topic: funny thought about observations

it’s funny how we feel the need to observe and comment on things.  for example what i’m doing right now regarding observations, and right now regarding that last statement, and that one, and that one…

check out any blog…and you’ll find someone observing something.  people observing things about themselves, people observing things about others.  people observing things about the world, about politics, about people’s views on politics, and now you have someone observing something about people’s observations. 

what do people observe in my xanga, and what do people observe about what i observe? (and if you really want, what do you observe about your own observations?)

 

the economics of happiness???

well…yesturday was my last day working at ESPN zone.  They didn’t know that though, I’ve been out of town the last 2 weeks, and I let them know that, but they still managed to schedule me.  Anyways…i worked my shift yesturday, and the one manager in charge of schedules wasn’t in, and I was on the schedule for the rest of the week. 

After a few hours of working…I thought to myself, “I hate this job.”  Sure…there were some redeeming qualities, a few tables that made me smile, a decent amount of tips, but, for a large part of the day I didn’t feel “free.”  I occassionally jotted down musings to keep me occupied, but, there’s only so much I could think about.  So…i decided that would be my last day. 

So…how did I end my tenure w/ ESPN Zone.  In the most professional manner.  I left them a note…and ran.  Even the prospect of working today to make a few more bucks just wasn’t worth having the free time i’m having today. 

I actually had some musings about the idea of “free time.” Since “time = money” which usually means time not spent working is time that could be used making money.  However…since money is ultimately just a tool for purchasing needs and the wants, “time = needs and wants.”  Since there is nothing that I currently need, there was no need for me to work today other than to make money to buy something.  But…what I most enjoy is “free time,” and so, I’m using my time for something other than making money, I’m using it to enjoy “free time,” which is really a form of money since money is used for needs and wants, and free time falls under the wants category. 

I believe the wealthiest people alive are those with the most free time…since it’s a form of wealth that you don’t have to work for (once your needs are met).  Wealth, or, not having to work, is also a form of freedom.  To be able to retire and have the choice whether or not to work for the rest of your life is the ultimate freedom.

I was browsing a book, “Rich dad, poor dad,” which unsurprisingly as my life has been recently, was a book not only on how to make money, but espoused libertarian philosophy. (i think the debate is bound to follow me everywhere). 

Some quotes:

“The avoidance of money is just as psychotic as being attached to money.”

“The main cause of poverty and financial struggle is fear and ignorance of what money can do.”

“Socialists penalize themselves because the rich beat the system and the middle/lower classes are taxed more.”

The book was an honest assessment of how to get rich.  It won’t come through work, he said, but by wisely investing your money so your dollars work for you.  You need to accumulate those assets, not the liabilities of debt,  And…you need to keep as much of your tax money from Uncle Sam as possible.

While his book wasn’t overly political, it’s clear how his views on money would lead him to his political views.  At the same time, it was obvious that his success in the market does not mean everyone will be successful…although that was his main argument.  The advice he got as a child was that you can’t get rich by working for someone else.  His dad would say, “it’s not inherently wrong to pay your workers little…it’s their own fear of poverty that keeps them working, and their greed for a higher pay check that keeps them from leaving.” 

The one valid point was that some socialists attempts at taxing the rich to help the poor have backfired.  The author was essentially saying that as long as there’s rich people, they’ll find a way to rig the system in their favor, so instead of trying to address that problem, might as well jump on the bandwagon and get rich.  If i did it, anyone can!

Financially…his advice was probably pretty sound.  I mean, honestly…who doesn’t try to pay as little taxes as possible?  Whatever your income bracket…when you get your paycheck, your reaction isn’t, “this money is going to a good program,” it’s, “shit…where’d my money go, how can i keep most of it?”  Through setting up corporations, the rich have created the ultimate tax-loophole.  They can write off expenses, then they’re taxed.  Us regular Joe’s, we can’t simply write off dinner or a trip to Las Vegas. 

The tax system is set up to benefit business.  And businesses create jobs, so this is important to some extent.  The bottom-line is profits, but is this wrong?

The author spoke w/ an English major who was having trouble publishing her novel.  He said, “you’re probably a better writer than I am, but, look at the cover of my book.  It doesn’t say, ’best-writer,’ it says, ‘best seller.’  That’s the difference between being skilled, and being skilled in a way that makes you money.”

