Have you read any John Wu? His book Chinese Humanism and Christian Spirituality has some great essays on eastern/western spirituality. The Lao Tzu and Saint Therese one especially is π₯π₯
This was an absolute delight! Alienating and controversial topics are always a great time, especially when they are well defined. You talk about it all with such finesse that even if you donβt fully agree, it feels lovely to read. Your home altar is beautiful. And that El Greco painting. WOW.
Oh yeah, itβs a real one; Roger loved it, I believe had seen it in Toledo as a younger man and felt greatly affected by it. I donβt have a reproduction, but I do have some reproductions of other El Greco works; theyβre all compelling to me. And thank you for the kind words!!!
My wife and I rarely read each otherβs stuff. I donβt think it requires a big explanation. I donβt want to read a poll about it, but I suspect a lot of two-writer couples already know the other is nuts in really a neat way. So why ruin a good thing just for validating evidence?
I canβt believe I get to talk to you all the time! This post is like one of our conversations in written form so Iβm gonna print it out and keep it forever.
Parts of this connect to my own experience, other parts are very, very far from my experience and perspective, but I appreciate this as extremely well-presented in an important way.
I've seen the suggestion that, when approaching difficult or controversial subjects that it can be more productive to not approach it as an attempt at persuasion-- trying to convince other people of your beliefs-- and instead say, "here is what works for me, and if you are interested in hearing more about why I have found this perspective helpful I can share more."
Iβm at Costco so I will be to the point: I think youβre a good person and would be even if you werenβt weighed down by doubt. Even without mustache. Or long philosophical ramblings. Just a solid dude.
Lovely essay. I am no one to come to for advice on relationships, but if a marriage can be seen as a living thing, maybe it's a good idea not to try too hard to take it apart to see how it works.
π―π―π―π―π―π― We did couples therapy a few times during a hard patch and both left one day feeling like: tinkering with this is a mistake lmfao! It wasnβt without its value, but broadly: itβs not a system to be optimized IMO!
I think you've comprehensively dealt with relationships. It's alchemy. I consider myself lucky if anyone is prepared to accompany me even part way along the path, and I've learned to try not to question why.
As far as religion is concerned I too used to think that our very capacity to contemplate the existence of God indicated that there must be a supreme being. Unlike you I ended up atheist, but I see a lot of merit in Buddhist teachings.
Thanks for another very relatable post. I always find them helpful.
Relationships are so mysterious that I shouldβve said that they too make me feel epistemologically open! Also: I appreciate that you shared your atheism; I know itβs sometimes awkward to register that sort of difference, but I think itβs lovely and for the good to be straightforwardly honest about where the same things have led us, and e.g. for other readers Iβm glad to have a demonstration here in the comments that all the same inputs can lead to different conclusions. Kundera has a great line about how non-tribal atheism and non-tribal credence are closer to one another than either is to the sorts of intense group projection dynamics that characterize many adherents of both!
Dude brilliant! I call myself a woo-adjacent atheist so Iβm the question of βall of nothingβ I guess I land on all, including the claim that there is no god.
Also love your thoughts on marriage. I feel that applies to me and my wife as well, but itβs not a view that gets much press nowadays. Love that line of the modern conception of βreification of best friends with benefitsβ. But yeah, I definitely feel a little self conscious about that too. But maybe a little fear is good so we donβt complacent about the state of play at home.
I feel very self-conscious about it; itβs like a semi-magical and definitely delicate little mechanism, like a complex watch built in the heart or something, and even talking about it feels like it could break it!!!
Thanks for the great comment Justus! Always great to hear from you.
