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9th June 2011, 09:34 PM | #401 |
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Like many humorless and indignant people, he is hard on everybody but himself, and does not perceive it when he fails his own ideal (Molière) A pedant is a man who studies a vacuum through instruments that allow him to draw cross-sections of the details (John Ciardi) |
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10th June 2011, 03:38 AM | #402 |
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You're surprised that you could sway someone's opinion by presenting actual evidence?
Um, okay... You realize this is a skeptic's forum, right? Evidence is not only the easiest way, it's about the only way to sway most people's opinion here, and I think that's a good thing. Being given solid evidence and ignoring it is just as bad as believing things based on vague or weak evidence. |
10th June 2011, 08:41 AM | #403 |
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In addition to iron supplements and bismuth(pepto-bismol), black tarry stools can result from bleeding in the GI tract, as in bleeding peptic ulcers. This can be life threatening, and if you experienced this while fasting for many days it should be investigated by a physician.
Without intake of bulky material by mouth there is no reason why the colon should produce black tar like stools, or any stool at all for tgat matter. The body does not excrete "toxins" with enough bulk to form stool into the colon. There are electrolyte secretions into the Colon, and prolonged diarrhea for instance can result in electrolyte imbalances, but not stool formation. Fasting for as little as 2 days in a healthy person should completely empty the colon. |
10th June 2011, 08:59 AM | #404 |
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IOW, they (we) (I).... pay attention to what's going on around us...
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10th June 2011, 09:16 AM | #405 |
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10th June 2011, 10:00 AM | #406 |
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You misunderstood the quote. I was referring to the ease in which Pup implied that by reading that I smoke changed his mind about evidence being able to sway his opinion; which was sarcasm due to the snarkiness. [But then I read this...]
I agree. My intentions when posting about fasting, as I've stated previously, was to give my opinions on my experiences; and not to alter anyone's opinion. Just because I am willing to test things for my own conclusions doesn't mean that I'm advocating the results to anyone else. I'm just informing you of what I observed. Again, next month I'll come back to the discussion with more observations, and, if I can manage, a stool analysis if the tarry-poo occurs again. Unfortunately, I'm aware of that, as well I got myself checked out by physicians, though, and, while they didn't offer an opinion on fasting besides, "that is unhealthy," they ensured that it wasn't due to blood. eta From what I've learned [largely in part due to being a practitioner of Kouryuu arts], "enlightenment," to a degree, is somewhat blocked from having a defining personality. In saying, "having Faith in unprovable things," I implied the rationale of not needing to define it, or prove it to others. It does not mean that I believe any old thing that can't be disproven; because in that case I'd believe almost everything Ultimately, "Enlightenment" stems from the ability to live outside the mind in everyday life; as in, just be aware of what's going on around you, but in a much more sensitive way than the words 'be aware' imply regularly. It doesn't have anything to do with fasting, beliefs, jobs, identities, self, other people, direct contact with nature, or anything else that involves definition, including dubunking things. Those are just side-notes. The only thing that really matters is growth and happiness, which every human is attempting to attain or sustain. Creating friendships with those you encounter is also very important. And, just so we don't continue the, "where's your evidence for this?" tea party, these words, not ver batum, are found in almost every enlightening book or practice ever written. [ie. the bible, plato, confucius, tao te ching, ekhart tolle, dan millman, socrates, etc.] My Kouryu sorces are the Shoninki and books by Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi. |
10th June 2011, 11:03 AM | #407 |
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10th June 2011, 11:18 AM | #408 |
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At any given moment in time, there are hundreds, thousands, possibly millions of things going on around you, providing sensory stimulation.
A certain number of people can, with little or no conscious thought, ignore much of it. A certain, and probably much smaller, number of people cannot ignore much of it, without a strong effort, or perhaps not at all. For them, a constant stream of largely useless information is coming at them all the time, impinging on their awareness. They have fewer or no "distraction filters." We know the human brain tries to make patterns out of, to make sense of, the data it receives. If you were one who received a copious amount of data, the mind could get pretty creative in making sense out of it, forming what seem to be pretty creative ideas. At least, that's how I interpret that. |
10th June 2011, 11:23 AM | #409 |
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Say what you will, as far as I'm concerned awareness without discernment is a lost weekend.
