Posted on 12/16/2011 5:22:24 AM PST by markomalley
Cancer weakened, but did not soften Christopher Hitchens. He did not repent or forgive or ask for pity. As if granted diplomatic immunity, his mind’s eye looked plainly upon the attack and counterattack of disease and treatments that robbed him of his hair, his stamina, his speaking voice and eventually his life.
“I love the imagery of struggle,” he wrote about his illness in an August 2010 essay in Vanity Fair. “I sometimes wish I were suffering in a good cause, or risking my life for the good of others, instead of just being a gravely endangered patient.”
Hitchens, a Washington, D.C.-based author, essayist and polemicist who waged verbal and occasional physical battle on behalf of causes left and right, died Thursday night at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston of pneumonia, a complication of his esophageal cancer, according to a statement from Vanity Fair magazine. He was 62.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
This from the estimable "Gagdad Bob," a/k/a Robert Godwin, clinical psychologist/philosopher, on the seemingly inexplicable propensity of human beings to construct totally unlivable "ersatz-realities" in their system(s) of thought. (Or so I gather.)
In an earlier writing — his book One Cosmos under God: The Unification of Matter, Life, Mind and Spirit, Godwin was much more expansive re: who is to be included within his analytical category of "constructors" of alternative, or "second" realities. It turns out this category encompasses, not only the "religious doofuses," but "indoctrinated 'scientists'" as well:
Early Desert Fathers of Christianity such as Origen railed against ... concrete thinking, in that "to take the language of the Bible 'literally' was for him to empty it of all transcendent reference, to confine it to the 'corporeal' world. Allegory was required to give the biblical text appropriate depth and density of meaning." Harris points out that what religion promulgates in its early, concrete form is likely "a representation at some more or less developed stage, of what emerges under criticism as a metaphysical concept." Ironically, both religious fundamentalists and spiritually bereft secularists are identical in approaching scripture in such an unsophisticated, concrete, and literal manner. In both cases ... the "factuality" of scripture is the focus of critical attention, rather than its "pointing beyond itself."On this criterion, both doctrinaire religious and dedicated atheists stand on the same cognitive and fideistic ground: Both allow themselves to be "defined" by their ideological commitments, by the doctrine they hold, without first exploring the causes and implications of their doctrinal commitment, in Real terms.... That is, according to actual human experience, individual, social, and historical.
Godwin continues:
But irrespective of whether or not something actually "happened" in an historical sense, the historical (or horizontal) perspective of any scripture is only useful insofar as it helps to illuminate a non-historical or "vertical" dimension operating outside chronological time. Both religious and scientific fundamentalists attempt to locate in historical time what can only be found in metaphysical space, and mistakenly regard conventional history as more "real" than the deeper or higher truth from which it is a declension. To cite just one example, one may believe that Moses led the enslaved Israelites out of the death-cult of Egypt and into freedom. But what relevance does this have for us today, unless it is still possible, with divine assistance, to escape the spiritual earth-cult of our own psychic Egypt and be led toward the higher Light and Life?.... [O]ne could almost define scripture as a special kind of language that operates in a top-down fashion, containing material from every stage and dimension of reality, from the mystical, noetic, and spiritual, to the moral and psychological, to the mythic and allegorical, to the concrete, material and historical. And this is precisely why it is so easy for billions or people to get caught up in the most concrete and literal aspect of scripture. oblivious to the higher and more subtle meanings it contains, for "they have ears, but hear not."RE: your second cite, dear Matchett-PI, Godwin's notice that a thinker like this — e.g., the late Christopher Hitchens — is not postmodern at all, but rather is truly "operating out of a defunct, 19th century Victorian picture of the world": O my word, what a brilliant insight! (IMHO of course.)
And I would only add, Hitchens — R.I.P. — has plenty of still-living company: E.g., the "usual suspects" Dawkins, Lewontin, Monod, Dennett, Harris, et al. That is, professional atheists, scientific materialists who are pleased to sacrifice the depth and feeling of human thinking and experience to some "abstract," doctrinal blueprint which seems to bear no correspondence or resemblance to the world of reality of common human experience — individual, social, historical....
Really, such folk have been "outdated" by the amazing insights of 20th-century physics. The problem is, it seems such folk simply, doggedly refuse to notice such developments, or to consider how they might be relevant to the "field of biology."...
Thank you ever so much for writing, dear Matchett-PI!
You know, I should be sad that perfect lady and those of you cheering her on don’t know Jesus, but I find that, perhaps because I am not mature enough in my faith yet to feel otherwise, I feel more pity for you because you’re the sort of miserable bungholes who would cheer on a meanspirited and bigoted post like that.
Before I go on, don’t assume I’m writing this way out of hurt feelings or a feeling of persecution. No, not even close. Not even on the same continent.
You see, you claim reason and you claim offense for harsh things said by believers on this forum, but I can’t help thinking of my two brothers and so many of my unchurched friends. Some of them are gay and one of them (my best man, in fact) is an atheist. Like you, they don’t have Jesus. Unlike you, they would never think of hating pople who think differently than them, especially those who express a hope that they will change their lives and spend eternity in a place too wonderful to describe.
In short, you have the stench of Bill Maher on you.
