yep

A little bit of feel good ^^

Experience of Genocide

From Science Daily, a recent article titles:
"Experience of Genocide as Transmitted Trauma May Not Be Universal"

 "In her interviews with Jewish-Israeli children of Holocaust survivors and Cambodian-Canadians whose parents were persecuted at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, Carol Kidron found that virtually all subjects rejected the pathologizing construct of transmitted PTSD."

Based on a study published in Current Anthropology:
Kidron, Carol A. Alterity and the Particular Limits of Universalism: Comparing Jewish-Israeli Holocaust and Canadian-Cambodian Genocide Legacies. Current Anthropology, 2012

There is a rejection of being framed as victims and having been psycho-socially impacted by these genocides. The cultural framing may be different, as the author points out, but it also may be cultural reactions to a researcher investigating the effects of genocide. So there is a resistance to being pathologized. But in truth, I should read the article before making any critiques, assessments, implications of the study. Interesting nonetheless.  

Meanwhile in Utah...

Just to bring attention to the framing of the heading. I have no idea who Greg Peterson is or have any leanings towards his innocence or guilt. What I do find interesting is in the way these titles frame what has happened.


In the Salt Lake Tribune: 

In suicide note, alleged Utah rapist Greg Peterson said he was innocent

Family seeks to allow the accused rapist to “finally speak out.”

In the Deseret News (aka the Mormon Times):

Rape suspect Greg Peterson unapologetic in suicide note

His courageous victims were telling the truth, District Attorney says

  

 

Haidt: The moral roots

Jonathan Haidt: The Moral Roots of Liberals and Conservatives



Thomas Nagel critiques Jonathan Haidt's book 'The Righteous Mind,' here
Haidt responds to Gary Gutting and Michael Lynch in the New York Times, here

Religion and Activism

The article raises an important question for theologians and scholars of different religious traditions and schools of thought.

Isn't engagement with contemporary issues relevant and critical for the place of religion in the public sphere?

For theologians, this could go back to Tillich's "Ultimate Concern," and (at the same time) begging the question of whether we should even have one; what are the dynamics of power?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/24/us/a-scholarly-affair-with-a-side-of-social-activism.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&

Pope writes book on Jesus

 "In "Jesus of Nazareth -- The Infancy Narratives," the pope says the Christian calendar is actually based on a blunder by a sixth century monk, who Benedict says was several years off in his calculation of Jesus' birth date." 

http://wwrn.org/articles/38581/

and here and here

I wonder how it checks out with the other "Historical Jesus" work. And what this means for the Catholic Church's stance on historical Jesus. 

Hope

i do not believe
there is a more
dangerous
and destructive
force in
all the world
than
hope,
but i do not
believe
there is a
more
necessary
or perfectly
beautiful
one
either.
- tyler knott gregson

imagine

A comparison in tone and mood:

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one 

White Buffalo

"The Native Americans see the birth of a white buffalo calf as the most significant of prophetic signs, equivalent to the weeping statues, bleeding icons and crosses of light that are becoming prevalent within the Christian churches today. Where the Christian faithful who visit these signs see them as a renewal of God's ongoing relationship with humanity, so do the Native Americans see the white buffalo calf as the sign to begin life's sacred hoop."

And they killed one...

Ayahuasca

Joe Rogan




National Geographic has also done a piece on this: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0603/features/peru.html

Jesus...

"if you shoot at me, I’ll shoot at you. There is no justification for the State of Gaza being able to shoot at our towns with impunity. We need to flatten entire neighborhoods in Gaza. Flatten all of Gaza. The Americans didn’t stop with Hiroshima – the Japanese weren’t surrendering fast enough, so they hit Nagasaki, too.

There should be no electricity in Gaza, no gasoline or moving vehicles, nothing. Then they’d really call for a ceasefire.

Were this to happen, the images from Gaza might be unpleasant – but victory would be swift, and the lives of our soldiers and civilians spared." 

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=292466

Danger...

Spirituality key to Chinese Medicine Success

"This analysis shows, among other things, that the underlying premise of Chinese medicine is that the mind and body of a person are inseparable. To be in good health, a person must have good spirit and pay attention to cultivating their spirit. Chinese doctors see "people" not "diseases" and equate "curing diseases" with "curing people."

