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newphilosopher
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Name: Adrian
Gender: Male
Interests: Philosophy, Literature, European Football
Expertise: Renaissance Man
Occupation: Writer, bon vivant
Industry: Heaven forbid...
Message: message me
Member Since:
7/27/2006
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| I'm back. A lot has happened since my last post. Not all good. Amazingly, I'm in a Bible study. Still feel like a stranger in a foreign land. My dialogue (blast Xanga's pathetic spellcheck...doesn't even recognize the word dialogue) with the leader of the group shows me just how far I've drifted. People didn't understand me before, and now the chasm has only widened. Oh, and I have a new dog. A Jack Russel Terrier mix named, along with probably 1/2 the JRT population, Eddie. I'll try and upload a pic of her from a couple of months ago.
I've been listening to Tool lately. Maybe it's my pop-culture naiveté (rapidly evaporating, I'm happy to report), but they seem different from your run-of-the-mill rock band. Not just 3 minute songs set to a simple 4/4 time. And their harsh lyrics (full of what the MPA calls "strong words") both inspire and amuse me. Take their track Rosetta Stoned. It's over 11 minutes long, changes rhythm numerous times, and leaves you with a feeling of bemused enjoyment. The protagonist of the song's story (carried over from the previous track), receives a message from an extraterrestrial (ok, alien) that the world is about to end. He has to write down the details to share with the world, but he's forgotten his pen. In parallel, I look at the pressure on Christians to perform, to spread the gospel in its entirety. But how many of us have forgotten our metaphorical pens? And, I don't feel so bad.
Well, despite years of fighting against it, I've finally joined the ranks of the capitalists. Yes, I've got a job. I'm now the webmaster of www.penceohio.com I spend hours each day in front of the computer generating copy, writing code, manipulating pictures, etc. My official title is "product manager and electronic data support". We'll see how it goes. If you visit the site (at least for now), make sure you delve into the education area. That's where I've done the most work thus far.
Anywho, it's now past my early bedtime (the ways of youth...how I miss them). I promise (loosely) to post more often.
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| Well, back to life on Xanga. No posts since March. Hard to believe. It's been too long and too much has happened. My dad with a heart attack and open heart surgery in August (recovering in amazing fashion). More than 100 games of soccer. My aunt and her two dogs moving in with my family. Learning to enjoy cigars. Experiencing astounding defeat over the chess board. A couple of car accidents (including the death of an expensive hound who is hating death damned to the lowest level of Dante's hell). Enough home repair projects to dizzy the mind. And still stonewalled in the religion department. Life is good... Had an absolute blast this weekend at Ted's bachelor party. No strippers or alcohol, just golf and the zombies from Shaun of the Dead. Didn't play particularly well, but the beautiful scenery...to be trite, it staggers the mind. Manicured fairways, hazardous bunkers, and enough water to lose a million balls. Fond memories and it's less than a day old already... Check out Peek'n Peak: http://www.pknpk.com/ For some reason I've become obsessed with my top ten list of movies. Every time I turn around the topic comes up. No doubt all my friends are tired of hearing me spout off in some pompous fashion on the matter. So I've decided to formalize the list, if only to shut myself up. Not in any particular order, but the top five does beat out the next five. - The Royal Tenenbaums
- The Matrix
- Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Fellowship of the Ring, Two Towers, Return of the King)
- Fight Club
- Gangs of New York
- Adaptation
- Memento
- Basquiat
- Die Hard (a guilty pleasure...)
