Category Archives: Religion

Theodicy and Secularism

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Theodicy is a philosophy organized and documented by Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430CE). Theodicy addresses specifically the question: “If God is good, loves all things and created all things, why is there evil in the world? Either God also created evil and therefore is not good and loving, or God does not exist.” Theodicy is a defense of God’s perfection in light of the existence of evil.

The question itself was asked as early as Plato and was posited as a reason for nominalism[1] by William of Occam, famous for Occam’s Razor. Bertram Russell, a famous British agnostic, mathematical theorist and inquisitor at large, presented the following thought experiment in an article titled, “Is there a God?”

“If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes.

But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is an intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense.

If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time.”

“The existence of this teapot cannot be disproved. We can look and scan the skies almost for eternity, and it may always just be the case that it wasn’t in the place we looked – there may be another spot we’ve overlooked, or it may have moved while we were looking. However, given the absurd nature of the specific example, the teapot, we would rightly infer that absence of evidence is evidence of absence. Russell’s audacity in the thought experiment was to question why people don’t like to apply the same, sound, logic … to the existence of any particular deity; there is no difference in the evidence base provided, therefore there is no reason to assume a God and not a celestial teapot.[2]

Theodicy addresses these logical challenges to deism – the belief in a supreme god. Saint Augustine, simply, said that God is perfectly good. It was God who created the world and the universe out of nothing and that evil is a byproduct of humanity’s sin. Evil is the punishment for original sin[3]. Augustine states that continued sin is created by human free will, an attribute made possible by eating fruit from the tree of knowledge. God remains whole and not responsible for sin and suffering.

  • – – –

During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, secularism[4] emerged as a broadly accepted philosophy. Secularism is different than agnostic or atheistic philosophies which require, more or less, theistic presumptions. Secularism has ethics derived from humanism, pragmatism, and anthropological reasoning. Secularism is a self-contained life experience where the existence or non-existence of God does not matter.

Augustine (and many other theologians) would consider secularism sin. In religious context, God is the source of goodness and love – elements that are not necessary in secularism. Secularism is founded in vanity and self aggrandizement. The original question about the existence of God is replaced by the question, “What is good?” Humans tend to answer this question in terms of convenience and privilege for the self, the community or the nation – whatever works best – especially for the individual.

It is obvious already that great questions confront humanity in the twenty-first century. Human culture is yanked back and forth by new technologies, new scientific frontiers, abuse of the planet, power shifts in national supremacy, and even the existence of humanity itself. Some will argue that only secularism will allow the best decisions to be made in the future; others will argue that, despite the vagaries of the future, the belief in a superior force – one that predefines what is good – is our only rudder.

We shall see.

Ancient Mariner

  1. [1] Oxford Dictionary: “the doctrine that universals or general ideas are mere names without any corresponding reality, and that only particular objects exist; properties, numbers, and sets are thought of as merely features of the way of considering the things that exist. Important in medieval scholastic thought, nominalism is associated particularly with William of Occam. Often contrasted with realism.

[2]See: http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Russell’s_Teapot

[3] Old Testament, Genesis 3.

[4] Merriam –Webster Secularism: indifference to or rejection of religion and religious considerations.

Faith, Feelings, Fellowship

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The mariner has often commented that the comic strips are the most important part of the newspaper; he reads them first. Often, whether the reader is aware or not, an underlying reflection is triggered in the brain – evading every protective or judgmental barrier – to provoke contemplation.

Mariner has written many articles and posts that often put him at odds with his local congregation and friends. Often, it is the mariner’s use of the term “pew Christians.” It is a term implying that the Lord’s work is needed away from the pew. The term also signifies that the Church doctrine has displaced personal commitment to the works of Jesus with the priorities of managing a building, budget and charitable giving.

The mariner accepts the cultural forces that focus on the physical and personal experience provided by ecclesiastical practices; we all need rejuvenation and the role of the church as a focus on moral and spiritual behavior. But…Jesus never had a church, to oversimplify.

The mariner was provoked to write this post by a comic strip:

Zits-feelings-1

Very few pew Christians are comfortable focusing their faith and works out in the community – especially engaging personally with those in need. Many parishioners belong to their church first to have fellowship and second to feel that they are responsible citizens supporting a higher calling. The idea that the parishioners are called by Jesus to be among the needy, the morally lost, and the forgotten, is not a requisite. Charitable giving from a distance is acceptable but no ‘feelings,’ please – just gifts.

One need not be a biblical scholar; the two great commandments cover the subject. God does not find the parishioner – the parishioner must find God and love that relationship ‘with all one’s heart, mind, and strength.’ Further, the parishioner cannot practice elitism, vanity, prejudice or pride. It has always been difficult to be a Christian.