According to the authors: "Good health and longevity are what we pursue. More and more people are concerned about ways to prevent disease and strengthen their bodies, which is the emphasis of traditional Chinese medicine. It pays attention to physical pains, and at the same time is also concerned with spiritual suffering. Therefore, TCM can teach people to be indifferent towards having or not having, to exist with few desires and feel at ease, to keep the body healthy and the mind quiet, and to achieve harmony between the body and the mind and then to achieve harmony with the world and nature." "

("The study is published online in Springer's journal Pastoral Psychology, in a special issue² dedicated to the psychology of religion in China.")
 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120925102517.htm


For an Anthropological account, I recommend Elizabeth Hsu's The Transmission of Chinese Medicine and here

 

Alan Watts on death

From the guy who made "Zen" popular to the U.S.






http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/10/31/alan-watts-on-death/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+brainpickings%2Frss+%28Brain+Pickings%29

*Zen Buddhist Priest?

I'm beginning to see the terms "Zen Buddhist priest" and "Zen Buddhist nun" pop up every now and again. And it always tickles me. It's like saying...ninja cowboy or sushi hamburger - taking an eastern philosophy and one school of Buddhism and applying it within the schemes of western society, validating it by creating terms of legitimation so that, let's be honest, white people can practice and teach it with authority. So in a way, this practice may be a syncretism in the opposite direction. This usually is a term applied, with positive or negative connotation, to Christianity being adopted by another country/culture. For the terms above, we have the inverse.

My latest encounter is here: http://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/2012/11/19/podcast-brian-victoria-on-zen-buddhist-terrorism-and-holy-war/
 
"The interview proceeds in two sections. First of all, Professor Victoria delineates his understanding of Holy War, which are expanded upon more fully in his freely available article Holy War: Toward a Holistic Understanding. Discussion flows from Karl Jaspers’ idea of the Axial Age and a movement from ‘tribal’ to ‘universalistic’ religions,  through to the potential connections between religion, nationalism, and threat perception, with potentially controversial examples from contemporary conflicts in Iraq, Israel and Palestine being cited along the way. The interview shifts its focus to the specific example of violence associated with (Japanese) Zen Buddhism, providing a stark contrast to its (admittedly positive) stereotypical reputation. How could the precept ‘there is no self’ be connected to violent acts? And what about the widely known idea of karma? You’ll have to listen to find out…"

Now I don't doubt the wisdom and knowledge this man, Prof. Brian Victoria, possesses - I'm sure he is very knowledgeable and has many insightful things to say; he also sought out a tradition that he obviously feels an affinity with. I just find the terminology kinda funny: "a fully ordained Zen Buddhist priest."

*looks pretty cool: Cowboy Ninja Viking

Jean-Paul Sartre

Existentialism is a Humanism: here
Mantra: "existence comes before essence"

"Man is nothing else but that which he makes of himself. That is the first principle of existentialism."

"the first effect of existentialism is that it puts every man in possession of himself as he is, and places the entire responsibility for his existence squarely upon his own shoulders. And, when we say that man is responsible for himself, we do not mean that he is responsible only for his own individuality, but that he is responsible for all men."

"When we say that man chooses himself, we do mean that every one of us must choose himself; but by that we also mean that in choosing for himself he chooses for all men. For in effect, of all the actions a man may take in order to create himself as he wills to be, there is not one which is not creative, at the same time, of an image of man such as he believes he ought to be. To choose between this or that is at the same time to affirm the value of that which is chosen; for we are unable ever to choose the worse.What we choose is always the better; and nothing can be better for us unless it is better for all. If, moreover, existence precedes essence and we will to exist at the same time as we fashion our image, that image is valid for all and for the entire epoch in which we find ourselves. Our responsibility is thus much greater than we had supposed, for it concerns mankind as a whole... I am thus responsible for myself and for all men, and I am creating a certain image of man as I would have him to be. In fashioning myself I fashion man."

"Existentialism is not atheist in the sense that it would exhaust itself in demonstrations of the non-existence of God. It declares, rather, that even if God existed that would make no difference from its point of view. Not that we believe God does exist, but we think that the real problem is not that of His existence; what man needs is to find himself again and to understand that nothing can save him from himself, not even a valid proof of the existence of God. In this sense existentialism is optimistic. It is a doctrine of action, and it is only by self-deception, by confining their own despair with ours that Christians can describe us as without hope."

