To you: I believe, and yes, I love. I don't give a damn what those scientists with all their diplomas and test tubes say. I do not believe that anything as beautiful and perfect as this world, as the sky above and earth below and birdsandbeesanddaisiesandcocoatrees and everything else in between could have just HAPPENED. I can't watch the turn of the sun in the sky or feel the embrace of a cool breeze on a hot day or hear the whispered ecstasies of two young lovers and not know that someone is responsible. Someone amazing, and beautiful.
I can't watch the color come to your cheeks when you smile and think that you are an accident. I can't feel life pulsing through my veins and imagine that were it not for a highly specific, highly unlikely set of circumstances I wouldn't be here. I can't. I have someone to thank for you, and for me.
There are no accidents, there are no mistakes. Not when it comes to things as large and lovely as life and limes and leopards. Imagine the artistry, the intellect! Imagine what it took to design one wing of a plain brown moth! Imagine what care and patience it took to design each of the shells in the ocean. Can you? I can just barely grasp at it, like there's something much, much bigger and much, much more important to be seen..
What a master of art, of creation, of compassion and kindness and generosity. To have made all these beautiful things and not kept them horded away? To have been as proud of each and every one of them as it would be impossible not to be (of daisies and of lemons and of you and of me), and to have given it all away. Given us away. To free will. To each other. Given us everything that we need, and more. Not just the skills to survive, the skills to scavenge and hunt and keep safe in bad weather and avoid dangerous animals, but the ability to think! the ability to love!
We are given the ability to love, and as far as I am concerned that's good enough for me. I love and trust this creator much too much to begin questioning intentions. I am a work of this hand, in this image, and I am not so ungrateful as to reject the ability to love as it is given to me.
Some people worry that teaching us about evolution in school will make us question faith. Before that they feared that if we studied anatomy of the human body we would offend God. Before that, it was heresy to suggest that Earth was anything but flat, with Heaven above and Hell below. We now know that the world is a sphere. We have studied and labeled every piece of man's physical form. We are taught evolution. These things do not make me question my faith, rather, they make me believe even more strongly than before. And yet, how exquisite is the brain, the mind, that through its study even our most learned doctors are left with more questions than when they began so many centuries ago, and scarcely many more answers! How perfect that every creature in nature exists as part of a large-scale pattern! How appropriate that with the discovery of Earth's shape there is no longer room for Hell in the layout of our world.
But, oh! there is certainly room for Heaven! All you have to do is look up, and there is your proof. Look inside yourself; it is there, too. With as much care and precision as it took to construct the wing of that little brown moth just so perfectly that the creature can fly, my our aligned and arranged the cosmos to give us a glimpse of the wonderful world that is waiting for us (and in a way so that they don't get all tangled up and keep bumping into each other, besides.)
This is how I see my creator, who you may choose to call God, and this is where I see Him: in nature, in the heavens, in you, in me.
My creator, as I understand it, does not feel hate. Nor wrath. Nor the compulsion to damn any single one of we beautiful, perfect creations to an eternity of suffering. Each of us is loved unconditionally. My creator, as I understand it, would never even allow such a place as Hell to exist. My creator's forgiveness is too great; love, too strong. Such base sentiments as hate and loathing do not belong.
It sickens me to see how over the ages this messages of love, kindness, respect, generosity, and forgiveness have been muddled up and made subject to the whims and grudges of, pardon the term, mere mortals. I loathe to see atrocities carried out in the name of God, of Allah, or Yahweh, etc., against objects of the creator's adoration. Christianity and all other faiths, in essence, are about being the best that you can possibly be. They are about loving unconditionally, respecting uniformly, and forgiving absolutely. It isn't easy. That's the point.
My creator demands nothing, but expects everything. My creator expects me to see this wonderful world around me, and to see you before me, and to love it all, and to love him/her. And I do. My creator expects me to strive to be the best person that I can be, not in fear of eternal torment, but in anticipation of eternal paradise. My creator expects me to ensure that I feel as if I deserve to be there when finally my time comes.
I talk to my creator. I pray. I talk about my problems, I ask for strength to make it through tough times, I offer praise. Praise of those cocoa trees and those leopards and of you. Praise of my mind, thanks that for all the opportunities to use it that I have. Thanks for the glorious ability to love and be loved. Thanks for you.
