Kalyn’s Kitchen: Strawberries RomanofARF/5-A-Day
Array-ne
I began this week thinking about Sam Harris’ critique of religion. I suggested we take Harris seriously insofar as he is a goad to get us to think afresh about the light and dark sides of religious belief. This week I’ve painted the dark side and now I want to start working toward a positive response to Harris. I want to begin with the greatest American psychologist, William James.A lot of philosophers are ambivalent about James’ legacy and pragmatism (James’ philosophy). But in my area of research–the psychology of religion–James remains a towering figure. This influence is mainly through his book THE VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE.Looking back on our last few posts I want to use some of James’ approach in VARIETIES to deal with this question of belief.A common theme in my last four posts is the role of certainty in belief. One way to look at Harris’ critique is his complaint that religious fundamentalists are certain that they know something that non-believers do not. Further, in my post on moral conviction we saw how holding moral convictions can create group hostilities. Recall from that post that moral convictions are experienced as facts about the world. Again we see the role of certainty here. Further still, in my post on evil, we saw how, once people get moral justifications on their side, they can do some pretty horrible things. Not because they are evil, but because they are certain that they have good reasons for their behavior. Particularly if they start to feel victimized. Finally, we saw in my last post that people who hold different convictions other than my own are considered infrahumans. For example, perhaps these people don’t see the moral facts they way I do because they just aren’t as smart, or honest, or righteous as I am. That is, something must be wrong with those people.So, the way I see it, the root of the problem in religion is this conviction that I am in possession of the Truth. It is the certainty of religion that makes it dangerous.What I like about James’ pragmatism and the VARIETIES is his dismissal of very detailed metaphysical claims that can be known with any certainty. For example, what is the spiritual/metaphysical realm like? How many Gods are there? One, two, or a million? Are there angels? If so, how many? Are there demons? If so, what are their names? Is there a hell? If so, what exactly is it like? These questions roll on and on.What is problematic about religion is that there are people who, by reading a sacred book, claim to know IN GREAT DETAIL what that spiritual realm is like. Just like I can walk you through my house pointing out all the rooms, these people can take you on a tour of the metaphysical region as if they had lived there all their life.I have no problem with people BELIEVING the heavens are this way or that. But I do have problems with people claiming they KNOW how the heavens are configured. First, how can they know this? Second, once they KNOW, all the dark things of religion start to surface: I can kill/hate/dismiss you in THIS world because I know you’ve run afoul of how THAT world mandates life to be.My point is, none of us knows, with absolute certainty, how the spiritual realm is configured. And that lack of knowledge should make us humble.How does the VARIETIES fit into all of this? Well, in the VARIETIES James takes as his data the mystical experiences of religious people. The VARIETIES is mainly James’ categorization and analysis of religious mystical experience.I like James’ focus on mysticism because that is all I think we can claim as religious believers. Our faith is not built on personal tours of heaven and hell. No one I know has been on that side of the veil. No, all we get are encounters and hints. We get mystical experiences. I don’t mean having visions or hearing God’s voice, although that can be a part of it. For most of us the religious experience is just a feeling we’ve had, maybe only once in our life, that gave us the unmistakable feeling that something is out there. Almost every believer I know roots their faith in this kind of experiential substrate. They have sensed something. They haven’t seen it first-hand, but they think they have bumped into it. In the words of T.S. Eliot:These are only hints and guesses,Hints followed by guesses
-ne DVDs: Hustle & flowEquilibriumElizabethtownThe ice harvestRaising HelenIn her shoesKinseyBrokeback mountainHarry Potter and the goblet of fire Books: The island / Heather Graham â A slice of paradise in the turquoise waters of southern Florida, the island is a lush, breathtaking sanctuary. Clay and the few desperate survivors who join him suddenly find themselves in the pitch-black night of civilization’s darkest age, Marley & me: life and love with the world’s worst dog / John Grogan â John and Jenny were just beginning their life together. The kindness of strangers / Katrina Kittle â On a quiet street in the suburban Midwest, a popular, seemingly stable family keeps a terrible, dark secret behind closed doors — a secret that will have life-changing consequences for all who know them Night / Elie Wiesel â Night is Elie Wieselâs masterpiece, a candid, horrific, and deeply poignant autobiographical account of his survival as a teenager in the Nazi death camps. Christopher Lowell’s seven layers of organization: unclutter your home, unclutter your life / Christopher Lowell â Lowell takes you through the organizing process step by step, breaking down each layer into simple tasks that anyone can make time to do. The end of faith: religion, terror, and the future of reason / Sam Harris â An impassioned plea for reason in a world divided by faith.This important and timely book delivers a startling analysis of the clash of faith and reason in today’s world. the complete guide to sailing and racingdinghies, catamarans and cruisers / Jeremy Evans Under sail : equipment for the serious sailor / edited by Tony Meisel âThe sailor’s world / Beiser, ArthurLabels: books, dvds, kids, new
link
Thanks for having the rest of these clowns, well minus Dad and Neil, that would be just weird. I love ya Mom,Happy Mother’s Day!
link
This was delicious, but through the years I developed a preference for mixing the brown sugar and sour cream together and mixing it with the cut strawberries.Now that I’m not eating much sugar, I use Splenda Brown Sugar blend to make this and it’s delicious. I don’t like Splenda in large amounts, but in this dish I think the blend which combines Splenda with brown sugar gives the best of both worlds.Strawberries Romanof(4 small servings)1 pound fresh strawberries1/2 cup sour cream1 T Splenda Brown Sugar Blend, or 2 T brown sugar (or to taste, depending on how sweet you like it)Be sure to buy the reddest and ripest strawberries you can find for best flavor.
