#and that faith and belief is not wrong or stupid for defying what is definable by science or for existing in the face of science

[aro-ortega]

this morning i will be thinking about how vanyas faith defines him and allowed him to become a person and how that has been twisted and manipulated without his knowledge just for something else to use him as a tool/puppet again

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Hi, I have a question if you don't answering. Why is your username "religion is a mental illness"? It's seen very ableist. And I'm worried that you're using mental illness as a insult too. Of course I could be wrong and I'm sorry if I am.

“It is difficult to imagine a set of beliefs more suggestive of mental illness, than those that lie at the heart of many of our religious traditions.” - Sam Harris

Your statement makes no sense. If religion is a mental illness, then how is saying “religion is a mental illness” any more “ableist” than saying “schizophrenia is a mental illness”? If someone believes it is, then they’re simply stating what they believe to be true, just like saying “a cat is a mammal.”

Thus, if you think it’s an “insult” then that says more about you. You are, after all, the one defining mental illness as a “disability” here. The title just suggests religion is a health issue, while you’re the one calling it a full-on disability. How long have you felt like your beliefs make you less than able-bodied? Or are you perhaps just invoking a loaded word as a form of manipulation?

Xtians who perceive the phrase “humans are apes” to be an insult, reveal similarly about themselves, and their desire to be outside of nature and the natural world (and especially exempt from the natural process of death everything else, from cellular life to entire galaxies, is subject to). I find no insult whatsoever in understanding the humans species to be a variety of great apes.

I find no insult in the statement “atheism is a religion.” It’s explicitly false, but I have no reason to consider it an “insult” when I can simply understand the person doesn’t know what they’re talking about. (And is probably about to throw faith under the bus, with something like “I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist” which is superbly self-damning. But I digress.)

Don’t project your stuff onto others. When you choose to take offence, don’t bring it back and demand a refund.

By the way, if it isn’t, how would you even tell the difference?

That said, if your have no way of determining whether your beliefs are incorrect - and thus no way to determine whether, or even claim, they’re correct - and can only be sustained by resorting to “faith,” then I don’t really care how insulted you feel - your beliefs are stupid and in defiance of reality.

A person who believes they can feel an intangible, immaterial galactic unicorn “in my toes” and dedicates themselves to that belief, believes a stupid thing. The thing they believe is stupid. That’s not an insult of the person, it’s a criticism of the belief.

Now, when we replace the galactic unicorn with a galactic wizard (god), and relocate the feeling to “in my heart”, then we have the same thing as Xtian beliefs. Taking that as part of an entire identity - instead of an idea that can be embraced or discarded without pain or discomfort as new information arises - and thus feeling “insulted” is your own mistake, and not something I spend time or energy worrying about. Claiming offence is not a refutation or argument.

Lack of alignment with reality is how we understand the existence of mental health issues; emotional, perceptual, cognitive, or whatever.

While there is no shame in having a mental illness, people who have one should seek the best diagnosis and treatment they can get, so they can improve the quality of their lives. Just because it’s not something to be ashamed of doesn’t mean you shouldn’t seek qualified, professional assistance to minimize its deleterious effects, and realign your thought and mental patterns as closely with reality as possible. Otherwise, as with several biblical figures, if they existed at all, it’s wasting life mired in delusion, many of them harmful.

In the same spirit, I wish Xtians and other believers no ill, I hope they get better, because their beliefs are stupid, reality-defying nonsense.

https://religion-is-a-mental-illness.tumblr.com/tagged/faith-vs-delusion

P.S. Nice parody account.

[gocchisama]

Pairings in Keyakizaka46

Pairings. Or also called, OTP ( One True pairing). The definition goes by: “your favorite relationship in a fandom”, or “the relationship that match the best”. AKB48 already proved the existence of pairing like Atsumina, Wmatsui, or Sayamilky. Keyakizaka46 is no exception.

Why is it so particular? why does pairing influence fandom culture so much? I have already defined Idols in 3 relationship. Idol x herself, idol x fans, and idol x idol. Pairings is one aspect of the third relationship. Fans are keen to watch members interaction because it is different from what they can possibly have with the idol herself. The friendship, bond between members shows aspect of your oshimen that you would never imagine. This is the magic of the OTP. 

