Christopher Hitchens, militant pundit, dies at 62

The Washington Times ^ | December 16, 2011 | Hillel Italie

[A_perfect_lady]

The only questions I have asked you are "can you be brief," why should I waste my time reading cut-n-paste posting, and "why do you keep pinging me?" If you look back through the thread, you'll see that you have indeed pinged me several times and it was not in response to any question.

All I have said to you, and I have said it over and over and over, is Either use your own words, be brief and succinct and make yourself clear, or don't bother.

I think I make myself quite clear. In fact, I think it's a mark of poor writing to be unintelligible, and a mark of immaturity to name-drop, revert to in-group lingo and inside jokes, and to take pride in being incomprehensible. If you cannot make yourself clear to me, it is your failure. What you decide to do about it is, of course, up to you.

[Matchett-PI]

"If you cannot make yourself clear to me, it is your failure"

Two realities. Get it?

No you don't.

Whose fault is that?

[Mr. Silverback]

Awesome blogpimping, dude. You’re showing us all how it’s done.

[betty boop]

"Look, I’m not kidding: you make no sense to me. Seriously. ..."

I feel sure a_perfect_lady is perfectly sincere in saying this. And so it's probably not too helpful to suggest that the reason for "the failure to communicate" is that she is a denizen of a Second Reality — a thing she's probably never even heard of before in her life.

Perhaps it would be more helpful to say that a_perfect_lady has got the "horizontal extension" down. But she doesn't imagine there is a "vertical extension."

Science excels along the "horizontal" spatiotemporal concept. But the "vertical" involves a concept of time that is foreign to direct sense perception/observation, and thus is not accessible by scientific methods.

The "vertical extension" deals with immaterial aspects of human existence, experience — and knowing. Man has both extensions. That's because he is comprised of both matter and spirit: He has a material body; but more, he "is" spirit, psyche, mind.

Just trying to get on the same page here....

Must run for now, but will look in again later!

Thanks for the pings, dear Matchett-PI!

[Matchett-PI]

I’m glad you appreciate it. Thank you!

[Matchett-PI]

"Perhaps it would be more helpful to say that a_perfect_lady has got the "horizontal extension" down. But she doesn't imagine there is a "vertical extension."

You're right. :) bttt

[A_perfect_lady]

There’s only one reality, dear. The one you see around you. I have no interest in your spirit world.

[A_perfect_lady]

Look, you two are wasting your lives-- I mean, wasting your time flashing your astral chatter at me. I used to live right next door to the Scientology Mothership on Franklin Avenue in Hollywood. You hear me? Right. Next. Door. I mean, once a Scientology security guard knocked on my door to tell me that my cat wanted in. A Scientologist tried to audit me once and I peeked at her little handbook and saw her little tricks all laid out in the Table of Contents.

I also have an ex-boyrfiend who had a nervous breakdown and is now convinced that in 2012 we will be pulled through a nebulla and the world as we know it will end.

I have an ongoing bet with another chick that in 2012 there will NOT be a pole-shift caused by Planet X leaving our solar system which will result in the end of the world as we know it. No matter what the Zeta aliens told her.

I have seen it all. I've dated Jews, Catholics, and Protestants. I was raised Baptist. My mother is now in a Four Square Church. I have had my cards read, my palm read, and my chart read.

I read the Bible and the Koran. I read the Dragonlance books. I read the Narnia books. I took courses in Greek mythology. I know about elves, dragons, kender, dwarves, angels, devils, demons, visions, gods, goddesses, unicorns, mermaids, fairies, centaurs, pegasi, aliens, and fauns.

Know what? It's all nonsense. Stuff humans make up when they can't handle pain, fear, or boredom.

Except for the dwarves. The dwarves are real. I've seen them. But we don't call them that anymore.

Now, I consider this conversation finished. You two are invited to talk amongst yourselves, but leave me out of it. I moved away from the Scientologists for a reason.

[Matchett-PI]

In post # 222 above, A_perfect_lady wrote: "I don’t even understand what your point is."

In post # 230 above, I responded: "My point is that, based on the perceptions you hold, you seemed only to have been exposed to "religion and its practitioners", rather than "Christianity".

In other words:

Christianity is not intended to be a religion, but the cure for religion

I think her posts to you and me immediately above prove my point quite succinctly. bttt

[betty boop]

Look, you two are wasting your lives-- I mean, wasting your time flashing your astral chatter at me.

A_perfect_lady, your mind is so closed it couldn't be pried open with a crow bar. You are evidently the victim of religious bigotry.

You say you've "seen it all," you've dated religious, you've read the Bible and the Koran — and yet for all of that, you still don't seem to understand a thing. For openers, you don't seem to realize that Scientology is not a "religion." It is a religion substitute....

Go in peace. Good luck!

[Matchett-PI]

"A_perfect_lady, your mind is so closed it couldn't be pried open with a crow bar. You are evidently the victim of religious bigotry. You say you've "seen it all," you've dated religious, you've read the Bible and the Koran — and yet for all of that, you still don't seem to understand a thing. For openers, you don't seem to realize that Scientology is not a "religion." It is a religion substitute...."

bttt

"...the virtue of temperence protects us from the intoxicating counter-inspiration of radical fantasies -- including religious fantasies, which are not actually religious but manmade. As such, it is foolish to blame God or religion for things that emanate from the lower vertical in man. " ....The lords of Falsehood hold, at present, almost complete sway over poor humanity. Not only the lower life-energy, the lower vital being, but also the whole mind of man accepts them. Countless are the ways in which they are worshipped, for they are more subtle in their cunning and seek their ends in variously seductive disguises. The result is that men cling to their falsehood as if it were a treasure, cherishing it more than even the most beautiful things of life. Apprehensive of its safety, they take care to bury it deep down in themselves; but unless they take it out and surrender it to the Divine they will never find true happiness. Indeed the very act of bringing it out and showing it to the Light would be in itself a momentous conversion and pave the way to the final victory. For the laying bare of each falsehood is in itself a victory -- each acknowledgment of error is the demolition of one of the lords of Darkness."

[drtom]

Allow me to congratulate you on a fight well fought. You stood up to the mob mentality of the resident self-righteous bible-thumpers and you did well. Your posts are succinct and well articulated (both of which doesn't bode well when arguing with the mob, unfortunately, but then again, nothing does).

I take my hat off to you.

[grey_whiskers]

Chris Hitchens was a smart man and a brilliant writer, but he and so many secularists are bigoted morons when it comes to “reason” versus faith because they can see the difference between, say, Steven Hawking and Pol Pot but not the difference between Thomas Aquinas and Fred Phelps or C. S. Lewis and Osama bin Laden.

Flippin' Sweet!

Cheers!

[grey_whiskers]

“Now comes the march of those who absolutely cannot stand anyone who can’t be bullied into kow-towing to their Imaginary Friend. How dare the man have the dignity to ignore all those threats of Hell — the spiritual equivalent of “pass on this chain letter or you’ll have bad luck.” But some people just can’t be intimidated by the myths of any culture, and it really galls those who are.”

BALLS is a good response.

See also here.

Start showing half the autofellatory bravado towards 'superstition' in Qom or Islamabad as you do on MSNBC, and you'll earn a modicum of respect.

Cheers!