Happy Atheist Forum

Getting To Know You => Introductions => Topic started by: abdulqawi on June 15, 2011, 08:50:24 AM

Title: new guy
Post by: abdulqawi on June 15, 2011, 08:50:24 AM
salutations.
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Tank on June 15, 2011, 11:26:26 AM
Welcome!
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Jabbles on June 15, 2011, 11:53:16 AM
I am new here too, but welcome.
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: The Magic Pudding on June 15, 2011, 02:46:51 PM
Hello

I'm finding it hard to offer you a vigorous welcome, surely salutations deserved a capital S.
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Whitney on June 15, 2011, 03:19:36 PM
Hi.

What's a "Cosmicist Theist"?
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: The Magic Pudding on June 15, 2011, 03:32:09 PM
Quote from: Whitney on June 15, 2011, 03:19:36 PM
Hi.

What's a "Cosmicist Theist"?

Some kind of pious minimalist?
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: original_gender on June 15, 2011, 04:27:30 PM
Quote from: The Magic Pudding on June 15, 2011, 02:46:51 PM
Hello

I'm finding it hard to offer you a vigorous welcome, surely salutations deserved a capital S.

I second this. I mean, you have two shift keys and both of them pretty much hang out beneath your pinkys for the duration of the typing experience.
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: leedan on June 16, 2011, 03:05:14 AM
Welcome
Is it cosmism with an afterlife?
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: abdulqawi on June 16, 2011, 08:32:57 AM
tank: thanks!

jabbles: thank you!

magic pudding: grammar nazi or bad joke? either way, feel free to never address me again.

original_gender: you're funny. also feel free to never address me again.

whitney & leedan: i find the vision of cosmic terror and indifferentism to be a more realistic interpretation of our existence than any positive meaning system or hope-giving belief. to me disgust, loathing, and utter horror are among the more appropriate responses to the human existential situation.

leedan: in my view cosmism is probably just another futile attempt at imagining some sort of transcendence. this is it. it may have been better for us to never have existed at all. that is, if we assume that our experiences and lives have any more significance than that of a maggot -- or any significance at all -- which, of course, is simply illusory.
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Whitney on June 16, 2011, 02:01:54 PM
so...since you didn't really give a direct answer....

a Cosmicist Theist is someone who thinks there is a god but that he is more like a satan and that life sucks?  If so...what a very strange type of god to imagine for yourself.
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: abdulqawi on June 16, 2011, 03:06:28 PM
whitney: i am a theist in this loose sense: i affirm the plausibility of god-like entities (for example extraterrestrial gods akin to the Lovecraft mythos, or perhaps the microbial superorganism that will likely consume your brain when you are dead); but this is somewhat peripheral to cosmicism. i defined the essence of cosmicism well enough above, namely cosmic terror and cosmic indifferentism. if you have reasons to believe that life is anything but a nihilistic horror i'd love to hear it. from where i stand we may as well be piles of dog excrement that happened to become conscious. after petty delusions of grandeur -- what some might call existential meaning-making -- i've come to the horrid realization that we're effectively transient piles of crap on a random rock, for no reason, lost in the infinite black. whatever we do or don't do, the illusions of value, purpose, goodness -- it's from nothing and returns to nothing. there is no escape and no salvation. the technological singularity will not transform us into indestructible superheroes; any gods that exist or will exist are rightly indifferent to us worms. the gods themselves are void.
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: original_gender on June 16, 2011, 05:29:22 PM
(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwoedepot.com%2FAngryGoose.jpg&hash=a3ed511280fe46a612fec8e457a426bc50f8dc3f)
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Tank on June 16, 2011, 05:32:15 PM
Would that be the original_gander (as in Goosy, Goosy Gander)? lol
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: original_gender on June 16, 2011, 06:10:25 PM
Quote from: Tank on June 16, 2011, 05:32:15 PM
Would that be the original_gander (as in Goosy, Goosy Gander)? lol

The one and only.  ;D

Ya'll just got repri-ganded.
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Tank on June 16, 2011, 06:34:41 PM
Quote from: original_gender on June 16, 2011, 06:10:25 PM
Quote from: Tank on June 16, 2011, 05:32:15 PM
Would that be the original_gander (as in Goosy, Goosy Gander)? lol

The one and only.  ;D

Ya'll just got repri-ganded.
I'm trembling in my tracks  ;D
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Whitney on June 16, 2011, 07:01:48 PM
Quote from: abdulqawi on June 16, 2011, 03:06:28 PM
i defined the essence of cosmicism well enough above, namely cosmic terror and cosmic indifferentism.
It didn't make sense when attached to theist without the further explanation...

