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Help me orient my brain for the purpose of reading Sartre?

notquitemaryann — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:20:31 -0800

They shouldn't let people like me attend used book sales, but now that the damage is done: how and where to begin reading Sartre? I've realized lately that I have accumulated a fair amount of Sartre's writings and could probably make up the remainder among the libraries I frequent. But apart from reading The Age of Reason ten years ago, I've never made an attempt to explore his contributions to philosophy (or actually that of any 20th-century philosopher apart from a little Wittgenstein, an anomaly that I haven't approached all that well and am shelving for the moment). This is mostly because I've never felt myself to be in the proper mindset, and while that seems to be changing slowly, I feel unprepared to begin and lost as to how to prepare. Off the internet, I read very little serious contemporary writing, and spend the majority of my reading time in the head of people who died before 1900; 1650 (in Europe, anyway) is less foreign to me than 1950- this applies to art, music, politics, etc. as well, so that my ability to contextualize, which has been extremely important in my reading of other philosophers, is not there. So, I have a bit of work to do before I charge in like a complete idiot. I'm hoping you can tell me:
1) What non-Sartre things ought to be read first, or at the same time, in order to have the right references and to grasp most thoroughly his books in general, or individually?
2) If not chronologically, in what order could he be read for the best understanding? What have you found most personally rewarding?
Any other advice (apart from exhortations to dive in without any preparation) also appreciated. I do plan on looking into the usefully-named How to Read Sartre, but want and need whatever help I can find. Thanks!

Why did my great grandfather pray in Sephardic hebrew?

ranunculus — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:04:14 -0800

Why did my Ashkenazi great grandfather Daven in Sephardic Hebrew? My great grandfather was a fair-skinned, blue eyed Ashkenazi Jew from Odessa. Yet, he prayed using the Sephardic pronunciation of Hebrew and I'm not sure why. Any ideas?

To discover the meaning of life...consult Merriam-Webster.

Christ, what an asshole — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:51:59 -0800

As an atheist, what sort of activities or practices (that don't involve New Age wankery) can I get into to increase my spiritual welfare?

I need to find the contents of a Catholic Missal!

Brainy — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:33:32 -0800

For a school project I chose to redesign a Catholic Missalettes. Only problem, can't find any to redesign! When I was younger, and went to a Catholic Church in central NJ, we used missalettes, little booklets that had the readings and such for the mass. They were definitely mass produced and almost definitely subscribed to.
They had a solid colored cover, with usually a stained-glass image inset within the color. The applicable dates were written below that.

I'm interested in re-doing one of those for a layout project for school, but I can't seem to find any examples of the content online. By content, I mean all the directions, section numbers, etc. I recall the ones of my youth to be rather specific.

I realize this is a long shot, but does anybody have any sources for the content of a missal? I'm running late on this project so I'm kind of willing to take any subset of Christianity.

Resources for study of Christian mysticism?

pahool — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:43:41 -0800

I'm looking for citable print and online references about Christian mysticism. I'm putting together a pathfinder document on Christian mysticism for an academic library. It would be used primarily by undergraduate students in a religious studies program. I want to give some references about the study of mysticism in general and then Christian mysticism in particular. I'd like to give some examples of both Catholic and orthodox mysticism and possibly some special topics like women mystics and modern perspectives.

So far, I've collected some articles and have looked at Evelyn Underhill's works on mysticism as well as some of Matthew Fox's writings for modern perspectives. Does anyone have any favorite resources for this topic? Anything you've read that you found useful? Any online databases (free or subscription) that would be particularly useful?

Eris, "Bob," the FSM... and who else?

lekvar — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:18:04 -0800

I know Eris, "Bob," and the Flying Spaghetti Monster... but what faux-religions came before? Humorous mocking (gentle or otherwise) of dominant religious organizations and beliefs are central to these "disorganized religions" but there's also an element of fellowship and "getting the joke." Are there other examples of this kind of thing? I find it hard to believe it's a spontaneous manifestation of the late 20th century.

cognitive biases

bright77blue — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:52:51 -0800

Cognitive Biases - better list than Wikipedia? I have encountered a few more than mentioned at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases Are there many more or these biases? Please point me in the right direction. THX BB

Playing Those Mind Games Forever?

watercarrier — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:23:41 -0800

Possible Jungian Reasons for *Getting into Someone's Head*? Long time ago, read the book *Games People Play*. Have the rules changed? Why would a rational person attempt play mind games with someone ? What are the *rules* of the *game*? Are there payoff's for the player? If so, what are they and how do they manifest? Studies, books and current day examples on the subject appreciated.

