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I am horrible at naming things. This blog for example has a horrible name. The title is horrible, the url is horrible. I am a horrible namer and I should not be the person to name my children.

I haven't been very inspired to write lately. I go through periods of total mental exhaustion where I do nothing but vegetate. I don't cook, I don't clean, and I don't think more than I have to.

In relation to thought, I find that I am more of a right brained individual. Language, history, music, art are my domain; math makes me cry like a little baby. That isn't to say that I can't do math at all. I scraped an A in my statistics class last semester but it was a miserable ordeal. All of this makes me a poor participant in a debate. I know the basics of philosophy and logic, how to construct an argument and how to criticize one but it is far from enjoyable. Atheist often are given this image of the strong analytical type, ready to debate, well versed in philosophy and logic. That image does not apply here. I'm not stupid. I'm actually pretty well educated. Science is understandable but boring. So I think it's not a lack of knowledge but more of a lack of motivation. I'd much rather engage in a conversation than a debate. The key difference is the goal. In a debate, the goal is to win, to come out on top, prove the other person wrong. With a discussion, the goal is to understand. I enjoy sharing different points of view and even challenge those points of view, requesting further explanation or the reasoning behind it. I think this is a far less aggressive approach than a debate.

As atheist, if we want people to listen to us, I think we need to be willing to listen ourselves. We don't have to agree with the other person but we do need to give them a chance to speak. However, I think this would only be effective in a one on one situation. On a larger scale, with people who are outright against everything we are and who's goal is rid the earth of doubters, this tactic will not work. But if I am just talking to someone I meet on the street, I don't have a reason to be defensive but I can still challenge that person to examine what they believe and why and in turn they can challenge my own beliefs or lack thereof. We don't have to get everyone to agree but if we can get people to understand why we are the way we are, religious or not, I think we have a better chance at breaking down all the intolerance between different modes of thought.

This probably didn't make a bit of sense.