Tag Archives: thoughts

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Blog Prompt Challenge – Spirituality

How important is spirituality in your life?

I don’t know – because the question is as vague, and impossible to nail down, as a will-o’-the-wisp.  I would have to say, Not at all, because I see no evidence that such a thing exists.

I imagine that the person who posed this question thought that it was clear and straightforward, but like arguments for the existence of a “GOD,” no-one can give a firm, precise definition, and no two people agree on what it is.

The dictionary says that it is the quality or fact of being spiritual, predominantly spiritual character as shown in thought, life, etc.; spiritual tendency or tone, without actually saying just what “Spirit” is, besides someone’s desperate imagination.

I recently read an online article titled, “The brain is mortal, but is the mind eternal?”   Neither I, nor millions of other Atheists, have ever been shown evidence to indicate that such a thing is even possible.  Despite the fact that the headline was posed as a question, there will be thousands of Christian debaters and Apologists who will use it as Proof, “because I read it.”

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Religious Horseless Carriage

In order to attempt to justify their beliefs and faith, many Christian debaters make pre-suppositional claims that are the complete opposite of logic and observed reality.

With respect, his entire point on meaning is that Atheists cannot ground *their* sense of meaning in anything and therefore any sense of meaning is illusory. His argument is entirely that meaning must be grounded in something ultimate and, unless it is, it is ultimately meaningless. That strikes me as self-evidentially true and the Atheist must show how whatever subjective meaning they insist to be meaningful is, in fact, ultimately meaningful. There may be answers to that, but it is for Atheists to offer them. One cannot simply sneer one’s way out of answering.

“Meaning” doesn’t prove God. It would take the confirmed existence of a God, to prove meaning. My sense of meaning is grounded in what I think and feel. I can prove that I exist, and have opinions – which is more than the greatest winner of Hide and Seek can do. 

Nobody was arguing that the ability to provide subjective meaning proves God exists though the argument being made was that subjective meaning is not ultimately grounded and so it is ultimately meaningless. It requires something ultimate to ground ultimate meaning otherwise it isn’t ultimate. Everybody recognizes your subjective sense of meaning is grounded in what you think and feel.

This author has no evidence for his claims, and simply insists that meaning in one’s life has to be “objective” to be worth anything.  He has put the cart firmly before the horse, but sadly, I can still see the horse’s ass.  If God cannot be shown to exist then, no matter how much he wants and needs an ‘ultimate’ ground for (his) morality, my/our ‘subjective’ one is the best there is.

Businessman/philosopher Charlie Kirk went to college and university campuses to debate with students.  When he was discussing politics, education, or finance, his thoughts were clear and hard.  When a subject like abortion or transgender led him into his Christian beliefs, an eighth-grade student could embarrass him.

Archeology has never proved the Bible wrong.
In 1000 pages, the Bible says a thousand different things – some good, some bad, many irrelevant.  With the same degree of accuracy and truth, it could be said that Archeology has never proved Harry Potter wrong.  We found this magical castle/campus, but it’s not Hogwarts.  A negative cannot be proven.

I was in a bad place, but I gave myself to Jesus, and I turned my life around, and became a successful businessman.
No He Didn’t!!  He gave himself to the belief in Jesus, and the placebo effect.  He was told that if he did X, Y would occur.  He did X, and Y occurred, but the two were not related.  He was told that he needed a crutch, but never noticed that he accomplished it with his own strength and resolve, and never actually needed the crutch.

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Smitty’s Loose Change #28

If you owned a roadside billboard, what would it say?
THIS SPACE FOR RENT

What are your thoughts on the concept of living a very long life?
I’ve been considering the concept now for a little over 80 years, but I think I should continue to examine it for another 10 or 20 years to reach an informed conclusion.

Can you provide a positive example of where you’ve felt loved?
It would seem to be difficult to provide a negative example – unless we’re talking about the choir loft at the Catholic Church.

Who are your favorite people to be around?
People with longer arms, and deeper wallets than me.  I wouldn’t say that I’m a cheap bastard – because it takes more space on the screen, and those little electrons aren’t free.

Describe a phase in life that was difficult to say goodbye to.
Babyhood.  I didn’t develop the necessary language skills for several years, and by then it was too late.

What is your last learned skill?
I am finally able to listen to Theists seriously describe their religion, and their particular Deity, without bursting into laughter.

