Lexi, we can easily bog ourselves down in semantics here.
There are many definitions of materialism.

So let me sum it up this way. The mind is, what the brain does.
There is no supernatural input that we know of or can show to
exist.

The heart is little more then a pump. But yes, Egyptians seemingly
thought that it all happened in the heart, the brain was a mere
cooling system. We have moved on from there, even if you are not
aware of it :)

Emotion and reason and are not mutually exclusive. Yes, the
emotionally engulfed exist, they wear their hearts on their sleeves.
But you are moving ahead mentally, if you learn to think about
what you feel and why. The balance between the two matters, even
if not to you personally. Its not about black and white, as you
seem to imply.

As a librarian you should know all this, Goleman covered it pretty
well in his "Emotional Intelligence"

Fact is, the world is a far kinder place, then is used to be, so
things are getting better, not worse.

Just today the ABC screened a documentary about justice, in the
last thousand years. William the Conquerer used to castrate and
blind people. The Vatican used to have heretics burned at the
stake. In fact, we don't do slavery any more, we accept human
rights as a reality, we communicate more then ever before in
global terms. I put it to you that hatred is decreasing, not
increasing, as you claim.

Yabby,

Considering you're so "well-read", you seem to possess a particularly narrow view of the world, and human experience outside of the Western model - apart from the fact that you've noted that there are too many people in some countries.

"The world is a far kinder place than it used to be"...here again, it depends on where you happen to reside. Slavery and injustice go on as they ever did...rich countries exploit poor nations as they ever did....but the West is ever snug and "kind" in its excess.

I always thought Shelley's poem "Ozymandias" was an accurate take on the arrogance and assuredness of those who fail to grasp the impermanence of an exalted position:

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read,
Which yet survive, stampt on these lifeless things,
The hand that mockt them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

its funny how someone can look into the brain
just like one can look into a portable radio
and say its all comming from within

its funny how there are so many quotes
from others creations..how our mind is clutterd with others thoughts

im not judging if they were right or wrong
the one thing in common is they have all moved on
[and dont be petty here]..if they arnt dead all ready they all soon will be

and them the battery goes dead
the tranny radio station ..is heard no more
yes the station may well yet be on air..but the radio reciever.. recieves its reception no more

man kind is so clever
it says life came from non life
yet cant do it ..cant repeat what he calls an accident
yet deneys gods hand in it

it says a mind has/makes the thought/..created it
yet the thought in the mind lives on without the mind
this time in a book perhaps..or another recording device

but the energy that created the first signal
..[the broadcasting station..if you will]..
no one in reality knows
[or if it does claim to know ..cant replicte]
thus is just a speculation

the input
the in-spiration
the residual influx[source]
the mind recieved [percieved]

what revieved the concept ..the thought..
the song
the emoted feeling

cant be proved to be its own creation
[this is clearly revealed with every new invention]

that came from somewhere
it wasnt from within..
it wasnt wrote by rote on the book of ya mind

the in-spiration came from somwhere
but not from within..

unless you can explain..in full
egsactly...*how

see the interconnected neurons
each a memory intact..and mainly egsact
where from...came the new thought..?

[error's in per-ception/re-ception]
..or ac-ception of actual fact

im fine..with ya all ignoring me
but please dont reply..by avoidance

it aint half obvious

anyhow my thoughts
broadcast widely upon this thread..are now gone
only the echo..

of the thoughts..
behind the words
lives on

OUG,

Chopra says that everything is energy and information at quantum mechanical levels - and that our physical body is more of "a wiggle, a wave, a fluctuation..." in the larger quantum field....and that we are not merely a bodily entity that has occasional spiritual experiences, but a spiritual entity that has occasional bodily experiences.

"anyhow my thoughts
broadcast widely on this thread
are now gone
only the echo"

...like throwing a stone into a pond....

I've read every comment of yours on this thread - so the ripple goes on....

Poirot,

'I wonder why you denigrate anyone who questions the status quo - navel gazers and narcissists, no less.'

That's a bit of as misrepresentation. My position is that everyone questions the status quo, it's only some who

a) Think they are right (for everyone) (ie Foxy's 'slaves')
b) Assume to speak for 'mankind'
c) Think they are somehow 'different', read 'better' that the average Joe.

'Some of us meander away from the prescribed course '

What is the 'prescribed course'. Has it ever occurred to you you are rebelling against thin air. Maybe the 'prescribed' course is in your mind in the first place.

Anyway, by your own admission, your 'alternative' ideas and 'creative vision' and 'difference' is attained by reading books. So they aren't YOUR ideas at all. You're just on a band wagon.

Granted, you choose to home school. That's a step further than your average bandwagoner and I already gave you kudos for that.

See, the bandwagon lot are part of the Western Evil Consumerist Materialism Plot. They're just the 'niche' market, to be marketed to via ego just as much as the guy who only wears Nike.

'I call them the fairy flock.' Knuckles Yabby:-)

Houellie,

The "prescribed course" is the one that is most accessible in any society. The one that appears when you switch on the telly or read newspapers or magazines, or grab the latest bestseller or talk on the bus.
It's the conveyor belt that glides you along a preordained route. It's the guided tour as opposed to the eclectic ramble.

What is it with you and Yabby - that if anyone has an alternative opinion, all of a sudden they are "speaking for mankind" or thinking they are "right"?

Not so....perhaps their spirit is a little more non-conformist and liberated than that of the "levellers" and the "botherers" who can't abide it when someone raises their head above the parapet.

I presume your opinions on OLO are your version of "right" (always a subjective value judgment, that one.)