On 12/4/07, Jef Allbright <jef at jefallbright.net> wrote:
> On 12/4/07, Lion Kimbro <lionkimbro at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > * Am I just bonkers? (That is: I thrive on criticism. BUT, I get
> > to respond to the criticism, too. Ad hominum can't work.)
>
> Lion, I appreciate and admire your desire to make the world a better
> place, but I find it both fascinating and frustrating how you, and the
> class of "spiritual" believers of which you appear to be an example,
> maintain a death-grip on magical, wishful thinking.
Well, ...
Let me put it this way:
Would the Magic Compass work without Souls and Daemons,
the imagination, and warm glowing glittery Dust?
Do you understand the part where I say,
"This is completely and totally dedicated to science?"
When Michael and Connie go out in their Winnebego,
they present things like:
http://www.thegreatstory.org/charts/NA-charts.html
http://www.thegreatstory.org/charts/NA-extinctions.html
http://www.thegreatstory.org/charts/Beringia.html
http://www.thegreatstory.org/charts/Pangaea.html
http://thegreatstory.org/charts/NA-all-animals.html
...
These people read natural history as sacred scripture, and
make it their duty to understand the story of wherever they
live.
Evolutionary spirituality isn't about "turning a blind eye"
to anything. Many of these people study sociology,
mimetics, semiotics, and so on. "What does it mean
to hold something sacred?"
They have discussions about, "What should we hold
sacred, if anything?"
There is complete and utter openness to discussion
about any of these questions.
I think all of us have "magical, wishful thinking." We
fall in love with other people, right?
I don't think we should wish it away. I think we just
need to live with it, in a way that enriches ourselves,
our society, other peoples' societies, the Earth, and
so on. It can't control us, but by its nature, I don't
think it can (or should) be controlled by us, either.
The Universe is a much nicer place to me with a
dash of magic in it. And I don't mean this in an
anti-Naturalistic way. Reality is what Reality is,
and we should always take it full on. Reality
comes first.
That's why "The Great Story" is the Story of
the Changing Story -- because Reality is what
persists after you cease to believe in it.
Our Beliefs << Reality
Reality is Our God, We Are Its Bitches.
This is humility.