"V" <vfr44@aol.com> wrote in
snip

Thank you for your thoughts Mark.

<long-winded ***** deleted>
Golly gee, I can't imagine why you keep getting kicked out of forums.

I hope V gives this post five minutes of his precious
cappuccino-sipping, cancer-stick-puffing time. You see, I honestly
believe that unless we stand our ground, things will only get worse.
And because of that belief, I'm going to throw politeness and
inoffensiveness to the winds. In this post, I'm going to be as rude and
crude as I know how, to reinforce the point that V can't possibly
believe that space aliens are out to lay eggs in our innards or ooze
their alien hell-slime all over us. He's combative, but he's not that
combative. I am sick of our illustrious "leaders" treading on eggshells
so as not to upset V. Here's what I have to say to them: I've heard V
say that it's okay for him to indulge his every whim and lust without
regard for anyone else or for society as a whole. Was that just a slip
of the lip or is V secretly trying to usher in the beginning of a
loquacious new era of insurrectionism? Whatever the answer, he is not
interested in what is true and what is false or in what is good and
what is evil. In fact, those distinctions have no meaning to him
whatsoever. The only thing that has any meaning to V is defeatism. Why?
We already have our answer; as a respected journalist put it, "I, not
being one of the many mad flag burners of this world, find V's
objectives incompetent, abhorrent, mephitic, and more than a little
brown-nosing". She probably could have added that the term "idiot
savant" comes to mind when thinking of V. Admittedly, that term applies
only halfway to him, which is why I believe that I want nothing more --
or less -- than to ensure that the values for which we have labored and
for which many of us have fought and sacrificed will continue in
ascendancy. To that task I have consecrated my life, and I invite you
to do likewise. Moreover, if you don't think that V would feel an
intense schadenfreude if his proposed social programs made me go crazy,
then you've missed the whole point of this post. I have two words to
say about his bons mots: savage poppycock. Only through education can
individuals gain the independent tools they need to take personal
action and resolve a number of lingering problems. But the first step
is to acknowledge that V insists that going through the motions of
working is the same as working. Sorry, V, but, with apologies to
Gershwin, "it ain't necessarily so."

V says that society is supposed to be lenient towards insensitive,
morally crippled nebbishes. But then he turns around and says that free
speech is wonderful as long as you're not bashing him and the tactless,
insipid backbiters in his materialism movement. You know, you can't
have it both ways, V. If the only way to unmask his true face and
intentions in regard to ethnocentrism is for me to die in oppression,
chaos, and despair, then so be it. It would really be worth it because
V's prevarications will have consequences -- very serious consequences.
And we ought to begin doing something about that. In the past, I've
said that V's grievances are fatally fissiparous. Were I to make such a
generalization today, it would contain a few "weasel words" -- an
escape hatch or that indispensable cliche that V's cop-outs are the
epitome of insensitivity. But because V's memoirs will come back to
bite us in the behind some day, I am not ready to retract my conviction
or to recant error.

I'll try not to dwell on this, but the last time I told V's goombahs
that I want to hold out the prospect of societal peace, prosperity, and
a return to sane values and certainties, they declared in response,
"But all minorities are poor, stupid ghetto trash." Of course, they
didn't use exactly those words, but that's exactly what they meant.
Once again, in order to convince us that he has achieved sainthood, V
often turns to the old propagandist trick of comparing results brought
about by entirely dissimilar causes. People often get the impression
that obdurate mythomaniacs and V's hirelings are separate entities. Not
so. When one catches cold, the other sneezes. As proof, note that V has
a talent for inventing fantasy worlds in which it is hateful to
question his bromides. Then again, just because V is a prolific
fantasist doesn't mean that children should get into cars with
strangers who wave lots of yummy candy at them.

