Well, if you're an atheist then you must naturally find some falsehood in the Christian claim for the existence of their God. You can argue it philosophically or through science. It's really easy to find fallacies and contradictions in their belief on your own, there are so many.

First off you have to know that it is the duty of the person making a claim to prove it, not the person in disbelief. So logically the first argument is there is no evidence of their God.

They make scientific claims that God is the creator of everything in the universe and argue in particular earth's creation. Since referring to the bible as evidence would be a circular argument, they either use the philosophical argument called "the watch maker argument", whose author is William Paley or the psudoscientific of "intelligent design". The" watch maker" is the origin of "intelligent design", a very old argument put to rest long ago disguised as science. He compares the complexity of a watch to that of the universe and thus since a watch has an intelligent maker (humans) so must the universe. Paley's argument was thoroughly put to rest by another philosopher named David Hume, 40 years before Paley even wrote it. Paley's biggest mistake is in the comparison of the two. If comparing two objects, the strength of your argument relies on how similar the two items are, thus this argument is considered very weak. You can obviously notice how disparate the two are. Secondly, he fails to realize that one can obtain similar results from different causes. For example, you can die from a viral infection or in a car crash. Very different causes same result. So there is an obvious error in presuming the universe and a watch have similar causes. This argument is seen in many versions; many replace the watch with paintings of the Mona Lisa or a Coke-Cola can. They will say things like "it's obvious something intelligent created this". However the fundamental errors are the same. This is a very brief summary; you should go more into depth.

Since we live in the age of science and information, the biblical account of creation can be put to shame. Of course, the theory of evolution is the most opposed to by Christians because it is the most threatening to their entire dogma. Not just because it proves the bible is an unreliable source of information and not the word of an all knowing God, but because it supports the idea that we are here without the aid or over sight of a deity. No need for a God to explain our origins. It also takes away from the anthropocentric view of Christian religion. We are not the reason why the universe exists and it does not exist for us. Humans are not any more special in origin than any other animal. We were not created in God's image and frankly there is no heavenly purpose to life other than the one you give yourself, not to mention how impersonal God would be if despite the evidence he existed. It also obliterates their dogma; with out original sin what need for Jesus is there?

Genetic and geographic evidence both support evolution and rebut creation. Different animals fossils are specific to different layers of earth. Each layer of earth is equivalent to a specific time period in earth's history. Humans are found in the upper most layers indicating that they arrived later in earth's history. If the biblical account of creation were to be true, all animals should be found in all the different layers since they were all created relatively simultaneously. Which is why the biblical creation myth does not prove true and is why human remains are not found alongside a dinosaurs'. Genetically we are almost identical to chimpanzees and bonobos. We share 98-99% similar DNA with them, implying we shared a common ancestor. This does not mean we came from monkeys, it means we are evolutionarily related. Just like you and you cousins share a common relative. There is a plethora of evidence sustaining evolution and refuting creation, check them out. Don't be scared by "intelligent arguments", like "there is no instance where genetic information is added to DNA sequence in any natural process", "there aren't any transitional fossils "or "evolution has never been witnessed". These are false, check out www.EvoWiki.com for reference. Most of the time, Christians are ill informed or repeat lies and misconceptions of evolution. Know your shit if you don't want to look stupid and leave Christians with the illusion that truth has triumphed. Remember that the fallacy they live by is: if you can't explain or answer a question, they are right by default. Which is a warped assumption since the burden of proof is on the person making the claim; it's not your burden to prove God doesn't exist. There are stock piles of science that refutes biblical claims.

Thirdly most common argument is that of morality. Where does morality come from? What is moral? Again if you can't answer they assume they are right by default. These philosophical questions were addressed by Plato in his classic work "Euthyphro" (www.wikipedia.com ), where Socrates is famously quoted as asking "Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious? Or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?" In Greek, piety meant more than just religious devotion; it was more along the lines of justice and morality. The second part of the question is called the "God command theory", implying that an action is deemed moral or virtuous merely because God says so. In which case, any action can be moral regardless if it is unjust and causes undeserved pain and suffering. There is no clear way of defining what is moral if this is the argument made, there is no reference to judge actions by, one is even unable to judge if God is all-good or evil. This way of thinking has been adopted my Islamic terrorist who defend their actions as righteous because God approves it in the Koran. The first half of Socrates question implies that God approves of morality because of its intrinsic virtue, meaning that morality exists independent of God's judgment. This allows us to define morality by use of reason. If this is true, what need for God is there?

A general rule of thumb for knowing what moral is "The Golden Rule", "do onto others as one would have others do onto you". Of course Christians would claim that this is biblical and thus commanded by God. But the Idea transcends religion. In essence this has its origin in empathy, In other words, placing oneself in another person's place. This is not original to Christianity; in fact it's not even original to the human species. Primates such as chimps, gorillas and bonobos have been observed as showing this trait. There is an account in Frans de Waal's book "Our inner ape", where a bonobo rescues a bird that had flown into the wall of his enclosure. The bird was in shock and could not fly. The bonobo gently picks the bird up and climbs to the top of a tree and releases the bird. The bird falls but the bonobo continued to look after the bird, protecting it from a younger curious bonobo until the bird regained its motor skills and flew away.

Another account in his book is that of an 8 Year old gorilla coming to the aid of a 3 year old boy who has fallen into her enclosure and was injured. The gorilla runs to the boys rescue, cradles him in her arms and begins to pat his back; later giving the boy up to Zoo attendants. The truth is empathy is a trait we have inherited from our evolutionary ancestors. We are predisposed to empathetic behavior, but our environment, circumstance, and culture influences are behavior. Also empathy is not an absolute we are also able to be apathetic and cruel. Morality is much more complex of a subject and the Golden rule is much too general to encompass all our social scenarios. This is where philosophy and reason play their part is solving the moral conundrums that plague our world. In all honesty morality is a highly debated subject by philosophers. There are debates such as Utilitarianism versus individual rights. However the ground work has been accomplished through reason not divine intervention.

Last but not least is a classic argument specific to the monotheist Judeo-Christian religions. Their belief is that of God who is Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnibenevolent. There is an obvious discrepancy in this absolutist view of God. We live in a world full of evil, which is defined as undeserved pain and suffering inflicted by other humans as well as natural disasters like famine and volcanoes. If God is all-good then how can he allow evil to exist. Either he is not all good or he is not powerful enough to stop it. It is either one or the other but he logically cannot be both. This concepts brings about questions like "if God is all-powerful could he make a mountain he could not move", if he can't make one he is not all powerful and if he can't move it he is not all powerful. Similar questions can be asked about his "all-knowing" mind.

The truth is Christians rarely come up with original arguments. They repeat the same old mistakes they made in the past. Unlike science that is always expanding its knowledge of our universe, this religion is stagnant and encapsulated in the same old rhetoric and presumptions. Don't be surprised if you find yourself shaking your head, rolling your eyes and yawning in a debate. I call their faith a delusion because they maintain their belief despite of overwhelming evidence and rational ineptitudes of their dogma. They lack the ability to be objective and self-reflective. Reality is relative to what they want it to be and not what it actually is. Some compartmentalize their faith, as I once did; the laws of logical reasoning expire at the gates of their faith.

