Notes on Books, Brains, and the Strange State of Knowing in America

When Is a Book a “Hit”?

In a country of 340 million people, the raw numbers are misleading. Out of more than a million books released each year, most never sell more than a few hundred copies. For self-published authors, 250 copies lifetime sales is average. Even for traditional publishing, most titles don’t break 1,000–5,000 copies.

So yes, selling 10,000 books is a hit for almost any author outside of the megastar tier. For a small press or indie writer, it’s career-changing. For a Big Five publisher, it’s “respectable,” though not necessarily a bestseller. And if those 10,000 copies sell fast, it can land a book on a list like the New York Times depending on competition that week.

📖 1970s–1980s: A Stronger Midlist

• Publishing was more consolidated, and midlist authors (those who weren’t blockbusters but sold steadily) could expect 20,000–40,000 copies of a hardcover and more in paperback.

• Advances were better, and publishers invested in nurturing careers over time.

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📖 1990s: Chain Stores and Mass-Market Paperbacks

• Big-box booksellers (Borders, Barnes & Noble) and huge print runs meant that even “average” titles sold decently.

• A midlist paperback could still push 10,000–50,000 copies fairly reliably.

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📖 2000s: Amazon & Online Disruption

• Online sales and later eBooks broke the traditional distribution model.

• Print runs shrank. Shelf space in physical stores became harder to get unless you were already a star.

• Midlist sales started collapsing — 5,000 copies was becoming the new “solid” number.

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📖 2010s: Self-Publishing Boom

• With Kindle Direct Publishing and other platforms, millions of new titles flooded the market.

• The average sales curve fell sharply: most books (self-pub or traditional) now sell under 1,000 copies lifetime.

• “Success” was quietly redefined: selling 5,000 copies was considered strong, and 10,000 made you exceptional in most niches.

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📖 2020s: Current Landscape

• The flood of new titles has only grown — Bowker reported over 4 million ISBNs were registered in 2022.

• Discoverability is the key issue; competition is massive.

• Today, even big publishers often count 10,000 sales as a solid win for a debut or midlist book. For indies, 1,000+ is rare and celebrated.

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✅ The drop happened gradually between the late 1990s and mid-2010s, as chain stores collapsed, Amazon rewired the market, and self-publishing massively expanded the pool of available titles. What once looked modest now counts as a genuine success because the denominator (number of books competing) exploded while attention spans and shelf space shrank.

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Anti-Intellectual Intellectualism

There’s a cultural mindset worth naming: anti-intellectual intellectualism. It shows up in people who are educated enough to argue against education, convinced that skimming daily news headlines makes them better informed than specialists, while resisting the humility deeper study requires.

This is not a lack of intelligence but a rejection of expertise. Credentials are reframed as corruption. Headlines become “evidence.” Skimming stands in for mastery. It’s a way of having just enough education to scorn the very idea of education.

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How Many Americans Fit This?

The numbers tell a story.

• Gallup (2023): only 36% of Americans had confidence in higher education, down from 57% in 2015.

• Pew: roughly a third of Americans say colleges have a negative effect on the country.

That distrust isn’t limited to the uneducated. A chunk of the college-educated also dismiss higher ed as elitist or ideological, yet present themselves as more insightful than the “ivory tower.”

By rough estimate, about 10–15% of Americans could be described as fitting the “anti-intellectual intellectual” mold. That’s tens of millions of people. A minority, but a noisy and influential one.

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The Skim-and-Shout Era

Pew Research has found that many Americans admit they consume news only casually or by skimming, yet describe themselves as “well informed.” Social media rewards confidence over depth, and that turns fragments and memes into strong, immovable positions.

The performance of knowledge replaces knowledge itself.

This actually also gets into the workforce as well as too much available information. When you're working 80 hours a week, or 60, or 40, you have a family, possibly, it's a lot to deal with. We need downtime to process and when we don't get that, we have to do the only thing available to most of us...dumb down.

We are at the point we've been expecting for decades, a need to slow not pick up speed. To work less per week (and per day) not more. Not 6 days a week, not 10 hour days, but 4 day weeks. We NEED at least 3 day weekends. We need at least no more than 6 hour days of work.

We’ve reached the point many of us anticipated decades ago—the moment to slow down, not speed up. The future of work shouldn’t be six-day weeks or ten-hour shifts. It should mean four-day weeks, six-hour days at most, and at least three-day weekends. That’s what we need now. Consider cutting hours by half—it would double the number of jobs available while giving people back their lives.

Even back in the 1970s it was clear this day was coming: automation promised to take on the workload, robots were meant to handle the repetitive jobs, and AI would eventually free us even further—for the higher experiences of being human.

So why haven’t we arrived there? Who’s holding us back from this better life? Toxic capitalism. Corporations clinging to outdated measures of productivity. A culture that confuses exhaustion with virtue. AI and robotics already make a shorter workweek not just possible, but practical—if those in power would open their eyes. The tools to liberate us are already here, yet the will to use them for human benefit has been stolen by leaders who serve shareholders over people. What’s missing isn’t capability—it’s courage.

But enough about that...for now.

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A Long American Tradition

Suspicion of higher education isn’t new. Richard Hofstadter’s Anti-Intellectualism in American Life traced how hostility to “book learning” has been a recurring theme in U.S. culture. From religious populism to political movements, there’s always been an undercurrent that treats expertise as a threat rather than a resource.

What’s new today is the speed and scale of amplification. Social media has given anti-intellectual intellectualism a megaphone, letting opinion without study travel further than scholarship with evidence.

Religion and Anti-Intellectualism in America

Religion has always been entwined with American anti-intellectualism, and that’s still true today. For many, faith provides community and meaning, but it can also reinforce suspicion of secular expertise. In the U.S., certain strands of Christianity frame universities as hostile to belief, science as an enemy of scripture, and intellectual inquiry as a distraction from “truth.” 

This doesn’t describe all religious Americans—many scientists, doctors, and educators are devout—but the cultural pull is powerful. It allows congregations to celebrate certainty over questioning, to privilege conviction over evidence, and to treat higher education as dangerous indoctrination rather than a tool for understanding. In this way, religion can act as a cultural amplifier of anti-intellectualism, giving it both moral weight and political force in American life today.

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Depth vs. Skimming

In our media-saturated world of skimmers of reality, information, and knowledge, this isn’t just a global problem...in our country of 340 million, it’s magnified. We risk (risk, as in it's coming or it's already here?) becoming (becoming?) a nation that confuses appearances for truth, speed for wisdom, and noise for understanding.

One of the real losses in America isn’t just declining trust in education or expertise — it’s the way we’ve turned into a nation of skimmers. We scroll headlines, half-listen to podcasts, glance at snippets on social media, and convince ourselves we’ve absorbed the whole story. But knowledge has never worked that way. Understanding requires patience, revisiting sources, and wrestling with uncomfortable detail.

It would be good to stop being a country of skimmers and return to being a country of readers, listeners, and thinkers willing to go in-depth.

Skimming through life may give us speed, but depth is what gives us wisdom. 

Yes, we’re deluged with information and taxed for time, but we have to get beyond the Idiocracy of media saturation. Knowing a little about everything is not the same as knowing deeply. The former is good for appearance — for looking “smart” to others, and delusionally to oneself — but it leaves us shallow. 

Opposing views in a room full of the shallow don’t lead to wisdom — they lead to exactly what we’re seeing all around us today: leadership that has submerged itself not in principle or purpose, or even accurate information, but in whatever offers control over to THEM.

