Mein Blog

Hello followers

2010-12-18T14:21:00.000-08:00

Hello,

As you may have noticed, I more or less quit blogging on here. However, I have opened up another blog with this account where I review books, mostly about religion, science, and philosophy. You can find that at http://skepticbookreview.blogspot.com/

I also post stories about recent scientific discoveries at my Tumblr page at http://theprofessorofreason.tumblr.com/

I may still blog here from time to time, but I am a college student with a girlfriend, so most of my writing effort will be going to my personal writing and book reviews.

It would be great for those who followed this blog before to subscribe to my new blog and tumblr page

-- Brandon V.

Nietzsche and the Carpe Diem mentality

2009-10-27T17:10:00.000-07:00

In this blog I will examine the optimistic, seize the day (carpe diem) mentality prevalent in Nietzsche's philosophy. Why the optimistic blog, rather than my typical pessimistic ramblings? Well, I asked out my friend Michelle, after deciding that I needed to take a chance and "seize the day" for once instead of standing by and not doing anything when I care about someone and admire them.

That being said, it's time for less me, more Nietzsche.

Nietzsche is commonly associated with Nihilism (from Latin, Nihil = nothing, nihilism = nothingism), or the belief that life is pointless, without value, and that our actions have no moral value. Nietzsche is commonly associated with this pessimistic worldview because of his declaration that God is dead, and to the religious who draw lifes meaning from superstition, this meant that life is meaningless if there is no god. However, Nietzsche was far from a nihilist. He is perhaps the most inspiring, positive philosopher of all time.

[....] indicates that I have abridged a text.

"The greatest weight -- What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: 'This Life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable time more; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh and everthing unutterable small or great in your life will have to return to you, all in the same succession and sequence--even this spider and this moonlight between the trees, and even this moment and I myself. The eternal hourglass of existence is turned upside down again and again, and you with it, speck of dust!' Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: 'You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine.' If this thought gained possession of you, it would change you as you are or perhaps crush you. The question in each and every thing, 'Do you desire this once more and inumberable times more?' would lie upon your actions as the greatest weight. Or how well disposed would you have to become to yourself and to life to crave nothing more fervently than this ultimate eternal confirmation and seal?" (#341) [from The Gay Science, by Friedrich Nietzsche]

What exactly does this mean? This is talking about the idea of eternal recurrence, that everything is redundant and repeats itself at some point in time. It's more of a thought experiment to Nietzsche to serve as a metaphor, but the concept of it is that if time stretches back infinitely and goes forward infinitely, then at some point the same things will recur, perhaps infinitely. What Nietzsche is saying here, is to live life and seize the day, so that every moment in your life would be worth living for eternity. The question "Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: 'You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine." is asking, if this spirit came to you and told you your life would be repeated for eternity, would you be miserable and burdened by the fact that your life would come to you again, or would you live such a life that you are happy with the fact that your life will repeat?

On the Three Metamorphoses. I tell you of three metamorphoses of the spirit : How the spirit becomes a camel, the camel a lion, and the lion at last a child. There is much that is difficult for the spirit, the strong reverent spirit that would bear much : but its strength demands the difficult and the most difficult. What is difficult? , so asks the spirit that would bear much; then it kneels down like a camel wanting to be well laden. What is the most difficult, you heroes? , so asks the spirit that would bear much, that I may take it upon me and rejoice in my strength. Is it not this : to humiliate oneself in order to mortify one's pride? To exhibit one's folly in order to mock at one's wisdom? Or is it this: to abandon our cause when it celebrates its triumph? To climb high mountains and tempt the tempter? Or is it this, to feed on the acorns and grass of knowledge, and for the sake of truth to suffer hunger of the soul? [...] Or is it this: to love those who despise us, and give one's hand to the honest when it is going to frighten us? [.....] [from Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Part 1, by Friedrich Nietzsche]

In the Three Metamorphoses, Nietzsche is discussing the stages of life that every man's spirit goes through. He is discussing what is difficult in life, what makes one's spirit become conditioned, what causes one to evolve? Nietzsche is saying to be daring, to take chances, as he said " To climb high mountains and tempt the tempter."

"On Old and New Tablets. [......]My wise longing, born in the mountains, cried and laughed in me; a wild wisdom truly! - my great broad-winged longing. And often it carried me off and p and away in the midst of laughter, then I flew quivering like an arrow with sun drunken rapture, out into distant futures, which no dream has yet seen. [.....] There it was too that I picked up the word Übermensch (Superhuman) by the way, and that man is something that must be overcome, that man is a bridge and not a goal: rejoicing over his noontides and evenings, as he advances to new dawns. [....]. [from Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Part 3, by Friedrich Nietzsche]

In this part of Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche wants us to, to borrow the opening of Star Trek, to "go where no man has gone before." He wants us to break the old tablets (morals, values) and create new goals, new values, and a new morality, to rejuvenate mankinds spirit and to reevaluate the world itself. He is saying that mankind as it is, modern man, is not the best we can be, that we can improve ourselves yet, to become superhuman, above human and rise above the world we have created and burdened ourselves with. He is saying, do not settle for the way things are, always try to improve.

This raises the question of rationality. If the world tries to exist in a state of pure logic and rationality, and as you my readers probably know I myself have had such sentiments, as a machine, how can mankind rise? A machine is static yet moving. It functions but does not grow.

