Comments for Barely Human http://www.tristanpej.com Misanthropic as FUCK Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:22:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Comment on Pagans / Wiccans and their former selves by Julian http://www.tristanpej.com/?p=208&cpage=1#comment-470 Julian Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:22:46 +0000 http://www.tristanpej.com/?p=208#comment-470 As we evolve intellectually, it becomes less necessary to embrace the world in terms of symbolism and metaphor. Those who wish to define the world using archaic terms are free to do so (and they may even breathe new life into them), but that does not change the fact that these terms remain as mere relics. Really there is not much to argue in this representation of Neopaganism. However, if people embrace rituals of the past but do not properly research the past, their cause is as futile and self-serving as that of the christians, and their rituals as empty. It is my belief that those of us bestowed with the capacity to form our own personal belief systems, based on personal observations should do so, without the hindrance of ancient rituals or even current cultural traditions. If you're smart, take a good hard look at the world, and figure it out yourself. Decide for yourself what happens when you die. Decide for yourself how intrinsic universal energy behaves. I'm not saying learn all by your lonesome. I'm saying the universe has so much to teach us, and I'm sure there are many people today who can speculate about these things, and truly their speculation would be like gold to ancient peoples. I have had discussions with my buddies over beer that would most likely impress those Greek Hellenistic Philosophers. Amalgamating Hellenism into a modern spiritual and scientific model can even come across as practical, or convenient, but why embellish new wisdom with old wisdom. The Universe is amazing just as it is... every flower, every nebula. Why regress philosophically when we can reach so much further? As we evolve intellectually, it becomes less necessary to embrace the world in terms of symbolism and metaphor. Those who wish to define the world using archaic terms are free to do so (and they may even breathe new life into them), but that does not change the fact that these terms remain as mere relics. Really there is not much to argue in this representation of Neopaganism. However, if people embrace rituals of the past but do not properly research the past, their cause is as futile and self-serving as that of the christians, and their rituals as empty. It is my belief that those of us bestowed with the capacity to form our own personal belief systems, based on personal observations should do so, without the hindrance of ancient rituals or even current cultural traditions. If you’re smart, take a good hard look at the world, and figure it out yourself. Decide for yourself what happens when you die. Decide for yourself how intrinsic universal energy behaves. I’m not saying learn all by your lonesome. I’m saying the universe has so much to teach us, and I’m sure there are many people today who can speculate about these things, and truly their speculation would be like gold to ancient peoples. I have had discussions with my buddies over beer that would most likely impress those Greek Hellenistic Philosophers.
Amalgamating Hellenism into a modern spiritual and scientific model can even come across as practical, or convenient, but why embellish new wisdom with old wisdom. The Universe is amazing just as it is… every flower, every nebula. Why regress philosophically when we can reach so much further?

]]> Comment on Coming Out Anarchist by BYTE-Smasher http://www.tristanpej.com/?p=194&cpage=1#comment-111 BYTE-Smasher Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:26:40 +0000 http://www.tristanpej.com/?p=194#comment-111 *cough* *cough*

]]> Comment on Coming Out Anarchist by BYTE-Smasher http://www.tristanpej.com/?p=194&cpage=1#comment-33 BYTE-Smasher Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:20:22 +0000 http://www.tristanpej.com/?p=194#comment-33 Oh come on... no response? Check your comments man! =p Oh come on… no response? Check your comments man! =p

