Dear Steve 3 quick interjections.
1) You will never find an ":Adi Dharmist" (??) knocking at your door, bugging you at an airport or selling / dumping you literature. Adi Dharm does not proselytise .. period. My own occasional statements on this mailing list are only to test whether "your" models work with "our" data / beliefs. Just FYI, Adi Dharm does not have priests (or popes) or their analogues, no "churches", no holy books, no prophets (or prophesies), etc. etc. 2) In Adi Dharm you are allowed to consume anything. In turn we believe that all life exists to be consumed. Nothing which has/had "life" is inedible, but nobody is forcing you to consume anything either. PS: Coconut 'feni' is an amazing liquid if you can get the genuine (triple distilled) article. Sarbajit On 9/17/12, Steve Smith <sasm...@swcp.com> wrote: > I am closer in age/experience to Nick/Eric than the presumed youth > generation in question but am also, myself, more a "None" than an > "Athiest". > > It is not (in my case) that I have too many other things going on > (though I do have plenty), it is rather, that I'm not a joiner. Perhaps > I "would not be a member of any club that would have me", but more to > the point, I have always found even the most *inclusive* clubs to be > *exclusive* at the end of the day. I took a short run at attending the > Los Alamos "Universal Unitarians" only to find that the binding feature > was "more tolerant than though" and I frankly could not tolerate that > kind of intolerance! Ultimately clubs are not defined by what you > believe in but defined by what you don't. Or in the case of > MonoTheistic religions, it may seem that belief in their "one true GOD" > is the defining factor, it is really the complement... that you are > excluded by lack of belief in their God/Prophet/GravenImage/etc. > > In the case of Athiesm... I was drawn to it the first time I heard of > it.. *I* wanted to belong to a club whose definition was the *lack* of > belief in "One True God" but it didn't take long for me to discover that > the existing "card carrying Athiests" also defined their "club" in the > exclusive... to wit, you had to firmly (and vehemenently) *disbelieve* > in any and all Gods to keep your good standing. Card carrying Athiests, > when confronted with the likes of me had to force-fit me into the club > of "Agnostics" because if I wasn't as anti-God as they were then I must > be a wishy washy fence-sitter (e.g. Agnostic). > > These distinctions may seem subtle, but they are very real for me. > > I share what I understand to be Doug's position regarding Religion only > not so strongly... and occasionally (only when Doug writes or speaks on > the topic) suspect him of being a proselyte from the Reformed Church of > Cynicism. As with the Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, Sikhs, Musims > and Adi Dharmists, I am much more inclined to let card-carrying Cynics > through my door to try to complete my conversion (as I do have and > express sympathies with all the above Religions from time to time) if > they are also carrying a nice bottle of Whiskey, Bourbon, Gin or Tequila > to lubricate the conversation. > > Oddly, only a very few proselytes of any religion seem to allow or the > ingestion of strong spirits (poisoning the body, mind, soul?). This is > what draws me most perhaps to "the modern Cynics" (as opposed to the > classical version with which I think I have even more affinity in their > pursuit of "Virtue in alignment with Nature"). If I were a true child > of the sixties, I would perhaps require them to be carrying some > yet-more-toxic and mystical-experience-inducing substances... but I'm not. > > It all started perhaps when I refused a draft card, now it is tamer as I > refuse the AARP card I suppose, but the principle holds. I only wish > I'd had the temerity to refuse the Social Security card. > > - Steve ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
