Squiggly Lines

Discovery Channel in December

2011-12-09T15:19:00.001Z

Faith and Science

Around Christmas we are reminded of religion and faith again and again, it is everywhere. In school the children are singing hymns, and doing their nativity play. The radio is full of Christmas music. Even though Jesus Christ has been labeled as controversial and divisive, the baby cannot help but pop up its head here and there, along with angels, shepherds, wise men, Mary and Joseph. No place seems quit exempt.

Discovery channel which seems to have set itself up as one of the guardians of science and reason casts its scrutinizing eye on the Gospel stories. Almost as a grumpy old man who gets sick with all the talk of angels and Jesus, so they have to shout ‘humbag.’ They simply have to take a shot at what they see as an obvious attack on science and reason. For a month Discovery descends from the nobel pursuit of truth to childish mud finning.

While science and religion gets along sometimes, on some questions. The underlying tension is very obvious. It is like two neighbors, who despite good efforts, refuse get along. This becomes very obvious on the Discovery channel in December.

One of the problems seems to be that it all started wrong. Science and religion set up their separate camps, from which they have not been able to give an inch. We might say that it started when Galileo said, ‘the intention of the Holy Spirit is to teach us how one goes to heaven, not how the heavens go.’ For these were fighting words, words that were sure to upset people in the Christian church, like a taunting gauntlet.

However, it may be observed that the church had already set up its camp, as if waiting to be challenged. The early Christian church had struggled to understand the Bible. They had struggled to see how the Father, Son and Holy Spirit made one God. In their deliberation they decided they that They were a trinity of ‘persons,’ which still made one God. As it did not make much sense they also had to decide that reason did not belong with faith. This did not happen all at once, but gradually. Gradually ‘reason’ was labeled as the naughty child in the classroom and send out.

Once ‘reason’ was made an enemy and expelled, it seems that the stage was set for reason one day to return and make war with the church. As so often happen when people fight they tend to bolster their own position by making claims that are more fueled by a desire to be right rather than a genuine love of truth. It seems that both the church and Galileo said things that smell more like pride than truth.

It it possible that we may be able to put aside hundreds of years of fighting and arguments? Might we now be able to take a fresh look at religion, science and reason. Can it be that religion is not as unreasonable as the Christians first supposed? If we can grant that, maybe science can be persuaded science not to poke its tongue at everything it does not immediately understand. For while it is true that there is an explanation for everything, it is also true that most explanations are still to be found. Then I might enjoy watching Discover in December also.

The Man in the House

2010-09-13T14:35:00.009+01:00

There once was a man who lived in a house.

Houses in so many ways are like the people who live in them.

A house gets so much of its character from the furniture that people put in them and the decorations on the walls. Not to mention the carpets... and then there are all the smells.

The man in this story had beautiful white furniture on the ground floor. The windows were big and the walls white, so everything seemed full of light. On the first floor there were three bedrooms, but two of them were empty. In the third he had his bed, a chair and then nothing else. The basement was also mostly empty, except for a few boxes of things inherited from his family. However, that was soon to change.

One day the man in the house had a splendid feast and he invited many interesting guests. Every guest brought something special: some came with flowers, other brought food, some brought decorations... but one man brought a little furry animal. The furry animal entertained all the guests. It danced on the tables and hummed a peculiar tune. All the guests laughed and clapped their hands and laughed some more. The furry creature drank the wine and ate the flowers and everyone was delighted.

When the guests went home, then man in the house did not know what to do with the furry creature, so he put it in the basement, as it was empty anyway. The furry creature seemed content in the basement. It ate the spiders and the mice. When the man in the house came home in the evening, he would invite the furry creature up into the living room and they would play. The creature did not like the light of the sun, so it preferred to stay in the basement during the day, and only come out to play after dark. Then the man in the house bought thick curtains for the windows, and painted the walls of the basement grey. That way the furry creature seemed to like it better, and this way they could play even during the day.

Day by day the man became closer and closer friends with the furry creature. Day by day the creature grew bigger and bigger. Eventually it needed bigger things to eat. Mice and spiders were not good any more, so the man in the house starting feeding it rabbits. On one occasion it ate the neighbour cat. But the man in the house was just so happy to have a companion who was there for him always.The neighbour came to complain, “Have you seen my cat? What is that awful smell? Don’t you think that you should open a window?” The man in he house had not see the neighbour cat, and he certainly was not going to open a window, as the light and the fresh air would just startle his wonderful furry creature.

The next day the man in the house moved his bed down in the living room. That way he could spend even more time with his furry creature. After he had carried his bed down, and he was going to close the door to the stairwell leading up to the first floor, he paused for a moment, and then he left it slightly open. He looked again at the furry creature. Maybe it was not healthy to spend so much time with that furry creature. Only, if felt so good.

His living room had once been full of light, and now it was dark. Yet, that was how he liked it now. He wondered, whether something that felt so good, might not be good at all. Could it be, that something that felt very good, was bad?

The man in the house then wanted to move his bed all the way down the basement. Then he could spend all his time with the furry creature. He would not see light again, but maybe it was better that way. The light just hurt his eyes anyway. He much preferred to stay in the shadow.

He looked again at the light coming down the stairwell and out through the half open door. A sliver of light which fell across the floor. In that little bit of light so many things could be seen. In that sliver of light, there was much dirt to behold. Socks and shoes, lots of dust, a half eaten rabbit and many flies. If he closed the door, the light would go away and the mess would disappear in the darkness.