Before we get started, i want to point out that those pairings are just my opinion and are by no means a judgement on who is closest to who. Being close is a huge factor, but i also works on the pair chemistry.

“Za cool is the name of the tandem Shida manaka/Watanabe Risa”

I’ve been lurking Japanese fandom for quite some time and the most well known pairing is undoubtly “Za cool” or also called “MonaLisa”. It make sense because Keyakizaka has been built on a cool image and both of them have natural assets like great, lean figure and slim silouhette. It’s not really about the interaction between the two ( correct me if i’m wrong) but for what they represents in Keyakizaka; they are the symbol of classy, good looking girls that japanese teenager aspire to be.

It’s about the looks, but also the manner. In individual PV, both of them traded the usual cute and appealing idol video to make more personal, in depth short movies to assert their cool personalities ( One is doing martial arts, the other is making a fashion show in her living room). When you think of it, there is cool members in the 48group but none of them stand out better than a whole pairing. I would not be surprised to see both of them in fashion magazine, like true cousins of their senpai of Nogizaka46.

Something to notice, Nogizaka and more recently Keyakizaka have a sizeable amount of female fans. Cool members that convey self confidence are very popular among them. And when Za cool cultivate a “strong, reliable” character ( close to danso) you can be sure members and fans match perfectly.

“Yuichanzu has already 2 B-sides up their sleeves, and fans are asking for more.”

Born from management’s wish to operate Kobayashi and Imaizumi Yui musical talents, the duo Yuichanzu has evolved into a distinctive musical aspect of Keyakizaka, the pop-folk tune of the group. No management have put as much faith in a musical sub-unit in the past, and it tells how important the duo has become for Keyaki.

Yuichanzu is even more of a deadly weapon when you take into account the global consensus of musical landslide AKB group releases have become. Not only Keyakizaka stand out with their powerful main track (hello Silent Majority), but they take the luxury to open their musical range by releasing ballad like the musically acknowledged “bob dylan wa kaesanai”. In a world dominated by visual and Auto-tune, Yuichanzu stand as a new refreshing effort to set back music as the main concern of a group. Even for idols.

This tandem success also come from an efficient blend between them. Yuipon is kind/quiet type, almost shy, while Zuumin has this cheerful, almost bewildering personality. Together, they sing in harmony, making way to one of their best performance .

The perspective to bring Keyakizaka this so much awaited musical variety is what makes Yuichanzu so valuable. Not only it defends the idea that idols are also artist ( and not ONLY marketed musical product) but it hugely helps other girls than the center develop their personalities. “Idols you can see grow” has never been more true than the present day.

“The Sun and the moon. What do they have in common? They both shine.” 

TechiNeru relationship has been slightly elaborated here. But it still has to be mentioned. This is my own belief that Neru is Yurina’s rival; from the opposition of their styles, from their close level of skill. From their respective stories and role in the group. What made Batman so popular as a Hero? Because he had lot of powers? In that case green lantern would win hands up. Then No. The real answer is that he had charismatic enemies and rivals, like Joker. In the same logic, This duo will climb to new heights thanks to their rivalry. This is passion.

Something that i have omited to talk about, is the bond between them. Neru has chosen to defy her parents when becoming an idol, defying at the same time the path she chose over the path chosen for her. Yurina became an idol to forget about an alleged painful past. To pour all her energy into a “new her” was a way to not look behind ever again. It comes from her famous quote “Whatever happened in the past, i have no choice but to only look forward.” Despite their clear contrast as orthodox and unorthodox idols, they share the same resolve : To face the future with a challenging heart. 

Then probably, Nagaham Neru is the member that understand Yurina the most. Only a center can understand a center, as you bear the overwhelming pressure of fans and management expectation in your shoulders. Both have solo songs, both lead a generation. One can suffer from the eternal comparison between the two ( Watanabe Miyuki mention her painful experience as being Yamamoto Sayaka eternal number 2) and this is why the link between them is so strong. During Keyakizaka one man’s live performance, Yurina was on the verge of tears, overwhelmed by the emotion of sharing this last performance with fans. You can catch a glimpse where Neru quickly hug Techi to cheer her up during the next verse.

“The OTP without name. What about the two pillars?”