What might serve us better is choosing what matters most, and then going further. Knowing less about everything and more about the important things that truly shape our lives, our communities, and our future could do us all much more good.

Books rarely sell in big numbers, but 10,000 copies still matter. Education produces humility when it works, but when rejected, it fuels confidence without comprehension. America is big enough that even a minority who skim and sneer can shape politics and culture. And the old tension between expertise and populism isn’t going away — it just looks different now, in the age of headlines and hashtags.

Cheers! Sláinte! Na zdravie!

Compiled with aid of ChatGPT

Exploring a Personal Path: From Slovakian Catholicism to Modern, Scientific Buddhism and Humanism

We are all shaped by our past, but the journey to self-understanding and personal philosophy is rarely a straight line. For me, while my father's family was of Irish descent (he mostly left my life when I was 3 and we were living in Spain), my mother's family is of Czechoslovakian descent and so the path has been long, winding, and full of exploration — beginning in my Slovak Catholic upbringing, moving through my study of and degree in, psychology, and eventually arriving at my own form of Buddhism and Humanism, all crafted through years of personal learning and introspection.

It’s not a "traditional" Buddhism — far from it — but one that resonates deeply with me, grounded in the original teachings of the Buddha, modified by an open, scientific mind.

The Catholic Foundation: A Starting Point

Raised in a Slovak Catholic household, my early years were defined by rituals, dogma, and a community of believers who lived their faith with devotion. Catholicism provided me with an early understanding of ritual, morality, and a sense of belonging. But as I grew older, I started questioning what I had been taught. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing, that the answers provided by religion weren’t as satisfying as I had hoped.

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Breaking Away: A Search for Truth

In high school, I began my intellectual journey, starting with psychology and broadening into other religions. I wasn’t content to simply reject my upbringing; instead, I sought out other traditions, attending different churches, reading religious texts, and talking to people from various faiths. I wanted to understand — not just what was right or wrong, but how each belief system fit into the complex puzzle of human experience.

It was through this process that I discovered the basic teachings of Buddhism. But my approach was far from traditional.

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The Path I Chose: A Modern, Practical Buddhism

Unlike the Buddhism practiced in countries where it’s been entrenched for centuries, my form of Buddhism is more of a personal, pragmatic approach — one grounded in the Buddha’s core teachings, but without the added layers of mythology, reincarnation, or sectarianism. I didn’t buy into the different "schools" of Buddhism that have evolved over the millennia. I instead focused on the Buddha’s teachings themselves, as he outlined them: suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path leading to the cessation of suffering.

This approach allowed me to take the essence of Buddhism without the doctrinal baggage that has piled up over centuries. Zen has had a particular resonance for me. The Buddha’s instruction to "kill the Buddha when you meet him on the road" — a radical rejection of attachment even to the teachings themselves — has always stuck with me. It’s a reminder that no idea, no teacher, no system should be clung to too tightly. The essence of wisdom isn’t in what we’ve been told, but in how we live and embody that wisdom.

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A Scientific Lens: Buddhism and Rational Inquiry

But there’s another crucial aspect to my journey: science. I wasn’t about to accept any belief system without critical thought. The study of psychology gave me a framework for understanding the mind, emotions, and human behavior. It wasn’t enough to just take Buddhism at face value. I wanted to ground my spiritual practice in reality, using evidence and empirical understanding to guide my choices.

This meant acknowledging that I couldn’t fully embrace the idea of reincarnation. Instead, I approached it as a concept rather than a truth. I recognize the possibility, but I don’t base my life around it. I prefer to focus on the Buddha's teachings in the present moment — on mindfulness, awareness, and self-regulation.

In essence, my form of Buddhism is a practical, secular approach to personal transformation, one that operates in the real world. It guides my decisions, my relationships, and my understanding of suffering and compassion — all informed by my personal experiences and years of study.

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Living the Path: A Modern Approach to Buddhism

The Buddha's teachings are more than just religious doctrine — they are tools for navigating life with clarity, equanimity, and mindfulness. For me, this means using the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path as a guide for understanding and addressing life’s challenges. Whether it’s dealing with personal suffering, the suffering of others, or the overwhelming complexities of life, Buddhism provides a framework to respond with awareness and compassion.

But it is not a path of blind faith or reliance on supernatural beliefs. Instead, it’s a continuous journey of self-discovery, reflection, and evolution — a way of shaping my understanding of life and the universe, informed by the best available knowledge and insights from both Buddhism and science.

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The Journey Continues

This is not a destination, but an ongoing process. My understanding of Buddhism, and of life, continues to evolve as I learn, grow, and encounter new experiences. It is not an identity I attach to — but rather, a way of being that allows me to continually check my own assumptions, reconsider my orientation, and live more fully in the present moment.

I didn’t find all the answers in one religion or philosophy. I had to ask questions, explore deeply, and synthesize what resonated with me — and through this journey, I’ve discovered a form of Buddhism that feels uniquely suited to my life. A life guided by reason, empathy, and mindfulness.

And while it may not be the Buddhism practiced in monasteries or by those born into Buddhist cultures, it is mine — shaped by experience, knowledge, and an unyielding search for truth.

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Thoughts

If there’s one thing I’ve learned on this journey, it’s that spirituality doesn’t have to be about adherence to dogma or following pre-existing systems of belief. It’s about finding what works — what brings peace, clarity, and wisdom to your life.

I invite anyone who’s on their own spiritual journey to explore, question, and find the path that feels most true to their own experience. Whether that path leads to Buddhism, science, or something entirely different, the goal remains the same: to live a life of awareness, compassion, and understanding.

But there's more...

"The Urantia Book: A Revelation for Humanity" (1995) by Martin Gardner details a history of how this book came to be written, but also about the local environment it was developed in. Which includes some of the American history detailed in the meme above.

The Urantia Book: A Cognitive Reorientation

When I first encountered the Urantia Book in the early 1970s, I didn’t approach it as a religious text in the traditional sense. While its content — an intricate narrative of the universe’s history, cosmology, and divine beings — is undeniably fascinating, I found its real value not necessarily in its doctrines, but in the way it reoriented my perception of the universe.

The Urantia Book demands a radical rethinking of basic concepts. It challenges how we understand everything — from the nature of God to the structure of the cosmos, and even the very words we use to describe existence. Words like "truth," "reality," "spirit," and "life" take on new meanings, encouraging the reader to redefine them in ways that make their usual sense seem limited or outdated. This shift is subtle yet profound: you start seeing connections between things that seemed unrelated before, and you begin to perceive more in less — finding depth, richness, and layers of meaning in moments or ideas that once felt trivial.

For example, the book introduces a cosmology where life is part of an evolving, interconnected, and purposeful universe. This perspective isn’t just about celestial realms and divine beings; it forces you to expand your understanding of life itself — the interconnectedness of all things, the purpose behind suffering and joy, and the dynamic nature of existence. It's not about dogma; it's about mental reorientation. By altering your understanding of certain concepts, you begin to view your place in the universe not as fixed, but as part of an ongoing, expansive journey.

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A New Way of Seeing: From the Religious to the Philosophical

My son’s journey into the Urantia Book, along with his exploration of other religious texts like the Bible and the Qur’an, is part of this same broader quest to challenge assumptions and expand mental horizons. But the Urantia Book offers something unique: it alters the way you think about the universe, existence, and even the very nature of reality. It's like a lens through which you see the world more expansively and richly. But in this, it’s also a bridge between religion and philosophy, especially as he continues his studies.

