thoughts of the day

...

...............the nature of man and the nature of god...

The Nature of Man

1. Is man basically good, basically bad, or neither?

I believe that the human race as a whole has basically a negative attitude, does basically stupid/cruel things, and is therefore basically bad. If you examine the events of one individual, you will most likely see that they are basically good, though. No one tries to be a "bad" person, but if you look at humanity as a whole, they are a bad and destructive force, especially while working in large groups. People suck, but persons can be your friends, your families, yourself.

2. What determines whether a person is a "good" person or a "bad" person?

I think that the majority of persons are "good." Most persons try to do things for other people, acts of charity, be kind to other people; but there are a select few who don't, or the harmful things they inflict on other people greatly outweigh the good. These select few "bad" people are those who honestly do not care about other people at all, or even worse inflict pain upon others for their own personal pleasure. Even then, in some circumstances where the only way they can ever feel happy is by doing these bad things, are they truly bad people? If the only way to reach any form of happiness was for you to hurt someone, emotionally or physically, are you a truly bad person? I think that there will always be some justification for why people do bad things, and although some of the reasons aren't very good, they will most likely suffice. If you examine the events and whole of any one person's life, I do believe you will find them to be a "good" person, there is always room to forgive, and we all make mistakes some larger than others. This isn't an excuse to kill anyone, but there is always room for forgiveness, though I do believe in the death penalty. Aren't I little Miss Hypocrite? Oh, well. On the other hand, I do think that if you examine the human race as a whole, you will find them to be a bad lot.

3. What is man's purpose in life?

I don't believe that man was "put" on this earth for any particular reason, but there are things we can do to further our race and our planet. Using myself as an example, I think that evolution has formed unhappy and poetic/philosophetic people like myself to further evolution itself and technology. I am not supposed to be happy with the world, if I were, why would I want to change and further it? By being unhappy with it, I am going to change it. That is what my genetic flaw (is it really a flaw?), unhappiness or unrest, was designed to do. Another example could be the people who stead-fastedly believe in religion: ministers, religious extremists, ect. Their genetic engineering has set them up to spread religion to give the general public something to hold on to and to guide them by. Someone, a very long time ago, made up a story about a great man who gave up so much for the human race so that people would have a role model and want to make his sacrifice worth it. This story spread and was eventually written down as something to follow and live by. People need that and these religious leaders spread that and give it to the people. One final example of the different purposes man has, would be the aforementioned murderer. He was genetically engineered through generations of evolution for the express purpose of reducing the population, and possibly make us evaluate the human race, the human psyche, at a closer look. I do believe that everything happens for a reason to further, or maybe as a result of evolution. We are constantly adapting, different things need to take place, and different people need to make that happen. "Life will find a way" and I do believe it's through generations of adapting to ourselves and to the planet earth.

4. What is the origin of man?

See "The Purpose of Man." Again, I think it's through evolution.

The Nature of God

1. Do you believe in a supreme being, a god? If so, describe your concept of "God."

I do not think that "God" is a higher being. My concept, or the way I have interpreted many of the religious texts I've read through (I've read quite a few. Religion has always been a favorite topic of debate and private research for me.), is that we are all a part of "God." People feel empathy for each other, people have mood swings, we all have an aura or an aire about us exuding our mood and thoughts, and that aura affects other people around us. There is a collective consciousness of sorts that controls a lot, if not all, of what we feel and consequently what we do. You can observe a minuscule version of this in a daily classroom. If the teacher was upset with the last class, that aura is observes and absorbed by the new students. The overall mood of the room will be "bad" or "unhappy" or "stressful" until the class either prompts the aura/mood to change by being better than the last class and calming the harsh tones. On the other hand, if the teacher is very happy and the class feels that and try to take advantage or are simply insubordinate, the teacher's mood will change and make threats until the class's mood changes, too. I don't know how better to describe it. It's like water... Water resists change. If you drop one ice cube (the teacher's anger at the disobedient students) into a pool (the class's overall happiness and zealous joy in misbehaving) it won't do much... but if you dump a whole truckload of ice in (two hour detention for the whole class and four hours of homework), the situation changes (kids calm down and listen to further instructions). It doesn't just have to be through discipline, though. If one person is upset for one reason or another and they show up at a party and take out their anger on someone else, that person's aura changes, too, and eventually everyone is upset unless someone goes and cheers up the distressed people. It is always in constant fluctuation. I think that right now, the overall aura of the world, or "God," is a generally negative and destructive mood. Crime is high, the poor are very poor, there are food shortages, political unrest, so many many ice cubes to drop into the pool of the world. People are just not happy. I think we all need to try to change the tide. I personally have given up on that, though. People just don't want to listen.

