My relationship with religious lit mostly consists of me poking it with sticks
Oh, god, it's NaNoWriMo. Or rather, in my case, NaFADOYBIMSCOM, which in any case I am equally unprepared for. It would be nice if my computer actually worked the way it's supposed to, but I suppose we can't expect fate not to laugh at me every time. I am 13k into the third book of the Jesterverse series (hence the FADOYBIMSCOM in the Na), and I have absolutely no want or energy to write the 50k required this month. But I suppose, actually writing it may help me with that, but gnuh, I dun wanna. It's haaaaard, and I'm siiiiick. :(
I have landed a headcold, but it hasn't gone epic yet, which I'm hoping it will refrain to become. This is especially pleasing since I have a meeting with my new shrink tomorrow. The whole new shrink thing is a story in itself, because as it turns out, the shrinks I used to have have both quit or been transferred, both without my knowledge. The first I knew of it was when I called the Center and they told me Ulla had quit months ago. The other shrink, Irene, I only found out had hoisted my case over on someone else when Eva called me to say that she was my new shrink and she wanted to meet me as soon as possible. No calls from the old ones, nothing. I didn't even find out about Ulla from Irene. So, yeah. I feel well taken care of.
In other news, I am reading Paradise Lost and while it's good research for Angelsverse, a lot of it is making me want to bash my head into the wall. It could be a good story (aside from certain parts in which Man is all noble and stupid and Woman is even dumber and stupidly obedient) if it weren't for the fact that there actually are people who believe in this crap. I mean... even from a story perspective, parts of the creation just makes no sense. If I were the editor, I'd send the Bible back and ask for a do-over to fill in the plot holes. And that goes for Paradise Lost too, because Milton takes huge chunks of his plot out of the Bible and the Bible isn't exactly known for consistency. Anyway, the creation is stupid, the Angels even more so, and what the hell is wrong with knowledge? Why the HELL are Adam and Eve and all the Angels supposed to blindly serve without asking difficult questions? What part of being curious about life and everything in it leads to sin?
I have an inkling that Richard Dawkins was right when he said that religion wants people to be stupid, because as long as we're stupid we don't ask questions that the plot holes in the Bible can't answer. The more questions we ask, the more we realize that either God is massively petty, stupid and homicidal or he doesn't have reason to exist at all. Seriously, the whole reason behind not touching the Tree of Knowledge is just flimsy. Too much knowledge and we die. Knowledge of what, exactly? Sin? Something God implicitly invented since even Angels, as proved with Lucifer, can sin? It's ridiculous, and the arguments grow ever more circular.
Raphael, in his conversation with Adam, even explicitly says: "Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid; Leave them to God above; him serve and fear." And a couple of lines later, Adam answers, "How fully hast thou satisfied me, pure / Intelligence of Heaven, Angel serene, / And, freed from intricacies, taught to live / The easiest way, nor with perplexing thoughts / To interrupt the sweet of life, from which / God hath bid dwell far off all anxious cares, / And not molest us, unless we ourselves / Seek them with wandering thoughts, and notions vain!"
Basically -- believe in God, don't ask questions, serve blindly, and ignorance is bliss. Ask questions, seek Knowledge, and you're bound to live a life of Sin and die by the black hand of Death. (Literally black hand, because Death is a big, black, smokey dude who was born of Sin, a scylla, who in turn was born of Lucifer, before he Fell, no less, and Death upon being born proceeded to gleefully rape his mother repeatedly.)
In short, this book is weird, but also, thankfully, not very long. If I had a home library, this would end up with the references, because frustrating and full of holes doesn't necessarily translate as not useful.
Anyway. To conclude this post, I would also like to say hippo birdies to Frank Iero, because ahahahahaha, YOU'RE NOT OLD FOR TREES! Oh, man. That is never not going to be funny.
I have landed a headcold, but it hasn't gone epic yet, which I'm hoping it will refrain to become. This is especially pleasing since I have a meeting with my new shrink tomorrow. The whole new shrink thing is a story in itself, because as it turns out, the shrinks I used to have have both quit or been transferred, both without my knowledge. The first I knew of it was when I called the Center and they told me Ulla had quit months ago. The other shrink, Irene, I only found out had hoisted my case over on someone else when Eva called me to say that she was my new shrink and she wanted to meet me as soon as possible. No calls from the old ones, nothing. I didn't even find out about Ulla from Irene. So, yeah. I feel well taken care of.
In other news, I am reading Paradise Lost and while it's good research for Angelsverse, a lot of it is making me want to bash my head into the wall. It could be a good story (aside from certain parts in which Man is all noble and stupid and Woman is even dumber and stupidly obedient) if it weren't for the fact that there actually are people who believe in this crap. I mean... even from a story perspective, parts of the creation just makes no sense. If I were the editor, I'd send the Bible back and ask for a do-over to fill in the plot holes. And that goes for Paradise Lost too, because Milton takes huge chunks of his plot out of the Bible and the Bible isn't exactly known for consistency. Anyway, the creation is stupid, the Angels even more so, and what the hell is wrong with knowledge? Why the HELL are Adam and Eve and all the Angels supposed to blindly serve without asking difficult questions? What part of being curious about life and everything in it leads to sin?
I have an inkling that Richard Dawkins was right when he said that religion wants people to be stupid, because as long as we're stupid we don't ask questions that the plot holes in the Bible can't answer. The more questions we ask, the more we realize that either God is massively petty, stupid and homicidal or he doesn't have reason to exist at all. Seriously, the whole reason behind not touching the Tree of Knowledge is just flimsy. Too much knowledge and we die. Knowledge of what, exactly? Sin? Something God implicitly invented since even Angels, as proved with Lucifer, can sin? It's ridiculous, and the arguments grow ever more circular.
Raphael, in his conversation with Adam, even explicitly says: "Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid; Leave them to God above; him serve and fear." And a couple of lines later, Adam answers, "How fully hast thou satisfied me, pure / Intelligence of Heaven, Angel serene, / And, freed from intricacies, taught to live / The easiest way, nor with perplexing thoughts / To interrupt the sweet of life, from which / God hath bid dwell far off all anxious cares, / And not molest us, unless we ourselves / Seek them with wandering thoughts, and notions vain!"
Basically -- believe in God, don't ask questions, serve blindly, and ignorance is bliss. Ask questions, seek Knowledge, and you're bound to live a life of Sin and die by the black hand of Death. (Literally black hand, because Death is a big, black, smokey dude who was born of Sin, a scylla, who in turn was born of Lucifer, before he Fell, no less, and Death upon being born proceeded to gleefully rape his mother repeatedly.)
In short, this book is weird, but also, thankfully, not very long. If I had a home library, this would end up with the references, because frustrating and full of holes doesn't necessarily translate as not useful.
Anyway. To conclude this post, I would also like to say hippo birdies to Frank Iero, because ahahahahaha, YOU'RE NOT OLD FOR TREES! Oh, man. That is never not going to be funny.