The Illogical Necessary. One of those things that may drive a thinker into despair is the recognition of the fact that the illogical is necessary for man, and that out of the illogical comes much that is good. It is so firmly rooted in the passions, in language, in art, in religion, and generally everything that gives value to life, that it cannot be withdrawn without thereby hopelessly injuring these beautiful things. It is only the all too naive people who can believe that the nature of man can be changed truly into a purely logical one; but if there were degrees of proximity to this goal, how many things would not have to be lost on its course! Even the most rational man has need of nature again from time to time, i.e., his illogical fundamental attitude towards all things. - (#31) [from Human, All Too Human, by Friedrich Nietzsche]

Before Sunrise. [....] And he who cannot bless shall learn to curse - this teaching fell from me from the clear heaven, this star stands in my heaven even in dark nights. I however, am a blesser and a a Yes-Sayer, if only you are around me [...] This however is my blessing, to stand above everything as its own heaven [..] I set this freedom and heavenly cheerfulness like an azure bell above all things, when I taught that over them and through them no eternal will - wills. I set this mischievousness and folly in place of that will, when I taught, "In everything one thing is impossible - Rationality! A little reason, to be sure, a seed of wisdom scattered from star to to star - this heaven is mixed in all things : for the sake of folly, wisdom is mixed in all things! A little wisdom is indeed possible, but I have found this blessed certainty in all things : that on the feet of chance they prefer - to dance. [....] [from Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Part 3, by Friedrich Nietzsche]

In these two selections, Nietzsche is saying that it is impossible to be fully rational. Irrationality is part of human nature ( see my previous blog on chastity for discussion on Schopenhauer's theory of the irrational will to life) , and from it many good things as well as bad things come. It is naive, and I myself have made this naive mistake, to believe mankind can be a fully rational and logical machine. Surely, a person can be very rational and logical but , as Nietzsche said, "Even the most rational man has need of nature again from time to time".

As you can see, Nietzsche's ideology is far from Nihilistic, it is positive, inspiring, and teaches one thing : to seize the day! Carpe Diem!

On Sex, Children, and Marriage

2009-10-09T10:30:00.001-07:00

In this blog I am going to discuss various philosophers views as well as my own on sex, children, and marriage. The primary references in this blog post are Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche and The World and Will as Representation by Arthur Schopenhauer. the [...] indicates that I shortened certain passages by taking things out.

For those unclear, celibate means unmarried and chaste means sexually inactive.

Sex rules the media. Sex rules our lives, at the core things sexuality can be found.

Sigmund Freud called this the eros, the life instinct. The eros is also referred to as the libido, and Freud believed this to be the driving force behind the will to live. The will to live drives us to live, sustain ourselves, and reproduce. The counterpart of the eros in Freudian psychology is the Thanatos, or the death drive which is the unconscious wish to die.

Sigmund Freud was highly influenced by the philosophers Friedrich Nietzsche and Arthur Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer came up with the concept of the "will to life" which translates into the Freudian concept of the eros/libido.

This will to life, this desire to reproduce and to form relationships is of course natural, sexuality is what keeps the species going. However, there is such as thing as too much of it. Sexuality being idolized in society has led to delusions of what beauty is and to the bizzare idea in peoples heads that somehow sex and relationships complete a person. People tend to follow their impulses without thought. People get married because they are afraid of being alone.

Are there reasons to not have sex? Of course! Chastity is a lifestyle that frees you from the constraints of sexuality. With 1 in 4 girls having an STD in America, that alone is a great reason to practice a chaste lifestyle. For more information on the study on STDs, visit here. "1/4 Girls have STD" And of course, if 1/4 girls have an STD the males must also be carrying the diseases, which is all the reason for girls to remain chaste.

What have philosophers to say on Chastity?

In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, the 13th section of part one is titles, "On Chastity"

A few lines from it say :

"And just look at these men: their eyes say it -- they know nothing better on earth than to lie with a woman. Filth is at the bottom of their souls; and it is worse if this filth has spirit in it! [....] Do I exhort to you to kill your instincts? I exhort you to innocence in your instincts. Do I exhort to you chastity? Chastity is a virtue with some, but with many almost a vice. These people abstain to be sure : but the bitch sensuality leers enviously out of all that they do. [..] And how nicely the bitch sensuality knows how to beg for a piece of spirit when the flesh is denied her! You love tragedies and all that breaks the heart, but I am distrustful of your bitch sensuality. [...] Thus for whom Chasity is difficult should be dissuaded from it, lest it become the road to hell - that is, to filth and lust of the soul. "

Nietzsche's character of Zarathustra is saying that, sexuality runs peoples lives (they know nothing better on earth than to lie with a woman). Zarathustra is not comfortable with sexuality; he says that it tears at the soul. However, he also says that if someone is not comfortable leading a sexless life, they should not do so as it will only cause complications in their psyche (these people abstain to be sure, but the bitch sensuality leers enviously out of all that they do). Personally, I advocate a chaste life style, and if not chaste, at least responsible.

To Arthur Schopenhauer, the primary thing in human nature is the "will", which by will he is speaking of sexuality and the life instinct. He saw the intellect, and correctly saw it at that, as something that develops secondary to the will. He saw it as " a mere tool in the service of the will" (from the World and Will as Representation, Volume 2). This is accurate, as intellect and knowledge is an evolved trait of mankind, and not everyone has a great intellect, this is acquired through education. Schopenhauer saw the human mind as a conflict between the Will and Intellect, which foreshadowed Freud's concept of the Eros and Thanatos.

