I like Kant a lot and I think his questions were  good most people did not accept his answers. That left room for immediate non intuitive knowledge of Fries and Leonard Nelson.  But even Reid accepted the old world view that our mind is form without matter was not really the best approach. The questions brought up by Descartes,and Berkeley he did not really answer except to say that common sense shows our we our we do have knowledge of the objective world. I

Why electricity is allowed on Shabat

I just wanted to mention why electricity is allowed on Shabat. It is not fire which is an oxidation process. [Electricity is  a flow of electrons.] And it is not building, nor fixing a vessel. It is simply turning on a light. That is not the same thing as fixing a light.
[What the fixation of the religious is about this I have no idea. It seems that they have to defend the idea turning on a light is forbidden at all cost with no support from the Gemara or Rishonim. If only they would have the same fixation about things that the Gemara actually does say!

[ I wrote  long blog on this a long time ago in more detail. I had heard about the Chazon Ish but did not have the chance to look at his book on this issue until I got back to the Mir in NY and there looked at it. I was impressed, but then talked with Rav Nelkenbaum about it and he said  that the Chazon Ish was simply not right. I had no idea what he meant at first but then I realized what that  must have meant. That is : you have to squeeze the Chazon Ish into the Gemara. It does not come out of the Gemara itself. You have to make up your own idea why electricity must be forbidden and then try to fit it into the Gemara.]

Later someone showed to me the book of the disciple of the Chazon Ish [Rav Aurbach] that also says electricity is not building nor fixing a vessel.


The main reason why the religious are fixated about this is it makes them feel superior to others while also helping to divert attention from things that the Torah actually does require.

Sukka.

Sukka. The covering needs to be more shade than sun. But to what hour of the day does that refer? If when the sun gets up in the morning, the shade will  be vast. If at midday it will be minuscule.

Rav Ovadiah Joseph did a great thing a few years back when he noted that the sheets they use for the walls flap in the wind. So you need the three small ropes on the side lower areas  to count as walls.

obsession with religion is the primary trait of a schizoid personality.

To clarify a previous post: There is nothing wrong with being religious. Fear of God is a great thing. But there is some kind of aspect of balance of values that one needs. And that balance is what the Torah itself says.

Sapolsky [Stanford University] also mentions that obsession with religion is the primary trait of a schizoid personality.

I thought to mention that getting the right kind of orientation right away in the morning seems like a good idea to me. So to start the day with one of the classical books of Ethics like Obligations of the Heart [חובות לבבות] or any other of the books of Musar seems important to me. [That is the Mesilat Yesharim, Gates of Repentance, Ways of the Righteous etc.]
This is what I try to do myself in order to get my mind set straight right at the beginning of the day.

F Major  [V53 in nwc]

A Major  [V54 nwc]

V-55 G Minor  [V55]

Making people religious amounts to making them wicked

In the religious world there is nothing so highly valued as making other people religious. The trouble with that is that making others religious usually amounts to making them wicked. They abandon the good lessons they learned from their parents  and lose all respect for their parents and teachers and accept some idiot as their idol. [You do not need me to notice this. It is a famous and well known fact. No one becomes religious and gains in good character. These are two polar opposites.]

They will have to spend a life time doing "תשובה על תשובה" repenting on their repentance.

[On the other hand there are parents who do not deserve respect. ]

That is to say there is a hierarchy of values in Torah. Making people religious means ignoring what is essential in Torah and making up new values which are contrary to Torah and pretending as if that is authentic Torah.
The basic problem is the result of the religious world being essentially black, dark and in the total control of the Sitra Achra.

[It is a  good thing to be מזכה את הרבים--bring merit to the many--but to make people religious brings sin to the many, not merit.]
Just to be clear: One is suppose to keep Torah, but that has nothing to do with the religious world except in so far as if you do everything the exact opposite of them, you are on the right track.