Hi, my name's Buxtebuddha, and I hate the moderators on this forum.

Additionally, I'm mostly interested in Christian mysticism and other topics relating to the experience of the divine >:) (Y)

And Tiff, you gotta introduce yourself, too, c'mon!

Well, we don't hate you and wish you well in your quest for spiritual enlightenment. You no longer posting Star Trek gifs everywhere is a good first step, methinks. (Y)

Mae govannen, I am the Eagle of the Star, and I try not to hate, but I do find many of the moderators on this forum to be rather insufferable and hypocritical at times, not to mention immoderately prone to bitter sarcasm.

I much prefer the bitterness of Bierce and other philosophical and/or religious pessimists, like Schopenhauer, whose philosophy informs my thinking about most things. I spend most of my time here to kill it, though the success rate of this endeavor is not entirely clear to me. I also like to think being here sharpens my thinking on various topics and hones my verbal jousting ability, which I console myself in thinking might come in handy some day.

Welcome. Speak freely, speak frankly. Nothing here to be self-consciously humble about. Philosophy is an ancient, very badly planned and now dilapidated city in ruins with narrow, twisted avenues that end up nowhere; once elegant mansions occupied by the ghosts of long-dead questions. Remnants of the Humorless Society lurk about -- be careful. Mostly there are earnest people with nothing worse to do than poke around in the rubble hoping to find something new and interesting that nobody else has found in the last few thousand years.

Marx said, “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it."

And welcome, again.

Additionally, I'm mostly interested in Christian mysticism and other topics relating to the experience of the divine >:) (Y) — Buxtebuddha

Why is an atheist interested in Christian mysticism and the experience of the divine? :P

If you’re

mostly interested in Christian mysticism — Buxtebuddha

Then why say

I hate the moderators — Buxtebuddha

?

Anyway, I too am interesting in mysticism, my orientation is, overall, small-t theosophical. However I’m also discovering an unexpected affinity with Platonism; which is one of those philosophies which allows you to say, that I sometimes feel I learned it in a previous existence, and now it’s starting to come back to me.

Marx said, “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." — Bitter Crank

Changing it requires getting a grip on the reigns of power, it's not as easy as being a philosopher :P

Hi, I'm NB, and I have no idea what I'm talking about!

My name is Michael, and I think that the moderators are just the best.

I'm TimeLine. I like roasted pumpkins.

@Buxtebuddha
I am a Spiritual Warrior. Honesty is important to me, almost to a fault. I try really hard to never give my word if I cannot uphold it. I am a protector of animals and their environment both domestic and wild and have been known to be a Momma Bear with her cubs. My faith lays within the idea of Karma, in that I need not even scores, for Karma will take care of it for me. I think of life having a Karmic Banking account and the more positive deposits I can make and the less negative with drawls I can make the better.

Shut up, Dad.

Why is an atheist interested in Christian mysticism and the experience of the divine? — Agustino

Because that's what my poet's heart manifests its interest in when I read philosophy.

? — Wayfarer

What, what?

I am a Spiritual Warrior. Honesty is important to me, almost to a fault. I try really hard to never give my word if I cannot uphold it. I am a protector of animals and their environment both domestic and wild and have been known to be a Momma Bear with her cubs. My faith lays within the idea of Karma, in that I need not even scores, for Karma will take care of it for me. I think of life having a Karmic Banking account and the more positive deposits I can make and the less negative with drawls I can make the better. — ArguingWAristotleTiff

Mother Tiff the most real poster on this forum! :)

@Agustino
How about an introduction of who you are on this thread and leave the other 'stuff' for the shoutbox as there 'thwaps' are allowed. Here is where we are letting others know a bit about us.
Let me know if there is any confusion I can clear up for you.
Tiff

I was just joking lol, sorry O:)

No worries. 8-)
Now about who you are...

I'm just going to delete non-introductions from now on, folks. Too many Shout box type discussions around already.

I'm praxis. The details of my life are quite inconsequential... very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds- pretty standard really. At the age of twelve I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum... it's breathtaking- I highly suggest you try it.

