Secular Humanism is a god free movement, a world view, that is occurring in a slow and erratic fashion here and there. It is a positive movement, having found ways of saying there is no god, no life after death, in positive ways. We believe in science and there is no room for any supernatural beliefs in this system. It does not or has not yet dealt with personal philosophy, like the Stoics do, with there multitude of thinking exercises, so both Stoic and Humanism is possible. One is world view, the other inward looking. In the areas these two overlap, ethics v virtues, there is much compatibility. The language is only a dull pointer to the meanings, required actions and beliefs.
Secular humanism looks at the positives of moving forward after we have cleared the garbage thinking. It may be necessary to pass through freethinking and atheism to come out the other side and start to look forward again. Freethinkers bash religion, and atheist say there is no god, which is correct, but we (I) cannot stop there. Religion bashing is pointless. I need to move on, having deeply realized that there is no point in trying to change old fixed minds, they will soon die off. It is the youth that we need to influence, and that can be accomplished by others. There is an need for understanding, and statement of the belief system in a clearer manner than has occurred so far. It is a vast expanse of material, and differing opinions, not of the materials, but of the priority.
The first (1932) Manifesto was called religious humanism, but eliminated god and conscious existence after death. It outlined 15 or 17 points - depending on the version, translation from Dutch or whatever. Other versions have as few as 10, and with some of those points there is disagreement, or no clear direction as how to achieve the desired effect. Non violence cannot work in the police/criminal element not in the military. and both are needed in the foreseeable future. The insurance industry is dependent on the criminals also. Tribalism is the larger application of attachment, which holds families together, yet is the foundation of Nationalism, which in turn, is the cause of tension in the world. It all needs a bit of work to rationalize all the components.
We all have our strong suits, and areas that we just are not interested in. Stay out of our areas of disinterest. Those are just problem areas that we do not need to be involved in. We do not need to care about may people, places, things. Religious idiots can rot in their hells. The Prime Directive applies.
Some Humanists are endeavoring to provide rituals like commemoration of birth, weddings, funerals. Well, for ritual I do not care. It is just not important to me. But we are all free to choose. It is up to the individual. Other Alternatives Thursday Night group can rise again.
On human variation: (copied from the net) By the 1970s, it had become clear that
1) most human differences were
cultural;
(2) what was not cultural was principally polymorphic – that
is to say, found in diverse groups of people at different frequencies;
(3) what was not cultural or polymorphic was principally clinal – that
is to say, gradually variable over geography; and
(4) what was left –
the component of human diversity that was not cultural, polymorphic, or
clinal – was very small.
So as a species, we are similar. And in the end we all die anyway.
Saturday, July 30, 2016
Friday, July 15, 2016
living at odds with our nature
Once I accept that an epigenetic switch has been thrown, and I am now an overeater; it is my nature to overeat; how do I come to live, first in a weight loss level of food intake, and secondly during the maintenance stage? ERROR ERROR... Learn maintenance stage first, as it will be a lesser cut that weight loss stage. No, they are exactly the same. Eat as little as I can get by on.
Now there is a big assumption, that overeating is epigenetically encoded. In an earlier post I put the case forward and went looking for solutions. What I found was a bunch of god pushers promoting religion as a solution, and it may be if one can learn to live that delusion and follow that delusion exactly. There is also a suggestion the developing a kind of OCD that insists on following a weighted and measured diet may also work. It is the rigid definition and following that is necessary. The definition is easy, the following also requires alternative activities, and that is the difficult part. We need activities that we can force ourselves to follow.
Overeating as a child or youth, regardless of the cause set the epigenetic switch. Eating as a relief for emotional stress, the like of food, food addiction, lack of food knowledge, lack of food choice, out of compulsion, what ever the cause, sets the switch, and as adult, searching for relief, there are no answers. I now understand the how and why, and also that the drive to overeat is part of me, and that is for life. The only solution is to not overeat, and deal with the urge, which is there for life as well. It has become part of my nature. Those who say the urge will go away are just talking through ignorance.
