I'm not saying religion may or may not have had an influence on him or anyone else throughout his/their lives.

What I am saying is that It sure had no influence on reality and the way that device works. It also didn't give him the knowledge or education necessary to know how to make that. In fact, quite the opposite. If he had TRULY, DEEPLY believed the bible (for example), he wouldn't even have tried. He would've simply tried to pray the blindness away, and believe that god would take care of things. And if it didn't... hey it's god's will. God works in mysterious ways right? Let's just wait to die and be carried to heaven.

But fortunately, at least from my perspective, most people (unlike religious extremists) don't actually believe. Not really. They WANT to believe. They believe they want to believe. But it goes no further than that. It's an act of fear of the unknown, grasping at anything that gives them hope that they won't simply go back into nothingness when we die.

Now, contrary to what you may think, I'm not "hating on people". I'm hating on religion. That is true. But I know how to keep that separate from the people. Shit, if I hated people because of that I would hate most of my family, they're pretty much all catholic.

You're saying science doesn't do anything by itself. You're right. It's not an object or a machine. It's a method. And thanks to it, great things have been achieved. Unlike religion. That's my point. You don't actually DO anything with religion except fill every possible void of knowledge with bullshit, expecting it to stick, even when it flies in the face of actual reality.

You said: "Meanwhile, religious people built much of what you enjoy today which utilises the scientific method as a starting point."

Just because they're religious doesn't mean religion had anything to do with it. What did, was the void of knowledge they felt, even though religion claimed the absolute truth; and the need for better lives, even though religion claimed to be the only way for a perfect life.

People didn't achieve anything with religion. If anything they noticed just how much void of knowledge there was that needed to be filled, and not with the answer: "god did it!".

You're religious I'm guessing... you didn't go into this field to try and help people because you're religious. You went to it because you're probably a good person who wants to help others, and also help advance mankind. None of that has anything to do with religion.

edit: sorry, long text

I don't necessarily disagree with you. My opinions, while oft contrarian, are really just open ended processes without judgement or declaration. They are hardly even opinions, as I almost always simultaneously believe and hold dear multiple conflicting ideas about particular subjects. An enlightened doublethink as it were. Everything is a theory worth pondering. Thanks Socrates. Thanks for making me not know anything.

Now while tenure certainly holds clout, it can also blind us to the moments in time which were shorter but sweeter than any of the fine tuned complexities of empire. The Internet as we know it, with youtube and Facebook, for example, may be the fixture but I'll always think kindly upon those early 90s, when it was the awkward but mysterious world wide web.

So, cool, yay for fixtures, but I'm a founders man, not a member of the club after its maturity. The Thomas Paine -- Cool, the revolution is over, now fuck yo couch. Where's the next one?

Other examples where the fixture isn't necessarily the only method to decide value by: Van Halen's prolific career versus that first, highly exceptional, fast and heavy album. Or the short but sweet years Ronnie James Dio or Glenn Huges sang for Black Sabbath -- Ozzy is the fixture, but those short moments of time where something strange and magical was created with other diverse geniuses, prior to or after the bread winners, those are the moments of fascination.

I love Jon Stewart but this ain't no thang. My interest was already piqued and held years ago, before him. He's great though and far better than a single television show.

While I cannot know what many experience - I have been the sitter for over 40 people. They tell me what they experience, when they come back their eyes say it all. They could never have imagined what had happened to them was possible. None of them had negative experiences. Though, for a strong "teaching" psychedelic like DMT a negative experience is not always "negative" there is a story to it. I should know, I would say that one of my "breakthrough" trips was the most terrifying experience I have ever had hands down. But, I learned from what that experience wanted me to experience and what I was taught has had long-lasting positive components in my life.

I think you are confusing DMT/ayahuasca with other psychedelics, salvia, mushrooms, LSD, MXE... etc etc. Show me ONE story where someone has committed suicide from taking DMT.

While, I would not say I am a drug riddled person, I almost never take them.
I have "experienced" substances out of curiosity. I've taken many different kinds and all of the big psychedelics, LSD, shrooms, mescaline a few times. I learned that the propaganda around these substances has no merit. Obviously, a person needs to take them seriously and with respect so that nothing goes awry. And no, DMT does not compare at all.

But,I am very well versed on the topic (DMT), I researched all of the negative/positive effects for about six years before I actually did it myself. I was very careful, since if you have ever read a decent trip report it sounds absolutely crazy. There is no way anything could take you to places like that, to meet creatures of a bizarre sort, it's just not possible I thought. Well, I found out, it's similiar to decent trip reports X 1,000,000. As Joe Rogan says - it's "mushrooms + aliens x 1,000,000". But, nothing in the human language(s) could ever prepare anyone for it and no one can express even 1% of what it is like.

I think you are over-exaggerating the negative effects while shunning the reality of what this molecule is, it is a mystery that can only be understood after having experienced it firsthand. It only lasts 5-10 minutes (2 million years) what are you waiting for?

It might "feel" like someone who's found god/religion but that comes down to brainwashing & propaganda. Just like the propaganda that is spread about drugs in general that are scheduled (that they are unhealthy and have no health benefits). The atheist trend is just a trend and everyone is going along with it. I'm not saying I believe in god but that things are a lot more complicated than that.

I commented because it's Richard Dawkins, who in my mind - has a position - one that I had for most of my life in fact. That really there is nothing that can't be explained. Sure, DMT affects the serotonin 5-HTA sites, who cares, It's messing with your brain. So, what? What the person experiences is really the only thing I have ever encountered that truly is a mystery. It opens up that dialog that, really, no one knows what the hell is going on in the Universe if such as strange thing is possible. And in my mind, that is incredible.

