10 Deep Dives You May Have Missed on Medium
Deep Dives, Vol. V: Are electrons real?; what fiction does; what is fear?; cognitive dissonance; the panopticon in your head; faith-based atheism and more. Add these recent stories to your Medium reading list. You’ll be glad you did!
I Don’t Believe in Electrons, by Russell Anderson
“Electrons are neither particles or waves, or maybe they are disturbances in a field. They have charge and spin, but they don’t have mass (they only ‘borrow’ it from the Higgs boson). They are neither here nor there. You kick one, and another one falls over 60 light years away. Believing in electrons is an exercise in double-think: simultaneously holding mutually contradictory thoughts. We can agree only that electrons are a useful concept. When you die, you can ask God what they are.”
Does Science explain reality? Or does it merely propose “useful analogies?” And why does it matter?
The Historical Jesus and the Anonymous Christ, by Nathan Smith
“Jesus represents humanity fully reunited with God, with the Christ, with the shattered godhead, with the world they have on a cognitive level experienced as separate from themselves — Jesus represents the possibility of feeling entirely at home in the universe and one’s particular circumstances.”
Are “Jesus” and “Christ” the same thing? Or do Jesus the man, and Jesus the Christ represent different spiritual principles? This deep theological dive explores varying answers to that question, as viewed through the lenses of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.
Hawks, Fire, and the Problem with Pure “Objectivity,” by Ethan Maurice
“We humans are creatures that operate on feeling. Emotion, not logic, is the driving force of our actions and lives. Which means that, today, everyone striving to be objective is striving to see the world in a way that intentionally ignores the main system by which we operate.”
Science tells us only that which can be objectively verified is real. But does that put us in a box? At what price? Do demands for objectivity rob us of our humanity?
Not Reading Fiction is Causing the Death of Humans and Humanity, by Dawn Bevier
“This is what fiction does: it allows us to ‘climb inside of [an African-American’s ‘skin’, an oppressed woman’s s ‘skin’, a homosexual’s ‘skin’] and countless other ‘skins.’ And each ‘skin’ that we ‘climb in’ gives us a better understanding of the dreams, struggles, and cultures that shape a human’s life. And in this metaphorical transformation of flesh, we begin to see literally [and metaphorically] that the world is not as black and white as we once thought. Our prejudices are lessened, our ignorance is deeply severed, and thus a beautiful thing emerges — empathy and compassion.”
As Ray Bradbury famously said, “You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” And here we are in 2020, reading less and less, our culture falling to ruin around us. Books are the cure. It’s that simple. Read!
The Psychedelic Memory of our Divinity, by Benjamin Cain
“The very distinction, found in all organized religions, between insider and outsider, between the initiated elite and the clueless heathen could have arisen from the gulf between those who have taken an entheogen and those who haven’t. (Originally, the distinction would have been between the shaman and the spiritual civilian, as it were.) No matter how well anyone describes what a psychedelic trip is like, if you haven’t taken one you’ll lack the emotional context, the elation and the grandeur with which the bizarre information is presented.”
Has history been shaped by psychedelic strangeness?
What Is Fear? An Invitation towards a Genuine Life, by Rachel Nelson
“When death is so close that you feel its breath upon your skin, the existentialist says you are gifted with the sudden realization that you have a unique death that is yours to experience. It cannot be pawned off on someone else; death is personal. In that same instant, you also realize the inverse: you also have a unique life that is yours to experience. It cannot be pawned off on someone else; life is personal.”
What starts as an explication of Nietzsche and Kierkegaard becomes a deeply personal story of existentialism applied in real life. Learn how fear invites you to embrace authenticity.
Church of the Curious Cat, by Tiffany Antone
“When we operate unconsciously within systems (ie: we don’t question, we just do) then we become just another function of the system, opening ourselves up to being manipulated by both the system and those who have contaminated it. Operating unconsciously within the system allows us to be engineered to ensure outcomes that are not in our best interest but which serve those in power. When we operate unconsciously within a system, we become robotic and pawn-like, allowing ourselves to be used.”
What if the meaning of life is to remain curious? And what if societal/social “success” demands we do the opposite?
Cognitive Dissonance & Cultural Breakdown, by Lauren Reiff
“… the online outrage that we witness over various political and cultural debates is less righteous anger and more unresolved tension between what we are saying and what we actually believe. Sometimes it’s the case that subconsciously, we’re just less certain about what we believe than we publicly purport to be… The consequence of all this is that ideological certainty becomes a kind of moral victory. But ‘ideological certainty’ doesn’t necessarily translate to healthy confidence in one’s beliefs. It can, in fact, mean blind obedience to the doctrine of your particular camp without you having engaged in any actual thought yourself.”
Do you believe what you say you believe? Or do you just believe what you think you’re supposed to believe? Do you know the difference?
The Surveillance System in Your Head is Controlling Your Life, by Simon Black
“We secretly suspect that we are not measuring up. That we are not successful. That we are bad. Our surveillance project seems to be to keep a watchful eye on the proceedings and make sure that this secret never gets out. Our self-surveillance is also a project of self-hiding. We present a front to the world, but we are plagued by the surveillance of our conscience — we know we are a fraud. We know because we have a secret panopticon in our heads that we can never escape. It sees the truth, but hides the truth.”
How you learned to police yourself, and a nifty exercise for escaping custody.
Is Atheism the New Christianity?, by Andy Morris
“It is impossible to prove the non-existence of God. Unless one could see everywhere in the universe, there is simply no way of knowing. To say God exists, that could either be based on faith or personal experience. But, to say God doesn’t exist has to be based on faith. It absolutely cannot be based on facts.”
Atheist fundamentalism and religious fundamentalism are twins. A philosopher after my own heart.
