Thursday, October 7, 2010

The Band Perry- If I Die Young

If I die young bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song
oh oh oh oh

Lord make me a rainbow, I’ll shine down on my mother
She'll know I’m safe with you when she stands under my colors, oh and
Life ain't always what you think it ought to be, no
Ain't even gray, but she buries her baby

The sharp knife of a short life, well
I’ve had just enough time

If I die young bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song

The sharp knife of a short life, well
I’ve had just enough time

And I’ll be wearing white when I come into your kingdom
I’m as green as the ring on my little cold finger
I’ve never known the lovin' of a man
But it sure felt nice when he was holding me hand
There’s a boy here in town says he’ll love my forever
Who would have thought forever could be severed by

The sharp knife of a short life, well
I’ve had just enough time

So put on your best boys and I’ll wear my pearls
What I never did is done

A penny for my thoughts, oh no I’ll sell them for a dollar
There worth so much more after I’m a goner
And maybe then you’ll here the words I been singin’
Funny when your dead how people start listenin’

If I die young bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song
oh oh

The ballad of a dove
Go with peace and love
Gather up your tears, keep ‘em in your pocket
Save them for a time when your really gonna need them oh

The sharp knife of a short life, well
I’ve had just enough time

So put on your best boys and I’ll wear my pearls

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Base Thoughts & Values of Secular Humanism

What Is Secular Humanism?

"Taxonomically, my family is Freethinker (including atheists, skeptics, agnostics); my genus is Humanist (including the religion-based), and my species is Secular."
— John Rafferty
Secular. "Pertaining to the world or things not spiritual or sacred."
Humanism. "Any system of thought or action concerned with the interests or ideals of people … the intellectual and cultural movement … characterized by an emphasis on human interests rather than … religion."

— Webster’s Dictionary

If you’ve rejected traditional religion (or were never religious to start), you may be asking, "Is that all there is?" It’s liberating to recognize that supernatural beings are human creations … that there’s no such thing as "spirit" … that people are undesigned, unintended, and responsible for themselves.
But what’s next?

For many, mere atheism (the absence of belief in gods and the supernatural) or agnosticism (the view that such questions cannot be answered) aren’t enough.
Atheism and agnosticism are silent on larger questions of values and meaning. If Meaning in life is not ordained from on high, what small meanings can we work out among ourselves? If eternal life is an illusion, how can we make the most of our only lives? As social beings sharing a godless world, how should we coexist?

For the questions that remain unanswered after we’ve cleared our minds of gods and souls and spirits, many atheists, agnostics, skeptics, and freethinkers turn to secular humanism.

Secular Humanism is a life stance that focuses on the way human beings can lead happy and functional lives. Secular Humanism is distinguished from various other forms of humanism. Though Secular Humanist believe that human beings are capable of being ethical and moral without religion, or God, that is not to say it assumes humans to be inherently or innately good. Nor does it present humans as "above nature" or superior to it; by contrast, the humanist life stance emphasises the unique responsibility facing humanity and the ethical consequences of human decisions.

Secular Humanism is also called "scientific humanism". Biologist E. O. Wilson called it "the only worldview compatible with science's growing knowledge of the real world and the laws of nature".
Secular humanism is a comprehensive, nonreligious lifestance incorporating:
» A naturalistic philosophy» A cosmic outlook rooted in science
» A consequentialist ethical system
Let’s examine these items one by one:

A comprehensive, nonreligious lifestance.Secular humanism is comprehensive, touching every aspect of life including issues of values, meaning, and identity. Thus it is broader than atheism, which concerns only the nonexistence of god or the supernatural. Important as that may be, there’s a lot more to life … and secular humanism addresses it.
Secular humanism is nonreligious, espousing no belief in a realm or beings imagined to transcend ordinary experience.
Secular humanism is a lifestance, or what Council for Secular Humanism founder Paul Kurtz has termed a eupraxsophy: a body of principles suitable for orienting a complete human life.

A naturalistic philosophy.Secular humanism is philosophically naturalistic. It holds that nature (the world of everyday physical experience) is all there is, and that reliable knowledge is best obtained when we query nature using the scientific method. Naturalism asserts that supernatural entities like God do not exist, and warns us that knowledge gained without appeal to the natural world and without impartial review by multiple observers is unreliable.

A cosmic outlook rooted in science.Secular humanism provides a cosmic outlook—a world-view in the broadest sense, grounding our lives in the context of our universe and relying on methods demonstrated by science. Secular humanists see themselves as undesigned, unintended beings who arose through evolution, possessing unique attributes of self-awareness and moral agency.

A consequentialist ethical system.Secular humanists hold that ethics is consequential, to be judged by results. This is in contrast to so-called command ethics, in which right and wrong are defined in advance and attributed to divine authority. "No god will save us," declared Humanist Manifesto II (1973), "we must save ourselves." Secular humanists seek to develop and improve their ethical principles by examining the results they yield in the lives of real men and women.
What Are Secular Humanist Values?


"… the moral consequences of believing the universe not to be guided by a personal god to whom petitionary prayer can be addressed are huge. That is why it is so inadequate to call oneself solely an atheist; one needs some sort of description for what motivates one's behavior afterwards."

— Bill Cooke

Secular humanist author and activist

Secular Humanism describes a world view with the following elements and principles:
  • Need to test beliefs– A conviction that dogmas, ideologies and traditions, whether religious, political or social, must be weighed and tested by each individual and not simply accepted by faith.

