Penises.

brentan comments on Jul 12, 2018:

Mine has been a source of pleasure for over 50 years now. I forgave it a long time ago for not being huge and we have a comfortable relationship with each other. Even urinating is somewhat pleasant too, especially if you’re out somewhere like a forest and you can aim anywhere you like.

This meme gave me a big laugh.

brentan comments on Jul 12, 2018:

That is just what we need in life - consistency!

Masturbating

brentan comments on Jul 12, 2018:

His mouth might reach but.....

There are a lot of atheist dudes on here. I might have to become a Christian.

brentan comments on Jul 12, 2018:

I think being Muslim would give you a hell of an edge. Lots of women love the 'ruggedness' (for the sake of diplomacy) of Muslim men.

Sometimes I wonder if the people on levels 7 and up have nothing better to do with their time than ...

brentan comments on Jul 12, 2018:

If and when I get to that level, it will be for that reason.

Sorry Lola!

brentan comments on Jul 12, 2018:

The car's name is Lola. Is that because of the kinks?

What You Need to Know About Neurodiversity

brentan comments on Jul 12, 2018:

I think that this is a great time for humanist concepts of value in diversity. I fear it's all talk in a world where competition for resources was never so high (and I don't mean in the jungle). I mean competition for jobs, mates, that type of thing. My guess is that while organisations rise up to combat ignorance, it will just go underground and intensify. I hope I'm wrong. I don't know what to make of all the TV shows nowadays that have autistic people demonstrating their almost supernatural abilities in the pursuit of criminals, medical cures etc. By the way, that movie Temple Grantin was great!

I guess we're all going to hell. ;)

brentan comments on Jul 12, 2018:

If I had to go to Hell, I would really like to go Dante's Limbo, where all the old Greek philosophers walk around all day discussing interesting topics - a bit like here, only forever. Technically, I suppose Limbo isn't exactly in Hell. It's a kind of ante-chamber. In Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus, Mephistopheles claims he is in Hell even as himself and Faust discuss (dispute) the big questions of life and death: Meph. But, Faustus, I am an instance to prove the contrary (the pain of Hell), For I am damned, and am now in hell. Faust. How! now in hell! Nay, an this be hell, I’ll willingly be damn’d here; What? walking, disputing, &c.? That sounds a lot more interesting than Heaven.

Sometime all you want is to be wanted.

brentan comments on Jul 12, 2018:

You bet! And I must check online to see what the experts have to say about why that is and how it came about. Then there's the issue of us not wanting people - using headphones, man-spreading, MGTOW and what- not. That's in public, I guess. I wonder do people coming home from stressful jobs just want to be left alone instead of wanted?

Great musicians in front of the Lorenzkirche in my hometown Nuernberg. Love this! [youtube.com]

brentan comments on Jul 11, 2018:

It's great that people remember Freud that way!

Haven't been online for a few days ( so what, hold it against me.

brentan comments on Jul 11, 2018:

Well, come out fightin', why don't ya? ?

That pretty much sums it up.

brentan comments on Jul 11, 2018:

Has anyone read it? It's fiction so I wonder is it a good story, with an interesting plot that makes it a page-turner? Or (God forbid), could it be classed as literature?

A compilation of studies in today's BBC news indicates at least 8 non-African sites (Europe and ...

brentan comments on Jul 11, 2018:

I was comfortable with the Africa story. I had this notion of the exit from Africa in a constant north-easterly direction until they all ended up in Sumer, blossomed into farmers and started thinking an awful lot about everything. Maybe lots of people went north or north-west and got to Spain and Italy long before the barricades were set up in Ceuta and Melilla.

What's everyone listening to right now?

brentan comments on Jul 11, 2018:

Duke Special's Hallow album. It's a collection of the Northern Irish poet Michael Longley's poems turned into songs.

I don't like the term interracial relationship because for me there is only one race - the human ...

brentan comments on Jul 11, 2018:

I suppose they could call it inter-something else, and mixed-inheritance maybe. Miscegenation sounds awful but I doubt it's used much. It's all semantics though.

Happy hump day!

brentan comments on Jul 11, 2018:

Bad to the bone!

Ugghhh My mail order pharmacy representative just wished me a "blessed day"

brentan comments on Jul 11, 2018:

I always understood 'have a great day' as 'go fuck off'. Maybe 'have a blessed day' means 'go to hell, you unbeliever'.

