what will sustain us?
it's down to God's gift
the natural world
plus
the traditions of our past 2000
year old civilisation
a religious ethic unconsciously
inherited by all the atheists
who conveniently do not recognise
its positive influence on human behaviour
(even theirs)
a tried and true philosophy
of the way we should live
for the best outcome for all
of course the powers at work
are bent on destroying
all of that
Christianity is the most persecuted
and seeming most unpopular religion
on the planet at the moment
we hear little of
( the murders and persecutions i.e.)
powerful voices
keep the sheep in their place
by throwing accusatory labels
such as political correctness
bigotry and homophobia
at any expression of a
different opinion
we can now gild the lily
can create a human from combined sperm
and an egg incubated by a surrogate
who needs the money in the third world
a fashion accessory for a designer celeb couple
(shades of Mary Shelley)
we are the sum of our parts
designated for the compost bin
we ignore the greatest minds in history
ensuring they are buried in the past
we make docos by eminent scientists
who have the literary knowledge of a pea hen
ignorant of the great philosophical canon
assuring us that everything is just big bang boom random
and we are all meaningless specks worth nothing
the idea of a superior awesome being
outside of our realm of understanding
(is for the mindless, superstitious and primitive)
if we cannot see it...it doesn't exist
science has all the answers
we enshrine perversion
dressing it up in wedding veils
(there is no longer such thing
as aberrant behaviour)
expose our children to pornography
under the label of free speech
through the 21st century god
called the internet
is life
if you can call it that
sustainable here on earth ?
i cannot be alone
in being alarmed by our
brave new world
doesn't look promising !
No you are not alone, but you are walking in a different direction to one decreed. Mindless obedience is to admired and rewarded with satisfying consumerism. Best not to admire that tree growing free it won't be there next week.
ReplyDeleteHa...thanks for the warning !
ReplyDeleteGlad you are holding my hand on the march to the scaffold !
Oh, this is a three wine one log fire discussion. To answer you final question first. No, it is not sustainable as long as our loopy leaders (UK, US & Oz) delude themselves with the idea that their God wont let them die. We live in a bottle garden, to behave otherwise is to die.
ReplyDelete"if we cannot see it...it doesn't exist" - gravity, wi-fi, magnetism, love, compassion. They exist, proven by their visible impact rather than their own visibility.
As a scientist and an atheist, I require things to make sense.
If you require "things to make sense", then it is philosophy and cosmology you need to study - 'science' is one of its off-shoots. The question that confounds make is the choice between:: 'Creatio ex Nihilo' and 'Creatio ex Materia'.
Delete“At this moment it seems as though science will never be able to raise the curtain on the mystery of creation. For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.”
(Robert Jastrow)
True, creation is something I (conveniently) ignore. The two options are equally bizarre: Assigning creation to God doesn't address step 1, the creation of God. Assigning creation to a 'big bang' makes me worry that a new universe may randomly bang into life beside me when I am shaving in the morning. At least I will have a towel handy. Neither make sense to me so, reckoning that they wont impact on tomorrows weather unduly, I ignore them. What I can't say is "I don't understand it so it must be supernatural".
DeleteThere you go, Cosmo. At least you're honest in stating you want to ignore the question. In my view, it is the question and one that cannot be ignored.
DeleteIf you accept the 'First Cause' philosophic position, then you have to accept there is a Creator who is self sufficient and uncreated. Then you're into all sorts of questions about why such a Being would create a material world with intelligent beings who can ask these type of questions and if any of this this would be revealed.
You have a brain and so you can form an understanding of it. Besides, there is centuries of thinkers preceding you who have laid the groundwork.
" If we cannot see it...it doesn't exist" that was ironical and meant to manifest the view of scientists.
ReplyDeleteYes this is a discussion that people with diametrically opposed views are unlikely to change or modify unless they are politicians in danger of losing votes who can change like a swinging pendulum.
We are all going to die so I am unaware of leaders who are deluding themselves that God will not allow them to die.Something you have cooked up in your bottle garden.
God is not a sky fairy who magically intervenes when things go wrong. Most of the disasters that happen are directly a consequence of man made decisions. How we live is the important issue. We all have free will.All our finer altruistic aesthetic traits like compassion selflessness magnetism love are pale manifestations of something bigger and better than us. We are basically not very nice animals.
As a scientist and an atheist you may have to acknowledge your intellect is limited.
You will never make sense of everything....there are concepts that are beyond us which have to be approached in a non scientific way..to even get a glimmer of understanding.It requires humility and acceptance that the philosophers of the past had great wisdom that cannot be surpassed by glib rhetoric and pop psychology
The arrogance of the 'here and now ' because we are technologically advanced does not make us more intelligent . Most humans desensitised and media programmed as they are , still recognise the existence of some form of a superior being instinctively .We have instincts for a good reason. Vere too far from the natural order of things and there will be consequences. We already witness it in the environment and the rest is yet to come. And of course there is the religious argument which is too vast a subject to be contained in commentary !
I understand where you are coming from and prefer not to go there. Within my own sphere, I don't comprehend the idea of a superior being somewhere, anywhere. I am will to accept that as a personal trait and not a general one.
DeleteBut why do you chose not to go there?
DeleteThis had to be said--and so, though I disagree with it, I admire its artistry, depth and range-its "Ginsberg" power.. My favorite part is the Frankenstein reference! And that part, the arrogant disregard for both the meaning of life and the despair of poverty could be published as a separate poem. I wish you had posted it earlier so more poets would be here to respond. As for the degradation and persecution of Christianity--I am also concerned about it as a target, as the slaughter of Christian students by Arab extremists shows. But I'm one of the new Christians who is pleased that some parts of this vast collage are less Biblical and more Christ-like in their acceptance of humans that the "religious" condemn. Bravo on the strength of your voice.
ReplyDeleteThank you Susan !
Deletenice capture...
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Rally. Stay positive in the certain knowledge that man's history is moving in a direction foreknown before creation and its conclusion has been revealed.
ReplyDeleteMan's nature, in combination with free will and the power and knowledge at our disposal today, presents alarming possibilities. If I can get religious, (who me?), the biblical 'myths' of Tower of Babel, the Cities of the Plain and the Flood are ageless prophetic truths about mankind.
Geez you're a heavy dude Dodo....you're scaring the sheep...the flock is scattering LOL
DeleteHe's chasing after the wolves in sheep's clothing, Rally.
DeleteYes, indeed... Not only have we lost the plot with the environment, but we have lost so many of our cultural, ethical, moral, religious, emotional and human values. Unfortunately, money reigns supreme and people will do anything, even trample over dead bodies, dead forests, dead planets to get it. In the end to buy what? A dead planet?
ReplyDeleteIndeed...I like your spirit....very encouraging to know you think like this! ....and from Melbourne too ( that was a joke:)
ReplyDelete