the Godburger - tough to swallow?

roosh · 19-08-2010 1:35pm #1

Some of you might be glad to hear, that I won't be posting on here for a while. The Flying Spaghetti Monster has finally returned my calls, and has some "important, noodle related business" he wants me to attend to. At least that's what I think he meant, when he was communicating to me through my honey nut cheerios, this morning!

The following is [in true mangaroosh style] a very long story. It's purpose is not to make a case for, or agianst, the existence of God, but rather to clarify one potential perspective on the whole debate. That's all it is, is one perspective (or perhaps 3-in-1), there may be, and indeed quite likely are, others.

The characters and events are fictional, and any resemblance to persons living, dead or fictional, or situations past, present or fictional, is purely and completely coincidental.

The word God has become empty of meaning through thousands of years of misuse. I use it sometimes, but I do so sparingly. By misuse, I mean that people who have never even glimpsed the realm of the sacred, the infinite vastness behind that word, use it with great conviction, as if they knew what they are talking about. Or they argue against it, as if they knew what it is that they are denying.

- Eckhart Tolle

The story is an attempt to illustrate this point.

the Godburger

Preface
If we look at God in terms of being fast-food (bear with me), then we can see that there are very different variations on the fast-food concept, such as McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Wendy's, etc. etc. (the greed of these corporations may or may not bear some parallels to that of various religious organisations). The names of the characters and beings in this story have been changed to protect their identity.

Now, to say that I believe that McDonalds is the right conceptualisation of fast-food, would not onll be wrong, but would also ignore the fact that all the other conceptualisations of fast-food exist, and are perfectly legitimate variations on the concept. Instead I would say that I believe in [the existence] of fast-food.

Of course I have great reason to, there is an abundance of evidence to support its existence.

Chapter One

The story begins, somewhere, sometime, some bat channel.

A person who has experienced fast-food, travels the world and happens across a remote village, that has never even dreamed of the concept of fast food, and so had no physical [or other] evidence for its existence. The traveler could empathise with the people, because he too had lived in a village where there was no fast-food outlets. Now, however, that he had experienced fast-food, he could not imagine a world without it. The traveler wanted to tell the villagers about the glory of fast food, and in order to explain to them what fast-food is, he had to try and explain the concept, using words that were undertandable to them. His persons knowledge of the local language was nil, but luckily, the locals had a reasonable level of english.

Now, the traveler wanted to explain the concept of fast-food, in a broad sense, describing the experience of fast-food, in its different manifestations, and told the people not to cling onto their mental images of what a burger is, or of what fries are, or of what a deep-fried chicken breast is, or of what a footlong sub is. Instead he told them, to get those images out of their heads and imagine the feeling they get when they are full, and haven't waited too long to get their food. He told them that they would know that the food isn't the greatest, but the convenience of having saved so much time was part of the experience. The traveler tells them this, and tells them not to cling onto those mental images (which the villagers find very hard to shake), and he tells them that the mental images they have of what fast-food is, is not fast-food, it is just a mental image. The traveler sets off on his journey again, leaving the villagers with this concept.

Another traveler happens across the same vilalge, and the villagers implore him to tell them of the glory of fast-food. The traveler agrees and describes to them the McDonalds concept of fast food, because it is the one he frequented the most when he was in his homland. Unfortunately the traveller does not have any promotional posters, or any other advertising materials with them, so is unable to show the locals pictures of what is meant by "burger" and "fries". Each villager tries to picture in his minds eye, their own concept of what a burger is, and what fries are. The conceptualisations were not necessarily accurate, some of them moreso than others. Each however, had a perception of what fast-food was, but their perception was neither whole nor completely accurate, but it was fantastic[al]

Along came another traveler, and he described KFC to the villagers, because that was his favoured restaurant. The description he gave was the best he could, and left the villagers with a perception of what fast-food is, but alas that perception was different for many and was neither accurate, nor complete, yet each villager had a concept.

