Quote (Sioux @ 21 Dec 2023 15:44)
i liked siouxsie and the banshees a lot as a kid what can I say
Sorry you're upset 20 years later about not getting into a non-competitive college
Upset? I was using a personal example of when I was 16-17 years old? Back then I was upset because I thought it was bullshit that I could score a 31 on my ACT and not get in because I wasn't involved in extra curriculars but my moms co-worker whose African American. Her son got in with an 18. It's called a double standard but I don't expect you to understand that.
That happening to me was the greatest financial/life gift I ever got. Had I gotten in I'd have gotten a bachelors in Computer Science/Engineering and had 150k debt. Instead I continued to gain clients in my landscaping business and put all my focus on that. I turned cutting grass for family and friends into a 500 client business with multiple employees and then sold it when I got burnt out to a larger landscaping business. Here's the kicker. I never set up a company and was paid in cash all those years. I bought a house and paid it off in 2 years while renting 3 rooms to friends. Took all of that liquid cash and put into hard assets like Gold and Silver. Put even more into the stock market and made a killing there. Bought AMD 15+ years ago when it was $2-3/share and now it's hovering around $140/share. Invested in Tesla when it was $150-200/share and sold when it went over $1000/share. Bought into Dogecoin when it was fractions of a penny and sold when it was close to 60 cents. Road the Reddit Gamestop, AMC, and PLUG train to even more money. None of that would've been possible if I didn't work 80hrs a week for 7-10 years. I rarely saw family or friends because I was willing to sacrifice my late teens and early 20's so I could be financially independent for life. I'll be 34 in February so that will be 6 years that I haven't technically worked and all I do is day trade now.
So I can sit here all day and troll you bud because my money works for me. The next time I start working will be when my godson is old enough to "cut grass" or has the motivation to earn his own way. He sees the things I have and he wants them too. He'll find out how hard it truly is to live the American dream and that nothing is givin to you for free.
I don't expect a white collar pseudo intellectual atheist like you to know a thing about getting your hands dirty.
So me getting "turned down" from U of I was the causal catalyst to me being independently wealthy until this very day.
Have you traveled to all the places on Earth you always dreamed of visiting?
Have you been able to dedicate years of your life to a philosophical/philanthropic organization that gives you "peace of mind"?
Intelligence won't make you happy it will only further foster your ego. I know plenty of successful doctors, engineers, and independent business owners who come to the Vivekananda Vedanta Society when life has already passed them by and they tell me how foolish they were to think that "money" was "success". To think that "titles" earned you true "respect". That "degrees" give you "wisdom".
Eventually the Atheist must admit he too is a fool to think one could "know" the "unknown". All math. All language. All sciences are tools humans use to try and grasp an infinite ever changing existence. God.
God is the goal of all beings. Including the atheist. So if "God" / "Realization"/ "Existence" are all part of the same whole the only "fool" is the person who says, "Surely that cannot be the path". All truly religious people realize God in this life. Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Jew, Sikh, Daoist, Buddhist but only the Atheist sits at the base of the mountain telling all people of faith that there is "No God". Unwilling to walk the treacherous journey and experience "God" you will "pout and pout". It is of no use to you my friend.
Read Swami Vivekananda's comments on Atheism it will probably expand the very definition of that ideolog for you. I'm not belittling you I'm trying to help you find God through the path you have chosen, "Atheism". It's important to see how other "self proclaimed atheist" come full circle and see "God" in that way. Hope this helps.