The Reality of Existence vs the Hope of Eternity

[Walker88]

We all know how humans get here, but we tend to cloud the clinical reality with myth, superstition, romance or anything that might allow us to believe it is anything more than the result of a biological urge put into action.

 

The plain and simple fact is that we’re all here because somebody was in the mood. Sure, maybe some parents engaged in the act for the primary purpose of producing a child, but one or both being randy was the main cause. Whether Mozart or Hitler or a guy who pours Slurpies in a 7-11 at a highway rest stop in Keokuk, Iowa…we and they exist simply because somebody wanted to get his rocks off.

 

Life may or may not have any meaning, but it does have a purpose, and that purpose is more life. Living things are driven by instinct to propagate, to pass on their gene pool. In humans, that instinct is given a term: Horny. We’re propagation of our parent’s gene pool because somebody was horny. Kind of gives existence an element of farce.

 

Most of us develop and reach puberty in such a way that certain things attract us. Certainly, the majority of us are attracted to our opposite gender, though that isn’t everyone. As a male, some obvious things and some odd things seem to get my juices flowing. To be drawn to a beautiful face is something easy to understand. Where it gets somewhat silly---though natural---is that a shapely body draws us in. A nice pair of legs. Maybe large bosoms. A tight female backside that defies gravity. Where it gets almost embarrassing is that an orifice framed in different fleshy bits, naturally surrounded by hair follicles, and with a particular hormone-filled aroma emanating from said orifice, makes us hellbent on penetrating that orifice with our specialty male appendage. The desire is almost out of our control, though we learn to sublimate it, when to give in to the urge would be inappropriate. When the time is right, however, the behavior tends to take on a momentum all its own.

 

And so it goes.

 

All of that urge or romance or desire or passion is followed by a wonder of biology and chemistry, though we don’t usually think about it at that time. Instead, we think about snuggling, or doing it again, or going to watch the football game on TV.

 

Despite those unrelated thoughts, there’s something going on inside the female, especially if she is ovulating. At the culmination of the recent act, the male released a liquid filled with millions of motile little sperm, each wiggling a tail and on a mission to be first to reach the woman’s egg, or at least inadvertently or serendipitously collide with it. The waiting egg releases progesterone, which chemically attracts the sperm and causes their tails to wiggle faster. Generally, the sperm that gets there first causes a reaction to occur that creates kind of a barrier or membrane around the egg so that no other sperm are welcome. The two entities’ nuclei fuse, the zygote exits the Fallopian tube and eventually takes up residence on the wall of the uterus. Differentiation then begins, as the initial zygote begins to divide into cells that will go on to form organs and appendages, muscle and bone, brain and neurons.

 

The differentiation and cell specialization, plus growth, continues for about nine months, and then the combined gene pool is ready to make an appearance and join the same path to maturity so that it, too, can propagate its gene pool.

 

From a scientific perspective, there isn’t much more than that….intercourse, fertilization, pregnancy, development, birth,,,,and then rinse and repeat.

 

That isn’t enough for most people. They need there to be more to it than gene propagation. They need meaning. Many also need reassurance that existence is not finite, so they make up stories.

 

Somewhere along the path from sperm-meets-egg to a finished human being emerging from where the male had inserted his appendage, many people are intent on thinking something else happens, such as a “soul” is inserted or the neurochemicals and electric impulses running through neurons create a consciousness that---somehow---has existence outside of the physical body. There is no indication that any of this is the case, but the human need to believe insists, or hopes, it’s true.

 

If it is true, when does this infinite consciousness enter? How does it materialize? What is this “soul” thing, and how does it get there?

 

There is nothing about the chemistry resulting from sperm-meets-egg that in any way suggests some miracle emerges that creates an immortal and non-physical consciousness. No known chemical reactions of proteins or enzymes or lipids yield a consciousness independent of the chemicals that created it. There is no branch of physics that can offer any explanation or proof that sperm-meets-egg creates some essence that exists outside of the physical elements of the body. For those who believe in souls or independent consciousness, perhaps you will offer the explanation as to what atomic process results in this non-physical entity. Methyl groups? Oxidation? Is a catalyst, such as zinc or magnesium, required? There’s a Nobel Prize awaiting whomever provides the answer.

