In the last week I have received several text messages and two emails from my opthalmologist telling me I am way-overdue for my next appointment, “Call us immediately.” I had cataracts removed 9 or 10 months ago, just before Covid and I passed those followups with an A+. I bet other patients like me are either responding with “no thanks” or not at all. I replied, “I’ll call you when I think it’s safe.” The ones I really want to help stay employed are the curbside ladies at Walmart. They do my shopping for me off my online order. Then when I pull up to the curb they check to make sure the order and the customer match. A short shuffle-transfer into the back of my truck and I’m on my way home to put my groceries away. God bless them and all of the employees who work for low wages, in harm’s way.
I wouldn’t want anyone to think I’ve slipped a cog with the casual reference to God. When you think your truth is chiseled in stone, you forget that change is the nature of nature. Maybe ‘perception’ is the better word than ‘truth’ and one’s perception can change like the weather. I make the distinction between disbelief and unbelief. Belief is not an either/or thing. Disbelief is a negative belief paradigm of its own. Unbelief is an idealogical vacuum. So with nothing to gain or lose, I don’t get in arguments or debates. Extreme Belief can have a mind altering affect not unlike some controlled drugs. I think, if you need the drug for a better life, you should have it. It is also my belief that one can overdose on Jesus just like on opioids. The euphoria is apparent, maybe harmless but most likely pathetic as well. I am an unbeliever of the 1st Order, the classic Agnostic. I don’t know, don’t care, it doesn’t matter. Buddha said, in so many words, whether or not there is a god is irrelevant. I put a lot of stock in what The Enlightened One had to say.
“God is a metaphor for that which transcends all levels of intellectual thought. It’s as simple as that.” Joseph Campbell is the source of that little treasure but I employ it frequently. There are after all, situations and phenomenon that leave me in awe. When I experience something that I know is both real and profound, that is totally beyond my comprehension and I must react in some way, I chalk it up to the metaphor. I have neither the wiring nor the capacity to tap into the mystery. Some things I’ll never know and that’s alright. I would rather concede to my ignorance than to a myth.
I don’t know how I got off on Belief/Unbelief but the voice inside my head keeps giving me the words and I do the rest. I have learned, when that voice talks, I listen. I know it’s just my subconscious talking to the conscious me but the chasm it has to breach is one of those awesome, profound experiences that I can’t explain. If it doesn't get my undivided attention it may go away and never come back.
Day 264, Covid is kicking ass from the Dakotas to Texas and Rhode Island to California. Incredibly, at the same time there is a serious outbreak of ‘Head-Up-Ass Syndrome’ with people who still believe the virus is a hoax, the election was rigged and wearing a mask in public is an act of treason. I actually do understand the malady. Conspiracy paranoia dates back to tribal identity/loyalty that actually worked for clans and tribes, way back maybe 12,000 years ago. Civilization has moved on with levers, electricity and smart phones while our heads are still equipped with brains that evolved to create stone tools and kill anybody that might possibly be a threat. E.O. Wilson got it right: humankind is cursed with, “Paleolithic Emotions, Medieval Institutions & Godlike Technology.” Whomever we elect, it’s like giving your Corvette’s keys to a 5 year-old with the expectation they can keep it up-side-up between the white lines.
I wouldn’t want anyone to think I’ve slipped a cog with the casual reference to God. When you think your truth is chiseled in stone, you forget that change is the nature of nature. Maybe ‘perception’ is the better word than ‘truth’ and one’s perception can change like the weather. I make the distinction between disbelief and unbelief. Belief is not an either/or thing. Disbelief is a negative belief paradigm of its own. Unbelief is an idealogical vacuum. So with nothing to gain or lose, I don’t get in arguments or debates. Extreme Belief can have a mind altering affect not unlike some controlled drugs. I think, if you need the drug for a better life, you should have it. It is also my belief that one can overdose on Jesus just like on opioids. The euphoria is apparent, maybe harmless but most likely pathetic as well. I am an unbeliever of the 1st Order, the classic Agnostic. I don’t know, don’t care, it doesn’t matter. Buddha said, in so many words, whether or not there is a god is irrelevant. I put a lot of stock in what The Enlightened One had to say.
“God is a metaphor for that which transcends all levels of intellectual thought. It’s as simple as that.” Joseph Campbell is the source of that little treasure but I employ it frequently. There are after all, situations and phenomenon that leave me in awe. When I experience something that I know is both real and profound, that is totally beyond my comprehension and I must react in some way, I chalk it up to the metaphor. I have neither the wiring nor the capacity to tap into the mystery. Some things I’ll never know and that’s alright. I would rather concede to my ignorance than to a myth.
I don’t know how I got off on Belief/Unbelief but the voice inside my head keeps giving me the words and I do the rest. I have learned, when that voice talks, I listen. I know it’s just my subconscious talking to the conscious me but the chasm it has to breach is one of those awesome, profound experiences that I can’t explain. If it doesn't get my undivided attention it may go away and never come back.
Day 264, Covid is kicking ass from the Dakotas to Texas and Rhode Island to California. Incredibly, at the same time there is a serious outbreak of ‘Head-Up-Ass Syndrome’ with people who still believe the virus is a hoax, the election was rigged and wearing a mask in public is an act of treason. I actually do understand the malady. Conspiracy paranoia dates back to tribal identity/loyalty that actually worked for clans and tribes, way back maybe 12,000 years ago. Civilization has moved on with levers, electricity and smart phones while our heads are still equipped with brains that evolved to create stone tools and kill anybody that might possibly be a threat. E.O. Wilson got it right: humankind is cursed with, “Paleolithic Emotions, Medieval Institutions & Godlike Technology.” Whomever we elect, it’s like giving your Corvette’s keys to a 5 year-old with the expectation they can keep it up-side-up between the white lines.
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