Experience should probably indicate that V would not hesitate to spread
meretricious views if he felt he could benefit from doing so. If I
weren't so forgiving, I'd have to say that if he believes that people
prefer "cultural integrity" and "multicultural sensitivity" to health,
food, safety, and the opportunity to choose their own course through
life, then it's obvious why he thinks that he is a paragon of morality
and wisdom. Perhaps if V thought about it, he'd realize that recidivism
is the modern analogue of slavery. Let me try to explain what I mean by
that in a single sentence: He likes doctrines that bamboozle people
into believing that he could do a gentler and fairer job of running the
world than anyone else. Could there be a conflict of interest there? If
you were to ask me, I'd say that I once told him that I am morally and
ethically opposed to his assertions. How did he respond to that? He
proceeded to curse me off using a number of colorful expletives not
befitting this post, which serves only to show that what we have been
imparting to V -- or what he has been eliciting from us -- is a
half-submerged, barely intended logic, contaminated by wishes and
tendencies we prefer not to acknowledge.

When I first became aware of V's covert invasion into our thought
processes, all I could think was how it would be wrong to imply that V
is involved in some kind of conspiracy to suck up to self-righteous
spoiled brats. It would be wrong because his accusations are far beyond
the conspiracy stage. Not only that, but when he says that he has the
authority to issue licenses for practicing opportunism, in his mind,
that's supposed to end the argument. It's like he believes he has said
something very profound. There are many roads leading to the defeat of
V's plans to take a condescending cheap shot at a person that most
jejune conspiracy theorists will never be in a position to condescend
to. I contend that all of these roads must eventually pass through the
same set of gates: the ability to lend a helping hand. From this
perspective, some of us have an opportunity to come in contact with
doctrinaire rotters on a regular basis at work or in school. We,
therefore, may be able to gain some insight into the way they think,
into their values; we may be able to understand why they want to
redefine humanity as alienated machines/beasts and then convince
everyone that they were never human to begin with. What that means,
simply put, is that V claims that ethical responsibility is merely a
trammel of earthbound mortals and should not be required of a demigod
like him. I feel that the absurdities within that claim speak for
themselves, although I should add that the picture I am presenting need
not be confined to V's apologues. It applies to everything he says and
does. If he can't stand the heat, he should get out of the kitchen. For
all of the foregoing reasons, I can confidently claim that V's method
(or school, or ideology -- it is hard to know exactly what to call it)
goes by the name of "V-ism". It is a superstitious and avowedly
mealymouthed philosophy that aims to provide blinkered vagrants with a
milieu in which they can relabel millions of people as "deplorable".

If I had my druthers, V would never have had the opportunity to scorn
and abjure reason. As it stands, V's flunkies are unified under a
common goal. That goal is to mold the mind of virtually every citizen
-- young or old, rich or poor, simple or sophisticated. Whenever anyone
states the obvious -- that every time he attempts to quote me out of
context, I feel a surge of pure, unadulterated hatred flow through my
body -- discussion naturally progresses towards the question, "When he
promotes one social program after the next to take care of some segment
of society, is he doing it for that segment of society or is he doing
it because he seeks power and position?" It is bootless to speculate on
the matter, but it should be noted that in order to solve the big
problems with V, we must first understand these problems, and to
understand them, we must stick to the facts and offer only those
arguments that can be supported by those facts. In a manner of
speaking, I deeply believe that it's within our grasp to open students'
eyes, minds, hearts, and souls to the world around them. Be grateful
for this first and last tidbit of comforting news. The rest of this
post will center around the way that if we're to effectively carry out
our responsibilities and make a future for ourselves, we will first
have to make this world a better place in which to live. Are you
beginning to get the picture here?

When a political condition of greed, massive corruption, and diversity
of objective is coupled to a social condition of drugs, violence, and
discontent, therein exists the perfect environment for V to label
everyone he doesn't like as a racist, sexist, fascist, communist, or
some equally terrible "-ist". It appears that, for him,
"open-mindedness" isn't a policy or a belief, but a flag to wave when
he feels like it, and one to hide when it doesn't suit his purposes.
Now, that's a strong conclusion to draw just from the evidence I've
presented in this post. So let me corroborate it by saying that I
should note that V is typical of dictatorial bottom-feeders in his wild
invocations to the irrational, the magic, and the fantastic to
dramatize his precepts. I am tired of hearing or reading that it's okay
if V's vituperations initially cause our quality of life to degrade
because "sometime", "someone" will do "something" "somehow" to
counteract that trend. You know that that is simply not true. We ought
to face our problems realistically, get to the root of our problems,
and be determined to solve them. That'll make V think once -- I would
have said "twice" but I don't see any indication that he has previously
given any thought to the matter -- before trying to conduct business in
a bad-tempered, lascivious way.

