I remember, once upon a time, learning how to tell time, not the clock face but relative years in human time. There has to be a Zero (0) point at the beginning and over millennia that start-up date has changed depending on when and where you were at the time. According to the Chinese calendar, this is the year 4715 and as long as someone keeps one hanging on the wall, it will be as 'right' as you believe. Most of the world, even China now, recognizes the current, (Gregorian) calendar. It evolved through several similar versions as the importance of getting Easter calibrated with the lunar cycle lost out to getting the solar year in sync.
AD and BC confused me. If AD stood for ‘After Death’ (Jesus') and BC for ‘Before Christ’, how do you reconcile the 33 years in between? Turns out, the AD came from Latin, “year of our Lord” which mitigates my ignorance. With the Christian Zero (0) year fixed, it didn’t take long for Jewish scholars to push back with a Hebrew-friendly designation, CE (Common Era) and BCE (Before CE). Within my lifetime, academic and scientific scholars have begun to favor the CE, BCE form. I have only noticed the shift recently, the last 30 years but the more I write, the more I read the more often I am reminded.
Interesting, how little kids can be entertained with just two clothes pins and a rubber band, and simple minds with a catchy phrase like ‘Zero (0) year.’ I can’t escape that fate, I play with words. Christians I would think (I cannot speak for Christians) may still prefer the “Year of our Lord” thing. I was raised in that belief system but like my Amazon trial membership, when I didn't invest the privilege stopped. I have no axe to grind just no reason to believe. I draw a blank on the Jewish community. Their preference for CE/BCE is understandable but from my own personal experience (I do have Jewish friends) they are heirs to a legacy of both tragic persecution and tenacious resilience, not as much about Belief as one might think. The persecution part is matched only by that of black skinned people, swallowed up in white skinned culture. Jews who want to mingle unobserved have a distinct advantage over black skinned people. To that end, I think the seemingly universal disparity measured out against breathing while black is unparalleled. In any case, I like the secular adaptation. Other than symbolic inference, they are the same.
AD and BC confused me. If AD stood for ‘After Death’ (Jesus') and BC for ‘Before Christ’, how do you reconcile the 33 years in between? Turns out, the AD came from Latin, “year of our Lord” which mitigates my ignorance. With the Christian Zero (0) year fixed, it didn’t take long for Jewish scholars to push back with a Hebrew-friendly designation, CE (Common Era) and BCE (Before CE). Within my lifetime, academic and scientific scholars have begun to favor the CE, BCE form. I have only noticed the shift recently, the last 30 years but the more I write, the more I read the more often I am reminded.
Interesting, how little kids can be entertained with just two clothes pins and a rubber band, and simple minds with a catchy phrase like ‘Zero (0) year.’ I can’t escape that fate, I play with words. Christians I would think (I cannot speak for Christians) may still prefer the “Year of our Lord” thing. I was raised in that belief system but like my Amazon trial membership, when I didn't invest the privilege stopped. I have no axe to grind just no reason to believe. I draw a blank on the Jewish community. Their preference for CE/BCE is understandable but from my own personal experience (I do have Jewish friends) they are heirs to a legacy of both tragic persecution and tenacious resilience, not as much about Belief as one might think. The persecution part is matched only by that of black skinned people, swallowed up in white skinned culture. Jews who want to mingle unobserved have a distinct advantage over black skinned people. To that end, I think the seemingly universal disparity measured out against breathing while black is unparalleled. In any case, I like the secular adaptation. Other than symbolic inference, they are the same.
This old heretic is extremely cognizant to the fact that my parents religion and its influence on me is permanently installed on my hard drive. My Mac’s current operating system is ‘Big Sur 11.4’ but all of its previous versions are still in there, just pushed back out of service. Keeping with my Mac metaphor, I could say that my current, Spiritual Operating System is ‘Skeptic 81.8’ but it gets updated frequently. I treat sanctified anomalies (reoccurring, residual Christianity) with the Star Wars protocol; as a disturbance in the force. It is like an old, long healed scar that itches from time to time. When it does, I scratch it until it stops itching. Then I default to something else. The year (approximate) 12,000 BCE comes to mind, just about the time Siberian humans started crossing the Bering land bridge into North America. They must have had Shaman storytellers and certainly mythical gods with tribal history. Wouldn’t that make for a great ‘Back To The Future’ sequel!
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