Re: virus: Religion, Zen, post-structuralism, and the failure

John ''!Boolean'' Williams (prefect@tricon.net)
Wed, 11 Jun 1997 23:45:49 -0400

At 01:39 AM 6/12/96 -0500, you wrote:
>John ''Storm of Drones'' Williams wrote:
>
>> >Intolerant of poor ideas, perhaps, but never of the people that hold them.
>>
>> When does that bleed over? Identity is profoundly bound to ideas,
>> especially religious ones. When you attack the concept of "faith," you are
>> attacking something that people hold personally, not just intellectually.
>
>As I see it, this is what the entire discussion is about. David holds
>rationality close to his heart and is unwilling to part with it.

I can respect that.

>Both
>level 3 and Post-Structuralism, as you've explained it, are about
>removing our identity from the ideas and beleifs that we hold.

Eeeeeeeugh. Sorta. Post-Structuralism, at least, would insist that there is
*no* way to remove our identity from the ideas and beliefs we hold. Even if
we try to, or pretend to change [lingo-change] meme-sets, we're always
going to have that *core* of beliefs and interpretations that we'll never
affect.

[Warning! Uncompleted thought follows!]

To a certain extent, that's why I feel it's wrong to convert people. If
they're memed to it, they'll convert themselves. Otherwise, it's a rude
personal attack on someone's identity.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Williams ICQ Address: 1213689 prefect@tricon.net
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
"See my loafers? Former gophers!"
Various Artists: Raising the Tide of Mediocrity for Two Years
http://www.3wave.com/~prefect/