GinohnNews

G: Oh, boy, I need to start taking notes during the week. I can't remember a thing we did over last weekend. We went to see Dan Hart Friday night, and we're hoping that won't be the last time. But he and his wife may move away.

So, the Weekly Wunderland News is going to biweekly. John decided with that move that we should make our official update day on the weekend, since that is when we seem to be able to get it finished anyway. So, starting with this entry, you can wait until Wednesday to bother checking in on us for the previous Sunday's news.

I've been taking my free yoga classes. I'm really enjoying them. I took an intermediate class that was nice and challenging. My hips were sore for a couple of days after that. The teacher mentioned another place she teaches where they also have an organic pick-your-own blueberry farm. I wanted to go, but not really drive there alone since it was 1/2 hour away. I wanted to make it more social instead of driving by myself for an hour, so I called up Izolda and she was free and agreed to go.

We had a lot of fun, the blueberries were huge and delicious. We sang Jonathan Coulton songs as we picked, when we weren't chatting. Then we went to Trader Joe's on the way home.

Friday night there were a few options of places to go and people to see, but we ended up just staying home and Chris came into town and Kory came over, and later Alex and Renee. Petra and Izolda were potentially coming too but they never did. Rich ended up at our house too, later. We watched a few minutes of Leno because a performer from the Renn Fair that Rich is friends with was on doing a stunt in a segment called "Don't Try This At Home."

Well, this news is getting out very late, so sorry if I left something interesting out, but it's time to stop.

J: Brick invited me to a baseball game, and I took Rich along. I didn't realize until after the game that it was Rich's first major league game (he's seen a lot of minor league games). It was a good one—Nats vs Detroit—it had a tense ending with practically the whole stadium on their feet through the last inning. Welcome to the Bigs, Rich!

J: On Jun 10, 2007, at 2:35 PM, Daniel wrote:

Hi,

Hi, Daniel! Sorry it took me so long to write back. You did get me thinking. :)

I tried to understand apatheism but I just can't.

That's OK, it was mostly satirical. My own feelings of apatheism stem from atheism (at least regarding the dogmatic gods out there), and this apatheism admittedly falls apart when I contemplate the kinds of gods that might really exist.

If there is a god who created you and the whole world, doesn't it matter?

Depends on the type of god we're talking about. I'm not really apathetic to the philosophical notion that there might be a god out there. But when it comes to the religious descriptions of "common" gods emerging from our long history of superstitious, non-critical thinking (not to mention the effects of psilocybin mushrooms on our ancestors), I must confess I'm quite a bit apathetic and jaded. The major religions don't seriously examine this topic, despite the gravely serious attitudes their followers adopt while killing each other over fairy tales. Their gods tend to oscillate between bearded old guys in clouds and extra-dimensional aliens with strange, contradictory lists of human taboos and punishments. It's these gods that I'm uninterested in, just as I'm uninterested in Santa Claus.

Shouldn't you feel obligated to him, if he does exist? Nevermind if he does exist or not, but is not this an important issue?

It is like not caring whether you have a father or not, is it not?

That's a good analogy, but you should throw in the fact that this supposed father you are talking about has remained entirely detached, if he's still around. He's living in another country and hasn't sent you a dime, or shown any real interest in your life. A phone call would be nice, but the best you get is a one-way call, and you don't even know if someone's listening on the other side. People tell you he cares about you, and they say he leaves signs of his love for you, but it's all hearsay. If he's as rich and powerful as they say, he should take the next flight over. I can see how some people might still wonder about, believe in, or even worship such a god, but I'm uninterested. I certainly don't feel obligated, and I don't think such a god should expect anything from me.

Perhaps if I became convinced in the real honest-to-goodness existence of some mainstream religion's god, I'd be interested in him out of a sense of survival. But I don't think I'd be sincere in my worship. I'd certainly go through the motions and follow the rules to stay out of hell or whatever, but only from coercion. If such a god only wanted true worshipers who did not feel coerced, I'd be in deep trouble. Luckily I will never face such a problem, barring some amazing and highly unlikely evidence.

There are plenty of other kinds of gods—the impersonal don't-ask-don't-tell gods—that are much more likely to exist (though I have my strong doubts they exist either), but I would also feel no obligations to these gods, because they prefer to stay out of the picture anyway. I am interested in contemplating the nature of these kinds of gods, just as I am interested in contemplating other forms of extraterrestrial life. So that is where my apatheism disappears. Unfortunately (for me) most people are more interested in discussing the bearded guy in the clouds rather than the more plausible (to me) extra-dimensional alien sans any list of demands. I reserve apatheism for these situations.

Searching for the creator of this universe (whether it be intelligent or not) sounds great, and I'm not apathetic toward that search. Seriously contemplating the existence of various gods of the Bible, Koran, Rigveda, Tanakh, Principia, etc. does not sound interesting anymore, and I'd rather leave that to others.

Thanks for your thoughts!

:-j