So very true....

brentan comments on Oct 1, 2018:

I'm not at all convinced that's true but I don't know how it could be tested against theoretical alternatives in the past. I'm not at all sure an alternative was even possible.

I like to sleep in the buff.

brentan comments on Oct 1, 2018:

I do too but weather doesn't permit it.

The real deal.

brentan comments on Oct 1, 2018:

Gosh, I'm not sure we would like each other at all!

As a man I don’t have to deal with the rape culture directly.

brentan comments on Oct 1, 2018:

I'm worried that trial by public opinion might replace trial by law.

Introducing a singer born in the same town as myself but lacking the environment in her ...

brentan comments on Oct 1, 2018:

That's a lovely song. I always enjoyed her voice.

In honor of International Blasphemy Rights Day. Happy Sunday you blasphemers! [humanism.org.uk]

brentan comments on Sep 30, 2018:

I expect to be voting soon in a referendum to remove blasphemy laws in Ireland.

Life train

brentan comments on Sep 30, 2018:

Are you thinking along the lines of 'when you get there, you aren't really anywhere because you're dead'.

What is better than wasting your time at church? ??

brentan comments on Sep 30, 2018:

Churches would be good places to meditate if the seats weren't so hard.

I'm content ,but have known the extremes, and am grateful for that - how about you

brentan comments on Sep 30, 2018:

Yeah. I'm also glad my extremes haven't been as bad as extremes can be.

All right, you godless lot.

brentan comments on Sep 30, 2018:

Bah! Humbug!

Is it ever okay to give someone strife because they lack empathy for what strife they caused you ...

brentan comments on Sep 30, 2018:

I have to conclude you are thinking of terms of our motivations. Can they ever be non-egoistic, objective, or really even more than objective, altruistic. I find reverting back to the religious concept of forgiveness helps me clarify the matter. But religious forgiveness involves three characters - you, the offender and God. In our world, God needs to be taken out of the equation. Why would we forgive if it wasn't part of the contract with God for salvation? The Greeks replaced the old system of personal revenge for a justice system that aimed at stopping the neverending cycle of murder. Perhaps a reluctance to be part of the neverending cycle of revenge, and all the hurt it entails, might be the motivation to forgive in our modern world.

Outside the Garden I stand outside the garden Watching the Lady picking flowers.

brentan comments on Sep 30, 2018:

I think she is really a spider enticing you into her web.

Do you think before you feel, or feel before you think?

brentan comments on Sep 30, 2018:

I think it's a left brain/right brain thing. One side sees the big picture, the other focuses in on the issue to do something about it. My left brain doesn't focus, it gets completely confused. I freeze like the proverbial deer in the headlights. I can only resolve the issue when I get away from it and have time to think.

Everyone one can happy if they really want to be, ok it can take a bit of hard work but it is ...

brentan comments on Sep 30, 2018:

I'm living proof that it can happen. Every day a certain amount of struggle. Every day a certain reward.

PULCHRITUDE - Noun....beauty; physical comeliness. From the Latin pulchritudo.

brentan comments on Sep 30, 2018:

Perhaps not the gentlest word to reflect beauty, but worth knowing.

My friend is trying to turn me into a Jehovah help!

brentan comments on Sep 29, 2018:

I was a JW for 15 years. I've tried very hard to believe in it. My conclusion is don't do it. It is wrong doctrinally in so many ways, wrong in its murderous interpretation about taking blood to stay alive and wrong in its cruel separation of 'apostates' from their families, workmates and friends. It is also wrong for taking up all your time and condemning you for using your own mind to determine right and wrong.

Can I know your opinion?

brentan comments on Sep 29, 2018:

I think the thoughts that are contained in our consciousness cannot die because I believe they are located on the metaphysical plane. I suspect that they cannot properly be called 'ours' after we die. I think they belong after our death to a collective consciousness.

Tell me what grammar mistakes get under your skin.

brentan comments on Sep 29, 2018:

Its and it's. But it's so refreshing to read something intelligent that I wouldn't mind if they used the number 8 to replace 'ate' and 2 instead of 'to'.

