Does God Exist ?

Though I have been told by many that God Does Not Exist. 
And given perfectly logical reasons which make a great deal of sense. I have found that faith is never a function of logic. Of the many different religions they all have several features, which tie men together in a form of Harmony. Love, Compassion,Kindness, And Generosity. These are features which almost all encompass. Qualities which can even be found in the animal kingdoms. To those who tell me God doesn't exist.....I can only tell you this. Not everyone gets to be touched by his hand. It can start by a near death experience. Which turns into a lifelong passion. Or simply little whispers in the night egging one on to something better. Even Albert Einstein had his own thoughts on the matter. Whatever the debate. I can tell you that a mission of Love, no matter where it comes from, can have a profound good effect on one's own life,

And Others. <3 span="">;-Gary

An abridgement of the letter from Albert Einstein to Eric Gutkind from Princeton in January 1954, translated from German by Joan Stambaugh. It will be sold at Bloomsbury auctions on Thursday

... I read a great deal in the last days of your book, and thank you very much for sending it to me. What especially struck me about it was this. With regard to the factual attitude to life and to the human community we have a great deal in common.

... The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this. These subtilised interpretations are highly manifold according to their nature and have almost nothing to do with the original text. For me the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are also no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them.

In general I find it painful that you claim a privileged position and try to defend it by two walls of pride, an external one as a man and an internal one as a Jew. As a man you claim, so to speak, a dispensation from causality otherwise accepted, as a Jew the privilege of monotheism. But a limited causality is no longer a causality at all, as our wonderful Spinoza recognized with all incision, probably as the first one. And the animistic interpretations of the religions of nature are in principle not annulled by monopolisation. With such walls we can only attain a certain self-deception, but our moral efforts are not furthered by them. On the contrary.

Now that I have quite openly stated our differences in intellectual convictions it is still clear to me that we are quite close to each other in essential things, ie in our evaluations of human behaviour. What separates us are only intellectual 'props' and 'rationalisation' in Freud's language. Therefore I think that we would understand each other quite well if we talked about concrete things. With friendly thanks and best wishes

Yours, A. Einstein

The world's 20 largest religions and their number of believers are:

Christianity (2.1 billion)

Islam (1.3 billion)

Nonreligious (Secular/Agnostic/Atheist) (1.1 billion)

Hinduism (900 million)

Chinese traditional religion (394 million)

Buddhism 376 million

Primal-indigenous (300 million)

African traditional and Diasporic (100 million)

Sikhism (23 million)

Juche (19 million)

Spiritism (15 million)

Judaism (14 million)

Bahai (7 million)

Jainism (4.2 million)

Shinto (4 million)

Cao Dai (4 million)

Zoroastrianism (2.6 million)

Tenrikyo (2 million)

Neo-Paganism (1 million)

Unitarian-Universalism (800,000)
 #minds #blogs #religion #god

How Good Can An Internet Friend Be ?

How do I maintain interest in a conversation on a social network? Interesting question, one I am willing to try and answer. Over the 3 decades I have had social network friends. Many I have spent time chatting with. Encouraging and trying to help if possible. Sometimes it has been career advice. Sometimes just someone to lend an ear. Occasionally offered help with computer information or help with a blogging problem. A network conversation can go so far as a person offering a trip to you just so a person who has grown to respect you can meet you. A good internet friend can have as much power, and friendship and love in it. As a face to face one. Interest comes from one’s heart. And an ability to care about people. Even those you have never personally met. I think you will find that if you do not fear friendship, that it can be a worthwhile endeavor which can help provide a lifetime in satisfaction. What you say, will tend to come from their input. And how you respond can be as natural as what you might say to a good friend. If you are capable of simply having a friend. You can have an internet friendship also. -Gary Graefen, Webmaster/Blogger/Computer Technician at Self-Employment (1975-present)

