The Free Thinking Mind

Some people might actually find this a stupid question, but I noticed lots of western humans have the preconception that Islam is a Religion that inspires only radicalism.

This is simply not true. Sure, there are suicide bombers, Islamic inspired attacks against our western “holy” values (like i.e. freedom of speech/expression, women’s rights, etc…).

But, think with me for a moment. If most Muslims were radical ones, wouldn’t there be a lot more onslaughts that really happen? Like… say several a day?

Are there? No.

 

This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t follow it closely, or that there aren’t some being avoided by intelligence services. We, in Europe, experienced how fast Christianity became like that in the past very quickly.

In my opinion it are just THOSE moderate Muslims that can DO something about our wrong preconceptions about them. By being more vocal in explaining how Islamic radicalism actually differs from real Islam.

 

It could make others better understand the situation. But, then again…

Who am I?

 

-Carlo

Christopher Hitchen’s quote here .is actually just what I missed on my latest post. See? I even posses self criticism skills, naturally from my self. Unfortunately, we are a big, big, big, minority…

 

To most people the point or pur
pose of discussion is being right/correct . Only then they receive the feeling of having “won  ” the debate.

 
To me the point or purpose of discussion is to try to get as close to the actual truth/reality/facts as possible. I can’t accomplish this goal, by ignoring legitimate arguments or valuable evidence from my opponent, and not looking at the implications it as on every other side-aspect of the subject too.

I’d just never come up with any creative, inventive, new insights or innovating original solutions, because nothing is merely black or white. There are thousands of grey shades in between..

 

Not being able to admit your wrongs? It’s a sign of ignorance, not of intelligence!

Always remember:

 

It is OK…
… To Disagree

For myself disagreeing with my views is – in fact – that what makes me get interested in you…

You want to play the the theist for a change, but don’t know how to argue like them? Here’s a blueprint for you.

Atheists say/believe that [insert straw man], because [insert baseless assumption]. But this would mean that [insert non sequitur] and that’s ridiculous because [insert argument from ignorance/incredulity] and they can’t [insert straw man] + [reverse the burden of proof].

They are always [insert ad hominem + straw man] and that isn’t true because [insert favorite fairytale book] says that [insert imaginary friend] exists because [insert circular argument], and [hit the bandwagon] knows god is [insert presupposition by cherrypicking from favorite fairytale book].

[insert random logically inconsistent mumbo-jambo & try to sell it as evidence] is irrefutable proof of [insert ridiculous claim]. [Insert magical spell/incantation]

Therefore atheists are going to [insert ridiculous claim].

[Act like you’ve won the argument]. [Block/censor all atheists and comments’ proving you wrong].

In this following article I am going to show you the blatant hypocrisy of the people who support the death penalty.

First, I am personally against the death penalty, because killing someone who killed another human being lowers you to their standards and methods, and just basically makes you no better than them. This is not called justice, it is called revenge!

An eye for an eye…. Really? Haven’t we evolved past that bronze-age view?

The main supporters of the death penalty are also mostly the conservative right, religious people, who so vocally come out for “pro-life” in matters like abortion, assisted suicide and euthanasia.

That’s hypocrisy in C Major.

1. Abortion.

“Abortion is murder” or wanting a funeral for every aborted baby etc, because life begins at conception?

A 6 weeks old fetus is not more alive that the millions of sperm cells that are killed with every male ejaculation.

Scientifically, life starts at the moment the brain and major vital organs are fully developed, which is not before the 11th week following conception, all into the 2nd trimester.

But, hey, killing a person who is fully conscious, is less important than an embryotic ziote…

2. Assisted suicide.

People are getting hospitalised to keep them from killing themselves. But it’s their life. So, basically it should be their choice.

Actually, someone that wants assisted suicide and is intelligent enough, might come up with the idea of just murdering someone in a state which has the death penalty.

It might actually bring their desired assisted suicide a lot faster to them, than in any legal way on death row.