Rigid adherence to the plan, OCD like behavior is the only solution I have found. If you have any other, please advise.
Now there is a big assumption, that overeating is epigenetically encoded. In an earlier post I put the case forward and went looking for solutions. What I found was a bunch of god pushers promoting religion as a solution, and it may be if one can learn to live that delusion and follow that delusion exactly. There is also a suggestion the developing a kind of OCD that insists on following a weighted and measured diet may also work. It is the rigid definition and following that is necessary. The definition is easy, the following also requires alternative activities, and that is the difficult part. We need activities that we can force ourselves to follow.
Overeating as a child or youth, regardless of the cause set the epigenetic switch. Eating as a relief for emotional stress, the like of food, food addiction, lack of food knowledge, lack of food choice, out of compulsion, what ever the cause, sets the switch, and as adult, searching for relief, there are no answers. I now understand the how and why, and also that the drive to overeat is part of me, and that is for life. The only solution is to not overeat, and deal with the urge, which is there for life as well. It has become part of my nature. Those who say the urge will go away are just talking through ignorance.
Rigid adherence to the plan, OCD like behavior is the only solution I have found. If you have any other, please advise.
Monday, July 11, 2016
What we (I) gained by declaring myself an atheist.
What we (I) gained by declaring myself an atheist. Last day I list a few thing that I lost. Today I will elaborate on the much larger list of the gains. This is not only number of things but the size of some of those things.
First cutting down to reality, and building up from first principals allows a great deal of clarity. People can believe whatever they like but if it is not real, they are simply living a delusion. There is no point in entering their delusion to debate them; that is simply a waste of time. The bad part is that they are educating their children into the delusion, and teaching children delusional thinking is just child abuse. I was raised in such a delusion, and my parents died in such a delusion/illusion. When we are just learning it is a delusion taught by others. When we become adults and take responsibility for our lives, it becomes an illusion we do to ourselves.
Until we recognize that belief systems are false, we do not see them as delusions. That is the sad part of religions. Religions are about control of people and money for the 1%, the overlords. It is not about helping the poor, for if it was there would be jobs with training, that could lead to a lifetime of profitable work. Instead we buy cheaper imports, and stop producing more expensive local products. Countries that it are cheap to live in, produce labor rich products, while countries with resources sell those resources. Oh well, in the end we all just die off anyway. This country need to control our economy and set some tariffs on imports and exports. Softwood lumber should have a export tariff to protect US industry by a Canadian tax, not an American tariff.
Clarity, truth, ethics, virtues, values, beliefs in general become much clearer. Now more philosophy readings make sense, and some of that is not true for current times yet. It is not to say they are untrue, but our values may be somewhat different. The world is overpopulated, and population moves from overpopulated to less overpopulated. But when we are overpopulated we need to say stop, regardless of the conditions those others are living in. There are too many people, that is the root of the problem. It is self destroying to allow more influx when we are already overpopulated, and that must take presidency over the conditions they are fleeing. A big cull is coming. Where and how will it be? That is for others to decide, but we need to take a stand, just as the English have with Brexit. Political starts at the grass roots, not with the 1%. Enough is enough. Religion is bullshit. God free is the way to go forward with reason as our guide. Charity must start at home. This includes not taking on unmanageable debts by governments at all levels.
Confidence, not that I am necessarily right, but that two groups with exclusive positions cannot both be right. Numbers of believers does not mean right either. Often both groups are just wrong. Eg: Christians, Muslims, Buddhist, Confucianism. Many of there views cannot be rationalized, and that which cannot be rationalized is likely wrong. That alone is the strongest argument against religions. That which is similar may be correct, and that leaves sound ethics, social relationship between pleasant and positive people, and little else. All the supernatural stuff is just guff. Oh well.
It all leaves me not concerned about those who are not rational. They live as they do, think as they do, and it does not matter to me anymore. The prime directive applies. Do not metal in the affairs of alien civilizations.
Are we individually making the decision or is it being sold down the line by the 1%? We atheist are likely correct and independent. The religious are under the control of the 1%. Which are you?
