What's your outlook for the future?

[trekkor]

As for outlooks.

What are they?

I've got mine and it's a peaceful future.


I've not heard any others that sound attractive at all.
Most sound pretty grim:
* global warming
* nukes
* plagues


Here's your big chance to tell us what's in store.



KT

[trekkor]

3_While he was sitting upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples approached him privately, saying: “Tell us, When will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion of the system of things?”

4_And in answer Jesus said to them: “Look out that nobody misleads YOU; 5_for many will come on the basis of my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. 6_YOU are going to hear of wars and reports of wars; see that YOU are not terrified. For these things must take place, but the end is not yet.

7_“For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another. 8_All these things are a beginning of pangs of distress.

14_And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.

21_for then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again. 22_In fact, unless those days were cut short, no flesh would be saved; but on account of the chosen ones those days will be cut short.

Matthew 24:3-8, 14, 21,22.

[trekkor]

But know this, that in the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here. 2_For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, self-assuming, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, disloyal, 3_having no natural affection, not open to any agreement, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, without love of goodness, 4_betrayers, headstrong, puffed up [with pride], lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, 5_having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power; and from these turn away. 6_For from these arise those men who slyly work their way into households and lead as their captives weak women loaded down with sins, led by various desires, 7_always learning and yet never able to come to an accurate knowledge of truth.

2 Timothy 3:1-7

[trekkor]

_This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.

John 17:3

[trekkor]

10_And just a little while longer, and the wicked one will be no more;
And you will certainly give attention to his place, and he will not be.

11_But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth,
And they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.

27_Turn away from what is bad and do what is good,
And so reside to time indefinite.

28_For Jehovah is a lover of justice,
And he will not leave his loyal ones.

To time indefinite they will certainly be guarded;
But as for the offspring of the wicked ones, they will indeed be cut off.

29_The righteous themselves will possess the earth,
And they will reside forever upon it.

Ps 37:10,11, 27-29


KT

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

YOU MANIACS!!! YOU BLEW IT ALL UP!!!! GOD DAMN YOU!!! GOD DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!!!

[sammyg2]

Trekor got it right.

[Dottore]

What's in store?

I am hoping good health and good friends. Fast cars and compliant women. Good food and good scotch. A life fully lived.

Not a lot to ask really.

[HardDrive]

The Flying Spaghetti Monster will return to earth, and remove human suffering through an endless supply of magic meatballs.

[ronin]

Originally posted by Jared Fenton
YOU MANIACS!!! YOU BLEW IT ALL UP!!!! GOD DAMN YOU!!! GOD DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!!!

lmao!

[ronin]

[fastpat]

Originally posted by trekkor
As for outlooks.

What are they?

I've got mine and it's a peaceful future.


I've not heard any others that sound attractive at all.
Most sound pretty grim:
* global warming
* nukes
* plagues

2050

America has slowly devolved into several semi-autonomous regions, if not separate countries. That has allowed the various regions, which are different and unique, to retain their uniqueness, without having a centralized nanny state overseeing everything going on. The two exceptions are the New England States and California. In New England, the various states have sought help from the Scandanavian states, but that has been slow in coming because those states have collapsed economically as well from their Fabian socialism. Only a few people know what is happening in California, most of the roads in and out are closed. The stories trickling out are bizarre.

As government has been reduced to near impotence, properity levels will be achieved that could only once be dreamt of.

In the new Confederacy, comprised of most of the old Confederate States of America, gun control has been abolished, as has personal income tax, and property taxes. Roads are funded by user fees which businesses like Wal-Mart pay so that they can continue to transport their goods to market. Non-commercial road users pay a nominal fee to the highway consortium, similar to the fees paid to Internet Service Providers. Fees have gone down each year as experience is acquired, and users numbers grow.

Most government buildings have been sold to recoup tax money, with the proceeds being returned to as many payers as possible.

In South Carolina, one of the most prosperous states in the Confederacy, the state legislature meets once every four years, usually determining to ajourn within about 15 minutes of the opening gavel. Most members of the legislature, which pays nothing, have better things to do, since almost all laws having nothing to do with violent crimes were repealed years ago, they don't need to waste valuable time. No new law has been enacted in over a decade, and that was an omnibus repeal law.

[nostatic]

Mahayana Buddhist teachings encourage us on the path of the bodhisattva-warrior, one who is brave and confident enough to overcome self-centeredness in order to help others. The activity of the bodhisattva-warrior happens on many different levels, and bodhisattvas can manifest in all kinds of ways--even as a sun or moon. A bodhisattva could say, "I wish to be a cool breeze that gives sentient beings comfort from the heat of suffering," and manifest as the wind. That's how far the bodhisattva path extends.

Becoming a bodhisattva is a matter of opening our hearts, and that can be as simple as opening our eyes. The essence of bodhisattva activity is prajna, which means "best knowledge," "the best thing to know." The "best thing to know" is the truth. All of us want to know that. To know the truth is to see the transitory nature of who we are--the selflessness of ourselves and others. It's to see the suffering that comes from imagining we are solid and permanent entities. It's to cultivate the mind of enlightenment: love, compassion, joy and equanimity. This is the notion of prajna and the path of the bodhisattva.

Opening our eyes to the truth is the first step on the bodhisattva path. It begins with the process of meditation. In peaceful abiding, or shamatha meditation, we learn to stop, look and listen. We discover that the mind is fluid; we can always work with it. We see that when we harden ourselves, we experience turmoil and suffering. After we've practiced like this for a while, things begin to lighten up. Understanding the transitory nature of everything, we're in tune with the truth. Our minds are more relaxed and open. When we interact with other people, we can begin to go beyond our discursiveness and see the bottom line, which is that all of us want to be happy. We all want to be relieved of suffering. The truth is very simple in this way.