The same thing happened over again, with a number of different travelers arriving in the village, and leaving the villagers with a great many misperceptions as to what fast-food is. With some people perceiving the McDonalds brand as the most accurate perception - possibly due to the forceful way in which the first traveller described it. Others believed that the KFC model was the best, others Burger King, and yet others Wendy's.

Some of the villagers came up with the idea to write a book, detailing what the McDonalds concept of fast-food was, according to what the traveler told them, and detailed how he told them that McDonalds was the best and that if they went to any other one, then they would get food poisining. So partially out of fear, they remained loyal to the McDonalds brand.

Someone else, having seen how this book had developed into a decent business plan, and consolidated all the ideas for one particular brand, decided to write one about the KFC concept, based on what the other traveler told them, and they detailed how the travler said, that they were all part of the consumer base, under the concept of fast-food, but that to truly experience fast food they would have to follow him, and he would show them, how to experience fast-food.

Another person, who was getting sick of everyone else talking about their belief of what fast food is, decided that he was going to develop his own concept based on everyone elses. In the book he acknowledged all the other books, but in it he added his own conecptualisation to it, and declared that his would be the final book written, because the latest traveler to arrive in the village, told them of plans to build a bypass of the village, so that travellers could get to their destination quicker.

Chapter Two
Now, after a while, some of the villagers started to grow despondent with the concept of fast-food, especially with everyone trying to open their own chains and serving food, that was in no way similar to what the travelers described. They started to tell the other villagers that their concept of fast-food was wrong, and questioned how they could even know if the travelers were telling the truth, they provided no evidence to support their claims. They thought that it was absolute madness to start building franchises of these, supposed, fast food outlets based on the hearsay of these travelers who were long gone, and probably laughing at the "stupid" villagers. Those villagers concluded, that because no evidence existed to support the idea that fast-food actually exists, they concluded that the conceptualisations of fast-food, that the villagers believed in, were not only wrong, but also delusional. And those villagers were correct.

This group, became known as a-fast-foodeists, and many of them had previously gone along with one of these concepts of fast-food, because their family had told them from their childhood, that this was the franchise to believe in. Disillusioned with the particular franchise that their parents forced them to eat at, and frankly sick of having the "same unhealthy crap" stuffed down their throats, they disaffected from all fast-food Other a-fast-foodesits decided, that because there was no evidence of fast-food, then it was simply madness to believe in the existence of fast-food. Some of the group remained open to the possibility, that fast-food may indeed exist, but until such time as incontrovertibel evidence was supplied, then it was not logical, rational or reasonable to believe in it. Others, agreed with this positition, because it sounded perfectly plausible, while others remained adamant that fast-food did not exist - full stop. All of the group seemed to be united on one point though, that they did not necesarily believe that fast-food did not exist, rather that they did not have any perception of it.

One such a-fast-foodeitst then decided, out of nothing more than curiosity, to read as much material on the various concepts as possible, to get a better understanding of this "nonsense". This villager, talked to a lot of people about their concepts of fast food, and quickly realised that there were a number of fundamental commonalities. All of them seemed to refer to this general concept of fast-food, but that each seems to think that their particular conceptualisation was complete and right.

Intrigued by this, this villager decided to examine the literature on the subject further, and noticed a lot of similarities in the baiscs of each concept of fast-food. He also noticed, that within the "teachings" there were certain pieces of information that the travelers gave, that pointed to the possibility of actually experiencing fast-food for oneself. That seemed to correspond a lot, with what the different travelers said, and sepcifically with what one traveler said. This villager then decided, that the only way to know for certain, whether or not fast-food actually exists, was to go in search of it and experience it for himself. Afterall, it makes little sense to bicker among each other over the existence of fast-food if no one among them has ever experienced it.

So the villager set-off to in search of fast-food, in the hope to experiencing it in for himself, but aware of the possibility that they may never actually experience it.

