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Recent Posts
Monthly Archives: June 2009
Quote of the Day II
Alan Jacobs, of The New Atlantis , puts in a good word for writing well, and writing teachers: Again and again in my career I have seen that people who can write well — in almost any field — give … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged creative writing, education, English, English majors, grammar, literature, professional writing, writing
1 Comment
Mental Health Break
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Tagged happiness, joy, life, mental health break, psychology, summer
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Let’s Be Serious, Shall We? What is the Import of Calling Yourself an Atheist?
There is a scene in Woody Allen’s film, Husbands and Wives , in which a couple comes over to Woody Allen’s and Mia Farrow’s apartment. (Let’s call the other couple “Max” and “Sally.”) They sit together at a couch, and … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged agostic, atheist, existentialism, philosophy, psychology, religion
1 Comment
What’s It All About? See Here?
If it were evening, and you were sitting beneath a full moon with a Zen priest, and you asked him what the universe’s ultimate meaning is, he might simply point you to the moon. But what if you were sitting on the … Continue reading
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Tagged Buddhism, earth, existentialism, meditation, moon, philosophy, psychology, Reinhold Niebuhr, science, universe, yoga, Zen
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A Pronouncement
Be ye Ayatollah or Maharishi, Pope or Protestant clergy, should you pronounce from behind your guru gown, prepare to meet the skeptic’s frown:
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Tagged agnostic, atheist, Hindu, Islam, James Dobson, John Macarthur, Michael Shermer, Muslim, philosophy, religion, skepticism, think different
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Some Things to Think About if You are an Evangelical Atheist
Are you an atheist, and are you evangelical about it? In other words, do you want other people to become atheists too? I’m an agnostic myself, but I’m not sure whether I can really recommend it. It seems like a … Continue reading
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Tagged Albert Camus, apologetics, atheist, evangelical, hope, obliteration, philosophy, psychology, religion, Richard Dawkins, sisyphus, The Myth of Sisyphus
16 Comments
Quote of the Day
Luke 18:10-14: 10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other … Continue reading
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Tagged hypocrisy, Jesus, prayer, projection, psychology, rich v. poor, sincerity
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Edwin Arlington Robinson’s “Richard Cory” (1897): A Poem on the Turning Wheel of Fortune and Misleading Appearances
Who’s up, who’s down? It can change pretty quickly. And who knows what’s going on beneath appearances? Here’s a poem titled “Richard Cory” (by Edwin Arlington Robinson, written in 1897): Whenever Richard Cory went down town, We people on the pavement … Continue reading
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Tagged 1897, appearances, edwin arlington robinson, fortuna, life, literature, poem, poetry, psychology, richard cory, suicide
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Albert Camus: The Absurd, Rebellion, Freedom, Passion, and Solidarity
Here’s Albert Camus from the “Myth of Sisyphus”: “I derive from the absurd three consequences: my revolt, my freedom, and my passion. By the sheer activity of consciousness, I transform in a rule of life what was an invitation to … Continue reading
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Tagged Albert Camus, apologetics, civil rights, existentialism, freedom, humanity, passion, philosophy, rebellion, solidarity, suffering, The Myth of Sisyphus
3 Comments
Atheism is an Invitation to an Honest Encounter with Death?
Based on thinking about Albert Camus’s atheism, I think I’ve arrived at the perfect atheist/agnostic bus ad: “Atheism is an invitation to an honest encounter with death.” How’s that for something on the side of a bus that would get … Continue reading
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Tagged Albert Camus, apologetics, atheist bus ad, death, existentialism, freedom, Jesus, life, passion, philosophy, psychology, rebellion
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George Harrison Mental Health Break
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Tagged beatles, Buddhism, george harrison, Hinduism, India, indian music, meditation, music, the Beatles, yoga
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Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here? Happy-Face Atheist Marketing v. Albert Camus’s Pessimistic Atheism
In contrast with happy face atheist marketing, Albert Camus tried to ground atheism honestly. Here’s what Camus said that we know (if we are going to see the world in atheist terms): Death is certain. The day of our death … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged agnostic, agnosticism, Albert Camus, apologetics, atheist, atheist bus, God, Michael Shermer, philosophy, religion, Richard Dawkins, rocky
19 Comments
“Whatever Works”: Woody Allen Teams Up with Larry David in a New Film
And it comes out this week. The buzz is that it has the pop and energy of Allen’s Diane Keaton days:
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Tagged atheist, existentialism, film, larry david, Los Angeles, new york, philosophy, whatever works, woody allen
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A Song Dedication to the Iranian Resistance
Okay, I know this is a quirky song to dedicate to the Iranian resistance, but its got the color green in it, and its earnest soulfulness and beauty somehow seem right. And how can you stop the sun from shining?
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Tagged ayatolla ali khamenei, ayatollah, freedom, hope, Iran, iranian revolution, Islam, mullahs, Muslim, peace, revolution, tehran
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Demystify Me? Demystify You!
Demystify this! And this: Be ye Ayatollah or Maharishi, Pope or Protestant clergy, should you pronounce from behind your guru gown, prepare to meet the skeptic’s frown:
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Tagged apologetics, argument from authority, authority, ayatollah, Buddha, guru, Jesus, Michael Shermer, miracle, mystery, skeptic
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Yet Another Reason Why I’m an Agnostic: Who’s Question Begging Whom?
Who designed the designer? H. Allen Orr is Professor of Biology at the University of Manchester, and he questions Richard Dawkins’s famous “Ultimate 747″ argument against belief in God: [T]he fact that we as scientists find a hypothesis question-begging—as when Dawkins … Continue reading
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Tagged agnostic, agnosticism, apologetics, atheism, atheist, biology, evolution, H. Allen Orr, Richard Dawkins, science v. religion, ultimate 747
12 Comments
