Spirituality Archives
Now we are ready to look at something pretty special.
It is a duck riding the ocean a hundred feet beyond the surf,
And he cuddles in the swells.
There is a big heaving in the Atlantic.
And he is part of it.
He can rest while the Atlantic heaves, because he rests in the Atlantic.
Probably he doesn’t know how large the ocean is.
And neither do you.
But he realizes it.
And what does he do, I ask you.
He sits down in it.
He reposes in the immediate as if it were infinity – which it is.
That is religion, and the duck has it.
I like the little duck.
He doesn’t know much.
But he has religion.
-Donald Babcock, The Lyfe Poems of Donald Babcock
I have tried not to post about this subject because, as my wife reminds me, it just lends credibility to the wackjobs out there but this seems like big enough news because there are actually people out there that let some old German dude in a dress make up their minds for them.
Yes, out of nowhere a voice of reason from within the religious world! The pope has said what reasonable people had concluded long ago. Namely that evolution and spirituality need not be mutually exclusive. "While there is much scientific proof to support evolution, the theory could not exclude a role by God." He goes further. stating "that we must see and which enriches our understanding of life and being as such.”
In addition Pope Benedict had word about the environment and our role as stewards.
"Benedict also said the human race must listen to 'the voice of the Earth' or risk destroying its very existence" and that "willfully damaging the environment is sinful."
In the interview Butler addresses why he smashed his guitar on Saturday Night Live a couple weeks ago (it was cutting him and he hated it) and speaks about society and religion today (not to mention how much being a kid sucks). He sounds smart and thoughtful and it goes a long way to helping me forget the smashing of the guitar - plus I really love their new album Neon Bible and their show a couple years ago was among the top 2 or 3 concert experiences of my life..
Here is something he told the interviewer at the very end of the interview that strikes a chord with me because it captures a big part of why I am so angry with the way things are going in our country and in me.
When you read Martin Luther King's speeches about Vietnam, it could be today. Just change the word, and you're talking about the exact same situation. We're basically causing spiritual death in our country by doing what we're doing. At a certain point, you become morally unable to do good in the world, because the country gets so cynical and depressed, there isn't the force of will to try and change things. I definitely feel that in my generation, this kind of fatigue. And I feel that myself. You've got to fight it.
If God dwells inside us, like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that's what He's getting!
An article in yesterday's Star Tribune stirred my pot a bit and got me thinking about the cartoon degrading the Prophet Mohammed and the ensuing uproar, hand-wringing, and torching of embassies. In the article, the owner of my favorite Middle Eastern deli, Holy Land in NE Minneapolis, takes the issue to heart in much the same way much of the Muslim world did and posted the following in his establishment:
Dear Customer. The Denmark newspaper published a cartoon degrading the Prophet Mohammed. The Denmark government refuses to apologize to the Muslim world for this; therefore Holy Land management decided to join the other business leaders in the world to boycott all products made in Denmark.
In the article, Holy Land owner, Majdi Wadi claims that if some of his patrons (a diverse bunch to be sure) have an issue with his boycott, they should come talk with him. He even says if they can convince him to change his mind he will take the signs down.
I respect freedom of speech," he continued, "but I think there must be limits. I think there should be an international law to protect beliefs. It is wrong not to respect Jesus. It is wrong not to respect Buddha. And it is wrong to not respect the Prophet Mohammed.
Now I would love to go and speak with Mr. Wadi, but being Minnesotan, there is a pretty good chance that confrontation will never occur. So instead, in typical passive-aggressive (aka "Minnesota nice") fashion, I will lay out why Holy Land should reverse its policy and why I am now boycotting one of my favorite markets.
- The boycott is asking for something from the wrong people. It wrongly states that "The Denmark newspaper" published these cartoons. It was the Jyllands-Posten. The Danish government is not, nor should it be, under any obligation to apologize for the free speech, its citizens make use of.