In this era of significant change to culture, politics, economics, and religion, the local church is under great pressure to modify its practices. There is a barrier to changing the ecclesiastical paradigm; the pew-based worship of the Trinity is the way it has always been. Whole generations have grown up and passed on who were committed to the local church and its role in the sacraments. The fellowship and gratification of belonging still is an important role for the church and will always be so. But it is time to change the manner in which church-goers execute their commitment to the Trinity.

W. Edwards Deming, a renowned economist and an influential writer about change in business and any organization undergoing change, said that a paradigm shift (changing the model of practice) cannot be created within the old paradigm. It requires a new energy, a different approach, and different priorities – to which the old paradigm is incapable of morphing. History has proven Deming correct. This does not bode well for pew-based churches.

The American culture – politics and all – is moving toward a populist ethic. This transition is brought about by the disruption of oligarchic practices which interfere with the ‘American Dream,’ a concept based on the fairness that everyone’s vote is equal, that anyone can be President, and that the profits of the nation are distributed fairly. This means that every institution and organization must move toward populist ethics. For the Christian Church, this means that prejudice, pride, exclusivity, and social obligation, are under pressure to provide a Christian role based on the public, not the pew.

The mariner has had personal experience wrestling with the shifting culture versus ecclesiastical practices that go back hundreds of years. Deming is right: there is no vision for future community-based priorities. Whatever changes are possible, those changes must accommodate the pew model. Somewhere in the community, new parishioners will forge a new role for congregations. In the meantime, pew-based churches face hard times during the transition. The public wants ‘feelings,’ not ritual.

Ancient Mariner

Where is our Light?

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The mariner was watching one of Joseph Campbell’s lectures on DVD last evening; it was the one about uniting with the myth beyond the physical world. He used a simple analogy that prepares one’s mind to grasp the concept:

You are in a school room at night. There are a number of light bulbs on at the ceiling. The room is bright with light. Campbell asks, “Are you a light bulb or are you the light? A light bulb is a physical thing. If one burns out, you simply replace it. What is more important is the light. Without light, there is no use for bulbs.” This analogy was his way of saying that we bulbs must be more than ourselves; we must reach beyond incandescence and become the purpose that lies beyond the physical body – the essence of why we exist.

Opening a post with this deep analogy may stop the reader from reading further. Mariner offers apologies. Every culture from the dawn of human awareness to every global, regional and tribal culture today has sought and continues to seek a transcendent relationship with a source of meaning beyond the physical world. Campbell suggests the western world has lost its myth – that our bulb glows but there is no light. This loss is the source of our vague sense of consternation and is the source of our disconnection from who we are supposed to be – not only as individuals but as part of our human society and as a part of a greater universe. We have a vague feeling of being disconnected. One may come to the point that they stop to think, “How do I know that I have fulfilled my role, my responsibility, my destiny?”

In religious context, becoming the light is the same as metamorphosis. One transcends the physical world and perceives the universality of existence. The transcendent event at the end of Jesus’ life is a supreme example of transformation – freeing consciousness from the constraints of the body. The mythology of most religions suggests this event occurs upon death although it can be represented by extreme examples of heroism and self sacrifice.

The conundrum for western civilization is to define an integrated combination of personal role and morality, societal obligation and ethic, and a value for universal existence.

Joseph Campbell said that myth and science must grow together, that both are an awareness of the mythic universe. In the western world today, what kind of bulb are we? Where is our light?

 

REFERENCE SECTION

Election Projection is a website dedicated to the 2016 campaign for President. Dozens of articles examine the campaign from every direction. The website has a full history of polls, analysis of each candidate and observations about each primary – a veritable mall for readers who want to indulge. See:

http://www.electionprojection.com/

Ancient Mariner

 

Of Monkeys and Metamorphosis

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It’s too bad Joseph Campbell did not live to see a metamorphosis performed in a hospital operating room. Campbell had a clear understanding about consciousness, and its ability to press for life beyond duality. Metamorphosis is the experience of Jesus on the cross; Jesus is able to disassociate consciousness from the body – simply a container to feed the spirit. Pain, human history, and self-centeredness fall away.

A few days ago, it was announced that surgeons successfully transplanted an entire skull from one monkey to another. Immediately, so many questions filled the mariner’s head:

Given the first head’s disassociation from its body, did the first head experience metamorphosis?

Did the replacement head experience metamorphosis when it was removed from the contributing body? Was there confusion about the consciousness of self when it was associated with another body?

One can hope both monkeys were very close in size and confirmation else the replacement brain would assume that, more or less, this is like the other monkey and would issue muscle memory instructions apropos of the previous body. One can imagine that picking the nose may well be difficult.

