At AX (that’s Anime Expo, not Armani Exchange) a few days ago, I bought myself the cutest little murderous monster ever. And I started thinking about why I like the fake religion of Cthulhu (see this treatise to prove I’m not the only one thinking about this in a vaguely serious manner). As stated in [...]

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While in Church recently, I remembered that, as I began to feel that I didn’t really believe, I left out the bits of the Nicene Creed that I didn’t actually believe. I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t even start the Creed anymore when it gets to that part of Mass (the only responses [...]

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Sorry this is late…. – Attend a city council meeting. Extra credit: say something. – Write your senator or congressperson to thank them for a vote that you liked, berate them for a vote you didn’t, ask them to vote a certain way on an upcoming vote, or all of the above. Note that typed [...]

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this is one I need to do more often! – Sit in a quiet place where you can be alone for a while. The bath is a nice, soothing place to start, a church or temple, your regular meditation spot, or bed. – Think of someone you love wholly & deeply: a child, a spouse, [...]

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I tried this experiment on Sunday during silent worship. I started with the word “gift” and tossed it into the shallow waters of my mind like an anchor. Occasionally I drifted far enough away that the line grew taut and I remembered my focus: “gift.” I turned this word over and over in my mind [...]

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It figures. Finals loom, so I not only go and get myself a new hobby, I get myself a whole ‘nother life. Enter Second Life. Second Life is a huge virtual world (inspired by Snow Crash, Miko). But let me say this first: IT IS NOT A GAME. It’s part gigantic graphical chat room and [...]

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Humans are pattern-seeking animals.¬† Get fixated on something: hexagons, conspiracies, the Hand of God, and you begin to see it everywhere.¬† As a religious studies scholar who specializes in ritual, I see ritual everywhere: at Starbucks, in the vegan dietary code, when the boss says, “I want to see you in my office” without telling [...]

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Today’s challenge is straight out of the book (Astonish Yourself: 101 Experiments in the Philosophy of Everyday Life) that inspired my Weekly Challenge series (This one is #72 in the book). So try it out. Smile at a stranger (ideally, this will be the entire interaction with this person). Maybe this won’t be much of [...]

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This post is intended for those of us who are shocked and grieved by the Virginia Tech killings but who do not know anyone at the school. I suspect that most of us didn’t know any of the victims (and I extend my heartfelt condolences if you did lose a friend or family member in [...]

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I am not Buddhist, except in the Japanese cultural sense, which involves a lot of incense and cute statues and little meditation.  Belief in karma, deities, salvation, etc., is optional.  That said, I get a lot of mileage from Buddhist concepts.  One of these is attachment. I use attachment to indicate those things that I [...]

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