The answer to my hypothetical question remains optional btw.

Would agree with the assessment of the show hosts as someone potentially delusional if not misguided.

Feel free to put me in the same bracket as him if you like your judgement means very little to me and I in fact empathise with your scepticism.

Let me ask you a question to the sceptical aspect of your reasoning which I assume you do not preclude the existence of a diety or a higher power… — invicta

I absolutely do think that no deity or higher supernatural power exists. I just cant PROVE I am correct.

As a purely hypothetical scenario let’s say you decided to purchase a lottery ticket and said to yourself, your conscience whatever …if you do exist Mr God…let all these numbers that I’ve picked come up on the next draw…would you believe then or would you simply ascribe it to some freaky mathematical probability? — invicta

Would I believe god exists because I prayed to win the national lottery and then I won it that very day!
NO, I would not consider that evidence of the existence of god in any way whatsoever, would you?

So what would constitute proof to you then? It seems to me that nothing would as you’ve completely ruled out the existence of such a thing

Sure, but what's your personal opinion of Charlie's claims?

Possibly a charlatan and probably meet him with the same disbelief as yourself.

So what would constitute proof to you then? It seems to me that nothing would as you’ve completely ruled out the existence of such a thing — invicta

Ok, that's very easy. God should appear on Earth and submit itself to scientific scrutiny.
OR, you can call on your 'experience' to stop me from posting my next response to you.
Can you demonstrate such?
I am now going to post this and wait 5 mins and then post the word 'hello' to you.
Let's see if your 'experiences' or any god, can stop me.

That’s fine but I have not made any claims of proof to its existence. Only that what I’ve experienced convinced me. A second hand account of someone else experience should be taken with a pinch of salt like you’ve done…

Nowhere in this thread have I portended to convince or provide proof.

'hello'

Imagine if you had dropped dead there for a second

I waited until 5 minutes showed on my previous post before sending you my 'hello' post.
Your 'experience' and God, has no power. But, that's because it has no existence, imo.
Do you have any other reason to show why your 'experience' or god could not even meet this simple test?

Erm I did not claim to have such super powers. Nor did I claim that my experience granted me with any divine or supernatural power.

It’s a simple matter of proof, you could dismiss it to my misattribution of God for such an experience and you’re entitled to do so which you’ve done.

Does it negate it in any way shape or form? That’s entirely up to you.

Imagine if you had dropped dead there for a second — invicta

Oh I have went far further in my personal challenged to god when debating with theists.
I know some of them have been very tempted to try to make something happen via their own hands, in desperation to invent some evidence of a supernatural presence.
You can imagine all you like but god still demonstrates nothing but its absence.
Are you unable to get your 'experiences' to affect me in anyway?

Does it negate it in any way shape or form? — invicta

Yes, you have no evidence!!!!!
I agree that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence BUT IT ABSOLUTELY IS, in the case of god.

Are you unable to get your 'experiences' to affect me in anyway? — universeness

They’re not intended to.

Plus I think you might have misinterpreted me…I did not claim these experiences contain within them any such supernatural powers as to directly influence the belief or non belief of others.

Anyway there’s a horse at 16:25 at Wolverhampton called Dew You Believe at 6/1

Cheeky 5er for your lack of faith ?

Possibly a charlatan and probably meet him with the same disbelief as yourself. — invicta

Ok, your scepticism wins again! Hallelujah!
So you will understand when many react to you as you would react to Charlie.

Anyway there’s a horse at 16:25 at Wolverhampton called Dew you believe at 6/1

Cheeky 5er for your lack of faith ? — invicta

My father was a gambler and it caused him much grief in his life and contributed to his early death at 67. He gambled mainly on horses, so I never have, and never will. I get no joy at all from gambling, it's not one of my pastimes.

I am away for a shower and a shave however. A night of eating and drinking will ensue.
Bye fur noo!

Dew you believe at 6/1 — invicta

BTW I am not Dewish and I don't believe, at any favourable odds.

God decided to tip me on this one ☝️

God decided to tip me on this one ☝️ — invicta

Well I’ll be damned. A horse called caracristi won it instead, cristi of course a derivative of the word Christ (or follower of Christ).

Incidentally it beat the favourite Captain St Lucifer by just over a neck.

I guess I’ll eat my words

I’ve thought about Wittgenstein’s quote and in some sense there’s no escaping the present. When I recollect the past it happens in the present and when I look to the future that too happens in the present. When the past happened it was the present (at that present time) and when when I wait a few minutes the future is the present.

I believe the infinite temporal duration he refers to is often used as a paradigm as the concept might have more use.

I created a new thread for that very reason as when 180Proof posted that I had reflected on the same issue a few months back.

https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussion/14100/is-the-future-real

As a philosopher how do you reconcile these two seemingly contradictory notions of being given existence but only for a limited time? Does it not sometimes make one feel powerless or at worst nihilistic in the face of it? — invicta

From an evolutionary point of view, we think of ourselves as separate and distinct from the universe. After all, if I don’t see myself as separate from the tiger, I may end up as lunch. But we also see the Earth as flat and at rest. Moral: what we perceive may not be the truth.