- A Beautiful Mind
A couple of other good ones are A History of Violence and The Departed, but I couldn't fit those in. The list seems potentially interminable. Anyway, I'm off to do some random activity or another. Enjoy your life. | | |
|  | Currently Watching
Stranger Than Fiction
By Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah, Emma Thompson, William Dick (III), Guy Massey (III), Martha Espinoza, Christian Stolte, T.J. Jagodowski, Peter Grosz, Ricky Adams, Denise Hughes, Peggy Roeder, Tonray Ho, Tony Hale, Danny Rhodes, Helen Young, David Pompeii, Linara Washington
see related |
Just found out where I get my love of shorts no matter the weather--my Dutch genes. But even I admit this takes it to a ridiculous level. Shorts on Everest? Maybe the foot of the mountain... http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070307/wl_sthasia_afp/nepalnetherlands2_070307143553 Saw Stranger than Fiction tonight. Good movie with some intriguing ideas. First time I've liked Will Ferrell in anything. The premise of the movie, i.e., an author creates a person by writing is one I've agreed with for a while. But I would make a couple of disclaimers. First, the creation is not a human being. Second, not every work of fiction creates persons. If it's crap (and I confess that's how I would describe the novel by the movie's author) no need to worry about killing off your character. But in a truly great work (see Dostoevsky, Steinbeck, Eco, etc.) the author must take responsibility for the people he/she kills. In the case of the movie, I believe the author should have killed her character (who was willing to die). Art takes life sometimes, it consumes and creates. Sometimes that of the subjects, other times that of the artist. But the prize is worth the sacrifice. Enough blathering for the night. Will add this last thought though...Bought a watch at Meijer, but they wouldn't/couldn't adjust the band. Took it to a watch store in the mall, where they wanted to charge $10. Sucked up and said I'd pay, but the "technician" (I'll use the term loosely) proved too inept to do the job and sent me elsewhere. Went to another store, but they stated their inability from the start. Then a jewelry store quoted me a price of almost $20 to do the job! Ridiculous, so I bought tools at Sears for $8 and did it myself. Should've done that in the first place. People should learn to do things for themselves. Of course, I then proceeded to visit Texas Roadhouse and let someone cook my food for me (delicious NY strip). Blatant pomo hypocricy. Goede avond. | | |
| Been home alone all weekend. Parents went off to see my mother's uncle who's in the hospital in North Carolina. Didn't feel like going, and don't care much for extended family anyway (don't you just love callousness?). So I've mostly stayed around the house and watched movies and season four of 24. Went to a friend's house on Saturday night and played Settlers of Catan. Great game. Each time you play it offers variation. But while sitting around the table with two friends, the following scene played out (paraphrased, since my memory isn't what it used to be): F1 to F2: "I really admire and respect you, and I wish I could live my life like you do." F2 to F1: "Well, it's not me but Jesus in me." Not wanting to cause controversy during a fun game, I kept my mouth shut (yes, I do practice some self-control...wonderful fruit of the Spirit). We progressed from there, and no other comments of interest came up. But it caused me to think some semi-heretical thoughts, so here goes. And don't take this as a criticism of those friends. They may just be victims... Deconstruct that last statement before you read the rest and you won't be surprised by what I have to say next. The reference to "Jesus in me" is supposed to be a sign of humility. But consider a number of elements here. The speaker asserts the fact that (s)he embodies Christ, i.e., they assert their superiority in being like Christ. Instead of humility, we see a power play. Let's also look at the whole Christian idea of humility. Nietzsche heavily criticized Christians because their notions of caring for the weak supported the continuation of Das Man, (Last Man). The supposed humility of being like a servant instead conceals an attitude of superiority. Thus they prop up Das Man as well as subvert their own Ubermensch (Superman) potential. For example, in the Christian world anyone who seems proud receives criticism and hears all the biblical references to pride (pride comes before destruction, haughty spirit before a fall, etc.) Saying that you’re proud of something is discouraged. But humble role models receive praise around the world, and Christians stroke those egos (Billy Graham, Mother Theresa, etc.). Should we be proud and arrogant then? Nietzsche thinks so. I don’t know that I’d go so far (although I’m often considered conceited…that’s probably why I like Frasier), but there are plenty of biblical examples. King David was quite proud (remember the census?), but the Scriptures call him a man after God’s