Temporary Hold Almost Finished

Well, my divorce is finalized.
In the same year I lost my god and my love... lol.

But I have survived both... still am.
I am finding the one person necessary for me to be happy... me.

Freaking-A it's harder than anything I thought I could live through, but I am.

I move into my bachelor pad in 5 days.
Friday the 13th.
Apartment #7.

My life is totally and truly on hold till then.
And it's almost killing me.
I hope to start writing again once I get settled, pick back up all my projects, dust them off, and move forward. It's what I hope to do...

we shall see

Why Do We Need Roles?

I had it presented to me that maybe we don't need roles.

To be honest, this perspective slapped me in the face. I consider man to be a fragmented species. We gather up who we are and define ourselves by our roles.

The way you find out what stage someone is in life is generally through asking them "What do you do for a living?" Ergo... What is your role.

I have to keep in mind also, I don't define these "roles" as end-all-be-all roles. You aren't forced to subscribe to a role for life. You can? But you sure don't have to. I also believe that a balanced individual carries several roles throughout their day, much more so throughout their life.

So when I am discussing these roles and my "Human Bible" I am not referring to an unmutable position or role, but rather a guide for daily activity, and then only for those who need it. Not every person NEEDS to label themselves with a role, nor to give themselves a title. That doesn't mean they don't fulfill a role (or roles) in their lives neither, it just means they wouldn't find any assistance from a Human Bible. I feel that a guide like the one I am envisioning is more of a set of templates.

You pick the pieces that work with you, your desires, your mental makeup. Making these selections actually would build your bible... Almost a custom book for each person built using templated concepts and ideas. Trying to explain the thoughts that roll through my head when I talk about my idea is like trying to grab onto a greased eel.

I'll definitely have to get more worked out before I ever begin putting it together.

Wow

So I've finished the book "Value and Virtue in a Godless Universe" and I am highly impressed. Now I'm restarting the book with a highlighter handy so I can begin to gather my notes.

I originally read the book to get some perspective on some very good questions (or so I thought) about worth and virtue for a naturalist, or humanist. I've heard (from religious sources of course) that without a god we have no guide for morals. Morals come from god. Worth comes from god. Without a god... we are nothing and worthless.

Being that I've come to the conclusion that god doesn't, hasn't, and most likely never will, exist? I find that statement to be wrong. But why? What basis could I found this on? I started digging around on various message boards, blogs, etc. Trying to find a decent answer. I mean, I KNEW it in my head, I could even FEEL it in my heart. But it was almost a faith-like belief, which I just don't jive with anymore (short of my superstitious opinion of lady luck! lol).

This book has presented me with exactly what I was looking for. The author presents his ideas cleanly, clearly and with a ton of background. I'm sure I'll spend a large portion of the rest of my life just trying to read up on the books he references throughout.

It was amazing. And I can't wait to start over.

Roles - Wikipedia

Was digging around during lunch and found this on Wikipedia.

Determinants and characteristics of social role

Roles may be achieved or ascribed. An achieved role is a position that a person assumes voluntarily which reflects personal skills, abilities, and efforts. Roles are not forced upon the individual; a choice is involved. An ascribed role is a position assigned to individuals or groups without regard for merit but because of certain traits beyond their control (Stark 2007). Roles are forced upon the individual.

Roles can be semi-permanent ("doctor", "mother", "child"), or they can be transitory. A well-known example is the sick role as formulated by Talcott Parsons in the late 1940s. In the transitory "sick role", a person is exempted from his usual roles, but expected to conform to transitory behavioral standards, such as following doctors' orders and trying to recover.

For many roles, individuals must meet certain conditions, biological or sociological. For instance, a boy cannot take the biological role of mother. Other roles require training or experience. For instance, in many cultures doctors must be educated and certified prior to practicing medicine.

Role development can be influenced by a number of additional factors, including social, genetic predisposition, cultural or situational.

1. Societal influence: The structure of society often forms individuals into certain roles based on the social situations they choose to experience. Parents enrolling their children in certain programs at a young age increases the chance that the child will follow that role.


2. Genetic predisposition: People take on roles that come naturally to them. Those with athletic ability generally take on roles of athletes. Those with mental genius often take on roles devoted to education and knowledge. This does not mean that people must choose only one path, multiple roles can be taken on by each individual (i.e. Mark can be the point guard on the basketball team and the editor of his school newspaper).


3. Cultural influence: Different cultures place different values on certain roles based on their lifestyle. For instance, soccer players are regarded higher in European countries than in the United States, where soccer is less popular.


4. Situational influence: Roles can be created or altered based on the situation a person is put in outside their own influence.

Roles are also frequently interconnected in a role set, that complement of role-relationships in which persons are involved by virtue of occupying a particular social status.(Merton 1957) For example, a high school football player carries the roles of student, athlete, classmate, etc.

