A Crisis of Meaning: An Apology for Traditional Religion by Nick Acker – you find a few reviews on religion, some by Karen Armstrong, perhaps the best expert on the subject, and there are a few hundred other takes on the greatest books of all time, but the best you can get is https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/02/is-this-unique-could-it-make-money.html

 

A Crisis of Meaning: An Apology for Traditional Religion by Nick Acker – you find a few reviews on religion, some by Karen Armstrong, perhaps the best expert on the subject, and there are a few hundred other takes on the greatest books of all time, but the best you can get is https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/02/is-this-unique-could-it-make-money.html

 

 

9 out of 10

 

I am looking for The Truth, in the hope that there will be an illumination, an epiphany or at least, some of the known arguments, Anselm perhaps, with the logical conclusion that, if you have the idea of perfection, then God must exist, and however much it has been refuted, still, it appeals on some levels, plus:

 

-          It is a question of faith

 

The best books to read are by Karen Armstrong https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/03/a-short-history-of-myth-by-karen.html acclaimed as the best authority – she explains how we need to understand the holy texts, in the old days, they used allegories, myths, creationists are worse than atheists

 

Indeed, Karen Armstrong writes that the critics of religion concentrate on the fundamentalists, those who insist to take the Bible, Koran and other such texts literally, if it says seven days, that is exactly how long it took, Noah and his boat were big, only nothing could fit all those species, ergo, this was an allegory

What I find wonderful is how positive psychology seems to ‘justify’ the bible, take The How of Happiness https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-how-of-happiness-by-sonja.html a classic of psychology by Sonja Lyubomirsky and

 

-          ‘Happiness Activity No 11: Practicing Religion and Spirituality- becoming more involved in your church, temple or mosque or reading and pondering spiritually themed books’

 

That chapter looks at how the community helps people, they feel they have the support of God and the other believers, and there is more, for instance, one other Happiness activity is ‘Practicing acts of kindness’, which is well known as one of the precepts of Christianity and other faiths, Islam has the Zakat, an obligation…

To donate a percentage of wealth to charity, furthermore, the fundamental rule that is present in most books of positive psychology is Expressing Gratitude, and we have the first commandment ‘You shall have no other gods before Me’ which is supposed to be about thanking the only possible deity, the others are banned

 

Evidently, this was used as an argument against an entity that is so selfish, restrictive, vain – I am thinking of Kinglsey Amis https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-kings-english-guide-to-modern-usage.html my favorite author, who had some fierce lines on this, when asked about his position on God

He said ‘What kind of love is it that has to be asked before it’ll give, asked nicely too, so you’re supposed to go down on your bended knees to plead for whatever it is? Art thou troubled? Yes. And what’s God’s answer to that? Not, in which case I’ve clearly fallen down on the job, but, Right, you just follow the laid-down procedure and I might consider doing something or other about it one day’ in You Can’t Do Both, reviewed on my blog

CS Lewis is another glorious thinker, making the case for God – I remember how he used ‘free will’ to reject the accusation that the almighty should fix all the problems, we would not want to live in a world where everything is automatic, there is no choice, all acts are predetermined, and all bad, evil outcomes are thus eliminated https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/surprised-by-joy-shape-of-my-early-life.html he also said something like ‘you may believe Jesus was the son of God, or else He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell…’

 

 Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/02/is-this-unique-could-it-make-money.html  – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’