Tagged: COLLEGE LIKE MARK AND WARDO

The First Reply in “God Week” in my Philosophy Class

So this week in my philosophy class is “spiritual reality” which basically translates to God Week. So far, it’s going amazingly. It’s safe to say that I am the only atheist in my class. Super.

My original post:

OPTION ONE POSTING TITLE: “GOD’S EXISTENCE” Pick one of the arguments for God, give a quote related to that argument, and then reasons you agree or disagree.

“This most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being.”
― Isaac Newton

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/232391

Reason 1: The Universe is not “beautiful” or “orderly”. It was not “created” to hold life at all; it in fact prohibits it. We are currently spiralling towards another galaxy, making a collision with a supernova inevitable. Our solar system is filled with comets and asteroids streaking across it, not to mention the fact that we cannot breathe in space.
Reason 2: There is no “intelligent design”; there is, as Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson puts it, stupid design. The fact that we were created with a singular hole for breathing and eating is ridiculous, and ensures that a percentage of us will die every year just by choking. Dolphins actually have two separate holes for breathing and eating, and they’re mammals; that system is much “smarter”, if you will.
Reason 3: There may be “beautiful” or “intelligent” things in the Universe, but that does not mean that there are only those. For every beautiful thing, there are multitudes of horrible, life-killing, grotesque things that prove that the Universe was not created for humanity or any other form of life.
Reason 4: Even if the Universe was “beautiful”, that does not mean there had to be something that created it or designed it.

In conclusion, the theory of intelligent design is a fallacy, reasoned with illogical arguments. Why must there be a creator of the Universe?

The video of Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4238NN8HMgQ

This guy’s post that I replied to:

OPTION ONE POSTING TITLE: “GOD’S EXISTENCE” Pick one of the arguments for God, give a quote related to that argument, and then reasons you agree or disagree
“I have concluded the evident existence of God, and that my existence depends entirely on God in all the moments of my life, that I do not think that the human spirit may know anything with greater evidence and certitude.” – René Descartes
A.) If all things come from previous events then what was the first event. It is unclear to us what this first event is but its safe to say that it was the creation of man. The task of creating man could only be done by one himself god.
B.) A soul is immortal then where do the souls go.. to the keeper of souls god. The insight to what god has created is still his own in the after life.
C.) Man is obviously molded after a pattern. features and the basic structure of all man is the same. the mold was god. we are created in his image.
In conclusion it is my thinking to say that there is a god among us. Someone created man and someone had to create the casual laws of the universe. With out god none of our world not even a little bit would exist. My question for you is that of god, we came and our world came from god but where did god come from?

And my reply:

I disagree with your philosophy for a number of reasons.
Reason 1: If all things do come from previous events, it is not a sufficient answer to say that the previous event was God, exactly because of your question. If we can conceive of God always existing, or not needing a cause, then we can also logically conceive of a universe that has always existed and does not need a cause.
Reason 2: What is the evidence you have obtained that makes you say the soul is immortal? I have not found any evidence saying either way.
Reason 3: Man is, in fact, molded after a pattern, but that pattern is a consequence of millions of years of evolution.
Reason 4: Science has proven over and over that man was not the first creation, not even a little. The first form of life was single-cell organisms trillions of years ago.

Why did someone have to create the causal laws of the universe?

This week is going to be so awesome.

-All

“Spring Break”

I’m technically on Spring Break this week. I say technically because the school says I am, but I have shit due this week in fucking English. A 200-point 1000-word paper, a 100-point annotated bibliography, and a 50-point presentation (PowerPoint). Have I mentioned that I do not like my professor? I might even fucking hate her.

Thursday we’re going up to see Jim Gaffigan in KC. That’s right. Saturday we’re going down to West Plains to see my grandfather. Tomorrow I work during the day. I don’t think I have as much time as I think I do to finish my goddamn homework. Have I been working hard on it, though? Nope. Not even a little. I am fucked.

-All

#nowplaying- Juli, Juli, Juli.
#nowwatching- Pretty Little Liars season finale! Oh my god. #whoisA #Ezriagoespublic #somuchexcitement #nerdyovershitshows #SecretLifestartsnextweek #whyamIusingthesethisisnottwitter
#nowreading- fuck you.
#mood- awesome. Yeah.

Days Four through Ten of Meditating

2 February 2012, day four:

I’ve been so busy with other homework and things to do today that I almost forgot to meditate. My mother’s boyfriend came down today to spend the night, so that knocked me off schedule. That’s why I meditated so late.

I didn’t want to meditate necessarily, because it’s hard for me to take a few minutes to just sit and “do nothing” when I have all the homework I need to do. I took my jewelry off, set the towel on the floor, set my iPod alarm for fifteen minutes, and started. A few minutes in, I realized that I still need to do the brainstorm peer conference report, which I haven’t done, so that distracted me. A few minutes after that, I remembered I was going to put on music this time, so I grabbed my iPod and put Nine Inch Nails on. After that, it was a breeze. At one point, I could only feel my hands on my knees; that was the only thing grounding me in the “physical” world.

I had an anxiety attack in the middle of it, actually, about going to work for my first day on Saturday. I focused on what I was doing, which was meditating, calming, and that helped. For some reason, I remember this sweeping motion, similar to Tevye’s gesture in Fiddler on the Roof when he was singing If I Were a Rich Man, sweeping up everything, including my anxiety, and rolling it in a ball, and kind of cradling it, or something. It was very soothing. (Also, the lyrics when he did that gesture were “there would be one long staircase just going up, and one even longer coming down”.)

I thought about “the bigger picture”, which to me is the Universe. It humbles me, and brings me to a further awareness, to think that I live on a rock orbiting a star in this vast Universe. It puts everything in perspective.

Tomorrow, I’ll do something different, something I want to do, so I’m excited about meditating. Today I wasn’t all excited.