1. Polyamory Weekly

2. Fetish Flame (only back episodes available now)

3. Sex, Love and Intimacy

Voilà donc un autre fait marquant en faveur des autoroutes en super-2.  Avec seulement deux voies, sur une seule chaussée, veux, veux pas, on ne peut pas faire des miracles.  Mais au lieu de dévier la circulation, dans la direction la moins fréquentée, par les routes 232, et 132, afin de contourner le chantier, et laisser l'unique voie disponible en mouvement, on a préféré fonctionner comme sur un vulgaire chemin de campagne, où il passe trois véhicules à l'heure.  L'enquête dira ce que faisait le conducteur du camion-remorque qui est venu faucher les véhicules en attente, mais il est d'ores et déjà clair, dans la tête de beaucoup de gens, que c'est encore "un de ces maudits camions dangereux, qui prennent la route pour eux tout seuls".  Évidemment.  Ça saute aux yeux.  Pourtant, aucun ingénieur intelligent ne mettrait en place de la circulation en alternance sur une autoroute.  Qu'est-ce que ça fait là, de la circulation en alternance, sur une autoroute?

À moins qu'il ne passe que trois véhicules à l'heure, sur l'A-20, à Rimouski...

J'aimerais bien voir la ministre, Julie Boulet, aller dire aux membres de la famille de la victime de ce carambolage que les autoroutes en super-2 sont effectivement des routes sécuritaires, juste pour voir la réaction, dans leur visage.  Bien sûr, madame la ministre ne se prêtera pas à ce genre d'exercice.

Alors ceux qui croient que la future A-50, entre Gatineau et Lachute, sera une belle route sécuritaire, je vous propose de bien lire ces articles, ci-haut mentionnés, parce que vous risquez de voir, à la télé, ou d'entendre, à la radio, en attendant de lire, dans les journaux du lendemain, des nouvelles du même genre.  Et cela parce que des in-gné-gneurs se disent que l'on peut faire de la circulation en alternance sur une autoroute sécuritaire, construite en super-2.

Dr. Seuss goes Science and Slams Intelligent Design in a fun slide show.

Arianna Huffington, eine Griechin, die es irgendwann einmal nach Amerika gezogen ist, hat mit ihrem Blog die gesamte Medienwelt umgekrempelt. Während des demokratischen Vorwahlkampfes haben Obama und Clinton, noch bevor sie sich an die NYTimes oder ähnliches wandten, ihre Standpunkte in den Huffington Post erklärt.

Der Blog solle nun einen Marktwert von über 200 Millionen Dollar haben, durch den Präsidentschaftswahlkampf wird dieser Wert wahrscheinlich sogar noch steigen. Und obwohl man bemerkt, dass Obama der Wunschpräsident der Redakteure der Huffington Post ist, berichten sie auch objektiv über McCain und kritisieren, wie auch jetzt gerade unter dem Titel "Moving to the middle is for Losers", Mister Obama.

Ich bin beeindruckt, welche Fähigkeiten in Blogs vorhanden sind. Sie können Leute mobilisieren und Meinung machen. Natürlich ist diese Macht auch gefährlich, aber im Medium Blog gibt es noch so unglaublich viele Möglichkeiten. Und Miss Huffington ist jetzt wenigstens auch reich. Und nicht nur reich, sondern mächtig.

Huffington Post

1. Improving the customer experience, enterprise-wide.




2. Implementing an intelligent, multi-channel communications approach.




3. Demystifying and leveraging Web 2.0 technologies such as social networks and online communities.

It’s no coincidence that points 2 and 3 really tie into, and support, the overall customer experience agenda.

As these themes unfolded it was clear the Financial Services industry shares some things in common with an industry Knotice is very familiar with: Cable and Telecom.

A short list of some of the traits and challenges the Financial Services industry and the Cable and Telecom industry share:

• Both providers typically index very low in overall customer satisfaction surveys. On average, customers just don’t like their providers.




• Both legal and regulatory compliance issues beyond those of most other industries.




• Both have a relatively limited portfolio of services and products (lines of business), with marketing success tied closely to cross-selling these services to all customers.




• Both industries widely recognize the need to break down silos between lines of business to enable a more cohesive and customer-centric communications approach.




• Both are taking a closer look at some key Web 2.0 technologies and wondering aloud, “Is there value in this for our customers and for our brand?”

Take a close look and ask yourself, “Is there value in this for our customers and for our brand?”

What we know from our legacy in Cable and Telecom is that relevant communications can drive effective marketing while at the same time improving the overall customer experience. There is a very simple litmus test. Simply ask, “Does this tactic add value for our customers?” If a marketer takes an unfocused or lazy approach to development of the message and targeting requirements the answer, with few exceptions, will be, “No, this is not valuable to our customers.” The communication is serving the marketer’s interests only.

When communication is carefully planned, business rules are clearly followed, there is a targeted execution to ensure relevancy – a well-timed cross-sell offer, for instance – the answer is usually, “Yes, this adds value for our customers.” We find that this approach, with a simple litmus test to validate, meets the marketer’s goals.

This is the first of three posts from Bryce Marshall highlighting some key insights from Forrester Research's Financial Services Forum Jun 23-24, 2008.

In an article of his, he talks about the Higgs boson and completely distorts what the Higgs boson actually is. It's not a particle to prove god. It's something that exists in the insane field of quantum physics. The physics of how things work at a sub-atomic level. Quantum physics is largely theoretical, so we're still trying to directly prove something that we know exists via mathematics.

But what is it?

The answer can be found by doing something called a google search. I found this through a google search that lead me to Wikipedia:

The Higgs boson (sometimes referred to as the God particle by the media) is a hypothetical massive scalar elementary particle predicted to exist by the Standard Model of particle physics. It is the only Standard Model particle not yet observed, but would help explain how otherwise massless elementary particles still manage to construct mass in matter. In particular, it would explain the difference between the massless photon and the relatively massive W and Z bosons. Elementary particle masses, and the differences between electromagnetism (caused by the photon) and the weak force (caused by the W and Z bosons), are critical to many aspects of the structure of microscopic (and hence macroscopic) matter; thus, if it exists, the Higgs boson has an enormous effect on the world around us.

Source: Wikipedia, Higgs boson

In normal human terms, the Higgs boson is what keeps all matter in the universe together. If you look deep enough, you'll find that everything is made of... nothing! Usually I lose people after that part, so if you're still with me, what we find when we look deep enough in something is that there's empty space. A ton of it. So much empty space that you could essentially equate it with infinity. This, as you can imagine, is a big, big problem. The Higgs boson was calculated mathematically to exist as the force that keeps everything in the universe afloat. Nothing exists, but the Higgs boson keeps all of this nothingness together.

Still with me? No? I'm not either, don't worry.

Quantum mechanics (and physics) is probably the weirdest thing in the universe. Erm, literally. You want to explain something you can't see? Invoke quantum physics to explain it until you can. Most insulting is that Rush trivializes all of the hard work in order to prove these theoretical particles:

"The 78-year-old's original efforts in the early 1960s to explain why the force, dubbed the Higgs field, must exist were dismissed at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research.  Today, the existence of the invisible field is widely accepted by scientists, who believe it came into being milliseconds after the Big Bang created the universe--" there's no way that anybody could possibly know this.

Again, mathematical calculations are central to science. Einstein, before being able to prove the existence of things such as black holes, proved them with mathematical calculations. By the logic of Mr. Limbaugh, there's no way that Einstein actually did this.

Another insulting moment is when he says this:

Snerdley just said to me there are a lot of physicists that believe in God.

In reality, the real world in which we live, there are a lot of physicists who use the term 'god' metaphorically for the universe. Of course Rush will never admit this, because in his monkey brain it's true. There's no reasoning with these people.

Naturally, Mr. Limbaugh continues his embarrassing tirade and trivializes science to everyone who listens. That's a lot. Even though Rush is a gigantic faggot and one of the dumbest people in the world, he has a gigantic following. Conservative fundamentalist Christians love him. As you can see, there's reasons for why they love him. These reasons are mostly bullshit, -- actually all bullshit -- but they continue to follow him.

