:: Mashed Potatoes ::

:: Thursday, May 08, 2003 ::

A light breeze gently passes over your body...
The warm rays of the sun comfort you...
You open your eyes...
And see the great expanse of desert...
All around you...
Nothing...
Peaceful...
Soothing silence...
No rules...
Just you...
And God...
This is my church.
:: Michael 1:42 PM [+] ::
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Freewill is a gift bestowed upon all humans. Is that truely so? Some say that it is true, that all humans have the ability to do as they please without intervention by a higher power. Others say that it is not true, that all humans are controlled by some higher power or that everything is already planned out and we live our lives as if by a script. What if they are both right? What if our lives are already planned out like a script in a play, but we have the choice, the free will, to choose to live it or not. In other words, we can live and follow the script, or we can die and not follow the script. But what do I know, I'm only listening to the voices in my head.
:: Michael 4:30 PM [+] ::
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Evil, which is otherwise known as the bad things that happen in the world. Planes that crash, earthquakes, serial killers, and even things not so drastic like the guy who stole your wallet are all things that falls under the enormous category of bad things. Those who don’t believe in God say evil is just a natural occurrence in life. Those that do believe in God say that evil is caused by man’s own free will gone in the wrong direction due to the inability to resist temptation. Well, I say they’re both right. God designed the universe and everything in it…gave all of those things rules and laws to abide by and follow. Without God’s intervention all of those things will live and die by those rules almost mindlessly. Light travels at a designated speed. Water boils at a certain temperature. Metal bends under a certain amount of force. Humans get thirsty when their water level gets low. These are just a few of the rules and laws imposed on objects of our universe and are followed implicitly. As far as we know, there are no exceptions to these rules. How this relates to evil is simple to understand given the following examples. A plane manufactures with faulty parts will, by the laws and rules of the universe, malfunction possibly causing the plane to crash or explode killing most if not all of it’s passengers. The Earth was designed with certain rules and laws just as the plane was, one such rule is that the plates that make up the “surface” of the earth or outer layer of the planet will move and shift. This rule followed implicitly throughout the life of the planet eventually causes those plates to touch, rub together, and even collide, thus causing earthquakes of varying magnitudes. And my final example is Humans. Humans were designed with rules and laws just like the Earth and airplanes. We however, were not built with such hard fast rules. We, unlike non-living and other living objects that are un-intelligent, have a little more flexibility with our rules. Some we cannot change, some we can change temporarily, others we can permanently change. We cannot change the fact that we need water to live, we can temporarily change our inability to survive underwater, and we can permanently change from being day-crawlers to being night-crawlers. This ability to change the rules we live by is what gives people the ability to want to do volunteer work and donate money to a good cause or steal peoples wallets and volunteer ones services to an evil cause. Sometimes people, just like airplanes, suffer from malfunctioning parts and they cannot rationally choose to do good, but most people do have the choice. Evil is not what infects our society, it’s people led to do unfavorable things. People can just as easily be led to do favorable things. However, favorable and unfavorable is completely dependant upon the society you live in…to a point anyway. So it is not an evil God that inflicts evil or undue suffering upon the world, it is just the laws and rules we and the objects that surround us were built on. Just as good intentions can end up doing harm, so too can well laid rules and laws. But what do I know, I’m just another law-abiding citizen of the United States of America.
:: Michael 3:11 AM [+] ::
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Insanity, insanity, insanity, insanity, insanity, insanity.....this is supposed to be what insanity is. Doing the same thing over and over again and each time expecting a different result. Sounds simple enough. Who needs psych doctors now, everybody knows exactly whats considered insanity. If you see somebody doing the same thing over and over and over and over, they must be insane, right? Well, there is a problem with that. Probably just about everyone in the world except for insane people show this behavioral pattern. People wake up at the same time every day to go to the same job every day, eat lunch at the same time, eat dinner at the same time, walk the dog at the same time, workout at the same time, etc, etc, etc. And all the while, they're hoping something different will happen. Hmm...sounds like insanity to me. Kinda like that guy in mythology that keeps pushing the rock up the hill endlessly always hoping it will stay up there even though it just keeps rolling back down the hill. Is insanity the answer to absurdity? Or is absurdity the result of insanity? If you lived your life differently every single day never doing the same thing over again would you lead a better, happier life? Would your life still be absurd or insane? Most people would think living your life that way would be insane, they'd lable you a crazy party animal that refuses to grow up and accept responsibility. But would you be? Or would you actually be the one who grew up, who realized an ordered and repetitious life is actually the absurd and insane way to live? Who knows, for I am just yet another insanity victim.