I may be beating a dead horse here, but I do want to point out that V's
dupes all have serious personal problems. In fact, the way he keeps
them loyal to him is by encouraging and exacerbating these problems
rather than by helping to overcome them. V considers it his calling to
preach the gospel of pessimism to every living creature. Why? That's
easy. To say that V is a martyr for freedom and a victim of fetishism
is impetuous nonsense and untrue to boot.

V is extremely brassbound. In fact, let's see what my
Brassbound-O-Meter has to say about him. Whoa! The needle is off the
scale! It's a good thing I checked, because if everyone does his own,
small part, together we can put to rest the animosities that have kept
various groups of people from enjoying anything other than superficial
unity. It may be soothing and pleasant for him to think that he should
hijack the word "anthropocentrical" and use it to make his tirades a
key dynamic in modern post-structuralism by viscerally defining
"homotransplantation" through the experience of conniving unilateralism
because "it's the right thing to do", but empty-headed fomenters of
revolution are more susceptible to his brainwashing tactics than are
any other group. Like water, their minds take the form of whatever
receptacle V puts them in. They then lose all recollection that V's
ballyhoos are continually evolving into more and more worthless
incarnations. Here, I'm not just talking about evolution in a simply
Darwinist sense; I'm also talking about how many people who follow V's
sentiments have come to the erroneous conclusion that the rest of us
are an inferior group of people, fit only to be enslaved, beaten, and
butchered at the whim of our betters. The truth of the matter is that
he teaches workshops on negativism. Students who have been through the
program compare it to a Communist re-education camp. I'll talk about
that another time. I have other, more important, things to discuss now.
For starters, I am certain that if I asked the next person I meet if he
would want V to manipulate public understanding of communism, he would
say no. Yet we all stand idly by while V claims that the majority of
irresponsible dolts are heroes, if not saints.

V pompously claims that his rejoinders are a breath of fresh air amid
our modern culture's toxic cloud of chaos. That sort of nonsense
impresses many people, unfortunately. It should be intuitively obvious
even to the most casual observer that he has been trying hard to
protect what has become a lucrative racket for him. Unfortunately, that
lucrative racket has a hard-to-overlook consequence: it will ransack
people's homes in the near future. It's about time for V to pay the
piper. And that's why I say to you: Have courage. Be honest. And wage
war on sexism. That's the patriotic thing to do, and that's the right
thing to do.

HB

OK "V" it's taken a day and a half for you too loose most of your
credibility in my eyes.

This sort of post is obviously nothing more than an attack. Mark Bilbo
is very obviously a much more reasonable guy than you now appear.

Cliff Berridge


V wrote:

From:Mark K. Bilbo
Date:Tues, Jan 2 2007 2:33 pm
Email: "Mark K. Bilbo" <g...@com.mkbilbo>
Groups: alt.atheism



Mark K. Bilbo writes:
.
"You're not very bright (V)"


*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********



V:


Thank you for your thoughts Mark. There was a discussion on another
list about developing wisdom. In my own life, experiential education
and desire for change and inner peace helped develop wisdom. William
Blake summed this up, "The road of excess leads to the palace of
wisdom" Unfortunately, some people never get to their destination and
die on the journey. Many persons that have created ugly lives for
themselves via hate and bigotry take the detour and die on the journey
as well. I hope you are able to get to the palace of wisdom someday.
For your sake as well as the sake of the countless others humans you
have touched negatively over the years Mark.

Wisdom is a most important quality to develop if one desires to live a
life at peace. But before we can develop wisdom, we must be able to
think rationally. All these qualities are related. Seeing things
clearly is a byproduct of being at peace and developing wisdom.
Applying wisdom to our actions yields peace and being at peace allows
rational thought. But just applying rational thought alone does not
equal wisdom or peace.

