Reflections of a Mind affected by horrid sobriety #1 (RANT)

[Teim]

"Reflections of a Mind affected by horrid sobriety, (oh and Chicken noises...)"
the twenty sixth of June 2005


You can tell I'm bored, I'm writing stupid social commentary on a warm, sunny Corpus Christi. Those dang, noisy Catholics havenít shut up all afternoon what with their compulsive need to say the rosary over loud speakers, an' all. Who boy Howdy. yeah.... I can say these things because I am a Catholic, and the worst kind too, one with a brain and a questioning nature, I'd love to be Agnostic, if I knew what it meant again... bad memory.

According to my friend, "Frodo", I'm a Jansenist, and the last few Popes have decided that them's people are Baaad.. As ye' may or may not know, Catholic belief states that all Human beings (Even Muslims!!) are born basically Good. (Good with a capital) And we only become Evil because of the Original Sin and the influence of that toast making lord of hell Himself, Satan.
Jansenist feel that we are all baaad little puppies, big Evil thingies that are really cruel and are not nice at parties. But they also allow for that little bit of kindness found in Teenaged vegetarians and old people.

As you may expect that doesn't allow for the idea of committing yourself to God to achieve some big-assed spiritual thing, it's more like "your Damned, get used to it." So that particular viewpoint is now Heresy...

I should REALLY be doing my Art Portfolio homework right now, but I'm in one of the most oppressive places in the country right now and its sort of put a dampener on my will to work artistically.
Blackwater, Wexford, Ireland. second only in oppressive backwardness to Achaill Island in Co. Mayo, sort of like the Irish version of Texas or Alabama but closer to Florida or California in Old people migrating south. If you get my drift. a stagnant retirement home of a County where everyone assumes that because you have long hair or a preference for baggy clothing that your somehow a Hippie, a Junkie, or some Manically Depressed lunatic that is a threat to the very fabric of orderly society...... Or that we eat bats, Damn you Ozzy! Damn you to hell!!!

sometimes I wish we were that threat, so that we could change the backward and obviously fucked up way of thinking thatís been allowed to mess up most of the nicer things that made this planet a nice place.

But ANYway, all you get down here are Old people, farmers and young people who think they are SOOOO much better than the city kids, despite acting, talking, dressing, drinking, ect. like them in every way. Thereís none interesting in this Village.

There's not enough interesting people anywhere though, not even among the Spookies. I've always been trying to find someone interesting in the "alternates", the sort of counter cultures, like in the Punks, or the Gothies, or the Artsie people or whatever. And I HAVE found some genuine stars among all the ClichÈd shit. Some Guys and Gals who either have that Kindness missing in other people or have ACTUAL UNPOISENED views on issues, and by that I mean their OWN view, not an exact carbon copy of some book written by or about some Prophet, or by some self help con artist, or even "the Da Vinci Code".
No, not that, but the sort of opinion that comes from staying awake all night wondering what the fuck went wrong with the world? How come people keep Dying of Hunger if we have food mountains? Why doesn't Bob Geldof stop sprouting bullshit, and actually DO something other than organise free gigs for retch kids? And if God made everything, what made God?

See if the reasons are in your book. I'll save you the time, they aint there..... Religion, even fake, moneymaking ones, (IE all organised Religion), HAS to be optimistic, otherwise people wont go for it.

"We guarantee that you WILL have a place to go after Death, all you have to do is follow these simple, Life changing rules. It's a big price to pay, but hey, do you WANT to go to Hell? we didn't think so." - Dramatised re-enactment.

Whereas people who have seen the truth, or at least the supposed truth, donít see the world as a great old Jolly place. Well I don't in any case. I see injustice, greed, modern art, the music industry, and the shameful cashing-in on past movements like the Hippies of the sixties and the Punks of old. Of course, I never said that the world should be fair, but the least they can do is stop acting like it is.

[Spectre]

You seem to be very distressed with all the problems in the world and why more people aren't as distressed as you about the same things. I'll explain why we aren't: because we like our sanity. Most people simply aren't strong enough to try to fix the world, or even look steadily at the truth of its problems; many who have tried to do so have ended up so jaded and broken that they've committed suicide... and then there's the vast majority of people who are just too weak or brainwashed to dare take even a peek at the truth. Why? Why are so many of us so damn weak? I don't know. What I do know is that if every person had the will to save the world, the world would have been saved by now. so, I'm going to give you some advice: call it poisoned viewpoint or whatever, but I assure it didn't come out of some book or movie (at least not that I know of): Don't look directly into the light, or you will burn your retinas with the piercing glow of the truth. In other words, don't try to take the world on your shoulders, or even try to figure it out. It's too much. I know, I've been there, I've lain awake all night trying to come up with some kind of explanation for all the things wrong with humanity, and all I ended up doing was losing a night of sleep and making myself feel sad. So don't bother looking for the big answers; unless you are one of those special few who have a talent for unhindered theorizing, ie a natural philosopher, it's just a waste of energy.
Instead, focus on the small problems in the world, or just in your area, or just your life. you can't focus your energy properly on making your neighbors more religiously tolerant or on taking the local snobs down a few notches if you're fighting with your parents over religion or getting a job or car rights; and its hard to focus on building that irrigation system in Zaire with the Peace Corps if you know that your home town is going unemployed due to corporate outsourcing or gang violence or whatever.
What I mean is: target what you stress yourself over, focus in like a spray of water that clears your mind of all the other white noise, then use your cleared mind to take rational, decisive action. Because when you worry or wonder about everything all at the same time, its overwhelming. That way leads to despair, and worse.
Also, I wouldn't get too jaded about the ugliness of the world and human nature if I were you, because while there is a great deal of ugliness to the world, it is also amazingly beautiful in its variety and its vastness and and even its conflict. So beautiful... Don't let the big stuff get you down so much that you forget to see the beauty of the world. Openning your eyes will expose you to pain and fear but it will also expose you to beauty; make sure you see both sides of the spectrum, or else you will lose your balance.
Okay that last bit sounded like something out of a book, and I'm sorry for that, but you know what I mean so just consider it, kay?
-Spectre