Where the Bible and Qur’an offer moral frameworks and narratives rooted in faith and divine authority, the Urantia Book invites the reader to engage with its teachings in a way that feels less like doctrine and more like an invitation to think expansively. In this way, it challenges the mind to evolve, much as the Buddha’s teachings, Zen practices, and phenomenology encourage deep personal reflection and critical thought.

This is why I suggested that my son turn his focus next to Phenomenology of Perception by Merleau-Ponty. Just as the Urantia Book altered my perception by expanding the definitions of key terms, Merleau-Ponty offers a philosophical deep dive into how we experience the world — how perception, embodied experience, and consciousness shape our understanding. For someone who has already been questioning and expanding his spiritual and intellectual horizons through religious texts, this philosophical shift is a natural progression. It’s an exploration of how the mind constructs meaning, which ties beautifully into the way Urantia reorients one’s mental framework.

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A Journey of Expansion: Final Thoughts

The intellectual and spiritual journey I began decades ago — from a Slovak Catholic upbringing to an open-minded exploration of multiple religious and philosophical systems — mirrors the journey my son is now undertaking. What we seek isn’t simply the answers to life’s questions, but the expansion of our minds and the deepening of our understanding. Whether it's through the complex cosmologies of the Urantia Book, the grounding philosophies of phenomenology, or the timeless teachings of Buddhism, the goal is the same: to grow beyond the limited confines of inherited belief and engage with life in its fullest complexity.

For me, The Urantia Book was never about accepting its content as absolute truth. Instead, it was a tool — a way of reshaping how I perceive the world. It altered my mental framework structurally, not in my knowledgebase or beliefs, thus inviting me to think bigger, to see more deeply, and to question what I thought I knew. This is the gift I hope my son receives: not just intellectual knowledge, but a deeper, more flexible understanding of reality itself, one that keeps evolving as he continues his journey of inquiry and exploration.

Regarding the concept of 'questioning authority': it's crucial to understand when to question and when not to, as some can get carried away with unfounded beliefs, losing their ability to think critically or function rationally. For within that is an orientation that can destroy families, or even entire countries.

As I continue to guide along my own path, I realize that the most important lesson I’ve learned — through every book, every conversation, and every experience — is that wisdom isn’t a destination. It’s a continuous process of transformation, constantly challenging and expanding the boundaries of our perception.

Compiled with aid of ChatGPT

Atheism was Created by Theists... Who Came Second

I've explained this many times before and written about it at length.

Non-theists long existed first. Then theists arrived on the scene. Then they created the word "a-theist" to define all those there before them, while not even realizing that was what they were doing, forcing its definition to be what they wanted it to be, on pain of death, in describing something that existed long before the creation of religion, as something now against those who invented their deistic fantasies.

So the word "theism" should more accurately be, "Anti-Anti-Theism", as those against those against them. No wonder they're so confused.

The concept of religion and the terms associated with belief systems have evolved over time. The earliest archeological evidence of religious ideas dates back several hundred thousand years, with some interpretations suggesting that intentional burials and symbolic artifacts from the Middle Stone Age in Africa indicate early forms of religious expression.

The term “atheist” however, has its roots in ancient Greek, where it originally meant “godless” or “impious.” It began to be used more actively to describe those who severed relations with the gods or denied their existence in the 5th century BCE. The modern usage of “atheist” to denote someone who denies the existence of gods came into English around the 16th century.

However, before organized religions were formed, there were people who simply lived without a concept of gods or deities, and thus, the term “atheist” would not have applied.

It was only after theism became established that the term “atheist” was used to describe those who did not subscribe to theistic beliefs. This linguistic evolution reflects the complex interplay between belief, language, and society over time. Thus the most accurate term for "theism" is in deed, "anti-anti-theism".

It is Past Time to Recognize Religion as Myth Worship

Society, especially so-called polite society, rules the day in allowing theists to pretend their reality is real. Isn't it finally time to call religion mythology and its worship of it characters myth worship?

That being said, regarding mass shootings of religious groups... that is not how you evolve beyond something. You cannot do it from outside. You do not have hate for others in order to evoke social evolution. That, is a sign you are on the wrong track.

We have a leadership in America right now in Donald Trump, that is nationalist and ignorant, greedy for power and wealth and evoking more ignorance. Denying science and reality and telling lies daily from our highest office which is inflaming the foolish and the mentally and emotionally and even socially, damaged in our society. Stop it. Americans should not kill Americans. The American government, should not kill Americans. Really, we should not be killing anyone, unless it is to stop them from killing or harming others.

You Need To Consider The Possibility Your Religion Is Mythology

Still, there is a groundswell rising against religions in the world.

And we're seeing dysfunctional reactions within them against one another. Mostly based in the three desert religions of the Middle East. It's not really being noticed for what it is and is building in the so-called "First World" countries. And why is that?

Also, those Theists who support religion and do notice this are totally misunderstanding what is happening.

I don't believe anyone (certainly not me or anyone I know) are really against people exploring their spiritual beliefs, their religion, per se, or even wanting to end it tomorrow. This is still America, still a free country, regardless of the illiberal actions of some in power at this time.

Hopefully, with our attention and efforts, we will be putting an end to that very soon in 2020 and ending the conservative and Trump delusional form of governing.

However, there are still and always some obvious downsides to religion. Such as extremism. And religion's biggest travesty, "cherry picking" among their beliefs in order to fit them more closely into reality, sanity and logic.

Those who ignorantly profess their "faith" incorrectly and inaccurately enable their religions to continue and evolve when they should have died off centuries ago. It also enables those abusing others for their own misguided religions fundamentalism.

Those who are attacking such groups as transgenders, calling them child molesters, or ridiculously and ignorantly equating trans or gays with bestiality, when the reality is quite different and they are really quite normal, just different than the "norm".

If there's such a thing. When really it's about majorities and minorities. And where so often we see those types who call out others as degenerates, being charged with many of those same offenses themselves and so being outed as the hypocrites they were, to begin with. Typically all for reasons of position, power and wealth.

Kids More Likely To Be Molested At Church Than In Transgender Bathrooms

What this growing irritation is leading eventually to is a reaction against all those who are so-called believers. If they can simply follow their religion and keep their mouths shut, I don't think anyone would care to bother with actions against them in any way.

But when one considers all the bad actions and ill will that has been built around theism in recent times, what else could one expect? Pushing their beliefs into others faces, into our government, is illiberal and incorrect and even criminal. Certainly unconstitutional.

Those who say their religion requires them to do certain things, to get involved, to sway non-believer's beliefs in aggressive fashions, is just asking for a reaction against themselves, and others like them.

And then you have people like Donald Trump as POTUS who use religion in a morally reprehensible fashion for purely political purposes and lying, claiming he is a religious individual, which his only religion us capitalism and even beyond that to kleptocratic and oligarchical actions.

If you take this kind of behavior to its obvious conclusions, it's death for the future of religious institutions overall. To be sure it will take time. To be sure they may never really completely die off in a kind of half-life form of degeneration. Where they will halve in power and membership seemingly forever, but never quite go completely away.

Because religion is a symptom of the human mind, the human brain, and human evolution. It is a form of thought that should fade away as humankind evolves to the next stage and the ones after that. There are some beliefs that are more functional that some of the major religions today. Better than the ridiculous ones we hear of so often in the likes of Mormonism, Christian sects, Muslim sects, and even Jewish sects. As well as corporate thought style beliefs like Scientology.

