Hey everyone! An awful lot of people have been nice to me. I am inherently a complaining sort; a lot of people have shown me sympathy anyway. I’ve needed a lot of friendship and have always had a lot of friends. Ditto advice. Ditto helping me move every time I changed houses, for that matter. So in a very trite and hackneyed way I sort of owe a lot more than I’ve ever paid into the “goodwill towards humanity” pool.
Your “don’t commit adultery” combined with your Christian ethics: how to you sit with ethical non monogamy or polyamory? By name, they are not hidden, openly discussed and entered into by all parties.
I'm just leaving this here. This blog is possibly the most well-aligned with a theoretical blog I could write if I were a better writer. Aligned in temperament, sense of humor, writing style (not quality, though).....Anyways, I just thought you might like to know that you have a less talented doppelganger somewhere and it is me.
Have you thought about doing a book-club-style series of posts where you interact with your readers about a book you all read together? I'm thinking of examples like what Freddie DeBoer and Bryan Caplan have done recently. I would be interested in participating in that kind of thing--as long as it's not an esoteric tome like Sadly, Porn.....
We were talking over on Astral Codex Ten, so I came over here and found this. I've been thinking about this for a little while and don't have anyone to talk about it with, so I'm going to put it here and, if you'd like to respond, I'd welcome it. I apologize in advance that this post is kind of a LOT.
I was raised as an atheist and later a Unitarian (but still an atheist, which is totally copacetic in UUism). And I mean, not just that I didn't happen to believe in God - I was a militant child atheist. I actually went to Catholic school for a couple of years and would tell other kids in the playground that I was an atheist and argue with them about it. In 2nd grade.
As an adult (now middle-aged), through C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton and Toystoy and others, I'm kind of in love with Christianity, or at least, the sort of cobbled-together version in my head. I go to church (sometimes). I pray (sporadically but sincerely (?)). But I don't know that I believe anything "for real." I still feel a bit like the whole thing is stupid? (Even though I'm posting this, I'm not trying to debate with anyone whether the metaphysics is true or whatever. That's so boring to me. I especially don't want to debate it with anyone who thinks it IS true - the last thing I want to do is convert anyone to atheism.)
Christianity feels like a candy store to me, only I don't have the currency. I just look at the stuff in the cases and admire it and think about what it tastes like and about all of my opinions about the proper preparation methods and techniques and ingredients based on all of my reading and thinking. Some writers make me feel like I've almost tasted the candy - sometimes my imagination is so vivid it feels like maybe I did - but I really can't get any. It stays in the cases.
If Calvinism is right, I'm clearly NOT one of the elect. I mean, unlike Kermit, I've never even heard the voices calling my name when I was half asleep. When I pray, half the time I have to forcibly keep myself together so I don't start crying at my sense of being left out of...the universe.
And yet, I've gotten so much more from this life than I deserve, and been shown grace and love by so many people and events. I love this world. I'm so grateful and I want to be grateful to SOMEONE.
I have no idea how anyone would respond to this, but if a question helps, here's mine, I guess: how do you actually, like, believe things? What's the trick? I'm not talking about having no doubts, I'm just talking about not having like 90% of your mind be a totally different track that says the whole thing is obviously dumb.
Your “don’t commit adultery” combined with your Christian ethics: how to you sit with ethical non monogamy or polyamory? By name, they are not hidden, openly discussed and entered into by all parties.
What's your strategy for making Internet friends?
I'm just leaving this here. This blog is possibly the most well-aligned with a theoretical blog I could write if I were a better writer. Aligned in temperament, sense of humor, writing style (not quality, though).....Anyways, I just thought you might like to know that you have a less talented doppelganger somewhere and it is me.
Hey RC:
Have you thought about doing a book-club-style series of posts where you interact with your readers about a book you all read together? I'm thinking of examples like what Freddie DeBoer and Bryan Caplan have done recently. I would be interested in participating in that kind of thing--as long as it's not an esoteric tome like Sadly, Porn.....
We were talking over on Astral Codex Ten, so I came over here and found this. I've been thinking about this for a little while and don't have anyone to talk about it with, so I'm going to put it here and, if you'd like to respond, I'd welcome it. I apologize in advance that this post is kind of a LOT.
I was raised as an atheist and later a Unitarian (but still an atheist, which is totally copacetic in UUism). And I mean, not just that I didn't happen to believe in God - I was a militant child atheist. I actually went to Catholic school for a couple of years and would tell other kids in the playground that I was an atheist and argue with them about it. In 2nd grade.
As an adult (now middle-aged), through C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton and Toystoy and others, I'm kind of in love with Christianity, or at least, the sort of cobbled-together version in my head. I go to church (sometimes). I pray (sporadically but sincerely (?)). But I don't know that I believe anything "for real." I still feel a bit like the whole thing is stupid? (Even though I'm posting this, I'm not trying to debate with anyone whether the metaphysics is true or whatever. That's so boring to me. I especially don't want to debate it with anyone who thinks it IS true - the last thing I want to do is convert anyone to atheism.)
Christianity feels like a candy store to me, only I don't have the currency. I just look at the stuff in the cases and admire it and think about what it tastes like and about all of my opinions about the proper preparation methods and techniques and ingredients based on all of my reading and thinking. Some writers make me feel like I've almost tasted the candy - sometimes my imagination is so vivid it feels like maybe I did - but I really can't get any. It stays in the cases.
If Calvinism is right, I'm clearly NOT one of the elect. I mean, unlike Kermit, I've never even heard the voices calling my name when I was half asleep. When I pray, half the time I have to forcibly keep myself together so I don't start crying at my sense of being left out of...the universe.
And yet, I've gotten so much more from this life than I deserve, and been shown grace and love by so many people and events. I love this world. I'm so grateful and I want to be grateful to SOMEONE.
I have no idea how anyone would respond to this, but if a question helps, here's mine, I guess: how do you actually, like, believe things? What's the trick? I'm not talking about having no doubts, I'm just talking about not having like 90% of your mind be a totally different track that says the whole thing is obviously dumb.
How should I approach the whole idea of the metaverse? Everyone's talking about it, but I'm waiting for the Resident Contrarian take.