I haven't posted a blog (is that the right language? I don't understand most of this) because my computer is hopelessly, perhaps fatally flawed and has been in other hands for a while and I haven't found the opportunity to use the church's computer.
I'll be back, promise....if anyone is out there wondering....
I'm missing this. JIM
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
One more cut about 'meaning'...
OK, nothing I am writing is 'the truth' and there is no reason in heaven or on earth that you should "believe" it. I'm just asking you to consider it.
ALL REALITY IS CREATED BY WHAT WE SAY ABOUT IT.
Deep breath. Consider and ponder that for a while.
If you consider that ALL REALITY IS CREATED BY WHAT WE SAY ABOUT IT then you might become aware of a possibility to create a reality that is different than what you 'said' by saying another thing about it. Example: "you looked at me 'funny'" can become, "I saw you looking at me", which opens doors previously locked with the key thrown away.
What if, just 'what if', we can create a reality that wouldn't exist otherwise just by being open to what we 'say about it'?
Stuff happens....that is the experience of life...and if we are aware (I'm humbling suggesting) that the 'meaning' of the stuff that happens isn't in the stuff that happens but in our 'saying something about it', our interpretation of it...and if we hold "what happens" as something we have a say in defining but realize our 'definition' isn't 'the truth'....What difference would that make in the way we live and move and have our being in this world?
If "Language IS reality", what if we became aware of that and realized that 'what we say' is, merely 'what we say' and not THE TRUTH...if all that were a possibility, what difference would it make to us day by day as we live on into the mystery of living and toward the Lover of Souls?
Pondering is all this is about. All this is about is Pondering....
ALL REALITY IS CREATED BY WHAT WE SAY ABOUT IT.
Deep breath. Consider and ponder that for a while.
If you consider that ALL REALITY IS CREATED BY WHAT WE SAY ABOUT IT then you might become aware of a possibility to create a reality that is different than what you 'said' by saying another thing about it. Example: "you looked at me 'funny'" can become, "I saw you looking at me", which opens doors previously locked with the key thrown away.
What if, just 'what if', we can create a reality that wouldn't exist otherwise just by being open to what we 'say about it'?
Stuff happens....that is the experience of life...and if we are aware (I'm humbling suggesting) that the 'meaning' of the stuff that happens isn't in the stuff that happens but in our 'saying something about it', our interpretation of it...and if we hold "what happens" as something we have a say in defining but realize our 'definition' isn't 'the truth'....What difference would that make in the way we live and move and have our being in this world?
If "Language IS reality", what if we became aware of that and realized that 'what we say' is, merely 'what we say' and not THE TRUTH...if all that were a possibility, what difference would it make to us day by day as we live on into the mystery of living and toward the Lover of Souls?
Pondering is all this is about. All this is about is Pondering....
so, why does 'meaning' matter anyway?
Most everyone lives out of, into, against and in favor of what they think things "mean".
"You looked at me 'funny', so I didn't talk to you...." A almost silly example of how we assign 'meaning' to something and then live as if the 'meaning' we made up in language were 'the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.' A gnat flew in her eye...she had a sudden pain in a tooth, the light confused her...that's 'just the way' her face looks and 'looking funny' becomes an interpretation of 'what happened' that we consider to be 'the truth', rather than an interpretation we made.
Carl Sagan, the scientist, was giving a lecture and at the Q/A session a little old lady stood up and said, "Dr Sagan, you can go on and on about the cosmos, but I know that the earth rests on the back of an enormous turtle."
The Professor replied, "And what does that turtle rest upon?"
"An even more enormous turtle," the woman cried out.
"And that one, the more enormous turtle, what does it rest upon?" Sagan asked.
"Don't quibble with me," she said, "You know it's 'turtles all the way down'!"
For we human beings, it is INTERPRETATION "all the way down". Meaning is what we say it is, never mind the evidence or objective reality of stuff.
The reason "Meaning" matters is that we 'MAKE IT UP" and name it and pretend that what we said about it means it is 'turtles all the way down'.
That's more comfortable than living in a universe where 'what happens' is 'meaningless'. So we declare the 'meaning' and live as if that is what's so about the matter. Problem is, it is only what 'we said' about it and others will 'say' different things about it.
