No Heroes

In recent years, I've held the opinion that the world grants us precious few heroes, and we'd be better off, or at least better adjusted, if we stopped attempting to mint them from the larger than life figures we see in the media.  There is nothing about sports, politics, or movies, for instance, that make a person a good roll model, and much that works against it.  And yet I constantly see people worshiping at their favorite cult of personality without any thought of what value, if any, lies beneath it.   Why?

Sounds Reasonable

"Reason" is a wonderful thing.  Without it, everything you did would be driven by whim and dogma.  And how would you explain that to your wife?  But, like any tool, reason has its limitations.  Knowing what they are might greatly enhance one's efforts to "Be" reasonable, rather than merely having reasons.

I Got Nothing

It has long been my experience that those who have spent the least of time considering an issue tend to feel the most certain about it. One, such as myself, who looks at a thing from all angles tends to find that important issues are contentious for good reason. Capital-T-Truth is an elusive thing, and the moment you stop searching for it, thinking you've found it, is the moment you move from confusion to delusion.

Blood for Words

So, a couple days ago, the Pope makes this ill-advised reference to a medieval Byzantine emperor's comments in a speach on the topic of religious tolerance and it's importance.  The quote is immediately taken out of context by Islamists everywhere and spread among their drones. Muslims worldwide are deeply offended by the suggestion that their's is a religion of violence.To express their outrage at the baseless accusation, Muslims began marching and chanting and protesting.  And burning Christian churches.  And murdering a nun.  And threatening to kill more.

We shall break the cross and spill the wine. ... God will (help) Muslims to conquer Rome. ... God enable us to slit their throats, and make their money and descendants the bounty of the mujahideen.

-the Mujahideen Shura Council

I bet that will keep the Pope from insinuating they're violent.

Enough is Enough

As I’ve noted in previous essay’s, I’m not a big fan of superfluous junk. Everything you own owns a little bit of you, and too much of a good thing is, well, a bad thing. That’s why I was rather pleased to find that there was an actual movement around the practice of chucking useless detritus.

Checking My Basic Premises

As part of an exercise with a debating partner of mine, I have attempted to distill my beliefs down to their most basic components. The goal here is to define the well spring of my philosophy, which can then act as constant reference for all else I might come to believe. After all, if I can’t stay faithful to my own beliefs, then I’m just reacting to the noise around me.

Why We Can't Just Get Along

I find myself occupying the somewhat awkward space between “bemused” and “horrified” as I watch the unfolding “Mohammed Cartoon” crises. I am amused because there exists something that can reasonable be called a “crisis” concerning something about a cartoon. I am horrified because of what it reveals about the world we live in.