It was a night.

I tried and failed and sometimes succeeded.

I can't remember fireworks like tonight having only ever experienced the dull family playground variety and one other magnificent display sponsored by the city's government but in partnership with the city's acid scene. 

This one was clear and sweet, with Alex, on the beach, separated from the crowds and the cold by a poncho-blanket. The cliched spectacle proved as innovative as the experiment. The work of other artists is as good or better without my filters and imaginings than with them. Except I never quite trust that it will be so. It's as if I need to be shocked into paying attention.

Tonight, by my own assessment, I rambled and snapped, put in my opinion  where it was rude to do so, grew bored when I should have been alert and, ultimately, never stopped being either unabashedly self-absorbed or sneakily so. I failed and failed and failed and failed. But I never stopped trying to be in better spirits nor to think with charity about everyone and everything I saw. 

In this I surely failed as well, for no secret judgement is quite as hidden away as it seems to be to those of us poking against anonymity, and I must hatch or be boiled.

Pretense, pretense, pretense! 

I will boil myself in vats of pretense in a vain attempt to hatch a pure creature.

This too (and this) is pretense.

I don't even have the wherewithal to know if my metaphor is mixed.

Goodnight.

You have to come up with a moral statement made, or a moral action performed by a believer or a person of faith, that could not have been uttered...

You have to come up with a moral statement made, or a moral action performed by a believer or a person of faith, that could not have been uttered by an unbeliever.


littleoutrage (19 hours ago) Show Hide

I didn't know where to send my response to Christopher Hitchens' challenge: Name me an ethical statement made or an action performed by a believer that could not have been made or performed by a non-believer. This seems like as good a place as any.

littleoutrage (19 hours ago) Show Hide

...
I once watched a documentary about a family who had been very religious but, through the torturous, all but church sanctioned molestation of their little girl at the hands of a priest, had rebelled from Catholicism. The father of the family was beyond furious or depressed or outraged and he, despite what he had believed and taught his children to believe, 'sinned' against God and against God's representatives on earth by daring to blame them.

littleoutrage (19 hours ago) Show Hide

I'm not sure if he continues to believe in heaven and hell or not but this man, out of a clear moral compunction, has, in the minds of many and possibly in his own mind, sentenced himself to hell and damnation for the sake of real justice, real morality.

Giving up God out of a sense of moral outrage is an an ethical statement made or an action performed by a believer that could not have been made or performed by a non-believer.

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AlliedRecords (7 hours ago) Show Hide

"Giving up God out of a sense of moral outrage is an an ethical statement made or an action performed by a believer that could not have been made or performed by a non-believer. "

Sure it can. I'm a non-believer and I reject Catholocism on the same grounds. You said he rebelled against the church. That doesn't mean he "gave up God"
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littleoutrage (6 minutes ago) Show Hide

As a non-believer, you don't think of yourself blaspheming against the church or against God because you don't believe in sin. To your mind, your fate is the same whether you blaspheme or not. At least, that's how it is for me, as a non-believer.

This man seems to have believed in sin and yet expressed hatred for the church and anger at God. In his mind, he ran the risk of sentencing himself to eternal damnation (that's the moral action in a moral statement)

littleoutrage (3 minutes ago) Show Hide

Cursing a God you believe in him is a different moral action than cursing a gawd you don't believe in. When I say 'fuck God, fuck the fucking church, fuck the pope', I haven't committed treason in my own mind. When a Catholic says ''fuck God, fuck the fucking church, fuck the pope', (I may be paraphrasing a little) siding with his daughter rather than the gatekeepers of heaven, his action is morally superior to me although I might be the saner.

littleoutrage (10 minutes ago) Show Hide

Purpose by DOS

Welcome to Purpose. Please read and answer the following questions carefully.

Please select "e" for externally driven purpose.
Please select "i" for internally driven purpose.
e
Is God or many gods in the vicinity? y/n
m
You have selected "m". You have selected an incorrect key.
Is there a God in the vicinity? y/n
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
You have selected "mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm". You have selected an incorrect key.
Is there a God in the vicinity? y/n
n
Can you create a God with the materials at hand? y/n
n
Are you alive? y/n
y
Why are you alive?
You suck.
You have insulted me!
Why are you alive?
fuck you.
You sound angry. Perhaps you should calm down.
Why are you alive?
ADSFLKAHWEFIOOWEIA
I'm sorry, I don't understand "ADSFLKAHWEFIOOWEIA".
Why are you alive?
Because of sunshine and fucking.
You sound angry. Perhaps you should calm down.
Why are you alive?
because of sunshine and sexual intercourse.
Is sunshine and sexual intercourse God? y/n
y
Purpose found:
Your God's name is Sunshine Sexual Intercourse.
Sunshine Sexual Intercourse created you.
When Sunshine Sexual Intercourse is angry with you, bad things happen.
When Sunshine Sexual Intercourse is happy with you, good things happen.

Please enjoy your purpose.
r
........................................................................

Purpose:

Welcome to Purpose. Please read and answer the following questions carefully.

Please select "e" for externally driven purpose.
Please select "i" for internally driven purpose.
e
Is God or many gods in the vicinity? y/n
y
Is there one God? y/n
y
Who are the followers of this God?
losers
Are you one of losers? y/n
n
Can you kill losers? y/n
y
The God of losers is not really God.
You can find the true God by killing losers.
Save progress?
y/n
y
Have you killed losers? y/n
n
Have you killed losers? y/n
y
You are stronger than losers.
The god of losers is not really God.
Your God created you and you defeated the god of losers.
Your God is stronger than the God of losers.
Your God favors you above the losers.
When your God is happy with you, good things happen.

Have you destroyed all of the enemies of your God? y/n
n
Who is the enemy of your God?
you
The God of you is not really God.
You can make God happy with you by killing you.
Save progress?
y/n
n
Have you killed you? y/n
y
You are stronger than you.
The god of you is not really God.
Your God created you and you defeated the god of you.
Your God is stronger than the God of you.
Your God favors you above the God of you.
When your God is happy with you, good things happen.
y
Are there others who do not know your God? y/n
y
The people who do not know your God should know your God.
Have you told those you do not know your God about your God? y/n
y
Have the people who do not know your God come to worship your God? y/n
n
The god or gods of the people who do not know your God is not really God.
You can make God happy with you by killing the people who do not worship your God.
Save progress?
y/n
y
Can you kill the people who do not know your God? y/n
n
Purpose found: protect the sacred lands of your God.

Please enjoy your purpose.
r
........................................................................

Welcome to Purpose. Please read and answer the following questions carefully.

Please select "e" for externally driven purpose.
Please select "i" for internally driven purpose.
i
Purpose found: internally driven purpose.


Please enjoy your purpose.

It is true, what they say, that everyone can write. Not everyone can write well though, and no one can write well without practice. Consider this:

Vanessa was a genius. She knew this because she felt it in herself and because no one had yet contradicted the notion to her satisfaction. Long after her death, generations would argue over the relative merits of her particular genius, but eventually, after a short period of disrepute, her various words and sayings would resonate with, perhaps, the children of her grandchildren. I dear readers, am that genius.

Sad, isn't it?