In response to Nicole's question

Is there something else really out there?

This question actually reminded me of a show on the History channel I was watching a while ago. It was UFO investigators looking between the lines in the Holy Bible.

One part that they analysed was-

Genesis 1:26-27 “Then God said, "Let us make man in our image,

in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the

birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the

creatures that move along the ground."

By the word "our", they created a theory that there wasn't only one God, but there were many gods.

Another source to back up their theory is the multiple gods some religions worship, and personal encounters they claim to have. Also the story of Hercules and other stories of gods coming to earth and impregnating mortals.

Can't say I believe it but its very interesting and something to ponder on.

Whats your view on this?

In response to Courtney's question

Question: If people never stray from the comfort of a routine will they move forward in life?

They might enjoy their schedules and feel that their lives are fulfilled. Or maybe their routine includes life lessons and things that are helping that person progress in life. But from a different perspective, a person that is afraid to branch out and wants to actually break from a routine, but never actually does, could only move so far forward.

I think people should be thrown out of their comfort zones more often and spontaneity is a important part to life- what do you think?

In response to Megan's question

Question: What is it that changed the minds of people to become more accepting of atheism?

People became more accepting as science became more advanced and proof of evolution was backed up with scientific research and evidence. Religion was formed thousands of years ago, before people had any real explanation of how the world was formed. Stories and myths were created to reason why we are on this planet, but as we became more civilized and intelligent, the thought of evolution become more realistic and religion became more of a safety blanket.

What if evidence of evolution was discovered earlier in history? Do you think it would have made any difference?

In Response to Nicole's question

Are people only afraid of change because they worry things won't turn out they way they want them to?

I think people are afraid of change for many reasons but that is one of them. Change is very hard for people who are not willing, but sometimes psychological problems such as anxiety, causes people to uncontrollably worry about situations they can't control and sometimes 'change' can't be controlled.To not know what you are in for, can lead to making assumptions and if they are positive thoughts that aren't fulfilled- disappointment can discourage people from taking chances. People are also close minded and don't want to open up to the world. They might not want others opinions to affect their lifestyles and beliefs.

Do you ever find yourself uncomfortable in situations you can't control? Or are you one to just go with the flow?

Recently I heard a story about a few 18 year old's who jumped a homeless man because he wouldn't buy them alcohol after they gave him $40. The judge told them they better thank every star in the sky that he is only in critical condition and not dead.
This reminded me of the idea of "Thrill Killing" a topic I had talked about in my psychology class in high school. The idea of actually killing someone becomes an adrenaline rush for some young teens and even pre-teens. Sometimes those pleasurable thoughts became a reality and the feeling of invincibility takes over.

Do you think these are results of children not being educated well enough about violence and the severe consequences? Or some people just live for thrills no matter what the consequence?

In response to Misty's questioin

question: If you had to choose between having a perfectly healthy child that looked awful and grotesquely deformed, or a beautiful child, who had a multitude of serious health conditions, which would you choose?

I would have to say neither, because if I had this concern floating around in my head, i certainly wouldn't be fit to have kids.
But either way, the child would have emotional issues caused by their physical/ health related problems and in the end they are still just a human and it shouldn't matter who you would choose.

Question: what would be your approach to sustain the growing population at a manageable number? (education, rewards...)

In response to Meagan's Question

Question: Do you agree with my former high school teacher? That we subconsciously look for traits of our parents in our future spouses, or possible spouses? Basically the person you are dating at the time...

I completely agree with this, I have heard you marry your father/ mother, because we look for traits in the opposite sex that show they can help raise a family. We admire traits in our parents that show us comfort, trust, love and support, and in turn we seek these in our potential mates. My boyfriend now reminds me a lot like my dad and I think my comfort level with him is so high because of that. I also think we look for similar traits because we want our parents to like who we are dating- so they as well feel comfortable with them.

Do you think its possible to have a healthy relationship with a partner without a healthy relationship between your parents and them?

