People have different personalities; some regroup themselves and regain perspective and energy by taking time alone, while other people regroup their thoughts/feelings by open discussions with other people. Some people need to be alone sometimes, whereas others cannot stand to be alone at all. Everyone is different; there is no right or wrong. What is needed here, in my opinion, is good communication on what each person needs/wants from the relationship. And, when time alone is needed, there is an agreement that this is ok with each person.

well, hopefully i am a good meal...hey we all got to eat right? Worm food, lizard food?...what will my fate be?

the one above is actually very beautiful.

too funny! hehe!

I believe in pre-determinism, that things happen for a reason. I believe there is a plan and order to the universe, pre-determined.

What I want to know is, who in the world would answer definitely not?

I like it ... your art flows out from the stab of pain ...

http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-576

Indian Warfare

Warfare affected the lives of Georgia's Indians in many significant ways. All Indian men considered themselves warriors and trained to use the bow and warclub. Valor in battle, demonstrated through the killing of enemies, was a primary means of social advancement as recently as the nineteenth century. Warfare also became a prominent theme in the Indians' belief systems and greatly affected the development and organization of their societies.

Significant warfare first began to develop among Georgia Indians in the Mississippian Period (A.D. 800-1600), a time when relatively large societies called chiefdoms evolved throughout southeastern North America. During this period defensive fortifications were first built around some towns.
Town Creek Palisade
These included log palisades that completely encircled large towns such as the one at the Etowah Mounds in north Georgia. Palisades were often plastered with clay to keep them from being ignited by burning arrows. Sometimes they incorporated defensive towers (bastions) that allowed archers to shoot at enemies who got close to the wall. Ditches similar to moats were also dug around some palisades and were part of the fortifications of both the Etowah site and the Ocmulgee site at Macon.

Weapons

Bows and arrows were widely used in Indian warfare beginning in the Late Woodland or Early Mississippian Period.
Natchez Indian Warrior
Warriors used a thick D-shaped simple bow made from hickory, ash, or black locust that was fifty to sixty inches in length and had a pull weight of about fifty pounds. These bows could send arrows long distances and were typically used to shoot at enemy villages or units of warriors at a distance.

War clubs also came into significant use during the Mississippian Period. They were carved from a hardwood such as hickory and were usually about one-and-a-half to two feet long, although some may have reached three feet in length. There were several types, the most common form being the atassa, which was actually a wooden sword shaped like a pirate's cutlass.
Indian War Clubs
Other common types were the globe-headed club, which had a three-inch spherical knob at the end of a slightly curved handle, and the tomahawk, a stone axe head attached to a wooden handle.

War clubs were the preferred combat weapon because Indian warriors could raise their social status by killing enemies in single combat. They were widely depicted in Mississippian Period art in association with images and symbols of warfare. In historic Creek and Cherokee myths they were associated with the Lightning or Thunder deity, sometimes in the form of a falcon.

Chiefs and warriors possessed ceremonial forms of war clubs that incorporated symbols of the Sun and Thunder deities and served
Indian War Clubs
as markers of their ceremonial status. These were made entirely from stone that had been chipped or ground into the desired shape, or alternatively, were tomahawks that had copper heads affixed to wooden handles.

Mississippian Period Warfare

Warriors honed their archery and war club skills through lifelong training. According to early historical accounts, they demonstrated impressive skill in using war clubs and were favorably compared to European fencing masters. The warriors also played a lacrosse-type sport called "the ball game" in which they employed war club–sized ball sticks reminiscent of combat with war clubs.

The most common type of warfare was a raid carried out by a small group of men; a raiding party would surreptitiously enter an enemy chiefdom's territory to attack unsuspecting households or ambush people. Warriors typically used war clubs in these raids. Trophies from the victims, such as scalps, were taken to prove their success in the encounter. In many Indian cultures the killing of one's kinsman by an enemy necessitated reprisal. This could result in long-term, chronic raiding between enemy chiefdoms as each side in turn sought revenge on the other.

Historical accounts from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries also describe a few large-scale battles between the armies of enemy chiefdoms. Each army consisted of a few hundred men arranged in a formation, with the chief acting as overall commander. They would shoot their arrows at one another until the supply was expended; then they would engage in hand-to-hand combat with war clubs.

Historic Period Warfare

Warfare changed dramatically during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as a result of European encroachment. Iron hatchets were extensively introduced in the early eighteenth century and began to replace war clubs. By the latter part of this century metal tomahawks were being made specifically for the Indian trade. Firearms had also been introduced.

Periodic raiding and some pitched battles continued between the Creek and Cherokee Indians in the Historic Period. By the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, both the Creeks and Cherokees faced increased military threats from white settlers who were able to raise large civilian militias equipped with firearms to reinforce military troops.
Creek Indians
The Indians were forced to cope with highly organized raids and battles with whites who had superior troops and equipment. The Indians adopted new military tactics, including larger armies to fight some pitched battles and guerrilla-style maneuvers. In some cases Indian communities erected forts styled after those of the whites. Ultimately, however, the Indians were unable to win against the superior numbers of well-armed American forces and were forcibly exiled to Oklahoma in the early nineteenth century.

