Life Priorities February 11, 2007
Posted by asoulsearching in Goals, Observation, Priorities.add a comment
One thing that I struggle with is what I actually want. It sounds strange but it’s something I constantly struggle with and prevents me from focusing on a clear objective. I was pondering what I fundamentally want and came up with the following list:
- Professional success
- Family success
- Life enjoyment
I define professional success as being competent in my chosen profession and having such a reputation. For better or worse, I define myself a lot on my job. I take it very personally when I fail to accomplish my best at work. Being successful at my profession and being recognized for it are very important to me.
Family success include more than just blood relations. I include friends and community in this category too because they all blend together for me anyway. First and foremost I want to be a good husband and father. I want to provide for my family physically and emotionally. As a friend and community member I want to be trustworthy, reliable, helpful, and hospitable. I want to enjoy the company of those I am around and I want them to enjoy my company also.
That brings us to the third desire, Life Enjoyment. Life has a lot of great and beautiful things to experience. I want to experience them and not feel bad about it. That means that if I acquire enough wealth I should be able to buy and do the things I want without feeling guilty for doing so. If I want a really nice bottle of scotch or a fine cigar and can afford it, I should do it without feeling guilt. Along the same lines, if I want to purchase an extravagant gift for someone I love and can afford it, I should do that too.
Maybe those seem like obvious things, but it gives me a foundation from which to move forward.
Similarities Between Asatru and Objectivism February 1, 2007
Posted by asoulsearching in Asatru, Heathenry, Observation, Philosophy, Uncategorized.1 comment so far
I’ve been doing a little research on Asatru and I find it very appealing. It seems to have a very practical take on life and how to live it. I am notably impressed by the belief that each person is responsible for his or her actions and must pay for those actions in some sense. I see an interesting parallel here with Ayn Rand’s Objectivism, at least in regards to the ethics of self interest. I also think that Objectivism has a lot in common with the Nine Noble Virtues:
- Courage
- Truth
- Honor
- Fidelity
- Discipline
- Hospitality
- Industriousness
- Self-Reliance
- Perseverance
Rand summarized her philosophy in the following manner:
If you want this translated into simple language, it would read: 1. “Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed” or “Wishing won’t make it so.” 2. “You can’t eat your cake and have it, too.” 3. “Man is an end in himself.” 4. “Give me liberty or give me death.”
I see a lot of overlap. If you read Atlas Shrugged, the ultimate Objectivist parable, I think that you will see the overlap too. The only thing missing between the two philosophies is the belief in gods. That omission is the only thing that really kept me from fully embracing Objectivism. Since I perceive Asatru to have similar ideals and it believes in the spiritual side of life it also has a lot of attraction for me. The only catch is shifting archetypal gears to embrace polytheism. I’ll work through that one in a later post.
Further Reflection on the Religion-Language Metaphor January 28, 2007
Posted by asoulsearching in Points to Ponder, Religion, Spirituality.add a comment
This morning my family and I went through our Sunday routine. We got up, got dressed and went to church. Or, at least 2/3 of us went to church. While my wife and daughter went to the local Methodist church, I went to the coffee shop down the street. My wife gets comfort from going to church and if it makes her feel better about life. I’ve tried talking to her about why I am not so sure about Christianity, but she is reluctant to think too hard about it for fear that she will lose the benefits she gets from her religion. That’s fine, she’s not a rabid evalgelical and not hurting anyone so I’ve dropped the issue.
When my wife goes to church she takes my daughter too and I’m OK with that. Eventually, my wife and I have decided that we will let our daughter make her own decisions about religion, but for now we’re starting her off with Christianity. The reason for this is purely practical. Christianity is the most common religion in the U.S. and she will have the same cultural references as the majority of the nation.
As I sat thinking about how my family splits up on Sunday mornings, I recalled the metaphor I blogged about yesterday. One of the final questions addressed there is “How do I choose a religion that is best for me?” The simple answer is that it depends on what you want out of religion.
That answer got me to thinking about what I want out of a religion. First, I want to have a direct relationship with God, however you define him/her/them/it. Second, I want a sense of community. Third, I want it to improve my life or at least not make it any worse than it already is. (For the record, I have a comfortable living and life is generally good. I’d like to keep it that way.)
Despite the fact that I don’t buy into the Christian mythology, would it still make a decent fit for me? I don’t think that I’d get the direct relationship with God out of it. I think that to achieve that type of relationship one must engage in some form of mysticism. There aint’ a whole lot of Christian Mysticism in the Midwest. I would definitely be on my own there.
Christianity would give me a community. Churches can be a strong networking and political base. I could use the relationships there to improve my material life. But my observations lead me to believe that very few Christians really thing about what they’re doing and what they’re believing. They’re just following the herd. I don’t think that I would get much of a spiritual development community out of the deal.
As far as improving my life or not making my life worse, I think that I get half of that out of Christianity. I’m not sure that my life would improve, but it certainly wouldn’t get worse, at least from a social perspective.
After thinking this all through I still don’t think that I should just settle for Christianity. Heathenry has caught my eye a couple of times. Being of Germanic decent there is a lot of the practices that resonate for me. The downside is that they also seemed to have resonance for the Nazis and despite the two phenomena having different purposes, they are still linked. Thanks to the Nazis everyone gets all up in arms whenever folks of Germanic decent get too much pride about their heritage. Oktoberfest and bratwurst will only take you so far though.
One of the Best Religious Analogies Ever January 27, 2007
Posted by asoulsearching in Language, Observation, Religion, Spirituality.5 comments
Jeff Lilly over at Druid Journal has constructed one of the best religious analogies I have ever encountered. Basically he asserts that religion is like language. Language is used to communicate person to person and religion is designed to communicate person to Spirit. That’s it in a nutshell but you really need to read the whole article to fully appreciate the elegance of the analogy.
Jeff’s commentary has given me a lot to think about. The most significant issue at hand is what I want out of religion. As funny as it might sound, determining what I want has always been a challenge for me. One of my fundamental personality traits is that I perceive the infinite possibilities of life vividly. By choosing one path over the others I feel that I must give up many of those possibilities and I hate to lose that potential. The gotcha there is that by not choosing anything I can’t realized any of those possibilities anyway. Most times I do pretty well at managing my dilemma, but it is a constant challenge. More times than not I find myself sitting on the fence between any significant issue in life and I think my fence sitting is a function of failing to choose a path. I guess that I just have to accept that all choices have a cost and I have to pony up sometime or all my opportunities will escape me.
As I have searched for a religion that fits me I keep finding myself drawn more towards the older religions such as Wicca, Paganism, Druidism, Hethenry, or Shamanism. I’m looking for a direct interface with God and these traditions seem to have the most direct connection to God. More modern religions such as Christianity, Islam, and Judaism seem to have more layers of abstraction between worshipers and God. Perhaps that is what pushes me away.
Lots to think about.
First Post January 20, 2007
Posted by asoulsearching in Intro, Philosophy, Spirituality.add a comment
OK, I have the first post up. This is going to be an log of my spiritual and philosophical development. I might throw in in some amusing properly sanitized anecdotes occasionally. More to come.