What would Jesus wear on Halloween?

DMelanogaster — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:47:17 -0800

My teenaged son want to dress up as Jesus. He has the hair, but he wants a robe like Jesus wore. However, he doesn't want a crappy polyester costume-shop robe. Also both of us refuse to sew anything. So -- what would be a good Jesus-robe (or just any plausible Jesuswear. This would be daywear, not Jesus eveningwear) that we could buy, in a nice natural fabric? and we're in New York City so if you have specific suggestions for stores that would be even better.

What would be the vows someone would take entering the artist's life?

PersonAndSalt — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:14:31 -0800

If the three vows of the Franciscans and Dominicans are "chastity, poverty and obedience," what might be the vows that the artist takes? (I mean artist, of course, to cover writers and so on.) I ask this question because for people in a religious order, it is useful to remember what they are sacrificing; to keep it in mind as a given. My friend and I (we're both published novelists in our thirties) were talking last night about losing heart; the difficulty of making art when there are pretty much no rewards, often very little money, and the impossibility of knowing whether one's work will ever be valuable enough to the world to have justified all the sacrifices.

I thought the life of the artist has something to do with the life of someone who joins a religious order, but I wonder what the vows for the artist would be.

So, hive mind... what do you think?

Novels about early Christians but not about Jesus?

empath — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:10:33 -0800

Non-religious novels about early Christians that aren't about Jesus. Are there any good novels about early Christians that don't revolve around Jesus himself? I'm thinking of something like Last Temptation of Christ, but about someone like Paul or an early gnostic church, or even ones that aren't about early Christianity per se, but have Christian characters. In fact, I might be even more interested to read something set in a melting pot city like Alexandria where pagans and jews and christians were interacting daily and Christianity hadn't been fully formed yet.

I'm interested in anything from Augustine up through the beginnings of the Byzantine Empire.

I'm not very interested in anything that's written from a religious point of view, so that might eliminate a lot of books for me personally, but they'd probably be worth mentioning, anyway, if you can think of any.

Recommend me a book about the Dreamtime!

Greg Nog — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:39:26 -0800

I'd like to read a book about the Dreamtime of the Australians. I was kind of thinking about reading Chatwin, but these comments have made a little wary; I don't particularly want to read about another outsider's spiritual journey, and I don't want a New Agey attempt-at-universal-religion haphazardly mixed in with basic anthropological records. Can you recommend a solid book about Dreamtime?

Book about Catholicism?

teragram — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 17:45:01 -0800

Can you recommend a book about Catholicism? No, other than the Bible. I would like to learn more about Catholicism. Any book recommendations? Topics could include the Catholic church's positions on things, the history of the Catholic church, the organization of the church and its leadership, really anything is fair game. Thanks!

Trying to Find a Prayer Similar to the Prayer for Daily Neglect

CodeBaloo — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 11:20:29 -0800

Trying to find a Catholic night time prayer, very similar to the Prayer For Daily Neglect, that was included in a small booklet of Catholic prayers recently distributed via pew pockets, July or August in the Lubbock dioceses. It was also a three-part prayer, and was also for neglects, but worded differently than the "official" prayer. Basically, it contained to the effect of a "provide the good I saw but did not do", a "complete the good that I did incompletely", and another part. Any clues? Google came up empty for me.

Help me back in the church...

Anonymous — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 09:26:57 -0800

Help me reconcile my liberal beliefs with a church family again... Background details - I'm in my late 20's. In high school, I was a very active member of a church, until my liberal beliefs came into conflict with the conservative evangelical approach that the church I was with had. While I was with the church, I had ... effectively a large family of the other people in my youth group -- they were good people, but I was unable to compromise my true feelings and beliefs (more details about those later), and unwilling to lie about them.

I would like to reconnect with a church (I do believe in God, although my perspectives on Him and the way of relating with Him differ from the fundamental Christian beliefs)... My relationship with God has not suffered, but I do miss the connection with the people there.

I hold pretty strongly with a few liberal beliefs that are at odds with the fundamentalist church:
1) I support the LGBT community strongly, although I am hetero myself (Straight but not narrow, one of my LGBT friends likes to call me). I have zero tolerance for persecution or other poor behavior towards that community.
2) I don't buy into the whole celibacy before marriage thing. Lots of reasons that would make an Ask in themselves; I don't know that going into them will help here.
3) Evangelists ANNOY ME. A ton. I just don't see pushing your beliefs onto another person...