What activities do you lose yourself in?
Nature hikes

You’re getting a tattoo.  What does it say and where do you put it?
Where?  Trump’s forehead
What?  DNR
Return to sender
Convicted felon
Chester Cheeto
Objects may be dumber than they appear
I’m with stupid – and put the matching one on Musk

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If there are 6,400 unpaid tax accounts in the city, then 14% of homeowners are not paying their fair share.  What are these people going to do when their properties are reassessed, ask for more pity?  List now, before property taxes return to normal, so that people who can afford their homes can pay their fair share, increase Regional coffers and reduce financial pressure on the rest of us.

Op-Ed letter printed Boxing Day, Dec. 26/24 while I could still hear Ebenezer Scrooge saying, ARE THERE NO PRISONS?  ARE THERE NO POORHOUSES?

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As a response to Trump’s threat to impose tariffs, a newspaper article featured a local restaurant owner who was promising, and urging others, to “buy local.”  The name of his restaurant??!  “A Taste of Brazil??”  There are not many cocoanuts or bananas grown nearby.

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Concept Blog

When I first began blogging, an online friend told me that I was in for some free psychiatric therapy.  I was reminded of his comment recently, when I accessed and read the following post which said, in its entirety:

CONCEPTUALIZE and understand
the storage of memories
many curves
mostly uphill
where are you going with your thoughts?
winged chariots
strong medications
long preserved virginity
how small the dead look
a fistful or two
people argue space
too little
for the great sweeps of time
colorless in death
the view from the grave
a different pattern of imagery

This looks like a shopping list of discussion topics for someone’s next psychiatrist, or psychologist, therapy session.  Maybe I’m too linear.  I know what every word means, but I have no idea what the author is attempting to say – or why.  I quickly exited the site, before some AI algorithm sieve got me listed in a potential terrorist watch-list, or tagged me for involuntary mental observation.

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Poetry Pavilion

For your viewing pleasure today, I present a couple of small pieces of poetry.  I have published these before, but felt that they warranted being repeated. These came from the British pop group, The Moody Blues – small bits of verse, not large enough to be set to music, as a song – probably written by Justin Hayward, or John Lodge.

MOODY BLUE

Breathe deep the gathering gloom.
Watch light fade from every room.
Pensitive people look back and lament,
Another day, uselessly spent.

Impassioned lovers wrestle as one.
Lonely man cries for love, and has none.
Senior citizens wish they had some.
New mother picks up and suckles her son.

Cold-hearted orb, that rules the night.
Removes the colors from our sight.
Red is grey, and yellow, white,
But we decide which is right.

And which, is an illusion….

 

MOODY CONTEMPLATION

Between the eyes and ears there lie
The sounds of color
And the light of a sigh
With thoughts of within
To exclude the without
The ghost of a thought
Will exclude all doubt
And to name this thought
Is important to some
So they gave it a word
And the word is ‘OM’

Give them some contemplation and meditation.  Sometime in the future, I will probably republish “Tale Of The Great Northern Knight”, and wonder how its author, White Lady In The Hood, is doing.

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’24 A To Z Challenge – S

Shiver me timbers!  Scupper and scuttle me, mateys.  It’s time for a post about the letter S.

I thought that I would tell you about the first young couple to get caught

SCRUMPING

It was Adam and Eve – and not doing what you might have thought, at all.  “Scrumping” means to

Steal fruit

Scrumping is an old-fashioned informal term in England that means to steal fruit such as apples from trees. It is a dialectal term that can also refer to something that is shriveled or cooked to a crisp.

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About what you thought it might mean:  If God created Adam and Eve immortal – no sin, no death, no painful childbirth, no human race – did He also create them with sexual equipment and orgasms, or was Eve just there to make apple butter??  Discuss among yourselves, and with any available tight-assed Buy-Bull thumper.

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Inspired Fibbing Friday

Some real silliness last week, inspired by song lyrics, daft thoughts that entered Pensitiviy101’s head and fill-ins from the internet.

1. What is a ‘da doo ron ron’?

I told you not to eat that spicy curry.  Now, it’s not just your eyes that are brown.  I’m glad that I bought stock in ‘Depends.’