The appearance of this duo has been quite recent, precisely during the sports festival in Keyakitte, Kakenai? episode. There was the blue team led by Sugai Yuuka who represented the “my pace” team, while the red team was led by Moriya Akane, the “gachi” (serious) team. This is probably the most accurate representation of this tandem. You have on one side the kind, caring member that makes you comfortable ( the mother), and on the other side the strong, reliable member that pumps you up ( the father). In any case, the “Yuukanen” duo is the pairing that all keyaki members look up to.

I chose the two pillars because the two have the potential to be captains. To ensure good communication between member, to represent the group in talk session ( especially Yuuka), to call people out when members are slacking off during practice ( Akanen), to set a good role model for members to follow. This is the necessary sternness that helps Keyakizaka keep their high level of performance.

Those two are the self-consciousness of Keyakizaka46, essential to make the group operate backstage. We’re not even talking about their  SUPER high level of aesthetic and own individual appeal ( Sugai sama and her noble persona, Akanen the big sister that hates to lose). Their awareness and sense of responsability framed the group into the right path. Keyakizaka was a rookie group without senpai, and the two of them assumed this role just naturally. The very definition of idols are people you admire and respect; Yuuka and Akanen absolutely fit those requirements.

“Boke&Tsukkomi is an absolute reference of Japanese comedy”

Now we’re entering non-established pairings, but that holds potential in the future. The limitless ponkotsu personality of Watanabe Rika and the variety talent of Oda Nana makes the pairing extremely potent. It’s true that Berika can make any situation laughable on her own, but Oda nana presence frame those funny moments, making them less awkward and more elaborated.

In japanese entertainment industry, the workforce mainly consist of actor/actress and singer, but also people you call “talento”, like Becky or Lola. They don’t have any particular skills, except that they are extremely good at talking. To give good rythms and atmosphere to a variety show, you invite those kind of celebrities. And it works! Only thanks to selling their image and smooth talking, the best of them are very popular and can endorse as much as 10 brand advertisement. This is important to understand japanese culture.

So yes, they don’t have the musical talent of Yuichanzu or the visual of Za cool, but Oda Nana and Watanabe Rika are the living ground of an excellent Boke&Tsukkomi pairing. The “boke” make stupid nag, while the “tsukkomi” correct him/punish him, make the situation hilarious. This concept is so popular that best comic duo like Downtown or 99 originated from this. Well, Watanabe Rika&Oda Nana holds this tremendous potential of talking and comedy. 

“If you marry weirdness and cuteness together, how will it blend?”

This is a personal wish of mine, to see more of those two. To pair those two is like making a step in the unknown. But since Keyakizaka taught me that everything is possible in the line up, i’m willing to hope. Nogizaka’s sister group is filled with great individuals which explain Ozeki and Uemura’s mixed visibility in the group ( they are often in the third row), but i’m convinced it is not because of their lack of personality.

In a group heavily cool oriented, to be extremely cute is an advantage. Uemura rina can benefit from it. But what she needs is to overcome her fear to stand out, and it is not an easy feat. But this weakness can be filled with Ozeki’s natural outgoing personality (someone who is not ashamed to turn herself into ridicule). Ozeki style. An underrated genius in comedy that probably would rise tenfold if given the proper tool to shine. It is understandable that comedy is not Keyakizaka top priority, but i’m eagerly waiting for her to take the group by storm.

Ozeki helps Rina to believe in herself, and Rina helps Ozeki in the visual department. And despite their opposite personalities, i have noticed a great relationship between the two; as they take 2 shot regularly together or holding arms during variety shows. If they helps each other’s out i’m sure they will find their rightful place within the group. Oh, and, i genuinely think BOTH are cute!

Conclusion 

As you might have expected, Keyakizaka draw his strength from the richness of the girls color and personalities, going from visual and music aspect to comedy and presence. The young group also beats the odds by running backward current trends that promote individuality ( Sayanee, Sasshi, Jurina) in successfuly highlighting a group unity. ( thanks to their group choregraphy and huge line up). Indeed, to have 3 times Techi as center is also promoting individuality, but what makes the difference is that compared to 48group, Keyakizaka doesn’t suffer from shuffle and dilemma between old and new gen promotion (because the girls all start from the same point). It ends up with all those strong pairings mentioned above. 

