“Embracing what is,” a four-part series:
• As seen on TV: The new, improved hubris
• Belief: The unforgivable sin
• Rationalism cannot save us.
• Hell has an exit.
———— ♦ ————
Rationalists insist that love doesn’t matter. Neither does hope. Neither does joy.
“Rational” and “rationality” refer to the activity of reason. Well and good.
“Rationalist” and “rationalism” refer instead to the dogma that one’s affect ought not be allowed to inform or influence one’s thinking. This is a problem.
Originally posted in July 2005 at Messiah Truth; originally posted here 2015-03-04:
Religiosity can express any of various impulses, including these:
(1) Desire to placate the gods.
(2) Desire magically to assure desired outcomes. This is the essence of the Baal cult. Robert Jenson says it is also the essence of all religions except Christianity (:lol ).
(3) Desire to understand, and live in harmony with, the truth.
My earliest childhood memories are of a sense that there is more to the world than we perceive with our five senses, and of a desire to understand and correctly relate to that larger world. I have my moments or months of what some call doubt, of agnosticism or atheism, but in the end this thing always comes back. I feel it in my flesh and bones. This is ONE foundation of my religiosity.
“Embracing what is,” a four-part series:
• As seen on TV: The new, improved hubris
• Belief: The unforgivable sin
• Rationalism cannot save us.
• Hell has an exit.
———— ♦ ————
A timely quote from Bertrand Russell: “Zeal is a bad mark for a cause. It suggests one is not quite certain. It is not the vaccinationists, but the anti-vaccinationists, who are zealous. No one is zealous about arithmetic.”
The homeless shelter where I stay makes us sit through chapel for an hour every night. A few days ago, this new preacher addressed us for the first time. Shortly into his presentation, he became hysterical, and stayed that way for fifty minutes. He wept. He screamed. He did not persuade anyone of anything.
Jeffrey Tayler sets forth that atheism is just as settled as arithmetic; but he is just as zealous as that preacher — and just as unpersuasive. In effect, he preaches only to the choir.
I have chosen to keep the alliterative title for this post, though it proves mistaken. Below appears an e-mail exchange of August 20, 2013 between Brian Williard, O.B.M., and myself. In his original message, Brian copied, as he often did, the program summary of a segment on Coast to Coast, a nighttime radio talk show that often deals with UFOs and other strange subjects. The “imminent blog post” referred to appears to be “The New Age is a lot of hooey.”
Related:
Leadership, Patton and Jesus
Through a glass, darkly
Brian wrote:
I don’t know if he promotes this idea, but some believe this guy is the reincarnation of Edgar Cayce:
“Embracing what is,” a four-part series:
• As seen on TV: The new, improved hubris
• Belief: The unforgivable sin
• Rationalism cannot save us.
• Hell has an exit.
———— ♦ ————
The Khoisan have never left the Stone Age. Neither have we.
(I’m not happy with this audio, and will replace it in due course.)
This is the first installment in an anticipated four-part series for which the working title is, “Embracing what is.”
The title for this first installment could be, “As seen on TV: The new, improved hubris.”
It’s gluten-free.
All it needs now is an appearance on Dr. Oz.
How can any trendy, with-it person fail to be atheist?
Of the inertial prevalence of belief, Steve Siebold says, “This wouldn’t be surprising 2,000 or even 200 years ago, but in 2014 it’s almost unbelievable.”
In this poem, George S. Patton sets forth his impressions of his previous lives.
Related:
Leadership, Patton and Jesus
Hancock, Hannibal and Hitler
THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY
by Gen. George S. Patton, Jr.
Through the travail of the ages,
Midst the pomp and toil of war,
Have I fought and strove and perished
Countless times upon this star.
In a blog post of July 19, 2014, I declared my ambition to become the “Nemesis of the morning glories” in the garden out behind my church. My plan was to spend four hours per week specifically weeding the morning glories in that garden.
On Monday, October 20, 2014, I wrote, “The morning glories are vanquished. As of today, they are under control throughout the entire garden.”
The Homeless Blogger 