By: The Gay Recluse

The Gay Recluse — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 01:46:56 +0000

Hey Jim V, thanks for the comment. I completely agree with you about Brooks’ bogus notion of faith, but I don’t disagree with his notion that there is something “deeper” in the world that is often obscured by our collective/manic focus on…politics, entertainment, science, whatever. I personally believe in what might be called “the will” (Schopenhauer) or “the unconscious” (Jung) — as opposed to “god” or “faith” — which I think does a lot to explain the world around us in ways that quantitative science can never do (I’m definitely not an atheist in this respect!). Thus, I think Brooks is correct to ask the question, but wrong to the extent he suggest we look outward instead of inward. If that makes sense.

By: James van Maanen

James van Maanen — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:58:10 +0000

Hey, TGR–
I usually love your thoughts on the NYT Opinion page, but this time: whoops. I don’t read David Brooks much anymore because his ideas turn my stomach. But because you liked something he’d written earlier in the month, I took the trouble to read his “Oh, wasn’t it wonderful in the olden days when knights were bold and folk had religion!” What a crock. This is just more of his ususal obscuring what’s going one with blather about “faith.” I admit that I hold no religious faith, nor will I ever (My kind of intelligent design is Physics and the other sciences). But I really can’t abide Mr. Brooks, who rah-rahed for this current ludicrous war yet professes such faith. He’s a hypocrite, and columns such as yesterday’s will do their part in turning attention away from what is going on in order to get folk back to a kind of lame-brained “faith.” What he is syaing here is: Look up to the sky and see not what is there but some illusion you have that will make you feel better and thus ignore what your leaders are doing. Get over it!
–Jim V.

Comments on: On the Opinion Page: April 22, 2008

By: The Gay Recluse

By: James van Maanen