 

Oh…. The hypocrisy of the pro lifers… *sigh*

 

-By Carlo Landzaat

I dreamed of a woman
’bout 30 years old
Her smile was of silver
Her hair was like gold

I dreamed of a woman
Eyes blue as the sea
I shivered every time
They looked at me

I dreamed of a woman
Her voice soft and sweet
Whenever she talked
My heart skipped a beat

Her touch felt so softly
As if it were cream
Yet, at sunrise I realised
She was but a dream

-Carlo Landzaat

ZEUS was the King of the Gods and the god of the sky, weather, law and order, destiny and fate, and kingship. He was depicted as a regal, mature man with a sturdy figure and dark beard. His usual attributes were a lightning bolt, a royal sceptre and an eagle.

MYTHS

Zeus was the youngest child of the Titans Kronos (Cronus) and Rheia. Kronos devoured each of his children as they were born, but Zeus escaped this fate when his mother spirited him away, handing the Titan a stone substitute wrapped in swaddling cloth.

The god was raised in secrecy on Mount Dikte in Krete (Crete) where he was nursed by nymphs on the milk of the goat Amaltheia and guarded by the warrior Kouretes (Curetes) who drowned out the sound of his crying with their shield-clashing battle-dance.

Upon coming of age Zeus recruited the goddess Metis to his cause. She served the Titan Kronos a magical draught which caused him to disgorge the young gods he had devoured.

Zeus liberated the six giant-sons of Heaven from the pit of Tartaros. In gratitude the Kyklopes (Cyclopes) armed him with lightning-bolts and the Hekatonkheires (Hundred-Handed) aided him in his assault on the Titanes with volleys of thrown boulders. Kronos and his allies were eventually defeated and banished to a prison beneath the earth.

After the fall of the Titan-gods, Zeus and his brothers drew lots to divide rule of the cosmos – Zeus won the heavens, Poseidon the sea and Haides the underworld.

Zeus devoured the pregnant goddess Metis when an oracle revealed that her son was destined to replace him as King of the Gods. Their child, Athena, was subsequently born in his belly and birthed directly from his head.

Zeus married his sister Hera, queen of the heavens, after seducing her in the guise of a cuckoo-bird. But this union of ever quarreling sky-god and sky-goddess proved not to be a match made in heaven!

Prometheus crafted the race of man and gave them fire stolen from the gods of heaven. Zeus punished this act by ordering the creation of the first woman, Pandora, and sent her to earth with a vessel full of troubles to plague mankind. Prometheus himself was arrested and chained to a mountain with an eagle set to torment him.

The early generations of man descended into wickedness and corruption and Zeus decided to wipe them from the face of the earth with a great deluge. One virtuous couple, Deukalion and Pyrrha, were spared and afterwards allowed to repopulate the world with the casting of stones which transformed into men.

The earth-goddess Gaia (Gaea), angered by the imprisonment of the Titanes, urged the Giants to rise up against the gods of Olympos. They laid siege to the heavenly fortress but Zeus laid low their king and many others with his deadly lightning-bolts.

Gaia produced one more giant, Typhoeus, the most monstrous of his kind and set him upon Olympos. The rest of the gods fled in horror and Zeus himself was defeated in combat with the monster tearing the sinews from his limbs rendering him helpless. Pan later stole back the god’s strength and, restored, Zeus defeated the giant in a rematch and bound him beneath Mount Etna.

Zeus seduced many mortal woman including Leda in the guise of a swan, Europa as a bull, Danae as a shower of gold, Alkmene as her own husband, Kallisto (Callisto) as the goddess Artemis, and Antiope as a satyr.

The god’s favorite mortal son was Herakles (Heracles) whom he supported throughout his trials and eventually welcomed to Olympos as a god.

Zeus punished the worst villians of myth for their impiety and crimes against the gods including Tantalos who stole ambrosia from heaven, Lykaon (Lycaon) who served human flesh to the gods, Ixion who attempted to rape Zeus’ wife the goddess Hera, and Salmoneus who tried to imitate Zeus and steal the worship that was due the gods.

Befitting his role as King of the Gods, Zeus was attended by a large complement of lesser divinities.

