Brilliant essay. Sarris describes a state of being that I remember from my early childhood. Long gone now of course. I can only describe it as a sort of constant, full-bodied communion with the world. An alignment of mind, body, spirit and world. Thanks for sharing!
I really enjoyed this essay. I like the way Sarris writes, he brings wonderful images to my mind. As someone who is not religious but claims to be spiritual I can relate to what he says about religious proofs and I can admit that I think I am missing the point a lot of the time as I am often seeking 'proof'. Something I hope to reflect on a little more.
I found your point about 'socia'l media and loneliness valid, but I also think that social media could be seen as contributing significantly to the death of intuition. People are not relying on their own knowledge or innate wisdom any longer. They now have round the clock access to a plethora of "experts" on any topic online. There is an online group for everything, and while this can be great for connecting it can also inhibit our ability for intuitive decision making. I notice this is especially true for parenting...mother's in particular, seem to be flocking to online groups to ask for guidance or advice about everything mothering and relationship related. And I mean everything...its almost like we've lost our ability to recognise what feels right or wrong and have to ask a bunch of strangers online who don't know us, our partner or our children what we should do. In our downtime, rather than reading stories or myths that can build knowledge and intuition, we are glued to our phones reading posts and comments from other lost souls. It's scary really and I think Sarris is on to something.
Interesting coincidence that I discovered this right after reading Joe Carlsmith's Deep Atheism essay (https://joecarlsmith.com/2024/01/04/deep-atheism-and-ai-risk), which explores, but does not necessarily defend, the explicit negation of the gratitude and wonder towards reality Sarris emphasizes.
If I were to offer my own thoughts on the essay, I suppose I'd say that it unnecessarily entangles mythology with the sort of reverent spirituality and openness that Carlsmith discusses. Anybody who reads fiction of a certain sort is well-acquainted with the ability for stories to communicate complex intuitions and wisdom to readers, regardless of whether the reader has that spiritual spark that Sarris so romanticizes. In fact, much writing among Yudkowsky-style rationalists sends the very opposite message: that deep atheist one, which eschews deference to the world as it is, and encourages people to find wonder in the accomplishments of humanity, particularly those that 'fix' the world in some sense.
Brilliant essay. Sarris describes a state of being that I remember from my early childhood. Long gone now of course. I can only describe it as a sort of constant, full-bodied communion with the world. An alignment of mind, body, spirit and world. Thanks for sharing!
I really enjoyed this essay. I like the way Sarris writes, he brings wonderful images to my mind. As someone who is not religious but claims to be spiritual I can relate to what he says about religious proofs and I can admit that I think I am missing the point a lot of the time as I am often seeking 'proof'. Something I hope to reflect on a little more.
I found your point about 'socia'l media and loneliness valid, but I also think that social media could be seen as contributing significantly to the death of intuition. People are not relying on their own knowledge or innate wisdom any longer. They now have round the clock access to a plethora of "experts" on any topic online. There is an online group for everything, and while this can be great for connecting it can also inhibit our ability for intuitive decision making. I notice this is especially true for parenting...mother's in particular, seem to be flocking to online groups to ask for guidance or advice about everything mothering and relationship related. And I mean everything...its almost like we've lost our ability to recognise what feels right or wrong and have to ask a bunch of strangers online who don't know us, our partner or our children what we should do. In our downtime, rather than reading stories or myths that can build knowledge and intuition, we are glued to our phones reading posts and comments from other lost souls. It's scary really and I think Sarris is on to something.
Interesting coincidence that I discovered this right after reading Joe Carlsmith's Deep Atheism essay (https://joecarlsmith.com/2024/01/04/deep-atheism-and-ai-risk), which explores, but does not necessarily defend, the explicit negation of the gratitude and wonder towards reality Sarris emphasizes.
If I were to offer my own thoughts on the essay, I suppose I'd say that it unnecessarily entangles mythology with the sort of reverent spirituality and openness that Carlsmith discusses. Anybody who reads fiction of a certain sort is well-acquainted with the ability for stories to communicate complex intuitions and wisdom to readers, regardless of whether the reader has that spiritual spark that Sarris so romanticizes. In fact, much writing among Yudkowsky-style rationalists sends the very opposite message: that deep atheist one, which eschews deference to the world as it is, and encourages people to find wonder in the accomplishments of humanity, particularly those that 'fix' the world in some sense.