Philosophy
As we move into the Christian season of lent, it raises an interesting question. During lent, Christians live a more modest lifestyle giving up particular pleasures. Other religions also set aside times where certain physical needs are left unmet to create an experience of want. Muslims have Ramadan where for a month they do not eat at all during the day and Jews have Passover where for a week they give up any food that does not give you constipation. The idea behind it seems to be that you can't appreciate the air condition unless you spend time in the heat. Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder.
My question is, is that true? Do we really need to lose something, or at least do without it, to appreciate it? If we were thoughtful enough, could we appreciate what we have while still having it? Does life give you a lens such that the normal becomes invisible and you have to put yourself in unusual circumstances to focus on it?
- Sexualized Nerds
I've been reading Daniel Boyardin's book Unheroic conduct: The Rise of Heterosexuality and the Invention of the Jewish Man. He argues that our contemporary picture of sexuality arises from the Christian division of masculinity during the...
- Something Borrowed, Something Lent
Ash Wednesday is a good time to think about cultural practices that we engage in without thinking. If we as a society decided to give up something for Lent, what would be a good thing on which to declare a 40-day moratorium? What would we as a culture...
- An Honest Question To Christian Readers
The week before Christmas, I was outside of a grocery store that had a sale on holiday hams. It struck me as odd that the birth of someone who was Jewish would be regularly celebrated by His followers with something that was not kosher, clearly forbidden...
- The Virtue Of Without
The idea behind Lent is that there is something cleansing, something virtuous about self-deprivation. The question is what? Is it the ability to empathize with the suffering of others? If someone can afford X -- which s/he really enjoys -- and opts to...
- Colbert Celebrates Lent By Giving Up Catholicism
A couple of days ago you may have seen a bunch of people walking around with dirt on their foreheads: they were Catholics and the dirt was really ash in the shape of a cross pressed against their foreheads by someone who's probably implicated, or...
Philosophy
Nothing Borrowed, Nothing Lent
As we move into the Christian season of lent, it raises an interesting question. During lent, Christians live a more modest lifestyle giving up particular pleasures. Other religions also set aside times where certain physical needs are left unmet to create an experience of want. Muslims have Ramadan where for a month they do not eat at all during the day and Jews have Passover where for a week they give up any food that does not give you constipation. The idea behind it seems to be that you can't appreciate the air condition unless you spend time in the heat. Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder.
My question is, is that true? Do we really need to lose something, or at least do without it, to appreciate it? If we were thoughtful enough, could we appreciate what we have while still having it? Does life give you a lens such that the normal becomes invisible and you have to put yourself in unusual circumstances to focus on it?
- Sexualized Nerds
I've been reading Daniel Boyardin's book Unheroic conduct: The Rise of Heterosexuality and the Invention of the Jewish Man. He argues that our contemporary picture of sexuality arises from the Christian division of masculinity during the...
- Something Borrowed, Something Lent
Ash Wednesday is a good time to think about cultural practices that we engage in without thinking. If we as a society decided to give up something for Lent, what would be a good thing on which to declare a 40-day moratorium? What would we as a culture...
- An Honest Question To Christian Readers
The week before Christmas, I was outside of a grocery store that had a sale on holiday hams. It struck me as odd that the birth of someone who was Jewish would be regularly celebrated by His followers with something that was not kosher, clearly forbidden...
- The Virtue Of Without
The idea behind Lent is that there is something cleansing, something virtuous about self-deprivation. The question is what? Is it the ability to empathize with the suffering of others? If someone can afford X -- which s/he really enjoys -- and opts to...
- Colbert Celebrates Lent By Giving Up Catholicism
A couple of days ago you may have seen a bunch of people walking around with dirt on their foreheads: they were Catholics and the dirt was really ash in the shape of a cross pressed against their foreheads by someone who's probably implicated, or...