(Untitled)

[easilyirritable]

Why are people so shocked about that study which showed no link between a secular population and an increase in crime and suffering? Even the Pope himself said the reason why organized religion is losing its grip in the industrialized world even as it tightens harder around developing nations (I hate those terms, any other ideas?) is because

Comments

[sea__secret]

Basically, I don't think there's any grand meaning to life beyond the meaning I give it. I can choose whether my life's meaning is to have an impact on the world around me, or I can choose whether my life's meaning is bare-knuckled survival, or I can choose whether my life's meaning is unbridled hedonism, or artistic expression or whatever.

i suppose you could call that existentialist; it can also arguably be considered a Tantric point of view. the teachers who taught me Tantra engrained the idea in me that everything in the world is about choice, and the world is what we make it, and our lives are what we make them, and we're all constantly presented with choices, choices, choices. Even NOT making choices is a choice--you could choose to not think or differentiate one thing from another.

I love how my non-organized non-religious "religion" fits so smoothly into so many different ways of believing.

[easilyirritable]

I like that. It doesn't surprise me that this same idea is found in an eastern philosophy. They seem to possess a lot more wisdom about the world and about humanity than the Judeo-Christian tradition I was raised in, which, looking from where I stand now, seems very fatalistic and not particularly favorable towards humanity or the natural world.

[sea__secret]

i have to agree... i think there's a lot of inherent and beautiful wisdom and greatness about the bible itself and the stories of Christ and his life. but i don't believe in or agree with the way modern day organized religions interpret and manipulate it all... it's like they ruined jesus for everyone. jesus is fine with me, and i'd probably love him better if religion hadn't spoiled it for me.

[ann__hedonia]

I haven't heard Ann Coulter speak, but I'm a little curious about her because a good friend of mine told me about some freaky sexual fantasies he has revolving around her. Maybe her being so shrill would give it some context for me, maybe this is how he vents, as I know it is strictly fantasy.

Back in my freshmen year of college, I wrote a very watered down paper titled "Can there be morality without god?" It was called that because that was one of the topics I had to choose from a list, what a stupid title! I mean, I liked writing the paper given the choices, but what a title. Gah.

[easilyirritable]

I can't imagine having sex with her. She looks like she'd be about as fun to boink as a bag full of broken bottles. She reminds me of Nancy Reagan, who I guess has subsisted on nothing but uppers, downers and martinis since the mid-80s.

I don't look at my work from my freshman year of college for reasons like that. I mean, my ideas were fine but the way I went about phrasing them was embarrassing. I wrote a paper about gender and referred to all people of fluid gender as 'transsexuals'. Oy vey.

[vestalvixen]

The thing about existentialism is that every existentialist has a different view of exactly what the philosophy is. So if Sartre doesn't fit, maybe Heidegger will, etc.

Fuck philosophy. I just try to make myself happy and not hurt others too much.

[easilyirritable]

I just try to make myself happy and not hurt others too much.

Good philosophy. ;)

I probably won't read Heidegger, either. Every time I try to read any of this deep philosophical shit I get a headache. I'd rather just think about it on my own.

[easilyirritable]

Yeah, you are right - a person's reason for religious faith can't really be encapsulated into an easy cut-and-dry answer. In addition to what you said, about the structure of it all, I also think that a lot of people like the fact that there's little room for ambiguity and uncertainty in religion. But one thing I do feel pretty certain about is that if this world was a better place to live - i.e., free of injustice, free of unnecessary suffering, free of slavery - organized religion as we know it would probably cease to exist. All of the benefits people take from religious worship of a god - personal enrichment, a feeling of communion with other people - can be had through means other than worship of a deity (or deities - whatever). It's just that organized religion is what most of us are familiar with, and so that's the tool people use in an attempt to attain these things

[infinitefetish]

I rejected religion at age 17 and never looked back -- it wasn't that dramatic a split, as my family was never very religious. it caused some minor wailing and chest-beating in my lukewarmly Baptist mom and firmly devout older sister, but then they gave up. but I do believe that to a certain extent, the ability to reject religion is a privilege in itself. it doesn't have to be tied to material privilege, but it's the privilege of free thought and self-determination. being educated, getting a taste of the outer world, being exposed to different ideas are all privileges that allowed me to even have the idea I could reject religion.