Sex taboos

a brief and incomplete tour: here

"In some societies, sexual activity is prohibited during certain times of day. The Cuna of Panama approve of sexual relations only at night in accordance with the laws of God. The Semang of Malaysia believe that sex during the day will cause thunderstorms and deadly lightening, leading to drowning of not only the offending couple but also of other innocent people. And the West African Bambara believe that a couple who engage in sex during the day will have an albino child."

They believe...

or is this just the conventional and formal explanations for why they do what they do? And if so, can we legitimately say that these are the things that they believe? Begging the question of "believing" something...

 

Calvin and Hobbes on Man

*Architecture and Music

I thought this was quite interesting. Byrne's thesis is that the music is composed for certain structures. But there is a lot more going on when he's talking about architecture and structure. He mentions the acoustics of a space but he also includes the social atmosphere - people talking to each other, yelling at the band: "play that again," or factors like staying quiet. He's pointing at social etiquette in the event of a band and so on. So architecture, in the sense that Byrne is talking about it, is not simply the space and the structure of the building but social structures like etiquette and ethos in a venue.

The shift is made with the advent of the microphone and the radio. These devices have allowed the venue to be, literally, headphones. In this sense, ear buds become an architectural structure. And as a result, most of the music today, Byrne suggests is made as headphone music.

But I wonder if this is what composers and musicians have in mind when they compose. I have no idea. Do they anticipate where they're going to play when they write music? Do they anticipate the kind of acoustics of a space that they are going to encounter when they begin writing a song? The phrase "it fits perfectly" seems quite relative and in hindsight bias. Only in retrospect do they seem to fit. I think he does have a point though that the moods that the space dictates can enhance the mood of the music. For church choirs, in a way, they already know that they are going to be singing in a church. This is obvious as that is the social space that is appropriated for them. I'm curious, however, whether the acoustics of a space dictate the composition of a song. This would mean that the the structure of a church dictates the structure of an organ composition or how the choir will sing. Oddly, any of these genre of songs still work quite well in headphones. And any of these genres of songs work quite well in the car - not just the heavy bass of hip hop. As those who ride in cars that bump, you don't really hear too much of the mc and even at venues the bass will override the vocals. I think the idea becomes problematic when you start nitpicking at the components and whether they "fit perfectly" and when we begin asking how musicians compose their music - if they have a particular kind of space in mind. Nonetheless, the idea of architecture and ethos dictating the structure of compositions is an interesting and titillating idea.  

*Blessed is he...

In a conversation with my supervisor yesterday, we began talking about Buddhism and what the tradition, at least its philosophical aspects, might think of the concept of 'hope.' Buddhism teaches us that we should not be attached to worldly things or anything of this life. One of the principled statements from Buddhism is that 'Life is Suffering,' which I explain a bit more below (a post I wrote elsewhere quite some time ago). When I was asked if there is such a concept of 'hope' in Buddhism, I was reminded of Alexander Pope's comment: "Blessed is he who has no hope, for he is never disappointed." This statement seems to fit right in with the Buddhist statements about attachment and suffering. If one does not love or hope for things, suffering is diminished and there is no disappointment. In the animated series 'the last airbender,' Aang says, "The monks used to say that hope is a distraction. So maybe we need to abandon it...We need to focus on what we're doing right now. And that's getting across this pass." In lecture, my supervisor mentioned how Colin Murray Parkes said that the price for love is loss. "He wasn't the only one to say it and he probably won't be the last to say it either." If there is no hope then there is no disappointment. And disappointment is suffering, discontent. If there is no striving, there is no fall; without attachment no loss. However, in Buddhism the aim is to attain enlightenment which is an act of striving or aspiration in itself. One could argue that although the term 'hope' may not be relevant and one limited to the western context, the sentiment of 'hope' the striving for a state that is better than the present one can be said to exist. Otherwise there would be no such thing as an enlightened state.