So, oh, brilliant hivemind, is there any way to reconcile such liberal beliefs and thoughts with the family of a church? Are there churches that aren't ultraconservative? I'm considering going to a service tomorrow morning that ... looks fairly modern and open, but am TERRIFIED that I'm going to run into the conservative bigotry of the church I left.

(Since it seems like a contradiction -- The people individually were AMAZING people... it was the church groupthink that I couldn't stand).

I've opened a throwaway for this one - you can mail me at meta.church.avoidance@gmail.com if you don't want to post here.

The Ethics of Horror

ageispolis — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:40:54 -0800

Where I can find resources inquiring into the ethics of horror films? Scholarly articles would be best, but popular publications will suffice. So no blog posts. Thank you!

A "good" Catholic church in Toronto

feelinggood — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:08:17 -0800

Does anyone know a vibrant Roman Catholic parish in the Greater Toronto Area? I know, "vibrant" begs a lot of questions. Important ingredients, pretty much in this order: good coherent preaching; good people skills on the part of the clergy; a good choir, singing some pieces without the congregation; social awareness in preaching the gospel; friendly, educated parishioners; maybe a good organ.

Preferably in (in this order): Richmond Hill, or York region, or north Toronto, or anywhere in Toronto, or anywhere else in the GTA.

Failing a Roman Catholic church that meets these requirements, a good Anglican parish would be more than acceptable.

Are the existence of logical paradoxes evidence that logic is not Universal truth?

idyllhands — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 09:54:45 -0800

Are the existence of logical paradoxes evidence that logic is not Universal truth, or simply symptoms of incomplete or inaccurate semantic systems? I.e., if the Universe is infinite, then everything is possible and every possible scenario happens not only at least once, but an infinite number of times. Within this set of "Everything" is the possibility that "Nothing exists." But obviously something does exist, or I wouldn't be writing this and you wouldn't be reading this. One could say the Universe is not infinite, but then what is outside of it? It would be either Something, or Nothing. And if it is Something what is outside of that Something? If it is Nothing, then how can Something exist "within" it when Nothing has no "within." But this digression would be beside the point of this question. There are other paradoxes out there that have no resolution.

The reason I ask this is that I have recently moved from a "liberal" college town in my state to a rural "conservative" area for a job. I am surrounded by people who easily accept religion as an answer to questions such as this, and am attempting to separate my belief in Logic from their belief in God, and keep coming to holes in my system of thinking which require blind faith, and am trying to reconcile these holes so that my faith in Logic is founded rather than blind.

Please, no responses that I should find God =)

Spiritual/Temporal concens and questions about veganism.

Tchad — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:47:36 -0800

How does one reconcile vegan principles with environmental concerns? A number of vegan friends (some of them are actually Jains) lead wholly vegan lifestyles to the best of their abilities. This means in addition to dietary restrictions: no leather or suede, no silk, etc.

Not being a vegan or vegetarian myself, I am curious about something that runs through my head and I want to wrestle with a bit:

If one is avoiding all animal products, they will probably be using man-made products. Vinyl instead of leather, polyester or rayon instead of silk, and so on. I am thinking functionally, perhaps not ideally.

It seems to me that these choices are more demanding and detrimental to the environment and to humanity in the long run because of the industrial process and carbon footprint that goes along with their manufacture.

I also wrestle with the environmental impact as it relates to the distant future - My leather soled dress shoes if left on a hill-top will be dirt in 100 years. My vinyl dress shoes with a rubber sole will not.

I know that living naturally is possible with hemp, bamboo, cotton, ramie, and so on, but I am also trying to think about functionally living in urban areas and what is available (for example: bamboo fabrics are expensive as yardage and it seems a poor vegan would be more likely to buy a few yards of poly knit for $2 a yard than bamboo for $15)

So here is my question - does anyone have any links or references to this? I am not looking for the meat packing industry's position paper on why vegans need to be force fed Black Angus, nor am I looking for a vegan paper that declaims the plight of factory farms.

I want something broader and more scientific or thought out. I am curious, but not looking for points to argue to convert folks one way or the other.

Personally, my own outlook is that one should not abuse their position on the food chain or place in the world, but rather take care of it by living well. For me this means that I do not gorge on meat, never allow plastics in my life if I can help it, recycle what I can, buy used if I can find the same thing or better, and in general try to be thoughtful about my own place while balancing out what the future impact is on humanity and the earth.

