Religious Intellectualism

My latest for Pull Request: On why you are religious (though perhaps unconsciously), and why none of us--even the most empirically inclined--can escape the metaphysical trap of religious practice and belief. https://t.co/pDiirWneqR One of the advantages of a religious education is recognizing the echoes of religion in our purportedly secular thought. Our world is absolutely awash in magical thinking, and that's not (necessarily) a bad thing. https://t.co/54qNGxTM0Z All the driving elements of Judeo-Christian religious thought are as active as ever, down to secular versions of historical heresies we see repeated again and again. Even the definitional notion of religion against which atheists rebel is itself fundamentally Christian. https://t.co/hRZBMuaxMB The metaphysical bind--answering the 'why?' to our lives--is one even secular moderns can't escape; in fact, my overriding argument here is that the more we deny the question's existence, the more poorly (and insanely) we'll answer it. https://t.co/t3szYMYM0W But answer it we must, especially given the bleakness of the modern condition. None among us can actually live inside this existential abyss for very long. https://t.co/di64p6BIyy Lastly, I end with a metaphor suggested by @rabbidan and based on the Second Temple period. The most sacred spot in Judaism, the sanctuary for the divine presence on Earth...was empty. Modern seculars are in a similar position of filling an empty sanctuary with the sacred. https://t.co/Vh1oYlEI2A Thanks to @sriramk and @zeynep for reading this for style (and cancelation risk). And thanks to @Mottel for providing his 'nihil obstat' (to use a crossed religious reference).

The Bible helps Peter Thiel find secrets. It's taught him to look for the kinds of world-changing ideas that've made him one of the world's most successful investors. Here's how you can also find secrets: Thiel's definition of secrets isn't the one you grew up with. He’s not talking about spreading gossip or talking behind people’s backs. Rather, he's talking about important truths about the world that other people don't realize. Thiel's obsession with secrets is famous in this interview question: What important truth do very few people agree with you on?” The answers are keys into hidden chambers of knowledge, free from the distortions of lies and propaganda. https://t.co/csvYtijdOU Where does Thiel's obsession with secrets come from? It partially comes from the New Testament. Specifically, Proverbs 25:2 says: "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.” That search is defined by the quest for secrets. Why will secrets always exist? I like to imagine that every person has their own map of the way the world works. Everybody’s map is incomplete, either because they lack information or are blinded by dogma — just think of your family members who still don’t understand Bitcoin. Thiel capitalizes on secrets by investing in startups. He writes: "Every great business is built around a secret that’s hidden from the outside. A great company is a conspiracy to change the world; when you share your secret, the recipient becomes a fellow conspirator.” To find secrets, be skeptical of consensus. In the Bible, every time people unanimously agree on something, they are wrong. Remember the Tower of Babel? Likewise, in Ancient Jewish law, if a suspect on trial was unanimously found guilty by all judges, the suspect was acquitted. Skeptical of consensus, Thiel says: “We always think that democracy is a good thing and in a Democracy, the majority is more right than wrong. 51% is more right than 49%. 70% is even more right. But if you get to 99.9%, maybe that’s totally right. Or maybe you’re in North Korea.” https://t.co/vauTuMRjyi How can you find secrets? Interrogate dogma. Surround yourself with independent thinkers. Look for patterns that cause humanity’s sense-making apparatus to malfunction, and live in search of the truth. The juiciest secret of all is that there are many secrets left to find. I wrote extensively about secrets in this article. My favorite example of a secret comes from the smartphone battle between Nokia and Apple, which I discuss in the article. Nokia fell off the map. Apple became the most valuable company in the world. https://t.co/FGvMCQRBbR

Through hypocrisy religion has become meaningless. Through ideology science has become meaningless. Ironically both sides of the political spectrum fails to see themselves as religious zealots bound to ideals. The cure: a humble willingness to change one’s mind.