A justified existence

For a while I justified my existence by aiming to create a wee blogpost every other day. But there was slippage and the output is now a story every four days (see below).

2013 – 199 posts = 3.8 per week = 0.54 per day

2014 – 128 posts = 2.5 per week = 0.35 per day

2015 – 107 posts = 2.1 per week = 0.29 per day

2016 – 61 so far = 1.7 per week = 0.25 per day

But the averages hide the fact that the collection includes both relatively long and short stories. And the longer stories took several days to write. I recognise that quality is more important than quantity and that it is harder to comment on.

There seems to be an issue about justifying my existence. My family, natal community, and broader culture are rooted in the Protestant work ethic where the devil finds work for idle hands. The existential cop out of having blind ‘faith’ in various myths and magic is no longer acceptable. 

The European Enlightenment embraced materialism, rationality and science. The Eastern Enlightenment recommended that you meditate and work out your salvation with diligence.

Key thinkers and thoughts include:

Lao Tzu (604 – 531BC) “The reality that can be described is not the real reality.”

The Buddha (about 500BC) “Work out your salvation with diligence.”

Martin Luther (1483 – 1546)

John Calvin (1509 – 1564)

John Knox (1513 – 1572

Justification, in Christian theology, is God's act of removing the guilt and penalty of sin while at the same time declaring a sinner righteous through Christ's atoning sacrifice. In Protestantism, righteousness from God is viewed as being credited to the sinner's account through faith alone, without works.

The Protestant Reformation, often referred to simply as the Reformation was a schism from the Roman Catholic Church initiated by Martin Luther and continued by other early Protestant Reformers in 16th century Europe. (1517 – 1648)

Max Weber (1864 – 1920)

Weber is best known for his thesis combining economic sociology and the sociology of religion, elaborated in his book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, in which he proposed that ascetic Protestantism was one of the major "elective affinities" associated with the rise in the Western world of market-driven capitalism and the rational-legal nation-state. He argued that it was in the basic tenets of Protestantism to boost capitalism. Thus, it can be said that the spirit of capitalism is inherent to Protestant religious values.

Pascal Boyer  (2002) Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought is a book by cognitive anthropologist Pascal Boyer that discusses the evolutionary psychology of religion and evolutionary origin of religions.

So there are contributions from Theology, Sociology, Economics, Anthropology, Evolutionary Psychology, Neurology. 

A couple of good reads systematically covering the range of myth and magic associated with this theme include:

Huston Smith (1919 – xxx) is a religious studies scholar in the United States. His book The World's Religions has sold over two million copies and remains a popular introduction to comparative religion

Joseph John Campbell (1904 - 1987) was an American mythologist, writer and lecturer, best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work covers many aspects of the human experience. His philosophy is often summarized by his phrase: "Follow your bliss."

But, given the insights of modern thinking, most of the myth and magic stuff can be junked. The new truth and reality comes from evolutionary psychology linked to neuroscience with some mindfulness meditation thrown in.

I spend most of my time getting to grips with the new thinking both as an academic discipline and as a daily practice. I write (non-egoically) about what is found to be lurking in my brain and I post the stories on my blog which presently attracts 38 page views per day from all round the world.

A justified existence?