I have been writing in self defense most of my life yet I don’t feel very well protected or even understood. My metaphor today is The Ugly Duckling. The message there is to be who you really are and someday you will find your natural niche. It makes good rhetoric but a goose will never transcend to Duckdom. Likewise, personhood does not guarantee a seamless fit with the prevailing culture. I identify with the goose from Duckdom. I have spent endless hours and thousands upon thousands of words trying to explain this impasse. Every time at about 1,500-2,000 words it all collapses under its own weight. But I write, that’s what I do.
I go to church where Secular Humanism is highly regarded and faithfully practiced. That might seem paradoxical but it goes with the Ugly Duck parity. In Western Culture the word ‘Church’ translates to a Theistic, Faith based, dogma-driven religion. My belief differs in that our actions are a better measure of what we believe than confessions or redundant ritual. So said, we are born with everything we need to live a righteous life and do not require a condescending, authoritarian god or church hierarchy to guide our spiritual journey. ‘Spiritual’ is another buzz-word that translates as religion. The old Greeks used the word to discriminate between tangible (Temporal) things that can be accessed directly and (Spiritual) things that can only be accessed with the mind and I like that.
Most of my cohorts identify as Recovering Christians, still reeling in the aftermath of a meaningless if not painful experience there. Been there, done that. Still, I’ve never been angry, never wanted reparation or even a nod, I just let it go, happy to be well and in a good place. Still, I am stuck in Duckdom and in my own best interest I tactfully coexist with their salvation obsession.
Moving on: Perceived as God’s most prized creation, man-kind has been elevated to a station that is well above animals, below angels and profoundly short of being gods themselves. You don’t have to be a devoted believer to be smitten with the superiority of human-hood. Through the ages, humans have only grown in our own admiration. Indigenous cultures found the creator within the creation. Even though that nature centered culture has been diluted with Jesus and ‘Hail Mary full of grace”, the remnants of a great people still gather for sweat lodge ceremony, drum to an unmistakable rhythm, powwow and dance the old dances. Children are reminded that we ‘Two-leggeds’ are but pieces of the puzzle, and never the puzzle master. I like that too.
My issue is the unmerited assumption that mankind has been chosen to advance not only God’s purpose but their own best interest with God’s blessing and no restrictions. The sanctity of human life is popular as long as the person at risk is part of your network or a fetus in the womb. If the human life in question is an enemy then we default to another set of rules. But collectively, it would seem we are God’s best effort so his opinion should still count. Just ask the Pope or any Baptist preacher. Sanctity relies on what is at risk. The issue doesn’t end there. The same people assume their brain works at their command when in fact it has its own compass. It’s more complicated than that and I won’t delve into how the brain works here but the principles of Free Will and common sense are no longer the rule. It’s a deep hole and if you want to dig there you should bring your lunch.
Beyond the religion thing, I reject the idea that humans are divinely created. Evolution is common as dirt and that’s how we got here. We (humans) are special, even unique considering the scope and extent of how we use language, correlating unrelated ideas, creating solutions to complex problems, metacognition (thinking about thinking), predicting future outcomes, able to forgive a grudge and write poetry: yes we are empowered with magical attributes. But at the end of the day, we are animals. We are the dominant animal species on the planet but animals none the less. Just when you thought you were your mother’s precious baby you discover that you are the red-headed step child and she never, ever considered writing you into her will.
An arrogant sense of species privilege and mental acuity justifies Right & Wrong (righteous & immoral) overreach: right and wrong are whatever we say they are. Freedom & Liberty are worth fighting for as long as it’s us exercising our will over somebody else. Our best laid plans can yield great results but when it bleeds out with unintended consequence you need an egress plan. That is when you sidestep responsibility and implicate someone who has no alibi. My suspicion tells me, the more civilized we become the more you have to watch your back. We can be generous and loyal, we can be peaceful and cooperate but at the end of the day we are still animals. When push comes to shove we can eat our own young and defend our action with self serving clarity.
I am a spectator in this circus. The best I can hope for is to find my natural niche and make peace with the Ugly Duckling. George Carlin was famous for his misanthrope humor and I loved it then. I still love it but I think his wicked humor was actually a hybrid dose of sympathetic contempt. How well we cooperate in small groups and fail in large numbers (unless it’s war) it is an embarrassment. Civilization at large requires that we monetize everything and compete at business. My mother said, “You are either doing business or getting the business.” One provides a product or service in exchange for more than it’s worth and the other is getting ripped off by unethical business practice. I’m not really a pessimist but Skeptic or Stoic would be more like it.
