Ghosts

[Tide In Mind Out]

Did the Exorcist have lemon jello? I don't think so. Your movie is going to transcend, and I'll be first in line.

 

[JayKeeley]

Believing in the paranormal =

Believing in only practical crap like stereo instructions and Books for Dummies =

That's your "black & white" philosophy going off on overdrive again. No room for grey area, the world is secretly governed by elves.

You know way back in school like when you're 8 and people say "what do you want to be when you grow up?" I used to say "parapsychologist," seriously.

Some universities even have Parapsychology departments. Biggest waste of tax payers money ever. They can't even prove ESP yet. Pfft.

But seriously? You wanted to be the guy going to old houses with a radiometer checking for poltergeist activity? Did you ever jerk it to Zelda Rubenstein?

 

[JayKeeley]

If you believe in ghosts, your God/Jesus bashing rights are null and void.

This man speaks the truth.

Oh, and the Amityville Horror was real. :Smug:

Awesome hoax, you have to applaud the effort they made. Really well done -- even to this day, the people of Amityville are tired of tourists coming to look for the house of George and Kathy Lutz. I saw the two of them on an old British chat show once called "Pebble Mill" and they brought photographs they'd taken in the house. One of them was a picture of the staircase, and at the top of the stairs were some kids peering down at them. Of course, their own kids were playing in the yard so they couldn't explain who these children were. The lengths they went to to fake these photographs...it was just done so brilliantly.

I loved the book, it scared the shit out of me when I was 12. I read it again just a few years ago, and it's dated as fuck.

Best thing about the original movie was the soundtrack. The oscar was well deserved, and did you know it was originally intended for The Exorcist before they picked Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells? [/useless trivia]

 

[JayKeeley]

Hey, wanna know what I see in that picture? If you look at the rock wall, the third stone from the left really looks like the face of Sasquatch!! See the two eyes and the mouth?

 

[NAD]

If you believe in ghosts, your God/Jesus bashing rights are null and void.

Yep.

That's your "black & white" philosophy going off on overdrive again. No room for grey area, the world is secretly governed by elves.

Of course! Everything on the internet must be rated Black or White, Yes or No, Heads or Tails, Gay or Straight, or , etc. You skipped the class in absolutes as a teenager, didn't you...

But seriously? You wanted to be the guy going to old houses with a radiometer checking for poltergeist activity? Did you ever jerk it to Zelda Rubenstein?

I did! To all three questions. I was quite enthralled with this kind of stuff back then. It's waned quite a bit throughout the years and I don't often think of such things, but I do believe that anything is possible. I care not for probability.

 

[JayKeeley]

I care not for probability.

Nor real evidence or so it seems.

 

[NAD]

Nor real evidence or so it seems.

In America's current legal climate? Not on your life.

My basis for this sort of stuff is like religion: anything is possible, I don't have all the answers. Do I think ghosts exist? Yes. Do I know they do? Nope.

 

[JayKeeley]

My basis for this sort of stuff is like religion: anything is possible, I don't have all the answers. Do I think ghosts exist? Yes. Do I know they do? Nope.

"Anything is possible"? Puh-lease.

Well then, that blows away your "black and white" theory then.

Absolutes = teh win.

Either Casper exists, or he doesn't. It's that simple. To me, life is about perfectionism, or at least attempting to obtain the absolute. If you believe in God or ghosts, then great, because you've made a choice and followed it through. If you're unsure and wishy washy on the whole thing, then that makes about as much sense as being agnostic.

 

[NAD]

Either Casper exists, or he doesn't.

True. But like with religion, I don't know the answer and you don't either. That's why my one friend calls me a Militant Agnostic.

 

[NAD]

If you're unsure and wishy washy on the whole thing, then that makes about as much sense as being agnostic.

