I'm not educated in the sense of having a degree, but I think observation and living life and seeing what goes on around the world gives me some insight into forming a opinion.

I understand greed, lust, and for the most part the meanings of the seven deadly sins as expressed.

But I would like you to tell me one thing..

Why do different peoples, races, religions, etc..........have at times such a mortal hate for each other and we know this happens and is happening around the world with wars, genocides, class hatred, worker strikes etc.............. .

Do you believes as I do there is a demonic force at work, because I have to think it's about more than just money and power

Lack of education. Being indoctrinated into false beliefs from an early age. Having followers of other faiths falsely presented to them for ulterior motives by powerful people. Human tendency to create schemata in order to make sense of the world around us leads to us creating 'in groups' and 'out groups' for all manner of trivial and irrelevant reasons. Natural inbuilt tribalism inherent in our genetic and biological make-up. And, of course, the extent to which different religious groups hate each other is constantly exaggerated for propaganda reasons, or at the very least other important factors are completely ignored while this factor is emphasised.

wake_up_bomb wrote:
That is a extremely intelligent and wise reply sir

Rick wrote: Ta, mate. I really think the schemata one is very significant, it's one psychological theory that I see being played out in the world all the time, not merely with relation to religion. It's well worth reading up on the theory, in my opinion:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schema_(psychology)

wake_up_bomb wrote:
Yep, paradigm is the word I use, similar thing...perhaps a slight difference.

wake_up_bomb wrote:
Found this video and I have no idea what it is but will try to listen and understand.

i think its all to do with money and power.. colonialism for example.. arrive at nice place, have dinner with natives, then kill and enslave them and take the land.
but i think for joe schmo wandering around, hes told to hate things that are different because they may destroy his way of life

Rick wrote: Let me give you a simple explanation for starters.

A schema is all the information you have about an object that forms your pre-conceived ideas about it. This is very useful in everyday life because if you see an egg, you know not to drop it on the floor. If you dropped an egg on the floor and it bounced up in the air like a tennis ball and stayed intact, we would all recant in amazement. Schemata are useful for understanding simple objects and situations in the world, but we tend to construct them to understand more complex and nuanced situations as well. You could call this stereotyping. So an example that is often used is that if you see a big, strong bloke, with a shaved head, wearing a bomber jacket then you make all kinds of snap social assumptions based on all the pre-conceived ideas you have about that 'object', just like you don't expect an egg to bounce like a tennis ball.

Of course, with people this turns out to be a very inadequate way of understanding them. And then widening it out to an even broader level, people make the same assumptions about social groups based on their pre-conceived ideas. Which is even more flawed. And the key thing about schema, which is usually referenced, is that once a certain pre-conceived notion of an object, person or social group is cemented in your way of thinking, even if you receive contradictory information the schema remains unchanged. And that's one of the primary reasons, in my opinion, that you see all sorts of social phenomena, including religious prejudice, racism, people with very concretised ideas about things that can never let go of them even when they become self-evidently ridiculous, etc.

I hope that makes sense.

batou wrote:
I understand the greed for money and power, but the motivation to kill and enslave someone who has not mortally confronted you is beyond me

well hopefully nobody in the world will understand that motivation either. but we are easily manipulated, short sighted and forgetful.

Rick wrote:
Thats psychopaths/sociopaths.

andyh wrote:
do you believe in demonic forces playing a role in this?
or do you think it's just about how a individual is or has turned into, a sociopath or psychopath

It's hard for me to not believe in demons, and if they aren't actually in control of someone maybe they are helping them along, but the one point I mention to anyone is why a demon would care about this realm were on, if there is a actual demonic influence, this would mean we have individual souls to be manipulated.

And in turn the souls that die young and innocent get recycled

Is this to crazy a thought on my part?

Rick wrote:
I don't think its crazy to think what you do.
Psychopathy is the scientific explanation, evil is the religious explanation, either is just as valid.

Some people are just so stone cold you have to wonder if its more than just psychopathy. It is a recognised fault with the brain that they literally have no empathy at all and that the most successful ones have learned to pretend it.

Unfortunately psychopathy affects a very large percentage of the population and they do indeed gravitate towards jobs with position/power over others. Its in their nature to do so.

I for example would love a job as a fireman but there's no way I could be a policeman, I couldn't hack it for more than a week.
It'd either be a case of quitting or me getting in trouble for handcuffing some rich cunt lol

demons, brain memes, thought virus.. what is difference?
do you mean demons that have personalities etc.. like a creature from another realm? i think i understood it for a little bit but its like trying to draw a detailed picture of something i glimpsed out of a train window.

andyh wrote:
They pretty much let buildings burn here for safety reasons if everyone is out, and use the control any additional fires approach, meaning their spraying the roofs of houses and buildings next to the fire also,

I have the utmost respect for firemen

Rick wrote:
Look to the animal kingdom. They don't have religion, banks, politics etc. What they do have is mutual respect for one anothers territory on the whole. Take packs of wild dogs, they will defend their territory if a pack looses sight of that respect. We are no different, we just have excuses like religion and politics and banks to blame and justify ourselves. So to that end, no there are no demonic forces at work, any more than there is some sort of god.
I don't mean to sound like a broken record, but some here know what I am going to post next......


Be a pebble in the pool Rick.

Jane

feather wrote:
Does that mean you have no believe in a spirit world and are humanists atheistic ?

Rick wrote: I have no belief in a spirit world at all.

There is undoubtedly a life force but I suspect that is electrical or simililar.
Deities imo were placemarkers awaiting science to explain the reality.

I lean more towards acceptance of a selfish gene driving us.
We guard our genepool from those we 'percieve' as threats to our long-term / intergenerational survival.
To the extent where even even those we co-operate with either of our own or other species are valued because they assist our own survival.
See: Dogs, horses, cats, etc

Why for example might you respect or value firemen?
Because they bring you a sense of security.

That gene can be manipulated to believe something is a threat and either react accordingly or passively look on while others react 'on our behalf'.

The gene is the chip.
Psychology is the software

feather wrote:

Thank you for your reply