I doubt it’s some god, not even
an intelligent designer, but
there’s something so beyond
our ken at work out there, in here,
that we cannot begin to admit
it to ourselves.
Too many inexplicable surprises —
where is that grand metaphor
for us to munch on in the abyss
of our nights? Our guesses are
getting colder, not hotter. Can you
feel it? The more we know, the less.
What’s really behind our blind spot?
Where did mathematics come from?
What human gifts are we shufling off
onto the robots, and what will they do
with them?
_____________________
OIL CHECK
When reading about plans to make a
monkey man, what was your first thought?
- How clever we are
- How famous the scientist will be.
- What the monkey man will look like
- That he’ll make a good pet.
- Poor devil
- Would make a good soldier
- Anxiety
- Excitement
As much as I like thinking about the world sometimes I think we humans are greedy for knowledge. Can’t we stop asking “but why?” And have some faith that things are because they are supposed to be. I also think here’s a difference between seeking knowledge to better understand and appreciate something for what it is versus seeking knowledge about something inorder to exploit it for our own good. Personally, I don’t need to know why the sky is blue inorder to appreciate that it is blue. I don’t need anything from the sky to believe that it has value.
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Thanks for sharing your viewpoint with me, Carrie. I agree it would be nice to let go and just believe that all is right with the world–to just know it without having to check it out, or am I mis-reading? I can feel how patronizing my words must feel and I’m sorry for that. The depth of your concerns deserves better. I’m sorry. How I wish I could just let go of reason and feel assured that reality can assuage our wishes and that a comforting blue sky can croon respite for us all. I did not grow up with exactly the evidence that we can find peace and serenity by experiencing a blue sky. Do you ever wonder how the prisoners–living and dead– experienced the comfort of a blue sky at Auschwitz?? I don’t want to tangle with you. I really do wish I retained the faith of my earliest Presbyterian baptism, my Methodist hymn singing and my Episcopalian confirmation before falling into my Unitarian Universalist think tank, and my off and on Quaker meetings. What I could never let go of is the notion that might does not make right, that the backbone of our hope if not belief is that we might all be rescued some day by a comprehension of what went wrong in our evolution that permitted the very irreligious unfolding of an Auschwitz, a Trump, and his good friend Putin. Who am I fooling? All the way back, it seems, the hypothetical answers to how and why questions have not been soothing to me, nor would turning off my brain help much. Truth be told, I’d feel happier if I could bypass reason and “go broke,” But I wouldn’t feel very spiritual about it. Obviously we each live with our own version of truth. Without blind faith at this point in my life (86 years old as you know,) I’m trying not to mislead myself into how I’ll soon be walking them golden streets up there. I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t help a single refugee,–Black, White, Hispanic, Asian or–what is Ukranian? Or neighbor?
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