It is common knowledge that both nurture and nature constitute the conditions of a primate body, brain, genetic propensities, and psychological behaviors. Is handedness not an issue for the new body of the transplanted skull? Monkeys grab things with all four limbs; this could be a life or death situation high in a tree.

But mariner squanders questions on the mechanics of brain-to-body management. What would Aristotle want to know? What would Freud want to know? If the new body was addicted to alcohol or good cigars, how would the transplanted brain deal with this?

If the contributing monkey liked parsnips but the new body didn’t, how would this be resolved?

We’ll have to wait for the interviews.

Not that the previous subject brings politics to mind – well, actually it does. Donald is joined by Sarah. Oh my, oh my! Sarah associates with Glenn. Oh my, oh my, oh my!!

.

.

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Oh my…

Ancient Mariner

 

Data is Free – Insight, Logic and Deduction is Not

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Occasionally, a reader may comment to the mariner that he must know a lot to be able to post so frequently and about so many different subjects. That is a nice compliment but the truth is the Internet is only a click away; the Internet has not failed mariner in providing voluminous detail about even the most arcane and obscure subject. The reader’s compliment should go to the Internet.

A common term is that we live in the information age. This is true. As Ed McMahon used to say, “The [Internet] has everything a person would ever want to know….” If all human data were on paper, as it used to be, we would be living between mountainous hills of paper that would put an old fashioned dump to shame. The amount of electronic information collected today has outpaced the places to store it. Here is a quote from Economist Magazine:

“Hal Varian, Google’s chief economist, predicts that the job of statistician will become the “sexiest” around. Data, he explains, are widely available; what is scarce is the ability to extract wisdom from them.” (Note that mariner did not know this quote until he looked for related information on the Internet. Incidentally, the whole article will explain more about information than mariner chooses to cover in this post – thanks to Economist Magazine online – a magazine mariner recommends for every household coffee table. See:

http://www.economist.com/node/15557443 ).

Not too long ago, the best search engine was a sharp reference librarian at the local library. Sometimes, customers had to wait a week or more if the information were complex or obfuscated or had to be retrieved by inter-library loan. The function of a reference librarian still is needed but more at assisting with the relationship between subjects and sorting and the data that may link the subjects together. When a strategy has been mapped, everyone goes over to the Supreme Master and God of Reference – the computer and the Internet.

Traditionally, one would marvel at memory gurus, people with photographic memories and lots of education. Now, one can still marvel – would we all be blessed with photographic memory – but the Internet is a classic example of cybernetic symbiosis. Anyone can collect large amounts of data in a dozen different ways without having to memorize the data; the Internet memorizes data for us. What is difficult is the ability to know what specific data one needs and how that data can be used to achieve the goal; further, how does one draw meaning from raw data?

Just having a ton of data in a database does not make one knowledgeable or more functional. Even if one could memorize the entire table of data, it would be of no use unless one can process the data properly. The simplified steps for leveraging our symbiotic relationship are:

  1. Why do you need data? This step assures that you have a specific need that requires data. This step sharpens focus; identifies the topic, subject, or problem that will be resolved.
  2. What don’t you know that would be known if you had specific data? This step clarifies data element requirements.
  3. At the end, what objective will be resolved? This step uses answers to the first 2 steps and often is the source of the query posted with your search engine.

In the information age, there is plenty of data. What does it imply? Which data is important to provide the values for many different types of decisions? How does one invent ancillary data to augment the data table? We may be able to generate enough data to match the number of grains of sand on the planet but if we don’t know the definition of ‘beach,’ all the sand in the world is useless.

Responding again to the compliment at the beginning, mariner knows little about where data comes from; what mariner contributes is the question and subsequent reasoning. Once having the data to support comparative reasoning, the mariner will offer the reader his reasoning of the objective.

REFERENCE SECTION

Religion – While scanning the news of the day, mariner came across some interesting issues. An article in the Denver Post covered a labor dispute between Muslims and Cargill. The Muslims walked off the job and were subsequently fired because eleven wanted to pray together. What the mariner found interesting is that this situation is quite similar to that of Kim Davis, the county clerk who went to jail rather than approve homosexual marriage licenses. In both cases, workers chose religious principles over economic opportunity. See:

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_29330180/cargill-tried-resolve-issues-before-firing-colorado-muslim

Other religious news is a poll taken by the Christian Science Monitor on the issue of freedom of religion (protected by the First Amendment). The poll says 82% of Americans believe it is important for Christianity to practice freely but only 61% say the same is true for Islam – an oxymoron it seems to mariner. See:

http://www.csmonitor.com/

Ancient Mariner

US – the Home of Cowards

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Donald and his xenophobic, misanthropic republican candidates are ruining our party – that is, the party of citizens who know the right thing to do. The mariner will rejoin this comment after the reader reads the next few paragraphs.

