| politics today and tomorrow

We ended the year 2012 yesterday by citing the last stanza of the poem “Hellas” by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822). Today we begin the year 2013 by citing the first stanza of the same poem:

“The world’s great age begins anew,

The golden years return,

The earth doth like a snake renew

Her winter weeds outworn:

Heaven smiles, and faiths and empires gleam

Like wrecks of a dissolving dream.”

What is our dream for 2013?

1. A swift end to the butchery in Syria.

2. The retreat of western occupation forces from Afghanistan.

3. Justice for the Palestinians.

4. Engagement with, instead of the encirclement of, Iran.

5. The exit of Greece from the Eurozone.

6. The liberation of Tibet.

7. A revolution in China.

8. Abolition of the secret police worldwide (that includes our secret police as well as theirs).

9. The ouster of Putin and the oligarchs in Russia.

10. The election of Arundhati Roy as Prime Minister of India.

11. An Arab Spring uprising in Saudi Arabia.

12. The replacement of competition by cooperation as the cornerstone of the world economy.

Is that all, you ask?

Well, no, there is a lot more, but that’s enough to be going on with.

Dream on! You say.

Well, why not?

Will it happen? You ask.

Probably not.

Why bother then?

Dum spiro, spero.

The thing is never to give up.

You don’t know a door is closed till you push against it.

“The dream alone is of interest. What is life without a dream?”

Edmond Rostand (1868-1918), French playwright. The citation is from Act 1, Scene 4, of “La Princesse lointaine” (1895).

Le seul rêve intéresse,

Vivre sans rêve, qu’est-ce?

——–

You might perhaps care to view some of our earlier posts. For instance:

1. Why? or How? That is the question (3 Jan 2012)

2. Partitocracy v. Democracy (20 July 2012)

3. The shoddiest possible goods at the highest possible prices (2 Feb 2012)

4. Capitalism in practice (4 July 2012)

5.Ladder (21 June 2012)

6. A tale of two cities (1) (6 June 2012)

7. A tale of two cities (2) (7 June 2012)

8. Where’s the beef? Ontology and tinned meat (31 Jan 2012)

Every so often we shall change this sample of previously published posts.

——-

Posted in Afghanistan, China, Greece, Russia, Syria | Tagged Arundhati Roy, Edmond Rostand, Hellas, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Tibet | Leave a comment

Time to begin the begin

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Antigone1984.com

Editorial note: If you have not yet read our mission statement above, please do so in order that you can put our blogs in context.

31 December 2012

We began the year with a bang. We are ending it with a whimper.

Time has not been on our side these past few days so that perforce we have had less chance to focus on Antigone1984.

The blog was launched experimentally in October 2011 and then formally on 1 January 2012. Since its inception we have published around 330 posts of varying length and seriousness. Readership has built up steadily worldwide and is continuing to grow.

If we are to pick out one egregious topic that has come up time again and again throughout the year, it has been the recourse to torture by supposedly civilized western democracies such as the United States and Britain.

The Greek tragedy was another recurring theme. And the butchery in Syria – ongoing as we write – while the world wrings its hands and looks away.

We are grateful to everyone who has helped to make the blog possible, not least our technical consultants. A big thank-you also to Allan Tomlins in Brussels for extending the readership by reblogging our posts on his network.

The following is the last stanza of the poem “Hellas” by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822):

“O Cease! must hate and death return?

Cease! must men kill and die?

Cease! drain not to its dregs the urn

Of bitter prophecy!

The world is weary of the past –

O might it die or rest at last!”

And so say all of us! 2012 was not a year to cherish long-term in the memory. The past, however, is another country. Let us lay it to rest. The past, by definition, does not exist. Rather than look back, through the eyes of the present let us fix our gaze firmly on the future.

Tomorrow sees the start of another year in the history of humanity – another chance for human kind to turn over a new leaf and right the wrongs of the past.

Let us go for it. If not now, when? Time to start over. Time to begin the begin.

Bye, bye, 2012, it was no good to know ya!

Welcome in, 2013. We’re kinda hopin’ for something better from you. Don’t you dare let us down.

Let us end on an upbeat note with the words of the immortal bard that are traditionally sung on the last day of the year:

AULD LANG SYNE

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And never brought to min’ ?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And days o’ lang syne ?

