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Dec. 21st, 2001 06:29 pmReading Material: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Interesting observations from Mr. Gatto. He points out that the 4 punishments for original sin were as follows: labor, pain, free will and death. Further, he says that Western spirituality asks you to embrace these punishments; the only way to a good, full life is willing acceptance of these burdens. This is interesting to me because it clicks with conclusions I was beginning to form about this counterintuitive aspect of human nature: Too much of what people desire makes them unhappy and unfulfilled. Avoiding discomfort and physical effort is best not housed in a person's top 10 priorities, etc. There is no new wisdom under the sun. What a cosmic joke in this day and time when technology can technically free us from 3 of 4 (they're working hard on that last one. Until then, as a culture, we'll just have to pretend it doesn't exist!) It's almost enough to make me believe that we have been cursed by some supernatural being. We make a long and heroic end run around these annoyances, only to find ourselves edgy and depressed at the post-game kegger. *sigh* All is vanity. :)
Interesting observations from Mr. Gatto. He points out that the 4 punishments for original sin were as follows: labor, pain, free will and death. Further, he says that Western spirituality asks you to embrace these punishments; the only way to a good, full life is willing acceptance of these burdens. This is interesting to me because it clicks with conclusions I was beginning to form about this counterintuitive aspect of human nature: Too much of what people desire makes them unhappy and unfulfilled. Avoiding discomfort and physical effort is best not housed in a person's top 10 priorities, etc. There is no new wisdom under the sun. What a cosmic joke in this day and time when technology can technically free us from 3 of 4 (they're working hard on that last one. Until then, as a culture, we'll just have to pretend it doesn't exist!) It's almost enough to make me believe that we have been cursed by some supernatural being. We make a long and heroic end run around these annoyances, only to find ourselves edgy and depressed at the post-game kegger. *sigh* All is vanity. :)