“I believed that if I came forward, my voice would be drowned out by a chorus.

brentan comments on Sep 29, 2018:

This post comfortably omits the fact that societies in general swept crimes under the carpet and women were often the most severe in their treatment of other women.

Am I only one who dislike the rapid-fire questions from a stranger?

brentan comments on Sep 29, 2018:

Wow! Someone talking to me? Fire away!

Get involved in your community and your world will expand.

brentan comments on Sep 29, 2018:

Any more positive ideas like that and I'm going to report you!

If you are not Old Enough to Drink Alcohol... should you own a gun? [foxnews.com]

brentan comments on Sep 29, 2018:

Wasn't the whole idea in the first place to have a militia always ready and armed to fight tyranny? And now America has a huge army that is itself a tyranny. What about being old enough to serve as a soldier and not old enough to drink? I can't read the article. I'm in no mood for Fox News right now!

Any speculations on where your thoughts come from?

brentan comments on Sep 29, 2018:

From your conscious mind. I mean your brain at work. Where does it get the thoughts to work on? Maybe the cosmos is chockerblock full of them since Adam was a boy. Maybe ours are on a metaphysical plane that only our brain can retrieve, process and restore as new or changed thoughts. I think we have, or end up with an OS that is culturally formatted. We take in so much information from those close to us. It means, I think, that our perception is formatted to allow the most ludicrous ideas take hold, such as me becoming a Jehovah's Witness or some other poor soul thinking Islam is a good thing. Even the thoughts in my post are formed through processing information from other sources, in this case Rupert Sheldrake's Morphic Resonance.

The future female Catholic Pope should have full sexual freedom.

brentan comments on Sep 29, 2018:

Some black guy will get to be Pope first. Some people will believe he will be some kind of Messiah but he will just turn out like the rest.

Republicans need Jesus!

brentan comments on Sep 29, 2018:

I don't believe these guys are religious at all!

Socialism is the Reason You Don't Have to Bring Your Own F-ckin Highway With You When You Drive- ...

brentan comments on Sep 29, 2018:

So how far can socialism go before you call it socialism?

I wish to invent a new Larp group that has rules that are designed to not be friendly to those with ...

brentan comments on Sep 29, 2018:

Rule 1. If you want to be on the committee, you're ruled out.

They do indeed..

brentan comments on Sep 29, 2018:

I would like to make an argument in favour of moral children over clever children. No, maybe I wouldn't. I'm afraid.

Just sayin'.

brentan comments on Sep 29, 2018:

Yeah, I needed that.

I can't decide if everyone knows how to play the harmonica or no one knows how to play the ...

brentan comments on Sep 29, 2018:

I know Larry Adler could play it really well. I'm hopeless.

Lock the Door and Turn Up the Music [goo.gl]

brentan comments on Sep 29, 2018:

I didn't understand that at all!

I found this image to be a useful explanation for asexuality.

brentan comments on Sep 29, 2018:

Maybe asexuality was judged morally wrong because reproduction of the species was considered a virtue.

Are you afraid of death?

brentan comments on Sep 29, 2018:

I'm more than a bit put out by it.

Wenatchee World publisher equates sexual assault to blaming someone for lost keys

brentan comments on Sep 29, 2018:

He should be exiled to Western Washington - the heat has gone to his head!

Alfie Boe Warbles Again - YouTube

brentan comments on Sep 29, 2018:

I thought he was terrific in Les Miserables 25th anniversary (Matt Lucas was in it too). I listened to one of his CDs (perhaps the one he is promoting here) and was very disappointed with the lack of imagination in the choice of songs. He belts this song out very well. I would like him to make a CD of songs that take a risk.

Hi I am Christine and am looking to meet like minded people. Love chatting away from the mainstream.

brentan comments on Sep 29, 2018:

Hello and welcome aboard!

Beautiful poem about being lonely

brentan comments on Sep 28, 2018:

I wish I knew the answer because I can't see how we can go back in time to recreate the type of society that gave a sense of belonging in the community. I can even remember when shy people had their place in communities. But we new a new way of integrating lonely people back into society. Could I be completely wrong about a more inclusive world in the past? Perhaps removing non-contributing people from society is a feature of evolution. Perhaps elderly people fall easily into a non-contributing category but could the same be said for younger people? How does a women like the one in the video become lonely?

