[SOC] Writing Frustration

I really have lost all desire for writing. I have to admit it. I'm making myself write this out of a sense of obligation rather than fun. What has happened to me?

In the past, I would write for the sake of catharsis. I had so many negative emotions inside of me that this blog was my way of getting it out. Now, I just don't have those negative emotions. This doesn't mean that I think things are great in the world. But my perspective on those things has changed so much that I can no longer work up the same levels of anger I used to have. The blog tank is at empty.

Should I quit this gig? This is such a difficult question for me to answer. I don't ever want to go back to being miserable especially for the sake of being a blogger. That advice is about as sensible as when one of my old college writing instructors told me that the secret to good fiction was to get really drunk. I tried it, and I can say he was wrong.

The sad reality of it all is a simple one. I am happy. I don't know how to write from a happy place. This isn't to imply that everything in my life is perfect because it never is perfect. But the way I view things has changed considerably. This is the fruit of becoming Catholic.

The Catholic way is the answer you seek. People turn to blogs like mine for a variety of reasons, but a chief reason seems to be a self-help solution to things. But the problem with self-help is the "self" part. You only find your life when you give it away.

There have been lots of Catholic writers, so there is nothing that pits religion against literary pursuits. My problem is that I have not yet found how to write from this new place. My writing used to meet my needs, but I think I should write to meet the needs of others. I haven't made that leap yet, but I will. I have to find the way to translate the joy I feel to those who read my blog.

TUESDAY

1. Late night TV is a wasteland. It all self-destructed back when they passed over Letterman for Leno. Late night has never recovered. Now, we have Leno, Conan, Kimmel, Letterman, Fallon, Ferguson, and now, Seth! Ugh!

2. Leo Babauta on Healthy Eating

3. This is the most desperate act of spin you will read today.

4. There's always a "-gate" in the second term.

5. CURRENT READING: The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything by James Martin, SJ. Great intro to the Ignatian way.

6. I am seeing Leno on a new network. That guy is never retiring.

7. If you don't have a plan of life, you'll never have order.--ST. JOSEMARIA ESCRIVA

8. Obama's Justice Department goes after journalist phone records?! Nixon lives!!

9. You know you are getting old when your favorite guilty pleasure is a nap on the couch.

10. It is easy to work in radio and TV until you are 83 or older. Not so easy if you cut down trees or roof houses.

SATURDAY

1. Sodomy and Usury

2. The Catholic South

3. Those Republicans are hot for a Benghazigate even if they have to make one.

4. Benghazigate would like to smear Obama but the real prize would be to take down Hillary pre-2016.

5. If you read Fifty Shades of Grey and liked it, keep your mouth shut about the Cleveland atrocity. You have no moral authority to speak.

6. MEMO TO RUSH LIMBAUGH: It doesn't matter that you are tops in ratings. If advertisers don't want to advertise with you, you are out of a job. Ratings only count when they turn into dollars.

7. Catholic. Nuff Said.

8. Vatican II--Unfinished Business

9. How the West Really Lost God

10. Art and Liturgy

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TUESDAY

1. Pope and Press: The Honeymoon Will End

2. Strange Notions

3. Chris Christie gets the lap band. Sad. He should go vegan instead.

4. The beginning of an epic fail.

5. Faces of Meth

6. The Anonymous Power

7. The reason Led Zeppelin won't reunite is because Robert Plant can't hit those notes anymore. Plus, the lyrics from yesterday sound kinda dumb. Let it go, folks.

8. Google Glass is the Segway for your face.

9. It is not enough that a company show a profit. They have to absolutely blow it out by chasing mega-profits. This usually results in no profits.

10. Even the Buddhists have had enough of the Islamic crap. So much for nirvana.

Pope Francis on Patience

People think I am weird for my enthusiasm for the new pontiff, Pope Francis. I was skeptical at first due to the enthusiasm of many fake Catholics in the media and the wolves within the Church. But as their enthusiasm has dimmed, mine has grown considerably. Both his words and his example have made a tremendous impact on me.

This particular bit of homily struck home to me as I listened to it. It has to do with patience. Patience is not something I always have. The temptation is to give in to either anger or despair. But this is not the Christian way. Christians are not supposed to be whiners. Whining is a lack of faith and trust in God.

Christians are not supposed to be stoics either. Christ felt the agony of His sufferings. He wept. He was not indifferent to His suffering or the suffering of others. But He was patient as He is patient now. Likewise, saints like Paul and Silas endured their suffering with joy.

It is so easy to lose heart. But we must endure and persevere. In time, all good things will come. Have faith.