Chapter Three
While on his way, the villager happened across a little restaurant, and went inside to order some food. He had never been in a restaurant before, but had eaten food, and so had an idea how long it should take to prepare. He asked the maître d', if the establishment was a fast-food restaurant. He was informed that it wasn't, but that theirs was a higher quality of food, and wouldn't take too long to prepare. The villager sat at a table, and waited and, after a while, received the food, but the length of time it took to come was similar to what he was used to, so he saw nothing special in this, but recognised it as a possible point for comparison. He left the restaurant and continued on his way. Until he came across another restaurant, but this one that looked different. The seating arrangement didn't appear to be as formal and he could see the kitchen behind the counter, where the food was being cooked. He asked if the place was a fast-food restaurant, and was told it's "the fastest in town". He ordered some food and it came in half the time, it took the other place to bring it.

Delighted that he had made a discovery, the villager pondered how profound this was. While having received food, cooked faster than he ever received before, and that bore some resemblance to that of McDonalds (as had been described in the book from the accounts of the traveler), it didn't taste as good as was described, and there were no "golden arches" outside. While he had a little more faith in the possibility, his faith was not unwavering, so he off he went again.

Then he saw a sign! It wass a discarded bucket, with the image of an old man, with white hair and a beard, and underneath are the letters KFC. Excited by this discovery he picked up the bucket and carried it around with him, proudly announcing to people that he had a sign from fast-food, that it exists. The people look at him as though he were crazy. Although full of enthusiasm, he was still able to rationalise that this bucket was not categorical proof for the existence of fast-food, he asked around to find out the origins of the bucket, and got many vague responses, with some people opting to point him in the wrong direction for their won amusement. Desponedent that he may never find it, he decided to sit down, take a rest and stop cursing all those people who laughed at him, and sent him in the wrong direction, all those people, whose fault it was, that he hadn't found KFC. Then there it was, a smallish building with a red sign and the letters KFC. The villager then realised, that not all of those people who had told him where to go were wrong, some had tried to point out their own little short-cuts, others pointed him in the direction of other fast-food outlets, while others just didn't know and gave him directions for the sake of it. Of course there were those who purposely tried to mislead him, but that didn't matter now becuase he had found it - if anything it made him appreciate finding it all the more.

Chapter Four
He went in and asked if this was really a fast-food restaurant and the people behind the counter, told him it was, and hurried him into his order. He got the food pretty quickly and ate it. It was deliciosu, especially the breadcrumbed skin. He was delighted with himself, he had finally discovered fast food. Content with himself he decided to return home.

Along the way though, he again got hungry, and spotted a place called "Subway", so he decided to try it. He went in, but something was very strange, the food was completely different. There was no deep-fried chicken, no fries, no burgers, but the food he ordered was prepared very quickly. What was this he thought, is this fast food too? If he was in doubt, how then could he be sure he had found fast-food, or experienced it in any meaningful way? But he had found the KFC that was described by one of the travelers. Then he realised, that this wasn't enough, he needed more proof.

So off he went again, with a certain amount of doubt in him, as to whether or not he would be able to ever fully understand what fast-food was. He trudged along determined to understand fast-food. He began to look for fast-food in everything, he went into shops where he could buy food off a shelf and be out of their within minutes. Was this fast food? He tried to rationalise how it could be, but deep down he knew that it wasn't. He happened across a fruit seller, and bought some fruit, that was ready to eat there and then, surely this could be classed as fast-food. Eureka, this was it, another sign that fast-food exists, but something wasn't quite right, he thought about his experience in Subway, and decided that this experience was not enough to enable him to fully understand what fast-food is.

Growing frustrated he, he argued with people, that he did know what fast food was, and he could prove it, he gave his examples of evidence but others said that it wasn't enough, there was so much he was unsure of. On he went, determined to understand but slowly growing to accept the fact that perhaps he may never fully understand, but he couldn't let this affect him, he had to go on, because it didn't make any rational or logical sense to just give up. The villager decided to settle down in one of the towns, that he found himself in. He got himself a job, and integrated with the community, and went about his new found life. He often found himself, wondering about fast-food though, and thinking to himself about it. He didn't really talk to anyone else about it (except for on an internet forum, where he argued to no avail that personal experience of fast-food was the only meaningful way in which to truly know what fast-food is).

