Thread: What are you reading?

Originally Posted by AGap

that's just it, answering the why. and as much as I absolutely detest Hawg and everything he stands for, his reaction was actually mine at the beginning of the read. I was thinking oh brother, another atheist. but as I moved on with the reading I found how evil organized religion and the people who partake really is/are.

Read any Dante? Now that dude was a real church-basher.

Originally Posted by daveaitken18

Of course mate - my bad, i misunderstood your post.

Hitchens is a clever guy, and entertaining for cerebral types, but usually people make the point they planned to make going into the affair. Rare is the one who can set belief at the threshold.

Anyone watch these? Pretty funny...



Sorry if this is P&R fodder.

Originally Posted by Thnikkaman

I think that Religion has the potential to poison everything, but it's man's choice to use it as a poison or not. For example, Westborough Baptist loves them some religious poison.

Any extreme ideology (religious or not) can poison. When the belief become more important than The Being(God) or beings(us), then it's the wrong way round and could be said to be a form of idolatory...but this belongs elsewhere really, so I shouldn't elaborate too much....

To things I am reading - I'm having a wholistic phase and dipping into several books, one on Mindfulness & meditation, another a forty day spiritual detox book as well as a book called "Living Simply".

Originally Posted by Sharkie

Any extreme ideology (religious or not) can poison. When the belief become more important than The Being(God) or beings(us), then it's the wrong way round and could be said to be a form of idolatory...but this belongs elsewhere really, so I shouldn't elaborate too much....

To things I am reading - I'm having a wholistic phase and dipping into several books, one on Mindfulness & meditation, another a forty day spiritual detox book as well as a book called "Living Simply".

Mindfulness living = happy living.

Incredibly simple yet powerful

Originally Posted by daveaitken18

Mindfulness living = happy living.

Incredibly simple yet powerful

It has a lot going for it.
I've been interested for years but not had quite the focus to apply myself.

Me, my Mum and sis are starting an 8 week course next week, Mindfulness for Health, so I'm hoping that gets me into it on a more regular basis.

Originally Posted by Hawgdriver

Read any Dante? Now that dude was a real church-basher.

I haven't. how much more of a church basher can one be though? Familiar with the name and association with the Inferno, was he the stages of hell guy? Voltaire is another one, but again, name only.

Originally Posted by AGap

I haven't. how much more of a church basher can one be though? Familiar with the name and association with the Inferno, was he the stages of hell guy? Voltaire is another one, but again, name only.

Voltaire has a philosophical dictionary available for free on kindle.

It's good to dip in and out of while on the toilet

Originally Posted by Sharkie

Any extreme ideology (religious or not) can poison. When the belief become more important than The Being(God) or beings(us), then it's the wrong way round and could be said to be a form of idolatory...but this belongs elsewhere really, so I shouldn't elaborate too much....

To things I am reading - I'm having a wholistic phase and dipping into several books, one on Mindfulness & meditation, another a forty day spiritual detox book as well as a book called "Living Simply".

Have you ever read any Thich Nhat Hanh?

If not, he has a bunch of books about mindfulness. Peace is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life and Living Buddha, Living Christ are both great.

Originally Posted by aberdien

Have you ever read any Thich Nhat Hanh?

If not, he has a bunch of books about mindfulness. Peace is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life and Living Buddha, Living Christ are both great.

Thanks for the recommendations. I love that guy. I follow a couple of blogs that have a lot of quotes from him and i've watched some stuff on Youtube, but not gotten round to reading any of his books.

Originally Posted by AGap

I haven't. how much more of a church basher can one be though? Familiar with the name and association with the Inferno, was he the stages of hell guy? Voltaire is another one, but again, name only.

He was the stages of hell guy.

He was more of a church basher because his work was more influential, more subversive, and came at a time when the scope of the Church's power was at its peak. And he was flat out good at it. TS Eliot claimed that Dante and Shakespeare "divide the modern world. There is no third."

For one thing, he wrote in Italian instead of Latin. Think about that. Latin was the language of the church. He spurred this movement.

