Cross post from FB, so a day late (or more for some time zones):
Today, September 11, should be the day we take Bibles and stuff them up the arses of fanatical Muslim clerics, whilst we also take copies of the Koran and stuff them up the arses of right-wing fundamentalist Christians.
Ground-zero? Let's put a park there.
Today, September 11, should be the day we take Bibles and stuff them up the arses of fanatical Muslim clerics, whilst we also take copies of the Koran and stuff them up the arses of right-wing fundamentalist Christians.
Ground-zero? Let's put a park there.
Rationalising Religion…
Think of the Christian God not as the entity presented to you in Church but as a 2000 year-old allegory or anthropomorphisation based on a well-used concept that was many thousands of years old by the time Christianity cropped up. If you think of God as an unsophisticated explanation for the things that happen, and religion as giving that idea a form and function and a story to follow (though evermore complicated as we’ve become more sophisticated as a species).
Mankind is innately drawn to patterns. We invariably look to make these patterns make sense from a somewhat egocentric, human standpoint. Apophenia (seeing patterns in meaninglessness) causes us to see human faces in clouds, on pieces of toast, or in the topology of the moon - it's also what's caused us to see a humanesque intelligence behind inscrutable acts of random in the universe.
Mankind loves stories - our ability to speak, communicate and impart information both directly and indirectly is part of our evolutionary rise.
Give an unsophisticated mind a "plausible" reason and a captivating story and you've got their heart and their mind - then get them to indoctrinate their young from birth and you've got their minds, too, for the same level of effort. Then explain the apparently inexplicable fact of prayers not being answered or tragedies happening and it's God's will (and is our failure to understand God's will so far different from our inability to understand the acts of another human, especially one of the opposite gender?).
Think of spirituality in the same way – we try and find humanistic patterns and stories to help us explain our experiences to ourselves.
To my way of thinking a non-theistic belief system that is elastic enough to accept change and still maintain a credible ‘story’ about us and our place in the universe is science. Science is a way of telling ourselves stories using observable fact or logical deduction.
The language of science is generally not that of a storyteller in the traditional sense, but of maths and abstraction, but there are people out there, Carl Sagan being one of them (RIP), Terry Pratchett (and recent collaborators) being another, that can talk about science beautifully, poetically and in a humanistic way.
I believe it’s this ability in humanity to tell true stories (fact dressed as fiction rather than the prevailing fiction dressed as fact of the last 2000 years) that is the next stage in our mental (and spiritual) evolution.
The universe is more awesome when there isn’t some little guy behind the curtain pushing the smoke, mirror, or bullshit buttons.
Think of the Christian God not as the entity presented to you in Church but as a 2000 year-old allegory or anthropomorphisation based on a well-used concept that was many thousands of years old by the time Christianity cropped up. If you think of God as an unsophisticated explanation for the things that happen, and religion as giving that idea a form and function and a story to follow (though evermore complicated as we’ve become more sophisticated as a species).
Mankind is innately drawn to patterns. We invariably look to make these patterns make sense from a somewhat egocentric, human standpoint. Apophenia (seeing patterns in meaninglessness) causes us to see human faces in clouds, on pieces of toast, or in the topology of the moon - it's also what's caused us to see a humanesque intelligence behind inscrutable acts of random in the universe.
Mankind loves stories - our ability to speak, communicate and impart information both directly and indirectly is part of our evolutionary rise.
Give an unsophisticated mind a "plausible" reason and a captivating story and you've got their heart and their mind - then get them to indoctrinate their young from birth and you've got their minds, too, for the same level of effort. Then explain the apparently inexplicable fact of prayers not being answered or tragedies happening and it's God's will (and is our failure to understand God's will so far different from our inability to understand the acts of another human, especially one of the opposite gender?).
Think of spirituality in the same way – we try and find humanistic patterns and stories to help us explain our experiences to ourselves.
To my way of thinking a non-theistic belief system that is elastic enough to accept change and still maintain a credible ‘story’ about us and our place in the universe is science. Science is a way of telling ourselves stories using observable fact or logical deduction.
The language of science is generally not that of a storyteller in the traditional sense, but of maths and abstraction, but there are people out there, Carl Sagan being one of them (RIP), Terry Pratchett (and recent collaborators) being another, that can talk about science beautifully, poetically and in a humanistic way.
I believe it’s this ability in humanity to tell true stories (fact dressed as fiction rather than the prevailing fiction dressed as fact of the last 2000 years) that is the next stage in our mental (and spiritual) evolution.
