I like this format. I tried something similar in the past, and might do so again. Sometimes it is good to try to just jot down some things that are on your mind (and also good to read such notes from others). Doesn't go full-bore into the InstaTwitFacebookTube trap of stream-of-pseudo-consciousness fluff. It's the warm soup at the bears' house.
On cuisine: Have you seen "The Menu" with Ralph Fiennes and Joy Taylor? A bit schlocky, but it has moments of reckoning with the art of cuisine that I think are interesting.
Great stuff! What you said about materialism and morality is one of the best-articulated and most succinct expressions of that idea that I've ever seen. Under Darwinian materialism, there just *is* the way things worked out, nothing more, and no way to get any real "ought" from that "is." So morality is ultimately just posited by convention, no more meaningfully than the popular conventions about which styles of clothing are fashionable and which ones aren't. That is the chief problem with materialism: it leaves no room for any real morality. And the results speak for themselves.
Today's church readings were Exodus 3:1-15, Romans 12:9-21, and Matthew 16:21-28; the sermon, which drew from these readings, emphasized following God in trust and patience, even without being able to see the way clearly in advance: "trust the process". So there's a nice synchronicity with some of your short notes.
I'm not a classical theist either, lying somewhere in the middle of Buddhism, classical paganism, and Christianity. But there comes a point where one needs fellowship with people who want to connect to higher spiritual realms, even while acknowledging that our religious institutions are corrupt.
I like the shorts format. I especially liked the comment about "some kind of intelligibility". I'm not a fan of big narratives as they have often been used as unthinking justifications for all kinds of horrors. But some very dismal narratives have emerged to take their place. That relates to one of you other comments here, that one must "ruthlessly" find their own way. Beware any narrative that neatly explains the world.
I like this format. I tried something similar in the past, and might do so again. Sometimes it is good to try to just jot down some things that are on your mind (and also good to read such notes from others). Doesn't go full-bore into the InstaTwitFacebookTube trap of stream-of-pseudo-consciousness fluff. It's the warm soup at the bears' house.
On cuisine: Have you seen "The Menu" with Ralph Fiennes and Joy Taylor? A bit schlocky, but it has moments of reckoning with the art of cuisine that I think are interesting.
Great stuff! What you said about materialism and morality is one of the best-articulated and most succinct expressions of that idea that I've ever seen. Under Darwinian materialism, there just *is* the way things worked out, nothing more, and no way to get any real "ought" from that "is." So morality is ultimately just posited by convention, no more meaningfully than the popular conventions about which styles of clothing are fashionable and which ones aren't. That is the chief problem with materialism: it leaves no room for any real morality. And the results speak for themselves.
Today's church readings were Exodus 3:1-15, Romans 12:9-21, and Matthew 16:21-28; the sermon, which drew from these readings, emphasized following God in trust and patience, even without being able to see the way clearly in advance: "trust the process". So there's a nice synchronicity with some of your short notes.
I'm not a classical theist either, lying somewhere in the middle of Buddhism, classical paganism, and Christianity. But there comes a point where one needs fellowship with people who want to connect to higher spiritual realms, even while acknowledging that our religious institutions are corrupt.
I need to break open Spengler again...
I like the shorts format. I especially liked the comment about "some kind of intelligibility". I'm not a fan of big narratives as they have often been used as unthinking justifications for all kinds of horrors. But some very dismal narratives have emerged to take their place. That relates to one of you other comments here, that one must "ruthlessly" find their own way. Beware any narrative that neatly explains the world.