I need a friend

brentan comments on Sep 28, 2018:

A sad chapter in the life of a librophile. They weren't on the same page.

Do you think a boy really knows how to act with a girl and how does he learn that?

brentan comments on Sep 28, 2018:

I don't think so. Or vice-versa. But because there is a power game involved, men are usually the supplicants and women the judges.

I've asked this question in a different forum, and the answers were interesting.

brentan comments on Sep 28, 2018:

Me too. 25 years married and separated about 3 years. I've no idea how to behave but I have read that I would walk a tightrope between being a gentlemen and recognising women's equality. I've never had to give the new rules a try because I don't know where available women my age are in the real world. I've read that many of them are lonely too. The one thing that might always be a constant is probably to make them laugh. I hope you have better luck finding them.

Trite but this came to me the other night. Dead heroes, who would you like to share a meal with?

brentan comments on Sep 28, 2018:

James Joyce Shakespeare Dante Milton

A great piece of music if you can try to forget that it was played in Apocalypse Now! Wagner.

brentan comments on Sep 28, 2018:

What I like most about Wagner is he takes his time, no rush, he gets to the climax when he's good and ready. And it's worth the wait.

Some People Are Always Angry and Look For Conflict.......

brentan comments on Sep 28, 2018:

So true - they get out of bed ready to defeat people who aren't even fighting.

Norfolk man, 101, has hilarious obituary - KMTV.com

brentan comments on Sep 28, 2018:

I wonder was his humour part of the recipe for such a long life? Reading between the lines, he seems to have lived a very fulfilling life.

I don't know what to do with my life.

brentan comments on Sep 28, 2018:

What to do? Maybe the purpose of life is to find fulfilment in it. James Taylor wrote a song along those lines called The Secret of Life. Find something you love and pursue it. That might be all there is to the cerebral side of it. The other side is probably social. You know this already, judging from your post.

Sinéad O'Connor's take on an ABBA hit.

brentan comments on Sep 28, 2018:

Good old Sinéad! I was sorry to find out she has been suffering so much. She wised up to the Pope long before the rest of us did.

Are we still a primitive species?

brentan comments on Sep 28, 2018:

I've seen enough evidence in my lifetime to conclude that we are still a primitive species competing for survival. The Judeo-Christian culture was in opposition to this natural dilemma, striking back with the aspirational notion of every human being made in the image of God and therefore carrying a spark of divinity in their spirits. The doctrines are proved nonsense and the history one of terrible hypocrisy but we need to carry on with the idea of all human life being equal in the sight of society if not of a god.

Pays to know what we are thirsting for.

brentan comments on Sep 28, 2018:

Best of luck. I guess if you don't aim, you can't hit. On a more negative note, many of us settle for something rather than nothing. It's a tough call.

If you could get one more season of any TV show what would it be?

brentan comments on Sep 28, 2018:

Deadwood. What happened? Was it too real?

EQUIVOCAL.

brentan comments on Sep 28, 2018:

I'm a lover of the Spanish language and always trying to get a better understanding of it. The word equivocarse in Spanish must come from the same root but generally means to be wrong. Because the English word is an active verb of misleading, I think the Spanish word is also active and means to mislead yourself. That's not quite the same as being wrong in the Anglo mentality but perhaps it is in the Hispanic. If there is a knowledgeable Spanish speaker out there, I'd love to hear the etymology of the word in Spanish.

When I looked at FB this AM, for other purposes Dr.

brentan comments on Sep 27, 2018:

My guess is that the man will not be found 'guilty' but everyone will draw their own conclusions and that will be enough to open the window on the mentality of many people who have power in society. It is as if the dogs on the street know what goes on but society and the legal system struggles to catch up. It will, I trust, be a step in the right direction.

I read a lot of posts in this group in which folks define themselves as "broken.

brentan comments on Sep 27, 2018:

Well, it's all semantics, isn't it? I guess you got your own ideas about how words should be used but we don't all see things in the same way.

