At regular intervals I must remind myself that life is intrinsically problematic.
We Americans are both Pollyanish and whiney-bitchy.
My Mexican friend Lino once said, "The trouble with you gringos is that you don't know how to suffer.
We Americans are both Pollyanish and whiney-bitchy.
My Mexican friend Lino once said, "The trouble with you gringos is that you don't know how to suffer.
As you probably know, the first of the Buddha's Four Noble Truths posits "Life is suffering." ("Suffering" is the common translation of the Pali word "Dukkha" - http://buddhism.about.com/od/thefournobletruths/a/dukkhaexplain.htm /// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dukkha)
Inevitably, we substitute one set of problems for another.
And thank God for it!
No problems. No drama.
No drama.... well.... no drama.
Nothing to work out. No harmonies to develop. (I would even argue - if only for the sake of a good argument - that drama is preferable to Buddhism's "complete unwinding of the ego." That said, The West needs to do a lot of unwinding before the advantage of "ego drama" comes into view. Ever notice that the world's Big Problems are all rooted in Abrahamic religions and that there's never a significant problem arising from Buddhist societies?)
And thank God for it!
No problems. No drama.
No drama.... well.... no drama.
Nothing to work out. No harmonies to develop. (I would even argue - if only for the sake of a good argument - that drama is preferable to Buddhism's "complete unwinding of the ego." That said, The West needs to do a lot of unwinding before the advantage of "ego drama" comes into view. Ever notice that the world's Big Problems are all rooted in Abrahamic religions and that there's never a significant problem arising from Buddhist societies?)
But it's not just drama...
"Magnitude" also comes into play. And any discussion of magnitude requires discussion of "thresholds."
"Magnitude" also comes into play. And any discussion of magnitude requires discussion of "thresholds."
Here are two "thresholds" I am unwilling to cross (even for the sake of "drama"):
Until 1750, half of humankind died by age 8.
Until 1850, human beings lived half their lives with tooth ache. (Ask George Washington.)
Revelation -- Apocalypse -- has begun. (Apocalypse derives from Greek words meaning "to remove the veil.")
My Dad was born in a house without electricity or running water and whose farm family was lucky to have a horse and buggy!
What lies ahead is imponderable.
What lies ahead is also cause for unfathomable hope.
What lies ahead is also cause for unfathomable hope.
"Since God Doesn't Heal Amputees, Humankind Will. The Future Of Christian Theology"
No matter how bleak things seem, you can count on synchronicity and the tertium quid.
Pax tecum
Alan
PS Revelation is now clarifying two long-hidden truths. 1.) Ungodly wealth disparity - as enforced by The Ruling Class - has always been a scam. 2.) Relative to "doing things right in the first place," war is being revealed as a hellish exercise self-destructive futility. This self-destruction may take place in slow motion but it is self-destruction all the same. (World War II was caused by the Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War 1. Insofar as the establishment of Zionist Israel as a nation state was the outcome or World War II, will it be the cause of World War III?)
PS Revelation is now clarifying two long-hidden truths. 1.) Ungodly wealth disparity - as enforced by The Ruling Class - has always been a scam. 2.) Relative to "doing things right in the first place," war is being revealed as a hellish exercise self-destructive futility. This self-destruction may take place in slow motion but it is self-destruction all the same. (World War II was caused by the Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War 1. Insofar as the establishment of Zionist Israel as a nation state was the outcome or World War II, will it be the cause of World War III?)
"One is left with the horrible feeling now that war settles nothing;
that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one."
that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one."
On Thu, Dec 6, 2012 at 3:33 PM, Fred Owens <froghospital911@gmail.com> wrote:
It would be good if real scientists distanced themselves from social scientists who spend valuable academic and govt funds in order to prove the obvious. They have encroached upon the central sphere of common sense.Old science didn't lead us astray. The church was on guard against kooks and charlatans and protecting true research at the time that they, mistakenly, condemned Galileo. But most often their judgment was accurate and the quacks were held at bay.Social science needs to be expunged, because it causes mighty confusion among the young, and enrages fundies to blind reaction.And true science needs a good reining in. It is the fruits of true science that developed the technology that produced the industrial age and the global warming climate.If science brought us global warming -- why should we trust it to solve the problem?On Thu, Dec 6, 2012 at 10:56 AM, Alan Archibald <alanarchibaldo@gmail.com> wrote:
"John Ford, John Wayne, Aquinas and Theosis (Christian Divinization)"
***
On Thu, Dec 6, 2012 at 11:38 AM, Fred Owens <froghospital911@gmail.com> wrote:
I generally have at least 2 or 3 insights before breakfast, and another dozen during the afternoon.
Today, I'm realizing that the Baptist/fundie/literaist contempt for science might actually be a necessary rebuke of the social sciences which are faux from top to bottom. The puke of modern psychology and sociology, the utter masquerade of certainty and spurious statistics causes a worldwide stench and our Baptist/fundi/literalists cousins cry in horror -- unfortunately they are a bit misdirected when they crash into real science
But think on how much you and I and and they might agree on a critique of social science.
--
Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214
My blog is Fred Owens
send mail to:
Fred Owens
35 West Main St Suite B #391
Ventura CA 93001
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