It must being tough being you Mark. You operate by hatred and prejudice
and have no foundation in truth. Whatever I submit must be torn down
and disagreed with as to do otherwise would destroy your sense of ego.
Since you cannot tear down what I write about as false, you work to
tear down me. But that will not work since my self worth is not based
on what you or anyone thinks of me as my self worth is based on truth.
At the end of my posts, I list myself as 'practical philosopher.' You
see, I try to practice what I preach, Remember ..."A wise mans knows
what he says and a fool only says what he knows." I am not a
theoretical philosopher, So I know it works from practical application
Mark.

On and on you go each day harboring hatred and destruction in your soul
with no hope for change. If I could change you I would, but am not God.
Only change can come from you. This change can either be negative or
positive, but one thing is sure...change will come about in your life.
You will either increase the hatred and ill will or decrease it and
replace it with compassion, gratitude and inner peace. But again, the
choice is only yours and no on can do it for you. The first step in the
direction for change is to apologize for all the damage you have done
in your prior life of destroying others. You can start this instant by
going back the best you can and changing the wrongs you have committed
against others in your old life. This will destroy your old ego and
create a new you, one that is rooted in compassion for others and not
rooted in destruction of inner peace. When we get rid of one thing it
makes room for something new to enter.

Whenever we meet others we can tend to pigeon hole these individuals
into the following 3 groups. The person is either judged better than us
or an equal to us or below us. This is an area I work to be mindful of
and reduce it and not promote it, for it stems from the ego. What helps
me is to practice humility, practice compassion by looking for insight
into the other person suffering and to see these types of judgments as
ego based and not useful and to nip them I the bud when they pop up.
(My earlier post entitled "Interdependent With All " goes into more
detail on this subject of releasing our egocentric nature, if you
missed it and want a copy write me.)

A helpful slogan I use with reference to discrimination is: "Live and
Let Live." It comes from my 12 step background and it reminds me of
accepting balance and diversity in the world and also governs the law
that states; just as I enjoy the right to do and exist as I like, this
freedom must be extended to others as well if I am to enjoy it. I am
sorry, but I cannot help you with this matter of hatred other than to
point you in the right direction. The issues you mention stem from your
own personal prejudices. All problems are created in the mind. These
are just such issues that bother you but do not bother me and you have
to come to peace with them for yourself. May I suggest you search your
own mind for the answer, instead of seeking destroy others with abusive
remarks. I can tell you positively that NONE of my concepts of inner
peace came from writing to people to tear them down - so maybe you can
profit from my experience in this area and try another way to build up
your sell esteem by a different method?

The God of Nature decided to balance the world with diversity. Some of
us are better at one thing and some at other things. In your case. you
may have great knowledge in academics or computers lets say, but as we
can see from your posts you are bankrupt when the topic turns to inner
peace. How can you give away what you do not have within? Just as the
cobra spews poison and dung has it stench, the spiritually sick
individual knows only ill will. So it is natural for you to share your
spiritual sickness with others. You can change of course, but it takes
hard work. In the end, the choice will be yours and your alone and I
can tell you flat out inner peace has nothing to do with brightness or
academics as you are proof positive of.

See:

http://jesusneverexisted.org/jne/forum/index.php?topic=3D4.0

http://jesusneverexisted.org/jne/forum/index.php?topic=3D327.0

When destructive emotions take over our lives, we can practice
compassion as a measure to counter these emotions. Hate and compassion
cannot coexist. So if the choice is to foster hatred for another and in
turn rot my insides as well as hurt another person. Or develop
compassion for another and promote peace within them as well as peace
within myself. I make the choice to promote well being and peace
instead of destruction and hate. We can do this by working to develop
insight into the other persons suffering and condition. I also develop
compassion through the practice of equanimity and by using metta. As a
person suffering from anger and rage I find this practice of compassion
very helpful in developing peace.

Maybe something useful in your reviewing "The Affirmations of Humanism:
A Statement of Principles"


=B7 We are committed to the application of reason and science to the
understanding of the universe and to the solving of human problems.

=B7 We deplore efforts to denigrate human intelligence, to seek to
explain the world in supernatural terms, and to look outside nature for
salvation.

=B7 We believe that scientific discovery and technology can contribute
to the betterment of human life.

