Excellent writing, Edg. Amen.
> > Eh, nope! His real problem is indulging in that aspect > of his personality that found rewards in being a Catholic. > Taking off the Catholicism mask is good, but he's still > all set up and ready to attach to some other dogma that > yields the same kinds of psychological profits. He'll > almost certain go into some sort of teaching or > counseling scenario. > > And that aspect (indulging: repetitively rerunning > beliefs that please one's ego) is bone deep and > entwined with virtually every other psychological > dynamic and cannot be rooted out without wholly > cutting asunder every sort of attachment -- the > pain of ripping out THOSE ROOTS is massive while > dropping "going to church, or being a priest" is > a much easier accomplishment. > > If I have learned anything in life, it's that a > concept has little power, but the daily iterations > of brain processes that symbolize our attachments > -- now that's a potent method for hardwiring one's > brain to produce a personality that, because it > reprocesses with regularity, creates the illusion > of "personality continuity" in our moment by > moment existence. And the ego loves its mirror. > > You can take the guy out of the country, but try > to take the country out of the guy -- that's > fucking hard. > > It's like giving up salt after a lifetime of > sprinkling salt on everything -- suddenly nothing > can please one's taste buds which need to be > entirely recalibrated by a life of OTHER kinds > of processing that are iterated with as much > frequency and over as many years as the "use of > salt" entailed. One has to get used to saltlessness > when one is eating potato chips. Giving up salt is > easy; giving it up for every mouthful of food for > the rest of your life is hard. > > That's why Turq ran away from America. It was > like quitting Catholicism; and now, every day, he > has to get up and define himself as an expat to > his neo-society -- that daily grind, for years, > will turn him into a non-American, but it's a > close race between him and death. My bet is that > there's not enough time left in his life to really > saturate himself with expat-ness enough to drown > out and dilute his American parts. > > Funnily enough, Turq's posts here would be recognized > by most of the world as "from an American." He's > proud that he's anointed himself with the moniker > of "free to do whatever the fuck I want to do cuz I > got money and skills, so take your dogmas and shove > 'em up your puritanical asses." > > Try wearing that mask openly in most societies of the > world. Only in his tourist areas etc. can Turq pull > off that kind of anarchy and remain reasonably safe > from physical attack -- he'd not be accepted into any > society if they really knew him as well as we here have > come to know him and grasp that he's out to wreck havoc > on any belief. > > The priest has a long long long way to go before he's > not a priest. > > Edg >
