Have I been subconsciously trying to break free of the God delusion all of my life?
I originally wrote the bulk of this post on paper exactly a month ago - on 06/07/2012 - after finishing "The God Delusion", but before posting my full review. This is the first time I've had the time and inclination to type it up.
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Have I been subconsciously trying to break free of the God delusion all of my life?
Reading this book has brought up glimpses of poetry, prose, and quotes that I've always been attracted to. Writing that can be read as atheistic or at least agnostic or Einsteinian w/ respect to religion.
The big one is the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams which is full of examples. I mentioned (in my review) the philosophers protesting the search for life, the universe, and everything. Of course, that's the ultimate example, isn't it? Science wants the ultimate truth and finally has an opportunity to find it, and religion is still protesting the ever shrinking gaps.
I read HH in college, and until my obsession with Anita Blake, I always declared it my favorite book.
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Favorite book -> Favorite poem.
Don't you think "Desiderata" by Max Ehrmann could be read from an Einsteinian view of religion?
"... God, whatever you conceive him to be..."
not to mention
"... the universe is unfolding as it should ..."
( Full poem in this post)
I don't know if Max Ehrmann intended his poem to be read that way, but I have - I think - from the moment I discovered it. In college, again. 1989-1993.
Ehrmann has another religious tinged poem I connect to. It's basically saying our understanding of God is like the ant's understanding of man. Would that be an agnostic statement on religion?
God by Max Ehrmann
Somewhere, once, I expressed a belief in the certainty of God. And I was challenged to tell what God is. But I could not. Much less could I tell what he is than an insect could tell what I am. But there is something in this universe which is more than we - Oh, very much more than we - painter, architect, inventor, consummate genius, who built the house of the universe, and overlaid it with emerald, gold, and sapphire and garnished the dome with the star-tapestry of the night; who planned the course of the sun, and of the moon; and built the iris temples of the sunset clouds; and planted the longing for love in the heart of the world; and made the sea and the moan of the sea; and made the laws of his house honest, unchanging laws, for man to learn and labor by, in gladness and peace. And this is something more than we - oh, very much more than we - surely this is God!
Okay, maybe not agnostic, but it could still be interpreted as Einsteinian.
Seems to me Max Ehrmann had a reputation for religions poems, but the sampling I pulled sounds somewhere between agnostic and Einsteinian. But both clearly seem to embrace science's potential to explain the unexplainable.
Another poem, short one:
A Man Said to the Universe
A man said to the universe:
"Sir I exist!"
"However," replied the universe,
"The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation."
Stephen Crane
I discovered that one in high school.
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On to music, however briefly. Do you remember Bette Midler's "From a Distance"?
From a distance the world looks blue and green,
and the snow-capped mountains white.
From a distance the ocean meets the stream,
and the eagle takes to flight.
From a distance, there is harmony,
and it echoes through the land.
It's the voice of hope, it's the voice of peace,
it's the voice of every man.
From a distance we all have enough,
and no one is in need.
And there are no guns, no bombs, and no disease,
no hungry mouths to feed.
From a distance we are instruments
marching in a common band.
Playing songs of hope, playing songs of peace.
They're the songs of every man.
God is watching us. God is watching us.
God is watching us from a distance.
....
That's certainly pulling back from an interacting God to a clockmaker God. I was obsessed with that song in college.
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I am confirmed in the United Methodist church. I was trying to remember when that was. Middle school? High school? I was a skeptic even then. I remember thinking carefully over the words we would say and being ... reassured that they only claimed a certain level of faith. And, as I said, I attended church regularly till I was about 18. Or rather 17, because that was when I got my first job. At the time my excuse was that I wanted to sleep in on Sundays, and I'm certainly a night person, but ....
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Of late I guess it's the fact that the quotes I collect mostly come from atheists.
Einstein and Nietzsche are probably the big ones. (Besides Douglas Adams.) Other than the religious thing, I was fascinated to find out we also share the introverted and intuitive aspects of Myers-Briggs.
Still surprised with the outlier Jung, who Dawkins calls a strong theist. But then I've only really followed Jung's personality theory.
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*thinks*
I guess those are the highlights, so far.
I get the feeling Jared Leto is less religious than he sounds. I wish he'd talk about it. But is that deliberate? Don't want to alienate the indoctrinated?
