Good Friday

Quote: petroglyph

It's brilliant. Might as well convince followers growing old is a sin, and arthritis is proof.

Never happen, old people with money
give a lot to the Church. Sometimes
they leave them their whole estate in
their will. More money for the Church
to pay off molested men..

Quote: Fleastiff

We often condemn people who lead lives of greater scope and daring than we have the courage to muster.

You say that like it's a bad thing?

Quote: Evenbob

Never happen, old people with money give a lot to the Church. Sometimes they leave them their whole estate in their will.

Mortmain statutes generally impair the ability to make 100 percent charity donations. And I don't think old people are leaving money to the church these days or all those religious orders would not be selling off their real estate and schools to raise funds for their pensions. As with most cults, the new members finance the lifestyles of the older members.

Random religious articles from the paper today.

Justin Bieber quote on religion. "You don't need to go to church to be a Christian. If you go to Taco Bell, that doesn't make you a Taco."

"The number of Italians approaching exorcists has tripled recently to half a million, according to Vatican News." I guess the excuse the devil made me do it is getting more popular.

Quote: FrGamble

Guilt has been around a lot longer than that. It is yourself that feels guilty.

Sometimes I wonder about some of these emotions. I don't know if pre-history man had time for some of the emotions we have today. Boredom is a good example. I can't always imagine neuroticism. Sometimes I wonder about guilt. Did mankind in pre-history worry about things that they might have gotten away with?

If you picture a medieval crowd bringing their children to watch a public exhibition of a man being tortured to death, it seems like the ordinary bloke was more like a psychotic or a sociopath.

When I was caught in that Cat5 Hurricane, it struck me as amazing how fast the veneer of civilization strips away. It seems to take less than a day.

Quote: Pacomartin

Sometimes I wonder about some of these emotions. I don't know if pre-history man had time for some of the emotions we have today.

He didn't. Like everything else, guilt
evolved slowly. It was needed for
us to live with each other, so we
could we could see the survival
of the tribe was just as important
as our own selfish survival.

Of course, this emotion of guilt
didn't apply to other tribes not our
own, to them we could do anything
we wished. Rape, steal their kids,
steal their property, kill them, it
didn't matter. No guilt.

But that guilt evolved also. Parents
learned they could control children
by using guilt. Religions like
Catholicism took the parental concept
and turned guilt into a profession.
Make people feel guilty and they will
be customers for life, always turning
to the Church to make the guilt go
away. It's insideous.

Quote: Pacomartin

Sometimes I wonder about some of these emotions. I don't know if pre-history man had time for some of the emotions we have today. Boredom is a good example. I can't always imagine neuroticism. Sometimes I wonder about guilt. Did mankind in pre-history worry about things that they might have gotten away with?

If you picture a medieval crowd bringing their children to watch a public exhibition of a man being tortured to death, it seems like the ordinary bloke was more like a psychotic or a sociopath.

When I was caught in that Cat5 Hurricane, it struck me as amazing how fast the veneer of civilization strips away. It seems to take less than a day.

Guilt and depression seem to be luxuries. And veneers do indeed readily disappear. Consider Mexican resorts wherein a hurricane produced roving bands of rapists and robbers who previously had been the police. People were killed for not giving up their drinking water. Or consider that Fyre Festival that instead of ultra luxurious music festival turned out to be a fraudulent fantasy featuring hot sun, insects but not featuring drinking water. Casual anonymous sex at such events is common but it appears that girls had to "pay" for entrance into shady tents or some drinking water. Decades ago in Brazil crime was so bad that hacking off a wrist to get a cheap wristwatch was common. Guilt? Nope. None at all. Gypsy encampments in Ireland and the UK don't seem to feature such emotions at all.

Public beatings, brandings and hangings were celebrated in many cultures. I think a greater burden was imposed on the individual rather than a collective notion of right and wrong. It was often a greater crime to burglarize a dwelling than assault someone and rob them, for a man was expected to be able to defend himself and his property without recourse to raising some public hue and cry.

The poor who struggle often have a greater acceptance of crime and violence than wealthy types with their veneer of civilized behavior. We often transition such as the man who lets a woman go in front of him in a grocery store check out line but surely won't do such a thing in the parking lot traffic.

I believe that in all these horrific situations we've mentioned guilt does not go away. It is superseded and suppressed for a time and we run for a time on the false notion that our circumstances excuse my actions. However pull one of these roving band of rapists away from the group and situation and confront him and he'll cry like a baby. When certain guys come back from war they feel broken and unlovable even by God because of the things they did. At the moment they didn't feel guilt but now they can barely breathe outside the bottle so guilt ridden are they. This emotion didn't evolve nor does the things we feel guilty about. We are created good and desire to be so. When we live like animals or when we sin we feel guilty. We can try to hide from it, blame the Church, get angry and violent, it is all symptoms of dealing with guilt in an unhealthy way.

Quote: Pacomartin

Sometimes I wonder about some of these emotions. I don't know if pre-history man had time for some of the emotions we have today. Boredom is a good example. I can't always imagine neuroticism. Sometimes I wonder about guilt. Did mankind in pre-history worry about things that they might have gotten away with?

If you picture a medieval crowd bringing their children to watch a public exhibition of a man being tortured to death, it seems like the ordinary bloke was more like a psychotic or a sociopath.

When I was caught in that Cat5 Hurricane, it struck me as amazing how fast the veneer of civilization strips away. It seems to take less than a day.

That has occurred to me as well. I think you're on to something.

In a related vein, when I was little, my folks used to say, go do something, or I'll give you something to do. ("Something" in both cases meant chores). Idle hands are the devil's work, and all that.

If you keep busy, doing things with a purpose, doing things for others rather than yourself, you tend not to get bored or depressed. At least that's the theory, and I personally find it to be true. I also extrapolate it to be universal, but that could be the Midwestern work ethic I was surrounded with.

People who are completely about themselves first, or were raised "spoiled", don't get this, and think the rest of us are crazy. And made to be their servants or patsies or something.

I sometimes think this dichotomy is the source of nearly everything going wrong in American society. Both groups' actions spring from whether they're self-serving or other-serving. So do their policies, pronouncements, and plans. (Alliteration, anyone?)

Quote: Pacomartin

Sometimes I wonder about some of these emotions. I don't know if pre-history man had time for some of the emotions we have today. Boredom is a good example. I can't always imagine neuroticism. Sometimes I wonder about guilt. Did mankind in pre-history worry about things that they might have gotten away with?

If you picture a medieval crowd bringing their children to watch a public exhibition of a man being tortured to death, it seems like the ordinary bloke was more like a psychotic or a sociopath.

When I was caught in that Cat5 Hurricane, it struck me as amazing how fast the veneer of civilization strips away. It seems to take less than a day.

I think that guilt is in our genes but not the long term, destructive type of guilt. If you have ever had a dog you know they can certainly feel guilt. But they are over it pretty fast, don't expect it keeps them awake at night.