I'm going to handle these in reverse order. Why? Because its my blog and I can.
Writing on the blog has fallen off. But its fallen off across the board, i.e. - on everything. Neither is a good thing. I took August off to reward myself for my hard work, knowing that I had a piece or two or three yet to complete. I've now made two stabs at the first of those pieces without any kind of success. I need to really buckle down. I have two pieces I really need to get done, and probably 100 more. Plus, I'd like to start Book II at some point.
I've recently become enamored with the idea of, and would probably describe myself as, a deist. A follower of deism. Long story short: You believe in a god who set the world's natural laws in motion and has stayed out since then. Its very Jefferson Biblish. And Jefferson, and lots of other Founding Fathers, were or probably were, deists. Deism allows you to believe in all sorts of science and to be skeptical of all the holy "books" and miracles and supersitition. My take on it is that maybe god was there at the "big bang," maybe he made it go "bang." But he hasn't had a hand in it since, and he doesn't appear, nor make Mary appear, in potato chips. Jesus was a great moral leader, but not the son of God. Holy books are fine, human takes on religion, but they are just that, human works with all the accompanying frailty, fault and agendas that comes with it.
(Now, that wasn't so short, was it?)
I hate people who try to romanticise about the "good old days." I'll paraphrase Billy Joel ... "the good old days weren't always good. And tomorrow [doesn't have to be] as bad as it seems."
I have some conflicted feelings on Thomas Jefferson. He did some stuff that I really wish he hadn't, especially in light of his well-stated beliefs. But I really respect the hell out of the guy. By far my favorite founding father and the person (living or dead) I'd most like to invite to a dinner. The more I learn, the more I like.
I'm going hunting for a good TJ biography.
That's a pretty big thing, because I never, but never, read biographies.
Deists are my favorite sort of god following folk because they don't thump the bible at you when telling you you're wrong. They just give you the "you're an idiot" look, which I can argue with a little better. And as snarky as that sounded, I really do like Deists and Deism, what little I know about it. I bet it still gets you out of going to church, huh?
ReplyDeleteI just bought Oscar Wilde's biography on half.com, because it was indirectly recommended to me and I figured I needed to start reading more "good literature." Whatever that means.
I didn't even know biographies fell into the "good literature" - whatever that means - standard. Its a biography, for gods sake.
ReplyDeleteSince deists don't believe god intervenes in the world, there is no need for prayer (except for meditation and introspection) or church. Though as for the later, Unitarianism is generally considered to have grown out of the original deists.
With no holy book to trip me up, you'd have a hard time arguing with me. Not because I'd be any good at it, but because I think you'd find very little contradiction on my part or disagreement with you.
Also, since god put the natural laws in motion, it provides a good foundation for my other life philosophy - objectivism - which says that the natural laws require that we act in a way that promotes our best self-interest.
ReplyDeleteThough deism, by its nature, is certainly a lot of "take of it what you will."