Quoteif you have reasons to believe that life is anything but a nihilistic horror i'd love to hear it

Your viewing life as a horror is subjective...I choose to look for and produce good in life because that is more enjoyable than seeking out horror in everything.

Anyway...get to know the rest of the members; we can discuss this in depth when you reach your 50 posts.
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: abdulqawi on June 16, 2011, 09:48:52 PM
QuoteIt didn't make sense when attached to theist without the further explanation...
i know what i said and what kind of sense it made. i guess you could say i don't much care.

QuoteYour viewing life as a horror is subjective...I choose to look for and produce good in life because that is more enjoyable than seeking out horror in everything.
of course it is subjective; horror is simply a more authentic response to objective reality than is the contrivance of enjoyable mental states. not that it matters either way of course. the cultivation of apathy is attractive to me, but I find bitter disgust mixed with terror to be a more enlivened internalization of the human condition. apathy strikes me as a cop out, as do willful blinders and the manufacture of shallow, pacifying sentiments about the world. but really, psychological inclinations are irrelevant. i think to deny the essential tragedy and monstrous impersonality of existence is simply delusional. it seems the brain is quite good at obfuscating the implications of reality. perhaps if fully appreciated one's sanity might be at stake. the nonchalance with which many profess the bankruptcy of existence, and then turn around and behave as though this existence is anything but loathsome farce... i hope to strive for stark realism, no matter how distasteful or terrifying it might be. but in the end it doesn't matter.
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Whitney on June 16, 2011, 10:13:13 PM
Quote from: abdulqawi on June 16, 2011, 09:48:52 PM
horror is simply a more authentic response to objective reality than is the contrivance of enjoyable mental states.

I don't feel that way (btw, if something is subjective it can't be 'more authentic')perhaps you are clinically depressed?
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: original_gender on June 16, 2011, 11:51:13 PM
Quote from: abdulqawi on June 16, 2011, 09:48:52 PM
of course it is subjective; horror is simply a more authentic response to objective reality than is the contrivance of enjoyable mental states. not that it matters either way of course. the cultivation of apathy is attractive to me, but I find bitter disgust mixed with terror to be a more enlivened internalization of the human condition. apathy strikes me as a cop out, as do willful blinders and the manufacture of shallow, pacifying sentiments about the world. but really, psychological inclinations are irrelevant. i think to deny the essential tragedy and monstrous impersonality of existence is simply delusional. it seems the brain is quite good at obfuscating the implications of reality. perhaps if fully appreciated one's sanity might be at stake. the nonchalance with which many profess the bankruptcy of existence, and then turn around and behave as though this existence is anything but loathsome farce... i hope to strive for stark realism, no matter how distasteful or terrifying it might be. but in the end it doesn't matter.

By quoting this, I am constructing a time capsule for the viewing pleasure of your future self. Promise me you will remember our brief time together with warmth and affection, brave abdulgawi. *insert kissy face emoticon with writhing tongue and excessive moisture*
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: The Magic Pudding on June 17, 2011, 02:49:45 AM
Quote from: original_gender on June 16, 2011, 11:51:13 PM
Quote from: abdulqawi on June 16, 2011, 09:48:52 PM
of course it is subjective; horror is simply a more authentic response to objective reality than is the contrivance of enjoyable mental states. not that it matters either way of course. the cultivation of apathy is attractive to me, but I find bitter disgust mixed with terror to be a more enlivened internalization of the human condition. apathy strikes me as a cop out, as do willful blinders and the manufacture of shallow, pacifying sentiments about the world. but really, psychological inclinations are irrelevant. i think to deny the essential tragedy and monstrous impersonality of existence is simply delusional. it seems the brain is quite good at obfuscating the implications of reality. perhaps if fully appreciated one's sanity might be at stake. the nonchalance with which many profess the bankruptcy of existence, and then turn around and behave as though this existence is anything but loathsome farce... i hope to strive for stark realism, no matter how distasteful or terrifying it might be. but in the end it doesn't matter.

