1-12-2006
What I Don't Know, and Can It Hurt Me
A friend of mine posted on her blog a Polish poem which contained this thought: ( Life is the only way ) to keep on not knowing something important. I have devoted a considerable portion of my life to ignorance of many vital things, but not knowing about a subject has never kept me from talking about it, so here goes.
The first topic I will tackle is God. Clearly nobody knows anything about Him (or Her, or It, depending on your perpective). Despite this, many people claim that books were written (or inspired, or dictated) by Him., that they actually have seen Him, and that He visited Earth, possibly in human form. Hundreds of millions of people have died because of relatively small differences of opinion about His nature, His appearance, or even His existence. There are skirmishes all over the world because one group objects to the thoughts and beliefs of another, when really they are only arguing about different means of approach to the same end. I will now end all this conflict with 6 words: DON'T PANIC, LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE.
It should be enough (dayenu) to simply look around and enjoy what we've been given. You can't see the wind except by watching the branches move, and so you can see (and maybe know) God by observing, learning about, and above all REVELING IN the universe into which we fit so well. Why should it matter if other people don't agree with your observations. Think about my 6 words (DP,LWEA) and all will be well. See, it's sometimes a lot better for you NOT to know about something. By the way, I'm NOT a religious nut , just someone thoroughly convinced of his own ignorance.
Now that I've solved that tiny problem, I'll move on to another easy issue: abortion. I think the issue is simple, when does a potential human morph from a female body part to a baby person. Some people think that this phenemenon starts when the sperm meets the egg. My problem with this reasoning is that then why not take it one step further to the sexual thought prior to conception, which would make me the greatest destroyer of human life since Ghenghis Kahn. My own feeling is that when the baby can survive without the mother, it's a human being . Until then, it's a part of the mother's body, and it's her right to make any decisions concerning it. Certainly no one with a Y chromosome should have any say in the matter, which includes me. (and is the opinion, apparently, of about 75% of the world's women).Remember my motto, guys, DP,LWEA.
See how easy. Next topic: Love. I used to think that there was some limit to the love I would find in my life, but as I grow older I realize that this is an area of infinite expansion.Is there just one true love for your life. Maybe, if you're really unlucky. Me, I've got a wife , 3 kids , and 5 grandkids just for starters. Every time I think I feel as much as I can for a loved one , something tremendously happy or tragic occurs and the limits increase exponentially.My family, even my friends, demonstrate this to me axiomatically every day. The greatest gift I've received in my life is the inability to reach, or even conceive of, this limit. It allows me to relax into the DP part of my mantra.
Ignorance has been, as you can see, the guiding light of my life, and continues to serve me in good stead, just ask anybody.
Later.
What I Don't Know, and Can It Hurt Me
A friend of mine posted on her blog a Polish poem which contained this thought: ( Life is the only way ) to keep on not knowing something important. I have devoted a considerable portion of my life to ignorance of many vital things, but not knowing about a subject has never kept me from talking about it, so here goes.
The first topic I will tackle is God. Clearly nobody knows anything about Him (or Her, or It, depending on your perpective). Despite this, many people claim that books were written (or inspired, or dictated) by Him., that they actually have seen Him, and that He visited Earth, possibly in human form. Hundreds of millions of people have died because of relatively small differences of opinion about His nature, His appearance, or even His existence. There are skirmishes all over the world because one group objects to the thoughts and beliefs of another, when really they are only arguing about different means of approach to the same end. I will now end all this conflict with 6 words: DON'T PANIC, LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE.
It should be enough (dayenu) to simply look around and enjoy what we've been given. You can't see the wind except by watching the branches move, and so you can see (and maybe know) God by observing, learning about, and above all REVELING IN the universe into which we fit so well. Why should it matter if other people don't agree with your observations. Think about my 6 words (DP,LWEA) and all will be well. See, it's sometimes a lot better for you NOT to know about something. By the way, I'm NOT a religious nut , just someone thoroughly convinced of his own ignorance.
Now that I've solved that tiny problem, I'll move on to another easy issue: abortion. I think the issue is simple, when does a potential human morph from a female body part to a baby person. Some people think that this phenemenon starts when the sperm meets the egg. My problem with this reasoning is that then why not take it one step further to the sexual thought prior to conception, which would make me the greatest destroyer of human life since Ghenghis Kahn. My own feeling is that when the baby can survive without the mother, it's a human being . Until then, it's a part of the mother's body, and it's her right to make any decisions concerning it. Certainly no one with a Y chromosome should have any say in the matter, which includes me. (and is the opinion, apparently, of about 75% of the world's women).Remember my motto, guys, DP,LWEA.
See how easy. Next topic: Love. I used to think that there was some limit to the love I would find in my life, but as I grow older I realize that this is an area of infinite expansion.Is there just one true love for your life. Maybe, if you're really unlucky. Me, I've got a wife , 3 kids , and 5 grandkids just for starters. Every time I think I feel as much as I can for a loved one , something tremendously happy or tragic occurs and the limits increase exponentially.My family, even my friends, demonstrate this to me axiomatically every day. The greatest gift I've received in my life is the inability to reach, or even conceive of, this limit. It allows me to relax into the DP part of my mantra.
Ignorance has been, as you can see, the guiding light of my life, and continues to serve me in good stead, just ask anybody.
Later.
posted by Papa Bill | 3:42 PM
1 Comments:
Hi Bill,
I recently heard myself say to someone: I think I might actually be willing to die just to finally find out what happens.
As far I do know, Catholics still outlaw contraception. Abortion is a sin, but so is using prevention?
I remember after my first child thinking...how could I EVER love another child this much. I had another child and found out how I could.
For me, there's a difference between an embryo, a fetus, and an infant.
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