Yeah, I'm interested in talking about the actions side of faith. I'm pretty sure that some of my day to day decisions would drive some buffistas bugfuck. And I'm trying to get a grasp on how that works for me, what it means to me.
Irrational things I have done because of my faith include: quitting a (household) $100,000/yr job, moving hundreds of miles away from family & friends, living deliberately in subpar conditions on minimum wage incomes, driving constantly across the country in a minivan, spending a lot of time hanging out with teenagers in noisy environments.
Now, those things could all be filed under nonreligious social justice issues and be considered fine. Not much harm done there other than sacrificed relationships with family members and environmental damage from excessive travel.
But at some point, my work must naturally diverge from social justice work alone, because I believe that there's more that's necessary than to just address the tangible social needs. I have a sense of purpose and direction and that's something I want to convey to my students. Does that do harm from the eyes of a secularist? Is a sense of purpose inherently problematic if it's a (presumably) delusional purpose?
The way one of my agnostic friends phrased it is that if Christians really believed what we claim to believe; if we actually believed in damnation, then we would be desperate, panicky, to make sure our friends and family didn't suffer. But we're not, so (from his perspective) either it's not true or we don't care.
(And yeah, JZ, I know what you mean. He's a way better Christian than I am, and he's totally actively rejected Christ.)
And the universe gets confused and that's why it can't filter out all the negatives?
Yeah. Plus the Universe has ADD. And maybe Aspergers....
What's interesting about believing The Secret is that it takes something that seems defensible and easy to be believed a couple of clicks to a place that seems, from the outside, somewhat crazy.
I suspect that has something to do with the shift from "seems like a good idea" to "ideological center of the universe." Because then suddenly that idea can't EVER be wrong lest the whole underlying premise be found wrong. And if the idea isn't wrong, then the problem must lie within the person instead.
Aimee, I don't know if you ever watch Ace of Cakes on Food Network, but in their next new episode (which I don't know the exact date of, unfortunately), it looks like they make a cake for Daniel Radcliffe, who looks exceedingly young in the commercial.
I have nothing to say about The Secret other than it's clearly not working very well, because my life is pretty happy and good right now, and I'm about as negative a person as you can get. Also, tiny seething ball of rage. I must be doing it wrong.
To which I call bullshit because I think about being rich and thin ALL THE TIME.
Yeah. I've been vividly and consistently imaging George Clooney in my life for years now. So far? Nada.
Any slight negative thought and it just screws up the Secret.
Not a single negative one. In my, um,
affirmations
I'm always saying yes. Sometimes I'm yelling it. Repeatedly and to the point of breathlessness. Yes George! Yes! Yes! Yes! Oh GOD Yes!
What's interesting about believing The Secret is that it takes something that seems defensible and easy to be believed a couple of clicks to a place that seems, from the outside, somewhat crazy.
Right. Its not like everybody in Darfur is just whiny or all those folks shipped off to Auschwitz wouldn't have if they'd just said "I want to live free of Nazis" instead of "Don't let the Nazis slaughter me and everyone I know." Yeah yeah, Godwin's Law.
And its not like all the delightfully successful people are fonts of positivity. Paris Hilton has made a rather lucrative career on nothing... though arguably "that's hot" IS a positive statement.
And...I'm off to a sexual harassment prevention class. Lucky me.
Must be that time of the year - I had to do that last week
Waste of time. You know, some things can't be learned. You either have the talent or you don't.
The universe is nothing but a toddler!
That explains why there is shit in the toy microwave.
I need to set my TiFaux for Ace of Cakes. I still haven't watched Persuasion yet. But it did record. I hate this TiFaux more than I hated Time Warner's TiFaux.
Zoinky doinks. I love those cakes!
What I love about Ace of Cakes is that, for all that Duff Goldman is a real showman and loves the camera, most of the show is spent with the other people at the bakery, especially the low-key Geoff (I love the quiet-yet-snarky type!) and the completely awesome (said with Dufflike enunciation) Mary Alice. In the commercial for the new ep, which is very Harry-Potteresque, you see her tell Duff, "Hey, Dumbledork, turn the lights back on!", which cracks me up every time I see it.