By quoting this, I am constructing a time capsule for the viewing pleasure of your future self. Promise me you will remember our brief time together with warmth and affection, brave abdulgawi. *insert kissy face emoticon with writhing tongue and excessive moisture*

You seem to be taking our dismissal very bravely, for myself I'm bitterly disappointed I won't get to share the horror.
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: leedan on June 17, 2011, 03:35:21 AM
Um...
This is the Happy Atheist Forum,   right?
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: original_gender on June 17, 2011, 03:55:56 AM
Quote from: The Magic Pudding on June 17, 2011, 02:49:45 AM
You seem to be taking our dismissal very bravely, for myself I'm bitterly disappointed I won't get to share the horror.

You will be happy to learn that your bitter disappointment is the first step on the road to abandoning your "manufactur[ed] ... shallow, pacifying sentiments about the world" and embracing "the bankruptcy of existence" but be careful "[anybody lacking the apathy-driven gall to ignore basic grammar]'s sanity might be at stake".

The part that I'm finding difficult to cope with is the fact that I'm pretty sure the last time I was on an atheist-themed forum, a few years ago, somebody referring to themselves as a Cosmicist Theist just about bit my nose off. I'm wondering if he and I are on some kind of schedule.
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Whitney on June 17, 2011, 04:09:14 AM
Quote from: leedan on June 17, 2011, 03:35:21 AM
Um...
This is the Happy Atheist Forum,   right?

I had to re-check too ;)
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: The Magic Pudding on June 17, 2011, 06:00:31 AM
Quote from: original_gender on June 17, 2011, 03:55:56 AM
Quote from: The Magic Pudding on June 17, 2011, 02:49:45 AM
You seem to be taking our dismissal very bravely, for myself I'm bitterly disappointed I won't get to share the horror.

You will be happy to learn that your bitter disappointment is the first step on the road to abandoning your "manufactur[ed] ... shallow, pacifying sentiments about the world" and embracing "the bankruptcy of existence" but be careful "[anybody lacking the apathy-driven gall to ignore basic grammar]'s sanity might be at stake".

The part that I'm finding difficult to cope with is the fact that I'm pretty sure the last time I was on an atheist-themed forum, a few years ago, somebody referring to themselves as a Cosmicist Theist just about bit my nose off. I'm wondering if he and I are on some kind of schedule.

I'm thinking of becoming a Cosmicist, do you you think Gautama's Unhappy Brother would be a good screen name?
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: abdulqawi on June 17, 2011, 09:38:16 AM
in other words none of you have anything substantive to say. as expected anyway. i'll bet that in some suppressed corner of your brain you're all nihilists.

whitney: your lack of mental subtlety offends me. farewell.
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Tank on June 17, 2011, 10:03:57 AM
Quote from: abdulqawi on June 17, 2011, 09:38:16 AM
in other words none of you have anything substantive to say. as expected anyway. i'll bet that in some suppressed corner of your brain you're all nihilists.

whitney: your lack of mental subtlety offends me. farewell.
Well wasn't that fun!
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Stevil on June 17, 2011, 11:55:06 AM
Quote from: abdulqawi on June 17, 2011, 09:38:16 AM
in other words none of you have anything substantive to say. as expected anyway. i'll bet that in some suppressed corner of your brain you're all nihilists.

Ho hum. <Yawn>
It's all just so drull, may as well not have bothered. Think I'll just go back to bed now, no point getting up, S.S.D.D.
The horror of it all, so sad <sigh>

Hey , I've just got a brilliant idea,

On second thought, never mind, it would probably be beyond your limited comprehension. Just go back to your mundaine thoughts, I was expecting too much from mere humans, atheists at that!

If only I were born a god, I wouldn't have to bore myself with something so trivial as life and limited human intellect, what a joke that is!
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Whitney on June 17, 2011, 03:23:53 PM
Quote from: abdulqawi on June 17, 2011, 09:38:16 AM
i'll bet that in some suppressed corner of your brain you're all nihilists.

One doesn't have to think everything is horrible in order to be a nihilist.  One does have to be depressed in order to only find horror in the world...get help.
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Nick_A on June 17, 2011, 04:36:39 PM
Hi abdulqawi

Buddha did say that life is suffering. I agree with you that the universe is as it is and mechanical reacting organic life life on earth leads from dust to dust and all the suffering that goes along with it.