SUNDAY

1. A tale of stupid management.

2. Pat Buchanan on The Pope and Godless Capitalism.

3. Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need; the remainder is needed by others.--ST. AUGUSTINE

4. Giving Mayor Bloomberg a taste of his own medicine.

5. Republicans say their policies are for the sake of the middle class. But they are really for the rich. And the middle class are waking up to the fact that they aren't ever going to be rich.

SATURDAY

1. The Hold-Up

2. Howard Kurtz accidentally ran afoul of the pro-gay machine and got screwed. More atrocious acts to come.

3. Are Homosexuals Born or Made?

4. Living without goals looks an awful lot like living as a loser.

5. Teen girls can get Plan B without parental permission, but I have to show a driver's license to get allergy meds. And they told me I was over my limit. Good luck with that breathing thing, pal.

6. I plagiarized that last one from my wife. Ahhh, the pleasures and joys of having a smart aleck spouse.

7. According as you form a closer union and friendship with spiritual men, you will enjoy more happiness in the Lord.--ST. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA

8. Remarried Catholics are not excommunicated. I couldn't take the eucharist for almost a year, but I still went to Mass. It was worth it every time. So, go to Mass.

9. It is not the work that is intolerable. The Rats are what make the job intolerable.

10. Rooster Cogburn Catholicism

Perpetual State of Collapse

Simply put, the world is always in a state of collapse. Century after century after century. Catholics, or at any rate the Catholic Church, know this.

EDWARD PETERS

All great civilizations come to an end. If you read the Bible, you see the rise and fall of Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Greece, the Romans, etc. History is filled with the rise and fall of societies. And what is my viewpoint about it all? I have learned to stop worrying and to keep persevering.

Today, we see the decay in American society as abortion on demand continues without even a speed bump. Gay marriage will certainly pass as the new law of the land. Economic calamity and ruin seem certain. Terrorism and war go on unabated. We hear the prophets all around giving us warnings, and I do not doubt their jeremiads. The problem is that it has always been this way and will always be this way until the end of time. In short, humanity lives in a perpetual state of collapse as a consequence of original sin.

It is easy to become worried and alarmed to see this collapse, but it should cause us no anxiety at all. This is because our hope should be in Christ and not the kingdoms, rulers, and systems of this world. All of these things are doomed to failure and ruination. The Church of Christ endures through it all. Put your hope in Christ and let the world collapse.

As I grow in the Catholic faith, I find myself becoming less and less anxious over the calamities in the news. I also have a pessimistic view concerning any worldly solutions to these problems. In the end, the goal is not to change the world. The goal is to not let the world change you. This is called "perseverance."

The problem with the world is that people are inherently evil. The solution is for them to repent of this evil. The reality is that it is only the remnant that actually do this. The good people act as merely a preservative on a rancid corpse. The world is doomed, so the only hope is to place your faith in a new world to come. This is where the Catholic faith comes into play.

The Church is like an Ark in a world that is drowning in darkness. You need to get inside this ark and ride out the storm and the flood. St. Augustine said as much in The City of God:

Though there are very many nations all over the earth, ...there are no more than two kinds of human society, which we may justly call two cities, ...one consisting of those who live according to man, the other of those who live according to God ....To the City of Man belong the enemies of God, ...so inflamed with hatred against the City of God.

In St. Augustine's day, the barbarians were invading what was left of the Roman empire, and it didn't take a prophet to see that Rome was finished. This brought much grief to those who equated the two kingdoms of God and Rome. But Augustine was correct in pointing out that they were not the same. Similarly, people today like to think of the USA as God's country. But this is an error. The kingdom of Christ is not of this world, and it is this kingdom which endures while all the others collapse into the collective memory of humanity.

I find myself not caring as much anymore about these worldly things. They start to sound the same each day. Nothing really shocks or surprises me anymore. The world is always collapsing while the Church is always persevering. This was the promise of Christ. The gates of Hell will not prevail against His church. The best advice is the advice of Padre Pio. "Pray, hope, and don't worry."

THURSDAY

1. No reaction is better than a bad one.

2. What’s Killing American Catholicism

Part 1
Part 2

3. Jesus was blue collar.

4. Work honors the Creator's gifts and the talents received from him. It can also be redemptive. By enduring the hardship of work in union with Jesus, the carpenter of Nazareth and the one crucified on Calvary, man collaborates in a certain fashion with the Son of God in his redemptive work. He shows himself to be a disciple of Christ by carrying the cross, daily, in the work he is called to accomplish.  Work can be a means of sanctification and a way of animating earthly realities with the Spirit of Christ.--CCC 2427

5. Here's the deal. You want to close Guantanamo Bay? YOU are the President. That means "Commander-in-Chief." In other words, you can give orders, and the military has to OBEY them. Weird concept, huh? So, what is the problem, O? I get it. You are wanting people to like closing Guantanamo Bay before you close it. You, sir, are a disgrace.

6. It is only courage when you do it first.

7. Has Malcolm Gladwell jumped the shark?

8. J.C. Penney repents. Good move.

9. This is why I shave my head:

10. And this is why I don't bother voting anymore.

[SOC] Diminished Desire for Blogging, Facebook, Changes

I haven't felt like writing much lately. I even toyed a bit with the idea of ending my career as a blogger. But I've been doing this gig too long to quit it. So, I will carry on with this project.

I'm not sure why I have lost the love for blogging lately. When I started this blog, I was a libertarian atheist, and the fuel for my blogging came from an unquenchable anger. That anger has evaporated as a Catholic. I feel peace in my heart and soul these days that I have never known before. I just feel that everything will turn out great in the long run even if things look horrible in the short term.

The other idea that I toss around in my head is a return to Facebook but for different reasons. I actually think it might be a decent tool for keeping up with friends and family and various organizations that I support. I always used Facebook as a gigantic debate forum where I did battle with people in epic debates and/or shared cat pictures. If I return to Facebook, it will probably be using it as 99% of the rest of the people on Facebook use it.

I've come a long way in a year. I got married, became a Catholic, and eat a vegan diet now. I know. That is just nutty and bizarre. How did I get to this point? As they say, life is what happens while you are making other plans.

I'm not sure where I am going in the next year. I know that I need to get better at living like a Christian. I keep finding new pockets of sin within me. I find that going to Mass, prayer, and devotional reading does a lot of good. I need to add more to my program.

In other stuff, I think I need a new career or something. I also want to move to someplace new. I feel like one phase of my life has ended, and a new one has begun. Making changes is addictive.  I can't say at the present moment what is next for me, but I can say that I hope I am not in the same place next year that I am this year.

TUESDAY

1. You can deny the itch, but you can't resist the scratch:

2. What's Wrong With Gossip?

3. More on the scratching.

4. The KKKatholic Church

5. Being good is infectious:

6. It is time for me to confess something. Yes, folks, I am heterosexual. I now declare myself the first openly straight blogger.

7. I would cycle more if I knew I wasn't going to be run over by some car or semi.

8. All these years and one Peace Prize later, Guantanamo Bay is still business as usual.

9. It is easier to speak the truth than to live it.

10. Another atheist turns Catholic. Be careful what you ask of the Almighty. You might get it.

SATURDAY

1. Zombie Snake

2. Another day at the office:

3. Mark Shea on the Shroud of Turin.

4. Guilty or not guilty, that Gosnell verdict is going to be a huge deal.

5. If you dream in a new language, you can say you know that language. Likewise, if the sight of meat makes you want to puke a little in your mouth, you can say that you will always be vegan.

6. When they say Syria used chemical weapons, what they are really saying is that the USA will be invading Syria in the next few months.

7. St. Josemaria Escriva on humility:

Allow me to remind you that among other evident signs of a lack of humility are:

--Thinking that what you do or say is better than what others do or say;

--Always wanting to get your own way;

--Arguing when you are not right or -- when you are -- insisting stubbornly or with bad manners;

--Giving your opinion without being asked for it, when charity does not demand you to do so;

--Despising the point of view of others;

--Not being aware that all the gifts and qualities you have are on loan;

--Not acknowledging that you are unworthy of all honour or esteem, even the ground you are treading on or the things you own;

--Mentioning yourself as an example in conversation;

--Speaking badly about yourself, so that they may form a good opinion of you, or contradict you;

--Making excuses when rebuked;

--Hiding some humiliating faults from your director, so that he may not lose the good opinion he has of you;

--Hearing praise with satisfaction, or being glad that others have spoken well of you;

--Being hurt that others are held in greater esteem than you;

--Refusing to carry out menial tasks;

--Seeking or wanting to be singled out;

--Letting drop words of self-praise in conversation, or words that might show your honesty, your wit or skill, your professional prestige ... ;

--Being ashamed of not having certain possessions ..

8. We think we are humble until we read Escriva.

9.  Obama says, "God bless Planned Parenthood."

10. My reaction to Obama these days is the same as it is for a rare T-bone steak.

TUESDAY

1. Middle School Lesbian Ed

2. Intellect Worship vs. Intellect Use

3. Atheism, the Big Bang, Stephen Hawking, and M-theory

4. The CCC on homosexuality:

2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

5. Experience Matters

6. Respect for Apprenticeships