I also understand that I may be incredibly biased in the way I have framed the question in my own mind. It just keeps popping up as I go through the thought process.

What I am not looking for: Fun-making of vegans or vegetarians or anti-meat rants. I know I probably don't need to say that here, but I usually avoid talking about this because people feel so strongly one way or the other. Vegans (and especially Jains) get 100% respect from me because of the discipline and effort their lives take.

I am sincerely trying to figure out what information is out there from an environmental living-with-the-earth perspective. Is this something that vegans think about but decide the spiritual payoff is worth the cost of the process? Is this something I am off the mark about?

Thoughts? References? I need to educate myself about this so I know what compromises I am willing/need to make for my own life.

Help me find a vibrant Protestant church in the Cleveland area. I'm between denominations.

debbie_ann — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:54:45 -0800

Help me find a vibrant Protestant church in the Cleveland area. I'm between denominations. I love the idea of going to church, but I've yet to find one where I feel comfortable coming week after week. Maybe you know the denomination I'm looking for.

I presently go to children's weekday Mass at a wonderful little Catholic church. I love it for the following reasons
+ The sermons are wonderful. We always learn about a Saint or a story about Jesus, and then the Priest helps us understand how to apply the lessons to daily life.
+ We all sing together. 100 school children, their teachers and many grandparents sing a simple song every week. Last year it was "we are made for service".
+ There is a fantastic sense of community. I know everyone. Everyone knows me. When we pass the peace, we mean it.
+ We all pray together.
+ I leave feeling refreshed and inspired to be a good person, with very clear directions about where a good person should head this week

However, I am not Catholic for all of the reasons that Protestants usually state. I'd like to find a church where I can take communion. I've tried the following... and had the following problems.
- Going to my parents Presbyterian church. It's mainly blue-hairs. I feel lonely during coffee hour. Everyone who talks to me pretty much just asks how old I am now, and tells me how much I've grown.
- Going to a Unitarian service. It seems to be more of a theological class than a worship service. We didn't pray.
- Going to a born again nondenominational church. We sang and prayed for a half hour, which was AWESOME..... but then the sermon would invariably be a half-hour pro-life rampage and during coffee hour teenagers would pass around petitions to overturn Roe vs. Wade.
- Going to a Non-denominational Contemporary church. Very vibrant, but the service lasted for hours. I had to leave because I was faint with hunger....and my ears rang all day from the excessive volume.
- Not going to Church for years. It leaves me with an emptiness... a yearning.
- Going to a Lutheran church. I felt bored and couldn't sit still.
- Going to a different Presbyterian Church. Great sermon.... but we're given about 5 seconds to 'privately confess our sins' before being forgiven. I find myself both too hurried to reflect, and bored after the sermon. Also, just a handful of adults under 40.

The issue is rather pressing because I'd like my son to have Sunday school experiences. I'd like to find a church (in or near Cleveland) with the following qualities, where I can settle down . . .
+ Young people. I'm in my late 20's and would like to be part of a community that includes a substantial number of adults under 50. Other families with kids would be great. People in their 20's and 30's would be awesome!
+ Protestant denomination
+ a sense of community
+ reasonable amounts of singing
+ prayer
+ sermons that teach about Jesus, God, the Bible and how to be a good person
+ vibrant worship (as opposed to the soul-stifling sound of an entire congregation boredly reciting 'Alleluia' and 'it is right to give thanks and praise in unison)

All you 33rd-level MeFite Masons, holla back.

jbickers — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 14:18:13 -0800

So I've just finished "The Lost Symbol," and would like to pick the brain of all of you Masonic MeFites. Spoilers aplenty within. Just finished the new Dan Brown book this morning. (Yeah, I know.) It was, as I expected, a really fun ride that raised a lot of interesting historical issues without giving footnotes for any of them. Most of the ones I'm interested in deal with freemasonry, so I'd love to hear from any Masons that could offer an opinion.

My dad was a Mason, so I grew up understanding the mystery and the secrecy and all that. I was fascinated by his books, but I always had the gut feeling that the secret was, "There is no secret so we pretend we have a secret." The Lost Symbol kinda bears this out, but kinda doesn't.

So I'd like to hear general thoughts from Masons/family members of Masons/researchers/etc. on the book and its subject matter, but also am interested in some specific points:

* Is there really a belief within the Masonic communtiy - and without, I suppose - that the Bible is a coded document with deeper wisdom than it suggests on the surface? (I remember that "Bible Code" nonsense from 10 years ago, but this book hints at something much more grand/metaphorical)

* The video described toward the end of the book - the one with the fake murder sequence and all - does that stuff really take place?