About recycling: I'm guilty that I'm not a Earth conscious person.

brentan comments on Jul 11, 2018:

Everybody gets 3 bins here, for garbage, recycle and biodegradable. I'm not completely sure what is recyclable either. But I use them fastidiously and my 2 boys, when they still lived with me, thought I was over the top. The local shop gives me funny looks when I 'bring my canvas bags to the supermarket' as Tim Minchin insists. I think it's because I read James Lovelock's book about Gaia. The thing is, though, Lovelock said it too late to avoid the pollution of the earth - that we had already done the damage and the earth cannot recover. I'm sure he knows what he's talking about but I'm going to carry on in denial anyway.

Does anybody here have a burning desire to ditch society, leave everything behind and go and live?

brentan comments on Jul 11, 2018:

I wonder if a monastery would accept an agnostic. I wouldn't be any trouble.

Fact. I will buy a lot more than 2!

brentan comments on Jul 11, 2018:

To be sure to be sure.

Is this what he meant by MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN?

brentan comments on Jul 11, 2018:

Ah, the good old days! Wait a minute, does that really say ' Irish Need Not Apply'. That's just not right! Of course it could have been worse. Not being able to get work is bad, but not being able to buy a beer is intolerable.

We need silliness this morning so here is an archaic word and some background about it: ...

brentan comments on Jul 10, 2018:

And for my crinkum-crankum, Have lost my binkum-bankum I wonder does it mean 'for my fornication, I've lost my property (bank-um)'? But women were men's property and couldn't exercise authority over their bodies. The ram might hark back to Azaziel, the sin-carrier.

Dear World, please send to the American people ".

brentan comments on Jul 10, 2018:

Life isn't static and times change. When the call to 'give us your tired and poor' went out, America was a new world. I think we need to consider the world we live in today. Can America really afford (and I don't just mean financially) to live in thrall to an 18th century ideal or does it need to control its intake of tired and poor?

Democrats ignore the left at their peril.

brentan comments on Jul 9, 2018:

It's not socialism in the Russian sense. It's more like socialism in a European sense. In other words, it's a balance of free market and socialised services. It works pretty well. There is no pretence like in Soviet Russia or Communist China that the system is idyllic. There is always tension between the money-makers and the government that wants their money to provide services free to the public. In a sense, though, surely socialism in America is a matter of degree. Aren't state and federal taxes (in fact, any taxation) a socialist way of financing utilities. So maybe the argument is really about how far to extend socialist practice, and not whether to bring these practices into the system as a new thing.

What can be done about over perception so one could have a moment of peace?

brentan comments on Jul 9, 2018:

I find cooking is a great help. Ordinary cooking. Music or radio in the background. A few alcoholic drinks from time to time. No idea whether weed would help or make things worse. Walking is great for mood improvement. I think the main idea is to slow things down.

Who is your favorite guitarist?

brentan comments on Jul 9, 2018:

Rory Gallagher

OK British weather, we need a short break from the heat, my lawns look like dried hay and tap water ...

brentan comments on Jul 9, 2018:

I'm next door in Ireland. I got as prepared as a man can do. Skinhead haircut and a fan. So far so good. It was a bit cooler today. Wouldn't it be really weird if bad winters and good summers become the new trend in our weathers. I think I would really like that.

What's the best coffee you've ever had and where did you have it?

brentan comments on Jul 9, 2018:

I think Paulig coffee is the nicest I ever tasted.

One pillow, two pillows or more?

brentan comments on Jul 9, 2018:

This is just the sort of decadence that ultimately destroys a society. Remember, the Romans didn't just sleep on them. They were always lying on them. Until the Visigoths came....

My post too long?

brentan comments on Jul 9, 2018:

It probably is too long for this media. I would still like to read it -there isn't much about Islam that's humourous to read. Why not try to post it and see if the app will accept it?

This is not a book recommendation but rather a story of getting back to Jane Austin.

brentan comments on Jul 9, 2018:

I love that old English. It seems like you would need to know everything you were going to say before you begin to speak, then speak it grammatically correctly , using clauses, to the end of your sentence. And being very polite while you're doing it!

What do you consider the best movie ever?

brentan comments on Jul 8, 2018:

Apocalyse Now. I thought that was an art form.

Jesus is always here for me, being useless as fuck...

brentan comments on Jul 8, 2018:

You have to really believe in Him. If you really believe in Him and He's still being useless as fuck, He's testing your integrity.

The Dark Ages.

brentan comments on Jul 8, 2018:

I wonder what those times would have been like without the influence of the Roman Church? Not idyllic, that's for sure. Possibly absolutely dreadful.

