I thought Buddha was a title of sorts for an “enlightened one”, and so there were more than one?
As far as I know, there was only one. Did something I said imply there was more than one?
Just to clarify, I meant that I read somewhere that Buddha story spread across the world and, when that story arrived at Galilee, the main character’s name was changed to Jesus and the story was already very different from the Buddha’s original story.
No, it’s nothing you implied. I just thought that’s the way it is. I can’t really be bothered to look it up, but I thought “Buddha” pretty much means “enlightened”, and that there have been several. Might be wrong though. Maybe I’m confusing it with something else.
Yes, Buddha is a title, it means “the enlightened one”, and you are right, there were plenty of Buddhas.
feels good man :3
My question: What will happen after you die?
I guess every atheists has his own explanation for that. I’m curious.
(Now, I don’t want this to come off as insulting, so bear with me)
Why do so many atheists seem to fly off the handle when anybody mentions God or religion? I realize this is probably just a stereotype, but still, I have seen it personally as well.
We return to the state we were in before we were born/conceived/whatever you want to say. We didn’t exist for billions of years and we won’t again. That’s how I feel.
“Fly off the handle”? I haven’t seen that, to be honest. Just by mentioning God or religion? Sorry, no. I believe that merely mentioning them does not cause atheists to “fly off the handle”. It’s probably in conjunction with something that the religious are doing…such as trying to insert religion into the legal or secular sphere.
Lotsa stuff. I plan on being dead for quite a while. I won’t know exactly what happens though because I will be dead.
Often what someone believes has very little to do with how they react. The only time I get upset about when god is mentioned is when it is used negatively to reference my life. Examples would be Catholics who claim god will send my daughter to hell because she was born out of wedlock, and door to door witnesses to Jehovah telling me their god views me as filth. That sorta stuff I feel obliged to respond to. I try to remain rational though.
Well, on the other hand, I’ve seen many theists flying off the handle - myself included, when I was one. For example, Dilma Rousseff, back when she was still a presidential candidate, said she was in favor to abortion, then many Christian religions in Brazil organized a champaign against her, often distributing videos saying that “if we don’t stop the iniquity, God will come down to Earth to judge it”. The champaign didn’t work nevertheless. My dad also almost died when I suggested the Shroud of Turin was made by da Vinci.
It seems to be a problem with humans, not atheists.
It’s pretty obvious that what would be considered “you” stops existing (changes state), but I have often wondered why death exists, as it should be possibly to life forever seeing as you’re just a result of a specific combination of atoms, and that death is that specific combination falling apart. So that’s how I see death, atoms changing structure. The atoms (the matter) that you consisted of still exist, but has changed state. (Yeah that sounds incredibly simple but I just can’t be bothered with explaining it fully)
Whenever I think of this, I am astounded that matter in itself (which everything fundamentally consists of), can be structured, without any guiding cause, so that it allows for life and ultimately: recognition of itself.
Well entropy seems to be a constant truth of our universe.
I may be mistaken, but I think death is caused by the very thing which gives us life. Something to do with mitosis.
There are plenty of lifeforms which are theoretically immortal though. Mostly single-celled creatures.
I think the biggest problem here is that we don’t understand consciousness totally yet…and I’m not sure if we ever will.
If you’re interested in the subject, read Gödel, Escher, Bach: and Eternal Golden Braid, by Douglas R. Hofstadter.
It deals with music, mathematics, logic, and much, much more, but is actually about what makes us conscious. Strange loops seem to be part of the answer.
Personally, I think it might have something to do with the structure of our brains, which constructs some sort of strange loop (which causes self-reference through recursion), and thus taps into the quantum wavelength (or whatever the term is, can’t remember) by which we break down reality. That’s putting it extremely simplisticly, of course, but I’m not all that familiar with the subjects. Something like that.
Going back a bit to the discussion of the accuracy, and origins or religious texts I found an interesting video. I was wondering if anyone had some opinions:
Wow, that’s very interesting. Thanks. Not much I can add to it though.
Well, it shows how organic religion is, and how it is constantly redefined and changed by humans, which very much indicates that it has no divine source.
Edit: I’m really impressed by that whole series. Watching it now.
We die because we literally oxygenate.
Also, max excellent find. I always love finding out more about the history of religions. If only the people that followed the religions looked into it as much. :^/
What is the alternative to god? You don’t believe in him so there must be something else.