Muslim passengers defended Christian passengers during an extremist attack on a bus in Kenya on Monday.

Members of the al-Shabaab militant organization shot at a bus in Mandera, Kenya, forcing it to stop. Once the militants boarded the bus, they attempted to separate Muslim and Christian passengers, intending to kill the Christians on board, the BBC reported.

“We even gave some non-Muslims our religious attire to wear in the bus so that they would not be identified easily. We stuck together tightly,” Abdi Mohamud Abdi, a Muslim passenger, told Reuters . “The militants threatened to shoot us but we still refused and protected our brothers and sisters. Finally they gave up and left but warned that they would be back.”

The local governor, Ali Roba, confirmed the account in an interview with Daily Nation , a Kenyan publication. “They refused to separate from non-Muslims and told the attacks to kill all passengers or leave,” Roba said. There were 62 passengers on board, according to the paper.

Even though the passengers stuck together so well, two people were killed and three were injured.

MEANWHILE –

A British Muslim family heading for Disneyland was barred from boarding a flight to Los Angeles by US authorities at London’s Gatwick airport amid concerns of an American overreaction to the perceived terrorist threat.

US Department of Homeland Security officials provided no explanation for why the country refused to allow the family of 11 to board the plane even though they had been granted travel authorization online ahead of their planned 15 December flight.

Senior [British] politicians have been drawn into the case, warning that a growing number of British Muslims are being barred from the US without being told the reason for their exclusion.

MEANWHILE –

Striking photos of unity have emerged from the chaos in Egypt as Christian protesters stood together to protect Muslims as they prayed.

A group of Christians joined hands and faced out surrounding hundreds of Muslims protesters left vulnerable as they knelt in prayer. ‘Bear in mind that this was a month after Alexandria bombing where many Christians died in vain. Yet we all stood by each other.’

The suicide bombing, shortly after the New Year’s Day, killed 23 Coptic Christians, who make up 10 percent of Egypt’s 80 million person population.

MEANWHILE –

A passenger plane carrying singer Cat Stevens to Washington was diverted to another city 600 miles away yesterday so the musician could be escorted off the flight by FBI agents and sent back to Britain.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said the singer, who converted to Islam and changed his name to Yusuf Islam, was denied access to the US “on national security grounds”.

Flight 919 from London to Washington was diverted to Bangor International Airport in Maine, after US security officials were told Mr Islam was aboard.

He had been allowed to board the flight after United Airlines officials initially failed to spot his name on a watch list, the TSA said. The plane, carrying about 250 passengers, was held at Bangor for more than three hours before being allowed to continue its journey to Washington.

Mr Islam was questioned and told he would have to leave the US. His 21-year-old daughter, who was travelling with him, was allowed to remain in the country.

The deputy general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, Mohammad Abdul Bari, expressed dismay at the US authorities’ actions.

 MEANWHILE –

Pakistani Muslims Form Human Chain To Protect Christians During Mass

Hand in hand as many as 200-300 people formed a human chain outside the St Anthony’s Church adjacent to the District Police Lines at the Empress Road, in a show of solidarity with the victims of the Peshawar church attack two weeks back, which resulted in over a 100 deaths. The twin suicide attack on All Saints church occurred after Sunday mass ended and is believed to be the country’s deadliest attack on Christians.

The mariner is embarrassed by the behavior of US citizens and the government. Sadly, these few anecdotes were in the midst of many, many more – each depicting grownup judgment – not even mentioning bravery – displayed by foreign Christians and Muslims in the face of weapons and terrorists, and on the contrary, the childish, selfish imbeciles within the US. Some are candidates running for President!!!! Allah be praised.

Chicken Little is bothered – not panicking but definitely bothered. There are two issues at stake. The first is prejudging race and culture. It happens easily all over the world but it is a coward’s folly. Is the good ol’ USA a coward? Isn’t it enough that US citizens must have a gun in every pot? Guns and deliberate racism – what a mix!

Mariner could go on but his dander is up. The least we can do is organize a neighborhood watch not for the little children but for the Muslims and their mosques. Is there a way we could contact Imams to let them know we will actively protect their members and mosques? Don’t ask police to do this job; they are too militarized as it is.

The second issue is that a very important election lay ahead. Voters must hear clearly the arguments for two political parties that will take us in opposite directions in the future. The US is on the cusp of serious modifications either way. Having racism derail common sense (AKA grownup judgment) as has so often occurred in the South, will be disastrous. The citizens with moral judgment and a sense of cultural and national identity must step up to the war mongering. Do not let the media handle it; they are incompetent. There. The mariner said it. He agrees with Donald: the media is incompetent. However, killing a reporter has never occurred to the mariner – yet – but he has a list, Glenn.

