From the Offices of Blah, Blah, Blah, and Whatever

[greygirlbeast]

Another line from Kristin Hersh's Rat Girl, and she's writing about the sort of music Throwing Muses was doing in 1985, but it's true of every sort of writing I've ever done

Comments

[greygirlbeast]

The Xtian God has co-dependence issues...

Clearly.

[greygirlbeast]

... and here I thought it was ego issues and an inflated sense of self-worth, but now I think that was just me impressing my own worldview on the fucker.

I think a complete psych profile would be complicated.

[greygirlbeast]

I can't reconcile that.

That's probably because you're actually thinking about it, and, in truth, this is Medieval bullshit that never made any sense. It was never meant to be questioned.

[greygirlbeast]

That is because Christianity is not a religion, per se, but rather a primitive form of mind control.

Sometimes, primitive forms survive because they're so damned efficient.

[miakodadreams]

It is a difficult thing to discuss when it's drilled into your brain from birth. You don't recognize cult behavior when it's all you've ever known, when your friends and family and school mates and neighbors and co-workers all buy into it and enforce that as the only acceptable option. And generally it's not until you somehow catch a glimpse of life outside those boundaries that you start to question the rhetoric

[greygirlbeast]

When I was six, my mother tried to teach me the catholic catechism, most likely the Baltimore Catechism, and the first question and answer therein is "Who made the world?"; "God made the world." I looked at my mom and asked, "How do we know this?" She said, "Because the next question is 'Who is God?' and the answer is 'God is the Creator of heaven and earth, and of all things.' I was old enough to know that that logic was faulty although I needed a few years to figure out what the fault was.

If only I'd been able to grasp the fallacy of tautology and circular reasoning at age six.

[greygirlbeast]

What was the trigger question that started your escape?

I may answer this again tomorrow, in the entry, but:

1) Science, and specifically the earth sciences. The religious people around me insisted that what was obviously true about the world was not true, and that I was wrong to trust in reason over superstition.

2) An seemingly inexplicable and rather violent loss of faith, which I fought for years.

3) The same point you raise about other mythologies.

[sisyphusiren]

I haven't read the other comments so I don't know if it's been said, but someone is paying homage to you specifically, because you are at the top of the flier.

[greygirlbeast]

but someone is paying homage to you specifically, because you are at the top of the flier.

That actually makes me feel a little weird.

[ashlyme]

Reading this thread, I've got my "angry atheist" head on, though the truth's not really that simple.

I was an Xtian back in the 80s. I was scared of a lot of things (nuclear war was fairly paramount in that list of fears). My parents were atheists in this phlegmatic English "we're not religious" kind of way. My mom, and reading about evolution, weaned me off it; the Christian god I still see as a bogeyman. I was lucky that I got out of it when I was still a child. Nowadays I never know whether to describe myself as atheist or pagan.

Gah. Sorry for the blather.

[miakodadreams]

Fear's a big part of Christianity -- or at least it was in our house. The worst was when our church made all the preteens watch those terrible old post-rapture movies about those who were "left behind" to suffer boils and torture and betrayal before finally being beheaded. A loving god, indeed.

Even now, 25+ years later, I still wake up occasionally and my heart catches if the house is too quiet. It's a programmed reaction; when I was a kid, I would have to go around and make sure each family member was still safe in their beds, or I would never get back to sleep.

Nowadays I never know whether to describe myself as atheist or pagan.

I have that problem, too, for a variety of reasons, but I decided to go with "panentheistic Pagan," a term I encountered via Michael York. (It's close enough.) Unfortunately, I work at a Catholic university. There have been more than a few awkward exchanges related to religion.

[greygirlbeast]

the truth's not really that simple.

It rarely ever is.

I was an Xtian back in the 80s. I was scared of a lot of things (nuclear war was fairly paramount in that list of fears). My parents were atheists in this phlegmatic English "we're not religious" kind of way. My mom, and reading about evolution, weaned me off it; the Christian god I still see as a bogeyman. I was lucky that I got out of it when I was still a child.

This is sort of fascinating, if I'm reading it correctly. The norm usually involves breaking away from the beliefs of parents and family, in my experience (and as was my case). Good to hear about parents on the right end of the thing.

[greygirlbeast]

Even now, 25+ years later, I still wake up occasionally and my heart catches if the house is too quiet. It's a programmed reaction; when I was a kid, I would have to go around and make sure each family member was still safe in their beds, or I would never get back to sleep.

Good to know I'm not the only person scarred by "Rapturphobia."

but I decided to go with "panentheistic Pagan,"

I think I've settled into atheistic pagan rather comfortably.