=B7 We believe in an open and pluralistic society and that democracy is
the best guarantee of protecting human rights from authoritarian elites
and repressive majorities.

=B7 We are committed to the principle of the separation of church and
state.

=B7 We cultivate the arts of negotiation and compromise as a means of
resolving differences and achieving mutual understanding.

=B7 We are concerned with securing justice and fairness in society and
with eliminating discrimination and intolerance.

=B7 We believe in supporting the disadvantaged and the handicapped so
that they will be able to help themselves.

=B7 We attempt to transcend divisive parochial loyalties based on race,
religion, gender, nationality, creed, class, sexual orientation, or
ethnicity, and strive to work together for the common good of humanity.


=B7 We want to protect and enhance the earth, to preserve it for future
generations, and to avoid inflicting needless suffering on other
species.

=B7 We believe in enjoying life here and now and in developing our
creative talents to their fullest.

=B7 We believe in the cultivation of moral excellence.

=B7 We respect the right to privacy. Mature adults should be allowed to
fulfill their aspirations, to express their sexual preferences, to
exercise reproductive freedom, to have access to comprehensive and
informed health-care, and to die with dignity.

=B7 We believe in the common moral decencies: altruism, integrity,
honesty, truthfulness, responsibility. Humanist ethics is amenable to
critical, rational guidance. There are normative standards that we
discover together. Moral principles are tested by their consequences.

=B7 We are deeply concerned with the moral education of our children.
We want to nourish reason and compassion.

=B7 We are engaged by the arts no less than by the sciences.

=B7 We are citizens of the universe and are excited by discoveries
still to be made in the cosmos.

=B7 We are skeptical of untested claims to knowledge, and we are open
to novel ideas and seek new departures in our thinking.

=B7 We affirm humanism as a realistic alternative to theologies of
despair and ideologies of violence and as a source of rich personal
significance and genuine satisfaction in the service to others.

=B7 We believe in optimism rather than pessimism, hope rather than
despair, learning in the place of dogma, truth instead of ignorance,
joy rather than guilt or sin, tolerance in the place of fear, love
instead of hatred, compassion over selfishness, beauty instead of
ugliness, and reason rather than blind faith or irrationality.

=B7 We believe in the fullest realization of the best and noblest that
we are capable of as human beings.

Council for Secular Humanism


As James Allen wrote in As a man Thinketh:

"To think well of all, to be cheerful with all, to patiently learn to
find the good in all - such unselfish thoughts are the very portals of
heaven; and to dwell day by day in thoughts of peace toward every
creature will bring abounding peace to their possessor."

There are 3 components necessary to live a happy life: CONTENTMENT,
LOVE or COMPASSION and GRATITUDE. When we realize that happiness is
there for the taking and it is independent from our circumstances it
someday may sink in that there is nothing stopping us from being
content and happy RIGHT NOW! The choice is your if you have had enough
pain. Examine which of these components is missing in your life.

So, I ask you are you at peace with your life Mark? If so, continue.
And if not, change directions. But do it for you and not for me...then
it will be authentic.

The formula for success is: Authentic Nature + Right Actions =3D Peace

The formula for failure is: Authentic Nature + Wrong Actions =3D
Destruction

Either way the choice is yours alone on how to proceed...no one can do
it for you other than YOU!


Feel free to write me my friend if you would like to discuss any of
this in private, away from the stress of the list.




V (Male)

Agnostic Freethinker
Practical Philosopher
AA#2

OK "V" it's taken a day and a half for you too loose most of your
credibility in my eyes.

This sort of post is obviously nothing more than an attack. Mark Bilbo
is very obviously a much more reasonable guy than you now appear.

Cliff Berridge


V wrote:

From:Mark K. Bilbo
Date:Tues, Jan 2 2007 2:33 pm
Email: "Mark K. Bilbo" <g...@com.mkbilbo>
Groups: alt.atheism



Mark K. Bilbo writes:
.
"You're not very bright (V)"


*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********



V:


Thank you for your thoughts Mark. There was a discussion on another
list about developing wisdom. In my own life, experiential education
and desire for change and inner peace helped develop wisdom. William
Blake summed this up, "The road of excess leads to the palace of
wisdom" Unfortunately, some people never get to their destination and
die on the journey. Many persons that have created ugly lives for
themselves via hate and bigotry take the detour and die on the journey
as well. I hope you are able to get to the palace of wisdom someday.
For your sake as well as the sake of the countless others humans you
have touched negatively over the years Mark.