- The boycott targets the wrong people. Don't buy the newspapers and magazines that printed the degrading cartoons. What do the people who make chocolate and cheese have to do with these cartoons other than living in the same country? Only 150,000 (of more than 5 million) Danish people even see the Jyllands-Posten newspaper each day.
- When people start to decide what the limits of free speech are, then we are all in trouble. You cannot protect beliefs with laws against speaking out against such beliefs. What if my belief is that Quentin Tarantino was a prophet? Does that make claims that some of his movies suck ass, blasphemy?
- Living in America means that you may, if you choose, practice freedom of speech and must also be tolerant of others rights to do so. Presumably that is one of the main draws, bringing countless hopeful immigrants to this country each year from places, like Vietnam, China, and yes, even the Middle East - places where it isn't always acceptable to speak your mind.
I doubt I will find many things to agree with Christopher Hitchens about but on this Islamic cartoon "scandal" he and I can agree. In a column at Slate Hitchens makes my argument much better than I could about why the fanatics in the Muslim world are hurting themselves and are even somewhat successful in their goal of affecting and changing life in the United States and other "western" countries.
The prohibition on picturing the prophet—who was only another male mammal—is apparently absolute. So is the prohibition on pork or alcohol or, in some Muslim societies, music or dancing. Very well then, let a good Muslim abstain rigorously from all these. But if he claims the right to make me abstain as well, he offers the clearest possible warning and proof of an aggressive intent.
We cannot, and indeed, should not, refuse to publish such a cartoon as that published first in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. Our news media should not bow to extremism in any of its forms — there is sensitivity and then there is fear and cowardice.
I am not asking for the right to slaughter a pig in a synagogue or mosque or to relieve myself on a "holy" book. But I will not be told I can't eat pork, and I will not respect those who burn books on a regular basis. I, too, have strong convictions and beliefs and value the Enlightenment above any priesthood or any sacred fetish-object. It is revolting to me to breathe the same air as wafts from the exhalations of the madrasahs, or the reeking fumes of the suicide-murderers, or the sermons of Billy Graham and Joseph Ratzinger. But these same principles of mine also prevent me from wreaking random violence on the nearest church, or kidnapping a Muslim at random and holding him hostage, or violating diplomatic immunity by attacking the embassy or the envoys of even the most despotic Islamic state, or making a moronic spectacle of myself threatening blood and fire to faraway individuals who may have hurt my feelings.
Hitchens doesn't reserve his criticism for just the weak-kneed U.S. media or the over-reacting extremists but also lashed out at the Bush administration for its own trampling of the 1st Amendment and disregard for upholding its own rights in the face of such scrutiny. He closes his rant with the following remarks:
And civil society means that free expression trumps the emotions of anyone to whom free expression might be inconvenient. It is depressing to have to restate these obvious precepts, and it is positively outrageous that the administration should have discarded them at the very first sign of a fight.
There's no war on Christmas. I hate to break it to all those oppressed American Christians and their rabbi friend who wrote the following fairytale.
Well, David, that’s the dark little secret that only your Grandpa and a few others knew. These people weren’t anti-religious as much as they were anti-Christian: anti- the majority religion that made America, America. They weren’t against Allah or African gods. They hated the Christian God. Many simply despised Christians of Faith, hated them as people.
I want to make sure no one thinks I have any problem with Christmas. I love the secular celebration known, now, as Christmas. I love the secular spending spree it has become. Actually I am not crazy about the consumerism of the season (much like these guys who showed up at the Church Mall of America last week) but I admit I do get into the "spirit" of it and time I get to spend with family and friends. I am just tired of people getting on their high horse about things - this time of year especially. This writer has a few (coarse) words for those same people at - ahem, pardon my French, fuckchristmas.org
Here is an excerpt:
Christmas isn’t fucking Christian. Ok, now we’re talking.
That’s right, that Yuletide cheer you’re spreading? What exactly do you think Yule is? It's the fucking Pagan celebration of solstice. And those “Christmas” traditions? They’re not just like Pagan rituals, they fucking are Pagan rituals. Way before your Jesus got all magical with the bread and fishes, the Romans were celebrating the birth of Mithra on . . . guess? Go on – guess. December fucking twenty fifth. What a weird coincidence. Practically the whole thing is ripped off from the fucking Druids and the Romans. Twelve days? Check. Exchanging gifts? Check. Mistletoe? Check.
