T0 - General Comments
I invite you to add your comments about the ideas in this novel to any of the postings, T1 through T40, which have keyword titles that refer to ideas touched on in the novel and which I've seeded with a few thoughts to kick start your reflections. Note: these specific 'seeded thoughts' need not be the focus for your comment(s) about the keyword titles of each section. Write anything you want.
In this 'GENERAL COMMENTS' section (USE THIS SECTION MOST FREQUENTLY) please post your comments pertaining to ideas other than the keywords seen as the titles of the other Threads. If your general comments reflect on anything in the book I'll consider making them into a new Thread. Thank you - Russ
You can post your comment(s) as 'Anonymous.' Please identify yourself within the text of your comment at the beginning of your comment, ie.: Joe ... or ... Mary from Malibu, followed by the text of your comment. You could also use ficticious identification like 'Yoda from Star Wars.'
No comments on this blog are authoritative fact. They're opinions and thoughts. Yours are worthwhile, too.
If you're famous would you please use your full name? I could use the publicity. Thanks.
In this 'GENERAL COMMENTS' section (USE THIS SECTION MOST FREQUENTLY) please post your comments pertaining to ideas other than the keywords seen as the titles of the other Threads. If your general comments reflect on anything in the book I'll consider making them into a new Thread. Thank you - Russ
You can post your comment(s) as 'Anonymous.' Please identify yourself within the text of your comment at the beginning of your comment, ie.: Joe ... or ... Mary from Malibu, followed by the text of your comment. You could also use ficticious identification like 'Yoda from Star Wars.'
No comments on this blog are authoritative fact. They're opinions and thoughts. Yours are worthwhile, too.
If you're famous would you please use your full name? I could use the publicity. Thanks.
posted by Russ | 2:17 AM
15 Comments:
The only political debate remaining in the 21st century is the culture war: the battle between humanism and religion. This book takes the side of humanism and ignors the soaring rates of crime, divorce, and illegitimate births.
Russ here -
I agree with you that the book takes the side of humanism but I don’t think that there’s any war against religion at least not on the book’s part. Gableplunk’s statement that ‘another word for faith is delusion’ represents his reflection on the complexities of life and their contradictions. It’s his contradictory state of mind which
leads to extreme mental tension and its subsequent resolution in a satori
(enlightenment experience) as the tension bursts and brings him out of his (usual)mind into an empty mind free from attachment to concepts, judgements and wars such as the one you describe.
The ending of the book creates that mental state in readers and gives them a little taste of the experience of enlightenment. It also provides a dash of that good old time Conceptual Art about which you’ve heard but rarely experienced.
Divorce may have soared due to the lessening influence of religious dogma in the west as well as the lessening of strict social codes but I don’t think crime has, too. Crime, within a fluctuating range, has always been with us in more or less the same
proportions to the numbers of people in the populations of the world. Maybe
religious ideas have had some positive influence in keeping this range constant, maybe not. Hard to judge. It’s common sense NOT to commit crimes. Most people have common sense in this regard. Some do not. Illegitimate births probably rise and fall in proportion to how ‘illegitimate’ is defined. In Roman times illegitimacy was probably lower than it is now because it was common for illegitimate
children to be accepted, morally and legally, into the households of the people who created them if they could afford to (more men than women of course because the Romans were a patriarchal society, too). There are lots of opinions about these concerns individually and socially. People have to make up their own minds about how they want to address them and not have their minds made up for them by others.
The shouldn’t be any conflict between humanism and Jesus; didn’t Jesus have a
humanistic streak? However, seemingly there is a good deal of conflict between Church dogma and Christ as is perceived by the public. So, except for the time frame, maybe you’re right.
Also, the twenty first century is just beginning. There’ll be LOTS of other wars before it’s over, politically, conceptually and militarily. In fact modern warfare, militarily speaking, may become the Aquarian Age equivalent of the spectacle of the Roman Coliseum as our high tech media makes the visual spectacle available to all. Warfare of various kinds seems to be an experience in which many people revel.
Thanks for offering your opinions. Please feel welcome to expand on them.
The main mistake humanists make is that they don't have the correct concept of God and they don't understand why God exists.
Russ here -
What is the correct concept of God?
The correct concept of God is this:
You exist and I exist, but I am not you and you are not me. We are two different
beings. In other words we are "finite beings." God is a being which is not like this: not finite, or totally other, or, infinite. God is an infinite being.
