Heaven on earth

Would heaven really be a place where it's blissful for all eternity? Or is like earth, where one might get tired of it after a while, and want to go somewhere else, see other things.  Maybe it's all just perspective. Perhaps heaven isn't a place where souls go, but rather a state of mind. When I'm happy, when everything is going well, this earth is my heaven. When it's not so great, it's just the cruel cruel world.  And perhaps when I'm suffering, when things are at their worst perhaps that's one of the levels of hell.  Maybe heaven and hell aren't places, but metrics. Maybe they're units that we can measure our levels of happiness by.  Since there are levels of hell, why not levels of heaven? If so then the challenge isn't so much getting to heaven, but rather staying there.  How would people live differently if they thought like this? That instead of eternal bliss in the afterlife, there is only bliss in those few short years that you're alive to experience it.  That you don't get to be happy because some omnipotent being decided that you 'deserved it.' You get to be happy because you decided that you like where you are, who you are, what you are. You're in a good place, and so you decide that that place is heaven.

Making decisions

patient autonomy.........or I know I'm right........eeney meeney miney mo...

Principles

What does it mean to turn against one's principles to maintain one's way of life? Is that even possible. I would think that one cannot turn against their principles without altering their way of life. Or, if they can, that their way of life as they perceived it is in fact not how it is in reality.

not Genius, but not too bad

I was quite sceptical about the Genius function in the new iTunes, but it's turned out a lot better than I thought it would. I feel that it's still perfect yet, as it doesn't recognize some of my songs (i.e. Matisyahu's King Without a Crown), and i'm not so sure that some of the songs really go well together (JT's Chop Me Up after Stacie Orrico?), but overall it's a pretty good way to come up with a decent playlist when you don't want to go through your entire library (I don't even know some of the songs in my library). Other people may feel differently, but that's my two cents.

SWT

Whoo! Three episodes of Gintama! Ooo yeah it's like Christmas come early.

Right and Wrong. Good and Bad. Helpful and Unhelpful.

What is right? What is wrong? What is good? What is bad? When one wants to help another, what does one mean by help? If these are the the words one uses to condemn the actions taken in the world, and perhaps all worlds, should not these words be defined quite explicitly? What is good? Is helping other people good? How does one help another person then? If another person wants you to help carry in some bags for them and you acquiesce are you doing a helpful thing? Is it a good thing? If the person doesn't want you to touch the bags but open the door, and you help carry the bags in anyways, is that still a helpful thing? If the latter is not, then isn't it unhelpful because you didn't help them do what they want? Is that a good or bad thing? If you don't help a person massacre a group of people, is that then a good or bad thing? Switch to health care. Doctors help people have healthier, longer lives. Good? What if they can't? What if the patient has a terminal illness whose last days will be excruciatingly painful? Health is not an option. What about life? Is living still good? The patient wants to die. Is killing bad? Is not helping them do what they want bad? But they're in pain. They're being tortured. Perhaps they're not being tortured directly by another person, but their body is giving off more or less the same pain signals as someone who was. Isn't torture bad? If you were witnessing a patient being tortured, wouldn't you try to stop the torturer. But you can't, not this one at least. Can it be right to just let them continue being tortured? Are you not in effect enabling the torturer? Killing is bad? Why is killing bad? Everyone has a right to life? Isn't killing usually bad then because you forcefully revoke that right from them? But people waive their rights all the time everyday through consent forms and what not. Why should this right be any different? What about abortion? Is the clump of cells within the woman human? What is human? What makes it intrinsically human? It's a parasite. Are humans parasites? Assume it is human. Does it have rights? Rights to what? Life? Does the woman not have a right to life? Do I not have a right to life? I do. Is the woman obligated to raise me? Are people obligated to raise their children? New mothers are legally, and most would argue morally, allowed to leave their newborns in a hospital/fire stations and what not. Is the baby a human? Is it not assumed that the baby will survive if the above step is taken? If a mother took out the embryo/fetus and left it at a hospital/fire station, is she not then leaving a human there? Can the same assumption then be made? Also, does the mother not have any rights? If the embryo/fetus is human, then surely the mother is. Is it not wrong to forcefully revoke a person's rights? She brought it on herself? What if she used contraceptives? Does a person bring trespassing and burglary upon themselves for possessing valuables even though security measures are taken? Is that person not allowed to protect their rights against other humans (and also those not human)? Is property a right? Surely a person owns themselves, especially when that person hasn't said otherwise (and perhaps even if not). If the woman does not consent, is the embryo/fetus not trespassing then? It takes nutrients from the mother. Is it not stealing then? Does the mother not possess the right to protect her right to property then from this 'human'? What is slavery? Are slaves free? Is slavery then not the abrogation of one's freedoms? If a mother is not allowed to protect her rights, is she not enslaved by the embryo/fetus? Is the enslavement of a person by another not wrong? If it is not a person, then is it human? If it is not human, then is killing then still wrong? If it does not want to die, does it want to live? Has it demonstrated any such desire? Even if it has, is that enough to give into such desire by granting it the right to life? Even over the mother's rights?