We twa hae rin about the braes,

And pu’d the gowans fine;

But we’ve wandered monie a weary fit

Sin’ auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl’t i’ the burn,

Frae mornin’ sun till dine;

But seas between us braid hae roar’d

Sin’ auld lang syne.

And here’s a hand, my trusty fiere,

And gie’s a hand o’ thine ;

And we’ll tak a right guid-willie waught

For auld lang syne.

And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp,

And surely I’ll be mine ;

And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet

For auld lang syne !

For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne,

We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,

For auld lang syne.

“Auld Lang Syne” is a poem written in 1788 by the Scottish poet Robert “Rabbie” Burns (1759-1796) on the basis of an old Scottish song. We have used the version included in the 1921 edition of “The Oxford Book of English Verse” edited by Arthur Quiller-Couch (1863-1944). Musical interpretations are legion. For a typical rendering, readers could check out the following:

Auld Lang Syne

——–

You might perhaps care to view some of our earlier posts. For instance:

1. Why? or How? That is the question (3 Jan 2012)

2. Partitocracy v. Democracy (20 July 2012)

3. The shoddiest possible goods at the highest possible prices (2 Feb 2012)

4. Capitalism in practice (4 July 2012)

5.Ladder (21 June 2012)

6. A tale of two cities (1) (6 June 2012)

7. A tale of two cities (2) (7 June 2012)

8. Where’s the beef? Ontology and tinned meat (31 Jan 2012)

Every so often we shall change this sample of previously published posts.

——-

Posted in Greece, Syria, Torture, UK, USA | Tagged Auld Lang Syne, Hellas, Not with a bang but a whimper, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Robert "Rabbie" Burns | Leave a comment

Anglo-Saxon nightbird

Posted on December 30, 2012 by Antigone1984.com

Editorial note: If you have not yet read our mission statement above, please do so in order that you can put our blogs in context.

30 December 2012

In our post “A butterfly existence” on 22 December 2012, we quoted the first sentence of Chapter 1 of “Speak, Memory” by Vladimir Nabokov:

“The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.”

A correspondent has written to us pointing out the similarity between this passage and an article, dated June 1990, by Hugh Shearman in “The Theosophist” publication:

“There is a well known passage in early Anglo-Saxon literature where the writer says that human life is like the flight of a bird which comes out of the night through the window of a brightly lighted banqueting hall and then flies out again into the darkness through a window at the other side of the hall. Where it comes from and where it goes we do not really know.”

Commentator Allan Tomlins of Brussels subsequently sourced the origin of this passage in the “Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum” (Ecclesiastical History of the English People) completed by the Venerable Bede (673-735), a monk at Jarrow in north-east England, in 731. Although Bede (Latin: Baeda) lived in Anglo-Saxon times, he wrote in Latin, the learned language of the Europe of his day. The text about the bird is in Book 2, Chapter 13, of Bede’s history:

“Talis, inquiens, mihi videtur, rex, vita hominum praesens in terris, ad comparationem eius, quod nobis incertum est, temporis, quale cum te residente ad caenam cum ducibus ac ministris tuis tempore brumali, accenso quidem foco in medio et calido effecto coenaculo, furentis autem foris per omnia turbinibus hiemalium pluviarum vel nivium, adveniensque unus passerum domum citissime pervolaverit; qui cum per unum ostium ingrediens, mox per aliud exierit. Ipso quidem tempore, quo intus est, hiemis tempestate non tangitur, sed tamen parvissimo spatio serenitatis ad momentum excurso, mox de hieme in hiemem regrediens, tuis occulis elabitur. Ita haec vita hominum ad modicum apparet; quid autem sequatur, quidve praecesserit, prorsus ignoramus.”

The passage has been translated into modern English as follows:

“It seems to me, your highness, that the life of man on earth is like the swift flight of a single sparrow through the banqueting hall where you are sitting at dinner on a winter’s day with your captains and counsellors. In the midst there is a comforting fire to warm the hall. Outside, the storms of winter rain and snow are raging. This sparrow flies swiftly in through one window of the hall and out through another. While he is inside, the bird is safe from the winter storms, but after a few moments of comfort, he vanishes from sight into the wintry world from which he came. So man appears on earth for a little while – but of what went before this life, or what follows, we know nothing.”