Chris Hitchens was a smart man and a brilliant writer, but he and so many secularists are bigoted morons when it comes to “reason” versus faith because they can see the difference between, say, Steven Hawking and Pol Pot but not the difference between Thomas Aquinas and Fred Phelps or C. S. Lewis and Osama bin Laden.
And yet they claim to be rational, claim to be rejecting a mere “Imaginary Friend,” claim to be too noble to kow-tow to “bullies.” They call that “reason.”
Sad. Just sad. It must suck to be that miserable.
You know, I should be sad that perfect lady and those of you cheering her on don’t know Jesus, but I find that, perhaps because I am not mature enough in my faith yet to feel otherwise, I feel more pity for you because you’re the sort of miserable bungholes who would cheer on a meanspirited and bigoted post like that.
Before I go on, don’t assume I’m writing this way out of hurt feelings or a feeling of persecution. No, not even close. Not even on the same continent.
You see, you claim reason and you claim offense for harsh things said by believers on this forum, but I can’t help thinking of my two brothers and so many of my unchurched friends. Some of them are gay and one of them (my best man, in fact) is an atheist. Like you, they don’t have Jesus. Unlike you, they would never think of hating pople who think differently than them, especially those who express a hope that they will change their lives and spend eternity in a place too wonderful to describe.
In short, you have the stench of Bill Maher on you.
Chris Hitchens was a smart man and a brilliant writer, but he and to many secularists are bigoted morons when it comes to “reason” versus faith because they can see the difference between, say, Steven Hawking and Pol Pot but not the difference between Thomas Aquinas and Fred Phelps or C. S. Lewis and Osama bin Laden. They’re no better than the sort of Christian who believes every atheist (or every sceintist, etc.) thinks like Peter Singer.
And yet they claim to be rational, claim to be rejecting a mere “Imaginary Friend,” claim to be too noble to kow-tow to “bullies.” They call that “reason” and say it’s the best the West has to offer.
Sad. Just sad. It must suck to be that miserable.
Like, say...Mother Teresa. :-)
Not that I'm one of them, but...will God be setting aside a spot for you guys so we won't have to hear you clucking your tongues and lecturing us on our shortcomings? Seriously, it seems for every stuck up christian there are ten people complaining about them.
No matter how bad the schools get, there’s always going to be a certain group of Freepers who call it teacher bashing to criticize the public schools. You could be in a thread about Obama making Jerry Sandusky the Secretary of Education and they would all say “Well, my kid’s school is great.” They all think that because their stateroom isn’t underwater yet the Titanic is in great shape.
I don't hate Christians. I've always said, "Christians will nag you, but Muslims will kill you." I just think you have incredibly bad manners to come drooling over the not-yet-cool body to assure each other that unlike YOU, he's not going to Heaven (smirk, smirk). If you people had a modicum of manners, we'd all get along a lot better. And you'd all be a better advertisement for what you believe. But that's not hatred. If I hate someone, I want to kill them. I just want to avoid you. We stay off your devotional threads. It'd be lovely if you had a trace of decency and could see a time and place that it is inappropriate for your nonsense.
He has an infinite regard for justice, too. If we accept the gift of salvation, both are satisfied. If not...
Well that’s what I’m hoping on.
I know plenty of nice teahchers. It’s the system that is the problem. The funny thing is if Joe Teacher abuses a kid, the pro-public school brigade on FR defends the system and calls anything else “teacher-bashing.”
Come again?
Nicely put.
When one titles a book "God Is Not Great" that's kind of a signal.
Let’s face it, mankind has invented religions throughout the ages, to cynically use the concept of God to advance their own personal ambitions.
Would Hitch's target Mother Teresa be one of those?
Nicely put.
Not only a bigoted statement (one imagines a grand wizard saying "them Ay-rabs is nasty folk and so are dem dar Jews" through the gaps in his teeth) but one that ignores what's actually in the Bible. Those behaviors are condemned, either in the recounting or elsewhere in God's word.
So face East when you pray. Just in case. Why not. What have you got to lose?
One would lose the privilege of obeying and honoring the Lord and Savior who taught us how to pray and couldn't have cared less if we were pointing toward Mecca with our butts in the air. See Luke 11 for details.
Awesome post!
So, you don’t think there will be a mark?
As I observed before, you are engaging in meanspirited and bigoted railing against people who are (in your vanted opinion) meanspirited and bigoted. Physician, heal thyself.
Moreover, you make the silly assertion that people are here to gloat. Oh, I’ve seen a gloat or two, but for some reason you are benighted enough to think that if a person who has based their entire existence on the idea that salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ even mentions their belief that someone who dies an avowed atheist is probably not in good shape (as the majority of those posting on these threads have), that’s “smirking” and glee.
You remember that Air France plane that disappeared a couple of years ago? Analysis of the black box data shows the pilots misunderstood their situation and stalled the aircraft for several minutes. If someone posts, “they would have been OK if they had pushed the stick forward and built speed” that’s a statement of fact or opinion, not an expression of glee. Same thing if someone says “Well, Chris knows there’s a God now” or “I hope he repented.”
In other words, put away the grievance form and get over yourself.
Reminds me of a joke:
How many atheists does it take to change a light bulb?
THAT’S NOT FUNNY!!!!!!
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