I wonder if all Native Americans were truly "peaceful" to each other before the settlers arrived. From what I understand, some natives in North and Central America were very brutal to each other. I could be wrong, but that is what I have read. So, to say that all Native Americans were immune to the human capacity for war and human slaughtering is not all together accurate. I am in no way condoning what occured to the Native Americans; it infuriates me that this occured in history, but it does not suprise me. It has been going on for millenia in every culture, on every continent and will continue because that is a part of human nature.

I would want to go back and eat another piece of my grandmother's apple pie...sit on the back porch and listen to my grandma and grandpa laugh again...go back and sit and listen to grandpa play the harmonica for me...

That is too funny!...wake up one morning and see a tyrannosaurus rex outside your window!

What would be interesting to know is how far back in time the machine could go, and how far forward would the machine go ... would there be a value?

Based upon what I have read and studied in the bible, and from others' interpretions as well, I believe heaven or hell is a state of mind. Heaven or hell is not a physical place, but a state of conciousness. If someone has negative thinking patterns, and they have fearful and anxious thoughts, worry and doubt, a state of hell on earth is created. Whereas, those who align their thoughts with love, goodness, harmony, joy and peace create a state of heaven on earth.

Align with positivity = heaven.

Align with negativity = hell.

I find ants fascinating too. I think the symbiotic relationship between ants and aphids is really cool. Aphids expel sugars when they are feeding on plants, and ants really dig this honeydew the aphids excrete. Normally, ants will attack/kill/eat other insects, but they will not harm the aphid! In fact, the ants actually will attack any predators, such as lady bugs, that try to eat the defenseless, slow-moving aphids. The ants will even pick up aphids and move them to new feeding areas, which would be hard for an aphid to do. And, the ants will move aphids underground in the winter to prevent them from winter kill. When you see a bunch of ants on a tree, there is a good chance there is a colony of aphids somewhere and vice versa.

I also find it interesting that some people think that we are on the top of the food chain. But, I think if you ask a human parasite/virus/bacteria who is at the top of the food chain, you may get a different opinion...and possibly a human virus "thinks" humans were created by God to support their life! We have all kinds of fun and exciting symbiotic relationships going on in our own bodies even..example: we need bacteria in our gut, and they need us to survive and live out their lives...symbiosis is so cool man.

Plant more TREES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you take water and slow down the vibration of the molecules by removing heat, you have solid ice. If you take water and increase the vibration of the molecules by warming it up, you have water. If you increase the vibrations of water even further by adding heat, you have water vapor and it is a gas. Solid, liquid and gas molecules of water... water can have form or be formless and invisible...just a difference in vibration and state of energy/heat.

I don't exactly know what my point is...sorry.

I think a study could be done evaluating the length of days stay in a hospital of those prayed for vs not. I think there would need to be a standardized prayer. The prayer would need to be positive/affirmative/thankful as opposed to pleading/begging because there are claims that these are most effective (? are they ?). Then, compare that with results from the months before the study began.

There are some problems, though, with studying prayer. The first is, is it ethical to pray for a group of people and not others (if there were a control group)? Another problem arises if the outcomes are worse after prayer - do you stop the study? - and would this have ethical ramifications? Also, do you let the people know they are being prayed for (could this affect outcomes, ie just knowing one is prayed for may help in healing)?

There are some factors that would be hard to control, such as, are the people praying or just reading words and not really into it? Should we have experts pray, or just anybody who can read a prayer? Also, should the people who pray know the person or be strangers? There are claims that prayer is more effective coming from someone who knows the person (? are they?). Also, how about the relatives/friends/congregation who are praying outside of the study - do their prayers count - and if so, how?


I would love to see more studies done on prayer. I think Dr. Emoto's study is very interesting, but I think it is subjective. And, has it been reproduced??

This may be off the topic a little, but they are now discovering ways to study mind-body biofeedback in an individual using all sorts of fancy gadgetry - some are showing how a person can control heat rate,temp,body functions through meditation/mental states. Who knows, maybe in the future they will come up with some sensitive gadgetry that could test mind/thought effects at a distance. It will be interesting to see what the future brings in this area.

Many claim that prayer works; that is, our thoughts/wishes/good intentions created by our minds/soul can affect the universe. Some scientific studies have been done to try and see if this claim is valid. One of these studies is Dr. Emoto's study of the effects of "prayer/thought" on crystal formation in water. Other studies have been discussed in the book, "Measuring the Immeasurable: The Scientific Case for Spirituality".

Do you think science will be able to measure the immeasurable?; can it show that prayer works or does not? Should science try to show this, or should it remain a mystery? Does our subjective determination that some crystals are "beautiful" or "ugly" be a valid argument for or against prayer?

What are your thoughts on scientific study of prayer?

I have not taken any philosophy courses, but it is my understanding that metaphysics is a branch of philosophy. I do like to read about metaphysical thought, so I do wish they would make a place for it if this isn't the right forum.

Well, if their congretion waits long enough, their prayers will be answered...cause as far as I know, we all will die someday...