If we see ourselves as a temporary manifestation of the universe, then things are different. If I play Hamlet, when the play is over, I still exist. I don’t mourn the fact that my Hamlet no longer exists. If I see myself as a temporary manifestation of the universe, I don’t mourn when the temporary manifestation ends.

Of course, it’s easier said than done.

how do you reconcile these two seemingly contradictory notions of being given existence but only for a limited time? Does it not sometimes make one feel powerless or at worst nihilistic in the face of it? — invicta

As far as I can remember, I personally have never felt powerless from that aspect. I don't remember ever wanting to live for eternity, i.e. to be immortal, like e.g. an angel or a god. And certainly not a vampire! :grin:

Wanting to live for eternity is a trait of vanity. And foolishness.

Now, this regards the physical part of the human beings. There's another part, about which --maybe more than half of the planet (think widely!)-- believes that it is eternal.
But this is of course out of the spirit of this topic ...

As far as I can remember, I personally have never felt powerless from that aspect. I don't remember ever wanting to live for eternity, i.e. to be immortal, like e.g. an angel or a god. And certainly not a vampire! :grin: — Alkis Piskas

Thank you for your input.

There’s nothing vain about wanting to live forever to me it’s a fundamental right as a sentient being and not selfish at all. That is if my sentience was granted by the divine.

You could say a mortal wanting to live a long life like in their 80s etc is also vain, which is not btw. The difference between the two is one of scale with the other end of it being forever.

.

Maybe I don't really wanna know
How your garden grows
'Cause I just wanna fly
Lately, did you ever feel the pain
In the morning rain
As it soaks you to the bone?

Maybe I just wanna fly
Wanna live, I don't wanna die
Maybe I just wanna breathe
Maybe I just don't believe
Maybe you're the same as me
We see things they'll never see
You and I are gonna live forever

I said maybe I don't really wanna know
How your garden grows
'Cause I just wanna fly
Lately, did you ever feel the pain
In the morning rain
As it soaks you to the bone?

Maybe I will never be
All the things that I wanna be
Now is not the time to cry
Now's the time to find out why
I think you're the same as me
We see things they'll never see
You and I are gonna live forever
Maybe I don't really wanna know

How your garden grows
'Cause I just wanna fly
Lately, did you ever feel the pain
In the morning rain
As it soaks you to the bone?
Maybe I just wanna fly
Wanna live, I don't wanna die
Maybe I just wanna breathe
Maybe I just don't believe
Maybe you're the same as me
We see things they'll never see
You and I are gonna live forever

There’s nothing vain about wanting to live forever to me it’s a fundamental right as a sentient being and not selfish at all. — invicta

I'm sorry if the words "vanity" and "foolishness" offended you. They came out of me spontaneously, since I know well that most people in here and elsewhere believe that they are bodies and thinking that a body can survive forever is just absurd.
And certainly did not refer to your views, which I certainly respect.

That is if my sentience was granted by the divine. — invicta

Now, since you speak about divinity, and you are not constricted to the material part of you, I strongly believe that we are eternal beings. I hope that at least this might make you feel more comfortable. And of because not because I believe it. It is believed maybe by the most part of the planet, esp. the Eastern world.

You could say a mortal wanting to live a long life like in their 80s etc is also vain, which is not btw. The difference between the two is one of scale with the other end of it being forever. — invicta

Yes, I believe that someone wanting to live a long life --90, 100 and more-- is a trait of vanity. My aunt died at 102 and even in her 90s she could really accept that she "got old". She was hidding her age by 7 years and she even threw out her ID card and torne out the first page of her passportm for not letting people know her real age. She was a very vain woman in general.

When he was dying, Einstein refused surgery, saying "I want to go when I want. It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share, it is time to go. I will do it elegantly."
(https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/436253)

As a philosopher how do you reconcile these two seemingly contradictory notions of being given existence but only for a limited time? Does it not sometimes make one feel powerless or at worst nihilistic in the face of it? — invicta

Seems like another one of those questions which is only a problem for agnostics and atheists.

I'm sorry if the words "vanity" and "foolishness" offended you. — Alkis Piskas

Oh I’m not offended by that, what I’m offended by is your lack of ambition.

I’m offended by is your lack of ambition — invicta

:gasp:

All existence is based on mine, and when I cease to be, so will the universe, for me at least. Nothing will survive my death from my perspective, and I feel comforted by that. I don't need to accomplish something great or worry about how I spent my days, my inevitable oblivion shall wipe the slate clean.

As for right now, I'm insignificant in terms of space and time when compared to the universe but I'm sentient and the universe isn't. I'm pretty sure it's actually my existence that is more amazing, it seems silly to be jealous of gasses and rocks.