The issue of wages is still an interesting one to me.  I think it sucks that some of the most important work in the world is the least paid.  I’ll be making about $65/day plus food and lodging working for Outward Bound…after 6 months, I’ll probably consider a better paying program, and of course one w/ a good insurance plan.  I might be forced to sacrifice working a certain job because of wages…but as I said before, I need to meet needs before wants.

Craig still has a question to answer of mine, whether or not a person really has freedom if their choice is between working in a poor and unsafe sweatshop, or not working at all.  I wonder what their financial advice should be from “rich dad, poor dad.” They have no money or time to invest…there’s a reason not everyone invests, and it’s not just financial wisdom, it’s financial freedom that comes from having money in the first place.  There is no corporate ladder for them to climb. 

I think one reason libertarian philosophy is strong is that the political influence of the rich has created an environment where there is more to gain from supporting libertarian philosophies (i believe most people develop ideologies out of experience, they don’t appear out of a vacuum or as if proven true by god).  We should lower taxes (because the rich are getting out of taxes anyways), oppose gov’t regulation (because those in charge of fed’l regulations are merely serving the interests of business anyways)…The question is, do we need more gov’t to save us from the evils of (corporate driven) capitalism, or less gov’t to save us from the evils of (corporate driven) gov’t?  Should we improve gov’t, or destroy it?  The answer…

The answer is…psychological happiness is the most important thing, and luckily, this transcends political ideology a bit.  I want to focus a little less on politics, and more on culture (except where the two directly interact).  For example…time spent w/ friends and family (assuming we get along w/ family) I believe to lead to a higher level of personal happiness than time at work.  Therefore…I support cultures that promote “free time.”  I find the amount of time that people work to be completely arbitrary, some countries work more, some less, some jobs more, some less.  To work 9-5, 5 days a week, and have only 1-2 weeks off for vacation I believe to be an enormous obstacle to maximizing happiness.  To the extent that the gov’t or unions can give workers more “freedom,” away from work, that’s a gov’t/culture i support.

and that was a long rambled post…

   

It just dawned on me that next Monday I begin my 3-week orientation with Outward Bound in Baltimore…feeling the usual combination of excitement and anxiety, new job, new people, new adventure.  It also means that my nearly 3-months of crash-couching, philosophizing, table waiting, psuedo-interning, internet surfing, bookstore lounging, NYC visiting, are coming to an end.

I think one of the reasons I have a hard time thinking long-term, is I recognize how significant just one-month can be.  As I highly reflective person, I am now forced to recognize the intensity of what has been the least physically and socially active months I have experienced in a long time. 

For starters, I feel as though I’ve tasted the depths of anti-social anti-physical behavior, and I am looking forward to the environment change.  Otherwise…this has really been the period of the Xanga.  I haven’t spent this much time on the internet, and it is likely I won’t have such an opportunity for a while.  I’ve easily covered ideas that would range over several college courses, and I’ve begun to develop a framework for understanding society in a more rational way. 

I’ve had to do battle w/ my own psychology, always quick to see things in absolutes.  I’ve come to recognize who I am a bit more, and who I’d like to be.  And…most importantly, I know that there are people out there that can push me and I need to find more of those people in my life.  Starting now, I must begin to surround myself by people who will constantly challenge me, and help me discover more of the world than I could ever hope to discover on my own.

While I consider thinking about life to be an act of living, I also believe that 99% of the world exists outside of the mind.  I don’t want to be a buddhist monk, completely at peace w/ the world, only because I’ve spent my life isolated from the world.  I’m looking forward to seeing new places, meeting new people, having new and exciting conversations.

For example…last night i went out w/ my sister’s roommate and her friend Z, 26.  Z just got his GMAT scores back, wasn’t happy, and after throwing back a few shots of bourbon, he was temporarily happy, only to virtually pass out at the table.  The waitress warned us that the bar has a rule, “if he can’t keep his head up, he’s got to go.”  well…there’s a reason for that rule, as Z. gets up, nearly collapses on another table, and I usher him, all 6’2″ 200+ to the urinal (someone was in the stall) to let it fly.

