I’ve been silent for awhile, I admit. Perhaps I’ve been stuck. Or perhaps I’ve just been standing in the middle of the intersection too long, but the lights are changing and I better find my way back on the walkway before I get hit by something completely avoidable.
So I suppose It’s time to clear out a gang of mess in my head. One good way to do that is to list them. Because it’s hard to go forward when you’re carrying so much that you no longer need.
I’m sure there are things that you may want to clear out of your head-space at this point, too. So thus I inaugurate a public dumping at this spot for all those things you no longer believe. I’ll be adding to this list as I think of things. Right now it’s late, so I’ll just start with this:
1. I no longer believe there’s any point in reading Aleister Crowley.
2. I no longer believe that any narrative whose underlying message is: “We’re all fucked” is safe to indulge in, no matter how “true” it may “feel.”
3. I no longer believe there’s anything wrong with conspiracy theory being acknowledged as entertainment. It has been swallowed up into the Spectacle already, even if it’s relegated most of the time to the Spectacle’s Ghetto. Attempting to be sacrosanct or all-too-serious about conspiracy theory tends to discarded belief #2. If you can’t read it, view it, create it, whatever with non-attachment, at least do it with mirth. But for Dog’s sake, don’t be serious.
[To be continued by you...and I]
- I no longer believe that anything must be held back. Confronting reality completely brings peace; if it’s not peaceful, maybe something being missed.
- I no longer believe that simple immersion in information will necessarily result in the generation of something good. More subtlety and discrimination is needed. Otherwise, garbage in, garbage out…
- I no longer believe that easy = good. Took me a long time to really figure that one out.
(good to have you back in action, cadeveo)
- I no longer believe that belief cuts it. Counter-intuitive? Maybe. But it so often seems that human beings are saddled with belief, with pre-conceived notions and ideas about the world that need to be challenged by the cold, harsh light of day and reason. Not that rationale solves everything perhaps.
So I guess I’ll go with the quote attributed to Socrates:
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
I’ve too long taken on ideas because I liked the look and sound of them. No more.
Yes, good to have you back!
Tricky…
I think I no longer believe that Moore’s law is relevant.
I no longer believe that fear is useful.
I no longer believe that religion must be respected.
I no longer believe that unbelievable beliefs ought to be rejected.
FINALLY someone else has come to the same thought about Crowley. Can we all just move on now?
I co-sign on a lot of these. I definitely no longer believe that more information makes one “better informed” (whatever that is) or that the more informed people are the more “free” they will be.
I no longer believe that speaking up about something or expressing your opinion is in any way useful without being an example in your actions of that which you want. As St. James said, “Faith without works is dead.” If you don’t practice whatever it is you have faith in or want to see it in the world, then you don’t have faith and you don’t *really* want to see it. Period. You gotta “show and prove,” as the Gods and Earths say.
The thing with this is, we’re looking for things that we /used/ to believe but don’t any more, right? With a little bit of introspection, most things I’ve stopped ‘believing’ I’ve never really believed, I’ve just lost my doubt in my long-standing belief in the opposite … if you see what I mean.
I no longer believe that Terry Pratchett is the last word in literature, for example (tho The Colour of Magic is still an excellent book), but increasingly I am finding that other beliefs from my early years actually stand faster than ever in the modern world.
Moore’s law (the exponential increase in computer ‘power’ with time) is a bit cryptic, I’ll admit. I used to believe it would either save us or destroy us. These days, I tend to believe that Moore’s ‘law’ is a product of the dark side, but that it’s actually no more than a massive smokescreen and red herring.
It started with me noticing that my beliefs serve a larger organism. It uses the media to clutch my brain and suddenly I’m buying cherry blossom brown sugar facial scrub and believing in love. Spawn new buyers. Very clever.
Then I decided that since The Economy is mindless, there must be microscopic beings orchestrating my beliefs and using my body as host. This depressed me and I didn’t want to get out of bed to go buy food. If I’m right, this depression won’t last long.
So which belief do you no longer hold? Is it the one that keeps you from getting out of bed?
I no longer believe I have the volition I thought I had, and I really liked volition. Maybe Job was right, it’s all to do with fear: My morning alarm jingles and I sit up; something hidden has placed a wager and watches. Whether it’s God, The Economy, or invisible people-herders, something besides me has an interest in my volition. Or so I fear.
My friend just rang while I typed this. “I’m writing,” I said. “About what?” he asked.
“Fear.”
“Did you say beer?”
“No, FEAR.”
“Oh. Beer cures all fear.”
Sometimes purity of the question depends upon the reciever.
I no longer believe that anything is truly random.
I no longer believe that we might lose the struggle for freedom.
I still believe in beer.
I no longer believe that my culture or I can hold back from the man I truly love. And that doing so, is pure torture.