A question for you because I don't know

If Socrates said (roughly) "The only thing I know is that I know nothing," and "The unexamined life is not worth living," then what was there to examine if you can know nothing? And had he fully examined his life when he chose death over exile?

How can you know nothing if you know that you know nothing? That's something, isn't it?

Is it the same lack of logic that disproves the statement "The only truth is power"? The statement can't be true if the only truth is power.

So was Socrates just a damn Sophist like Aristophanes claimed?

This one made me chuckle:

There arre threee mistakes in this sentence.

UU Update

So we met with the new minister and I'm liking her more and more every time I talk to her. I am very hesitant, as she is a minister and thus immediately suspect, but we'll see.

Our first meeting was a get-to-know-our-story meeting. She made it clear that as children of members of the church we don't need to pay to be married there. And she also made it clear that she does not expect or want us to join unless that feels right to us. I've never felt so little pressure from a minister at that church.

I like her approach to "pre-marriage counciling" or whatever it is. She meets the first time to get to know us. On the second meeting she'll ask us all kinds of tough questions, kind of like a councilor, to see if we've thought about our relationship and our future. She'll ask how we fight, what we fight about, if we want kids, what our money situation is like, what we want for careers, what's important to us at the end of the day, etc. I look forward to it; I've always enjoyed an invigorating round of self-reflection.

The third meeting is to plan the actual ceremony. She sends us information on two weddings she did, one very traditional and one ass-backwards. Then we pick and choose what we want.

I'm looking forward to the process. But the most important thing that happened in our first meeting was that she acknowledged and we talked about the pain that the previous minister left us with. She was very sympathetic and could relate to us with her own stories of seeing colleagues act recklessly. We talked about when you can and cannot forgive, what the three of us can do to help the Fiancee and I feel at ease in the community again, and what options we have in talking to members of the church who were involved. She has really laid to rest many of our problems with the church from when that minipulative monster ran it. I feel like we can start over in our relationship with the church and with organized religion as a whole. I still don't think I'll join, and I still have trouble trusting organized religion, but I'm open to going more often and volunteering for a few of the things that interest me there.

I am very happy. And I can't wait to get married.

The Organized Religion Thing

Alright. Finally time to discuss my feelings about organized religion. More for me to get my thoughts organized than anything else. Brownie points to anyone who reads the whole thing.

I was raised Unitarian Universalist, third generation. This is very rare, as the 100,000-200,000 person denomination is made up mostly of converts. Ex-Catholics, current Jews, and lots of Protestants who never went to church as a kid but want some kind of community and spiritual leadership as they raise their kids.

To be UU, you need to believe in one thing and one thing only: respect for the interdependent web of life and the sanctity of that life. Some take this more seriously and are vegan, most take it to mean eating but not torturing animals and respecting all human beings. It is liberal, democratic and of Judeo-Christian origin, with more recent Pagan influences. All churches are self-run, some more Pagan, others more Christian, some more Jewish, many a whole mix of all of the above. They all belong to the Unitarian Universalist Association, the central organization of the religion.

Okay. So I'm getting married soon in the church we both grew up in and the new minister wants us to join, become members, pay an anual fee to belong to a church in which we will be able to vote on church decisions. And this frightens me. I do not like the idea of paying for church membership, though those who cannot afford much are allowed to pay like twenty five dollars a year. But still, the money thing bothers me. But: how can you run a building without money?

Another thing that bothers me is the whole idea of having a minister lead a church. Sure, it's democratic, but that minister holds power and sway over the spiritual and emotional lives of the congregation. I know. I got fucked by a minister who mixed friendships, alliances, power and church law to ban people I love from church property for committing no crime. She threatened my family stability and did things I cannot publicly publish here. Until she did this to us, I wanted to be a minister myself.

And then there's the liberal rhetoric. I have strong liberal leanings. I believe in charity and support for those on the bottom of the social and economic ladder. But I do not blindly follow all the liberal dogma. I disagree with a lot of it. (I don't believe in the type of gun control on the books and think Affirmative Action is racist). To be a part of this church, it is assumed that you believe in the whole damn lot of it. I can't stand the ignorant blind peace-mongers who light candles before they eat a steak dinner praying for world peace. Shut the fuck up. There are times to fight and times not to fight. You have to use your brain to decide the difference.