First cutting down to reality, and building up from first principals allows a great deal of clarity. People can believe whatever they like but if it is not real, they are simply living a delusion. There is no point in entering their delusion to debate them; that is simply a waste of time. The bad part is that they are educating their children into the delusion, and teaching children delusional thinking is just child abuse. I was raised in such a delusion, and my parents died in such a delusion/illusion. When we are just learning it is a delusion taught by others. When we become adults and take responsibility for our lives, it becomes an illusion we do to ourselves.
Until we recognize that belief systems are false, we do not see them as delusions. That is the sad part of religions. Religions are about control of people and money for the 1%, the overlords. It is not about helping the poor, for if it was there would be jobs with training, that could lead to a lifetime of profitable work. Instead we buy cheaper imports, and stop producing more expensive local products. Countries that it are cheap to live in, produce labor rich products, while countries with resources sell those resources. Oh well, in the end we all just die off anyway. This country need to control our economy and set some tariffs on imports and exports. Softwood lumber should have a export tariff to protect US industry by a Canadian tax, not an American tariff.
Clarity, truth, ethics, virtues, values, beliefs in general become much clearer. Now more philosophy readings make sense, and some of that is not true for current times yet. It is not to say they are untrue, but our values may be somewhat different. The world is overpopulated, and population moves from overpopulated to less overpopulated. But when we are overpopulated we need to say stop, regardless of the conditions those others are living in. There are too many people, that is the root of the problem. It is self destroying to allow more influx when we are already overpopulated, and that must take presidency over the conditions they are fleeing. A big cull is coming. Where and how will it be? That is for others to decide, but we need to take a stand, just as the English have with Brexit. Political starts at the grass roots, not with the 1%. Enough is enough. Religion is bullshit. God free is the way to go forward with reason as our guide. Charity must start at home. This includes not taking on unmanageable debts by governments at all levels.
Confidence, not that I am necessarily right, but that two groups with exclusive positions cannot both be right. Numbers of believers does not mean right either. Often both groups are just wrong. Eg: Christians, Muslims, Buddhist, Confucianism. Many of there views cannot be rationalized, and that which cannot be rationalized is likely wrong. That alone is the strongest argument against religions. That which is similar may be correct, and that leaves sound ethics, social relationship between pleasant and positive people, and little else. All the supernatural stuff is just guff. Oh well.
It all leaves me not concerned about those who are not rational. They live as they do, think as they do, and it does not matter to me anymore. The prime directive applies. Do not metal in the affairs of alien civilizations.
Are we individually making the decision or is it being sold down the line by the 1%? We atheist are likely correct and independent. The religious are under the control of the 1%. Which are you?
Sunday, July 10, 2016
What do we give up when we declare ourselves atheists?
What do we give up when we declare ourselves atheists?
As I am in this process, I can only state the early things that I have given up.
First I will state what I now believe, just to be clear. I have not given up my morals, I still believe that fraud, theft, killing of other humans is wrong. Morals and belief in a supernatural god are totally disconnected. If anything my morals have become more truthful as I no longer hide behind any sort of god. I am responsible for all that I have control over, and not for those things which I have no direct and absolute control over. It is up to me to correct my thinking.
I now "worship" logic and reason, science, facts, truth. although perhaps from a different point of view. The system must work for most (not all, criminals, bureaucracy, control freaks). Some things that I disagree with that the government wishes to enforce are worth just doing and dealing with the aftermath (self euthanasia). Police are thugs with clubs and guns. Avoid as much as possible.
I do not believe in any supernatural deity, anything like life after death, rebirth, any surviving soul, or the like. Death is final. I also recognize that much of what I know is learned from others and some is wrong, but on examination, much of what is wrong is just opinion, and has no value.
My self, as an identity, is a reflection of others, and is not real. I think of self as self because his is how all people I know think, yet I know that self is not a real identity, but a collection of actions and internal belief systems that have developed over this life time. Epigenetics is a big portion of this, which drive many actions. Over these, I have no complete control, only influence.
