Posts by Monsieur

15

Is 'evil' an invention of man??

by Monsieur in

recently i read some essays on animal behavorial patterns and i must say i'm shocked at how little difference (when you honestly consider it) there is between said animals and us, human beings.. this is a very new concept for me personally but here is my take on it (i'm sure its not so new, ex.

evolution) - what if humans in fact are mimicking animals, and not the other way around as we'd like to think.. displays of love and affection, clinginess, mourning etc, they all exist in the animal kingdom, but how are we so different?

a pack of wolves attack and kill a caribou for dinner and its considered nature, the same wolves hunt down a lost man in the woods and now its considered 'evil', and if there are any forest rangers around its guaranteed that they will shoot these wolves.. man's heartless treatment of man is considered 'evil', but if evolution is of any indication (in terms of survival of the fittest) is the 'term' evil just a word to appease our so called conscious?.

Monsieur

here is an better example,

on those essays the subject of a male lion came up. this lion had cubs and he proceeded to kill every single one of them supposedly in order to diminsh the chances that any of the cubs would grow and usurp the grown lion's position of dominance within the pride.

this is apparently very common in the animal kingdom (ex. gorillas etc.)

yet it's 'evil' for such things to happen among humans, why?

would humans not merely be reflecting the same 'nature' as its 'ecosystem' in which it simply lives in?? We ARE part of this EArth, after all, interacting and reacting with it and all. why does man want to differentiate itself from 'nature' when it's ovbious that it IS nature?

15

Is 'evil' an invention of man??

by Monsieur in

recently i read some essays on animal behavorial patterns and i must say i'm shocked at how little difference (when you honestly consider it) there is between said animals and us, human beings.. this is a very new concept for me personally but here is my take on it (i'm sure its not so new, ex.

evolution) - what if humans in fact are mimicking animals, and not the other way around as we'd like to think.. displays of love and affection, clinginess, mourning etc, they all exist in the animal kingdom, but how are we so different?

a pack of wolves attack and kill a caribou for dinner and its considered nature, the same wolves hunt down a lost man in the woods and now its considered 'evil', and if there are any forest rangers around its guaranteed that they will shoot these wolves.. man's heartless treatment of man is considered 'evil', but if evolution is of any indication (in terms of survival of the fittest) is the 'term' evil just a word to appease our so called conscious?.

Monsieur

Hello all,

Recently I read some essays on animal behavorial patterns and I must say I'm shocked at how little difference (when you HONESTLY consider it) there is between said animals and us, human beings.

This is a VERY new concept for me personally but here is my take on it (I'm sure its not so new, ex. evolution) - What if humans in fact are MIMICKING animals, and not the other way around as we'd like to think.

displays of love and affection, clinginess, mourning etc, they all exist in the animal kingdom, but how are we so different? and why would we think so?

a pack of wolves attack and kill a caribou for dinner and its considered nature, the same wolves hunt down a lost man in the woods and now its considered 'evil', and if there are any forest rangers around its guaranteed that they will shoot these wolves.

man's heartless treatment of man is considered 'evil', but if evolution is of any indication (in terms of survival of the fittest) is the 'term' evil just a word to appease our so called conscious?

52

Josephus and Jesus

by jhine in

on another thread wot i read a few days ago and can't remember which one, someone asked why josephus never mentions jesus .

at the time i had no knowledge of this so kept quiet .

however today while reading an excellent book (don't know if i should advertise but if anyone wants the title let me know ) i have found out that josephus mentions jesus in around about manner.

Monsieur

44

New Pope will be named Peter

by Monsieur in

i remember reading somewhere in regards to a a 'prophet' of sorts who had predicted all the popes that have been chosen.. his 'prophecy' stated that the next pope (since benedict has resigned) would be the last before the 'end' would come.

his name would be pope peter.. let's see what happens.

we are suppose to know who the next pope will be before easter..

Monsieur

I remember reading somewhere in regards to a a 'prophet' of sorts who had predicted all the Popes that have been chosen.

