Today is Easter Sunday, which I will be celebrating in the traditional manner: by, um, driving across half of New York and Pennsylvania… OK, maybe that’s not the usual tradition…
I’m giving a talk tomorrow at Bucknell, so I need to get to Lewisburg, PA tonight. This will allow me to stop through Scenic Whitney Point and see my family, though, so I will get a little traditional Easter stuff in.
Anyway, for those who celebrate it, Happy Easter. For those who don’t, have a nice Sunday. I’ve scheduled a couple of things to keep you amused tomorrow, but otherwise, don’t expect much from me before Tuesday.
And, below the fold, seasonally-appropriate Bill Hicks, via YouTube:
http://www.avolites.org.uk/jokes/images/easterbunny.jpg
Likewise to you folks. For those who want an understanding of Easter that doesn’t strain worldly perspectives, here’s a very good insight from a great thinker and brave martyr (under the Nazis): Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, that the fundamental meaning of Christ was to die to self, to have the limited selfish person be replaced by a person that cared as much about everyone else as him or her self. This is not very attainable in toto, but is an “imitation of Christ” that can be approached. It sounds a lot like Buddhism and the ideals of other great religions and philosophies when put that way.
This is a purely logical justification, even though such thoughts seem hopelessly sentimental: you don’t really have a reason to think you are more important or worthy than others (other than specific obligations etc.) and so a perfectly logical being would actually recognize this and not distinguish self from other selves in importance. The claim of egoist “Objectivists” that they represent the height of reason is a complete inversion of what is truly logical.