My daughter teaches me anew everyday to seize moments of joy as they come. This is one of those moments that I wouldn't give up for anything. It was like time was standing still. Running in the sand with her, giggling as the waves splash us, watching the sun set without worrying about the time: it was a day full of perfect Christmas presents. When I'm back home at the end of a long day of working, I will remember these moments and look forward to more to come.
6 comments:
Dagney,
No snow in Florida to celbrate Xmas with? :o) - It's drury and rainy in KC but not cold, so have fun for me there! Perfect Xmas Eve! Snow storm was in the forcast but I don't watch local TV news too much so may god bring whatever! So, we'll leave the "moral relativism" argument to teach your daughter for anotehr day ;o)
You write about day full of Xmas presents - and it's not even Xmas yet! - Just Xmas Eve!
Imagine what you can do with your life when every day is a Xmas?
Imgaine what others can do with their lives when they take it to full capacity?
I don't remember if you were at teh Venus Project event at Skeptics, but imagine if you do this "every day" in and out "without" thinking about someone watching your every step - even when you are in a bathroom? Do you think god is this petty if the Pink Unicorn exists?
For a liberal/freethinking Xian like you this probabably an easy qeustion to answer. I think She has greener pastures to go to (pun intended since she's a horse hybrid :o)
You and I talked on the phone last week about "What if god is proven 100% not to exist? Are you going to love your daughter any less?"
Are you going to see "void and emptiness" in her yes and laughter only is a chemical reaction in her brain since there is no god guiding it in her divine inspiration?
Are you going to go out and kill, steal, destroy property because tehre is no god proven - this i hypothetical of course.
Are you going to love her any more or any less? Can you gauge your love for her or hate/disrespect for someone based on "god's presence" or "non presence?"
A good one to ponder. Hence lies your answer of what kind of person you are and others you'd like to be.
Happy Xmas and New Year!
Iggy-Merry Christmas to you too!
To answer your question: I don't love my daughter just because I see the divine in her. My love for her is not dependent upon my belief in god, but I do learn something of god from what I see in her. Extrapolating from that, I assume that the divine that I see in her is in each human being, and so therefore I love and respect others as well (though not as much as I love her- I just can't). What if god were absolutely proven not to exist? First, I believe this absolute proof is a philosophical impossibility, but were it possible, would I cease to love and care for others? No, because I would still assume that what I see in my daughter's eyes, that spark, whether it is divine or something else, is in other people, and therefore their lives are valuable.
Hmmmmmm,
Ok, let's take it a step further...
What if it's proven that Satan is the true god and actually has been f.cking around with our brains all this time (well, not mine :o) but theistic brains) and his goal in life is to "test" folks in reverse - not on faith but in critical thinking?
And by the way, just like in the OT, when you are dead, you are puff, gone and no heaven or hell. No divine inspiration.
Satan has been just a deistic god and nothing in this world is happening because of him - he just let it all go to sh.t from Adam & Eve (our primordial ancesotrs who have been created through abiogenisis by natural and phisical and chemical processes and then he took a long sabbatical.
And if Satand comes over and tells you "I am no divine" I was just puffed into existance by some other force I have no idea about. I just am taking care of your Solar system and the 500 bln stars in the Milky way.
other gods are in charge of their own galaxies and this is how it's all been for ever. We all get togetehr once in a blue neutron star and have some beer togetehr and go ice fishing somehwere in Yukon let's say every 2 mln years?
Would this change your idea of a "divine" spark?
The answer from you as I read it "maybe" but you'd still be treating others in a "Dagneyfied" way?
Even my dog loves and cares for me - not just humans have this capacity. When I onces slipped down the stairs of my 2 story house and hit my .ss and the tail bone I could not move for perhpas 5 min as it was so painful. My dog was there likcing me and rubbing against me.
Is my dog's love for me any less than my love for her? Or my wife? My dog is a member of our family and when she dies it will be a tragedy for all of us - she is only 5 years old now, so we probably have another 5-10 years with her (I hope 10+ as she is in an exceptionally good shape, fit, skinny, very active and always on the move).
Is my dog's life and the spark I see in her any different?
If you accept that humans ahve been evolving from lower forms of life at which stage was the spark breathed into them?
Bacterial? Ape? Homo lineage? Or it just ahpepned?
All the evidence points to "naturalistic" explanation of our morality and our love.
If you ever see my dog, you'll get a better idea of this.
either way, enough sermons and preaching!
My daughter's B-Day is tomroorw and my wife and I (both atheists) and my son (weak weak weak deist of sorts/spiritualis) will be celebrating with my daugher who has "Jesus loves you" as a message on her cell phone recorded by one of her friends.
Life is great!
Happy HOlidays!
I don't know if my last post went through, but as I was saying, if anyone asked me insulting questions about my daughter like you did Iggy I would have nothing further to say to them.
Call me whatever you want...about my daughter you say NOTHING.
As for your question about Satan, Jesus already answered your question...if you really are the Bible expert you claim to be, you know the answer.
Do you?
As for "proof", you can no more "prove" by any scientifically repeatedable process "Abiogenesis", than you can your "dogs love for you"...beyond the fact that you are anthropomorphizing and placing dogs and humans on the same level, you apparently don't understand the scientific method.
I will look forward to telling you this at the meetup.
That is the magic of wonderful memories..You can re-call them anytime you want to relive those lovely moments.
Susan,
I love reliving my memories in sleep. Over the few past years I have been able to actually "force" myself in my dreams to "relive" what I like and carry on from the night before. YOu know sometimes you wake up and puff the dream is gone? I write it down briefly and then when I go to sleep I'd think really heard about it and my memories come back again to relive the experience.
I wonder sometimes and "actually" looking forward to this - how would my final seconds of life be when it comes to "memories".
This is the "ultimate one on one with yourself" and everything that you have been all your life.
Your brain is shutting down, your body is flooded with chemicals to smooth down the pain and combat the lack of oxygen in your lungs your are drifting away into the abyss...
I sometimes wonder how it feels to have these memories flash during your last moments? Weird as it sounds I am "looking forward to this new experience".
Don't get me wrng, I am not looking forward to being dead :o) - just to the "transitional" experience on the way to being dead.
I have absolutely no fear of it, not now, nt ever. I may have it laer when I get older and the end is neigh...
Often times when I stay late up and really really tired, I close my eyes and within seconds drop into the "nothingness".
Really strange feeling. But memories are racing. In real life I think memories are really bland, not special, not coloful, just mear holograms of relaity.
But this is what our brains are - projecting all the time an incomplete image of the owrld, we'll never be able to have a full memories of.
Just what you can hold on to, this is precious.
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