His 'prophecy' stated that the next Pope (since Benedict has resigned) would be the last before the 'end' would come. His name would be Pope Peter.

Let's see what happens. We are suppose to know who the next Pope will be before easter.

26

Are you still on a self improvement quest?

by Monsieur in

on another thread i asked about this life being all there is.

if so, what would you consider important to have done or accomplished before you die so that 'your time alive' would not have been a total waste?.

if you haven't done it, or accomplished it, are you currently on a quest to do so?

Monsieur

jgnat

holy cow!! that is a fabulous painting!!

26

Are you still on a self improvement quest?

by Monsieur in

on another thread i asked about this life being all there is.

if so, what would you consider important to have done or accomplished before you die so that 'your time alive' would not have been a total waste?.

if you haven't done it, or accomplished it, are you currently on a quest to do so?

Monsieur

on the way out,

have you reached that inner peace or are you still working on it?

26

Are you still on a self improvement quest?

by Monsieur in

on another thread i asked about this life being all there is.

if so, what would you consider important to have done or accomplished before you die so that 'your time alive' would not have been a total waste?.

if you haven't done it, or accomplished it, are you currently on a quest to do so?

Monsieur

26

Are you still on a self improvement quest?

by Monsieur in

on another thread i asked about this life being all there is.

if so, what would you consider important to have done or accomplished before you die so that 'your time alive' would not have been a total waste?.

if you haven't done it, or accomplished it, are you currently on a quest to do so?

Monsieur

Greetings,

On another thread I asked about this life being all there is. If so, what would you consider important to have done or accomplished before you die so that 'your time alive' would not have been a total waste?

if you haven't done it, or accomplished it, are you currently on a quest to do so? how close are you to achieving the 'pinnacle' or 'zenith' of your life?

43

So, is this present life it??

by Monsieur in

if there is a possibility that god himself as we thought he was is not real, then,.

is our current and present life, (the daily one we live, not necessarily our aspirations) all there really is?.

what do we have to look foward to if we are aware that we are not infinite.

Monsieur

All the advise sounds good, although I don't necessarily see things in life in a negative way. I wasn't 'complaining' so to speak, of my 'present' and possibly only life. In my personal case, I feel very lucky to have it the way I do, (I'm not being hunted down, abused, or made to suffer the torture of my kids, etc..)

The finality of it all though is a nice 'rug pulled from under you' type experience. Having said that, I'm not quite convinced this is the case, not yet anyway.

IF the case WAS that this life is IT though, should we really strive to make a 'difference' outside of our own immediate family perhaps? what are we trying to accomplish when we set out to make a 'statue' or a 'memorial' of ourselves? Otherwise, our influence is only really as far reaching as our children, spouse, parents (if we even got along with them).

Im starting to better understand Solomon's words in regards to it all being a vanity.

Interestingly, if our influence is ridiciously limited, then I feel as though this takes a lot of stress off my shoulders. I realize that many ventures, if not almost all of them, are not that important and don't merit so much energy and time.

Didn't George W Bush say when asked what would his legacy be, he answered "We won't know, we'll be dead".

43

So, is this present life it??

by Monsieur in

if there is a possibility that god himself as we thought he was is not real, then,.

is our current and present life, (the daily one we live, not necessarily our aspirations) all there really is?.

what do we have to look foward to if we are aware that we are not infinite.

Monsieur

thanks all for responding,

phizzy

i had read some on existentilism well before all this (questioning and searching), i seem to gather from this 'concept' that one must find order and meaning in one's life and even rise to a self-defined notion of heroism. But i find that to do this completely, one must focus exclusively on well, him or herself, thus becoming a borderline 'selfish' venture. this could easily lead to, in my experience, a lot of depression (focusing on one's self completely). I don't know, it could be the way to go or not, I'll find out one day perhaps.

can what we build really and trully outlast us? wouldn't that require that we remain conscious of those 'effects'? if we are not, due to death, then again, was Solomon onto something here?