Timothy L Pagaard: What matters
Welcome
Curriculum vitae
Reading list
Who matters
What matters
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear."
--Thomas Jefferson
What I think about
Here you'll have a chance (if you like) to find out more about the ideas I think about, the issues and events that matter most to me.
Please join the conversation: Click here.
In my site I hope I've made my ideas clear, and I've introduced you to those of people who matter to me. But you're one of those people too. Now I want to hear your ideas. Let me know what you think about literature, rhetoric, politics, philosophy, religion, bicycles, or anything else. We'll both be richer for the exchange.
Read about what's left of academic freedom at our college.
My journey
My journey, political, philosophical, artistic, and spiritual, has been, like everyone's, unique and at the same time common:
Nurtured in my nation's tradition of ancient blind superstition, I have struggled free, often reluctantly, from a world driven inward and irrational by delusion, made repressive and regressive by fear; I strive sometimes fitfully toward a better world that looks outward, dreams forward, and hopes with courage, honesty, and above all, humanity.
Or put more simply, I have struggled from The One True Faith toward an understanding of all such One True Faiths and further toward independent reason, toward freedom.
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Blasphemy is a victimless crime.
...OTW
No doubt you've seen the ubiquitous "NOTW" logo in the rear windows of two of every three gun-rack equipped, lifted pickups in eastern San Diego County: "Not of This World." See my version at right.
Epiphany: I looked for this outfit on-line, expecting to encounter some sort of inspirational ministry. Instead I discovered that NOTW is nothing more than a line of clothing and accessories-- "religion-themed," sure, but otherwise no different from Hollister, Aéropostale, or Sears. Whatever sells, huh? NYU cultural critic Mark Dery regards NOTW as the starkest irony, "the moneychangers' revenge. Is it possible to be more 'of this world' than NOTW?"
Alternative: Love our planet. Protect it. It's all we have! (But don't plan to buy an "...OTW" T-shirt, navel ring, or gangster beanie from me.) Here's Kurt Vonnegut: "Epitaph: The good Earth--we could have saved it, but we were too damn cheap and lazy."
A fresh look at faith and reason
The Gospel of Supply-Side Jesus
Naomi Klein breaks down the bail-out:
Close Guantánamo Bay NOW!
Here's a Republican I can live with:
I'm voting Republican!
Palin for president (Michael Palin, that is):
George Carlin on religion
George Carlin: "pro-life" is anti-woman
George Carlin: baseball v. football
Pat Condell's humor
GodWhacker, Steely Dan
Bike-friendly
cities: København, Amsterdam, and Bogotá.
Bike boulevards: Berkeley, Portland, and Amsterdam.
More about bicycling København: Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Check out my bike.
My favorite rides: Laguna Triangle,
Honey Springs Road.
The
car I wish I were driving....
"We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Sahara. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively outnumbers the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here."
Richard Dawkins, from Unweaving the Rainbow
"I do not fear death, in view of the fact that I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it."
Mark Twain