before this, while Z. had his head rested on the table, i chatted w/ my sis’ roommate about intermarriage.  She had gone through a religious phase, and said she was opposed to intermarriage, “until I met a wonderful Indian guy 2-weeks ago.” I guess that’s how it goes, you have your preferences, but sometimes it’s what falls into your lap.  The upper-west side of NY has a large religious population, and although it is a community where you can always find yourself a Friday night dinner, it’s also, from what little I’ve been exposed to, is a community where secular issues trump religious practice.  Gossip.  Politics.  The ups and downs of relationships and jobs.  Puking from too much booze.  I asked Z. why he even took the GMAT’s, and his only reason was he was planning to apply to Columbia for an MBA, although he couldn’t give a good reason why besides the glory of getting in.  So…w/out putting down religion, it’s been revealed to me how the most important thing is to have control over your secular life, the life of now.

I’ve been living out of my environment for too long.  While finding a religious environment is managable, finding a secular one is more difficult.  I love to travel.  I love the outdoors.  I’m interested in living communally.  I want to learn more about all aspects of the world.  At times this past week I’ve envied people w/ their own apartments, with stable jobs, who have achieved complete financial independence, who are in an opportunity to date and develop relationships.  It’s a life that I could accept at anytime, and it’s a life that could easily grow on me. 

Yet…I still sense there’s a better life for me.  And as long as I have that sense, I know that I cannot lose for seeking out that life.  If I’m wrong, I tried.  If I didn’t try, I’d always have a pit in my stomach.  But if i’m right, if I discover the life that is in my dreams, I will be at peace w/ myself in the latter stages of my life.

I’m nearly done creating my mission statement, and I think it’s an interesting thing to try, and I hope to display it to you soon.  (my sister told me there was a news report of someone who got fired for something they blogged.  It made me think of all i’ve written, but i’ve always thought of journaling as a good way to monitor yourself.  if i’m not willing to write it, then i shouldn’t be thinking or doing it…(for the most part),  ultimately, I hope that my blogging will be recognized as an assett in whatever job I find myself in.)  At the end of the day, I want to work and live in an environment where you love or hate me for who I am.  As you can guess…I’ve even made a highly personalized resume, which not only gives me a leg up for being different, but if someone doesn’t want me, i probably don’t want them.

Anyways…i’ve realized that being only in a bar environment and surrounded by young people, I’ve been in a culture where people are looking for someone, and looking to settle down a bit.  When the time is right, i’ll meet someone.  I think the personal journey is the most important, and I’d rather find someone who wants to share a similar journey, than to cut my journey short to find someone to share “a life,” with.  I want more than a life, because I’ve already tasted that there is so much out there.  I’m young, 23, but old, almost in my mid-twenties and nearly two years out of college.  I am ready to start making things happen.

Here is an absolutely inspiring article I found on thenarrator’s site about an 11-year old student boycotting a standardized test.  Another interesting point in the article was regarding a man named George Wood (who I met in San Fran at an education conference this past fall…how cool!!!) who is a school principle who has to hold back his son from graduating because his son also refuses to take standardized tests.  This reminds me that w/ the right backing and organization, I can help students make school and life work for them, instead of students working for the system.

I’ll end w/ a Bill Maher quote this weekend about today’s kids.  It was reported that a large percentage of kids today think the gov’t should be able to regulate the media. 

“Kids are supposed to rage against the machine, not for the machine.  Kids are supposed to question authority, not question those who question authority.”

-dan

Topic: Thoughts in the NYC public library

First of all…the following is my attempt to perform practical philosophy.  I am not trying to argue for an absolute truth, I am trying to argue for what makes sense based on general observations:

What is the purpose of learning?

As a student, you’re taught things.  But for what greater purpose?

If you become a teacher, this means the purpose of your learning when you were a student, was so you can teach what you’ve learned, so other can learn what you learned.

Is teaching merely a process of passing down knowledge?

Think of a crowded library.  Hundreds of people learning.  But why?

1) Learning is an act of living

-pleasure
-stimulation
-social
-connectoin with the learning

2) Learning is an act of preparation for future living

-learning leads to more learning
-learning leads to more living

The supreme act is LIVING.  Learning is important to the extent that it adds to living.  The purpose of education is to add to life.

People exist in 3 distinct life phases:

1) student
2) worker
3) post-work / retiree

Only thorugh work, or the work of others (parents) can we exist in the other two non-working stages of life.

We work so our children can be students, and we work so we can one day be retirees.