Oh and by the way, there is still a very costly real war still going on.
When I first saw a link to this article I really did not want to follow it. What do I care, I thought, what Penn of Penn and Teller thinks about god? I am glad I read it. Aside from some awkwardly worded statements I think his description of why he believes there is no god is one of the best expressions of such a feeling I have seen.
Believing there's no God means I can't really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories. That's good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful. I have to try to treat people right the first time around.
Penn Jillette has furthered my definition, or rather my understanding of humanism and has shown me a way to discuss things with people of different faiths.
Believing there's no God stops me from being solipsistic. I can read ideas from all different people from all different cultures. Without God, we can agree on reality, and I can keep learning where I'm wrong. We can all keep adjusting, so we can really communicate. I don't travel in circles where people say, "I have faith, I believe this in my heart and nothing you can say or do can shake my faith." That's just a long-winded religious way to say, "shut up," or another two words that the FCC likes less. But all obscenity is less insulting than, "How I was brought up and my imaginary friend means more to me than anything you can ever say or do." So, believing there is no God lets me be proven wrong and that's always fun. It means I'm learning something.
Penn Jillette is smarter than either his politics or magic shows would have led me to believe.
Believing there is no God means the suffering I've seen in my family, and indeed all the suffering in the world, isn't caused by an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent force that isn't bothered to help or is just testing us, but rather something we all may be able to help others with in the future. No God means the possibility of less suffering in the future.
Amen, brother! Now let us all forget about planning for what's next and focus on the here and now. Love the one you're with. Don't pine for and crave something else.
- Patent Room is a very neat site showcasing drawings submitted with patent applications of the 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s.
- I really need very little reason to post a link about Daniel Quinn's novel Ishmael Jason's post/mini review of it seems like reason enough. I have been thinking more and more about these issues lately. These things go in cycles.
- Flash + Evangelical Christianity + Kirk Cameron = A maddening desire to kill
- Nice CSS dropshadow technique that doesn't use CSS hacks or javascript.
- If you saw any of the following: Hollow Man, Vertical Limit, A Knight's Tale, The Animal, or The Patriot in a theater you may be entitled to your money back (pdf). Looks as though Sony used a made-up film critic named: David Manning to hype those films. God, if I could just get the same deal for: American Psycho, Blade, Congo, The Haunting, Malibu's Most Wanted, and Mr. Deeds.
- Snopes' list of unanswerable questions they have received that have a sense of urgency to them. Some favorites include mention of: Cat's eating a dead person's face off, hickies, penguin eggs, bananas, witches, and Corona among many other bizarre requests. Some of the requests however really give Snopes a lot of credit. Here is my favorite:
if anyone understands what im (sic). saying please e-mail me at this e-mail adress (sic).
does anyone here bilieve (sic) that there are aliens in other planets? who really made us is there really a god? im not saying there isnt (sic). but who made god? seriously please answer back at me
- Ever wanted to compare Google Maps and Microsoft Virtual Earth side-by-side?
Atheist. Agnostic. Thanks to the writings of Kurt Vonnegut, I now have a new label to use when describing my views: Humanist
I am thinking it's a sign that the freckles
In our eyes are mirror images and when
We kiss they're perfectly aligned
And I have to speculate that God himself
Did make us into corresponding shapes like
Puzzle pieces from the clay
True, it may seem like a stretch, but
Its thoughts like this that catch my troubled
Head when you're away when I am missing you to death
When you are out there on the road for
Several weeks of shows and when you scan
The radio, I hope this song will guide you home
They won't see us waving from such great
Heights, 'come down now,' they'll say
But everything looks perfect from far away,
'come down now,' but we'll stay...
- The Postal Service, Such Great Heights
Do you realize
That you have the most beautiful face?
