A while ago I read this book called "Introduction to Christianity" by Joseph Ratzinger (i.e. the pope before he was the pope). At the time, I didn't think much of it, but there are a few ideas that have grown on me.

The introduction to his book (introduction to the Introduction, woahhhh) talked about the definition of religion and belief. This is a ( Read more... )

Film: Waltz with Bashir ( Read more... )

Well, I have been reading "The Triumph of the Therapeutic" by Philip Rieff. Currently I am stuck in the doldrums, but I can't quit now because I am already 100 pages in. Right now it is all about Freud and what a genius he is. I shouldn't get so down on it, though; the book did have some pretty great parts so far.

"I, too, aspire to think without ( Read more... )

"On the traditional Aristotelian view such problems [of egoism] do not arise. For what education in the virtues teaches me is that my good as a man is one and the same as the good of those others with whom I am bound up in human community. There is no way of my pursuing my good which is necessarily antagonistic to you pursuing yours because the ( Read more... )

Here are the books I read in 2008 ( Read more... )

Since I've been home, I've been non-stop busy. After a full weekend, I started working on Monday, which was only my 4th day back from UB. The office is making the switch from paper records to an electronic system. The process is hectic, confusing, and awful. The system "went live" on Monday, but obviously things are not completely switched over, so ( Read more... )

I came up with a stupid history joke while I was taking notes on Cardinal Richelieu and the Count-Duke of Olivares.

"Ugh, I'm so tired of doing work! But as Richelieu would say, You can't have repos and réputation at the same time!"

Yeah, I don't think that even counts as a joke.

I am extremely misanthropic lately.

Going home next weekend.

1. Why do people always say that taking drugs like LSD is like a "religious experience"? You are introducing extremely powerful chemicals into your brain. Of course your perception is going to be drastically affected. Saying that taking LSD is a religious experience is like stabbing nails into your hands and then saying you have stigmata ( Read more... )

To clarify, I don't really want to make fun of Shenzi for his political views and whatnot. My little rant sounds kind of mean, but my intention was to point out that even ridiculous sounding things hopefully can form the basis for a serious political viewpoint. I just wanted to say this because I considered the possibility that he could somehow ( Read more... )

As I've mentioned recently (in person), I've been reading the excellent book "Foucault's Pendulum" by Umberto Eco. Because of its occult themes and secret esoteric plots, I began to think, "Wow, this is like the non-shitty version of the Da Vinci Code!" And it turns out that my reaction was actually extremely accurate. Consider this passage from ( Read more... )