Aaron Gillespie

Column is…. GO:

 

Alright, so, another column inspired by an idea for a top five…

 

This time its content is not solely based on it, though. So I guess that’s a bonus for everybody who actually expects things out of my writing.

 

I get the feeling I should clarify on my last top 5:. I was not intending this to be some super-God-bash-fest like it kind of turned out to be. It would be helpful to understand where I was coming from if you understand my take on philosophy as of right now. Grab something to drink and maybe a light snack, this might take a little while.

 

There might be a God. I don’t believe there is enough evidence to prove anything either direction, I mean, there are great points from both sides of that debate. I’ve decided that there might be a God, but I personally don’t believe that God to be anything like any of the Gods that you’d read about in the Bible, the Quran, the Dead Sea Scrolls, any Hindu or Taoist texts, or anything else of that nature. I believe in a God much more similar to the God you’d read about if you read Dan Brown’s “Angels & Demons” (which is, by far, my favorite book, by the way). The God that takes no real “form” as we like to think of it. I like to think that, if you want to claim a God, I think the Universe is a pretty good candidate. Energy as a whole could be another good candidate. I don’t believe that there is a omnipotent, omniscient, and onmibenevolent being which is making conscious decisions to smite certain people and bless certain others. I think if such a being exists it wouldn’t let bad things happen to good people, and wouldn’t reward bad deeds (such as Jack the Ripper never getting caught, or any other unsolved crime). I believe that universe has a way of equaling itself out. Whether or not that be by some mystical force that has powers beyond my comprehension or just by coincidence is beyond me. It doesn’t really matter which way you look at it. I don’t believe that you will have an afterlife- which really give much more meaning to this life. I mean, why spend your life worried about the afterlife anyways? Do you have to have the threat of eternal damnation to make you live morally? I mean, what happened to not stealing, raping, and all that jazz just because you think it’s wrong as a whole. I don’t believe that God created man and especially didn’t create man in his image. God didn’t explicitly create anything we see. I think that if there is a God, he created the Laws of Nature, and some properties of math, and some other shit like that. Beyond that, man didn’t just magically appear on earth. God didn’t just snap his fingers and *poof* there’s Adam and Eve. I don’t believe that sex before marriage is truly unholy or a sin. I believe that rule was made up back before the ideas of safe sex and contraception were created as a scare-tactic to get people in a committed relationship before going there. Back before contraception, you had a pretty damn good chance of getting somebody pregnant if you two had sex, so therefore some sort of commitment was definitely required to every occasion. Now, that being said, I believe that sex is possibly the holiest of the holy. I mean, the coming together of two people in such a way can’t be anything less than divine (in the non-literal translation of the word). God wouldn’t create something so wonderful and personal that deals so directly with love and compassion if he didn’t want us to use it. Also, seeing that it does deal in with love and compassion, I believe that sex should be something that is only done when you genuinely care about the person… and always safely. Anyways, besides sex, there are a few other issues I have to say before I get off philosophy. I don’t believe that there has to be a “God” to give life meaning. Life is about learning, growing, sharing, having children, and building relationships. Most of all, I think life is about having a good time. I don’t personally feel like there has to be a God to justify my existence. I think that happiness alone is a good enough reason to be alive. God is real as a concept. I mean, just the fact that I talk about ‘God’ makes it a real idea, a real thing. Something that has caused millions of lives in religious wars and various “cleansings” of different regions is a force that has real power that has to be reckoned with. God is real in that he plays such a huge part of human nature- even if most everything we know about him is (in my opinion) a fabrication of humans of the past. The Bible is a good book that teaches a lot about morals and all that, but I don’t believe it to be “the word of God” or even remotely true in its entirety. All you have to do is read it to figure out what I’m talking about (a senior citizen built a massive ship and got two of every animal on it along with enough food, clean water, and other necessities to keep them all alive for 40 days and 40 nights… plus, nobody else just so happened to be living on a boat at the time? I mean, wouldn’t Pirates have survived? Or anybody who had a boat with a substantial amount of food? Anyways, this is just one example of many logically impossible things that happens in there).