I consider myself spiritual. I do not go to church. To me, it seems more appropriate to worship in nature, which was created by the hands of my creator, than in any structure made by the hands of men. I do not ridicule or disparage those who do choose to worship in these holy houses. However, I harshly condemn those who go through the motions, go to the services, claim that they're faithful.. but fail to show it. You know the type. They damn the people I love, the people that our creator loves, and praise God/Allah/Yahweh/etc. all in one breath. They beat down the spirits of others and then turn those same hands upward. It is they that I do not want praying for me. So, forgive me that I offended before.
I love my creator. I love the life that I am given. And I love you.
If this is a sin, then I understand neither the nature of right or wrong nor my creator.
To everyone else: I do not expect you to agree with me. I do not expect you to disagree with me. I do not expect you to respond. I would not mind hearing what you think, how you feel, how you react, though. However, if you can not keep it respectful, keep it to yourself. If you can not keep it to yourself, it will be deleted. These are my thoughts and beliefs, and I put them forth simply in order to clear the air of some misconceptions that may have been floating around lately. Finally, if you read all the way through, I commend you.
Showing posts with label philosophy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label philosophy. Show all posts
Tuesday
Wednesday
Love yourself, because
This is a revised and expanded version of the thoughts inspired by Kirstyn M. Harmon, my dear friend and ally. If you would like to see where it all started, the thoughts of hers that ignited thoughts of mine and what I had to say in the beginning before the light was nearly as bright, read her blog "Real versus Fake." Also, thanks to Davis Goodnight for encouraging late night/early morning productive thought and Caroline Schmitt for putting the spark in my head. No less thanks to all you other wonderful, beautiful people that I know.
From the theological standpoint: God made man in his image, right? So altering your appearance in any way would be worse than "touching up" the Mona Lisa. Worse, because we're divine self-portraits. I'm not advocating such extreem measures as never cutting one's hair or fingernails, there's hygeine involved, but cosmetic proceedures such as liposuction and collagen injections should never be undertaken. Not only do they involve health risks, but they're unneccesary. You're beautiful the way you are, and this is why.
From a humanist view: It really depends on who you want to be. If you want to be just another Barbie or Ken with no feature to distinguish you from the next overdone, underfed Joe or Jane in line at the gasoline pump, then by all means skip that meal! buy that blush! work those abs! get that surgery! But if you want a face and figure that won't blur into the margins of any lineup of your peers, then embrace every inch of your natural self from your complexion to your thighs. If you have self-respect, others will see it and in turn respect you. You're beautiful the way you are, and this is why.
From a materialistic assessment: Coin collectors. You probably know at least one. Ask him or her if a flaw in the minting process doesn't make currency more valuable. Don't fanatics worldwide scamper to gain possession of the nickel with the buffalo that has only three legs? The penny with the double-impression of Lincoln's profile? Why, then, should you settle for some pillar of perfection that is so over-scaled that achieving its summit is virtually meaningless? Ask your collector whether a coin with indelible grime and grit is worth as much in mint condition. You know that answer already. Why, then, devaluate yourself with proceedures like permanent makeup and laser hair removal? You're beautiful the way you are, and this is why.
From a moralist's take: Each day we add 265,000 babies, lose 75,000 acres of rainforest, add 46,000 acres of desert, lose 71 million topns of topsoil, add 15 million tons of carbon, and lose about 70 species. Every three seconds a child dies of poverty. Every six seconds tobacco use causes someone's death. Every fifteen seconds a woman is beaten. Every thirty seconds someone is hit by a drunk driver. And you want to spend $3,500 on a forehead lift? $5,000 on an eyelid tuck? $10,000 on liposuction? I suppose that if you want to be the master of your own appearance in a world otherwise filled with chaos, then your priorities are perfectly in order, otherwise... You are beautiful the way you are, and this is why.
From an artistic angle: Look at the statue Venus di Milo. Michelangelo's David. Peci's Reclining Male Nude. Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe or Femme nue se coiffant. Any of the works of Vermeer. Of Lisa Yuskavage. Hell, look at most of the people you pass on the street! Are human beings not beautiful enough on their own, without plastic, ink, powder, and pills? The masters thought so. I think so. Don't you?
I love myself, and you, and everyone, for who we are without the makeup and pretense. Please try to do the same.