* Are there any things ascribed to Freemasonry in this book that are particularly egregious in how inaccurate they are? On the other hand, are there things that Brown got right that the public is hearing for the first time?

* The book portrays Freemasonry as being intensely devoted to the pursuit of higher knowledge and spiritual growth. Everything I've encountered about the movement from my (localized) first-hand experience tends to be very social. What is the modern Freemason experience like, and what does it emphasize?

Help me relive a happy childhood memory!

srrh — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:59:16 -0800

Sometime around '93-95, when I was living in Plymouth, NC, my elementary school class took a field trip to a bird farm. I would love to track down the place where I went. As a child, I lived in Plymouth, NC, and attended Pines Elementary School. In 2nd or 3rd grade, my class took a field trip to a bird farm. I know that I had a teacher named Mrs. Byrd in 2nd or 3rd grade, but I'm not sure which, and I don't know who the other teacher might have been. That's mostly beside the point, however, as the school website is very sparse, and there isn't even a teacher directory there for me to try to hunt down my old teacher with.

I give you the location of the school because, since it was a field trip, the bird farm could not have been too very far away from it. Maybe an hour or two at the most? I have done some googling and found a few bird farms, but most of them seem to be in central/Western NC, and so too far away. I haven't lived in NC since I was 7 years old, so I don't remember the geography at all.

As for the bird farm itself, I use that phrase because I remember specifically that my teacher and the people there referred to it as a bird farm, rather than an aviary or some other term. It was a small farm, and I'm not even sure if the animals were used for eggs or slaughter, or if it was more of a petting-zoo type thing. They had other birds besides your typical chickens and turkeys -- I specifically remember peacocks, and I believe they had swans and geese as well.

Hopefully someone here lives or has lived in NC and has some idea what I'm talking about, or maybe someone has an idea for a way I can search to point me in the right direction. Thanks for the help!

30 minutes with Richard Dawkins: What Should I Ask?

JaiMahodara — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:25:47 -0800

Asking for a friend: What questions should he ask Richard Dawkins during a radio interview? Tomorrow my friend will be interviewing Richard Dawkins for a radio program. The interview will not be aired live, so there will be a chance to edit. The interview is in person and will last 30 minutes.

Now, I know Metafilter and Mr. Dawkins have a bit of a sordid history, and he isn't always a popular person on the blue. So please no Dawkins bashing suggestions - I'm looking for intelligent, thoughtful and illuminating questions that would be received well by Dawkins and would lead to interesting answers/conversations.

The interview is part of his tour to promote his new book The Greatest Show on Earth.

So, what should he ask him?

Six Elephants and a Blind Man

alms — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:47:15 -0800

Is there a fable or proverb that expresses the inverse of the blind men and the elephant? In the famous fable, six blind men each think the elephant is something different. They do not realize that they are all talking about the same thing.

I want a fable or proverb that expresses the inverse: several people think they are talking about the same thing, but ultimately find that they are talking about completely different things.

I've experienced this most often as "the six programmers and the underspecified project." Each one thinks they are working on the same thing. They talk about it; it all makes sense; everyone is sure they are in sync; they are happily programming away.

How does it end? If they're lucky, eventually someone writes up a detailed spec, at which point everyone else says, "whoa, that's not what I'm working on." But then they go on to work out their differences and refine the spec. If they're not lucky... well, you can imagine.

I've also seen this situation arise as "six negotiators and an agreement," where the moment of truth comes in the form of a draft contract.

So. Is there any succinct expression of this pattern in Western culture? I'd love to be able to refer to it with a half dozen words, rather than three paragraphs that won't make sense to many people.

Did Mark Twain ever comment on the Seventh-Day Adventist Church?

Anephim — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:03:34 -0800

Did Mark Twain ever comment on the Seventh-Day Adventist Church? My father-in-law heard that Mark Twain once remarked that the Seventh-Day Adventist Church would have X number of members by year Z. Please, does anyone know if Mark Twain said such a thing (perhaps even about a different church)? If so, what were the membership and year mentioned?

From another angle: Mark Twain is often attributed to things he did not say. So, did some other famous writer say something along these lines?

I have Googled and searched the letters in the Mark Twain Project. I have not looked in any Twain quotation collections, indexes, or concordances.

Many thanks!