"If we were alone, and to think over our personal affairs, and then vividly picture to ourselves, say, the menace of an actually present danger, and the possibility of an unfortunate outcome, anxiety at once compresses the heart [..] But if the intellect then passes to the possibility of the opposite outcome, and allows the imagination to picture happiness [...], all the pulses at once quicken with joy. We see that the intellect strikes up the tune, and the will must dance to it. " (From the World and Will as Representation, Volume 2)

This concept of the happy and melancholy aspects of the intellect are directly comparable to the "Eros" and "Thanatos", the will to life and the will to death.

The unconcious mind could also be said to be a conflict between rational, intellectual thought and animal instinct & sexuality. Schopenhauer observed that sex is "the public secret which must never be distinctly mentioned anywhere, but is always understood to be the main thing." (From the World and Will as Representation, Volume 2). Schopenhauer recognized that human sexuality and desire was an innate instinct in people something that cannot be fulfilled or satisfied; It iss futile, illogical, directionless, and, by extension, so was all human action in the world. The only purpose of sexuality at its core is to reproduce and have children to continue the species. Instinct is blind, it marches on in its purpose. For example, if all of humanity had a limited supply of food, oxygen, and space left and not enough life supply to sustain a next generation, mankind would still have sexual desire. In order not bear children into a doomed world, the intellect and reason would have to tell instinct "no!" Desire is not rational, and can only be controlled by the intellect. This clash of rational and irrational thought and instinct causes chaos and longing, as Nietzsche said, "how nicely the bitch sensuality knows how to beg for a piece of spirit when the flesh is denied her! "

Schopenhauer continues, speaking of how the will can not be satisfied, "Forsaken by the spirit of the species, the individual falls back into his original narrowness and neediness, and sees with surprise that, after so high, heroic, and infinite an effort, nothing has resulted for his pleasure but what is afforded by any sexual satisfaction. Contrary to expectation, he finds himself no happier than before; he notices that he has been the dupe of the will of the species". Scientifically, this is true. Sex aside, the stronger feelings of love only last up to around a year; the nerve growth protein factor that gives you that "lovey" feeling with your significant other returns to its normal state after approximately 12 months. For more information on the scientific study of this, go here. "Romantic Love Lasts One Year"

Schopenhauer correctly observed that sexuality is the root of much of our inner torment, anyone who argues against this must think about the power struggle that relationships are, the wild goose chase for a boy or girl friend, and unfulfilled desire. Think about how life would be if you lacked any instinct to search for such things. In the first volume of The World and Will as Representation, Schopenhauer writes, "We can infer how blessed must be the life of a man whose will is silenced not for moments, as in the enjoyment of the beautiful, but for ever, indeed completely extinguished, except for the last glimmering spark that maintains the body." Of course, by Will he is speaking of desire, the will to life and reproduction that is sexuality.

In the end, sexuality is just a blind instinct to reproduce. It has not to do with fun, or being close to another. That is all "fluff" added to it by our psyche to justify it. At its core, there is nothing rational in it. Of course, it IS necessary to continue the species, but I am not speaking of how necessary it is or the moral judgments on sexuality, just the fact that it is a blind instinct. Moral judgments on sexuality and how you practice it depends on your personality; as Nietzsche wrote in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, "Chastity is a virtue with some, but with many almost a vice." The amount of sexual desire in people varies; At one far end there is the uncontrollable as in a nymphomaniac, and the barely present at all, as in an asexual person. The important thing to do is act rationally and responsibility, to avoid unwanted pregnancies, STDs, and so forth. The key is indulgence, NOT compulsion!

What of marriage and child bearing?

Schopenhauer wrote, "To marry is to halve your rights and double your duties." This is of course true, as relationships are a power struggle. No relationship is perfect, or as Shakespeare said, "The course of true love never did run smooth."

Why do so many marriages fail? It is because of blind instinct and irrationality; many marry because they are afraid of being alone, marry because they got pregnant, or know nothing else to do with their life. Marriage idealy is to form a functional family in which to raise Children.

Nietzsche writes in Thus Spoke Zarathustra in the part titled "On Child and Marriage" thus:

I have a question for you alone, my brother: like a sounding lead I cast this question into your soul, to discover how deep it is. You are young and wish for a child. But I ask you: are you a man entitled to wish for a child? Are you the victor, the self-conqueror, the ruler of your senses, the master of your virtues? Or is it the animal and need that speak in your wish? Or of loneliness? Or of discord in you? I would have your victory and your freedom long for a child. [...] You shall build over and beyond yourself. But first you must be built yourself, perpendicular in body and soul. [...] Marriage : Thus I name the will of two to create the one that is more than those who created it. Reverence for one another, as those willing with such a will, is what I name marriage. Let this be the meaning and the truth of your marriage. But that which the all-too-many call marriage, those superfluous ones - ah, what shall I call it? The poverty of a soul in partnership! Ah, the filth of soul in partnership! [..] Marriage they call this; and they say their marriages are made in heaven. Well, I do not like it, that heaven of the superfluous! No, I do not like them, those animals tangled in the heavenly net! [......] One day you shall love beyond yourselves! So learn first to love. And for that you had to drain the bitter cup of your love. [.....]"

Zarathustra's teaching here is speaking to those who marry for no other reason but instinct or lack of knowing what else to do. Nietzsche advises people here to become successful and happy with YOURSELF before entering into a relationship, and to solidify this relationship and being prepared to have children, being properly responsible and sure of your wish to bear children. How much more stable would families and relationships be, if only people followed this advice from Nietzsche? Irrational desire, compulsion on instinct, and lack of preparedness are what make up a LARGE part of human suffering and much of why families and societies are so dysfunctional today. If people learned to control their desires, handle it properly and be responsible, society would have significantly less problems.