I think my favorite comedian and philosopher, noted as "Chomsky with dick jokes..." can sum up my thoughts on Rush.

I won't even get into Expelled and Ben Stein, both excruciatingly wrong. But I will say this, we have a new inductee into the List of Creationist Failures!

1. Kirk Cameron (Lying for Jesus: Kirk Cameron Edition)
2. Dr. Jason Lisle (Reading Answers in Genesis: Probably easier when high.)
3. Lee Strobel (Lee Strobel: Ex-Atheist or just ignorant?)
4. Ray Comfort (Banana: Proof of creationism., Ray Comfort has a blog, Ray Comfort: What the fuck, man?)
5. Rhonda Storms (Fuck Rhonda Storms)
6. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (DO SOMETHING IN LOUISIANA! QUICK!, Now the Candle Burns at both Ends)
7. Rush Limbaugh

Give a warm welcome to our number seven! (I should induct Ben Stein some time soon... or maybe Bill ORLY.)

----------So How Does the Brain Works?

Researchers have now discovered that in the brain are connections called synapses which are like building blocks which control functions such as incoming information, expressing emotions and learning language. So to answer the above question , how are these connections fabricated? they are built both by genetics and also by stimuli from the environment.

These connections are like an internal wiring system that will determine and affect your child's abilities for learning, communication and interacting.

But what does it mean?

The term mutually assured destruction is one that I would reference. The reason why the US doesn't destroy Russia or Russia the US is because they know that whoever made the move first would have started a war that ends in nuclear war. At least, this seems likely. Nuclear war means no more humans. Instead of one losing the battle, they both lose out. That's the basic tenant of mutually assured destruction.

For things like Academic Freedom, a bill which was recently passed by gigantic fuck up, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, it goes a little bit like mutually assured destruction.

Imagine Bobby Jindal as the middleman. He has the power to pass or veto bills such as the Academic Freedom bill he has just passed. He's the center of the candle. But this candle is unique as it has two wicks.

In the case of Kitzmiller vs. Dover, there was a candle, but it was burning from one end. In this case, the conservative fundamentalists were absolutely thrilled, so the fire started when the critical thinkers of Dover spoke out. They ignited the wick and it was, for all intents and purposes, a countdown to extinction for not the law itself, but for creationism itself in the state as a platform. It was simple enough: the creationists formed the base of the candle where they had solidified themselves in schools, the critical thinkers started a fire that would end up destroying the plans that the creationists had.

The concept of the candle burning at both ends is slightly different. As I said, supreme fuck up Bobby Jindal is at the center of a double ended candle. He's a creationist, acting for creationist purposes, but says he's encouraging free inquiry, free thinking, anything with free on it, when it's obvious to those same people that he's doing the exact opposite.

With how the law is defined, both crowds will get offended and one or the other will ignite a fire, and both sides will be fighting. Sadly, Jindal doesn't get his until the case is entirely resolved.

One of these two will happen;

1. Atheistic teachers oppose creationism in class and support the so-called controversial subjects, thus making the consevative fundamentalist crowd mad; or
2. Creationist teachers oppose the so-called controversial subjects, and the free thinkers of the communities get mad.

Either case ends in a lawsuit and a huge legal battle, likely as big as Dover. Not on a national scale, but to an extent where it will define the future regardless of decision or judgment for both Louisiana and other states.

Bobby Jindal has set a horrible precedent for the state, yet when this goes down, neither him or his buddies at the Disco tute will be anywhere to be found.

Apparently they forget not to bear false witness against thy neighbour.

In a nutshell: Bobby is the middle, creationism and free thinking are each their own wicks, one side ignites the fire, then the other, and as they melt down to the middle, both sides lose no matter who wins.

Then the animal dies, you carry it home, and ultimately chop it up to make chili that doesn’t taste as good as regular chili, not to mention any blood you might accidentally rub on your car’s upholstery. Am I missing something here?

I suppose there’s the argument that it is a manly affair, something which demonstrates our supreme dominance as a species. But I don’t believe that our knowledge of ballistics, physics, and weaponry should distinguish us as the best species. Shooting a gun takes no real courage or valor, anyone can see that. In fact, unless a man is beating a deer or bear with his bare hands, I don’t think hunting proves anything—except, maybe, a special fascination with dressing like a convict.

But say hunting does, in fact, build up a man. Say a man shoots a bear, and earns a bloody, half-ton trophy. It seems to me that much more joy can be derived from the bear in life than in death. Sure, bear meat is succulent, but have you ever looked up bears on Youtube? They’re hilarious. I saw one video where a bear plays ice hockey and another where the bear is being heckled by a clown, and for whatever reason decides to start howling like Bjork. It was priceless! Definitely a lot more priceless than getting a bear stuffed at a taxidermist, which, I’ve learned, can cost thousands of dollars.

But hey, to each his own, right? Just because I prefer my meat to be lead-free doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy a little neurotoxin with your venison chops. And besides, I hear it’s very chic and presentable to have pieces of animal skeleton dangling from plaques on walls, especially next to a gun rack or Klan hood. And I’m certainly not saying that nothing good can come from hunting. Why, even mediocre hunters do great, moving on to careers like the vice presidency of the United States. The sky’s the limit!

-Rashid

OK, in his defense, I'm not sure whether or not he used the micro- vs. macro- evolution save. If the opportunity presents itself, I'm sure he did. After all, he knows viruses evolve and wants to use our medicine to extend his very valuable life, but doesn't believe in that heathen part where humans evolved from monkeys.

God damn it man, I'm almost at nerves end reading this guy's blog. Before someone decides to defend him, let me just say that I'm sure he's a completely normal and cool guy if you know him, sinner or not. No, really. But for all intents and purposes, Ray Comfort is a douche like no other, with the possible exception of his partner in anti-crime, Kirk "Dumbass" Cameron.

Anyway, I decided to check up on his website for Way of the Master. There you can view some clips, or more appropriately, here. The Pink Hair/Plane Talk got me, because, you KNOW if someone has hair that is of an alternative colour they're a hell-bound sinner, NO EXCEPTIONS! Let me just say this: if I were stuck on a plane with him, I would probably jump from the plane.

But that's all besides the point. The point isn't really a point, but the point is, guy has a blog. Don't click it if you're not ready to have your faith in atheism as well as evolution tested to the limit! lol. Faith. I've dealt with fundie whackaloons before, but never someone as vehement as Ray Comfort. Go to his blog and you'll become a Christian, I swear it, thanks to the completely logical points he has. The man that brought us the banana argument couldn't do any wrong, after all. Besides the sinner part.

Top Ten Predicted Atheist Ojections to the Below Statement:

"Water is wet." -- Ray Comfort

1. "You know nothing about water or science!"
2. "This is hateful and judgmental and is an example of circular reasoning."
3. "I suppose you believe that your imaginary friend made it wet."
4. "You know very well water molecules are dry. You liar!"
5. "Darwin knew that it was wet years before you did."
6. "Jesus would be ashamed of this statement! You are quote-mining."
7. "You are saying there was a world-wide flood. You are such a hypocrite."
8. "So, how old do you believe that this 'wet' water is?"
9. "There is no evidence that it is wet. The burden is on you to prove it!"
10. "This statement proves that you are viciously anti-Catholic."

Saying "water is wet" is nothing like saying that everything around us needs a creator. A creator who watches us all the time, has ten commandments that he wants us to follow, and if we don't, will send us to a place that burns with fire and smoke and you will suffer for all of eternity... but he loves us all very much... and he NEEDS MONEY!

Which reminds me, everyone watch some of George Carlin's shit on Youtube, it's spectacular.

Then there's this:

The Atheist Worldview

"There've been several hundred gay marriages enacted in California in the past few days. Maybe a couple of thousand by now, I haven't checked the numbers. And in the non-gay-marrying Midwest, they're fighting floods, while in California it's fair and dry. How is The Golden State managing to escape the wrath of your imaginary friend, I wonder?" Weemaryanne

Maryanne. At present there are 840 wild-fires that are burning at once in California, destroying many homes. The fires were started by lightning strikes. Guess who’s in charge of the electrical department? These are from thunder storms that have no rain. Guess who gives the rain? You said "while in California it's fair and dry." We are having the worst drought in our recorded history. Last year 1,155 homes were destroyed. You live in an imaginary world. I suggest you get out more.

Because there is no way in blue hell wildfires happen, and just because it's the worst drought in recorded history (is that even true, anyway?), he'll assume it's god doing it. Hey, here's an idea: why don't he send down fire from the sky like he did on Sodom? That'll get our attention instead of doing something which, y'know, happens naturally and yearly.

Either he's thinking too big or his god is too small.

Then Ray decides to go on a tirade declaring light, the only thing that is truly visible, to be invisible:

Thank God for Science

The essence of "white" light is invisible. We can’t see it. Despite this, science has taught us that it's actually made up of seven beautiful colors that are undetectable to the human eye until they are refracted through a prism. Of course, we know that the seven colors are the amazing colors we see in a rainbow--red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

What the hell, Ray? Darkness is invisible, not light. Darkness doesn't exist anyway, it's just the absence of light.

You say thank god for science, but you know nothing of science. You never have. You never will. In fact, by reading your god forsakened blog, I have lost at least 100 points off of my IQ, leaving me at about 26 now. Yes, I saw the jokes coming and decided to clear that up right off.

Ray Comfort: if god exists, he's going to hate you for your distortion of the reason and logic you seem to throw to the wind.

I assume god put evidence for evolution, the big bang, and global warming here to test your faith? No dude, I've figured this out. God put you here to test my faith.

Ich frage mich immer noch, warum man die Todesstrafe braucht. Sollen sie doch in ihrer Zelle dahinsiechen und irgendwann, nach Jahrzehnten hinter Gittern sterben. Das sehe ich als viel größere Strafe an. Die Todesstrafe nimmt einem zwar das Leben, aber auch die Bürde, mit der begangenen Tat leben zu müssen. Und dann überrascht es mich, wenn mir nahestehende Menschen plötzlich auch für Täter wie Josef Fritzl oder Prikopil (hätte er nicht Suizid begangen) die Todesstrafe fordern. Dabei übersehen wir, dass die Todesstrafe eine Strafe in Entwicklungsländern ist. Alle halbwegs zivilisierten Länder, mit Ausnahme der USA, haben schon andere Wege gefunden, um für Recht und Ordnung zu sorgen.

Aber für die USA ist die Todesstrafe unbedingt nötig. Für wenige Jahre in den Siebzigern wurde sie abgeschafft, Menschen, die auf die Vollstreckung warteten, wurden in normale Zellen gesteckt. Und das ist auch ein Grund, warum Charles Manson, seines Zeichens Massenmörder, immer noch in seine Zelle ist.

According to Ralph Nader, consumer advocate and presidential candidate (and yes he's running this time too..lol) thinks that Obama is talking white in order to appease or appeal to 'white guilt' (sic)..

You know I find this whole 'phenomenon' of talking white so hilarious that one, I can't believe I'm even writing about it and two, I can't believe that Ralph Nader, an intelligent man by most estimates, would even use that terminology in a sentence!

However, according to Nader, 'talking white' means:

" He wants to show that he is not a threatening ... another politically threatening African-American politician..he wants to appeal to white guilt. You appeal to white guilt not by coming on as black is beautiful, black is powerful. Basically he's coming on as someone who is not going to threaten the white power structure, whether it's corporate or whether it's simply oligarchic. And they love it. Whites just eat it up."

You know, if I had Nader's ear, I would tell him this.. "Bro, that's not talking white, that's talking smart..," LOL..

First of all few rules. I have selected people on basis of the rules below

• Person should be still alive (No, not in memories,
  I mean Breathing, Movable and responding to stimuli).
• Person should have done anything worthy with
  his/her intelligence.
• Motivation of action should be preferably positive
  so Dear Mr Usamah bin Mu?ammad bin `Awa? bin Ladin although being extremely smart will not qualify as his motivations don't interest me and presumably most of the readers

Frank Owen Gehry .

He is one of the world's most influential architects. His designs for the likes of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA are bold statements that have imposed a new aesthetic of architecture on the world at large, enlivening streetscapes and creating new destinations. Mr Gehry has extended his vision beyond brick-and-mortar too, collaborating with artists such as Claes Oldenberg and Richard Serra, and designing watches, teapots and a line of jewelry for Tiffany & Co.

Now in his 70s, Mr Gehry refuses to slow down or compromise his fierce vision: He and his team at Gehry Partners are working on a $4 billion development of the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, and a spectacular Guggenheim museum in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, which interprets local architecture traditions into a language all his own. Incorporating local architectural motifs without simply paying lip service to Middle Eastern culture, the building bears all the hallmarks of a classic Gehry design.

Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr

Albert Arnold Gore(Al Gore) an American environmental activist, author, and businessperson. He is also a former journalist and politician.

Gore was involved in American politics for over three decades and was the forty-fifth Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. During this period, Gore introduced legislation and policies to develop what he called "The Information Superhighway" (most notably, the High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991 which led to the creation of the National Information Infrastructure). He received a Webby Award for this work in 2005. In 2000, Gore was the Democratic nominee for president in the presidential election. He only won the popular vote .

In 2007, Gore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (together with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) for "efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.

Richard Stallman

Richard Stallman is a renown hacker and founder of GNU and the free software movement and The Free Software Foundation. His contributions include GNU C compiler, GNU debugger, and the GNU Emacs. The GNU project was created by Stallman in 1983 as a way of creating a "free operating system." This meant that the operating system can be modified, copied, and redistributed without restrictions.

The GNU system is often combined with the Kernel Linux, which forms as a functional operating system. On January 5, 1984, Stallman quit his job at MIT so
that they could not claim any rights to his project and interfere with free software development. Since Unix's architecture was excellent, Stallman wrote the program to be compatible with Unix.

He has been the project's lead architect and organizer. Stallman pioneered the concept of copyleft and is the main author of several copyleft licenses including the GNU General Public License, the most widely used free software license.

He is also a major reason we are witnessing "Word is Flat 3.0" with free knowledge as the core philosophy.

Yonezo Kanno

Mr. Kanno has developed the concept of using the forehead as a remote sensor since 1998 and holds the patent for a device using the forehead as an another sense of touch.

Warren Buffet

Warren Edward Buffett, also known as “the Oracle of Omaha”, was born 30 August 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska (USA). He studied in Nebraska University, and after that, a master’s degree in Columbia Business School, where he was student of Benjamin Graham, authors of books such as “Security Analysis” or “The intelligent Investor”. After that period, he worked with Graham, following the investment rules of this master. He came back to Omaha in 1956 without any plan in his mind, since some people asked him to manage their investments. Warren Buffett started that way. In 1965, he bought a company of the textile sector with financial problems, called Berkshire Hathaway. It was transformed in a holding for his investments in media, insurance and consumer products, among others. Buffett bought several of these companies at a very low price in the 1973/1974 recession.

