I know there's a bunch of questions out there. I know I get asked enough in real life. Go ahead, fire away. Ask me anything and I mean anything (within forum rules) I'm temporarily suspending my own right to be offended, so really, anything at all.
__________________ "We can easily forgive a child that is afraid of the dark, the real tragedy is when people are afraid of the light"
-Plato
Well, being an atheist and all I don't really believe that God even exists, so I don't think he/she/it (depending on your religious beliefs) has done anything lately.
I suppose a religious person in my position might thank God for having an amazing host family while I'm on my exchange here in New Zealand, but after being moved through four different families (and a fifth that I didn't even get the chance to move in with before something had come up) within a six month period, I'm more inclined to think random chance had more to do with it.
__________________ "We can easily forgive a child that is afraid of the dark, the real tragedy is when people are afraid of the light"
-Plato
Sexual reproduction, propagation of the species, as it is with all living organisms.
The meaning I give to my own life however is quite different. My goal first and foremost, is to live out this life to the best of my ability, to be happy, and to gain experiences and knowledge that I can reminisce upon on my deathbed.
My secondary goal is to make others happy, to be a contributing member of society, and bring joy to the broader world. However I cannot be happy when there are unhappy people in my presence, so my secondary goal tends to go hand in hand with my primary one.
__________________ "We can easily forgive a child that is afraid of the dark, the real tragedy is when people are afraid of the light"
-Plato
Sexual reproduction, propagation of the species, as it is with all living organisms.
The meaning I give to my own life however is quite different. My goal first and foremost, is to live out this life to the best of my ability, to be happy, and to gain experiences and knowledge that I can reminisce upon on my deathbed.
My secondary goal is to make others happy, to be a contributing member of society, and bring joy to the broader world. However I cannot be happy when there are unhappy people in my presence, so my secondary goal tends to go hand in hand with my primary one.
My assumption by the bolded is that you mean you put yourself and your state of being before others. My question would then be, if you found true happiness and needed not look any further/strive for it, let's assume you gained an immense amount of knowledge and were satisfied, then what would you do? Help others acheive the same?
Do you believe you will ever reach the point where you can help others? At what age do you think?
Then if Christians find all our happiness/love/wisdom, etc. that we could possibly have in the Lord, are we then fufilling your life purpose better then you are by serving others before ourselves, because it is not us who need to be helped/saved?
Why do you have the eye of Horus as your display picture, and use the name wedjat? You are an atheist, so what does that mean to you/your life?
What does the quote in your sig mean to you? "We can easily forgive a child that is afraid of the dark, the real tragedy is when people are afraid of the light"
-Plato
My assumption by the bolded is that you mean you put yourself and your state of being before others.
In most cases yes, although not all the time. Sometimes sacrifice is a logical necessity, sometimes it is an emotionally fulfilling one.
My question would then be, if you found true happiness and needed not look any further/strive for it, let's assume you gained an immense amount of knowledge and were satisfied, then what would you do? Help others acheive the same?
That sounds like a great idea, because I don't see how anyone could ever exist without a goal. If my goal was to gain knowledge and then I went and gained most existing knowledge, one of my goals might be to teach others (I do get some fulfillment from teaching), another might be to use the knowledge in a practical sense (science/medicine). However, generally people tend to have more than one goal at a time. I could teach and learn simultaneously. Like I said, I am first, but others are a close second, and so often how others feel affects how I feel, so by helping others I am helping myself, which is how I remain first.
Do you believe you will ever reach the point where you can help others? At what age do you think?
You don't need to fulfill all of your goals to move on to something else. Helping others is interwoven into my day's. Sometimes I view helping others as helping myself. The satisfaction from inspiring a homeless child not to give up on his education, or working at a soup kitchen on Christmas is a personal reward. Helping people makes me happy, therefore I feel I am putting myself first, even though it is I who am making the "sacrifice".
Then if Christians find all our happiness/love/wisdom, etc. that we could possibly have in the Lord, are we then fufilling your life purpose better then you are by serving others before ourselves, because it is not us who need to be helped/saved?
Are you? Maybe, maybe not. Is this a competition to see who can best fulfill my life purpose? There will always be someone who has gained more knowledge than me, who has a better family than me, who has more friends than me, who helps more people than me. Why should I care? I just do the best I can with what I have. Do not think me a selfish person by how I word my views on this, I'm quite the opposite actually. I have been told by a puzzled friend that I am the only person she knows who no one (who she knows of anyway) talks bad about behind my back. I like helping others, doing it for the satisfaction of helping others does not darken my intentions.
Why do you have the eye of Horus as your display picture, and use the name wedjat? You are an atheist, so what does that mean to you/your life?
Because I've always been fascinated by mythology, Egyptian is my favorite, Norse is a close second. There have also been a lot of claims that the Jesus story matches many aspects of Horus. I find it unverifiable for now because I have not seen any mythology involving Horus that coincides with scripture and is not part of a list of Egyptian mythology that coincides with scripture. The information is biased until I can find something more neutral, but for now the whole Horus themed user name/profile/avatar theme is just my little joke.
What does the quote in your sig mean to you?
First and foremost it is meant to seem ironic to Christians, a goal that was achieved by Rita727 but one day after I had joined. To me I equate "light" with knowledge and understanding. To me many (obviously not all, actually probably not most) religious people seem afraid to learn about the way the world works (specifically YEC's who deny scientific facts for their theology which is more comfortable to them)
__________________ "We can easily forgive a child that is afraid of the dark, the real tragedy is when people are afraid of the light"
-Plato
Aww, and here I thought it was all about Plato's cave and how no one would go outside with the one who left because they were in their comfort zone and wouldn't try something new.
Of course, being a Christian forum and all, the light usually refers to the knowledge and kingdom of God. So for me the quote means that it is tragic when people are afraid of the light of God and instead stay in the darkness of their own ability and understanding.
Errhmm, any way, on to a question. Who in your life is family to you? (not names or anything, just relationship to you etc.)
__________________ ~ Tru ~ Don't complain, pray. Only the can you hope to change the world. Pray for your country, your family, your friends and everyone who makes you mad.
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