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Like many humorless and indignant people, he is hard on everybody but himself, and does not perceive it when he fails his own ideal (Molière) A pedant is a man who studies a vacuum through instruments that allow him to draw cross-sections of the details (John Ciardi) |
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10th June 2011, 11:33 AM | #410 |
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Since you said this, and put it baldly, I have to disagree.
Some of us believe that it's better not to aim directly at happiness. To put it a little parodoxically, some of us are happier not being happy. Also, I find I'm better off avoiding "friendships" with most of the people that I encounter, although getting along with them is necessary. Friendship implies an engaged, thoughtful relationship, with caring, commitment, etc. That would be quite impossible goal and an undesirable one for both me and the people I see in my everyday life. It's better that we're not friends. We would bore each other to tears, and irritate each other if we engaged. Oh, and I forgot "growth", which is either meaningless or impossible beyond a certain point. |
10th June 2011, 12:43 PM | #411 |
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Happiness: I didn't say, 'aim for happiness,' I said, 'sustain happiness.' Aiming implies striving toward feeling the definition of happiness. Obviously if you are happy doing whatever you're doing then you are going to repeat those values, and in doing so, be happy doing it. When it doesn't make you happy anymore, you're going to change what you're doing into something else that makes you happy. Friendship: Does not imply any of those things as I meant it. Being a 'friend' to someone while you are near them is what I intended to imply. I have more thoughts on this matter, but it falls under, "unprovable," so I won't mention them. Obviously, though, if you go around creating enemies it will be bad for you later, was the most basic sense of what I meant. Growth: That's just silly; there's infinite knowledge in the Universe, and hence infinite opportunity for growth. "Beyond a certain point," meaning, "too old to do anything but vegetize," I can agree with, but anything before that portrays that one can know everything. Obviously that's arrogant. And with this sentence forming its own paragraph, I've officially written, "Obviously," in every paragraph; a redundant accident. |
10th June 2011, 12:53 PM | #412 |
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10th June 2011, 07:41 PM | #413 |
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Now I've got that Don McLean song stuck in my head: "Tarry Tarry *****"
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10th June 2011, 09:17 PM | #414 |
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Like many humorless and indignant people, he is hard on everybody but himself, and does not perceive it when he fails his own ideal (Molière) A pedant is a man who studies a vacuum through instruments that allow him to draw cross-sections of the details (John Ciardi) |
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10th June 2011, 10:07 PM | #415 |
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10th June 2011, 10:31 PM | #416 |
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"There is a plenty of proof, but unfortunately it is entirely unprovable." - Punshhh "There’s a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore like an idiot." – Stephen Wright |
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11th June 2011, 12:47 AM | #417 |
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How do I know you don't have the knowledge? If you're willing to believe doctors aren't taught nutrition, I'm assuming you uncritically accept nearly everything
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11th June 2011, 01:19 AM | #418 |
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That doesn't propagate lacking knowledge of human biology necessary to know what caused it, that just means I accept woo.
You're correct about me not having the knowledge, but I asked how you knew, not what distant train of thought made you assume that. Regardless, it's also meaningless. You're right.
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Again, tarry poo occurred during a fast; so I can't have it analyzed til I get some more! If I don't have the monies necessary I'll PM you for a shipping address if you'd like to prove me wrong personally. |
11th June 2011, 01:28 AM | #419 |
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If you accept woo you lack knowledge of human biology...
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11th June 2011, 01:54 AM | #420 |
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What's the common definition of, "woo," then? I took it as accepting something that couldn't be proven.
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I've definitely been misinterpreted in regards to the, "enlightenment," bit, however.
