Scroody Foody

• Raspberry and white chocolate macaroons
• Raspberry and dark chocolate macaroons
• Salted caramel macaroons (some with chocolate)
• Schnitzel sandwich with cucumber, lettuce, tomato, carrot and saaauuuuce
• Mash up of desserts: warm brownies, smashed macaroons, vanilla ice cream, caramel and raspberries
• Stuffed mushrooms with green pepper, zucchini, onion and parmesan
• Carrot chips and cinammon sweet potato chips
• Black pepper and parmesan potato chips
• Lunch box pastries with mushroom, mortadella, assorted cheeses, zucchini and capsicum

Not much to say, but plenty to eat.

And mind you there's even more where that came from, but because blogger loves to be difficult and randomly rotate pictures the wrong way, I'll just ask you to imagine a glorious legume and corn soup with feta, and an apple garden salad that was really something.

Peace be with you, or something like that.

WAIT WAIT WAIT I HAVE ONE, I DO

Okay so strictly speaking I know I only post Awe Full posts on Sundays, and Monday is almost over, but I just had to post it now. I spend all week gathering nice little things to collate into an Awe Full post and just because I didn't have enough by yesterday doesn't mean I can't give it to you now! I mean who has the time to wait for next Sunday?

 1. This will probably be really annoying for those who don't instagram/have smart phone (I hate to make that assumption) so I promise I'll be quick. You can just flick your eyes over this part.

Are you still here? Okay.

WOWOWOWOW I AM ABSOLUTELY IN LOVE WITH YOSSY'S INSTAGRAM IT IS PERFECTION LIKE WHAT THE CHEESE HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE???

Ahem.

Yossy is a photographer and baker who runs the insanely delectable blog Apt. 2B Baking Co. You can click on this sexy link for her website if you want to take a further snoop.

2. I will quickly admit people watching is one of my favourite past times. I love imagining the stories of those I see on public transport, in shops, wearing a garment I also own, crying whilst they eat their ice cream at Fed Square, etc. Devon Smith's zines, Imaginary Lovers, are full of illustrations of such observed people and little spurts of thought about them.

3. I've said before I'm a health freak, so it probably isn't surprising that I adore quinoa, especially for breakfast. My only problem is varying how I eat it - which I know is my fault, because there's friggin goose gaggle's worth of recipes out there. This one in particular from another food blog I adore, How Sweet It Is, catches my stomach's eye and I totally wouldn't mind it being part of my chyme (can you tell I just studied digestion in biology?) It's for a crunchy quinoa, toasted almond and dark chocolate brown butter granola. Whew.

4. A lot of good champagne was wasted in the name of cinematography, music, and most importantly Vampire Weekend. This deliriously gorgeous lyric video is for their song Ya Hey from their new album Modern Vampires of the City due out in just a couple of days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (4 days before my birthday to be exact...)

5. Recently in another awe full post I mentioned Red Hong Yi, an artist who was doing a piece of food art a day for a month; now she's moved onto portraits. I thought this one she did of Adele was particularly amazing, which she explained on her instagram:

ADELE with 2000 melted candles, inspired by her song "Set Fire to the Rain". Melted blue candles, representing rain, were lit up or 'set on fire' for this effect. Rain could have meant tears/sadness to Adele.

You can also watch the mesmerizing process here:

6. My little sister did a science assignment on the mineral malachite and I can feel myself getting hooked on its gorgeousness. The fact that Tsar Nicholas II gave a large vase made of the stuff (the Tazza) to the USA only helps matters along.

(source)

7. This is how a real princess takes her tea.

8. I am very much in love with this picture from The Ardorous.

9. It's official: religion will be extinct by 2035. Such is the title of a fascinating article I read. Though I don't necessarily agree with all of it, I see the validity in the ideas and arguments (speaking of, being able to objectively identify a good idea or argument is a skill I'm really trying to develop). Psychologist Dr Nigel Barber is quoted as saying:

It seems that people turn to religion as a salve for the difficulties and uncertainties of their lives.

In social democracies, there is less fear and uncertainty about the future because social welfare programs provide a safety net and better health care means that fewer people can expect to die young.

People who are less vulnerable to the hostile forces of nature feel more in control of their lives and less in need of religion. Hence my finding of belief in God being higher in countries with a heavy load of infectious diseases.

In my new study of 137 countries (1), I also found that atheism increases for countries with a well-developed welfare state (as indexed by high taxation rates). Moreover, countries with a more equal distribution of income had more atheists.

10. I promise it will be worth your while. Watch it with no expectations.

Can morality exist without religion? (part 3)

This is part 3 of my series on Can morality exist without religion?
You can read part 1 here and part 2 here.