The Story Of Africa.

brentan comments on Jul 8, 2018:

I'm sure they saw it as compensation for the white man's burden.

Hi everybody!!! I'm new here, hope I'm able to find some good like minded people here.

brentan comments on Jul 8, 2018:

Hello. You're very welcome! I hope you enjoy the forum.

"The American people are a welcoming and generous people.

brentan comments on Jul 8, 2018:

I don't think the American people have shown themselves welcoming and generous. But how did it ever happen that immigration laws could be flouted to this extent? Was it because ordinary American employers could benefit from the lower cost of labour with illegals?

Would you be interested in a PAID affiliate program for Agnostic.com?

brentan comments on Jul 8, 2018:

I don't care about points or money. I just want to read interesting comments and reply to them. Advertisement would be a nuisance.

What is "promiscuous teleology" ?

brentan comments on Jul 8, 2018:

We like to ask questions. Children love asking questions. Where do babies come from? Why is Granny dead? We feed them pap because we fear they cannot handle the truth. But what are the questions for? Not just for the sake of conversation, I'm sure. They really want to know. I wonder why. I feel it is part of our evolution, asking questions to understand things better so as to be safer in our environment. Or to do better in our environment, maybe.

An ex-in law died this past weekend.

brentan comments on Jul 8, 2018:

I'm interested that even though we have a dislike for church ritual we still want some kind of ritual. Some cultures had it both ways, celebrating a funeral mass and then a wake. I think the ritual serves to say that the death of a life matters. The trouble with church rituals is that they also serve to say the church matters and that can be annoying. I like the idea of drinks all round at someone's death because I think it affirms that life must go on even though our part is over.

Hello fellow non-believers

brentan comments on Jul 8, 2018:

I think you really struggle when Christians talk about the existence of God that is confirmed in their hearts. It's where religion and psychology meet and separate at the same time. For the Christian, the heart is where the person and God meet. For the atheist, it is where a person and his or her feelings meet. That's probably when the atheist and the Christian should agree to differ.

Well we're down to the final four in the World Cup. Who do you think will win it all?

brentan comments on Jul 7, 2018:

England has nothing going for it at the moment as a nation. A World Cup win would be a huge morale booster. That might produce the determination to win it for them.

Be kind and love.

brentan comments on Jul 7, 2018:

If I had to pick one.....kindness, maybe. I find it easyish because I have lots of time and few obligations but I think it must be very difficult for young people out there grafting for a living, all stressed-out and mentally tired.

I wonder what the job applications look like at Hooters?

brentan comments on Jul 7, 2018:

If you're right, I think I could fill out a Hooter's bra. I would be very unsteady on the skates.

Most of adulthood for an introvert is getting upset over not being invited to things that you ...

brentan comments on Jul 7, 2018:

"I sent the club a wire stating PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT ME AS A MEMBER' - Groucho Marx. Hardly an introvert, though.

How did we become a nation where people are guilty by accusation?

brentan comments on Jul 7, 2018:

Great question! The justice system used to take care of crime and punishment but now other groups in society want to add their penalties. Even colleges want to set up judiciary committees. Society in general has no qualifications for this task which used to be entrusted to the real judiciary.

Ladies and gentlemen.

brentan comments on Jul 7, 2018:

Everything will be sorted out by the MeToo and MGTOW movements.

Let’s Talk About Jesus

brentan comments on Jul 6, 2018:

God be with the days when you could get your own planet.

Who are some of your favorite philosophers?

brentan comments on Jul 6, 2018:

Jordon Peterson - so much food for thought!

What common misconception do you hate to hear repeated as fact?

brentan comments on Jul 6, 2018:

I hate the idea that if most people think a certain way, it must be true.

Groucho, harpo, donald duck, mickey, daisy, buggs, marma duke, Calvin, Hobbs and Ms. Piggie.

brentan comments on Jul 6, 2018:

We must be careful not to make the same mistakes as the religious groups. We have the same tendency to make doctrines and glorify people. We also shouldn't become smug or self-satisfied and feel contempt for the non-believers. It is good to see atheist groups becoming charity conscious. I guess they can be fairly accused of not wanting the religious organisations to have a monopoly on virtue but it is a fine thing to see and I doubt competing with religion is not the only reason. Some religious groups find little reason to take an interest in ecology because they believe the earth is meant to be destroyed by human greed and then saved by Christ. The atheist community can highlight the problems and communicate ways to improve the earth's condition.

