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About Me Premium Member Deviant of Many Talents ngrey651Male/United States Recent Activity Deviant for 3 Years
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Junior Visits Hell

I did a good job on this, I believe. It took a long while, but I think it came out very nicely. This was done for :iconalbineolove: in honor of her characters Pyro and Sage. :D

What do you think of the epigraph on Valito's AFF chapters? 

56%
9 deviants said They're neat! I like them. :D
38%
6 deviants said Wait, Valito's made what? :confused:
6%
1 deviant said Uh, I don't really like them much. :no:

Optimism/Idealism Rationalized

Journal Entry: Sun Nov 15, 2009, 10:25 AM
Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz once said that “this is the best of all possible worlds. And this little tidbit of information was mercilessly, MERCILESSLY mocked in Candide, Voltaire's ridiculously funny novel of a good-natured young man named Candide and his philosophical mentor, Dr. Pangloss (who is a barely hidden imitation of what Voltaire thought Leibniz was like). In his journeys poor Candide has to put up with psychopathic priests, finding out that countries execute officers every once in a while just to "encourage the others", seeing war, famine and ridiculous levels of violence, all the while listening to his mentor insist that "Everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds". Heck, when Candide's trying to save a good friend, Jacques, from drowning, his mentor stops him and tries to prove that the Bay of Libson had been "formed expressly for the Anabaptist to drown in".

The musical by Leonard Bernstein adds to the joke over and over. In fact, one of it's best songs, "The Best of All Possible Worlds" praises war as a blessing in disguise for uniting everyone as victims. And don't get me started on the movie "Candy".

All of those things are funny. But they miss the point, sadly. The big, important point that Leibniz was trying to make. So I'm going to explain it very, very simply.

Leibniz was making a rational argument, making a statement based on reason alone that God created the best of all possible worlds.

Yep. Ya heard me right. ;)

Here's the reasoning laid out one piece at a time.

1.There wouldn't be a world at all if God hadn't chosen to make it.
2. The "principle of sufficient reason" states that when there is more than one alternative, there MUST be an explanation for why ONE is the case and why not the OTHER.
3. In the case of God choosing a particular world to create, the explanation must therefore be found in the attributes of God himself, since there was nothing else around at the time.

Alright, the next part you might be able to guess on your own. What do you think of when you think "God"? Let me guess. "All powerful". "Loves me". "Good". "All-knowing". Those are some common answers, right? Well, good! Now we move on to the last, and probably the most important part of the argument.

4. Because God is all powerful and morally perfect, he must have created the BEST possible world. if you think about it even harder, he created the ONLY possible world. God wouldn't have created a world that wasn't the best in terms of potential! :thumbsup:

Leibniz's major point wasn't "Everything is hunky dory, there is no evil in the world".

That's fracking stupid, yea! :pray:

What Leibniz was trying to say was that for God to have created the world any other way would have resulted in any other way would have created even MORE evil! Or, to sum it up in a good joke: "An optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. A pessimist fears this is so!" :XD:

An optimist is alright with how things are in the world. A pessimist hates how the world is. An idealist sees ways to change the world all around. And a rationalist says "That's just life". :shrug:

Having said that, I'm now going to say something else. This world was CREATED to be the best of all possible worlds. That does not mean that there is room for human stupidity to screw things up. Is the world CURRENTLY the best?

Nope. Nada. Nyet. Naga. Nay. N-O.

Luckily the potential to make this world the best it can be is still there. ;)

Splashpage
  • Mood: Joy
  • Listening to: Music. Obviously.
  • Watching: Silent Hill
Skin by ¢mindfuckx (modified by *ngrey651)

Devious Info

  • Current Residence: USA
  • Interests: Too many to list.
  • Favourite movie: See above.
  • Favourite band or musician: See above...
  • Favourite genre of music: See above...
  • Favourite artist: See above...
  • Favourite poet or writer: See above...
  • Favourite photographer: ...no idea. Someone recommend one to me!
  • Favourite style of art: See directly above...
  • Operating System: Windows
  • MP3 player of choice: Ipod
  • Shell of choice: See "Favorite Style"
  • Wallpaper of choice: It changes...
  • Skin of choice: My own.
  • Favourite game: See far, far above...
  • Favourite gaming platform: See above...
  • Favourite cartoon character: Lilo and Stitch are my faves.
  • Personal Quote: "Weird is the New Normal!"
  • Tools of the Trade: Anything you can dream, you can DO!

Comments


:iconpenguinsgrl:
Thank you for the comment!! I know what you mean. Who'd have thought, me & White, huh?

I do love him though. :nod:

--
Tallest Red: Fire some kinda laser... thingie at 'em; RIGHT NOW!
:icona-hardie:
THIS IS A HUG CERTIFICATE ! !

Send one to all your friends who you think deserve a hug (which, hopefully includes the person who sent it to you)!!

You might send it to your enemies as well!
It'll really make them stop and think!!!

If you don't receive this back, nobody likes you, and they wish you'd stop bugging them!

If you receive this back 1 time, open up! Find more friends, enemies, or enemies pretending to be friends

If you receive this back 2 times, you're off to a good start! (Unless you sent it to yourself! That's cheating!)

If you receive this back 3 times, you're a good friend.

If you receive this back 4 times, you're truly loved as a friend!!

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YOU'VE BEEN HUGGED!

Spread the DA love around! (you can copy and paste this message on their userpage!)

RULES:
1- You can hug the person who hugged you!
2- You -MUST- hug 6 other people, at least!
3- You should hug them in public! Paste it on their user page!
4- Random hugs are perfectly okay! (and sweet)
5- You should most definitely get started hugging right away

Send This To All Your Friends, And Me If I Am 1.
If You Get 7 Back You Are Loved!

1-3: you're a bad friend
4-6: you're an ok friend
7-9: you're a good friend
10-& Up: you're a great friend

--
If you try hard you can get what you want,
just make sure sometimes you need it.
:iconwormtail96:
Hey, dude, just had this hilarious idea for Ch7. When Mr. Burns is escaping, The Eds could barge through his office.

Burns pushes a button, revealing an escape pod in his wall. He gets in and Smithers pounds of the door, "For the love of God, sir, there's two seats!"

"I like to put my feet up!"

The pod launches, although crashes next to the building, whilst Smithers is dragged away screaming by the Eds,

LOL!

--
The Tory Party for 2010 UK General Elections.
:iconngrey651:
Chapter Seven's already up. Sorry dude.

--
These little wonders...stiiiiill remaaaaain...
:iconwormtail96:
Oh, okay.

But hey, maybe that could happen in Sumdactoria or Serberica (but not with Eds)?

--
The Tory Party for 2010 UK General Elections.
:iconngrey651:
Certainly!

--
These little wonders...stiiiiill remaaaaain...
:iconpenguinsgrl:
Workin' on another Erin/White Pic ;)

--
Tallest Red: Fire some kinda laser... thingie at 'em; RIGHT NOW!
:iconngrey651:
Cool beans!

--
These little wonders...stiiiiill remaaaaain...
:iconwormtail96:
Hey, ngrey, I was wondering, the towns and villages that join up with South Park/Ozai...when will that happen? Straight away?

--
The Tory Party for 2010 UK General Elections.
:iconngrey651:
Pretty much, yes. In the chapter after next smaller towns and villages will rise up. But not too many big ones until in a few chappies.

--
These little wonders...stiiiiill remaaaaain...

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