Grow Along With Others, Not Grow At The Cost Of Others

The Award Winning CORN There was a farmer who grew superior quality and award-winning corn. Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won honor and prizes. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learnt something interesting about how he grew it.

The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors. "How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?" the reporter asked. "Why sir," said the farmer, "didn't you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field.

If my neighbors grow inferior, sub-standard and poor quality corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn."

The farmer gave a superb insight into the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbor's corn also improves. So it is in other dimensions! Those who choose to be at harmony must help their neighbors and colleagues to be at peace, those who choose to live well must help others to live well, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches. And those who choose to be happy must help others to find happiness for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all. If we are to grow good quality corn, we must help our neighbors grow good quality corn too.

Only way to grow in an Organization is - to grow along with others and not grow at the cost of others!

The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the limits of the impossible.

Shake It Off And Take A Step Up

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbours to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well.
At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw.
With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing.
He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbours continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred - Forgive.
2. Free your mind from worries - Most never happen.
3. Live simply and appreciate what you have.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less

Statement of Faith

These are my thoughts about our origin and our destiny.

I believe in reason. By this I mean that everything that can be investigated by reason should be examined with our minds as far as possible. I care about what is true, and anybody who's concerned about the truth should desire knowledge through reason. I think that it is undesirable to believe that which is not true or what is not founded upon reason.

What I know are those facts which are irrefutable - i.e. absurd to doubt. What I believe is that which seems most likely from the facts. What I do not believe is that which I know is false or that which there is no rational reason to believe.

I believe in doubt; I have faith in doubt. It is only through doubt - not blindfolded belief - that freedom and knowledge are produced. It is only by first questioning what is that things can be differently - only by questioning the present political system freedom can be gained; and only by questioning the present knowledge new knowledge can be found. If there is an answer a question can be raised, but only if a question is raised the answer can be found.

I believe that everything in this world is natural. To say that something is supernatural is a contradiction in terms. There may exist things that we yet do not know about, or which are unknowable, but they would all be natural, albeit paranormal.

I believe that this universe was created in a "Big Bang" about 10-25 billion years ago. What caused the Big Bang I do not know.

I believe that man is the product of an evolutionary process which started instantly at the Big Bang when energy spontaneously started to aggregate into objects such as atoms and molecules. I believe that this evolution caused the spontaneous generation of life on the planet Earth about 3-5 billion years ago and that this was the onset of biological evolution. I believe that man is the product of this evolutionary process.

I believe that there is life on other planets. I cannot see why the same process that caused life on this planet would not cause life in other places in our vast Universe. However, I do not believe that intelligent extra terrestial life has ever set its foot on planet Earth.

I believe in life before death. This is the only life I know anything about. I do not believe in life after death because it seems very unlikely that my mind will continue to exist when my brain dies.

I believe in man. Whether we like it or not, we are responsible for the destiny of this world. We can treat it wisely, or unwisely and my hopes is that we will do the best of our reasonable abilities. I do not know if this will happen, but it is all we can hope for. No one will save us except ourselves - together.

I believe in love. Love to guide reason; love to act in the best interest not only of oneself but also in the interest of others. Treat others as you would like to be treated yourself is a guiding rule of highest nobility and importance.

I think that everybody should have the right to the maximum amount of freedom which is compatible with the same freedom for everybody else. I believe that everyone is entitled to say, do or believe anything they want as long as it does not prevent others from doing the same. I think I should have the right to question and argue against the beliefs of other people and I think you should have an equal right to argue against my beliefs.

Types of Atheism and Agnosticism

Weak or Implicit Atheism: You don't care that gods exist or don't exist and you're not worried about. When asked you refer to yourself as a Nonbeliever, Non-Religious or Indifferent.

Strong or Explicit Atheism: You actively disbelieve in the existence of gods. When asked you refer to yourself as an Atheist.

Humanism: You believe that all people have the ability to discern right from wrong through rational thought.

Naturalism: You believe that "nature is all there is and all basic truths are truths of nature."

Confucianism: You believe in the moral code and teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius, who believed gods do not exist, people should revere their parents/ancestors, treat people with respect and serve the state/mankind.

Agnosticism

Agnosticism is a middle ground between belief and disbelief. Agnostics believe that gods can be neither proven or disproven.

Strong Agnosticism refers the view that the question of the existence or nonexistence of God or gods and the nature of ultimate reality is unknowable by reason of our natural inability to verify any experience with anything but another subjective experience. A strong agnostic would say, "I don't know whether God exists or not, and neither do you."

Weak Agnosticism is the view that the existence or nonexistence of any deity is currently unknown but is not necessarily unknowable, therefore one will withhold judgment until/if any evidence is available. A weak agnostic would say, "I don't know whether any deity exists or not, but maybe one day when there is more evidence we can find something out."

