, it is close minded.

No, it’s not that I think it’s physically impossible for us to comprehend, as in, I don’t think there are any mental limits that have been reached by humans.  I’m in the same line of thinking as you, that people need that emotional solace.  You are correct, we all have that need to know why we live life, why we go through all the good and the bad.  I just don’t come to the same conclusion as you, that’s all. 

And I don’t need/want/expect you to have explained all the reasons you believe in the things you believe in, it doesn’t affect me in any way.  However, I disagree with a small part, it IS “within mans prideful nature to want to submit”.  Human’s have been doing it for thousands and thousands of centuries.  To deities, to other humans, to society.  Everywhere, everyday people willingly submit to a huge number of things.

I’m afraid you’ve assumed a lot about me and my intent in replying to your post.  The tone and superiority of your post hit me right on the I-really-really-really-want-to-reply-to-that nerve, and I felt the need to address it in my own small way.  I’m not against Christianity, I was born into a Catholic family and understand a lot about that particular branch of religion.  I know that Jesus was a great dude, he taught a lot of people important lessons.  He himself was a great man but it’s all the surrounding concepts that I can’t seem to grasp, i.e. The Bible, God, Organised Religion.

I’m not an existentialist (had to google it!) I’m not under any specific label other than human.

I wasn’t purposely being wishywashy but it might have come across that way as I was trying to be logical, rational and non-personal.  But I am glad you have that comfort, I nearly typed “Ignorance is bliss” in the first post but tried to re-word it so it wasn’t offensive, apparently I didn’t succeed.  I am glad in the same way I’m happy for a child who finds comfort in the warm glow of a night light. 

bookofcowardice:

• The philosophers say “Oh I can only ask questions, not give answers”
• The writers say “Oh I can only ask questions, not give answers”
• The artists say “Art can only ask questions, not give answers”

Someone needs to be answering these existential questions! 

Science is limited by our incomplete knowledge of the universe. And logic can only take one so far.

Praise God I don’t have to rely on a cultural group in society for these answers. Praise God that he will answer my questions, and for those he will not answer, or I have yet to understand, I know I can put my trust in his sovereignty. It is so great to be a child of God. It is so great to know there is someone infinitely and unsurpassably more intelligent than me. 

No one /needs/ to answer those questions, simply accept that you’ll never know all the answers to all the questions and go about your day.   This /need/ for answers which you fill with ‘god’ like he’s some malleable putty in your mental gaps is why humans invented religion in the first place.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that you’ve found comfort.  I just get sad when I read young people being so closed off to the infinite possibilities of life, the universe and everything.

Hallo all,

I’m back-sorta!  I’ve been a bit absent from tumblr because I’ve been pretty depressed and not spending time on any websites.  I dunno what’s set it off but I’ve been hiding myself away and disappearing into fantasy worlds.  All my time has been spent either hiding in my bedroom with the Song of Ice and Fire books by GRRM or on Lord of the Rings Online game (anyone else play?).

Anyhoo, this was just an update of somesort, for anyone who’s interested :)

Here’s my take on this Oxford Comma phenomenon (di doo di doo doo!)

I’m from the UK and we definitely weren’t taught to use it.  We were taught that a comma denotes a pause in a sentence.  Simple.  Then we were taught that if you need to list items/people etc, that you would use a comma between each UNTIL the last two, where you would use an ‘and’.  That last ‘and’ is standing in for the pause the comma creates and also lets you know that the list is ending.

I’ve seen that stupid graphic going around with:

1. I had eggs, toast, and orange juice.
2. I had eggs, toast and orange juice.

Stating that the second option is clearly wrong because it conjures up an image of orange juice ON toast.  No.  Just, no.  Take for example:

1. I had toast, and orange juice.
2. I had toast and orange juice.

Which is correct here?  Hopefully it’s clearly the second option.  Which points neatly to the reasoning that the first two are always wrong.  Too, much, pausing, makes, you, sound, like, an, ass!

I get that a whole plethora of people have been taught this incorrectly but you’re all intelligent enough to use a computer, you managed to deal with a new version of tumblr, you’ll cope. :)

Prove it

   “I just don’t believe it, I’m sorry if that offends you. I’m not calling you a liar, I’m sure it’s very real for you.” I shrugged.

