Sunday Musings - March 19, 2023
The God of my understanding
We humans have been positing a purpose since some of us had the luxury of having the time and energy to do more than survive. Perhaps when survival remains one’s primary objective, it is even more tempting to question the purpose of this life’s journey. If life merely consists of being born, surviving, and then dying it is easy to believe it is meaningless. Consequently, we humans posit various gods who assign us a purpose, monitor how well we fulfill that purpose, and what reward or punishment we earn. Sadly, not since some of the Greek gods and the indigenous gods, do we humans posit gods who have a sense of humor or a sense of style and fun. As Mark Twain remarked in his book “Letters From Earth” we even posit an afterlife in which we are deprived of all activities which we enjoy on earth. He also suggests in the same book:
“Man is the Reasoning Animal. Such is the claim. I think it is open to dispute. Indeed, my experiments have proven to me that he is the Unreasoning Animal... In truth, man is incurably foolish. Simple things which other animals easily learn, he is incapable of learning. Among my experiments was this. In an hour I taught a cat and a dog to be friends. I put them in a cage. In another hour I taught them to be friends with a rabbit. In the course of two days I was able to add a fox, a goose, a squirrel and some doves. Finally a monkey. They lived together in peace; even affectionately.
Next, in another cage I confined an Irish Catholic from Tipperary, and as soon as he seemed tame I added a Scotch Presbyterian from Aberdeen. Next a Turk from Constantinople; a Greek Christian from Crete; an Armenian; a Methodist from the wilds of Arkansas; a Buddhist from China; a Brahman from Benares. Finally, a Salvation Army Colonel from Wapping. Then I stayed away for two whole days. When I came back to note results, the cage of Higher Animals was all right, but in the other there was but a chaos of gory odds and ends of turbans and fezzes and plaids and bones and flesh--not a specimen left alive. These Reasoning Animals had disagreed on a theological detail and carried the matter to a Higher Court.”
― Mark Twain, Letters from Earth (goodreads.com)
Despite the practice of prayer, mindfulness and other meditative techniques we humans seem incapable of accepting ourselves as we are: as one with all of creation whose primary purpose may as simple as it is for the simplest of animals: to show up to be our best selves, to live in harmony with the rest of nature and when we need to ask other parts of nature to share their nutritious substance with us to follow the example of many of the so called “heathen” and offer a portion back in gratitude. It would seem all our wars and the other hurtful behaviors we inflict on ourselves and each other are directly or indirectly related to our inability to accept our own humanness. We often seem constitutionally incapable of believing that we are enough; to trust it is enough to show up with love with all of nature until it is time to return to dust. We envision God as all that is and then make him/her an imperfect, jealous, self-centered, revengeful, power-hungry addict. We seem unable or unwilling to consider that a god which makes sense is nothing and everything; nothing in that we cannot imagine “the whole” and everything that we are capable of imagining.
This humble student of Mark Twain and other wise people think it is axiomatic that some behaviors do not benefit the whole and, thus, do not benefit us individually. If I hoard food and do not share the entire universe is adversely affected. It I hit another, treat another as a sexual object, deprive another of a bed when I have extras, destroy my own body with unhealthy food, excessive alcohol or other harmful drugs, judge another because of who they love, decide that the enormous talents of a musician such as the pianist Emanuel Ax cannot be enjoyed just because he is 73 or the dance of a 90 year old is not worth sharing I am harming the whole of creation. I do not need 280 pages (paperback edition) of the Metaphysics of Morals (Immanuel Kant) to discern what is harmful. I do not need a Plato, a Jesus, or a Martin Luther King Jr. to state that when we humans pass laws such as those dealing with so called critical race theory whose sole purpose is to keep certain students from facing uncomfortable history, to know that the failure to learn from history will ensure the end of human life. I do not need a prophet to remind me that a young child knows what behavior, gender roles and sexuality feels most natural to him or her. I do not need a god or gods to remind me that if one treat symptoms rather than the disease there is no cure or even long-term improvement.
‘
The 12-step program as outlined by its founders posits a “god or even gods of one’s understanding.” The God of one’s understanding may be the group of others seeking recovery.
Many other wise teachers, including all my 2- and 3-year-old friends, knows it is enough to be us; to dance, to laugh, to cry, to demand space, to cherish closeness; to play, to imagine, to love and be loved. The young logic student is first taught an argument must establish that something is both necessary and sufficient to arrive at a logical conclusion. We humans need to posit a god or gods who are both necessary and sufficient - not an imitation of our imperfect, navel viewing selves.
