Dear Foxy,

There are areas of life which I choose to be ignorant of,
which I don't know anything about nor want to know anything about,
where I have the opinion that it is all rubbish and
so I will not allow others to convert my mind into a garbage bin.

One example is sports: I don't want to know who is out there playing, I don't want to know their rules, I don't want to know who is winning or losing - when they talk about them on the radio, I close my ears or change the station.

Don't you have such areas yourself, which you choose to be ignorant of?
(how to produce bombs, explosives and poisons, perhaps?)
(or maybe for you it is, how to fix locomotive engines?)

Yesterday (Saturday, 13 July 2024 4:15:11 PM) you claimed "Nobody is entitled to be ignorant": are you still of the view then that people ought to be forced to learn things they don't want to know about, that it should be forcefully pushed down their ears?

Yuyutsu,

Acquiring knowledge and information is not available to
everyone as we know. But to those of us lucky enough to
be able to seek it - it is a choice and a privilege.

If you don't want to be informed or apprised of certain
things - that's your choice. No one is forcing you to
do so.

My preference is to be informed - to broaden my education,
to learn. And this is a life-long aim. The older I get, the
more I realize how much there is to learn.

See ya.

Hi Yuyutsu

"opinions need not rely on empirical material evidence"

I agree with that, opinions are often subjective, with no rational logic behind them. If I say "Chocolate ice cream is the best ice cream" that's an opinion with no empirical evidence to support it. Much as one believes in the existence of a God, that is deemed to be a faith in God, not a fact supported by evidence, although many believers try to create facts to support their belief, its simply extrapolation on the part of the believer. Not having a valid explanation, the believer simply creates an explanation that satisfies them. The best example with a belief in God, is when the believer says; "Look at the wonders of nature, that God has created", the believer doesn't know how the wonders of nature were created, to satisfy their belief they attribute it to God as if its a fact, not so.

Dear Paul,

Chocolate ice cream is made of cocoa, eggs, cream, sugar, water, etc.
They in turn are made of molecules, mainly organic compounds.
These in turn are made of atoms - carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, etc.
Atoms are made of protons, neutrons and electrons.
These are made of more elementary particles - bosons, quarks, neutrinos, gluons, etc.
Through Einstein's general relativity theory, we know that all the above are made of energy.

The ancient sages knew that matter is made of energy, and also tell us that energy is made of thought, then also some thoughts are made of deeper thoughts, yet ultimately, the deepest thoughts are made of God - there is nothing else but God.

That is what I meant earlier when I said that "will precedes matter, not vice-versa". That is why it is OK for opinions to rely on thoughts rather than on empirical evidence, thoughts coming earlier in the chain of creation.

Now when someone adores chocolate ice cream, they worship God in the form of chocolate ice cream. Well and good, if for the time being chocolate ice cream is the only form of God they recognise, that reminds them of God, then so be it. God can be found everywhere, in all possible forms: later on, they could be short of chocolate ice cream and pray for more, or they may get too much of it and start worshipping God in the form of pistachio ice cream - no problem, God is there too and both those who rejoice in Chocolate ice cream and those who rejoice in pistachio ice cream, find joy in God, the source of all joy!

Hi Paul,

You can't argue with someone whose beliefs are based on
faith and who thinks there is only one answer.

There are many religions, many versions of the
Bible, and many gods and god-like entities throughout history.
It makes sense that when someone thinks there is only one
answer - to simply walk away because we both know that there's
another billion perspectives.

Hi
Hi Yuyutsu,

"The ancient sages knew that matter is made of energy, and also tell us that energy is made of thought, then also some thoughts are made of deeper thoughts, yet ultimately, the deepest thoughts are made of God - there is nothing else but God."

I question the ancient sages extrapolation that "energy is made of thought" and then the quantum leap that; "the deepest thoughts are made of God - there is nothing else but God." I believe that deep thoughts are made by the 'Giant Pumpkin' and there is nothing else but the 'Giant Pumpkin'. Like St Paul this was revealed to me in a dream by the 'Giant Pumpkin' after a heavy night of drinking.

Please do not reply disputing the 'Giant Pumpkin', as it has been reviled, and as it is written in the 'Book Of Cyril' "He who doth question the 'Giant Pumpkin' be a blasphemer, and he that doth question the 'Giant Pumpkin' but twice the 'Giant Pumpkin' shall smite thy blasphemer to the eternal firers of Hell." Now that's rather hot stuff, so lets not get into blaspheming the 'Giant Pumpkin'. Agreed?