I'm not arguing for over-dependence on medication, Maria.Maria wrote:Only as a last resort should one such as I take medication, because something about my body chemistry is unusual and I ALWAYS get the weird, nearly unknown side effects.
In the case of really serious illnesses, though, surely they apply. I would humbly submit that cancer is not cured through energy healing.Medications just are not the answer for some people.
I don't think any of us are.I'm not a standard issue human.
When one suspects one is missing something others have, it's hard not to feel left out, even if one also suspects one simply can't have it. I have partaken of what you describe, and the last twenty years of my life have been a journey towards acceptance, as opposed to the laughing and crying. Those didn't change anything for me.I find I feel like someone whose wiring made her long for faith -- but also made it almost impossible actually to "believe" things in particular. Don't know whether the laughing or crying icon is more appropriate here!
Yes, but those statements were specifically placed in the past.nerdanel wrote:What I took from Lidless' post is that prejudice against left-handed people and use of the left hand extends throughout history and across cultures, with religion sometimes but not always complicit in the practice. I see no evidence of Western superiority in a post that implicates far more Western groups in this sort of ignorant prejudice than it does non-Western groups.
Whereas the statement about the Guinea coast is not placed in the past, and in fact is universalized to the entire population.lidless wrote:Centuries ago, the Catholic Church declared left-handed people to be servants of the Devil. For generations, left-handers who attended Catholic schools were forced to become right-handed.
I feel sure that Lidless did not intend to imply that everyone on the Guinea coast believes this, but I can certainly see how it could be read this way, especially by someone who knows that area.lidless wrote: Natives on the Guinea coast never touch their left thumbs to their beer mugs, in the belief that it would poison the beverage.
Voronwë, what I see here is that you took responsibility for your feelings. You didn't say that the comment was offensive, but that you found it offensive (and explained the basis for that). And you made a point of saying that you assumed the comment wasn't meant to be offensive, so that it would not be seen as an accusation. You were clearly identifying your reaction as a product of personal feelings, not as an inevitable reaction to something innately offensive.Voronwë_the_Faithful wrote:
Having just the spent the weekend with a "native" from the Guinea coast visiting us who happens to be the most impressive human being that I have ever had the pleasure to know, I will assume that your comments were not actually meant to be as deeply offensive as I found them.
I think I'm on that same journey. I don't envy the faith that some people have, partially because I tried to convince myself that I had it once long ago. I'm quite content in my atheistic beliefs today. I've heard of the god gene that a noted scientist (Dawkins?) has claimed may be an element of human DNA that predisposes some to religion. This may be part of the neurological elements you mentioned.axordil wrote:When one suspects one is missing something others have, it's hard not to feel left out, even if one also suspects one simply can't have it. I have partaken of what you describe, and the last twenty years of my life have been a journey towards acceptance, as opposed to the laughing and crying. Those didn't change anything for me.I find I feel like someone whose wiring made her long for faith -- but also made it almost impossible actually to "believe" things in particular. Don't know whether the laughing or crying icon is more appropriate here!
The context of the entire post is important. Knowing one individual from a group (different from the others perhaps) does not necessarily negate a generalization of that group. Sometimes it is incumbent on the reader to not read malice or offensiveness into another person's post. It's all part of respecting each other's opinion.I feel sure that Lidless did not intend to imply that everyone on the Guinea coast believes this, but I can certainly see how it could be read this way, especially by someone who knows that area.
To use an old (but good) word, God is ineffable. That is ultimately what I come to when I try to understand him or describe him. He is a mystery, at his very core.How do you “see” the god you believe in? Is your god a “being”? If it is, what is the being made of? Molecules and atoms, etc.? Is your god a conscious entity? Does your god hear what you say, or know what you think? Does your god have the power to interfere with the observed laws of the universe? Do you think your god will answer prayers, and if not, why not?
Oh, I don't know about that! I have some of my most profound thoughts in the week hours of the morning.WampusCat wrote:I just noticed that it's 4 a.m., an ungodly hour (so to speak) for gathering one's thoughts about one's deity.
Go figure!
Very true.Tar-Palantir wrote:And the time when visualizing is most likely to occur is during prayer, I would expect.
I have no mental image of the Father. Certainly not the unhelpful Blakean archetype of an old man with a white beard, which I am completely allergic to. (Despite my deep love for the Christian tradition in Western art.)As I mentioned, I need to make a deliberate effort to visualize, to combat a natural tendency to abstraction, and I find that my visualizations of the Father and Son are entirely conventional - derived from art and the media.
I love the 'Jesus mafa' website (which I think is Catholic):He is invisible, though, IMO.As for visualizing the Holy Ghost I cannot do it! He always comes out invisible - something pervading like magnetism or an aroma...
I believe that the Holy Spirit is the spiritual force or presence of God. 