Just shy of a thousand words, good time to stop.
I go to church where Secular Humanism is highly regarded and faithfully practiced. That might seem paradoxical but it goes with the Ugly Duck parity. In Western Culture the word ‘Church’ translates to a Theistic, Faith based, dogma-driven religion. My belief differs in that our actions are a better measure of what we believe than confessions or redundant ritual. So said, we are born with everything we need to live a righteous life and do not require a condescending, authoritarian god or church hierarchy to guide our spiritual journey. ‘Spiritual’ is another buzz-word that translates as religion. The old Greeks used the word to discriminate between tangible (Temporal) things that can be accessed directly and (Spiritual) things that can only be accessed with the mind and I like that.
Most of my cohorts identify as Recovering Christians, still reeling in the aftermath of a meaningless if not painful experience there. Been there, done that. Still, I’ve never been angry, never wanted reparation or even a nod, I just let it go, happy to be well and in a good place. Still, I am stuck in Duckdom and in my own best interest I tactfully coexist with their salvation obsession.
Moving on: Perceived as God’s most prized creation, man-kind has been elevated to a station that is well above animals, below angels and profoundly short of being gods themselves. You don’t have to be a devoted believer to be smitten with the superiority of human-hood. Through the ages, humans have only grown in our own admiration. Indigenous cultures found the creator within the creation. Even though that nature centered culture has been diluted with Jesus and ‘Hail Mary full of grace”, the remnants of a great people still gather for sweat lodge ceremony, drum to an unmistakable rhythm, powwow and dance the old dances. Children are reminded that we ‘Two-leggeds’ are but pieces of the puzzle, and never the puzzle master. I like that too.
My issue is the unmerited assumption that mankind has been chosen to advance not only God’s purpose but their own best interest with God’s blessing and no restrictions. The sanctity of human life is popular as long as the person at risk is part of your network or a fetus in the womb. If the human life in question is an enemy then we default to another set of rules. But collectively, it would seem we are God’s best effort so his opinion should still count. Just ask the Pope or any Baptist preacher. Sanctity relies on what is at risk. The issue doesn’t end there. The same people assume their brain works at their command when in fact it has its own compass. It’s more complicated than that and I won’t delve into how the brain works here but the principles of Free Will and common sense are no longer the rule. It’s a deep hole and if you want to dig there you should bring your lunch.
Beyond the religion thing, I reject the idea that humans are divinely created. Evolution is common as dirt and that’s how we got here. We (humans) are special, even unique considering the scope and extent of how we use language, correlating unrelated ideas, creating solutions to complex problems, metacognition (thinking about thinking), predicting future outcomes, able to forgive a grudge and write poetry: yes we are empowered with magical attributes. But at the end of the day, we are animals. We are the dominant animal species on the planet but animals none the less. Just when you thought you were your mother’s precious baby you discover that you are the red-headed step child and she never, ever considered writing you into her will.
An arrogant sense of species privilege and mental acuity justifies Right & Wrong (righteous & immoral) overreach: right and wrong are whatever we say they are. Freedom & Liberty are worth fighting for as long as it’s us exercising our will over somebody else. Our best laid plans can yield great results but when it bleeds out with unintended consequence you need an egress plan. That is when you sidestep responsibility and implicate someone who has no alibi. My suspicion tells me, the more civilized we become the more you have to watch your back. We can be generous and loyal, we can be peaceful and cooperate but at the end of the day we are still animals. When push comes to shove we can eat our own young and defend our action with self serving clarity.
I am a spectator in this circus. The best I can hope for is to find my natural niche and make peace with the Ugly Duckling. George Carlin was famous for his misanthrope humor and I loved it then. I still love it but I think his wicked humor was actually a hybrid dose of sympathetic contempt. How well we cooperate in small groups and fail in large numbers (unless it’s war) it is an embarrassment. Civilization at large requires that we monetize everything and compete at business. My mother said, “You are either doing business or getting the business.” One provides a product or service in exchange for more than it’s worth and the other is getting ripped off by unethical business practice. I’m not really a pessimist but Skeptic or Stoic would be more like it.
Just shy of a thousand words, good time to stop.
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