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Afzal
Thank you. I get a bit twitchy when people agree with me. Ain't natural, somehowLOL
posted by
ariel70
on July 1, 2006 at 10:38 AM
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Ariel70, You are absolutely correct . I agree with you.
Thanks for completing your view .
posted by
afzal50
on July 1, 2006 at 10:36 AM
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Afzal
Lady Ariela elbowed me off the computer, so I couldn't finish my comment ; got to obey She Who Must Be Obeyed, haven't we? Or suffer the dire consequences LOL.
There is hardly a single perverted appetite, spawned in sick and depraved minds that cannot be gratified on the internet by a few clicks of a keyboard.
Images that would have debased and degraded the Roman Empire of a Caligula or a Commodus are freely available to all ; we abort foetuses by the million ; in our personal and social lives, we are sunk into moral squalor ; and an equally profound intellectual squalor governs so-called debate.
Of course, you and I are not like this, nor are any to my knowledge in here nor are most people, but it cannot be denied that enough are to ensure that ours is an age, not of Reason, but of Unreason.
Looking hard at our modern societies, one is bound to ask : where is the Enlightenment? In the face of the evils in our societies were are weak and flaccid ; lacking the guts to defend even our core Judaeo-Christian heritage, and our liberal democratic values from those who would destroy them
Our ancestors were more virile in defending what they believed to be right and justice. The great war cemeteries are full of them ; white stones, row on heartrending row.
posted by
ariel70
on July 1, 2006 at 9:37 AM
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RickyMtnactivist, Thanks for sharing your thuoghts over my view.
Please do keep in touch.
posted by
afzal50
on July 1, 2006 at 9:25 AM
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Hi Afzal.....
My definition of enlightenment is a higher state of consciousness with an awareness and understanding of our true nature as spiritual beings. Where all the lower emotions of anger, hate, jealousy, pride, etc. are transcended. When we achieve this state our hearts are filled with love and compassion for our fellow spiritual companions regardless of race or religion! Excellent post! 
posted by
RckyMtnActivist
on July 1, 2006 at 9:14 AM
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Avant-garde, Thanks for your wise comment .
posted by
afzal50
on July 1, 2006 at 8:32 AM
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Ariel70 , Thank you so much for stopping by and giving your
valuable comments .I appreciate your wisdom pertaining to the issue raised in my post .
posted by
afzal50
on July 1, 2006 at 8:29 AM
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afzal
It is not pessimism, but realism to state that we are, in our own way, as ignorant as mediaeval peasants, for they knew little or nothing of affairs beyond their hamlet, while were are made aware of what the media wish us to know.
Out " truth" is strained thro' a dozen filters, wielded by those with their own political and social agendas. Where, I ask you is any debate upon, say, the Iraq war that is waged in a reasoned and rattional manner?
Our lives today are in many ways inifitely better than they were when I was young in the 1930s, but in many other ways they are far worse. To take but one simple example : where is our sense of neighbourliness and responsibility to the welfare of others?
We suffer from stresses unheard of, and utterly incomprehensible to my parents and my siblings and I, and these are sen in diseases that hardly anyone suffered from then.
No, my friend, to imagine that our age is more enlightened than former eras is an illusion, and we afer very far from being enlightened, in any meaningful sense of that word.
posted by
ariel70
on July 1, 2006 at 8:25 AM
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Lilane , Thank you so much for your response .
posted by
afzal50
on July 1, 2006 at 8:23 AM
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ignorance
We are giving a certain amount of knowledge but its what we chose to do with it that makes the difference. You are making my mind go on overload
posted by
Lanetay
on July 1, 2006 at 8:21 AM
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afzal
Technology without wisdom leads to destruction, which is where humanity is currently heading. I would also like to add that enlightenment understands that ignorance is the result of struggling and conflict, and that adding more to it only perpetuates the illusion.
posted by
avant-garde
on July 1, 2006 at 8:14 AM
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Blackcat30, Thanks for appreciating my endeavours.
posted by
afzal50
on July 1, 2006 at 7:18 AM
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I'm not sure that the web brings enlightenment, at least not in
it's highest form, as you defined it. Good thoughts here.
posted by
-blackcat
on July 1, 2006 at 6:50 AM
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