Then one day, one of his friends suggested they go to the city for the day and off they went. After a long day of shopping they both were hungry so his friend told him about this place where they could get some fast-food, which delighed the villager. They turned the corner and there it as, certainly a sight to behold for the villager, he was in awe, it was the "golden arches" that he had heard so much about, this was the promised land he had read about, that the traveler had described. He went in and was impressed with the speed of the service, although the people working there didn't seem to be too happy (he recalled that this was the same for most of the other fast-food places he had been). How could they not be happy? They worked for McDonalds? This was the place he had heard about since he was a child.

Chapter Five
Over the course of the follwing year, he made many trips to the city eating in a wide variety of fast-food restaurants. Then one day he went into the shop he had visited before, where he had wondered if that could be classed as fast food. He was fully confident that the shop was not a fast-food outlet, but then he spotted a new addition to the shop. It was a deli counter, where a person made sandwiches to order and also dispensed pre-cooked hot food. He thought about it for a moment, this was very different from any other fast-food place he had been and the menu was very different, although it did have similarities to subway. This he decided could be classed as fast-food in a broader sense, because it was similar in concept to others and shared certain basic fundamental principles, namely that food was made to order, or in some cases pre-cooked and chose and the time delay between ordering and receiving the food was short, so it was therefore cooked food sold in snack bars and restaurants as a quick meal. He then thought back to his experience in Subway, and thought to himself, that certainyl fits the bill. He was beginning to understand what fast-food was.

It wasn't until one day that he was in a pub getting a carvery lunch, that a blinding light [from the carvery lamp] came over him and he shrieked, "Eureka! I've got it", he dropped his tray and ran out the door. He was now able to make a reasonable judgement, based on his experience, as to what fast-food actually is, and what it isn't. He would also be in a reasonable position to make a jugement on what constitutes evidence of fast-food, and what doesn't.

He packed his bags and headed for home, but stopped by McDonalds, KFC, Burger King and as many fast-food restaurants as he could on the way howe, to bring gifts of fast-food to everyone in the village.

Chapter Six
When he returned to the village he was greeted by his family, and was not treated to the heroes welcome he had envisaged for himself, instead people had seemed to have just gotten on with their lives (which to be fair he had done himself). Old friends greeted him, with a degree of familiarity that comforted him, while others asked him questions of his travels. He noticed that the village had changed quite a bit, since he had last been there, with a number of restaurants now in the village, each one based on the owners conceptualisation of fast food, or rather, the conceptualisation he most agreed with. Some people came "religiously" to the restaurant that their parents had been going to for years, to get a weekly helping of fast-food, while others changed their minds on which particualr concept of fast-food was the right one, often because they got sick of "swallowing the same crap" for so long, so a change was aggreable with their palet.

Other's decided that they could not, with good reason, eat at the various restaurants, because, not only was fast-food was not healthy, but there was no reason to believe that what was being served in these restaurants was fast food. Firstly, the length of time that the food took to prepare was only marginally quicker than could be done at home - this they quite rightly proved was due to synergy, the fact that a larger number of meals could be prepared quicker, if prepared together, than if all meals were prepared separately. Secondly, they highlighted the discrepencies in the business plans relating to each franchise. Those that opened a McDonalds had no "golden arches", which the traveler had clearly stated, was a sign that verified the existence of the fast-food restaurant. They also pointed out that those who ate in KFC didn't necessarily get food poisoining, as the traveler said they would, and even those that did, the food poisoning could be traced back to the food, as opposed to the fact that someone had eaten in KFC. They also argued that, there was no possible way in which to verify the authenticity of the travelers statements. Just because all of them spoke of fast-food, the discrepencies in their descriptions surely amounted to evidence, that suggested, that fast-food was just a made-up concept and existed only in the imagination.

