The title of this blogpost is derived from Kurt Vonnegut's "The Sirens of Titan" quote: "He respected what his son was trying to do with religion.” (Which is discussed more in detail in a podcast episode below!)
For reasons, I like the structure of this quote. The use of the word “respect”, the acknowledgement that religion can be a tool to achieve more, to reach more. And I’ll get back to this topic, after I let you know what’s been up.
I’m in New Hampshire right now. In a small home that looks almost like a cabin. And to the right, there are smooth hills but even more trees. And I’ve realized the importance of walls.
See, there are no walls dividing the small home and so if my father is watching ABC News, you better believe the information is seeping into my ears too. So I use these semi-noise-cancelling headphones and play soft piano music. Which is somehow making it all worse.1
But. Zooming out, junior year of university has ended. People are in all sorts of places but dorms. The unleashing of useful beasts has arrived!! aNd So On.
Here’s a video of the third year.
You know, I meant to type on this blog so many times that each week I had newly thought out titles for a potential post. One of them was “Approaching Crescendo”. —Because of final exams and goodbyes and so on. And it’s a blessing to call that stuff chaos. It might be chaotic, but less severe, and more wanted.
Anyway, this last spring semester has felt useful.
But the sense comes retrospectively. Today, in conversation with the neighbors of this small cabin, who took me out to two hikes, I cited knowledge from three of my courses. High deductible health plans and value-based payment systems, cyanobacteria and The Great Oxidation Event, and Bacillus pumilus and its UV resistance.
So perhaps that is the Indicator of Retention (IR haha). If you can use it in conversations not just so that its there, naked and squirming, but to speak more about experience, so it’s like crawling and singing.
On one of our hikes, the neighbors and I spoke of religion. About a new one I hadn’t heard of. But it makes total sense. Unitarian Universalism (UU).
A faith that was once liberal Christian tradition, but now alone and inclusive of all religion. UU is characterized by “no shared creed”, one that “encourages you to seek your own spiritual path.”2 To sum it all, the neighbors spoke about preaching Love.
Vonnegut, in all four of the books I’ve read of his, speaks about religion in each one. In the one I’m currently reading, "Cat’s Cradle”, the religion is deemed “Bokononism” which decrees that everything is meant to happen for a reason:
As a Bokononist, of course, I would have agreed gaily to go anywhere anyone suggested. As Bokonon says, ‘Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.’
Busy, busy, busy, is what we Bokononists whisper whenever we think of how complicated and unpredictable the machinery of life really is.
As it happened — “As it was supposed to happen,” Bokonon would say.
Bokononism seems legit. It was relied upon for a pacific outlook on a series of unfortunate events.
Anywise, I’m not religious and I’m not sure I am spiritual.
Maybe not yet. Maybe not forever.
But it’s nice to see what’s being done with religion.
I respect what we all do with the things we have created.
And speaking of creation. My friend and I made a podcast episode on Sirens of Titan’s memorable quotes:
here are the quotes, and we discuss some of them.
Thank you for reading. I hope wherever you are, you are showered by sunlight, pleasant teas, and three hugs.
Best,
Hishi :)
I can hear human fingers press each piano key which I feel is not normal.
https://www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe,
https://www.starrkingfellowship.org/what-is-uu
unlike a weatherman, you never miss.