9: Plato - background and context
Plato learned from Socrates and wrote a lot on his life, though interestingly his theories do not require religion for morality, though they have been interpreted as so. Plato is famous for his Theory of Forms, which presents two realms of reality. The first is the World of Becoming - our physical world of material things that can change and perish - it is temporary. It is less real than the World of Being which contains perfect forms; it’s a non-physical world of ideas and concepts that are the basis of Becoming.
10: Plato - viewpoints and application
This is an approach of rationalism seeking to find truth in contemplation and reasoning instead of limited sensory reception. For example, even if we have not physically experienced something, we can understand the idea of it in its perfect and fullest form. So we must have knowledge of truth, attained by tapping into the World of Being. We can have knowledge of goodness and morality even if we have not seen or felt it perfectly in bodily experience.
This means we must’ve been enlightened by it before we were born into this world, so there is no creation here on earth, such as religion, that is necessary for this knowledge. This does not reject the idea of a God, but of the organised institution of religion. Plato did in fact believe in an Über Form, the Form of Good, which made all Forms possible. But the aforementioned theory of recollection means morality existed before religion. Understanding of immoral things from rape to racism is not limited to the religious.
Morality also requires a selflessness that is not guaranteed in religion. Acting ‘moral’ because of religious views - for example, out of fear of God, or desire to please Him - is not actually good but egotistical.
11: Simone de Beauvoir - background and context
This discussion is relevant in existentialism, but also in feminist theory, exemplified by Simone de Beauvoir. She was in a lifelong relationship with the philosopher Sartre - they never married because she didn’t want to institutionalise their relationship - and they had great influence on each other. She came after first wave feminism, and her work anticipated that to come in the second wave. Her mother was a strict Catholic and somewhat spiritually oppressive.
12: Simone de Beauvoir - viewpoints and application
In her book The Second Sex, de Beauvoir explored the history of female depiction in a patriarchy and systematic oppression of women. The female identity has been lost by the mystery and abnormality constructed into the gender by men as an excuse to not understand or assist women. So women have become the Other, and their objectification has become the norm, as anything stereotyped as male is the norm. She says that ‘one is not born a woman; one becomes one’. This is a key existentialist point, that existence precedes essence. We are born as clean slates without any identity or values - we create them throughout our life. Every existence is particular to the individual, so there is no great overriding force that decides us.
Referencing her mother’s strict Catholicism, de Beauvoir concluded that truth cannot be found when reliant on religion. Right and wrong cannot be decided by absolute religious law. It goes back to the simple concept of if you do something bad, that doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. If someone does something good or bad, they are not essentially good or bad - goodness or badness isn't written into their physical being. We define ourselves by our own choices. There is no total ruling element that can decide something. Just as men and women should be allowed decisions independent of their sex, there is no basis in religion that can completely decide and dictate morality.

It seems to be the general consensus that a sense of morality is required of us, but the beliefs of the means we take to achieve it differ. Personally I believe that morality can exist with or without religion. I see the validity and reasoning of each of the presented points of view, however I agree mostly with Simone de Beauvoir and her feminist existentialism. I believe in human freedom; I'm hesitant to straight away be very pushing of just 'equality' as people tend to confuse and make it synonymous with being 'the same', which lends itself to the idea that there should be one way to live. In this sense I'm more interested in liberty - that everybody is permitted their own conscience and choices and just because one doesn't understand the decision of another, that doesn't make it wrong. It is liberty that allows us to make choices free of social standards - furthermore, just because something doesn't fit a particular society's standard (in this discussion the society is a religious one) that does not make it automatically incorrect.

Can morality exist without religion? (part 2)

