This explains a lot about me.

[the_fantastic_ms_fox]

Growing up, it seemed that it was only a matter of time until the world would be just. Poverty, gender roles, war and so on were bad and we in my United-Church-attending family were part of the movement towards building a world where contemporary social injustice would be a memory as dim as serfdom. Thus, I felt that I had an obligation to do my part in bringing about the promised utopia. The greater the part, the better a person I was.

                               I was born in 1980. My parents had moved from Michigan to Alberta to Kelowna.

I still believe that as far as Leftist/Christian millenialism goes, "an era of resounding social justice where there will be no need for churches because the inherent love in all acts will be the most sincere form of worship" is a far healthier goal-vision than either "global bloody revolution from which a just order will arise... somehow" or "virtuous people being teleported away, before the arrival of Seven-Eyed Goats illuminated by the light of burning homosexuals."

But what of it? Let's assume that this grand era is actually at hand and I can be a part of bringing it about. Am I to then do nothing but to grind down my mind, body and soul in the struggle to bring about a new order?

I tried that - or I tried thinking like that - I could barely manage function let alone accomplish anything - which is a problem when everything needs to be fixed.

Then what?

A couple of gospel anecdotes spring to mind.
   One my grandfather favoured: Jesus is doing his tour and stops in at Martha and Mary's (a lot of women were named Mary). Martha (or is it Mary) is running around getting worked up and Mary wants to put her feet and and Martha is not impressed. Jesus, who is a  pretty busy guy one imagines, says "actually , a break would be nice."
    One Andrew Lloyd Webber favoured: Judas flips out at Jesus for spending money on foot oil instead of doing charity work and Jesus (whe is going to get nailed up in the near future) points out that there are always going to be poor people and we all need to chill out for a minute now and then.

The thing they don't really dwell on in the Bible is that this Jesus character was 30 when he started causing trouble for The Man. I don't know what he did before then - maybe he picked up a few degrees and made furniture part-time. In either case, he had what I guess was an ordinary life except for the Messiah years. That's 3 out of 33, which is 9.1%.

                    (great - so first he's out as gender-questioning, now he's talking about Jesus... and math?)

I dream of Utopias, but the question I have is "if I lived there, what would I do?" Nothing would be broken. All work would be hobbies. Necessary hobbies: not world-changing, just world-sustaining. Assuming it could be done, could I work all my life to bring about a utopia, only to finish and find that there's no place for me there?

Injustice confuses me, ani I want the world to make sense. Elegance and joy astound me, and I want to hold them reliably. I think it's safe to say that there's a serious issue here. Maybe it's vanity mixed with love, or pride mixed with faith.

Besides, why should I sacrifice myself to help a species that seems 90% apathetic? So is it "I've got mine?" Is it "Other people don't want to help themselves, let alone the world: fuck 'em."

No. this doesn't sit right either. I like, no I love, making beautiful ideas real: I just don't like feeling guilty for being happy, or idle, or non-angry, or good in any way. I like screwing around and being useless some of the time, and any world worth living in (at least for me) should contain some slack.

This issue lies at the root of lot of things. I'm lucky; I'm priviledged: sometimes because of my own efforts, sometimes because of others' work, sometimes because someone was and/or is getting a shitty deal, other times for no reason whatsover. The first should be a matter of pride; the second, honour. The third? The people (or non-human sapients) in category three (if they're sensible) don't/won't care whether I'm guilty or not - they just want to be treated fairly - and I have an obligation (honour-debt?) to see to that. And the fourth? Well that's life.

So what do I do? Make beautiful ideas real I guess. And help people out when I can. But a lot of those beautiful ideas are of beautiful places: I want that Utopian soil under my feet. I want to make a whole place and live there. I want to play God, only better.

What sort of experience are they looknig for in applications for divinity?

Comments

[bloodykitty.livejournal.com]

you're awesome.

[hundun.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[kindelingboy.livejournal.com]

I hear they need a background in philosophy- hence my current status as student.

You and I share very similar goals. Whenever people ask what I want to do with my philosophy degree, I usually shrug and say it isn't about the job, it is about the experience and the journey.

But secretly, in the back of my mind I always say-

"Change the world."

[hundun.livejournal.com]

I'm interested in designing a culture.

[kindelingboy.livejournal.com]

I've been ruminating on basic principles with which to found my own beliefs and perhaps those of a more ideal society.

Our two goals seem similar.