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alan watts said this best. You can walk into a eastern temple and enjoy it. laugh. do all the "silly" little rituals. Religion is _supposed_ to be fun and NOT s

alan watts said this best. You can walk into a eastern temple and enjoy it. laugh. do all the "silly" little rituals. Religion is _supposed_ to be fun and NOT serious. The min you make it deadly seriously and tell children THIS IS REAL you defeat the point. i.e. life is one big ride and silly. Life is very very silly and not even a little bit serious. Even when people die. Espeically when people die. Live your life this way and you won't fear death. You'll enjoy your silly number of X years you get on earth and want to live a good life cuz that's the most silly fun you can have. And _that's_ how you get people to be "reglious". NOT BY PREACHING or saying do this "moral" behavior. No no no. Live it up. Go to Burning Man. Enjoy the ride is what religion was trying to tell us but the message is all mixed up now.

DGAP 10y ago
Life is very silly when you're the kind of person who tends to read HN. For others, in this age and throughout history, life is not so silly, but quite serious and scary. Through common cultural themes like shared religions, communities can band together and survive. If I stop practicing my Judaism tomorrow, there will still be those who want to kill me for being a Jew - my life will not get more "silly" by losing my religion.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
cmurf 10y ago
I think this is completely culturally and moronically ignorant to such an extreme degree. You wish this were true. I wish it were true. But it's complete, utter, bollocks. Life is one big ride and silly? Are you fucking high? You've traveled no where. You've read no history at all whatsoever. Yeah, what's going on in Syria is silly. Being drawn and quartered is one big ride. What the fuck ever. Idiot. You clearly got Alan Watts wrong.
- ctrlalt_g 10y ago
  I don't understand people who call themselves clowns and calls everyone else clowns as well, then expects to be taken seriously.
- catshirt 10y ago
  what's going on in Syria is a function of too many of the wrong people taking life too seriously. your shitty attitude stems from the same function.
- andrewfromx 10y ago
  oh I get your position. I felt that was true for years. The real question is, is a human death tragic? Even your own? And the answer has to be no. It's not. It's a goof this life. Dying is not the worse thing that can happen. Not living is. How do I think terrible things like torture and kids dying in Syria is silly? Because each human is NOT really a seperate thing that has to survive at all costs. Think of humans like pids or threads. They come and go. When a linux process dies is that tragic?
  - cmurf 10y ago
    You're even dumber than I thought. No fool, it's not death that's tragic, it's human suffering. Torture for years before dying. Oh yeah, that's just a goof. Asswipe.
    - andrewfromx 10y ago
      Well think about who taught you that life was serious. What was their agenda? Well they want to rule the world of course. What's the best way to rule over someone. Tell him to fear death and that their only choice is to do what you say and they will avoid a horrible fate. How can you be "saved"? just stop caring about your fate. Bring it on whatever is is. Torture, hard work situation, any adversity in your life. Laugh at it and you can't be ruled. That makes people very dangerous of course.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
prodigal_erik 10y ago
Believe what you want about the meaning of life, but you're misrepresenting the messages of almost all religions. The one I'm most familiar with, Christianity, says this life is your one chance to prove your virtues before being judged forever, which is why they are expected to do some pretty serious things instead of whatever amuses them.
gnipgnip 10y ago
1+ for Alan Watts. He was surprisingly well-grounded not only in Eastern traditions but also in Christianity.
- andrewfromx 10y ago
  he spent YEARS in Christianity school as a kid.
pharrington 10y ago
Why do you value the emotion of silliness to the exclusion of all the others? edit: Maybe a better question is, what is the objective measure of silliness?
- andrewfromx 10y ago
  what do humans like to do when the work is all done? Sing and dance. Why? What is this all about? It's all about nothing. Its all about ba ba ba do do do, one big dance the universe over, Look at the atomic level, nothing but one big rave. Atoms dancing like crazy in all sorts of weird patterns just because.
  - pharrington 10y ago
    People create more tasks to do when the current tasks are done. Singing and dancing is communication. Your answer wasn't objective, and neither was mine. If I understood you correctly, your answer to "what is the objective measure of silliness" is essentially to say our best model of nature is of particles in spacetime adhering to certain rules. My, and what I assume is the common definition of silly, is inconsequential incoherence. Perhaps your definition is different? Nature is not silly, since the consequences of its rules are both measurable and consistent. If you're saying its absurd to think of human society in terms of physics, well sure. Don't do that, its the wrong layer of abstraction.

