Hopefully this won't derail the thread...
What do you mean by "road that leads to J"?
If my opinion is worth more than the next person's, it is essentially because I am more aware and more broadminded than the next person. These qualities are prerequisite to excellence of character, for which “J” is the byword, though it comes not without a touch of...let's call it personal amusement.
This is remarkably easy to explain, given how difficult it is to comprehend. Awareness in particular is one of those damn things that can (usually) only be understood to the extent that it is already possessed. There are essentially two forms: awareness and self-awareness. The latter concerns one's ability to recognize, scrutinize, even criticize one's own mindset. The former is more expansive and concerns one's quality of perception and pattern association.
Therefore, the road to J is very subtly a much less self-aggrandizing expression than it might seem. The J in question refers not to me so much as the character ideals I aspire toward. The road refers to the striving, the very same striving which Buddhism dismisses.
This is the kind of distinction that would do well in Japan, where, if you're going to flatter yourself, you had better do it in what we would think of as the subjunctive mood (or else the future tense). Indeed, there's some merit to doing it like that.
Very well written, Lord J. That is one of the more professional dissertations I've seen you post; by any chance did you already have something along those lines written up (or at least thought out)? It reminds me of something from a "Collected Essays of ____" book.
Thanks. I'm pleased to say that it was completely off the cuff. It took about three hours from inception to completion, yesterday afternoon. I should have been embarrassed if this represented a more significant effort on my part, given how highly I regard my writing abilities.
I can take that one of two ways: If you're referring to my structure and composition and technique, then perhaps I have simply been remiss in writing thoughtfully at the Compendium during your tenure here. The major difference between that post and others is that I gave it a full edit after finishing. (More commonly I only edit as I go.) Structurally speaking, my work always benefits from at least one full edit, because ideas don't always connect the way I intend.
If, on the other hand, you're referring to the tenor and style, well, what can I say? I consider it typical of my output, but perhaps my less controversial tone here struck you as “more professional.”
Frankly atheists piss me off.
That pleases me.