Here rather crudely, I offer some implications of the degrees of being content or discontent in our actions and speech. In a way, it is another method of framing the relationship between art and audience. What seems to be lacking or unaccounted for are the subtleties and nuances of feigning content or discontent and their extensions of expression. One could argue that the act of feigning one or the other because it is not "genuine" it will be represented in their actions or language. At the same time, we could argue that there are those who are very good at feigning contentment or discontentment. On another note, we could even say that these frames of contentment and discontentment are false dichotomies of looking at the relationship. There are many who say they are content with something but do not seem to be, or vice versa. How many would recognize their own contentment or satisfaction with life or recognize their discontentment? Part of the concern is the amazing ability to delude or deceive one's self in the sense Sartre speaks about 'bad faith.' Nonetheless, the post was written years ago and with some entertainment for thought I raise it again here. I cannot say with any certainty that I still agree or disagree but enjoy the act of pondering the subject:

 

The Buddha spoke of suffering as a discontentedness, dissatisfaction, or inner turmoil with one’s life. And no doubt we all have our own share of suffering in that sense, dissatisfaction with life or discontent with the way things are going in our lives. Albeit these dissatisfactions may vary from person to person and to various degrees, but nonetheless we all have them - even for those who seemingly don’t have any worries or those who seem to be in “control,” “cool,” “calm and collected.” Suffering exists for all; we all have our worries and concerns. Many may be content with one aspect of their lives but perhaps not in another. The multifaceted complexities of life are such that it is possible for degrees of content-ness and discontent-ness.

What becomes interesting in the manifesting actions, as a result of such content-ness or discontent-ness, are the behavioral and lingual expressions reflecting one’s current perspective on life. Naturally, expression is as varied and diverse as the nature of one’s contentment and/or discontentment. To this end I don’t want to go into the various forms of expression but rather the effects of such expression, the consequences of expression. It would seem plausible to categorize expression into three forms of affect: positive, negative, and neutral - and of course we have all the “gray” areas in between. Another necessary distinction is within the act of expression: the intention of the expression and the extraction from that expression. In other words, we have the intention of the expression whether it was directed towards some thing or some one or whether it was simply a method of self-catharsis that happens to affect another; and of course we have the simple observational statement that means nothing but the perception acknowledging the observation - perhaps in the type of intention directed at some thing or some one. In contrast, we have the extraction of that expression, which is the meaning or effect upon another from that expression. In this regard the expression and the effect of the expression may or may not be congruent with one another and may even be oppositely construed. Naturally the extraction of expression is hermeneutical and contingent upon the individual’s cognitive attention in what that person “wants” to hear or focus on. This may be a direct product of social nurture or conditioning in how to interpret or understand something. Similarly the expression itself is also a product of one’s social environment in how to express one’s thought efficaciously. Nonetheless despite our absorption of thought and modes of communication and interpretation, there is a tremendous gap between the communicator and the communicated. Many will extract based upon tone and the seeming gist of what is being said. In this extraction, the expression of the expressor carries a particular "energy" that influences or impacts, to varying degrees, the person who the expression is directed towards or any extractor of that expression, which would entail an absorption of that energy carried in the expression.

The energy carried in expression is then correlative to one's sense of self, self-esteem, and state of happiness - contentness or discontentness- as transmitted and extracted from those who those expressions are directed towards, and at the same time the extent or degree of impact that energy has on the person is also related to the receiving person's degree of self, self-esteem, and state of happiness - contentness or discontentness - as the energy is absorbed pursuant to that person's mood or disposition at the time of transmittance.

The output and intake of energy from one person to another lies in one's own degree of self and rendition of his or her quality of life. In this sense expression can be considered as an indicator of self in the measure of happiness, or rather, simply a reflection of one's state of being.

The Sociological Science Behind Social Networks and Social Influence

some problematic generalizations in method and qualification going on here...

Just War Theory

From the BBC:

What is a Just War?

Six conditions must be satisfied for a war to be considered just:

• The war must be for a just cause.
• The war must be lawfully declared by a lawful authority.
• The intention behind the war must be good.
• All other ways of resolving the problem should have been tried first.
• There must be a reasonable chance of success.
• The means used must be in proportion to the end that the war seeks to achieve.

How should a Just War be fought?

A war that starts as a Just War may stop being a Just War if the means used to wage it are inappropriate.

• Innocent people and non-combatants should not be harmed.
• Only appropriate force should be used.
  • This applies to both the sort of force, and how much force is used.
• Internationally agreed conventions regulating war must be obeyed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/war/just/what.shtml


Some reconsiderations from the NY Times Opinionator blog, by Jeff McMahan:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/rethinking-the-just-war-part-1/

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/12/rethinking-the-just-war-part-2/


And...