 

I don’t know how either an infinite consciousness or a “soul” are supposed to enter into the physical body. Did this soul always exist and some deity just shoved it into the emerging infant? Or does the deity manufacture a new soul after each successful intercourse and put it in? That would require monitoring every ovulating female 24/7. If these souls always existed, why are they not all here now? There’s about 8 billion humans currently on the planet, but since homo sapiens developed from other human-like forms, there have been about 125 to 150  billion of us. What happened to the other souls? Are they all going to reappear at the same time and be ‘judged'? What about the humans that existed before anybody’s modern deity? Are they shut out of eternity for all….eternity? Seems kind of unfair.

 

Even more ‘unfair’, perhaps, is that deities make no exception for the manner of the intercourse that leads to the insertion of a ‘soul’. Two people committed for life via a legally recognized marriage? That one’ is easy. Pre-marital intercourse? Quite often. A pick-up in a bar? It happens. Broken condom? Sorry! Two silly teens doing it for the first time because their parents are out of town? Sometimes. How about rape or incest? No exceptions, goddamnit!

 

For those who believe consciousness can exist outside of the physical body, has it been in existence since time began, or is there some magic that occurs when sperm-meets-egg that gives rise to this immortal consciousness? It floats away somewhere upon death of the body?

 

Another question is why does this consciousness diminish with the aging of the physical body? Most all humans, if they reach a certain age, develop some sort of dementia. For some it is so severe that by the time death occurs, the human is in a vegetative state. What is this magic that, upon death of the physical body (all human death results from lack of oxygen to the brain, whether because organs shut down, disease destroys the body’s ability to transport O2 to the brain, there’s blood loss from accidents, whatever) all is suddenly and instantly restored? All the memories and personality and everything the person was comes back and then goes….somewhere…Where?

 

Some people are of the belief that the consciousness or soul get recycled into another living form, but if it does, it seems to forget any and all previous iterations (but sometimes imagines it can remember, and usually because it believes it was some ancient warrior fighting a battle in Mesopotamia, or was a princess in some long lost monarchy).

 

Being infinite and immortal would be a wonderful thing, as life---especially in this modern world---is glorious. It’s great fun. It would be nice if it lasted forever, but I think our eternity is defined by our individual birth and death.

 

Life hasn’t always been so good, so I appreciate the need for many to hope there was more to life than pain and struggle. I just don’t see how any of the ‘spiritual’ beliefs make any sense. I don’t see when this infinite consciousness or soul gets inserted into the zygote or developing fetus. Certainly, if somehow these souls or some infinite consciousness results simply from my carnal desires, I should probably be a lot more responsible on how and with whom I dally, because my horniness could create an entity that will exist until time itself ends…..and all that just because I was horny. That puts a lot of pressure on me, and might get in the way of the fun when I’m in flagrante delicto with a woman.

 

If that is the case, the ability to procreate ought to be doled out a lot more judiciously, yet good or bad, moral or immoral, we all have that ability. It makes one wonder.

[nglodnig]

tl;dr

[Walker88]

4 minutes ago, nglodnig said:

tl;dr

Good for you.

[proton]

Thank goodness I am too drunk to read it all

[Adumbration]

For those that do not have time to read this piffle, here is a summary:

 

The OP thinks that someone should be in charge of who is allowed to *uck.

[ChaiyaTH]

Too much sorry, lost attention after a few sentences. If you don't understand how religion or spiritual beliefs make sense, you didn't learn much so far.

[chickenslegs]

Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" is a good read if you have an interest in population control.

[proton]

14 minutes ago, Adumbration said:

For those that do not have time to read this piffle, here is a summary:

 

The OP thinks that someone should be in charge of who is allowed to *uck.

 

There is, they are called wifes!

[Lacessit]

The urge to procreate is hard-wired into all of us. However, it is also hard-wired into dolphins, who definitely exhibit their own forms of intelligence and communication. Do dolphins have gods?

 

It does take two to tango. I have met my share of horny women. The female orgasm is considerably more complex than the male version.

 

It's a bit of a conceit to think we are the zenith of intelligence and consciousness. For all we know, there is a species a few galaxies away who would regard us as we regard an amoeba.

 

IMO the hope of an eternal life is a fantasy, albeit an attractive one. It's any religion's strongest selling point.

