Category Archives: religion

Stupidogenics

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VI’ve been reading about the concerns educators are having regarding technology in the classroom. While the distraction of smart phones can be reasonably curtailed, a more insidious issue is the use of AI to manage homework. Chat GPT, for instance, can produce assigned essays without the need for students to hardly think about the topic. In a test study, students who used the AI app were unable to answer questions about what exactly the produced document said.

Apparently, the problem isn’t restricted to the classroom. The business world, too, is in danger of AI relieving businessmen and women of having to think. Executives may use Chat GPT to produce reasoned argument/policies acceptable in the moment but potentially damaging to corporate goals.

So, it appears, using AI bypasses the need for contextual understanding opening the door to belief in conspiracy theory and the acceptance of disinformation for the multitude of users who find in it justification for their chosen narrative.

It would appear that artificial intelligence may be turning us into a stupidogenic society.

Cancel Culture

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I’ve been thinking lately about some of the public individuals who have been fading from view, have virtually disappeared from the cultural narrative in recent months (or years). Some of these folks have found themselves in disfavor for a variety of reasons: perceived racial bias, sexual improprieties, sometimes simply political incorrectness or holding views found to be inappropriate by the more sensitive of our cultural judges.

I can think of a particularly clever and insightful comedian, a creative radio personality, a talented dramatic actor and several pols who suffer the sins of behaving badly in a moral or ethical sense. There appears to be a particularly virulent group of vigilantes sifting through the pasts of those deemed suspicious seeking condemning information. I suppose condemnation may be in order in some particularly egregious cases even though the perpetrator may have contributed to the public good most of his/her life.

It all makes me think back, wonder if there’s anything there, in my past, that might be brought up, maybe by a disgruntled neighbor or former friend, that I might find embarrassing were it to be revealed.

And, of course, there is.

Dignity

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I was reading a while ago about the idea that all anyone really wants from life, in terms of one’s existence within a social perspective, is dignity: the knowledge that one is recognized as being of value as a person, not just a member of humankind but someone of intrinsic worth.

I wonder, as we look out upon the people, we see on the street going about their daily tasks: bus riders returning from work, clerks, administrators, colleagues, if we take the time to see them as what they are, if we recognize our common humanity, afford them dignity.

We all are, after all, strugglers, strivers, driven to seek a modicum of success that will provide a sense of security for us and our families. It’s good, I think, to realize sometimes everyone’s in need. Cooperation, compassion, and empathy are things we can all provide and receive.

Love

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There’s something about the word ‘love’ that makes me cringe. Not the word so much as the idea, how it’s used and what it’s intended to mean. It seems, these days, to be overused and without thoughtfulness.

Well, there are different ways to think about it. Erotic love begins with mutual adoration, the two sensing the one of union. Things can turn; conceivably one lover might enter the thralls of so deep a passion, an emotional realm so overwhelming, rational thought will cease, cause unexplainable fluctuations of feeling that may even lead to deep hatred.

When applied to familial affection, extreme emotional fluctuation would appear to be the rule. Children and parents fighting, at each other tooth and nail one instance then enjoying a pleasant togetherness in front of the TV set the next.

Then, there’s the idea of agape; love of God and mankind. It seems to me likely anyone attempting such love will inevitably fall short which, I guess, will reinforce the sinfulness they know they can never escape, which on the positive side will eliminate the sin of pride.

Better, I think, to leave the term alone, not use it, and keep one’s emotions under control.

Blessed by the Holy Father

Preppers and the End Times.

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I’ve been reading, lately about the vast numbers of American preparing for the Apocalypse. Some sources estimate as many as 10% of the US population harbors deep survivalist instincts informing them civilization is teetering, nearing collapse, and preparation need be made for surviving the end times.

Well maybe all these folks don’t foresee ‘End Times’ exactly, maybe the extravagant preparations being made: building bunkers that include gyms, pools, libraries and shooting ranges complete with moats skimmed with flammable liquid, is just a use of expendable income for an insurance policy that will ease the fear our tumultuous times are imposing. But, considering the political craziness that perpetuates an Us vs Them mentality, it’s not hard to imagine ‘The Four Horseman’ ushering in the demise of civilization and there’s plenty of literature that adds believable detail to what an apocalypse will look like.

Time to reread ‘A Canticle for Liebowitz’ offering, as it does, a light at the end of the civilization terminating tunnel in the person of a young child, maybe she’s a GenAlpha who will be able to correct some of our mistakes.

