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This forum's quality dropped a lot since I first joined.

According to Socrates, the wise will do good simply by virtue of their knowledge and wisdom. Initially, this is a notion that confused me, but now I think I'm beginning to understand it. Even if we came up with a "bad actor" who desired nothing but to benefit themselves, through proper wisdom...

Another new song that I enjoy so much that it almost feels like cheating, released in October 2021, "DIE." by Johnny Goth:

Here's a good introductory site that was quite big a couple of decades ago and remains fairly influential: http://theisticsatanism.com/ Of course, it does not cover all of the varieties of Satanism out there, but as the site itself explains, Satanism is highly eclectic and individual even...

Many Satanists venerate Satan as a pagan deity, even as far as identifying him with figures like Set, Enki, Pan, or Loki. Plenty of Satanists have a private shrine where icons of Satan sit beside icons of other pagan deities. "Polytheistic Satanism," as popularized by Diane Vera, is essentially...

They are occultists, not Satanists. Most occultists are Christian or Thelemite, with a variety of forms of Neopaganism behind them. Satanic occultists are quite rare, both in occult circles and in Satanist circles, since most Satanists are LaVeyan or Satanic Temple Satanists and view Satanism...

Hello

I will admit that I find these unconvincing. I meant if one could demonstrate dramatic effects beyond synchronicity under rigorous experimentation, essentially in a way that could be validated by science. These don't really give that. I appreciate the addition, anyway.

I was explaining to someone (in another forum) that the double-slit experiment has nothing to do with consciousness, when a self-proclaimed gnostic atheist with a bachelor's in math decided to attack me, thinking that I was saying that it did have something to do with consciousness. Several...

I do think courage and altruism are desirable, but I don't think any of the rest of these virtues are. Hope, to me, is an attachment to a possible (and perhaps even unlikely) future, which merely creates future suffering and rejects acceptance of the present. Faith is blind and it leads us...

I don't understand why you bothered with this response. I already agreed that it's possible that all of these experiences are just different interpretations of one underlying truth. I just don't see any good reason to believe that.

Those are all possible, but I have seen no evidence for any of them. I did search for it, for awhile, talking to monks of all sorts of faiths, reading tomes on the neuroscience of mystical experiences, debating with scholars with PhDs on studying mysticism across a variety of religions, etc. I...

Same to you.

And I hope you are rehabilitated and saved from your false religious beliefs

Thank you for your contribution to the thread. Neither do I. As a matter of course, I don't find any beliefs to be irrational in and of themselves, only specific arguments. Well, as long as those beliefs don't violate one of the laws of logic, such as the Law of Identity or the Law of...

I am interested in discussing the concepts of Reformed Epistemology, Theistic Rationalism, and Theistic Evidentialism. For the Christians (and others with theological bends, although it's mostly a facet of Christian theology), I am wondering what your foundations of belief are. I do not intend...

Amen. "Truth-pill" is a communicative term for the issue, I think. I continue to grow concerned that even our more rigorous academic studies published in scholarly journals will devolve into nothing more than "truth-pills" founded on other "truth-pills." Peer review is in a sorry state.

One has to approach theology as a branch of philosophy, and philosophy has very different standards of scholarship from science. Modern philosophy is held up to the standards of analytical philosophy, which most theologians adhere to quite well and is founded in logic. I don't think that you...

Here's a great paper on why the epistemology of mysticism, specifically the mysticism of Anthroposophy, is not really up to par: https://web.archive.org/web/20020420035401/http://waldorfcritics.org/active/articles/Hansson.html It's not just because we dismiss anything that isn't materialistic...

Yes, I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome as a child, but since Asperger's is no longer recognized as a disorder there's some disagreement on whether I am autistic or schizoid now. I am highly alexithymic, so even though I do have compassion and empathy, I don't consciously "feel" it. I'm...