I really love this quote. It´s still respectful to those who believes in there religious believes. You can believe that your way of living is right that you live for a purpose that fulfill you and you shall do that. No matter where you go you will always find different believes, those who agree and those who do not agree with your ways. There will always be conflict because if there is more then one existing object they will class. If there is one there is nothing. When two objects exist they will be opposites to each other negative and positive. The universe starts from there and expand to infinity that just means bigger then we can see.
We create our reality, and our faith and our justice. It is voted on by the people in some form of vote or another, not necessarily a voting booth. This scene and thoughts contained within it were conceived by a person. No person is perfect and therefore there must be some errors in this concept. But, it can also be closer to reality than some other popular concepts. It is an ideal to aim for as high a level of perfection as we can imagine perfection to be, and we should emulate it as best as we can. But, there are a number of variables that will forever prevent this from being universally accepted and so we can only truly hope that whoever holds our life or our happiness in their hands will see you as a good enough person to have a doubt before absently tossing you into an abyss. That they see you as trying to be as good as you can be and will let you survive, so that you too can allow another to survive someday. Set your focus on good, treat others as you'd like to be treated, don't crush the hearts of those you know they love you, love your parents, love your children and brothers and sisters. Only harm what you need to harm so that you and your loved ones can survive. Never harm for fun or sport, respect the beliefs of others without belittling them and leave the world a little better than you found it.
I don't believe in any higher power, god or personification of anything. Nothing after this life. But once again, 6 months after Terry Pratchett's death and on a release date of The Shepherd's Crown, the final Discworld book, I am getting choked up with tears and desperately wishing for Death of Discworld to exist ... and that he greeted Terry like an old friend before letting him go through the dark desert under the cold stars. GNU Terry Pratchett.
No, it is the same. All subjective, all man-made. We as human are in denial of our mortality, our insignificance in this universe. To give ourselves meanings through ideas such as justice and fairness and hope is the very higher callings we give ourselves that many use as gods/supernatural entities.
In my opinion, The trouble is with the word "believe". If by believe we mean to strive for, to support, to root for - then yes, by all means. If by believe we mean to accept without evidence as fact, then that belief is foolish. We can believe in God the way he believes in us. But if we believe in God in the sense that we follow a doctrine that outlines his existence - than that belief is hollow.
@BloodyMargie Exactly that. That we have to create these ideals, and believe in them, in the face of an unfair universe. That's all. That we have to believe, despite the evidence, that we can uphold these human-manufactured ideals in the face of an empty universe.
I know OF discworld, so I'm familiar with it but barely, after this bit of wicked dialogue, I might actually go read the book or check out the movies. Good stuff.
There is differences in types of belief though. To believe in justice, love and all the good things that make a framework for our morality is not the same as to believe in gods, magic or fairies. When your fantasy comes into conflict with reality and truth than it's self destructive. If a tornado is coming at you burying your head in the sand and wishing and fantasying for it to go away will not help you.
This isn't deep - it's OBVIOUS. Morals, ethics, justice, love... These are things humans have arbitrarily decided are important. There is nothing in the universe that makes then real or "good". Only with a supernatural source would these things truly have meaning.
Even if it is "obvious" doesn't mean it wasn't well worded. This video is a dedication to a beloved author that died, no need to come on here and be condescending.
In a way, that's what makes us human. We're the only known species in the world that would create such nebulous things like morality or fairy tales. Other animals don't do that. Our humanity comes from our imagination and love of concepts.
Reginald Greene "It's obvious" - it's only obvious because of the cumulative work of human philosophy. Your ignorant fucking ass wouldn't have been able to carve a spear if it wasn't for cumulative knowledge.
Grind down the universe to a powder and find me one atom of language, words or even a joke. You can't, none the less, they still exist. 3 yard penalty for Death. Logic fail.
as said before, we create them, in the simplest sense language is just sounds that people can memorize and find certain meaning in; same for words. as for jokes, people interpret them differently with differing senses of "Humor". when humanity started with nothing (however someone chooses to believe we started) we survived, and then essentially made everything up as we went along.
By that logic wouldn't pain count as something that doesn't exist either? It's some thing that is the result of interaction with an outside influence. Just like words, they interact with our psyche and have an influence on it, triggering a physical response despite the language used. And extending the 'grinding' scenario on that course, humans, planets, galaxies don't exist either, since they're just atoms and particles as well. If the only thing of substantive existence is it's particles, not much can really count as 'real'. Also, this is why Pratchet is awesome. His books spawn fantastic thoughts and discussions. :)
tedsheckler100 granted yes, pain is simply information given by outside influences which then is processed by our brains to release a certain chemical response depending on brain composition; hence why there are people who enjoy pain (Masochists) and people who resent pain who are deemed "normal". but back to the point when we speak about things such as pain i find that to be a strange concept to wrap my head around, the closest thing that i can relate it to is probably something nonphysical such as the wind. you cant really hold it, can't see it, but it is still exists (in the grinding sense it would be a molecule/atom of a gas - in reference to just the wind aspect.) in reference to the things such as planets, humans, galaxies etc. again people just make up names for what in reality is just combinations/ constructions and mixtures of molecules (as i'm sure you are already aware of as you can question this very concept) and the very reason these things "exist" is because of the (Magical In my Opinion) Force called gravity which interacts with the mass of an object to make something bigger. however i believe that this conversation has drifted off in the opposite direction of where it started. i believe that Pratchet originally meant that non-physical Ideas and concepts such as language, honor, duty, justice, mathematics etc. are things created by people to make meaning out of meaninglessness (if that's a real word). and also i agree that this subject is really good foundation for discussions.
BTFSG No worries about the length of the post. It's a fascinating read. I guess it all comes down to what the qualifications of 'exist' are. I'm sure Vsauce has a video delving into that topic somewhere. Hmm. No I have to go find that.
Avoozl Actually, Sky1 (the company that made Hogfather) did a second discworld adaptation a few years later. The Color of Magic (which adapted the first two books in the discworld series--the Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic). For that one, Lee voiced Death.