Sister Chloe

Evolutionary Upheaval

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I’ve been thinking lately about the monumental impact the discoveries of Charles Darwin had on the religious communities of the early 20th century.

The early Christian conception of mankind as being created by God in his image were found to be in total contradiction to Darwin’s evolutionary theories. His discoveries of the evolutionary changes to finch populations on the Galapagos Islands as their habitat changed were irrefutable. Subsequent connections realized between humankind and simian populations exacerbated the matter. Christian revivalists preaching ‘Hellfire and Damnation’ condemned evolutionary thinking, creating fury among the conservative religious community.

Still an issue, I guess, for some, but morality as a uniquely human trait that spurs love of neighbor and awareness of a presence beyond the physical should ease the matter, although such understanding does require nuanced thinking.

The Disappearance of Truth

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What to believe? It appears many of us (more than 50% of the U. S. population some sources estimate) get our news through social media, a source of information through which anyone can post thoughts of their own, ideas that may or may not be consistent with reality.

Expecting, as we do, our daily consumption of news to be based on fact, social media offers instead biases of opinion sometimes meant to deceive or to shock. Motivated by self-interest, unedited, the scroll of ideas repeated over and over will take hold, algorhythms feeding intuitions, reinforcing what the individual consumer believes to be true, bad enough in itself but made many times worse by exacerbating societal divisiveness.

We owe it to ourselves to dig deeper into the news of the day, to seek the facts beyond our intuitive inclinations, as uncomfortable as that may be. Moral truth is out there to be found.

Knowing the Ineffable

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I’ve been reading about the religious concept ’Via Negativa’, the idea that the only way to really know God is to obliterate any association one might imagine about a supreme being with tangible realities like personhood, embodiment, even singularity, that to truly grasp the enormity of the concept of an ineffable Other is to eliminate the limitations imposed by naming or envisioning being.

I guess the idea is to sense the presence of the un-nameable, non-entity in one’s surrounding environment and personal interactions every waking moment is to achieve true spiritual enlightenment.

I must say such an idea is intriguing and not totally unfamiliar sensing as I do, well, maybe not in every waking moment, but occasionally, something more in my surroundings and personal relationships than mere physical or psychic reality would suggest.

It’s good, I think, to have alternate ways to contemplate a personal spirituality beyond the limitations of conventional religion.

Sexual Behaviors

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Sigmund Freud determined all human motivations contain a sexual component. The oral, then anal fixations of children and later phallic interests, beginning at a very early age, were focused on satisfying bodily needs. Many psychological problems, neuroses, occur because sexual impulses are repressed. Through psychoanalysis S.F. guided his repressed patients to realize the healthy need for normal active sexual behavior.

Freud, though, cautioned that excessive sexual activity interferes with the development of healthy social relationships, that strong friendships and sound decision making, adulthood essentially, depends on tempering sexual behaviors.

This could explain, I guess, while some of our politicians behave like adolescents.

An Impractical Dreamer

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In the winter of his eighteenth year this young man fell madly in love (well, it was a serious crush anyway). The object of his unrequited affection was a demure sweet young lady who turned the young man, usually easygoing and affable, into a tongue-tied moron (or so he thought and was in fact true).

The episode was simply reflective of the young man’s nature. He conjured imaginings of romantic scenarios; of heroic stances he might take. He lived in a world of fictional narratives reinforced by the heroic storylines he regularly indulged: good triumphs, tragedy is overcome.

It would seem in retrospect such an imaginative reality would soon be repressed but it was maintained far longer than it might have been by avoiding unpleasant confrontation, keeping a distance from uncertain challenges and living in an (overly) protective home environment. As a college student our young dreamer immersed himself in studies of an impersonal nature, solitary endeavors not requiring excessive personal connections. He had friends of course. College life teems with unassuming young people of an accepting nature, all thriving in an essentially responsibility free environment.

Eventually, over time, even an impractical dreamer will have to face harsh realities. The awakening for our young man came with the threat posed by the draft lottery and the likelihood of involuntary military service. Basic training was eye opening. The young man found himself verbally assaulted. Name calling the likes of which he had never previously encountered (but guessed often referred to perverse sexual acts) was common.

Military service didn’t cure the young man, didn’t redirect him toward a more functional pragmatism. Even now as he passes middle age the man finds himself entertaining flights of fancy. He has somehow been able to navigate through life being sufficiently useful as not to be a particular burden on society, you know, has basically paid his own way.

It’s good to know, I guess, that sometimes life provides a path for those who need to live in an alternative reality.