Just When You Thought You Existed!

Ok this is not my work, but i read this and thought I would share this with my fellow ats'ers!

Its a quote from a literature yarn spiller, beyond my own comprehension

so, i give you his quote, i have my own ideas but would love to hear others, here it is:


btw its Mark Twain,
tell me the story and you get a bonus point LoL:




a God who could make good children as easily as bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them happy, yet never made a single happy one; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal happiness unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who gave his angels painless lives, yet cursed his other children with biting miseries and maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice and invented hell - mouths mercy and invented hell - mouths Golden Rules, and forgiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who mouths morals to other people and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man's acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him! . . .


[edit on 3-9-2010 by thedarktower]

That took me a couple re-readings...
is that from Stories From the Earth?

Erm...The Mysterious Stranger.
Mark Twain will never go out of style.

[edit on 3/9/2010 by Chamberf=6]

reply to post by Chamberf=6


very good, its mysterious stranger. The only reason i posted it here, is no one i know has read it before and i know how all my fellows at ATS are well read.

It just struck me as something i couldnt explain, as i do believe in a God or creature. But his statement is very true.

Really, do we exist, or am i dreaming all this LoL

serious though, its more up there with Plato and his theory of Forms IMO

reply to post by thedarktower

Twain is just smashing to pieces the Judeo-Christian-Abrahamic version of the Old Testament God.

I came to the same conclusion once based on what is written in the OT and the best answer I got from some the world's most highly respected theologians in Christianity is;

"who are you to question God?"

Ha ...however mystical experiences have proved to me that its nothing like that and that's why I stick to the NT, mysticism, and nonduality (enter the christian mystic nondualist)


[edit on 3-9-2010 by dominicus]

I've never read this before. It defintely makes you think. He's right on every single point made in that paragraph. I too believe in God but these statements just throw more into just what reality is and what the truth is (if, of course, it even exists!)

Its a real head messer. The sort of stuff i love really. I love the kind of stuff that gets us all thinking of our own existance.

What does this have to do with "Just when you thought you existed"?

reply to post by christianpatrick


ok i take it you didnt read the whole thing?

it suggest we dont exist except our own thought.

We invented god, heaven, hell and ourselfs. Everything. The only one thing that exist is you, or if you like me, me, myself!

its a head mess, thats why i like it

reply to post by thedarktower

I read the whole thing as posted. It looks like Twain is saying that God is a dillweed.

Originally posted by christianpatrick
reply to post by thedarktower

 

I read the whole thing as posted. It looks like Twain is saying that God is a dillweed.

sorry i was drunk lastnight when i posted this. The story the mysterious stranger made me think we dont exist, not just this one paragraph. I really shouldnt post when drunk LoL

reply to post by thedarktower


Have you seen the movie Inception with DeCaprio... Brilliant concept. Strong possibility we might be dreaming all this.....

I'm an agnostic myself (and a longtime fan of Mark Twain) but the concept of free will sort of destroys this argument, doesn't it?

Originally posted by flashesofblue
reply to post by thedarktower

 

Have you seen the movie Inception with DeCaprio... Brilliant concept. Strong possibility we might be dreaming all this.....

i haven't seen it yet though really want to. If this is a dream, maybe when we die we wake up? who knows, perhaps, but then, what really happens when we go to sleep? are we entering another universe, another reality? I could go on, but i guess we will never really know

Originally posted by Def Youth
I'm an agnostic myself (and a longtime fan of Mark Twain) but the concept of free will sort of destroys this argument, doesn't it?

being an agnostic means that you dont think we can know about God, does it? sorry, i am not 100% about this term, could you explain it a bit as i am interested.

Well, in the mysterious stranger, satan suggests life is like a stack of dominos all lined up and the first time we are born we push the first domino, this starts a chain of events, which maps out our lifes, so even though we think we have free will, we are only doing what our fate meant us to do. For example, by me replying to this comment means i was going to do it, but had i chose not too, then this was my fate. It makes you wonder if we can really choose, or has the choice already been made?

it would mess with you surely if your blind to this "god"head religions worship.

you can see through it and find it hilarious if your not as close minded.

reply to post by platipus


so i guess you are an atheist then? Im more inclined to believer in a sort of creator, i dont know why though. Perhaps i just want to believe? I dont take the main religons of today as the only way though, i see them more as controlling the masses and making money of of them. Perhaps they started of as good and were corrupted by us no good humans