2. What is meant by ‘de do do do, de dah dah dah’?

That’s Morse Code message to Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers – ‘cause we’re the only ones old enough to remember Morse Code, or know what it is/was – that says, “Keep yer nostalgia-lined mouth shut, and don’t say stupid stuff like, “Back in my day, songs had some body, and meaning to them.”

3. What is a Rock a doodle do?

A daring, and rebellious hairstyle in its day, it is currently an un-Woke, if passé statement, that the bearer doesn’t give a shit about Snowflakes’ feelings.

4. How would you define the word PRICKLE?

Very carefully, and very delicately – perhaps with some assistance from a hedgehog.

5. What is an airhead?

That’s the thing that MAGA hats sit on.

6. What is Mahna Mahna?

It’s a Pakistani dish that is sweeping the pubs and clubs in Glasgow.  It is made from salamanders, quahogs, nettles, and camel butter, served with crusty rolls made from sesame flour.

7. What is a rockin’ robin?

That’s Batman’s young ‘protégé,’ after delivery of the latest shipment of edibles.  The Caped Crusader wants him to slide down the Bat-pole – not that there’s anything wrong with that.

8. What is a hoecake?

It’s a makeup holder, used by ladies of negotiable virtue to putty up the cracks, and apply a coat of Kem-Tone.

9. Why did Tiny Tim ‘Tiptoe Through The Tulips?’

Because ‘da doo ron Ron’ went that way, on his search for a washroom.

10. Why isn’t it easy being green?

Buy a Tesla – or any electric vehicle – to save hydrocarbons, and reduce emissions, and people assume that you are somehow allied with Elon Musk.  In that way lies chaos, and strangely-named children.

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Setup Fibbing Friday

Last week was another set of question offered to Pensitivity101 by fellow blogger Archon’s Den.  (Ta-Da!)
What do you make of these?

1. Betrump

That is the woe that will betide the United States, if there are enough desperate, gullible voters to re-elect a multiply-convicted felon.

2. Cony-catch

That’s a form of juggling, using special, Fall-Fair hotdogs.

3. Crapulous

Living in a small town, we don’t have a sewage system.  Houses just have septic tanks.  Some of the older houses still just have cesspools – or British cesspits – although, ours are covered over.  There’s a local firm that comes around occasionally, to pump them out.  It’s called Poker Pumping, and the motto on the honey-wagon says, “A straight flush beats a full house.”

4. Dowsabel

It’s the signal for the end of the stock trading day on the NYSE.

5. Ear-rent

This is the up-front, per-minute charge that I demand, to listen to duct-cleaners, campaigning politicians, and rabid religious missionaries.  I have kinda, sorta learned to listen to the wife, or I will pay.

6. Flexanimous

This is the exact opposite of what I was at the beginning of my life.  Nowadays, my thoughts and opinions are as rigid as my protesting muscles and joints.

7. Gazophylacium

This is a new medication developed to relieve acid reflux, caused by a hiatus hernia.

8. Grum

Cheer up, they said.  Things could be worse.  So I cheered up.  Sure as shit, things got worse.  Things always seem to go from bad to worse.  Yesterday, they were grim.  Today they are grum.

9. Hugger–mugger

This WOKE shit is getting Waaayyyy out of hand.  Apparently, there are no more armed robbers.  There are just financially-disadvantaged street residents.  I’m of the, “That’s not a knife.  That’s a knife Beretta 9-mil, opinion.”  It cuts recidivism 100%.

10. Lucubrate

This is a system to assign values to the untruths we spread.  It ranges from tact, – (No, dear, those yoga pants don’t make your butt look big.  It’s your addiction to Godiva chocolates that does that.) to white lies, fibs, euphemisms, misdirection, real lies, damned lies, statistics, and Vote for me.  I’m not really a rich, condescending asshole, I just married into the money.

How many British Prime Ministers does it take to change a light bulb?
No-one knows.  They don’t stay in office long enough to do it.

Fancy a cuppa?

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Rosy Retrospective Fibbing Friday

Once upon a time, Pensitivity101’s theme was They don’t make them like that anymore.
You might be familiar with them, and her apologies for being biased towards the UK. but if you didn’t know what these were, what are your thoughts?

1.Mini Clubman

The first time my girlfriend saw me naked, she said, “Who are you going to satisfy with that??”  I replied, “Me!”  As David Niven once said, I’m not afraid to show my shortcomings.  Caution!  Objects in your imagination may be smaller in reality.

