What Is "Will Power"?

@tenderfoot,

Quote:

Don't see rex's need to quote from his bible.. Soon as you delve into mythologies you loose your right to be believed

Why on earth would quotes from the bible make you less believable, if said quotes are relevant / valid? Religions have long pondered the question of willpower, whether or not they know it.

I'm often amazed as the 'there's no proof for God, therefore everything in the bible is superstition' nonsense. Not a single person can substantiate that attitude, if they dig far enough...yet that is what they accuse Christians of (being unable to substantiate God).

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@vikorr,

It is no wonder people want to discredit the bible and most other religious documents. The ambiguity, contradiction, bigotry and exclusivity are contrary to what "God" really is to me. In my old age I have needed to leave much of the bible behind myself. When I was young, naive and idealistic I believed but as I live more I wonder if religio0n is the root of all evil. All the love for money in the world cannot compare to the evil perpetrated by religion and the bible. I know I lose religious friends when I say stuff like this but I feel compelled to out of a good conscience.

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@RexRed,

Oh my comment wasn't that the bible doesn't contain many contradictions, and can be manipulated by power hungry people - it does and can...you will need to read my comments in context of what it was in reply.

As you get older still, you will also realise that the Bible isn't the root of much evil (though it has many accounts of evil) - people's fear, and peoples desire for power and dominance take care of that...sadly it's not love, nor money that make the world go round, but power.

If you go and read the accounts of Jesus, without reading the accounts of any other person or part of the bible - it's an interesting read, purely because it's so different from the rest of the bible...almost Buddhist / Eastern mystic like.

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@vikorr,

Yes, the interpretations of what I consider to be the more sophisticated religious scholars describe Jesus very like (1) an ethical genius somewhat like Dostoyevski's Prince Myshkin (in The Idiot) and (2) a mystic. He certainly was not a magician as most of our fundamentalist pseudo Christians would have it

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@vikorr,

My last post was not actually directed at you. It was sort of a blanket statement.
I am in agreement with you up until the point that hidden within even the Jesus accounts is a type of occult messaging and is this really honesty and "truth"?

"I am the way, the TRUTH and the life..."

Why can't people just say what they mean, why hide a secret meaning in these deeds as if common people are too stupid to understand. Parables and allegories will never compare to plain and simple truth. After such manipulation is the will actually free and is not the power of the will deceived and defeated by deception? All so the, err, "chosen few" can have their jollies. It is harder and yet more honorable to speak the truth than to tell a manipulative lie.

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@RexRed,

Quote:

Why can't people just say what they mean, why hide a secret meaning in these deeds as if common people are too stupid to understand. Parables and allegories will never compare to plain and simple truth.

Hmmm...I've always thought parable a wonderful way to teach, because you aren't beating people over the head with 'the truth' - they can 'discover' the lessons for themselves in parables.

Also, considering the amount of self-deception that we engage in as humans, why do you think the direct truth would necessarily be welcome?

And what is the truth? Your truth? My truth? Someone else's entirely?

Quote:

After such manipulation is the will actually free and is not the power of the will deceived and defeated by deception?

What is the nature of our mind? Our habits? Our emotional reasoning? Our automated responses? Who decides how they are formed? The vast, vast majority of humans don't bother to consciously construct their automated responses (instead it is done passively, barely without each individuals knowledge), and even when you do, those automated responses will not serve all circumstances. Automated responses serve a very important purpose in our lives, but need to be balanced by awareness - which serves as important a part of life - on the other side of the balance scale....most people don't bother becoming aware either.

Quote:

All so the, err, "chosen few" can have their jollies. It is harder and yet more honorable to speak the truth than to tell a manipulative lie.

That one is a discussion all in itself.

If you choose to create your life - what are you doing?

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It appears that Jesus lived under the assumption that the plain truth was to much for the common mind to handle.

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Ephesians 3:16 KJV
That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

Comment: What/who is the "inner man"?

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@RexRed,

There are plenty of truths that many people rejects :

You are responsible for your life : this sounds logical, but there are an enormous amount of people out there that say 'you make me...', 'he made me so (eg.) mad', 'it's your fault I got mad', 'I'm an alcoholic because of (something or someone else)', 'if you hadn't (something), then I wouldn't have...'

The wealth you have (whether monetary, social, spiritual, mental, etc) is a product of who you are, and is something you create. Many, many people believe the rich are just lucky (well, these days you can win the lotto...and most of those who do go back to where they were in 5 years anyway).

Plenty more I'm sure, but they are the two that come to mind.

