Is nothing sacred?

[GliderGuider]

Yes, Nothing is sacred.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. certain cows

after that, I am not sure.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. Only to some. I also tend to treat such items as targets of opportunity

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. Lock & load,

As the cackler from wasiller says.

[dmallind]

4. Sanctity is like love

It's an emotional response present only in those who feel that emotion. There is obviously no objective state of being sacred. There is obviously no test or measure or even universal perception of sacredness, but that doesn't mean that people cannot feel that something is sacred via perfectly normal biological processes.

Does that make the object/place/person sacred in fact? Only as much as we can assume Shrub really is loved by his wife and kids etc. George W Bush is beloved. Cows are sacred. The utterance "OM" is sacred. All statements are perfectly true because they truthfully describe emotions felt by some people in regard to these objects. The statement only becomes false if you say "Cows are sacred to everyone" or "George W Bush is universally beloved".

This is not even a case of pushing subjective truth. I could say "Queen Elizabeth is married" and nobody would dispute that sentence (or very few at least). She is not however married to me. The same goes for the sanctity of Bush cows and OM. They are beloved/sacred because they are so to >0 people.

[GliderGuider]

5. I'm sure glad we have that settled.

:evilgrin:

[dmallind]

7. You disagree with any of it?

[GliderGuider]

8. Good Lord, no!

:evilgrin:

I'm just not sure that it's on point.

As I said, Nothing is sacred. Since I am nothing, I am sacred. But since nothing is sacred, I am not either.

Simple. Perplexing, but simple.

[dmallind]

9. Maybe I missed the point then - topic was is anything sacred? NT

[GliderGuider]

10. The post was a bit of word play.

I believe that the only thing that might legitimately be considered sacred is Nothing. Since Nothing is sacred, and everything is Nothing, then Everything is sacred. Or not.

Now you've gone and made me explain it. :-( Fortunately, since I had to use words, I explained nothing. Of course I didn't exactly explain Nothing, since that's impossible...

Now, would you like Italian, Ranch or a nice raspberry balsamic vinaigrette with that WordSalad™?
:evilgrin:

[dmallind]

11. Serves me right for trying to be serious for once

Strangely however, I believe the question of sacredness is quite a fascinating one. Even secular society has the idea (witness quite a few DU nonbelievers who accept the concept of the WTC site needing particular reverance etc).

But yes it's a good pun too. Sorry for ruining it.

[GliderGuider]

12. No sweat. I agree that it's a serious topic.

I spent the first 56 years of my life as a hard-assed rationalist who considered "sacred" to be a nonsense word. Then a few years ago I realized I was in the middle of a very dark, aggressive, prickly, angry depression that only made sense if I viewed it as a spiritual Dark Night of the Soul. I finally concluded that the only way out was to regain a sense of the sacred in my life. Which left me with a very thorny problem: what the hell did that mean to me? I've spent the last four years trying to answer that question, and this is the answer so far.

[rrneck]

13. My apologies but I can't resist.

Maybe to make something sacred, as an act of generosity, is to relinquish some of ourselves and to come closer to nothing. To achieve nothingness is to achieve the sacred in ourselves. Unfortunately we can't simply will ourselves out of existence, so the effort of generosity never ends. Like standing between two mirrors. Or like looking at an image of a pipe that declares the truth that it is not a pipe.

[GliderGuider]

14. No apology necessary. C'etait bien apropos.

Perhaps we can't will ourselves out of existence, but we can recognize that "we" don't exist in the first place. That recognition gives me the feeling of the sacred I felt I was missing.

[dimbear]

6. Well, bleu used to be.........

but it's become more or less a joke now. Times change.

[Deep13]

15. Nothing is. ...

Many things are important and valuable and even worthy of reverence, but literally sacred? No.

[GliderGuider]

16. I agree completely!

Nothing is sacred. Definitely, Nothing is sacred.