Why are we here? What's life all about? Is God really real, or is there some doubt? Well, tonight, we're going to sort it all out, For, tonight, it's 'The Meaning of Life'. What's the point of all this hoax? Is it the chicken and the egg time? Are we just yolks? Or, perhaps, we're just one of God's little jokes. Well, ça c'est 'The Meaning of Life'. Is life just a game where we make up the rules While we're searching for something to say, Or are we just simply spiralling coils Of self-replicating DN-- nay, nay, nay, nay, nay, nay, nay. What is life? What is our fate? Is there a Heaven and Hell? Do we reincarnate? Is mankind evolving, or is it too late? Well, tonight, here's 'The Meaning of Life'. For millions, this 'life' is a sad vale of tears, Sitting 'round with really nothing to say While the scientists say we're just simply spiralling coils Of self-replicating DN-- nay, nay, nay, nay, nay, nay, nay. So, just why-- why are we here, And just what-- what-- what-- what do we fear? Well, ce soir, for a change, it will all be made clear, For this is 'The Meaning of Life'. C'est le sens de la vie. This is 'The Meaning of Life'.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Denny Crane @ Jan 10 2008, 01:24 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>The monotheistic god always did and always will exist. When it comes to the universe, there was a big debate between a "steady state" universe, which is similar in concept - always did and always will exist. Of course, the Big Bang Theory is what is in vogue these days. I have more obvious questions: 1) Scientists say they have a decent picture of milliseconds after the big bang. How about milliseconds before? 2) If the Big Bang occurred 15B years ago, then the universe should only be 30B light years across (it's a sphere) yet it's considerably larger. 3) If you stood at the edge of the universe and took one step outward, where would you be?</div> 1) Milliseconds 'before,' there was no 'before' as time (subjective/linear) didn't exist then. There was only God and Time (objective/infinite) Hence the Kabbalistic appellation of God pre-creation: Ein Sof (lit. without end, infinite and undefinable) 2) I need a better yardstick, or maybe a metric one. 3) Either a) still in the universe, or somehow transitioned into the Divine.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Denny Crane @ Jan 10 2008, 12:31 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Define "cult" No fair using a dictionary.</div> What if one is a walking dictionary? Setting that lesser-seen (dorky) side apart for the moment, I would say briefly that a cult differs from a religion not only in being relatively less established and 'regular' in practice, but also insistent on venerating a person (or thing) in a ridiculously intense and faddish way. The whole charismatic leader part usually mentioned in dictionary definitions is not actually essential, if you really think about it. Scientology is most certainly a cult.
Science H. Logic! It is most definitely a cult. I mean c'mon its based on a science fiction book. As for drawing parallels comparing it to larger, more substantiated religions? Don't ask me, I'm a stout atheist (but also a devote Unitarian Universalist)
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (AEM @ Jan 10 2008, 03:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Denny Crane @ Jan 10 2008, 12:31 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Define "cult" No fair using a dictionary.</div> What if one is a walking dictionary? Setting that lesser-seen (dorky) side apart for the moment, I would say briefly that a cult differs from a religion not only in being relatively less established and 'regular' in practice, but also insistent on venerating a person (or thing) in a ridiculously intense and faddish way. The whole charismatic leader part usually mentioned in dictionary definitions is not actually essential, if you really think about it. Scientology is most certainly a cult. </div> Charismatic leader probably isn't in the dictionary. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (GMJigga @ Jan 10 2008, 07:31 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Science H. Logic! It is most definitely a cult. I mean c'mon its based on a science fiction book. As for drawing parallels comparing it to larger, more substantiated religions? Don't ask me, I'm a stout atheist (but also a devote Unitarian Universalist)</div> Is the Bible fact or fiction? I say fiction. So all of Christianity must be a cult because it's based on a book of fiction. Seems to me that the book being fiction, science or otherwise, isn't a defining characteristic of religion. Rather it's the wisdom found in the book, which seems to be enough to qualify Scientology as an actual religion. A key tennet of a religon, to me, is its values and morality. Not a religion if there's no morality. There's this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology#Morals_and_Ethics Morals and Ethics Scientologists follow The Way to Happiness, which defines morals as "a code of good conduct laid down out of the experience of the race to serve as a uniform yardstick for the conduct of individuals and groups"<sup>[62]</sup> but warns that "over time, morals can become outmoded, burdensome, and so invite revolt."<sup>[63]</sup> Scientology states that there is no absolute right or wrong but that right and wrong are actually a gradient from right to wrong.<sup>[64]</sup> An action must contain construction which outweighs the destruction it contains in order to be considered good.