I don't like the stuff they do with fast-food. But the "TurbaconEpic Thanksgiving" was well... epic. And not in the new-age internet sense. I mean it truly, truly was skillful, innovative, Greek tragedy-style EPIC.

Also, people who put ketchup or any sort of BBQ sauce on meatloaf should be burned alive and served to me as ketchup-free meatloaf with gravy and mashed potatoes.

Feelings come and go..if it was just feelings I wouldn't have the faith in God that I do..there were many times it would have been much easier not to believe..and many feelings that came along that were powerful and should have swept my belief in God away if that's all my faith was about..but God has always been there, eternal and unchanging..providing stability in the midst of the chaos..providing truth that is real and tangibly useful in life.

It depends on what you think the nature of truth is..whether it is relative or absolute to you..because in the relative truth world, feelings are king..you are always running a race you can never win. in the world of absolute truth, feelings are like shifting sand..they aren't a foundation for what is real..you must plant yourself on a rock to be well grounded

In reply to this comment by Crunchy:
>> ^shinyblurry:

Well, if I am psychotic I don't have any symptoms. I don't have hallucinations or hear voices, nor am I at all paranoid. My thoughts and feelings are organized and stable. I obey all laws, those of society and those from God. I have empathy for others, compassion for their plights, and generally love and care for my fellow man. I am emotionally stable and can relate to others and form relationships. If I am psychotic, I am the rare well adjusted empathetic type.
My initial experience opened me to an awareness of the spiritual. It started out as an awareness of energy. That in the moment, one could perceive the energy which was flowing through all things. Through other people, through objects, through the room or space you are in..that there was a tangible vibrational signature to everything. This is somewhat described in much of the new age literature.
After getting used to this, God unequivicably showed me He was there. He did this by instructing me in the Spirit about who He is. He showed me how He had always been there my entire life, and that He loved me. He showed me His omnipresence in the moment, that He was always working behind the scenes to bring all things together to His will..and by all things I mean everything, everywhere. He showed me He was the unifying principle underlying reality.
He also taught me He is the God of the bible. He taught me He is a triune God. He taught me there is a messiash, ie, someone whose job it is to save the world. He taught me about good and evil. He showed me that Satan is real and that he has a host of demons which suborindate people to his will and can even possess them utterly. That and many other things before I even knew anything about Christianity.
I couldn't ignore God if I tried..it would be a joke. I would have to pretend He didn't exist. Even still, all I would have to do is look outside and the illusion would be shattered. It is true what this scripture says:
Romans 1:20
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
So that's a little bit about it. The most important thing I learned is that God loves us and wants to give us a real future, ie eternal life. All he requires is that we turn from our evil and acknowledge our responsibility to Him to live a moral life. Two things make someone a Christian and saves you..believing in your heart that Jesus rose from the dead, and confessing that He is your Lord and Savior. He died for our sins so that we could be redeemed, and because of that, is worthy of all praise.

<em>>> <a rel="nofollow" href='http://videosift.com/member/shinyblurry#comment-1231303'>^Crunchy</a>:<br />Hi, big fan... Ive seen your comments on some sifts and well... they've been interesting and when reading your profile i came across this <BR><BR>"10 years ago I was where you are now. I've was agnostic for the majority of my life. I thought truth was relative, humanism was superior, and was a strict materialist who saw no evidence for spirit or God. Then God woke me up and showed me He is there. God is more real to me than my own reflection in a mirror. I'm here because God commanded me to preach the gospel, and because I care about my fellow man. I am here out of love for God and love for people, and that alone. "<BR><BR>What scared me is that you say that you've been "one of us" and then god appeared and gave commands directly to you, point being you experienced something supernatural.<BR><BR>Now my first reaction was, oh god i hope i dont become bat shit and experience "supernatural" things one day, which seemd plausible since you said you've been one of us.<BR><BR>But then i remembered what i know about the human mind and psychosis. When a person is in a psychosis he/she is deemd mentally insane and has lost contact with reality. "Funny" thing is though, that the person is not aware of it, and so does not feel that there is anything wrong with him/her and might get frustrated about why people think he/she is insane.<BR><BR>Now there are alot of things that can create a psychosis but im not gonna start listing, if youre interested you can google it.<BR><BR>There are no hard lines when it comes to the human mind, theres no 100% insane or 100% sane, everyone have most of the mental illneses to some small extent. And we can witness symptoms of these diseases in most people to some extent. (Denial<BR><BR>The mind is a tricky thing, it has lots of funny defence mechanisms (you guessed it, psychosis), and if you dont know enough of your brain and how it functions, it can royally screw you over one day.<BR><BR>So... to me it sounds like you've experienced something traumatic and suffer from a psychosis, I am however interested in hearing about what turned you religious, how did god wake you up and show you that he is there, and i notice you write he with a capital H so why is he a he <IMG class=smiley src="http://cdn.videosift.com/cdm/emoticon/tongue.gif"><BR><BR>Im sorry to say but if you dont tell me more about your experience, in other words convince me that what you experienced wasnt a mental brakedown, im gonna continue believing that youre bat shit and ignore you<BR><BR>You can always argue that im the one who is psychotic, but then you cant convince my because im in denial<BR></em>