Do you realize
We're floating in space?
Do you realize
That happiness makes you cry?
Do you realize
That everyone you know someday will die?
And instead of saying all of your good-byes
Let them know you realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn't go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round.
Do you realize?
- The Flaming Lips, Do You Realize?
Your body may be gone, I'm gonna carry you in.
In my head, in my heart, in my soul.
And maybe we'll get lucky and we'll both live again.
Well I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Don't think so.
...
The ocean breathes salty, won't you carry it in?
In your head, in your mouth, in your soul.
And maybe we'll get lucky and we'll both grow old.
Well I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I hope so.
...
Well that is that and this is this.
Will you tell me what you saw and I'll tell you what you missed,
when the ocean met the sky.
You missed when time and life shook hands and said goodbye.
When the earth folded on itself.
And said "Good luck, for your sake I hope heaven and hell
are really there, but I wouldn't hold my breath."
You wasted life, why wouldn't you waste death?
You wasted life, why wouldn't you waste death?
- Modest Mouse, Ocean Breathes Salty
I get very frustrated with people who are stubborn. I stubbornly insist that people should be a certain way I guess. What really bothers me is when people do not (will not) do things that are good for them. This could be as simple as people not eating many things. I know more than a few people who won't eat any vegetables. That is just plain wrong. I know plenty of people who will not eat anything they have not already had. I mean come on do these people think they have tried all that is good to eat in the world?
I also get frustrated when people cannot see the merit of a book or movie that I really love. It could be a need for me to validate my own feelings but I really do think I need that validation and I am pretty "confident" in my ability to assess things like that.
I am not sure why I get so angry/frustrated/saddened at minor things like this - I just do. But that (along with some recent correspondences) got me thinking how frustrating it must be for "people of faith" who believe whole-heartedly in their own religious view, not to be able to convince someone of the right way to live and what to believe. I imagine it might feel like grabbing someone’s arm when they are falling off a cliff and knowing that you will eventually lose your grip and the person will fall. Do people who believe in divine salvation walk around all day and see people who are not "seeing the light" as merely zombies - shells of what they could be - vessels heading over that cliff without even knowing they could be "saved"?
Talk about frustration!
"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."
- Stephen Roberts
[from the *very* dormant mouser.org]
Engrish subtitles for the Two Towers - pretty damn funny stuff. (If you are a nerd)
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"I'm going to ask my landlord if I can get a bird. And then I'm going to get an ostrich."
--A guy at Juan's Place [heard
In Passing]
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Wondering where to go for your next vacation? Well,
wonder no more!
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Sometime between not taking that typing class back in 1992 and today I learned how to type without looking at the keyboard. You would think I would have already been able to touch type since I have been working with computers professionally for just about 8 years now, but I seem to never trust myself to let go and just look up. I just realized however, that I have been looking up and typing lately. It seems weird and I usually screw up if I think about it too much.
"They would have told me that in an important sense God was a product of the creative imagination, like the poetry and music that I found so inspiring. A few highly respected monotheists would have told me quietly and firmly that God did not really exist - and yet that 'he' was the most important reality in the world."
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I gots to get me
one of these. [link now requires subscription]]
Jason posted a
link to a NY Times article on the origins and evolution of religion, which fit in nicely with the book I am reading:
A History of God, by Karen Armstrong. In this book Armstrong puts down the results of her research of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as well as, and to a lesser extent, a few other religions and ideologies.
"The human idea of God has a history, since it has always meant something slightly different to each group of people who have used it at various points of time. The idea of God formed in one generation by one set of human beings could be meaningless in another. Indeed, the statement 'I believe in God' has no objective meaning, as such, but like and other statement only means something in context, when proclaimed by a particular community. Consequently there is no one unchanging idea contained in the word 'God'; instead, the word contains a whole spectrum of meanings, some of which are contradictory or even mutually exclusive."