This puts a new twist on my ideas. The idea that roles can be switched into an out of?! Hmmmmmmm

I hadn't considered that.
I'm envisioning a form that you fill out. Asking you all sorts of questions. How you answer them helps you get to your prescribed roles based on who you are and what mental health issues you are dealing with.

I realize that I haven't touched on why I mention Mental Health issues that everyone, but I've said it like twice now.

I believe that as a people, as a species... we are mentally unhealthy. Crazy, Insane, Damaged, however you want to describe it.

Why do I believe this?

Do you know of a single person, in your family or friend circle. work friends, church friends, community friends and neighbors, etc... Who had a perfect childhood?

I'm talking their mother and father taught that child perfect boundaries, healthy relationship management, perfect financial responsibility, the works?!

I will go ahead and answer that question for you. No. Everyone had a bad childhood, they were taught something (most likely some things) incorrectly, were given bad examples to follow, or even had entire sections of necessary human interaction missing completely if not damaged painfully. Now for some people, we're talking about them unable to deal properly with confrontations. But with some people, we are talking an inability to protect themselves on any level from anyone.

Imagine a system of parenting that was based around guided principles, lessons taught to children that didn't just enable them to learn easily, but provided them with the means to pass those lessons on to their children when the time came. Imagine parents that didn't fight and squabble about stupid things, but had constructive arguments much like on a debate team at a college, where children could not only be allowed to listen to, but were encouraged to learn from.

What about money? Imagine children learning not just how to manage their $20 a week allowance, but learning and watching mother and father paying the bills, how they budget to make sure the children have clothes and food and shelter. Imagine the sense of security children would have? Not just in KNOWING their parents have everything under control, but knowing that when they entered mainstream society, they were already in charge of their life financially. Capable of dealing with bills and tuition and jobs.

This is what I am dreaming of. And I KNOW it is only a dream right now. But I have this dream of making this real before I die. Something that I can pass on to anyone interested. It shouldn't be for sale. It shouldn't be hard to get to. It should be available to everyone, always, for free.

Principles and Concepts that are free of opinion, built on scientifically defined concepts and precepts built around what we know of the human psyche. Built for every man, woman and child to their custom needs.

Sigh. Well, it's a dream I have for sure. I believe it can be done. I'm making it my life's work. But for now, I gotta get BACK to work.

Roles

Archetypes.

Now most people that I have met, interacted with, read about, etc., have searched for and found a role, or character, or archetype that they identify with. The more outgoing and gregarious the personality, the more archetypes they identify with. Various philosophers and writers throughout history have created an amazing range of archetypes.

Wikipedia lists these two sets.

Jung outlined five main archetypes:
* The Self, the regulating center of the psyche and facilitator of individuation
* The Shadow, the opposite of the ego image, often containing qualities that the ego does not identify with but possesses nonetheless
* The Anima, the feminine image in a man's psyche; or:
* The Animus, the masculine image in a woman's psyche
* The Persona, how we present to the world, usually protects the Ego from negative images(acts like a mask)

Although the number of archetypes is limitless, there are a few particularly notable, recurring archetypal images:

* The Child
* The Hero
* The Great Mother
* The Wise old man
* The Trickster or Fox

I believe that we, as a species, seek out roles that we can subscribe to. In the book I'm reading on Value and Virtue, the author delves into this concept from the religious perspective. Explaining how the various holy books present clear and defined roles for humans as a species.

The Christian universe is a hierarchial one with a distinct pecking order: God at the top, down through the various orders of angels, human beings, and animals. Each being has a partciular station and role to play. God has dominion over all other beings; humans have dominion over "the fish of the sea... the birds of the air... the cattle... and all the wild animals of the earth." After the Fall, at any rate, husbands are to rule over their wives. The Christian Bible is, in part, an account of the role assigned to humand beings by God, together with the perils of deviating from this assigned role. In this scheme, it is extremely important both that human beings recognize their assigned stations and roles in the universe and that they not attempt to rise above them.

The Fall of Man resulted from just such an attempt.

But don't get me wrong. I'm not picking on Christianity here, altho I do love to when presented with a true opportunity (chuckle). All religions have mimicked this role designation system to one degree or another.

So I feel it's safe to say that the true purpose of religion could be read to be Role Assignment. As a believer you know you are to serve, worship, telepathically speak to, and/or visit your assigned temple or place of worship. There are rituals you must perform (i.e., Marriage, Funerals, Births, Baptisms, etc.), there are processes you must walk through (i.e., Bible Studies, Witnessing, Salvation, etc.), and there are hierarchies that you must observe (i.e., Priests, Choir, Ushers, Followers, etc.).

