Answering Laura

Laura brought up the question "What do you think about Buddhism?"

The question is simple enough but the answer could go in so many ways. I agree with a lot of things that Buddhism goes by. I think it's a great idea to take violence out of the picture but not necessarily to the extent of not being able to defend yourself. Being able to defend yourself is really important if you get attacked but if violence was taken out of the picture entirely then there would be no need to defend yourself.

Another aspect I like about Buddhism is that there is no karma, only cause and effect: good actions cause good effects and same for bad actions causing bad effects. It's along the same lines as karma because what you put in for effort will cause what you receive in return, but you don't get the idea of getting a random good thing happen to you if you behave or a random bad thing happen if you wronged someone or did something bad.

Nirvana is another great thing to believe in. The idea that this is your life here and now, try to get what you can while you can and achieve whatever goals you want to while you still have your life ahead of you because there (according to Buddhism) is no reincarnation afterlife. There is no chance of reaching enlightenment after your turn in life is over so learn as much as you can, do everything you want to (without going past harmful societal limits like murdering) and you will have had a successful life once it's over.

One thing that can go either way in Buddhism in my opinion is the fact that there is no worshipping of gods. A good thing about not believing in a god is that you don't have anyone to turn to; you decide for yourself who you are going to be/what type of person you are and what your ultimate purpose is in life. But not having anyone to turn to can also be looked at as a bad thing. Sometimes its nice to know that someone is always there no matter what even if it seems like you're all alone and you are just looking for some type of guidance.

If I had to choose between Hinduism and Buddhism I would probably choose Buddhism. What would you choose?

Immortality response

Posted in response to Julia's question about immortality: "Would you choose immortality?"

This was one of the topics we discussed in my ethics class in high school. It was a very interesting subject because it could be interpreted in many ways as Julia discussed in her post. It could mean we live forever but still age. It could mean we can never die..etc. But immortality does interfere with the natural order of life in my opinion. The nature of things is that all beings are supposed to die to make room for the new ones being born. If no one or even some people were to never die, overpopulation could come into effect. Another problem that might occur is jealousy. If one person were to become immortal, others would get jealous and cause riots because they want to experience immortailty for themselves. What if it were only available to certain people because if it were a new thing, only the wealthy would be able to obtain it. But getting back to the original question, I personally would not choose immortality. I would want to keep things the way they are supposed to be, meaning i would eventually die, to let others have their chance to experience life when my turn ends. Immortality would upset the balance of nature and so I myself would not choose it.

Do you think immortality will ever become available with our advancing technology?

Response to Jenna

Jenna posted the question "Do you think these are results of children not being educated well enough about violence and the severe consequences? Or some people just live for thrills no matter what the consequence?" concerning the kill thrill that teens/pre-teens seem to have

I don't think that these children are hurting people because of lack of education on violence. There are plenty of classes and clubs and even events like mock-accidents out there to teach kids about the acts and consequences of violence to not just other people but themselves. I think people will hurt others when they believe that those others don't matter to them. Like in your example of the story of the 18 year olds attacking a homeless person they probably believed because he was of low status that his life did not matter to them and because he wouldn't do what they wanted and buy them alcohol that it was okay to harm him and maybe even kill him. Some people like those teens think that nothing bad will ever happen to them and that they can do whatever they want to people who they believe to be inferior to themselves. They may think they won't get caught and the consequences of harming someone (stranger or not) won't happen to them. People forget the golden rule and don't treat others as equals just because they don't appear to be equal to them.

Could this just be teen rebelliance or a violent gene? or something else completely?

Response to Bryan

My post is in response to Bryan's questions "Do you think the fear of change exists? And If so, Do you believe that it is problematic in the lives of most humans?"

A lot of people are afriad to make changes in their lives, and yes, it can be a problem. I know from experience because when I was younger I was diagnosed with OCD for that reason. I was afraid when life changed around me and it affected me and my life. It still scares me a little becuase I like my daily routines becuase they make me feel safe and under control of what is going on. But big changes in life can scare anyone, whether they are like me or not. People find comfort in consistency and routines because it is what they become accostumed to and when people can control their own lives they find more comfort in that than if something happened that was out of their hands. Like Bryan commented on, people are afraid of the unknown. New things and new opportunities come about every day and the only way to learn and to improve in life is to sometimes take some risks. Take a chance and go for the opportunities because there might not be another chance for a long time or maybe not ever for that opportunity to show up again. Even little things like trying a food you've never tried before or going to a new part of town can make a difference in the way you live or see the world. Being afraid is a problem and a challenge people need to overcome all the time. But once we get past our fears it makes us feel so much better and a stronger person for having improved ourselves. Changes aren't always for the better but taking the risk to find out isn't the worst thing that could happen.