Ancient Mariner

Food and Water plus a bit more about Joseph Campbell

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A report from Food and Water Watch about the Omnibus Appropriations bill just passed by Congress:

Our policy staff just finished combing through the 2,000-page omnibus appropriations bill that Congress must pass this week to keep the government running, and here’s how some of the key issues that impact our food and water fared.

Let’s start with some good news:

1. We stopped the Monsanto rider that would prohibit states from labeling genetically engineered foods (a.k.a. the DARK act). After thousands of phone calls and letters from people like you, legislators didn’t include it in the appropriations bill.

2. An amendment to label genetically engineered salmon was included. We’ll still be working to stop the introduction of GMO salmon in our food system, but this is an important step.

3. The attempt to overturn our national parks’ ability to ban bottled water did not make it into the final bill. Thank you to all of our supporters who took action on this issue!

4. We kept important food safety measures in the final bill including banning the purchase of chicken processed in China in school lunches and limiting the beef imports that may have been exposed to foot and mouth disease.

Now the bad news:

1. The 40-year ban on exporting crude oil is being removed. This fossil fuel industry giveaway happened despite massive opposition from everyone involved in fighting climate change and working for a renewable energy future.

2. Mandatory Country of Origin labeling for beef and pork is being repealed despite massive consumer and farmer outcry about the importance of these labels for our everyday decision making. Unfortunately because these deals were made behind closed doors and Congress didn’t follow the normal appropriations process, our members of Congress will only get a single up or down vote on the entire 2,000-page bill that includes these and many other amendments that affect a whole range of issues. It’s likely that this bill will pass this week to avoid a government shutdown, but that doesn’t mean we’ll stop working to protect your food and water. – F&WW

The mariner would like to add that the bill includes full funding of health care for first responders to 9/11 – a bill championed by Jon Stewart.

While on the topic of sustaining quality food and water sources, in a recent post, the mariner recommended viewing the series Breakthrough on the National Geographic channel. The most recent episode covered some of the new methods for extracting fresh water from many sources. It is an excellent review of an issue that is worldwide and growing worse as fresh water becomes scarcer. In a scant 100 years, human population will grow from 7 billion to 12 billion. Water ranks with climate change as a critical issue that transcends national differences. If you missed the show, it can be seen online at: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/breakthrough-series/episodes/water-apocalypse/

REFERENCE SECTION

There is an interest in further inquiry about Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth. The mariner strongly recommends acquiring a DVD copy of the Bill Moyers interview and to purchase Campbell’s lecture series either in DVD or book form.

Transformation (metamorphosis) of consciousness, requiring consciousness to let go of the body, is of particular interest. In the interviews, Campbell says that everything in our known world has duality – an opposite value. For example, birth and death, consciousness and unconsciousness, physical and metaphysical, good and evil, before and after, etc. Transformation requires the separation of consciousness from the physical self. Transformation lifts consciousness into a unilateral existence where duality does not exist.

Mariner asked readers to identify the role of a few animals in mythology:

In Europe, the dragon – In many western myths, serpents and dragons are conflated into fearsome figures of evil that must be slain by heroes.

In Asia, the dragon – Dragons represent good things, good fortune and power. Only the Emperor could wear the golden five-toed dragon.

Lakota tribe (North America), the bison – Bison represented the source of the way of life for the plains Indians.

In China, the boar – The boar represents wealth and good fortune.

Celts in Britain, the boar – Boars were a symbol of courage in battle.

Ancient Mariner

Joseph Campbell

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Mariner became aware of Joseph Campbell in 1988 when the anthropologist was interviewed by Bill Moyers on PBS television. During that series of six interviews, Campbell provided interpretations of religious and social behavior in a way that was new to the mariner – frankly, new to most viewers. Many of Campbell’s interpretations, derived from decades of researching primitive cultures, provide a logical overlay for many human behaviors that seem to be universal. Mariner will share a few insights here but no matter how much is written, one must see the video of the Bill Moyers interviews; it is a significant event even today, 26 years later.

The mariner feels a visit with Campbell will have a calming effect on readers today. The cacophony of conflict, fear, financial instability, endless war, and weakened control of everything leaves us emotionally fatigued and we see no relief in sight. Joseph Campbell speaks pleasantly, unhurriedly but takes his audience to the core of their being. Whether we feel out of control or not, Joseph Campbell says things will turn out fine if we pay attention to our myths. All over the world, humans have similar needs and responses to religion, inspiration, enlightenment, phases of growth from birth to death, and many instinctive patterns that we perform automatically. Campbell has delved deeply into our common need for myths. He is famous for his advice to “find a blissful place.”