I am Hanover. My childhood comes to me in bits and pieces. I recall as a youth a cobbler named Daniel crafting the finest of shoes, chatting with me for hours about the old country and the hamlet he was raised in. He described three horses, each with its own unique personality, and how he would be sure to bring an apple for each. That would be bring about the most uproarious laughter as you can imagine! That's where he met his sister who would some day become his bride. He would bed her down every night and rock himself to sleep inside her and he would have the most vivid of dreams. He told me of the dream he had of the sloth and the raccoon and would light up as he discussed the symbolism. I remember his pupilless eyes growing wider as he would talk. As fate would have it, he had the reigns to two of his horses (Kinship and Dirty Stairwell) and they pulled in opposite directions and most literally ripped him apart. He cried out on that day, "Jesus fucking Christ, I'm most literally being ripped apart." Those words rang so true.

So, that's my story.

No matter what one writes, it's auto-bio. Of course, some autobiographies are better than others.

I'm just going to delete non-introductions from now on, folks. Too many Shout box type discussions around already. — Baden

How about introducing yourself as: "Hello, I'm Baden, and I'm mean as shit."

Ok, ok, so I didn't say anything about myself. I am a very-small-town-midwesterner, which I regret in ever so many ways, but once conceived, it was too late to do anything about it. Small town life made me quite neurotic, a demolition derby of repressed homosexual libidinous urges over-seen by a typically repressive Methodist superego. I am sure I would have been happier with progressive Jewish parents in Manhattan.

Age has snowed white hair on my head, and my future is now much much shorter than my past, which is fine. I'm busy filling in the big gaps left over from college, 50 years ago. I sincerely hope there is no such thing as reincarnation. Once really is enough. I'm not very hot on the afterlife either. God, the very idea!

Hi everyone. I am Agustino, also known as the Great Agu (please don't forget Great, I am Great because I have more than double anyone's posts :D ).

I like practical philosophy and am interested largely in ethics and religion, though I am sometimes interested in some metaphysical issues too.

You need to know that if you start saying stuff that annoys me, I will go like this:


Oh, and I'm also known for sparring with @Bitter Crank, avoiding getting banned by @Baden for way longer than expected, and I like annoying @TimeLine (I see "moral consciousness" has now replaced authenticity somewhat >:) ) and @schopenhauer1, and overall being the most hated poster in the eyes of the moderators :D

Oh, and people often think that @Thorongil is actually me :s

Why is an atheist interested in Christian mysticism and the experience of the divine? — Agustino

There is a good article on Why Are Non-Believers Turning to Their Bibles? in Quillette which I recommend. Actually, i'm ordering you to read it. Students tend to ignore recommendations and pay more attention to orders, as in "Yes, it WILL be on the test."

Quillette is NOT a religious magazine.

There is a good article on Why Are Non-Believers Turning to Their Bibles? in Quillette which I recommend. Actually, i'm ordering you to read it. Students tend to ignore recommendations and pay more attention to orders, as in "Yes, it WILL be on the test." — Bitter Crank

I opened it, but I got scared because I saw one of Jordan Peterson's lectures in there >:O (joking I'm currently digesting it before returning shortly to making money [work])

Okay finished it :P - not a bad read. Now time to go back to planting cabbage - the money garden ain't gonna tend for itself :D

Originally from the Midwest, living in NYC. Attempting a career as a musical artist and failing royally. Interested these days mostly in mysticism, religion, ethics, aesthetics...

Hi, I am an Uneducated Pleb. I used to think philosophy was garbage and dreamt up by and for folks who couldn't actually do anything useful. Then I found work in garbage and also found out I am not particularly useful. That's when I started reading about the philosophy of time...which was about 7 or so years ago and many philosophy books, lectures, and debates since. I have since flipped my views of and about philosophy and think there should be some more of it in the public consciousness and practice (definitely in the US) and not just for academics.

I also read the article in Quillette and found it to be mostly bland and without much engaging content. I particularly thought the ending of it, especially where it invokes a "religious instinct", as misconstrued and shallow. Only my opinion.

How about introducing yourself as: "Hello, I'm Baden, and I'm mean as shit." — Hanover

Just to prove you wrong, I'm going to leave all these dumb non-introductory comments here. Enjoy wallowing in the mud you bastards.

Edit: Hello, I'm Baden. In my spare time I knit and play with kittens. Don't fucking cross me.

I am the mighty Wosret. Indomitable, irrepressible, neon-enlightened Shaman from the east coast.

Riddled the mysteries
Found the lost histories
renowned in seven sisteries
Strangled all these family trees.

Deathless, most high
Light as the clouds in the sky
Pure as a tear from the eye
Sure as satisfaction's sigh

Undefeated, renowned
Hidden by every sound
Among your greatest fears, found
In a vulgar world, perpetually crowned.