The power of money! What hold does it have on you?
Money is a very powerful thing. People die, and kill, for it (or the lack of it) each and every day...
Money is a very powerful thing. People die, and kill, for it (or the lack of it) each and every day...
If you were old enough to listen to contemporary music in the 1990's you'll remember the REM song "losing my religion". The phrase actually comes from the American South where it is used to refer to being at the end of one's wits (usually it is associated with having lost the love of a significant person).
Labels: faith, false religion, secularism, spirituality
This very interesting commentary comes from Boingboing.net (see the link at the end of the post):
God's Mechanics: How Scientists and Engineers Make Sense of Religion" is the new book from Brother Guy Consolmagno, who is, in no particular order, a scientist, a Jesuit, a science fiction geek, an MIT alum and a Vatican Astronomer. Obviously, religion is a central part of Brother Guy's life, but so is technology, rationalism and science.From Boing Boing.God's Mechanics is a relgionist's explanation of his faith, in terms aimed at showing techies how one of their own can simultaneously believe in supernatural phenomena and practice rigorous, materialistic science. The most interesting part of the book is an amateur ethnography of geek faithful, in which Brother Guy schleps up and down Rte 101 between San Francisco and San Jose, interviewing engineers, scientists and programmers about their practice of faith. Their answers surprise Guy (and they surprised me, too) with their variety and distinctiveness. There doesn't seem to be a single way, or even a small cluster of ways that technologists square up their religion with their science.
For my part, I'm a second-generation atheist. I think that our experience of the numinous is both undeniable and entirely biological: the state of spiritual peace is the result of tickling some evolved center of our brain, a bit of neurology that conferred a survival advantage on our ancestors whose numinous hallucinations of a higher order in the universe drove them to catch more antelopes, eat better, and have more babies. I have no need of, nor interest in a supernatural god or a supernatural universe.
But I'm not so blinkered that I believe all religionists to be deluded fools. There's clearly some serious value that smart, ethical people derive from participation in spiritualism and even organized religion. Brother Guy's exegesis on faith as a systematic way of organizing and exploring the human experience of the numinous was fascinating to me. It is is a thoroughgoing, charming, quick-paced trip through a wide variety of personal experiences of spirituality and religion.
The only place where this book lacks is in its exploration of atheism as an alternative to religion. Brother Guy delves deeply into the reason for faith, but skims lightly over the reason for its absence. At times, it seems like he's addressing straw men from my side, not our strongest argument. This is the beginning of a discussion, but it's not the whole discussion.
If you live in Gauteng (Pretoria, Johannesburg etc.) in South Africa then you will know exactly what I am talking about if I mention 'the prefect storm'. It turned out to be nothing other than 'the perfect hoax'. Today emails circulated the web, warnings went out on radio, people were even getting text messages warning them of 'the perfect storm' in Gauteng. Supposedly a storm so fierce was brewing in Gauteng that it was going to turn into a tornado by 6 pm! Well, my wife's company let their staff go home early, the roads were packed with early traffic...
Sure, there was a bit of rain, some lightning and thunder - heck, it was nothing more than a regular 'high veld' thunderstorm!
Now Saturday the 6th was an awesome storm in the Pretoria area! High winds, hail, and driving rain.
If you got caught by the hype of 'the perfect storm' then read this great post from thoselegends.blogspot.com. It makes for a very interesting read. If you got caught in the hype drop me a line and let me know (I know I was worried for a while!) Isn't human nature just strange?
I have often wondered about the mass mentality that overtakes groups... We get ourselves worked up, we feed of each others' neuroses, and eventually we come to believe just about anything. Does anybody remember the bad old days in South Africa when white South Africans feared 'die rooi gevaar' (the communist threat), 'die katolieke gevaar' (the liberal Catholic threat)...
I wonder what dangers we've created?
I seem to remember it being written somewhere that "there is no fear in love; perfect love drives out fear" (1 Jn 4:18). Lord, give me the courage to be the a calm head in the storm, help me to follow your lead, your love, and not to be taken in by the hype of 'the perfect storms' of life.
Technoratti tags: hoax, fear, love, irrational, urban legend
Labels: Courage, faith, fear, love, perfect storm, urban legend