Antrim has turned, in his nonfiction, toward a reckoning with the complicated grief brought on by the loss of a complicated parent. The seven chapters of "The Afterlife" are dominated by his mother, Louanne, who married and separated from Antrim's father twice and died of lung cancer in 2000. Her alcoholism, her smoking, her emotional volatility, her needy, proud, eccentric temperament — these all add up to a legacy that challenges Antrim's impulses toward clarity, irony and reserve.
Courtesy of the always interesting Deric Brownd's Mindblog I have come across the Mind Science Foundation, an amazing resource of information, news and professional contacts for anyone interested in the history and future of consciousness study.
I grew up in a libertarian family. I am sure that I was educated in constitutional law long before I knew anything about the birds and the bees. Yes, it's kind of sad to note that while other boys my age were transfixed by naked tribeswomen in National Geographic, I was totally engrossed in the papers of Jefferson and Adams.
An amusing side note to my family's deeply involved political dogma, was that at one point, at least 75% of the members of my family were on a ballot somewhere in the State of Texas. Even I was dragged into the political arena, though a bit begrudgingly.
When I turned 18, my older brother submitted my name as a candidate for Texas Railroad Commissioner. He was too busy running for another High office post. When I informed my brother that I was going to college and had no intention of being Railroad Commissioner, he said, "don't worry, you are going to abolish the position the first week you are in office."
In college, I became more "progressive" or "liberal", and I rebelled against what I perceived as the outdated and old-fashioned theories of the Libertarian Party. When I started doing stand-up comedy, digging into my family's "let's go back to 1776" mentality was a good source of humor for my act. Let's face it, Libertarians are not the coolest cats in the alley.
In 1988, my family, and the whole Libertarian world, was all gaga over a new political hopeful. Ron Paul became the Libertarian Presidential candidate and made quite a showing on election night - better than anything the Libertarians had ever experienced nationally before.
Flash forward 20 years later, and Ron Paul is aiming his sights on the big house once again. Some things have changed, though. This time around, Ron Paul is a Republican Congressman, not a Libertarian dark horse. Like last time, his campaign is still focused on the idea that government power is born from individual rights, not he other way around.
I would like to think the work I do as a medium has a similar message to it. After all, I am of the belief that God comes from individual consciousness, not the other way around.
Would I vote for Ron Paul given that he win his party's primary? I'm not sure. He does possess that one quality we all wish we could possess - selfless integrity. As a person, I trust him more than Hillary or Obama. Stranger than that, I'm beginning to think my crazy family might have been right all those years ago. Sometimes I even wonder how different life would have been as the Texas Railroad Commissioner instead of a guy who talks to the dead. Ah, the wonder of it all.
No matter what you think of Richard Dawkins or his philosophy and (non)beliefs, there is no doubt he is one of the most thought-provoking, entertaining and convincing thinkers of our times. The video below is just another example of how Dawkins has managed to set himself up as the leading voice of thought in the Western world.
Personally, I think he got it right at the beginning of this video when he quotes British geneticist, J.B.S. Haldane, in his revision of a quote from Hamlet.
"I suspect that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of, or can be dreamed of, in any philosophy. That is the reason why I have no philosophy myself, and must be my excuse for dreaming."
Antrim has turned, in his nonfiction, toward a reckoning with the complicated grief brought on by the loss of a complicated parent. The seven chapters of "The Afterlife" are dominated by his mother, Louanne, who married and separated from Antrim's father twice and died of lung cancer in 2000. Her alcoholism, her smoking, her emotional volatility, her needy, proud, eccentric temperament — these all add up to a legacy that challenges Antrim's impulses toward clarity, irony and reserve.