His throne was guarded by four winged spirits, two male and two female, named Kratos (Strength), Zelos (Rivalry), Nike (Victory) and Bia (Force). Kratos and Bia functioned as muscular enforcers and were tasked with jobs such as the apprehension and imprisonment of the Titan Prometheus. Nike drove Zeus’ chariot and often accompanied him in miniature form as something of a divine familiar.

The god Hermes was Zeus’ personal herald who acted as diplomat, envoy and general agent of the god’s will.

His messenger was Iris, the winged goddess of the rainbow, who simply relayed messages verbatim and delivered commands to the other gods.

Zeus’ high councillor Themis, goddess of law and order, was seated beside his throne. She was attended by their six daughters the Moirai (Fates) and the Horai (Seasons). These goddesses were collectively responsible for the orderly functioning of the cosmos. Themis was also charged with summoning all of the gods to assembly in the courtyard of Zeus.

The god’s virgin sister Hestia also resided in his palace where she tended the ever-burning, divine hearth-fire in the center of his hall.

Metis, goddess of wisdom, was perhaps his most unusual attendant. Zeus swallowed her whole to avoid a prophesy and she took up residence in his belly. The ancient Greeks believed the belly rather than the brain was the seat of thought and emotion, and so by subsuming her he effectively implanted wise counsel in his mind. She continued to exist in some form or other within the god, even to the extent of birthing Athena there and equipping her with armour and weapons before her second birth from Zeus’ head.

MYTHS

Dionysos was a son of Zeus and the princess Semele of Thebes. During the course of her pregnancy, the god’s jealous wife Hera tricked Semele into asking Zeus to appear before her in his full glory. Bound by oath, the god was forced to comply and she was consumed by the heat of his lightning-bolts. Zeus recovered their unborn child from her body, sewed him up in his own thigh, and carried him to term.

After his birth from the thigh of Zeus, Dionysos was first entrusted to the care of Seilenos (Silenus) and the nymphs of Mount Nysa, and later to his aunt Ino, Semele’s sister, and her husband Athamas. Hera was enraged when she learned of the boy’s location and drove the couple mad, causing them to kill both their children and themselves.

The Thrakian king Lykourgos (Lycurgus) attacked Dionysos and his companions as they were travelling through his land and drove them into the sea. As punishment, the god inflicted him with madness causing him to murder his wife and son and mutilate himself with an axe.

King Pentheus of Thebes refused to accept the god’s divinity and tried to apprehend him. The god retaliated by driving the king’s daughters into a crazed frenzy and they tore him apart limb from limb.

Dionysos instructed the hero Ikarios (Icarius) of Athens in the art of winemaking. However, some shepherds, upon drinking the wine, thought they had been poisoned and killed him. The sorrowful god then set him amongst the stars as the constellation Bootes.

As Dionysos was travelling through the islands of the Aegean Sea he was captured by a band of Tyrrhenian pirates who thought to sell him into slavery. The god infested their ship with phantoms of creeping vines and wild beasts, and in terror the men leapt overboard and were transformed into dolphins.

Dionysos married princess Ariadne of Krete (Crete) whom he discovered abandoned by Theseus on the island of Naxos.

The god launched a campaign against the Indian nation in the farthest reaches of Asia, leading an army composed of Satyrs, Mainades, and demigods.

Dionysos journeyed to the underworld to recover his mother Semele and brought her to Olympos where Zeus transformed into the goddess Thyone.

SYMBOLS & ATTRIBUTES

Dionysos’ most distinctive attribute was the thyrsos, a pine-cone tipped staff. His other attributes included a drinking-cup (kantharos), fruiting grapevines and a panther.
The god was usually clothed in a long robe (chiton) and cloak (himation) and crowned with a wreath of ivy-leaves.

SACRED ANIMALS & PLANTS

Dionysos’ sacred animals were the panther (leopard), tiger, bull and serpent. The god rode on the back of a panther or drove a chariot drawn by a pair of the beasts.
His sacred plants were the grapevine, ivy, bindweed (prickly ivy) and pine tree. Devotees of the god wore wreaths of ivy and carried pine-cone tipped staffs.