12 November 2012 – The General Assembly today elected 18 countries to serve on the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) for a period of three years beginning on 1 January 2013.

Argentina, Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire, Estonia, Ethiopia, Gabon, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Montenegro, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, United Arab Emirates, United States and Venezuela were elected by secret ballot during the elections held at UN Headquarters in New York.

Members of the Council serve for a period of three years and are not eligible for immediate re-election after serving two consecutive terms.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=43468&Cr=human+rights+council&Cr1=#.UKGHame8iul

Calvin and Hobbes on War

Dan Ariely: The Truth about Dishonesty

Media

Agenda-Setting:
"The media doesn't tell us what to think, but what to think about."

"A theory closely related to agenda-setting is media priming. Iyengar et. al. (1982) developed the media priming hypothesis in the process of conducting experiments on agenda-setting as a way to explain how views on public issues can have real-world political consequences, including the processes guiding the formation and expression views.[1] The media priming hypothesis “suggests that the news media influence the standards by which political figures or public policies are judged by calling attention to some matters and ignoring others.”[2] As a result, “media alter the standards by which [public] policies or candidates for office are evaluated.”[3]"

 

[1] Kosicki, “Media Priming Effect,” 63.

[2] Ibid., 64.

[3] Ibid., 69.

http://www.rhetoricalens.info/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_id=11

Germs and angels

Germs and angels: the role of testimony in young children's ontology.

Harris PL, Pasquini ES, Duke S, Asscher JJ, Pons F.

Source

Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. Paul_Harris@gse.harvard.edu

Abstract

In three experiments, children's reliance on other people's testimony as compared to their own, first-hand experience was assessed in the domain of ontology. Children ranging from 4 to 8 years were asked to judge whether five different types of entity exist: real entities (e.g. cats, trees) whose existence is evident to everyone; scientific entities (e.g. germs, oxygen) that are normally invisible but whose existence is generally presupposed in everyday discourse; endorsed beings (e.g. the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus) whose existence is typically endorsed in discourse with young children; equivocal beings (e.g. monsters, witches) whose existence is not typically endorsed in discourse with young children; and impossible entities (e.g. flying pigs, barking cats) that nobody believes in. Children make a broad dichotomy between entities and beings that they claim to exist (real entities; scientific entities; and endorsed beings) and those whose existence they deny (equivocal beings and impossible entities). They also make a more fine-grained distinction among the invisible entities that they claim to exist. Thus, they assert the existence of scientific entities such as germs with more confidence than that of endorsed beings such as Santa Claus. The findings confirm that children's ontological claims extend beyond their first-hand encounters with instances of a given category. Children readily believe in entities that they cannot see for themselves but have been told about. Their confidence in the existence of those entities appears to vary with the pattern of testimony that they receive.

http://www.cognitionandculture.net/home/news/59-publications/2464-paul-harris-on-how-children-learn-from-others 

Stiff Upper Lip: An emotional history of Britain

The history of how the British people went from sentimental folk to stoic "stiff upper lip" folk through the war and the nationalization of heroes and myths

Good stuff, although it digresses a bit as the episodes go on.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01n7r80/hd/Ian_Hislops_Stiff_Upper_Lip_An_Emotional_History_of_Britain_Emergence/

Calvin and Hobbes on Church and State

Religion and the U.S. Elections

  

http://www.pewforum.org/Politics-and-Elections/How-the-Faithful-Voted-2012-Preliminary-Exit-Poll-Analysis.aspx


So here's how the election played out this year in 2012:

This is what it would have looked like if only white men voted:

 And if only men voted, of all races:

If only white people voted, men and women:

If only 24 and older voted:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeedpolitics/what-the-2012-election-would-have-looked-like-with

http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2012/11/11/who-would-have-won-if/

Calvin and Hobbes

Let us pray...

Amen...and...

CEO Robert E. Murray of Murray Energy, a coal company based in Ohio:

Dear Lord:

The American people have made their choice. They have decided that America must change its course, away from the principals of our Founders. And, away from the idea of individual freedom and individual responsibility. Away from capitalism, economic responsibility, and personal acceptance.

We are a Country in favor of redistribution, national weakness and reduced standard of living and lower and lower levels of personal freedom.