On The Wings Of Time

DEC 14, 2019, 9:42:22 AMEDITED

On The Wings Of Time. I was roughly 30 years old at the time. Had a horrible life crash. Lost my job in a recession. I had found myself homeless, slowly starving, and with nowhere to go....... After 10 years of success I kept thinking why is this happening to me? . What did I do for life to turn it's back on me so badly. Some nights I found myself full of self guilt and doubt. Sleeping in an old van abandoned in a parking lot. At times I seriously considered giving up and ending it all. When I was in high school I was not quite certain what I wanted to do in life. But read voraciously. I was gifted with a 98% comprehension rate. Not something I earned. I was tested in my english class. I was no star pupil LoL , my spelling and use of grammar simply atrocious. At the time I felt what I had to say was more important than how I said it. My teacher called me aside and asked me what the problem was. He was shocked that I had such a high score yet spelled so poorly. I told him the above. He kinda smiled and actually started reading my papers, instead of having his aide just "correct them". I got a B that year from this man. Then went on to college, where I improved greatly over time and made the dean's list 3 times. Though starving at this point in time. I remembered back to high school. I had always thought about becoming a salesman. At the time listed as one of the highest paid occupations in America. So i started to read daily about salesmanship. Every book I could get my hands on in the school library. Learning technique and style. What to do and what not to do. Sitting in this old van I thought you cannot give up Gary. Something has got to give. I remembered back. And had found an unread newspaper in a dumpster nearby. Scanning the classifieds desperately looking for something and someone who I thought might hire me. And there it was...wanted Stereo salesman needed. Must know audio equipment. Truthfully I knew somethings, but not really enough. But i thought so what Gary, your starving, go apply. I walked 8 miles to meet a man named Al Zites. He was tubby and kinda gross truthfully. But he had a diamond ring on his finger the size of a bird egg. And each and every salesman in the store a similar adornment. All I could think was WoW these guys are really making money. We talked a while, he asked about my background. what do you know about stereos? he said. I made up an easy reply. I know Sansui,Marantz, and Pioneer. Which I had happened to notice features in the demo room. I would have said anything just to be able to eat again. He asked his main audio salesman what do you think? Should I hire this guy. He looked at me and said sure why not. My first day was a bit of a nightmare. I had grown thin and weak from a lack of food. But was told part of my job was to unload trucks, and place units up for sale. Some were TV's of massive weight at the time. Even the stereo units weighed a lot. That day everybody was having lunch, They asked me what I wanted. I replied I am ok.... Al looked at me and said in private you don't have any money do you Gary?. I sheepishly replied no I don't . So he handed my $50 out of his own pocket, said he would take it out of my first check. I was so very grateful, I could finally eat a good meal. That night I went to the store, bought some food and a bottle of extra strong vitamins. The next day I felt like a totally different person. my strength came back. Two days into this job, it was a Saturday. the store had a short crew. It was just me and my immediate boss. A man came in looking real crappy. Dirty, and covered in grime and grease. My boss looked at me and said Gary you go help that guy. I do not want to waste my time. Sure I said, walked over and said sir how can I help you?. He looked at me, apologized for the way he looked and said. i am opening a new rock club down the street. The place has been a mess, and we are cleaning it all up. but one of the things I am going to need is a really solid audio system. I saw your store so I came in. Show me some of your best equipment. So I spent 1 full hour with the man. Demoing various equipment. Answering his questions to the best of my ability. At one point my boss pulled me aside and said Gary why are you wasting so much time with this dude?. I answered it's ok, it will be worth the stores time. He just kinda shrugged and walked away. That day the man purchased $22,000 worth of stuff. Handed me a check for the entire amount. His check cleared the next Tuesday and I called him to ask about delivery. This job had a base hourly, and a 5% commision. My very first check was over $1500. Today that check would have been TEN times higher. I went from being poor as a church mouse, to feeling wealthy my very first week. Even Al was impressed, told me he never had salesman do so well his first week. The moral of this tale is three fold. And things I had learned from all my reading. Never Give UP, Never Judge A Book By It's Cover, And Always Have Faith In Yourself. I thought, Gary there is a big rock in your future. And thanked God that night for not abandoning me. True Story Love -Gary #minds #blogs #inspiration #faith

Facebook MeMe By Gary Graefen Dec, 2019