My personal glimpse into the first half of the 21st Century for some yet to be known future
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Metaphors of Religion
Imagine a person who has never seen or heard of a banana. Now imagine that person is hungry. A kind stranger walks along and hands that person a banana and tells them that it is food. The person tries to taste it without peeling it, but really doesn’t know what to do with it. All they know is that they’ve been told is that they can eat it. So, another kind stranger walks along seeing this hungry person looking at the banana. That stranger walks up and peels the banana for the hungry person. But now imagine that instead of eating the newly exposed banana flesh, the person throws the flesh aside and continues to grasp the peel as though the peel well feed them somehow.
This is kinda how religion tends to respond to new knowledge. When the metaphor is found to no longer be useful (peeled away to reveal knowledge), a religious system will often still hold on to it instead of taking in the newly discovered knowledge.
To break free from this, a person must realize that the metaphor has its place, not as factual representation of knowledge, but as a way to explain what is currently unknown. If one can admit that they do not know something, then the metaphor can be used effectively until such knowledge is obtained. This can be an empowering position.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Anyone can be a Guru
You will find your answer at the end of your search.
Your quest begins with an answer and ends with a question.
When answers are given by others instead of by self
discovery, the lesson has not been learned.
Why walk upon hot coals if you can walk around them?
Monday, January 23, 2006
Future talking points
There are plenty of protestant fundamentalist groups in existence. Each one has convinced itself they are the only true path to fulfilling God’s will. Of course, the question comes up, if God was so interested in saving lives in this manner, why would he give his word to so few at such a later period in time?
Anyways, as I was growing up, I was taught that the bible says all modern supernatural phenomena are the work of the Devil or his demons who are trying their damnedest to pull people away from the word of God. Of course, this belief did nothing but reinforce the notion that Satan was succeeding because so many did not accept our version of God’s Word. I was taught that ghosts were demons pretending to be the deceased, psychic powers came from conjuring demon influence, and other supernatural events were the efforts to turn people away from God or at least distract us from doing his will. So, much of my life, I had both a fear of the supernatural and an unnatural arrogance about having the ability to know what it is and how to eliminate it.
This led me to completely misinterpret what was really going on around me. This led me to not understand my place in this world. I treated events around me too matter of factly (natural, human, and supernatural), almost with arrogance because I so strongly believed myself to be immune to them. Looking back now, I can say I was pretty ignorant, but that my heart was in the right place.
I'm now far more skeptic, but I'm also skeptical of skepticism.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Right to Die
I was first exposed to the debate about euthanasia in discussions about such matters with my mother when I was growing up. Later in a high school class where the topic came up, I believed that suicide itself was wrong, but I believed in the right of an individual choose for themself. One thang I’m not sure I was clear on was whether euthanasia is the same as suicide.
These days, my opinion is still pretty much the same in context, but the reasoning is much clearer. Of course, this makes it harder to know where to stand exactly on the issue. In principle, I believe that the individual has the right to determine their own life. But morally, I know that killing one’s self is wrong. Violence is allowed to defend one’s own life or the lives of loved ones, but it is not allowed to take one’s own life. Whether in mercy or in despair or in cruelty, one should not act in such a way against themself.
However, under rule of law, the right of the individual to any choices about themself is important to keeping the government from intruding in the lives of its citizens. The principle of keeping the government out of our lives is just as important because so many other morally correct doctrines can be threatened with too much control given to the authorities. If the government is given the right to tell an individual they cannot control when they die, the door may be opened to forcing unnatural methods to keeping people alive well beyond what nature intended.
Does the Right to Die only mean euthanasia, or does it include the right to refuse medical care that may or may not prevent the onset of a life threatening condition? That creates a pretty damn big gray area that brings the whole question of Right to Die into a state of confusion.
Then there’s the biggest problem with euthanasia. How can the government protect its citizens from being victimized by impatient relatives that may have motives for pursuing euthanasia upon their “loved one”? Even with the concept of keeping an intrusive government out of our lives in mind, it’s hard to justify allowing the possibility of such a scenario.
So, for me, right now, I think the best course of action is to not allow euthanasia. However, I think allowing the person to control what treatments they receive (or not) should be protected. This means a person (or that person’s immediate family, with the spouse having the second say, then if no spouse, the parents to have the third say) has the right to determine whether or not to be kept alive by machine, drugs or other treatment, but that the person may not choose to take the actual action to kill themself. Removing life support is OK because it is letting nature take its course. Euthanasia is not OK because it is a violent unnatural action that ends a life before its time.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Hong Kong Vacation: Mountain Tops 11/14/05
We arrived back in Hong Kong/Kowloon city area in the evening. We took a night ride on the Peak Tram to the top of The Peak, a mountain top overlooking Hong Kong. The ride was fun. At times the tram rose at about a 45 degree angle up the mountain side. I couldn't find any name for the top of the mountain other than just The Peak. The view of Hong Kong from the The Peak was both beautiful and impressive. Even at this height, we didn't stand much higher than the top of Hong Kong's tallest buildings. There was sumfin romantic about the view.
