Thursday, July 24, 2008

TSA

[http://cbs2chicago.com/investigations/xrated.security.screenings.2.777423.html]
And people wonder why I won't fly anymore. --
Posted By Calion to Genius/Idiot—Current Thoughts at 7/24/2008 12:17:00 PM

Thursday, July 03, 2008

The End of the Dream (Part 2)


        The crucial question here is why? Why are my feelings self-defeating? That makes no sense. Now that I realize that my emotions aren't the enemy, how can I believe that they're simply bad? I can't. I know that they're working for me. Time to apply my method.
        Your emotions are trying to protect you from the unknown. That's the first part. I just now called in from work sick, and I feel guilty & scared. I'm not sick; I just feel I have to have this day to myself to hold onto (and possibly advance) whatever gains I've made.

        Here's my essential problem: the more I look, the more I learn, the more I understand, the harder it is to convince myself that the systems of morals we are handed are wrong, stupid, pointless and a waste of my life. I see the reasons behind them and realize that there were indeed good reasons for these rules and modes of behavior, and although I still hate them, it becomes harder and harder to convince myself that my way is the "right" way. I must need a new viewpoint.
        This all from Phillip Wylie's The End of the Dream, p. 157: "Too many discoveries had been of sorts that showed the clerical dogmas were unsound, untenable, nothing for sensible people to fool with."
        —Just because it's wrong doesn't mean it's useless, or even bad! Do we have an alternative? A truly better way? How do we know?

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Posted By Calion to Genius/Idiot—Journal Entries at 10/29/1998 12:00:00 PM

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

The End of the Dream


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From the Preface by John Brunner:
"Perhaps, one of these days, archaeologists will come to Earth from another planet and think of erecting a monument to mark our passing. If so, they could choose no better inscription for it than this: 'Here lies a species capable of thinking, but too lazy to think anything right through.'"

        Not lazy. Not lazy. The exact opposite, in fact. Too busy. Frightened, even. Impatient, certainly. But not lazy.

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Posted By Calion to Genius/Idiot—Journal Entries at 10/25/1998 12:00:00 PM