The Titanic's Metal Mysteries has been added as a related post - related requested by oritteropo.

Thank you, oh mysterious stranger meatbag!

I grew up exactly the opposite from your situation; I grew up in the secular world and I believed that it was the world, and that our understanding of the cosmos sufficiently explained the questions we had about life. Everything else was a wonderful mystery waiting to be discovered as we explored the worlds, inner and outer. I saw religion, and Christianity particularly, as backwards and ignorant, a sad relic of our more primitive past.

That all changed when I started to have supernatural experiences. I didn't believe in the supernatural at the time, and finding out that there was a spiritual reality blew my mind to say the least. I started exploring all of the different religions and beliefs out there, trying to make sense of it all, and basically just pieced together what I felt was different pieces of the truth from all of these differing ideas of reality.

It was then that I started to come to the realization that there is a God. He opened my eyes to see the ways He was, and always had been, shaping my life. He showed me His personal love, for me. I began to follow Him and He led me, after showing me many different things, to the bible. He confirmed it to me as His book and confirmed to me that Jesus is the Savior of the world. I never would have come to that conclusion on my own in a million years. Even when I knew there was a God, the last thing I thought was that He was the God of Christianity.

I went through a similar process to you; I had to integrate an entirely different way of seeing the world, and let go of the artifices that had been constructed in me since a young age. God set me free to be myself, the person He created me to be. He has made me into a new person, and I experience His love, help and guidance every single day of my life.

I'm sorry you were indoctrinated as a child. You never experienced the truth of John 3:3. That's why it all seems like a sham to you fed by ignorant people who were themselves indoctrinated. The Holy Spirit has to make you a new person, and that never happened to you. It is actually the best thing that could have happened because if you had stayed the way you were, you would have died thinking you were saved when you weren't. Now, you know you aren't a Christian which opens the door much wider for God to do an amazing thing in your life. I just want you to know that He loves you. Ask Him to reveal Himself to you. God bless.

Upvote for Clint Cuntwood.

Reminds me of Beefsteak Slackjaw, Punch McFisterson etc

(mysterious link to nowhere)

TOP TEN REASONS

1) Small pot

2) Small kids that slurp longer pieces

3) Awesome snappy noise and stuff'

4) Me strong like Hulk prove by smashing spaghettis smash smash

5) Visualizing your mean annoying boss's neck while twisting crick crack shatter

6) Teaching child division and/or fractions

7) Having less sophisticated in-law over who would otherwise maul linguini with multiple passes of a knife before eating

8 ) Telling parable of "united we stand divided we fall" to less patriotic younger generation representatives, and needed a prop.

9) Secretly mad at spouse and prepping mysterious "I don't know how all those spaghettini shards on the floor happened but it's your time to sweep here's the broom" petty vengeance

10) Destroying stuff is fun.

Congratulations! Your video, The Mysterious Floating Orb by Weird Al, has reached the #1 spot in the current Top 15 New Videos listing. This is a very difficult thing to accomplish but you managed to pull it off. For your contribution you have been awarded 2 Power Points.

This achievement has earned you your "Golden One" Level 15 Badge!

Your video, The Mysterious Floating Orb by Weird Al, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

yeah it's a real mystery lol
he just happened upon the only vid on that yt account within 2 hours of creation and decided to share it with us.
lol, yeah ok

No mention of the mysterious "sleepy incense" that instantly puts all animals into a coma?.. all animals except humans that is.
C'mon... you can do better than 131.

Ok, to quickly clear up some controversy here:

There was a photo quality print of jellybeans lining the inside of the jar. So it looked like a full jar of jellybeans from the outside. BUT, there were only FIVE actual jellybeans on the inside! Pretty clever imo.

The card trick thing is still kind of a mystery though.

@BicycleRepairMan
i do not understand what you are arguing against.
you could have stuck with "no" and that would have sufficed,but you went off on a tirade about religion that had very little to do with what NDT was attempting to convey.

simply put:keep science and religion distinctively separate.that you could BE a scientist and still be a religious person.

he didnt get into the details because (and i am assuming here) he is full aware of the complexities of ones personal beliefs,religion being only a single facet.

to say religion has not produced a single novel or new idea,totally ignores the massive contributions in regards to:philosophy,math,astrology,physics.the list is pretty extensive.

you appear,and please correct me if i am wrong,to pigeon hole anybody who claims a religion as being a fundamentalist.this is not only staggeringly inaccurate but reveals a massive lack of understanding.

which is why NDT didnt even mention the fundamentalist,because the chances of a fundamentalist being a scientist hovers around 0%.

so why are you making an argument against fundamentalism when NDT did not even proceed from that assertion?

why do you care if a scientist also happens to hold a religious or spiritual philosophy?
are you suggesting that a scientist who DOES hold to these philosophies can no longer function properly as a scientist?

has it ever occurred to you that an intelligent person may hold a religious philosophy and keep that philosophy separate from their work?

or considered that a religious person may actually view their work as the continuing study of god/creator/universal consciousness? that by unraveling the mysteries of the known physical universe is their way of revealing god?there is a certain poetry to seeking and attempting to understand the mysteries of the universe.

i am totally with you in regards to fundamentalism,which brings a stagnation to the inquisitive mind and hampers the desire to know and seek those answers.the fundamentalist externalizes those questions in the form of scripture and in the process..stops asking the questions.

but to suggest that anybody who adheres to a religious or spiritual philosophy is somehow a fundamentalist,and therefore unworthy of consideration,is just plain inaccurate.