There is evil and there is good. Without either one of these the other has no meaning.

That is one of the most meaningless platitudes I've ever heard. Right up there with, "it is what it is."

Not to be too calloused, practically speaking that is exactly what it has been. Kind of tired of the same playbook.

It’s just stupid. Good is good, even in the absence of any evil.

Okay, have it your way.

It’s not “my way.” It’s just the way it is.

The way it is for you. You are unique. So forgive me for thinking that you have a unique way to be who you are. Another old Jewish story (of course) is about Rabbi Zusya, who was asked if he was worried that when he died, God would ask him why he was not Moses." He said, "No,

I am worried that God will ask me why I was not Zusya." Anthony de Mello wrote that "the shortest distance between a human being and truth is story." Telling and listening to stories brings me great joy.

That reads like LLM nonsense. We’re not talking about using fiction to reveal a greater truth about human nature. We’re literally talking about people who claim there’s some man who sent his son… who was also him, to earth and then let him die because another imaginary woman disobeyed him.

Frankly, and I hope I'm not offending anyone, stories are not about facts. They are meant to help spark thinking and feeling, and if they are only thought valuable by a few people, they are still doing their job. Even science tells stories. I recommend a book by George Ellis, who was

You know what's Crazy? Every time I read your statements, I hear it in Alex Skarsgard's voice from MurderBot 🤣🤣

😂

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. I love that Guy!

It’s funny, I read all the audiobooks, and in my head, that narrator is Murderbot, and he is profoundly different from Skarsgård, so it took me a bit to get used to.

Most people think they can have good without bad.

Most religious people insist you cannot be good unless you follow their god. Paving the way in their minds to make it okay to kill you. Just waiting for someone to push them down that path.

Religious people might, but spiritual people never would. I truly believe that anyone who thinks their religion is the only way there is, has no idea what nourishing a soul feels like. Everyone's way is unique to them, the only way for each of them.

Spiritual people are the reeds in which the crazy religious people hide in. Passive camo from which the religious will use to shelter from criticism while the Reeds elect them into office, then step passively asside as they come for our throats.

I'm so sorry you seem to have had the kinds of experiences that caused you to feel that way. My stepmother's family died in Auschwitz, and for me, the spiritual people were the ones like Miep Gies, Princess Alice, and the others who could only save a few, but did not step aside.

What kind of experiences do you think would drive one to feel this way? Listening to the 'Spiritual' wave away women's rape and child mutilation because everyone is a sinner? Because it's not that bad?

I've listened to people, NICE PEOPLE, talk about their faith generally and wouldn't mind sitting down and having a drink with them. But they casually switch into horrors as soon as you press the specifics of their beliefs. Every smile at a church hides a potential -MONSTER-

There are religions that believe their deity demands, and feel the need to make everyone bow the head to those demands. Then there are religions who believe their deit(y/ies) *offer(s)* and don't mind if the offer is refused. I'm sorry you have only encountered the people who

I haven't only encountered the one over the other. It's the absolute danger that they pose that makes all of you not trustworthy. Religion and spirituality is a god damned danger to society.

disguise themselves as the latter in order to subject you to the former. I have been writing about the experiences I have had since the Washington Post published an op-ed I wrote in 1993. The sum total of those experiences have convinced me that

most people have no idea what the "spiritual" is or does. My Hindu friend says that people like that will "just have to go around again." I believe the people who treated you like that are blind to true spirituality, and I hope you encounter some who are more willing to accept you for who you are.

Exclusivity is always a trap. It's the foundation of cults. Religion is fast food spirituality.

I think humanity will keep that from being a problem.

You are so correct. Regrettably.