She takes a pretty pragmatic approach at looking at how religious beliefs have formed and changed throughout history. It seems that humans may have always had religious feelings - an idea that may even be central to how we became human. This sense of spirit or connection with something larger than us has always driven us to wonder, create, sing, fear, and ultimately evolve our society into what it has become today.
It seems too, that religion is highly pragmatic. "...it is far more important for a particular idea of God to
work than for it to be ideologically or scientifically sound." The last quote brings to a point the problems I have always had with religion. I have always been very interested in proving that an idea was thoroughly sound before "putting my stock" in it. Much less important to me is how a particular view could make my life better, a way of living that could help me achieve greater piece. Maybe what religious folks call
faith is actually just the ability to give up on finding proof and just selecting a set of rules that you can live with - perhaps not the perfect set of rules - without flaws, but a set that will no doubt lead to greater satisfaction.
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I have always thought of video games as more or less consumable goods.
Some people would obviously disagree, ahem,
Brent
Just because I happen to be packing my home office up in preparation for yet another move in a month or so, and I am going through all my computer games and game boxes, I decided to make this list of my 10 favorite games (ranked primarily by number of hours spent playing them). I have lumped like games together for ease and clarity. Here goes:
- Pool of Radiance
- Diablo I & II
- Tetris
- Myst, Riven
- Pirates, Pirates Gold
- Baldur's Gate (and subsequent spin-offs and expansions)
- Sim City, 2000, 3000
- Ultima Online
- Madden Football (all the versions)
- Civilization I, II, & III
Honorable Mention:
Neverwinter Nights and three old Apple IIgs games: Ultima IV,
Defender of the Crown, and
King of Chicago.
Please not that this list is based upon the hours I have played each game. I may, at some point, come out with a list based on what I think are the "best" games ever at some point soon.
I apologize for bringing old news, I have been without internet access at home have stopped watching TV, and do not get the paper. Even so I would have thought
news of a proposed (passed) group of citizen spies equaling nearly 1 in every 24 U.S. citizens would have made it to me somehow. Why wasn't there larger coverage of this in the news media or among bloggers?
The focus of the recruitment efforts for this, STAZI-like new citizen "watchdog group" will be people with regular access to people's homes, businesses, and transport systems -people like mail carriers, utility employees, house cleaners, and truck drivers.
If you have problems with the link above please use
this one.
This is all part of the administration's development of the
Citizen Corps and I just do not like it. Look at that
site, full of propaganda and "patriotic images." The breadth of potential involvement opportunities is unnerving. I can imagine neighbors reporting neighbors, or old women reporting "those suspicious people with darker skin" and I fear that not much is going to come from this that will be beneficial- just more fear, suspicion, and less community among neighbors.
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I was quite surprised to hear it when an otherwise rational, mostly intelligent (except of r that whole Republican thing) friend of mine told me that the closest thing he has to religion is what he sees on the
John Edward show. He was actually planning to fly to the show to be on it - to surmise if it was real or not.
Now, this friend of mine claimed Mr. Edward doesn't do the whole "pshycic"-asking-vague-quesstion thing. But my research into him tells me otherwise.
This article covers an appearance on Larry King Live in which Mr. Edward uses the tried and true "I am getting an 'S' or maybe a 'T' type thing. I just cannot respect his "powers", sorry Jeff.
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A family was kicked off a plane for asking if the pilots were sober. [from
MetaFilter]
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It seems the folks working on
MIT's Blogdex project are remaining busy. I don't know how long they have been working on the
Social Network Explorer, but it seems that it is still a work in progress. It is somewhat interesting though with the whole concepts of "friends" of sites and then recommendations for surfers based on those friends most likely.
I feel that my motivations for how I want to live and who I vote for tend to be pretty altruistic. My thoughts about the future and preserving the planet for future generations must come from somewhere - and this is coming from someone who never plans to have kids of his own.
Al"tru*ism, n. - 1. Regard for others, both natural and moral; devotion to the interests of others; brotherly kindness; -- opposed to egoism or selfishness. 2.
Zoology. Instinctive cooperative behavior that is detrimental to the individual, but contributes to the survival of the species.