The essence of all the great traditions suggest that consciousness and conscious ACTION can provide an alternative to what is the fate of mechanical REACTION. Perhaps it is only through developing our potential for conscious awareness that human meaning and purpose can be revealed. Why not explore it before resigning yourself to the inevitable cycle of "dust to dust?"
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Whitney on June 17, 2011, 04:47:13 PM
Quote from: Nick_A on June 17, 2011, 04:36:39 PM
Buddha did say that life is suffering.

Yes, but only due to our attachment to things.  You'd be hard pressed to find a buddhist who describes life as a horror.
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Davin on June 17, 2011, 05:04:45 PM
Quote from: abdulqawi on June 16, 2011, 08:32:57 AMmagic pudding: grammar nazi or bad joke? either way, feel free to never address me again.

original_gender: you're funny. also feel free to never address me again.

Quote from: abdulqawi on June 17, 2011, 09:38:16 AM
in other words none of you have anything substantive to say. as expected anyway. i'll bet that in some suppressed corner of your brain you're all nihilists.

whitney: your lack of mental subtlety offends me. farewell.
You poor thin skinned, intolerant person. That is the way to remain forever alone. But then again it doesn't even matter does it? Why even waste time being offended if it all means nothing? I think you have a consistency issue when you're being offended by things that don't matter. Apparently your emotions are telling you that things do in fact matter while you're trying to tell yourself they don't. Which means you have to either change your emotions to become inline with your belief system, or change your belief system to be more inline with what you're experiencing. I have a third option that has worked out well for me; no belief system at all.
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Nick_A on June 17, 2011, 08:41:27 PM
Quote from: Whitney on June 17, 2011, 04:47:13 PM
Quote from: Nick_A on June 17, 2011, 04:36:39 PM
Buddha did say that life is suffering.

Yes, but only due to our attachment to things.  You'd be hard pressed to find a buddhist who describes life as a horror.

Just don't end up in one of the Buddhist hells. Are they a horror?

http://www.khandro.net/doctrine_hells.htm
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: xSilverPhinx on June 18, 2011, 07:26:34 PM
Hello...goodbye...
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: The Magic Pudding on June 19, 2011, 05:37:31 AM
Quote from: abdulqawi on June 16, 2011, 09:48:52 PM
of course it is subjective; horror is simply a more authentic response to objective reality than is the contrivance of enjoyable mental states

What if I'm a part time Absurdist, not the suicidal or nihilistic kind, fun can be had poking at a serious world.



Quote from: abdulqawi on June 16, 2011, 09:48:52 PMthe cultivation of apathy is attractive to me, but I find bitter disgust mixed with terror to be a more enlivened internalization of the human condition. apathy strikes me as a cop out, as do willful blinders and the manufacture of shallow, pacifying sentiments about the world. but really, psychological inclinations are irrelevant. i think to deny the essential tragedy and monstrous impersonality of existence is simply delusional.

My day to day life doesn't deliver much horror, the news broadcast might, but I think that should be kept in perspective.



Quote from: abdulqawi on June 16, 2011, 09:48:52 PMit seems the brain is quite good at obfuscating the implications of reality. perhaps if fully appreciated one's sanity might be at stake. the nonchalance with which many profess the bankruptcy of existence, and then turn around and behave as though this existence is anything but loathsome farce... i hope to strive for stark realism, no matter how distasteful or terrifying it might be. but in the end it doesn't matter.

Insolvency is the state of being unable to pay debts as they fall due, bankruptcy is a legal status which recognises this.
So is existence worthy of doing business with, will it on balance provide more reward or cost?


 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
Dr---Cr
Dealings With People 30
Joy Bank 30
Being negative dealings with people
.
Joy Bank 100
Dealings With People 100
Being positive dealings with people
.
Dealings With Family 50
Joy Bank 50
Being negative dealings with family
.
Joy Bank 200
Dealings With Family 200
Being positive dealings with family
.
Experience Of The Environment 20
Joy Bank 20
Being an annoying neighbour with leaf blower
.
Joy Bank 200
Experience Of The Environment 200
Being a nice walk by the water
.
Entertainment, News, Books, Media 20
Joy Bank 20
Being Justin Bieber
.
Joy Bank 200
Entertainment, News, Books, Media 200
Being Hitchhikers Guide TTG part 6


It looks like existence can a very profitable undertaking and I'm confident in recommending it.  It should be noted an atheist's life has no residual value in the form of an afterlife, so it's best to enjoy it while you can.
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Nick_A on June 20, 2011, 09:53:20 PM
TMP

It looks like existence can a very profitable undertaking and I'm confident in recommending it.  It should be noted an atheist's life has no residual value in the form of an afterlife, so it's best to enjoy it while you can.

