Who owns you?

Thoughts from Paris!

We sacrifice our control over ourselves all the time.

Some of us are more willing to do this more than others!

For me, I am often known as being blolshi and have been known to be 'Geoffrey awkward' because I am often very reluctant to surrender control to others unless they give me a good reason to do so!

Spirit - Soul

The talk and questions were very thoughtful and entertaining - lots of interesting background - thank you.

For me, I wondered whether the session came within 'philosophy' but rather within psychiatry.

I'm defining philosophy as starting from something someone believes in and exploring the consequences that follow logically from this.

As I find the word spirit doesn't mean anything for me, I find it difficult to follow what consequences there are.

It comes across as a religious belief and hence one that is self fulfilling if you believe it.

What was interesting/challenging for me was finding words that would replace 'spirit' which is where I would resort to words like depression (the lack of spirit) and being pro-active and recognising possible actions , expressions which I would associate with psychology.

Trying to understand this and find my way through this!

It's good to be challenged to use a different vocabulary!

Another fascinating session - thank you both.

Why did religion get serious?

The following thoughts arose while reading an article about the setting up of a project, involving 9 European Universities to examine religious belief and behaviour (religiosity). The project is led by Oxford and is called EXREL.

“Primitive” religions are largely attempts to explain and control the environment. There are various spirits, gods and influences which determine or undermine the orderly running of things but may need propitiating from time to time. For example the Egyptians saw their main god (the sun) everyday, knew that they depended upon him for their existence, so made sure he came up every morning by carrying out appropriate ceremonies. We have a similar understanding, but call it science. The mystery is no longer there but the reality still is. Gods are seen as superior beings, with power over us, but are largely much the same as people. Add to this, in most cases, the question of what happens after death and you end up with a model which more or less fits most religions except:

The Judaeo/Christian/Islamic tradition.

Why is this? It is the only religion which postulates an eternal omniscient creator. A God who is completely beyond the comprehension of mere humanity, although a high proportion of believers probably still think in terms of a man with a white beard up there somewhere. Where did the idea come from? Why was it exclusively western?

Self Esteem

Where does it come from?

It seems that the harder the task the greater the self esteem that results when we've cracked it.

Aiming at the right difficult of task is clearly important.

Watching televison and climbing Everest would clearly be two extreme points on a continuum.

Don't do anything . . . depression results!

However thinking can be doing.

So what kind of thinking leads to self esteem/depression

Stem Cell Research

Is this philosophy or just a rant?

Some Thoughts on the Current Controversy about Embryo Research

The creation of human/cow “hybrid embryos”

1. The misinformation.

   A hybrid is produced by the combination of a male and female germ cell. The so-called hybrids under discussion are produced by fusing the nucleus of a human cell with the shell of a female cow germ cell. This is not a hybrid nor even chimera.

   Nor could it ever become an embryo. It is with luck a multipotent stem cell which might be persuaded to multiply, but, with the present state of knowledge, it could never develop into viable life.

2. The Facts

   Stem cells have potential to treat a number of debilitating and fatal diseases. More research is needed before any possibility of treatment arises. Sources of stem cells are rare and difficult to acquire, but the human/cow “hybrid” would be relatively easy to produce for research.

3. The Church

   Particularly the Catholic Church, but also many “right to life” literalists express horror at the obscenity of producing such “embryos” and then not allowing them to develop.

   Being charitable one might assume that they are simply misguided, but this still begs the question of why anyone pays attention to these protests. Life for the stem cells is not an issue (see above), though life for those suffering terminal disease might be!

   The Catholic Church in particular cannot be taken seriously on this point given the millions it has killed – the crusades, the inquisition, the genocide of the Cathars (largely because the Cathars actually practised Christianity) and the continuing undermining of attempts to counter the aids epidemic, suggest that the last thing the Catholic Church is interested in is the sanctity of life.

'Democracy' ?

Lifted from this page

Some reflections: -

What makes us so sure that the export of 'Democracy' to places like Afghanistan and Iraq is a good thing?

Democracy doesn't work in this country. It is cynically manipulated. Or the vast majority decline to get involved.

People vote for leaders that will make decisions for them so that they don't have to think for themselves.

The questioning minds that led to Greek Philosophy and spawned Democracy are a thing of the past with children and adults not encouraged to think. Education these days teaches them what they need to know - not to question. People give little spare time to think around the pros and cons of important topics - affordable housing, the raising of their children.

Gangs of young people turn to violence because they are told they are failures and feel excluded from society. We avoid engaging with them through fear - which encourages them to feel 'good' about themselves - this is their source of self-esteem - not what they have achieved.

Their parents have low self-esteem because they don't feel they are coping well with their problems, even their own children.

We need to encourage all people to talk to each other, debate issues, and have the belief that they have some effective input/control over their lives - to feel good about themselves and walk tall.

The export of democracy is a distraction - we need to sort ourselves out!