Joseph Campbell’s description of spiritual release: One piece of conversation mariner enjoys is a description of the spiritual metamorphosis that must occur in Christianity. Campbell said that everyone focuses on the pain and suffering of Jesus on the cross. That’s not it, he says. As Jesus approaches the cross, he is released from the bondage of his body; the cross is life. The body remains in a world of sorrow and pain but the spirit has transformed and releases the shackles that bind the spirit to the body. (So simply put but so hard to achieve.) See the video that talks about metamorphosis: http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=joseph+campbell&view=detail&&qpvt=joseph+campbell&mid=40F1EF7847A31D484ED340F1EF7847A31D484ED3&rvsmid=40F1EF7847A31D484ED340F1EF7847A31D484ED3#view=detail&mid=40F1EF7847A31D484ED340F1EF7847A31D484ED3

Another approach to the experience of metamorphosis is described in the myth of the young Indian boy captured by an enemy tribe. He will be sacrificed at the tribal altar. As the boy approaches the altar, he is singing and happy. This confuses the chiefs because everyone is cheering the boy. See Campbell’s explanation at: http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Bill+Moyers+Joseph+Campbell&view=detail&&&mid=CD67110856225F7A474ACD67110856225F7A474A&rvsmid=CD67110856225F7A474ACD67110856225F7A474A#view=detail&mid=CD67110856225F7A474ACD67110856225F7A474A

Joseph Campbell’s approach to the experience of life: “Myth is a kind of scoreboard. The libido looks at the scoreboard and knows what the situation is.” He goes on to say a forty year old man is not afraid of a scolding by his mother; if he is, he hasn’t looked at the scoreboard – he hasn’t moved on. The same is true with an eighty year old man. He shouldn’t be looking back to see how he can improve his golf score; He’s already done that. At eighty, he has lived his life and should be at peace with himself, knowing he has accomplished the arc of life but still always looking forward with satisfaction.

Campbell was a consultant to the “Star Wars” trilogy. George Lucas wanted to use the power of myth in all of us as an enrichment of the series. One example is explained in a short clip from the movie. See:

http://www.savevid.com/video/joseph-campbell-and-the-power-of-myth-with-bill-moyers-star-wars-pbs.html

Joseph Campbell was prolific. There are many books by him that cover his insights more succinctly; there are dozens of free clips a search engine will find. His Bill Moyer interview and DVD lecture series is available inexpensively through the German search engine Stuccu: http://stuccu.com/s/Joseph+Campbell+Dvd-MbSLsTI-Buy-Exclusive-Deals-70-OFF-Save-Big-Lowest-Price-On-Joseph-Campbell-Dvd-Best-In-Stock-Fast-Free-Shipping?keyword=%2Bjoseph%20%2Bcampbell%20%2Bdvd&matchtype=b&querystring=dvd%20joseph%20campbell&netid=2&aaid=5553c17ab1b1c62d9040ccc0&oid=29335685738&caid=5553c17ab1b1c62d9040ccbe&device=c&msclkid={mscklid}

Official Joseph Campbell website: http://www.jcf.org/new/index.php

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/191743028404?item=191743028404&lgeo=1&vectorid=229466&rmvSB=true   The Power of Myth for $27.00

http://www.compare99.com/compare.html?q=joseph-campbell&ort=Joseph-Campbell-Sale&adid=iaCkp56s0qSXo8mPppKfo8PHz51YosyfraClmNHKkHSToNHEyJ2eWdSfypKnpofFy5KkcMs%3D&baa=J&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=J_3&utm_term=%2BJoseph%20%2BCampbell   Book versions of lectures for $12 to $20.

Complete DVD set of series on Amazon.com for $42.00

Individual DVD lectures on Amazon.com for $4 to $14.

REFERENCE SECTION

Joseph Campbell said, “Mythological images are the images by which the consciousness is put in touch with the unconscious.” To this point, he documented the use of animals in different myths. Below are a few animals used as mythic symbols. Using your own intuition, what representation do these animals provide? Example: the raven has a universal reputation for cunning; in Greece and China, the raven was a messenger between gods and humans.

In Europe, the dragon –

In Asia, the dragon –

Lakota tribe (North America), the bison –

In China, the boar –

Celts in Britain, the boar –

The United States uses many animals to represent a multitude of symbolic virtues. Name at least six animals, each from a different type of endeavor or belief; what does each represent? Mariner will help by naming two; what virtues do they represent? (this puzzle has an arbitrary air to it. Intuition may be more important than fact)

Elephant and donkey (or jackass) for political parties.

To record your answers, click “Leave a reply” at the bottom of this post. The mariner, too, will reply with answers to the first puzzle.