Buddhism for one, the Buddha Dharma is far more functional that most if not all other "religions". While not a religion itself, but more of what we need in a mental discipline. I am not selling it as an answer. To be sure it too has fallen to the damages of the human reconstruction in ignoring its original teaches and adding nonsense to them down through the millennia so it too is viewed as more of another ridiculous religion.

The one saving grace is what Gautama (Siddhartha) Buddha Himself said, and you typically don't see in any religion, is to trust your instincts and if you're being taught something stupid, simply don't believe it. I dropped religion when I was younger, for sanity and reason themselves:

"In the time of the Gautama Buddha, many holy teachers and priests also wandered from village to village offering their teachings and principles to anyone who would listen. How can we differentiate an authentic teacher from a charlatan? According to tradition, Siddhartha Gautama offered the answer on one of his many journeys:
“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”
– Gautama Buddha

In what other "religion" would you come across koans or one such as:

“If you meet the Buddha, kill him.”– Linji

Humankind seems to wish for Magic, rather than Reality. It needs buffers to the daily grind and abuse of living. I learned of ancient Asian philosophies in grade school Isshinryu Karate classes in that Okinawan martial arts and philosophical system.

Through my life, I found one similarity after another to that. I found some similarities in the Catholicism I was raised with and abandoned by 9th grade. I became well read in philosophy from the Greeks to the ancients in India and China and Japan. I found people who grew up in Buddhist countries seemed the most oriented toward Buddhism as a religion. Which to me was reversed to what it was intended to be.

I found that the Catholic teachings appeared to have a basis in Buddhism. At university for my degree in psychology, I found many of the beliefs in that discipline to be very Buddhist in nature. At least the most functional forms. I learned about humankind's relationship to ritual and repetition. And I studied phenomenology and began to see how religion had gone awry.

How through anthropology and philosophy, sociology and psychology, it became clear where we began and how we evolved.

Religion is not the end, but the beginning, sadly. As when one learns how to walk, one changes and drops that methodology when one learns how to run, ride a bike and fly a jet or a spacecraft. And yet we hang onto the old ways out of fear. Out of conservatism. Out of ignorance. An ignorance we no longer need to cloak ourselves in.

We just need to be brave, learn the better ways and move into the future along with our overall inevitable development.

Still some, especially the conservative mind, holds onto it as if life depends on it. And it thoroughly does not. We may never evolve fully into our potential if we cannot finally let it go.

On the one hand, while they want to expand their ranks while religion is in this current phase of dying off. They aren't considering the reasons for religion's warnings because it's been discussed as a part of their theologies and epistemologies simply because they've been persecuted in the past.

Humankind and society have tried again and again to purge themselves of religious, but have failed repeatedly because they needed a replacement. A modern and functional form of mind management. It will happen, but it is like fighting an addict's cravings for what they are so used to, what they are indoctrinated into from childhood, to need.

While the individual may need something in daily life, society at large obviously does not. And we're seeing the dysfunctionality of it all over the world today.

One wonders perhaps why anyone would want to persecute someone else because of their beliefs until you have had to deal with someone being really and truly religiously annoying on continual and daily basis. Those who flaunt their mythology in the face of reality and against reality.

While religion will surely not end once and for all anytime soon, and while we do need to allow people their freedom in their choices, the rest of us should not have to suffer through living within their delusions around our society. It is a kind of reversed abuse. To be sure, enjoy your religion, just allow us the benefit of enjoying not enjoying it.

We can and should at least all agree that others are worshipping their chosen myths from the past, and then go on our way. Undisturbed and unperturbed by those theists who still wish to continue with this internal mental standing bicycle of a mentality spinning its wheels and going nowhere. Certainly not progressing into the future of the continued evolution of humankind.

Writing Yourself Back Into Sanity

Gun control. Hang on, hang on! Give this just a moment. Let's use that as an example, as well as address it, just for the moment.

I'm a writer. I write myself into impossible situations in fiction, or my characters anyway. Then I write my (their) way out of it so at first, my reader thinks my character is lost. Then, not lost, but in a fun way. Hopefully.

When I build into those situations both as the author and character God, I try to write cleverly. Whenever I can't, when I'm just as lost as my character (happens all the time, that's the fun of it!), I first have to realize, I'm lost. I consider all the rational, logical, even illogical ways out of the situation or scene, or picadillo. Once I find I have no solution, it's like there's a click, and I realize where I am. Stuck.

That's when it occurs to me to look 180 degrees about in order to see where to go. It's jarring at times. It's counter-intuitive. It's at times humorous. Or feels insane. But then, I ruminate about how to make whatever it is that rises to the surface, to work. Not forcing it, but jostling it about in my mind as mental attachments are formed and then, solutions begin to spark into life. Exercise at times aides that along. Also, removing oneself from the problem. Rest, entertainment (but be careful, that can also be a trap).

So often, that realignment to 180 degrees, becomes the actual and best solution. At times, the only solution.

I first discovered that in my life. With heavy contrast comes obvious elements previously unseen in the situation. Counter-intuitive, like I said. It's not always intuitive. So you have to break out of that mindset you are locked into.

That's what I've meant about conservatives and Republicans of late. They seem to have difficulty with situations that require counter-intuitive solutions or, ways of viewing things. They can'/t see the forest for the trees you might say, so much of the time.

I've shared this 180-degree concept with people over my lifetime and they've been surprised at first how often it works to their benefit in giving them insights or perhaps, outsights. It's a technique for thinking out of the box. Or realizing there was never a box to begin with. Now that's thinking outside of the box.

When I look at guns, the gun situation in this country, gun control, mass shootings, where we are at now...the obvious solution, for a child...is arming everything and everyone. It is an ill-informed, juvenile consideration,.

It is where the, "Only a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun" solution comes from. But it sounds like the solution of a five-year-old. Or, the NRA, or the Republican party. Of conservative gun owners and those who cannot see clearly any other solution. Because it's not obvious. It's lost among all the other chatter in the situation.

It's low contrast, obscured because of a reverent almost religious attachment to the US Constitution. Which is not a God. And once you consider the destructive dynamics of a God consideration, outside the blanket goodness attributed by theists to deity worship, one begins to see what is truly there.

Welcome to my world!

Remember a long time ago? Further up the page here when I mentioned getting out of tough creative solutions to fictional problems? Yes, those were the good old times, weren't they? The good old days of a moment ago. Before all this insanity in the world was boxing us about the head and brain, mind and morality. Yet, we really must continue on....

So, to summarize, IF you turn about 180 degrees you can frequently clearly see potential solutions.

And in this case, that is...the reform of gun control laws. Or going further in turning up the contrast levels, a rethinking of the 2nd Amendment of the US Constitution. I know, I know, all that and the rest.

If you cannot see that, well...that's how the NRA and the extreme conservative Republican party and how so disingenuously they ard the travesty in the oval office, Donald Trump, have all continued to trick and con us all. To subvert reality to their own ends and not ours.

The solution isn't usually all that hard. It's just hard for some to see. But once it's been seen, you really cannot unsee it. That's the problem with atheists, you see. I went through that myself. I was raised strict Catholic. Old school, old country, old Slovak Catholic. Then I came to understand I was only half that. The other half was Irish by way of my father's family. I realized I was more Irish Catholic. That broke with the old strict traditional Slovak Catholic I had been all my young life. This was about the beginning of high school for me.

There were some other issues that helped me along, which aren't relevant here today about this. But you get the picture. I started looking around. In reading science fiction all my life, brilliants thinkers had given me a methodology to see when you are blinded by your reality and not THE reality. After a decade or so of theistic and philosophical, then college and studies in anthropology, sociology, and a degree in psychology, it all became clear.