Then as a person assimilates into this lifestyle, they "find their place" amongst their village.

But what about those people in life that don't seem to fit into a Role? Well, I am viewing Roles as memetic uniforms, of a sort. A Policeman wears a Policeman Uniform, but he also might wear a Husband Uniform and a Father Uniform. The thing is, we tend to blur some uniforms, mix and match them as well. These Roles can be partially taken or, over-adopted, or worn fully as well.

These non-Role-fitting individuals will actually, upon closer inspection, be just a little more complicated than expected. See the people in life who excel, who stand above the rest, who succeed despite the odds, will generally merely be people who have refused the Memetic Uniform Subscription.

They see the Memetic Uniform and say, "That's way too restrictive. If I don the Husband Uniform to interact with my husbandly duties, then what happens if I have to interact with my children? Removing the Husband Uniform to don the Father Uniform is not a smart way to move through my day." This person will take the pieces that work, form fit them, and use just those pieces. Or they blend these uniforms to create their own meme-complex. Or a new combination Memetic Uniform.

This role situation is the core of my concepts. I believe that every person craves a role. And religion provides somewhat vague, and oftentimes mis-matched roles for people. With the correct system in place, everyone could find a role that complimented them. With enhancements and additions and personality gauges, these roles could work with each persons own memetic makeup to help them deal with their mental health issues in a manner best suited to them.

I've participated in countless studies and workshops on personality types, and aura readings, and color gauges to help people understand who they are to help them better become the person they desire to be.

I'm attempting to propose a combination of these personality workshops, role definitions, and mix in some Freudian and Jungian concepts to create a foundational system of life. A human bible of sorts. I am envisioning a process that would allow a person to identify where they are, find a role, follow the concepts and precepts of that role, enhance that role with their personality / color / aura type to help guide them through their daily life.

A guide. If you feel lost or confused about a relationship, you can grab your personalized guidebook, look up "confused about" under the section on relationships and get a horoscope-like guide. That guide would be suited to you because the guidebook would be built for your role, your personality type, and whatever mental health issues you have identified.

So I'm not necessarily discussing a paperbook here. Something that adapts. Maybe even a website or digital book. So that as you identify issues you have or maybe even issues you've beaten you can add and/or remove sections. Or it could like a three-ring binder kind of book? I don't have the details worked out, but this is the process.

Also, if you check the tags (or labels), you can find the blog posts that are chapters, and those like this one that are idea / concept dumps. Throwing things from my mind onto the screen. Being able to type roughly 100wpm+ means I can dump ALOT and do it quickly.

Ethics, Morals and Values

I'm reading through the book 'Value and Virtue in a Godless Universe." I had initially thought that I would be reading it, integrating it, and using what I learned much more quickly. But the writer presents an amazing amount of concepts and ideas behind his perspective.

Rather than just say... this is why I think this. He says, here is what this philosopher thought, here are the arguments against that that THIS philosopher thought, and so on and so forth. Then once he has walked through the various concepts, ideas and paradigms, he then presents his idea and it's well backed up.

Sadly, it's ALOT to process. Add to the fact that I am in the middle of a divorce, and my whole emotional stability is kinda in flux? I'm having a hard time getting 'into' the book right now. So things are just running slow.

Quote : How to live

You no sooner drew your first breath than you responded to the will that was in you to live. You no more ask whether it will be worthwhile or whether anything of significance will come of it, than the worms and the birds. The point of living is simply to be living, in the manner that it is your nature to be living... The meaning of life is from within us, it is not bestowed from without, and it far exceeds in both its beauty and permanence any heaven of which men have ever dreamed or yearned for.

The Prequel

So in this life that we all live, there are variables and components that change and stay the same. We have obstacles and opportunities, and very rarely is anything easy. But when figuring out what you want to do with your life, the issues seem to be insurmountable! There are so many options, concepts and ideas, that a person could literally spend a couple of lifetimes just researching those options.

Sadly, based on all available scientific evidence, we only have this lifetime.

So what is a person to do?
Where do we go from here?!

One of the more common paths that people choose in this life is religion. I would posit that religion is the wrong direction. Now rather than discuss the downfalls and negative mechanisms that I feel are inherent in the 'way of life' known as religion, ( or basically fight that fight ) I'll point to a rather favorite book of mine, "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins as a good sampling of ideas for why religion might not be the best solution for a lifes foundation.

The other paths that people can choose are varied, some paths work for one person, but offer absolutely nothing of value to the next person. I would suggest that with some well developed memetic structures, a meta-meme could be developed that would provide a purpose that brought joy to all who embrace it.

