I think you are spot on. And just like religions have a fair number of lukewarm believers who show up for services but don’t actually do all the things, you’ve got your climate changers who still run the a/c and drive SUVs; the wokesters who move to the lily-white burbs “for the good schools”.
I have an acquaintance who is very religious about climate and wokeness. And for years my husband and I have chuckled that 300 years ago she would have been front and center with the torch and pitchfork demanding that the witches be burnt. There’s a certain personally type that just always wants to take things a little too far.
The way I would put it is that there are patterns in behaving / believing / belonging that human beings repeatedly and persistently fall into.
One thing about your 3 examples is that they broadly come from “the left”. On the right, there is actual religion but also MAGA and white supremacism.
The two obvious writers to link this to are: John Gray - esp. Black Mass. For Gray, every modern political movement is really Christian millennialism in disguise. For Tom Holland (not that one) he would describe the current political moment in America as a civil war between 2 inheritors of Christianity. Which is a description I like if only because it offends almost everyone.
Totally agree. I poke at the Left because the Right claims a theism while the left believes their atheism eliminates their religion. I think this essay lines up well with Gray because that's a lot of what I captured in the table. It's all about the end of times.
I also don't think it's a war with christianity per se but it certainly flavors it. Especially the book of Revelations.
So many of your podcasts align with the Classical tools of learning. You discuss the tools of integration, definition, comparison, etc in the pursuit of knowledge, understanding and wisdom. But one of the cornerstones (at least of Classical education) is also the pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty. You mention goodness and beauty, in the sense of “better person” and “good energy” but what about truth? I agree that many of the things you listed in the podcast fall into the category of religion... you made good points. But if something is FALSE, good, and beautiful, is it equal to that which is TRUE, good and beautiful? Does TRUTH exist?
That is a sticky point with a lot of people. The point of this essay wasn't to explore Truth (I actually have one in queue on Exegesis and peeling back the layers from historic truth (using the Bible as an example)) The goal of this one was Psychology. Call it 'The God Shaped Hole.' The point here is that we are coded toward a psychology that, absent a grounding concept, creates crazy behaviors.
Not to go too deep on this, but my theological axiom is true. In fact, it's what Jesus talks about in Matthew 22:36-40. This axiom merely a step abstracted from a specific theology. But I do ask the same thing of any theists (and atheists). "Is what you believe, and where you place your faith, enabling you to become a better person and allowing you to add positive energy to the world around you?" Because if you do 'the Greatest commandments' then you are meeting this.
What's most interesting about the Bible is that they speak in allegory, midrash, parables, similes, idioms, etc. Heck, all of Matthew's "as shown in" are a Jewish analysis called midrash which is comparative, not explicit (ie Isaiah 7:14 where a prophesy is given and then fulfilled hundreds of years before Christ yet it is also LIKE Christ)
Again, the target of this essay are atheists who believe they have no religion, but they actually have a massive hole they are filling with anything, often creating cults of secular religious behavior which aren't fulfilling and aren't healthy. (which makes a perfect place to pour Truth into when they see it)
Excellent! Accepting of humans being human in their various faiths… love 💕 the self questioning: Is what you believe, and where you place your faith, enabling you to become a better person and allowing you to add positive energy to the world around you?
Well written. It’s been an interesting study coming out of the Theistic religious psychology and now reading the lines of code. Another one is Veganism. Also has all those religious aspects mentioned
I think you are spot on. And just like religions have a fair number of lukewarm believers who show up for services but don’t actually do all the things, you’ve got your climate changers who still run the a/c and drive SUVs; the wokesters who move to the lily-white burbs “for the good schools”.
I have an acquaintance who is very religious about climate and wokeness. And for years my husband and I have chuckled that 300 years ago she would have been front and center with the torch and pitchfork demanding that the witches be burnt. There’s a certain personally type that just always wants to take things a little too far.
I was just talking to my wife about this yesterday. One hundred years ago where would SJWs have been?
It's not a new psychology... It's just decoupled from a traditional theology.
The way I would put it is that there are patterns in behaving / believing / belonging that human beings repeatedly and persistently fall into.
One thing about your 3 examples is that they broadly come from “the left”. On the right, there is actual religion but also MAGA and white supremacism.
The two obvious writers to link this to are: John Gray - esp. Black Mass. For Gray, every modern political movement is really Christian millennialism in disguise. For Tom Holland (not that one) he would describe the current political moment in America as a civil war between 2 inheritors of Christianity. Which is a description I like if only because it offends almost everyone.
Totally agree. I poke at the Left because the Right claims a theism while the left believes their atheism eliminates their religion. I think this essay lines up well with Gray because that's a lot of what I captured in the table. It's all about the end of times.
I also don't think it's a war with christianity per se but it certainly flavors it. Especially the book of Revelations.
So many of your podcasts align with the Classical tools of learning. You discuss the tools of integration, definition, comparison, etc in the pursuit of knowledge, understanding and wisdom. But one of the cornerstones (at least of Classical education) is also the pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty. You mention goodness and beauty, in the sense of “better person” and “good energy” but what about truth? I agree that many of the things you listed in the podcast fall into the category of religion... you made good points. But if something is FALSE, good, and beautiful, is it equal to that which is TRUE, good and beautiful? Does TRUTH exist?
That is a sticky point with a lot of people. The point of this essay wasn't to explore Truth (I actually have one in queue on Exegesis and peeling back the layers from historic truth (using the Bible as an example)) The goal of this one was Psychology. Call it 'The God Shaped Hole.' The point here is that we are coded toward a psychology that, absent a grounding concept, creates crazy behaviors.
Not to go too deep on this, but my theological axiom is true. In fact, it's what Jesus talks about in Matthew 22:36-40. This axiom merely a step abstracted from a specific theology. But I do ask the same thing of any theists (and atheists). "Is what you believe, and where you place your faith, enabling you to become a better person and allowing you to add positive energy to the world around you?" Because if you do 'the Greatest commandments' then you are meeting this.
What's most interesting about the Bible is that they speak in allegory, midrash, parables, similes, idioms, etc. Heck, all of Matthew's "as shown in" are a Jewish analysis called midrash which is comparative, not explicit (ie Isaiah 7:14 where a prophesy is given and then fulfilled hundreds of years before Christ yet it is also LIKE Christ)
Again, the target of this essay are atheists who believe they have no religion, but they actually have a massive hole they are filling with anything, often creating cults of secular religious behavior which aren't fulfilling and aren't healthy. (which makes a perfect place to pour Truth into when they see it)
Excellent! Accepting of humans being human in their various faiths… love 💕 the self questioning: Is what you believe, and where you place your faith, enabling you to become a better person and allowing you to add positive energy to the world around you?
This Pew Research Study backs you up.
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/atheists-are-sometimes-more-religious-than-christians?utm_source=pocket-newtab
The final paragraphs talking about the need for new definitions and new vocabulary were particularly interesting.
I really like that! Thanks. I'm also finding more and more people starting to talk about it too.
https://quillette.com/2022/11/18/religious-permanence/
Well written. It’s been an interesting study coming out of the Theistic religious psychology and now reading the lines of code. Another one is Veganism. Also has all those religious aspects mentioned
Yeah, I thought about picking veganism. But then again, I could have picked CrossFit too :)
Does a fish know it is wet? It might be in a different ocean, but it's still a fish!