]]> Comment on Pagans / Wiccans and their former selves by Don http://www.tristanpej.com/?p=208&cpage=1#comment-31 Don Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:09:25 +0000 http://www.tristanpej.com/?p=208#comment-31 I am a Neopagan , as opposed to Paleopagans who are the original believers in ancient times, and I do completely understand your confusion on the whole topic of how we correlate ancient beliefs with modern science. I cannot say that this holds true for everyone, but the majority of what I have seen supports it to some degree. The first thing is that no Neopagan actually believes that Zeus lives on mount Olympus, that the world is in the Yggdrasil tree, or that the universe was carved from the body of Tiamat. There may be some Paleopagan hold outs that do believe in the literalness of the mythology but I would be a little frightened of someone that oblivious to reality. Anywho, the precepts and concepts of Neopaganism as I see them are thusly. 1. The universe is comprised of multiple layers. One of these layers is the physical plane that we are all familiar with. This plane contains everything that we can see, hear, and touch. Another of these layers is the spiritual plane. In the spiritual plane resides the spiritual energies behind our physical plane. This is sort of an animistic point of view where everything has a spiritual energy empowering it. It can be best thought of as that which is the essential part of a thing. Take a car, a car is composed of an engine, wheels, doors, seats, etc. No one of these pieces is a car in and of itself. Likewise all of these pieces in a pile also do not make a car. So what is it that separates the car from its component pieces. The animist would say it is the spiritual energy, the quintessential car that makes it a whole. 2. What neopagans worship is the grand currents of energy, things like the spirit of nature, the spirit of the ocean, the spirit of a life giving river, etc. We worship them because they are amazing things worthy of respect and admiration. By worshiping them we realize they have an intrinsic value above any single person and so they must be protected. That is why the vast majority of Neopagans are environmentalists. 3. Most Neopagans believe that we as a culture have lost our ties to history and thus the greater part of humanity. With the invention of the sciences humanity has developed an egotism that believes everything of the past is primitive and idiotic. We instead believe that the knowledge and experiences of the past 10,000 years are as valid as those of today and so we try to reconnect with them. We chose to worship ancient gods both to honor the energies and concepts they represent, and to reconnect with our ancestors. 3. Neopagans understand that science has shown us many new wonders and given us many marvels. No one I know of denies the truth of science. Instead we say that there is something else beyond science. We believe in evolution, but also believe there was a reason for why it happened the way it did. We believe in the Galilean solar system, but also believe that the energies of the ancient astrology is still applicable to our lives. In short, unlike Christians, Muslims, etc. who try to limit science to their world view; Neopagans try to expand the world beyond science to recognize things that science dismisses. 4. Not every Neopagan even believes in the presence of spirits, magic, etc. Some simply practice Neopaganism as a way to connect with a culture that is not controlled by Christianity's evils and contradictions. For those of us that do believe in magic (which yes, I do believe) it is based off the philosophy of idealism. Essentially idealism breaks down into the concept that what one perceives and what actually is are not the same thing. You look at a tree and think that you are seeing a tree when in fact you are seeing brown lines that curve in semi-random directions and often have green shapes on the end. When I look at the same tree you would say we are both seeing the same thing. However what we are both "seeing" is the sensory input from the theoretical object that we have both dubbed tree. The tree I see is not the same tree you see because our perceptions are unique. Thusly we can see that each of us inhabit our own unique reality and that reality as we commonly know it is simply a collective agreement on what is and is not real. Magic practitioners believe that the matter we perceive is created by our perception of it, not the other way around. In simpler terms the answer (in our opinion) to the question of "if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound" is that neither the tree, the sound, nor the forest exist because there is nothing to perceive it. Those who believe in magic believe that since our minds create reality we can use our minds to recreate reality in a way more suitable to ourselves. Since others exist with us and create this collective reality we must find a way to either over rule their minds, or to enlist them in helping us. Also we have to do the same with the part of ourselves that has been trained since birth in the way the world works. That is why magic practitioners dress in costumes, chant in strange languages, use curious ingredients, and follow arcane formulas. We have learned that 10,000 years have ingrained on the human psyche that these procedures work and so they are able to trick people into using their minds re reshape reality. So in the end there are many reasons that people become Neopagans. The major ones are to reconnect with nature, to reconnect with our ancestors, and to live a life that has spiritual meaning without the dogma of Judeo-Christianity and it's oppressive morality. We all believe in science, even though some of us have beliefs that are beyond what science recognizes but that is perfectly fine with me. Science still does not recognize the concept of consciousness (the proverbial "I" within the self) but that doesn't mean the whole world should abandon consciousness. Remember, lack of proof is not proof of lack. Anyways, I apologize for such a long post. If you (the webmaster) would like to discuss this in more depth then e-mail me back. I have been itching for good philosophical/theological discussions as of late. I am a Neopagan , as opposed to Paleopagans who are the original believers in ancient times, and I do completely understand your confusion on the whole topic of how we correlate ancient beliefs with modern science. I cannot say that this holds true for everyone, but the majority of what I have seen supports it to some degree.