I Hate When I Wake Up and Fuhrer Trump is still there. Not My President

brentan comments on Jul 6, 2018:

I think Americans are shooting themselves in the foot by not supporting their president. He might be in power for several more years. It might pay off to support and guide but not tear down.

If man evolved from apes, why are there still apes

brentan comments on Jul 6, 2018:

That's lazy dirt, backward and ignorant, refusing to move with the times.

A Review of Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by Daniel C. Dennet

brentan comments on Jul 6, 2018:

Dostoevsky's wrote that atheists 'were always talking about something else'. The Archbishop of Canterbury suggested those other things were strategy for survival and explanation of difficult things, two things that religion does not do well. Dennet comes at it from the points of view of agency and intention on God's part. Religious people believe that God was the agent who created the world and his intention is to save mankind. It is a great article, thank you for posting it, and encourages people to look at the development of religion from the perspective of evolutionary biology.

More People Are Fighting for Human Rights Than Vs. Them

brentan comments on Jul 6, 2018:

I think it's hard to behave justly when employees struggle just to pay basic costs of living. You might like to just but the system owns you. I think another problem with the struggle for justice is that when society makes good laws to combat injustices like prejudice, the prejudice goes underground and increases.

Words of comfort

brentan comments on Jul 5, 2018:

Yes, God is love if you let him love you and love him back. If you don't you'll suffer his hate forever and ever and ever and ....

Hello all, just joined and hope to make new friends!

brentan comments on Jul 4, 2018:

Welcome. I hope you enjoy the forum!

I as a retired older gentleman, I see fun and sarcasm in everything ! I am sarcastic and make fun ...

brentan comments on Jul 4, 2018:

Here's a goodie from the Bible: “The insight of a man certainly slows down his anger, and it is beauty on his part to overlook an offense.” (Proverbs 19:11) Well, even a stopped clock is correct twice a day (once if it's a 24-hour clock, I guess).

I'm super happy. Been trying find more of these collect and read and found a good pile.

brentan comments on Jul 3, 2018:

This has got to stop. Agnosticism is a serious business that leaves no time for happiness, especially for something so frivolous as comic books. I would suggest Dostoevsky for starters.

I do not remember the temperature being this hot for such a long time or as cold for such a long ...

brentan comments on Jul 2, 2018:

I'm in Ireland. We had a particularly bad winter and now a heatwave. This is what weather was like when I lived in Seattle. Something's up, along with the temperature!

Survivors of Sexual Trauma Reveal an Important truth.

brentan comments on Jul 2, 2018:

I thought the men were the abusers coming to say sorry, especially the 'rougher' looking men. Well done, that's a helpful video.

Preaching in Your Underwear, BionicDance [youtube.com]

brentan comments on Jul 2, 2018:

I think that's a very troubled lad. I would pity him if he didn't scare me.

Mary McAleese: Baptised children ‘infant conscripts’

brentan comments on Jul 2, 2018:

It's wrong for all the reason given here. It's unscriptural too. Or is it? Here's an interesting scripture: *Even at that hour of the night, the jailer cared for them and washed their wounds. Then he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized.* That's in Acts 16:33. Could it possibly have included children and infants? I very much doubt it but does anyone have any concrete evidence one way or the other?

You're Not the Boss of Me! Why Libertarianism Is a Childish Sham | Alternet

brentan comments on Jul 2, 2018:

I thought this paragraph was good. I'm sure It's not limited to America but it probably is more pronounced there: *The denial of the collective interest and communal bond, as much as libertarians like to pose as trailblazers, is not the road less traveled, but the highway in gridlock. Competitive individualism, and the perversion of personal responsibility to mean social irresponsibility, is what allows for America to limp behind the rest of the developed world in providing for the poor and creating social services for the general population.*

This.........

brentan comments on Jul 2, 2018:

Recently, I've been reading about the god in the Kabbalah. Well, there's two really. The bad one is the Jehovah-god, who deliberately causes all sorts of trouble for humans in order to increase their dependency on him. The good god is the Ein Sof or ES god, who is above all that.

Who’s with me: “in flagrante delicto.”

brentan comments on Jul 2, 2018:

For some reason, probably ignorance, I thought it meant 'totally naked'. I wasn't sure, though, so I looked it up - caught in the act. What on earth is your topic?

Note to self: if this were a "Christian" nation, we would be caring for the poor, sick and the ...

brentan comments on Jul 2, 2018:

We would need the virtues of Christianity without the dogma. I doubt we would get that that. If we did, society would improve, I think, even if the belief in Christ is false.