His furry creature was growling from the basement. It wanted him to join it, to close out the light and be satisfied with delight. But the man feared to give up the light and live forever in darkness. He picked up the rabbit corpse and threw it in the empty rubbish bin. The creature howled from the basement, as if it could hear what he was doing. The man then heard the furry footsteps coming up the stairs. He felt a shiver. He was afraid of the creature within his house. He closed the door to the basement, and then heard the creature howling on the other side of the door. He was instantly filled with sadness and longing and started to cry. He knew that he had to lock off the basement but it made him so sad and anxious. How was his life to have any fun or any joy? He so longed to join the creature. Instead, he opened a curtain. More light came in. He started to pick up the things on the floor and put them in their place. Then he opened another curtain, and cleaned all of the ground floor.

Travel With The Mind

2010-09-10T15:13:00.009+01:00

Every man has his mode of transport - something to take them into the world.

Some use a donkey, a tractor or a horse. Some have a fast sports car. Others use the public transport.

However, the ones who go furthest are the ones who travel with their mind.

It takes only one thought to carry the mind around the world.

It takes only another thought to carry it far into space.

From any point it may jump to another.

Distance is no hindrance at all - another subject or field of study only presents a minor barrier.

So it is that man, in his imagination, may create a universe where he himself is god and king.

In this universe he may decide to know it all, and what is not known, merely is soon to be discovered.

Then he is not unlike a rider on a fast horse who gallops over field and through forest in fast pursuit.

But then the rider should be aware of snakes, such as may startle the horse, so that it jumps and the rider falls backwards.

2010-01-11T19:47:00.001Z

I Was Concerned

I felt genuinely very concerned. Those children across the street: what is going to become of them? They leave their toys on the front lawn and then the parents have to tidy up after them. How are these children ever going to learn responsibility? They do not go anywhere on their own, whether it is to sports, friends or to school - their parents drive them everywhere.

One cannot help being concerned. I know for sure that other people have the same concerns, but they say nothing. I cannot let this happen and just sit by in quiet. So naturally I told their mother. She was very nice, listened quietly and nodded. She would do something about it.

However, the second time that I confronted her, she became quite rude. She asked me again and again if I really thought it was my business. I told her calmly that I was just concerned and I just wanted here children to do well in life. I mean, you do not want children to grow up to spend the rest of their lives on public welfare. At this point she became particularly unpleasant and used several very bad words in a high pitch voice. I think she does not care about her children at all.

On My Street

2009-11-12T16:17:00.000Z

From my little house you cannot see the whole street, but you can see quite a bit. It is certainly enough to notice what is going on in people’s lives.

It is enough to see the milk float going in and out, and to see some of the stops. You do not have to be able to see it stopping at every house.

The same with the postman, and all the delivery men that are coming these days. I do not have internet. I would not know how to use a computer. But I saw them install those extra wires. I have a good feeling that I know where all those young people are spending their time: it is not cleaning the gutters, weeding the garden nor in the couples bed. No! They are “surfing” on the internet. There on the internet, they can find that little delightful thing that just the day before they did not know that they needed, but today they find --with mouths open wide in amazement, and they cannot live without it, that is the reason why all those deliver-men are coming.

When they have unwrapped that thing, drunk the milk, and all the other substances that they drink, then all the wrappers and bottles and other containers end up on the sidewalk for collection. I am old enough (not that you need to be that old) to remember a time when normal family could easily fit a week's worth of rubbish in a regular small bin. Now, it spills all over in plain view of everyone. No, you do not need to look around much to notice what is going on.

If life is a dreadful drag, then at least it makes the day go by faster to notice that the middle-aged couple down the street are having an extra go at drowning their sorrows. That man down in number 22, who got divorced last year, he must be seeing some woman for he has started ordering milk again. He also has a bit more bounce in his step, despite the fact that he has put on another half stone. It is a wonder that any woman could find him attractive. I wonder how long it will last this time. People fall in love, they fool themselves with some altruistic fairy tale, and for some time they say that they are happy. But eventually they all seem to have some realization of what it is that they are doing to each other. Then they either get divorced, which is probably the mots reasonable thing to do in the situation, or they go with the other option, and keep making life more and more miserable for each other.

The young couple right next to him must be expecting their first child. Not that she is showing yet, but now they are getting an extra bottle of milk. Women seem to get extra thirsty for milk when they are pregnant. Maybe it is because they have to substitute for the fluid that they usually get in the form of white wine. Or maybe the husband is chucking it down in some strange psychological show of sympathy for his laboring spouse. People do strange things.

The old couple right at the end of the road are the strangest of all. They have been married forever, but they are still smiling. I have suspected that they must be senile, but she still manages to send birthday cards to relatives and other people on the right dates throughout they year. He manages to walk the dog at precisely 8 am in the morning. They also still receive a daily newspaper, all of which seems to rule out dementia. I simply cannot quite figure it out. If they are drinking to make themselves so happy, then they would not have gotten this old and still manageto be so fit. Also there are hardly any alcohol bottles in their rubbish. They could be burrying the bottles in the garden, or maybe he is brewing it himself, though neither seems very likely. Maybe they have some other drug.

Every now and then all their children and grandchildren come over, and it is not just for Christmas: Easter and birthdays, too. She always has that man haul lots of food home which she then prepares for days and hours before the whole circus arrives. They are perverse of some strange sort as they seems to take delight in all of life’s painful hassle. I do admit that lots of people do that. Yet sooner or later surel, most people figure out what a trap they have set themselves in, having to care for, and provide for people who most likely will never pay them back. I wonder why these people just seem never to learn or get any wiser: they just keep giving.