Awhile back I was listening to the incomparable Dennis Praeger on talk radio. His subject that day was that bad things happen to good people (they do, and good things happen to bad people). He advised that people should ask for a heavier load not a lighter load. I am not sure that I agree.
Praeger said our burdens sent by God are a test of faith (I agree). Praeger admonishes that without suffering there is no free will and we are just robots. I would add that robots suffer too, but that their suffering is not meaningful.
I think he is correct in claiming that suffering makes us reflect and introspect and ask questions of God, life and ourselves. It is also so that how we react to suffering indicates our moral character. A good woman takes what comes and envelopes it in love, reason and flexibility to make things better all around. A bad woman ends up despising herself further after suffering so much, and she must lash out internally an externally to exact a sense of revenge for her suffering. Her negative reaction to suffering needlessly extends the boundary of suffering in the world. And it is the type of suffering that degrades and hurts, not ennoble and uplift the victims.
Beyond, some identifiable point, suffering and pain felt degrade rather than exalt the individual. Suffering cannot be eliminated from life but it can be minimized. What events unfold upon us, sent by God, Fate or Satan (Identifying the source of a happening and identifying it as bringing joy or suffering to us is not easy to differentiate.).
How we react to bad thing happening to us is what determines our moral orientation. When we convert what happens to us into an impetus stimulating us to make things a little better for others and ourselves, that is an act of love.
Suffering leaves us shocked, disturbed and discombobulated. That uprootedness makes us alert, wondering and looking for answers and reassurance. At that point we are alive and sentient beings of free will. W have become accountable for our actions. The steps that we take in response to suffering renders the steps taken to be memorable, significant and meaningful
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Time To Get Better
Why is there so much suffering, cruelty and injustice afflicting the world? First of all we are all sinners doing bad things to others while bad thing are dumped upon us. Second, bad living has become custom guiding each new generation into sinful, wayward misbehaving.
Third, this world belongs to Lucifer so wicked people ruling here and imposing their nasty ways is to be expected.
You may ask what can be done about it. The best answer is to adopt a more progressive, civilized moral program, which over time will make a huge difference.
Altruism, our traditional ethical mode, teaches people to be groupist, selfless and to loathe the self. These self-approaches render the persons so regarding the self into slaves of Lucifer, for those are the characteristics comprising his personality.
Egoism, the modern ethical program, will train its adherents to love the self, to be self-interested and to live alone and apart. That is where and how God lives, and so emulating God makes one more like De to be rewarded by De.
Third, this world belongs to Lucifer so wicked people ruling here and imposing their nasty ways is to be expected.
You may ask what can be done about it. The best answer is to adopt a more progressive, civilized moral program, which over time will make a huge difference.
Altruism, our traditional ethical mode, teaches people to be groupist, selfless and to loathe the self. These self-approaches render the persons so regarding the self into slaves of Lucifer, for those are the characteristics comprising his personality.
Egoism, the modern ethical program, will train its adherents to love the self, to be self-interested and to live alone and apart. That is where and how God lives, and so emulating God makes one more like De to be rewarded by De.
Monday, September 12, 2011
To Whom Do You Belong?
In Before The Sabbath, Eric Hoffer wrote the following: "Nations tend to see their great men as the expression of their quintessence and uniqueness. Great men are also assumed to embody the spirit of their age. Actually, the essential characteristic of a great man is his timelessness and universality. The great man of any age is our contemporary.
It is by their commonness that people are linked to their time. Hence, by how much a great man is of his age by so much is he less great."
What does Hoffer mean here and what does it indicate? The great-souled person is a thorough-going individual. He will be a loner not a joiner. He will be a brilliant, extraordinary, uncommon and accomplished loner. In his social circle, he will encounter few or no peers, and have few companions or friends. To be great is to be misunderstood. It is to be regarded as an eccentric stranger, not quite respectable or credible.
No one can self-realize under the Mavellonialist system without separating from her peers and dedicating her life to self-development, a lifestyle that is an active prayer submitted daily for God's approval. As she develops as a person, she reaches greatness at some point, and that journey has landed her beyond the border of commonness and everyday interests.