 

So once again, I’m not Satan, nor do I worship him (or even believe in his existence). Plus, despite what many of those around me seem to think, I’m not ignorant. I’ve actually thought a lot about this stuff. Probably more than most people my age. I’ve settled on Pastafarianism. All hail the Flying Spaghetti Monster and his Noodly appendages!

RAmen.

 

Alright! Off of that shit! Let’s move on to something a little less… I don’t know… serious!

 

KU is awesome. Plain and simple. I mean, I get lonely a lot, but what do you expect? I suppose it’s getting better, too. I’ve met a lot of people I really like. Most of the guys on my floor are pretty damn cool. That’s why we call ourselves Seven Beta Seven. The Forority (fraternity & sorority- we have girls and guys in the group of people who like to hang out in the lobby at night) All of which is pretty much a running joke between the members of the Forority.

 

Who would think that an American Pop Culture class could be SOOO BORING.

 

Calculus is hard.

 

“Intro to Computing” looks like it might be okay, but the class itself has had a lot of managerial complications which have made it stumble out of the gates.

 

And, obviously, philosophy is awesome. Peter (my teacher) is hysterical and really knows how to make the subject-matter thought-provoking. I think he will get tired of me always putting in my opinion about everything whenever he calls on a class opinion, though. Plus the girl who sits next to me in class is pretty cute.

 

I think I’ll end on that.

 

Top 5: Famous Internet Videos that deal with dancing that you Should Watch

 

5. Daft Bodies

 

4. Numa Numa

 

 

3. The Evolution of Dance

 

2. Here it Goes Again

 

1. What can only really be described as something You will REALLY want to see…

Quotes:

“ In the beginning was the word, and the word was ‘ARRRGGGH! "
         - Piratey quote from the “Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster” by Bobby Henderson -

Column is…. GO:

 

I have a sore throat. Pissy.

 

I’m pissed. Cause of the throat. Other than that I’m actually pretty decent. I can’t really

 

I read my philosophy. Basically it’s the reason that I wanted to even write a column. It’s all about proofs of God (so far) which I find interesting. I like reading about why people so desperately cling on to the idea that there is a God (in the Christian sense). We are a generation with the answers. We are finding out explanations for things that we once thought some divine being in the sky was doing for us. Turns out that the sun is a star, and not a God driving a shiny golden chariot across the sky. Also, as it turns out, man evolved from monkeys. I mean, yeah, I agree there are some questions that may never be solved and there is one or two ultimate questions that make me question if there is some sort of a God-like force out there… but God is not somebody that you can talk to, not somebody who watches over every little thing we do. The whole idea of Heaven and Hell is ridiculous. Do those people who murder, rape, steal, and all that other jazz get the same punishment as those who maybe swore a little or had (GASP) pre-marital intercourse?! Oh my God! Either way, what’s so hard to grasp about this concept. When you die. You are dead. You say in the ground. If you aren’t buried in a casket, you’re body will decompose and you’ll become part of the earth. Literally, of course, I’m not talking about some spiritual whatever. I’m saying that the matter that once made you, will literally become part of the earth, and maybe even one day become part of a tree. Or some grass. Now, I’ll take apart Saint Thomas Aquinas’s 5 reasons for God in a matter of 10 minutes.

 

I pretty much wrote this because of my top five and my quotes. There’s a few funny people up here as it turns out.

 

Top 5: Reasons for God, (by philosophizer Saint Thomas Aquinas) summarized and debunked by Aaron Gillespie.

 

5. Change: basically anything that is in a state of change has to have something there before hand to have changed it. In the very beginning before there was anything, something had to have changed itself. This must be God. – Well my good sir, you might be correct on this one: but let me emphasize that what is to say that the universe didn’t create itself? The Big Bang theory, where all the matter in the universe was in a single pinpoint and then exploded across the universe, what’s to say that little pinpoint wasn’t God? You’ve given me reason to believe that something had to have created itself (unless of, course, everything has just always existed, which I find as a possible substitute.) You’ve not given me any reason to believe that this thing that changed itself is in ANY way what you define as “God.”