His political ideas are related to the Democratic Party. He has positioned himself several times in favour of an increase on taxes for the richest people and in favour of an increase on inheritance tax, since, according to Buffett, it is an obstacle to meritocracy. Buffett is also famous by its philanthropy. In fact, he has gone down in history thanks to its donation to Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, of over 30 billion, which is the highest donation in history.

Buffett is the most successful long-term investor, with a compounded annual rate of return of 22.3% during 36 years, which means 128,515%. The purchase of Coca-Cola stocks by Buffett meant for Berkshire’s Shareholders a profitability of near 800% in 12 years. Another less well-known investment was the purchase of Interpublic marketing company in 1973, with a profitability of over 900% in 11 years. He bought Berkshire Hathaway’s shares at a price between $7.60 and $14.86. Berkshire Hathaway’s current share price is over $140.000. His estimated net worth is $56.9 billion.

Steve Jobs

He is an inspiration in himself currently the CEO of Apple (he was thrown from the same company few years ago), which he co-founded in 1976. Apple leads the industry in innovation with its award-winning Macintosh computers, OS X operating system, and consumer and professional applications software. Apple is also leading the digital music revolution, having sold over 110 million iPods and over three billion songs from its iTunes online store. Apple entered the mobile phone market this year with its revolutionary iPhone.

Steve also co-founded Pixar Animation Studios, which has created eight of the most successful and beloved animated films of all time: Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars and Ratatouille. Pixar has won 20 Academy Awards and its films have grossed more than $4 billion at the worldwide box office to date. Pixar merged with The Walt Disney Company in 2006 and Steve now serves on Disney's board of directors. Steve grew up in the apricot orchards which later became known as Silicon Valley, and still lives there with his wife and three children.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

The world knows Arnold Schwarzenegger as a famous bodybuilder and a Hollywood action hero, but he is also a successful businessman, generous philanthropist and California's 38th Governor. Since he took office, Governor Schwarzenegger's responsible fiscal policies have brought California back from the brink of bankruptcy, reinvigorating the economy, creating a better environment for business and creating more than 680,000 new jobs. Improved state revenues have paid down the state's debt and afforded record investments in schools, roads and affordable healthcare for children.

Governor Schwarzenegger's most notable accomplishments include a bipartisan agreement to reduce California's greenhouse gas emissions by signing landmark legislation in 2006, increasing the minimum wage while lowering the state's unemployment rate and overhauling the workers' compensation system - cutting costs by more than 35 percent. In addition, Governor Schwarzenegger is the first governor in decades to make major investments in improving California's aging infrastructure through his Strategic Growth Plan, helping to reduce congestion and clean the air. He established the Hydrogen Highway and Million Solar Roofs Plan, continuing his leadership in creating a greener environment.

Muhammad Yunus

Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi banker and economist. He previously was a professor of economics and is famous for his successful application of microcredit - the extension of small loans. Yunus is also the founder of Grameen Bank. In 2006, Yunus and the bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for their efforts to create economic and social development from below. He is the author of Banker to the Poor and a founding board member of Grameen Foundation.

Hunter (Patch) Adams

Hunter (Patch) Adams, MD, has been putting into practice the idea that "healing should be a loving human interchange, not a business transaction" for more than 20 years. He is the founder and director of the Gesundheit Institute, a holistic medical community that has provided free medical care to thousands of patients since it began in 1971.

It is an "experiment in holism with a medical focus on the belief that one cannot separate the health of the individual from the health of the family, the community, and the world. Gesundheit is a sociopolitical act that grows out of a deep concern for the quality of people’s lives in a world dominated by the values inherent in greed and power". At its height the Institute was staffed by 20 medical workers, including two physicians in addition to Adams. Between 1971 and 1983 15,000 patients received free medical care, and Adams has a tall stack of letters from them attesting that his clinic’s humor and compassion helped when others could not.

"The Gesundheit Institute is a pie in the face of greed – by taking the most expensive thing in America, health care, and giving it away for free."

Nelson Mandela

Mandela's words, "The struggle is my life," are not to be taken lightly.

Nelson Mandela personifies struggle. He is still leading the fight against apartheid with extraordinary vigour and resilience after spending nearly three decades of his life behind bars. He has sacrificed his private life and his youth for his people, and remains South Africa's best known and loved hero.

He was born at Qunu, near Umtata on 18 July 1918. His father, Henry Mgadla Mandela, was chief councillor to Thembuland's acting paramount chief David Dalindyebo. When his father died, Mandela became the chief's ward and was groomed for the chieftainship.

A decade before being imprisoned, Mandela had spoken out against the introduction of Bantu Education, recommending that community activists "make every home, every shack or rickety structure a centre of learning". Robben Island, where he was imprisoned, became a centre for learning, and Mandela was a central figure in the organised political education classes. In prison Mandela never compromised his political principles and was always a source of strength for the other prisoners.

He was inaugurated as the first democratically elected State President of South Africa on 10 May 1994 - June 1999.

"We define success in terms of Michael Jordan and Bill Gates and Cindy Crawford and Julia Roberts. And they're not the success. Success is the school teachers trying to teach math and English in a society that's more interested in spouting clichés. ...sixty percent of schoolteachers need second jobs to support their families, where ball bouncers [professional athletes] are multi-millionaires." -Patch Adams

We've been thinking of places to get married and this seemed like a nice option. Upon reading more about the chapel, we discovered that its everyday congregation belongs to the religion of Swedenborgianism. I had never heard of it either but I Wiki'd it and found out more. Here's the link, or if you like, a brief summary.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedenborgianism

Swedenborgianism was started by a Swedish inventor (Emanuel Swedenborg) who experienced dreams in which he spoke with God and gained a higher level of spirituality. He believed/was told that there is only one God, and that where you end up when you dies simply lies on what kind of a person you were when you were alive. He also believed it valid to question the bullshit of all other religions. He wrote it all down and told some friends. Then he died. He didn't wave around snakes, go around "saving" people with his hands, he didn't dig up some golden books and read them from his hat. He just had some dreams in which God said, "Be a good dude, and when you die, everything will be ok." Oh and, "Feel free to poke holes in all that other bullshit that everyone knows is not true." 

I can buy that. So, today, Brenda and I have converted to Swedenborgianism.

We are in good company.

Jhonny Appleseed

Steven King

William Blake

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Robert Frost

Carl Jung

Walt Whitman

They were all Swedenborgianists, and they all had/have brains. Hmmm, something to think about here people....

Plus I'm now in the company of some great writers. Hells yeah.

Anyway, the other day Matt's latest film was released.  Check it out.  Try not to cry like I did.

Just been listening to the Tony Wilson Experience, a 24-hour long conversation celebrating the late, great music Tony Wilson, musical Svengali and proud Mancunian. Wilson died of cancer last year and today would have been his 58th birthday. Loads of good people on the bill: John Cooper Clarke, Clint Boon, Irvine Welsh, Paul Morley, Peter Hook et al. You can tune in to the live stream over here.

...

Update: I've been enjoying a curmudgeonly Kevin Cummins bemoan the fate of the rock photographer. Cummings thinks that user-generated content is just a way for newspapers to "get a load of free content". He's dismissive of the generation of photographers coming out of sites like Flickr. He said: the newspapers "don't care about quality. It's quantity that they want." He also said that blogs were mostly "just middle class letters pages."

...

Even later: It is nearly 1PM and it's getting really belligerent. The Manc poet John Cooper Clarke is on stage. He just recited his famous haiku:

To convey one's mood,
in seventeen syllables,
is very diffic...

...

