Puritanism

luka

Well-known member
I want to talk about this. I am a very pure specimen of the puritan. Im not remotely proud of it, but im aware of it. The blood of 1000 generations of protestant bigots in my veins. I look like an ulster loyalist gunman. I didn't choose it, but im stuck with it. I don't understand pleasure. Only excess and denial.
 

luka

Well-known member
It's not necessarily to do with ancestry I dont think. Mr tea has no trace of Puritanism, no inclination to excess or denial, but I think droid is definitely my blood brother in Puritanism
 

version

Well-known member
I just think of that Blackadder episode with the aunt and the suggestive turnip when I hear the term 'puritan'.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
One half of my family is Catholic and I believe the roots go back to Ireland. Actually I think the roots go back to Ireland on both sides. I'll have to check.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
It's not necessarily to do with ancestry I dont think. Mr tea has no trace of Puritanism, no inclination to excess or denial, but I think droid is definitely my blood brother in Puritanism

I remember thirdy calling me a puritan but in the same sentence he said I had "no discipline" - I mean discipline is synonymous with puritanism, isn't it? Or is an integral part of it. But I suppose willful contradiction is part of his MO.
 

luka

Well-known member
I e seen how impossible it is to get you to drink more than three pints in an evening but I also know you would never dream of going a single day without your warm ale medicine. Therefore, not puritan.
 

luka

Well-known member
Droid on the other hand won't touch alcohol. He says it's devil secretions. I.e. Droid is a Puritan. You can see it in his eyes.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I e seen how impossible it is to get you to drink more than three pints in an evening but I also know you would never dream of going a single day without your warm ale medicine. Therefore, not puritan.

Come off it, you got me shitfaced that time! Anyway, getting drunk is actually not that much fun. Or more accurately, getting drunk is the most fun in the world, but being drunk is just gross.

You've never been on the sort of night with me where we're casting around for how to get more MDMA at 10 am the next day. So I would say I'm not averse to excess by any means, but that I can draw a line between excess per se and wanton self-destruction. I.e. we're talking about MDMA, not Tesco Value vodka/crack/glue.

Edit: in b4 "I never knew Tesco even sold crack, never mind budget crack."
 

droid

Well-known member
lol, Im a utilitarian hedonist. Its like puritanism but more boring. Pleasure with purpose.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
I look like an ulster loyalist gunman. I didn't choose it, but im stuck with it. I don't understand pleasure. Only excess and denial.
You're vastly too mystical tho

it's at odds

The Puritans believed in a spirit world for sure but they weren't mystics

Dour, grim, resolve
 

luka

Well-known member
Yeah i mean obviously I'm not an actual Puritan. But it's there somewhere as inheritance and I think it causes problems. Not necessarily in the blood, whatever that might mean, but in the cultural landscape and so on.
 

jenks

thread death
i think Puritanism also has a censorious quality - a judging of others for their lapses and predilections connected to some idea about being part of The Elect. In an era of relativism the puritan deals in absolutes.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
The Puritans believed in a spirit world for sure but they weren't mystics

Is this necessarily the case? I mean Milton was a Puritan. Doesn't he qualify as a mystic? Genuine question, maybe he doesn't - the intro notes to my copy of PL point out that he was a rather materialist kind of mystic, even to the level of his angels having bodies and eating, drinking and excreting.

What about Blake? Maybe he doesn't fit into any widely accepted denomination of Christianity, I dunno.
 

yyaldrin

in je ogen waait de wind
i think about this a lot. but it’s hard to say something personal about it since i feel that even the catholics and muslims in the netherlands are influenced by calvinism. it’s not religion so much anymore but a deeply ingrained culture that you pick up from your environment: family, school, politics, institutions. the believe of predestination, living a sober life, working hard and be honest.

in politics you can clearly see calvinism revealing itself, for example when politicians say things like this i do not only think that they are racist cunts but also calvinist losers:

“During the crisis of the euro, the countries of the North have shown solidarity with the countries affected by the crisis. As a Social Democrat, I attribute exceptional importance to solidarity. [But] you also have obligations. You can not spend all the money on drinks and women and then ask for help.“ - Dijsselbloem
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
“During the crisis of the euro, the countries of the North have shown solidarity with the countries affected by the crisis. As a Social Democrat, I attribute exceptional importance to solidarity. [But] you also have obligations. You can not spend all the money on drinks and women and then ask for help.“ - Dijsselbloem

I don't really see how this is racist, to be honest. OK, "drinks and women" is a colourful turn of phrase, but it's not unreasonable for taxpayers in other EU countries to be pissed off about bailing out Greece, which however you slice it has historically had incredibly profligate governments (proportionally by far the EU's biggest military budget, massively bloated civil service, widespread tax non-payment etc. etc.).
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Is this necessarily the case? I mean Milton was a Puritan. Doesn't he qualify as a mystic?

Don't think Milton was a mystic - as far as I'm aware he didn't have 'genuine' visions ala. Blake. Or had a direct experience of God or angels, etc. As you point out, he had a rather materialist mind, hence the angels in heaven battling with actual cannons, and pooing.
 
Top