He wrote when heresy was a capital offense.

He put three popes in the 8th circle of hell.

His guide through hell was Virgil, who penned one of my favorite quotes, "Discite iustitiam, moniti, et non temnere divos." This was a line from Virgil's Aeneid uttered by Phlegyas, who torched one of Apollo's temples after Apollo killed his daughter. Phlegyas, eternally sentenced to the (Greek) inferno, was condemned to keep shouting "Discite iustitiam, moniti, et non temnere divos"--I warn you, learn justice, and do not despise the gods. Virgil was fed up with the bullshit of Augustan Rome. It wasn't Virgil saying "do what's right" it was him saying "watch your ass." It is a subversive verse. The line certainly resonated with Dante, who wrote his works in exile at the hands of the pope.

 

Exile and death[edit]
Pope Boniface quickly dismissed the other delegates and asked Dante alone to remain in Rome. At the same time (November 1, 1301), Charles of Valois entered Florence with the Black Guelphs, who in the next six days destroyed much of the city and killed many of their enemies. A new Black Guelph government was installed, and Cante de' Gabrielli da Gubbio was appointed podestà of the city. In March 1302, Dante, along with the Gherardini family, was condemned to exile for two years and ordered to pay a large fine.[5] The poet was still in Rome where the Pope had "suggested" he stay, and was therefore considered an absconder. He did not pay the fine, in part because he believed he was not guilty and in part because all his assets in Florence had been seized by the Black Guelphs. He was condemned to perpetual exile, and if he returned to Florence without paying the fine, he could be burned at the stake. (The city council of Florence finally passed a motion rescinding Dante's sentence in June 2008.)[6]

Virgil's line was also a point of contention between Poe and Voltaire.

However, the story ends with a twist on behalf of injustice and the contempt of gods: indeed, Poe censures Voltaire for having intentionally mistranslated this verse in order to deny the Judaic origins of monotheism...

from http://www.studiolum.com/en/silva2.htm

Originally Posted by Hawgdriver

He was the stages of hell guy.

He was more of a church basher because his work was more influential, more subversive, and came at a time when the scope of the Church's power was at its peak. And he was flat out good at it. TS Eliot claimed that Dante and Shakespeare "divide the modern world. There is no third."

For one thing, he wrote in Italian instead of Latin. Think about that. Latin was the language of the church. He spurred this movement.

He wrote when heresy was a capital offense.

He put three popes in the 8th circle of hell.

His guide through hell was Virgil, who penned one of my favorite quotes, "Discite iustitiam, moniti, et non temnere divos." This was a line from Virgil's Aeneid uttered by Phlegyas, who torched one of Apollo's temples after Apollo killed his daughter. Phlegyas, eternally sentenced to the (Greek) inferno, was condemned to keep shouting "Discite iustitiam, moniti, et non temnere divos"--I warn you, learn justice, and do not despise the gods. Virgil was fed up with the bullshit of Augustan Rome. It wasn't Virgil saying "do what's right" it was him saying "watch your ass." It is a subversive verse. The line certainly resonated with Dante, who wrote his works in exile at the hands of the pope.

 

Virgil's line was also a point of contention between Poe and Voltaire.



from http://www.studiolum.com/en/silva2.htm

some courageous men for sure. I'll look into him. thanks Hawg

I had a hard time getting into it. But the history fascinates me. I appreciate the perspectives of the great thinkers. Like you, nut.

This is going to be a controversial book, but I certainly recommend it to everyone since there are so many great tools in this book that can help people in monogamous relationships:

http://www.amazon.com/More-Than-Two-...=more+than+two

Dracula - the original Bram Stoker novel. Never read it before, and I think its a legit classic. The writing is florid and Victorian, but that's not always a bad thing IMO

Just reread Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Half a Yellow Sun" and enjoyed it even more on the 2nd reading. It's set during the Biafran War.

I'm now reading Khaled Hosseini's "A Thousand Splendid Suns".

I seem to have a thing about books with Sun in the title it would appear!