Work is also an act of living:

-pleasure
-stimulation
-social
-learning

Why is school, work, and the transition from school to work often so difficult?
(This is the essential cultural/psychological question that has led to this post)

1) School is not seen as an act of living
-school is seen as a preparation for work

2) Work is not seen as an act of living
-Work is seen as a preparation for life post-work and as a tool to sened kids to school

What is living?

While living is technically the opposite of being dead, here, I’m using it to mean what most people do to experience pleasure, stimulation, social, and learning.  Living is doing something both for its value now, and for its value later.  For most, living is what people do when they’re not in school and not at work.

ex)

partial living – Going through the motions/routines of life (secular/mundane)
….student hates school, loves extra-curricular activities
….worker hates work, loves things after work

graphically, this would look like a wave, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down

fully living – passionately grabbing life by the balls (secular/spiritual)
….student loves school and extra-curriculars, the two almost blend into one
….worker loves job and lifestyle after job, the two almost blend into one

graphically, this would look like a rising stock, up up up, down, up up up, down (since some downs are inevitable)

I do not believe there is an objective/abstract truth regarding “living,” however, I think psychology is probably the closest science I can use.  I am trying to understand the human condition, and that is psychology. 

topic: a good life, THE good life

It’s now 3:43am, I’ve just re-read a post from a year ago.  It’s probably the most powerful post I’ve ever written, my daily journal from a 21-day Outward Bound South Africa course i instructed.  It’s long, but it’s one of the few narrative entries I have, and I’ve been reliving the entire experience as I’ve re-read it.  I think my writing is the greatest asset I leave myself…as I’ve captured so many thoughts, experiences, and life lessons that I can now go back to and build on.  As my co-instructor Menzi said on the course, “Do not think only of the size of the mountain ahead of you.  Look back and acknowledge the great distances you have covered just to get where you are.  You have arrived where you are one step-at-a-time.  Now keep walking.” 

I didn’t realize it at the time, but my recent trip down “is there a god?” lane has strengthened my resolve in embracing life in the here and now.

I had a great chat w/ my pops today about many topics, and I brought up intermarriage.  I wanted to know why he cared about me marrying a Jewish girl, even though we’re not a religious family.  We both share similar views on god and religion, but I have been in this limbo w/ regards to intermarriage, believing I would marry only a Jewish girl, but feeling as though my reasons were fairly shoddy (as it turns out, the word shoddy comes from a material known as shoddy which was worn during the civil war.  it was of such a poor quality, it basically disintegrated in the rain, hence the expression “shoddy” my dad is full of such facts that i’m not always able to appreciate).

I actually got one reason for marrying Jewish that resonated with me.  In many ways, Judaism is a club.  It’s a club that has lasted for generations, and it’s a club that exists worldwide.  Last year, I was able to share in a shabbat dinner and partake in a seder (a ritual dinner for the holiday of Passover), while in South Africa.  It didn’t matter who I was, it only mattered that I was a member of the club.

Without god, it’s clear how Judaism can be viewed as a club.  It’s got a membership, rituals, and like most organizations, it has a wide-range of members.  In fact, as a result of varying viewpoints about what the club/religion of Judaism is about, there have been several splits in the religion based on beliefs regarding ritual and other matters.

So…while I have had many reasons to not buy into religion, and several reasons to rebel against religion, my dad pointed out that it might be to my advantage to remain a member of this club.  And in fact…there’s a large number of Jews who have embraced Judaism merely for its secular/social benefits.  My dad also said that being Jewish means to be part of something historical.  True…we don’t have a family tree that shows how our lineage dates back to the time of Abraham.  But…unlike the Italians, Irish, English, etc. Jews are a culture that have been without a home for quite some time, kicked out of nearly every country they’ve lived in.  Yet…they have maintained their identity.  Anyways…the point about belonging to a club meant more to me than the existential dilemma of being a person w/ no historical roots except Judaism. 

My dad and I don’t speak very often, so I tried to get the most out of it.  We also discussed my life dilemma (what am I doing w/ my life?)  He went on to drop in some Sheakspeare, which I wasn’t expecting at all: “To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be falst to any man.”  Ultimately I want to be honest to myself about religion, and it’s more important to me to follow those aspects of Judaism that will help me lead a good life, (compassion towards others) and to help me lead THE good life (social/spiritual happiness).

