List of agnostics

[Ian Livingston]

Religion IS paranoia. It is the disease that recreates the world according
to the fable that everything connects, when, in fact, things rarely
connect. Spinoza sees everything as an expression of the mind of God, and
the human mind as that very mind of God incarnate. Of the worlds major
religions, Taoism and atheism are the only ones that allow for
disconnection, disparity. And of those, only atheism is the only religion
that allows for uncorrected divergence. Also, as the great churches crumble
in the face of scientific method and the advances in quality of life it
brings, the lesser churches fill the gaps with perversions of dogma that
make their palaver more palatable to the desperate people who find
themselves lost in a world too complex to reduce to right and wrong without
the aid of massive doses of denial. And denial results in projection, which
connects everything back to God the Projector. I think of theists as people
who believe independent agencies external to themselves cause them to act
in ways they would not freely choose. The non-theist knows that the subject
always chooses, whether consciously or not, and it is precisely the
complexity of choice that makes possible the irruptions of seeming
cooperation in the world. These are the anarchist miracles, which,
projected upon, seem like they could be incursions from another reality.

On Wed, Jun 27, 2012 at 10:02 PM, Lemuel Underwing <luunderwing at gmail.com>wrote:

> is there some sort of Religious Paranoia or a Religion *of *Paranoia?
>
>
> On Wed, Jun 27, 2012 at 10:43 PM, Jude Bloom <jude at bloomradio.com> wrote:
>
>> I dunno. We're in the midst of what seems unparalleled to me, at least in
>> modern times: the rapid growth of atheism, and the rapid decline in
>> religion. The intellectual & moral normalization of atheism. With the
>> attendant death throes and spasms, i.e. religious craziness & violence.
>> Plus, I think the fall-out from the Catlick priests & little boys is
>> underestimated. For many folks, the Church has been irreparably Sanduskied.
>> Although I see in re-reading Dubliners this week that Joyce was hip to
>> those guys all along, a hundred years ago.
>>
>> I credit Hitchens, myself.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Jun 27, 2012, at 7:39 PM, Lemuel Underwing <luunderwing at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Mr. Malignd, I think you are in the Wrong Place, good sir.  Byron the
>> Bulb is still out there somewhere, a-shinin' down on us, Pynchonite
>> Believers and Unbelievers alike. The Chums of Chance are not one of those
>> more Religious Ballooning Clubs but some of the Crew are certainly more
>> open to Spiritual Experience...?
>>
>> There is a site called reddit.com/r/atheism that may be of some use to
>> you, but let us keep ourselves on Task, eh? Let us turn away from the
>> "World" and seek evidence of the Supernatural-in-Pynchon.
>>
>> On Wed, Jun 27, 2012 at 7:26 PM, <malignd at aol.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Theological niceties aside, what at bottom is faith other than an
>>> irrational belief in a supernatural spirit world, for which there is not a
>>> shred of evidence?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Phillip Greenlief <pgsaxo at pacbell.net>
>>> To: malignd <malignd at aol.com>
>>> Cc: pynchon-l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>>> Sent: Wed, Jun 27, 2012 7:20 pm
>>> Subject: Re: List of agnostics
>>>
>>>  On Jun 27, 2012, at 2:49 PM, malignd at aol.com wrote:
>>>
>>>   I'm an atheist.  The idea that there's a supernatural diety who
>>> created the universe and also listens personally to everyone's prayers --
>>> that people believe this ... I can't understand it.  It's the thinking of
>>> primitive people trying haplessly to explain the unknown to themselves and
>>> yet it persists.
>>>
>>>
>>>  ************************************
>>>
>>>  your analysis of faith seems crude at best, but ok ... do your thing.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  -----Original Message-----
>>> From: kelber <kelber at mindspring.com>
>>> To: pynchon-l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>>> Sent: Wed, Jun 27, 2012 11:14 am
>>> Subject: Re: List of agnostics
>>>
>>>  It's hard to believe that all the people on this list would identify themselves
>>> as agnostics, rather than atheists (though it's possible that Pynchon might be
>>> an agnostic - there's no way of knowing, which, I guess, makes us all
>>> Pynchon-agnostics).  Lots of people I know say things such as "I'm not
>>> religious, but I still think there's some sort of intelligence out there."  I
>>> don't think they mean it in the Arthur C. Clarke sense, but more in a
>>> spiritual-lite fear of there not being some sort of overriding moral force
>>> guiding all that we do.  Personally, I'm an atheist:  there's no god, but if you
>>> want to be religious, shut the fuck up about it!
>>>
>>> Laura
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> >From: Dave Monroe < <against.the.dave at gmail.com>against.the.dave at gmail.com>
>>> >Sent: Jun 27, 2012 10:41 AM
>>> >To: pynchon -l < <pynchon-l at waste.org>pynchon-l at waste.org>
>>> >Subject: List of agnostics
>>> >
>>> >Thomas Pynchon, (born 1937): Catholic-raised author of The Crying of
>>> >Lot 49 and Gravity's Rainbow. According to former friend, Jules
>>> >Siegel, "he went to mass and confessed, though to what would be a
>>> >mystery."
>>> >
>>> > <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_agnostics#Authors>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_agnostics#Authors
>>>
>>>
>>
>


-- 
"Less than any man have I  excuse for prejudice; and I feel for all creeds
the warm sympathy of one who has come to learn that even the trust in
reason is a precarious faith, and that we are all fragments of darkness
groping for the sun. I know no more about the ultimates than the simplest
urchin in the streets." -- Will Durant
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