To the tune of Fire Engine Red

Humbled - official merriam-webster definition:
1: to make humble in spirit or manner
2: to destroy the power, independence, or prestige of

Everyday I am humbled. Every single day.
The most recent case of this was about 15 minutes ago.

I recently set out on the task of writing an essay with no ideas but my own (created with the assistance of classmates and professor) and the author's to work with, and I did just that, worked. The end result was my paper, by no means outstanding, but reasonably insightful highlighting what I found to be in many ways a profound argument. Glass of wine (er, multiple glasses) within reach I completed editing and turned it in early.

Two days later I begin to doubt my rationale and question if I really am off my rocker (which is a question that is still up in the air), and thus if I simply got it wrong. Perhaps, but I was sure of the premise so I relaxed.

Today, creeping uncertainty revealed itself once more...and I gave. I googled it (because if you're ever unsure about anything, google has the answer). The result was that today, once again, I am humbled.

This prologue, although no more than a window into a personal experience that you could care less about, has a purpose. And the purpose is this: no idea or thought is ever really our own.

Every original thought, is less original than you would care to think. Those arbitrary thoughts, have, in essence, been thought before. But for the infinite amount of thoughts, only a slight portion of them have ever been put to speech, and even less to print. And if you write something down, google it. Seriously. You will more than likely be humbled yourself. Needless to say, my reasonable insightfulness was nothing of the sort, as I simply regurgitated the thoughts of not only the author, but of so many others that thought them before.

Such is the life of the ordinary....something to the tune of fire engine red.

Unnecessary Matter.

It was suggested to me to look up Peter Singer. I did. Conclusion:

"Dr. Peter Singer=psycopath."

Seriously, how does this guy gets his ideas into books, and then worse, published!? And head of the ethics committee at Princeton, rather, is hired to lecture at all? I tend to have a great respect for professors, considering that their ideas and time have, for the most part, earned them their doctorate and title. This is one exception.

While true that my knowledge of him consists in the first page of hits on a google search, I am convinced that a good ol' fashion book burning might just be in order. Anything possibly "good" to come out of him has already been said by others, hence he is irrelevant.

Since it is clear that he suffers from mental illness it would be in his best interest, if following his own "moral theory" that he be killed ... he'll barely feel it.

"All the lies aside; I believe I am the luckiest person alive"

Utterly exhausted, I continue on in the sea of life, to and fro, from here to there, never quite aware where the waves may take me.
I have direction, but unsure of exactly where it will lead me, lead us all. It is perhaps something that can never be known. From what cause? For what purpose? Is it all worth the while? I happen to think that it is, but why I think what I think, I don't yet understand.
I may just be like those whose actions I judge harshly. I am surely more like them that what I judge them against, which is neither necessarily right nor fully understood. Hypocracy in words and actions, in history and in life.
Can there be any meaning in this beyond our walls...I am, for now, not so sure about that.

*sigh* It's been a long day.

...and the procrastination begins...

I found it hilarious yesterday as Stephen Harper awkwardly basked in the glory of his visitor, President Barack Obama. Ah, the hilariousness of it all was well worth the time to watch grown men wave at random people.

Onto other issues...
...it appears that we are in some sort of financial crisis. Hmm, apparently the ideology of perpetual growth ISN'T the best "way". But heck, no one could have forseen the consequences, for the end all be all is open-market capitalism in the context of democratic liberalism. However, neither are sustainable, nor ideal. But I will leave my opinions on this for another time.

My simple statement for today is, if you nationalize it in practice, nationalize it in principle!!!! What the hell are people afraid of here....that they may actually reap benefit from this, or that they might be called reds?

Barack Obama: full of charisma and rhetoric...balls not included.

On Religion

Religion, for me, is nothing more than the false promises of something that doesn't even exist. God is not real therefore God does not exist. At least, not in the way that organized religion reveals their truths about God.

Religion has been evident in human life as far back as the modern human has walked the earth. How do we know this? We know this not through scripture, which is not the word of God, but the word of men, but by the history of violence that has been inescapable due to the clash of religions over the meanings of scripture. Each religion claims to hold authority about what is truth, and from this they feel justified in asserting their truth as the only truth, as only truth can be, and therefore all other interpretations of the word of man are necessarily wrong, and therefore they are to be condemned, both on earth by the will of men, and in hell by the will of God. Hence, we kill men, for the sake of that which is to come. How does any of this make sense? How is any of this moral? How does this make our world a better place to be...which is the only place we can ever be...our bodies the human being.

We don't contain souls. The only soul we have is our conscience. Conscience stemming from the firing of synapses, which in turn cause emotion at certain moments, as our bodies react to certain events. However, there is the social, nurture element to this all as well. I love because I allow myself to love. I don't love my neighbor the way I love my family, and I never will. I love my family because they are not God's creation, but my own. And if I do love my neighbor, it is because I love myself, as a human being, and therefore I love all human beings out of respect for my own.

The only truth about our existence is simply that....we exist. The best we can do, which is the best there is, is to be responsible for our actions, and teach others to be responsible for theirs. If I choose to have sex, I will be responsible for my actions, knowing the possible outcomes, whatever they may be, hence, if I became pregnant, it would be amoral, and irresponsible to destroy that which I myself chose to create. If I choose to break the law, I choose to have my being reprimanded for my irresponsibility, for there are some responsibilities that are imposed on our being...not by God, but by man.

The one thread of thought that I do agree with is this: that everything happens for a reason. However, unlike the theological premise, which argues reason as the will of God, I argue that everything happens in consequence of our actions. In that the exact consequence can never fully and completely be know to us, since time neither stands still, nor moves backwards, the actual event of happening can only be conceptualized as an intended consequence, however, the intention behind the action, however the action is reacted to, still holds the actor responsible, since they chose to act in that way.

All religion does is remove from us the responsibility, and replace it with something called fate, and from this idea of fate, regardless of our actions, they prescribe unto us that if we have faith, we will be saved no matter what the intention may have been. Pray, and all is forgiven, confess and you are pure again.

As for the morals that are instilled in almost all religions, I would argue that they are not followed because of religion, but because we are human beings, and as such, relying on each other from conception until death, we respect them. These morals defined as being kind to one another and so on. As far as the 10 commandments go...they command no human, making them simply insignificant words that do nothing but invoke false immoral actions...none of which should concern us...for they simply replace irresponsibility for sin, which again, we can ignore because God will forgive us as long as we have faith.

But what the hell do I know, after all, I am only human.

Out of Hibernation...and pleasantly surprised!

Wow. I don't have to do the html entirely on my own anymore! That's new to me.

After having ignored my blogs for years now, I come to realize that not only do they still exist, (the internet is a seemingly eternal entity) but how damned pretentious I was. Although, in truth, that may not have changed much. Perhaps I have become more grounded, perhaps I have simply lost some of my youthful passion...along with the youth, and perhaps I am simply distracted by other things. The two latter statements are probably closer to reality that the former. Only time will tell I suppose, contingent of course on my commitment to writing on at least a semi-regular basis. If I can't even commit to putting my random, irrational, illogical thoughts to the internet for all and no one to see...what can I commit to? Obviously not my studies for the endeavour to write here stems from procrastination. It always does. Having said that, then you should see me quite regularly for the next 4 months.

Cheers.