As I said at the beginning of this post…thinking about religion has clarified life for me a bit, and has strengthened my views on how to live both a good life, and THE good life.

I find life is hardest when I can’t find answers to life’s questions.  Did I make the right decision to spend the last 6 months as I have?  Am I making the right job decision now?  Am I wrong for being irreligious?  Should I settle down?

Clarifying my thoughts on religion puts life back into the category of “managable.”  I have a grip on the world and life.  I also have a strengthened view that there is no objective truths about what we think of as “life.”  For some, this is scary, but realizing this is actually the most powerful tool to living the good life.  Most things in life are ingrained into us as objective truths, and suddenly, we find ourselves in their boxes.  In order to think independantly, we need to embrace the arbitrariness of life. 

I also believe, in order to live well, we must embrace the finiteness of life.  Human life is finite, and likely, human existence as well (do you think we’ll still be around in one trillion years, and will 2004 have any relevance on the year 2,000,000,000,004?)

Again…my conclusions may sound depressing, but depression as I defined it before, often stems from an inability to “manage” life.  In Tuesday’s with Morrie, there’s a quote about death.  “We can’t start living until we’ve accepted that we’re going to die.”  When we are able to come to grips with the big questions in life, I feel we can smile for conquering (if temporarily) our inability to grapple with the question, as well as the fact that once we accept death (i know…gruesome thinking, yuck!!!) as Morrie said, we’re free to live.  We’re free to be true to ourselves.

My dad said the Peace Corps was a unique program, because it created jobs for those who wanted to do something positive for humanity, but who didn’t want to join the rat-race.  Although probably the most famous gov’t program for such a cause, I don’t have a single friend who even considered the program.  Most of the people I know joined the rat-race!  This reveals to me that people are trapped by the box, and have not embraced the arbitrariness of life that tells us there is 0 objective truth beyond the opinions of our society, that entering the rat-race is a natural progression after college.  In addition, this reveals that many have not embraced the finiteness of life, for it’s hard to believe that a person who embraced their own mortality would remain in the rat-race for very long.

Anyone who has traveled will most likely have discovered what I mean by arbitrariness of life.  From sports, to food, to music, to accents, to language, to politics, to relationships, to traditions, “to thine own be true.”  Perhaps many Americans only know one life.  But I think there are many who recognize the toxicity of our culture.

Topic: back to history/politics

Also…I gave my dad a copy of Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History.”  My dad is a history buff, and he was quick to point out the slant in the book.  “The facts are indesputable, but it’s not like other countries didn’t commit equal acts.”  This combatted one of the quick conclusions I made about America being one of the worst countries, without really having much knowledge of foreign countries.  But…my dad, like most historians, are able to point out that an unsanitized version of American history is not an easy one to swallow.  

As I mentioned earlier about the Peace Corps, my dad said FDR was one of the first presidents to pay people to do work that benfited society.  My dad is not a political ideologue (hence…i’ve very rarely discussed politics w/ him), but it was refreshing to hear how the concept of paying people to create art was undertaken by the gov’t.  Also…like the current war in Iraq, my knowledge of the Great Depression is greatly sanitized. 

the following picture is dedicated to ganryu…i found the following pictures here: 

During the Great Depression, unemployment was high. Many employers tried to get as much work as possible from their employees for the lowest possible wage. Workers were upset with the speedup of assembly lines, working conditions and the lack of job security. Seeking strength in unity, they formed unions. Automobile workers organized the U.A.W. (United Automobile Workers of America) in 1935. General Motors would not recognize the U.A.W. as the workers’ bargaining representative. Hearing rumors that G.M. was moving work to factories where the union was not as strong, workers in Flint began a sit-down strike on December 30, 1936. The sit-down was an effective way to strike. When workers walked off the job and picketed a plant, management could bring in new workers to break the strike. If the workers stayed in the plant, management could not replace them with other workers. This photograph shows the broken windows at General Motors’ Flint Fisher Body Plant during the Flint sit-down strike of 1936-37.

Looks like South Africa here…

Squatters in Mexican section in San Antonio, Texas. House was built of scrap material in vacant lot in Mexican
section of San Antonio, Texas. March 1939. Photographer: Russell Lee.

Funny tabloid…don’t you think.

