Stephen Law

For comments. The opening sections repackage material I have used before but then there's quite a bit of new stuff. 6. PSEUDO-PROFUNDITY Some marketing, religious, and lifestyle “gurus” have genuine and valuable insights to offer. But not all. Some are charlatans or fools offering little more than pseudo-profundity. Pseudo-profundity is the art of sounding profound while talking tosh. Unlike the art of actually being profound, the art of sounding profound is not particularly difficult to master. As we’ll see, there are certain basic recipes that can produce fairly convincing results – good enough to convince many others, and perhaps even yourself, that you have achieved some sort of profound insight into the human condition. If you want to achieve the status of a guru it helps to have some natural charisma and presentational skills. Sincerity, empathy, or at least the ability to fake them, can also useful. Props often help – try wearing a loincloth, a fez, or, in a business setting...

One of the funniest things I have ever heard was Bennett in a dog collar doing his "sermon" in Beyond The Fringe . I am using a bit as an example of pseudo-profundity in latest book (more to come shortly). First verse of the fourteenth chapter of the Second Book of Kings: ‘And he said, “But my brother Esau is an hairy man, but I am a smooth man.”’ Perhaps I might say the same thing in a different way by quoting you those words of that grand old English poet, W.E. Henley, who said: “When that One Great Scorer comes To mark against your name, It matters not who won or lost, But how you played the game.” ‘But how you played the game.’ Words very meaningful and significant for us here, together, tonight. Words we might do very much worse than to consider. And I use this word ‘consider’ advisedly. Because I am using it, you see, in its original Greek sense of ‘con—sid-er’, of putting one’s self in the way of thinking about something. I want us here, together, tonight to put oursel...

The Rev Sam said: "i) it is a central claim of the tradition that God is ultimately mysterious and not finally knowable. We cannot attain to a position of oversight with respect to God, we are always in an inferior position - that's part of what the word 'God' means - something which is above and beyond our comprehension. Any analysis which seeks to render God's attributes definable is not engaging with a Christian analysis." A further thought on that. The very same move can and no doubt would be made on Eth by those who believe in an evil God (see The God of Eth ). Consider this Ethian response to the problem of good: Gizimoth: "There's too much good for this to be the creation of an all-powerful and evil God" Booblefrip: "Ah, but you must understand that 'evil' as applied to God means something other than what it means when applied to humans." Gizimoth: "What does it mean, then?" Booblefrip: "Well, Evil God, and...

Here's something from a new book . Thought it might interest those following the very odd comments (scroll to the end) on my posting an Anselm's argument . Around the globe, audiences sit at the feet of marketing experts, life-style consultants, mystics, cult-leaders and other “gurus” waiting for the next deep and profound insight. Audiences often pay a great deal of money to hear these words of wisdom. So how do these elevated individuals come by their penetrating insights? What is the secret of their profundity? Unfortunately, in some cases, the audience is duped by the dark arts of pseudo-profundity. The art of sounding profound is fairly easily mastered. You too can make deep- and meaningful-sounding pronouncements if you are prepared to follow a few simple rules. First, try stating the incredibly obvious. Only do it v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y, with a sort of knowing nod. This works particularly well if your remark has something to do with one of the big themes of life, love, deat...