 

Personally, I believe we only get one shot at life, and therefore should make the most of it while we can. Who is going to remember us 3 or 4 generations from now?

 

 

 

 

[GammaGlobulin]

45 minutes ago, Walker88 said:

If that is the case, the ability to procreate ought to be doled out a lot more judiciously, yet good or bad, moral or immoral, we all have that ability. It makes one wonder.

 

Have you never studied Evolution theory?

 

All your questions should have been clearly answered if you had.

 

 

[Walker88]

27 minutes ago, Adumbration said:

For those that do not have time to read this piffle, here is a summary:

 

The OP thinks that someone should be in charge of who is allowed to *uck.

No, that was facetious.

 

Dally at will.

[Walker88]

10 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

Have you never studied Evolution theory?

 

All your questions should have been clearly answered if you had.

 

 

Yes, I have studied it.  Pre-med who turned down med school for a paying job, as undergrad produced enough debt

 

Some things are written tongue-in-cheek. I am not a believer in any sort of extra-corporal consciousness. I also find it kind of funny that we attribute all sorts of mystery and romance and 'spirtuality' to something that is driven purely by somebody wanting physical relief.

 

As for the post, I was in the mood to write something different than the usual love-Thailand/hate-Thailand, bargirls are dirty/salt of the Earth, Russians/Chinese/Indians/British are bad, etc.

[Fat is a type of crazy]

The hope of eternity was much more tempting, as you say, when life was much more unfair, people dying and in pain all over the place, still true for many in the world.

Simply lighten your load and believe that god serendipitously arranged for your parents to meet, for that seed to get to the egg, for you to enter the body somehow depending on the religion, and eternity waits, and there it is. Faith means that for confusing bits - God.  

[Denim]

40 minutes ago, Adumbration said:

For those that do not have time to read this piffle, here is a summary:

 

The OP thinks that someone should be in charge of who is allowed to *uck.

 

Plato thought the same.

 

If the OP is concerned he should re read his opus. Before he gets halfway through he will have lost all interest in procreation , maybe even in living.

[stoner]

all of this could of been posted in one of the 2 god threads. 

[Walker88]

Short Version for the tl:dr folks:

 

It is highly unlikely, because there is no physical law to explain it, that sentience exists outside of the physical as a result of a random boom boom.

[save the frogs]

4 hours ago, Walker88 said:

There’s about 8 billion humans currently on the planet, but since homo sapiens developed from other human-like forms, there have been about 125 to 150  billion of us. What happened to the other souls? Are they all going to reappear at the same time and be ‘judged'?

 

Sorry if this is too deep for you? 

 

https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/the-quantum-theory-of-reincarnation

 

The Quantum Theory of Reincarnation

 

We bring ourselves into being. Our consciousness is the gravitation. We came from whirling nothing, we return to whirling nothing. The dust we came from and the dust to which we return are not really there, but thinking makes it so.

 

These bits might as comfortably be at the other end of the universe as where they are. Only by the act of regarding them do we hold them together. You assemble your bits, I assemble mine, and when we cease thinking they all fly back into the general pool of Everything, Everywhere. So you and I temporarily consist of ourselves, and someday may well consist of other selves. We will be back, but a precious lot of good it will do us, because we won't know it. So, yes, reincarnation is possible from a rationalist, scientific point of view. We have been and will be reincarnated as part of the vast store of everything there is. We will be suns, moon, stars, rain.

 

Look for us in the weather reports.

 

 

 

[newbee2022]

10 hours ago, Walker88 said:

We all know how humans get here, but we tend to cloud the clinical reality with myth, superstition, romance or anything that might allow us to believe it is anything more than the result of a biological urge put into action.

 

The plain and simple fact is that we’re all here because somebody was in the mood. Sure, maybe some parents engaged in the act for the primary purpose of producing a child, but one or both being randy was the main cause. Whether Mozart or Hitler or a guy who pours Slurpies in a 7-11 at a highway rest stop in Keokuk, Iowa…we and they exist simply because somebody wanted to get his rocks off.

 

Life may or may not have any meaning, but it does have a purpose, and that purpose is more life. Living things are driven by instinct to propagate, to pass on their gene pool. In humans, that instinct is given a term: Horny. We’re propagation of our parent’s gene pool because somebody was horny. Kind of gives existence an element of farce.