From the theological standpoint: God made man in his image, right? So altering your appearance in any way would be worse than "touching up" the Mona Lisa. Worse, because we're divine self-portraits. I'm not advocating such extreem measures as never cutting one's hair or fingernails, there's hygeine involved, but cosmetic proceedures such as liposuction and collagen injections should never be undertaken. Not only do they involve health risks, but they're unneccesary. You're beautiful the way you are, and this is why.
From a humanist view: It really depends on who you want to be. If you want to be just another Barbie or Ken with no feature to distinguish you from the next overdone, underfed Joe or Jane in line at the gasoline pump, then by all means skip that meal! buy that blush! work those abs! get that surgery! But if you want a face and figure that won't blur into the margins of any lineup of your peers, then embrace every inch of your natural self from your complexion to your thighs. If you have self-respect, others will see it and in turn respect you. You're beautiful the way you are, and this is why.
From a materialistic assessment: Coin collectors. You probably know at least one. Ask him or her if a flaw in the minting process doesn't make currency more valuable. Don't fanatics worldwide scamper to gain possession of the nickel with the buffalo that has only three legs? The penny with the double-impression of Lincoln's profile? Why, then, should you settle for some pillar of perfection that is so over-scaled that achieving its summit is virtually meaningless? Ask your collector whether a coin with indelible grime and grit is worth as much in mint condition. You know that answer already. Why, then, devaluate yourself with proceedures like permanent makeup and laser hair removal? You're beautiful the way you are, and this is why.
From a moralist's take: Each day we add 265,000 babies, lose 75,000 acres of rainforest, add 46,000 acres of desert, lose 71 million topns of topsoil, add 15 million tons of carbon, and lose about 70 species. Every three seconds a child dies of poverty. Every six seconds tobacco use causes someone's death. Every fifteen seconds a woman is beaten. Every thirty seconds someone is hit by a drunk driver. And you want to spend $3,500 on a forehead lift? $5,000 on an eyelid tuck? $10,000 on liposuction? I suppose that if you want to be the master of your own appearance in a world otherwise filled with chaos, then your priorities are perfectly in order, otherwise... You are beautiful the way you are, and this is why.
From an artistic angle: Look at the statue Venus di Milo. Michelangelo's David. Peci's Reclining Male Nude. Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe or Femme nue se coiffant. Any of the works of Vermeer. Of Lisa Yuskavage. Hell, look at most of the people you pass on the street! Are human beings not beautiful enough on their own, without plastic, ink, powder, and pills? The masters thought so. I think so. Don't you?
I love myself, and you, and everyone, for who we are without the makeup and pretense. Please try to do the same.
Monday
Friday
Pipe UP
Imagine how much more interesting the logging industry would be if trees could pull up their roots and move about as they pleased.
People could make a sport of tracking down and killing oaks and redbuds and hollies just as they do bears and foxes and deer.
"Forget that fifty pound bass that you hooked, you shoulda seen the size of the maple that I felled last month!"
Paper would take on a much more sinister identity, like leather or fur.
Coalitions would form to stop the brutal slaughter of these majestic creatures. People would organize, rally, riot. Clear cutting would be viewed as equal to the massacre of the American Buffalo during early frontier days.
But as things are, trees stand still and silent. Climbing away from Earth towards Heaven with dauntless perseverance. Waiting, perhaps even willing (like the apple tree of fable), to be cleared in the name of progress. They go silently, and so there is no great glory in their deaths. They go silently, and so there is no mass decry. They go silently.
Don't ever go in silence.
People could make a sport of tracking down and killing oaks and redbuds and hollies just as they do bears and foxes and deer.
"Forget that fifty pound bass that you hooked, you shoulda seen the size of the maple that I felled last month!"
Paper would take on a much more sinister identity, like leather or fur.
Coalitions would form to stop the brutal slaughter of these majestic creatures. People would organize, rally, riot. Clear cutting would be viewed as equal to the massacre of the American Buffalo during early frontier days.
But as things are, trees stand still and silent. Climbing away from Earth towards Heaven with dauntless perseverance. Waiting, perhaps even willing (like the apple tree of fable), to be cleared in the name of progress. They go silently, and so there is no great glory in their deaths. They go silently, and so there is no mass decry. They go silently.
Don't ever go in silence.
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