The average person, undeveloped and immersed in mundane matters seriously regarded by the local in-crowd, will belong to that immediate generation. He is bound by local time and space.
As the Mavellonialist system spreads and gains wide acceptance, it will become that tradition out of which the majority of citizens live lives of great-souledness. They will be timeless and universal too. They will be contemporary with people from all cultures, and all generations.
The self-realizer is objective and global. The average existent is subjective and local.
As a corollary, it occurred to me that if the self-realizer is answering God's call, and in the process, becomes great and timeless. This could serve as a proof for God's existence: if individuating leads to greatness and connecting with eternal things, then the origin of these beckoning messages is objective, developing, accomplished, timeless, universal and individualist. This source exists and welcomes doers.
It is by their commonness that people are linked to their time. Hence, by how much a great man is of his age by so much is he less great."
What does Hoffer mean here and what does it indicate? The great-souled person is a thorough-going individual. He will be a loner not a joiner. He will be a brilliant, extraordinary, uncommon and accomplished loner. In his social circle, he will encounter few or no peers, and have few companions or friends. To be great is to be misunderstood. It is to be regarded as an eccentric stranger, not quite respectable or credible.
No one can self-realize under the Mavellonialist system without separating from her peers and dedicating her life to self-development, a lifestyle that is an active prayer submitted daily for God's approval. As she develops as a person, she reaches greatness at some point, and that journey has landed her beyond the border of commonness and everyday interests.
The average person, undeveloped and immersed in mundane matters seriously regarded by the local in-crowd, will belong to that immediate generation. He is bound by local time and space.
As the Mavellonialist system spreads and gains wide acceptance, it will become that tradition out of which the majority of citizens live lives of great-souledness. They will be timeless and universal too. They will be contemporary with people from all cultures, and all generations.
The self-realizer is objective and global. The average existent is subjective and local.
As a corollary, it occurred to me that if the self-realizer is answering God's call, and in the process, becomes great and timeless. This could serve as a proof for God's existence: if individuating leads to greatness and connecting with eternal things, then the origin of these beckoning messages is objective, developing, accomplished, timeless, universal and individualist. This source exists and welcomes doers.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Love Truth First
Dennis Praeger may be the wisest man of this generation. He recommends that each thinker love truth before peace and justice. Only one that loves the truth primarily will be a realist about evil bothering the world. That realistic thinker is still an optimist.
Praeger castigates Leftists naive about the chance of peace and justice in the Middle East. Their delusional optimism compels them to force the Israelis to make concession after concession as if they are the cause of the problem.
The truth is that their Muslim neighbors hate them and have no qualms about morally and religiously plotting their destruction. There will not be peace in the Middle East until the Israelis are wiped out.
The Left has never understood or appreciated the pure fanaticism that drives Islam, especially in its mass movement, vigorous phase. There is and has never been a more committed enemy in the world. They learn nothing. They forgive nothing. They hate Jewish infidels forever and will never cease working for their annihilation and elimination from holy places.
Adherents of Islam must accept the truth about their faith: it is the most dangerous and destabilizing world religion that the world has ever known. Couple that with missiles and weapons of destruction and they have the ability and desire to bring about Armageddon and the end of the world. This theocratic culture is tribal, warrior-driven, violence-loving, empire-building and out for world conquest. They are on the march and the denial of their wicked culture by the Left will bring the world injustice, mass suffering, world war and a new Dark Age. It may bring about the end of human kind.
All Muslims must modernize and abjure claims to use violence against non-be
Praeger castigates Leftists naive about the chance of peace and justice in the Middle East. Their delusional optimism compels them to force the Israelis to make concession after concession as if they are the cause of the problem.
The truth is that their Muslim neighbors hate them and have no qualms about morally and religiously plotting their destruction. There will not be peace in the Middle East until the Israelis are wiped out.