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11th June 2011, 02:09 AM | #421 |
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Accepting something that has been disproven, is logically impossible, pseudoscientific, truly bizarre etc,
"Sometimes woo-woo is used by skeptics as a synonym for pseudoscience, true-believer, or quackery. But mostly the term is used for its emotive content and is an emotive synonym for such terms as nonsense, irrational, nutter, nut, or crazy." Skeptic's Dictionary
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11th June 2011, 08:59 AM | #422 |
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I hope you're on vacation when you attempt this experiment in extreme malnutrition, as by your own account I believe you said you were almost fired during one of your previous fasts.
In contrast to these dangerous attempts at reaching some higher plane of consciousness by starving your brain of fuel, my own recipe for reaching enlightenment would be as follows: 1: eat a healthy diet, with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables and little red meat. 2: stay physically fit. 3: get plenty of sleep, 8 hours a night is the average requirement. 4: engage every day in some stimulating intellectual exercise, like learning a new language, or learning to play a musical instrument. 5: maintain positive interpersonal relationships with a variety of friends and family. Oh I almost forgot, 6: have a nice glass of red wine with dinner every night... |
11th June 2011, 10:14 AM | #423 |
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so all the world's famous texts of philosophy & religion are rubbish? (and if you think these "religion" texts are unrelated to philosophy, you are very much mistaken)
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11th June 2011, 10:17 AM | #424 |
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http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?...78443&sk=wall: My facebook wall, where I post what the Great Books,authors (Bible,Plato,Tao te Ching,Gita,Nietzsche, etc.) teach about the world's deepest mysteries: God/Satan, good/evil, happiness/misery, heaven/hell, life/death, etc. Send me a friend request. |
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11th June 2011, 10:19 AM | #425 |
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11th June 2011, 10:23 AM | #426 |
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Philosophies are the excrement of unstructured minds that natter on and on about silly things, whose possessors have the ability to be paid for mindless drivel on all subjects.
Cliffie and Frasier on "Cheers" are the archetypes of the disease. |
11th June 2011, 10:35 AM | #427 |
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gj,
Just what exactley do you think an "Out of body experience" is? What IS "it" that you think is "Out", and how is that possible? Do you except that minds influenced by things like drugs, starvation, thirst and sleep deprevation have halucinations that are in no way representative of anything real? |
11th June 2011, 11:23 AM | #428 |
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11th June 2011, 12:06 PM | #429 |
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Marx came up with a (not original) idea.
It's imposition was horrific. In the Jamestown Colony, Capt John Smith centuries earlier had a practical imposition... considering the "gentlemen adventurers" who infested the place, while searching for gold, and expecting special handling due to their status, Smith said... "If you don't work, you don't eat". Leaving the choice to the individual.. it wasn't "if you don't work, we'll kill you", so typical of most of the philosophies the bottom-feeders like Marx come up with, when actually tried in real life. |
11th June 2011, 02:44 PM | #430 |
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11th June 2011, 03:29 PM | #431 |
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This entire thread may have been derailed, actually. My bad. I was referring to fasting as a means to prolong one's life and detoxify the body.
In an earlier post I mentioned fasting has nothing to do with enlightenment. eta I understand why the null hypothesis is important; while there are ongoing studies, however, I will remain neutral verging on woo, as a null hypothesis is just a null hypothesis. That said, I will conduct my own studies, as well. |
11th June 2011, 03:39 PM | #432 |
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11th June 2011, 03:45 PM | #433 |
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11th June 2011, 03:53 PM | #434 |
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11th June 2011, 04:21 PM | #435 |
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11th June 2011, 10:11 PM | #436 |
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12th June 2011, 02:35 AM | #437 |
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12th June 2011, 04:46 AM | #438 |
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12th June 2011, 04:51 AM | #439 |
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12th June 2011, 04:57 AM | #440 |
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Your mysticism seems to be clouding your judgement on policy. For context
I don't mean to single you out, I'm just saying that accepting things on feeling or intuition which is the extent of mysticism has it's drawbacks.
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