X-Message-Number: 24372 Date: Sat, 10 Jul 2004 22:24:16 -0700 (PDT) From: William O'Rights <> Subject: Re: CryoNet #24362 - #24366 Thomas Donaldson; "The message by William O'Rights unfortunately brings in far too many mortalist ideas about our response to death of those close to us." WO; I am an Immortalist Thomas, I am seized with desire to be something more, something whose echo can drown out the rattle of death, but the message was written from a realist point of view. The biggest problem people have with reality is that they tend to confuse it with their likes and dislikes. One's personal feelings regarding a given reality are not relevant to the reality itself; scorning others for pointing out realities does not in any way change those realities. Reality isn't the way you wish things to be, nor the way they appear to be, but the way they actually are. Either you acknowledge reality and use it to your benefit or it will automatically work against you. The the nice thing about reality-you do have the choice of employing it on your behalf, rather than sitting around and allowing it to beat you over the head. It's very easy to fall into the trap of allowing your desires and emotions to play tricks on you, creating illusions intended to pass for reality. While a person spends his time dwelling on "ought to's" and makes plans accordingly, the world continues right on its merry way dealing in "is's". I avoid the pitfalls of the way I think things ought to be with the they really are, I'm never so afraid of the truth that I refuse to acknowledge it. How are you to deal effectively with facts if you deny their existence? I've often heard it argued that reality is not an absolute, that it means different things to different people. The premise here is that each of us perceives situations differently and, therefore, that reality changes from person to person. Those who make this argument are partially right in their words, but completely wrong in their conclusion. Each person does perceive reality differently, but reality does not change to fit the perception. That's where perception of reality comes in. Reality is the given, perception of reality is the variable. You're free to accept or reject any or all of my interpretations of reality. Where we differ, one of us will suffer negative consequences to the degree to which he is incorrect in his perception. To the degree either of us is correct in his perception of a given reality, his results will be increasingly positive. But the one thing that will be completely unaffected by our views is reality itself. Thomas Donaldson; "Yes, every death is a loss, particularly of those close to us whom we once tried to convince of cryonics. But the proper emotional response to such deaths is NOT acceptance, but determination and even (sometimes) anger." WO; I respectfully disagree. While I am currently making an effort to convince my friends and family (especially my failing grandparents ages 86, 87, and 89) that cryonics is the correct path to immortality, they hold different beliefs about death and immortality. Every individual has "self-propriety", that is, everyone owns himself and thus has rights to self-determination. Choices about death touch the core of liberty. Not much may be said with confidence about death and Immortality unless it is said from faith, and that alone is reason enough to protect the freedom to conform choices about death to individual conscience. Liberty is the right of individuals to live (or die) as one chooses. Medical technology has effectively created a twilight zone of suspended animation where legal death commences while life, in some form, continues. Some people, however, want no part of a life sustained by medical technology. Instead, they prefer a plan that allows nature to take its course and permits them to die. Such decisions are difficult and personal. They must be made on the basis of individual values. The right to determine what shall be done with one's own body should held as "sacred" and "carefully guarded" and each man should be considered to be the master of his own body. My own fiction book (TALES OF SKASTOWE) begins with a quote from a book which does not yet exist, THE REVELATION OF DAWN. WO; My work of fiction (DOESN'T REALLY EXIST) begins with... The gods have a great sense of humor, don t they? If you lack the iron and the fizz to take control of your own life, if you insist on leaving your fate to the gods, then the gods wilt repay your weakness by having a grin or two at your expense. Should you fail to pilot your own ship, don t be surprised at what inappropriate port you find yourself docked. The dull and prosaic will be granted adventures that wilt dice their central nervous systems like an onion, romantic dreamers will end up in the rope yard. The price of self-destiny is never cheap, and in certain situations it is unthinkable. But to achieve the marvelous, it is precisely the unthinkable that must be thought. ...and it ends with "You are a god. Are not the gods immortal ?" "Not quite. True, we art immune to the chills and accidents that swallow up humanity, but gods can die. We live only so long as people believe in us." Live Long and Well Thomas Rev. William Constitution O'Rights CEO/Founder Universal Life Extension Inc. The chess board is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the universe, the rules of the game are what we call the laws of nature and conquering death is the basic intelligence test in the physical universe. But it is not the strongest of the species that survives, it is not the smartest that survives, it is the one most adaptable to change. ===== William Constitution O'Rights The First Immortal __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New and Improved Yahoo! 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