squeers...<<..to the really important things in life: compassion, friendship, moderation, self-knowledge etc.!>!>!

as foxey is dedicating herself to family time..[ok and im not]..i would ask for more info/please explain..

<<And this is perhaps the problem with a nihilist-atheist...or rationalist perspective;..there's nothing to know about the Self that can't be deconstructed,..that doesn't vanish in aporia.>>in truth its the big words..that hide the simple solutions...

i sometimes use certain words...maybe thats why people dont get me...and im left posting..on family time

<<..Whereas,..I would argue there's a great deal that might emerge..were such a catharsis of ideology possible and the Self were able to develop in a healthier medium.>>...like stopping to enjoy the family?

<<The rationalist perspective is legitimately for boffins who ideally live their ideology in practice>>i guess im in with the boffins...though i thought boffons/teq heads/

...or for the simpleminded..a simulie for buffoon's...nerds who's degree of specialisation..has exceeded their ability..to socialise..with the common folk

<<(think of.."The Big Bang Theory)..>>theorists?..<<,..but it's an imposition..when it takes on the proportion of an ontology..for the rest of us>>[us/simple folk?.. i will presume/assume to be both...in the eyes of simple folk

<..necessarily impoverished of moral/ethical attributes that amount to anything more than pragmatics.>>>its the kiss principle...simple people relly on simplisdtic logic...that sates their questioning..

<<To me it's not really important..whether anything essential survives death,..it's more a matter of being "worthy" to survive death..(whether or not we do),>>>..i guess thats a self judgment call..

the issue/for me..being...god himself deems ALL living to be worth sustaining to live...not for our reasons..but his...[we are all works in progress../god knows the finished ..'picture/person/spirit/essence..is worth his faith

<<which puts the emphasis..on transcending the limitations/temptations of life...>>god dosnt seek us to suffer...he gifts us logic/life..then allows us each...to love love..in our own way..[individually..the narrow path..

<<..The essence of the parable?>>is that we each reveal our under-standing..according to that..we are able to comprehend...politrickians lie..and are thus hung on their own petards...in the end

Good to see you're still with us, OUG, I was beginning to think you'd been 'taken up'.
Sorry if my post was a bit cryptic; I'm not trying to be over anyone's head, have just been reading a lot of Derrida and he's a powerful drop.
I was juxtaposing the "important things", "compassion, friendship, moderation, self-knowledge", with capitalist anti-values: self-interest/pull-the-ladder-up, exploitation, glut, false-consciousness etc.

According to leading thinkers, across the spectrum, the Self is a pure abstraction, composed of ideology, in the form of language, which is always "aporetic" rather than definitive. Hence our deepest cogitations are mere "language games" with no intrinsic meaning or truth--which concepts are themselves nothing more than the transient "subjectivity of culture", if I can conflate the two terms. There is no "individual" subjectivity to ponder fictions such as "truths". Each one of us is so many phrases and nothing more, at the level of the self--that is, beyond the brute human animal in which our "real" existence is manifested. The self/mind/soul is a purely cultured thing; hot air; hubris.
Rationalism is the ultimate bummer or nihilism, then--no?
Of course capitalism, religion and humanism give this the lie, celebrating the "individual", just as though it was real. The concept moves product, after all, and alienates the population from each other and the world--a kind of human aporia. How much "self-knowledge" or "community spirit" do you really see out there? These are tropes we take for granted as truths, whereas, in fact, benighted confusion/delusion rules.

"The Big Bang Theory" is a tv show that illustrates my point in the post above.

Happy Easter/consumerism :-)

Foxy

Been away, having internet connection probs, managed to isolate exactly where the interference is caused. So I am back online and feeling mighty pleased with myself - the troubleshooting involved a great deal of disconnecting and reconnecting various leads, thus testing everything linked to my landline. ATM have only isolated 'bad' connection. But once you know where the problem is everything just falls into place. You may have guessed by now that I love solving problems, if only I could do something about the blown head-gasket on my car that doesn't include a recon motor or simply selling the car for parts.... but then I am not omnipotent.

