BS: Matter and Spirit

Subject: RE: BS: Matter and Spirit
From: GUEST,Shatner
Date: 02 Jul 06 - 04:25 PM

500!

Subject: RE: BS: Matter and Spirit
From: Bill D
Date: 02 Jul 06 - 04:26 PM

*grin*

Subject: RE: BS: Matter and Spirit
From: Bill D
Date: 02 Jul 06 - 04:27 PM

oh, I DO love broadband speed!

Subject: RE: BS: Matter and Spirit
From: GUEST,Shatner
Date: 02 Jul 06 - 04:27 PM

It was .... fun ....

Subject: RE: BS: Matter and Spirit
From: Bill D
Date: 02 Jul 06 - 04:54 PM

still...you only managed 501, my plump friend.

Subject: RE: BS: Matter and Spirit
From: Little Hawk
Date: 02 Jul 06 - 04:58 PM

What? Someone is dissing Shatner??? We must find this despicable heathen and destroy him or her UTTERLY!

Subject: RE: BS: Matter and Spirit
From: Amos
Date: 02 Jul 06 - 05:54 PM

SHatner is, himself, a heathen, and VASTLY overrated. However to be prerfectly fair I am told he does an unusually adequate job in his current film, the name of which escapes me.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Matter and Spirit
From: Little Hawk
Date: 02 Jul 06 - 06:53 PM

He did an unusually adequate job on his last audio recording too. It's really surprisingly entertaining and quite good.

Subject: RE: BS: Matter and Spirit
From: Bill D
Date: 02 Jul 06 - 07:20 PM

somehow the phrase "damning with faint praise" comes to mind.

Subject: RE: BS: Matter and Spirit
From: Little Hawk
Date: 02 Jul 06 - 07:47 PM

Humph! No respect.

Subject: RE: BS: Matter and Spirit
From: Amos
Date: 02 Jul 06 - 07:56 PM

Well, his intimidating adequacy is a large step forward, LH - he has, essentially, received no praise at all since he escaped from the Ferengi and the Enterprise. Present company excepted, of course, but who listens to Canuck folkies these days?

A

Subject: RE: BS: Matter and Spirit
From: Amos
Date: 16 Jul 06 - 01:18 PM

On Reincarnation -- Hard Evidence is of interest -- of course when I encountered it I thought immediately of Bill D, our avid skeptic, and ran right over with it. :D


A

Subject: RE: BS: Matter and Spirit
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 Jul 06 - 01:34 PM

Just a brief return to Shatner, Amos. I would like to point out that he has been praised fulsomely for his acting in the new TV series "Boston Legal". He has, and there's not a darned thing you can do about it. ;-)

As for reincarnation, it seems so likely to me now, given the experiences of this life, that I pretty much take it for granted. If people don't believe in it...or don't want to...that's fine with me. What harm can their disbelief do? None that I can see. It won't make any difference anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: Matter and Spirit
From: bobad
Date: 16 Jul 06 - 01:53 PM

Another evaluation of the "hard evidence" cited by the author of Amos' link by someone at the other end of the belief spectrum.

Subject: RE: BS: Matter and Spirit
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Jul 06 - 03:45 PM

oh, thank you, Amos...*grin*

ummm-hmmmmm...I see. Now it's proof! Wow.

"Stevenson's research into birthmarks and congenital defects has such particular importance for the demonstration of reincarnation, since it furnishes objective and graphic proof of reincarnation,...."

someone needs to tell him he has discovered genetics!

I read the list of 'evidence', and I see data which can usually be explained with hypotheses other than postulating some mystical transference of 'soul' thru some mystical 'realm' in some yet-to-be-explained mystical 'process', resulting in all sorts of muddled metaphysics about how MANY 'souls' are available, since the number of people keeps increasing.

Geez...with notions like this:
" These problems relating to the 'sex change' can lead to homosexuality later on in their lives. Former girls who were reborn as boys may wish to dress as girls or prefer to play with girls rather than boys."
and this:

" For example, if they had drowned in a past life then they frequently developed a phobia about going out of their depth in water. If they had been shot, they were often afraid of guns and sometimes loud bangs in general. If they died in a road accident they would sometimes develop a phobia of travelling in cars, buses or lorries."

he will no doubt sell LOTS of books....

Copernicus shoulda had it so good!

Subject: RE: BS: Matter and Spirit
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 Jul 06 - 03:56 PM

He'll sell a lot of books to people who like the subject of reincarnation, Bill. Just like selling "Popular Mechanics" (which I never buy), but a different subject, that's all. A subject which you will never know much about, because you're just not interested.

If I were you, I wouldn't let it bother me.

Subject: RE: BS: Matter and Spirit
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Jul 06 - 07:20 PM

Oh, I'm 'interested', in a matter of speaking..*grin*

My interest in the thinking process which allows us to debate these things will always tempt me to look at what is being said, and especially in what is offered as evidence and how that 'evidence' is presented & defended.

It's kinda like being being fascinated by politics and its weirdnesses.....you don't have to participate and study every last nuance of the phenomena to be pretty sure there's problems with it.

Subject: RE: BS: Matter and Spirit
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 16 Jul 06 - 11:30 PM

...I guess I must've passed out after too much spirits (for that matter).

Revived, now, I must say it's nice to find all of you still here waiting for me!! Thanks for your patience!!

Love,

Art

Subject: RE: BS: Matter and Spirit
From: dianavan
Date: 17 Jul 06 - 07:37 PM

I understand matter but its defining Spirit that baffles me.

The worst topic I ever picked for a university essay was, Spirit and/or Soul. I was trying to find out if there was a cultural difference in the concept. The best I could come up with was that soul was individualistic while spirit was a a collective of souls. I was amazed at how prevalent the concept was in all cultures.

What do you think the difference might be? Is it strictly cultural? Do all cultures identify spirit and soul or just one or the other?

Subject: RE: BS: Matter and Spirit
From: Amos
Date: 17 Jul 06 - 07:52 PM

Semantically I would say there is too much overlap between the two words to make a strong statement wither way. Conceptually there are four or five different concepts being batted about.

1 -- the individual as a non-material being seperate from the body but operating or occupying it

2--the individual as Infinite spirituality

3--some sense of an infinity which comprises all souls sort of merging into a composite of souls

4--some sense of an Infinite Spirit which is outside the individual self, an external deity

5--a sense of All in which all beings become One without individuality

My personal sense it that truly differentiating between these requires a strong spiritual clarity beyond that usually encountered amongst us Terran types today; but inventing arbitrary assertions about such things is easy and well within the capabilities of the most warped of us.

A