Compare also what the ancient Greek poet Pindar (518-438 BC) said in his Pythian Odes (Book 8, line 135):

ἐπάμεροι. τί δέ τις; τί δ᾽ οὔ τις; σκιᾶς ὄναρ  ἄνθρωπος.

Here today, gone tomorrow! What is anyone?  What is he not? Man is but a dream of a shadow .

——–

You might perhaps care to view some of our earlier posts. For instance:

1. Why? or How? That is the question (3 Jan 2012)

2. Partitocracy v. Democracy (20 July 2012)

3. The shoddiest possible goods at the highest possible prices (2 Feb 2012)

4. Capitalism in practice (4 July 2012)

5.Ladder (21 June 2012)

6. A tale of two cities (1) (6 June 2012)

7. A tale of two cities (2) (7 June 2012)

8. Where’s the beef? Ontology and tinned meat (31 Jan 2012)

Every so often we shall change this sample of previously published posts.

——-

Posted in Literature, Philosophy | Tagged Anglo-Saxon literature, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Hugh Shearman, Jarrow, Pindar, Venerable Bede, Vladimir Nabokov | 1 Comment

Like chalk and cheese

Posted on December 29, 2012 by Antigone1984.com

Editorial note: If you have not yet read our mission statement above, please do so in order that you can put our blogs in context.

28 December 2012

Cooperation ≠ Competition

——–

You might perhaps care to view some of our earlier posts. For instance:

1. Why? or How? That is the question (3 Jan 2012)

2. Partitocracy v. Democracy (20 July 2012)

3. The shoddiest possible goods at the highest possible prices (2 Feb 2012)

4. Capitalism in practice (4 July 2012)

5.Ladder (21 June 2012)

6. A tale of two cities (1) (6 June 2012)

7. A tale of two cities (2) (7 June 2012)

8. Where’s the beef? Ontology and tinned meat (31 Jan 2012)

Every so often we shall change this sample of previously published posts.

——-

Posted in Economics, Politics | Tagged competition, cooperation | Leave a comment

Cultivate your garden

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Antigone1984.com

Editorial note: If you have not yet read our mission statement above, please do so in order that you can put our blogs in context.

27 December 2012

KEEP OUT OF POLITICS AND CULTIVATE YOUR GARDEN

This was the advice of the hedonistic Greek philosopher Epicurus of Samos (341 to 270 BC). In the second half of the Classical Period (776 to 323 BC), Greeks lived in city states, where, in theory at least, they could often play an active role in local government. In the succeeding Hellenistic Period (323 to 30 BC), however, during which Epicurus lived much of his life, the Greek world had become globalised thanks to the conquests of Alexander the Great (356 to 323 BC) and the individual citizen had much less political importance. How was he (sadly, it was always a “he” in the culture of the time) to attune himself to the vast cosmopolis in which he now lived? Epicurus’s answer was: keep out of politics, cultivate your garden and aim at the pleasure of a refined intellect.

归园田居

陶渊明

少无适俗韵, 性本爱丘山。

 误落尘网中, 一去十三年。

 羁鸟恋旧林, 池鱼思故渊。

 开荒南野际, 守拙归园田。

 方宅十余亩, 草屋八九间。

 榆柳荫后檐, 桃李罗堂前。

 暖暖远人村, 依依圩里烟。

 狗吠深巷中, 鸡鸣桑树巅。

 户庭无尘杂, 虚室有余闲。

 久在樊笼里, 复得返自然。

RETURN TO THE COUNTRY

[by] Tao Yuan-ming

From early youth I have been out of tune with the vulgar;

By nature I love the hill and mountain.

For thirteen years I have fallen by error

Into the world’s thick web.

A bird in a cage yearns for the old forest;

A fish in a pond thinks of its former stream.

I have reclaimed the wasteland in the South

And come back to farm and garden

To stick to my dull life as of old.

I have more than ten mou of land,

With eight or nine rooms in a thatched hut;

Elms and willows shade the eaves behind,

While peach and plum trees grow in front of it.

Distant villages can be dimly discerned;

Neighbouring chimneys emit their smoke gently.

The dogs bark in deep lanes,

And roosters crow on the tops of mulberry trees.

Within doors there is no worldly care;

In the vacant rooms there is leisure.

Long confined in a cage,

I am again at one with nature.

Tao Qian (aka Tao Yuan-ming). Chinese poet (365-427 AD).

