Seven Rambling Paragraphs While Approaching Christmas 2004…
I hereby confess, I believe in things that are inaccessible to empirical science, things that scientists, no matter how smart they are, will ever be able to wrap their omniscient tentacles around. These things don’t fit under a magnifying glass. You can’t track ‘em from outer space. And laser beams and X-Ray machines can never penetrate them.
Call it supernatural. Call it metaphysical. Call it God. Call it what ever you want to call it, but science will never be able to reduce, for example, the concept of beauty to numbers, formulas, systematic predictability, and shove it into a robot-like computer. Science will never be able to weigh and measure the feelings I have for my family and friends, heat ‘em up, cool ‘em down, and slice ‘em into a countable number of pieces.
Science will never be able to throw its empirical rope around ideas like optimism, pessimism, adventure, purpose, hopes, dreams, and/or some people’s relentless pursuit of them. Science will never be able to understand or explain the creative process of writing a simple poem, an eloquent essay, the lyrics to a ballad, the notes to which they’re attached, a symphony, or an opera.
The Girl From Ipanema?
Science will never fully appreciate or understand The Girl From Ipanema, the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, Rhett and Scarlett, Bogie and Bacall, Butch and Sundance, Ms. Saigon, Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, Knute Rockne, George Halas, Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth, Roger Bannister, Bill Russell, Mohammed Ali, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, The Little Prince, and yet I truly believe in every single one of them. To me they’re every bit as real, (maybe more real) than E = MC square, or Newton’s laws of physics. *
They are the kinds of things that make life interesting, colorful, meaningful, fulfilling, and eventually…worth living. They are, for me, the locations in which the supernatural resides. And science, in its wildest dreams, will never be able to reduce them, understand them, or explain any one of them…empirically. That’s why I personally have no problem believing in the supernatural, the metaphysical, God, or what I like to call just plain…Good.
Creationism or Evolutionism?
Does that mean that I believe in creationism instead of evolution? Absolutely not! I believe that creationism is a creative, poetic, literary, and religious interpretation of how life here on earth began, while evolution is a scientific interpretation of the same subject. I also believe that both of them have their place, that I can fit both of these concepts into my brain, understand them in the way they’re intended to be understood, without being schizophrenic, without insulting either position, and without taking sides. And if anyone would care to explain why I cannot do this, I’m all ears.
*P.S. (I must admit however, that the processes of developing these miraculous pieces of hard core scientific data were certainly creative acts in themselves.)
Friday, December 10, 2004
Monday, December 06, 2004
The Official Invite To Our December Meeting
Just a reminder that our December meeting is next Saturday morning, 10:30 at the Geneva Library...courtesy of Carol.
To date...
Obama has been officially invited to the Saturday meeting, but don't expect him to show up yet.
I presume the Notes From The Underground met with everyone's approval.
Have you had a chance to look over, (and even weigh in on) the developing ARP Platform?
Since JLB is admittedly all too structureless, any thoughts on the structure that we're going to need as we move forward?
Any thoughts on a future bank account? My own feeling is hearts and minds first and the $$ will follow. But sooner or later we're going to need to be able to accommodate those who want to contribute actual money. Let's talk about this on Saturday.
I did not get the suggested Cliff's Notes done. But recently it did strike me that collectively developing a Power Point Presentation that could be given by any one of us, and others, including people in other states, to local ESOP companies (there are plenty in Chicago area), Chambers of Commerce meetings, and other such events would not only be a great exercise in getting our own hands dirty (someone else uses this phrase I know) and deepening our own understanding of what we're constructing here, but it would also generate the materials that should make up the Cliffs Notes that I did not finish. What do you think?
I hate to tell you gang, but we are blazing the path on this thing, and there are lots of people around the country who are watching what we do, and are waiting for us to show them how to nail this thing together at the local level...just so you know.
Most importantly, bring any and all questions that you have about this impossible dream to the meeting so we can throw them out on the table, talk about them, and make sure that everyone's cup is overflowing when it comes to actually developing "an ownership society" instead of just talking about it like our wonderful Mr. W seems so prone to be doing these days.
If you have other SPECIFIC THINGS that you want to see accomplised at this next meeting, hit reply to all and let everyone know up front.
Hasta Sabado.
RO/JLB
To date...
Obama has been officially invited to the Saturday meeting, but don't expect him to show up yet.
I presume the Notes From The Underground met with everyone's approval.
Have you had a chance to look over, (and even weigh in on) the developing ARP Platform?
Since JLB is admittedly all too structureless, any thoughts on the structure that we're going to need as we move forward?
Any thoughts on a future bank account? My own feeling is hearts and minds first and the $$ will follow. But sooner or later we're going to need to be able to accommodate those who want to contribute actual money. Let's talk about this on Saturday.
I did not get the suggested Cliff's Notes done. But recently it did strike me that collectively developing a Power Point Presentation that could be given by any one of us, and others, including people in other states, to local ESOP companies (there are plenty in Chicago area), Chambers of Commerce meetings, and other such events would not only be a great exercise in getting our own hands dirty (someone else uses this phrase I know) and deepening our own understanding of what we're constructing here, but it would also generate the materials that should make up the Cliffs Notes that I did not finish. What do you think?
I hate to tell you gang, but we are blazing the path on this thing, and there are lots of people around the country who are watching what we do, and are waiting for us to show them how to nail this thing together at the local level...just so you know.
Most importantly, bring any and all questions that you have about this impossible dream to the meeting so we can throw them out on the table, talk about them, and make sure that everyone's cup is overflowing when it comes to actually developing "an ownership society" instead of just talking about it like our wonderful Mr. W seems so prone to be doing these days.
If you have other SPECIFIC THINGS that you want to see accomplised at this next meeting, hit reply to all and let everyone know up front.
Hasta Sabado.
RO/JLB
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