Apathetic or Pragmatic Agnosticism is the view that there is no proof of either the existence or nonexistence of any deity, but since any deity that may exist appears unconcerned for the universe or the welfare of its inhabitants, the question is largely academic anyway.

Agnostic Theism is the view of those who do not claim to know existence of any deity, but still believe in such an existence. (See Knowledge vs. Beliefs)

Agnostic Atheism is the view of those who do not know of the existence or nonexistence of a deity, and do not believe in any.

Ignosticism is the view that a coherent definition of God must be put forward before the question of the existence of God can be meaningfully discussed. If the chosen definition isn't coherent, the ignostic holds the noncognitivist view that the existence of God is meaningless or empirically untestable. A.J. Ayer, Theodore Drange, and other philosophers see both atheism and agnosticism as incompatible with ignosticism on the grounds that atheism and agnosticism accept "God exists" as a meaningful proposition which can be argued for or against. An ignostic cannot even say whether he/she is a theist or a nontheist until a better definition of theism is put forth.

"Religion is to Faith what Science Fiction is to Science: Fairy Tales and Wishful Thinking." - Charles Moffat.

Athesim and Discrimination

One of the reasons many atheists don't like religions is because of the way religions tend to discriminate against others based on sex, sexuality, race, religion or ethnicity.

However some atheists who have really strong opinions are just as guilty of discriminating too, sometimes mocking the fairy tale qualities of religions. This doesn't really serve anything however, all it does is prove is some people are assholes.

It is recommended that atheists don't go out of their way to discourage people from worshipping gods, but rather to let people come to their own conclusions through rational thought.

This doesn't mean however that atheists should be complete pushovers. Atheists should still stand up for their rights and freedom of speech/religion.

Depending on the amount of religious fanaticism in a particular society coming out of the "closet" as an atheist could cause problems to a person's social life, their schooling and/or work because of religious discrimination. Some religious fanatics go out of their way to harass anyone who isn't of their faith.

�I contend we are both atheists, I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.�
- Stephen Roberts.

Athesim - Science and Fact

Some atheists believe strongly in reason, logic, scientific facts and that science is always finding new facts and helping us to further understand the universe. As such many atheists also believe in Evolution, Gravity and that the universe expands through supernovas and contracts with black holes.

Special Note: Believe may be the wrong word to use. Atheists do not 'believe' in science as facts do not require belief, but try convincing a Creationist that Evolution is real and you will quickly learn belief plays a strong role in their naysaying.

Atheists also acknowledge the possibility of life on other planets and that the Earth is likely just one of many planets that contain intelligent life. There's no proof aliens do exist of course, but atheists try to keep an open mind on the subject since it would be a remarkable scientific discovery and shatter the belief that humans are the only sentient species.

An excellent example is Galileo who raised the idea that the earth rotates around the sun, as opposed to the Bible which states "the world is firmly established, it cannot be moved." Under threat of death the Catholic Church forced Galileo to recant his theory during the Roman Inquisition. It wasn't until 1992 that Pope John Paul II apologized and admitted the earth revolves around the sun, contrary to Pope Benedict XVI (formerly Cardinal Ratzinger) who still insists its the sun that moves and that the earth stay stationary.

Atheists also reject the idea of superstitions like astrology, numerology, placebos, homeopathic healers, good/bad karma, praying, destiny and miracles. Such things atheists argue are basically just dumb luck. Stuff happens and people try to explain it as a miracle, but in reality there's always going to be a percentage of people that survive a tragedy. That isn't a miracle, its just a statistic.

Humans we should note are not the only creatures who are superstitious, as demonstrated by American psychologist B. F. Skinner who discovered that pigeons and animals can also develop superstitious behaviour. In laboratory studies Skinner's pigeons adopted superstitious habits in an efforts to get foot pellets, the result of doing something when the food pellet had dropped. The end result was pigeons jumping about, pecking the corners and jerking their heads hoping that their behaviour would somehow cause another food pellet to drop.

"I cannot believe in the immortality of the soul.... No, all this talk of an existence for us, as individuals, beyond the grave is wrong. It is born of our tenacity of life � our desire to go on living � our dread of coming to an end." - Thomas Edison, American Inventor.

Athesim and Secularism

Atheists, agnostics and nonbelievers all agree on the concept of keeping religion and politics separate. Historically whenever religion interferes in politics the system collapses and/or war eventually breaks out. A notable example is the collapse of the Roman Empire.

As such many people agree that religion should also be kept out of government departments, public schools and the military. People can still attend those schools, work for the government or military/etc., but they should not allow their religious beliefs to interfere with their duty to the government.

Failure to do your duty because of your religious beliefs, or worse, deliberately doing something that either promotes your religious views or ridicules someone else's oversteps the boundaries and leads to corruption. Political corruption mixed with religion will only end in scandal and work to tarnish the name of both the religion and the government you represent.

"It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." - Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President.