“God offers to every mind its choice between truth and repose. Take which you please—you can never have both.” Ever since I was a kid I've found more comfort in pursuing truth. I can blame some good school teachers who modeled Socratic inquiry. Maybe why I became a psychotherapist. I was intuitively stimulated by Bucky Fuller and Carl Sagan when they introduced the notion of universe becoming aware of itself, but as you pointed out, science is making it clearer how that actually works. I look forward to following your development of this necessary work. Thank you
This is a scintillating and energising piece. I will explore further. You might be interested in Rabbi Yitz Greenberg's The Triumph of Life (https://jps.org/books/the-triumph-of-life/). Yitz sees the universe as unfolding through a process of ever more life - more diversity, more intellectual sophistication. He also describes a three-stage process of religious evolution through which humans gain greater autonomy and responsibility as divinity withdraws. This means that religions need to reconfigure themselves for the new religious age. I see some strong parallels with your thought.
Far out this was incredible. Seriously excited for what comes next!
If I may, I'd love to hear a bit more of what you think the place of non-fundamentalist religion is in this journey? I ask because most of your critiques were geared toward fundamentalism. I concur with those critiques, btw. But def curious on your thoughts regarding religious frameworks that are non-fundy.
I'm thinking for example of Abraham J Heschel, the Hassidic tradition and Kabalah. The worldview he espoused was anti-fundy but also deeply reflective, interconnected, socially relevant and wide enough to continue to develop. This is true of Kabalah overall.
I have also read other deeply religious thinkers over the years who I think would affirm much of what you say. Kierkegaard, Frankl, and Yalom to name some old-school ones. Nowadays I think scholars like Matthew Korpman and John Peckham, indigenous Christians like Richard Twiss, and decolonization movements with thinkers like Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Melanie Kampen and liberation theologians overall.
I guess my question is what place does this underground of anti-fundy christian thought have in the overall search for meaning you refer to, and what critiques would you offer to those of us who find ourselves in those spaces?
Hope that makes sense. Great work! Looking forward to the next chapter 😁😁😁
A very intriguing start.
“God offers to every mind its choice between truth and repose. Take which you please—you can never have both.” Ever since I was a kid I've found more comfort in pursuing truth. I can blame some good school teachers who modeled Socratic inquiry. Maybe why I became a psychotherapist. I was intuitively stimulated by Bucky Fuller and Carl Sagan when they introduced the notion of universe becoming aware of itself, but as you pointed out, science is making it clearer how that actually works. I look forward to following your development of this necessary work. Thank you
That Emerson quotation was my high school year book quote, so I get "Ever since I was a kid I've found more comfort in pursuing truth." :)
Thanks for reading. Will be interested to hear how things land for you as it unfolds.
This is a scintillating and energising piece. I will explore further. You might be interested in Rabbi Yitz Greenberg's The Triumph of Life (https://jps.org/books/the-triumph-of-life/). Yitz sees the universe as unfolding through a process of ever more life - more diversity, more intellectual sophistication. He also describes a three-stage process of religious evolution through which humans gain greater autonomy and responsibility as divinity withdraws. This means that religions need to reconfigure themselves for the new religious age. I see some strong parallels with your thought.
Sounds fantastic. Looking up Rabbi Greenberg now. Thanks for the suggestion. :)
Bravo Brendan! Essential emergentism...clear articulations, serious and ironic. May you fail in Beauty.
You might like to consider integrating a couple of books into version two of your "religion":
1. The Big Bang Never Happened, by Eric Lerner
2. Zonpower From Cyberspace, https://web.archive.org/web/20030610031122/neo-tech.com/zonpower/
Far out this was incredible. Seriously excited for what comes next!
If I may, I'd love to hear a bit more of what you think the place of non-fundamentalist religion is in this journey? I ask because most of your critiques were geared toward fundamentalism. I concur with those critiques, btw. But def curious on your thoughts regarding religious frameworks that are non-fundy.
I'm thinking for example of Abraham J Heschel, the Hassidic tradition and Kabalah. The worldview he espoused was anti-fundy but also deeply reflective, interconnected, socially relevant and wide enough to continue to develop. This is true of Kabalah overall.
I have also read other deeply religious thinkers over the years who I think would affirm much of what you say. Kierkegaard, Frankl, and Yalom to name some old-school ones. Nowadays I think scholars like Matthew Korpman and John Peckham, indigenous Christians like Richard Twiss, and decolonization movements with thinkers like Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Melanie Kampen and liberation theologians overall.
I guess my question is what place does this underground of anti-fundy christian thought have in the overall search for meaning you refer to, and what critiques would you offer to those of us who find ourselves in those spaces?
Hope that makes sense. Great work! Looking forward to the next chapter 😁😁😁
I’m buckled up, have my sunglasses on, and am ready to look out into the shining abyss.
Awesome. Thanks for the recommendation. Just subscribed. :)