Science and Jesus

If you believe in the evolution of religion and that each new religion that is created relies on those before it for their fundamental truths, then it might be easier to accept that as the human mind expands its capabilities, new and viable religions will form to accommodate the most intelligent among us.  If you can’t fathom that, then maybe this - as we learn more and more about our brains, some of the basic principles of major religions come into focus more clearly.  The call to love unconditionally and forgive unconditionally particularly fits this mold.

As advances in psychology continue, we frequently learn that the things we find unforgivable in others may not be the end result of free will as much as they are a product of the warped chemistry within our own minds.  When we take a moment to recognize that we cannot truly know what lies inside a person’s head, we give ourselves the opportunity to stop judging for a moment and forgive the faults, large and small, that we may find personally unforgivable.  Depression, obsession, defiance, and deceit all could be the result of bad brain chemistry, and while we should not forget what people do to us lest we be burned a second time, we should at least try to forgive their transgressions, whether they ask for forgiveness or not.  Unconditional love IS unconditional, after all.

The Unfunny Truth About Scientology

I think this speaks for itself, but I find Scientology disturbing.  I am of the opinion that L. Ron Hubbard may have been disillusioned by Hollywood and the corruption therein and came up with a “religion” to watch the crazies destroy themselves.  I also believe that the “truth” of the 8th level of Scientology is that it’s all bullshit.  I should mention that while living in Clearwater I was in the hotel where Lisa McPhearson died.  The place had a really eerie feeling about it.

It’s a Metaphor

If literary devices have been traced back to literature as ancient as the Iliad, I don’t know why people assume that the religious texts are the direct word of god unless it is labeled within the text as a parable.  Doesn’t it stand to reason that allegory and metaphor were used just as often and for the same reasons as we use them today?  The ideas of rebirth and reincarnation are nice ones, but I’m not sure we can take it literally.  Is it possible that these ideas are metaphors for the philosophical rebirth that occurs when we enter a new phase in life or learn something that completely changes the way we think about the world?  Why do we continually close our minds off to the possibilities that what we’ve always been taught may not be the only answers out there?

Fines or Fuel?

While everyone’s focusing on the current situation with the airlines, few people are asking why it’s so important for them to make the safety changes now, especially when it’s already been proved that we’ve been flying in unsafe planes for years.  Maybe it has more to do with the rising cost of fuel and the fact that airlines are breaking even or losing money on fuel every time they put a plane in the air.  Of course, no one wants to fault the oil companies for anything, and we pretend they’re above reproach, so the major airlines can’t come out and say, “We can’t afford to fly because fuel prices are so high.”  That would allow for a lot of criticism that the government can’t answer.

Without a massive protest, without airlines shutting down and giving us the real reason, without truckers staying off the road for more than a few hours, without people refusing to drive to work because they can’t afford gas, there will never be a change.  DRIVE LESS, FLY LESS, BUY LOCAL GOODS!!!

Here’s a really good reason to conserve fuel: 4,032 US Soldiers killed in Iraq; 29,676 US soldiers wounded in Iraq.

Ignoring China

Even though my blog is banned in China, I hardly ever write anything about them at all.  With the summer Olympics coming up, though, I thought I might mention it.  We will not be watching the Olympics in my house.  We like the Olympics, but I don’t feel that advertisers should be giving their money to aid in the broadcast from a country that does not allow its citizens to be free.  Besides the political turmoil in Tibet, we cannot forget the severe avalanches and mudslides that happened this winter.  How many Chinese citizens were allowed to die because the government was too proud to ask for help?  How many children starved to death because the bureaucracy of China is so inept and the technology is so backward that the roads could not be cleared to deliver food to remote villages?  The world sees of China only what China wants us to see, and as we have learned in our own country, when there is no transparency, government corruption runs rampant.  So, this summer, my family will be ignoring China, because they are not worth our attention.

Lapsed Catholics

The Pope is requesting that those of us who have walked away from the Catholic Church simply listen to him while he is in the States and take a moment to consider what he’s saying.  Now, I have to admit, I have little interest in this Pope.  Pope John Paul was so many things to so many Catholics around the world that I really wonder if it’s possible for Benedict to measure up.  Even as a lapsed Catholic myself, I just don’t see myself returning to a church that preaches hate (anti-homosexual rhetoric), sexism (not allowing women to become preists), and overpopulation and the spread of disease (not allowing the use of condomns or birth control).  The education provided at Catholic Schools is excellent, partially due to the strict nature of the religion and it’s followers, but intolerance breeds intolerance.  None of my lapsed Catholic friends see anything in this Pope that calls them to return to worship.  The world has changed.  Religion has changed.  The Catholic church has remained largely the same for quite some time.