The thing is that emotions are much stronger in controlling trains of thought than logic, why is why depressesion is so common and when in a depression you think of only sad things, which is why medication is prescribed, its not to make people numb (which alot of people seem to think) but to ease the pain temporarily so the person can think logically and not in the same trains of thoughts. And from my point of view it seems like you've confused emotions and mechanisms of your brain with the presence of a god (stephen fry talked a bit about this in the infamous stephen fry on god and gods video didn't he ?)

Now that is my opinion, ive created that from the experience and "knowledge" ive gathered in my lifetime regarding the human mind, philosophy and religion etc. Its gonna take alot to change my view on this, and I think it might be even harder to change your view of what really happend and what is going on, with the god and what not.

So, I guess we can just agree to disagree?

I think you're looking for the word "empathy" when writing REspect.

>>> That's correct. REspect is the treatment resulting from empathy.

1) Strawman attack. Nothing in the letter suggests what you're accusing it of.

>>> The Bozo in question wrote, "I have nothing but contempt for you (the religious)." Therefore I would not expect REspect or empathy from such an individual. He's set himself up as an enemy, needlessly, I might add. Look at all the angry responses here. Probably what he was after.

2) Atheists are smarter than religious people within the domains mentioned.

>>> What "domains" are we considering? Science? Famous Scientists Who Believed in God There are plenty of dumb atheists as well as dumb religious people. There are also atheists who have not a whit of curiosity about the universe.

3)You have two points here that have nothing to do one with the other.

They're close cousins.

First: most religions (including the worst of the lot, i.e. the Abrahamic monotheisms) do exclude all other religions.

Bozo said "you realize all the OTHER religions are wrong" in blanket condemnation.

The farther one moves from this exclusivity, the closer one gets to a religion being a philosophy (e.g. Buddhism, Jainism), or woo (e.g. New Age).

You forget Hinduism, a dynamic, evolving faith older then Christianity, with billions of gods. It accepts other paths as legit. But even as Hinduism is weighted down with a caste system, Christianity has broken barriers around the world across all nations and races and even within itself.

Second: “Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you’d have good people doing good things and evil people doing bad things, but for good people to do bad things, it takes religion.” ~ Steven Weinberg

Weinberg needs to read up on communism, a much more potent enemy of human dignity and worth. Communist countries are run by a--holes who believe they are the only true gods. Religion can be abusive, insulting and dehumanizing in the wrong hands, just like politics and language. However, there is no atheist tradition declaring 'All life has value.' Einstein once said 'Either everything is a miracle or nothing is.' The lack of sanctity endemic to atheism places it on the side of nothing being miraculous. It doesn't mean atheists are bad people, it means they have no reference outside of their own feelings, which leads us to...

4) Care to explain how atheism is delusional?

I said the atheist is delusional, not atheism, and I'm not referring to what atheists think of deities at all.

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it? This means you and I can rationalize anything at any time. We lie to ourselves ALL THE TIME to preserve our own egos and pride, with a subconscious dominantly seeking pleasure or avoiding pain. A single human is not even a unified consciousness but a collection of competing desires and savage impulses. It's a miracle in itself that anyone ever stops to look outside of themselves.

The atheist has as much right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as anyone else, but I'm still siding with Ben Franklin: If Men are so wicked as we now see them with Religion what would they be if without it?

@quantumushroom

I think you're looking for the word "empathy" when writing REspect.

1) Strawman attack. Nothing in the letter suggests what you're accusing it of.

2) No, replace "religion" with "white supremacy" (or any other form of stupid ideology) and the conclusions remain the same, without the speaker being an idiot. Atheists are smarter than religious people within the domains mentioned.

3)You have two points here that have nothing to do one with the other. First: most religions (including the worst of the lot, i.e. the Abrahamic monotheisms) do exclude all other religions. The farther one moves from this exclusivity, the closer one gets to a religion being a philosophy (e.g. Buddhism, Jainism), or woo (e.g. New Age).
Second: “Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you’d have good people doing good things and evil people doing bad things, but for good people to do bad things, it takes religion.” ~ Steven Weinberg

4) Care to explain how atheism is delusional?

Hey, no worries. I just read (and responded to) it. I think you should take me up on the offer, I'm totally serious.

In reply to this comment by enoch:
hey bud.
i responded to your comment.
no ill intentions in my post regarding you.
we have already talked at length and i totally understand the whole "spiritual/new-age" stuff is not your bag.
but i felt it prudent to address some things you brought up concerning the mental health industry that has always gave me fits.
so i thank you for giving me that vehicle(your words basically) and i didnt use one new age term or any jargon in my entire post.
my gift to you.(ok..now im just being a sarcastic dickwad).
anyways..just know my response was not an attack or a slight towards you at all.
much respect.
namaste.

hey bud.
i responded to your comment.
no ill intentions in my post regarding you.
we have already talked at length and i totally understand the whole "spiritual/new-age" stuff is not your bag.
but i felt it prudent to address some things you brought up concerning the mental health industry that has always gave me fits.
so i thank you for giving me that vehicle(your words basically) and i didnt use one new age term or any jargon in my entire post.
my gift to you.(ok..now im just being a sarcastic dickwad).
anyways..just know my response was not an attack or a slight towards you at all.
much respect.
namaste.

if you already discount the spirit as being non-existent and have never experienced the mental health system then this video will really not hold anything of interest for you.

i find this young mans approach to dealing with mental illness a very humanistic one and while you may feel the numbers may be fudged to make his point...big deal.are you denying the RAMPANT diagnosis in the industrialized world concerning bi-polar?panic-anxiety? this list is becoming LEGION..everyone seems to be all fucked sideways mentally.
and the answer to all this mental health calamity is?........
medicate baby!!
create a society of utter zombies.

and who doesn't take favorable numbers or statistics to make their argument?
or base a philosophy partially on the words and teachings of another?
ken wilbur practically stole from teilhard de chardin and so what of it...not a big deal.

bi-polar is just failed indoctrination manifesting itself as a polarized polemic of what we have been taught how we are SUPPOSED to be and NOT who we actually are.
there are many ways to deal with this.
some self-medicate,others are medicated and then there are those that choose the path this man chose.

i do not agree with everything this young man put forth but i do agree with the humanistic approach:
know what you want.
to do that you have to know who you are and to do THAT you have to have the courage to look at yourself clearly,openly and honestly (much harder than it sounds).
this is when you realize that maybe...just maybe..you were living your life not according to what YOU wanted but rather what OTHERS wanted for you (mom,dad,grandma,girlfriend..you get the idea).
does this solve everything?
of course not but it is a good place to start and notice not one mention of spirit nor any new age jargon.

now self-medication and prescribed medication to me are just band aids without addressing the real problem and BOTH have long lasting side effects that are not of the positive kind.
i dont need to list those do i?

see what im saying here?
i see you tearing apart somebody elses work but did not see you post any solutions.
i mean look at this one line in your post:
"At the beginning, he posses the question, why can't mainstream psychology and psychiatry heal bi-polar disorder. The answer is because we don't understand exactly what it is, just that it tends to happen."
you wrote that and it didnt give you pause for a second?
they over-diagnose something that they dont know what it really is.
how the fuck can you ever be expected to heal something you dont really know anything about but the REAL question is:why the fuck are you even diagnosing people with something you dont really know anything about?

am i the only one seeing insanity all over that?
thats just fucking crazy.

