A Calming Influence

From www.modelmayhem.com

Written Friday Evening, September 05, 2008:

There is something about studying philosophy in a formal setting that so calms me and builds me up to face the rigors of life.  I wonder why. 

I have been going one night a week since 1992.

I love Aristotle’s “Ethics”.  In it, he tells us that there are two things one must do to be happy.

The first is that we must always do the right thing.

The second is that we must constantly study the great thinkers so we can figure out what the right thing to do is.

Philosophy is the study of the great thinkers and how to live a life.  When I’m actively in class, it seems as if nothing can get me down.  How did Aristotle know this is what I need?

For the first time, I will be going to the same university, but taking a course which is not philosophy.  I begin “Basic Creative Writing” on September 22:

“This course will introduce you to creative writing, from generating ideas to revising drafts. Find your voice and develop your craft through in-class and at-home writing exercises, and through discussions of your own and your fellow students’ written work. You will also study canonical and contemporary models drawn from fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction, and will be encouraged to try your hand at different genres.”

Hopefully the blog will be better written!

But I am concerned, for I leave the texts and the instructors I so love. 

Can I face life without them?

I am considering a second course, and that course is a four year effort.  Fortunately, it’s with the same instructors.

I am a Westerner to the core, and cannot imagine studying non-Western philosophy.  There are just too many Western texts I have not read, and there are so many Western texts that must be read yet again.

But the four-year program is in non-Western Philosophy, namely the Asian Classics!

There is a two-hour program tomorrow to present the benefits of this program.  A special lecture will be given by a full Professor in the Departments of History and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.  I will attend.  Can this program keep me centered and grounded?

“I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible.”
- Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869 – 1948)

“The Asian Classics Program offers students the chance to read and engage a thoughtfully selected overview of the foundational texts of Asia. Students will spend a year each delving into India, the Middle East, China, and Japan, reading key texts of literature, history, theology, philosophy, and folklore, from ancient to modern times. The four years build upon one another, following trajectories of cultural influence. Classes are centered on lively Socratic discussions with your fellow students. Under the guidance of instructors well versed in the intellectual history of the cultures studied, you will engage for yourself the works and ideas of the most influential thinkers and writers of their cultures – who often approach issues in ways significantly at odds with Western traditions – and in doing so you will discover opportunities to become aware of and question culture-bound assumptions, deepen your insight into perennial human issues, and expand your appreciation for the cultural riches of the world.”

I do believe the interest in two courses is so I don’t think about Adriana.

The four-month plan is:

to earn a living as normal,

enjoy live music and live theater as much as possible,

pump iron to improve my body,

and to study to improve my spirit

and to not think about Adriana.

I will not be looking for new women to date.

I will see Chloe and other non-romantic interests occasionally.

I’ve only had one date with Natasha, and I do like her.  I will shift priority to her over Chloe, as Chloe is a non-romantic interest.  Of course, Natasha may not want priority.  She is very attractive, in every way, and has just begun meeting guys on eHarmony.  She is soon to find someone who will sweep her off her feet.  Perhaps she’ll be available to see me in the future.  Perhaps not.  I am seeing her Sunday.

Natasha and I are both hurting.  Natasha’s relationship was much more important than mine, even though my loss is so painful.  Perhaps we are right for one another in that I want to take things slowly.  Perhaps Natasha feels pressure to find a new relationship quickly.  She is meant to be someone’s partner.  She just seems so right for it. 

I doubt that I am capable of a real relationship.

It’s her choice

and we’ll see how long she keeps me around. 

But Where Are They Going?

 

Photos are from Flickr.com and are not of Kelly herself.

His new German sedan swaddles him in the finest leathers, leather from cattle raised where the fences have no barbs to damage the perfection of the hide.

His GPS system navigates through the Darkness.  Its spoken words are perfectly matched and balanced with the sounds of the stereo. The road is depicted on the display as a beautiful blend of soft red, blue, green, and white lines against a black background.

The stereo system is a wondrous engineering feat of sound that surrounds the driver and his passenger.

The car’s integrated telephone system allows callers to gently interrupt the words of the GPS system and the beating music filling the cabin.

His hand rests on her young, tender, and creamy thigh as they hurtle through the Darkness at 3:00 AM.

But where are they going?

      

They’re speeding across the surface of the Earth, the Earth itself spinning around its own axis and at the same time spinning around the Sun, the Sun spinning around the center of the Galaxy, the Galaxy spinning around the center of the Universe, the Universe spinning around the center of all the Universes.

Everything is spinning and spinning.

He is spinning and spinning.

His hand caresses her tender and creamy young thigh.

But where are they going?

The light of the headlights reflecting off the white lines on the road bounces back into her eyes. He sees the beat of the white lines in her eyes, and he feels that beat keeping time with the music filling the cabin.

“Honey, I never knew your husband committed suicide. I’m so sorry.”

Kelly doesn’t respond. The beat of the light of the white lines continues to bounce off of her eyes.

His hand caresses her tender, young thigh.

Maggie’s head once rested on that thigh as her life-force slipped away, beaten into oblivion by that monster.

Now his hand rests on that same thigh.

But where are they going?

Soon even Krupp Steel will turn to rust.

Soon her thigh will no longer be tender and young.

Soon his hand will no longer feel.

The white lines slapping past the car continue into Forever.

Soon the road will end.

But where are they going?

The Source of Ethics

 

Photos are from Flickr.com.

The universe is so complex that it is beyond the understanding of the human brain. How can beings as limited as we understand the universe?

So, how do we live our lives?

By trying to understand and conform to the Ethics wired into by evolution.

Religion seems to be broken into two components; namely, God and the wonder of it all, and Ethics, how one should conduct one’s life.

The “God” part does vary widely by culture. Does God depend on where you’re born and whom your parents are?

The Ethics part varies little by culture.

Cultural evolutionists believe that Ethics improves our ability to reproduce. It’s all about Darwin and evolution. Ethically-driven cultures are better at lasting for centuries and producing more offspring than non-ethically driven cultures. Ethics, the right way of living, is wired into us by millions of years of evolution.

You and I are “good” not because of religion, but because it’s the right way to live, and efficient in an evolutionary sense.

Religion is good because it celebrates the wonder of it all (the “God” part) and tells us how to live a life (the “Ethics” part).

The two need not be from one source.  The ancient Greeks kept the “God” part separate from the “Ethics” part and worked out the beautiful Ethics which Augustine later incorporated into Christianity.

What does science tell us?

The earth was once flat. Then the sun circled us. Now we circle the sun.

Newton added gravity, then Einstein determined that gravity does not exist.

We are an expanding universe. But we might be steady-state, or expanding to an eventual contraction.

One respected physicist thinks time does not exist, that we are a pulse, a beat, in a universe forever expanding and contacting.

Regarding physical laws, I’m not sure we’ve discovered any. They only work within limited specifications. Don’t we come up with a law, get new data, then revise the law? That implies to me that we never had the law right in the first place.

Someone wrote that the laws of the universe must be written in eleven dimensions, and we are capable of writing only four.

I believe that, if we ever find a way to write in eleven dimensions, we will find that it takes 121 dimensions.

We are my dog. He sees the Sun come up and sees the Sun set. He is incapable of understanding the evidence right in front of him, that the Earth circles the Sun. Like my dog, we see, but do not see.

Unfortunately, we will die not knowing what it is all about.

In the “Apology”, Socrates tells us (he is to be executed via ingesting hemlock that evening) that he will shortly be with the famous and honorable in History or he will be in an infinitely long and restful sleep. Our views have not changed much in 2,500 years.