Oh no...there's an "ultimate foe". Someone asked Karl Barth (I think it was him) what he thought was the greatest problem facing mankind, expecting a long treatise from a renown theologian. The answer came back and it was just 2 words. They were, "I am" (He wasn't talking about God being the great "I am").
I believe in angels, demons and all that stuff. But the greatest problem facing me is..."me me me"!
so, technically, what is really WRONG with getting out of this life, dead?
Nothing at all. It just puts everything in perspective. As I said many times, everything we have is on loan--its not going with us when we die--so how important is it, really?
When we're gone, things will continue as they always have, so how important is politics, or philosophy, or economics?
That we would waste our time--nothing more than a fast and furious footrace when you think about it-- putting so much emphasis on shadows--things that really have no substance--I guess is part of that grand cosmic practical joke.
I mean consider: the people we meet on this forum are shadows. Oh they have names, families, jobs, ect. But what do we really know of them? A screen name and whatever information they offer.
Think of life as being a forum in virtual reality. They too have things that are unknown to us. Some have whole lives we never see. Yet, like this forum, the people in it are real, but we only know of them what they offer.
The adversary. To me it's him. I still war with him everyday. He's cunning and crafty. He wages against me daily. My hope is that someday I will have fought the good fight against him well enough so that I can stomp my heel into his head and mash him into his grave when the end is here. Sobering huh!
so, technically, what is really WRONG with getting out of this life, dead?
Leaving those you love.....there is mourning, sorrow, tears, pain and emptiness for the living when a loved one takes their leave. Not everyone wants to go....some have people in this world they cherish and who need them. Not to mention that not everyone leaves quietly or peacefully. Some people suffer greatly before they depart....they linger.
Many people place a great deal of value on human life and are not so pragmatic about departure. Some see life as a gift to be cherished.
I tend to think, some pragmatic people become less so when faced with their own exit.
The times in my own past that haunt me the most are the times I treated human life cheaply.
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Ham
You've had five minutes of stability.. what now?
hope the thoughts here are not too scary..
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mstar1
Im often my own worst enemy and the only thing that stands in my way...the only demons are ones that I make up in my ownself
unless your talking about some professional wrestler named the "The Ultimate Foe" in which case I'd change the channel
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waysider
the ultimate foe
You mean
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Thomas Loy Bumgarner
OMG, it is VPW at age 100
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sirguessalot
could it be that there is no ultimate foe...and all foes are perfect shadows?
perhaps even our misunderstanding of all this is perfect.
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sirguessalot
it seems the possibility of the non-existence of an ultimate foe can be scarier than the existence of one.
and maybe an ultimate foe is relative and temporary, at best.
quite depends on who you ask...and when.
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Broken Arrow
Oh no...there's an "ultimate foe". Someone asked Karl Barth (I think it was him) what he thought was the greatest problem facing mankind, expecting a long treatise from a renown theologian. The answer came back and it was just 2 words. They were, "I am" (He wasn't talking about God being the great "I am").
I believe in angels, demons and all that stuff. But the greatest problem facing me is..."me me me"!
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excathedra
for me personally, the ultimate foe -- i think -- is my own worries and my fears -- and when i let my mind just go away in a dark place
i have help with it, thank god
i also think my ultimate foe is my past because it's so had to get over -- seems to be with me more than i like
my very very saddest part of my ultimate foe is that i don't think i am capable of an intimate relationship
i wonder if there will be a chance for that in the after life (sorry to cross threads)
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So_crates
SoCrates
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Ham
my dearest friend here, suggests that I have Aspergers or something..
who is the "ultimate foe.."
I think religious coverings has made it (or he, or it, or me) something else..
da way is most sad. It, or they do not even allow a belief in self..
Walt Whitman had it figured out, for a brief moment..
so I'm 54 years old with some kind of learning disability..
weird.
Maybe I'm just trying too hard. Maybe I should let somebody else do the work trying to connect with *me*.. whatever that is..
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So_crates
Here's another person who had it figured out, for a brief moment...
SoCrates
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Ham
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So_crates
Or as someone else put it, don't take life seriously, you'll never get out of it alive.
SoCrates
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Ham
so, technically, what is really WRONG with getting out of this life, dead?
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waysider
To what do you attribute your longevity, sir?
"RC Cola and Moon Pies."
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So_crates
Nothing at all. It just puts everything in perspective. As I said many times, everything we have is on loan--its not going with us when we die--so how important is it, really?
When we're gone, things will continue as they always have, so how important is politics, or philosophy, or economics?
That we would waste our time--nothing more than a fast and furious footrace when you think about it-- putting so much emphasis on shadows--things that really have no substance--I guess is part of that grand cosmic practical joke.
I mean consider: the people we meet on this forum are shadows. Oh they have names, families, jobs, ect. But what do we really know of them? A screen name and whatever information they offer.
Think of life as being a forum in virtual reality. They too have things that are unknown to us. Some have whole lives we never see. Yet, like this forum, the people in it are real, but we only know of them what they offer.
SoCrates
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Human without the bean
The adversary. To me it's him. I still war with him everyday. He's cunning and crafty. He wages against me daily. My hope is that someday I will have fought the good fight against him well enough so that I can stomp my heel into his head and mash him into his grave when the end is here. Sobering huh!
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mstar1
We get to make our dent in them no matter how big or small while we are here--otherwise whats the point of being here at all?
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geisha779
Leaving those you love.....there is mourning, sorrow, tears, pain and emptiness for the living when a loved one takes their leave. Not everyone wants to go....some have people in this world they cherish and who need them. Not to mention that not everyone leaves quietly or peacefully. Some people suffer greatly before they depart....they linger.
Many people place a great deal of value on human life and are not so pragmatic about departure. Some see life as a gift to be cherished.
I tend to think, some pragmatic people become less so when faced with their own exit.
The times in my own past that haunt me the most are the times I treated human life cheaply.
Death is the enemy.
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OldSkool
ultimate foe = da debil
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chockfull
And here I always thought it was the Yankees.
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Ham
Yankees!.. well..
the ultimate foe.
it wasn't the terror of the Vervoids.
we ha one (late)incarnation of the doctor.. as chief prosecutor, in a case against himself..
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geisha779
Oh YES.....that is a given.
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Ham
I love fiction..
rather, I have grown to love it.
Maybe it was the Great Lakes fiction class I has to take in college..
there were so many "real" issues in fiction..
the effects of the encroachment of land development..
the effects of the introduction of technology in a small town. Including the effect of the same to a supposed "minister" there.
the deterization of society..
the homogenization of education. i.e.. political correctedness, and its unintended consequences..
all from just.. Great Lakes literature.
Globally, I'm sure it is all the same..
so.. if you can honestly name the "ultimate foe".. who is it?
:)
who really is your ultimate foe, and why?
fair question, I think..
if not.. take it up with the Great Squirrel..
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