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Friday, October 21, 2016

THE WORLD IS NOT A MACHINE



THE WORLD IS NOT A MACHINE

The reason for the fubar, the reason for why we fuss,
can be found in old false fables, can be found deep inside of us,

we were taught by other humans, to fear and follow half digested truth,
we did not know any better, than to act and be uncouth,

we were taught to follow leaders who promised us the moon,
what we did not know and learned too late, is life's over much too soon,

we were taught to use our senses, and the evidence of our eyes,
and we forget to feel what our hearts tell us, and the wonder of the skies,

we were taught to think thin thoughts untrue, like we are very smart,
but we never learned enough about, how life is not like Art,

we never learn the simple truth to simply love life as it is,
and love ourselves in spite of flaws, and to see past all the biz,

we were taught to pile up treasure, and fear those who may rob our hoard,
when everything is shared by us, we'll no longer need our sword,

but that is for a future time, when every one has the heart,
to see that life's just a song we sing, and everyone has a part,

our froggy, croaky chorus echoes down more than we can describe,
for we have no memory of when we were all part of just one tribe,

yes, life is short, intense, and sweet, and the vision that we view,
what we think we see, we often misconstrue,

we are part of something that is more than a big machine,
if you take a moment to see the truth, you might know what I mean,

but listen not to what I tell you, listen not to what others say,
you alone possess the answers that will let you cross the bay,

you alone possess the key to unlock any door,
once you learn to let fear go, and learn what life is really for.

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

small prayer for peace

a small prayer for peace


Lord, God, Great Spirit, hear my prayer,

guide us, Lord, help us to see Your high road,

save us from our divisions and our disputes

as we make our way along Your proscribed Path,

Remind us of our heritage and that we believe in fairness and decency,

and the right of every individual to see You in the way that is most fitting for

each, knowing that You made us all different and we see You in different ways,

remind us that Your spark of divinity exists in each of us,

and sometimes it takes a little extra patience with our brothers

to see it from their point of view, and we do not always have the right answer.

Make me a vessel for Your Will, and give me wisdom to do my best,

and help do what I can to keep America great,

for I know we are nothing without You and You are the source

of any greatness we may aspire to.  Bring harmony to our land

and let us all work together as one people,

with liberty and justice for all.    Amen

Saturday, October 15, 2016

Lies and the Internet - Who to Believe

Why is the Truth nowhere to be found ?

      It seems so hard to get to what is real in our world today.   There are so many sources of information and we are never sure what the hidden agenda is or might be of the particular site we are on.
      How can we get to the real bedrock of truth and avoid lies and mis-truths?
How can we decide who to believe?

     Well, first we look to people and organizations who already have a good reputation, a reputation of some degree of objectivity.   That is pretty hard to find.   We judge often by how much we feel the person agrees with us.
So we must ask ourselves first if we are prejudiced.   But none of us wants to admit the possibility that "we" are prejudiced.

     In the end it depends a lot on how opinionated we are or on what particular ax we have to grind.   And we have to admit Everyone has an ax to grind and no one is without prejudice.  There is no such thing as total objectivity.   We are all just humans who do not possess omnipotence.

     If you tend to be more conservative, you trust other conservatives more.   If you are more liberal, you tend to trust the folks who describe themselves as liberal.   But in the final analysis, you can find truth on both sides of the political 
spectrum.
     My personal opinion is that God is the only source of ultimate truth and all of us see the little piece that is closest to us.   For non-believers in a deity, my atheist brothers and sisters, some of you also see great truths about our human situation.  But I would probably have many differences in how each of us see life here on this third rock from the Sun.

     All that being said, each person must arrive at some sort of equation or procedure to use to determine who is lying or has questionable motives.
People talk about due diligence, but even accessing a broad range of information often leaves us puzzled.
     In addition, we have to admit to several wild cards.   For one thing, the internet is full of websites which are anonymous, un-ascribed, and undated, with no easy way to 'vett' the source.   Actually like a site like this one.
 
     You have no way of really knowing who I am.   I could be a Russian hacker or an agent of a foreign land.  I have tried to describe where I am coming from and to be open about my own motives, but you will have to be the judge of that.
 
     But we all should acknowledge for every person trying to express their particular version of the 'Truth", there are 10 or 100 who are not really trying to be honest.   Also, there are active dis-information websites run by foreign powers like Russia and others.   They take a seed of truth and then wrap it up in their particular propaganda to spin the info to serve themselves.
     Then there are unscrupulous website owners who really do not care what the truth is. They are the "Click-baiting" sites.    They take whatever headline is trending, and then they sensationalize it to get your attention, (because we are all attracted to the most outrageous news),  and they make their money with ads and other selling, because they have traffic to their site.
     Even if you do a diligent search for more information to substantiate what you just read or seen, you will encounter tons of conflicting data.  So in the end, you are thrown back onto your own resources and your own best guesstimate.
Welcome to the world we humans in all our infinite wisdom have created.


   My best suggestion is to read everything you can, survey and surf widely, and after you have gathered a fair amount of data, from a broad variety of sources, then make up your own mind.  I guess that is the way it has always been.   It helps if you have a foundation of truth to stand on.  You have to start somewhere.   Most of us find the baseline of truth in religion, but you may also find value in scientific and empirical data.   I wish you all luck and hope that what you decide on contains some compassion for us humans and for all life on the planet.

Sunday, October 2, 2016

A Patriot's Faith in the United States of America and Why we are Great


A Patriot's Faith in the United States of America and Why we are Great


    I love the United States of America.  That means different things to different
people.  Because in this place in the World,
our Differences are Celebrated.

We tolerate a lot.  We even tolerate atheists.  We hope they come to faith in God,
because that is what the United States is about, at least to some extent.
Many came here seeking religious freedom, but also political freedom.
Freedom to work, and freedom to move about the cabin at will.

Your own free will and your own personal relationship with God are what we value.   What an individual regards as holy is valued in the United States of America.  And people love it here because you are permitted to go to whatever church you like or no church at all.  Toleration is our Creed.  And no one can presume to stand between you and what you regard as True or Holy.



Now the bad stuff.  We are a political experiment.  We have done some evil on the way to where we are.  A lot.   We have some 'Splain'in to do. We have a lot of things we need to clean up.
But we have also done good.  We stood against fascism and despotism when we helped defeat the Nazi madness which seized part of the world for awhile.

And after that conflict, when we possessed the pre-eminent power of nuclear weapons, and could have dictated to the world that they must all be under our specific control, we did not seek world hegemony, but rather, tried to influence all nations to embrace a system of democratic rule.  Unfortunately, most of the world was just shaking off the bonds of colonialism and many were not ready for our particular style and flavor of a free-wheeling democratic republic.



As I say, I love the United States of America.   I love it because it is my home, my mother and father lived here, and brought me up here, and the Americans I know are some of the finest, nicest people you could ever meet in the world.

And we are generous and naive to a fault. Many of us tend to believe what people tell us.  WE trust people.  We trust people to do what they say they Will do, and to have a moral code of honor.  Because that is how we are.  And we expect others to also be moral.  Because it is the right way to be.
          Doesn't everyone know that?

But there is more depth below the surface and still waters run deep.

Where can I start?  Americans are relentlessly optimistic.  Oh, we can be pragmatic and dour, but most progress comes from foolishly hopeful people with  an idea or dream which may not entirely be rooted in reality.

In other words, we are a nation of Dreamers and Risk-takers in many ways.

We self-selected out when we came here from other lands.  Those of us who voluntarily came here, that is.
Many came here looking for a sense of community and searched for the perfect community here.  So that is a lot of dreams and a lot of dreamers right there, especially because we know there is no Perfect in man's world.

We like to think about the Pilgrims, as our first Americans, but perhaps they are not the most accurate example.
 I would like to talk about what a Real American is, but not just yet.

I would like to acknowledge the good and to admit the bad and get everything out on the table.  As long as we leave anything buried beneath our fears, it will fester and rot and continue to infect us.

Only when we look at ourselves soberly, with some degree of balance and honesty, and allow ourselves to see and to accept everything, will we have any hope of having a community and a more perfect Union.