Out of the world cup, but not by much! I have to admit being slightly surprised by the lads' success. And although they haven't won anything, they are in for a serious welcome home - a major party has been organised in our largest national park to celebrate our "heroes". They failed to win anything, but are heroes nonetheless. Why is it that we Irish have a thing about being The Underdog? It goes further - we have a specific thing about being underdog to the British. There were several reports during the world cup about how us Irish were downplaying the successes of the England team, usually cheering for their opponents, whoever they may be. On the other hand, the English were almost always cheering for the Irish, whoever their opponents. I watched the Ireland/Spain match yesterday, some of it on the English channels with English commentary, and lo and behold, they were very complimentary to the Irish, throughout the whole campaign.

Not only that - I read during the week that in some pubs in London, one could buy reversible Ireland/England soccer jerseys. I can't see that happening here

Football isn't the only way we have an "underdog" mentality. And it isn't always positive either. In fact, the opposite is usually the case. For some reason, we Irish find it hard to believe that we can be successful. Any time some local hero makes it onto the television or a film, or makes it big in some field or other, we tend to get bitter. I've heard people say "Who does he think he is? Sure he's only from down the road, getting ideas above his station" etc. etc. The fact is we have many international heroes, actors and actresses, authors, poets, musicians, artists, each of whom has a deserved place in the world's meritocracy, yet because they are "only from down the road", they somehow don't deserve to be where they are. For this reason, we celebrate our failures and are surprised by our successes. We worship our also-rans, and criticise our acheivers. What a joy it is to be Irish.
posted by Jeremy Smyth 15:03  |  

Sunday, June 16, 2002

Haven't been able to suss this whole Religion thing. It's been bugging me for years. I was a fairly religious kid, brought up that way, and was so until my late teens. Religious to the extent of defending my faith rather intelligently (or so I thought).

A few days ago I found myself in a conversation about religion. The upshot was that she was quite amazed at how someone could go through life without having a feeling that there was "something" guiding us, specifically, someone we loved. The context was that someone close to her died within the last few years, and she has had some experiences that make sense if you imagine the guiding hand of the deceased smoothing over things.

The Catholic church (of which I am not a member, nor have I ever been) seems to indicate that people live on after death in either heaven or hell, or in a more blurry fashion in some kind of purgatory. This hasn't been well explained in recent years, as the general feeling is that everyone goes to heaven. Not only that, but the "personal spirituality" - personal faith as opposed to belief in what the church says - definitely seems more dominant nowadays than organisational faith, blindly following the ordained whims of the church leaders.

My own experiences are a little convoluted - I started asking "why?" some time ago, and the questions that were raised led me to a few interesting places (ref. the "ask the next question" blog below). I spent some time looking into Catholicism, and some other modern versions of Christianity, including a six-month spell of visitations from members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (AKA The Mormons) which was very enlightening, I have to say. They're an odd bunch. That led to a flirtation with an invented religion, called "The Bruces". Long story, was largely a Pythonesque parody of our Mormon friends.

I read some books by various contemporary scholars - some masonic stuff, some Dead Sea Scrolls ideas, some Knights Templar research, Egyptology, stuff about Paul the apostle, Constantine, etc., eventually coming to my own conclusions about Christian faiths. One major conclusion I came to along the way (that has been disagreed with) is that organised religion is at its nub a Good Thing, as it provides a moral/ethical foundation for those who don't wish to (or don't have the mental apparatus to) create their own.

Another point I learned is that moral relativism is a truism. The major organised religions have their own codes of practise which vary wildly, one man's mortal sin is another's primary means of sustenance. There are certain "sins" which most or all religions have in common, mostly to do with murder or other personal violations. These could be called "natural laws" and are the subject of ethical debates the world over. Then there are points of law that are more debatable - things that can result in fanaticism, a crusade here, a jihad there, tribal warfare, religious rationalisation for one man to claim rights over another man, and to feel good about it. The trouble is, we all think we're right. What's worse is that when someone in a position of authority (e.g. George W. Bush, leader of the "United States of America", a modern patriotic religion inspiring feats of fervour, rash emotionalism, and self-denial on the part of its own members and its sworn enemies) says "They are wrong, we are right!", devotees fail to ask any questions, and so fail to realise that the other side can just as validly claim to be right. The Spanish Inquisition, Hamas, the Crusaders, Hezbollah, each of these created some kind of atmosphere and righteous anger within their members, leading to many innocent deaths. Yet each considered itself "right" and "good".

So is religion a Good Thing? This week I've started looking into Discordianism, with a view to joining. Never heard of it? Look it up. Read "Principia Discordia" (it's available in several places online). It's largely based on a cross between Greek Mythology and Newton's Second Law of Thermodynamics. If you only read one thing in "Principia...", read the Grid idea in the section called "The Sacred Chao", beginning with "HERE FOLLOWS SOME PSYCHO-METAPHYSICS."

On the other hand, I could just invoke Theodore Sturgeon and say "Ask the next question" - philosophers have done that for millenia, and asking the next question has allowed them to see for themselves what they think, given them the power to create their own ethics system, their own moral foundation, without relying on any religious crutch. If more people were to ask the next question, less would blindly follow their leader, be he a Pope, a bearded Saudi Arabian, an American President, or a charismatic cultist. Following a leader is not wrong in itself - but if you must, then please ask the next question: is he right? Then ask the next question: why is he right? Then ask the next question: is there someone more right? Then ask the next question...

posted by Jeremy Smyth 17:05  |  

Tuesday, June 11, 2002

So that's it. World cup fever again. We've emerged barely from our little group 1 point ahead of the next closest, and after a game against a mediocre team, with our own mediocre performance. Still got us 3-0 though.

I suspect we'll be knocked out at our next match. The team isn't really that good, all things considered. And yeah, I'm feeling negative.

posted by Jeremy Smyth 16:48  |  

Friday, June 07, 2002

Ask the next question.

That's an order, by the way. Go on, do it now. You have two minutes, don't you? You can take two minutes away from your instant gratification, your right-now web mentality, two minutes to sit down, take your hand off the mouse, take your eyes off the monitor, sit back, close your eyes. Now, ask the next question. Then the next one. And the next. Spend two honest minutes following the questions where they bring you. If you want, write them down as they come. Don't try answering them in the beginning. That comes later. Just ask the next question.

Mail me if you need a hand (and that goes for you too, you who's lurking who thinks I'm not talking to you, but I am, because you're reading this page, not because I know you. Just mail.)

posted by Jeremy Smyth 13:25  |