Animal Instinct vs. Intellect

2009-09-10T21:00:00.000-07:00

This is taken from a literary message board post I made in a philosophical debate on whether or not mankind has erased his most basic animal instincts.

________________________________________
My take on it is this :

Mankind now, is not as mankind was and not as mankind will be (assuming we do not kill ourselves before we can further progress).

I would say both yes and no to us replacing our animal instincts.

Look at all the wars, murders, fights, racist behavior, not to mention the insnae amount of importance on sex people have. People STILL can not keep their pants on or be sexually responsible... This is all animal instinct to fight and defend territory and to reproduce and continue the species. Women still have the instinct to be motherly, men still have the instinct to fight and fend for the family.

These are parts of the animal behavior of humans that are likely to always be with us, because it is part of our survival instinct.

That being said, yes many of or animal physical instincts governed by sexuality and human nature are in contradiction with metaphysical, intellectual and spiritual nature of man (yes, I know uttering spiritual and intellectual in the same sentence is considered heinous by some) but the point is mankind is constantly evolving physically and metaphysically.

Take Nietzsche's philosophy of the Übermensch for example, in reference to saying mankind now is not the same as it was and not the same as it will be. This is said in Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Quote:

Man is a rope stretched between the animal and the Superman—a rope over an abyss.

A dangerous crossing, a dangerous wayfaring, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous trembling and halting.

What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal: what is lovable in man is that he is an over-going and a down-going.

I love those that know not how to live except as down-goers, for they are the over-goers.

I love the great despisers, because they are the great adorers, and arrows of longing for the other shore.

I love those who do not first seek a reason beyond the stars for going down and being sacrifices, but sacrifice themselves to the earth, that the earth of the Superman may hereafter arrive. -- from the prologue of Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche, http://www.geocities.com/thenietzsch...el/zarapro.htm

I thus believe that mankind should further his intellectual nature, by challenging currently held beliefs and values. This does not necessarily mean rejecting a school of thought, but at least examining it to see the pros and cons of a situation, and be able to objectively apply it without letting emotion come in the way of making the logical choice. For this, I quote Ayn Rand's book For the New Intellectual.

Quote:

Who are to be the new intellectuals? Any man or woman who is willing to think. All those who know that man's life must be guided by reason, those who value their own life and are not willing to surrender it to the cult of despair in the modern jungle of cynical impotence, just as they are not willing to surrender the world to the Dark Ages and the rule of the brutes........ The New Intellectual will be the man who lives up to the exact meaning of his title, a man who is guided by his intellect -- not a zombie guided by feelings, instincts, urges, wishes, whims, or revelations.

Obviously, Intellect is the only way to overcome the problems caused by our animal nature. However, it is important not to let intellect come in the way of some animal instincts, for we still are animals at our very core, and these instincts do serve purpose when maintained. It is best manage and control emotion, rather than let it over run you or you completely ignore your intuition.

Quote:

The illogical necessary.— Among the things that can drive a thinker to despair is the knowledge that the illogical is necessary for man and that much good comes from it. It is so firmly lodged in the passions, in speech, in art, in religion, and generally in everything which endows life with value, that one cannot extricate it without doing irreparable harm to these beautiful things. Only the very naive are capable of thinking that the nature of man can be transformed into a purely logical one; but, if there were degrees of approximation to this goal, how much would not have to vanish along this path! Even the most rational man needs nature again from time to time, that is, his illogical basic attitude to all things. -- Part 31 from Human, All Too Human by Friedrich Nietzsche. http://www.geocities.com/thenietzsch...man1.htm#first

It is thusly a balance of logic and emotion, intellect and instinct, the physical and the metaphysical that is the best course for making, and the true path to what man might come to be. This is of course a very Taoist approach, balancing the "yin and yang" of life. That being said, I am a fan of the Tao Te Ching and Taoist thought, it is one of the oldest ways of of thinking in history, and its lessons can be found in things from the Bible, to Buddhist teaching and European Existentialism.

While I am not strongly familiar with Martin Heidegger, I am familiar with him through the great book Star Wars and Philosophy. I brushed up on the terminology I read in the book from him here . According to Heidegger, there is a difference between Ready at Hand and Present at Hand technology. According to the Star Wars book I mentioned, present-at-hand would be more towards technological framing, or letting machinery over run our lives. This is in a sense true, as mankind is very reliant on technology and as time goes on it seems even more likely we will kill ourselves with technology and leave behind a grave of radiation and machinery. Ready at hand technology would be things we use as tools to assist us. This seems to be the more natural way, but taken to the extreme this simplistic way is very monastic. Again, a balance is needed. Granted, this is probably a skewed view of Heidegger considering it was applied to Star Wars, but it is how I am familiar with his work.

In conclusion, I say we have not erased our instincts, merely that they clash with some of the technological aspects of our life. I believe the ideal man or Übermensch is someone who masters "perfection of the tao" and is in perfect harmony with instinct and intellect, physical and metaphysical...

A great period for science.

2009-05-19T15:27:00.001-07:00

A few great discoveries for science have been made recently, specifically ones that back up the Big Bang Theory and Evolution, ergo disproving the Judeo-Christian and Islam explanations for the origins of the universe.

For one, a Giant Blob was discovered, essentially a galaxy sized nebula. I am going to quote from the blog and give my own annotations.

"A newly found primordial blob may represent the most massive object ever discovered in the early universe, researchers announced today.

