271–280 of 539 posts
Jacob’s Room, Virginia Woolf Before this book I generally did not read, unless it was a Star Trek branded airport novel. I had just got an iPad and was rummaging around the Project Gutenberg texts they’d dumped into iBooks. I chose it impulsively. This book set my brain and heart on fire and opened the world of literature for me. It’s very specific, though, and I can’t -recommend- it to anyone. There is little spackl…
Meditations - Aurelius
Simply existing can be exhilarating.
K&R
Murder in the Cathedral - T. S. Eliot
Our Town - Thornton Wilder
The First and Last Freedom by Jiddu Krishnamurti, with a forward by Aldous Huxley. I read it while living in California, during a trying time after deciding to move far away from my parents, and it helped me see all of life in a calm new light. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_and_Last_Freedom
The First and Last Freedom by Jiddu Krishnamurti, with a forward by Aldous Huxley. I read it while living in California, during a trying time after deciding to move far away from my parents, and it helped me see all of life in a calm new light. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_and_Last_Freedom
While I certainly agree that there is no place in the world for calling yourself a Hindu, muslim, christian etc, it's hard to isolate yourself from your nation and say we're all humans and I'm not a ukranian or russian or indian.
Same for stuff like 'I don't mind what happens.' Little stuff bothers me (like my tenant not paying rent, or say hacker news banning my account, and stuff which may not be of any significance on the cosmic scale). To say it doesn't bother me makes me even more anxious and feel like an impostor instead.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Man, I tried reading the bible, maybe some pages are to be skipped, I couldn't keep after 5 ... too many "don't have sex with your cousin's wife unless her father owned a goat" logic.
Not a bible expert, but the old testament in particular has books that are effectively 'legal' (rather than theological) in nature. The kind of thing you quote here is likely from that kind of book (and typically the kind of thing quoted in TV shows needing to show how 'silly are the things Christians believe in'). If you put it in that context, then it's not that much sillier than stuff like "Owning a pet lobster in…
A good place to start is Language of Creation by Mattieu Pageau and Unseen Realm by Michael Heiser. Nothing in the Bible is there by accident. It all has meaning and connects with the rest of what's there. And the "contradictions" are there on purpose, to draw you in. Think of them like Zen koans that are inviting you into contemplation of what is meant, rather than "oh those ancient people must have missed this one".