What I Am Reading

Dear Lucy,
I have just started reading, "The Irrational Atheist", by Vox Day. Here's an excerpt from Amazon:

A perceptive examination of modern day atheism, this book challenges the
argument that religion and reason are fundamentally at odds—a contention made by
three prominent scholars on atheism: Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Sam
Harris. While other religious apologetics have challenged atheism on theological
or biblical grounds, this book fights fire with fire, disproving the scholars'
logic through modern, secular reason. Rigorously documented and supported by
hard factual data, this careful analysis is critical reading for any religious
person seeking to rebut the assertions of new atheists and essential information
for any open-minded atheist who wants his beliefs to stand on firm ground.

I stumbled upon this book while looking up Dawkins on the library catalogue. Figure I might as well get this guy's argument as well.

I hope it is an interesting read.

--Kathy

Indian Technology

Dear Lucy,
If you're ever in India and can't seem to get that call through to the takeout place, this may be why...

--Kathy

Dear Lucy,
Got to talking to a friend on the phone last night and drank a few too many.
Today's my day off so I guess it's ok.
Only problem is, there are carpenters right outside my bedroom window replacing railings on the balconies above me.
I awoke to hammering, sawing, drilling...at first I thought it was my hangover.
Never again. Oh, I always say that!

--Kathy

Stuff

Dear Lucy,
Every day I get a Daily Dharma email. This one really hit home:

August 17, 2010
Tricycle Daily Dharma

Taking Responsibility for
our Actions

Surely one of the main problems we face, as a species and as
a planet, is that we are lying in our own excrement. All the waste products
produced by our consumption, from garbage and debris to chemical toxins and
exotic poisons, are oozing out of us and soiling the environment we inhabit. And
what the Buddha says about everything else surely applies here: Nothing happens
without a cause. Things are the way they are not because of chance or the will
of a deity but because people have acted in particular ways and generated
particular consequences. The world we inhabit is the product of our actions,
which are themselves reflections of our minds....

If we do not care for
one another, who else will care for us? Who among us has the right to say of
another, “He is of no use to us?” For better or worse, whether we like it or
not, we are all in this together. Learning how to care for one another is a
central part of the path and of the practice.

- Andrew Olendzki,
"Medicine for the World"

As a society and as a country we live as though we are entitled to owning lots of stuff. How did this happen?
Go in to a Christian book store and there is a Bible version for every type of person on the planet (except gays of course).
Check out a Buddhist magazine and you will find page after page of glossy ads for meditation supplies and new books on how to simplify your life!
Any religion. Any political party. Any race. We all want stuff.
Is it any wonder we are so gluttonous a country that we will go to war, essentially, to protect our ability to collect and dispose of stuff?

--Kathy

The Job World

Dear Lucy,
Haven't heard a thing from those Pucker-stringed-melon-sucking-vampiric corporate yahoohs yet.
Of course, they move at glacial speed so I may be ready for retirement before I hear from them.
No, I believe I have to go before his majesty the general manager and grovel first. I will have to swear on all I believe is holy (the list of which shortens by the day), that I shall neither cuss, swear, or raise my voice, I shall keep my demonesque tattoos covered and I shall not leave my beloved position regardless of rain, wind or dark of night...or a family problem.
I shall then have to swear fealty to the Mormon religion, confess that men are superior to women, and if I haven't gone out and thrown myself in front of a moving bus, go back into the corporate world of cubicles, air-conditioning, one-hour lunches and Christmas parties.
God, am I depressed...

--Kathy