The self-confidence of thiests

Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
Because it can be dangerous. You can mess your mind up badly with, eg., Kabbalah or Tibetan buddhism. Also practitioners in some countries would keep things secret so as not to furnish public entertainment at an auto da fe. But now you can read about the secret traditions in any well stocked bookshop.

Can you be more explicit in how it is dangerous or can mess up your mind? If this is the case, I'd have to wonder whether it is about truth or something else.

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
Can you be more explicit in how it is dangerous or can mess up your mind? If this is the case, I'd have to wonder whether it is about truth or something else.

Crudely put, techniques that give access to latent psychic energies can lead to insanity. Then again, Tibetan monks seem to have quite a sanguine attitude towards madness, so a lot depends on the practitioner's support system. Basically the same as guns -- don't use unless well trained.

Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
Crudely put, techniques that give access to latent psychic energies can lead to insanity. Then again, Tibetan monks seem to have quite a sanguine attitude towards madness, so a lot depends on the practitioner's support system. Basically the same as guns -- don't use unless well trained.

What leads you to believe that this is credible?

What leads you to believe that it has anything to do with truth?

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
What leads you to believe that this is credible?

What leads you to believe that it has anything to do with truth?

Credible? Well, it works. Call it depth psychology.

Truth? 'There are no truths, only interpretations'.

Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
Credible? Well, it works. Call it depth psychology.

Truth? 'There are no truths, only interpretations'.

Are you going to make me drag it out of you?

How do you KNOW it works and just what does IT do?

What leads you to believe that "there are no truths"?

Are you being purposely evasive?

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
How do you KNOW it works and just what does IT do?

What leads you to believe that "there are no truths"?

Experience; experience.

The quote suffices.

Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
Experience; experience.

The quote suffices.

?

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
Since you keep missing the message, I'll repeat it. There's no point in trying to have a meaningful discussion with a person who has shown time and again that he is incapable of doing so.

If you cannot even engage with your own logic and own position when it is presented back to you then I am at a loss. I have tried to use the same logic you use regarding the teachings and words of jesus and you balk at it for some reason.

I don't understand what it is that I am missing here. Maybe you should lay out the rules here. If you want me to have a discussion without me honestly stating that I am angry about Jesus being misrepresented then I can't do that.

My view is that we should test ourselves with those who we feel are not going to tell us what we want to hear. I think there is some residual mutual respect here in the sense that we both have passionate uncompromising stances on Jesus. Most of my frustration with you has come about because I feel you get to a certain point and you won't answer a basic question. I notice on another post you experiencing the same frustration --------"are you going to make me drag it out of you?"

Originally posted by knightmeister
If you cannot even engage with your own logic and own position when it is presented back to you then I am at a loss. I have tried to use the same logic you use regarding the teachings and words of jesus and you balk at it for some reason.

I don't understand what it is that I am missing here. Maybe you should lay out the rules here. If you want me t ...[text shortened]... ou experiencing the same frustration --------"are you going to make me drag it out of you?"

What you keep missing is that I don't want to have a discussion with you at all. I want you to stop following me around and misrepresenting my position.

Once again:
Since you keep missing the message, I'll repeat it. There's no point in trying to have a meaningful discussion with a person who has shown time and again that he is incapable of doing so.

What part of the above don't you understand?

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
What you keep missing is that I don't want to have a discussion with you at all. I want you to stop following me around and misrepresenting my position.

Once again:
Since you keep missing the message, I'll repeat it. There's no point in trying to have a meaningful discussion with a person who has shown time and again that he is incapable of doing so.

What part of the above don't you understand?

As I have said , I will continue to correct your misrepresentations of Jesus. If you want to engage with a discussion on the full range of his teachings then that's fine. The problem is that you misrepresent yourself in the final reckoning because there seems to be a limit to how far you will go in exploring things. I don't know if anyone on this forum really knows where you stand on certain things or even whether you live up to the teachings of jesus yourself.

If you prefer to not be misrepresented then you need to fill the void with something yourself. You force everyone into making educated guesses about you and then cry foul when they get it wrong.

Originally posted by knightmeister
As I have said , I will continue to correct your misrepresentations of Jesus. If you want to engage with a discussion on the full range of his teachings then that's fine. The problem is that you misrepresent yourself in the final reckoning because there seems to be a limit to how far you will go in exploring things. I don't know if anyone on this forum ...[text shortened]... orce everyone into making educated guesses about you and then cry foul when they get it wrong.

If you had any sense of integrity, you would present your "educated guesses" as such instead of trying to present them as fact. I doubt you'll understand this, as you have continually demonstrated that truth does not exist in the world of KM.

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
If you had any sense of integrity, you would present your "educated guesses" as such instead of trying to present them as fact. I doubt you'll understand this, as you have continually demonstrated that truth does not exist in the world of KM.

Point taken , but why do you seem to put others in this position in the first place? Why not just be more transparent instead of "forcing me to drag it out of you"?

I always knew that my educated guesses were just that , so I guess I was trying to goad you into answering the question by making assumptions. But why should I need to do this?

Originally posted by knightmeister
Point taken , but why do you seem to put others in this position in the first place? Why not just be more transparent instead of "forcing me to drag it out of you"?

I always knew that my educated guesses were just that , so I guess I was trying to goad you into answering the question by making assumptions. But why should I need to do this?

No one can put you in a position where you need to lie. You've repeatedly done this of your own volition.

Originally posted by twhitehead
I have noticed that whenever a question tto do with religion is raised, there are a number of theists quite ready to give a highly comprehensive answer with extreme confidence. Theists often sound extemely sure of themselves, even when what they are saying disagrees with all the other theists who are saying something different with equal confidence.
In a ...[text shortened]... ent occasions yet sound equally confident both times.

Why are theists so sure of themeselves?

Why do people limit human failing traits to just this group or that
when they seem to see a fault, they just assume that only the group
they disagree with, or dislike seems to have it in greater levels than all
other people, why is it that people just don't see that all people
share the same faults?
Kelly

Originally posted by twhitehead
I have noticed that whenever a question tto do with religion is raised, there are a number of theists quite ready to give a highly comprehensive answer with extreme confidence. Theists often sound extemely sure of themselves, even when what they are saying disagrees with all the other theists who are saying something different with equal confidence.
In a ...[text shortened]... ent occasions yet sound equally confident both times.

Why are theists so sure of themeselves?

I'm a theist and I can say for certain that I don't know and no other theist knows either. I can't tell anyone for certain that I'm correct in any way in what I believe.

I have no idea if a deity exists at all. I have no idea if there is an existence for me after this one. The only thing that is for certain is that I'm going to find out. At some point my existence will be over.

When it's over I think I'll find out more of what is unknown presently to me, but that's my opinion. I attribute the things I don't know to a 'God'. For me it comes down to a choice of: 1) Do I attibute my existence to some sort of creative force where there is possibly meaning for my existence? Or, 2) Is my existence completely ended after my death and I am no more, in any way knowable or unknown?

It could very well be 2, but I'm hoping that it's 1.