Astral Answers: Jesus is Magic
Dear Shae,
My sister is an ultra-religious fundamentalist Christian. She and her husband believe that God himself decided on them having 8 children. I guess I can handle that, but as I get older I am less and less able to find any real satisfaction in keeping a friendship with her. I don’t want to just cut things off completely, but when we’re together the whole Jesus thing is ALWAYS there, hanging over us. She insists that she won’t try to convert me anymore, which always seemed to be the problem. I’ve realized lately, however, that it’s me who needs to get over her ever-present religion. It annoys the hell out of me. I am an atheist, but I don’t want to be the kind of arrogant atheist who goes around criticizing everything in sight. I would like to have genuine respect for her religious beliefs, but the truth is that I just don’t. How can I stop this trend of liking religious people less and less?
Atheist Rising Continue Reading
Did ‘The X-Files’ Predict 9/11?
Q: Did The X-Files predict 9/11? Isn’t The X-Files, like, about aliens or something?
A: Relax, baby. Just sit back while blogger Benjamin Christopher quietly blows your mind.
J.J. Abram’s Awesome, Unfocused 2007 TED Talk
Of course J.J. Abrams has a mystery box that he’s never opened. The writer/director did this TED Talk in 2007, and it’s an interesting peak into how he functions as a storyteller, director, and writer. Worth a watch, especially if you’re a fan or writer. Tangentially Related Posts:What’s It Take To Be Number Four?OMG! The [...]
The Age of Aquarius is Nothing Nefarious
Dear Shae,
I’ve heard remarks about how household endeavors (caretaking, gardening, landscaping etc) can put you in touch with the efforts of your past selves. I’m fond of this idea, and see in both myself and in my friends an affinity for activities that could easily have ancient roots. How can I apply this sensitivity to my more modern technological endeavors? Certainly, a 12th century incarnation had no interest in Facebook, or the iPhone/Android dilemma, but there must be a common thread. Connections, calculation, memory tools, and the pursuit of better tools are endeavors as old as human history. How can I search for a technological connection with my distant past?
Even Automatons Get the Blues
This is a response to the novel The Absent City by Ricardo Piglia. Often described as a political thriller, the book is a journey through Argentina’s oppressive past. It features Junior as the novel’s protagonist and Elena, a machine that was created originally to translate stories but ends up twisting tales and memories that concern Argentina’s authorities.
The novel is a quest to unwind truth from fiction; in fact, it is an exploration into what truth actually is in terms of national identity, stories, narrative, and language. It is a dense read but highly engrossing…well…for those of you that love melancholy and semiotics, that is.
Essay: Death and Travel
“Sixty years. Sixty years on this earth and not once have I been snorkeling.”
Year after year, when I would rally for some sort of tropical vacation, I would hear some variation of this lament from my mother as she nodded, empathizing. But inevitably, my father’s distaste for any sort of extreme weather would lead us to the mildest of locales—usually somewhere with a plethora of historical markers and informative plaques. It wasn’t until my second year at college that my mom had finally convinced him—probably through the lure of Mayan ruins—to get a little bit closer to the equator.
TED Talk: The Birth of a Word
Deb Roy and his wife mounted cameras and microphones in every room of their house just before bringing home their newborn son. They recorded roughly 8-10 hours a day for several years, capturing almost a quarter million hours of footage and audio. And I thought my Dad was bad. But Roy wasn’t just recording to [...]
Russian Roulette: This Thing Called You
Russian Roulette is a classic life-or-death game of chance; spin the barrel, pull the trigger, hope for the best. Our version is a little different, and significantly less fatal. Grab a book, notebook, album, movie–whatever–flip or skip to a random excerpt, and hope for a BANG. Today’s barrel is loaded with This Thing Called You by [...]
Podcast: Alan Watts
The Hindu says nobody experiences pain except the Godhead. You are not some seprarate little puppet who is being kicked around by omnipotence. You are omnipotence in disguise. There is no victim of this… Even the baby with siphilus is the dreaming Godhead.