The obvious:
I believe in nothing
Not the not end and not the start
I believe in nothing
Not the earth and not the stars
I believe in nothing
Not the day and not the dark
I believe in nothing
But the beating of our hearts
I believe in nothing
One hundred suns until we part
I believe in nothing
Not in sin and not in god
I believe in nothing
Not in peace and not in war
I believe in nothing
But the truth and who we are
Then there is the priest get up from the "Forever Night Never Day" ABL era tour.
Then there is Dawkins "are you a Catholic atheist or a Protestant atheist?" concept.
Is Jared simply using the language of a largely Christian population? Is he Einsteinian? Is he an outright atheist? He's certainly a lover of science, a thinker, and a liberal. Those are all good signs of less attachment to religion.
Although, again, there are outliers. Pauley Perette is very religions, but a thinker, a woman of science, and a liberal. For the science part, she actually studied forensic science in college, so I'm not just talking about Abby.
Back to Jared.
"... fuck you like the Devil..."
"The sound of God and the Devil making love."
Did I bookmark that conversation with breatherepeat? I think I found it looking for "Desiderata" on LJ. Got to look for that again.
It was this post and this post, both from July of 2008. At the time, we were leaning towards Jared being agnostic.
From breatherepeat:
In the Danish interview where Jared was messing around in, the interviewer lady asked something about their songs. And Jared said, "Just say they are about God." Interviewer: "Do you believe in God?" Jared: "Because that is always the next question. I believe that the human mind cannot grasp their head around such a concept."
So he seems more Agnostic or spiritual to me.
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...I'm a ghost
You're an angel
We're one in the same
Just remains of an age
Lost in a daydream
What do you see?
If you're looking for Jesus
Then get on your knees....
from "Stranger in a Strange Land"
God, am I being masochistic again? Torturing myself with truths my intellect is embracing, but my emotions are wavering over?
Like Dawkins said, the truth and what is comforting aren't always the same thing.
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It's 11:57 am. I can't decide if I want to face the day or slide back under the covers for awhile longer. I'm writing this in bed. The A/C is on and it's cold enough to cuddle. No therapy today. Liz is still on her grand tour of Europe. Can I discuss this with her? Should I? Feels wrong to bring it up with Mom and Dad. They know I'm not religious, but I doubt they think I'm anything approaching atheism.
Yes, I hid the book. They don't usually pay attention to my reading, but the bright orange and "The God Delusion" is rather eye-catching.
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And what is my fascination with psychics and mediums? I've never been to one, but I was fascinated with John Edwards when he was on, and now Teresa Caputo, "Long Island Medium".
Is that a bridge to my totally sf/fantasy fascination with ESP? Dawkins and DeGrasse Tyson are prepared to believe in ET. What about "The Tomorrow People"?
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Does all this make the idea of weight loss surgery worse? I keep pushing the "it is better to try and fail, then fail to try" on myself, but it's still this enormous life changing thing. Feels like it could be the best decision I ever make, or the worst.
And I'm really not mentally prepared for life changing decisions (at the moment) that aren't abstract. I'm sustaining myself with intellectual abstracts lately.
Can't decide if I'm hungry or nauseous.
Should I stay or should I go?
*stares at Jared on the wall*
*shakes head* The natives are restless. My niece and nephew are here and they're not quiet. The A/C unit doesn't block that level of noise.
"... and I swear to God I'll find myself in the end..."
Am I so desperate to find myself intellectually and emotionally, because I feel so out of touch and isolated physically?
*sniff*
No, I don't over-analyze things...
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P.S. (06/10/2012) Forgot Eddie Izzard, my favorite comedian. Also, the "Incarnations of Immortality" in college.
As for Piers Anthony's "Incarnations of Immortality", the story puts forth the idea that all the gods ever believed in actually exist, and their relative power grows and wains based on how many believers there are at a given moment.
Eddie Izzard ... well the first joke that comes to mind is "a god of creation vs a god of creation and destruction". With the god who can only create ... "oops, lets put that in the garage".
Found it. "Jesus in Religions Part II" from "Circle" (2003).
Not the best resolution, but here you go. It was about Shiva.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp3dhXAlyYk