ramon

RE GOD: If god is perceived as a energy force like the sun/ star or as an entirety like the universe (inclusive of everything within it including stars) as opposed to a really old man (with the big gray beard that sits on a cloud) it seems that it'd be a waste of effort to even want proof, let alone chase it. Seems to me that the Suns are the best candidate we have for gods. Our sun is totally responsible for for all life on earth and its brethern are responsible for creating all of the elements in our bodies and on earth except Hydrogen and some Helium

It just means the universe will warm up a little when you rot. Probably being overly pedantic but The universe won't warm up in the slightest when we rot. It might get a bit more chaotic (i.e. increase in entropy ) but I am sure that we contribute much more heat through our metabolism and comsumption then would ultimately be realized by rotting.

We must learn to be unafraid of those in authority - we must strive for what we know is right and rather than simply serving our own greed and selfishness find, creative ways to 'break the back of the system'. Speaking as someone who was once a political prisoner for 2 hours for refusing to vote at the last referendum. I would think it would be better to modify the system as opposed to breaking its back. Iraq provides a possible example for what happens in the abscence of any political control [ 06. June 2003, 19:48: Message edited by: Ramon ]

In the first half of the bible 'God' constantly gives people diseases, makes them into salt, floods, locusts, mass genocide, etc. He learns from his mistakes though as he is much nicer by the second half. In fact the God of the first testament would be a prime candidate for filling the position of God that is being talked about in this thread. Christians do that, they are trinitarian- they cut their god into three peices 'father' 'son' and 'holy ghost'. Its just that they keep Satan seperate that makes it look otherwise. Way too restrictive to be of any use. eg doesn't even incorporate any feminine aspects

would it be fair to say that anyone who calls themselves a pacifist, should be an anarchist (in the political theorum sense) by default; as the state's power ultimately rests on the threat ov violence & deprivation ov liberty? I believe that there are societies which control their members not my violence or deprivation but by inclusion or exclusion. i.e. Break the rules and you are no longer are welcome member. So in these cases you wouldn't have to be a anarchist as the smooth functioning of those societies requires people to follow the accepted rules As I said these are societies not nation states. Probably impossible to run a nation state without at least the threat of violence

GOD IS THE DEVIL...both are 2 sides of the same "force" It couldn't be any other way if by definition God is omnipotent. Personally I think it was better when people worshiped the different aspects of God like the Romans and the Hindu's. I think I would get on well with someone who had a shrine built for Bacchus but would tend to be a bit wary of someone who worshiped Mars. Not sure that the Romans tended to see their individual Gods are different aspects of the one but fairly sure that is how the Hindus see it. [ 04. June 2003, 14:35: Message edited by: Ramon ]

Saying that all the elements of what we would call order are contained within chaos. We limit the variables so as to make some sort of sense out of it. Order is a special type of chaos. A limited version of it ( leaving aside the probable clash in definitions)

From this experience I think that somewhere at the center of each of us is a spark of this same light, and without it we would not have consciousness, and perhaps without us it would not exist either. I have a very similar view. I believe that what makes us conscious is what I call a cosmic spark. This is our most fundamental aspect. This same conscious spark inhabits every one of us and every thing that is alive. Our experiences are a result of the interaction of this cosmic spark and our body. I tend to see our bodies as a type of antennae which influences how we receive the consciousness. I am sure that most people have noticed that the more we think about something or the more we do a certain activity the more inclined we are to think or do those same things. I tend to see this as tuning the antennae towards those type of thoughts or activities. ( I see this as akin to the Buddhists concept of karma although it doesn’t incorporate the aspects of Karma that are supposed to be left over from previous lives.) Unselfish actions bring us closer to the real nature of this consciousness ie our antennae has less interference because essentially the concept of self is a delusion. Because we are drawing closer to our true nature we tend to be happier or more fulfilled. Selfishness tends to increase the interference because it is fuelled by the ego ( Buddhist ego i.e. Our belief that we are a separate self and not the psychological ego relating to feeling good about ourselves ) Interestingly I believe selfishness makes us less happy as we compare what we have and what others have and seek to increase those things we don’t have which we think will make us happy. This is the basic concept now we complicate it because I subscribe the many universe view of quantum physics. I believe that there is infinite number of universes or a number so large it is beyond our comprehension and in many of these universes I exist but in slightly different variations in each until you have played out every possible variation i.e. prince to pauper, saint to villain etc etc with every aspect of my life. Obviously there is over lap between the variations of myself and the different variations of others so that what I would call the fat villainous pauper version of myself which exists somewhere out there is what someone identifies as themselves now. Each though and actions dictates which version of myself I am aware of at any given time. Ie by exercising I tend to be aware of the versions of myself where I am fit. So that even though there is infinite variations of myself out there my human limitations means I can only ever be aware of one at a time. So essentially what I call my life is a consciousness constantly flicking though already existing version of all the permutations of my life and how I choose to lead my life decides how I will experience it and where I will end up. This consciousness is not subject to time and also non local ie can be everywhere at once but the infinitesimal portion I define as myself is subject to time and constrained to be at only one place in space. Add it all together and the cosmic spark or consciousness simultaneously experiences every possible experience and existence. So that everything which is possible , happens. The purpose of our life as I see it is to remove the factors which create interference between us and this cosmic spark and reintegrate ourselves with our original nature.