MY SABINE FARM

[ by Horace]

Odi profanum uolgus et arceo.

Fauete linguis: carmina non prius

audita Musarum sacerdos

uirginibus puerisque canto.

Regum timendorum in proprios greges, 5

reges in ipsos imperium est Iouis,

clari Giganteo triumpho,

cuncta supercilio mouentis.

Est ut uiro uir latius ordinet

arbusta sulcis, hic generosior 10

descendat in campum petitor,

moribus hic meliorque fama

contendat, illi turba clientium

sit maior: aequa lege Necessitas

sortitur insignis et imos,

omne capax mouet urna nomen. 15

Destrictus ensis cui super impia

ceruice pendet, non Siculae dapes

dulcem elaboratum saporem,

non auium citharaequecantus 20

Somnum reducent: somnus agrestium

lenis uirorum non humilis domos

fastidit umbrosamque ripam,

non Zephyris agitata tempe.

Desiderantem quod satis est neque 25

tumultuosum sollicitat mare,

nec saeuus Arcturi cadentis

impetus aut orientis Haedi,

non uerberatae grandine uineae

fundusque mendax, arbore nunc aquas 30

culpante, nunc torrentia agros

sidera, nunc hiemes iniquas.

Contracta pisces aequora sentiunt

iactis in altum molibus: huc frequens

caementa demittit redemptor

cum famulis dominusque terrae 35

fastidiosus: sed Timor et Minae

scandunt eodem quo dominus, neque

decedit aerata triremi et

post equitem sedet atra Cura. 40

Quod si dolentem nec Phrygius lapis

nec purpurarum sidere clarior

delenit usus nec Falerna

uitis Achaemeniumque costum,

cur inuidendis postibus et nouo 45

sublime ritu moliar atrium?

Cur ualle permutem Sabina

diuitias operosiores?

I hate the vulgar crowd, and keep them at a distance:

grant me your silence. A priest of the Muses,

I sing a song never heard before,

I sing a song for young women and boys.

The power of dread kings over their peoples,

is the power Jove has over those kings themselves,

famed for his defeat of the Giants,

controlling all with a nod of his head.

It’s true that one man will lay out his vineyards

over wider acres than will his neighbour,

that one candidate who descends to

the Campus, will maintain that he’s nobler,

another’s more famous, or has a larger

crowd of followers: but Necessity sorts

the fates of high and low with equal

justice: the roomy urn holds every name.

Sicilian feasts won’t supply sweet flavours

to the man above whose impious head hangs

a naked sword, nor will the singing

of birds or the playing of zithers bring back

soft sleep. But gentle slumber doesn’t despise

the humble house of a rural labourer,

or a riverbank deep in the shade,

or the vale of Tempe, stirred by the breeze.

He who only longs for what is sufficient,

is never disturbed by tumultuous seas,

nor the savage power of Arcturus

setting, nor the strength of the Kids rising,

nor his vineyards being lashed by the hailstones,

nor his treacherous farmland, rain being blamed

for the state of the trees, the dog-star

parching the fields, or the cruel winter.

The fish can feel that the channel’s narrowing,

when piles are driven deep: the builder, his team

of workers, the lord who scorns the land

pour the rubble down into the waters.

But Fear and Menace climb up to the same place

where the lord climbs up, and dark Care will not leave

the bronze-clad trireme, and even sits

behind the horseman when he’s out riding.

So if neither Phrygian stone, nor purple,

brighter than the constellations, can solace

the grieving man, nor Falernian

wine, nor the perfumes purchased from Persia,

why should I build a regal hall in modern

style, with lofty columns to stir up envy?

Why should I exchange my Sabine valley,

for the heavier burden of excess wealth?

Odes III. I Quintus Horatius Flaccus (Horace). Roman poet (65-8 BC).

Antigone1984:

After leaving public office in Peking in the north of China, whether as retirees or because of a spat with their superiors, Chinese civil servants often moved south towards the Yangtse River, where they settled in towns such as Suzhou, which was (and still is) famed for its gardens. When in office, they had functioned as buttoned-up Confucian officials necessarily subservient to the formal rituals of the imperial court. Afterwards, in retirement, sloughing off the stifling Confucianism of the bureaucracy, they often became Taoists, seeking thereafter to live life in accordance not with orthodox prescription but with the rhythms of Nature.

A mou is 0.667 of a hectare.