Yes, Shakespeare describes the atheist's perspective rather well


William Shakespeare - All the world's a stage (from As You Like It 2/7)

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

Title: Re: new guy
Post by: bicycle on June 24, 2011, 11:17:53 PM
how ya doin?
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Narwhal on July 14, 2011, 12:52:53 AM
Haha I made it to pantaloons and couldn't go any further. Lol, pantaloons. Anyways, welcome to the forum!
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Davin on July 14, 2011, 03:40:33 PM
Quote from: Narwhal on July 14, 2011, 12:52:53 AM
Haha I made it to pantaloons and couldn't go any further. Lol, pantaloons. Anyways, welcome to the forum!
(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2Fp4USU.jpg&hash=74741e2a32c7df510eb5b57fb1fd72df7183e4ad)
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Magnatar on July 27, 2011, 09:09:53 AM
I'm new also, but welcome.
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Black36 on August 17, 2011, 02:59:43 AM
Old guy
Title: happy
Post by: Hogmelspseuse on August 28, 2011, 02:00:03 PM
hello   
i think i don't know what is the problem with the picture
 
     
الاردن (http://www.wa6njo.com/vb)
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Tank on August 31, 2011, 11:50:19 AM
Quote from: KateDaring52 on August 31, 2011, 10:55:47 AM

Hello !
I am a new member. Would a newcomer be warmly welcome here? Good day you guy !
As long as you remove the spam link in your signature.
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: OldGit on August 31, 2011, 11:53:23 AM
Google that post and you'll find it on a large number of forums - what a surprise.
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Tank on August 31, 2011, 12:06:58 PM
Quote from: OldGit on August 31, 2011, 11:53:23 AM
Google that post and you'll find it on a large number of forums - what a surprise.
Ban hammer wielded!
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Siz on September 07, 2011, 08:44:53 PM
Quote from: abdulqawi on June 16, 2011, 03:06:28 PM
whitney: i am a theist in this loose sense: i affirm the plausibility of god-like entities (for example extraterrestrial gods akin to the Lovecraft mythos, or perhaps the microbial superorganism that will likely consume your brain when you are dead); but this is somewhat peripheral to cosmicism. i defined the essence of cosmicism well enough above, namely cosmic terror and cosmic indifferentism. if you have reasons to believe that life is anything but a nihilistic horror i'd love to hear it. from where i stand we may as well be piles of dog excrement that happened to become conscious. after petty delusions of grandeur -- what some might call existential meaning-making -- i've come to the horrid realization that we're effectively transient piles of crap on a random rock, for no reason, lost in the infinite black. whatever we do or don't do, the illusions of value, purpose, goodness -- it's from nothing and returns to nothing. there is no escape and no salvation. the technological singularity will not transform us into indestructible superheroes; any gods that exist or will exist are rightly indifferent to us worms. the gods themselves are void.

@abdulqawi,

Do you believe that the human race is PARTICULARLY putrid and pointless, or AS putrid and pointless as (say) a geranium, a blue whale or a fluffy bunny munching a delicious carrot under a beautiful rainbow...??? I'm wondering if you are happy living with an overriding sense of misery. This is surely a matter of perspective, do you not agree?

For what it's worth, I love the idea that it's all meaningless and thrive on the notion. I'm gonna enjoy the ride while I'm lucky enough to be here.

Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Davin on September 07, 2011, 08:54:18 PM
I hope you're not expecting a response, the guy hasn't been active for three months and was only active for two days.
Title: Re: new guy
Post by: Siz on September 07, 2011, 09:49:29 PM
Quote from: Davin on September 07, 2011, 08:54:18 PM
I hope you're not expecting a response, the guy hasn't been active for three months and was only active for two days.

Shame. And he was so entertaining...