   “Well if you’re so sure nothing is going to happen there why not just go see her for yourself?” He suggested, spreading his hands palm upwards in a gesture that made it clear he thought I was the one being close minded.

   “Look, there is absolutely no reason for us to even be talking about this. For my own personal reasons I don’t want anything to do with that whole bag of werid. It’s not your job, responsibility or concern to try and change my mind and you shouldn’t be trying so hard. It’s pretty clear you have the problem here, not me. And just why are you so desperate to make this happen anyway?” I said, only a few shades quieter than a shout. He shrank slightly before me

   “I don’t.. I don’t remember when or why but I just know with all of my being that it’s incredibly important for you to go over there. Can’t you just do it to prove me wrong?” He said pleadingly.

I sighed deeply a few times, I’ve heard that you sigh to let more oxygen into your system, it’s a natural way of relaxing the body. Closing my eyes and letting the waves of stress flow off and away from me I slowly realised that I’d have to go. I’d just be putting off the inevitable for another day and while that wouldn’t bother me, it might destroy him mentally.

Dangerous knitting - a dream

I was approached by one of my knitting heros to make a few really tiny berets for dolls. She was producing a book about dolls clothing and had gathered many knitters together. We were all staying in Edinburgh and coming to this cool Wool/Coffee shop shop each day to “work”.

She was in the middle of renovating an old bank, one half was completed and open, it was really pretty and christmassy. But as tends to happen, even in the most exciting place, we all got a bit stir-crazy. A few of the blokes started talking about dares and it sounded like the perfect boredom relief. So ideas got tossed around and at first it was just silly things like “sneak into the other half of the bank, ring the bell then come back!”. There was a rather creepy feeling in there, it was all marble coldness, with various desks at different heights, almost what I’d imagine an exagerated courtroom to look like. But it was perfect for sending people to do dares as there was the old cctv system still fully functioning. We all gathered around it to watch the scene unfold.

This game kept getting bigger and bigger until we forgot our knitting and our responsibilities. We had been paid and put up in hotels to come in and work, not muck around! Obviously she had to start noticing at somepoint, that we were turning into idiots. One day we’d decided to all sneak through to the bank and see how high up the benches we could climb, the last one to touch the back wall and come back to the cctv monitor had to shave their head! We were all fair game and unfortunately I lost. I was devasted but putting on a brave front. She had decided to show us all who was boss though.

Everyone split up looking for something to scalp me with when the guy who’d suggested that dare found a katana in a back room of the bank. He picked it up and was about to come back through when a second figue appeared on the monitor. She walked slowly towards him, speaking so quietly I couldnt hear. Then there was a tussle, hands were flailing and grabbing, and when she backed away he was sitting in a pool of blood screaming at her. Calmly she turned and walked out the room saying “Shut up and wait for your coma quietly”, before locking him in.

Orange Glow

I had been stumbling around in the dark just behind a woman who I knew. The power had just gone off and we were searching for the fuse box which was just beside the exit. There were no windows down here and it was laid out like a shopping mall.  Different areas were fenced off and it had that slightly stale smell you find underground. After a while we kept seeing a sort of shadow closing doors ahead of us, it looked like someone else was wandering about, but we didnt shout so as not to wake the people huddled in the darkened rooms to either side of us. The shadowy figure seemed to be going the same way we were so we followed until we finally found the double doors leading to the outside, there was a strange orange glow coming from the two rectangular panes. Opening the heavy fireproof door very carefully and quietly, we slipped outside and walked up the stairs. At the top I stood in awe, struck silent as terror enveloped me.

The night sky was full of vapor trails lit up orange-red from fires in the distance. As I stood gaping at the scene a whistling whine screeched over head and a missile arced gracefully in our direction. A long way up it burst with a wave of noise and split into 8 different bombs that spidered their way to the ground.

The person that had been in front of us in the dark was on his knees, sobbing and heaving with a phone pressed to his ear. He heard us approaching and turned saying, “It’s North Korea, they’re destroying everything.”

- I woke up shivering and sweating from that dream and all that kept flashing through my mind was “Prophetic dream!! Prophetic dream!!”. Annoyingly, where I live there tends to be an orange glow from the street lights so I had a complete freak out once I was fully awake. 

I don’t know if these sorts of stories/dreams are well received on Tumblr or if it’s all TL;DR.  I usually have a couple per night though and I love sharing them, if anyone is interested in reading them.

(Source: pineapplelime)