The first thing is that no Neopagan actually believes that Zeus lives on mount Olympus, that the world is in the Yggdrasil tree, or that the universe was carved from the body of Tiamat. There may be some Paleopagan hold outs that do believe in the literalness of the mythology but I would be a little frightened of someone that oblivious to reality.
Anywho, the precepts and concepts of Neopaganism as I see them are thusly.
1. The universe is comprised of multiple layers. One of these layers is the physical plane that we are all familiar with. This plane contains everything that we can see, hear, and touch. Another of these layers is the spiritual plane. In the spiritual plane resides the spiritual energies behind our physical plane. This is sort of an animistic point of view where everything has a spiritual energy empowering it. It can be best thought of as that which is the essential part of a thing. Take a car, a car is composed of an engine, wheels, doors, seats, etc. No one of these pieces is a car in and of itself. Likewise all of these pieces in a pile also do not make a car. So what is it that separates the car from its component pieces. The animist would say it is the spiritual energy, the quintessential car that makes it a whole.
2. What neopagans worship is the grand currents of energy, things like the spirit of nature, the spirit of the ocean, the spirit of a life giving river, etc. We worship them because they are amazing things worthy of respect and admiration. By worshiping them we realize they have an intrinsic value above any single person and so they must be protected. That is why the vast majority of Neopagans are environmentalists.
3. Most Neopagans believe that we as a culture have lost our ties to history and thus the greater part of humanity. With the invention of the sciences humanity has developed an egotism that believes everything of the past is primitive and idiotic. We instead believe that the knowledge and experiences of the past 10,000 years are as valid as those of today and so we try to reconnect with them. We chose to worship ancient gods both to honor the energies and concepts they represent, and to reconnect with our ancestors.
3. Neopagans understand that science has shown us many new wonders and given us many marvels. No one I know of denies the truth of science. Instead we say that there is something else beyond science. We believe in evolution, but also believe there was a reason for why it happened the way it did. We believe in the Galilean solar system, but also believe that the energies of the ancient astrology is still applicable to our lives. In short, unlike Christians, Muslims, etc. who try to limit science to their world view; Neopagans try to expand the world beyond science to recognize things that science dismisses.
4. Not every Neopagan even believes in the presence of spirits, magic, etc. Some simply practice Neopaganism as a way to connect with a culture that is not controlled by Christianity’s evils and contradictions. For those of us that do believe in magic (which yes, I do believe) it is based off the philosophy of idealism. Essentially idealism breaks down into the concept that what one perceives and what actually is are not the same thing. You look at a tree and think that you are seeing a tree when in fact you are seeing brown lines that curve in semi-random directions and often have green shapes on the end. When I look at the same tree you would say we are both seeing the same thing. However what we are both “seeing” is the sensory input from the theoretical object that we have both dubbed tree. The tree I see is not the same tree you see because our perceptions are unique. Thusly we can see that each of us inhabit our own unique reality and that reality as we commonly know it is simply a collective agreement on what is and is not real. Magic practitioners believe that the matter we perceive is created by our perception of it, not the other way around. In simpler terms the answer (in our opinion) to the question of “if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound” is that neither the tree, the sound, nor the forest exist because there is nothing to perceive it. Those who believe in magic believe that since our minds create reality we can use our minds to recreate reality in a way more suitable to ourselves. Since others exist with us and create this collective reality we must find a way to either over rule their minds, or to enlist them in helping us. Also we have to do the same with the part of ourselves that has been trained since birth in the way the world works. That is why magic practitioners dress in costumes, chant in strange languages, use curious ingredients, and follow arcane formulas. We have learned that 10,000 years have ingrained on the human psyche that these procedures work and so they are able to trick people into using their minds re reshape reality.

