another message from God

[ArmsMerchant]

I often get messages from God , and have posted about the time I talked to an angel (he drove Volvo, BTW). Anyway, here's the deal.

I had been allowing stuff to get to me--business concerns, family health and finance stuff, yadda yadda yadda--and had been way under my usual default value of serentity punctuated with radiant happiness.

Almost every day I walk up to the local Three Bears, an Alaska-based big box store which recently opened up. I enjoy the exercise--the round-trip is a half-mile or so--and they have great bargains on out-dated food--and free coffee.

So I'm walking back, and have to stop because there is a train crossing the road. The very last car has some graffitti on it and the following message (which was written in plaion block letters, not the usual florid graffitti style)-- "HAVE MORE FUN."

I smiled and thought, "Now there is some sound advice," and instantly resolved to have more fun.

[Surak]

I often get messages from God , and have posted about the time I talked to an angel (he drove Volvo, BTW). Anyway, here's the deal.

What's more likely, that this "God" fellow and his lackies are talking to you, or that your life is so empty of meaning that your mind concocts this shit to keep you going?

I had been allowing stuff to get to me--business concerns, family health and finance stuff, yadda yadda yadda--and had been way under my usual default value of serentity punctuated with radiant happiness.

I can't imagine that added stress is going to help your mindset.

Almost every day I walk up to the local Three Bears, an Alaska-based big box store which recently opened up. I enjoy the exercise--the round-trip is a half-mile or so--and they have great bargains on out-dated food--and free coffee.

Some foods are often good past their "best before" dates, that is indeed sound shopping.

So I'm walking back, and have to stop because there is a train crossing the road. The very last car has some graffitti on it and the following message (which was written in plaion block letters, not the usual florid graffitti style)-- "HAVE MORE FUN."

Because coincidences never happen in life, right? God must have sent you a message via his angels, because you've been stressed out.

God has a plan for you, Gaius. He wants you to lead the Human race to it's end. </Cylon>

I smiled and thought, "Now there is some sound advice," and instantly resolved to have more fun.

Yeah, no shit. Anybody with half a brain could have given you that advice.

[Hare_Geist]

If you believe everything is God, like you say you do, then getting messages from him isn't very special, is it? After all, every message would be a message from God. So I'm not quite sure why you bothered to make this thread.

[TheMessiahComplex]

I smiled and thought, "Now there is some sound advice," and instantly resolved to have more fun.

This is the part that gets me, that you instantly resolved to have more fun.
It makes it sound like if you had never seen this graffiti, that this brain shatteringly obvious idea never would have occurred to you.

[Rust]

I like how whenever something reinforces your beliefs, it's magically a message from God, but whenever something doesn't - like let's say Hare's post in this thread, or the numerous refutations that have been offered for many of the claims you've made here in My God - it conveniently isn't!

[Rory]

What the fuck, armsmerchant. Seriously. What the fuck.

You close down this thread (http://www.totse.com/community/showthread.php?t=2153426) because you say it's bad grammar (this is the internet... get used to it) and that it's been discussed before.

Then you post this shit of a thread and expect people to take it seriously? Dude, wake up!

I often get messages from God , and have posted about the time I talked to an angel (he drove Volvo, BTW).

been discussed before...

graffitti on it and the following message (which was written in plaion block letters, not the usual florid graffitti style)-- "HAVE MORE FUN."

I smiled and thought, "Now there is some sound advice," and instantly resolved to have more fun.

So you're saying this is a message from god?

How about, since some dumbass with a paint can can be god, I can be god too?

http://i35.tinypic.com/14e9p9k.jpg

EDIT: Just thought I'd add, LOCK THIS THREAD. If that other one did enough to be locked, then surely this one did.

[Rizzo in a box]

the best message I got was peaking on acid in ojai and reading some graffiti by the tennis courts that said, "NOTHING IS TO BE DONE"

fkkking beautiful

[karma_sleeper]

This is the part that gets me, that you instantly resolved to have more fun.
It makes it sound like if you had never seen this graffiti, that this brain shatteringly obvious idea never would have occurred to you.

That's a good point. Wouldn't you have eventually recovered from your low point even if you hadn't see the train graffiti?

[aMv]

Wait. It all makes sense now. Holy shit. When I was driving home today I saw some graffiti that said LIVE WITH A G, NO PAIN. It didn't make sense, until I just realized that this means that God wants me to kill myself so I can live with him! <3

[ArmsMerchant]

The thread I closed wasn't just ungrammatical, it was so incoherant as to be virtually incomprehensible.

Getting back to topic, for me, messages form God are not uncommon--this may make them "not-speciasl," but it makes them none the less miraculous. In my view, all of life is a miracle. However, that does not mean that every bit of sensory input I get is "special".

