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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (11228)	4/13/2001 5:59:12 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 82486

If you have done any considerable portion of the above, you are exceptional, and I am impressed...... I took a couple of philosophy classes in college as befits a proper liberal arts education. I was surely influenced by some of it, but it's all pretty mushy by now. I have about three feet of philosophy books in my library. Three dusty feet. I don't recall doing any serious reading along those lines since Being and Existence when I was in my early 20s, unless you count the Tao of Pooh, that is. <g> I poked around in Taoism and Buddhism a bit during middle age, more as a way of understanding different ways of looking at things than as potential personal religions. I've done a lot of work in consensus building and group problem solving so the differences in the way people process information and collaborate has drawn my attention. When I think of Jung, for example, I think of the Myers/Briggs temperament typing. (I'm an INTJ, FWIW.) Did you seek out the counsel of a spiritual advisor, to see what he or she might offer? Did you ask yourself if some other religion might suit you better...This is the kind of curiosity I am talking about, the kind that actively seeks information that might aid in understanding or making up one's mind on crucial matters. I am extremely curious, as you may have noticed by our previous conversations, about why it is that you find a deity necessary for your life to have meaning and I am more than content to find my own meaning. I am curious about why you think it's worth my time and energy to search out a religion that suits me when there are so many more interesting things I could investigate. I'm more interested in why people fight wars over religion than in what their religions are. I know I've said this before but I will repeat it. Once I came to the conclusion that no heavenly accountant was keeping a ledger on me, there was no reason to look for an alternative religion. I'm interested in religion as a sociological construct, not because I have a need for it in my life. So I am curious as to why you consider this a crucial matter that demands my curiosity. The subject was crucial to me right up until the time I determined I wasn't going to be held accountable at the time of my death, which left me free to do my own thing. That was nearly 40 years ago. It hasn't been crucial for a very long time. What is crucial to me is that I function effectively in this world on behalf of myself and whatever is dear to me. What is crucial to me is that I engage myself intellectually, for the pure pleasure of it. What is crucial to me is that I leave the world, by my own perception, at least a tiny bit better off for my having been here. Whether there's intelligent design going on or not might be of interest if it were knowable, but it's not, or if I had all the time in the world to pursue it, but I don't. So I spend my energies elsewhere. As for spiritual advice, the sound of the surf on the beach is the best advisor. I am looking forward to having more time for reading. I've really gotten away from it. Maybe I'll read or re-read some of the stuff you mentioned. Or not. More than four paragraphs. Sorry. Hope I answered your questions. Karen P.S. As for the difference between Catholics and Lutherans, I'm really quite curious. I've been half-heartedly looking for a resource on that. The information I've found on the Web leads me to believe that these differences aren't clearly delineated. When I find a good resource, though, I only want to read the executive summary.