So in the end there are many reasons that people become Neopagans. The major ones are to reconnect with nature, to reconnect with our ancestors, and to live a life that has spiritual meaning without the dogma of Judeo-Christianity and it’s oppressive morality. We all believe in science, even though some of us have beliefs that are beyond what science recognizes but that is perfectly fine with me. Science still does not recognize the concept of consciousness (the proverbial “I” within the self) but that doesn’t mean the whole world should abandon consciousness. Remember, lack of proof is not proof of lack. Anyways, I apologize for such a long post. If you (the webmaster) would like to discuss this in more depth then e-mail me back. I have been itching for good philosophical/theological discussions as of late.

]]> Comment on The New Face of Nanotechnology by Claire http://www.tristanpej.com/?p=210&cpage=1#comment-28 Claire Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:50:34 +0000 http://www.tristanpej.com/?p=210#comment-28 Tristan - I sure wish you were right about all this. Have you heard of Morgellons Disease? Read the following CLOSELY: http://staningerreport.com/#nano911.html Tristan -
I sure wish you were right about all this. Have you heard of Morgellons Disease? Read the following CLOSELY:

http://staningerreport.com/#nano911.html

]]> Comment on The New Face of Nanotechnology by The New Face of Nanotechnology - Tristan Johnson | GIT Fourm http://www.tristanpej.com/?p=210&cpage=1#comment-26 The New Face of Nanotechnology - Tristan Johnson | GIT Fourm Mon, 06 Apr 2009 07:45:59 +0000 http://www.tristanpej.com/?p=210#comment-26 [...] under Youtube Videos. :future, nanotechnology , science, transhumanism Read the original here: The New Face of Nanotechnology - Tristan Johnson friends, home, nanotechnology, podcast, podcasts, posts-podcasts, saturday, Technology, [...] [...] under Youtube Videos. :future, nanotechnology , science, transhumanism Read the original here: The New Face of Nanotechnology – Tristan Johnson friends, home, nanotechnology, podcast, podcasts, posts-podcasts, saturday, Technology, [...]

]]> Comment on Coming Out Anarchist by BYTE-Smasher http://www.tristanpej.com/?p=194&cpage=1#comment-25 BYTE-Smasher Wed, 01 Apr 2009 17:43:01 +0000 http://www.tristanpej.com/?p=194#comment-25 Tristan, I must ask my good man, how do you propose an anarchistic society would avoid the forming of a free market capitalism? You can try to outlaw the concept of ownership, but without a regulating body, there's no way to enforce the idea. Some greedy bastard would just start a barter system back up and reboot the entire damned thing. We'd end up with more social stratification due to lack of government regulation on business activity, and our resources would be depleted much faster. Not to mention, without abolishing religion, the first thing that would happen is all the religious fundies would band together and forcefully reinstate a socially conservative, and quite possibly religiously fascist government. I can agree with you on the various problems with our current system. I just don't think a social anarchy would last long without turning horribly wrong. This is why I support using government to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor... from the rich to the environment even. The rich should be paying for society, because as I see it, money is debt of resources. They've been greedy and taken more than their share, and they should have to give some back. Tristan, I must ask my good man, how do you propose an anarchistic society would avoid the forming of a free market capitalism? You can try to outlaw the concept of ownership, but without a regulating body, there’s no way to enforce the idea. Some greedy bastard would just start a barter system back up and reboot the entire damned thing. We’d end up with more social stratification due to lack of government regulation on business activity, and our resources would be depleted much faster.

Not to mention, without abolishing religion, the first thing that would happen is all the religious fundies would band together and forcefully reinstate a socially conservative, and quite possibly religiously fascist government.

I can agree with you on the various problems with our current system. I just don’t think a social anarchy would last long without turning horribly wrong. This is why I support using government to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor… from the rich to the environment even. The rich should be paying for society, because as I see it, money is debt of resources. They’ve been greedy and taken more than their share, and they should have to give some back.

]]> Comment on Coming Out Anarchist by Tristan http://www.tristanpej.com/?p=194&cpage=1#comment-23 Tristan Fri, 27 Mar 2009 03:46:13 +0000 http://www.tristanpej.com/?p=194#comment-23 I made a video on this a long time ago, but it was back when youtube put a 10 minute limit on my video and my research wasn't too good. I got a huge backlash for it and I think I need to revisit the whole thing. I made a video on this a long time ago, but it was back when youtube put a 10 minute limit on my video and my research wasn’t too good. I got a huge backlash for it and I think I need to revisit the whole thing.

]]> Comment on Coming Out Anarchist by Dennis http://www.tristanpej.com/?p=194&cpage=1#comment-22 Dennis Fri, 27 Mar 2009 03:24:09 +0000 http://www.tristanpej.com/?p=194#comment-22 tristan i would like to know more about the 2012 so called "end of the world" because i find it to be a very confusing subject but that might be because i am suffering from dilusional mental disorders and handicaps if there is any way we can chat about the subject that you could teach me about what you belive would become of the modern society i would be happy to listen but of course if you havnt got the time for it i understand deepest regards Dennis the Dane tristan i would like to know more about the 2012 so called “end of the world” because i find it to be a very confusing subject but that might be because i am suffering from dilusional mental disorders and handicaps if there is any way we can chat about the subject that you could teach me about what you belive would become of the modern society i would be happy to listen but of course if you havnt got the time for it i understand deepest regards Dennis the Dane

]]> Comment on New Found Popularity and the 9 Historical Events that Lead to our Modern World by A http://www.tristanpej.com/?p=125&cpage=1#comment-13 A Sun, 22 Feb 2009 00:15:45 +0000 http://www.tristanpej.com/?p=125#comment-13 if you want suggestions on what kind of videos to make...how aBOOt a weight loss video. if you want suggestions on what kind of videos to make…how aBOOt a weight loss video.

]]>