Other blog posts:
Hong Kong Vacation: The Flight and Arrival 11/10/05 11/11/05
Hong Kong Vacation: The Next Day 11/12/05
Hong Kong Vacation: Shopping and the Traffic Jam 11/13/05
Hong Kong Vacation: Mountain Tops 11/14/05
Hong Kong Vacation: The Experience 11/15/05
Hong Kong Vacation: I'm a Repulsive Giant with Bird Flu 11/16/05
Hong Kong Vacation: On the Harbor and XL 11/17/05
Monday, November 14, 2005
Hong Kong Vacation: Shopping and the Traffic Jam 11/13/05
On the way back to the hotel, the main route back to the main part of Hong Kong was blocked with a major accident. The delay was reported to be at least two hours, so we got out of the bus and walked for 3/4 hr, mostly downhill, back to the main bus terminal to catch a bus that was heading back to Hong Kong thru the only other route out of the area. Fortunately, Allie had discovered the only bus route that would take us back, though still through thick traffic on narrow mountainous roads and bridges. Traffic everywhere in that area was a mess as people where trying to get out. We where lucky to beat the rush of people to the bus headed out of there. Everyone else was still waiting for the main buses and didn't realized the way was blocked until everyone was started lining up for the only bus heading the other way. Felt a little like survival of the fittest and we got a jump on everyone else. :)
After getting back to the hotel, we had dinner and then visited a nearby Lady's Market. According to Allie, a Lady's Market is any alley or street filled tightly with vendors selling their goods. The walk thru a Lady's Market is usually very cramp and crowed. She added that they are also great places to get a pocket picked. At this Lady's Market I found a great deal on knock-off Polo luggage that was pretty good quality.
Both of us where beat, so we headed back to the hotel and knocked off to sleep quick.
Other blog posts:
Hong Kong Vacation: The Flight and Arrival 11/10/05 11/11/05
Hong Kong Vacation: The Next Day 11/12/05
Hong Kong Vacation: Shopping and the Traffic Jam 11/13/05
Hong Kong Vacation: Mountain Tops 11/14/05
Hong Kong Vacation: The Experience 11/15/05
Hong Kong Vacation: I'm a Repulsive Giant with Bird Flu 11/16/05
Hong Kong Vacation: On the Harbor and XL 11/17/05
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
How many great loves
Saturday, June 11, 2005
Something about evolution just occurred to me...
This is certainly a human-centric view of evolution. However, it must be admitted that things happened to our ancestors which didn't happen to the ancestors of any other of the great apes.
- We have much better buoyancy, allowing us to swim.
- We walk upright.
- We have more complex brains.
- We have less prominent body hair.
- We have a protruding nose.
- We have much less muscle mass, etc.
In a New Age sense, I might ask, what if we are the intended form? What if all the other species on this planet are just off-shoots of our ancestral line? I'm not sure about taking this line of reasoning seriously, but I'm putting it out there for others to think about with me.
We may not be able to apply this reasoning to all of Earth's history, but maybe it can be applied to the primate line. Even further, this doesn't justify viewing one species as inferior to us. Nor does it justify viewing different races of our own species as inferior. In this line of reasoning, I would hold that all humans represent the intended form. In fact, given our lack of genetic diversity, maybe we are missing a few races which we sorely need to keep our species genetically healthy into our long future. I would also say, this line of reasoning demands that all species on this planet are our cousins, brothers and sisters, whether Great Ape, monkey, lizard, fish, fungus, plant, or sponge.
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Big 2001 Vacation: Part 4: 11/14/01
Pearl Harbor's Arizona Memorial and Bowfin Museum were interesting. I've see[n] just about everything there on the Discovery Channel, though seeing the Arizona first hand does make you remember the sacrifices made [by] all [who fought] in WWII. I was most impacted by seeing the Arizona bleed its oil, one drip at a time. They form the occational rainbow colored film on the surface of the water. That, to me, is the greatest reminder of all those who died there.
{I felt that the experience leading up to the visit to the Arizona Memorial was cheezy. First, you are given a number. You wait around for a couple of hours. They finally call your number. You get in line. You are then filed into a theater. You watch a short documentatory on the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the sinking of the Arizona. Then, everyone is herded onto a ferry that takes you to the Memorial that stands over the Arizona. Interviews with vets and battle sounds are piped through the ferry's speakers. I felt this was complete unnecessary. My journal entry referred to how I felt once I reached the Arizona Memorial itself. Everything leading up to that felt like someone was telling me how I should feel once I reach the memorial. As I said, cheezy.}