Day Dreamer

In class today, we briefly talked about how dreams contain hidden meanings and desires. What appears in our dreams are reenactments of situations that have already occurred, or scenarios we crave or fear. Sometimes dreams feel so real that we wake up wishing we were back asleep and others leave us in a cold sweat. Personally, I like to analyze my dreams and find connects with them and my daily life. I find myself day dreaming a lot and the visions I see from my conscious thoughts tend to appear also in my subconscious ones as well. I have even had some dreams become reality, but could it just have been a coincident? Do you believe dreams can become reality? Is it just because we spend so much time subconsciously dwelling on situations, that they secretly become our desires and needs?

In response to Sarah

If you randomly became a millionaire would your happiness increase? If so Why and what are some things that you would buy/do?

If i became a millionaire, my happiness would certainly increase. I think the phrase "money can't buy you happiness", is more relevant to buying materialistic objects. I want to explore the world, witness unique cultures and traditions, and now-a-days, traveling expenses are insane. I would travel with one or two of my closest friends and pay for all of their expenses. I would want to share my experiences with the people that appreciate the natural beauties of the world as much as I do.

Question: Do you think the phrase "money can't buy you happiness" is directed towards the purchases of materialistic objects? Are they only instant gratifications with temporary happiness?

In response to Courtney's question

Question...that jealous anger that we sometimes feel toward the wealthy is a vile thing. What does that example say about humans? Can/does jealousy control us?

I think that jealous can potentially control someone. Jealousy can be a very powerful thing. Whether or not we use jealous to our advantage in a positive aspect, or let the negative thoughts dwell in our minds- the decisions we make can be greatly influenced by our jealousy of others. If we take jealousy as it comes as a way to better ourselves and aspire to be something great, jealousy can help us live to our full potentials. But if we hold on to jealous thoughts and grudges, the greed from jealousy can take over someone's thoughts and decisions.

Question: Would a communist society help minimize jealous feelings because of their equal working statuses?

In response to Courtney's question

So, do you think that it is possible for a person to go about their life and never really know themselves fully?

I do believe people can go through life never knowing themselves fully. I believe that MOST people never get the chances to fully know who they are because they might give up easily and never live up to their potential. Sometimes people can go through their whole lives and not until the last few years they figure out who they are. Yet other people spend their lives trying to be something they are not and could be blinded by this distraction of an idealistic "them". Some people might start asking questions early in life about who they are and what they want out of life, and spend their whole lives searching through and through who they really are, and might find their answer and might not.

Do attachments and comfort from materialistic things hold us back from getting things we really want sometimes?

In response to Megan's question

Why do we have phrases like "follow your heart," "gut instinct," etc? Why is it not like listen to what your mind tells you?

Phrases like these are used because we "love" with our hearts, and what we love in life makes us happy. So when someone tells you to follow your heart, they are really just saying do what makes you happy, because sometimes the logic decision isn't necessarily the one that will feel right. Your body knows when something feels right. When you stress to make a decision and finally you make one, your body feels relieved if you choose something you felt was right. Making a decision that makes you feel uneasy and doubtful, means its not something you feel passionate about and wont entirely make you happy.

People sometimes go out of their way to please everyone around them, and forget to follow their hearts. Is it possible to find a perfect balance of our nature to please others and also to please ourselves?

In response to Alex's question

To me there is more to life than representing what we can prove to be better at than one another; for life is about becoming one with what you are meant to be, wouldn't you agree?


I agree that people shouldn't base their lives on being better than everyone, but I also think that humans are competitive by nature. I think we as humans should compete for what we want, but take jealousy out of the factor. We should always just do our best and live to our full potential which isn't the same as anyone else's potential. We tend to try to be someone we are not because we are envious of others, distorting the vision of what we are meant to be. We should take time to get to know ourselves and make decisions based on what we want, and always fight to be who we should be.