Durham, North Carolina, May 1940. Photographer: Jack Delano. “At the bus station.”

 

highs of the day:

-my cousin’s bat mitzvah
-mini hot dogs, mini eggrolls, (kosher) sushi, chocolate fondu and fresh fruit
-danced the electric slide
-played w/ hoolah hoops
-caught up w/ cousins, and saw the rest of the family
-general carefreeness

now…for some mind-stretching:

Is there a god?  What is the value of my religion?  Must I marry Jewish?

background…I grew up in a Jewish household.  Went to hebrew school (I can read Hebrew, but my background in Hebrew is limited to reading prayers in Hebrew which I cannot translate into English…and reading the English translations and finding no personal meaning in them).  Followed certain traditions, mostly observing holidays and dietary laws.  I have been surrounded by Jewish people and so I am aware that there is more to Judaism than I have explored.

At some point when I was young, I probably had what I believed to be conversations with “god,” but, at a very young age, around 7 I think, I recall realizing that there’s nobody but myself in my head.  I have free will over my mind, and there was no reason to think there was something non-physical that was in some way living, omnipotant, and was taking note of my thinking.  And while I did have some thoughts that a “force,” must be behind all the unanswerable questions of the universe, I found religion to be a human attempt to address those unanswerable questions by identifying that “force.”

Anyways…like most people, I had the god debate w/ myself and others many times, but ultimately, found myself unable to believe in anything more than an unexplainable force, while at the same time embracing the secular culture of Judaism.

It’s been years since I’ve seriously thought about god and religion.  Like my beliefs about politics, science, history, education…my thoughts on religion are largely “intellectually lazy.”  I basically believe what I believe…my life is spent on various things, so I haven’t become a scholar on these topics.  And…even if I did, I’d find that scholars disagree on everything from politics to god, so I don’t take offense to being called intellectually lazy for accepting athiesm, just as I don’t challenge believers of the same thing.  but, for now, it’s worth discussing some basic elements of the issue.

I have embraced secular humanism.  Since I don’t believe there’s any objective meaning to life, no objective morality, I believe that humans are left to come up w/ something themselves.  The things I believe in, “my gods,” if you will…are compassion, happiness, beauty, personal growth, and an ever-growing list of what I believe to be positive secular values.

A question I was asked last night was whether or not I thought the Holocaust was immoral.  I soon realized the trap that theists look for in this question, the trap that I may find the Holocaust to be immoral, but those who ran the Holocaust believed it to be moral.  Ultimately…without god, morals are relative.  My view that the Holocaust was immoral cannot be held as the true morality.

Well…I’ve thought about this trap…and now I want to argue that the Holocaust was a neutral event, neither moral nor immoral.  I’m embracing the moral relativism that comes w/ athiesm.  

wait a second….

most of you reading that probably feel a bit outraged.  I am now arguing that I do not believe the Holocaust to be immoral.  Clearly I’ve commited heresey, clearly I side with the Devil to not believe the Holocaust was immoral.  but, let me ask this question, especially to those who do believe in god.  Why am I wrong?  Tell me why I’m wrong for believing that the Holocaust was not immoral.

…likely, you have several responses.  Likely…your first responses are, ”the holocaust was inhumane,” “the holocaust involved the killing of innocent human beings,” “the holocaust was pure brutality,” “the holocaust was immoral because if everyone in the world accepted the holocaust, we’d all be able to kill anyone we wanted.”

i’m sure there were a variety of arguments you may have had to convince me that my moral relativism is wrong, that the Holocaust was indeed immoral.  However…unless you answered, “The Holocaust was immoral because God says it was immoral,” then your morality, like mine, is relative.  Your morality, like mine, is based on your subjective beliefs and opinions.  That is…unless your morality is the objective word of god, in which, you cannot give your opinion about the Holocaust beyond, “the moral code of God was broken during the Holocaust.”

This has led me to think that belief in God demands a person to surrender their freedom of thought.  I have my secular/subjective/arbitrary/humanistic values for why I believe the Holocaust was immoral, but to a theist, my ability to come to my own conclusion about why something is immoral is irrelevant.  Only the word of god matters.