Then I had to shake off the remaining vestiges of a lifetime of fear invoked by religious dogma and finally one day, after being a devoted theist, an adamant agnostic, a staunch atheist, I found the reality that wasn't in that box built by humanity and found one that was always there in form, a part, and parcel of the universe itself.

That is when one has to act.

That has been nearly impossible.

But times are now a changing yet again and those who are conning us are on the way out. Demographics are changing starting to fit a reality we have lived for some time now. We just have to open our eyes, our minds, and take in what is there and where we are headed. We can get in front of that train and get run over, or we can help it along and gain the love and respect of all those feeling abused because we refuse to see them or...to respect them. In ways they know, they deserve.

We will all one day, our descendants will one day, all look back at now and marvel at how really damned stupid we were and for so very long.

Really, it just takes courage.

And being honest about what is and what isn't, If only or even for a moment as we study it, we can see what is there without us in the picture. Then put us back in and see how we truly fit into what is and what has been. And what we haven't been able to see. For whatever reason.

Whatever it takes. And if that is looking about oneself 180 degrees, or counter-intuitively, so be it. Or if you have another way, one THAT WORKS, great! Use it. But do...use it!

Because we have to stop not seeing what is there and start seeing what others can clearly see while we refuse or simply cannot see it. Or see it all.

Especially when the solutions were there, staring us all right in the face.

Aslan's New Book God and Religious Evolution

Interesting guy Reza Aslan and decent writer, both he and the reviewer are on the right track but still not quite getting the full picture, and delving into the specifics of later orientations merely obscure the reality in all this.

Still, should be an interesting read with some relevant signposts along the way.

However as I've written about over the years about where religions came from, they developed along with us. Right from the start. Or nearly so.

Interdisciplinary studies clearly shows evolution of both our humanoid forms and our humanoid minds, having developed originally with some obvious quirks we brought into our current homo sapien existence.

Ignorance, fear, dream and fugue states, having been a part of but (very importantly) not top of the food chain for so long, nuances of visual and auditory processes, originally with an inability to process information in certain ways, along with trying all along to be scientific and logical through ignorance and later through the occluded filters of religion, all before there was enough information to make at times even reasonable assumptions.

So began our journey.

Then evolving physically and intellectually as our brains evolved and so too our human experience explosading upon us as well as the world at large. All while bringing those very ancient beliefs along with us, and then finding a need to explain and fit them into current but ever changing paradigms, until we are now at a place where we can explain enough to see that we have grown stilllllmore complicated processing capabilities and abilities and yet, due to the form and nature of religion, we  through history as we continued to cling on to and drag along those anachronistic vestiges of our pre intellectual existences with us.

Until and so...here we are. Still killing one another, still seeing ourselves as different from "the other" and feeling our ancient prejudices bubbling up from deep within, and still disrupting societies and governments over these very same fairy tales. myths, fables and ghost stories from our evolutionary childhood.

I suspect Aslan's book might be a good entry for those interested in seeking more clarity and... reality.

I have spoken of all this many times over the years and in more than one blog post. If you should like to take a look at some of thoser...

See, Creating Religion or Phenomenology of that Good Old Religion Feeling. Finally...A Christian vs. an "unbeliever" Argue the point

Sláint!

Problems with American Mindworm Religious Faiths

Faith. There is a problem with it. We hadn't seen the problem (though many actually did and at times were literally burned at the stake for it) for thousands of years. But with instant media it is becoming painfully clear. It has even led in part of late to an inability to discern what is and what is not self-evident.

I know I have made a run at this topic in the past, and I may well revisit it again in the future...until I get it right. Here goes....

In epistemology (theory of knowledge), a self-evident proposition is a proposition that is known to be true by understanding its meaning without proof, and/or by ordinary human reason. - Wikipedia

We have apparently lost the ability to see what was once simply self-evident. That has been destroyed on purpose by the American political  right wing. And religion has more than a little to do with it.

There is indeed a problem with religious "faith", with religion, certainly with American Republican thinking and, most assuredly with American conservatism, most especially with extreme conservatism.

On that last, I have always said conservatism is dangerous. To survive one must be progressive. Conservatism wishes to maintain the status quo. But to maintain a status quo counter intuitively requires progress, while attempting to remain the same. Everything around us, including time, moves on either with or without us. To stay the same, one must change. And to change, is to progress.

Faith in our more ancient and ignorant times, when we did not have science or rational explanations for much of reality, served a great purpose. It served a purpose in times of no recourse when facing pain and even death. Without much explanation available for most of what happened in life, it served a valuable purpose to humanity.

It allowed one to be able to continue in blind acceptance of what was believed to be true, of what had to be true. That brought along with it the hope that needs to be, very real for one going through extraordinary trials and tribulations.

If one had faith, if one simply believed something could be done against all odds, that one could be successful and survive to enjoy the benefits of those trials, well? What could be more powerful?

If however one simply looked at the same situation, without religious faith but rather with determination and a focus to achieve above and at all costs, that one could find a way to be successful without calling to a "higher power", that one could somehow be around to enjoy the benefits of those efforts through those trials, even if one had to give up all consideration of surviving in accepting one's potential demise, that one could be successful merely through one's own efforts, then that too would be a very powerful thing.

But that's not as pretty. Not as easy to do. It requires thought, intellect, effort, education, rather than simply ignorance and blind belief. We are at a point now in human evolution when we can achieve these things without beliefs in etheralism.

The argument is that the difference between the two is if you do hit that wall where you lose your faith or lose your desire to continue, to where things have become so difficult as to see no way out to success, religious faith, based on a god, on an afterlife, could conceivably give you that extra boost to continue even after most would have given up. Especially if you throw in things like burning in Hell for all eternity if you give up, especially if giving up could be considered suicide and that requires your damnation.

That is a big part of the whole faith issue. A warning of punishment even after death. Or a kind of capitalistic reward if one acts in the appropriate ways. Ways typically defined by one's religious leaders and not just one's religion.

In ancient times when there were few realistic explanations for so many things, faith was extremely important and powerful and, eminently useful. However nowadays we have a far better understanding of things, and of the universe. We do not need so much faith to carry us over and through fears of demons, of things larger than in life. That we might just continue on even as we might once have perceived our end into the very pits of Hell for our God and our beliefs.

That's all fine and good, but the problem with all this is exactly the kind of things we're seeing today.

It has all been abused. Warped toward self interests and agendas, much as it actually always has been all through time, since the original incorporation of religion. When those who ruled first discovered the power therein and how they could control (and abuse) followers and believers.

This is something I've been saying this for years. Religion, is itself a mind, or a brain "worm".

As a mindworm originally referred to a song or melody that gets stuck in your mind and you cannot stop hearing it. As a song with a certain format can easily lend itself to that condition (think, advertising "jingle" for instance), in being the fruit of a concept that is essentially a mindworm. It is merely something to achieve in the industries of marketing or song writing. To force people to remember a product or the song itself so hopefully consumers will buy it.

As it is also in politics and today in the business of religion, to burn concepts into an electorate's or religious follower's minds, to achieve and maintain power and position for the leaders.

Religion, is itself one of those mindworms and can be used to sway and control. Just as it can be in politics. Just as we're seeing today in the conservative right in politics, which also lends itself to that condition in part because they have been conditioned through centuries of religion to accept concepts they would or should never accept. But because of their conditioning through religion, because of religion's place in humanity, they can find themselves in some very odd conundrums.