Wisdom is a most important quality to develop if one desires to live a
life at peace. But before we can develop wisdom, we must be able to
think rationally. All these qualities are related. Seeing things
clearly is a byproduct of being at peace and developing wisdom.
Applying wisdom to our actions yields peace and being at peace allows
rational thought. But just applying rational thought alone does not
equal wisdom or peace.

It must being tough being you Mark. You operate by hatred and prejudice
and have no foundation in truth. Whatever I submit must be torn down
and disagreed with as to do otherwise would destroy your sense of ego.
Since you cannot tear down what I write about as false, you work to
tear down me. But that will not work since my self worth is not based
on what you or anyone thinks of me as my self worth is based on truth.
At the end of my posts, I list myself as 'practical philosopher.' You
see, I try to practice what I preach, Remember ..."A wise mans knows
what he says and a fool only says what he knows." I am not a
theoretical philosopher, So I know it works from practical application
Mark.

On and on you go each day harboring hatred and destruction in your soul
with no hope for change. If I could change you I would, but am not God.
Only change can come from you. This change can either be negative or
positive, but one thing is sure...change will come about in your life.
You will either increase the hatred and ill will or decrease it and
replace it with compassion, gratitude and inner peace. But again, the
choice is only yours and no on can do it for you. The first step in the
direction for change is to apologize for all the damage you have done
in your prior life of destroying others. You can start this instant by
going back the best you can and changing the wrongs you have committed
against others in your old life. This will destroy your old ego and
create a new you, one that is rooted in compassion for others and not
rooted in destruction of inner peace. When we get rid of one thing it
makes room for something new to enter.

Whenever we meet others we can tend to pigeon hole these individuals
into the following 3 groups. The person is either judged better than us
or an equal to us or below us. This is an area I work to be mindful of
and reduce it and not promote it, for it stems from the ego. What helps
me is to practice humility, practice compassion by looking for insight
into the other person suffering and to see these types of judgments as
ego based and not useful and to nip them I the bud when they pop up.
(My earlier post entitled "Interdependent With All " goes into more
detail on this subject of releasing our egocentric nature, if you
missed it and want a copy write me.)

A helpful slogan I use with reference to discrimination is: "Live and
Let Live." It comes from my 12 step background and it reminds me of
accepting balance and diversity in the world and also governs the law
that states; just as I enjoy the right to do and exist as I like, this
freedom must be extended to others as well if I am to enjoy it. I am
sorry, but I cannot help you with this matter of hatred other than to
point you in the right direction. The issues you mention stem from your
own personal prejudices. All problems are created in the mind. These
are just such issues that bother you but do not bother me and you have
to come to peace with them for yourself. May I suggest you search your
own mind for the answer, instead of seeking destroy others with abusive
remarks. I can tell you positively that NONE of my concepts of inner
peace came from writing to people to tear them down - so maybe you can
profit from my experience in this area and try another way to build up
your sell esteem by a different method?

The God of Nature decided to balance the world with diversity. Some of
us are better at one thing and some at other things. In your case. you
may have great knowledge in academics or computers lets say, but as we
can see from your posts you are bankrupt when the topic turns to inner
peace. How can you give away what you do not have within? Just as the
cobra spews poison and dung has it stench, the spiritually sick
individual knows only ill will. So it is natural for you to share your
spiritual sickness with others. You can change of course, but it takes
hard work. In the end, the choice will be yours and your alone and I
can tell you flat out inner peace has nothing to do with brightness or
academics as you are proof positive of.

