Lubab No More

CONFIRMED: "No one is in charge. And honestly, that's even cooler."

2011-01-07T11:30:00.007-05:00

On BoingBoing I came across this speech on living a meaningful, irreligious life given by Adam Savage, of Discovery Channel's MythBusters. The talk was given when he was accepting the Harvard Secular Society's Annual Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism on behalf of MythBusters.

I particularly like the following section about the (chilling) moment of realization that the real world is not what you were raised on:

The fiction of continuity and stability that your parents have painted for you is totally necessary for a growing child. When you realize that it's not the way the world works, it's a chilling moment. It's supremely lonely.

— Delivered to the Harvard Humanist Society, April 2010

(read full speech here)

Adam is just talking about "growing up" but there is a parallel to an OTDer's shift from believing to unbelieving. I remember sensing my personal moment (at the end of my long search) when I came to the conclusion that god doesn't exist. That moment that evoked many feelings: acceptance, clarity, relief. But mostly there was an unfamiliar sense of "This is it. What you see is what you get." It was (and is) both reassuring and frightening. I was no longer worried about literal bogey men but then I was more worried about the real dangers in the world. You might say I felt more control over my personal destiny (what I would make of my life was MY fault/credit) but at the same time recognizing I was at the mercy of The Universe (i.e. car accidents, recessions, natural disasters, illness).

Have you experienced an "Ah Ha!/Oh Shit!" moment of your own? What emotions did it bring out of you?

Chani Lisbon: OTD Comic

2010-12-30T23:59:00.003-05:00

OTDer (ex-Lubavitcher?) turned comic

Chani Lisbon on Facebook

(HT: Sex, Drugs, and Judaism)

Parenting and Atheism

2010-12-29T20:37:00.004-05:00

I was talking to one of my favourite orthopraxers this past Shabbos. Among other things we talked briefly about the (intellectual) difficulty of sending kids to orthodox schools to be indoctrinated with information we may not believe. The arguments for why not to send your kids to be taught something you don't believe are obvious but the conversation did make me think of the following parenting story from Ricky Gervais IN FAVOUR of lying to you kids.

Do you think Mrs. Gervais' decision to consciously lie to little Ricky was a good approach? What approach do you take with your kids?

Is this real life?

2010-10-08T14:25:00.005-04:00

Whoa.

I just made the blog public again (obviously). But I didn't expect the little bit of a rush that came with it.

As those of you who follow my infrequent posts on Twitter already know I told the wife about the blog. For me it was a little bit of a big deal. Thankfully for our relationship/marriage/journey it wasn't. Just an interesting anecdote from that awful time in our lives.

In any event I'm back. I have some ideas about what I want to do with the blog. I hope you'll be on board.

As for the old LubabNoMore blog... All the old posts are saved (as drafts in Blogger) but not sure what I will do with them just yet.

Should I repost them? Should I delete them? Should I publish just a few select Candy Man divri Torah just to rile people up? Tell me what you think in the comments below!