 

4. Basically the second theory is exactly the same as the first theory, but it’s talking about a series of events, and which event was the very first instigator of everything - I see no difference between argument number one and two so there is no reason to rewrite what is suitable for both of them

 

 

3. The third reason doesn’t base itself in changes or series, it just talks about individual things and that every individual thing has to have a beginning that came about because of something before it… -  So yet a third way of writing the first two arguments and once again not worthy of rewriting the same rebuttal.

 

2. Gradients: basically everything has gradients. Some food tastes, okay, some good, some great, and there’s a best food. What this argument says is that the quality of “Goodness” is also in a gradient. Being in a gradient, there must me something that is the “most good.” This must be God. – Okay this argument pisses me straight off. Basically, there are three main problems with this. A. No two people will ever agree on what is the “Most Good” so therefore God can never be any singular type of thing. Just the same as not everybody agrees that Pepperoni Pizza is the best food (even though it so obviously is). Which makes me say that God is not possibly any singular being and therefore cannot exist in the conditions you have laid out. B. Is this not just a cop-out of trying to answer the question of who really is the “most good?” It’s not possible. If you want to stick to your God argument, then answer me this- Who is the second best? And C. Does that make God the Most Good, Most Bad, and Most Ugly too?

 

1. Basically the last argument is that nature is far to well organized and self-sustaining that it could have not possibly come about through chance. Well, wrong. What you are neglecting is that nature, as a whole, is pretty much and overwhelming failure. 99% of the species that have ever lived are now extinct. So you are saying that 1% is too perfect to have come about by chance? Why did God screw up the other 99% if he’s all-mighty? The overwhelming “success” of nature is just a candlelight in a long black hall of overwhelming failure. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. So evolution and natural selection probably could have that covered. Sorry Dude.

Quotes:

“ If I put goggles on, would that make you want to take your clothes off? "
         - Mike, referring to a fashion worn only by one man whose only name that I’m aware of is “dickdude” –

 

“ Yeah, pound for innocence "
         - Mike again –

 

“ A computer compared to a gameboy is like a human compared to a snail. "
         - Ryan, to Danny –

 

“ How do they get slimey, bitch? "
         - Danny in response -    

Column is…. GO:

 

Alright, college has officially started. What I mean by that is I have homework. I went to Calculus, Philosophy, and my computer class today. It was a pretty informative day, even though my computer professor never showed up for class. I think everything is going to be pretty much exactly as I expected it to be.

 

I have my number in the mix for a mud volleyball tournament coming up sometime in the future, I’m on my floors intramural volleyball team, and I plan on playing intramural basketball in addition to skateboarding and playing ball at the rec. I hope to maintain a physically fit physique throughout the year.

 

Sign that I’m in college: I just spelled the word physique correctly on my first try.

 

I am not sure what the rest of the night will bring. I’ve got class at 8… so I can’t really afford to do anything too nutso. I’m definitely going to try to squeeze some of the juicy goodness out of the rest of the night though.

 

I’m looking forward to this weekend faux sure. Two things I never thought I’d be able to combine will finally be coming together: Lawrence and Josh Weltha. I’m pretty much drunk/aroused/high/whatever you want to put in there that means something similar/ to see him. It’s going to be legit. Too legit to quit.

 

I played Halo 3 for two hours today with my hall-mate. I asked him how you actually are supposed to spell his name… it turns out I was wrong. Boomie=Wrong. Bunmi=Correct. (shit now that I think about it the ‘n’ and ‘m’ might be switched around…) He’s good. Better than me easily.

 

I know I’ve only had one day of classes, but I can’t wait for the weekend.

 

Top 5: Most recent albums I’ve gotten…

 

5. nothing, ever.

 

4. Serj Tankian- Elect the Dead!

 

 

3. Weezer – Red Album (self titled)

 

2. Alkaline Trio – Agony & Irony

 

1. Scars on Broadway – Self Titled Album

Quotes:

“ I wouldn’t interrupt you, I mean the Flying Spaghetti Monster makes some valid arguements… "
         - Peter Montecuello, my Philosophy teacher, after I asked him if I could defend the point of view of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster -