Jun 17 2012: Rather than rehashing things in my own words, I'll just leave you with the words of a man and a woman who both have greater gifts than I:
Garrison Keillor: “Years ago, manhood was an opportunity for achievement, and now it is a problem to be overcome.”
Gloria Steinem: “Women have convinced ourselves that we can do what men can do. But we haven't convinced ourselves and therefore haven't convinced our country, that men can do what women can do.”
Jun 17 2012: I will never understand society's emphasis on the quantity of life, rather than quality. We've advanced enough to keep our crumbling husks of pain-riddled bodies alive for another few decades, but why is that desirable when our elders are shuffled off in homes and treated as basically subhuman because they can no longer perform the simplest daily operations required to take care of themselves? It's macabre. I think those who's time runs out before they reach that point are the lucky ones.
Jun 17 2012: Abrahamic religions, at their true core, not the bastardized versions that exist in modern societies today, actually did recognize the divine feminine--God being neither male nor female, but referred to as both, when different aspects were present. But that's what happens when we only understand English, when in fact the Bible was translated two or three times, Hebrew to Latin to German, before it was ever in our language (and yet people still have the gall to try and take the words literally.) That, and the "Church" butchered the book to pieces over the course of hundreds of years every time they were trying to support whatever atrocities they were committing at the time.
Jun 17 2012: I've recently stopped believing in God, because it seems too convenient. It seems silly to cling to precious illusions just because they make life easier to live, even if reason leads you to question their validity. And yet, without those beliefs to rely on, I find optimism, hope, and strength harder to come by. How does one find purpose in a world one believes to be purposeless?
Jun 17 2012: It'll probably be about 3/4 women, and mostly available to the wealthy because everyday people will no longer be able to afford it, if recent progression is any indication.
Jun 17 2012: Well, yes, perhaps the idea that beings, were they incredibly advanced, would even be interested in this dustball inhabited by psychotic apes who's main pastime is killing each other and depleting the rock they live on of resources, is rather vain.
But with the limited understanding available to humanity, speaking in absolutes as you are surpasses vanity and heads into arrogance. There have been amazing advances in knowledge, technology, etc... people my grandparents' age (70) were pretty much born in a completely different world than exists today, and advancements are snowballing at exponentially increasing speed. This is at once terrifying and exciting--but it's all going to happen regardless of one's outlook. So the best we can do is watch it happen with wonder. ;)
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A comment on Talk: Sam Martin: Claim your "manspace"
Garrison Keillor: “Years ago, manhood was an opportunity for achievement, and now it is a problem to be overcome.”
Gloria Steinem: “Women have convinced ourselves that we can do what men can do. But we haven't convinced ourselves and therefore haven't convinced our country, that men can do what women can do.”
A comment on Theme: Might You Live a Great Deal Longer?
A reply on Theme: Is There a God?
A comment on Theme: Is There a God?
A comment on Conversation: What will university education look like in 20 years?
A comment on Conversation: No one will EVER contact us, SETI is our special human version of vanity
But with the limited understanding available to humanity, speaking in absolutes as you are surpasses vanity and heads into arrogance. There have been amazing advances in knowledge, technology, etc... people my grandparents' age (70) were pretty much born in a completely different world than exists today, and advancements are snowballing at exponentially increasing speed. This is at once terrifying and exciting--but it's all going to happen regardless of one's outlook. So the best we can do is watch it happen with wonder. ;)