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@vikorr,

Let's not forget Jesus casting out devils as if it was the devil spirits making people have leprosy and hemophilia etc. Perhaps Jesus believed the power of the mind/spirit could move mountains but I prefer to use more conventional means, a bulldozer, to move the earth. And why cast a mountain into the sea? I think they are pretty where they are... One may argue that DNA is switched on and off by various means but these means are again not spiritual but biological.

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The sea has enough trouble with the mountain of trash floating in the pacific ocean. Faith is not going to move that trash, aliens are not going to come down and move it for us, NO, it will take humans diligently laboring to clean up this earth not prayer and and wishful thinking. It is time people stop deluding themselves with religiosity. Trash is plenteous but the laborers are few.

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@RexRed,

I had always been under the assumption that 'being possessed by evil spirits' referred to crazy people.

Certainly many miracles are attributed to the Jesus story. I find the things he said and did much more interesting, though the miracles are noteworthy, supposedly proving that he was divine. As for the 'miracles', I do note that faith healers exist even in todays world. There seems to be a lot of argument about them, which I've never bothered looking into (doesn't much interest me), and without doing the research personally, it would be hard to know which slant the 'researchers' went into the research with.

What I have read - not on miracles, but on the subconscious, is there are documented cases of the subconscious healing the body (notably a case of a new 'miracle trial drug' taken by a male with terminal cancer, and his cancer retreated or grew according to what he read in the paper. He eventually died after reading too many times that it was a hoax...it did turn out to be nothing), or preventing injury (the fire-walkers), or providing extremely abnormal strength (though it injures the body), and other things.

Though I haven't read into it, acupuncture can be applied through accupressure, and there are many adherents of Reiki.

Still, as I said, it's not the miracles that are of true interest in the Jesus story.

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Will power is why wondering why I didn't walk up to a nun the other day at the supermarket and thank her for depriving my homosexual lover and I of being married and asking her why she is dressed in the color of evil?

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-.-' So stupid that allways some dumass envolves god into everything.... You can belive... but you don't have the proof.. so you can not say that asshole..! Willpower is a choice... If things go bad and you start fallin... Its the state of the mind that you are... Mind registers two things.. : GET THE **** IN AND GO ALL THE WAY... or in most cases... give up, its not worth it... Willpower helps when you realy want something.... like 4 exp.. it can help with a loved person if it doesn't work in the start... Or let say... If your fat... and you want to get slim... If you want your life to get better , do something with it ( people who always want more ) willpower will guid you throw that journey... But if you think you are just fine as being the fatass as you are... your prob.. nothing acoplished... Willpower is like a ignore button on facebook.. only in your mind... I dont care if it didnt workout at the firsplace.. i dont care its genetics... I dont care if the odds are 1:1000000000000000.... and so on... You can do it all... but with willpower you can do some more... And to be honest... Persons with high willpower are realy appreciated... No body likes a cry baby that lets his hands go on everything.. Wink

( just don't confuse willpower with adrenaline... two difrent things.. Wink

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@nebojsa,

nebojsa wrote:

-.-' So stupid that allways some dumass envolves god into everything.... You can belive... but you don't have the proof.. so you can not say that asshole..! Willpower is a choice... If things go bad and you start fallin... Its the state of the mind that you are... Mind registers two things.. : GET THE **** IN AND GO ALL THE WAY... or in most cases... give up, its not worth it... Willpower helps when you realy want something.... like 4 exp.. it can help with a loved person if it doesn't work in the start... Or let say... If your fat... and you want to get slim... If you want your life to get better , do something with it ( people who always want more ) willpower will guid you throw that journey... But if you think you are just fine as being the fatass as you are... your prob.. nothing acoplished... Willpower is like a ignore button on facebook.. only in your mind... I dont care if it didnt workout at the firsplace.. i dont care its genetics... I dont care if the odds are 1:1000000000000000.... and so on... You can do it all... but with willpower you can do some more... And to be honest... Persons with high willpower are realy appreciated... No body likes a cry baby that lets his hands go on everything.. ( just don't confuse willpower with adrenaline... two difrent things..

Who likes cry babies? I like cry babies... and I am not ashamed to admit it. Crying is a perfectly healthy way of coping with bad people and things. Maybe bullies don't like cry babies but who likes bullies? Smile

You can cry about something and I will still like you...

We all regress when we are deeply and emotionally distraught about something, it is part of being human.

Also it was the Catholics that took their money donated to feed the poor and put it to stopping gay marriage. So who is involving religion into personal matters? Them... And, "what is good for the goose is good for the gander..."

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What Is "Will Power"?

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