Mills, as I was reading through your description of religious beliefs, I wished you could sit down for an in-depth converstation with our friend Ellis Potter (his background is in theology, philosophy, music, and art). He is a descendant of Charles Wesley, and while he grew up Christian, he felt that "Christians cared more about maintaining their religious subculture, than looking for answers to questions and exploring deep connections" that were of great interest to him. After exploring many religions (he was a Zen Buddhist monk for several years), he ended up converting to Christianity under Francis Schaeffer at L'Abri in Switzerland. For the last four decades, he has been speaking and teaching internationally on worldviews, exploring how the major worldviews have profoundly different consequences for how we see everyday reality, hope, and the purpose of our lives. My husband Peco served as editor for his books, and I think you might appreciate
Everything you and Peco have written and shared has been so outstanding and life-improving that Iβm ordering both of these right now, and Iβll have a chat with anyone, anytime! I canβt promise that theyβll enjoy it, but I know I always do!
That mini-biography is of course extremely relatable!
The 3 Theories is part of "The Universe that Hopes" so need to order both. I think you'll appreciate Ellis' approach; it is unlike any other Christian thinker that I have encountered. His interview biography (Staggering Along With God) is also worth a read and entails the most fascinating encounters including Paranamba Yogananda, the Pope, and an Italian train companion who sang the whole of Rigoletto (we even get a mention too:).
Never had a sense about ghosts, but wouldn't reject the possibility! I find most "theories of ghosts" βthat is, the implications and overall frame of mind that people who believe in themβ pretty underdeveloped / hard to assess, but that's not damning to me.
I have absolutely no idea what is happening with UFOs lmfao. Open to anything, but if you put a gun to my head, I've lately had the paranoid belief that the elites know we're dying out here with our dead-ass incoherent "materialism" and they're hoping to crack the vault of the sky open for the common people with controlled leaks about what may be something, may be nothing, may be their own damned skunkworks shit!
I FUCKING LOVE YOU
Seconded.
> I have often found claims I believe within Hinduism...
was it "don't have a cow, man"?
lmfao first and foremost! an old sage told me: yes, Brahman is Atman; but Bartman is above this.
Man I love that Simon Weil quote LOLβ¦.
Have you read any John Wu? His book Chinese Humanism and Christian Spirituality has some great essays on eastern/western spirituality. The Lao Tzu and Saint Therese one especially is π₯π₯
Oh and I already love Therese! Snagging at once!!!
This was an absolute delight! Alienating and controversial topics are always a great time, especially when they are well defined. You talk about it all with such finesse that even if you donβt fully agree, it feels lovely to read. Your home altar is beautiful. And that El Greco painting. WOW.
Oh yeah, itβs a real one; Roger loved it, I believe had seen it in Toledo as a younger man and felt greatly affected by it. I donβt have a reproduction, but I do have some reproductions of other El Greco works; theyβre all compelling to me. And thank you for the kind words!!!
My wife and I rarely read each otherβs stuff. I donβt think it requires a big explanation. I donβt want to read a poll about it, but I suspect a lot of two-writer couples already know the other is nuts in really a neat way. So why ruin a good thing just for validating evidence?
hahahahaha very well put; I wouldnβt trust a poll anyway: too many people want to perform an ideal, even when answering some silly poll!
I canβt believe I get to talk to you all the time! This post is like one of our conversations in written form so Iβm gonna print it out and keep it forever.
I feel very lucky to know someone who can and will talk about this stuff with me; a lot of this stuff I literally worked out in those chats!
Parts of this connect to my own experience, other parts are very, very far from my experience and perspective, but I appreciate this as extremely well-presented in an important way.
I've seen the suggestion that, when approaching difficult or controversial subjects that it can be more productive to not approach it as an attempt at persuasion-- trying to convince other people of your beliefs-- and instead say, "here is what works for me, and if you are interested in hearing more about why I have found this perspective helpful I can share more."
This post is a great example.
Iβm at Costco so I will be to the point: I think youβre a good person and would be even if you werenβt weighed down by doubt. Even without mustache. Or long philosophical ramblings. Just a solid dude.
Some really beautiful thinking in here, Mills.
Lovely essay. I am no one to come to for advice on relationships, but if a marriage can be seen as a living thing, maybe it's a good idea not to try too hard to take it apart to see how it works.
