(Untitled)

[berish]

It is 2:30 am. I am looking at a paper I wrote on Derrida and realizing I poured myself into it and now I am not sure it is academic because of it. I wrote an ethical critique of Religion using Derrida as a jumping off point

Comments

[msbunburyist]

Holy crap, we are really different, really really different.

I think that "don't want the world to be fair" is different than "don't believe that it's fair and can't stand the thought of living a life in which I am denying something I believe to be true." So while you're probably right about some people I don't think all people cling to God/Communism/Democracy/Truth/Whatever because of that. I mean, the motivation isn't to prove other people wrong, it's to trust oneself, which may practically come out to the same thing but stems from very different impulses.

[berish]

Although I'm not speaking about motivations. One of the saddest things for me is that I feel these people are clinging to these ideals because they think they are right and what to do the right thing. I am concerned with the consquences of the actions, after all as the old saying goes "the road to hell is paved with good intentions". Why people believe what they do is not the biggest concern for me, it is the consquences of those beliefs.

I suppose that didn't quite come off that way in the post. I am not damning people for why they believe something, I just think the consquences of their beliefs are pretty serious.

[msbunburyist]

I suppose. But I know quite well what I'm setting this world up to. I go to it with eyes open. But I go to it, not because I don't like the idea of peace and harmony everywhere, but because I would rather lose the whole world and own my own soul, if you know what I mean. It's practically impossible to achieve agreement, perfection, peace in a way that everyone could accept (including myself) -- someone will have to compromise about their beliefs without really being convinced. So I will take conflict, since that is all that is left.

[berish]

Yes, I definately understand. It is a lot easier and ultimately much more pragmatic to save yourself first so to speak. I suppose I wouldn't even have a problem with that if it didn't seem that saving oneself costs so much.

In this I will also admit to some of my own hypocracy. I am not giving up everything, either to God or every other Other. I also sleep well at night despite my feelings on this issue because on some level I know that I would smoke myself to death if I worried too much. And that would help no one since, unlike Jesus, my death cannot be for another. I cannot die to save the world, although if I could I would, however in this we are no doubt in perfect agreement. Both of us however would want that guaranteed before we agreed to die though and somehow it seems the only thing capable of guaranteeing that too people is ideology of one sort or another.