My ideas are my own.
They are not based on college research. In fact, I have only 'visited' college, never receiving a degree nor completed a complete course of study or even certification. These ideas are not based on a belief system, or a higher power. If it isn't objectively evidenced... it isn't considered. These ideas are not based on a desire to manipulate, or cultivate a cult, or following of any sort. These ideas are presented here as my concept, my idea, and even that I owe to others.

I suppose I should give a little about myself.

I am currently, a late 30's, male. I was born and raised in a Christian home. My grandfather was a Methodist Pastor, therefore my father was a "Preachers Kid" and my mother was born into a deeply religious household on the farmlands of Minnesota. I am the oldest of four children.

My childhood was one of strong connection with the judeo-christian god. My parents raised me in MANY churches. We usually moved with Pastors or for Pastors, at least that's how I remember it. We traveled churches like most people travel restaurants. I was introduced to the inner-workings of not just the church, but the church staff. This level of intimacy engendered a degree of skepticism. Having seen first hand that this Pastor would speak against this or that, but behind the scenes, staff was trying to pull him away from those same things.

As I matured, my parents encouraged me to study the holy books, and research them beyond the bible studies that are so prevalent in todays religious societies. It was this study, this research that led me out of the path of religion. But my path out of religion brought me to the label of Atheist. And for any who are Atheist, know some Atheists, or are familiar with Atheism, you will 'probably' recognize that Atheism is nothing more than a renouncement of Theism.

There is no dogma... no foundation for building a life on... no goals or aspirations. I believe that this is because Atheism is still in it's infancy. Oh I know there have been a range of people from Darwin to Dawkins who have been a part of Atheism. But no one has 'done' anything with it. It has sat quiet and stagnant for the most part. It's individuals like Dawkins that I believe are a part of Atheisms Memetic Core as it struggles for survival and supremacy, just as any other meme strives towards.

If you are not familiar with what a Meme is, I suggest you get ahold of Dawkins other book, "The Selfish Gene." To break it down quickly, a Meme is "a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation" and it's counterpart in our world for comparison is the Gene. Whereas a Gene is "the basic unit of heredity in a living organism" or a part of our physical body, the Meme is a part of our 'Mental Makeup' so to speak.

So Theism has been the dominant meme-complex for centuries. Atheism has attempted to arise on occasion, and now seems to be taking more ground. The problem now becomes one of survival. Does Atheism deserve a life? Does Atheism provide anything worthwhile for humans? I believe the answer to that is yes.

Atheism is a great 'Step One' for a deluded human.
It basically says to open your eyes and stop believing what you are told.

But then it flops. Because once you take a moment to open your eyes, and you find relief from the anchor of religion, you now have to ask yourself... "What Now?!" And that is when everything can come crashing down. You either waver during one of your habitual moments of prayer and fall back on the band-wagon, or you find something else to satisfy your need for 'That Serenity' that you are sure you feel during prayer or talking with your deity.

Atheism is no help for you here. Why? Because Atheism is not a "thing" per-se, it is a lack of a thing. Without the delusion of Theism, Atheism wouldn't even have a need to exist. So on it's own, Atheism just says, "Theism Sucks" and done.

Here is where your foundation begins.

People choose religion because there are precepts and concepts and rules and government. It provides a structure that mankind is memetically ( or possibly genetically ) built to need.

Now granted, there are always individuals who don't feel the need to follow anyone. They are the ones who start new religions, cults, businesses or countries.

These individuals still need structure, they still generally select from a set of memes those that fit them, and those that don't. They do for themselves what the average man can't, therefore they strive forward and accomplish the great things in history of mankind... electricity, paper, space travel, etc.

They did it because they had their own set of memetic locks or requirements in their makeup, and they realized ( whether though trial and error or luck ) what "they" needed to advance and succeed.

There's also the blind luck idiots. Those who get motivated by an individual or concept and go on to do great things because they chanced upon those memes that provided the impetus to succeed. But chance has played a part in everything in life, dare I say even in the formation of life itself. It will always be the one true unexpected card in the deck.

So it's rules and concepts and restrictions that make man happy? I would say, kinda. Yes and no. Humanity strives towards reward. Whether that reward comes from dedicated hard work and motivation, or convincing others to be dedicated and work hard 'for you' the reward still pulls us on.

What is a reward? Could be anything. This is where you would have to delve into memetics or psychiatry to find out what makes someone crave something else. But suffice it to say, the 'Reward' is the drive. I was told once that people do everything they do because they believe it will make them happy.

Period.

That really stands tall and true over anything else.
So let's give humanity something that will make them happy AND provide future generations of our genetic potential with a better chance even STILL to do the same.

Foundation.

People just need something to build their lives on. I need something to build my life on, and religion is as bass-akward as any path I could ever conceive of. I don't want to abandon my senses and sense in order to survive and 'be happy' in this world. I want to embrace this world and my species and see us all move forward into something better.