Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

To: betty boop
But why do you say you "won't believe?" OBVIOUSLY, you believe in SOMETHING: A "something" that even God Himself doesn't "measure up" to.

Thank you for asking. I must say, the women on this forum are... nicer than the men. I'll stop with that.

Here's what I believe:

This life is all you get. Be good. Be careful. Be honest. Save your money. Look around. Find your sphere. Stake a claim. Create a safe place for whomever you can. Be good to your family and pets. Try not to scar the young. Avoid credit cards. Take care of yourself and don't force others to do it for you. Look both ways (and up) before crossing the street. Especially in Beverly Hills. Use sunscreen. Learn from your mistakes. Learn from other people's mistakes. Try not to hurt anyone. Don't let them hurt you either. There was a time you did not exist. That time will come again. Between those two times, do this: Be good. Be careful. Take care of your family and pets. Don't litter. Save money....

You get the idea. Life is simple, really. You don't need all this Celestine Prophecy Secret Code Eye of the Needle stuff... unless you bore easily. I was an only child, so I don't bore as easily as some folk.

146 posted on 12/30/2011 12:56:21 PM PST by A_perfect_lady
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 136 | View Replies ]


To: A_perfect_lady; Muridae; aruanan; grey_whiskers; metmom; Alamo-Girl; Matchett-PI
This life is all you get. Be good. Be careful. Be honest. Save your money. Look around. Find your sphere. Stake a claim. Create a safe place for whomever you can. Be good to your family and pets. Try not to scar the young. Avoid credit cards. Take care of yourself and don't force others to do it for you. Look both ways (and up) before crossing the street. Especially in Beverly Hills. Use sunscreen. Learn from your mistakes. Learn from other people's mistakes. Try not to hurt anyone. Don't let them hurt you either. There was a time you did not exist. That time will come again. Between those two times, do this: Be good. Be careful. Take care of your family and pets. Don't litter. Save money....

Where to begin in responding to this description of "Reality?"

For openers, I do not agree that "this life" is "all you get." Christians hold that Life is eternal. That is to say, it pre-exists our physical birth, and post-exists our physical death. Which is further to say that human life is not completely defined by its experience as finite, physically-incarnated body and "nothing more."

The other thing I notice about your litany is how "lawful" it is. You readily accept that there are "right ways" and "wrong ways" in which to conduct a human life, especially your own.

But you are really, really "fuzzy" about the problem of how "law and order" was introduced in the Universe in the first place, such that we can even talk about what is a "right way" and what is a "wrong way" of proceeding in our personal lives.

In short, for you, Truth is something just "floating around 'out there' in the ozone." It has no GROUND in Reality. It is simply an abstract concept that, despite the fact that it seems to organize your own personal experience in essential ways, you continue to refuse to see as "objectively" real in itself — i.e., as something quite apart from your own personal longings, desires, hope, wishes, fears, etc., but which impinges on you relentlessly in every aspect of your mortal existence nonetheless.

My suspicion is, Truth does not finally depend on you (or me) AT ALL. Neither can it be found via a public opinion poll. To me, it is the very basic structure of universal Reality and absolutely everything in it, including you and me.

You act/speak as if you know this. But you refuse to trace this knowledge of Truth back to the First Cause that made it all possible — in principle — "in the Logos of the Beginning."

I agree with you: "Life is simple, really." The only way it gets "complicated" is when a man is in rebellion against the very Ground of his own being and thinking....

FWIW, my friend.... I'm wishing you well in all things.

165 posted on 12/30/2011 1:31:54 PM PST by betty boop (We are led to believe a lie when we see with, and not through, the eye. — William Blake)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 146 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson