Why do people keep celebrating Catholic saints and assuming I would want to, as well?
Fuck Patrick. He wasn't even Irish.
I like him more then.
Fair but not the point. We are a prickly lot.
For many years, I wanted to find a true orthodoxy taht would make sense of everything. Many suggested Catholicism. It never worked.
The old gods have done better, in part because they did not promise to abolish the rules I know as real, and therefore, were more believable all along...
If you say so. Myself, I find no need for gods at all. Clearly, you have different needs. Such is your cross to bear, I guess.
I would not deny myself any of the pleasures of life.
I'm getting a strong sadomasochist vibe from you right now but I'm also not one to kinkshame.
That said, I do dispute the implied contention that there is, ultimately, pleasure or benefit to self-deception and/or delusion. At the very least, I would contend that there are far less harmful and stupid ways to go about it.
Somewhat obviously, I do not think it is self-deception. If there is a divinity to life, however, I prefer to see it in terms of the amoral older gods instead of the modern moralistic ones!
Yes, that's how self-deception works. Frankly, though, I'm less concerned with how you deceive yourself than I am with your unwitting attempts to deceive others.
Yes, I understand that you are likely to claim you haven't done that but, once again, that's what "unwitting" means.
Truth doesn't depend upon what you think is a choice of a lesser evil.
I do not think it is a case of a "lesser evil."
One simply makes more sense than others.
We can always be accused of being unaware, but then, there are reasons for the things that some of us think.
Even if we are not fond of organized Abrahamic religion.
Your second sentence contradicts your first. This comes as no surprise to me. And my point still stands.
Invent all the reasons you like, the proposition fails on the face of it.
And again, your fondness or lack thereof has no bearing whatsoever upon what is true or not.
Lesser evil is a binary, saying that one option is better than others is not this argument.
"...Many suggested Catholicism. It never worked.
The old gods have done better..."
YOU initiated the binary, not me.
It's clear, though, that you have no interest whatsoever in coherence, rationality, or even engaging in just the most basic of intellectual honesty. And I have no interest in engaging with someone like that.
You are dismissed as beneath me.
Go fuck your hat. I can't be any clearer.
Also, get over yourself.
@torq
Actually, your claim followed a general claim that I am engaged in "self-deception."
This attacked the idea of belief itself, which you seem to view as a binary.
If you stick around, we talk about some interesting options for interpreting religion, but if it is somehow triggering, I would definitely mute me and avoid it.