This blog is the first of many artifacts I will create with the purpose of aligning myself to some kind of higher aspiration. I am an atheist - that is, I do not believe in a deity, although I have not strictly speaking ruled the possibility of one out. I was a Christian, once, and considered myself relatively devout. Although on the whole I think I am better off having shed those beliefs, I do miss the sense of elevated importance, cause, and commitment to ideals. I have absorbed a great many facts about psychology, human neuro-biology, and religion, may of which I am sure I will get to in later posts, but something that strikes me are the benefits being religious offers. It seems that if the individual believes strongly that they serve a useful role in a larger social organization, they are healthier, happier, and live longer. Also, being religious seems to give you an extra boost of willpower. Finally, religion offers most practitioners a deep identification with something that approaches eternity, which gives them a way to accept their inevitable deaths. Being adequately religious is not a necessary condition for any of these, or even all of these together, but it does seem sufficient.
I am not entirely certain what I want to accomplish with this, but if sustained it would probably develop into a broad philosophical framework which may give people like myself a way to find "spirituality" in the combination profound meaning and deep emotion (but not in the belief of a metaphysical plane of existence). The endeavor should consist of 3 parts, which are separate but not sequential stages. The first is mastery of the body, which includes the traditional physical fitness as well as a concentration on mental fitness. This will most likely be the subject of my next post. The second is a gathering, sorting, and distilling of information scientific, philosophic, and religious in nature. My knowledge of belief-traditions and history is woefully inadequate, and it would be folly to begin a philosophical construction of this sort without first surveying the attempts by past cultures. Finally, throughout this process I wish to maintain awareness of the meta-process. How am I approaching this task? What beliefs or prejudices do my decisions reflect? Is the claimed intent for some decision being fulfilled, or being subverted to another, unconscious desire?
I hope that formalizing my goals in this way and possibly giving them small audience will help me make these goals more real, for I fear my will to achieve them is fickle.
Expect future posts to discuss topics as broad as physical fitness, nutrition, psychology, current events, history, and classic literature.