These a-fast-foodeists, arrived at the conclusion that it did not make sense, nor was it rational, to believe that fast-food actually existed at all, and just becuase people took comfort from the thought that it existed, it did not warrant conferring the status of reality on it. They also believed, that forcing ones children to attend the same restaurant as they were forced to, was a deplorable act, and that children should be allowed to make their own decisions, not be forced into believing what their parents believed.

They also told the returning villager of all the [price] wars and atrocities, that were enacted in the name of these franchises, jobs were destroyed to allow franchises swallow up others and convert a previously owned, family run outlet, into just another store in a long chain of greedy franchises. All this perpetrated, because the business plan for each franchise, stated that it should be so, and because the head of each franchise ordered it, claiming that it was in the name of fast-food . These highly rational and logical villagers were, right, to condemn this inasane behaviour, becuase it didn't make sense. How could people simply take it on good faith, from some random traveler, they had never met, that he was telling the truth, especially when there was so much conflicting evidence - most notably the difference in the various accounts from each traveler - so claiming that all this was done in the name of fast-food, was ludicrous. It was for this reason, as well as for the practical benefits, that these rational villagers, devised a system of determining whether or not something was valid or not, or critically robust or not. They were determined to put a stop to the madness, so that people could live their lives without deluding themselves for any longer. Indeed it was as a result of this system that the village had been transformed for the better, with a school, a hospital, a bank, running water, electricity, all now present since the last time the wanderer had been in the village.

Chapter Seven
The returning villager agreed with these rational, and logical villagers, but he was eager to show them the evidence that he had found, that would categorically prove that fast-food existed. He produced the food he had bought before returning home, but because of the distance he had travelled, much of the food was not hot, it did not appear as it had done when he had bought it, as it had started to go stale. The rational villagers, who were at this stage very skeptical as to even why the people needed fast-food, with all the advancements that had been made in medcine, technology and other areas, were open-minded and were willing to see if this evidence stood up to scrutiny. After examining the food, they deemed that it did not sufficiently support the existence of fast-food, because:
a) it looked nothing like the glorious food, as categorically laid out in the business plan for any of the franchises

and

b) The only testimony, as to how long the food took to be prepared, was that of the returning villager. Now, this would be severly subjective, to the extent it could not be dependable. Also, the fact that he traveled so far, he would not want to return and say he had failed, and therfore be branded the village idiot, so his bias would be to claim that he found it.

Not deterred, the returning villager, produced the wrapping in which the food had come in, with all the symbols and logos as described by the travelers, all that time ago. There they were, a burger wrapper with the "golden arches", the grey-haired old man with the beard and the letters 'KFC' on a bucket, the "burger king" emblem on a bag, surely this was incontrovertible "proof" of the existence of fast food. Unfortunately not, as the rational villagers pointed out, that they too had means to produce such wrappers, buckets and bags. They said, that there was no possible way of being sure, that the returning villager had not just had theses made up, so that he could occupy some exalted position in the village when he returend with proof of the existence of fast-food. They of course were very much correct.

Desponent, the villager wanted the people to know, as he knew, so he suggested that they too should follow the path that he had taken, perhaps with the knowledge that he had acquired, he could save them some time. He also, wanted to discern what needed to be brought back to represent critically robust proof, of the existence of fast-food. These critically minded villagers told him, that it depended on what his personal conceptualisation of fast-food was. Whatever it was, let him bring the proof and they would test it. The villager tried to explain that fast-food is just a label applied what fast-food actually is, Fast food he said is "cooked food sold in snack bars and restaurants as a quick meal", so what would constitute evidence for the existence of that, surely in order prove that it is a quick meal, a person must actually be present, to see how long the food takes to prepare. "How about video evidence" he enquired. "As long as you can prove it wasn't staged he replied".

