Reboot

Today, we went to Kenwood Methodist to meet the preacher in order to set up a baptism for Elinor. My own views on religion have become something of anti-authoritarian lore, but Pastor Dan seems like a pretty cool dude.

On the ride there, Katy pulled up his background. Undergrad at VT and grad work in theology at Boston College. I asked what he did to get assigned to a church in Hanover, VA.

During the meeting, I found myself trying to figure out why I had such an "escape velocity" reaction to religion after being brought up in the church. After the recent back-and-forth with others on anarchist appeals to capitalism, I realized a common thread.

Both my reaction to religion and my reaction to work have the unmistakable correlation between having to do something and ending up hating it. I hate work because I have to do it to continue a comfortable but supremely wasteful capitalist life. Similarly, my inverse relationship to religion has a very strong root in having to go as a kid.

It doesn't stop there. I hate doing yard work because I had to do it as a kid. I hated school because I had to go. So, a surefire way for me to end up hating something is to make me think I have to do it. That doesn't mean my reaction is at all rational. Or warranted. Damn, I kinda liked being a bit self-righteous.

One of the questions Pastor Dan had was how we would raise them in a "Christian" home. I Since the thoughts above had been wandering through my head, I responded that my intention was to tell them the honest story of my own experience with religion and to let them make their own decision when they reach the age of reason.  Just being honest.

Then, I realized something. I don't hate religion. Or religious people. If I give in to that, that's buying into the tired us vs. them mentality that is being peddled all too easily in this country. It's bullshit, and it's bad for ya. We've lost all sense of community in our country. Sweeping generalizations don't work in any situation. Surprisingly, one of the baptismal liturgy entries just had to be something straight out of an anarchist pamphlet, about "fighting oppression and injustice wherever they exist." How could I not enjoy a phrase like that? It seems the church has evolved a bit since I attended Sunday school.

Another reason I can no longer unilaterally condemn religion is that extreme viewpoints are never the correct ones, even ones that I am so tempted to take on my own. Yes, yes, one of the best things we can realize is that we are wrong. On almost any issue, the truth lies between two extremes. People get sucked into extreme positions too easily, and thanks to the way our brains work, we seek out only those who agree with us, and react defensively to any data or opinion that challenges our "beliefs." I can say that I hate extremist religion of any kind.  But a disdain for extremism certainly isn't limited to religion.

In the same way I can condemn political extremism of any sort. The state of politics in this country is an extremely unfortunate result of political extremism. I don't feel the need to belabor this point, since it is being made, well, everywhere else.

Even scientists get sucked into extremist points of view. You'll find no dearth of scientists willing to blow off any point of view counter to the consensus scientific view. How is this different than taking a literal interpretation of the Bible? At that point, you're no different than religious fundamentalists. The scientific community is not immune to the failings of other human institutions. Just look at how many major discoveries went years after the death of their discoverers before being officially recognized, and you can draw parallels between religious and scientific institutions. An institution based on the scientific method should not be so quick to condemn data counter to currently-accepted theories, that's all.

It seems fewer and fewer people are centrists, and more and more are heading to the extremes, deluding themselves into thinking that their side has the right answer.

Where's all this going? I don't know. Introspection is a great thing. Too bad life in these United States no longer provides enough time for most to do it. Every once in a while, though, I get a fleeting chance to try and figure out what makes me me. A bit of it was happened upon today. Upon further inspection, I guess I have a pretty juvenile response to authority. But I don't mind being juvenile. Part of it is being naive enough to think that there's a better way. I know I'm definitely too lazy, by a wide, wide, wide margin, to implement any reforms or make any real difference in the world around me. I've never been a follow-through, details kind of guy. I like thinking, musing, brainstorming, but nose to the grindstone, following through? Not my thing at all. Guess I'll have another post on that at some point.

More and more, it seems that society is thrashing about, fervently trying to defy entropy as the civilization around us decays away. People seem busier than ever juggling their work, home, social media, gadgets, hobbies, etc., but are they really accomplishing anything? I know I'm not. Not really. Again, the lazy thing. My reaction to the worldly state of affairs is getting more and more apathetic. It's at the point where I really don't want to know what's going on out there. Reminds me of the Green Mile, where John explains that being able to feel how ugly everyone is to one another keeps him in constant pain. The election, the constant scandals, the hyper-dissemination of every random hyperbolic viewpoint at the speed of light. It's overwhelming. When we're at my parent's house, we are often bemoaning the lack of high-speed internet access. Perhaps we should be celebrating it instead? Do we really need more media overloading our puny human brains? I'm writing this when the wi-fi has been killed because I don't want the transmitter active near my newborn. Maybe I will get around to posting it tomorrow, maybe not. Does it matter? No. Wow, I keep learning things today. It's 00:59. Elinor will be up soon to have another bottle, so it's probably best if I end the braindump here. Ah, this post veers most garbled and veers most verbose.

But I do have to say that today I had a few experiences in meatspace that I didn't expect. One was going to a meeting with a preacher and having the conversation make me think, and having that thought trigger all this, which I have truly enjoyed writing.

The other one was Ryan rolling over and saying "I love you, Daddy" before falling asleep. So even I have to admit, for now, life is pretty damn good.

:)