That one book Atheism: The Case Against God goes into agnosticism, and I like its system. He says sure you can be agnostic, but you have to get specific: you are either an agnostic theist (one who recognizes that higher powers are unknown, but believes in one anyhow) or an agnostic atheist (one who recognizes that higher powers are unknown, but thinks the whole thing is bollocks anyhow). I was an agnostic atheist until I was 19 or so, then I switched to a Born Again Baptismal Jew for Jesus.

Anyhow, tangent. I definitley LOL'd at the "agnosticism is stupid" part in Life of Pi by the way.

 

[JayKeeley]

But like with religion, I don't know the answer and you don't either.

I know the answer that works for me though.

As much as a devout follower of religion relies on his personal faith to justify the belief, I have that equal amount of faith in my own self.

 

[NAD]

I know the answer that works for me though.

Of course! So do I: I believe in ghosts. When I say "anything is possible" I don't mean "anyone that can persuade me otherwise gets my vote," no. I mean I believe what I believe, but if someday somehow I'm proven wrong (unlikely), so be it. Stuff like this isn't like an algebra calculation with an exact answer.

Like when Flanders dies for the umpteenth time in a Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episode (the one where Frink brings his dad back to life), he says: "I'm dying! And there's Heaven! Who's that? Confucious? And Milton Berle?! Boy have I been barking up the wrong tree!"

 

[JayKeeley]

That one book Atheism: The Case Against God goes into agnosticism, and I like its system. He says sure you can be agnostic, but you have to get specific: you are either an agnostic theist (one who recognizes that higher powers are unknown, but believes in one anyhow) or an agnostic atheist (one who recognizes that higher powers are unknown, but thinks the whole thing is bollocks anyhow).

Interesting. And so an "aetheist" would be one who simply didn't recognize ANY higher powers, period -- without the follow on caveat?

Anyhow, tangent. I definitley LOL'd at the "agnosticism is stupid" part in Life of Pi by the way.

Yeah, I kind of enjoyed his perspective on life. I'll bump the other thread and ask you something about it....

 

[NAD]

Interesting. And so an "aetheist" would be one who simply didn't recognize ANY higher powers, period -- without the follow on caveat?

Pretty much, yeah. Someone with The Answer, to to speak. Although I've heard lectures on how true atheism (associated with nihilism) is all but unattainable, because the person would sorta cease to exist if they truly cared about absolutely nothing. I generally separate atheism and nihilism, but it's still an interesting theory.

*passed out dude on a pool float, empty bottle of whiskey floating next to him*
"He's a nihilist, he doesn't care about anything."
"Must be exhausting."

 

[Tide In Mind Out]

well, i don't claim to know anything for sure.
i'm perfectly comfortable not knowing the answers to life and death, just like i'm PERFECTLY COMFORTABLE NOT KNOWING WHO I JUST SAW SITTING IN THE OTHER ROOM WATCHING PORN (considering my options)

 

[NAD]

Off topic rant on stupid people. This is the page I found to get the above Big Lebowski quote:

Q: Your e-mail signature contains a quote from the movie The Big Lebowski. What does it mean?

A: The quote goes like this:

Bunny: "He really doesn't care about anything. He's a nihilist."

The Dude: "Ah. That must be exhausting."

I don't think that it means anything, besides the fact that I love The Dude and hate philosophy in general.

What a fucking dolt! It's called SARCASM you idiot! "yeah dude, philosophy sucks, har har har." This is like not getting the joke that is Ned Flanders or something!

 

[Conspicuously Absent]

personally, i could care less... if ghosts exist if not either way, doesn't bother me

I'm much more worried about the carnivores in the woods and the psychopaths in our own society than the invisible guy who is gonna throw candlesticks and tupperware at me

 

[Tide In Mind Out]

I'm much more worried about the pshycopaths in the woods and the carnivores in our own society than the invisible guy who is gonna throw candlesticks and tupperware at me

...me too

 

[Captain Beard]

"I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I've been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say that one is an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn't have. Somehow it was better to say one was a humanist or agnostic. I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect that he doesn't that I don't want to waste my time." - Isaac Asimov. Eat that.

 

[NAD]

haha, Asimov rules. Well, ruled.