Immortality

When you try to come to terms with your own mortality, you realize that there were many assumptions you had been making subconsciously that need revision. It is difficult to suddenly revise these assumptions because they have literally been stuffed into you by society since childhood. Some (not, by any means, all) assumptions are given below:

1. You are mortal - there is only X amount of time left before you cease to exist - make the most of it.
2. When you die, YOU DIE... finish, kaput, khalas, the end. No more of anything. Don't go on thinking that your "soul" will survive and wander around checking out what your family and friends are doing.
3. There is no "soul". "God" does not recycle... the very concept of souls going to God and then coming back for a rebirth reeks of recycling... as if there were not enough souls available to populate the planet (whose population by the way is growing by leaps and bounds).
4. Since there is no "soul", therefore there is no "life after death" or "rebirth". This life is all you get - make the most of it.

If one keeps all these points in mind, then the outlook to life changes dramatically. Add to this, the fact that you are the master of your own destiny - that every second of your life is important in the sense that whatever you do in the present instant determines what your future will be like.

So tread carefully. Be nice to people. Follow the Golden Rule (but do not do this at the expense of your own happiness) and you will most certainly live a peaceful, happy fulfilling and contented life.

Goal setting is important for leading an interesting and challenging life but it is my opinion that the goals you set must be achievable early enough in this life for you to enjoy their fruits in this life itself. There is little use in setting goals that may not be achievable in whatever time you have left in this world. This above statement may not be popular with people who make it a point to set "larger than life" goals... goals that outlive them and even their progeny. I am not at all saying that such goals should not be set. In fact many times, such goals give "meaning" to life making one feel that life has not been "wasted" but more often than not, such goals are set with an undercurrent of thoughts of "immortality"...'here is something I shall be remembered by'.

Keep in mind that even if you are remembered, it will not make any difference to you… you will still be dead. If you want your progeny to reap the benefit of your "immortality-in-death", then by all means go for it. After all, it feels great to think that a part of you lives on in your children.

New-Age-Astral-Vibration Rap by Steve Webber

I was having an out-of-body experience so I grounded myself and got centered with the help of my spirit guide, then I almost astral traveled but the phone rang and I sensed the negative vibrations so I checked my numerology chart and almost had a primal but my energy was blocked so I did some bioenergetics and self-parenting and had some flower essences with oat bran ginseng muffins but my inner child wasn't being nurtured so I had some frozen yogurt that made me hyper so I did the relaxation response while listening to my subliminal tape but I was feeling depersonalized so I did some polarity work, foot reflexology, a past life regression, rebirthed myself and made an appointment for a shiatsu, reiki, rolfing, Feldenkrais, Swedish, Japanese deep tissue massage but I needed to energize my crystals and do some positive imagery because my visualization techniques and affirmations made my space feel invaded so to get empowered I got a psychic reading around the issue of my assertiveness so I could feel my radiance and have energy for my psychocalisthenics and my inversion swing before my harmonic brain wave synergy session which makes me more focused for my actualization seminar and holistic healing class and dream workshop so I'm clear for my Gestalt/behavioral/cognitive/transpersonal/Reichian/ Jungian/Freudian/Ericksonian session but my aura is weak for my channeling group so I'll fast till noon to recharge my chakras and I sense my intuition is high and my cycle is focused so I'll turn on my ion generator to open up for my neuro-linguistic programming but I need to have my pyramid balanced before my guided synchronicity meditation so my cranio sacral therapy aligns me for the fire-walk after my tarot reading but I need a meaningful relationship to mirror myself so I'll go to the Intensive Whole Life Earth Rebirth Cosmic Expo Symposium Seminar Workshop to find someone who is real.

Thoughts on Belief and Faith.

From http://freethoughtpedia.com/wiki/Why_atheists_care_about_religion

Megalomania

To profess to be doing God's will is a form of megalomania. -Joseph Prescott, aphorist (1913-2001)
(http://www.defaithed.com/%5Btype%5D/%5Byyyy%5D/%5Bmm%5D/%5Btitle%5D_55)

Well said! Who has the right to be megalomaniac if not the government? Image shows Bangalore's India State Secretariat Building.

The Power of Prayer

This image has been "stolen" from http://miscellanea.wellingtongrey.net and I have to say the if I wasn't such a raging atheist, I would have fallen on my knees and worshiped the creativity of the guy who runs the website. He's brilliant!



http://www.ebonmusings.org/atheism/guestessays/religion101.html has a cool quiz for the proponents of religion, especially Christianity. Worth a read.

Advani Defaithed

This time I have nothing better to do but steal from other, more accomplished bloggers so here goes: The image below is a screenshot from www.defaithed.com - a freethought website par excellence. I was browsing through the homepage when L.K. Advani's advertisement appeared on the site. I thought it was funny how the ad of a person well known for his religious views and for what he calls "Hindutva" appeared on a freethought website so I took the liberty of posting the screen shot here. I tried contacting the author of the website but his "contact" page seems to be broken.


Another image stolen from a different website coming up next.

The Pink Chaddi Campaign

This requires absolutely no explanation...

http://thepinkchaddicampaign.blogspot.com/

Finally someone did something!

Discrimination - IAS style.

I was sitting in the room of an IAS officer today morning. He is about to retire in April. His rank is of Special Secretary. A person with a basket of flowers entered the room and looked around. Without a word, he left and a few minutes later, another person entered with a much larger basket of flowers. He replaced the flowers on the desk of the officer and took away the old ones. We observed all this in silence. Again, a few moments later, the same person entered, kept the old basket back and took away the larger, fresher basket of flowers.

Flowers are regularly kept in the rooms of IAS officers. There is a contractor with a lot of staff whose sole duty is to supply the Secretariat with fresh flowers every day. A lot of money is spent on this. I took it for granted that all IAS officers were entitled to these flowers although apart from decoration, these flowers cannot serve any other purpose. I personally do not approve of the Government spending so much money on needless decoration (not that I have any say in this matter) but this time what I saw told me a different story. As with almost everything else, this issue is being used for the purpose of discrimination. Since the IAS officer I was sitting with is about to retire and therefore considered not very important, the flowers on his desk are not changed as frequently as with other senior officers.

Forget the caste system, Indians, even without it, are the type of people who will divide the society into haves and have-nots based on the flimsiest of criteria. I wonder what sort of basket of flowers would be placed on the desk of the Chief Secretary – probably something resembling a minor garden.

To the "Guardians of Indian Morality"

Dear Guardians of Indian "Morality".

I was going through the website of the Times of India when I chanced across this video.

I honestly cannot decide whether to laugh or to cry but I feel that an answer is definitely required. As a picture is usually worth a thousand words, please feel free to click here for a sample of Indian "Morality"

Thank you for reaffirming my position that religion has been the cause of more misery than anything else in the world.

Greatness

Some people are born great
Some achieve greatness
And some people have greatness thrust upon them.

US President Barack Obama falls in the last category. He has achieved "greatness" even before he has had a chance to prove himself in office. Everyone - even non Americans seems to be his fan. Its as if they were waiting for him to come to power convinced that he is the only person who can set things right in this economically turbulent time.

I was reading this news (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7868753.stm) on the BBC website and it made me realise that even "great" people can make mistakes.