3 posts tagged “religion”

So it's really a talented young actress playing a character for a commercial for a band called The Bastard Fairies, but that doesn't diminish the truthiness of it. Blaming video games and music for societal problems is an easy cop-out and a tactic that shouldn't be worth the credibility it usually receives from society at large.

Unfortunately, we're all looking for easy targets. (Including some rather cheap shots at mainstream religion in this very commercial.) Admitting that society is fucked up because of other more complicated and less easily pinpointed factors just doesn't get you any airtime. The easy answer trumps the right one any day of the week.

(Via StumbleVideo on the Nintendo Wii.)

Now, as I've gotten older, I try not to define myself by what I don't believe. I think that's a fruitless enterprise. We should define ourselves by what we do believe in.

I let my subscription to Salon.com lapse and already I'm regretting it. I just finished reading a wonderful interview with Michael Shermer, the founder of the Skeptics Society. Titled "The joys of life without God", Shermer speculates on faith, belief and their role in human nature and society.

Even if the title already put you off, I strongly suggest you give it a read. We all struggle to keep an open mind, especially when religion and politics are concerned.

To me, that's what it means to be spiritual -- what makes your spine tingle. It's what gives you a sense of awe and wonder and transcendence. It doesn't matter to me if you call it God or the cosmos. We're all talking about the same thing, whether it's religious people or New Age spiritual people or Buddhists or scientists. We're all talking about having a sense of awe and wonder at something grander than ourselves.

Coming soon: a series of entries on what I believe.