Stephanie from Vancouver
Here's the facts. People want to BELIEVE. In something. Something that answers their questions. This is where religions come in. Religions invent things that answer peoples' questions (ideas, gods, etc...). They make believe. They make belief systems. This is what they do. They are complete fiction. Realistically there is no real need to believe in anything. You're born, you live, you die. That's it. Everything beyond that is crative spirit. Where does creative spirit come from? From Man or any other creature according to their biological nature. This is what life is. Everything else is play, invention, art. Life is simple and direct. All our science, philosophy, religion and art is the playful exuberance of human nature.
Ramirez from Miami
Religions are clubs and have clubhouse rules. Are you a clubber or are you an
independent thinker? When in Rome, do as the Romans do, at least for business
purposes..... or visa versa. You may ask, “Who am I?”
Russ here-
Exclusivity is a basis for clubs. I am this, you are not. I and people who think like
me are acceptable and others are rejectable. I don’t want any foreign thoughts
muddling my pool. My way is the best way and if I have any say, it’s the only way.
etc.... This idea of exclusivity is the same as the supporting ideas for many
reprehensible (non-humanistic) behaviors and/or clubs from elitism to racism to
xenophobia.
Harris from New York City
Here’s some definitions for you:
Philosopher - from Latin, Philo, love of.
Sophist - a captious or fallacious reasoner.
Sophism - an argument correct in form by embodying a subtle fallacy.
Sophistry - a subtly deceptive reasoning or argument.
Philosophy - a critical study of fundamental beliefs and the grounds for them. The
sum of the ideas and convictions of an individual or group.
Therefore Philosophy is by definition always faulty. There’s always some crazy
assumption at the bottom of every philosophy which, when discovered, makes that
sequence of (seemingly) faultless intellectual constructions, idiotic and ridiculous.
Martin, Carson City
So, philosophy is love of sophism? Makes no sense. Aren't Philosophers supposed to be the best thinkers?
Randall from St. Paul
What determines ‘good?’ Social concepts. A thousand years ago one idea of what
was ‘good’ was the Vikings’ belief that the more people you slaughtered the greater
would be your glory in heaven which they called Valhalla. Even greater would be
your glory if you died while slaughtering. Sound like anything you’ve heard of
recently?
Regarding Christianity, even if Christianity is ruthless and murderous in its responses
to conceptual challenges, it’s an improvement over the ideas of the Vikings, at least
as far as the general population goes, and at least in the last century or two. What’s
the next improvement?
Louise from Baltimore
Life isn’t much different today than it was throughout history except for the
ubiquitousness of consumer goods, housing and sanitation - which is good! The rulers, in our contemporary case, big business and wealthy families, FORCE everyone else to pay taxes in order to support their aims. Their aims are business profits, building up investment capital and business expansion (capitalism) and warfare to shore up their policies and extend their interests and control. Since
warfare and wealthy families have always been with us, is the availability of consumer goods, good housing and sanitation worth the trade-off of feudal monarchies for big
business? Yes. So we’ve improved our society. What’s the next improvement?
Russ
Why are many people reticent to offer their opinions about topics? Is it that it requires thought? People think and verbalize their opinions all the time. Is it lack of confidence in their writing skills? A friend of mine speculated that people don’t want to reveal their inner thoughts and feelings for fear of being censored by other people whose values reflect our cultural bias against the expression of anything that isn’t superficial - they are afraid of being judged negatively by their peers. Personally I don’t want to belong to that kind of peer group and long ago disassociated myself
from people like that.
Unexpectedly, several of my most intelligent friends have said that it’s intimidating to be confronted with ideas that are out of the ordinary. I wonder why? Is it, again, lack of confidence? Or might it be, as one friend suggested, that they don’t want to reveal that they have no solid identity and either have no opinions to offer or are afraid to confront their lack of self definition?
Or is it that many people don’t want to use their time this way with no return for their efforts? What about the satisfaction of self-expression? And what if someone else enjoys your thought(s) and replies to them? This makes you feel valuable. A very nice feeling.
Mark
I have read as much as I can tonight.... I will read more in the next couple of days...
What comes to mind is....
"God is a verb"
Lincoln from Massachusetts
This book is so fucking smart that it's almost impossible to understand how smart (it is).
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