My regret, Lord, is that our young people, including those in my own family, never will know what America was like or might have been. They will pay the price in their reduced standard of living and, most especially, reduced freedom.

The takers outvoted the producers. In response to this, I have turned to my Bible and in II Peter, Chapter 1, verses 4-9 it says, "To faith we are to add goodness; to goodness, knowledge; to knowledge, self control; to self control, perseverance; to perseverance, godliness; to godliness, kindness; to brotherly kindness, love."

Lord, please forgive me and anyone with me in Murray Energy Corp. for the decisions that we are now forced to make to preserve the very existence of any of the enterprises that you have helped us build. We ask for your guidance in this drastic time with the drastic decisions that will be made to have any hope of our survival as an American business enterprise.

Amen.

"Then he fired 156 people." 


Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/after-obama-re-election-ceo-reads-prayer-to-staff-announces-layoffs/2012/11/09/e9bca204-2a63-11e2-bab2-eda299503684_story.html?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost

"Sacred Duty" to support

Remember this? The famous cover to Rage against the machine's album 'Bombtrack.' These were protests by monks against the Vietnam War...

Self-immolation is still happening...

The exiled Tibetan community continue to protest in self-immolating fashion against the Chinese government.

"We have made so many appeals (to stop self-immolations), but they are still doing it," said Sangay, the political successor of the Dalai Lama, as the number of self-immolations by monks, nuns and others swelled to 68 since March 2011.'

Tibet's exiled political leader, Lopsang Sangay, said 'that it is the "sacred duty" of the exiled community to support it.'

The Tibetan leader said the world needs to focus on the cause behind the act, not just the act itself.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/10/exiled-tibetans-support-self-immolation_n_2109795.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

"The mountain is a Buddha and the Buddha is a mountain"

The Leshan Giant Buddha
樂山大佛
'A seated Maitreya Buddha with his hands resting on his knees'

Created during the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907 AD)
Located in the Mount Emei area 

"Construction was started in 713, led by a Chinese monk named Haitong. He hoped that the Buddha would calm the turbulent waters that plagued the shipping vessels traveling down the river. When funding for the project was threatened, he is said to have gouged out his own eyes to show his piety and sincerity. After his death, however, the construction was stuck due to insufficient funding. About 70 years later, a jiedushi decided to sponsor the project and the construction was completed by Haitong's disciples in 803."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leshan_Giant_Buddha 

 

Calvin and Hobbes on innateness

*Art and Religion

Paul Tillich is perhaps the greatest U.S. theologian of the 20th century. However, in the UK, a book on modern theology fails to mention or even list him in the index.

I went to a seminar today entitled 'The Religious Meaning of Culture,' which plays off the title of Tillich's book: The Theology of Culture. The subject was about reviving a "Neo-Tillichian systematic theology," which of course must apply itself to the contemporary landscape of culture.

Now, although I have read two of Tillich's work, I do not know enough about his systematic theology nor do I know him well enough to speak, with thoroughness, of the seminar today.

What I would like to do here is pick up on, what was really, the end point of the paper. Today we are living in a capitalist society and there is no room for change. Capitalism is here to stay, or so the speaker says. We cannot envision an alternative. We are strained by this form of economy and any vision for a "utopia" is actually blocked off because of the possibilities we have today. The speaker calls it a culture without a future. This sounds much like Francis Fukuyama's The End of History. Because of these constraints the 'Ultimate Concern,' which is what is identified with religion becomes unimaginable and impossible. I'm not sure if I summarized this part of his argument correctly but let's posit it for the sake of fun and this post.

Given this "culture without a future," which I myself don't necessarily agree with, I would like to make the parallel of religion's ultimate concern and the art. Two artists came to mind while this talk was being given, Duchamp and Basquiat. Artists who in a way shook the art world. Duchamp brought in a urinal, put his name on it, and placed it in a gallery and challenged the very concept of what art is. This is perhaps a definitive moment of begging the question. It is avant-garde to the contemporary landscape of the art scene. This action alone by Duchamp has propelled the discussion of art, art theory, and art criticism. My parallel here with the "culture without a future" and the constraints imposed by capitalist possibilities, is the occupy movement. I think today we are beginning to question the economic system more and more. Occupy Wall Street was not a temporary thing. It is still moving forward and still alive. My sense is that the disgust and disdain for the economic system today is still there. In this sense we question the economy. Much like Duchamp's urinal questioned art and propelled the discussion.