——–

You might perhaps care to view some of our earlier posts. For instance:

1. Why? or How? That is the question (3 Jan 2012)

2. Partitocracy v. Democracy (20 July 2012)

3. The shoddiest possible goods at the highest possible prices (2 Feb 2012)

4. Capitalism in practice (4 July 2012)

5.Ladder (21 June 2012)

6. A tale of two cities (1) (6 June 2012)

7. A tale of two cities (2) (7 June 2012)

8. Where’s the beef? Ontology and tinned meat (31 Jan 2012)

Every so often we shall change this sample of previously published posts.

——-

Posted in China, Greece, Italy, Literature | Tagged Alexander the Great, Confiucianism, Epicurus of Samos, Hellenistic period, Horace, Odo profanum vulgus, Sabine farm, Suzhou gardens, Tao yuan-ming, Taoism | Leave a comment

Good King Wenceslas

Posted on December 26, 2012 by Antigone1984.com

Editorial note: If you have not yet read our mission statement above, please do so in order that you can put our blogs in context.

St Stephen’s Day, 26 December 2012

Good King Wenceslas look’d out, 

On the Feast of Stephen;  

When the snow lay round about, 

Deep, and crisp, and even: 

Brightly shone the moon that night, 

Though the frost was cruel, 

When a poor man came in sight, 

Gath’ring winter fuel.

“Hither page and stand by me, 

If thou know’st it, telling, 

Yonder peasant, who is he? 

Where and what his dwelling?” 

“Sire, he lives a good league hence. 

Underneath the mountain; 

Right against the forest fence, 

By Saint Agnes’ fountain.”

“Bring me flesh, and bring me wine, 

Bring me pine-logs hither: 

Thou and I will see him dine, 

When we bear them thither.” 

Page and monarch forth they went, 

Forth they went together; 

Through the rude winds wild lament, 

And the bitter weather.

“Sire, the night is darker now, 

And the wind blows stronger; 

Fails my heart, I know not how, 

I can go no longer.” 

“Mark my footsteps, good my page;

Tread thou in them boldly; 

Thou shalt find the winter’s rage 

Freeze thy blood less coldly.”

In his master’s steps he trod, 

Where the snow lay dinted; 

Heat was in the very sod 

Which the saint had printed. 

Therefore, Christian men, be sure, 

Wealth or rank possessing, 

Ye who now will bless the poor, 

Shall yourselves find blessing.

Antigone1984:

To see this carol sung, you could check out the following choral version recorded at York Minister in 1995 (the aural quality is good, but the visuals poor):

Good King Wenceslas sung at York Minister

Today 26 December is the feast-day of St Stephen, the day on which in the carol King Wenceslas carried out his good deed.

Wenceslas I, who lived from 907 to 929 or 935 (the year of his death is disputed), was Duke of Bohemia. His penchant for good deeds, however, was not enough to save him from being murdered by henchmen of his brother Boleslaus (or Boleslav) I the Cruel, who thereby succeeded to the Dukedom. Canonised soon after his death and posthumously upgraded to the rank of King by the Holy Roman Emperor, St Wenceslas is the patron saint of the Czech Republic (of which Bohemia is a part).

The carol “Good King Wenceslas”, published in 1853, was a joint collaboration between the Revd. John Mason Neale (1818-1866), a hymn-writer, and his music editor, the Revd. Thomas Helmore (1811-1890). The lyrics were set to a tune based on a 13 C spring carol “Tempus adest floridum” first published in the 1582 Finnish song collection “Piae Cantiones”.

Today 26 December is also known as Boxing Day. The name is said to derive from the middle-class custom of giving a Christmas box containing money as an end-of-year tip or gift to domestic staff and local tradespeople. However, another tradition has it that Boxing Day is named after the custom of opening and emptying church alms boxes on St Stephen’s Day in order to distribute the contents to the poor and needy.

——–

You might perhaps care to view some of our earlier posts. For instance:

1. Why? or How? That is the question (3 Jan 2012)

2. Partitocracy v. Democracy (20 July 2012)

3. The shoddiest possible goods at the highest possible prices (2 Feb 2012)

4. Capitalism in practice (4 July 2012)

5.Ladder (21 June 2012)

6. A tale of two cities (1) (6 June 2012)

7. A tale of two cities (2) (7 June 2012)

8. Where’s the beef? Ontology and tinned meat (31 Jan 2012)

Every so often we shall change this sample of previously published posts.