Watching Spanish language TV is like dating for me.

brentan comments on Jun 30, 2018:

I should check the Spanish TV box on Mobdro.

Look what I got!

brentan comments on Jun 30, 2018:

Super. I trust it will work at least as well. Good luck!

Came across this book. Couldn't pass it up.

brentan comments on Jun 29, 2018:

I wonder how much for the rest of him.

What's it going to take to get a president elected that doesn't believe in a god

brentan comments on Jun 29, 2018:

You gotta have faith. It'll happen. It needs a bit more time.

Art and creativity have an incredible ability to heal.

brentan comments on Jun 29, 2018:

I started my bucket list about two years ago. It was to read the classics I had been a little in awe of when I was young. These books, plays, poems are great to life me out of myself, especially if people are getting me down. I think it's about aspiration - the best of ideas expressed in the nicest of ways. Right now it's Dostoevsky's The Idiot and Spencer's Fairy Queen. For music, it would be something like Jessye Norman's Mild und Leise.

How do you view casual see.

brentan comments on Jun 29, 2018:

I think the Garden of Eden story brought the focus on the two adults but I think it's more about the children. They seem to thrive on the sense of security of having the same two people in the home all the time. Not just that but they expect things to stay that way. My guess is that generally adults need more than one partner in life to be fulfilled and their children need them not to live that way. Whose needs matter more?

I saw some quotes on this site that I thought were wonderful and I wanted to share them with ...

brentan comments on Jun 28, 2018:

Isn't it astonishing how complex people are - thinking along such pleasant lines one day and thinking of giving up the next.

I’m starting to think religion persists because Americans desperately lack community and ...

brentan comments on Jun 28, 2018:

Could it really be that Americans believe in the myth of the pioneer, the self-made man or even... the American Dream? Your topic is really interesting. I think we could say Trump followers see the myth and the dream personified in their man.

Am I on the right track?

brentan comments on Jun 28, 2018:

We need to think of all the good religion has done too. Then we could think about freedom and one man's poison is another man's meat. We could also think about our inability to know the future and how the socialist revolution became a nightmare instead of a utopia.

What is the worst thing you've been accused of simply based on appearance?

brentan comments on Jun 28, 2018:

I remember years ago I used to pump my own gas and then go into the shop to pay. The day I arrived bald, the attendant rushed out to do it and then realised it was me. Two days ago, I got another bald haircut to cope with the heat. I couldn't get a taxi driver to stop to take me home.

Why Atheists are not bound to subjective morality: Often I see members of religious groups make ...

brentan comments on Jun 27, 2018:

I’m guessing ‘objective’ means universally, permanently true. So that would rule out our individual, time-bound moral value systems. So objective values would be, in a sense, above the individual. In a hierarchy of value systems, objective values would be at the top. That’s probably where God came in. I think this is because there was no concept of aspiration apart from God. Man either aspired to be a god or to be God-like. Nowadays we’re trying to separate the two ideas.

I got this this morning from a Philippina friend that I met 35 years ago as while I was a Peace ...

brentan comments on Jun 27, 2018:

That would scare me if I wasn't used to listening to such nonsense as a Jehovah's Witness. It comes from repetition and not hearing other opinions on what's happening in the world. It would help too, I think, to know how cyclical history is and things are always changing, not always getting worse. Stephen Pinker talks about how many things are better nowadays in his book Enlightenment Now.

I live about 2 blocks from one of the largest independent book stores in the US.

brentan comments on Jun 27, 2018:

I remember Barnes & Nonble's big store in Seattle, how I loved to sit down in their comfy armchairs and browse through books. You could even get a coffee from the in-store Starbooks (funny how the mind works, you know what I mean). And this might seem silly but I was in awe of their swanky bathrooms! I'm back home in Ireland now and bookstores are a much more modest affair. Here's the thing, though - I love browsing but I don't support the stores by buying; well, almost never. I browse in the stores and then buy online. Some day I might have to pay a big price for that.

Has anyone tried LifeRing Secular Recovery?

brentan comments on Jun 26, 2018:

I think that's the right move. Best of luck!

Glad to join this group, rest of the place is over run with damn colonials.

brentan comments on Jun 25, 2018:

Oh come on guys, it is funny!

Are there many people from the UK on this site?

brentan comments on Jun 25, 2018:

Hello, next-door-neighbours!

“Do not judge, or you will be judged.

brentan comments on Jun 24, 2018:

Judging as assessing V Judging as punishing I think assessing people is absolutely fine.