own heart. (Don’t jump on this example and say God judged him for it…there are plenty of other examples, but this one is just the most obvious…being king of a country in and of itself is a big ego issue) The apostle John displayed some pride of his own (son of thunder and involved in debates for Jesus’ affection), but he was the disciple Jesus loved. You could make more arguments for the pride of other biblical heroes: Paul, Daniel, Peter, Abraham, Joseph, etc. And, of course, God himself would generally be described as having a lot of pride (although it’s generally argued to be holy pride, as it should be). But humility shouldn’t be discarded, and that’s where I disagree with Nietzsche. So what to do with the phrase “Jesus in me”? No doubt we want to give Christ glory (for it is due), but I think there are better ways. Apologies for my disjointed and nearly incoherent rambling (false humility, of course). | | |
| Good time yesterday hanging out with Ted. Tried a new restaurant, a Mongolian Grill. Pretty tasty food, but it did not set well with me. Felt like puking most of yesterday evening. Probably MSG or something. Stupid American-Chinese food. Should go to a Dutch-Indonesian cuisine. Makes me hungry for a rijstafel. At least I murdered Ted in chess and Scrabble (although he nicked me for a draw that I'm still irritated about). Also disturbed to find out he drinks more than I do. I thought I was alone, basking in glorious post-Cedarville freedom. Somehow I got on the email list of this organization called Worldview Weekend (www.worldviewweekend.com). CU mildly affiliated itself with this org in the last year or so, much to my dismay. On their website is a quiz to test how good/correct your biblical worldview is. Fun to take if cynicism runs in your blood. I'm happy to report that my score of 45% makes me a "Secular Humanist Worldview Thinker." It should've been lower... Some of the statements (you have to state your level of agreement) are idiotic, seemingly having nothing to do with a Christian "worldview," e.g., "George Bush is the president of the United States." The rest of the statements to be loaded, e.g., "One of the Ten Commandments is, 'thou shalt not kill;' thus it stands to reason that God is opposed to war and nations going to war." Any pacifist will probably agree that the phrase in Exodus refers to murder, not war-related death, so the conclusion above dosn't follow. But as a pacifist, they will still agree with the conclusion. Here's the link if you're interested in taking the definitive test: http://www.worldviewweekend.com/test/register.php So, a little lecture on truth (since I'm dealing with philosophical subjects). What is truth? I like Richard Rorty's take, as he considers truth to be a construct of language. (the following is my own analysis, not strictly his) Consider the phrase "The table is brown." Trying to determine the existence of the table or its true hue is a futile endeavor. It lies in a realm to which we can't connect, that of the thing-in-itself (ding an sich). Plus, brownness is a human description/construct/perception. What is of interest in the phrase is its usage in language. What is the truth value of the statement? It's no longer based in the "reality" of the table. Instead it is dependent on human perception and usage, something which is, almost by definition, relative. The truth of the statement is dependent on the language users and their communal agreement (a Rortian idea). Thus truth does not exist on its own, nor is it discovered. Instead it is created by language users. But nobody cares about a table and its color. Instead we care about things like God's existence or moral absolutes. Interestingly enough, we (theists) haven't been able to prove God's existence based upon what I would call the "old" view that truth exists in and of itself. And without such definitive proof, theists are on shaky ground under the old system. So I propose taking a Kierkegaardian/Nietzschean/Existentialist approach to God's existence, i.e., forget proof altogether and move to faith (also see Wittgenstein...only problem is that he advocates more of a passive/agnostic approach). Embrace the leap across the bottomless depths that Søren encourages us to take. A lot of interesting possibilities come from this view of creating truth. First, think of God creating the universe (in the Christian view). He spoke the universe into existence. Thus we are a linguistic construct of the Trinity. Second, think of Christ as the Word and as the Truth. Makes sense this way. Third, we're made in God's image. Thus we can also create, i.e., use language in such a way to create truth. I'll leave it at that, although I've barely scratched the surface... Way too much stuff for a Xanga post. And I just want to add that, like Worldview Weekend, I'm very glad that God is an American (right...). Busy reinstalling Windows and programs on my mom's laptop after she accidently downloaded a virus that corrupted her hard drive. Tot ziens... | | |
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