This is part 2 of my series on Can morality exist without religion?
You can read part 1 here.
5: Socrates - background and context
Socrates began his journey as a philosopher in science theory, but made a career out of investigating moral character. In contrast to his Greek philosophical peers, Socrates didn’t ‘teach’, but examined dialectically with Athens’ youth their confidence in the truth of majority views, on the basis of their popularity instead of as a result of critical analysis - an ad populum fallacy.
For a range of reasons he was a controversial figure, eventually leading to his being ordered to kill himself.
6: Socrates - viewpoints and application
One was for his political beliefs which supported democracy. Another bigger reason was that he didn’t believe in the gods of the state and so was accused of atheism. However, he did support religion and was suggestive of monotheism. This itself is interesting as the concept of democracy agrees more with polytheism than monotheism.
Socrates accepted the gods, but rejected their stories. To him their personification meant they weren’t virtuous, so they weren’t really divine. The gods also had their own individual judgments, which conflicts with the idea of morality. That is, there is little authority in the different opinions of gods because they are not able to be united into good and bad. So piety - fulfilment of religious and therefore moral obligations - cannot be described as what satisfies gods. Instead, morality comes from one, whole and full inherently good place - God. Virtues cannot be taught, they’re embedded in our spirits; nobody ever knowingly does evil, we all do what we believe is best. Therefore we need religion to guide us. These ideas are also reflected in Socrates’ politics. When he went through his trial and capture he debated whether or not he should escape and concluded that it is not justifiable for a citizen to disobey the law, even if they are unjustly treated.
7: C.S. Lewis - background and context
C.S. Lewis whom we all recognise as the writer of Narnia, which most of us know is laden with Christian messages, was a converted skeptic. He was a Christian apologist - he tried to provide logical and rational reason for Christianity and prove that religion serves a purpose. This inspired many works, like his books The Four Loves and Mere Christianity.
8: C.S. Lewis - viewpoints and application
One point that Lewis addressed was that of prayer, for which his concept is applicable to many other notions. The root of the difficulty people have in accepting that one God can attend to the prayers of all is in the assumption that the concept of time in our world applies to the whole universe. We live in a world of moments moving from past to future. God is not in time; at least, not in ours. Everything is in the present for Him and He has infinity. C.S. Lewis uses the example of an author who writes a story describing a moment in which something happens to a character. For the character, the event occurred all within one moment - but their creator could have taken a large amount of time while writing it, which really has no effect on the length of the character’s moment. Yet the character is still reliant on the author.
This relates to his idea of Christianity as a process of changing from your natural self into your Christ self. The evolution occurs at the deepest point within an individual, and allows us to achieve wholeness with God. Non-Christians say that it is a selfish religion and people should be more occupied with greater humanity than their own souls. But an individual isn't much use to the whole of humanity if they aren’t their best. He argues that we may try to do good in our natural selves but in the long term this good is not achieved. Hence we must go out of our natural selves and into Christ.
This is Lewis’ proof that we require a religious journey in order to do good - in other words, to be moral.

Can morality exist without religion? (part 1)

I feel as though most people apart from those quite devoted to religion would affirm that yes, morality can exist without religion.
This was actually the question I was asked for a philosophy assignment; I learnt so much and looked at so many points of view throughout the research and writing process that I thought I'd share it here. When I first saw the question I knew my opinion straight away was that morality can exist without religion. I am a bit skeptical about religion, at least at this point in time. I believe in God, but I am not sure I believe in religion - at least not that which I have grown up knowing. I'm trying to figure out my own ideas about God and separate them from what I have been told, and look at things from a simplistic and fundamental point, then build from there. I may write about all of that another time, as the discussion of religion versus sprituality is one I contemplate a lot.
I will present my work in pieces by philosopher - I have an ancient and a contemporary philosopher for both sides of the argument - that morality can exist without religion, and that it can't. I have assessed their points of views and arguments and applied them to the question; I want to point out that any of what is written here should be taken as my own opinion, unless explicitly stated as such. I've approached this in a way that is as objective as possible in order to evaluate each point as fairly as possible.

Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something.

- Henry David Thoreau 

1: Introduction
The nature of reality and what we classify as real, or existent, and whether we define the two as the same thing, are questions that have troubled philosophers for just about an eternity. Within our human life, reality, existence - call it what you may - the search for a purpose is the next step in this questioning quest. It is up to us to separate what is necessary, which may include what is desired, from the superfluous and the extraneous.
One of the core requirements upon us - whether we place it on ourselves, or if it is a universal calling, we shall discuss - is the sifting of good and bad, and everything in between. Ideally this should serve as an aid to decide that aforementioned separation between what is necessary and what is not.
This brings us to the discussion of morality and religion. Even the definitions of these two terms are debatable. When posed with the question of if morality would exist without religion, we can distinguish two main views.
2: Religion is required for morality
The first is affirmative - perhaps including in the purpose of religion that of serving as a moral guide. One may also say that what is moral depends on something larger than us, like a spirit or god.

Is what is morally good commanded by God because it is morally good, or is it morally good because it is commanded by God?

 - Socrates

3: Morality can exist without religion
The second is negative - morality is a discussion of our own human goodness and instinct, which therefore makes it more of a matter of perspective, as it is not over arched by an external power. Maybe religion is not so empathetic to circumstance and creates rules.

In my coming posts I will look at four philosophers, an ancient and a contemporary one from each side, and apply their work to this question.