faith – Page 2 – Making Nobody Happy

Why should I care about charity during the lockdown?

Let’s be honest, I’m in danger myself, I’m stressed, I’m dealing with employees who are stressed. I’m in need of charity myself right now. I’ve got people to take care of who whose livelihoods are threatened. I had to accept some charity myself recently and figure out how I felt about it. I wasn’t goingContinue reading “Why should I care about charity during the lockdown? “

Politicization, polarization, and extremity

I have a philosophy degree; we’re used to exploring different ideas and hearing different viewpoints, in fact we demand it. We demand testing and argumentation. We demand refinement and consistency. So I’ve been listening to the views of many opposing sides. I’ve been immersing myself into the arguments of the ideological right and the ideologicalContinue reading “Politicization, polarization, and extremity”

Differing perspectives on life and suffering

In contrast to many modernist views, the viewpoint of the ancient world was that life, by its nature, was Dukha. Unhappiness, stress, pain, disappointment. That’s what life is, and the goal of religion and philosophy was to address it. The Judaic religions echoed this by asserting the “fallen” nature of the world. The world isContinue reading “Differing perspectives on life and suffering”

On belief in God

https://youtu.be/TUD3pE3ZsQI A few comments. It’s a long video, but interesting. I don’t agree with everything in it, of course, but it’s interesting. This position sort of comes down to recognizing that, regardless of whether the Judeo-Christian religion is empirically true in all its details, it is at least philosophically, psychologically, and archetypically true, and maybeContinue reading “On belief in God”

Balancing sin and grace

Buddhism preaches a gospel of the cessation of pain. And its techniques, including meditation, contemplation, and letting go have a lot of value. And there are many other philosophical and psychological systems that are also focused on freeing your mind from the pain and burdens of the world, our guilt and fear and sadness. TheyContinue reading “Balancing sin and grace “

On confession and absolution as a therapeutic technique

The confession of sin, followed by the acceptance of absolution, is a very sophisticated therapeutic technique. We face our shadow, affirm our inner monster (to use some Jungian terms), and we receive forgiveness (we affirm our inner light, our divinity). We gain knowledge but also gain the means to not be trapped by that knowledge.Continue reading “On confession and absolution as a therapeutic technique”