Why is idol popular? Because idols helps sharing this positive energy to fans, or non fans alike. An energy that encourage you to step forward. This is a constructive energy. Also, from their genuine bond between them helps you recall to value your friendship with those that you loves and loves you in return. Those pairings remind you to be grateful for what you own. It helps you feel generous.

It is only depending on you to have your own OTP. Share this heartwarming feeling. Share the love.

[theskrawl]

Heaven off Earth

Faith has always been about silencing questions rather than searching for answers. The first narrative of the Bible, the creation myth from the Book of Genesis, poses and allegory in the story of Original Sin. In which Adam & Eve  are banished from the Garden of Eden by God for picking the “forbidden fruit” from the “tree of knowledge.” A swift punishment for questioning God in the pursuit of knowledge, an act that is fashioned as the temptation of the Devil.

Religion’s war against knowledge is something we’d see play out often through history in a consistent struggle between science and faith.

The Theory of Evolution and Natural Selection, one of the most substantiated theories in the history of Science, formulated in 1859 by Charles Darwin in his book “Origin of Species” was widely rejected and dismissed by Religious institutions on the basis of Creationism, declaring him a heretic. It wasn’t until 125-years after his death that the Church of England apologized in an official statement in 2008.

The Vatican however, made no posthumous apology, instead insisting that Darwin’s Theory of Evolution is compatible with Creationism.

Today, we have rigorous Creationists who still refute and deny the well established theory of Evolution, which enjoys an overwhelming scientific consensus supported by biological and fossil observation and experimental confirmation, in favor of the story of God’s creation of Adam & Eve, hinging on the flimsiest of grounds, that it was simply written in an old book.

For the Catholic Church to infer that both Evolution and Creationism are comparable in credibility or compatible by any stretch is preposterous.

But Religion has long placed and encouraged a certain Egotistical view on humanity’s importance and significance in the way that it has viewed itself with declaration of absolute truth, and the denunciation of the Theory of Evolution was a direct result of this, in order to hold onto the belief iterated in the Bible that “man was created in the image and likeness of God.”

Nowhere else is this egotistical view of man challenged more than in the subject and field of Astronomy.

Nicolaus Copernicus was the first to nudge Homo-sapiens off their privileged celestial perch when he was the first to propose the Heliocentric model of the Universe in 1543, which of course, was ill-received by the Church because it contradicted their stance and the widely held egocentric belief of the time, the Geocentric model, that maintained the Earth (and Humans) were at the center of the Universe.  

In 1604 Johannes Kepler bolstered the Heliocentric model in observing a new star appear in the sky, which challenged all conventional wisdom of the time, because the Geocentric model was based on a view of Aristotle that Earth was a realm of imperfect things that were changeable, but things far away in the heavens (space) were perfect and didn’t change.So witnessing the appearance of a new star was the first indisputable evidence that Aristotle and the Geocentric view of the Universe is wrong, but needless to say, this discovery fell on the deaf ears of the Church.

In 1632 Galileo Galilei using observations from his telescope confirmed the Heliocentric model was correct, while thoroughly disproving the Geocentric model of the Universe. When he published his findings he was put on trial by the Roman Catholic Inquisition, jailed, and sentenced to house arrest for the remainder of his life for heresy. And perhaps the most fitting quote attributed to him because of this is, “I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.”

It would be hundreds of years before the Church would accept the reality of the Heliocentric model of the Universe. Amazingly after more than 350 years of silence on the matter Pope John Paul II acknowledged the wrongs of the prosecution of Galileo in 1983.

The Scientific Revolution was a particularly trying and threatening time for faith, ushering in a long line of humiliating discoveries, each of which would make it easier for people to imagine themselves as accidentally intelligent animals, not divine favorites; and the contentious attitude toward this is summed up perfectly in the words of one of the most influential scientists of all time, Sir Isaac Newton, “I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.”

The Church and Religion has a long record of vehemently and aggressively defending its beliefs from Scientific discovery, littered with endless historical examples which have worked to hold back and/or stem the tide of the progression of actual knowledge, in an act of willful ignorance.

Ignorance, contrary to popular opinion, is not stupidity, it’s simply a lack of knowledge, every single human being has some level of ignorance.

In accordance with the Scientific Method, to believe something is true because there is no evidence to disprove it- is an “Appeal to Ignorance.” And to believe something is false because there is no evidence to prove it- is an “Argument from Ignorance.”

