Virtual reality

My first post from a brand spanking new Lenovo T43p 2GB RAM Pentium 770 2.13ghz Dothan toting 60gb 7200rpm disk spinning dream machine. With fingerprint reader. The latter of which has already given my daughter an hour of pleasure with as she trained it to recognize her swipe to allow her to login to Windows ... "Just wait til I tell my friends at school!". Lol.

I really like that Patsy Cline song, so much so that I used to play it when I was DJ’ing in the early eighties. You know, a “you can go home now folks the lights are on type of song”.

You wrote:

“… does the word "neurosis" necessarily suggest something bad?”

Good question, I’ve always wondered what gives certain medical people their authority you know. What gives some doctor the right to label somebody as neurotic? A large percentage of doctors (>90%) seem completely useless at their jobs (but lovely people) in my opinion. What on earth do they spend their time doing in medical school these days? I will say that the few that are good are REALLY GOOD and God Bless ‘em. Anyhow the majority of doctors, useless as they are (at their jobs), are still well ahead of lawyers in the food chain. So I don't think that a neurosis is necessarily bad - as long as it does not make one unhappy all of the time.

I really think the world is better off on the whole due to religion. Although people will argue about all those that have died "in the name of" Religion, but when you look at it closely they usually actually died in the name of power (money, land, greed, etc – all the “best” human characteristics :-)), it’s just that the protagonists dressed it up with religion to legitimize their actions is some way.

You wrote:

“Consider: what would this world be like if tomorrow morning everyone -- and I mean everyone -- had a deep sense of conviction that there is no God, nothing beyond this life, and no chance of ever being held accountable by a higher power ... what would the world be like that day? After a week? After a year? The mind shudders. ”

Actually I think it would be ok. People would no longer be able to repent, they could no longer hang their sins upon the sky, and they would have to take real responsibility for their own actions. No more “God guided me to do this”. I lived my life for 38 years like this and never did anything mind shuddering that I can think of. Of course in this new world everyone would go to Hell so life after Earth would make the mind shudder I agree.

You wrote:

“Interesting how, after a century of breakneck achievements in science and technology, we are, in general, more apprehensive than ever.”

It is reported that when Robert Oppenheimer saw the first atomic explosion at Alamogordo a phrase from the Bhagavad-Gita glittered in his mind: "I am become Death, the shatterer of worlds ...” This apprehension will remain with us forever I guess.

You wrote:

“But I also maintain that my choice to do so doesn't change the reality of God and Jesus. They simply are. Our decision to believe or not believe doesn't change that.”

As usual you throw in a teaser! That’s very interesting, you use the phrase “the reality of God and Jesus” – this “reality” is what we have been talking about isn’t it? Perception, belief. What is the standard of proof for “reality?” In the case of Jesus The Holy Bible is obviously not enough for a great many religious and non-religious people alike.

How do you know that this reality -- “the reality of God and Jesus” -- is in fact real? I say “I don’t”. I say “I believe”.