The gas cloud, spotted from 12.9 billion light-years away, could signal the earliest stages of galaxy formation back when the universe was just 800 million years old.

"I have never heard about any [similar] objects that could be resolved at this distance," said Masami Ouchi, a researcher at the Carnegie Institution in Pasadena, Calif. "It's kind of record-breaking."

A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers). An object 12.9 billion light-years away is seen as it existed 12.9 billion years ago, and the light is just now arriving."

What it is saying is, that since we are able to see things this great of a distance away, meaning that the light has traveled that long... That shows that the universe is billions of years old. The further away we see objects, the more young we are seeing them. That "Space blob" is probably now a thriving galaxy with thousands of middle ages stars and planets. Now, some purist followers of the Abrahamic faiths' explanations believe that the universe is only between 5,000 and 6,000 years old. They believe this by believing the fairy tales of the people in Genesis living hundreds of years and add up the ages to trace back to Adam and Eve, and conclude that it must be how old the Earth and Universe are. While many Christian books have been written on how science proves christianity, most of it is picking apart C-14 Carbon Dating (which IS inaccurate but it's not used to show how old the earth is, it's used to show how old a rock is from when it was formed from magma or whatnot, or how old a fossil is)

Now, many Christians deny the big bang theory or that the earth was a hot blob of magma once upon a time. They have various arguments that attempt to use science on their side, or to debunk science itself. The way they write their arguments are very well written and convincing often, but all those books are doing is "nitpicking" on minor innacuracies, disrepancies, and so forth. We KNOW Planets form from planetary nebula. We KNOW they are hot and molten in their young stages. We KNOW thats stars come from nebula. We have pictures of planets and stars forming in nebula. Nitpicking minor innacuracies in science does not make what we can observe in the sky and know FOR A FACT invalid, no matter how badly Christians want it too, or Jews and Muslims that are purists for that matter (Some Muslims still think the world is flat because of the Koran, EVEN THE BIBLE indicates the world is round).

For the full article on the space blob, visit here .

Also recently, the "missing link" was discovered.. Or rather, the news of it leaked out. It had been kept secret for a couple of years. It was discovered in Germany, and the fossil looks to be an inbetween phase between early primates and early humans. Evolution goes on every day. Just look at white people in America today, they are taller than 50 years ago! Thats evolution right there: change in genetics which causes a change in a population. It's not that hard of a concept to understand. But no, some christians still say the dinosaurs lived with humans side by side, or that dinosaur fossils are a trick of the devil. This is what was taught to me as child in sunday school. We know from paintings that the facial structure was different in people eve back in the middle ages. It has changed, which is evolution. It's not a difficult concept to understand at all. People say, well how can life develop so perfectly? First of all, the biological structure of humans is far from perfect. Look at the useless organs we have, which do nothing that is neccessary for survival. Obviously, those are remnants of past organs in older human species. Wisdom teeth are nothing but trouble too, but those are a leftover element from Neanderthals who had to eat thick shrubbery and tough meat because of their hunter-gatherer life style. Once again, if humans were created in God's image, and he is perfect, why are there imperfections in our bodies? Would a perfect god not design us better? Perhaps he was drunk.

Here is the full link on the fossil.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=7603618&page=1

Beschissenes Wochenende

2009-05-05T10:53:00.001-07:00

So, it's now Tuesday. Thankfully things seem to be going back to normal.

It was a pretty crappy weekend. My dekstop PC broke, my car broke, and my Mp3 player broke all in one weekend and on top of that I have to re take a class in college. Ach du Scheiße! is all I have to say to that.

Anyway, I had Windows XP on my desktop and I used it primarily for gaming. It got the sasser worm somehow which disables the lsass.exe file which is used to load you into windows when you turn it on. It also chomps up system files. I tried repairing the installation but the files were too damaged for the repair to even recognize it as Windows. However, I keep my files on an external drive so LUCKILY I lost nothing but the operating system. That does make it sound not so bad, but the thing is when I tried installing Windows XP again, it would not connect to the internet. Everything I tried and knew from a class on Networking did not work. I even got my friend Kevin to install his copy of XP which also did not work. I tried installing Linux Ubuntu 9.04 on my 120 GB hard drive, not wanting to touch the 40 GB with the messed up XP installation, but apparently that hard drive that a friend gave me is messed up. When I gave in and whiped the other hard drive and installed Linux on it, it worked just fine.

I must say, Linux Ubuntu is awesome. For those who don't know, Linux is a type of operating system which has various versions (Ubuntu, SuSE, Fedora, among many others) which is completely free and everything for it is free. On the downside, if you are a former Windows or Macintosh user, there is a big chance your software will not work. There is a program called Wine you can get which lets you run some Windows applications and you can also set up a virtual computer using VirtualBox but either way it's not the same as having a real copy of Windows.

Anyway, even though i'd prefer to have a functioning copy of Windows again, this is great. There are so many free applications for it and they are easy to find. Almost all of the applications you will need can be found under the Applications tab in the Add/Remove programs. Only a few things i've wanted or needed are not there, one of them being Songbird, the new media player from Mozilla (the creators of Firefox) but it will likely be there eventually. Linux does have many games for it however, and they are all free. Free shit rocks. Who doesn't like free stuff? And suprisingly, even though Windows is DEFINITELY more practical for gamers, Ubuntu is very stable, fast, and easy to use for the most part (except for occasions when something needs to be done in the Terminal which is akin to the DOS Command Prompt for Windows, but that is not something often needed) and if it were not for the gaming crippledness of Linux I would deem it the best operating system ever. However, aside from that if there is a payware application for Windows, you can bet there is a free one for Linux (which may in some cases also be on Windows too).

