I thought this Times piece on the early Earth was a fascinating read. It reminded me of the fact that I've sunken to a new, and old, low: computer games. I've begun playing the latest release from Maxis, better known as the company under Will Wright that produced the SimCity series: Spore, a game where players follow their biological creations from single cell to space-traveler. God, kill me now.
In other news, I've been thinking more and more about joining a community. No, I'm not referring to Alex's "snuggies" cult, but a positive community of like-minded people. I figure that aside from Settlers of Cataan interest groups, one to which I almost was made party last weekend, a church might be my only salvation—pun intended. Of course, being a free-thinker—or a rationalist, atheist, agnostic, post-Christian, Jeffersonian, or what-have-you—it is a hard decision of which sort of church/community group to join.
Some friends have said I'm being daft; for what reason would I want to join a church? If everything has a biological end, then what is serving to bind me to the spiritual needs of another man? Well, perhaps it is because religion has cornered the market on "spirituality," for lack of a better term, and the churches serve the purpose of uniting people of common spiritual tenets.
Perhaps I have never asked or we've never discussed it, but what are the religious views among this group, out of curiosity? I know several of yours, and they range from agnosticism to apathy to religious orthodoxy, but I don't have a cohesive grasp of where this group stands on personal moral values. It's interesting to me that we can divorce our moral face from our public personality; I'd imagine it would have been impossible forty years ago.
I think personal moral convictions are absolutely important to discuss; they're the only means to knowing better what, in fact, we believe. I don't mind if someone is a Christian or a Satanist, an atheist or a devout papist, just the same as I don't care if one's reward for good deeds is today or tomorrow: it's one of the clearest signs of a deep character, to be able to peer into someone's intellect.
Anyhow, just a thought.
5 comments:
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I'm kinda hurt that you don't consider the Snugs to be a positive community.
I apologize. The "snuggies" deserve some respect, as long as they're not Scientologists, too.
I think it's fallacious, at least when speaking of this here Post-Burg clan, to draw any sort of connection between religious views and "personal moral convictions." I'm not religious at all, but I still try to maintain an ethical code of conduct. If you resist conflating the two, I think you'll find that most people are willing to publicly defend their ethics.
As for a community group, have you considered stuff that maybe isn't religiously motivated? E.g., book clubs? Volunteering? Bowling leagues? Insofar as they reflect on the interests and inner lives of their participants, these groups seem just as spiritual to me as any bona fide religious institution. Really: for all the "markets" that religion has purportedly "cornered" -- bigotry, knee-jerk demagoguery, tax exemption -- spirituality doesn't seem to be one of them.
Also, this confuses the hell out of me: "it's one of the clearest signs of a deep character, to be able to peer into someone's intellect."
Seems like it belongs on a Salada tea bag.
Dan,
How much more esoteric must my writing become before it ends up on a Yogi tea bag?
Yes, it would be fallacious to equate "religious values" with "personal moral convictions." That wasn't my intention, and if the passage seemingly led to that argument, I apologize for its muddled nature.
No, religion does not lead to moral convictions, necessarily; I would probably be one of the last persons to state that religion has been more beneficial than detrimental to morality and the human condition. Perhaps all I need say is I see almost eye-to-eye with Bertrand Russell on that point.
You know as well that you and I share some similar views on the ideas of belief and religion. I enjoyed your very Jeffersonian criticism of religion's "markets," too; of course, I agree. But those markets aren't the sole arenas of religious belief; I'd say they feed off of apathy and other forms of dogmatic control.
Even so, I think you missed the crux of my post: I'm not attempting to agitate a moral or religious defense. Rather, I'm interested in a discussion, as to where people stand on their own, as you call it, "ethical code of conduct"?
I would also refuse to speak for "the majority of people." I hope my general statement about the possibility of distancing ourselves from discussing morality had avoided that issue.
To return to my Salada statement here: Yes, I'd say it's deep insight into a person's character to see the cognitive wheels at work.
Regardless, I believe you haven't even shared your own "code of conduct" in the process of construing my original post as an apology for religion.
Damn it, Dan, you know I'm a Humeian. And I'm proud of it.
On the note of volunteerism, etc., I'm not sure whether what I'm looking for exists in those outlets, but that might be naivete on my part. Book clubs or bowling alleys: are those venues where I would find a community that wants to act on improving the greater community? No idea, perhaps.
I'm not suggesting the Catholic Church is the right venue (it's not). I would say there is something to said, positively, about the permanent sense of community that religion affords; and I don't just mean Western religion.
Besides, if that statement made it on to a Salada tea bag today, I would consider it an honorable contribution.
I am both a fallen catholic as well as an active volunteer for NY Cares, a pragmatist, and a little pseudo-buddhist with a dash of hippie-dippie energie belief yoga speak thrown in.
When I think community I don't think church. Actually, that's a lie. When I was little (predating the fall) I loved church. Everything I ate was the body of christ and I transfigured it all before I ate it. I wanted to be a priest (lead to the fall I suppose) and I loved being an altarserver. I had tons of friends via catechism and my parents were on the board. We had church parties and drank with the clergy (heavily). But then our church was punished for being too liberal and we've had two of the most conservative msrs ever. So the idyllic church of my youth is gone and my favorite priests are dead or seriously questioning their life's worth "I feel as though I've wasted my life" said Msr. Harry Burne.
I really do suggest volunteering if you want a personal spiritual experience. It's when I feel most christ-like though not christian.
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