I really thought everyone was like me. Everyone really thought that this was the right way to live - maybe they didn't always see fit to live like they thought, but they knew they should. In steps Ayn Rand. I had
The Fountainhead and
Atlas Shrugged on a list of books to read for going on ten years now. When I finally got around to them, I was sorely disappointed to find
Objectivism at the heart of her ideas. Objectivism is nearly the only formulated way of thinking that denies altruism and claims self reward as the only goal of life. I think it was
Cam that told me that Rand's books are the romance novels for Capitalists - and so they seem to me - Capitalists and Republicans too!
However good I feel claiming to be altruistic (or bad since the associated guilt can be bothersome) I still can not explain why I might feel this way. Why should I care? I am not going to have offspring filling the earth. I do not believe that I am going to have to reckon for my sins when my life ends. Why do I care? No really, I am sincerely asking because I don't know. Here is some reading I have been doing:
Why Altruism?,
Altruism: A Scientific Perspective,
Ayn Rand dot org,
The Fallacies of Egoism and Altruism, and the Fundamental Principle of Morality,
Capitalism vs. Altruism and the "Achievements" of the Soviet Empire,
The Evolution of Altruism
I have half-finished posts that never were to see the light of day and I thought, hey in the spirit of reduce, reuse, and recycle I could clean out all my old draft posts and turn them into some lazy Saturday afternoon reading. Enjoy.
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I stumbled across this
page of old maps of Minnesota and found them very interesting. Some of the maps show growth by area withing the Minneapolis St. Paul region while another show the burgeoning transit system in the area. The last map, dated 1935 shows a city planning map of downtown Minneapolis. Areas are marked by what was found there or who lived/worked there - Lower middle class, Workingman's homes, Slum, Middle class residential, etc. There is even one area marked "Negro Section (Largest in City)". I believe that to be much different to city planning maps of today - but I wonder how much different mindsets are.
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Also in the How to Piss Me Off curriculum: Tell me that part of the land I just bought actually belongs to you.
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A
hoax was reported by Salon.com over a year and a half ago about an apparent suicide due, in part, to the most popular online game
EverQuest and the addictive way in which it affects many players. The
EverQuest online community claims that people with addictive personalities can become addicted to anything and that the game is not inherently addictive. But isn't it? I have only played EverQuest once for a total of about 10 minutes, but once spent many, many hours playing
Ultima Online, another (PSW) Persistent State World where things are constantly happening even when you are not logged in. You cannot just save and expect everything to be OK. Your home (which you really need to save money up to purchase) can be broken into when you are offline, your treasures could be stolen, and entire storylines, quests, and news can pass you by. In this way you are compelled to stay online as much as possible. Plus you "know" people online. There are often tens of thousands of other players online at once and you get to know them - you join guilds with them, or go to war against them. There is so much at stake (literally months if not years of time spent playing and accumulating goods) that you can sometimes forget that none of it is real. If you were then somewhat less stable then the average bear, I see how it would be possible to get very depressed about losing everything. Especially if the only thing you looked forward to in your real life was your fantasy life.
The suicide reported in November of 2000 turned out to be fake, however last November's
suicide by a Wisconsin man was no joke and is bringing back the questions about these types of games and has prompted a lawsuit by the man's mother against Sony (who owns and runs EverQuest.)
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On occasion I have had the opportunity to meet someone of the Mormon faith or a Jehovah's Witness and I am, each time, astounded that they are the most upbeat and optimistic (if not also somewhat naive and innocent about the "ways of the world") people I have ever met. This holds true for Mormons and JW's that I have been exposed to via TV and magazines. They all just seem so damned nice and content. (of course
I could be wrong)
Don't get me wrong, I tend to be pretty optimistic in general and some who know me call me content as if they we're hurling an axe at me, but these Mormons and JW's are just too content. Without getting too much into where that feeling comes from, I can only say that they seem at peace while the vast majority of us are in various stages of turmoil throughout our lives.