DGAP 10y ago

Life is very silly when you're the kind of person who tends to read HN. For others, in this age and throughout history, life is not so silly, but quite serious and scary. Through common cultural themes like shared religions, communities can band together and survive. If I stop practicing my Judaism tomorrow, there will still be those who want to kill me for being a Jew - my life will not get more "silly" by losing my religion.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

cmurf 10y ago

I think this is completely culturally and moronically ignorant to such an extreme degree. You wish this were true. I wish it were true. But it's complete, utter, bollocks. Life is one big ride and silly? Are you fucking high? You've traveled no where. You've read no history at all whatsoever. Yeah, what's going on in Syria is silly. Being drawn and quartered is one big ride. What the fuck ever. Idiot. You clearly got Alan Watts wrong.

ctrlalt_g 10y ago
I don't understand people who call themselves clowns and calls everyone else clowns as well, then expects to be taken seriously.
catshirt 10y ago
what's going on in Syria is a function of too many of the wrong people taking life too seriously. your shitty attitude stems from the same function.
andrewfromx 10y ago
oh I get your position. I felt that was true for years. The real question is, is a human death tragic? Even your own? And the answer has to be no. It's not. It's a goof this life. Dying is not the worse thing that can happen. Not living is. How do I think terrible things like torture and kids dying in Syria is silly? Because each human is NOT really a seperate thing that has to survive at all costs. Think of humans like pids or threads. They come and go. When a linux process dies is that tragic?
- cmurf 10y ago
  You're even dumber than I thought. No fool, it's not death that's tragic, it's human suffering. Torture for years before dying. Oh yeah, that's just a goof. Asswipe.
  - andrewfromx 10y ago
    Well think about who taught you that life was serious. What was their agenda? Well they want to rule the world of course. What's the best way to rule over someone. Tell him to fear death and that their only choice is to do what you say and they will avoid a horrible fate. How can you be "saved"? just stop caring about your fate. Bring it on whatever is is. Torture, hard work situation, any adversity in your life. Laugh at it and you can't be ruled. That makes people very dangerous of course.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]

prodigal_erik 10y ago

Believe what you want about the meaning of life, but you're misrepresenting the messages of almost all religions. The one I'm most familiar with, Christianity, says this life is your one chance to prove your virtues before being judged forever, which is why they are expected to do some pretty serious things instead of whatever amuses them.

gnipgnip 10y ago

1+ for Alan Watts. He was surprisingly well-grounded not only in Eastern traditions but also in Christianity.

andrewfromx 10y ago
he spent YEARS in Christianity school as a kid.

pharrington 10y ago

Why do you value the emotion of silliness to the exclusion of all the others? edit: Maybe a better question is, what is the objective measure of silliness?

andrewfromx 10y ago
what do humans like to do when the work is all done? Sing and dance. Why? What is this all about? It's all about nothing. Its all about ba ba ba do do do, one big dance the universe over, Look at the atomic level, nothing but one big rave. Atoms dancing like crazy in all sorts of weird patterns just because.
- pharrington 10y ago
  People create more tasks to do when the current tasks are done. Singing and dancing is communication. Your answer wasn't objective, and neither was mine. If I understood you correctly, your answer to "what is the objective measure of silliness" is essentially to say our best model of nature is of particles in spacetime adhering to certain rules. My, and what I assume is the common definition of silly, is inconsequential incoherence. Perhaps your definition is different? Nature is not silly, since the consequences of its rules are both measurable and consistent. If you're saying its absurd to think of human society in terms of physics, well sure. Don't do that, its the wrong layer of abstraction.