September 30, 2005
I love to naval gaze and watch people. I tried my hand at psychology, and although professionally it wasn't for me, I bare a permanent neural shift because of my experiences.I've been telling people for most of my adult life that at heart I'm a philosopher and if I could get paid to just sit under an olive tree and contemplate the world I'd have my dream gig. Not that I feel I'm any more qualified to determine the nature of reality than the next person it's just copasetic with me.So a blog should be the next best thing. But I'm in a slump. I've never been much of a writer and I often doubt my own creativity. And beyond that I have a propensity to slack. Each time I sit down to write a post I have a semantic battle between writing something that you could find in the hundreds of thousands on blogger or typepad and writing something that has some kind of journalistic merit.But on a deeper level my mindfulness has been cloudy of late. I'm pretty settled into a routine of work and family. Awakening my mindful eye is something that I have to force instead of getting those blossoming moments naturally. It seems I have to be smacked in the face with tangible reality to snap out of the perceptual trap that is "everyday life".So consider this a slap in the face. Wake up to the beauty of now this moment. Take a deep breath and look around you and realize that you are really here right now. And each time you catch yourself slipping gently nudge yourself back without judgment.
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Joel (Joel Mathis) says...
"I love to naval gaze..."
Me too. There's nothing more thrilling than watching oceangoing ships depart across the Atlantic.
Yes, I'm a jerk. Chad, don't worry about the blogger's block. The blog is ANYTHING you want it to be, and not everything needs to be high-minded. Make it like a conversation at a bar or something else that floats between discussions of Our Place In This World and the latest episode of "The Apprentice." You'll have fun; just don't stress.
September 30, 2005 at 11:44 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
chrysanthalbee (chrys anthalbee) says...
thanks joel. the only stress i get lately is my wife asking me when i'm gonna post.
this is my slap in the face though. personally cathartic and hopefully reinvigorating. it's more than blogs it's keeping my perception in check.
September 30, 2005 at 11:57 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
beatle919 (Marcy McGuffie) says...
So, you're in a slump. It's all good. Confession: I got all excited because you put John Lennon lyrics as your title!
Ah, we all get caught up in routine...and mindfulness can easily be shoved aside. It's not necessarily a bad thing to force yourself to awaken....
September 30, 2005 at 12:07 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
chrysanthalbee (chrys anthalbee) says...
routine is not bad. not enjoying the details of the routine and missing out on life is bad.
beatles i've had a working post title based on that song for a while now. it seemed apropos today. thank you for kind words.
September 30, 2005 at 1:45 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Todd (anonymous) says...
philosophy boy, what do you think of the omnipotence paradox? (or anyone else)
(1) being all powerful means you can limit one's power
(2) if one's power can be limited then one isn't all powerful
Or something like that. My cop out on this has always been to say it's possible to be more powerful than logic. Or that logic only applies to us mortal non philosophy majors ;)
September 30, 2005 at 3:07 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jay_holley (Jay Holley) says...
I prefer the more popular formulation: could Jesus microwave a burrito so hot that He Himself could not eat it?
September 30, 2005 at 3:34 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Todd (anonymous) says...
Jay, same deal but using an example like that clouds most people's minds. I tried using the "Can God make a boulder so heavy he couldn't lift it?" example when a met a person with no abstract thought capability. He said, the concept of physical strength didn't apply to God. Jeez.
September 30, 2005 at 4:03 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
chrysanthalbee (chrys anthalbee) says...
todd i guess my cop out is that human perception is limited. there are things we do not perceive. concrete example, ultraviolet light. our eyes don't have the capacity to sense ultraviolet light so our visual perception is limited. bees on the other hand have a different perception of the world since they see ultraviolet light. the world looks different to them. how would our logic be affected by the ability to sense those things that we cannot?
so since our perceptions are limited so is our logic. since we can't perceive "all powerful" our logic is limited in explaining it.
besides 1 + 1 = 2 in our logic. our logic is usually mathematic in nature and fairly black and white. i don't believe the universe operates on our "best guess" of the nature of reality. it just is. we try and explain it and approximate it but, as can be seen in the advances in math and science, our explanations change as we keep looking.
September 30, 2005 at 4:11 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
chrysanthalbee (chrys anthalbee) says...
btw, burrito points for jay.
September 30, 2005 at 4:12 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MyName (anonymous) says...
Jay and Todd, I enjoy the paradox, but it's not really meaningful in a theological or even a logical framework. All forms of logical reasoning fail when forced to deal with a paradox. It's built into the system (for examples, see Gdel's incompleteness theorems).
Not only that, but if there were some sort of omnipotent being out there, there's no reason to believe that logic would apply to he/she/it. The answer to the question "Can God make a boulder so heavy he couldn't lift it?" is yes, except on saturdays when he rests, or on second wednesday's when he's too busy destroying things to make anything really heavy.
September 30, 2005 at 7:12 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jay_holley (Jay Holley) says...
>
Not only that, but if there were some sort of omnipotent being out there, there's no reason to believe that logic would apply to he/she/it.
>
Well, some people that believe in essential omnipotence might disagree with you, but if you go with logical transcendence, you have to be prepared to accept the possibility of God driving down Massachusetts street in a limousine with square circles for wheels and gay heterosexual chauffeur, eating a burrito to hot for him to eat, throwing chunks of it at the quiet, well-dressed Tonganoxie youth that line that street.
September 30, 2005 at 8:50 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Dazie (Aileen Dingus) says...
mmm. Burrito.
Yeah. I got nothin.
September 30, 2005 at 8:57 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )