If only you could see time the way I do...

I see what you mean, but I must disagree. Atheism does not base itself on "I know" but rather "I don't know", this basic humility is not present in religions, because they indeed say "I know". Agnostic is a bad word, because it elevates every crack-pot theory higher than it should. I'm certainly not agnostic about the Celestial Teapot, fairies or cockatrices, but like with, let's say the Christian God, I technically have to be. The way I say I'm an atheist is, "as long as no evidence is produced to the contrary, I believe that there is no God". Like another poster in the post said, it is often intellectual cowardice to say you are an agnostic, because you don't want to offend (or what have you).

I am arrogant about my atheism, because I cannot see how anyone can look at the world and come to a theistic conclusion. I think it is hiding the truth, and truth is more important than comfort.

It is an entirely different beast to talk about organized dogma and such - that's just pure control of the masses = evil, in my book and I think that is much more apparent, even to many believers. I usually "attack" Faith instead of organized Religion, because I think that faith underpins the great chains of the big religions. If the truth comes out, it will shatter the chains and only man is left. Most chains are self-inflicted, however, and if I can make people realize they are there, they will lose their power and people will be free.

That is why we fight.^TM

In reply to this comment by enoch:
In reply to this comment by gwiz665:
would the fact i am a man a faith color or cloud my theories and conclusions in your eyes?
could you still be objective about my work knowing i had a belief system entirely different from your own?

Yes and yes. Luckily the scientific method will weed out your theories if they are biased by your belief system. If your theories are biased every time, you will not be a successful scientist.

i agree,very much so.
did you find the context of my comment inconsiderate?
i find myself battling two fronts on issues of religion and atheism.
and both seem to be convinced of their self-righteousness.
i find it tiresome when so many make assumptions based on their own perceptions.
the arrogance of these assumptions piss me off.
from both sides.
one is convinced i am going to burn in hell,the other is convinced they know what i am all about..based on? nothing.
i have never attempted to coerce,convince or convert anybody.not here on the sift,nor anywhere for that matter.
why is agnostic such a bad word to atheists?
hell..i think we all are agnostic to a certain degree.
it just means not-knowing.that while we can have certitude in some things,there are some we just dont know.
not yet at least.
but i find it incredibly exciting that we may know,and to even just ponder that possibility is...well..awesome.
i have no problem with atheists,not like i do fundamentalists,but to be so arrogant to think you know everything just rubs me the wrong way.
it shows a total lack of intellectual curiosity and humility in the face of something that is unknowable.
the more we learn,the more we find out there is so much more to learn.
that discussion cant happen if everyone is convinced they know it all.
well..i dont know it all,and i find the journey to find out the mysteries of life quite exhilarating.
thanks man..just had to get that off my chest.
and i didnt want to offend some tender sensibilities of some people here.
atheism? have at it.arrogant certitude?
yeah..i might call ya on that.
not you of course,because you are blue and can manipulate time and space.

In reply to this comment by gwiz665:
would the fact i am a man a faith color or cloud my theories and conclusions in your eyes?
could you still be objective about my work knowing i had a belief system entirely different from your own?

Yes and yes. Luckily the scientific method will weed out your theories if they are biased by your belief system. If your theories are biased every time, you will not be a successful scientist.

i agree,very much so.
did you find the context of my comment inconsiderate?
i find myself battling two fronts on issues of religion and atheism.
and both seem to be convinced of their self-righteousness.
i find it tiresome when so many make assumptions based on their own perceptions.
the arrogance of these assumptions piss me off.
from both sides.
one is convinced i am going to burn in hell,the other is convinced they know what i am all about..based on? nothing.
i have never attempted to coerce,convince or convert anybody.not here on the sift,nor anywhere for that matter.
why is agnostic such a bad word to atheists?
hell..i think we all are agnostic to a certain degree.
it just means not-knowing.that while we can have certitude in some things,there are some we just dont know.
not yet at least.
but i find it incredibly exciting that we may know,and to even just ponder that possibility is...well..awesome.
i have no problem with atheists,not like i do fundamentalists,but to be so arrogant to think you know everything just rubs me the wrong way.
it shows a total lack of intellectual curiosity and humility in the face of something that is unknowable.
the more we learn,the more we find out there is so much more to learn.
that discussion cant happen if everyone is convinced they know it all.
well..i dont know it all,and i find the journey to find out the mysteries of life quite exhilarating.
thanks man..just had to get that off my chest.
and i didnt want to offend some tender sensibilities of some people here.
atheism? have at it.arrogant certitude?
yeah..i might call ya on that.
not you of course,because you are blue and can manipulate time and space.

It's tough to choose, because they each have individual properties that are better than the others. Some of them are good as films and a good exhilarating experience, which does not stimulate the intellect. While others are good sci-fi which are thought provoking, but are not as entertaining as films.

>> ^silvercord:
From Wikipedia:
Denver "wrote this song in about ten-and-a-half minutes one day on a ski lift" to the top of Bell Mountain in Aspen, Colorado as the physical exhilaration of having "just skied down a very difficult run" and the feeling of total immersion in the beauty of the colors and sounds that filled all senses inspired him to think about his wife.
It's amazing to think how enduring that short 10 1/2 minutes has been.


Just about long enough to smoke a bowl.

God love ya, brother John.

You obviously have no appreciation for the fine arts. The rapid tempo changes combined with the provocatively bland sounds make for a short yet exhilarating piece of avant-garde that follows in the footsteps of John Cage while still staking out its own course into unchartered territory.

Nah, I'm fooling myself. This is *terrible.

From Wikipedia:

Denver "wrote this song in about ten-and-a-half minutes one day on a ski lift" to the top of Bell Mountain in Aspen, Colorado as the physical exhilaration of having "just skied down a very difficult run" and the feeling of total immersion in the beauty of the colors and sounds that filled all senses inspired him to think about his wife.

It's amazing to think how enduring that short 10 1/2 minutes has been.

Ahh, good ol' Spencer Tunick. My then girlfriend (now wife) and I did this same thing for him in Melbourne Australia in, erm, 2001? I think it was. In any case, we got there pre-dawn, and it rained right up until we had to lie down on the freezing, waterlogged road.

But it was a superb experience, which I would recommend to everyone, freeing and exhilarating, great stuff.

^ sort of like finding the Holodeck control panel, eh? What a simultaneously frightening and exhilarating experience that might be.

The art is nice.
As for silvercord's comments.. I'm surprised that you think that Bjork's music sounds condescendingly bored. I think that one of the major, if not the main, theme expressed in her music (and singing style) is the exhilaration she feels from being alive.

I'm sure taking care of this "asshat" in the hospital for no compensation was "exhilarating"...

Upvote for great justice. Indeed, deadpan humor is a lost art. What's more exhilarating is the fact that people have lost the ability to laugh at themselves, and uptight bitches like Paris need to get over themselves.

Graceful, exhilarating, bit of body/mind, self-dosing, adrenalization.....not too much more dangerous than being born on Earth........Looks incredibly fun and nut-shrinkingly terrifying.....

Not as exhilarating as one of their live performances, but excellent.

what benjee and ladybug said. Oh yeah, nickyP too. My guess is that JesusChristChang also goes by "jozeph."

Anyway jc, If you gaze haphazardly at almost any work of philosophy or even texts from other faiths for a moment, you may realize that there can be moral thought without Christianity or even without Richard Dawkins.

"We are all co-authors of this dancing exuberance, where even our inabilities are having a roast! We are the authors of ourselves, co-authoring a gigantic Dostoevsky novel starring clowns!
This entire thing we’re involved with called the world, is an opportunity to exhibit how exciting alienation can be.

Life is a matter of a miracle, that is collected over time by moments flabbergasted to be in each others’ presence.
The world is an exam, to see if we can rise into the direct experiences. Our eyesight is here as a test to see if we can see beyond it, matter is here as a test for our curiosity, doubt is here as an exam for our vitality.

Thomas Mann wrote that he would rather participate in life than write a hundred stories. Giacometti was once run down by a car, and he recalled falling in to a lucid faint, a sudden exhilaration, as he realized at last, something was happening to him.

An assumption develops that you can not understand life and live life simultaneously. I do not agree entirely, which is to say I do not exactly disagree. I would say, that life understood is life lived. But the paradoxes bug me. And I can learn to love, and make love to the paradoxes that bug me. And on really romantic evenings of Self, I go salsa dancing with my confusion."

-- Speed Levitch