There are literally hundreds of free applications for Linux.
You can go to the Linux Ubuntu Website and download your free copy of Linux. Just burn it to a CD and you can try it without even installing it. If you have an old computer that is running slow with Windows and only use it for e-mail and internet Linux might give it a new life because Ubuntu's system requirements are only a 700 MHz processor and about 512 MB of RAM.

Anyway, enough about that, my Mp3 player is under warranty so I should get it fixed or get a new one. It's actually an older model so Creative (who makes the BEST Mp3 players --- seriously get one of those instead of Apple iPod or Microsoft Windows, Creative players are cheap, packed with features, and have great quality because Creative specializes in Audio, they are the ones who make sound cards for computers and high quality earphones) might give me a newer model. That would be awesome. And if not, i'll just be happy to have it fixed.

My car also was fixed. The radiator was broken and costed over 300 dollars to fix, but at least I can drive again.

I don't have much else to say, other than I recommend seeing the movie Stigmata. It's very good, and is loosely inspired by the Gospel of St. Thomas. For those who keep up with my blog, you should know what I'm talking about and if not go read the article on the DaVinci code which talks about these lost gospels and how there are different types (Gnostic, Jewish Christian, etc).

Some thoughts on Thus Spoke Zarathstra

2009-04-22T13:05:00.000-07:00

I've finished the first half of Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche's book Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Like many of his books, it's very informative. He offers, as always, an insight to the corruptions in society, religion, and human nature. Many, if not all, of the things he says still hold true today.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra (DE: Also Sprach Zarathustra) differs from the standard philosophy book in that it's written in a style reminiscent of the new testament or the Koran of Christianity and Islam. It follows the chronicles of a philosophical messiah figure named Zarathustra, who is named after a variation of the name of the founder of Zoroastrianism, Zoraster. For those who don't know, Zoroastrianism (also called Mazdaism) was a popular religion in the Persian area of the middle east and elsewhere (See here and here for more information).

In this books, Zarathustra teaches the ideal to be an Übermensch (EN: Superhuman, commonly mistranslated as Superman). The Übermensch is a creator of new ideals, one who lives life by the fullest, and is enlightened. Reading the book, one can get the idea that the state of being the Übermensch is akin to the state of enlightenment that you must work to. The Übermensch rises out of the void of mediocrity that most of society falls into.

The Character of Zarathustra in the novel can be compared to someone like Siddhārtha Gautama of Buddhism. Zarathustra is enlightened and seeks to bring others to enlightenment as well.

The book is divided into a prolouge, a first half, and a second half. At the current moment, I have started on the second part.

The story begins with Zarathustra at the age of 30, a man who has spent the last decade for the most part away from the distractions of every day society. He has mediated and thought and has such a deep wisdom that one day he decides to go to town and teach his philosophy.

"Behold, I am weary of my wisdom, like the bee that has gathered too much honey. I need outstretched hands to take it"

The book then proceeds to chronicle various parables and teachings, reminiscent of the gospels of the bible. However, these teachings are anything but Christian. Rather than preaching mediocrity and conformity, Zarathustra preaches overcoming and self fulfillment. Mankind as it is in a state of mediocrity, much as it is today: people believe only what their preaches says, they eat up every word FOX or CNN says (Both are extremely biased) and blindly vote for politicians based on opinions that are not even their own.

I won't go into too much detail, but I will point out a few good lines and the parables they come from. I HIGHLY reccomend you read this book, and as I read on I might blog about anything that particuarly stands out. I also highly reccomend a specific edition of the book, from the Barnes & Noble classics series. It includes an introduction by Kathleen M Higgins and Robert C. Solomon, and is translated from the original german by Clancy Martin. The introduction clears up some of the misconceptions about Nietzsche, provides a little information about him and the times he lived in, and also outlines Nietzsche's philosophy as a whole. It also includes annotations at the back should you want to use them, which help give an insight to some of the lines. You can purchase it here if you do not have a Barnes & Noble book store or your local store does not carry it.

Anyway, here are those lines.

"Could it be possible! This old saint in his forest has not heard of it, that God is dead! -Prolouge

"I teach you the Übermensch!. Man is something that shall be overcome. What have you done to over come him? - Prolouge

"What is an ape to a man? A laughing-stock or a painful embarassment. And just the same shall man be to the Übermensch: a laughing stock or a painful embarassment." -Prolouge

"Companions, the creator seeks, not corpses -- and not herds or believers either. Fellow creators the creator seeks -- those who write new values on new tablets." -Prolouge

"You look up when you long for elevation. And I look down because I am elevated" -On Reading and Writing

"Flee, my friend, into your solitude! I see you deafened witht he noise of great men and pricked by the stings of the little men." - On the Flies in the Marketplace

"Woman understands children better than man does, but man is more childlike than woman." - On Little Old and Young Women

"Let man fear woman when she loves: then she makes every sacrifice and everything else she considers worthless." - On Little Old and Young Women

"One day you shall love beyond yourselves! So learn first to love." - On Child and Marriage

" 'Dead are all gods: Now we want the Übermensch to love' " -- at the great noon let this be our last will! " -- On the Gift Giving Virtue

Early Christianity

2009-04-15T20:12:00.001-07:00

So, I recently watched the DaVinci code after purchasing it on DVD. I have seen it before but it was over a year ago. After researching just what and wasn’t true in the story, I found out a lot of interesting information about early Christianity, which I will point out some of the truths and falacies in the DaVinci story as well as some other findings. The important thing to remember, however, is that it is a FICTIONAL story. While the novel did make a claim that it was based on a true story, this is just an attention grabber, like you see on a horror movie which actually has very little to do with the true story it is inspired by.

