I was raised evangelical Christian, perhaps borderline fundamentalist. I broke out of that prison a mere 8 or 10 years ago only to find myself in a different prison, one of belief paralysis, existential crisis, and extreme doubt about absolutely everything. To an outsider all of that fallout may look like a result of my religious indoctrination, which is probably true, but I'm still not a believer in losing one's faith as being a universally enlightening or triumphant experience. Loss of faith has been one long, agonizing divorce for me.

All of that said, I'm not an atheist. But I no longer worry about any ongoing debate about God's existence; I'm now bored by them. Provisionally, my conception of God is probably closest to a Hindu conception, for anyone who cares. I feel no need to defend this belief; I don't care what other people think of it. And I think that's healthier than feeling the need to defend one's belief or lack thereof in God; I'm speaking from experience here.

Is Atheism a religion?

Noble Dust will explain anything if you tag him — L'éléphant

That's true; having the answers to all life's questions, I'm simply a tag away. Yet so few realize.

I think it was because you had said it was your first time writing a short story. Considering it was really good and you won the contest, I thought that was impressive, and was therefore surprised. I was also sad to see you deleted it. Attempting publication perhaps?

I think back when I actually contributed to philosophy threads I was probably perceived as a woo-woo diletante, which I'm fine with. These days I suppose I'm just the second-in-command shoutbox class clown, next to @Hanover.

Do you mean Notes From Underground? A seminal text for me.

It's cool. I still don't know how to articulate my mixed feelings about progressive white folks obsession with the ethnicification of western musical tropes (that's not totally fair or accurate in this track, but just general thoughts about the genre). Something to make a thread about I guess, if I still had the energy to do that.

I think you'll agree 10 out of 10 — Changeling

I don't need to click play to know I agree.

UH-GREE????

The Snow Queen - Joan D. Vinge

I wouldn't normally grab a fantasy title blind, but my brother (an unpublished fantasy/sci-fi author with an agent) not only recommended this, but bought it for me as a birthday gift. So far it's...a fantasy novel. I'm placing complete trust in my brother, and I do trust him, although our tastes aren't 100% aligned. It did win a Hugo.

I've never heard of him. I only listened to a few seconds, as this style of modern straight jazz that ECM does is not my thing, but they sound good. The group is locked in, and his playing reminds me of Chick Corea a bit which is a good thing.

At my new job, people aren't very forthcoming. I have to dig for info. I'm kind of burnt out on that whole digging thing.

Are the English people the English people?

thanks ND and it’s all cool :cool: — Jamal

Earnestly, @Jamal: Thank you for this.

Jokingly: "it's all cool". What the hell kind of phrase is that?

British (is that the biggest umbrella? Can't remember) humor, I cannot read. I can hear it, though.

Btw, I don't know your geographical location, but I have a few educated guesses.*waits for banishment*

I said I don’t remember it, not that I didn’t like it. — Jamal

Aha; my memory is famously bad.

It helps that I live a 20 minute walk from the neighborhood it took place in.
— Noble Dust

:zip: — Jamal

Let's all put it behind us, eh? And by us I mean me. Sorry mate, for being a dick. I said it before. Feel like we're still there. My fault.

I'm currently reading Ocarle Night by Paul Auster. I seem to remember @Jamal being an Auster fan, but not of this one. So far so good, but it's my first foray. It helps that I live a 20 minute walk from the neighborhood it took place in. *call back to me freaking out about people knowing where I live*

Perhaps man-made IP violations are simply aberrations of the mind-math matrix of reality that birthed them. :brow:



:cheer:



:cheer:

Stanisław Lem, Memoirs Found in a Bathtub — Jamal

:up: Let me know what you think.

Agreed here. @Mikie there's a lot of assumptions in your OP. I would counter that most people don't think of themselves as special. If you think we all are like that, that may say something about you.

That said, I did at one point think I was "special." Thankfully I got knocked down a few pegs and realized my place. It's not that philosophical.

I also heard it will ruin you. Curious.

Truly, they are co-creators, not passive recipients. — hypericin

:cheer: I’ve been preaching this here for years.

I guess?

I think of them as kind of timeless (laugh if you want), so I'll take it, but I'm sure they'd take it too, actually. Of course that's probably not what you meant.

:up:

Out of interest, does Oceansize land anywhere on that continuum?

Got it (I think?)

I guess as a dumb American I don't really know what that actually means. Aren't you from Scotland? So that's not English, right? I didn't really think about it to be honest. "English" and "British" run together in my mind.

I’m not English either — Jamal

:chin:

I think that was the band you posted a couple of years ago that seemed a bit too late nineties or early 2000s for my taste. — Jamal

They're totally dated in that sense, yes, but I still love them. But I don't blame anyone for passing them off for this reason. There's a lot of nerdy musical information happening in their songs, though, underneath the dated sound.

Have I posted Cardiacs before? I’ve been trying to like Cardiacs for years, and I’m pretty sure I’ll get there. — Jamal

Just saw this. I feel the same, although of course I'm not English. I'm sure I've posted Oceansize many times here, but do you know them? Their lead singer Mike Vennart is a massive Cardiacs fan. It's not always obvious, but I think you can hear the influence in tracks like this (there's a lot of other influences in there too like Talk Talk etc). The Cardiacs part doesn't really start till around 5:02 to my ear. I probably have even posted this track here before:



And perhaps more so this one although it's pretty unhinged and maybe a bit of a parody:

Does this ever get old? No. There's something about the chord changes that begin at 1:22 (and repeat throughout the piece as it's pretty repetitive) that sound sad, despite being major changes. Transcendent.

Might be true if the concept of matter was coherent, which it isn't, or science could explain how matter gives rise to consciousness, which it can't. — Quixodian

:cheer:

A few recent finds:

You won't be surprised to learn that I agree with you, by and large. I maybe have some small things I would argue, but by and large, I'm of agreement.

No no, you're completely clueless. Don't worry.

You should be banned.

That's because religious philosophy only has meaning to the religious, it's not so much a taboo as a rejection based on lack of interest on the part of the irreligious. — Janus

Countless threads here would suggest otherwise.

If one is a Christian believer, do theology — but don’t pretend to be questioning philosophically. — Mikie

By and large I think I agree with your sentiment in the thread, but this quote here betrays a misunderstanding on your part, I think. As a former Evangelical Christian, I can tell you that when I used to "do theology" it was the same thing to me as "doing philosophy"; I considered them to be identical. Theology was philosophy was theology. Of course, from an outside perspective we can see the mistake here, but the Christian believer you're theoretically speaking to cannot see the forest for the trees here, so your complaint is simply that to them; an annoying complaint that they probably don't understand and will dismiss. So the thread amounts to another vapid complaint about religion that is based on yet another misunderstanding, as far as I can tell.

They’re all memorable except Oracle Night, — Jamal

:groan: fail on my part. Ah well. Free is free.

I can say with a high degree of confidence that you're allowed to think Oracle Night is good. — praxis

Thank you. With your permission I now feel empowered to think for myself. It's a new day in this noble, dusty corner of the universe.

I haven't started it yet. I haven't read Auster; Jamal and I have discussed him, I believe he's a fan, if I remember correctly.

I picked up Oracle Night by Paul Auster at a little free library (I’ve been having good luck with them recently). What say you, @Jamal?

I know Dick Van Dyke's grandson. Good dude.

If the list were in order, Mick Jagger & Keith Richards would be at the top...

Here's some recent classical: