Expensive houses of well known televangelists

[genkaus]

I guess we understand different meanings from the word "forfeit". I'm not a native speaker, so I fear using a wrong word whenever I want to explain myself.
Let me rephrase: I was speaking of laying down your life.
This does not mean that you should commit suicide on the spot, without no reason and no meaning, or that you should knowingly put yourself under life-threatening situations, again, without no purpose or not meaning.

Ofcourse not. But devotion to your brand of philosophy would require you to seek out those situations and lay down your life, so that it can be claimed to have meaning and purpose.

Well, obviously, they have a different source of meaning than you.

Yes, an irrational one.

Who is my master, friend? Tell me.

According to waht you tell me, your society.

No one convinced me, nor Yunus Emre. They have had their own personal convictions. I personally find freedom in the freedom of my nation. Without the freedom of my nation, I am a slave. The only thing that guarantees my freedom is my nation.
Similarly, Yunus Emre, and many other devotees of a religion or god, found freedom in their devotion. For them, devotion to the world was slavery, devotion to things that are finite, like food, gold or women.

By the way, I could say the same about a person who has found life's meaning in whatever capitalist ideology endorses.

That is the subversive nature of your philosophy. It makes you think you've found freedom in slavery.

I've met many people who have opposite ideas. My conviction in my philosophy has only gotten stronger. Obviously, since you have not observed any of my previous debates in this here forum, you can speak with such certainty.

I was being metaphorical. By meeting someone else meant actually understanding their ideas. Something you have yet to show signs of.

How far can your own purpose go?
It goes as far as your life.
It is finite and short.

And that is as far as anyone's purpose can go. Without your life, your purpose wouldn't exist either.

I forgive your ignorance.

Another trait I find unforgivable.

Most, you say. Have you counted all the artists of the world?
How "individualist" was John Lennon, with his humanistic worldviews?

Very.

Yes, and most die of drug overdose.
They're great artists, maybe, but they're sad people.

Are we on the same page here? By artist I don't simply mean rock stars.

They would not endure these hardships if they had this ego. They endured these since they have cast away their ego in front of their ideal.

They may think they had cast it away, but unless they gave such importance to something they chose they wouldn't endure for it. The fact that they give importance to their choice and not let others dictate it shows their ego.

Perhaps not for people who take the vow of poverty. But this also frees them from many of life's attachments.
I know this sounds like Buddhist texts, but it applies for most hermits, monks and dervishes.

Attachments of life are what make life possible. Freeing oneself from them would only make death possible.