I love that Unitarians don't assume you believe in God. What they stress, though, is the community. Which is fine. But I look around after the service and don't feel I particularly need this community in my life. If I were raising children, I might feel differently. I am glad I was raised in the church and love seeing the "old folks" who have been there forever. But I don't really need pot lucks and pancake breakfasts. I do, however, need the church building itself. If a family member dies, when I get married, I want the building I grew up in to be there for me. Hypocritical?

And then there are the sermons themselves. The current minister is a fire-breathing activist. She gets up there and PREACHES, and I mean PREACHES, motivating the congregation to save the world. And that's nice. But I don't want someone in my face all the time. I like her sermons because I disagree with a lot of what she says. I find that she makes me define my position because she comes from a pure liberal angle and puts me on a conservative retreat. Well, conservative for a Unitarian. But either way, her sermons are intellectually stimulating.

Back when I believed in God (I found God in Nashville, Tennessee, and I think that's funny) I had a few intensely spiritual experiences with Unitarian youth organizations. And they were central to my development as a spiritual person. But I have developed away from all of that. I am a strict humanist/agnostic. When I say "Humanitology: We are the answer to our own question," I mean it. I find the study of human culture and thought truly divine. My love of psychology, religious studies, anthropology, history, literature and art are all a part of my spiritual life. I am always searching for those traits that are universal, that make us human, because I believe that humanity is the most beautiful and ugly thing in the entire universe. In terms of a separate divinity: I have had unexplained experiences; I am perfectly open to the idea of a higher power. I just refuse to decide what to believe because afterward I will miss out on all things that do not conform to my belief. And besides, I don't think it matters whether there is a creator god or other gods or not. Morality and virtue are not dependent on anything but humanity. We know what is right or wrong, whether we attribute it to a higher power or not. I believe most people strive to be good, but that "good" is a culturally defined term. I am still trying to figure out the relationship between relative good and universal morality. Most religions and cultures agree on things like "don't kill" and "don't lie," they just disagree on the circumstances that make exceptions to the rules appropriate. Humans are capable of true evil. But the idea that good and evil come from different places, places other than the human heart, is ludicrous in my mind.

The church is not my spiritual home. It is not where I have revelations. Actually, the house I live in right now is. The house I live in is as close to a church as I will ever get. I have had most if not all of my "unexplained" experiences here. This is where I do any mediation/rituals that I am going to do. So I don't need the church for that.

I suppose I don't feel that I need organized religion. I just enjoy the intellectual stimulation of a well-writen sermon. I like disagreeing with someone's thoughts. Nothing spiritual there. But I want the building for my own because of all my memories there, because we both grew up there, because we need a place for weddings and funerals.

So am I a hypocrite not to join and still use the building? And if I do join: I always said I won't participate in someone else's holy ceremony because to do so without believing is offensive to those who do believe. If I sat through a Catholic Mass, I would stand and kneel where appropriate out of respect but not say the words that I don't believe in. So would joining a church I don't believe in and a community I don't feel I need be equally offensive?

I still don't know. We meet with the minister Sunday. We'll see how it goes.

Kurdistan

The Fiancee mentioned dividing up Iraq into three countries today. One of them being an independent Kurdistan.

We were talking about this in "Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan" class last night. If we create an independent Kurdistan, the Middle East will implode.

Turkey has trouble with its Kurds in the south east. They regularly cross the border into Iraq, where Kurds are more or less independent in the North. Turkey regularly conducts raids across the border. Turkey hates us right now because American troops recently captured a bunch of Turkish troops and treated them poorly. But the point is that both Turkey and Iran (which also has a "Kurd problem" in its adjacent regions) have said that they will not stand for an independent Kurdish state because their Kurds will try to separate, taking big chunks of each country's territory with them.

If we create an independent Kurdistan, our friend Turkey and our enemy Iran will be on the same side waging war with the Western Darling, Kurdistan. It will be another Israel. We will lose Turkey, one of the most strategic countries in the Middle East as it has both the straits between Istanbul and Anatolia and bases within bombing distance of the rest of the region. This cannot happen. If we leave Iraq and lose Turkey simultaneously, we will have no way of keeping Iran from doing anything it wants.

My heart goes out to the Kurds, but if Iran and Turkey say no, Kurdistan cannot exist. Independence will only bring more war and devestation to a group of people who have been shit on for as long as anyone can remember.

Disgusting

I understand that double jeopardy exists for a reason. And that's fine. But this is truly sick.

O.J. Simpson is giving a two part interview to FOX (big surprise) called "O.J. Simpson: If I did it, here's how it happened."