The intelligence finally ran out about 3am. The Happy Mondays were on a panel and someone in the audience mentioned Stella Grundy, who I assume is Shaun Ryder's ex-partner from the way he reacted. The guy in the audience was being provocative, but the reaction of the Monday's, particularly Bez, was somewhat stereotypical. The guy was threatened from the stage ("you are fucking dead", was the precise quote and worst was said after that) and for a moment I thought that it was all about to kick off. And then, the security intervened and started escorting the bloke out of the venue. Brilliantly, the Mondays then changed their tune and started berating the bouncers to let the man stay in the building. It was all rather touching and probably what Tony would have wanted.

...

Thankfully, after a sleep, I awake to find the conversation has got much more intelligent again. This is much more like a more belligerent (I keep using that word) version of Radio 4. For the final conversation we've got Steven Morris, Peter Saville and physicist Brian Cox discussing the secrets of the universe. He reminded us how important Manchester has been to our understanding of the universe, and that the atomic nucleus had been discovered up on Oxford Road by Ernest Rutherford.

...

That's it. The poet Mike Garry has just read his poem Saint Anthony, and there's talk of another one next year. I hope so. It was really good an pretty intelligent all the way through.

Week was relatively hard in term of moods and emotions. Most of it, because of Vancouver's cold & rainy weather, partly because of the lack of proper communication and human touch... that being said, here's what I've done in relation to each and every goal I have set for myself last week:

BE RICH - 4 of 10

Starting June 1 - Incomes 4.000+ cad each month. January 1/ 2009 14.000+ CAD in savings

Done:

• I've got incomes from two sources total of about $600.
• Though I also realized how much I have spent over May, and I honestly was shocked to learn, that I'm broke at this point. So I've started "saving plan" - under $5 a day. Haven't worked fully yet, but daily expenses went down for the last 3 days for sure.
• I'm also looking into opening a saving account next week. Currently I'm investigating best options to load my cents.

I'll be rich, through delivering excellent services. I want to be there for people who needs my help, and not having to care about my own survival.

Share wealth, knowledge, memories, feelings, thoughts

Done:

• Unselfish act... Nothing specific my thoughts were all on my budget.
• Posts done on au.blogas.lt, goaldriven.wordpress.com though I'd like to see more specific issues addressed in au.blogas.lt and personalcommunication.blogspot.com as well as a-fitness.ca blog. I'll work on it this week.
  

Surprise & be available

Done:

• Nothing.... Sadly nothing. Promise for the next week. I need to by pedometers for Shannon & T.J. as well as resistance tube for T.J. to workout at home.

Explore

Done

• I had a private Hip Hop lesson, that I will continue with.
• I also visited Stevestone
• And I attended 2 days conference at Y

Prepared & present

Done:

• I sucked at this one completely, though maybe not that bad. But now as I will have couple of hours left, I'll focus on my 6 most important clients that I could deliver them best services possible next week.
• Clean home clutter 3 times per week - No comments here. Still huge mess. Need to come up with the ways, to control it.

For this section I just have to practice: DISCIPLINE!

Knowing current world happenings & further exploring human body

Done

• Check world news bbc.co.uk, delfi.lt, cbc.ca twice per week - too boring... But I tried to read Newspaper...
• Color 1 page of coloring book a day - yes, I colored 1 page...
• I attended 6 great sessions this weekend, that really opened my eyes & was extremely useful. I hope to put some things in to action this week.

Preach what I teach

Done:

• Play tennis at least 5 hours per week - well okay, I got 2 hours under my belt. Excuse? - No partner. But I'll make a change as I joined a tennis group, so I hope to find more appropriate partners for the game.
• Weight and 30 min cardio (HR 160+) 3 times per week - well I ran 2 hours this week, did 1 HIIT session, 1 15 min barbell workout, and 30 min of stretching as well as hip hop class.

To begin, safety is the most important factor. With all the publicity that "online dating gone horrifically bad" has received, I am astounded at the vulnerable positions people put themselves into. Whether one is dealing within the M/s community or vanilla relationships, the rules of safety still apply. Recently I posted some ideas which were suggestions to make your first meeting a safe one. Again, this is where common sense goes out the window. Here is a hint: meeting someone alone who you met online yet have failed to meet in person is not a good idea. Get together in a public place, but avoid the hotel room/their place until a later time.

Secondly, in the traditional world, most would not consider marrying someone on the first date. Yet, once someone decides he/she wants to submit, the next available person seems to be the One. They are ready to make a full commitment based upon a few conversations. Instead, use that time to get to know each other. If it is a long distance situation, submit with the intention of uncovering and learning about the other. This will give you the time to determine if there is more than just the M/s commonality there. While things can sometimes move quickly for some, this is the exception and not the rule.

Finally, while this is new to most, the general rules for relationship interaction is still in play. Just because W/we assume the roles of Master or slave, that does not mean that common courtesies go away. Also, lying, cheating, or manipulating is never a good idea. These qualities instantly destroy the trust foundation. Enter the relationship seeking what you can give (yes this applies to Masters also). Relationships where one party is continually taking are destined to fail. Regardless of the position you have in the relationship, honor and respect the other person. If you are a Master, focus Your attention on the growth of Your slave. This will do more to ensure her commitment to You than any amount of punishment ever could.

In conclusion, be smart. This is a way of life that many of us choose. Like most people, we all strive to enjoy ourselves while becoming better for the experiences we had.

social bookmarking links:

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Laut Said Nursi ist der Mensch die höchste und vielseitigste Frucht dieses kosmischen Baumes. Der Mensch ist die letzte und komprimierte Frucht am Baum des Universums. Ursamen (Kern) des Universums unter dem Gesichtspunkt der Erschaffung des Kosmos. Er ist der würdevollste Gast im Kosmospalast. Der Herrscher und gleichzeitig fleißigster Beamte im Universumspalast. Beauftragter auf dem Garten und auf dem Ackerfeld des Stadtteils Erde in der Universumsstadt, die für die Einnahmen und Ausgaben und für das Einsäen und die Verpflanzung zuständig ist. Der verantwortlichster und lautester Beauftragter, der mit Hunderten von Wissenschaften und mit Tausenden von Handwerk- und Kunstarten ausgestattet ist. Er ist ein Inspekteur im Reich des Kosmos und in Länderei der Erde unter einer sehr genauen Kontrolle des Sultans der Vorewigkeit und Nachewigkeit. Er ist Statthalter Gottes auf Erden, seine winzigste und größte Tat wird festgehalten (Said Nursi, 2002, S.56-57).

Aber der Mensch besteht nicht nur aus Fleisch und Blut. Es ist nicht nur die Materie, die einen Menschen ausmacht. Angst, Liebe, Neugier, Gedanken können nicht mit Materie erklärt werden. Hierbei spielt die Seele eine wichtige Rolle. Sie wird allen Lebewesen zugeordnet. Das heißt, wer „lebt", hat auch eine Seele.

Die Seele ist keine Materie. Sie ist auch nicht erfassbar. Sie ist unsterblich und ewig; ist eins und kann nicht in Teile zerlegt werden. Die Seele ist umgeben vom Körper. Sie ist es, die mit Hilfe der Hand halten, mit dem Fuß gehen und mit dem Auge sehen kann. Ohne die Seele wären wir nur ein Fleischhaufen, dass nicht einmal aufrecht stehen könnte. Solange die Seele „im" Körper ist, ist sie von diesem abhängig. Ihre Fähigkeiten sind mit dem Körper begrenzt, z.B. kann sie mit dem Auge nicht durch Wände sehen (Endnote 1). Somit ist der Tod eine „Befreiung" für die Seele. Er befreit sie vom Gefängnis. Von diesem Zeitpunkt an, kann sie ohne Auge sehen, ohne Hände fassen, ohne Füße gehen usw. Bis zum Jüngsten Gericht wartet die Seele körperlos, dann wird ihr wieder ein Körper verliehen, doch diesmal ohne Begrenzungen.

