thinktoomuch.net

Let’s continue with the meaning theme I started with The Pursuit of Meaning and illustrated with an Australian example, Spearing Pay Back: Retribution for Peace? Some of the providers of the most profound sense of meaning are some cults, providing their members with a very powerful sense of purpose or identity not easily found outside [...]

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From Australia’s ABC News, Indigenous leaders urge recognition of traditional punishments: Senior Indigenous people in the Northern Territory have called on the Prime Minister to officially recognise their customary laws including traditional punishments such as spearing. Apparently our Western culture’s methods of punishment, namely jail time, is insufficient — relative to traditions, it seems unsatisfactory [...]

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Borrowing from the back of my copy of Victor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning: At the heart of his theory is a conviction that the primary human drive is not pleasure but the pursuit of what we find meaningful. It seems absurd to borrow words from a book on surviving Nazi death camps when I’m [...]

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How does a fundie know he’s right? This question was recently touched on in a long discussion with a “proud fundamentalist”. The question then was about how one knows whose interpretation or emphasis is correct, given we had four people present with interpretations that differ to varying degrees. I now believe the tradition to be [...]

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It’s 2:45am, I’m back from a long conversation with a good friend, who’s been thinking/seeking/investigating/philosophising for some time, following a religious experience, in the context of a Christian background and culture and possessing an open and inquiring mind. Very philosophical, and digging down to the very basic axioms of meaning and value in life. The [...]

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