I'll do it Myself Dad

 

(Homemade naan, beer, and tzatziki, I did buy the cucumber and tomato)

This post is a riff on a question I asked during the Archdruid’s weekly Q&A 

I’ll do it myself dad.

I briefly enjoyed the time period when raising my sons when these words became commonplace.  

But I am thinking more and more that during this time in my last adolescence (retirement) that I am thinking the same thing.  So my question as follows is:

How do I keep any non-corporeal entity (beneficial, hostile, or neutral) out of my business?

I can’t say as I have ever had a significant experience of this type, and more and more, listening and reading about such experiences, I can’t think that it would be all that pleasant. Judging from the experiences described in this forum, I am pretty sure I can be quite happy continuing that lack.

So lately I have been practicing the “sphere of protection” with an addendum in my brain that adds “this means you”.  Is there anything else that you can recommend to let me continue keeping this kind of thing at arms length so that I can continue my dotage without?

(for other forum participants, please continue your path and report on results when it moves you, I find it fascinating and I do believe your narratives, but I am opting out)

I suppose that this is an odd thing to ask in such a forum, but I think that I am coming to the point in my life when I am skeptical just about everything and just want to be at peace with the grab-bag of good and bad that the world that I can sense offers me.  I suppose that the period that I am living in is truly my second adolescence, I don’t really have anywhere to go or anything to do and overall I am really beginning to appreciate this.  

I think a lot of the time, when people get all “spiritual”, they are doing it in an odd “mirror world” of the academic community, especially in my age cohort.  It seems to me that they are cramming for a test at the end of the quarter.

I suppose I do tend toward thinking that there is a soul that powers the individual.  I am ambivalent about whether it is immortal (obviously I am hoping that it lasts beyond this “mortal coil” but I also realize that there is no proof, either negative or positive for this supposition).  

Pascal’s Wager posits:

Pascal's Wager, in simple terms, is an argument suggesting that it's a better bet to believe in God than not to, even if you can't be certain God exists. The logic is that the potential reward of believing (eternal happiness) far outweighs the potential loss (a changed lifestyle) if God doesn't exist. Conversely, the potential loss of not believing (eternal damnation) is infinite, while the potential gain (if God doesn't exist) is finite

In decisions under risk, the agent assigns subjective probabilities to the various states of the world. Assume that the states of the world are independent of what the agent does. A figure of merit called the expected utility, or the expectation of a given action can be calculated by a simple formula: for each state, multiply the utility that the action produces in that state by the state’s probability; then, add these numbers. According to decision theory, rationality requires you to perform the action of maximum expected utility (if there is one).

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pascal-wager/#:~:text=In%20decisions%20under%20risk%2C%20the,(if%20there%20is%20one).

Pascal’s wager is kind of a red herring.  He conflates soul, heaven/hell, and the christian god and then slants the bet so that losing is infinite.  This is bullshit.  No one knows.  

But I am working on restating the “bet”.  It is harder than it seems at first blush.  I am trying to remove the ideas of “heaven and hell” and get over the idea that “good” and “evil” and “justice” have any real meaning outside of personal preference.  I am spending time working through Leibnitz’s “Best of all possible worlds” and I am thinking there is some merit there.   I am also giving Spinoza another go.  I didn’t really understand last time, maybe I can figure it out this time.

All of this rotates openly around me, being the imperfect and dwindling being of an uncertain mix of the corporeal and incorporeal is trying to isolate “me” and my place (if any) in the grand scheme.  

Damn hard thing to do and it gets people pissed off when you talk about it.