 

Most of us develop and reach puberty in such a way that certain things attract us. Certainly, the majority of us are attracted to our opposite gender, though that isn’t everyone. As a male, some obvious things and some odd things seem to get my juices flowing. To be drawn to a beautiful face is something easy to understand. Where it gets somewhat silly---though natural---is that a shapely body draws us in. A nice pair of legs. Maybe large bosoms. A tight female backside that defies gravity. Where it gets almost embarrassing is that an orifice framed in different fleshy bits, naturally surrounded by hair follicles, and with a particular hormone-filled aroma emanating from said orifice, makes us hellbent on penetrating that orifice with our specialty male appendage. The desire is almost out of our control, though we learn to sublimate it, when to give in to the urge would be inappropriate. When the time is right, however, the behavior tends to take on a momentum all its own.

 

And so it goes.

 

All of that urge or romance or desire or passion is followed by a wonder of biology and chemistry, though we don’t usually think about it at that time. Instead, we think about snuggling, or doing it again, or going to watch the football game on TV.

 

Despite those unrelated thoughts, there’s something going on inside the female, especially if she is ovulating. At the culmination of the recent act, the male released a liquid filled with millions of motile little sperm, each wiggling a tail and on a mission to be first to reach the woman’s egg, or at least inadvertently or serendipitously collide with it. The waiting egg releases progesterone, which chemically attracts the sperm and causes their tails to wiggle faster. Generally, the sperm that gets there first causes a reaction to occur that creates kind of a barrier or membrane around the egg so that no other sperm are welcome. The two entities’ nuclei fuse, the zygote exits the Fallopian tube and eventually takes up residence on the wall of the uterus. Differentiation then begins, as the initial zygote begins to divide into cells that will go on to form organs and appendages, muscle and bone, brain and neurons.

 

The differentiation and cell specialization, plus growth, continues for about nine months, and then the combined gene pool is ready to make an appearance and join the same path to maturity so that it, too, can propagate its gene pool.

 

From a scientific perspective, there isn’t much more than that….intercourse, fertilization, pregnancy, development, birth,,,,and then rinse and repeat.

 

That isn’t enough for most people. They need there to be more to it than gene propagation. They need meaning. Many also need reassurance that existence is not finite, so they make up stories.

 

Somewhere along the path from sperm-meets-egg to a finished human being emerging from where the male had inserted his appendage, many people are intent on thinking something else happens, such as a “soul” is inserted or the neurochemicals and electric impulses running through neurons create a consciousness that---somehow---has existence outside of the physical body. There is no indication that any of this is the case, but the human need to believe insists, or hopes, it’s true.

 

If it is true, when does this infinite consciousness enter? How does it materialize? What is this “soul” thing, and how does it get there?

 

There is nothing about the chemistry resulting from sperm-meets-egg that in any way suggests some miracle emerges that creates an immortal and non-physical consciousness. No known chemical reactions of proteins or enzymes or lipids yield a consciousness independent of the chemicals that created it. There is no branch of physics that can offer any explanation or proof that sperm-meets-egg creates some essence that exists outside of the physical elements of the body. For those who believe in souls or independent consciousness, perhaps you will offer the explanation as to what atomic process results in this non-physical entity. Methyl groups? Oxidation? Is a catalyst, such as zinc or magnesium, required? There’s a Nobel Prize awaiting whomever provides the answer.

 

I don’t know how either an infinite consciousness or a “soul” are supposed to enter into the physical body. Did this soul always exist and some deity just shoved it into the emerging infant? Or does the deity manufacture a new soul after each successful intercourse and put it in? That would require monitoring every ovulating female 24/7. If these souls always existed, why are they not all here now? There’s about 8 billion humans currently on the planet, but since homo sapiens developed from other human-like forms, there have been about 125 to 150  billion of us. What happened to the other souls? Are they all going to reappear at the same time and be ‘judged'? What about the humans that existed before anybody’s modern deity? Are they shut out of eternity for all….eternity? Seems kind of unfair.