being is no god but a "demon" at most... I would have thought that existence of demons would tend to prove the existence of god. I don't believe in either but if someone proved to me the existence of demons I would automatically take it that God existed as well.

The "I Ching" or book of changes is a excellent for communicating with the Universe. Sometimes though you don’t need anything to help you interpret the will of the universe. For instance the universe has made it abundantly clear to me that I need to exercise more. It performed this simply by taking my licence away from me for 6 months.

I think that the growth rate of San Pedro (in particular ). Is more then adequate planted in the ground. I completely ignore my cacti and they still seem to thrive. Having said that I know someone else who waters and fertilizes theirs and they probably grow about four times faster then mine.

we cease to perceive ourselves then we cease to exist. That is what I imagine enlightment is. Not cease to exist completely but ceasing to exist as a independent and distinct entity. does order exist when there is no-one to impose a conceptual framework? then do "waves" exist at all, or are they projections of our own conceptual mechanisms upon a data set that can hold them? ahhh...that's the real question. Personally I think that order is a subset of chaos. We have evolved to screen out most of it and focus on parts that had immediate importance to us. eg. the electromagnetic spectrum is infinite but the part of it we are able to see if infintemsible. Similarly the range of sound that we can hear is a small portion of the available spectrum. So order exists but then it doesn’t really exist because it is merely a limited understanding of the entirety.

Have heard that Benztropine ( Brand name Cogentin) potentiates opiates. Can anyone confirn or deny this. without incriminating themselves off course

and its quite ironic that we all end up being consumed by the trees eventualy Also the more we comsume the faster we end up being consumed ourselves.

It creates sound waves but if there is no hearing apparatus there to convert the sound waves to noise it never gets heard

I guess a professional who is ignorant of the known properties of the medication he is prescribing is bad enough and you are always going to find varying levels of competency amongst any group. But I do find it very scary that as a profession they are prescribing medications where the literature states that they are unaware or the specific mode of action but they are sure that it works. This mainly relates to the newer antipsychotics. Not to mention that they are brainwashed / bribed by the pharmaceutical companies with all free gifts under the guise of education and seminars in resorts where have to spend a few hours learning about the new product and the rest of the weekend is all yours. The whole weekend paid for by the drug company.

I don't think anybody has ever reported any activity from prickly pears.

To combat predators seems to be the dominant theory but as you say infinite monkey this doesn't seem to work so well. The most ravaged plant in my garden in a Angels trumpet which is filled with potent alkaloids. Life purpose supposably to replicate and spread itself. In which case these plants that make these alkaloids have hit upon a incredible strategy. Make Homo sapiens happy in some way and he will take him with you where ever he goes ensuring the plants survival. I personally think that these alkaloids are produced by Gaia as a type of hormone against a particularly malignant type of cancer called consumerism.

Apart from the fact that consuming it would be illegal I think from other discussions in the past that it would probably take about four of them

'demofarcy' I wouldn't of thought one word ( albeit a neologism ) could describe our system of government so completely

Noise is a matter of perception, it requires ears to hear it and a brain to call it noise. Sound just is, it exists with or without us. I contend that sound waves exist without anybody there to here it but that sound doesn't in the abscence of something to convert them from sound waves to sound. [ 26. May 2003, 14:51: Message edited by: Ramon ]

A objective observation would be you have a glass with water in it. Whether it is half full or half empty is a subjective observation. In my opinion all observations are subjective. Some subjective observations are similar enough to everybody else's ( or most anyway ) that we call them objective. Objective is define as existing independently of perception or an individuals conceptions. Essentially we are debating " If a tree falls in the forest without anybody there to hear it , does it make any noise " The answer of course is NO [ 25. May 2003, 11:54: Message edited by: Ramon ]

There has been post on grafting Loph's onto Trich's in the past. People report good growth with pachanoi's but there is one post suggesting that best growth was in the long run Spachianus was better. Go back and read some of these posts for more accurate information than is available to my alcohol soddled brain. Can't find my copy of Trout's notes on Cacti but will post some info on fricci when I find it

So Ramon, you got any other cool download sites to share? Not at this stage but will post any I come across

Thought you were talking about the old Forbiden Fruit site