2.   Morris Minor

This is a constellation near Ursa Major, and Ursa Minor, but it’s not a bear.  It’s a hedgehog.

3.   Range Rover

That was “The Duke” John Wayne.  He has been replaced by Patrick Stewart.  Somehow, Pilgrim, it just ain’t the same.

4.   Hillman Imp

He’s the wee fellow who lives across the way.  Not a bad lad – not evil – but our neighbourhood’s version of Dennis the Menace – always into something – spraying the neighbour’s cat with a garden hose, if it climbs over the fence – making a battle-flag for his two-wheeler from his Dad’s golf club and his mom’s underwear.  How I envy him his freedom and fun.

5.   Datsun Violet

Nissan wanted to produce and market a low-priced car.  Soon they had plants, and equipment, and employees, and suppliers, and dealers ready.  What they didn’t have, was an advertising and promotion package, because the sales staff could not come up with a name that was agreed on.  With the deadline looming, a female marketing exec, whose Japanese name meant “Violet,” called a counterpart at Volkswagen for inspiration.  Und, how zoon do you need a name?  She answered, “By next Monday.”  Ach!  Datsun, Violet??

6.   Triumph Herald

Once upon a time, there was an Angel who could not sing in public.  God sent him to Heavenly counselling, to cure his shyness.  Now, Hark, the Herald Angel sings.  It is a triumph.

7.   Austin Cambridge

He was the 7th actor to portray Dr. Who.  He had a fantastic vehicle.  It got 1000 light-years to the gallon.

8.   Ford Capri

Capri pants are items of women’s wear that don’t reach the shoes – or even the ankles – by THAT much.  So, a Ford Capri is a vehicle that fails to be a real car – by just THAT much.

9.   Alfa Romeo

He’s “The Quicker Picker-Upper” down at the dance club.

10. Talbot Horizon

That’s the imaginary vista of freedoms that the Woke Brigade feels they should have – as long as it’s at someone else’s expense.  Today’s newspaper headlines – page one
Activist claims lowered speed limits in residential areas mean nothing without enforcement – page two
Police lay six speeding charges in school zone in one hour
wah, wah, gimme, gimme, I want, I want!  Don’t bother me with facts.  I’m busy being outraged.

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Fibbing Friday Babes

 

Last week Pensitivity101’s theme was Out of the Mouths of Babes.

You might be familiar with them, but if you didn’t know what they were, what are your thoughts?

1. What is a Moo Moo?

It is a billowing, figure-concealing, caftan-like dress worn by women who get married, and don’t want to attract the wrong kind of attention any more.

2. What is a Bow Wow?

That’s when an amply-endowed female performer with a low-cut top takes a curtain call.

3. What is a Gee Gee?

She’s the younger sister of the Bee Gees.

4. What is a Botty Cough?

The wife said that she’d been sitting, knitting, in her chair so long that her ass fell asleep.  I said, “I know.  I heard it snore three times.”

5. What is a Chookie Egg?

There are two kinds of people
1: Those who can extrapolate from insufficient data

This is an IKEA joke.  Some self-assembly is required, or it falls flat.

6. What is a Choo Choo?

Oh, that’s right!  You haven’t seen me at an all-you-can-eat buffet.  People who don’t watch closely think that I absorb the food through osmosis.

7. What is a Tick Tock?

Someone once said that rap music was so that Negroes with otherwise no talent, could make outrageous amounts of money.  Tick-Tock is its recent technological successor.  People with otherwise no intelligence – who make the Kardashians look smart and talented – post short videos of things that they do, on the internet.  They would give their soul – if they had one – for a handful of likes and follows.

8. What is a Paw Paw?

An adopted child – with two dads.  Don’t ask.  Don’t tell.

9. What is a Heffalump?

Dat vas me, ven ein told mein doktar, “I heffalump on mein arm, und it hurts to salute.”  She told me to stay oudt of those places….  No, vait – das vas eine different joken.”

10. What are Jammies?

They were the five friends I hung out with in high school, who decided to form a band, (Two of them had never touched an instrument.) because The Beatles did, and made a skillion dollars, and five guys from the next town did, and got a few gigs at a cheap dance hall.  Someone once asked me what I played, and I replied, “The radio.”