I exist in this world without clothes, and all animals have special clothes,why?

brentan comments on Sep 27, 2018:

Our fur is mostly gone. Some men are still very hairy but I think less and less over time. Curiously, clothes in the bible are a remedy for the shameful sense of being naked. My guess is that global temperatures made extra covering necessary at some time in our history and hair became superfluous as temperatures rose.

The one thing we all have in common is that we don't buy into organized religion, however, is there ...

brentan comments on Sep 27, 2018:

Truth and kindness - those are my main objectives in my interaction with people. I got the notions from religion and find them hard to discard. I think they are good aspirations but suspect their utility in a world that has evolved rather than being gifted to humans by a god. I think I get away with it because I'm getting old and don't need to compete as much as younger people.

Road to theocracy

brentan comments on Sep 27, 2018:

I think it can be achieved through a legal system that places secular law in the public sphere and religious law in the private. The notion of morality would be interpreted only in terms of crime in the justice system but continue to have meaning (along with sin) in the private sphere.

The world would have been better off without religion.

brentan comments on Sep 27, 2018:

I don't think the past could have been any other way. I think religion has been a necessary part of our journey towards science and psychology. The reason(s) why this might be true or false would be interesting to discuss. I guess it involves discussing possible alternatives to religion in the evolution of civilisation.

Dichotomy.

brentan comments on Sep 27, 2018:

It's like when you reach a dichotomy in the road. Or born disexual.

LASCIVIOUS.

brentan comments on Sep 27, 2018:

I have an image of a tongue dripping in anticipation. I suppose it's a judgement call because it implies excess.

Rereiteration: a phrase in which many of the words all mean the same thing (bad definition, I'm ...

brentan comments on Sep 27, 2018:

Tautology is a word for unnecessary repetition.

If you talk to God, you're religious, if he talks back, you're delusional.

brentan comments on Sep 23, 2018:

It's just a discussion between ordinary you and aspirational you.

I am so freaking tired of people that know nothing about music saying "I know what I like".

brentan comments on Sep 23, 2018:

I don't understand your frustration. I must be one of those people.

Why not just tell it like it is? Is indeed still an active member, but has blocked you.

brentan comments on Sep 23, 2018:

I'm sure I'm much too nice a person to be blocked by anyone.

Casuistry cas·u·ist·ry The use of clever but unsound reasoning, especially in relation to...

brentan comments on Sep 21, 2018:

That one probably needs an example.

Here are some tracks from my latest album.

brentan comments on Sep 21, 2018:

I bought a download of Gabriel from the Globe Theatre. It looked like good fun. I got an introduction to Purcell's music. Very nice indeed!

Todos están enamorados con canada.

brentan comments on Sep 21, 2018:

Is it 'everybody loves Canada but the Hispanics make a bigger effort but they like us less'?

OBDURATE: ob-du-rate.

brentan comments on Sep 19, 2018:

Hitler was bad, Stalin was worse but Trump is evil personified.

Glabrous: (adj) Smooth and hairless "My, aren't we looking glabrous this evening, my dear.

brentan comments on Sep 18, 2018:

Looking good after your Brazilian.

We said goodbye to my mom on Friday in a lovely service.

brentan comments on Sep 16, 2018:

I actually don't know. I just wanted to send you some fellow-feeling. I'm sure it's a tough time.

The frosted over window pane Hides the death of Summer With a smile

brentan comments on Sep 14, 2018:

That's cold.

The 1st I use to love the fall, As leaves fell from trees, Painting earths canvas, time would...

brentan comments on Sep 14, 2018:

It's a fine poem training our sights on death as a pleasant phenomen in nature when it's not specifically us. Did you stop liking it so much when you became more aware of your own mortality?

Before my passions turned me towards Spanish guitar, this was the kind of thing I was doing.

brentan comments on Sep 14, 2018:

I think if she practices hard, she could make a living playing this music.

Sheherazade (excerpt) composed by Maurice Ravel [youtube.com]

brentan comments on Sep 14, 2018:

Interesting! Now I know there are two Scheherazades.

Men's equality vs machismo.

brentan comments on Sep 12, 2018:

You will have to become gay or at least pretend to be.

Hello peeps.

brentan comments on Sep 12, 2018:

Victims, bethehoky - they'd go through you for a shortcut.

anhedonic-- noun...inability to feel pleasure.

brentan comments on Sep 11, 2018:

Maybe 'an' can be prefixed to a few words, like anemployable. I'll check the dictionary.