4,000 and Still No Answers

The recent rash of violence in Iraq hasn’t been covered much in the news, but I feel it’s important to mention since many Americans still have friends and family fighting in this illegal and immoral war and the NNM is doing it’s best to distract us in every way possible.  Think about all the stupid things the NNM covers, while ignoring the important world events happening on a daily basis.  Who the fuck cares about Brittany Spears when their child is dying from a lack of health care?  Is the baseball steroid scandal all that important to those still rebuilding their lives from Hurricane Katrina?    When downtown Philadelphia is beginning to look and feel more like downtown Bogota, does it really matter that Obama gave a lightly poignant speech about race?  If our freedoms are eroding away and no one seems to notice, what exactly are our soldiers fighting for?

 4,000 US soldiers dead in Iraq (not including those who died of wounds after being airlifted to Kuwait, or those soldiers who have committed suicide at home because of PTSD),     29,451 US soldiers wounded in Iraq

Understanding Mother Teresa

A crisis of faith.  Can it be called such a thing when one has no faith?  Can one have a crisis of faith in humanity, or is that what life is about?  Maybe we put our faith in god because it is much more difficult -much more vulnerable - to put our faith in each other.  Just look at what we do to each other; how easily we cause the suffering of others - and perhaps more grave - how easily we dismiss those who are suffering as unimportant, unworthy, and unnecessary within our own existance.  Twain was right.  We are the Lower Animals.

I understand the Buddhist idea that we are the cause of our own suffering, but I don’t think detachment is the key.  Doing no harm is a good start, though.  Feeling another’s suffering and wanting to end it as you would want to end your own, as Jesus said, it a more valuable approach to the world overall, even if it causes you pain.  My crisis, as it were, is in merging the two - feeling the pain of my students and being able to detach from it enough to help end it (though being able to cut through more red tape would certainly alleviate some of the distress).

But even surrounded by people, this is a lonely life.  I cannot begin to imagine the strength Mother Teresa had, but I understand the intense need to believe that there is something more than the myriad of indolent and  incompetent souls refusing to reach out to those in need, yet proclaiming all the while that they believe in the One True God and follow his every word.  Did she ever just want to scream out, “Fools!  Hypocrites!  Liars!  What theology matters when the world lies in ruin at our feet and our brothers and sisters suffer before our very eyes?  What good is it to fight over who is right when god already knows?  Why waste time and resources on death and destruction when all that has ever been asked of us is that we love one another?”  I imagine her shaking her head in disgust and frustration, only to continue her work.  Thank you, Mother Teresa, for telling us that a crisis of faith is allowed even in the best of women.

In the Water

A report came out yesterday saying that there are all sorts of prescription drugs in our water.  Of course, the FDA (who can be blindly trusted because they’re a government agency) says that because the drugs are in the parts per billion, they can’t really have an effect on us.  Or can they?  Has it occurred to anyone that the severe rise in strange illnesses, tumors, etc… among the American public could be attributed to the prolonged effects of fertility, psychotropic, and various other medications in our WATER.  You know, the substance that gives and sustains nearly ALL life on the planet.  Does this concern anyone else?

Keep ‘em Busy

Where I work, one of the strategies we rely on most is, “Keep ‘em busy, stupid!”  Since our main goal is to give our students an education and keep them out of trouble, we spend a lot of time making sure that the devil has few idle hands.  While I was coming up with a few supplemental activities for this week, it occurred to me (far too late, I suppose) that our government has been using the same strategy with Americans since before the industrial revolution.

Americans work more and more, getting less sleep, less free time, and less time with our families.  Our leisure activities make thinking unnecessary - movies, video games, YouTube, etc…  Even our sports are becoming more solitary - running, biking, snowboarding, etc…  Gone are the times when Americans sat around contemplating art, culture, music, and literature.  Is anyone you know a member of a book club (one that offers more than just a discount on purchases)?  When you’re at Starbucks, do you hear anyone discussing issues of national or social importance? 

We’re moving away from each other, taught that it’s great to value individuality when what we’re really doing is isoloating ourselves from the rest of society so that we have no real idea what anyone else things.  It’s not like we can trust the NNM or the polls to tell us the truth, but god forbid any of us actually TALK to each other about something more pressing than who’s going to win American Idol or what happend last night on Lost (for those Americans actually intelligent enough to follow the plot).  When we do band together it’s to get a TV show like Jericho back on the air, not to organize a protest or mobilize to enact any kind of social change.  Our hands are not idle - they’re just not busy with anything of any importance.