π―π―π―π―π―π― We did couples therapy a few times during a hard patch and both left one day feeling like: tinkering with this is a mistake lmfao! It wasnβt without its value, but broadly: itβs not a system to be optimized IMO!
I think you've comprehensively dealt with relationships. It's alchemy. I consider myself lucky if anyone is prepared to accompany me even part way along the path, and I've learned to try not to question why.
As far as religion is concerned I too used to think that our very capacity to contemplate the existence of God indicated that there must be a supreme being. Unlike you I ended up atheist, but I see a lot of merit in Buddhist teachings.
Thanks for another very relatable post. I always find them helpful.
Relationships are so mysterious that I shouldβve said that they too make me feel epistemologically open! Also: I appreciate that you shared your atheism; I know itβs sometimes awkward to register that sort of difference, but I think itβs lovely and for the good to be straightforwardly honest about where the same things have led us, and e.g. for other readers Iβm glad to have a demonstration here in the comments that all the same inputs can lead to different conclusions. Kundera has a great line about how non-tribal atheism and non-tribal credence are closer to one another than either is to the sorts of intense group projection dynamics that characterize many adherents of both!
Dude brilliant! I call myself a woo-adjacent atheist so Iβm the question of βall of nothingβ I guess I land on all, including the claim that there is no god.
Also love your thoughts on marriage. I feel that applies to me and my wife as well, but itβs not a view that gets much press nowadays. Love that line of the modern conception of βreification of best friends with benefitsβ. But yeah, I definitely feel a little self conscious about that too. But maybe a little fear is good so we donβt complacent about the state of play at home.
I feel very self-conscious about it; itβs like a semi-magical and definitely delicate little mechanism, like a complex watch built in the heart or something, and even talking about it feels like it could break it!!!
Thanks for the great comment Justus! Always great to hear from you.
Thanks Mills for sharing so personally and profoundly. Shorts eaten...
Mills, as I was reading through your description of religious beliefs, I wished you could sit down for an in-depth converstation with our friend Ellis Potter (his background is in theology, philosophy, music, and art). He is a descendant of Charles Wesley, and while he grew up Christian, he felt that "Christians cared more about maintaining their religious subculture, than looking for answers to questions and exploring deep connections" that were of great interest to him. After exploring many religions (he was a Zen Buddhist monk for several years), he ended up converting to Christianity under Francis Schaeffer at L'Abri in Switzerland. For the last four decades, he has been speaking and teaching internationally on worldviews, exploring how the major worldviews have profoundly different consequences for how we see everyday reality, hope, and the purpose of our lives. My husband Peco served as editor for his books, and I think you might appreciate
3 Theories of Everything https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13432505-3-theories-of-everything or the newly released "A Universe That Hopes" (which is a compilation of all his books).
Everything you and Peco have written and shared has been so outstanding and life-improving that Iβm ordering both of these right now, and Iβll have a chat with anyone, anytime! I canβt promise that theyβll enjoy it, but I know I always do!
That mini-biography is of course extremely relatable!
The 3 Theories is part of "The Universe that Hopes" so need to order both. I think you'll appreciate Ellis' approach; it is unlike any other Christian thinker that I have encountered. His interview biography (Staggering Along With God) is also worth a read and entails the most fascinating encounters including Paranamba Yogananda, the Pope, and an Italian train companion who sang the whole of Rigoletto (we even get a mention too:).
I loved this description of marriage! It resonates with my experience.
How do you feel about ghosts and UFOs?
Never had a sense about ghosts, but wouldn't reject the possibility! I find most "theories of ghosts" βthat is, the implications and overall frame of mind that people who believe in themβ pretty underdeveloped / hard to assess, but that's not damning to me.
I have absolutely no idea what is happening with UFOs lmfao. Open to anything, but if you put a gun to my head, I've lately had the paranoid belief that the elites know we're dying out here with our dead-ass incoherent "materialism" and they're hoping to crack the vault of the sky open for the common people with controlled leaks about what may be something, may be nothing, may be their own damned skunkworks shit!