Man kann die Seele auch als ein Gesetz Gottes ansehen. Wir können folgendes Gleichnis machen: Der Körper ist ein Vogelkäfig und die Seele ist der Vogel im Käfig.

Aus diesem Beispiel können wir ableiten:

· Der Körper (Käfig) ist für die Seele (Vogel) da. Nicht umgekehrt.

· Auch wenn man den Käfig anmalt, verschönert sich dabei nicht der Vogel. Das heißt, auch wenn wir einen völlig gesunden Körper haben, muss dies zwangsläufig nicht auch für unsere Seele bedeuten.

· Wenn wir den Käfig vergrößern, vergrößert sich nicht der Vogel automatisch mit.

· Der Vogel schaut aus dem Käfig raus. Es ist nicht der Käfig, der hinausguckt. Das Auge ist nur ein Sinnesorgan, durch das die Seele die Welt wie durch ein Fenster betrachtet.

· Wer keinen Vogel besitzt, der braucht auch keinen Käfig. Nach dem Tode wird der Körper sofort begraben. Das heißt der Körper wird erst durch die Seele lebendig und steht aufrecht. Der Körper braucht die Seele.

· Den Vogel gab es auch schon vor dem Käfig.

Als der Schöpfer den Mensch erschuf, verlieh Er ihm den höchsten Wert und gab ihm eine recht umfangreiche Veranlagung mit. Wir können sagen, dass das Universum ein Baum ist, dessen Frucht der Mensch ist. Wenn aber der Mensch auf sein Ego vertraut, nur im weltlichen Leben sein Ideal sieht, sich nur um seinen Unterhalt sorgt und nur für einige vergängliche Vergnügungen arbeitet, wird er in einem sehr engen Lebenskreis untergehen. Darum ist er in eine Stätte der Prüfung geworfen, wo er vom Geringsten aller Geringen zum Höchsten aller Hohen, von der Erde bis zum Himmel, von dem Atom bis zur Sonne der Reihe nach die Stufen empor zu klimmen oder hinunterzustürzen vermag.

Der Schlüssel der Welt liegt in den Händen des Menschen und ist an seine Seele angeheftet. Der Schöpfer hat dem Menschen als Vertrauenspfand einen solchen Schlüssel gegeben, womit er alle Tore der Welt öffnet. Derjenige, der sein Wesen in dieser Weise kennt und von ihm überzeugt ist und sich dementsprechend verhält, erreicht die wahre Seligkeit. Er geht mit dem Vertrauenspfand richtig um. Wenn aber das Ego den Sinn seiner Erschaffung vergisst, seine eigentliche Aufgabe aufgibt, seinen Sinn in sich selbst gefunden zu haben glaubt und sich selbst für den Eigentümer hält, dann verrät es somit das ihm von Gott anvertraute Pfand.

In seinem Werk Isaratü´l-I´caz (2000, S.29-30) sagt Nursi, dass im Menschen drei Kräfte existieren. Um die menschliche Verantwortung in der Schöpfung verstehen zu können, bedarf es einer Analyse dieser Kräfte. Diese Kräfte sollen uns klar machen, wie die menschliche Verantwortung mit diesen Kräften in einer direkten Wechselbeziehung steht. Diese Kräfte kann man wie folgt klassifizieren:

· Erstens: Die Kraft der tierischen Begierden zur Erlangung und Ermöglichung der Nutznießung.

· Zweitens: Die Kraft der Macht (des Herrschens), um den Schaden abzuwehren.

· Drittens: Die Kraft des Verstandes, um Nutzen und Schaden, das Gute und das Böse zu unterscheiden.

Da aber diesen Kräften zwar durch die Religion eine Grenze gesetzt ist, von Natur aus aber keine Grenze existiert, werden diese Kräfte jeweils in drei Rubriken eingeteilt:

a) Zuwenig (unter dem Maß)

b) Das Maß

c) Das Übermaß

Um diese Rubriken genauer zu erläutern, nehmen wir nun als Beispiel die erste Kraft. Diese Kraft ist für die Erlangung der nützlichen Dinge da. Wenn diese Kraft bei einem Menschen unter dem Maß ist, dann hat er weder den Willen zum Erlaubten noch zum Unerlaubten. Das Übermaß dieser Kraft ist der schrankenlose Wille zu seiner Befriedigung. Hier werden die Rechte der Mitmenschen unter den Füßen getreten. Der Mensch wird zum Sklaven seiner eigenen Begierden und verliert das Mitleid zu den Mitmenschen. Als Folge würde er seine eigene Würde und die Würde der anderen Menschen verletzen und zerstören. Wenn die Kraft der Begierde die Mitte und das sittliche Maß verliert, wird der Mensch beim Übermaß zu einem armseligen Lüstling und beim Untermaß zu Jemandem ohne jegliche Begierde. Wenn aber diese Kraft bei einem Menschen nicht existieren würde, dann wäre er in diesem Falle eine Art lebendiger Toter.

Die zweite Kraft: Das Zuwenig dieser Kraft bewirkt, dass der Mensch vor alles und allem Angst hat. Er wird zu einem Feigling, dass sich vor allem fürchtet. Sogar die kleinsten Sachen und Phantasien bringen diesen Menschen durcheinander. Durch das Übermaß dieser Kraft hat der Mensch vor nichts Angst. Er fürchtet sich vor keiner Strafe und scheut sich vor nichts zurück. Gerechtigkeit wird unter den Füssen getreten. Dieses Übermaß führt zur Ausbeutung und Terrorisierung anderer Menschen. Auch hier ist die Mitte von außerordentlicher Wichtigkeit. Sie macht den Menschen zu einem Wesen, dass stets mäßig handelt. Er hat Angst davor, andere Menschen zu verletzen, doch gleichzeitig sucht er mutig sein Recht, wenn er ungerecht behandelt wird.

Bei der dritten Kraft sieht das folgendermaßen aus: Ein Zuwenig dieser Kraft ist die Dummheit und man wird nichts erfassen. So kann man auch die einfachsten Dinge nicht verstehen. Die Überschreitung dieser Kraft bewirkt, dass der Mensch einen Verstand hat, der Unwahrheit als wahr und das Wahre als Unwahrheit zeigen kann. Auch in diesem Punkt ist der gerade Weg die weise Handlung.

Nämlich, das Wahre als wahr anzunehmen und folglich die Unwahrheit als unwahr, und davon Abstand zu nehmen. Dies ist die größte Rechtleitung. Nursi vertritt die Meinung, dass, wenn das Mittelmaß dieser Kraft überschritten und irre geleitet wird, der Mensch seine Beziehungen zum Glauben verliert und sein ewiges Glück zerstört. Wenn die Intelligenzkraft den weisen und einfachen Mittelweg verlässt, wird der Mensch durch die Stufen des Über- und Untermaßes entweder in eine sehr schädliche Gaunerei oder in eine unheilvolle Dummheit verfallen.

Diese Stufen sind Wege, die der Mensch bei manchen Entscheidungen anwendet und die für ihn hilfreich sind. Mit der unteren Stufe wird er in eine menschenverachtende, abscheuliche, qualvolle Angst verfallen. Als Lebendiger wird er eine Art Toter sein. Da er die Rechtleitung verloren hat, wird er als Strafe seiner Fehler permanent Qual erleiden müssen. Dies ist die wahre Quelle der Depression.