First of all, while some of the Gnostic gospels found in the Nag Hammadi manuscripts do make mention of Mary Magdalene, there is nothing that explicitly says they are married. For reference, here are some of the verses that make mention of her.

In The Gospel of Philip, it is said:

"There were three who always walked with the Lord: Mary, his mother, and her sister, and Magdalene, the one who was called his companion. His sister and his mother and his companion were each a Mary."

"As for the Wisdom who is called "the barren," she is the mother of the angels. And the companion of the [...] Mary Magdalene. [...] loved her more than all the disciples, and used to kiss her often on her mouth. The rest of the disciples [...]. They said to him "Why do you love her more than all of us?" The Savior answered and said to them,"Why do I not love you like her? When a blind man and one who sees are both together in darkness, they are no different from one another. When the light comes, then he who sees will see the light, and he who is blind will remain in darkness."

And in the Gospel of Mary Magdalene

Then Mary stood up and greeted all of them and said to her brethren, "Do not mourn or grieve or be irresolute, for his grace will be with you all and will defend you. Let us rather praise his greatness, for he prepared us and made us into men." When Mary said this, their hearts changed for the better, and they began to discuss the words of the [Savior].
Peter said to Mary, "Sister, we know that the Savior loved you more than other women [see John 11:5, Luke 10:38-42]. Tell us the words of the Savior which you have in mind since you know them; and we do not, nor have we heard of them."

The Davinci Code makes mention of the fact that Mary Magdalene was indeed not a prostitute and was smeared by the Church. To quote the Novel

“Who is she?” Sophie asked.
“That, my dear,” Teabing replied, “is Mary Magdalene.”
Sophie turned. “The prostitute?”
Teabing drew a short breath, as if the word had injured him
personally. “Magdalene was no such thing. That unfortunate
misconception is the legacy of a smear campaign launched
by the early church. The Church needed to defame Mary
Magdalene in order to cover up her dangerous secret—her
role as the Holy Grail.”

This is actually partly true. This mistake dates from a sermon by Pope Gregory the Great that identified Mary with the woman in Luke 7:36-50. Most modern scholars know this to be an error. However, there was not really a smear campaign.

Now, one of the big debates is the legitimacy of these Gnostic gospels. Many of our manuscripts for these gospels date past 100 AD. The Gospel of Mary is dated to around 120 AD based on the manuscripts from the Nag Hammadi manuscripts. The Gospel of Philip is likely from around 150 to 150 AD. The Gospel of Thomas, the earliest of the Nag Hammadi scripts, was likely written around 140 AD.

One thing to point out is that not all non-canonical gospels are Gnostic. The manuscripts are called Gnostic if they represent a certain set of beliefs that parallel some eastern teachings. In general, these gospels are called apocryphal regardless of whether they reflect Gnostic teachings or not. Some apocryphal gospels are not canonical because, like the DaVinci Code asserts, they were not chosen as part of the Canon for various reasons. However, the Council of Nicaea did not particularly concern the canon of the bible, and while Constantine did call it to order, he had little if any direct involvement that we are aware of. Some of the gospels that are not included in in either the Roman Catholic or Protestant bibles are however included in some Eastern and Coptic Orthodox traditions. Some Apocrypha are included in Roman Catholic bibles as Deuterocanonical books – being of second importance. Some were rejected over other gospels by the Church because of consistency or what they wanted them to say – similar to how the DaVinci code asserts. These have nothing to do with the Gnostic gospels but were rejected by the Church. Many represent the same stories as canonical New Testament books ; These include:The Gospel of Marcion, The Gospel of Mani, The Gospel of Appelles, The Gospel of Bardesanes, The Gospel of Basilides, and The Gospel of Cerinthus.

On the subject of Church Councils, you can see a list of the Councils, when they were held and what they were about here.

The argument about the dates of some of the rejected gospels is somewhat of a weak argument, because the earliest canonical new testament gospels in Catholic and Protestant christianity date to 70 AD at the earliest. Assuming Jesus existed, he would have died around 30 AD (the BC/AD dating system was invented by a Catholic monk named Dionysius Exiguus, who made estimates of when Christ died and it did not even come into effect until 525 AD, for this reason some scholars use Before Common Era (BCE)/Common Era (CE) ). This would have meant that the gospels were written several years after his death and would have been subject to reinterpretation and changes. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, made a list of biblical canon in his Easter letter in 367 AD. The modern biblical canon was not even decided for the Roman Catholics until Council of Trent in 1546, the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1563 for the Church of England, the Westminster Confession of Faith of 1647 for Calvinism, and the Synod of Jerusalem of 1672 for the Greek Orthodox. Even some of the most common New Testament canon were considered heretical or untrue at some point --- for example the Book of Revelations

