Meaningful ideas and quotes

[Thumpalumpacus]

I get it, Benny -- when I look up at the nighttime sky and really consider that the starlight hitting my retinae has been traveling millions of years at c, my worries seem as insignificant as I am to that vastness.

[bennyboy]

I get it, Benny -- when I look up at the nighttime sky and really consider that the starlight hitting my retinae has been traveling millions of years at c, my worries seem as insignificant as I am to that vastness.

I'm glad you get how I feel.

To probably take it a step too far, I'd almost say that a kind of Tibetan not-self, but with a more material perspective, is probably as close as most people these days need to get to religion.  The objective truth is that I really don't matter to much to the grand scheme of things-- but that's not depressing, it's totally liberating.  It means I can do whatever I want, however I want, think whatever I want, and in the end. . . I don't have to carry much weight on my shoulders.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Exactly. My biggest job is to treat the people in my life decently and with respect ... and being able to feel small in the face of enormity is very useful in that regard. In a positive sense, it puts me in my place and punctures my ego -- something I need too often.

[Aegon]

My meaningful ideas kind of work together:

1) There are a practically infinite number of particles inside my body, but I am 99.999999% empty space. I'm like a galaxy.
2) There are a practically infinite number of stars, and maybe even of galaxies. I'm nothing more than a tiny little speck of a speck of a speck.

Put those together, and that guy honking his horn in rush hour traffic seems a lot less bothersome to me.

"You are what the universe is doing like a wave is what the entire ocean is doing." -Alan Watts

[Mystical]

"Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities" - Voltaire

Made it onto a meme for my imgur




Martin Niemöller

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— 
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— 
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

'Then they came for my Muslim friends and I said, "Not this time, motherfuckers." ' - Anon

Boru

[*Deidre*]

I get it, Benny -- when I look up at the nighttime sky and really consider that the starlight hitting my retinae has been traveling millions of years at c, my worries seem as insignificant as I am to that vastness.

I love this.

[bennyboy]

'Then they came for my Muslim friends and I said, "Not this time, motherfuckers." ' - Anon

Boru

I wish this were true of more than 10% of the American population, but I worry it may not be. I think the reality is that if/when the Muslims are "dealt with," a tradition will have been established which will allow the guvmint to pick out whatever group it wants, demonize it, and watch the general population police and remove it for them." First muslims, then Mexicans, then anyone brown or black, then probably the Jews again. And all along, they'll do it on the basis that these subcultures are trying to "limit our freedoms," even though at worst they are just fighting to protect their own.

[ApeNotKillApe]

[paulpablo]