My second artist is Basquiat. Picked up by Andy Warhol, he is perhaps one of the representative artists who made the transition from street art to canvas. He represented the marginalized, the unexpected, the one's outside of the box of culture but still permeated with their own sense of style and culture. They were the one's outside of the art world. The marginalized. The analogy is the art world to Tillich's 'Ultimate Concern', the 'Unimaginable.' If we cannot find anything new or any fresh possibilities, what does shake the box is the work from what has been marginalized. Another good example is hip hop, which generated new styles of music, art, and dance.

So I would beg the question of what the 'Ultimate Concern' for the present culture would be. Does an 'immediate concern' collapse with an 'ultimate concern' and is in fact that concern? If we are strained by the broad range of possibilities of capitalism such that it inhibits the imagination to the extent that we can no longer envision what a utopia would be, does not the act of questioning and threatening 'art' and the marginalized shake-up of the box not give possibilities and imagination to the unimaginable? Is it not time to reconsider what the 'Ultimate Concern' is and perhaps look to the marginalized thinkers for what may be the realm of the 'unimaginable'?

The Drinking Party

A modern 1965 version of Plato's Symposium:

Religion and the 2012 Election

Dr. Robert P. Jones from the Public Religion Research Institute talks with Fox5 News about religion and this year's election:



And at the BBC:
"Roy Jenkins is joined from Washington DC by Joseph Loconte, Associate Professor of History, The King’s College, New York, and by Jim Wallis, CEO of the Sojourners Community, activist, and theologian. And on this side of the Atlantic, we have Stephen Bates, former Religion Correspondent for The Guardian newspaper, who’s written extensively on religion and politics in America and by Professor Douglas Davies, anthropologist, theologian and expert in the Mormon faith [from Durham University]" BBC Radio Wales 'All Things Considered' podcast:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01nqcj6

Calvin and Hobbes on Math as Religion

"With the concept of 'ritual,' one is reminded of what Wittgenstein says about thought: it is like silver paper, and once crumpled it cannot ever be quite smoothed out again"
-Rodney Needham, 'Remarks on Wittgenstein and Ritual'

Calvin and Hobbes on Ethics

The Psychology of Everything?!

Paul Bloom....I have some contentions with how he interprets some of his data and didn't quite agree with some of his conclusions from his book, Descartes' baby, but it's worth a watch. Disregarding the pretentious title of the video, Bloom talks about some of the psychology data on 'compassion,' 'racism,' and 'sex.'
*Do note some of the tentativeness of how some of the data is interpreted.   

"Heathen"

So "uncivilized"... 

Longevity Project

 

"In 1921, before most of us were born, a remarkable study began tracking the loves and lives of 1500 Americans from childhood to death. The study continues even today, with research teams led by Howard Friedman still keeping tabs on the remaining few who are still alive and analyzing massive amounts of data to establish what it is precisely about these 1500 individuals that led some to stay well and others to fall ill or die before their time. Incredibly, no one until now has chronicled and interpreted the findings from this monumental almost century-long project for the general public. Is longevity associated with being married, daily jogs, living with pets, or faith in God? At last, with lucid prose and rigorous yet crystal clear analysis, Professor Friedman and Professor Martin have succeeded beautifully."

— Sonja Lyubomirsky, author of The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want

 http://www.howardsfriedman.com/longevityproject/

http://www.psychologytoday.com/collections/201210/weeks-top-posts-3/science-and-the-good-life 

Interesting... 

 

Cultural variance and autism

Nature recently published an article on the need for the study of autism "must account for a variety of behavioral norms in different societies."

The standard diagnostic of autism has been sharply shaped by a western standard of normativity. They have a particular view of what autism is, what the indicators are, and how to treat it. However, the cultural variances are challenging these assumptions and the lines are no longer clear cut.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v491/n7422_supp/full/491S18a.html

"The great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are."
-Machiavelli

"Entre nous, et l'enfer ou le ciel, il n'y a que la vie entre deux, qui est la chose du monde la plus fragile"
Between us, and heaven or hell, there is only life between the two, which is the most fragile thing in the world.

"Le silence est la grande presecution; jamais les saints ne se sont tus"
Silence is the greatest prosecution; the saints never went silent

-Blaise Pascal, Pensees