 

Even more ‘unfair’, perhaps, is that deities make no exception for the manner of the intercourse that leads to the insertion of a ‘soul’. Two people committed for life via a legally recognized marriage? That one’ is easy. Pre-marital intercourse? Quite often. A pick-up in a bar? It happens. Broken condom? Sorry! Two silly teens doing it for the first time because their parents are out of town? Sometimes. How about rape or incest? No exceptions, goddamnit!

 

For those who believe consciousness can exist outside of the physical body, has it been in existence since time began, or is there some magic that occurs when sperm-meets-egg that gives rise to this immortal consciousness? It floats away somewhere upon death of the body?

 

Another question is why does this consciousness diminish with the aging of the physical body? Most all humans, if they reach a certain age, develop some sort of dementia. For some it is so severe that by the time death occurs, the human is in a vegetative state. What is this magic that, upon death of the physical body (all human death results from lack of oxygen to the brain, whether because organs shut down, disease destroys the body’s ability to transport O2 to the brain, there’s blood loss from accidents, whatever) all is suddenly and instantly restored? All the memories and personality and everything the person was comes back and then goes….somewhere…Where?

 

Some people are of the belief that the consciousness or soul get recycled into another living form, but if it does, it seems to forget any and all previous iterations (but sometimes imagines it can remember, and usually because it believes it was some ancient warrior fighting a battle in Mesopotamia, or was a princess in some long lost monarchy).

 

Being infinite and immortal would be a wonderful thing, as life---especially in this modern world---is glorious. It’s great fun. It would be nice if it lasted forever, but I think our eternity is defined by our individual birth and death.

 

Life hasn’t always been so good, so I appreciate the need for many to hope there was more to life than pain and struggle. I just don’t see how any of the ‘spiritual’ beliefs make any sense. I don’t see when this infinite consciousness or soul gets inserted into the zygote or developing fetus. Certainly, if somehow these souls or some infinite consciousness results simply from my carnal desires, I should probably be a lot more responsible on how and with whom I dally, because my horniness could create an entity that will exist until time itself ends…..and all that just because I was horny. That puts a lot of pressure on me, and might get in the way of the fun when I’m in flagrante delicto with a woman.

 

If that is the case, the ability to procreate ought to be doled out a lot more judiciously, yet good or bad, moral or immoral, we all have that ability. It makes one wonder.

It's a long story. Would you please give a summery? Just 2 or 3 sentences. Then it will be easier to understand the purpose of your elaborate.🙏

[nobodysfriend]

Walker 88 , you make one fundamental philosophical mistake , even if your questions prove your desire to understand more about the functioning of the Universe , what is a good thing .

Astrophilosophy .

Find out about what is 'out there ' . You will see astonishing photos about that taken by the James Webb telescope ...

 

https://webbtelescope.org/news/first-images/gallery

https://webbtelescope.org/images

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/multimedia/images/

 

Look at those photos and try to understand the dimension of the Universe ... ( a little meditation helps ... )

You will come to realize that our planet , our solar system , is soooo small in comparison .

Not to talk about the human species , all humans on the planet together seem , universally seen , of no importance at all .

And you , as an individual member of this species , are even less important .

 

Yes , there is a little spirit inside you ( you may call it ' soul ' if you like ) , that is immaterial and therefore not measurable ( yet ) .

Our species likes to think that we know everything . But that is definitely not the case .

There are more dimensions than the four dimensions that are known to us , we are simply not able to realize and see that .

There is at least one more spiritual and immaterial dimension that we cannot prove to exist . May be even more ...?

 

Anyway , I have to cut it short , so essential :

Too many Galaxies to count in Universe ( estimation is 400 billions ) .

The question is what does all this exist for ?

What is the purpose of existence ?

I am not able to answer this , last , question , as I am not evolved enough to know .

But I can tell that the Universe , ( in my opinion ) , is just a giant experiment .

There are many civilizations , many ' dominant ' species on their own planets , too many to know or even imagine ...

They all evolve in time ... many will cease to exist , because they destroyed the natural balance of their respective ecosystems .

Other will survive and evolve more , may be to a point where they finally find the answer to the question about the final purpose of existence ...?

You can call it all a " game " if you like ... there are winners and losers .

The losers simply cease to exist , and disappear .

If you think ( as me ) , that every living thing is inhabited by an immortal spirit , where will these spirits go after the individual dies  ?

The fifth dimension , the spiritual one , may be related to what astronomers describe as ' dark matter ' and ' dark energy " .