Loved your joke - gave me a well-needed laugh. All in all a very good thread you have created here (if one ignores the sniping). Sitting here munching into some hot-cross buns - thank God for fertility celebrations! I have an idea, shouldn't ALL religions be accorded the same reverence? OK, this year with Passover, Orthodox Easter and regular Easter all falling at the same time - not much advantage. But imagine if we celebrated ALL the religious special occasions of ALL religions - holidays galore! At least we should observe Jewish traditions - this being a Judeo-Christian culture, according to many Christians.

The only people who would miss out would be atheists. Only jokin'.

Happy Oestre.

I must admit that I'm pleased with the
way this thread has developed - and with
the insightful responses that came out of it.
I for one have gained so much from them
so all I can say is a huge Thank You to all
of you who contributed.

To me personally it doesn't matter what you
believe - as I've said previously - it's to
each his own - as long as it doesn't hurt
anyone.

For me this thread has now run its course however
But I want to leave one final quote before I go:

"I come from a tribe of nature worshippers,
pantheists, believers in faeries, forest sprites, and
wood nymphs. Who heard devils in their windmills, met
them in the woods, cloven-hooved and dapper gentlemen
of the night. Who named the god of thunder, who praised
and glorified bread, dark rye waving waist-high out of
the earth, and held it sacred, wasting not a crumb.
Who spent afternoons mushrooming in forests of pine, fir,
and birch. Who transferred Jesus from his wooden cross,
transformed him into a wood-carved, worrying peasant,
raised him on a wooden pole above the crossroads where
he sat with infinite patience in rain and snow, wooden
legs apart, wooden elbows on wooden knees, wooden chin
in wooden hand, worrying and sorrowing for the world...

These people who named their sons and daughters after
amber, rue, fir tree, dawn, storm, are the only people
I know who have a diminutive form for God Himself,
"Dievulis," - "God-my-little-buddy."

Any wonder I catch myself speaking to trees, flowers,
bushes - these eucalyptus so far from Northern Europe.
Or that I bend down to the earth, gather pebbles, acorns,
leaves, boles, bring them home, enshrine them on
mantelpieces or above porcelain fixtures in corners, any
wonder I grow nervous in rooms and must step outside and
touch a tree, or sink my toes in the dirt, or watch the
birds fly by..."
(Al Zolynas, "LITUANUS, Lithuanian Quarterly Journal of
the Arts and Sciences," V. 49, No. 2. Summer 2003).

That's beautiful Foxy.

I wish this thread wouldn't end. It's been a real joy to come by
and read even when I haven't felt like posting.

The joke was great Foxy. Sat here laughing. Thanks for that.

Squeers - love reading your posts. I admire your mastery of deconstruction and all that. You explain it so well as you inform.
Btw: I read somewhere that the Big Bang Theory came about after God said to some scientists, "Here, pulleth my finger." (Gave me a giggle anyway:))

OUG - Your posts are deconstruction in action. I've always enjoyed your word play and all. You put forward concepts and question them or reveal their fallibility at the same time. Always so much to think about.

Severin - I've just had a lovely piece of barramundi with lemon juice for lunch. Hot cross buns will be later. You're such a li'l technocrat! Car problem - what a bummer. I can never decide whether it's more economically advantageous to have a mechanic, a plumber or a dentist in the family.

For people who don't go in for buns at Easter time here's an Easter time bun fight you might get a laugh out of instead. The last couple of paragraphs are bizarrely funny:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/01/2862989.htm

May you all have a restful and blessed Easter.

pynch

Beautiful words Foxy, while I don't run around naked hugging trees I do rejoice in the world around me - I just don't attach supernatural entities to anything, but, oh yes, I am eternally grateful to be here on this tiny planet in this vast universe.

Pynch

Thanks for being one of the few Christians (along with Foxy) who don't appear to think that non-religious are empty, materialistic and selfish - and for not blaming us for everything from Communism to Fascism.

Also, love your sense of humour. I thought Robin Williams very funny and had no problems with his joke at our expense. Rudd thinks Australia is a redneck free zone? Unlike the rest of the world? How precious.

Mmmmmmm, Burramundi - I'm having fresh trout for dinner tonight - I might lack mechanics, dentists and plumbers in my family but I have a very good friend who knows how to fish.

:)