Now that I’m done apologizing, let’s move on to more important things.  I just graduated, I’m headed to college in two months, and I don’t have a job for the summer.  Nobody wants to hire a teenager with minimal work experience for only the summer.  While, I didn’t have high hopes for employment this summer, it would be nice to have money in once I start school in the fall.  I’m a little bit broke.  Why did I want to go to a private college again?

Enough of that rant.  Back to summer.  I’m not a big fan of the hot weather this season brings, but I do enjoy all the time I have to read.  I recently (and by that I mean a few weeks ago) finished A.J. Jacobs’ The Year of of Living Biblically.  For those who have never heard of it, the book is an agnostic’s account of a full year of following the Bible as literally as possible.  Well, Jacobs actually had an upbringing in Judaism.  However, he describes himself as being “Jewish in the same way the Olive Garden is an Italian Restaurant.”  Since he had such a secular background, he wanted to try to fully immerse himself in religion, thus the literalistic lifestyle.

He adhered to rules even as seemingly absurd as refraining from wearing a “garment of cloth made of two kinds of stuff” (Leviticus 19:19).  Odd as this all sounds, much of the book was actually pretty serious.  Jacobs was surprisingly open-minded about his quest.  And as someone who isn’t religious, I can relate to a lot of his views.  I enjoyed reading about his eye-opening moments, about his progressions from agnosticism to belief and back again.  One of my favorite parts came from day 126:

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve taken not quite a leap of faith, but a cautious baby step of faith.  I’m not sure why.  I think it’s that the three-times-a-day prayers are working their mojo.

The point is, I don’t see the world as a collection of soulless quarks and neutrinos.  At times–not all the time, but sometimes–the entire world takes on a glow of sacredness, like someone has flipped on an unfathomably huge halogen lamp and made the universe softer, fuller, less menacing.

Anyway, I highly recommend the book to both theists and nontheists alike.  Jacobs’ writing style is easy to read, and there’s some humor in it too.  I’ve added another book of his, The Know-It-All (about his experience reading the encyclopedia), to my list.  But for now, I’m still working on my own biblical undertaking.

A few people I’ve told about this plan seem confused as to why I want to undertake this reading.  Well, why not?  In a country where more than 80% of the population is of Christian affiliation (and even higher in Missouri), I’m at a disadvantage if I don’t have any biblical knowledge.  It’s difficult for me to engage in an intelligent discussion on morality, theology or anything related to religion.  By reading the Bible, I’ll even out the playing field (not that it’s a competition).  This will, hopefully, open my mind and give me better understanding of many Americans’ views.  Additionally, I’ll be able to better comprehend literature with biblical allusions, which encompasses just about everything.

I’d appreciate anything encouragement you can offer; I don’t want to flake out on this! -M

In The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus states that “One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”  By saying this, Camus suggests that one can attain happiness if he is unaware of futility or misery in his life.

The quote was written by Camus in his essay The Myth of Sisyphus, which briefly outlines his philosophy by using Sisyphus as a metaphor.  In Greek mythology, Sisyphus is a creature sentenced to an eternity in Hades, continuously pushing a boulder up a mountain.  However, his attempts are futile, for the boulder only rolls back down the mountain as soon as it reaches the top.  The creature’s constant struggle and defeat represent Camus’ philosophy of absurdism.

Absurdism is based on man’s desire for significance and understanding, despite living a meaningless or miserable life.  Camus’ view is that worthlessness is only tragic when it is realized.  For example, today’s workers are often trapped in valueless lifestyles.  Nevertheless, they do not recognize that their life holds no significance in society.  Thus they have no reason to regret their lives, and they may find merit in their labor.

Similarly, Sisyphus will only be miserable if he sees the futility of his task.  One may assume Sisyphus would feel meaningless during his trudges back down the mountain, however the creature continues to make the ascent again after reaching the bottom each time.  This proves that he finds dignity, rather than vanity, in his endeavor.  Although Sisyphus will never succeed in bringing the boulder to rest at the top of the mountain, he never understands his failure, thus he does not feel miserable.  This is the primary absurdity in the myth.

The aforementioned quote allows an optimistic alternative to the absurdist view concerning Sisyphus’ fate.  One may achieve happiness by simply choosing so, if he is not conscious of misery in his life.  Sisyphus didn’t see the futility, so Camus merely gave the reader the choice of optimism.

It sounds awful at first, but I promise it’s great.  It’s cooler then, and I like that there aren’t people and/or cars out to see me running (for whatever reason, I hate that).  Actually, there are ZERO signs of life at that hour.  Seeing a single bird freaked me out, because everything else is still and quiet.

When I have more adventures, I’ll post them.  I’m sorry my life has been to boring to blog about lately (not the anyone would care to read it anyway…).

Love and stuff.

1. Fake to-do lists of Glenn Beck, Mel Gibson and Bristol Palin.  Pope Benedict’s is my favorite, by far.

2. I still have yet to see Toy Story 3, but apparently there are philosophical and neuroscientific aspects of the movie.  Who knew?!  I definitely want to see the movie more after reading this essay.

3. Because I’m mildly obsessed with the work of Sam Harris, here’s his talk at the Edge conference.

4. Hell, here’s the Edge’s New Science of Morality!

5. Not even a strict law can protect British girls from genital mutilation.

6. Jesus and Mo shifted gears with a grammar joke.

7. And back to the New Science of Morality…

There’s been a lot of talk lately about the building of a mosque two blocks away from Ground Zero.  Christians and Tea Partiers alike are calling the act insensitive and disrespectful (and not with perfect grammar, either).  However, I can’t help but think how much more disrespectful it would be to deny Muslim Americans their right to worship.  Not to mention, to deny would be unconstitutional.  The Free Exercise Clause of the first amendment specifically says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”  Regardless of whether any Muslims have ever wronged America, the United States has no right to deny the building of this mosque.

Nevertheless, it must be understood that Muslims are not at fault, and Americans’ resentment toward them is not justified.  Al-Qaeda, NOT Islam, is to blame for the September 11 attacks.  The two groups are not mutually exclusive, for al-Qaeda is made up of Muslim extremists.  But not all Muslims are extremists.  In fact, only a very small percentage of the Muslim population are extremists.  Even less are members of al-Qaeda.  Read a Muslim’s perspective here.

Many Americans like to point out that the Koran teaches the practice of Jihad, which in turn leads to merciless attacks on civilians.  This is a logical fallacy, because Christians around the world disapprove of the practice of slavery, even though the Bible (when taken literally) promotes it (Leviticus 25:44-46).  To let al-Qaeda’s actions represent those of more than one billion moderate Muslims around the world would be foolish and narrow-minded.  Imagine what the world view of Christianity would be if the Ku Klux Klan become powerful enough to go beyond the United States.  Personally, they make me want to resent the teachings of Christianity.  However, I know that the KKK represents only a very small part Christian America.  Is the same situation not unfolding here?  Has the reputation of Islam not been wrongfully tarnished by al-Qaeda’s acts of terrorism?

Similarly, the Catholic church has faced heat for covering up a sex scandal.  Young boys have been continuously raped by their own priests, yet the United States continues to allow Catholic schools across the nation.  Is this not putting more children in danger?  Is this not insulting the families of sexual abuse victims?  This is the exact same situation as what is currently happening in New York.

I know that I’m not always in support of religion.  I’ll admit that I often find it dangerous to the future of science, reason and rationality.  This case is an exception.  I firmly believe that by denying the Muslims the right to build this mosque (recently renamed Park51), right-wing Christians will only gain more strength.  Different faiths must be in balance, in order to maintain secularism in our government.

In defense of the first amendment, in defense of religious tolerance and in defense of secular civilization,  the mosque must be built.

I’d love to hear feedback and thoughts. -M.

Speaking of burqas (well, kind of…), the lower house of France’s government passed a ban on Tuesday.  I’m undecided on the issue.  I do believe that women should have freedom of expression, and the burqa ban would violate that fundamental freedom.  However, the rights of Muslim women have been suppressed throughout history.  I think this ban will open the eyes of many and ultimately bring the Islamic world one step closer to sexual equality.

…The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values, the latest book from best-selling author Sam Harris.  The book will be released on October 5 (exactly 82 days from now), and I cannot express in words how excited I am.

Speaking of Sam Harris, I just finished reading Letter to a Christian Nation.  I’ll eventually get around to posting some opinions about that.