Because when I tour Europe I want to bring my wife with me, and apparently no women are allowed there.

Why don’t you go to visit the Holy Mount Athos?

…in fact I’m being late in my response because I sought all over the internet to find a reliable page about the Holy Mountain, but (almost) all seemed to throw a wrong light on it. Even the above one (which I think that is the most accurate) has some small mistakes.
The Wikipedia’s entry which is usually taken as reference, is full of various info mixed with wrong interpretations.
In short, the Holy Mountain is an unique spiritual experience for anyone who visit it. I go there often enough and every time I discover something new – but for this you must know the trick: start to ask the monks your problems. Also, perhaps, Panagiotis can confirm my words…

I do think that it will help you very much to clarify at least some from your concerns.

OTOH, on the “technical” plane (:-) ) we fully agree. And also all the great programmers fully agree on this. Mind you, McConnell took the fact from Disjka, also Torvalds speak about it, Guido praises it, Norvig has it as base. Perhaps I’ll made a special post on this, imho it’s worth the effort.

By the way last words of Alexander was “Τω κρατίστω” – that means “Tο the strongest”

I know it is easy for some people to look at this and suggest faith as the answer to these problems. The problem I see is that everyone that I know that are trapped in these self-designed cages are believers; they have the very faith that is always proffered as the solution. Meanwhile, there are atheists and agnostics living ascetic lives of deep satisfaction and contentment. Millions of them.

My personal story is that I was always searching when I was a Christian. I just had a hard time admitting it. After all, why search if you have The Truth? It would make no sense. But when I finally took the plunge and decided to try and be as honest as I could in evaluating my faith and beliefs, I was led away from Christianity, first toward a raw Jesus-only faith that rejected Paul, then toward a Deist god and finally I let go of God altogether. There was no god-sized hole in my soul after all, but rather I found a deep and abiding satisfaction that has stood the test of over two decades of life’s trials and tribulations. I was finally being honest with myself, I was finally me.

I like to occasionally discuss this with believers, if only to remind myself that I am never too far removed from the other side of the divide, and perhaps because I am in a sense then debating with my old self. That’s always good for a little lite entertainment! It is precisely because I feel so confident in my current position that I feel this is necessary. I HAVE to always challenge my beliefs. It is part of who I am.

I was a born-again Christian until I was 27 years old. I am fully aware of the Christian way of life and tradition. I just don’t accept it as true, or as moral, anymore.

” But the point is to be humble enough to admit that we can get it wrong sometimes. This is very true not only in the spiritual life but also in our life as programmers also.”

If that was your point, then that is a very valid point, though belief in the soul is not necessary for humility, in fact I think true humility will admit we are probably not so important that we have to live forever or have any kind of personal relationship with a being capable of creating a universe such as this. We are just little, finite beings of very limited duration. We are probably not so important that we can mess up an entire universe just by eating a fruit in a garden. The universe is remarkably indifferent to humans and seems to proceed quite well without consulting with humans and their beliefs about their own eternal importance.

All the spiritual discussion aside, humility is indeed a necessary trait for any truly good programmer. Steve McConnell has a nice discussion of this in one of the last chapters of his book, “Code Complete”.

God bless and Merry Christmas!

No, Jake, let’s explain it a little bit further:
Well, which is the reality of my soul? I’m a snake-pig-dog full of passions, full of distortion, capable of things that I’m ashame to tell. Also I did such things, I said such words. I’m stupid, defiant, proud, liar, dragged by the passions of flesh like a zonked slave. And this is only the beginning…
…but when I’m thinking about myself, and/or I’m asked who am I, I respond: “Oh, my beloved son, you know, I’m sooo smart, sooo nice man… I don’t know how you don’t realize already my superiority in front of you… I have sooo many degrees… I know sooo many things… E=mc2 you know…” …and I deeply believe what I say to you and/or to my myself. Also, because I’m so ‘superior’ I think that I’m a genius but the others (the “laymen”) just don’t understand me… …they just don’t love me…. ….they envy me…
And all of these because we are afraid to look who we really are (not who we think we are) because we’re afraid about what we might find there because we are too lazy to start the fight for our perfection. And this is because we think that we can be magically saved by someone / something else (Christ, luck, state, blind fate… etc.). No, it isn’t like this. Christ is God and He did for us everything but perverting our freedom. And this is essential. (We cannot speak now enough about this). But Your salvation depends on your facts, on your thoughts. You are free hence you’re responsible.

Yes, it isn’t a quote against the existence of soul and its absolute importance in the human existence, is in fact a strong proof for it.

This post was mentioned on Twitter by wings_of_wind: The Death of a Programmer: http://wp.me/pAYdr-9Z...