This is an elaborate ploy to get new-age hippie poon'

From youtube
Category:
Education
Tags:
share the air brand promotion pitch pitching discussion environment health medicine venture capital new age fund raising fundraising sell selling sales marketing business jar jars club silicon spiral hippy professional vcfc valley moon director directed dan carlson hdslr vslr canon audience nitrogen water serious crystals science hippies everest oxygen atlantis presentation energy

I notice in particular the "serious" tag.
Either Tragic - or Trolling.

http://www.spiralmoon.com/moreAbtUs.aspx
this company is linked to this Youtube post as well

I really hope she is trolling - this is worse than bottled water - jar of air. Only interested if I can get the air from...An Airhead.

EDIT:
http://www.businessinsider.com/this-20-something-girl-asked-silicon-valley-investors-for-500000-to-bottle-up-air-and-sell-it-2011-3
oh shit, might be real.
http://www.businessinsider.com/9-ridiculous-ideas-that-made-people-ridiculously-rich-2011-3#pet-rock-1
Then again, Spiralmoon is a marketing company so it could be a phony attempt at going viral

Exactly. Deepak's argument is nothing more than a sound bite based on a flimsy premise. I think this guy exposed exactly how flimsy Chopra's premise is. Deepak should have worded his argument more carefully. It may not be as catchy and compact as his original argument, but hey, neither are life's complexities. Let him defend himself; don't do the job for him.

Why does anyone here want to give this 'new age' spirituality and alternative medicine pusher the benefit of the doubt anyway? Screw him. >> ^bcglorf:

The sad part is that the guy probably thinks he totally demolished his entire argument when he really just got a nice play on words in.
Deepak's argument was "all belief is a cover up for insecurity". If he doesn't really mean ALL belief, his argument is really just a nice play on words. So, I would say the speaker really did demolish the entire argument, since the entire argument was nothing more than a play on words itself.

I'm excited that with the last decade of almost total information exchange, we'll be able to sift through the crap a little more. Long before 9/11 conspiracy theories and "new age" philosophies abounded, but I think that the last decade might just be the beginning of a time when we really give credence to the "quacks" out there who just might be onto something, and call out the assholes and the bullshitters for what they really are. Of course, most people are assholes and bullshitters so I know there will never be an end. I just like the idea that it might be, just maybe a little bit harder to lie to everyone.

I guess I have to be the new-age hippy asshole and say that this is not very pleasant to watch. Bugs really are animals too, and it's obvious most of these creatures probably died after getting pummeled by sticky glop.

Upvote for the good background music and michio kaku, as for the things being said: new age bullsh## (my humble opinion)

God of the Gaps is a pretty easy concept. It's seeing god wherever we cannot explain something yet.

If you look at the history of science, you can see how science have advanced into different areas and god has receded back into the remaining gaps of knowledge. As long as there are unknowns, I fear that some people will see god in them.

>> ^marinara:

>> ^gwiz665:
All the new age stuff is basically just another god of the gaps. Explaining something by making it overly complex and mysterious and using words from science (like quantum... oooh) in wrong ways.

"If you could see the body as it truly is"
We do. We do not see every detail, like we only see a tiny sliver of the universe from our small perspective. We are seeing it from a perspective, that doesn't make the perspective any less true. Dawkins calls it "the middle world". We see what is needed for our survival.

interesting. now I have something to think on. And I'll have to google god of gaps, i've seen that phrase a couple times now don't know what it means.

>> ^gwiz665:

All the new age stuff is basically just another god of the gaps. Explaining something by making it overly complex and mysterious and using words from science (like quantum... oooh) in wrong ways.

"If you could see the body as it truly is"
We do. We do not see every detail, like we only see a tiny sliver of the universe from our small perspective. We are seeing it from a perspective, that doesn't make the perspective any less true. Dawkins calls it "the middle world". We see what is needed for our survival.


interesting. now I have something to think on. And I'll have to google god of gaps, i've seen that phrase a couple times now don't know what it means.