Thor was one of the most important and famous gods in Norse mythology. He was the son of Odin and Fyorgyn, the earth goddess. Thor was considered the storm-weather god of sky and thunder and also a fertility god. His wife was Sif, a goddess also linked to fertility. He had a red beard and eyes, he was huge in size, he had an insatiable appetite and not much wit. Thor was the strongest of all gods and men according to The Prose Edda.

THOR’S HAMMER & CHARIOT

Thor was very talented at slaying giants; many of his stories revolve around violent episodes between him and his enemies. In order to perform his duties, Thor had a hammer, Mjollnir, a deadly weapon also associated with lightning and thunder, which was built by the dwarves. He also had iron gloves and a belt named Megingjard that doubled Thor’s strength once buckled on. There were also some other less destructive aspects of Thor. As a weather god he was associated with the fertility of the earth. He was also regarded as a guide for those travelling over the sea because of his power over storms and wind.

Thor had a chariot to travel across the sky, which was drawn by two giant goats: Tanngniost and Tanngrisnir. These powerful animals had a very convenient magical property: they could be killed and eaten at any time, and as long as their bones were undamaged and returned into their skins, they would regenerate overnight and the following day would be alive, just like new.

FAMOUS NARRATIVES ABOUT THOR

One of the most famous stories involving Thor is included in Hymir’s Poem: the gods organized a feast and the giant Ægir is requested to prepare it. Ægir agrees, but requests an enormous cauldron, which can only be obtained from the giant Hymir. Thor accepts the task of getting the cauldron and sets off on his adventure. In the middle of his mission, Thor and Hymir get involved in a fishing expedition. This is when Thor almost catches the World Serpent (Jormungand):

The brave and famous Hymir caught

two whales on his hook at once,

and back in the stern the kinsman of Odin,

Thor, cunningly laid out his line.

The protector of humans, the slayer of the serpent,

baited his hook with the ox’s head.

He whom the gods hate, the Circumscriber

beneath all lands, gaped at the bait.

Then very bravely Thor, the courageous one,

pulled the gleaming serpent up on board.

With his hammer he struck the head

violently, form above, of the wolf’s hideous brother.

The sea-wolf shrieked and the underwater rocks re-echoed,

all the ancient earth was collapsing

then that fish sank into the sea.

(The Poetic Edda. Hymir’s Poem (Hymiskvida), 21-24)

There is a story where Asgard, the realm of the Norse gods, is damaged during a war between the gods. One of the giants offers to help rebuild the walls of Asgard and commits to do it in a very short period of time. The gods accept the offer, thinking it would be impossible to carry out the task on time, and in return the giant is promised the sun, the moon, and even the goddess Freyia. The giant almost succeeds in delivering the results on time, so Thor decides to break the promise and kills the giant.

Thor alone struck a blow there, swollen with rage,

he seldom sits still when he hears such things said;

the oaths broke apart, the words and the promises,

all the solemn pledges which had passed between them.

(The Poetic Edda. Seeress’s Prophecy (Voluspa), 26)

Norse mythology claims that Thor, along with most of the gods, will eventually die during a final disaster. It is said that during the end of the world (known as Ragnarok in Norse mythology), Thor will fight against the World Serpent:

Then the glorious son of Earth,

Odin’s son, advances to fight against the serpent,

in his wrath the defender of earth strikes,

all men must leave their homesteads;

nine steps Fiorgyn’s child takes,

with difficulty, from the serpent of whom scorn is never spoken.

(The Poetic Edda. Seeress’s Prophecy (Voluspa), 56)

The god slays the serpent, but he will then die as well, drowned in the beast’s poison.

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THOR & OTHER DEITIES

The conflict between Thor and the World Serpent is similar to the conflict between the Vedic god Indra and the demon-serpent Vritra, which is described in the Vedas. Moreover, Indra is also a sky god, and his weapon is the thunderbolt. The Teutonic god Donar and the Anglo-Saxon Thunor are also storm gods who share many similarities with Thor. The Baltic thunder god Perkunas was also associated with fertility and was normally depicted holding one of his many weapons, including a hammer.

When two opposing views are presented as the only options, but are not, the logical fallacy they’re making is Called: False Dilemma, Black or White or False Dichotomy.