Ancient Mariner

About Dots and Cats and Christians

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The mariner asks forgiveness for allowing his Guru persona to reach the keyboard. The last three posts were written with traces of obfuscation. Mariner knows that Guru has the habit of taking giant leaps to keep up with where his thoughts are. The trouble is Guru doesn’t use turn signals; those attempting to follow from one sentence to the next are left at an intersection of thought with no directions.

Upon reevaluation and pointed criticism from the home team (actually a good editor), a grammatical pattern is determined wherein Guru will start a sentence with a given premise, then insert two parenthetical expressions comprised of twelve or thirteen points, ending with a conclusion that has little to do with the initial noun phrase. The reader is left to connect ethereal waypoints without a map.

Mariner’s wife is a librarian working in a public school. The library has a colored dot system called Accelerated Reading (AR) which is a counter intuitive name. Every library book has a dot on the spine, each with a given color that indicates that book’s rank of difficulty. A student who is learning to read must start at the lowest color, take a proficiency test and pass it before the student can move to the next higher color – a gradation measured in picograms (one trillionth of a gram). Had the reader and the mariner been forced to learn in this brain-numbing manner, I could not write a post and it wouldn’t matter because the reader couldn’t read it. Please understand the mariner speaks for himself; his wife notwithstanding.

Nevertheless, Adolf Hitler, had JEB Bush not killed him, could not devise a more abusive environment for young minds wanting to leap forward at a challenging pace. It is heartbreaking to see a student walk into the library and ask for a book about rocket ships. After looking along the shelves, the librarian advises the student that the nearest book about rockets is two colors above his current dot. By the time the student reaches middle school, reading is no longer a joy or a habit in the student’s life.

What is worse, the students learn the game. A number of books must be read in the current dot level before they can take the proficiency test. It is quite likely that the student need read only one or two books to advance to the next picogram but typically several books are required. The only game in town is to accumulate enough book points to be eligible to take the proficiency test. Consequently, students come to the library wanting only those books with the right dot color. Reading is not subject driven, not interest driven, not maturity driven, and not intellectually driven. “Give me a yellow – I don’t care what it’s about; I need my book points.”

During the mariner’s formative years in education, he remembers, in the second grade, that he had read the whole set of learning to read instruction books and was bored with the pace of the class. When mariner was little, teachers were about making sure everyone learned everything – a practice that slowed the curriculum to a standstill. Had he been forced to read only one dot color that had nothing to do with his curiosity, personal reality, or challenge him – all children want to be challenged in the second grade – he would have lost interest in reading and thinking in short order.

During mariner’s college days while working at the same time, mariner decided to take the Evelyn Wood speed reading course. The instructor chose a book that lent itself to the task of reading fast (The Sun Also Rises: Hemingway). It was clear, however, that we were to be taught how to read not by constraining subject matter like dots do, rather we will be taught to read anything we pick up. And read it quickly!

To share the phenomenon of Wood’s speed reading technique, mariner was pressed by the instructor to read a page in 60 seconds; then the instructor asked questions to test how much mariner had absorbed and remembered; then the next page was selected but time to read was reduced to 50 seconds. Further reduction in time occurred when the instructor was satisfied that mariner had captured all the information on the page in the allotted time. The transformation to Super Reader occurs when one is reading so fast that there is no time to say individual words in your head – AKA subvocalizing. At a minimum, one is reading whole phrases as if the phrase was only one word but it was read without saying it.

Mariner had nothing short of an epiphany. At the point a reader leaves subvocalizing behind, the increase in speed comes rapidly; it is comparable to an airplane leaving the runway, leaving the resistance of the wheels and crosswind behind. One must speed read regularly or reading falls back into subvocalization. The experience of speed reading enables the reader to read two or more lines in the same glance – literally a 20th second glance because we no longer interrupt reading cognition to speak the words. The better readers in the course graduated reading ten thousand words per minute. Sounds impossible but mariner is a witness. With Wood instruction, we all learned to read but after the first novel, we each chose our own. I picked a story about rocket ships.

Of course, AR has little to do with mariner’s childhood and his noted ability to screw up sentences. He’s just deflecting criticism….