Like supporting someone like Donald J. Trump to become president, even to the point of supporting his most insane, ridiculous and damaging behaviors. It is the reason that conservatism, the Republican party and the far political right are so very dysfunctional today as seen by the median of American culture.

In conditioning and having used and abused American Christian Evangelical techniques, conservative politicos have brainwashed their electorate over time to the point that they no longer relate to or recognize reality. It doesn't help, as theists attend churches, that they also attend Fox News in some very similar ways. It has even seeped into the minds of those who would vehemently claim atheist orientations.

They can be some of the worst, because they more so than the other, have a great difficulty in seeing how they got to where they are since they now refuse to admit any religious conditioning at all. Since they are (now) atheists.

Along with conservative politicians diluting facts to the point of having no meaning, calling anyone or thing that disagrees with them as "fake news", always pointing the finger at others for their own behaviors, even having the support of a foreign power (Russian through Putin), we have now today's Republican party and their defective Trump administration. And they can't even see this.

Because of all this, America is no long a democracy but an oligarchy, just as the BBC article details.

This is not, or this should not be how one achieves and maintains power.

Though actually it is a very functional way. Even if morality and ethics dictate that it should never be done. However in a universe now where one believes it is necessary to win at any and all costs, where the ends always justifies the means, where the individuals is more important than all citizens against just one side's electorate, regardless how much damage it creates, it is a very viable tool. It is and always has been an effective authoritarian tool, a primary fascist tool. A tool of the despot, of the dictator, of the elite over the masses who lack any actual control. Except for themselves as a whole.

Therefore they need to be separated and pigeonholed to dilute their power. When that happens it is one of the greatest travesties of democracy and such that all who oppose it (Russia for instance, Putin most especially), cherish it greatly. Because, it works.

And we're seeing this in America, now. Most prominently, by the current Pres. Trump.

A direct line can be traced through religion to conservatism and Evangelism, to American Republicanism, to an American (as well as Russian, through their interventions) Oligarchy.

But let's return to two terms in particular and define "mindworm" in this context and, American evangelicalism.

In Christianity, Evangelism is the commitment to or act of publicly preaching of the Christian Gospel with the intention of spreading the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. - Wikipedia

The issue therein is with modern methodology as developed over time in America. The differences between Education and indoctrination (or brain washing as in cults) can be enigmatic. Education relies heavily upon actual facts, reality, while indoctrination can easily rely mostly on the ends justifying the means, regardless what is being proposed.

It in part depends upon the child evangelism movement, a Christian evangelism movement that originated in the 20th century. It focused on the 4/14 Window which centered on evangelizing children between the ages of 4 and 14 years old. (Wikipedia, referred here to Luis Bush). The Christian music industry has also played a significant role in modern evangelism, as well as of late, their growing film industry. There are sure to be others to follow as one succeeds and supplies money to other newer endeavors.

This necessarily needs us to refer to "Deprogramming  which refers to measures that claim to assist a person who holds a controversial belief system in changing those beliefs and abandon their allegiance to the religious, political, economic, or social group associated with the belief system. - Wikipedia

We do not have deprogramming in politics. But we need to.

Though there is no realistic way to treat the disaffected individuals and groups. To rectify it requires education (also to inoculate them in the first place). Education is something the conservative right and Republicans in general have continually defunded and attempted to support instead, "charter schools" and "home schooling" to allow their mindworm beliefs to be perpetuated untampered with by reality or more rational and reasonable outside forces (such as the Federal government). This has led to our current somewhat to completely bizarre politics and beliefs, as well as the rise of entities such as Fox News, today as we know them.

The bible proclaims:

"You are the salt of the earth...the light of the world...Go therefore and make disciples of all nations." Matthew 5:13-14; 28:19

In "A Social Psychology of Evangelism" by David G. Meyers and Charles W. Green, they begin by referring to the Principle Three: attitudes follow behavior. Also, "attitude inoculation" which basically is a method to inoculate their beliefs against all rational onslaughts.

That is, to be able to withstand all reality and rationality against one's own personal or group's or tribe's beliefs, regardless how ridiculous they are or how contrary they are to reality in general or even specifically.

Along with those are the others:
Principle Four: credible and attractive communicators have more impact.

Principle Five: personal persuasion is more effective than media persuasion.

Principle Six: ineffective appeals can be worse than none at all.

Principle Seven: vivid, concerte examples are more potent than abstract information.

Principle Eight: messages that relate to what people know or have experienced are better remembered.

Principle Nine: spaced repetition aids memory.

Principle Ten: active processing boosts persuasion. 

Principle Eleven: group discussion generally strengthens shared convictions. 

"For evangelism this faith-follows-action principle implies the desirability of creating opportunities for people to enact their uncertain beliefs, thereby confirming and strengthening their Christian identity. Bill Graham recognizes this when asking people to enact a public commitment of their newfunds faith: "Now I'm going to ask you to get up out of your seat." From the paper by Meyers and Green.

William Strunk and E.B. White asserted in their classic: The Elements of Style, "If those who have studied the art of writing are in accord on any one point, it is on this: the surest way to arouse and hold the attention of the reader is by being specific, definite, and concrete." 

The problem in attempting to counter this behavior by the disingenuous, is in maintaining an adherence to the truth. To be honest and forthright, one cannot know everything, or enough far too much of the time. The evangelical politico (at times even the religious version) will be specific, definite, concrete and self-assured, regardless.

Because it is imperative to win. To win at all costs. Reality and logic dictate that much of the time (certainly for most of us) we simply cannot know everything and in being honest about that, we can lose the battle against an evangelical type.

Which is something I learned decades ago. Beware anyone or group who seems to have all the answers. No one, has all the answers and if they seem to, something is wrong. Anyone may have all the answers for a short time, until knowledge runs out. But if it continues beyond a reasonable point, beware. In certain situations, even consider running for the door. Escape! 

It is the same old situation. Good is weaker in some ways because of rules and laws and honesty. Evil can do anything to win. We have seen this in America against the closed societies of the old Soviets and Communist Chinese. 

While America is open, published things openly, all the spying America's enemies had to do much of the time was to buy a magazine, a journal, or frequent a library. Or simply ask someone. While in their societies, merely asking the wrong question can get you in trouble. 

We see this kind of behavior with the Trump administration in being specific about things we know are fully unknown, while the counter is difficult except to admit ignorance and to point out that the President is obfuscating, conflating, and lying.

To return to the indoctrination of children. That is how the mindworm comes to be in Christianity, religion in general and American Evangelism. Get them young. Get and keep them ignorant. Steel them against reality. Follow, at all costs. Believe that "faith" is the end all be all to life. Never leave the "faith" for reality, or "earthly" beliefs (or pleasures, thus denying believers of much of what is wonderful about the human experience, not even in considering the extreme elements). Some organizations (not religion) like Scientology are very much like that. And scary, it is for they have ruined lives. Just as we have seen from the Republican party and their abuses of ethnic minorities and women's rights. 

This, is the reason religion is a mindworm. It is insidious to be able to remove it once it has wrapped its slimy body around a pristine mind. 

Through a history of religion, of following, of evangelical actions by conservative politicos, in using what the Soviets learned decades ago works very well on human beings to take control through these mindworm techniques, we see it also today in American Right Wing politics, in the conservative right of the Republican party, and in the alt-right movement of American fascism. But they don't see themselves in that light because after all, they are the "good people". 