The Left has never understood or appreciated the pure fanaticism that drives Islam, especially in its mass movement, vigorous phase. There is and has never been a more committed enemy in the world. They learn nothing. They forgive nothing. They hate Jewish infidels forever and will never cease working for their annihilation and elimination from holy places.
Adherents of Islam must accept the truth about their faith: it is the most dangerous and destabilizing world religion that the world has ever known. Couple that with missiles and weapons of destruction and they have the ability and desire to bring about Armageddon and the end of the world. This theocratic culture is tribal, warrior-driven, violence-loving, empire-building and out for world conquest. They are on the march and the denial of their wicked culture by the Left will bring the world injustice, mass suffering, world war and a new Dark Age. It may bring about the end of human kind.
All Muslims must modernize and abjure claims to use violence against non-be
Monday, September 5, 2011
Labor Day
Ever since Adam and Eve were ejected from the Garden of Eden by Yahweh, it is has been the human assignment to work for their daily bread. Some have classified the requirement to work as the human curse. Others, more level-headed, would ascribe to working the opportunity to become fully human.
We work because we must. We must earn enough money to support our families, to pay for the basics, to keep the wolf from the door.
We work because it is adult behavior expected of us by our parents, siblings, spouse, children, neighbors and society in general.
We work because our personal American identity and value are inextricably interwoven with what we do to make a living. Fellow Americans rate who and what we are by what we do professionally. This commendable practice and custom tells us many things about Americans.
First, to work is to be alive and to work is to be esteemed by others. Second, humans are naturally lazy and passive. Only the culture that values and rewards industry and activism will be a progressive society every reforming, prospering, changing and growing. Third, this society of the common man, historically, rated each person by what he did. A society of aristocrats/drones would not prize what a worker made with his hands. A corollary to this culture that expects personal industriousness is that none can restore his laurels. He is only as successful as what he did yesterday, and he must prove himself tomorrow and forever.
The moderate philosopher would advise that leisure, play and luxury have their place. The healthy adult must arise each day to work for his daily bread. He must also pursue the self-chosen path to personal fulfillment best matching who he is and what wants to become. Work makes that possible.
Agatha Christie in her novel Nemesis describes the expert to select who will be the best at that endeavor. That person must be experienced, knowledgeable and skilled. The best in her field will be the one who has a flair for this task.
May this Labor Day be a pleasant respite for you. Conduct your vision quest and discover what it is that you have a flair for. Plan you work and work your plan. This way your dream will come true, bestowing glory and accolades upon you. The world gains too, as you have made it a little better and made people a little smarter through you life-long efforts.
We work because we must. We must earn enough money to support our families, to pay for the basics, to keep the wolf from the door.
We work because it is adult behavior expected of us by our parents, siblings, spouse, children, neighbors and society in general.
We work because our personal American identity and value are inextricably interwoven with what we do to make a living. Fellow Americans rate who and what we are by what we do professionally. This commendable practice and custom tells us many things about Americans.
First, to work is to be alive and to work is to be esteemed by others. Second, humans are naturally lazy and passive. Only the culture that values and rewards industry and activism will be a progressive society every reforming, prospering, changing and growing. Third, this society of the common man, historically, rated each person by what he did. A society of aristocrats/drones would not prize what a worker made with his hands. A corollary to this culture that expects personal industriousness is that none can restore his laurels. He is only as successful as what he did yesterday, and he must prove himself tomorrow and forever.
The moderate philosopher would advise that leisure, play and luxury have their place. The healthy adult must arise each day to work for his daily bread. He must also pursue the self-chosen path to personal fulfillment best matching who he is and what wants to become. Work makes that possible.
Agatha Christie in her novel Nemesis describes the expert to select who will be the best at that endeavor. That person must be experienced, knowledgeable and skilled. The best in her field will be the one who has a flair for this task.
May this Labor Day be a pleasant respite for you. Conduct your vision quest and discover what it is that you have a flair for. Plan you work and work your plan. This way your dream will come true, bestowing glory and accolades upon you. The world gains too, as you have made it a little better and made people a little smarter through you life-long efforts.
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