Tag Archives: idols
Interview with the Prophet (Part 2)
Continued. When we left off, Zarathushtra was explaining his reasoning for enforcing morality with Heaven and Hell. Idol Chatter: Even if the punishment fits the crime and Hell has an end, don’t you think this kind of compensation for good behavior undermines our esteem of virtue itself? Zarathushtra: There is certainly that danger, but at [...]
Interview with the Prophet (Part 1)
I recently crossed paths with the legendary prophet Zarathushtra while hiking in the mountains behind my house, the Diablo Range. He and I swapped cell numbers, and he graciously consented to scheduling an interview. Idol Chatter: I’d like to begin by saying what a great honor it is to be granted an interview with the [...]
Zarathustra the Yes Man.
There is perhaps no message more essential to Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra than the whole-hearted affirmation of life as an individual experience. I am a blesser and a Yea-sayer, … into all abysses I carry my blessing Yea-saying. —Thus Spoke Zarathustra 3.4, Before Sunrise This affirmation of life as a whole appears to be the [...]
Also Sprach Herakleitos
Nietzsche’s choice of the Iranian (not necessarily Persian) prophet Zarathustra was far from arbitrary, and Nietzsche wanted us to know this. “I have not been asked, as I should have been asked, what the name of Zarathustra means in precisely my mouth, …” — Ecce Homo Though taking the title “the first immoralist,” Nietzsche did [...]
Last of the Starry-Eyed Orientalists
Since Iran deteriorated into Islamic fundamentalism in 1979, and the Ayatollahs resurfaced to rid Iran of unclean things such as infidels, heretics, and homosexuals, we haven’t heard much from the starry-eyed orientalist; that scholar who tires of the daunting empiricism, formal scientific process, excessive prosperity, and agnostic materialism of the West, and turns to the [...]
If you meet the Buddha on the Road …
Kill your idols (before they kill you). Here’s a shirt with some splendid irony. I might have to add it to my already excessive collection. All my Dylans have been chucked on the rag pile.
Consuming Christmas
Full size (at Flickr) Originally uploaded by positano Santa has had to live with a bad rap for as long as I can remember. In spite of the best of intentions and centuries of selfless service, he has been made into a symbol of rampant consumerism. Nevertheless, those of us who know him know that [...]
I am God, and so are you.
Agnostic Religion Only God exists; He is in all things, and all things are in Him. Sufi pantheism, as defined in a footnote to the Seven Valleys of Baha’u’llah We have previously considered that Islam’s strength is that it forbids idolatry, that is, associating partners with God, and that Islam’s weakness is that its object [...]
The Agnosticism Intrinsic to Monotheism
I recently wrote here about the strict monotheism of Muhammad. It occurred to me that the ultimate logical end of monotheism is free thought and tolerance; something of the sort that one might expect from a Unitarian congregation. In this sense, Islam is essentially a modern religion. Existentially, Islam seems quite primitive and barbaric, but [...]