Frustrated, the villager didn't know what he could do, so he decided the only thing that could be done, was to try and show those who had already opened what they thought were fast-food restaurants, what fast food actually was. He approached franchise after franchise, but they were so stuck in their ways, that they did not want to entertain him.

He decided that he would have to show them what fast food actually was, so he opened up his own fast-food restaurant, and provided the local quisine in half the time of his competitors. Unfortunately people were too stuck in their ways to try the new restaurant, bar a small, unprofitable nice market. The open-minded and rational villagers, decided to investigate his restaurant, which appeared to have borrowed from concepts from all the other franchises, (but in such a way as to not contravene any law!). Surely the villager thought, this must be evidence for the existence of fast-food, but alas he was accused of cherry picking from all the other franchises, and just because he cooked the food a litle faster, it was merely based on the same unfounded principles of the others.

Chapter Eight

The villager was growing desponent, and started to think that the rational villagers did not want there to be any fast-food and would do anything to deny any evidence of it, or make it impossible to find evidence to support its existence. He knew deep down, however that this was not the case, for he had been there himself. He too had rejected the idea of fast-food, and began to live in a world without any conceptualisation of it. He knew that in order to believe in the existence of fast-food, there had to be evidence, critically robust evidence. He knew this now and he understood. If only he could rationalise his own experience of fast-food, then perhaps he could provide evidence that would inspire someone else to embark on the journey, and discover and experience fast-food for themselves.

He suggested ways in which those rational villagers could perhaps gain first hand experience of fast-food, but they scoffed at the idea of purposely seeking something out. They explained to him in no uncertain terms that seeking out evidence of fast-food, would only bias someone's opinion, and make them look for evidence of fast-food in everyting. They thought it foolish to embark on such a journey, that may end up being a wild goose chase, and declined the offer, saying that they had more pressing matters to attend to, like curing people from the ill-effects caused by the uncontrolled cooking techniques employed in the [delusionally named] fast-food restaurants, or improving understanding of childbirth so as to improve the chances of survival for mother and child, or build a bridge to cross the river, so that the neighbouring village could be reached.

The villager understood the dilemna, for it did seem difficult to take that journey of a thousand miles, when all there is to guide you is your own curiosity and the [apparently] subjective opinion of others, who may or may not be living in a world of fantasy. The villager understood, that it was made all the more difficult, by the fact that people thought they would have to renounced all that they believed, in order to take this journey. He hoped that they would see that this wasn't the case, and that instead they might learn to look at things from different perspective, and with their knowledge and training, could perhaps bring greater understanding to the area, and most importantly of all, could bring back the evidence that would once and for all be deemed critically robust, in support of the existence of fast-food.

The villager now understood, that if this were to happen, it would probably have to happen in the same way it happened for him, it could not be undertaken under duress, but rather the individual would have to arrive at the decision of their own accord. If he were to be of assistance he would have to live out his life according to the principles he preached, offering a different perspective where he could, and accepting criticism of his arguments where those criticisms were fair and founded, and seek to improve above all, his own understanding of the the subject of fast-food.

So the villager closed the fast-food restaurant, and set-up home for himself. He lived an uncomplicated life, and did not spend all the hours under the sun working in a fast-food restaurant, worrying whether or not the general manager was going to be pleased with the work he was doing, or what he would do if he was fired. He knew, having experienced fast-food, that he could live his life and enjoy other foods without having to wear a uniform or adhere to strict codes of conduct, just to present a good image to the customer. He understood that fast-food would exist with or without the franchise chains, that seem to compete with each other and believe that they have the best fast-food concept, a belief they try to impress upon their staff and customers. He knew he could eat at the various fast-food franchises if he so wished, without having his Customer Loyalty card revoked, for any of the restaurants. He knew that he could eat other foods too, that did not necessarily come from the fast-food restaurants, that fast-food would exist with or without his being a customer. He was content in the knowledge, that fast-food was not necessarily the individual franchises, but that the individual franchises were a part of fast-food, but sometimes their individual conception of fast-food meant that they saw themselves in competition with other franchises.