Yo -Yo -Ma.....Bach Prelude No.1. - Cello [youtu.be]

brentan comments on Sep 9, 2018:

I only know him from his pieces on James Taylor albums. Excellent!

Back off, mofo!

brentan comments on Sep 9, 2018:

Good attitude. The knife might send the wrong message.

Any anti-Feminists here?

brentan comments on Sep 6, 2018:

All yesterday's victims tend to be today's bullies.

@Admin, after realising that i just sent a welcome message randomly to a "believer in jesus - leader...

brentan comments on Sep 6, 2018:

Good grief, they're just people. Lots of used to be them!

fri·a·ble /ˈfrīəbəl/ (adjective) easily crumbled.

brentan comments on Sep 5, 2018:

I didn't expect that definition.

My wife knows her place and I'm not allowed to sit there

brentan comments on Sep 5, 2018:

It's a sign of the end times.

PERSPICACIOUS: per-spi-ca-cious.

brentan comments on Sep 4, 2018:

i wonder who he had in mind at the time.

nepenthe noun 1.

brentan comments on Sep 4, 2018:

We need it because we don't know where the River Lethe is anymore.

VICARIOUS: vi-car-i-ous.

brentan comments on Sep 3, 2018:

Jesus is supposed to live vicariously through the popes, his vicars.

I thought this might give perspective to some...

brentan comments on Sep 3, 2018:

When it gets too toxic to be worth it.

Omniscient - having complete or unlimited knowledge, awareness, or understanding; perceiving all ...

brentan comments on Sep 3, 2018:

He must be a lunatic, and Copeland is nuts too.

"We can either be governed by fear, fear of immigrants, fear of Muslims, call the press the enemy of...

brentan comments on Sep 2, 2018:

That is a good example of a non sequitor. It's bullshit, but it sounds great.

I think I may finally be emerging from a prolonged male midlife existential crisis. Who am I?

brentan comments on Sep 2, 2018:

Is it awful to be ordinary? Or OK because that's what most of us are?

Book titles that should be but aren't

brentan comments on Sep 2, 2018:

Laughing At Stalin for The Master and Margarita.

OBSCURANTISM: ob-scu-rant-ism.

brentan comments on Sep 2, 2018:

Somebody mention Trump. I refuse.

In general, and very simply put, do you think people are basically good but are capable of doing ...

brentan comments on Sep 2, 2018:

My guess is we're bad people who try to be good but it might be a hangover from my Bible days.

It's a big sport day here in Ireland.

brentan comments on Sep 2, 2018:

Well done - you called it right!

Does society owe lazy or stupid a living?

brentan comments on Sep 2, 2018:

Eugenics for the stupid, eh? I'm not sure about laziness. My own people, the Irish, were stereotyped as lazy (and stupid). They seemed to be cured on a national level when work became worth doing. I think the same can be said for black people.

China Has Forced 1 Million Muslims Into Reeducation Camps

brentan comments on Sep 2, 2018:

I hope that's from some magazine like The Onion.

Russia Is Opening A "Jurassic Park-Style" Research Lab In Siberia [iflscience.com]

brentan comments on Sep 2, 2018:

No end of skeletons out there.

Chekov's Russian Misconceptions - YouTube

brentan comments on Sep 2, 2018:

I thought it was about the playwright but very enjoyable anyway!

IMAGINE - apologies to Lennon Imagine there's no levels; It isn't hard to do.

brentan comments on Sep 2, 2018:

Lefties ruin everything!

Why during christ lifetime wasn't there any mention of him by any scholar of the times

brentan comments on Sep 2, 2018:

Tacitus (56-120 AD) wrote about him in his Annals. Here's the core of it: Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judæa.

Do you make the distinction between being skeptical vs. cynical?

brentan comments on Sep 2, 2018:

I'm skeptical. I wised up to the evil in the world very, very slowly and now I think it would cost me too much to become cynical.

Pregnant woman who killed intruder in justified shooting now faces felony gun charge due to previous...

brentan comments on Sep 2, 2018:

Marijuana? The horror!