As Jena recently said to me, "All I got from being brought up Catholic is all this crappy guilt. I wish I was a Mormon!" after coming to the realization, yet again, that Mormon's are always happy people.
I find myself envious of them too. I would love to be at peace with questions of who, what, where, why, and when of my place in this world and the next. We both have said we wished were were born into a family of Mormon's or Jehovah's Witnesses. But we are damned. Damned to always doubt and damned to never know what it truly is like to be content.
I think
Mark and I are having a conversation here. Though I am not sure if he knows it. In his
post on April 23rd, Mark gave a quote by Richard Dawkins that I mentioned far less eloquently in
my post on the 20th. Here is the quote:
"Out of all of the [religious] sects in the world, we notice an uncanny coincidence: the overwhelming majority just happen to choose the one that their parents belong to. Not the sect that has the best evidence in its favour, the best miracles, the best moral code, the best cathedral, the best stained glass, the best music: when it comes to choosing from the smorgasbord of available religions, their potential virtues seem to count for nothing, compared to the matter of heredity. This is an unmistakable fact; nobody could seriously deny it. Yet people with full knowledge of the arbitrary nature of this heredity, somehow manage to go on believing in their religion, often with such fanaticism that they are prepared to murder people who follow a different one." - Richard Dawkins
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Fun Friday time killer:
If you haven't heard these
Budweiser Real American Heroes Radio Spots you should go there now. Favorites? Mr. Really Bad Toupee Wearer, Mr. Pickled Pig's Feet Eater, Mr. Driving Range Ball Picker Upper, and of course Mr. Garden Gnome Maker.
I have been thinking lately about going to church. Not that I am going to do it mind you, but I have been thinking about it. When I think about it though I get angry. I really do not like religions and their presumptions that they alone have it right. I would really enjoy to go somewhere once a week and talk about issues, philosophy, the world, whatever, with people of different faiths that also recognize that no one set of beliefs is infallible. We could look to the Quran, the Bible, and the Vedas among many other texts for insight and information. It could be something along the lines of
Bahaiism (which I just discovered while researching this idea) but different in key ways also. I think it would truly be enlightening and would think that it would have broad appeal. But that is my optimistic self talking. I fear there are far too many people who just go to the church that their parents went to without questioning why or caring what it means.
I am still up. It is after midnight and I have done a bit of surfing. That's really something I do not do a lot of any more. I used to feel quite bad about that, but now I am not so sure. From now on, I may just go to my dozen or so sites that I like to read and call it a day. It's not that I do not want to see new sites and experience new things, it's just that I feel the more I see, the less creative I can be. You know what I mean. Have you ever been formulating some idea in your head - even to the point where you were planning how you may do something and then, you innocently click on a link and there you have your idea realized. Maybe in a way you would have loved to have done it in? I think the same thing about writing. As I contemplate a more structured type of writing, essays and short stories, I almost fear to read more books. I can feel my writing style being affected with every book I read, just as my web design and project ideas are swayed and influenced by the sites I visit. I need to find a way to balance things.
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I haven't forgotten to post about "what I learned" at SXSW, I'm just not ready is all.
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Question: Why do I get so angry (inside in my usual Minnesota way) at people who try to hand me religious literature?
Answer: I don't know. From a logical perspective I recognize that if I truly believed in something so much I would want to tell people either via this site, in conversation, or yes even in propaganda form. My gut reaction however, is to say fuck you, I won't do what you tell me. Really closer to what I am thinking is, that I hate when people presume to know something - some great truth that I do not. But that's not really entirely it either. If Stephen Hawking was lecturing me on the nuances of black holes, you better believe I would accept him as having much more knowledge of the subject than me. No, there is something more - I just don't know what it is. Am I still not over the arrogance I have had in thinking that God is a crutch for the weak? Those kind of statements have landed me in many a hot spot in the past - and I believe it much less than I did in the past - but do I still believe it a little all the same? I don't know.
The Pope did some pontificating and
made statements condemning illness as a sign of sin. Oh that crazy Pope.
