gemini1906

Colleges and Universities

This is not my picture. This is a photograph of Hubert Harrison also called Black Socrates (April 27, 1883 - December 17, 1927). He was a Black Freethinker and I admire his fight for free thought especially in the African American community during the Harlem Renaissance.

Dubito, Ergo Cogito, Ergo Sum: I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am - Rene' Descartes
Every true faith is infallible -- It performs what the believing person hopes to find in it. But it does not offer the least support for the establishing of an objective truth. Here the ways of men divide. If you want to achieve peace of mind and happiness, have faith. If you want to be a disciple of truth, then search. - Nietzsche

You must be the change you wish to see - Mahatma Gandhi

My Credo

This is a poem that was on my grandmother's obituary and I strive to live by. I love and miss you grandma....

I have to live with myself and so,

I want to be fit for myself to know.

I want to be able as the days go by,

Always to look myself straight in the eye,

I don't want to stand at the setting sun

And hate myself for the things I've done

I want to go out with my head erect.

I want to deserve all men's respect.

For here in this struggle for fame and self,

I want to be able to like myself.

I don't want to look at myself and know,

That I am blustered and bluffed and an empty show.

I can never hide myself from me.

I see what others may never see.

copyright 2007

Son of preacher to Freethinker

How did I get to my views? I grew-up in a Pentecostal holiness church, my father (deceased) and mother were ministers (my mother still is). As most religious ideology begins, mine begin as a child. I attended church every Sunday, Wednesday, and whenever there was a revival or other function going on in the denomination I was in church. I accepted the bible as the "word of God", inerrant, infallible and literally true. I accepted the story of Adam and Eve, the fall of man, the flood and everything from Genesis to Revelation as absolute truth. I grew up with the idea of the imminent return of Jesus and so I felt there was no reason to plan for the future or be concern with educational goals, marriage, or planning for adulthood. My transition started about 12 years ago. I was faithfully paying my tithes but was falling behind in my bills and so I ask the question, why does an invisible deity need 10% of my income? For those of you who don't know what tithes are it the belief that 10% of your income belongs to God, it was establish by the priest (Levites) in old testament times as their inheritance when the 12 tribes of Israel divide the conquered land of the


I don't take the bible literally anymore it is just a compiled book with ancient Hebrews, Egyptians, Babylonians, and other near east mythologies. I am not an atheist nor am I theist because I see both as absolutes that are different extremes of the same spectrum. I would say as Socrates, I know that I don't know and this made him the wisest of men. My present belief can be summed up by Dr. W.E.B Du Bois reply to a priest:

"In 1948, a priest wrote to Du Bois asking him whether or not he believed in God. Du Bois replied: "Answering your letter of October 3, may I say: If by `a believer in God,' you mean a belief in a person of vast power who consciously rules the universe for the good of mankind, I answer No; I cannot disprove this assumption, but I certainly see no proof to sustain such a belief, neither in History not in my personal experience. If on the other hand you mean by 'God' a vague Force which, in some umcomprehensible [sic] way, dominates all life and change, then I answer, Yes; I recognize such Force, and if you wish to call it God, I do not object." ================================================================================
"I try not to think with my gut, thinking with anything besides my brain is likely to get me into trouble. Really it is okay to reserve judgment until the evidence is in." Carl Sagan, Demon Haunted World
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"Silence is the language God speaks. Everything else is just a poor translation."

"To the deluded mind a thousand books of scripture are not enough. For the awakened mind, even a single world is too much! " Zen Master, Fen-yang
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Thinking about God

First, I want to make it clear what I mean by God. I don't believe in an anthropomorphic being sitting on a throne doing things for the benefit of mankind, but I am open to the idea there is an innately intelligent energy/matter which is part of or makes up the known universe (which we are part of) and if people wish call it G-d, I won't object because giving something a name is primarily for conventional reasons i.e. a way of communicating in a given society. But I don't want to name this, whatever this is because to me it would be like a child naming his parents. I believe that sacred text like the Holy Bible, the Koran, Tao Teh Ching, Bhagavad-Gita and so forth are conventions that each society have to symbolize and try to describe their idea of this intelligent energy/matter, but the problem has been they have put the cart before the horse in other words they have taken the metaphors, myths, symbols to be the reality instead of a description of what cannot be put into words. A lot of people worship their idea of God, when it is only a symbol that is describing something deeper. This is like thinking that the dollar bill is actual wealth when it is only a note or tenure that is secured by assets, the assets are the real wealth, while the dollar is a symbol of it, actually a dollar bill is nothing but 2 1/2 in by 6 in piece of paper that can burn like any other piece of paper. This why I call myself an agnostic because I cannot put into words that which is beyond words because when I do this idea can become an idol.
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CRITIC, a simple guide to critical thinking

C-Claim: What claim is being made?

R-Role of Claimant: Who is making the claim and why?

I-Information backing Claim: What is it?

T-Test: How can the claim be tested?

I-Independent Testing: Has the claim been tested by others

C-Cause: What explanation, if any, is being proposed

Produced by Wayne Bartz, adapted from Skeptical Inquirer Sept/Oct 2002, pp 42-44

Like a wave tossed against the shores

I too echo the universe
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