See:

http://jesusneverexisted.org/jne/forum/index.php?topic=4.0

http://jesusneverexisted.org/jne/forum/index.php?topic=327.0

When destructive emotions take over our lives, we can practice
compassion as a measure to counter these emotions. Hate and compassion
cannot coexist. So if the choice is to foster hatred for another and in
turn rot my insides as well as hurt another person. Or develop
compassion for another and promote peace within them as well as peace
within myself. I make the choice to promote well being and peace
instead of destruction and hate. We can do this by working to develop
insight into the other persons suffering and condition. I also develop
compassion through the practice of equanimity and by using metta. As a
person suffering from anger and rage I find this practice of compassion
very helpful in developing peace.

Maybe something useful in your reviewing "The Affirmations of Humanism:
A Statement of Principles"


· We are committed to the application of reason and science to the
understanding of the universe and to the solving of human problems.

· We deplore efforts to denigrate human intelligence, to seek to
explain the world in supernatural terms, and to look outside nature for
salvation.

· We believe that scientific discovery and technology can contribute
to the betterment of human life.

· We believe in an open and pluralistic society and that democracy is
the best guarantee of protecting human rights from authoritarian elites
and repressive majorities.

· We are committed to the principle of the separation of church and
state.

· We cultivate the arts of negotiation and compromise as a means of
resolving differences and achieving mutual understanding.

· We are concerned with securing justice and fairness in society and
with eliminating discrimination and intolerance.

· We believe in supporting the disadvantaged and the handicapped so
that they will be able to help themselves.

· We attempt to transcend divisive parochial loyalties based on race,
religion, gender, nationality, creed, class, sexual orientation, or
ethnicity, and strive to work together for the common good of humanity.


· We want to protect and enhance the earth, to preserve it for future
generations, and to avoid inflicting needless suffering on other
species.

· We believe in enjoying life here and now and in developing our
creative talents to their fullest.

· We believe in the cultivation of moral excellence.

· We respect the right to privacy. Mature adults should be allowed to
fulfill their aspirations, to express their sexual preferences, to
exercise reproductive freedom, to have access to comprehensive and
informed health-care, and to die with dignity.

· We believe in the common moral decencies: altruism, integrity,
honesty, truthfulness, responsibility. Humanist ethics is amenable to
critical, rational guidance. There are normative standards that we
discover together. Moral principles are tested by their consequences.

· We are deeply concerned with the moral education of our children.
We want to nourish reason and compassion.

· We are engaged by the arts no less than by the sciences.

· We are citizens of the universe and are excited by discoveries
still to be made in the cosmos.

· We are skeptical of untested claims to knowledge, and we are open
to novel ideas and seek new departures in our thinking.

· We affirm humanism as a realistic alternative to theologies of
despair and ideologies of violence and as a source of rich personal
significance and genuine satisfaction in the service to others.

· We believe in optimism rather than pessimism, hope rather than
despair, learning in the place of dogma, truth instead of ignorance,
joy rather than guilt or sin, tolerance in the place of fear, love
instead of hatred, compassion over selfishness, beauty instead of
ugliness, and reason rather than blind faith or irrationality.

· We believe in the fullest realization of the best and noblest that
we are capable of as human beings.

Council for Secular Humanism


As James Allen wrote in As a man Thinketh:

"To think well of all, to be cheerful with all, to patiently learn to
find the good in all - such unselfish thoughts are the very portals of
heaven; and to dwell day by day in thoughts of peace toward every
creature will bring abounding peace to their possessor."

There are 3 components necessary to live a happy life: CONTENTMENT,
LOVE or COMPASSION and GRATITUDE. When we realize that happiness is
there for the taking and it is independent from our circumstances it
someday may sink in that there is nothing stopping us from being
content and happy RIGHT NOW! The choice is your if you have had enough
pain. Examine which of these components is missing in your life.

So, I ask you are you at peace with your life Mark? If so, continue.
And if not, change directions. But do it for you and not for me...then
it will be authentic.

The formula for success is: Authentic Nature + Right Actions = Peace

The formula for failure is: Authentic Nature + Wrong Actions =
Destruction

Either way the choice is yours alone on how to proceed...no one can do
it for you other than YOU!


Feel free to write me my friend if you would like to discuss any of
this in private, away from the stress of the list.




V (Male)

Agnostic Freethinker
Practical Philosopher
AA#2