2. How much influence/control does God have in your daily life?

I think that it has a lot of control over us, especially me, but not total control. I wake up in the morning and hear a sad story on the news about a poor little girl getting murdered, I'm going to show up at school in my "appalled at humanity" state of mind, and I will be an ice cube in all of my classes and to all of the people around me. Someone else may wake up looking forward to their date that night with the captain of the football team and be very happy all day, altering the mood of her classes and her people for the better. We all have experienced classes that just weren't feeling right, it was the general atmosphere. That is the "god" in the religion of Laura at work.

3. Do you believe in an afterlife? If so, what is it like?

I honestly would love to believe that there is a white, fluffy, eternally happy place called Heaven somewhere out there, or anything after death at all, but common sense, the distinct lack of a religious childhood, and science have led me to believe otherwise. We die, the electronic impulses stop darting from neuron to neuron in our brain and we just cease to exist. I'm sorry. It scares me a lot, and I have many psychological problems centered around my inability to accept death well, but I cannot believe that there's anything past there. We leave our mark on the world's collective consciousness through the memories we imprint on people, become a part of "God" in a way, but we do not continue on.

- UrielsPoet

Personal Inventory

The Nature of Man

I.
An infant, coming into this world, unaware of such abstract ideas as good and evil, possesses neither trait. Small children, until tainted by society, understand no concept of what is right verses what is wrong; they simply do what is necessary to survive. The nature of self preservation will overthrow righteousness in a apathetic environment that cares neither for goodness or malice. It is not until society has its way with a person that they fall to one side or the other. One is shaped by their upbringing, and it is impossible ignore that, even more so to remain unaffected by it. Not until a child understands what good and bad are, and the consequence of each, will they take on one image or another.
II.
Sacrifice is the dividing line between the good and the evil. A good person would risk everything he had worked for to protect a stranger. A bad person would turn his head and walk the other way. A good person would give all that he had to someone more needy. A bad person would take all that another had for his own purposes. Very few, if any, fit this definition of good, and even less fit the definition of bad. Somewhere between ignorance and selflessness lays the basis of society.
III.
Man’s purpose in life is to learn all that he can. To learn to live, to learn to grow, to learn to love, learn the greatest happiness, learn the greatest sorrow; this is all one will take from an entire life. What a man has learned for himself is all that he will ever know; thus making the purpose of life only something to strive for. An impossibility beyond the grasp of any lifetime, of every lifetime. No man’s life will ever be completely filled unless he has learned all that he should know. There is so much to know, so much more than a million men could learn in a million trials on earth, that no man’s purpose will ever be truly fulfilled. Life is like that, giving us goals to strive for, always improve upon, but never to complete. Men are sent here without some devious plot from a greater being, but only with the drive within themselves, that they themselves create and a thirst for knowledge growing greater with every sip.
IV.
The origin of man is only that which is imagines for himself. For if God created men, yet men created God, what promise should the fallacy provide except for that we created ourselves? Unless then, it is that we are a part of God, and God, in turn, a part of us. All a man can say for sure is that he is here, in physical form, yet God lies nowhere to be seen. The credit of evolution belongs to no one but ourselves.

The Nature of God

I.
I believe in a God so much as I believe in the rushing of a river or the breeze of a wind. Something that is there, created only by ideas, yet unable to hold onto. Yet when you swim in that river, you are a part of God, and when you feel the cool breeze tickle your back, displacing the running sweat, God is a part of you.
Specifically, I am Wiccan, and my religion teaches a Goddess and a God (both from many other Gods and Goddesses) combining to form a greater, more polarized force. This balance allows for good and evil, male and female, light and darkness, warmth and cold to exist in harmony with each other.
II.
God has very little control in my life. I do not follow the ordinances of any book, nor do I think about the consequences of my actions will receive from him. Conversely, God has great influence in my life. It is not his teachings I use to dictate my behaviors, but rather his lesions I learn to apply to my own life. I do not fear his wrath, nor do I bask in the glory of his love, but rather I see him in a neutral light, trying to take from him only what I need, and give back what I have to give.
III.
I do not believe in the literal concept of Heaven and Hell, yet I believe that all men should, and will be held responsible for their actions. There are certain lesions that need to be learned, and a plethora of lives to learn them in. If a man has problems in one life, they will not simply go away in death, disappearing with some magic pouf of a judgmental wand. Instead, they will continue to appear in his next lives, until he has found a way to resolve a problem. When he has taken all that he can take from this world, he will move onto another spiritual level.

IV.
You can influence your destination in an afterlife only by regulating the time it will take to move on to it. A wise choice in one life will move you ahead in the scale-o-Karma while a poor one will cause you to rethink your decision many times. However, living your life in a valiant attempt to obtain a white robe atop a fluffy cloud is insane. If you have to rectify your decisions by praying for your eternal soul, it would be more effective to reevaluate your decisions rather than finding fault in all that you do.

- my goddess

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