That is written on a page that has not been revealed to us yet ...

 

Anyway , the goal in the life of everybody should to be to enable our species to survive and further evolve by trying to restore the natural balance of the biosphere that mankind needs to survive .

If not , our species will disappear and fail the ' universal test ' .

Bye bye ...

 

[jesimps]

11 hours ago, proton said:

Thank goodness I am too drunk to read it all

I lost the will to live halfway through the fourth para.

[parallelman]

Eternal life? I think the company paying me a pension might have something to say about that

[brianthainess]

12 hours ago, Walker88 said:

or Hitler

Did you not know Hitler only had one ball

And the other is in the Albert Hall. 

[ignore it]

Rx:

More indica. Less sativa.

[GammaGlobulin]

12 hours ago, Walker88 said:

Yes, I have studied it.  Pre-med who turned down med school for a paying job, as undergrad produced enough debt

 

Some things are written tongue-in-cheek. I am not a believer in any sort of extra-corporal consciousness. I also find it kind of funny that we attribute all sorts of mystery and romance and 'spirtuality' to something that is driven purely by somebody wanting physical relief.

 

As for the post, I was in the mood to write something different than the usual love-Thailand/hate-Thailand, bargirls are dirty/salt of the Earth, Russians/Chinese/Indians/British are bad, etc.

 

When you are in the mood....Then Go for it.

 

Life is too short to waste precious moments such as these.

 

I never write with tongue in cheek.

Too confusing.

 

[cdemundo]

13 hours ago, nglodnig said:

tl;dr

Same here.

[BigStar]

14 hours ago, chickenslegs said:

Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" is a good read if you have an interest in population control.

 

The series wasn't too bad.

 

[fittobethaied]

Dear OP,

Sadly, you are among the ranks of a worldwide multitude of vulnerable men/women who are weighed down with sins and led astray by various passions, ideologies and psychologies, who are always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the TRUTH. You go through life, and along the way you pick up little tidbits of untruths that form the basis of your entire belief system, and it is all vanity and meaningless. If you truly want to be set free, then sit down with The Word of God and simply begin to read starting with the Book of Matthew in the New Testament, and your eyes will finally be opened. If you approach the Bible with an open mind and heart, diligently searching the Scriptures with a heart that is prepared to accept the TRUTH, then it will be revealed to you. If you approach it with an attitude of unbelief, then the revelation of God's Word will be shut down, and you will eventually die in your sin, and you will never know the true meaning and purpose of your life. Seek the Lord Jesus while He may be found. Your eternal destiny is at stake my friend. Jesus said, "I am the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE, and no man comes to the Father except through ME".

[Bangkok Barry]

16 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

If you don't understand how religion or spiritual beliefs make sense, you didn't learn much so far.

 

They do? Could have fooled me, unless the purpose has been to control the impressionable.

[fusion58]

18 hours ago, Walker88 said:

Life may or may not have any meaning, but it does have a purpose, and that purpose is more life.

 

Not convinced that biology is teleological as opposed to causal or simply an example of patterns obeying the laws of physics.

[fusion58]

1 hour ago, fittobethaied said:

Dear OP,

Sadly, you are among the ranks of a worldwide multitude of vulnerable men/women who are weighed down with sins and led astray by various passions, ideologies and psychologies, who are always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the TRUTH. You go through life, and along the way you pick up little tidbits of untruths that form the basis of your entire belief system, and it is all vanity and meaningless. If you truly want to be set free, then sit down with The Word of God and simply begin to read starting with the Book of Matthew in the New Testament, and your eyes will finally be opened. If you approach the Bible with an open mind and heart, diligently searching the Scriptures with a heart that is prepared to accept the TRUTH, then it will be revealed to you. If you approach it with an attitude of unbelief, then the revelation of God's Word will be shut down, and you will eventually die in your sin, and you will never know the true meaning and purpose of your life. Seek the Lord Jesus while He may be found. Your eternal destiny is at stake my friend. Jesus said, "I am the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE, and no man comes to the Father except through ME".

 

"God is an ever-receding pocket of scientific ignorance."

 

 - Neil DeGrasse Tyson

 

Teaching kids to ask magical beings to solve their problems creates irresponsible adults who fail to find solutions.