Living in a fast paced society denies us the time we need to take a step back and discover who we are. Do you think that the people who struggle to keep up are the ones who have the time to get to know themselves better?

masters of manipulation.

For a Sophist, the point of life is to win. Rhetorical language is used to their full advantage to cover up some self serving pursuit. In other words you could even say a Sophist is very manipulative and can easily morph the truth of something to please someone's needs. To be a Sophist, I think, would take a very intellectual person. A person who can speak clearly and sweet talk their target. I also think they would need to be very intelligent, having some mastery of human actions and nature. They spread the word of their belief that the gods were functioning as an invisible police force. and shared their other cynical views of religion.
Do you agree that cult leaders share some of the same qualities as Sophists? Or do they fall under completely different categories?

In response to Misty's questioin

Question: Do you think there are people that exist that do things just to test societal norms? If so , why do you think they do this?

Society today puts endless amounts of pressure of people to "fit in" and has caused people to go about their days practically on auto-pilot, following the same routines and looking to the media for guidance. But there are some people who like to test out new things, and go against the norms. Some might do it just to get reactions from others, yet some might do it just to rebel and go against society.
In my opinion, breaking the norms keeps life interesting. It makes people question how much they are really getting out of life and how they can live to their full potential.
My question is- Do you think social norms keep us from being spontaneous and cause us to care too much about what others think?

In Response to Nicole's blog

When God created good and evil, he wanted to create a world with free will and diversity. If everyone was good, life would lack lessons and would be so bland. He loves all of us whether we are good and evil because either way we have the opportunity to look to him for guidance. He never wanted us to be perfect but actually wanted us to have flaws and learn from our mistakes. But to tie back into what Nicole was saying about just accepting what God says because he is seen as a higher figure and like government officials and the president, we see them as more knowledgeable figures so we blindly follow what they say. Have religion and the government become our safety blankets, leading us to forget how to express our free will?

oh, good old America.

Out of the eight questions we had to categorize, for me "How shall we live?" stuck out the most. I believe life should be simple and everyone should do things that they enjoy doing. Society has everyone thinking life is a competition- who has a bigger house, who has more money, who has more materialistic objects, who can be the best. We talked about the American Dream in class, and how it truly is a dream that very few people can make a reality. After visiting Costa Rica, I was disgusted how we live. Most of the people there live so simply and appreciate every little thing they have. Most Americans on the other hand never stop to appreciate anything and take full advantage of it. We are slowly destroying the planet just to get ahead, and to make money to spend on unnecessary things that we use for a week and just throw it away after it breaks or the exact same thing comes out, but is "better than the last" Now we can't even support ourselves financially without a college degree, and we are practically forced to spend more money on an education that may not even help us in the long run. So my question is, are we really able to live how we want, or do we all just suck it up and go with the flow of society?

In response to Kolby's Corner

When looking at abolishing lying from a more pessimistic view, I believe the world would be a very boring place. If no one lied, there would be no imaginations, no Santa Clause, no Tooth Fairy. I also believe there would be less job opportunities because most businesses are based on scandals and lies to make money. Everything would have to be too perfect and emotionless because no one could take anything personally. I agree there would be less affairs between couples, but ultimately there would be less love in general. If you always had to tell someone exactly how you felt, they may not be happy about it, or feel anything at all. If the world didn't lie, would there be a world without imagination and emotion?

Is ignorance bliss?

The lyrics, "The more I see, the less I know" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is a perfect example for my view on ignorance being bliss. Sometimes when I find out something new, I use the Coherence theory and take previous knowledge to question whether or not I agree with this new idea, or even believe it is true. But how can I ever fully be sure if even my previous knowledge is real? It's not that I don't enjoy learning new things and piecing things together, but on certain occasions I would rather be ignorant. The Coherence theory involves questioning truth because it requires each statement to be backed up by another statement, therefore it can lead you to question everything and not believe things that you need to know. The Correspondence theory lets you trust things simply by saying that it corresponds with the way the world is. So which theory allows you to know more?