Science has comprised a vast body of knowledge and axioms, and while admittedly it has its limits, those limits are always expanding, IF we are willing to continue to pick apples from the tree of knowledge that is.

Believing something that has been disproved is ignorance, but to believe something currently outside the limit of our body of knowledge is to deny our ignorance.

The religious would call this ignorance, or denial of their ignorance, Faith.

But there is an importance to accepting our ignorance. As historically renowned stoic philosopher Epictetus put it, “It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.”

Put simply, if we hold such conviction or faith is something unproven then it complicates or impedes our ability to learn and accept new information pertaining to the subject.

It’s worth mentioning that this fundamental truth applies to convicted Atheists as well, because this leads us to the underlining cause of both of these contrasting  “beliefs” (the existence of god and non-existence of god) -which is an inability to “accept” the fact that we simply “don’t know.”

This is why Agnosticism is often referred to as the most Scientific approach to the question of God, because in the absence of convincing evidence for either the existence or nonexistence of God, it is irrational to assert either belief or non-belief in God, and the only rational option is to refuse to commit either way.

But the Fear of Uncertainty remains a powerful thing. A known master of exploiting people’s fear, writer H.P. Lovecraft, said “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”

What happens after we die? What is the purpose of life? What created the Universe? Are all burning questions that  have troubled man since the dawn of critical thought, and these troubles make “pretending” (or having faith) in some ill-contrived answer to be refreshingly comforting.

But at the same time, while doing so might help to alleviate the fear, it also helps to  silence and stifle our sense of wonder and/or imagination. Both of which are hallmarks of humanity’s quest for knowledge that have propelled exploration and innovation, and ultimately the progression of humanity since the beginning of recorded history.

Now, some would say that religion and science are two sides of a coin, one is a subjective and personal view of the world (faith), while the other is an objective and empirical understanding of nature (science); and while this argument of antithesis is all fine and good with the “spiritual but not religious” types, it’s much harder to accept among Organized Religions that define and depict their deities in such a specific manner.

I would argue that Science and Religion are more closely related than we lead ourselves to believe, for they both in principle, admittedly under different methodologies or lack thereof, seek to uncover the hidden truths of the natural world around us.

As an amateur astronomer myself nothing in my life has given what I would equate to that spiritual feeling some might call “getting closer to God” than when my eye peers through my telescope and my brain forms an image collected from the thousand-year-old light bouncing off some primordial celestial body floating out in the vastness of space. 

This feeling is the result of a sense of wonder and awe, questions, culminating inside me, not the comfort of answers and faith.

And I’m not alone.

Several astronauts have been vocal about similar religious and/or spiritual experiences when traveling into space, describing a powerful and understandable sense of awe leading to the curiosity of questions. Edgar Mitchell, the pilot of the Apollo 14 mission to the Moon said upon his return, “That’s a powerful experience, to see Earth rise over the surface of the Moon. And I suddenly realized that the molecules in my body, and the molecules in the spacecraft and my partners had been prototyped, maybe even manufactured, in some ancient generation of stars. But instead of being an intellectual experience, it was a personal feeling… And that was accompanied by a sense of joy and ecstasy, which caused me to say ‘What is this?”  

Perhaps it is time we find a new faith or religion that escapes the confines or parameters set forth by the old traditional views of organized institutions, that we get away from the false-dichotomy of the existence of God or non-existence of God, and tap into and embrace the unknown, this sense of wonder and curiosity that dives into the possibility of an alternative to God, a “reason” or “purpose” for the existence of something rather than nothing, for the existence of life.

A sentiment that pours itself into my brain whenever I read about the nature of a subject such as Orbital Resonance, or ponder the magical type physics defying discoveries of Quantum Mechanics, or  when I consider the extremely amazing mathematical coincidences that are necessary to create a perfect Total Solar Eclipse.

Because having faith in antiquated answers to the unknown is akin to the warnings issued in the idiom of “dwelling in the past” -while honestly reveling in the prospect of the unknown is more reminiscent to that of “living in the present.”

And perhaps the masses will experience this personal discovery of a new religion (that seems to affect astronauts) in droves as humanity continues to progress into the future, and colonizes the Solar System; and as far as we know, become the first to spread life further into the cosmos.

written by Mike Hogan