Christianity today however, is not the same Christianity that would have been practiced by Christians before the Council of Nicaea. There were many schools of thought before then – from Arianism, to “Jewish Christianity”, to various Christianities that had become adapted to various pagan cultures of Europe, and possibly the earliest Gnostic sects. The Catholic Church officially came about from the Ecumenical Councils (though there were Popes in local Roman Christianity and the Roman Catholic Church claims that the Roman Church was always the true Church) and the Eastern Orthodox Church split away after the seventh council although they had their own traditions long before and Oriental Orthodoxy split after the rejection of the fourth council. However, many of the Church doctrine created at the councils reflect pagan ideals (sort of like the DaVinci code claimed). Specifically, the Easter holiday was taken from the celberation of the Saxon/German/Nordic godess Ostara and other sun godess holidays. The veneration of Mary Mother of Jesus reflects that of the Egyptian goddess Isis and Horus. However, the BIGGEST influence on post-council Christianity is Mithraism. Mithraism was a religion popular among the soldiers in the Greeko-Roman world long before the birth of Jesus that has origins in a Zoroastrian god named Mithra. It is likely that Paul and the authors of the canonical new testament were exposed to these beliefs, which is possibly why those gospels were chosen over others because of their influence from Mithraism. Many of the practices of Mithraism include a communion of Wine and Bread, the clergy of the church comprising only of men as Mithraism was practiced exclusivley by soldiers and politicians – males-- and the mythical birth date of Mithra who became associated with the sun, was also December 25. It became common for Roman emporers to practice Mithraism, one notable being Emperor Diocletian. Mithra was associated with the sun; in Iran there is a holiday called Shab-e Yalda. The word Yalda literally means birth of the sun. Like the DaVinci code purports, Constantine was possibly a life long pagan. Evidence for his devotion to Mithra is the coins produced under his reign have the words inscribed saying, “Sol Invicto comiti”, or in english, Commited to the Invincible Sun. The Roman name for a sun god was Sol Invictus. Jesus was never mentioned to be a sun deity so it clearly is referring to Mithra.

The canonical and synoptic gospels clearly display much influence from this pagan religion as well. This is possibly because of a misinterpretation of words. Jesus claimed to be the messiah. While both Christ and Messiah both mean anointed, they carry different cultural connotations. (Click here for etymology info). The Greek term Christ refers more to a divine being, while Messiah specifically means someone that is descended from King David and will lead people out of oppression. Jesus himself possibly knew of Mithraism because it was being practiced as early as 67 BC (Jesus Mysteries).

While the DaVinci code does change facts, it is important to remember that is a fictional story and not a history book. However, different aspects of the story are based in truth, and the book and movie are both very entertaining. Christianity as in originally was has been lost over the years because of political and cultural changes to the doctrine. Does this mean that the teachings of Jesus: love and acceptance, are not good ones? Of course not. Tolerance and peace are great messages to be heard but the fact is modern, post Council of Nicaea Christianity was purposely changed and meanings lost. Now, whether you believe that these things makes the modern Churches false or not is a matter of faith. Do you believe that the influence of Paganism on Christianity makes it false? Or do you believe that all these things are mere coincidences? I personally believe Jesus did exist at some point and taught spiritual things, but was just a man. However the Jesus people think of, I believe only exists as a series of exaggerated tales.

“Okay, maybe there is no proof. Maybe the Grail is lost forever. But, Sophie, the only thing that matters is what you believe. History shows us Jesus was an extraordinary man, a human inspiration. That's it. That's all the evidence has ever proved. But... when I was a boy... when I was down in that well Teabing told you about, I thought I was going to die, Sophie. What I did, I prayed. I prayed to Jesus to keep me alive so I could see my parents again, so I could go to school again, so I could play with my dog. Sometimes I wonder if I wasn't alone down there. Why does it have to be human or divine? Maybe human is divine. Why couldn't Jesus have been a father and still be capable of all those miracles?” – Robert Langdon

For more information on the Church and Christianity, I recommend these sources.

The Historical Jesus
Non-Canonical Books Referenced in the Bible
Deuterocanonical Books
Biblical Apocrypha
New Testament Apocrypha
Nag Hammadi Library
Rivals of Jesus (A National Geographic documentary about religious teachers at the time of Jesus) HIGHLY RECCOMENDED – this is not necessarily anti-Christian
Gospels and Religious essays from both Christianity and Gnosticism
List of Errors and Facts in the DaVinci Code (Remember, some of the things are changed just for the same of making a good story!)
Variations of Christianity

Obama wants control of the internet

2009-04-14T16:47:00.000-07:00

Obama and legislation are pushing a bill to take control of the internet. This is similar to the FRA-lagen in Sweden. First, Bush passes the patriot act. Then, Obama is working on doing this. The Media is already fiercely full of propaganda. Yet people believe every word the news tells them. America is on a road to Fascism and people don't care. We need to protest this. Yes the Democratic party does represent some of the ideals that are better than the right wing nuts in the Republican party but the Democratic party is over run with power hungry soviets. If you support Gay marriage and abortion, health care and such there ARE other parties out there. Stop supporting Democrats and Republicans. They are fascists! There come's a point in politics where it does not matter if you are conservative or liberal because once you go to far in either side they both become totalitarian police state ideals.

http://cdt.org/security/CYBERSEC4.pdf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQSoq7Exhxw

Guten Tag

2009-04-14T10:00:00.001-07:00

Dies ist mein erster Eintrag in meinem Internet-Tagebuch. Ich schreibe mit “Windows Live Writer” und publiziere zu Windows Live und Blogspot. Ich schreibe in Englisch und Deutsch. Meine Blog ist über meine Gedanken, Politik, Filme, Bücher, und Musik.

This is my first entry in my Internet diary. I write with Windows Live Writer and publish to Windows Live and Blogspot. I write in English and German. My blog is about my thoughts, politics, movies, books, and music.