Postmodern:
If Descartes is seen as the father of modernism, then postmodernism is a variety of cultural positions which reject major features ... modern(the philosophical concept of modern, not the chronologicalnecessarily) thought. Hence, views which, for example, stress thepriority of the social to the individual; which reject theuniversalizing tendencies of philosophy; which prize irony overknowledge; and which give the irrational equal footing with therational in our decision procedures all fall under the postmodernumbrella.
Existentialism:
A philosophy that emphasizesthe uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostileor indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, andstresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences ofone's acts.
Christian Mysticism:
Mysticism is thephilosophy and practice of a direct experience of God. In the Christiancontext this is usually practiced through prayer, meditation andcontemplation. Christian mysticism aspires to apprehend spiritualtruths inaccessible through intellectual means, typically by emulationof Christ. "If you're a Christian, you're on a tightrope. If yousee yourself more as a "Christian mystic" you're on the tightrope butjuggling bowling balls." -- from http://www.christianmystics.com/
Absolute Truth:
Ingeneral, absolute truth is whatever is always valid, regardless ofparameters or context. The absolute in the term connotes one or moreof: a quality of truth that cannot be exceeded; complete truth;unvarying and permanent truth. It can be contrasted to relative truthor truth in a more ordinary sense in which a degree of relativity isimplied.
How can I believe and hold to all these conflicting tenets? Well, I guess it's that struggle that helps to makeme who I am. All I know is that the postmodern in me rejects easyanswers and attempts to deconstruct everything to find the "truth"beneath the composition (even though typically postmoderns reject thenotion of truth with a capital "T." The existentialist in meacknowledges the isolation of the individuals and places greatimportance on living well in a world that seems to ignore us (at best)or downright antagonistic toward us (at worst). The living heroicallyin that world is the greatest human achievement, seeking to beresponsible for standing up in the face of that isolation. TheChristian mystic in me attempts to makes sense of this all through arelationship with God, and sees that those my existentialism makes theworld seem apart and distant and uncaring, the God who created itisn't, that the postmodern who has become jaded and skeptical canultimately find something solid and real once everything has beendeconstructed and laid bare apart from all it's cultural context. Andthe believer in absolute truth in me gives me hope that there issomething real, something firm that holds true, period, and that if Isearch for it, regardless of its name or what faith has tried to co-optit, it will be there just as real for me as for everyone else who hasthe guts to put everything they believe at risk just to find it.
So,beneath the surface of my skin and psyche, all that mixture ofphilosophical gumbo is going on. And now you know me, the real me. Thedefinition of me, at least in terms of my philosophical understandingof myself, the world, and my place in it. But, in spite of all theheady, self-important crap that is me, I like to watch TV, movies andread books and comics and play (I call it work most of the time) on mycomputer.
All this heady stuff, and I'm still a shallow wack job, huh? But you have to love me for it, right?
(Wait, don't leave. Please...)
*grins*
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