Just dropping you a line to encourage you to keep on keepin' on.
Someone recently texted me that they would be returning a hat to me on which I had sewn a patch showing the circle A anarchy symbol. Their reason was that they believe in god. OK. But after a little research to try to understand why a belief in god makes the anarchy sign bad, I read that Nietzsche argued that Christianity and anarchy were the same thing!
This message comes from the greatest number of parents:
1. Go to school. Learn science and math. Learn history. Stuff that really happened, hopefully. Analyze all that and then keep on with that education so you can get a good job. The job will need you to apply critical thinking skills that we just invested a bundle in developing - so pay attention, learn well.
2. By the way, there is a Magic Man who created everything in this billions of years old world of ours - and he did it in a few days! There is another book that has been revised frequently over the centuries that will tell you how to believe. It's "God's Word!" Apparently God changes his mind a lot. But trust us, you don't want to piss off GOD!
3. Don't worry if number 1 and number 2 totally contradict each other. "He works in mysterious ways". Just believe because we do. And if you don't, there is a place where you will go after you die that is very painful and you will suffer for all of eternity (whatever that is).
Fortunately, I had parents who embraced number 1 and were gracious enough to say "OK" when I said I wouldn't be attending church again. A few years later, they stopped going as well. Maybe I was a role model for my parents!? Ha Ha.
First, I want to say it was so refreshing to see that someone had tackled the subject of lying and how it has undermined so much that holds us together as a high-functioning society. It contributes in a thousand ways toward the Us Against Them paradigm.
Though I agree with much of your comments about lying as it refers to our cultural tolerance of feeding BS to our kids, I have some issues with your lumping lying and "faith" together. There was so much meat to chew on all at once that I started choking and my wife had to do the Heimlich maneuver on me. You may have even nudged me over the fence toward writing a post on the dangers of religion to vulnerable minds and society in general. BYW, that definitely doesn't mean I want to categorically throw any of them away. Good thought-provoking post that certainly challenges our cultural conditioning.
The departure of trust
Just dropping you a line to encourage you to keep on keepin' on.
Someone recently texted me that they would be returning a hat to me on which I had sewn a patch showing the circle A anarchy symbol. Their reason was that they believe in god. OK. But after a little research to try to understand why a belief in god makes the anarchy sign bad, I read that Nietzsche argued that Christianity and anarchy were the same thing!
Looking forward to your next post, Pen.
Another solid letter, Pen.
This message comes from the greatest number of parents:
1. Go to school. Learn science and math. Learn history. Stuff that really happened, hopefully. Analyze all that and then keep on with that education so you can get a good job. The job will need you to apply critical thinking skills that we just invested a bundle in developing - so pay attention, learn well.
2. By the way, there is a Magic Man who created everything in this billions of years old world of ours - and he did it in a few days! There is another book that has been revised frequently over the centuries that will tell you how to believe. It's "God's Word!" Apparently God changes his mind a lot. But trust us, you don't want to piss off GOD!
3. Don't worry if number 1 and number 2 totally contradict each other. "He works in mysterious ways". Just believe because we do. And if you don't, there is a place where you will go after you die that is very painful and you will suffer for all of eternity (whatever that is).
Fortunately, I had parents who embraced number 1 and were gracious enough to say "OK" when I said I wouldn't be attending church again. A few years later, they stopped going as well. Maybe I was a role model for my parents!? Ha Ha.
Greeting Penfist,
First, I want to say it was so refreshing to see that someone had tackled the subject of lying and how it has undermined so much that holds us together as a high-functioning society. It contributes in a thousand ways toward the Us Against Them paradigm.
Though I agree with much of your comments about lying as it refers to our cultural tolerance of feeding BS to our kids, I have some issues with your lumping lying and "faith" together. There was so much meat to chew on all at once that I started choking and my wife had to do the Heimlich maneuver on me. You may have even nudged me over the fence toward writing a post on the dangers of religion to vulnerable minds and society in general. BYW, that definitely doesn't mean I want to categorically throw any of them away. Good thought-provoking post that certainly challenges our cultural conditioning.