In a previous post here, I quoted Harold Pollack, who said, “Local governments, corporations, intolerant majorities can pose equally worrisome threats, too. There’s just more to fear in this world than are dreamt of in libertarian philosophy.”
Here’s another great quote along the same lines:
My favorite definition of libertarianism was by LOLGOP: The belief that oppression is best left to the private sector.
via commodifiedsouls said: My favorite definition of… – Seriously, USA?.
Isaac Asimov on Humanism:
Humanists believe that human beings produced the progressive advance of human society and also the ills that plague it. They believe that if the ills are to be alleviated, it is humanity that will have to do the job.
via Religion vs. Humanism: Isaac Asimov on the Spirituality of Science | Brain Pickings.
In America, Christians used to burn people to death for not being Christians. The fact that this is true ought to give pause to all American Christians about doing anything, ever.
American Christianity and American politics today are based on a fearful hatred of imaginary Satanic baby-killers and the impulse to combat them by punishing non-imaginary women.
None of this is new. It was already an ancient pattern long before it was embraced by the “divines” who executed innocent women in Salem.
via 2. ‘The Conjuring’ reminds us that the only way to stop Satanic baby-killers is to punish women.
Go out there, Christian, and love your neighbor. And stop lighting fires.
So, being honest: I’ve felt just stupid and useless for years now. Everybody has a job; everybody’s mastered the raising of children; everybody but me is so good at things! Everybody! Except me.
So then my complex inferiority ran across an article like this:
Get specific. As I said, we can know we’re inferior in some ways. If you find yourself feeling inferior, ask yourself: “Okay, exactly who do I feel inferior to?” Narrow it down.
Emotional thinking is always sloppy, so tighten it up to make it less emotional. There are close to seven billion people on this planet (last time I counted). What kind of person do you feel inferior to? Rich people? Good looking people? Very academic people? People you view as accomplished? Most people aren’t these things.
Now get even more specific; name names to yourself. “Actually, I feel inferior to Bob down the street.” Why? How, specifically, is Bob better than you?
I do feel inferior and this quote makes me think that the friends I’ve been comparing myself to for years now are the smart, articulate, academic, successful bloggers that I read everyday and the smart, well spoken, well read contributors on the Diane Rehm Weekly News Roundup and the Slate Political Gabfest every week. No wonder I feel stupid and inarticulate compared to this batch of professional academics, reporters, intellectuals, and social media gurus.
I mean, I am stupid and inarticulate compared to those folks, but probably not compare to whoever’s reading my blog. That is, you. I mean you. Do you think I’m stupid?
(Honestly, I feel just completely stupid!) (But I’m starting so see that maybe I shouldn’t feel bad about that because of how stupid most people, you included, really actually are.)
This talk provided me with a full page of notes about judging success, failure, justice, envy, and tragedy. Lots to think about.
Alain de Botton: A kinder, gentler philosophy of success | Video on TED.com.
I am someone who is easily distracted, and in my experience that means the more I try to do the less I actually accomplish. As such I could get behind this philosophy:
Doing too much is wrong. By definition, too much is always more than enough.
via Compassion for multitasking women | International Institute of Not Doing Much.
There exists a website dedicated to the existential wisdom of Jeff Bridges’ character in the movie The Big Lebowski. Here are two zen koans derived from his dialog in the movie. These really resonate with where I am right now in my Christian journey and my understanding of what the Bible tells us.
How do we reconcile not knowing with the need to know?
Not-Knowing is most intimate.
James McGrath on the question, “What would Jesus do?” I’m quoting the majority of his post here because the paragraphs build on each other and just wouldn’t make the same point unless presented together. But if you follow the link to his site you can see the web comic that inspired his post.
And so we really are asking not “What would Jesus do?” but “As the person I am, with the values I have, considering myself a follower of Jesus, what should I do in this situation?”
There are no cookie-cutter answers to such questions in the Gospels. Curse a fig tree? Ditch one’s parents when on a family trip? Overturn money changers? Touch people with skin diseases? Speak in parables?
Jesus is looked to in the New Testament as an example of humility. And so to envisage him asking what he would do, as though he himself is the person that he admires most, is probably – hopefully – on the wrong track.
And so is any belief that one is superior because one asks “What would Jesus do?” when others do not.
Christians are just as capable of being unlike Jesus as others are capable of resembling him more than we do. Although it may take Christlike humility to admit it.
From the Slacktivist:
“If you’re a seeker and you need a guide, someone to counsel you so you can find your way forward into a spiritual realm. And you’re on an airplane. Don’t look in first class.” — John Patrick Shanley
This from the album by Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, Open Season On My Heart:
I can’t be something that I’m not
I cant give what I haven’t got
Heres turning heartaches into art
Its open season on my heart