A false dilemma (also known as a false dichotomy or Black & White) is a logical fallacy which involves presenting two opposing views, options or outcomes in such a way that they seem to be the only possibilities: that is, if one is true, the other must be false, or, more typically, if you do not accept one then the other must be accepted. The reality in most cases is that there are many in-between or other alternative options, not just two mutually exclusive ones.

In other words, there are two ways in which one can commit a false dilemma. First, one can assume that there are only two (or three, though that case is strictly speaking be a “false trilemma”) options when there really are many more. Second, one can take the options to be mutually exclusive when they really are not.

The fallacy is a syllogistic fallacy and a formal fallacy.

Form

You commit this fallacy if you interpret the negation of a conjunction (e.g. “not both A and B”) as implying at at least one conjunct (either A or B) must be true.

1. Not (A and B)
2. Not A
3. Therefore, B

In order words, confusing a contradiction (where one or the other must be true, but not both) with a contrary (where both could be false, but both cannot be true).

For example:

1. Evolution and creationism can’t both be true.
2. Evolution is not true.
3. Therefore, creationism is true.

The above example is fallacious as it is possible for both creationism and evolution to be untrue.

(From: http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/False_dilemma)

(Also read: https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/94/False-Dilemma)

 

Poseidon was the god of the sea, earthquakes and horses. Although he was officially one of the supreme gods of Mount Olympus, he spent most of his time in his watery domain. Poseidon was brother to Zeus and Hades. These three gods divided up creation. Zeus became ruler of the sky, Hades got dominion of the Underworld and Poseidon was given all water, both fresh and salt.

Although there were various rivers personified as gods, these would have been technically under Poseidon’s sway. Similarly, Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea, wasn’t really considered on a par with Poseidon, who was known to drive his chariot through the waves in unquestioned dominance. Poseidon had married Nereus’s daughter, the sea-nymph Amphitrite.

The Romans’ name for Poseidon was Neptune.

In dividing heaven, the watery realm and the subterranean land of the dead, the Olympians agreed that the earth itself would be ruled jointly, with Zeus as king. This led to a number of territorial disputes among the gods. Poseidon vied with Athena to be patron deity of Athens. The god demonstrated his power and benevolence by striking the Acropolis with his three-pronged spear, which caused a spring of salt water to emerge. Athena, however, planted an olive tree, which was seen as a more useful favor. Her paramount importance to the Athenians is seen in her magnificent temple, the Parthenon, which still crowns the Acropolis. The people of Athens were careful, all the same, to honor Poseidon as well.

Poseidon was father of the hero Theseus, although the mortal Aegeus also claimed this distinction. Theseus was happy to have two fathers, enjoying the lineage of each when it suited him. Thus he became king of Athens by virtue of being Aegeus’s son, but availed himself of Poseidon’s parentage in facing a challenge handed him by King Minos of Crete. This monarch threw his signet ring into the depths of the sea and dared Theseus to retrieve it. The hero dove beneath the waves and not only found the ring but was given a crown by Poseidon’s wife, Amphitrite.

Poseidon was not so well-disposed toward another famous hero. Because Odysseus blinded the Cyclops Polyphemus, who was Poseidon’s son, the god not only delayed the hero’s homeward return from the Trojan War but caused him to face enormous perils.

Poseidon similarly cursed the wife of King Minos. Minos had proved his divine right to rule Crete by calling on Poseidon to send a bull from the sea, which the king promised to sacrifice. Poseidon sent the bull, but Minos liked it too much to sacrifice it. So Poseidon asked Aphrodite, the goddess of love, to make Minos’s queen, Pasiphae, fall in love with the bull. The result was the monstrous Minotaur, half-man, half-bull.

As god of horses, Poseidon often adopted the shape of a steed. It is not certain that he was in this form when he wooed Medusa. But when Perseus later killed the Gorgon, the winged horse Pegasus sprang from her severed neck.

Poseidon sometimes granted the shape-shifting power to others. And he ceded to the request of the maiden Caenis that she be transformed into the invulnerable, male warrior Caeneus.