:: Michael 7:04 PM [+] ::
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We, the human race, are our own gods. Yes, no, maybe possibly so? Or are we gods in training? Think about it, God is supposedly some all powerful all knowing being that can do anything, right? Well, way back in the day when we were incredibly stupid by today's standards , not even just stupid, but well rounded stupid. We couldn't do squat and were afraid of everything. Then, as our intelligence grew and our technological capabilities expanded, we became afraid of less and started saying gods controlled the things we didn't understand or were still afraid of. Now we come to present day and are still fit the definition of stupid pretty well, just not so perfectly anymore. However, as we've gotten smarter and more technologicaly savvy, we have dismissed all gods but one, our one all powerful all knowing being named God. This God of ours controls everything, makes everything "go". This God of ours takes care of us after we die, gives us a new life, a new home, and a new beginning in a whole new world. In other words, this God presides over death, something we as a human race still fear, one of our last fears. In the future, our technology and intelligence will soar higher than anyone has ever possibly dreamed and one day maybe we too will be able to do anything and everything, to know all things, to change the workings of the universe and time themselves. Maybe we will even be able to control what happens to us after death or prevent our race for dying alltogether. What then will God be....a distant memory....a brother in godly affairs...or forever higher than us, always watchful, always loving, and always in care of us? For if we can do anything and everything and know all things, what would we be afraid of? Not death anymore, not of the unknown, for there would be nothing unknown to us, or is there something we'd be afraid of? Maybe our own technology, maybe something else. Maybe there is always something to fear, maybe not. If there is nothing to fear then what do we need a god for? One of mankinds greatest fears is being alone, our greatest yearning to find someone to love. This fear and yearning can never be satisfied so maybe we will always need a god to care for us, to love us, and be there for us. But then, what if that fear and yearning can be satisfied eventually once technology progresses to an infinite extent? But what do i know, I'm just another stupid human. : )

Reply from a reader:
"Gods in training" he says. That has got to be the most unusual concept I have heard in a long time. You hear about all the religions we have now. Each one is fighting another, fighting for territory, fighting for money, fighting for followers. How can this be, how can people have so many gods. More importantly how come we had more gods back in the past? This blog entry relates our gods to our general intelligence as a whole.
"Well, way back in the day when we were incredibly stupid by today's standards , not even just stupid, but well rounded stupid. We couldn't do squat and were afraid of everything. Then, as our intelligence grew and our technological capabilities expanded, we became afraid of less and started saying gods controlled the things we didn't understand or were still afraid of." (blog entry)
This is a very interesting observation due to how accurate it is. The more we figure out the less we rely on our gods. Everything from the rain to why the sun rises and sets was based on god's will. God is the all-powerful being in the sky that makes the world "go". He used to be in charge of everything but now he only "takes care of us after we die, gives us a new life, a new home, and a new beginning in a whole new world. In other words, this God presides over death, something we as a human race still fear, one of our last fears." (blog entry) So slowly we faze our god out of existence. What will happen when we become so technologically advanced that we can control death? What will need god for then? What will his role be? Will god be a lonesome memory? A brother in godly affairs? Or will he be forever more powerful than us, always watching, always caring for us? There would be nothing left to be afraid of.
"Gods in training" he says. Well what if we are? What if there was another group of gods in training before us, and we are their creation. Slowly but surely we will phase them out of existence just as our gods did to the gods in training before them. As we learn new things our gods disappear, they are no longer useful or necessary to our survival. Surely that means our creation will do the same to us. We are just waiting for the time when our creations no longer rely on us.
So how do we explain dinosaurs? Are they our gods first try at creating? They made a mistake so they killed them off and started over, and out we popped. Maybe there is a whole civilization of gods creating and that's how we have different types of animals. Maybe the god who created us is like Bill Gates. He is the most well known god or something because his creation progressed the best. It evolved into an intelligent life form just like they once were. So now one god is sitting there as the king of all gods. Maybe once creature was created everyone has the chance to tweak it updating things and making them work better. That's why we have different races or breeds, because someone thought of a better way and decided to make it happen. Either that or the god who created us is hated. He is hated because he brought about the race which will faze the civilization of the gods out of existence... Would you hate him? Or would you turn back to your gods wondering how to get back to the innocence of the old days before you knew how to create, ignorance is bliss. How do you go back to being stupid? This is just the cycle of life... we will never really know the truth... until we are gods.