There are many strands of religion to discuss…but the book I’m reading begins with the question of moral relativism.  Like most argumentative books, they easily defeat their opponants and move onto the next issue, but I’m still working on chapter 1, and will not grant their argument simply because they wrote a book about it.  (i find it interesting how we allow books to make us “experts,” The person i was talking to last night spent 1 year at an ultra-religious school and found their arguments compelling.  no surprise there.  we are all easily molded by what we read and are taught.  this makes me believe stronger that truth is relative.  if all knowledge in the world were somehow wiped out immediately, many ideas that we hold to be true would also evaporate.  some may be recreated, some not.  science would likely discover the same truths.  but…w/out the basic assumptions of the world that are ingrained in all of us today, we might develop societies, truths, and ideas, that only those who can see beyond soceity’s box can possibly imagine.

(need to sign-off, will finish this post in the morning)

 

 

Topic: the secular world

i have a long post coming up later about secularism vs. religion.  The god debate.  I had a long discussion about it last night, and I want to explore the topic again.

the last few days in NYC have been great.  caught up w/ several old friends, discovered some new places i like in New York.

i’m going to a cousin’s bat mitzvah this evening.  I expect the food will be delicious!!!

plan on spending just a couple days more in nyc before heading back to balitimore. 

***a question to think about…

Would you rather live in a world where people made on avg. $50,000, and you made $80,000 OR live in a world where people made on avg. $150,000, and you made $120,000?

Topic: WINER DOG and AND

I went to the Bowery Poetry Club last night…and this 5-year old goes up for open mic, night, with his mom sitting in the front row.  Here are excerpts:

there was a weiner dog
he smelled like shit
the dog was a fucking bastard

the pee was yellow
the poop was brown
grandma’s underwear smelled like dirty fish
and my mom loved to sleep with the underwear

I nearly killed myself laughing.

Then I went to the Comedy Cellar:

“When I get home, the first thing I’m going to do is take off my wife’s underwear…
they’re really crushing my balls.”

It was a night of vulgarities, of everything offensive, of beer and pizza, of an uncensored look into some of life’s realities.  And I fuckin’ loved every minute of it.

And i thought…if it’s worthy for someone to spend their life making people laugh, then it’s ok to laugh, and smile, and play, even though those bastard fuckin’ weiner dogs in Africa are starving on $2/month, and I’m supposed to mourn over the plight of justice in this world.  Well…enough of this “life is a funeral” business. 

And i’m still passionate about truth, justice, the American way, and all that good stuff, but i’m Jewish, i don’t have a heaven to look forward to, so this is it.  Break out the champagne…

and i was thinking how i still feel like a kid, and i was thinking how i think like a 65-year old, and I realized, I’m wise for my age…

and i nearly bought a flight to london today because it was $208r/t, but then about $400 w/ taxes, which is still cheap, and i thirst to travel, but even a 65-year old knows you can’t spend money like your wife would like to, so…i’ll sweat it out till the fall.

and i’ve eaten pizza for almost every meal the last 2 days here in NYC.

and it’s perfectly ok to start a sentence with and

and if you want to give me shit about it, well, you’re a bastard fuckin’ weiner dog

and i started reading the Da Vinci Code

and i started reading a book called, “Happiness”

and i should do an open-mic poem

and

 

he’s back….

Topic: exhausted

I may not post for a while…partly because i’m trying to ween myself away from the computer, partly because i feel i don’t have much that i feel like writing about. 

I’ve put myself into some kind of a mental trap, and i’m having a hard time doing anything social.  Cold weather is part to blame.  My psychology is partly to blame.  My living environments are partly to blame.  All I know is I hope I never forget this period of my life.  I know how good life can be, when i’m living in a good community, when i’m traveling, when i’m surrounded by friends, when i’m doing something exciting in the outdoors.  I’ve deprived myself of much of that for a couple of months now…it’s been a struggling couple of months.  And yet…this has become my comfort zone and i’m a bit hesitant to return to the life that i’ve loved.  I’m nervous that Outward Bound Baltimore may not be my savior, I can’t think positively, although I know I’ve had this fear of so many new things, and they always turn out so well.  Right now i feel dull, lazy, sleepy, alone..it’s strange to feel so nervous, almost to the point of dread, to return to being alive Dan, funny Dan, active Dan, playful Dan.  Negative daydreams never end up being negative, and positive daydreams are a mixed bag.  i need a bowl of life cereal and i’m going to bed…