Der Mensch soll den Mittelweg dieser Kräfte, die Zusammenfassung und Verschmelzung der wahren Tapferkeit der Vernunft, der Würde, der weisen Handlung, der Weisheit, der Gerechtigkeit, also den rechten Weg als Lebensmaßstab annehmen. Denn der rechte Weg ist für die menschlichen Charaktereigenschaften und für die gesamte Gesellschaft der beste, der nützlichste, der kürzeste und der friedvollste Pfad.

So ein Mensch handelt nach diesem Prinzip: Da, wo die Freiheit des Anderen beginnt, hört meine Freiheit auf. Dieser Schnittpunkt ist die gegenseitige Akzeptanz, die Toleranz. In allen Bereichen des persönlichen und gesellschaftlichen Lebens ist das Maß der nützlichste, kürzeste und einfachste Weg für ein friedliches Zusammenleben. Wenn der Mensch vom rechten Weg abkommt und in die Irre geht, wird er in einen schädlichen Zustand verfallen.

Wenn wir nun versuchen wollen, zu verstehen, wer wir sind, müssen wir uns noch einmal die Reise des Menschen anschauen, doch diesmal unter Berücksichtigung der Seele und der drei Kräfte.

Cemil Sahinöz

Literatur:

· Nursi Said: Isaratü´l-I´caz. Yeni Asya: Istanbul, 2000

· Nursi Said: Stab Mosis. Vfjh e.V. Druck: Köln, 2002

(1) Im Schlaf oder in den Gedanken des Menschen ist die Seele weder an Raum noch an Zeit gebunden. Daher kommt es öfters vor, dass wir etwas erleben, was wir im Schlaf schon einmal geträumt haben. Wir sagen uns dann: „Es ist so, als ob ich genau diesen Augenblick schon einmal erlebt hätte." Im Traum kann es vorkommen, dass einzelne Bilder aus der Zukunft gesehen werden.

Dieses Kapitel ist aus dem Buch: „Wer Bist Du? Die Reise des Menschen" von Cemil Sahinöz

Friendship of the Civilizations

In einem Zeitalter, in dem der Begriff „Clash of the Civilizations” nicht mehr Theorie, sondern eher Medien-, Macht- und Werbemittel ist, ist der Dialog der Kulturen, den ich “Friendship of the Civilizations” nenne, wichtiger als den je.

Beginnen möchte ich meine Ausführungen mit einem Spruch des IV. Kalifen Ali, der da sagte: „Der Mensch mag das nicht, was er nicht kennt!“ Man könnte diesen Satz als die Quelle des oben zitierten Clashs nehmen. Erst wenn sich die Menschen kennenlernen, übereinander und voneinander Lernen und merken, dass sie eigentlich gar nicht so verschieden sind, wie sie sich dachten, entsteht Verständnis füreinander und der Untertitel meines Beitrags kommt zu Stande; nämlich Friendship.

Auch der Soziologe Wolf Lepenies zweifelt am „Kampf der Kulturen“. Er glaubt nicht, dass ein unausweichlicher "Kampf der Kulturen" der Welt bevorsteht und setzt stattdessen auf ein "Hoffnungsbild kultureller Lerngemeinschaften".

Ja, die multikulturelle Gesellschaft ist viel homogener als wir immer denken oder einige glauben möchten. „Das Unbekannte“ oder „der Fremde“ kommen einem öfters „anders“ vor. Erst das Aufeinanderzugehen, Sichkennenlernen eröffnet neue Sichtweisen und neue Perspektiven.

So sind die Menschen laut einem Vers im Koran bewusst und absichtlich vom Schöpfer unterschiedlich erschaffen worden, damit sie sich aneinander kennenlernen. Diese Unterschiedlichkeit soll die Neugier zueinander erwecken; die Neugier, sich kennenzulernen.

Dieser Vers ist der folgende: „O ihr Menschen, Wir haben euch von einem männlichen und einem weiblichen Wesen erschaffen, und Wir haben euch zu Verbänden und Stämmen gemacht, damit ihr einander kennenlernt. Der Angesehenste von euch bei Gott, das ist der Gottesfürchtigste von euch“ (Der Koran: 49,13).

Da ich kein Theologe bin, überlasse ich die Interpretation dieses Verses dem Islamgelehrten Said Nursi, der folgendes dazu sagt: „Damit ihr die Anlässe des gesellschaftlichen Lebens kennen lernt, euch dabei gegenseitig unterstützt und nicht euch gegenseitig verleugnet und miteinander im Streit liegt“ (Nursi, 2004, S.444).

Nursi war der Meinung, dass die Muslime nicht nur unter muslimischen Mitgläubigen zusammenhalten sollten, sondern auch mit den wahrhaft Frommen und mit den christlichen Geistlichen; sie sollten nicht auf die Meinungsverschiedenheiten eingehen und streiten. Damit meinte Nursi nicht, dass es zwischen Muslimen und Christen keine Unterschiede gibt oder diese unwichtig seien. Vielmehr meint er, dass die „ausschließliche Konzentration auf diese Unterschiede, sowohl die Moslems als auch die Christen von ihrer noch wichtigeren Aufgabe abhalten kann, der modernen Welt eine Lebens- und Gesellschaftsvision anzubieten, in dessen Zentrum der Glaube an Gott steht und dessen moralischer Wertmaßstab der Glaube und das Suchen des Gotteswillens ist“ (Michel, 2004, S.17).

Die Unterschiede zwischen den Religionen sind also gegeben. Doch diese sollten nicht das Zentrum des Zusammenlebens bilden. Die Gemeinsamkeiten können mit einem aufrichtigen Dialog hergestellt werden, frei dem Motto: Dialog verbindet Menschen!

Weiterhin heißt es im Koran: „Und streitet nicht mit dem Volk der Schrift“ (Der Koran: 29,46). „Gott verbietet euch nicht, denen, die nicht gegen euch der Religion wegen gekämpft haben und euch nicht aus euren Wohnstätten vertrieben haben, Pietät zu zeigen und Gerechtigkeit angedeihen zu lassen. Gott liebt ja die, die gerecht handeln“ (Der Koran: 60,8). Hier wird dem Muslim geraten gütig zu sein und billig zu verfahren. Die Leute der Schrift sind laute dem Koran die Juden, die Christen und die Sabäer.

Vom Islam her sind also dem Dialog der Religionen und der Kulturen keine Schranken gesetzt. Wichtig ist nur, dass die Aufrichtigkeit betont wird. Ein Dialog kann nur geführt werden, wenn auf beiden Seiten Aufrichtigkeit gezeigt wird und keine „zweifelhaften Spielchen getrieben“ werden. So steht z.B. die Missionierung genau im Gegenteil des Dialogs. Eine gegenseitige Missionierung führt zu Zwietracht und Missverständnissen.

Dem „Friendship of Civilizations“ steht also nichts im Wege. Nur die Bereitschaft und die Aufrichtigkeit zum Dialoge muss gezeigt werden. Es steht also eine menge Arbeit vor uns! Packen wir es an!

Cemil Sahinöz

Literatur:

· Der Koran. Übersetzung von: Khoury Adel Theodor. Unter Mitwirkung von Abdullah Muhammed Salim. Gütersloher Verlagshaus: Gütersloh, 1987

· Michel T.: Christlich-Islamischer Dialog und die Zusammenarbeit nach Bediüzzaman Said Nursi. Söz Basim: Istanbul, 2004

· Nursi S.: Die Briefe. Sözler Verlag: Istanbul, 2004

Erschienen in Ayasofya Nr.19, April 2007