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20090412

For a bunch of strange and unusual people, we're pretty genteel

OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets

Created by OnePlusYou -

Posted by Ben Varkentine

4 comments:

  1. Bartender4/12/09, 8:33 PM

    Ahhh...back in the days. Those were different times, sir.

    I could tell you stories... I take heart in the fact that appearances can be deceiving. After all, don't most serial killers keep respectable profiles?

    Has the gentleman given the Gematriculator a try?

    The Gematriculator is a service that uses the infallible methods of Gematria developed by Mr. Ivan Panin to determine how good or evil a web site or a text passage is.

    Last time I tried it, The Wulfshead got a ratting of 50% evil, 50% good, which is a it should be considering the club's long established tradition of neutrality in that regard.
    Creatures of light and darkness, sir...You don't see them--unless they want you too, sir. But they See you. Mostly, they don't bother anyone, and no-one bothers them.

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  2. Nausicaa4/12/09, 8:55 PM

    "Sometimes
    The Devil is a gentleman."

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  3. Nausicaa4/12/09, 9:07 PM

    So says Percy Bysshe Shelley, LOL.

    And so did Chris Hallman---and he should know:

    "During 10 months of research, Hallman met fundamentalist Christian wrestlers and dog-breeding monks; he joined the Church of Scientology, trekked Druid circles and talked with members of UFO cults. When asked to describe his hairiest experience, however, the conversation goes straight to hell."

    Chris Hallman’s book, "The Devil is a Gentleman" was published by Random House in May 2006.

    "The scariest moment was probably the first night I spent with the people from the Church of Satan," Hallman said, adding that his basement guest room was painted white and black and decorated with all sorts of satanic paraphernalia. "That was pretty creepy."

    Hallman’s quest was inspired by the 19th-century American philosopher William James’ work "The Varieties of Religious Experience." In his book, James explores the religious fringe groups of his day and draws some conclusions through an idea called "pragmatic truth."
    (...)
    In "The Devil is a Gentleman," Hallman weaves the stories of his religious exploration with the biography and ideas of James. Along the way, he not only helps the reader understand these sometimes "crazy" and "whacked out" groups, he also learns some things about himself.

    "I started out as kind of a typical academic, secular, intellectual skeptic," Hallman, a former Catholic, said. "But then you realize in the process of doing a book like this that even that is its own form of faith. Even secularism, even atheism is an unfalsifiable hypothesis so that you have a religion whether you want to or not."

    That realization led Hallman back to "theological square one," although he confesses to having become a disciple of James. The experience also has made him a more forgiving person, an idea usually associated with religion. "That doesn’t have to do with believing in God or the afterlife," Hallman said. "It just has to do with becoming a person who’s able to accept others, whoever they are."

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  4. Utah Savage4/12/09, 10:38 PM

    In my search for meaning when I was young and felt the need to find meaning in life, I read the James book. Which led me to Krishna Murti and a moment of peace and non-thinking and like Hallman, acceptance. But that was long ago.

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