Are people only afraid of change because they worry things won't turn out they way they want them to?

Night of Dreams

This is in response to Karla's question: "Would you prefer a night without dreams, or with dreams? Why?"

First of all, there is no such thing as a night without dreaming. Everyone dreams. You may not remember all your dreams or any of them but they do happen. I practically never remember any of my dreams and it is kind of upsetting when you dont because you would like to know what you dreamt about and maybe what it could mean. So to change your question around a little according to my answer, I would prefer a night when i remember at least one of my dreams (seeing as we have more than one every night). Dreams are just really interesting because they are mysterious images and stories and scenerios that show up in your head when you're unconscious. We try to figure out why they are there and what they mean but i dont know if that'll ever really happen. They could mean anything or nothing at all but they are still fun to have and to wonder about. Sometimes people even discuss their dreams with their friends either because they want to talk about what the dream might have meant, or just because it was really ridiculus. Dreams are a way for people to connect with each other and possibly to motivate us into doing something we wouldn't normally do.


Why is it so hard for some people and so easy for others to remember dreams? Does practice really make it any easier or is it just a predetermined thing?

In response to Designer Babies

I actually discussed this same topic with my high school science ethics class. I thought it was a really interesting idea that we are already into the science that can basically decide what our children will look like, what gender they will be...things like that. Though it would be beneficial to know that the child is healthy and the way we would preferably want them to look, I personally think it goes against nature. Babies are supposed to be a gift of nature and a surprise the day they are born. If we alter everything about them or even just one or two things, it does in fact upset the balance of how life is just supposed to fall into place with the idea of birth. Making sure babies are born without possibly harmful diseases of course would be a great thing to have discovered but ethically, it just isn't right. If born with a disease it is sad but as i have said in past posts I believe everything happens for a reason and it seems people are losing faith in the fact that things will turn out okay without having to genetically alter things. Even though technology has come a long way, there is still the possibility that things could go wrong and end up worse then if we just left things alone. You also have to take into account what will happen when the child grows up having been genetically altered. What are you supposed to tell them? "Oh by the way you're not biologically natural, but you are still my child and I love you." ? I just think that choosing baby characteristics and stem cell research should be left untouched and let nature take its course.


Do you think there will be a time when technology takes over what we as humans are trying to accomplish in life?

Responding to Courtney's response to Bryan...

So Bryan originally asked if finding meaning to dreams would make a significant improvement in life and Courtney posted her view. In my opinion knowing what our dreams mean would have the same feeling as knowing your future or knowing how you are going to die and when. It would take the wonder and mystery out of something that is supposed to stay mysterious and unknown. It would be really cool to know what maybe one or two dreams meant but knowing the whole meaning behind all of them would be going too far. Also I think that knowing dreams meanings would definitely make a big difference in people's lives but not necessarily an improvement. Because just like my example of knowing when or how you are going to die, you might live your life constantly worried about your actions and how they affect future actions and maybe things will turn out differently than predicted. If you knew what your dreams meant you might also take precautions that you wouldn't normally take and you might act differently towards peopel who were in your dreams than you would if you just didn't know the meaning behind why that person was in your dream in the first place. Not knowing is better because it forces us to make our own decisions and take our own risks and shapes our personalities and characters separately instead of something being decided for us. Sometimes some of my dreams help me make decisions in life. I don't rely on my dreams and it's not all of them but one or two of them have helped me get closer to people I didn't think I would without my dreams.

If we didn't dream at all would that change our actions toward life too? Do we (or others) actually make certain actions based on our dreams?

In response to Austin

This post is a response to Austin's question: Do you think it would be nice to turn your dreams into reality sometimes?

I think that this idea is really interesting. Everyone has probably thought of this at some point and wishes that their dreams would really come true and turn into reality. But this is only true when we really like or enjoy our dreams. Of course we wouldn't want our bad dreams or nightmares to turn into reality! Dreams are just imagined (even though we don't really know exactly what they are) but a lot of the time they can seem so real you wake up and get confused as to what happened and what was just a dream. Sometimes dreams take your memories and morph them into your desires and what you really want to happen in real life. For example once I had a dream about someone I used to be best friends with but haven't seen this person in years. In my dream we were hanging out together and talking like no time had passed in between. Whether this is something I want to happen or just a memory of what someone said, it would be nice if I could turn it into reality. I have wished a lot of times that certain dreams would be real because the dreams that use my desires/wants make them happen into my ideal situation. I don't know if my dreams are just playing a trick on me or if maybe they could be telling me something that will happen and just hasn't happened yet.

Is it possible that some dreams are predicting the future instead of using the past or memories?