  • Reason, evidence, scientific method – A commitment to the use of critical reason, factual evidence and scientific methods of inquiry in seeking solutions to human problems and answers to important human questions.

  • Fulfillment, growth, creativity – A primary concern with fulfillment, growth and creativity for both the individual and humankind in general.

  • Search for truth– A constant search for objective truth, with the understanding that new knowledge and experience constantly alter our imperfect perception of it.

  • This life– A concern for this life (as opposed to an afterlife) and a commitment to making it meaningful through better understanding of ourselves, our history, our intellectual and artistic achievements, and the outlooks of those who differ from us.

  • Building a better world – A conviction that with reason, an open exchange of ideas, good will, and tolerance, progress can be made in building a better world for ourselves and our children.

  • Ethics – A search for viable individual, social and political principles of ethical conduct, judging them on their ability to enhance human well-being and individual responsibility.  
A Secular Humanist Declaration was issued in 1980 by The Council for Democratic and Secular Humanism (CODESH), now the Council for Secular Humanism (CSH). It lays out ten ideals: Free inquiry as opposed to censorship and imposition of belief; separation of church and state; the ideal of freedom from religious control and from jingoistic government control; ethics based on critical intelligence rather than that deduced from religious belief; moral education; religious skepticism; reason; a belief in science and technology as the best way of understanding the world; evolution; and education as the essential method of building humane, free, and democratic societies.

Monday, October 4, 2010

New Thought (Movement)

The New Thought Movement or New Thought is a spiritual movement which was developed in the United States during the late 19th century and emphasizes metaphysical beliefs. It consists of a loosely allied group of religious denominations, secular membership organizations, authors, philosophers, and individuals who share a set of metaphysical beliefs concerning the effects of positive thinking, the law of attraction, healing, life force, creative visualization, and personal power. It promotes the ideas that "Infinite Intelligence" or "God" is ubiquitous, spirit is the totality of real things, true human self hood is divine, divine thought is a force for good, all sickness originates in the mind, and 'right thinking' has a healing effect.

Although New Thought is neither monolithic nor doctrinaire, in general modern day adherents of New Thought believe that their interpretation of "God" or "Infinite Intelligence" is "supreme, universal, and everlasting", that divinity dwells within each person and that all people are spiritual beings, that "the highest spiritual principle is loving one another unconditionally . . . and teaching and healing one another", and that "our mental states are carried forward into manifestation and become our experience in daily living".

Breaking it all apart-

The chief tenets of New Thought are:
  • Infinite Intelligence or God is omnipotent and omnipresent.
  • Spirit is the ultimate reality.
  • True human self-hood is divine.
  • Divinely attuned thought is a positive force for good.
  • All disease is mental in origin.
  • Right thinking has a healing effect.
New Thought believe in a system of Ask, Believe, Receive. You ask for what you want, believe you already have it, and then you will receive it. If you don't receive it then you didn't believe enough. So everything is based on you yourself. The "Power of your Mind" is infinite and these believers have take it to the extreme in some ways. It is proven that you can make yourself sick with just thinking it. The same as making yourself better with thinking it, But not if you are badly sick. They have done test were there are groups of sick people and they give them all a "pill" to make them better. But not all the pills are real, some are just fakes. Often the people with the fake pills get well just because they think they should be getting well. So is it all in our minds? The power to heal ourselves of some pains and sicknesses...Is god really just inside of us all? Have we been searching all along for a god somewhere "out there" when it is really just inside us? I don't have the answers, i only have questions. Because the further into beliefs and religion you venture the more questions will arise.

Further Studying-
Law of Attraction
Placebo Effect
Divine Science
Bernie Siegel

An Articulation of Principles by the New Thought Alliance amended for the 2nd Millennium
1. We affirm God as Mind, Infinite Being, Spirit, Ultimate Reality.
2. We affirm that God, the Good, is supreme, universal, and everlasting.
3. We affirm the unity of God and humanity, in that the divine nature dwells within and expresses through each of us, by means of our acceptance of it, as health, supply, wisdom, love, life, truth, power, beauty, and peace.
4. We affirm the power of prayer and the capacity of each person to have mystical experience with God, and to enjoy the grace of God.
5. We affirm the freedom of all persons as to beliefs, and we honor the diversity of humanity by being open and affirming of all persons, affirming the dignity of human beings as founded on the presence of God within them, and, therefore, the principle of democracy.
6. We affirm that we are all spiritual beings, dwelling in a spiritual universe that is governed by spiritual law, and that in alignment with spiritual law, we can heal, prosper, and harmonize.
7. We affirm that our mental states are carried forward into manifestation and become our experience in daily living.
8. We affirm the manifestation of the kingdom of heaven here and now.
9. We affirm expression of the highest spiritual principle in loving one another unconditionally, promoting the highest good for all, teaching and healing one another, ministering to one another, and living together in peace, in accordance with the teachings of Jesus and other enlightened teachers.
10. We affirm our evolving awareness of the nature of reality and our willingness to refine our beliefs accordingly.

Daughter of the Moon

Sweet black immortality
Carresing my skin were we touch
An electric tingle covering my body
Moonlight shinning on naked skin
Feeling the ripple from down within
Flexing the awaiting muscles
A change so sweet it's a sin
Called being on of the damned
Sprouting out fur and fang
Others will never truly understand
Can only fear what i become
But for one night a month i am whole
Being in my true form again
Not locked into this hairless skin
I can unleash my true self
Causeing the others to scream in fear
Don't worry though i won't hurt you
Your not worth my wasted time

*Background Music "The Werewolf of Westeria by John 5"