These beliefs set me aside extended family. Coming out as an atheist, a god free person has caused or resulting in all family essentially cutting of contact. Oh well. How can one condone irrational belief in myself? Diconnection demonstrates the intolerance of those with religious belief. It was that intolerance of questions that drove my exploration of reality that resulting in the realization that gods are all pigshit smokescreen, and there is nothing there.
Being totally god free has forced me to explore other social groups. Some are possible useful for extended social contact, and others are just as bigoted as the religions. Oh well, in the end we all just die anyway. Just a reminder of the end value of our life; we are valued by what we leave behind in the minds of others.
Peace is only possible among those who follow the laws. Criminals, and police will always be at each other; Police and drivers in traffic also. Police are now feared, perhaps even hated, certainly not trusted, but trusted to be aggressive, and cause issue that we citizens must deal with correctly else be fined. Entrapment likely. This is one area that society need a bit of improvement.
If the god free wish to become more popular, perhaps we need to replace social institutions with similar institutions. What would a god free church look like? Social club, building community within cities. Provide a safe environment for youth community and team building. Space for recovery programs, and development of non religious, god free recovery programs. The study of human problems and development of workable solutions, not just abandoning the "non-compliant" on top a life of suffering with no hope of parole. There are solutions to most human problems, and most human problems are not a moral failing, although that could be part. Religions have done a poor job, are we, the god free doing likewise? We are responsible to solve all the problems religions solved and more if we are to consider ourselves successes. So becoming god free, we take on responsibility, and lack the methods of dealing with this new responsibility. We give up that carefree attitude that others lives are god's problem.
We learn how bigoted the religious really are. When we see reality for the first time, and later continuously, we see all human problems as fixable, and we see how religion is holding society back from accepting reality. Society is creating some of it's own problems by false beliefs and insisting those beliefs are correct. Oh well, we all die in the end.
In summary, I have given up the previous extended family connections, some social connections, and taken on a bit more responsibility for my own recovery and that of others. It is still up to them to pick up the hoe and do there part in this garden of life. But in the end, we all just die anyway.
As I am in this process, I can only state the early things that I have given up.
First I will state what I now believe, just to be clear. I have not given up my morals, I still believe that fraud, theft, killing of other humans is wrong. Morals and belief in a supernatural god are totally disconnected. If anything my morals have become more truthful as I no longer hide behind any sort of god. I am responsible for all that I have control over, and not for those things which I have no direct and absolute control over. It is up to me to correct my thinking.
I now "worship" logic and reason, science, facts, truth. although perhaps from a different point of view. The system must work for most (not all, criminals, bureaucracy, control freaks). Some things that I disagree with that the government wishes to enforce are worth just doing and dealing with the aftermath (self euthanasia). Police are thugs with clubs and guns. Avoid as much as possible.
I do not believe in any supernatural deity, anything like life after death, rebirth, any surviving soul, or the like. Death is final. I also recognize that much of what I know is learned from others and some is wrong, but on examination, much of what is wrong is just opinion, and has no value.
My self, as an identity, is a reflection of others, and is not real. I think of self as self because his is how all people I know think, yet I know that self is not a real identity, but a collection of actions and internal belief systems that have developed over this life time. Epigenetics is a big portion of this, which drive many actions. Over these, I have no complete control, only influence.
These beliefs set me aside extended family. Coming out as an atheist, a god free person has caused or resulting in all family essentially cutting of contact. Oh well. How can one condone irrational belief in myself? Diconnection demonstrates the intolerance of those with religious belief. It was that intolerance of questions that drove my exploration of reality that resulting in the realization that gods are all pigshit smokescreen, and there is nothing there.
Being totally god free has forced me to explore other social groups. Some are possible useful for extended social contact, and others are just as bigoted as the religions. Oh well, in the end we all just die anyway. Just a reminder of the end value of our life; we are valued by what we leave behind in the minds of others.
Peace is only possible among those who follow the laws. Criminals, and police will always be at each other; Police and drivers in traffic also. Police are now feared, perhaps even hated, certainly not trusted, but trusted to be aggressive, and cause issue that we citizens must deal with correctly else be fined. Entrapment likely. This is one area that society need a bit of improvement.