link
Array-ne
I began this week thinking about Sam Harris’ critique of religion. I suggested we take Harris seriously insofar as he is a goad to get us to think afresh about the light and dark sides of religious belief. This week I’ve painted the dark side and now I want to start working toward a positive response to Harris. I want to begin with the greatest American psychologist, William James.A lot of philosophers are ambivalent about James’ legacy and pragmatism (James’ philosophy). But in my area of research–the psychology of religion–James remains a towering figure. This influence is mainly through his book THE VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE.Looking back on our last few posts I want to use some of James’ approach in VARIETIES to deal with this question of belief.A common theme in my last four posts is the role of certainty in belief. One way to look at Harris’ critique is his complaint that religious fundamentalists are certain that they know something that non-believers do not. Further, in my post on moral conviction we saw how holding moral convictions can create group hostilities. Recall from that post that moral convictions are experienced as facts about the world. Again we see the role of certainty here. Further still, in my post on evil, we saw how, once people get moral justifications on their side, they can do some pretty horrible things. Not because they are evil, but because they are certain that they have good reasons for their behavior. Particularly if they start to feel victimized. Finally, we saw in my last post that people who hold different convictions other than my own are considered infrahumans. For example, perhaps these people don’t see the moral facts they way I do because they just aren’t as smart, or honest, or righteous as I am. That is, something must be wrong with those people.So, the way I see it, the root of the problem in religion is this conviction that I am in possession of the Truth. It is the certainty of religion that makes it dangerous.What I like about James’ pragmatism and the VARIETIES is his dismissal of very detailed metaphysical claims that can be known with any certainty. For example, what is the spiritual/metaphysical realm like? How many Gods are there? One, two, or a million? Are there angels? If so, how many? Are there demons? If so, what are their names? Is there a hell? If so, what exactly is it like? These questions roll on and on.What is problematic about religion is that there are people who, by reading a sacred book, claim to know IN GREAT DETAIL what that spiritual realm is like. Just like I can walk you through my house pointing out all the rooms, these people can take you on a tour of the metaphysical region as if they had lived there all their life.I have no problem with people BELIEVING the heavens are this way or that. But I do have problems with people claiming they KNOW how the heavens are configured. First, how can they know this? Second, once they KNOW, all the dark things of religion start to surface: I can kill/hate/dismiss you in THIS world because I know you’ve run afoul of how THAT world mandates life to be.My point is, none of us knows, with absolute certainty, how the spiritual realm is configured. And that lack of knowledge should make us humble.How does the VARIETIES fit into all of this? Well, in the VARIETIES James takes as his data the mystical experiences of religious people. The VARIETIES is mainly James’ categorization and analysis of religious mystical experience.I like James’ focus on mysticism because that is all I think we can claim as religious believers. Our faith is not built on personal tours of heaven and hell. No one I know has been on that side of the veil. No, all we get are encounters and hints. We get mystical experiences. I don’t mean having visions or hearing God’s voice, although that can be a part of it. For most of us the religious experience is just a feeling we’ve had, maybe only once in our life, that gave us the unmistakable feeling that something is out there. Almost every believer I know roots their faith in this kind of experiential substrate. They have sensed something. They haven’t seen it first-hand, but they think they have bumped into it. In the words of T.S. Eliot:These are only hints and guesses,Hints followed by guesses
-ne DVDs: Hustle & flowEquilibriumElizabethtownThe ice harvestRaising HelenIn her shoesKinseyBrokeback mountainHarry Potter and the goblet of fire Books: The island / Heather Graham â A slice of paradise in the turquoise waters of southern Florida, the island is a lush, breathtaking sanctuary. Clay and the few desperate survivors who join him suddenly find themselves in the pitch-black night of civilization’s darkest age, Marley & me: life and love with the world’s worst dog / John Grogan â John and Jenny were just beginning their life together. The kindness of strangers / Katrina Kittle â On a quiet street in the suburban Midwest, a popular, seemingly stable family keeps a terrible, dark secret behind closed doors — a secret that will have life-changing consequences for all who know them Night / Elie Wiesel â Night is Elie Wieselâs masterpiece, a candid, horrific, and deeply poignant autobiographical account of his survival as a teenager in the Nazi death camps. Christopher Lowell’s seven layers of organization: unclutter your home, unclutter your life / Christopher Lowell â Lowell takes you through the organizing process step by step, breaking down each layer into simple tasks that anyone can make time to do. The end of faith: religion, terror, and the future of reason / Sam Harris â An impassioned plea for reason in a world divided by faith.This important and timely book delivers a startling analysis of the clash of faith and reason in today’s world. the complete guide to sailing and racingdinghies, catamarans and cruisers / Jeremy Evans Under sail : equipment for the serious sailor / edited by Tony Meisel âThe sailor’s world / Beiser, ArthurLabels: books, dvds, kids, new
link
Thanks for having the rest of these clowns, well minus Dad and Neil, that would be just weird. I love ya Mom,Happy Mother’s Day!
link
This was delicious, but through the years I developed a preference for mixing the brown sugar and sour cream together and mixing it with the cut strawberries.Now that I’m not eating much sugar, I use Splenda Brown Sugar blend to make this and it’s delicious. I don’t like Splenda in large amounts, but in this dish I think the blend which combines Splenda with brown sugar gives the best of both worlds.Strawberries Romanof(4 small servings)1 pound fresh strawberries1/2 cup sour cream1 T Splenda Brown Sugar Blend, or 2 T brown sugar (or to taste, depending on how sweet you like it)Be sure to buy the reddest and ripest strawberries you can find for best flavor.
link