Written March 19, 2023
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
The God of my understanding
We humans have been positing a purpose since some of us had the luxury of having the time and energy to do more than survive. Perhaps when survival remains one’s primary objective, it is even more tempting to question the purpose of this life’s journey. If life merely consists of being born, surviving, and then dying it is easy to believe it is meaningless. Consequently, we humans posit various gods who assign us a purpose, monitor how well we fulfill that purpose, and what reward or punishment we earn. Sadly, not since some of the Greek gods and the indigenous gods, do we humans posit gods who have a sense of humor or a sense of style and fun. As Mark Twain remarked in his book “Letters From Earth” we even posit an afterlife in which we are deprived of all activities which we enjoy on earth. He also suggests in the same book:
“Man is the Reasoning Animal. Such is the claim. I think it is open to dispute. Indeed, my experiments have proven to me that he is the Unreasoning Animal... In truth, man is incurably foolish. Simple things which other animals easily learn, he is incapable of learning. Among my experiments was this. In an hour I taught a cat and a dog to be friends. I put them in a cage. In another hour I taught them to be friends with a rabbit. In the course of two days I was able to add a fox, a goose, a squirrel and some doves. Finally a monkey. They lived together in peace; even affectionately.
Next, in another cage I confined an Irish Catholic from Tipperary, and as soon as he seemed tame I added a Scotch Presbyterian from Aberdeen. Next a Turk from Constantinople; a Greek Christian from Crete; an Armenian; a Methodist from the wilds of Arkansas; a Buddhist from China; a Brahman from Benares. Finally, a Salvation Army Colonel from Wapping. Then I stayed away for two whole days. When I came back to note results, the cage of Higher Animals was all right, but in the other there was but a chaos of gory odds and ends of turbans and fezzes and plaids and bones and flesh--not a specimen left alive. These Reasoning Animals had disagreed on a theological detail and carried the matter to a Higher Court.”
― Mark Twain, Letters from Earth (goodreads.com)
Despite the practice of prayer, mindfulness and other meditative techniques we humans seem incapable of accepting ourselves as we are: as one with all of creation whose primary purpose may as simple as it is for the simplest of animals: to show up to be our best selves, to live in harmony with the rest of nature and when we need to ask other parts of nature to share their nutritious substance with us to follow the example of many of the so called “heathen” and offer a portion back in gratitude. It would seem all our wars and the other hurtful behaviors we inflict on ourselves and each other are directly or indirectly related to our inability to accept our own humanness. We often seem constitutionally incapable of believing that we are enough; to trust it is enough to show up with love with all of nature until it is time to return to dust. We envision God as all that is and then make him/her an imperfect, jealous, self-centered, revengeful, power-hungry addict. We seem unable or unwilling to consider that a god which makes sense is nothing and everything; nothing in that we cannot imagine “the whole” and everything that we are capable of imagining.
This humble student of Mark Twain and other wise people think it is axiomatic that some behaviors do not benefit the whole and, thus, do not benefit us individually. If I hoard food and do not share the entire universe is adversely affected. It I hit another, treat another as a sexual object, deprive another of a bed when I have extras, destroy my own body with unhealthy food, excessive alcohol or other harmful drugs, judge another because of who they love, decide that the enormous talents of a musician such as the pianist Emanuel Ax cannot be enjoyed just because he is 73 or the dance of a 90 year old is not worth sharing I am harming the whole of creation. I do not need 280 pages (paperback edition) of the Metaphysics of Morals (Immanuel Kant) to discern what is harmful. I do not need a Plato, a Jesus, or a Martin Luther King Jr. to state that when we humans pass laws such as those dealing with so called critical race theory whose sole purpose is to keep certain students from facing uncomfortable history, to know that the failure to learn from history will ensure the end of human life. I do not need a prophet to remind me that a young child knows what behavior, gender roles and sexuality feels most natural to him or her. I do not need a god or gods to remind me that if one treat symptoms rather than the disease there is no cure or even long-term improvement.
‘
The 12-step program as outlined by its founders posits a “god or even gods of one’s understanding.” The God of one’s understanding may be the group of others seeking recovery.
Many other wise teachers, including all my 2- and 3-year-old friends, knows it is enough to be us; to dance, to laugh, to cry, to demand space, to cherish closeness; to play, to imagine, to love and be loved. The young logic student is first taught an argument must establish that something is both necessary and sufficient to arrive at a logical conclusion. We humans need to posit a god or gods who are both necessary and sufficient - not an imitation of our imperfect, navel viewing selves.
Written March 19, 2023
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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