Something they cannot see clearly as wrong because it all agrees with their more base inner desires. That of self-aggrandizement and selfish reward hidden within the guise of claims of helping others. 

It is also why someone like Donald Trump is so appealing to them. He makes it all look good and best for them and if for them in their delusional state, then of course it's for everyone. 

Oddly enough, Pres. Trump himself is a kind of mindworm. As seen in this depiction of the original science fiction story from 1950 by author, Cyril M. Kornbluth (from Wikipedia):

"The Mindworm" is a short story by science fiction author Cyril M. Kornbluth, first published in 1950. It combines the themes of mutant power, telepathy and ancient superstition.

The protagonist, the Mindworm of the title, is an orphan, the result of a liaison between a U.S. Navy lieutenant and a nurse aboard ship during viewing of early atomic tests. He is a mutant, as a result of the atomic fallout after the testing, and he can "hear" the thoughts of others around him.

Cast out into the world as a young adult, he is about to be gang raped by hoboes when he discovers an ability to feed off strong emotions, killing one of his assailants in the process. He uses this to eliminate the rest of his attackers. He moves from town to town, eavesdropping on the thoughts of people around him, and using his abilities to induce the intense emotion he craves, and to gain material wealth. The thoughts he hears often represent a brutal side of America, as he hears the large and small cruelties people inflict on each other, ranging from family quarrels to beatings carried out in dark alleyways.

He can hear thoughts in other languages, though he cannot understand them. As he moves into communities where new Eastern European immigrants have congregated, he starts hearing the term "wompyear". Just as he realizes that this is their pronunciation of the word "vampire" and they have recognized him, his neighbors burst in and kill him.

In conclusion, it is my contention in all this to be specific, definite and concrete...do not rely on religious faith. Rely on reality. Rely on education. Rely on science and truth. Even and most especially if and when it disagrees with your beliefs. That doesn't mean blindly follow science. If it disagrees with you, review the facts. The actual facts. Research until you can clearly see what the truth is, and then, stick to it. Until a better version comes along. Don't stick to outdated and misguided beliefs. That sit he road to madness and harming humanity. 

Initially it is harder to do. I'll admit that. It takes practice and more mind\brain power. Whic is why so many avoid it. It's easier not to think things out, especially if you are uneducated, or do not have a clear and logical mind. But in the end we will all be much better off for it.

And just as important if not more so, we will all be able to agree on what reality actually is. 

There is an odd twisted parallel between certainly the christian religious and American conservative politics. Where God has been replaced by oligarchs and profit. Where following God is following financial and political (because of financial) leaders. Where what is good for us (really for them) is good at all costs. Where we believe through faith what our beliefs are regardless of all reality countering those beliefs.

It is easy for those of us on the outside of American conservative politics to see. One merely needs to point it out. It is after all, quite...self-evident. For those of us who still know what that means, anyway.

However it is nearly impossible for those inculcated into it, for it ever to change for them and therefore, for us all, because of them.

And that, is most definitely a problem. 

Atheism Doesn't Really Exist

This, on Real Time with Bill Maher, between Aussie comedian Jeff Jeffries and Pierce Morgan...was just so funny. Real, but serious.

I agree with Jeffries on another topic. There shouldn't be a need for the term, atheist. It seems to be a term created by theists, by the religious, to describe those who see things differently. A viewpoint that once could get your hung, burned at the stake or killed on the spot. Which explains off much of what theists claim about how one everyone believed in God. They didn't. You just didn't bring it up and expect to have good things come, or anything ever again if you were simply murdered by others or the State.

atheist (n.) Look up atheist at Dictionary.com

1570s, "godless person, one who denies the existence of a supreme, intelligent being to whom moral obligation is due," from French athéiste (16c.), from Greek atheos "without god, denying the gods; abandoned of the gods; godless, ungodly," from a- "without" (see a- (3)) + theos "a god" (see theo-).

The existence of a world without God seems to me less absurd than the presence of a God, existing in all his perfection, creating an imperfect man in order to make him run the risk of Hell. [Armand Salacrou, "Certitudes et incertitudes," 1943]

I've blogged about this before in detail. Though I'd also argue "atheist" is not actually a term defining a disbelief in God per se, but in the definitions of a belief in a Supreme Being. What Freemasons call the Grand Architect (G.A.O.T.U., the Grand Architect of the Universe).

Possibly the God as portrayed by organized religions, but without the nonsense attributed from organized and confused religions as creatively manufactured by human societies and lost individuals who were not infrequently either on drugs or simply had mental problems. Or as in the case of Mormon's Joseph Smith, simply a conman gone seriously wrong once he found the paradise of people easily beleiving anything he said if he just invoked the concept of a God.

Like I indicated, I've previously written extensively on this.

Atheism has been generally defined as a disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or Gods.

Define God then. Yeah, exactly. Best of luck. Let's give it a shot though.

God:

1. (in Christianity and other monotheistic religions) the creator and ruler of the universe and source of all moral authority; the supreme being.

synonyms: the Lord, the Almighty, the Creator, the Maker, the Godhead; More
2. (in certain other religions) a superhuman being or spirit worshiped as having power over nature or human fortunes; a deity.

So, it IS God as defined by religion.

Which is what atheists object to. Though many don't realize that themselves. They think it is a God in any sense. But when you consider other definitions outside of the binary sense one gets in religions, you then get into something very interesting.

When you consider reality over fantasy and "revealed" religions such as the Middle Eastern desert region's religions of Judaism, Catholicism \ Christianity, and Islam, it offers an entirely different view on things as referred to in this article.

Good luck if you can see what I'm saying there, but that actually is an example.

And pleaseeee don't waste my time with things like, it's just as fantastical as religion.

Because it's not. It is at least based on some thing. Like logic, proven or soundly plotted elements and concepts. And yes, that actually is a far cry as opposed to being basically founded on fiction, word of mouth historical teachings, and various forms of literature. It's the difference between saying that I got to town by walking, one foot in front of the other, as opposed to say, Mohammed making it clear across the countryside in a night. 666 miles. That number sound familiar?

"God ordered Muhammad and the Islamic faithful to pray 50 times a day, and after returning to ask again, Muhammad had the number reduced to ten, then five. Upon returning from Paradise, Muhammad came back to Mecca, where he described his journey to his followers. Muhammad described Jerusalem to Abu Bakr, who had been there, and he agreed that the description was accurate."

Right. He negotiated with God, from 50 to 5? Negotiated. With God. You're buying this.

Okay then.

He traveled 666 nautical miles in a single night, back then?

No, he didn't. Cutting to the chase, yes, science is founded in some thing more real. Far more so.

Still, enjoy your beliefs. If you do insist on that, then you may find this old blog of mine interesting.

It should be a free country. It should be a free world. Just don't shove your beliefs down the throats of so many others who have a vastly different and more founded take on reality.

OK?

Are we witnessing the death throes of Religion?

Will Islam be the religion that takes us from nation state world wars (2 so far) to ideological world wars (seeing anything fomenting around you yet?). Finally pushing religion over the edge from its last vestiges post dark ages to utter obscurity and mere historical research topic?

Sure it may not look that way to believers, but these things happen and when they do, at times vast changes can take place in a very small amount of time.

Many Christians, Muslims, Islamists, religionists, theists, conservatives and even Trump supporters suffer from the arrogance of ignorance.

In that ignorance they call others out for that same thing because they have information that feels foreign or unreal to them. That behavior is a mainstay of the Republican party. A party that is not ignorant itself but guilty of their own actions, of purposefully attack Americans through government, out of their ignorance, and their desire for power and money.

