#30752 - 06/01/01 09:08 AM
"Anchorite" demonstrative quote
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journeyman
Registered: 04/03/01
Posts: 69
Loc: IL
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Not that I'm upset at Anu, but the fact that so-called "professional writers" like this reporter make such a blatant error really galls me. (A good trick, considering I no longer have a gall bladder. ;-)
>rant>
She calls the use of money an act of "faith." How ridiculous!! An act of faith is something you do when you have no evidence that it will turn out as you wish. OTOH, using money is something we do often. Unless you've forgotten the 99.9% of the time it works, then there is no "faith" involved. When something works 99.9% of the time you do it, you have "confidence" it will work as expected.
Why do people insist on using the word "faith" when the word "confidence" will do??!! I just don't understand. "Faith" is something you have in a god/dess, in a risky plan that has no real evidence it will succeed, or your belief in the rightness or wrongness of certain moral choices. "Confidence" is something you have in yourself (gee, I succeeded 75% of the time, I bet I can do it again), in others (she's shown me she loves me by doing x, y, and z), and in the physical universe (gee, the sun has come up 100% of the time, I'll bet it comes up tomorrow).
>/rant>
Bryan
_________________________
Cheers,
Bryan
You are only wretched and unworthy if you choose to be.
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#30753 - 06/04/01 12:06 PM
Re: "Anchorite" demonstrative quote
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 01/18/01
Posts: 13858
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" a blatant error really galls me "
Dear Bryan: Just to tease you gently,even if you still had your gall bladder, it would have nothing to do with the above type of affliction.
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#30755 - 06/04/01 02:53 PM
Re: "Anchorite" demonstrative quote
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 01/18/01
Posts: 13858
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The dictionary gives a second meaning referring to such things as saddle sores on horses. So something that galls you is creating a mechanical injury, nothing to do with bile or its contents. At least that is my carefully considered humble opinion. wwh
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#30756 - 06/04/01 10:12 PM
Re: "Anchorite" demonstrative quote
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 03/15/00
Posts: 11578
Loc: Louisville, Kentucky
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Hi, Bryan, and welcome; I don't think I've said that yet.
I had to go look up the quote, and thought others might like an easy ref., so:
"The use of money is the purest act of faith; no anchorite who has followed a vision into the desert has acted on an idea as far-fetched as our belief that if we put a dollar in a machine we will be drinking a Diet Coke in a minute." Mary Gordon, We Are All Spendthrifts Now,
It is hard to tell exactly what she meant, even with this.
From the title, I might guess that perhaps she could have meant that anyone who spends money now is taking it on faith that there will be more money in the future.
Based on this quote, though, her logic is beyond me: we have MUCH evidence to support the belief that the machine will give us access to the drink we paid for.
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#30757 - 06/06/01 09:40 AM
Re: "Anchorite" demonstrative quote
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 09/15/00
Posts: 4757
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I think she's referring to the bigger picture - the use of money as a token of value represents an act of faith. On pound notes this act of faith is embodied in the statement "I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of ~", which underscores the fact that what is being accepted as legal tender is a representation of value, having no intrinsic worth. And what happens when this faith starts to crumble? Ask rural bankers in the goldrush era, ask starving women in the Weimar republic...
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#30759 - 06/07/01 08:52 AM
Re: "Anchorite" demonstrative quote
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 01/18/01
Posts: 13858
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Now tell me what bile has to do with the oak galls, the little hollow spheres about the size of ping-pong balls that form near tips of oak tree branches. "All gall is divided into three parts."
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#30760 - 06/07/01 09:35 AM
Confidence in money
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journeyman
Registered: 04/03/01
Posts: 69
Loc: IL
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That is my whole point - the loss of *confidence* in the money. Faith had nothing to do with it. If faith were involved in money, it would never "lose value" and there would be no Weimar Republic type problems. People would continue as if nothing were wrong.
Certain religions have made predictions whose outcomes were definitively contradicted by reality. Yet these continue to flourish. If faith were involved with money, you would never have inflation or deflation. People would simply believe in the money no matter what other economic or political realities existed.
Confidence is what wanes and waxes with the evidence. Faith only changes when the emotional state of the individual changes.
Cheers,
Bryan
_________________________
Cheers,
Bryan
You are only wretched and unworthy if you choose to be.
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#30761 - 06/07/01 12:14 PM
Re: Confidence in money
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 09/15/00
Posts: 4757
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Faith had nothing to do with it
Well, I think I understand your discrimination here, Bryan. But take this range of definitions as a quick sample:
faith (fāth)
n.
Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.
Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence. See synonyms at belief, trust.
Loyalty to a person or thing; allegiance: keeping faith with one's supporters.
often Faith. Christianity. The theological virtue defined as secure belief in God and a trusting acceptance of God's will.
The body of dogma of a religion: the Muslim faith.
A set of principles or beliefs.
idiom:
in faith
Indeed; truly.
[Middle English, from Anglo-Norman fed, from Latin fidēs.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2001 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The first one sits OK with my understanding of this kind of faith, and seems reasonable given the etymology shared with words like fidelity, don't you think?
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