New music is highlying overrated.

brentan comments on Jun 24, 2018:

A lot of it is just pap, as my Dad used to say. But thankfully there's examples like Miranda's Hamilton. I like Robi Draco Rosa. I think he's an excellent poet as well as singer. I like Duke Special, who composes songs around themes like Mother Courage and Michael Longley's poems. There is talent out there among the crap and thankfully we can always fall back on music from the rock era, classical, opera etc if we want to.

Busy weekend.

brentan comments on Jun 24, 2018:

Busy - my Dad would have called that 'a good complaint'.

Re: Melania's coat - True feelings, irony intended, extreme obliviousness, or a cry for help?

brentan comments on Jun 23, 2018:

I believe everything people in power do is orchestrated. In this situation, I think she is continuing a policy of mixed messages. Best to go by what they do and not what they say.

The evolution of religion: Why belief systems are literally false and metaphorically true

brentan comments on Jun 23, 2018:

Here's how I see religion: 1. myth 2. religion 3. psychology I think the Hebrew scriptures took myths and made them literal. In turn, psychology takes religion and converts it back to myth.

He's Shitin On The U.S.A.

brentan comments on Jun 23, 2018:

At least his ass is covered.

“The Atlantic”, “The Wisdom of Russell Brand” Can’t find a good category for this. ?

brentan comments on Jun 23, 2018:

I think a lot of people are bothered by his common accent. He is very intelligent and articulate. I particularly like his interviews with (Dr. Dr.) Jordon Peterson. He listens as well as talks. I could never relate to his comedy though.

It’s summer, and I’m on vacation. What’s fun to do in Yakima/eastern WA?

brentan comments on Jun 23, 2018:

Isn't that the reservation? What about that town that pretends to be Bavarian? I think it's called Leavenworth. It's a lovely place.

I was inspired by the responses to my music post yesterday and the fun responses.

brentan comments on Jun 23, 2018:

An American poet Bruce Springsteen Thunder Road

Why are there so many people who are lonely?

brentan comments on Jun 23, 2018:

Maybe people feel there is something wrong with a person who is lonely. I think lonely people feel the same way. There's a natural desire not to be around people who have something wrong with them, like avoiding a disease. So the lonely avoid the lonely, ensuring loneliness..

Hello anyone out there?

brentan comments on Jun 22, 2018:

You sound mighty fed up! You look fed up too in your photos. I hope you find someone or some thing to help make life more interesting for you. In the meantime, I hope the discussions on the forum are somewhat interesting to you.

Would you? Could you?

brentan comments on Jun 22, 2018:

I would be tempted. I'm also tempted by the taste of food that is bad for me. I think about how quantity and quality of life need to be balanced. But if my health issues were so bad that they threatened my, life, I would get with the regimen very fast!

Is traveling and being exposed to other people and cultures important and why?

brentan comments on Jun 22, 2018:

“The insight of a man certainly slows down his anger, and it is beauty on his part to pass over transgression.”​—Proverbs 19:11. It's from the Bible. The book has a few gems in it. Going to other countries helps you understand why they do things differently. My situation was different from an American learning new values abroad - I was an Irishman in America trying to understand why Americans did things the way they do. I think two things are needed - time and an open mind. I don't think a short vacation will cut it.

Why, my friend?

brentan comments on Jun 22, 2018:

That was a very well-constructed post - stream of consciousness, human, compassionate. If you haven't read it already, you might enjoy Make Friends With People Who Want the Best For You in Jordon Peterson's book 12 Rules For Life. He too concluded that sometimes you have to avoid people who won't rise to a better level and will only take you down to theirs.

Hi all! New to this app and to this group.

brentan comments on Jun 20, 2018:

Welcome! I'm another ex-JW.

The Bible, the old and new testament.

brentan comments on Jun 20, 2018:

I see the Bible the same way. It's like reading the psychology of humankind as it goes through change. I also believe that the core social values of ancient Israel became those of Great Britain which also became those of the United States. These values are expressed in law. The book is far from ideal, being very old. But it has poetry, fiction, myth, history and all the aspirations of man expressed in many different ways. I think the literal understanding of 'horns of light' seemed hollow to many old students of the Bible and led to complex interpretations like we read in the Kabbalah.

Very good article by author Tim Winton about boys and masculinity and culture [theguardian.com]

brentan comments on Jun 20, 2018:

I found this article on modern use of ritual to help young men find their place in society in the U.K. It is used mostly to try to stop young criminals re-offending but it might have a broader application.