Nothing in life that occurs in life has any meaning per se other than what we choose to assign to it. One man's coincidence is another man's message. In this particular instance, what made it noteworthy was that I got exactly the message I needed most exactly when I needed it the most.

And sure, it wasn't all that profound. When you think about it, "Do unto others as you would have it done unto you" isn't all that profound either, but most people are not even close to getting it well enough to act on it.

Some of the most important ideas can be stated very simply, such as:

1. Judge no one.
2. Accept everything.
3. Bless everyone.
4. We are All One.
5. Death is an illusion.

[BrokeProphet]

I often get messages from God...

Yes, b/c an all powerful benevolent being, comes down off his throne and sets about a chain of events into motion involving a grafitti artist, getting a train and you in a certain spot at the exact right time to get this message to you.

If you can talk with God in two way communication, at all, you might want to tell him the next time he gets off his throne to give you a little pick me up fortune cookie kind of message, while he is down here, he may want to address just a few more concerns that are slightly more pressing than your having more fun.

What is the worst thing about your ego and your inflated judgement of your own self worth, is that you are completely unaware of them.

Say what you will about my spiritual evolution, at least I know when I am being a pretentious asshole.

[ArmsMerchant]

Yes, b/c an all powerful benevolent being, comes down off his throne and sets about a chain of events into motion involving a grafitti artist, getting a train and you in a certain spot at the exact right time to get this message to you.

If.

With all due respect, you really need to learn how to pay attention and/or stop distorting what I say.

To recap--I have REPEATEDLY stated that God is NOT "an all powerful benevolent being"--or any sort of being or discrete entity at all. We agree, I think, that such a description of God is essentially mythical.

Are you being disengenuous, or just dim?

[BrokeProphet]

With all due respect, you really need to learn how to pay attention and/or stop distorting what I say.

To recap--I have REPEATEDLY stated that God is NOT "an all powerful benevolent being"--or any sort of being or discrete entity at all. We agree, I think, that such a description of God is essentially mythical.

Are you being disengenuous, or just dim?

Bit nitpicking of you don't you think?

Who cares if God is a being or a force. The point is this God gave you a personal message. Lets try this again and see if you can nitpick less, and address the point more, shall we?

Hows this.....

----Yes, b/c God, sets about a chain of events into motion involving a grafitti artist, getting a train and you in a certain spot at the exact right time to get this message to you.----

NOW that we have gotten rid of all the nits you can pick, (which was disengenous and/or dim of YOU) perhaps you would be so kind as to explain how this is not being a pretentious prick on your part to assume a powerful force in the universe sent you a personal message to put a smile on your face, while infants die of cancer.

Yes, infants dying of cancer, I know it is a strong concept to bring up...if you feel the need, please put in it's place anything that most people would feel is more important than you having fun...just don't ask me for a real life or nicer example like an utter moron again, please.

------------------

I have a few questions about your version of God...

How powerful is your God if he is not all powerful? What are these limits and how do you know these limits exist? If your God is not benevolent, why should we pray to it? If it doesn't recognize good or evil, and what most unenlightened people would call or evil happens apparently at random, why even acknowledge a God.

If there are no rewards for believing in your God, why do it?

[EpicurusGeorge]

If there are no rewards for believing in your God, why do it?

I know this has been said over and over again, but really, don’t we all just choose to believe what makes us happy? You believe what seems most logical to you and knowing that makes you happy, correct? So why discourage him? He's just doing what makes him happy, and since we can't know for sure that he's wrong, why not let him believe in his graffiti artist god;)?

[BrokeProphet]

but really, don’t we all just choose to believe what makes us happy?

Nope, some of us believe in what appears to be the truth or reality, regardless of emotions.

[kurdt318]

I know this has been said over and over again, but really, don’t we all just choose to believe what makes us happy? You believe what seems most logical to you and knowing that makes you happy, correct? So why discourage him? He's just doing what makes him happy, and since we can't know for sure that he's wrong, why not let him believe in his graffiti artist god;)?

Because teenage athiests "get off" by showing the infallibility of their beliefs to one another. Whereas you and I masturbate to some young dame taking off her top, the teenage athiest can only acheive sexual pleasure by asserting his unequivocal correctness.

[Rust]

^ Where you deliberately trying to be ironic?

[Rizzo in a box]

^ Where you deliberately trying to be ironic?

in his post?

a-ha-ha

get it?

[Mc. Black]

That is strange. You are a Pantheist but still you talk about -messages from God- as God in a -person- entity.

Well, maybe not that strange. That just tells you are somewhat optimistic...

Btw. I too am pantheist

[ArmsMerchant]

That is strange. You are a Pantheist but still you talk about -messages from God- as God in a -person- entity.

Well, maybe not that strange. That just tells you are somewhat optimistic...