REFERENCE SECTION

Was the reader successful in reconciling the paradox proffered by Schrodinger’s cat? In quantum physics, this is an important concept to master. When Einstein and other theoretical physicists proposed that subatomic particles could exist in a number of different states simultaneously, none of which was primary until some external event forced one and only one state to survive, Schrodinger scoffed and created the cat paradox. After an hour, as the classic experiment proposed, the cat would have a fifty-fifty chance of being dead or alive. No one would know which until the box was opened. Schrodinger proposed the cat paradox to show how silly it was to apply quantum values to complex systems much larger than atoms. Two excellent presentations that will clear the mind are at the following:

http://www.iflscience.com/physics/schr%C3%B6dinger%E2%80%99s-cat-explained

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger’s_cat

A liberal arts article was submitted by the mariner’s wife. It is about the disarray of Christianity and that one can claim that the US is not a Christian nation. It is likely that the reader’s subsequent conversations will be entertaining – in a serious way. Unlike Guru, Parker Palmer writes clearly and with a tight grasp of his ideas. The mariner believes it is mandatory reading; color of dot is moot:

http://www.onbeing.org/blog/parker-palmer-america-is-not-and-cannot-be-a-christian-nation/8162

Nate Silver is a famous statistician who is magically right whenever he predicts anything. A few years ago, Nate began tracking every topic influenced by prediction – especially politics. Nate is financially successful given his clients are some of the largest corporations in the world (and largest gamblers) – to speak nothing about US ragtag politicians. NATE SAYS IGNORE THE POLLS! Visit his website at: http://fivethirtyeight.com/tag/2016-presidential-election/

Ancient Mariner

A Well Rounded Education?

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Mariner has been reading about the new movement in colleges that expresses empathy for individuals suffering any indication of racism, cultural suppression, campus abuse, and even offensiveness in comedy. On the good side, this is college students running things. On the bad side is a student mentality that appears to be over protective of even one student’s sensitivities. Several top ranked comedians like Jerry Seinfeld won’t do shows at colleges because of restrictions about their subject matter. Other campus speakers are screened before they are invited to speak at assemblies. (An earlier post recommended the September 2015 issue of The Atlantic Magazine http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/ covering this topic)

What is disturbing about the student attitude is its tendency to foster cultism and isolationism in students who will leave the campus to step into the real world – a bit coarser than a campus. There are enough tea party folks to go around already. Will there be a generation of young people who reject the human condition and close their ears to reason, compromise and human frailty? The student attitude of purity or nothing is dangerous in a world full of turmoil, overcrowding, terrorism, and global warming. The students are opposed to negotiation right from the start. Nothing is more important in this century than teaching students the skills of negotiation, political reason and the pursuit of a better world for everyone.

The mariner understands their intent. The students are tired of racism and the enmity of cultural and religious bigots. They wish for a fair world where differences are accepted without turmoil. It may be a good thing that turmoil is not accepted but the real world, particularly at this moment, is not ready for piety. This is a hardnosed time when humanity must sort out conflicts affecting the entire world. It is a time when leaders must decide who will not die, who will not starve, who will not suffer genocide, who will not be sacrificed for a greater cause. The mariner suspects the students may not be fully prepared for reality. Still, things can change – the hippies of the 1960s became the capitalists of the 1980s.

On a second front, the gun-racist-terrorist sensitivity, the Mayor of Dallas, Mike Rawlings, confessed he is more afraid of white men with guns planning another mass shooting than he is afraid of a hidden terrorist among the Syrian refugees. See:

http://www.thespreadit.com/mike-rawlings-dallas-mayor-66591/

Third, for the last several days CSPAN broadcast from the Miami Book Fair. A Sunday broadcast presented the following:

Tracey Stuart, author of Do Unto Animals: A Friendly Guide to How Animals Live, and How We Can Make Their Lives Better, and Gene Bauer, author of Living the Farm Sanctuary Life: The Ultimate Guide to Eating Mindfully, Living Longer, and Feeling Better Every Day, present their thoughts on animal rights.

This is an upbeat, refreshing conversation about animal rights and our overdependence on meat in the human diet. Worth watching. While the reader is at the CSPAN video website, browse a bit; it is guaranteed the reader will find an interesting subject. See:

http://www.c-span.org/video/?400037-7/book-discussion-unto-animals-living-farm-sanctuary-life

Finally, if you haven’t been following John Oliver’s television show, you’ve missed his scrutiny of your favorite complaint in life. This episode questions the legitimacy of televangelists asking for money to buy 65 million dollar jet airplanes. Accommodate some coarse language – it’s HBO. Check him out at:

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=john+oliver+last+week+tonight&FORM=VIRE1#view=detail&mid=DF07448C20530777F6EEDF07448C20530777F6EE

REFERENCE SECTION

It’s time to drag out the old thought experiment called Schrodinger’s Cat:

You have at hand a sealed cardboard box. Inside is a cat, an ion detector (like a Geiger counter), and a flask of poison. If the ion detector detects a radioactive particle, the flask breaks and the poison kills the cat. Seeing only the box and no outside clues, is the cat dead or alive?

Give this some thought. Could the cat be both dead and alive at the same time? How would that be possible? If you can resolve this paradox, you are prepared to study quantum mechanics! Not fair to use the Internet although you’re allowed to find it in a book you already have in your own library.

Ancient Mariner