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Post by obviouschild on Jan 4, 2012 0:57:09 GMT -5
Pasha's Attempts at Rhetoric
read on pain of profound boredom
Written in a jumbled mix of Yiddish, Russian and English.
Sept. 2011, week one
[/size] Reading St. Augustine's cosmological argument. It's sound, assuming that our observations re. the laws of physics and motion don't collapse when one moves that far from the physical existence we know. Intuition and observation suggests that yes, a first mover who is now himself moved must be essential, but those seem like flawed tools given that we're talking about the beginning of the universe. But I like Augustine. He's certainly got more sense than St. Anselm.
Read Job again. Still can't make sense of it. I realize that having questions is part of the point of faith - As Jews, especially, we must consider it a process, an active duty and a way of being. Even if your belief flutters you keep the path, and the belief usually comes back (If it doesn't, you turn into my grandfather). But what kind of a G-D allows so much hatred? Mine? For now, all I can do is be patient.
In other news, I'm home-but-not-home again. There's this girl. We shall call her 'V'. She's a dancer. Despite being a bit too pretty to be human she seems to like me, and, well, she's lovely. Would like to ask her out, or something. Her mother is Jewish, but I don't know if she is. Must A) find out and B) lose twenty pounds before I get any ideas. Okay, I'm lying about B, who am I kidding. That said, it'd be nice if my parents could get over the intermarriage thing. The more I think about it, the more uncomfortable it makes me. That kind of insularity can breed hatred. And yet the idea of dating any kind of fervent Christian makes me uncomfortable too. Some degree of insularity is probably programmed into the human psyche.
Confused. Hopeful. SHE LIVES IN THE SAME ROOM AS ME. I've never dated before. What do I do?[/blockquote][/blockquote] |
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Post by obviouschild on Jan 24, 2012 1:43:34 GMT -5
Pasha's Attempts at Rhetoric
read on pain of profound boredom
Sept. 2011, week two
[/size]
I was thinking today about the nature of divine justice, and pity, and what separates the two. It's a troubling problem. 'Take an eye for an eye' is simplistic at best, destructive at worst, but I concede its point. Order is important. Law is important. And anyone with kids knows people must learn to take responsibility for their actions. But there is also the deterministic viewpoint in all this; often, people don't have as much choice as we think they do when, from our lofty seats, we condemn them.
Recall the fundamental attribution error. Everyone makes mistakes. We just blame ours on other people. And so, not knowing the circumstances, are we not obligated to always show pity? Dante would kick me in the face for that (as well as condemning me to the circle of the gluttonous or possibly the slothful, the Medieval bugger), but I have to believe it. G-D, meanwhile, doesn't need to assume. He knows every detail and can judge with perfect justice each man's crimes and worth. G-D has no need of pity. Is it, then, an inherently human quality? Or is that sacreligious?
No more Inferno before bed for me.
In other news. V SINGS. She never told me. That girl, I just don't have the words for her. My muse blushes and shies away, sensing the presence of a more divine and beautiful woman. Or I never had a muse until her, but she's not really mine yet and so I can't find the words. I am overusing the crap out of this metaphore. Being around her makes me grin like an idiot and being away from her makes me behave like one. But - I don't know. I really like her, I just have trouble accepting that I deserve her.
That said, she seems to think I do. And on that note - I remembered weight not mattering as much in Russia as it did in Canada, but this is just ridiculous. Is it seen as evolutionarily adaptive for surviving the winters here, or something? WHY WAS THAT NOT THE CASE IN CANADA? [/blockquote][/blockquote] |
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