If the god free wish to become more popular, perhaps we need to replace social institutions with similar institutions. What would a god free church look like? Social club, building community within cities. Provide a safe environment for youth community and team building. Space for recovery programs, and development of non religious, god free recovery programs. The study of human problems and development of workable solutions, not just abandoning the "non-compliant" on top a life of suffering with no hope of parole. There are solutions to most human problems, and most human problems are not a moral failing, although that could be part. Religions have done a poor job, are we, the god free doing likewise? We are responsible to solve all the problems religions solved and more if we are to consider ourselves successes. So becoming god free, we take on responsibility, and lack the methods of dealing with this new responsibility. We give up that carefree attitude that others lives are god's problem.
We learn how bigoted the religious really are. When we see reality for the first time, and later continuously, we see all human problems as fixable, and we see how religion is holding society back from accepting reality. Society is creating some of it's own problems by false beliefs and insisting those beliefs are correct. Oh well, we all die in the end.
In summary, I have given up the previous extended family connections, some social connections, and taken on a bit more responsibility for my own recovery and that of others. It is still up to them to pick up the hoe and do there part in this garden of life. But in the end, we all just die anyway.
Wednesday, July 6, 2016
Developing specific OCD like behavior
This post follows http://philosophyofweightmanagement.blogspot.ca/2016/07/learning-to-overcome-epigenetic.html
Developing specific OCD like behavior is a potential solution to epigenetically encoded overeating. The proof of concept is in the doing, but first I need to figure out how to develop in myself those specific behaviors necessary for recovery.
Rigidity, appropriate for offset of overeating, consistency, getting stuck on a specific and light diet may be the solution. It is the rigidity that becomes the essence of OCD, and that may be the key component needed for normalcy of weight. Intolerance of change, intolerance of uncertainty as to suitable food availability, may also be required. These are typical all issues of OCD.
It it a learned behavior? "Some parents have reported that OCD symptoms occurred almost overnight, as if a switch were flipped; their child went to bed as the child they knew and woke up a stranger. " (http://www.ocdeducationstation.org/ocd-facts/what-causes-ocd) ... or a life decision made for unknown reasons. ... perhaps as the original conscious decision to overeat was made... or is it all just a firm decision... perhaps unconscious decision... made for unconscious reasons...of the reasons are forgotten or move to the unconscious or can all this be done consciously and with reason.... to self induce limited OCD.
Now that I have always had a touch of stubbornness as part of my personality, or is it just persistence... there is another characteristic that can be named negatively or positively and be the same thing... polish the apple or poison the well.
references http://www.sciencenewsline.com/news/2015021313150027.html
Developing specific OCD like behavior is a potential solution to epigenetically encoded overeating. The proof of concept is in the doing, but first I need to figure out how to develop in myself those specific behaviors necessary for recovery.
Rigidity, appropriate for offset of overeating, consistency, getting stuck on a specific and light diet may be the solution. It is the rigidity that becomes the essence of OCD, and that may be the key component needed for normalcy of weight. Intolerance of change, intolerance of uncertainty as to suitable food availability, may also be required. These are typical all issues of OCD.
It it a learned behavior? "Some parents have reported that OCD symptoms occurred almost overnight, as if a switch were flipped; their child went to bed as the child they knew and woke up a stranger. " (http://www.ocdeducationstation.org/ocd-facts/what-causes-ocd) ... or a life decision made for unknown reasons. ... perhaps as the original conscious decision to overeat was made... or is it all just a firm decision... perhaps unconscious decision... made for unconscious reasons...of the reasons are forgotten or move to the unconscious or can all this be done consciously and with reason.... to self induce limited OCD.
Now that I have always had a touch of stubbornness as part of my personality, or is it just persistence... there is another characteristic that can be named negatively or positively and be the same thing... polish the apple or poison the well.
references http://www.sciencenewsline.com/news/2015021313150027.html
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