I know that television likes exploiting victims. I know that television likes sensational stories. I know that we have all known he did it since his trial. But does anyone give a shit about the families? I thought O.J. had no soul because he killed his children's mother. But this may be worse. He is now making money off of recounting the juicy details of killing his children's mother.

His poor, poor kids. They should sue him for emotional damages, pain and suffering.

Jubilatory Tenativity

TAKE THAT

THE, and I mean THE, most important lesson we can take away from this election is that the voting machines are only being used to fudge elections if and when it is 51 to 49. The GOP never would have allowed such a push if they were in complete control of the elections and certainly wouldn't have allowed cronies like Santorture'em to go unemployed. When the voting is 55+ to 45-, the elections aren't fucked with enough to make a huge difference.

The most important lesson we can learn from the GOP itself is the same lesson every empire ever taught us: never assume you will rule forever; never get comfortable; never get lazy. And never make any race about only one issue. Even if it's fags.

We need to keep on our toes, move quickly, get/stay organized, keep our noses clean, have a little more faith in the Christian States, and keep our noses clean.

Mantra of the Day

Everybody say it with me:



Germany survived the Nazis
Germany survived the Nazis
Germany survived the Nazis
Germany survived the Nazis
Germany survived the Nazis
Germany survived the Nazis
Germany survived the Nazis
Germany survived the Nazis





Of course, the Jews didn't.



Do I stick it out and keep my head down, stick it out and fight, or run like hell?

The folks running this country are a lot more subtle than Hitler was. It will take a hell of a lot longer for things to get 1941 bad. Globally, I have faith in two things: money, as they will never take away the freedom to purchase whatever they can make a profit off of; and the epilogue of Atwood's Handmaid's Tale, the reminder that no matter how bad it is there is always an end to the chapter, and future historians to read it like a fascinating, frightening book.

Not that I am particularly fond of having to live this chapter.

Am I a pussy to run off to another country, leaving my friends and family behind? Do I stick with the community I love and endure whatever happens over the next fifty years? I have no inherent sense of nationalism. The concept seems kind of silly to me. But I do love My City, and New England as a whole. Not simply because I live here, was raised here, have family and memories scattered throughout, but because I have roots in a wonderful community and feel connected to the Earth here, the ocean, the seasons.

But there are other wonderful communities elsewhere. And there are other beautiful places on Earth.

And then: where would I go? Will it be better in Europe, with the shady EU and Muslim riots? Canada with their recent overthrow of the scandalous liberal government? England, the most Big Brother surveillance-d country on Earth? South America with its political turmoil? Africa with its wars and diseases? Asia with its tsunamis, Communists, and dictators? The Middle-East with its fundamentalism and lack of women's rights? Russia with god-knows-what-is-next?

If only I had some idea of what the next twenty years are going to be like.

But: where there is satire, there is hope. Even Iraq has a Jon Stewart-esque show that is hugely popular (when the power is on). An unidentified man has been kidnapped by unidentified men and taken to an unidentified location. And now for the weather: hot, dry, sandy. And in sports...

I think I need to go watch Stan and Kyle make fun of Canada. It always makes me feel just a little bit better. And then I'll vote. It's a useless hobby, but it makes me feel nice anyway.

Healey Pulling A Kerry

Healey is acting like an idiot. Now, don't get me wrong, she's a smart woman. But she is doing exactly what Kerry did in 2004. She is listening to her handlers. She is saying that a vote for her is a vote against the other guy. She is attacking with ruthlessness and speaking in obscurities. Not what she will do, but what she will not do. She is not speaking to the public with honesty, with thought (Kerry stopped thinking before he speaks a long time ago, as we can all see).

She is not explaining that she is the perfect Republican for Massachusetts because she is pro-choice but a fiscal watchdog, and wants compromise on gay marriage. Had she tapped into the women's groups who courted her, had she posed for photos next to the conservative ministers who are trying to clean up crime in the city, had she tried to look like she was helping poor people despite her being a millionaire, had she proposed plans for shaping the Mass economy and dealing with taxes, she would be leading in the polls.

But it's too late. She looks like a bitch and Patrick looks like a fairytale liberal, but he at least has something to say that is not about his opponent. And the voters are sick of the hate.

Healey's campaign:
RAPE: vote for Healey
BLACK PEOPLE: vote for Healey
FEAR: vote for Healey

Scare tactics work much better on the national level, not the local level. Hasn't anyone told her that yet?