dagblog - Comments for "Prayer for Atheists & the Culture Wars"

One experience that certainly

moat — Sun, 29 Oct 2017 17:59:27 +0000

One experience that certainly is expressed religiously is the request to be made stronger in the face of suffering and danger. This does not fall into the category of "sorcery" where one says or does the right thing and, presto, you are the winner. Asking for it doesn't mean one understands or knows how it comes about if one is made stronger. Even those who testify to an explanation don't say it happens because of the explanation.

Makes sense to me.

moat — Tue, 24 Oct 2017 01:43:30 +0000

In reply to Hey PP.

Makes sense to me.

Your remarks remind me of a conversation I had thirty years ago with a former Mormon.
She said that what I expressed enthusiasm for suggested to her that I wanted to live in close knit community that set itself apart from others. I said that was true but I had no way of knowing if what I wanted was what other people wanted. She said that maybe I could find other people who had the same problem.

Then she smiled.

Hey PP.

Mon, 23 Oct 2017 00:15:03 +0000

In reply to Prayer for Atheists & the Culture Wars

Hey PP.

When I was young, and conservative, I definitely saw the left-liberal-overly-educated-self-righteous-atheistic world as offering nothingness and dissolution.

And for many, I still feel that.

I may feel they are tactical or political allies, but often, on any deeper level, I see nothing shared.

And in fact, am extremely wary of them. They can become as dangerous as the conservatives.

Odd stance perhaps, but there it is.

I want to be where the

PeraclesPlease — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 16:53:35 +0000

In reply to Yes I know. Basquiat has

I want to be where the streets have no name/where the snowflakes and hipsters and superstars comingle/hand in hand, meme by meme, it's a vision thing/makes my brain an adrenalin rush all a-tingle/a diamond ring is all you need/to save humanity from sufferiiiinnnngggg.... a picture on the wall tells it all, enlightened beings 10 feet tall, art for people's sake, techno earthquake, feel the ground shake, it's a west coast revival, can be no denial, tech for survival, just give it a dial [We Are The Tech World operators standing by - we accept major credit cards, paypal, bitcoin and small pieces of appraised parchment]

Yes I know. Basquiat has

artappraiser — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 16:20:42 +0000

In reply to Was referring to Magick, not

Yes I know. Basquiat has recently been elevated to "Magick" with Rothko, et. al. By a young Japanese guy vs. some other guy. He's actually planning on building a shrine so his young hip customers can come and pray using Basquiat, too. I doubt Tesla has got there yet, though some old Lamborghini's might fulfill the purpose for a few. So watch out for rich guys meditating while driving.

Was referring to Magick, not

PeraclesPlease — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 15:45:00 +0000

In reply to I want religious experience

Was referring to Magick, not high-end hoarding. But nice I guess to presume I share lofty goals with all the billionaires. Brother, can ya spare a Tesla?

I want religious experience

artappraiser — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 14:43:51 +0000

In reply to A-Peale-ing. I always

I want religious experience outside the religion.

Just FYI: so do most of the billionaires running the prices up of major modern & contemporary paintings to nonsensical levels that make no sense in context of investment or in any sort of "market". They are making themselves their own little chapel. These are tools for "prayer", contemplation and spiritual experience. "Good works," which they may or may not also participate in, don't have the same effect for them. (Mentioning partly because this synchs with the "capitalism supports the avant garde arts" discussion we are having on another thread.)

Edit to add an example so you can see for yourself: Bill Gates's Collection. We all know he participates in "good works". But everyone may not know he felt a need for these actual physical talismans to contemplate, that just digital images didn't do it for him. Leonardo is god, he can touch the thing that Leonardo made. when he feels the need. (The americana thing is interesting--Homer and Wyeth--he is very "patriotic" about this country's mythology in his heart, it touches him, not that much a cosmopolitan!)

A-Peale-ing. I always

PeraclesPlease — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 06:05:56 +0000

In reply to Well, America already has a

A-Peale-ing. I always paraphrased him as "How to win people and influence friends" - has a different Trumpian ring to it.I guess I'm intimating something more heartfelt and connected than Visualization, which always strikes me as a parlor trick: "see the ball, be the ball". I want religious experience outside the religion.

Well, America already has a

Doctor Cleveland — Sat, 21 Oct 2017 01:52:53 +0000

In reply to Prayer for Atheists & the Culture Wars

Well, America already has a bunch of secularized versions of the magical version of prayer. "Visualization," "the law of attraction," "positive vibrations," whatever. The mind-over-matter idea is alive and well outside churches as well as inside them.

It's worth noting that Donald Trump was raised as a parishioner of Norman Vincent Peale, the "Power of Positive Thinking" guy, who officiated Trump's first wedding. Peale was nominally an Episcopalian Christian, but was more about secular wishing-makes-it-so than, say, teaching actual moral or ethical values.The idea that you might learn from suffering was too much of a downer for him.

I'm not necessarily against

ocean-kat — Fri, 20 Oct 2017 18:35:00 +0000

In reply to Interesting, from your

I'm not necessarily against the idea of orgone, or kundalini, or chi. I have problems with Reich attaching every physical manifestation of a psychic disturbance to blocks in the flow of orgone which for him is synonymous with sexual energy. Then claiming the floating specks you can see when you unfocus your eyes is this so called orgone. Then making these silly boxes claiming they concentrate the orgone and just sitting in one will cure cancer.