Some out of a skewed desire to do good, but cannot see that within the environment they have built and allowed to be built, around them. In their desire to be their own entity outside of one they despise, they have allowed themselves to be further encased in their detached ideologies. And so other than the few bigots and racists in their party, they are very much a party desiring the best for America. No matter how many may need to die to achieve that goal.

When you have a bad idea (think, self serving Islamist or even Christian terrorism, or American conservatism) and you push it on others to the point of hurting them, of even killing them, what exactly do you think eventually is going to be the backlash?

When do people feel they have finally taken enough and what will they do about it? I'm currently writing a horror sci fi story, "The Unwritten" (soon to be out in my book, Anthology of Evil II) in which a parallel universe has had the Religious Wars and then from the backlash of that came the Science Wars. Science wins out. Because truth always will in the end, it just takes time. Religion was squashed over that of reason. With the demise of religions came the demise of conservatism, or the rise of reasonable and rational conservatism for what it was intended to be and not what it has been absconded and transformed into. The rise of reason and humane attitudes toward one another and the planet then inevitably takes over.

I am not and have never been against people, but against stupid mindsets that lead to ignorant behaviors. Believing Trump is better than someone who is obviously a better quality person in either (take your pick) Bernie OR Hillary; conservative beliefs of ludicrous anti people doctrines; murdering over stupid ideologies based in pie in the sky ancient beliefs of fantasies from ancient and ignorant cultures, and then formed those beliefs in such a way so as to disallow updating that knowledge base...because it destroys those fantasies.

An extremely dangerous and destructive habit to be sure in ignoring reality, in beleiving what is not real to be real. Just be aware of what could be coming. Because we've been setting ourselves up for failure and allowing it to progress.

Religion is also the mindset that leads to denials and one has to be careful about that. It has led to the American form of political conservatism, a cancer on American society and government. It has devastated many of our citizens leading now to a Donald Trump type candidate and no president elect.

Where DO YOU think this current form of conservative political movement came from? Do you not believe it came from religion? Specifically, Christianity? From Christian Evangelicalism? From a mindset born of religion, from their belief systems, from practicing constant denials of reality for the sake of perpetuating religious beliefs in revealed religions, of fear. Fear of a greater power outside of oneself and one's community? Fear of reprisals by a divine force who apparently actually hates you and wasn't considering loving after thousands of years until a historical figure in Jesus of Nazareth come into religious literature because of a failing empire of Constantine the Great?

Fears which conservatism is based in? Fear of knowledge? One has to ask oneself, why does religion beg it's believers to study it only and not its origins? Why is educations anti religion? Why does many of its adherents advocate avoiding education? Why are conservatives in Republicans so anti education? Why do conservatives act one way, then deny their actions, blaming those who had nothing to do with the results of what they have done. Over and over and over again?

Doesn't it all fit together rather nicely and we're not suppose to notice?

All that being said I've never been anti religion through most of my life. I don't mind people having their beliefs if they keep them out of my personal reality, including my government in a country designed to allow for all and not for one to control which we're seeing now in some conservative Christians in government abusing their positions in the Republican party to abuse our citizens. It wasn't until them, until terrorists that I started thinking we need to get control of religions. Trouble being you can't just control one or two, or just their bad parts because of their design. I find it sad for all that so few are ruining things for so many, both believers and non believers alike.

IS the current individual groundswell of attacks based in religious beliefs, white Christian domestic terrorism which we've seen for years graduating to international Islamic delusion brought real, physical desiring death?

It IS interesting to note that the oldest of these three religions in Judaism doesn't seem to be really bothering the world, perhaps because it is the eldest of the three brothers in religion from that area of origin?

Is this the beginning of the end for death based religions (life is better after death in a heaven), capitalistic religions (if I do now, I will reap the rewards later in Heaven)? Why do these problematic religions all come from the Middle East? From the ancient and harsh environment of the desert? With multiple religions based in a single location leading to discord and bitterness?

One has to realize that a single mind worm in a large entity such as Islam, a belief perpetrated by a group, can cascade down into death and destruction before one even realizes it and it's too late.

One has to realize that the end of something long lived, tough, that refuses to die can exhibit a massive amount of pain and destruction as it dies in order to fight for survival that it is losing, in order to appear more alive than it is.

Is this the end?

And if so, just whose end will it be?

We're living in interesting times, to be sure....


#Religion #Islam #Christianity #DesertReligions

Blue Was The Sky - or, Ballad of the Dissonant Mind

I was standing on the street. All alone. The streets were empty. For the moment anyway, traffic was non-existent.

A man came up to me and said.
"Sky, it's purple."

I looked up at the sky. It was the clearest blue I had ever seen. Not a cloud in the sky. I looked at the gentleman next to me, standing there staring between two buildings at a piece of the sky to the south.

There was a large solid glass faced building between those buildings, down the street. It gave the buildings a slight reddish hue to their dark tones. But the sky between them, that small tall rectangular piece of sky he was staring into, was blue as blue could be.

I said: "Uh. Sure." He looked at me, reading something in the tone of my voice.

"It is isn't it? A beautiful purple. Never seen that before like that. Don't you agree."

I was caught. I could lie to a perfect stranger, let it go, and maybe he'd go away. He smelled slightly of something, I couldn't put my finger on it. Musty. Confused smells of stored clothing and cardamom maybe. Cardamom left too long in a cupboard.

"Well, the sky is blue as I've ever seen." He gave me an odd look of disdain.  I felt a need to qualify my remark. "Those buildings, they have an odd color don't they? Kind of a purple color." He eyed me suspiciously. So I went on.

"Perhaps the sky and the buildings are playing tricks on your eyes?" I smiled at him, congenially. He reacted negatively to my comment, as if I'd called his being into question, as if I'd challenged his veracity, his sanity even.

"The sky is purple, I'm telling you. What we see is important, what we believe is more important. It speaks to who we are. I know. Yes. I know. You should know too."

What do you say to that? He was not happy, I could see beneath the surface, he was seething. I couldn't understand his passion, his adherence to his belief in a purple sky. I looked up. I looked up at the sky in such a way so as to invoke a desire in him to cast his gaze upward. But he continued looking straight ahead.

"That sky, is blue." I said this looking up above us, lifted my hand slightly to indicate the sky above.

"I've never seen a sky so purple," he said. He stared at the slice of sky framed by neo modern buildings and a super modern one beyond them, then looked over at me. As if daring me to disagree.

"Is there anything I can say to make you see that the sky is blue between those buildings?"

"Between the buildings? It's not purple just between the buildings." I looked up, back at him, between the buildings, up at the sky covering us, then back at him. He hadn't moved. I got the distinct feeling he may have had trauma to his neck, from the way he held himself. He wouldn't look up, or he couldn't look up. Something wasn't right.

"Purple huh?"

"Purple, no doubt about it."

"I always liked purple." He smiled.

"It's a good color. The color of sky."

I glanced over between the buildings. The sky appeared purple. A cold sweat broke quickly over my skin, and then just as suddenly disappeared as I glanced upward and saw a very blue sky. I looked back between the buildings and now the sky was again blue as it had been, as it was. I looked him full in the face.

He smiled, nodded and just, walked off. There was a bounce in his step. As if he was happy. Or had achieved something worthy of pleasure.

I looked back up and then forward. Perplexed.

The sky was still blue.

Up next on Monday, August 8th, 2016: "Donald J. Trump's Big Con".