Goofy

The Boy Who Wanted To Fly

I was fascinated as a child with the belief that human unaided flight should be possible just by willing it, and that to the degree that it was not, we were buying a bill of goods called reality. I asked myself why I wanted reality more than I wanted to fly. I doubted I wanted reality more than I wanted to fly. 

But the will to crazy, the will to do anything I wanted if I wanted badly enough was not there. So I continued to puzzle over my fixation with sanity and limitation, eventually coming to see limitations as what make me me, and not just cosmic noise. I wanted to be me (live in a universe I recognized) more than I wanted to fly.

God and Evil: Theism and the Multiverse

Again Happy Hiram explains why there are bad things in the world but God is not evil.

Here was the question from Yahoo Answers:

Is it possible for there to be an all powerful, all knowing, all loving God in the face of evil and suffering!?

I do Religion, Philosophy and Ethics at school. I recently wrote an essay on the topic and expressed my views what are your thoughts? We thought about it in the terms of suffering during the holocaust when many innocent Jews faithful to God were slaughtered.

My Answer:
1. If the multiverse does not have a latent part (i. e. spiritual or phantom potential, aka God) then everything is as the ancients feared "eternal recurrence" and nothing is real. The Buddhists may love that answer, but I find it dehumanizing.

2. Everything affects everything else. Cause and effect run forwards AND backwards in time, contact clear across enormous distances of space and even "potential" events affect the whole. Those in the know call this God's Law, and define the relationship of spirit over matter as omnipotence.

3. In this universe of connectivity, take out Hitler and you might also lose the color red. Diversity is the greater good. Is the God who chooses to allow suffering for the sake of a more complex universe evil?

4. I believe God (potential) experiences matter (reality) through consciousness. That he goes through everything a holocaust victim does is the only reason why he can allow suffering in the world. Because he is there beside us through consciousness, which is the way in which we are made in his image, it is the part of us that is intangible, immaterial and most like un-existent potential.

Please mention me (Happy Hiram) if you use this in your paper.

The Question in Philosophy

The Prayer Boats Theory

There are those who say "My little prayer cannot change God's mind. God's plan is God's plan. What use is prayer?"

To me, when I pray for someone else's betterment, it actually works on me. We are like boats overwhelmed in a sea of troubles. When we pray, we are somewhat lifted above the tide and tempest of life, through our connection to God. 

As we are lifted out of the deep water, the waterlevel lowers for those around us, just as when we are in need we raise the stress and difficulty of others. Our draft* adds to the tide and our uplift lifts the burden on all.

Thus our little boat of prayer calms the sea without being about us.

The Green Sail represents the person praying.

Letter to Thomas

Thomas,

Thanks for the Best Answer to your question and in response to your comments, I would love to discuss matters of faith any time you like. You may be surprised (or disappointed) to know that I have been (a) born again Christian THREE times in my youth but I kept finding Christianity too hard to maintain a belief in.

First off was the idea that I saw kids doing bad things and saying "it's okay, I'm saved."

My second disillusionment was the idea that "do unto others" is a form of abuse, as in "figure out what other people need and give it to them whether they want it or not." That is pretty much how I interact with folks on YAP, treating them as I want to be treated, and they are appalled because the golden rule is a formula for abuse. Luckily I am not a Christian so I don't try to pretend that it is anything but a psychological purge, doing what I think is best for others. It would require more humility than I have to say "God doesn't want me to 'Do unto others' God wants me to leave them the heck alone." Luckily you have the bible to blame for following this abusive rule.

Thirdly, when I got re-involved with religion in my twenties, I got a glimpse of the worldly money and power aspect of Christianity, and it freaked me the hell out. I kept telling myself "it's the message, not the messenger" but it was like being Alice in Wonderland trying to pretend everything was normal.

I have known many great Christians who have been models of goodness and humility. I have also known good Hindus who would give a stranger the shirt off their backs. I have known religious Jews who were models of generosity and tolerance. I have frankly known charitable and gentle Satanists (not the atheist kind, the voodoo-y "I can do magic" kind. Frankly I have a tremendous respect for the power of good in faith, just not any interest in anyone's religion.

When I was in college, I read about Taoism and thought nothing of it. Then I read a silly little book by a guy named Benjamin Hoff called "The Tao of Pooh" (Taoism as explained by Winnie the Pooh) and it changed my life. I had always hated Pooh growing up as he represented stupid and lazy to me. It was my earliest training to impose myself on the world whether mechanically, like my dad, or verbally like my mom. I had no real idea that you could accept the world AS IS without imposing values on it, like sin or karma or salvation, the eight-fold path, the Ten Commandments or the five pillars of Islam.

I am happy to just be in the world, and as I do not fear any afterlife, salvation, and hellfire neither interest nor terrify me. I believe we are our own hell and the world as it is is heaven enough if I just get out of my own way.

So yeah, I am sure your personal journey is equally if not more compelling, and like me, you are not looking for a new religion. But I also don't think you are going to hell for not believing in the Tao (things as they are) so this imperative on your part may somewhat mess up our dynamic.

Sorry to run on so long. Your turn.
Harry


*PS: If I believed that folks who didn't accept Jesus were going to burn for all eternity I would be pretty anxious to convince them too. Its not the motive but the message I am at odds with.

Teacups of North America

My Brother-in-Law asked me to catalog and maybe sell some teacups he had received. They are from various parts of the country, some Caribbean islands, Cancun, Aruba and Bermuda.
Here is a sample picture:

Here is the Whole Magilla:

Here is the Aerial View (Western States):

 
Here is the South East:

Here is the North East:

Here is the Caribbean:

Here is the South West:

Here is the North West:

Anybody have any ideas how I can sell these things?

Happy Holidays,
Hiram 

Past Glories Revisited

I was going through some old links and thought I would repost some other people's video stuff that I liked in the past year:

Dylan's "Gates of Eden" Covered by Bryan Ferry
Gates of Eden Artwork by h g lowry

Yanzo, I'm Jealous 
(Despite the fact that he abuses the Lord's Name)

Favorite Scene from "To Have or Have Not" 

(Do You See Anything Kid?)

Movies in Real Life: Ghostbusters 
 (New York City Library)

 
Lucky Escape 
(Short film from Ireland)

 Skhizein 
 (Short animation from France)
 

 Jihadist Bloopers