SLSL: mortality & mercy in vienna/: eddins

[vze422fs at verizon.net]

on 3/27/03 9:22 AM, Abdiel OAbdiel at abdieloabdiel at yahoo.com wrote:

> 
> --- vze422fs at verizon.net wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> Ya know, I was just sittin' here with Santa Claus,
>> the Easter Bunny, and the
>> Tooth Fairy. The TF suggested that maybe bombing the
>> living shit out of
>> people might not be a mature way of dealing with
>> potential conflict.
>> Thankfully, the EB kicked her (him? it?) in the face
>> a few times and Santa
>> shit on her chest.
>> 
>> One must keep these mythological beings in line, or
>> they'll take over your
>> government.
>> 
>> Bombing the Shit Out of Baghdad For Christ
>> Joe
> 
> Ya, know, it is Spring and so I have been breathing in
> a new way, bengind in a new way, praying in a new way.
> 
> 
> 
> In his Gorgias, Plato replies to his sophist
> opponents, who operate with the ethic of worldly
> sucess of the man of Power. Plato counters them with
> the argument that "sucess"in life consists of standing
> before the judges of the dead. Before these judges the
> soul stands stripped of the husk of the body and the
> cloak of earthly status, in complete transparency.
> This myth deals with the examination of conscience.
> Over and above the the normal testing of our actions
> against the standards of rational ethics, which is
> called conscience and which we as humans perform, the
> experience of examination can be elaborated
> metatatively and expanded to the experience of
> standing in judgement. For humans know that even the
> most conscientious self-examination is limited by the
> bounds of our humanity: breakdowns in judgement; on
> principle, incomplete knowledge of the factors of the
> situation and all the ramifications of action; and
> above all, inadequate knowledge of human motives that
> are by and large unconsciously born. From mediation,
> from this position of limited self appraisal, one can
> imagine a situation in which humans are to be judged,
> not at a particualr moment in a particualr situation
> of life, but on the basis of an entire life and before
> the omnicient judge, before whom there is no longer
> any pleading of special points, no arguements of
> defence, because everything, even the least one has
> done to a brother or sister, is known. In this
> meditation there is silence. Silence but for the
> judgement that the human being has spoken upon himself
> with his life. 
> 
> Today, conscience is readily invoked, especially by
> politicians. Each memegber votes his conscience. The
> immoral and criminal conduct of our leaders (i.e.,
> Blair and Bush) is justified by having "followed the
> path of conscience" or by "acting according to the
> responsibilities and duties of their office" as the
> conscience of a nation of a free people of the world.
> But in these times conscience no longer means the
> testing of one's actions against the rational
> principle of ethics, but, on the contrary, the cutting
> off of rational debates in stubborn, demonic
> persistence in actions that passion incites.
> 
> Islamic prayer is preced by:
> 
> Whyn I pray, I go to the place where I wish to say my
> prayer. I sit still until I am composed. Then I stand
> up: The Kaaba is in front of me, paradise to my right,
> hell to my left, and the angel of death stands behind
> me. Then I say my prayer as if it were my last. And
> thus I stand, between hope and fear, not knowing
> whether God has received my prayer favorably or not.
> 
> How does one deal with this unbearable uncertainty?
> 
> Through a connection with non spiritual extension of
> God's realm by the force of arms.
> 
> You ridicule religion, you dismiss it as a
> discontented civilization that refuses to grow up, but
> if want to understand the lives of most of humanity,
> you'll need to open you mind to the ways in which they
> live and have been living for centuries.
> 
> Judge not and ye shall not be judged.

I will have to read this several times. It is beautifully worded and thought
provoking. 
Yes, I do ridicule religion. But in my own way I simply use that as a means
to an end. Religion has been used throughout the centuries as a means to
control the thoughts and actions of people. No matter how well intentioned
or wise in its original thought, religion has been abused in western
civilization as a means of control in order to consolidate power, wealth,
and real estate. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Opportunities for sexual
exploitation. 

Religion is like a thermonuclear bomb. In the hands of Mahatma Ghandi, Lao
Tze, Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce, my ex-Marine Pal Louis, or Jesus Christ,
I'm not worried.

 But handing the power of religion to a Dark Ages European king or a 21st
Century American President is like handing an H-bomb to a seventeen-year old
crack dealer. If you think that it will be used responsibly, then you might
also believe that I am really sitting here with Santa Claus, the Easter
Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy.

Shock is an attention getting rhetorical technique. The ridiculous respect
paid to institutionalized, corporate Christianity has become a societal
norm. If I insult Christianity, I have your attention.

Now we can throw out the supernatural crap and focus on reality. That
reality includes the fact that Mahatma Ghandi, Lao Tze, Chief Joseph, Jesus,
and my pal Louis are pretty smart guys who have a lot of cool things to say
about how you should act towards other people without regard to reward or
what might happen after you die, if you die, and presuming that something
might happen after you do.

That may be the most convoluted sentence I have written since I wrote the
research paper on "Titus Andronicus" in one all-night session while tripping
on windowpane.

It had one footnote.

I was totally in love with parentheses.

It included a graphic description of my collision with an MDC police car.

It seemed to make perfect sense at the time.

  
So does this.

Peace
Joe