Smarter than a Fifth Grader

"Intellect takes us along in the battle of life to a certain limit but at the crucial moment it fails us.  Faith transcends reason.  It is when the horizon is the darkest and human reason is beaten down to the ground that faith shines brightest and comes to our rescue."  Interview with Dr. John Mott, Young India, 21 Mar. 1929

Exactly which ape is closest to us evolutionarily is a question I am not well educated enough to answer, but that some ape is our evolutionary ancestor, I accept.  Since I decided to believe in a higher power many, many years ago, I decided I wasn't going to believe in a God that played tricks, ergo, fossils are what they appear to be, evidence of life on this planet that is billions of years old, and evolution is the best theory for how humans got here.  For me, it doesn't diminish the miracle of human life, but enhances it.

I believe we are descended from the apes.  How smart is the average chimpanzee?

If apes are our nearest evolutionary ancestors, how bright can we be?  'Intellect takes us along in the battle of life to a certain limit,'  and, for me anyway, that limit is a very, very short leash.  I'm like a dog chained to a tree.  Too often, I run around and around the tree shortening what little leash I have and then stand there howling and barking because I can't figure out how to unwrap myself.

I have struggled for years to fix my worst character defects.  Plotting, planning, fighting, conniving, tricking myself into trying to do what I think is right and important, and the results have been utter failure.

When I let go and let God, my life changes for the better.

I can't.
God can.
I think I'll let God.

Maladjusted

"...there are some things in our social system to which all of us ought to be maladjusted... It may be that the salvation of the world lies in the hands of the maladjusted."            Dr. Martin Luther King

 The temptation to anger about...our political system, the environment, the economy, the starving millions, the way we treat animals, the war...the list is endless, leads generally to only to one of two things.  Violence - lashing out at the perceived institution responsible for the injustice, and make no mistake, these are injustices. O inertia, apathy, at the size and number of things that need to be fixed in this world.


Most of us choose apathy.


Oh, we recycle or become vegetarians or vote or use energy-saving light bulbs or stop wearing fur, small gestures that soothe our conscience, but have little effect on our actual ways of living.  

Don't get me wrong - these things are better than nothing.


But...How many of us are willing to stop driving?  How many of us are willing to stop paying taxes?  Hell, how many of us are willing to stop voting Democratic or Republican and look for an alternative to these two sad sacks.


I am not maladjusted.  I drive.  I pay my taxes.  I eat meat.  I have stopped voting for either of the two parties, but I put no money or time into the effort to make a third party viable.


I want to be maladjusted.

Collateral Damage

"We should understand that the less violence a religion permits, the more is the truth it contained in it."  The Essential Writings of Mahatma Gandhi, edited by Raghavan Iyer, p 103

Translations of the Bible vary on what exactly is meant by the Sixth Commandment.  Many scholars say that the intent was not "thou shall not kill," but rather, "thou shall not murder."  The difference makes killing in self-defense or defense of kingdom or kin acceptable.

Faced with the choice of killing or being killed, I don't know how I would react.  If someone attacked my wife or daughters, I would defend them.  I would like to think that if a neighbor was attacked I would go to their aid.  But what of a total stranger?

And what kind of aid would I provide?  What kind of defense would I put up?  I don't own a gun, but their is a baseball bat next to my bed and on more than one occasion when a noise has waked me in the night, I have taken it with me when I investigated.

And then there is the whole question of the food I eat?  Is it murder to eat a steak for dinner?  I know that I didn't kill the cow, but the cow died for my sins.  I'm trying to reduce the meat I eat, but I'm not vegetarian yet.

But what if the commandment really is "thou shall not kill?"  I don't see any 'if, ands, or buts' in that statement.

My money supports the killing of thousands in far away lands.  People who intend no harm to me, my kin, and my country .  Women and children caught in the crossfire.  I am responsible for their deaths.  Directly responsible.

Lucky Man

"(Modern Civilization's) greatest achievements are the invention of the most terrible weapons of destruction, the awful growth of anarchism, the frightful disputes between capital and labour and the wanton and diabolical cruelty inflicted on innocent, dumb, living animals in the name of science..."  The Essential Writings of Mahatma Gandhi, edited by Raghavan Iyer, p. 83

I am a lucky man.  I don't have to think about these things if I don't want to.  I can indulge myself with wonderful food, mass entertainment, and tons of stuff to make my life easier, softer.

And I do.

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/373116/february-07-2011/exclusive---the-seven-deadly-sins---gluttony-mash-up

FYKSYAR4G3GH

"Pitched betwixt Heaven and Charing Cross"

This morning I read the first half of the Introduction to "The Essential Writings of Mahatma Gandhi" edited by Raghavan Iyer.  I read the book many years ago and have referred to it many times since.

In the first paragraph, Mr. Iyer writes about one of Gandhi's ideals of political philosophy, sarvodaya (universal uplift or the uplift of all), "treat all possessions as if they were sacred and priceless."  Then I look at my messy desk, a clutter of papers, books, computer hardware, photos, and precious mementos.  Some of it is sacred and priceless.  Too much of it is bookkeeping, or simple accumulation due to laziness or fear that I might dispose of something that I will later 'need.'

"It is only through daily moral choices and the meritorious and sagacious employment of limited resources in the social sphere that individuals sustain their inherited and acquired entitlements.  For this very reason, the divisive and dangerous notion of exclusive ownership is systematically misleading and, at worst, a specious and subtle form of violence."

"Daily moral choices" - I'm not good at this.  It sounds like hard work.  I guess that's why the Jacob's Ladder is crowded with angels climbing up and down - to help me with the choices.

"He (Gandhi) translated his painful insights into daily acts of tapas - self-chosen spiritual exercises and the repeated renewal of lifelong meditation in the midst of his fervent social activity."

Does this mean that every scrap of paper is a moral choice?  Every television show I watch?  Every web site I visit?  Every choice is a moral choice.

I have a long way to go.