Chapter Nine
Time, as it was perceived, moved by and the villager lived out his days in peace and contentment. Enjoying the simple joys that life had to offer. One day as he was walking along the river bank, in the leafy shade, he was attacked and mauled by a tiger. Some people a-fast-foodeists who were near by rushed to his aid and brought him to the hospital, where the a-fast-foodesit surgeon did his best to save the villagers life. His condition was stabilised but critical, and the villager thanked the surgeon, but knowing he was close to the end, he began to wonder what lay in store for him. Then he remembered something that he had heard many years previously, that everyone "was a customer of fast food", and although he had not followed the path that the traveler suggested, he knew that he was part of the customer base of fast food, and he knew that fast-food would live on after his death, and so too would the customer base of fast-food, of which he was a part. This comforted him. Then he flatlined.

Tiger 1-0 Villager

The End.

Canis Lupus · 19-08-2010 1:39pm

tl;dr :P

19-08-2010 1:42pm

That was lovely and all, but

A person who has experienced fast-food

is kind of where it breaks down...

raah! · 19-08-2010 4:37pm

I think making an analogy with fast food has only made your position harder to understand.

Are the specific vendors of fast food supposed to be related to specific vendors of religious ideology?

Do you think everyone is capable of having a religious experience? How do you think things like this relate to the concept of faith? (wouldn't directly experiencing something you see as God invalidate having faith in that?)

Zombrex · 19-08-2010 4:45pm

yeah I didn't read all that.... :rolleyes:

someone want to sum up.

raah! · 19-08-2010 4:58pm

My understanding of the main themes of it, from reading, but also from previous mangaroosh posts is:

-True religious understanding comes from personal experience
-This is very difficulut to communicate this type of personal experience effectively to other peple
-One should seek one's own experiences
-There is also alot about how the many different religions , while they may differ in the specifics, are all about the same thing

There's alot I didn't get/understand though. All in all though, it was a nice piece of reading with my morning tea (or rather, 4pm tea)

pH · 19-08-2010 5:02pm

Wicknight wrote: »

yeah I didn't read all that.... :rolleyes:

someone want to sum up.

Maybe someone summarised it when he posted in here?

http://beyondyourken.com/phoenix/Pages/90323-1.html

MagicMarker · 19-08-2010 7:16pm

Why would I read this when I could be watching Hitchens on youtube?

strobe · 19-08-2010 9:20pm

Mangaroosh it's not that no one here understands the whole "personal experience of god" thing. We get it, we really do. It's just that people think it's nonsense. Good analogy/story though.

roosh · 19-08-2010 10:46pm

raah! wrote: »

My understanding of the main themes of it, from reading, but also from previous mangaroosh posts is:

-True religious understanding comes from personal experience
-This is very difficulut to communicate this type of personal experience effectively to other peple
-One should seek one's own experiences
-There is also alot about how the many different religions , while they may differ in the specifics, are all about the same thing

There's alot I didn't get/understand though. All in all though, it was a nice piece of reading with my morning tea (or rather, 4pm tea)

Just for posterity, the above is part of what is intended to be conveyed. Perhaps moreso, however, is the idea expressed in this quote (I left it out of the original posting, but added it afterwards) by Eckhart Tolle

people who have never even glimpsed the realm of the sacred, the infinite vastness behind that word [God], use it with great conviction, as if they knew what they are talking about. Or they argue against it, as if they knew what it is that they are denying.

Zillah · 20-08-2010 1:51am

mangaroosh wrote: »

Some of you might be glad to hear, that I won't be posting on here for a while. The Flying Spaghetti Monster has finally returned my calls, and has some "important, noodle related business" he wants me to attend to.

Wait...are you dying?

If the answer is "yes" that is the only way I'm going to consider reading all of that.

(Top four threads are all me, where is everyone tonight?)