End of Reply
:: Michael 6:32 PM [+] ::
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Ghosts...yeah, you've all heard about them. The funny see through people that you can't touch and nobody knows where they come from? Yeah, you know what I'm talkin about. Yeah, I've seen a ghost before, I'm a believer, damn straight. Aren't you? If not, why? Because you've never seen one before? If you have seen one, are you just in denial? Yeah, so what are they? Are they really people who have died and are haunting us? Are they illusions or tricks that our own mind is playing on us? Maybe I just got a piece of dirt in my eye and thought I saw a ghost...I've never seen a ghost shaped piece of dirt though. Did they come from heaven, did they come from hell? Are they trapped in the middle somewhere? Maybe there is no middle, maybe it's just where we all go and some of them know how to appear in this world too. Who knows....does the bible? The bible speaks about spirits, but does it ever really speak of ghosts? If it does speak of ghosts, what does it say they are? Where does it say they come from? I don't know, I've never read the bible, maybe I should. One thing I do know though, is that a ghost have never spoken about heaven....least there haven't been any reports of it happening. If they never speak of heaven, then they must have never been there. If they've never been there then where they come from is limited to two possibilities...hell or some place in between...that is if you are a god fearing person. If not, then there is only one place...some weird other world/dimension that our souls/energies go when we die. Some people say they've encountered nice ghosts, others mean ghosts, and still others sad/frightened ghosts. If they're happy, they couldn't have come from hell...and since they're not from heaven...they must be from some in between place. And since they're happy...that in between place must not be so bad. What about the mean ghosts though...they could be from hell, they're angry, upset, full of rage. Sometimes they attack people, sometimes they just scare people off, sometimes they steal your stuff. Are they from hell though? Maybe they're just upset about being dead, maybe they were so happy being alive that their happiness turned to hatred in death. Hmm...who knows. And what about the sad/frightened ones, I guess they could be from hell too...maybe they escaped...or maybe they're just frightened or sad about beind dead...or maybe cause of how they died. I guess all of them could be from some middle ground place between heaven and hell with mixed emotions about being dead and about their new home. Or maybe the non-believers are right and it's just where everyone goes after they die, some other dimension/world. Both would fit the description. Eh, who knows, I'm just one more living mortal, what do I know about the afterlife?
:: Michael 11:36 AM [+] ::
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You like big subjects? yeah, who doesn't? I mean really, if you are ever having problems holding long conversations, just bring up the big subjects. For instance, the subject of God....Oh yeah...thats a big subject. Huge in fact. The unsolved question that has been around as long as we humans have had the ability of thought. Is there or isn't there some all powerful maker that has always been and always will be? Some all powerful being we label as God. I don't know, maybe there is, maybe there isn't. I mean think about it, some all powerful God, the dude that made the universe and us. This all powerful being can not only do anything but also knows everything...everything there ever was, everything there is, and everything there will be. But yet, we claim we have free will. Hmm...sounds like a contradiction. If god knows everything that will be, he knows what we're going to do, he already planned it out, but we have free will to choose whether or not to do something, yet he already knows our answer.....hmmm....odd. Doesn't sound like free will, just sounds like we have the illusion of free will. Sure we think we are choosing whether or not to...for instance...believe in a god, but God already knows if we do or will ever believe in him because he knows the future, he's already planned it all out, so do we really have the choice of whether or not to believe? But then, if we truely did have free will, and God didn't know what we would choose from one moment to the next, then he wouldn't be all powerful and all knowing, now would he? If he isn't all powerful and all knowing, how can I guarantee that heaven will be so wonderful, how can he be my ultimate savior, how can I devote my life to him, how can I let him rule me? Then again, maybe there is an all powerful God, but what if the one we're worshipping isn't him? Maybe the bible is about some lesser being that only aspires to be like God or just wants to try and steal some of his believers. Last but not least, what if there is no God? What if there is not ultimate creator of the universe? What if we are just pawns of the universe in it's attempt to figure itself out? What if we have no purpose at all? Maybe there is no ultimate plan, maybe there are no guiding watchful spirits, Maybe we're here because a chunk of matter was floating around and just happened to spawn into what we are now. Whats the meaning of life? What is our purpose? Is God some fictional character we made up because we as humans are small fragile beings afraid of what will become of us? 5,000 years ago we believed in a multitude of gods, why just have one? We had one for damn near everything and everyone followed it. Nobody had a problem with it back then. Then we got smarter, oh boy we got smart, we finally found out how stupid we were to think that some god made the sun rise and set, that some other god made the seasons come and pass. Thats funny, we as humans get smarter exponentially, how stupid will we think we are tomorrow? What will we believe in then? We will always believe in something because humans need to something to drive them, something to focus their energies towards. I'm fine with that, but what am I supposed to believe? Should I go with the latest fad? Maybe I should just set out to believe in what makes me happy? I'm not saying let the world fall into chaos, I'm saying follow the rules of society and find something to give you happiness, to give you purpose. Maybe religion is that, maybe some all powerful being is that, maybe it's leaving life knowing that you made an impact, or maybe it's just knowing that someone or some thing will remember you for at least a little while after you've died. Believe and strive for anything that makes you happy and makes you want to live life to it's fullest until either that All powerful being has decided your times up, or the laws of nature and fate has caught up with you. But what do I know? I'm just a human.
:: Michael 10:47 PM [+] ::
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