[williamthebloody]

According to my friend, "Frodo", I'm a Jansenist, and the last few Popes have decided that them's people are Baaad.. As ye' may or may not know, Catholic belief states that all Human beings (Even Muslims!!) are born basically Good. (Good with a capital) And we only become Evil because of the Original Sin and the influence of that toast making lord of hell Himself, Satan.

one o me problems with christianity is that it doesnt make any sense. some bits condradict other bits. example, the whole "original sin" business. this was the sin of adam and eve, right? maybe. anyway, 2 problems with this are: 1) isn't the "point' of being baptised to "wash away" the original sin and there fore if you are baptised Christian the original sin no longer holds any baring and 2) didn't jesus die for our sins thereby wiping the slate the clean for everybody and every sin commited BEFORE his death and therefore isnt the original sin included in that and THEREFORE why does anybody get baptised anyway if the original sin is a moot point?

meh, i dont know. its 2am and my head's about to implode.

[kahnate]

one o me problems with christianity is that it doesnt make any sense. some bits condradict other bits. example, the whole "original sin" business. this was the sin of adam and eve, right? maybe. anyway, 2 problems with this are: 1) isn't the "point' of being baptised to "wash away" the original sin and there fore if you are baptised Christian the original sin no longer holds any baring and 2) didn't jesus die for our sins thereby wiping the slate the clean for everybody and every sin commited BEFORE his death and therefore isnt the original sin included in that and THEREFORE why does anybody get baptised anyway if the original sin is a moot point?

meh, i dont know. its 2am and my head's about to implode.

The point of baptism is to make a public display to the world that you've made the commitment to be a Christian. Whoever told you it was to wash away original sin is a shmuck.

And death of Christ covers forgivenss for all but one sin: Not making that commitment. Suicide is also forgiven but not recognized as so by Catholics who have some weird belief that if you don't talk to a priest about your sins God won't forgive you. All your sins are pre-forgiven except for the one. Why Catholics choose to ignore passages in their own Bible is confusing to me.


Kahnate

[Teim]

one o me problems with christianity is that it doesnt make any sense. some bits condradict other bits. example, the whole "original sin" business. this was the sin of adam and eve, right? maybe. anyway, 2 problems with this are: 1) isn't the "point' of being baptised to "wash away" the original sin and there fore if you are baptised Christian the original sin no longer holds any baring and 2) didn't jesus die for our sins thereby wiping the slate the clean for everybody and every sin commited BEFORE his death and therefore isnt the original sin included in that and THEREFORE why does anybody get baptised anyway if the original sin is a moot point?

meh, i dont know. its 2am and my head's about to implode.

The point of baptism is to make a public display to the world that you've made the commitment to be a Christian. Whoever told you it was to wash away original sin is a shmuck.

And death of Christ covers forgivenss for all but one sin: Not making that commitment. Suicide is also forgiven but not recognized as so by Catholics who have some weird belief that if you don't talk to a priest about your sins God won't forgive you. All your sins are pre-forgiven except for the one. Why Catholics choose to ignore passages in their own Bible is confusing to me.


Kahnate

Oh we do, Its just says about six different things on the same issue. Also along the line new, weird rules have been made by random popes..

[williamthebloody]

one o me problems with christianity is that it doesnt make any sense. some bits condradict other bits. example, the whole "original sin" business. this was the sin of adam and eve, right? maybe. anyway, 2 problems with this are: 1) isn't the "point' of being baptised to "wash away" the original sin and there fore if you are baptised Christian the original sin no longer holds any baring and 2) didn't jesus die for our sins thereby wiping the slate the clean for everybody and every sin commited BEFORE his death and therefore isnt the original sin included in that and THEREFORE why does anybody get baptised anyway if the original sin is a moot point?

meh, i dont know. its 2am and my head's about to implode.

The point of baptism is to make a public display to the world that you've made the commitment to be a Christian. Whoever told you it was to wash away original sin is a shmuck.




Kahnate

you know, i dont even remember who told me that. i wasnt much of a church goer ever. i was baptised and all but thats it. no communion or sunday school or weekly church visits (thanks mom & dad! seriously!). but i'd still get curious about religion and what it means in general and to certain people specifically and when ever i hear someone's particularly religious, i ask them loads of questions about stuff. so it prolly wasnt any expert, like a priest or any ordained person, just some general person i happened to ask one time.
i know i'm weird, but i'm a curious fellow. i ask all sorts of people weird questions about lots of other stuff besides religion as well, like science mainly, how things work etc.
so meh when i heard that, whenever it was and whomever said it, i guess it just kinda sounded like it made sense in a symbolic way. i mean to a complete outsider like me, why not?