When we open our eyes to the truth--that people are in pain at a very basic level--we feel a natural response. This response is called compassion. It's called love. We want to help. Compassion and love have no limit, especially if we encourage their growth with the practice of stepping beyond ourselves. This is bodhisattva activity, which is endless, for as we practice this way, our courage and willingness to help others grow. Our mind and motivation only get bigger.

The way we proceed on this path is with prajna, the inquisitive mind that sees the wisdom in each situation. We practice and study to sharpen this mind so that we can know what is appropriate action. Taking the appropriate action is a powerful tool: in one moment we can cross into the mind of enlightenment. What do we do in that one moment? We move from being self-centered to considering the other person. There are six ways to do this on the bodhisattva path. They're called paramitas, a Sanskrit word that means "that which has reached other shore."

The first paramita is generosity. Instead of being selfish, we're generous. With generosity we overcome attachment. It can be as simple as saying something positive instead of something negative. When we run into an acquaintance, instead of saying, "Oh, there's so-and-so, still doing that same old thing," we can look at them saying, "There goes the Buddha." Try it. If nothing else, it will make you laugh.

Next is discipline. With discipline we know what to accept and what to reject. We know how karma works. If we're thinking only of ourselves and getting mad at everybody else, enlightenment will never come about. The way we use discipline to transport us to the other shore in a moment is to look at our mind, speech and activity with this question, "Is this taking me toward enlightenment or suffering?"

The next paramita is patience, which has a very practical purpose: it overcomes anger. Anger in a moment can destroy a lot of positive actions, because it makes our mind hard. All the flexibility and openness that we've created through meditation becomes tight and stiff. Everything becomes difficult. People ask me what to do when they feel really angry; should they do shamatha practice or tonglen (the practice of taking in others' negative or painful energy and sending out to them positive, healing energy)? Being angry and wanting to be peaceful all of sudden doesn't usually work. If we're about to blow up, the best thing to do is just sit there, settle, breathe. The best technique may well be patience.

The next paramita is exertion, which has an element of joy. The myth of selfhood is like a veil that keeps us from seeing enlightened mind. Going beyond ourselves brings pleasure. In one moment we can wake up to the dilemma of suffering and take the happiness of others to be our own responsibility. We can exert ourselves endlessly. A bodhisattva looks up at the sky and says, "After I'm done with planet Earth, I'm going to get on that spaceship and go help all those beings on other planets."

The fifth paramita is meditation. With the practice of meditation we discover our mind's inherent stability, clarity and strength. We contemplate the truth that there's no way to find this individual self that we protect, feed and clothe. We see how clinging to the illusion of solidity causes suffering. This is how we sharpen our prajna, wisdom. In order for the other paramitas to take us toward the mind of enlightenment, we need this wisdom to break down and dismantle our conceptual ideas of who we are and what we're doing. We slowly begin to understand that things are not as they seem. Compassion arises. We gain insight into our experience which allows us to apply generosity, discipline, patience and exertion in helping others.

We might think that helping others will drain us. But when we use prajna and compassion to extend our lives to others in this way, our own suffering actually becomes relieved. Just placing our mind on others is a kind of meditation. Mind is like a muscle that relaxes that way. When we begin to think about ourselves it tightens up, until we can't even help ourselves properly. But working for the happiness of others brings lightness of mind. When we know this truth, extending love and compassion is all there is to do. Then everything we encounter becomes part of our journey as practitioners of meditation. We can look at each other, at our children and at the world, and see it all as an opportunity to experience the joy of the bodhisattva path. We see this joy in the faces of great spiritual teachers and other bodhisattvas. The most basic thing is having the open and curious mind of prajna, because that's what shows us how to move forward. Bodhisattva activity is how we move forward into enlightenment.

[trekkor]

I can't help it...The FSM cracks me up . "Magic Meatballs"? Hilarious.

Sad...but funny.


KT

[HardDrive]

Originally posted by trekkor
I can't help it...The FSM cracks me up . "Magic Meatballs"? Hilarious.

Sad...but funny.


KT

No sadder than your Christian baloney.

[nostatic]

WWLRD?

[Rick V]

I can't answer this question since I don't speak spanish

[nostatic]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVixAjjY7dc

[Wrecked944]

Originally posted by Jared Fenton
YOU MANIACS!!! YOU BLEW IT ALL UP!!!! GOD DAMN YOU!!! GOD DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!!!

I'll see your "Planet of the Apes" reference and raise you a "Plan 9 From Outer Space" quotation...

Colonel Tom Edwards: ...Why, a particle of sunlight can't even be seen or measured.
Eros: Can you see or measure an atom? Yet you can *explode* one. A ray of sunlight is made up of *many* atoms!
Jeff Trent: So what if we *do* develop this Solanite bomb? We'd be even a stronger nation than now.
Eros: Stronger. You see? You see? You're stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!

...and later...

The Ruler: With your ancient, juvenile minds you have developed explosives too fast for your minds to conceive what you are doing. You are on the verge of destroying the entire universe. We are a part of that universe. This is our last...

...cuts off communication...

[coloradoporsche]

Early in the 21st Century, THE TYRELL CORPORATION advanced Robot evolution into the NEXUS phase - a being virtually identical to a human - known as a Replicant.

The NEXUS 6 Replicants were superior in strength and agility, and at least equal in intelligence, to the genetic engineers who created them. Replicants were used Off-world as slave labour, in the hazardous exploration and colonization of other planets.

After a bloody mutiny by a NEXUS 6 combat team in an Off-world colony, Replicants were declared illegal on earth - under penalty of death.
Special police squads - BLADE RUNNER UNITS - had orders to shoot to kill, upon detection, any trespassing Replicant.
This was not called execution. It was called retirement.