4011 Respect

Saturday, February 14, 2015

"He who praises you for what you lack

wishes to take from you what you have."

--Don Juan Manuel--

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I  have no idea what that green quote up there means, but for some reason it resonated with me, so I saved it.  Anyone want to take a stab at interpreting it in the comments?

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I found this, and it also resonated with me:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Dy1Z8IEjIg]

(BTW, I am not an atheist, but there is no human-defined religion I know of that fits my beliefs.)

There's been a lot of discussion lately about violence and religion.  Christians tend to forget that Christianity has been responsible for a lot of violence, too.  Here, http://www.truthbeknown.com/victims.htm, is a pretty long list of atrocities in the name of Christ.  It's enough to turn the strongest stomach.  Christians have no right to criticize any other group.

And the US can't say "Oh, well, that's history, we don't do that anymore."  Americans have a recent history of free-lance lynchings and burnings.  It's still happening.  Like last year in Mississippi.

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I've been watching videos shot from quadcopters, and I WANT ONE!  A quadcopter, that is.  But I know durn well I wouldn't use it,  I don't go anywhere interesting anymore, I barely walk at all.  Daughter and Hercules would make much more effective use of one - so I bought them one.  A DJI Phantom 2 Vision+, with extra battery, extra propellers, and propeller guards.

It arrived last Wednesday.  Daughter is not very enthusiastic, but Hercules is thrilled.  He called this morning to say that he read all the materials, researched the local laws, and will be taking it out today for a trial run.

I had told them that there IS a string attached.  I want to see all videos shot with it.  
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1230 What Am I?

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Every once in a while someone will ask what religion I am.

I guess I'm technically not Christian, although a Puritan rearing tends to stick with you a while. Roman, when asked, would answer, "Well, I'm Jewish. She's ... uh ... something else." When I have to fill out a form in, say, a hospital or something, I check "none", because I don't want anyone in a collar visiting me. (They do anyway.) Or I'll write in "Pagan" just for the reaction it gets.

It's not that I have no beliefs - I do, and they are very strong. They just don't seem to fit any organized school. It's all mine, born of personal experience and revelation, and I believe it's as close to truth as I can get. It doesn't have a name. It's simple. Any other system of belief out there that does have a name seems to attempt to get too detailed, tries to explain everything, tries to make people feel good, tries to make it easy, and ends up too human.

Some things from named systems do fit into my system, such as

• The integration of Naturalistic Pantheism
• The philosophy of Spinoza
• The ethics of Taoism
• The cycles and striving for enlightenment of Buddhism
• The reverence and care of Zoroastrianism
• The belief in the power of belief in Wicca
• The "God within", or "Inner Light", of the Quakers

But in each of those philosophies or disciplines, there is much that I don't accept, especially as pertains to the definition of "God", or the origins of good and evil, or the purpose of life, so I can't call myself an adherent of any. "Adherent", by the way, the very concept of "adhering to", is anathema to me anyway.

I suppose I've written about this topic before. I didn't go back and look. It might be different from what I've said before, but that's not evidence of conflict, only growth. And that's ok. That's me. That's what's supposed to happen.
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