This is a two-in-one post. Does that mean this is going to be twice as confusing? Could be… I bit off more than I can chew probably (I have the flue today). At least it is a rather post short if you don’t count the Science News quotes.
I’ve long touted the benefit of watching for mysterious sameness. Seeing differences, while often stimulating, is just not as satisfying in the long run. Being able to discern differences enhances survival… up to a point. For example, being able to distinguish a snake from a crooked stick. On the other hand, imagining mountains of difference out of actual mole hills of similarity is just plain counter productive and stressful. The recent Science News article on human relationships, Getting to not know you, offers evidence of the wisdom to let mole hills remain mole hills, or as they say, let sleeping dogs lie. Continue reading ‘Let Sleeping Dogs Lie’
Viewing life impartially is one of the least stimulating experiences I know. Biased views, on the other hand, are chock full of emotional tension, highs and lows, loves and hates… it’s exciting! In the same way, a good story is exciting; a ‘cold hard truth’ is often awe-full. This should be fairly evident right off the bat. Now, through correlations, I’ll take it a step further to show how it is not truth we love; it’s the story .
Mea Maxima Culpa
What exactly are biased views? Frankly, any view that points out differences should qualify. Oh shucks, that includes me right now. Paradoxically, I must resort to bias in my attempt to write about truth. I suppose this exemplifies— when cleverness emerges there is great hypocrisy—it’s downright ironic and humbling. Oh well. Continue reading ‘The Story Trumps Truth’
The early morning light today took me back more than forty years. Light has a nostalgic effect on me like music seems to have for many people. It must be genetic for my mother was that way too. In fact, looking up into the sky can carry me back to truly primordial times, but that’s another story.
This morning the light and the early morning hazy sky brought back memories of arriving at the top of Bokor Hillstation Casino. I was told about this resort, high in the mountains and cool enough to grow strawberries, they said. This was prewar Cambodia in 1964, a time of peace and enough remaining French influence to find good French bread, albeit with a few weevils baked in(1), and flan (my favorite sweet). Now, if I could add strawberries to that I’d have me a good soul-food supper. Continue reading ‘Water, Water Everywhere, But…’
Jungle church in Malaya
Well, why not! But seriously, this is a question I have not heard asked much… if at all(1) Debates mostly focus on whose God is best, the nature of God, or does God even existence. Asking “why do we believe in God” is more of a zoological approach to this issue. That is the place to begin; after all, we are animals first.
I’ve long see the God idea as an emergent property of our social need for leadership, i.e., ‘alpha male’, the decider. All social primate groups have some individual serving this unifying role. Being a thinking ape, it is natural that we would image the existence of a super-leader in a super-home (heaven). Being social apes, it is also nature that we’d enjoy gathering to share the experience. A recent article in Science News, Connected at church, happy with life, offered some support for the why of it all. Continue reading ‘Why God?’
I’ve been amused for years by attempts to blame culture for things obviously biological. This comes down to that old nature vs nurture debate. Naturally I never could substantiate my pro-nature views via reason alone, although it was always fun trying. I suspect that those who blame nurture and culture, do so because that path offers a possible way to ‘fix the problem’—simply educate the misguided to ‘fix’ the culture and we can all live happily ever after. On the other hand, if nature is mostly to ‘blame’, then we would seem to be left helpless(1), (except for the path Buddha’s Noble Truths offer). Continue reading ‘Playing With Dolls’
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