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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: greenspirit who wrote (74751)	2/20/2000 9:34:00 PM
From: Dayuhan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

Ok, I concede that I was perhaps snippier than circumstances called for. I sometimes get that way when I feel that I'm repeating the obvious. The ladder of inference is wildly obvious. As soon as we declare the existence of a natural law that exists independently of ourselves, some bunch of bozos reveals that since all things must have a source, that natural law must be the product of The Great Pumpkin Or Whatever. And since these laws govern us, the G.P.O.W. is obviously above us. Soon the bozos announce that the G.P.O.W has looked favorably on their groveling and revealed the natural law completely and exclusively to them, and that it is their responsibility to make sure everybody follows it, even if that means roasting a few recalcitrants. It's happened too many times to ignore. We have to accept that the definition of what is right is continually evolving, and that absolute certainty is not possible. By denying the possibility of absolute certainty, by insisting on doubt and the necessity for thought, we deprive the zealots of their most potent weapon. Emotion rather than intellect plays the primary role in decision making. That's why the world is so fcked up, and that's what we need to change. If we have keen ears we can hear the timeless vibrations of truth in our minds.* What we hear in our minds is the collected experience of our race, accumulated experience passed on from generation to generation. It comes from our upbringing, and possibly from some sort of "genetic memory"; I don't know the state of the science on that. There are few more irresponsible acts than taking the package of wisdom that was passed on to us and declaring it to be natural law. By that act we renounce our duty to add to that package, to bring the moral evolution of our race one small step forward. I do not question the existence of the voice that guides us. I'm saying it is a collective creation of our race, not something from the outside. We are still making it, which is why it is so important to think about what we do.