Btw. I too am pantheist

Point taken. I DO tend to use words like God, the Universe, the Force, the Essential Self, and the Tao more or less interchangably, because I think they are.

Perhaps more consistency would improve clarity.

[redzed]

Perhaps more consistency would improve clarity.

I don't think so AM. The thing is words fail to describe Spirit, so we do what humans have done for millenia and anthropmorphise. Who was it who said 'if horses had gods they would look like horses'?

[BrokeProphet]

Perhaps more consistency would improve clarity.

I for one think your posts are pretty clear. It is only until someone such as myself begins to untangle your web of shit, that you begin to "clarify" things. Then that it untangled, and so on until you fall silent.

[Gaspode]

What's more likely, that this "God" fellow and his lackies are talking to you, or that your life is so empty of meaning that your mind concocts this shit to keep you going?


That line in fantastic, George Carlin couldn’t have said it better!

[ArmsMerchant]

Walt Whitman seems to agree with me. The following is from Leaves of Grass:

I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand
God not in the least. . .
I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four,
and each moment then,
In the faces of men and women I see God, and
in my own face in the glass;
I find letters from God dropt in in the street,
and every one is signed by God's name,
And I leave them where they are, for I know
that whereso'er I go
Others will punctually come forever and ever.

[jägermeister]

well i have a similar story, I was going to make a thread but it is not enough for it's own thread.

once in a extremely troubled emotional state, wondering what was the point of life, etc. etc. , i 'summoned' God by making a very specific request for God to tell me something. I asked who sings this song? The song was familiar but I didn't know who sung it. The letter 'E' strongly appeared in the darkness of my closed eyes. I thought, wtf is E i asked for a name. and i looked at the tv and that was the first letter of the artist.

after thinking about it, God showing me the letter was actually more convincing because if i had thought of the name then I could have thought i just remembered it myself.

It sounds silly but it was extremely convincing at the time. that seems to be the way with this kind of thing.

[CatharticWeek]

That's cool, Arms.

I find Pantheism is a foolproof device for alleviating life's stresses and negativity. The only problem I find is forgetting it altogether!
I'll go for long periods of time with so much pressure accruing I feel I'm going to break, then something will remind me of Pantheism (like your graffiti for instance) and I'll chuckle let go of my anxieties.

Peace. Oh.
And to all the dimwits, get a fucking clue, take some LSD, read Wikipedia.

[ArmsMerchant]

I find Pantheism is a foolproof device for alleviating life's stresses and negativity. The only problem I find is forgetting it altogether!
.

You have a lot of company. The illusion of separation and the superstition of materialism are so seductive, so strongly engrained in our culture that it is easy to lose sight of the fact that we are All One, that we have nothing to fear.

Like Chopra said, spirituality is 99% repetition--or as Edison said, genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.

[BrokeProphet]

Like Chopra said, spirituality is 99% repetition--or as Edison said, genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.

If materialism is superstition, why is Chopra so concerned with material wealth?

[wolfy_9005]

If god was real, how come if i throw a bag of kittens off a bridge he wont save them?

Arent kittens supposed to be innocent? Isnt he supposed to protect the innocent?????

If he really was real, how come he lets 3 billion asians and indians walk around the earth, poluting it more then anyone else has?

Didnt that tsunami sort of tell you mother nature is pissed at them?

[ArmsMerchant]

If god was real, how come if i throw a bag of kittens off a bridge he wont save them?

?

God is an abstraction, not a being. God is not a creator which stands apart from creation, but rather creation itself.

But to answer your question, in the highest sense, you, the kittens and the bridge are all part and parcel of god.

Your hypothetical action--cruel and inhumane though it may be--simply returns the kittens to the Source. Their essence, their souls if you will--are invulnerable, immutabe.

[ArmsMerchant]

If materialism is superstition, why is Chopra so concerned with material wealth?

I suspect you are being disingenuous again, but . . . .

There is a vast difference between the superstitious philosophy of materialism, and being concered with simply earning a living. The guy has a family to support, after all, not to mention a bazillion people who work for him.

BTW, since you are the guy who is always yammering prove this and prove that, what makes you think that Chopra is indeed "so concerned with material wealth"?

And even if so, what's wrong with that?

[Rust]

the superstitious philosophy of materialism,

What superstitious philosophy of materialism?

You can keep repeating that bullshit all you want, it's not going to make it true.

[danzig]

depending on what postulates you accept, anything can be proven.

brokeprophet does not believe in his fallibility; he has no imagination by which he can conceive of a world viewed through eyes different then his own, and his answer of course is going to be something along the lines of, 'i can only be right and not wrong because i believe so'. he has blind faith in fact, reality, proof, and science. this is far uglier then a more naive and less stupid blind faith in a personified morality.