I'm here now. Use this to tell everyone you are here!

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Welcome on route, I mean, Welcome, En_Route.
--
We love philosophical discussions, and we do enjoy taking apart () discussing the origins of the western theism of choice, while doing an effort to be tolerant.

Feel free to look around and don't be afraid to make comments in any thread (don't be scared by the "this topic is so and so old, blah, blah" message, we revive threads frequently, provided you are mostly on topic).

[Darlica]

Welcome!

[Griffin NoName]

Hi En-Route good to see you over here. Hope we can entertain you. We can be very silly or very serious. We espcially love topic drift even though I wave the rule book.

...............we revive threads frequently, provided you are mostly on topic).

Ha! Someone listens to me !!

[Aggie]

Hello all and sundry, especially the latter. I am here at the suggestion of Griffin, whom I had the pleasure of meeting on another forum. I am a lawyer by trade, both academic and practical, but noe retired for health reasons. I have been an atheist since the age of 14,  latterly with an avid  interest in matters philosophical and psychological. I also have a fascination with the history of Christianity, originally born of perplexity as  how such an obvious farrago of mythyology and wishful thinking has managed to colonise so much of human thought. Having said that, I do not see religion or theism as the source of all evil, nor do I stigmatise those of faith as automatically fools or knaves. I enjoy civilised debate, especially when it makes me re-examine my own assumptions or or introduces me to new insights or lines of thought.

Welcome aboard, En_Route!

I look very forward to discussing these matters with you.    

I think of myself as post-atheist and take great interest in exploring and applying the irrational as a means of achieving rational outcomes. It's my opinion that we are as much or more an essentially irrational species as a rational one, that our irrationality is physiologically / psychologically rooted (i.e. it is inherent to human thought rather than colonizing it), and that working primarily with either rational or irrational methods and modalities is ultimately an irrational act*. It's a matter of inverting the all-too-frequent process of starting with irrational or semi-rational conclusions and then using rationally constructed (and often blatantly hokum) arguments to support those conclusions; instead, I prefer to work with any mental models, leaps of imagination and metaphysical constructs that best support a rationally determined objective.

I strongly prefer my irrationality to be in accordance with objective reality (i.e. not contradict established scientific consensus), although I see no issue with just making shit up out of thin air in areas where no concrete scientific evidence for or against a particular idea exists**. Hell, we've only had a concrete grasp of non-visible electromagnetic radiation for about 150 years; the assertion that human scientific thought has uncovered an appreciable amount of the total knowledge available is pure hubris, IMHO.

<sub>*Unless it happens to produce an optimum result for a given individual; however, as a social species I feel it's important to be capable of working with both rational and irrational thought in order to understand both ends of the spectrum.

**Provided that one acknowledges that it's just made up, and doesn't get overly attached to a blatantly fictional construct.</sub>

Jump in wherever, and feel free to start new threads where you see a need.

[Opsa]

Aggie's always good for a detailed discussion.

I guess I should have introduced myself, too. I was raised by a pack of wild Unitarians and therefore have very little dogma pounded into me to scare me away from radical thoughts. (Get it? Dogma? Pound? Okay, that was lame.) I have had a chance to study and apply several religious belief systems. The first one was Christianity, which never rang true with me even as a child and I discarded quite early on. As a teen I followed Hinduism for a while, probably mostly to be weird. I loved all the gods everywhere, but was uncomfortable with the thought that the males were more important, so that was out. In my adult years I explored paganism, and found I agreed with the nature-as-deity ideas, but some of the brou-ha-ha made me back away from it slightly. Mostly the weirdos, but as I felt fairly weird anyway, it was not too much. I still had problems with the thought of god as having human form. Why didn't I try atheism? I don't know, it just didn't seem believable to me. For the past five or six or seven (I've lost count) years, I have explored the Medicine Wheel, which is found in quite a few places on Earth. Since I am in North America, I have studied the sort found here, which is how Native Americans have connected with everything since before recorded history. This sort of medicine is not drugs, but instead is the stuff that holds together everything, everywhere, and I think that's a decent thing to try to get to know on some level. I am just an amateur, and neglect it at times but since it is fairly laid back as far as a belief system, it seems to suit me.

I like talking about beliefs, disbeliefs, suspension of beliefs, nature, art, and all that flaky stuff. I try not to take myself too seriously most of the time. After all, what do I know, really?

[En_Route]

Thank you for the welcomes and also,to Aggie and Opsa for takng the time to outline their petsonal,philosophies.I foresee some (hopefully)!fetrtile discussions, alongside the opportunites for inordinate frolicsomeness ,some of which I have already availed.

[pieces o nine]

Welcome, En_Route -- I hope you enjoy it here!

I'm an artist who also loves history and science. I was raised RRC (really Roman Catholic) but a few of us 'tied our rosaries together and went over the wall' many years ago...   I studied for the Deaconate in the Anglican Communion, an experience I greatly appreciate (not the least for helping me entirely out the Church door!) although I have very fond memories of the people I met there. I flirted with NeoPaganism as a way to explore personal spirituality without dogma, and enjoyed most of those I encountered, but was distressed to find myself surrounded a couple times by enthusiastic worshipers of unicorns. I just...couldn't...keep a straight face...   At this point I'm atheist, but my hackles are raised by the political fallout of aggressive religions, rather than personal belief itself.

I look forward to interesting discussions.   

[Bluenose]

Welcome En-Route, glad you made your way over here.  I'll not offer any advice different from that of my fellow siblings, except to say, be careful of the moat, the squidlings can be tricksey at times.  Oh, and the unwary have sometimes become lost in the catacombs...

[Opsa]

We have cats in the catacombs now, to lead you out of them, but only if they feel like it. We suggest kitty treats on your person at all times of exploration.

[Griffin NoName]

But nothing prepares one for the library labyrinth.

[pieces o nine]

But nothing prepares one for the library labyrinth.

It's all the footnotes.  Very misleading at times, apt to take one off the beaten path.

[Opsa]

We really shouldn't have fired the minotaur.

[Swatopluk]

Or fried him*.

*since tauros is the word for a male bovine, a female minotaur is a self-contradiction

[En_Route]

Welcome En-Route, glad you made your way over here.  I'll not offer any advice different from that of my fellow siblings, except to say, be careful of the moat, the squidlings can be tricksey at times.  Oh, and the unwary have sometimes become lost in the catacombs...

Spiffing to re-encounter you too and thank you for the heads-ups on the
hazards to be avoided or possibly embraced.

[Darlica]

Or fried him*.

*since tauros is the word for a male bovine, a female minotaur is a self-contradiction

What should a female bovine/humanoid crossing be known as then, o scholar of all things ancient?