——-

Posted in Finland, Religion, Uncategorized | Tagged Bohemia, Boleslav I the Cruel, Boxing Day, Good King Wenceslas, Piae Cantiones, St Stephen, Tempus adest floridum | Leave a comment

It was 4 B.C….

Posted on December 25, 2012 by Antigone1984.com

Editorial note: If you have not yet read our mission statement above, please do so in order that you can put our blogs in context.

Christmas Day, 25 December 2012

IT WAS 4 B.C….

“And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.”

Verses 1 to 7 of Chapter 2 of the Gospel according to St Luke in the Authorized King James Version of the Bible published in 1611.

——–

You might perhaps care to view some of our earlier posts. For instance:

1. Why? or How? That is the question (3 Jan 2012)

2. Partitocracy v. Democracy (20 July 2012)

3. The shoddiest possible goods at the highest possible prices (2 Feb 2012)

4. Capitalism in practice (4 July 2012)

5.Ladder (21 June 2012)

6. A tale of two cities (1) (6 June 2012)

7. A tale of two cities (2) (7 June 2012)

8. Where’s the beef? Ontology and tinned meat (31 Jan 2012)

Every so often we shall change this sample of previously published posts.

——-

Posted in Israel, Religion | Tagged Bethlehem, Caesar Augustus, Christmas Day, Cyrenius, King James Bible, Nazareth, St Luke's Gospel, the Nativity | Leave a comment

Anti-Christ

Posted on December 24, 2012 by Antigone1984.com

Editorial note: If you have not yet read our mission statement above, please do so in order that you can put our blogs in context.

Christmas Eve, 24 December 2012

They prate of God; believe it, fellow-creatures,

There’s no such bugbear; all was made by Nature.

We know all came of nothing, and shall pass

Into the same condition once it was,

By Nature’s power; and that they grossly lie

That say there’s hope of immortality….

A Ranter Christmas carol of 1650 A.D.

Here we go again. Tonight, at the stroke of midnight, millions of Christians throughout the world will attend ritual celebrations of the birth of Jesus Christ at Bethlehem in the Holy Land in 4 B.C.

Christ, they believe, is God, the Supreme Being, who was born miraculously, without the depravity of sexual intercourse, to the virgin Mary and subsequently allowed himself to be crucified in Jerusalem in 29 A.D. to save mankind from its sins.

The Supreme Being born as a helpless baby?

A virgin birth?

The Supreme Being crucified?

And how does the crucifixion of the Supreme Being save mankind from its sins?

What sins, anyway?

This is total baloney.

This is a silly fairy tale that for 2000 years millions of naïve and gullible people have allowed themselves to be brainwashed into believing.

“Give me a child at the age of seven and he is mine for life,” is a saying attributed to the Jesuits of the Catholic Church.

That is how the brainwashing starts for many of these credulous believers: “catch’em young” is the tactic.

Others in adult life, disappointed with their lot in the real world, the world of here and now, fantasize an imaginary afterworld in which a benign God, normally bearded, will sort them out.

If you point out the contradictions in, the illogicality of, and the lack of a scientific basis for their beliefs, they have a pat catch-all answer: “It’s a mystery.” Wonderful! Problem solved. QED.

This blog is democratic. This means that if someone believes that 2 and 2 equal 5 or that the moon is made of green cheese, we accept that this is what they believe. However, it does not mean that we think that their view is reasonable.

For us it is a tragedy that, faced with the brevity of human existence and the nothingness that lies ahead, people should waste their time fabricating an imaginary future based on wish-fulfilment instead of focusing the whole of their energy on the here and now.

Readers interesting in pursuing this question further might like to check out an earlier blog by Antigone1984:

Our attitude towards religion

——–

You might perhaps care to view some of our earlier posts. For instance:

1. Why? or How? That is the question (3 Jan 2012)

2. Partitocracy v. Democracy (20 July 2012)

3. The shoddiest possible goods at the highest possible prices (2 Feb 2012)

4. Capitalism in practice (4 July 2012)

5.Ladder (21 June 2012)

6. A tale of two cities (1) (6 June 2012)

7. A tale of two cities (2) (7 June 2012)

8. Where’s the beef? Ontology and tinned meat (31 Jan 2012)