<sup>[65]</sup> "Good is any action which brings the greatest construction to the greatest number of dynamics while bringing the least destruction."<sup>[66]</sup> "An 'absolute wrongness' would be the extinction of the universe and all energy and the source of energy. . . . An 'absolute "rightness"' would be the immortality of the individual himself, his children, his group, mankind and the universe."<sup>[67]</sup> Scientology defines ethics as "the actions an individual takes on himself to ensure his continued survival across the dynamics. It is a personal thing that an ethical person does by his own choice."<sup>[68]</sup> "Ethics actually consists of rationality toward the highest level of survival for the individual, the future race, the group, Mankind and the other dynamics taken up collectively. Ethics are reason. Man's greatest weapon is his reason."<sup>[69]</sup> According to Scientology, various ethical states or "conditions" represent one's degree of success and delineate a sequence of steps to improve that condition of existence.<sup>[70]</sup> From best to worst, these "conditions" are Power, Affluence, Normal, Emergency, Danger, Non-Existence, Liability, Doubt, Enemy, Treason and Confusion. Scientologists are expected to use statistical measurement to assess "measurement of survival potential,"<sup>[71]</sup> where a downward trend could identify an 'emergency condition' and an upward trend could identify a 'affluence condition'.<sup>[72]</sup> According to The Scientology Handbook, the Scientology method of statistics can and should be applied to individuals, groups and organizations inside and outside of Scientology.<sup>[73]</sup> Prof. Stephen A. Kent quotes Hubbard as pronouncing that "the purpose of ethics is to remove counter-intentions from the environment. Having accomplished that, the purpose becomes to remove other intentionedness from the environment." What this translates to, according to Kent, is "a peculiar brand of morality that uniquely benefitted [the Church of Scientology]. . . . In plain English, the purpose of Scientology ethics is to eliminate opponents, then eliminate people's interests in things other than Scientology."<sup>[74]</sup>
IMO, the only difference between a cult and a religion is that, in a cult, you're either in or you're out. In a religion, you can be in, out, or 'kinda' in.
Yeah I think a cult generally requires more out of a person in order to justify and practice their beliefs, whereas generally established religions require less resources. There's also some subjectivity involved, to be honest. I'm as atheist as one can be, but cults get a knee-jerk reaction out of me that just screams "crazy."
Frankly, it should not be up to any one person or group to deem if an idea is a cult or a religion. Someone could go around saying Hinduism is a cult, and I would not care. Hey, that's their prerogative, let them believe what they want. If followers believe it's a religion, it's a religion to them. There's nothing we can or should do to change their minds (unless, of course, they are doing something dangerous or detrimental to society).
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Denny Crane)</div><div class='quotemain'>3) If you stood at the edge of the universe and took one step outward, where would you be?</div> You'll end up at the exact opposite end of the universe. Like in Asteroids.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Chutney @ Jan 10 2008, 08:38 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Denny Crane)</div><div class='quotemain'>3) If you stood at the edge of the universe and took one step outward, where would you be?</div> You'll end up at the exact opposite end of the universe. Like in Asteroids. </div> You might disintegrate, like in Star Trek (in one of the movies, they found a way to get past the galactic barrier and met God).
What is Objectivism? I consider myself an Objectivist... I wouldn't say it's a religion, because it's an anti-religious philosophy. Yet, Ayn Rand pushed and refined her ideas on this philosophy through the course of writing her series of novels. Similar to L. Ron Hubbard in that respect. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectivism_%28Ayn_Rand%29 <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Objectivism holds that there is mind-independent reality; that individual persons are in contact with this reality through sensory perception; that human beings gain objective knowledge from perception by measurement, and form valid concepts by measurement omission; that the proper moral purpose of one's life is the pursuit of one's own happiness or "rational self-interest"; that the only social system consistent with this morality is full respect for individual rights, embodied in pure, consensual laissez-faire capitalism; and that the role of art in human life is to transform abstract knowledge, by selective reproduction of reality, into a physical form?€”a work of art?€”that one can comprehend and respond to with the whole of one's consciousness</div> And interestingly, Rand makes the case that Objectivism is not a cult: <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>"A blind follower is precisely what my philosophy condemns and what I reject. Objectivism is not a mystic cult."</div> I think I'll blog about Nozick and Rawls tomorrow.
Cult Here is the the "Tom Cruise saved 9/11 AKA Scientology Indoctrination Video" "We are the authorities on the mind...HAHAHAHAHAHA" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EDIT: Here's another good view: Anderson Cooper crushes Scientology