The universe is more awesome when there isn’t some little guy behind the curtain pushing the smoke, mirror, or bullshit buttons.
Still very much a work in progress, feeedback appreciated.
The Snowflake’s Fates
Behold the snowflake
Born into this world
Clean, unique, individual
Yet from the moment of that birth
Only three possible fates await
To be crushed, shaped, moulded
By powers beyond comprehension
Then hurled into battle and destroyed
Cut from existence before existence had begun
To join the uncounted masses
And become part of a cold, hard, featureless whiteness
Until, finally, melting away into nothing
Unmeasured, unmissed, unsung and gone
To fall from on high
Yet inhabit a high place
To be beautiful, untouched
Spinning existence out to its greatest extent.
Alan Duval (c) 2009
The Snowflake’s Fates
Behold the snowflake
Born into this world
Clean, unique, individual
Yet from the moment of that birth
Only three possible fates await
To be crushed, shaped, moulded
By powers beyond comprehension
Then hurled into battle and destroyed
Cut from existence before existence had begun
To join the uncounted masses
And become part of a cold, hard, featureless whiteness
Until, finally, melting away into nothing
Unmeasured, unmissed, unsung and gone
To fall from on high
Yet inhabit a high place
To be beautiful, untouched
Spinning existence out to its greatest extent.
Alan Duval (c) 2009
Your Beautiful Face
When poets and painters portray a beauteous face
It is to their utter and unending disgrace
That they focus on cheekbones and lips and eyes
Not the beauty, beneath which, lies
They show us a snapshot, a scant frame in time
A sin of omission a heinous crime
They show not the movement - the love, the life
Nor the humour, the anger, the strife
For with strokes broad and fine ‘tis painted right there
From the foulest of foul, to the fairest of fair
A beautiful face, for a beautiful soul
On a canvas, gifted, by your family, whole
There lies your beauty - in your humour, your grace
Painted by your soul, as your beautiful face
Alan Duval (c) 2009
When poets and painters portray a beauteous face
It is to their utter and unending disgrace
That they focus on cheekbones and lips and eyes
Not the beauty, beneath which, lies
They show us a snapshot, a scant frame in time
A sin of omission a heinous crime
They show not the movement - the love, the life
Nor the humour, the anger, the strife
For with strokes broad and fine ‘tis painted right there
From the foulest of foul, to the fairest of fair
A beautiful face, for a beautiful soul
On a canvas, gifted, by your family, whole
There lies your beauty - in your humour, your grace
Painted by your soul, as your beautiful face
Alan Duval (c) 2009
A Suicide Girl’s tattoo
I discovered the meaning of life in a Suicide Girl's tattoo
Pieced it together from shots seven, thirteen and forty-two
Now I'm trying to contact her, to see if my take is true
Oh, and of course, if possible, I wouldn’t mind a screw
The Suicide Girl's not answering me, just my fucking luck
What's the point of the meaning of life when life's begun to suck?
Oh my god, she replied to me, my heart's been hit by a truck
Excellent, great, I got the tat right? Any chance of a fuck?
OK, I wasn’t that direct, when trying to get into her pants
I actually think that she was quite flattered by my respectful advance
We went out for a bite, a few drinks, then to a club to dance
The night went well, then back to hers – I had to have a chance
I discovered the meaning of life in a Suicide Girl's tattoo
It’s much more meaningful when you have the Suicide Girl, too
Alan Duval (c) 2009
I discovered the meaning of life in a Suicide Girl's tattoo
Pieced it together from shots seven, thirteen and forty-two
Now I'm trying to contact her, to see if my take is true
Oh, and of course, if possible, I wouldn’t mind a screw
The Suicide Girl's not answering me, just my fucking luck
What's the point of the meaning of life when life's begun to suck?
Oh my god, she replied to me, my heart's been hit by a truck
Excellent, great, I got the tat right? Any chance of a fuck?
OK, I wasn’t that direct, when trying to get into her pants
I actually think that she was quite flattered by my respectful advance
We went out for a bite, a few drinks, then to a club to dance
The night went well, then back to hers – I had to have a chance
I discovered the meaning of life in a Suicide Girl's tattoo
It’s much more meaningful when you have the Suicide Girl, too
Alan Duval (c) 2009
OCTOBER 2010
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SEPTEMBER 2010
AUGUST 2010
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JULY 2010
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