A breakthrough of monumental importance would be if we could all take a deep breath and step back and realize that 'what happens' is only, always, exactly 'what happens', devoid of 'meaning' and recognize that what we say it 'means' is really ONLY what we said and not the Truth.
More about this later, if you can stand it and suffer through the languaging of it all.
ALL IS LANGUAGE.
Ponder that under your own little Castor Oil Tree--LANGUAGE IS ALL....What if that is so? What choices and possibilities does knowing that give us that we didn't have before when we thought 'what we said about it' was 'the Truth'? Too obscure yet? Just wait....
"You looked at me 'funny', so I didn't talk to you...." A almost silly example of how we assign 'meaning' to something and then live as if the 'meaning' we made up in language were 'the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.' A gnat flew in her eye...she had a sudden pain in a tooth, the light confused her...that's 'just the way' her face looks and 'looking funny' becomes an interpretation of 'what happened' that we consider to be 'the truth', rather than an interpretation we made.
Carl Sagan, the scientist, was giving a lecture and at the Q/A session a little old lady stood up and said, "Dr Sagan, you can go on and on about the cosmos, but I know that the earth rests on the back of an enormous turtle."
The Professor replied, "And what does that turtle rest upon?"
"An even more enormous turtle," the woman cried out.
"And that one, the more enormous turtle, what does it rest upon?" Sagan asked.
"Don't quibble with me," she said, "You know it's 'turtles all the way down'!"
For we human beings, it is INTERPRETATION "all the way down". Meaning is what we say it is, never mind the evidence or objective reality of stuff.
The reason "Meaning" matters is that we 'MAKE IT UP" and name it and pretend that what we said about it means it is 'turtles all the way down'.
That's more comfortable than living in a universe where 'what happens' is 'meaningless'. So we declare the 'meaning' and live as if that is what's so about the matter. Problem is, it is only what 'we said' about it and others will 'say' different things about it.
A breakthrough of monumental importance would be if we could all take a deep breath and step back and realize that 'what happens' is only, always, exactly 'what happens', devoid of 'meaning' and recognize that what we say it 'means' is really ONLY what we said and not the Truth.
More about this later, if you can stand it and suffer through the languaging of it all.
ALL IS LANGUAGE.
Ponder that under your own little Castor Oil Tree--LANGUAGE IS ALL....What if that is so? What choices and possibilities does knowing that give us that we didn't have before when we thought 'what we said about it' was 'the Truth'? Too obscure yet? Just wait....
some thoughts about 'meaning'
There is a story about an interview with three baseball umpires about calling balls and strikes, which, if you know baseball at all, is one of the key parts to the game.
The first umpire, very new at his job said: "I call them like they are...."
He believed he was observing and correctly naming the 'meaning' of balls and strikes.
The second umpire, who had some experience, said: "I call them like 'I seem them'..."
He acknowledged that 'meaning' of balls and strikes depended, not on some objective reality, but on his opinion about what was a ball and what was a strike. He left room for his interpretation to influence what was the 'meaning'.
The third umpire, a hardened veteran of many years, said this: "They ain't nuthin' until I call them...."
He brings me to the place I want to be. "Meaning" is 'what we say it is'. We create and name 'meaning' in our language about it.
Does that mean there is no 'meaning' outside of what we call it? Well, the first two umpires give different possibilities. We can "know" meaning when we see it. We can interpret 'meaning' and hope to get it right. Each of us is somewhere on that spectrum.
But, just to ponder under your particular Castor Oil Tree--what if, what just if, "meaning" is only and always what we 'say it is'?
What if 'meaning' is not a function of what happens but what we 'say about' what happens? Where does that leave us....Ponder on....
Meaning doesn't exist until we language it. It isn't a ball or a strike until we 'say so'?
How may mourings and settled realities would that knock loose and over?
What DOES "meaning" mean?
The first umpire, very new at his job said: "I call them like they are...."
He believed he was observing and correctly naming the 'meaning' of balls and strikes.
The second umpire, who had some experience, said: "I call them like 'I seem them'..."
He acknowledged that 'meaning' of balls and strikes depended, not on some objective reality, but on his opinion about what was a ball and what was a strike. He left room for his interpretation to influence what was the 'meaning'.
The third umpire, a hardened veteran of many years, said this: "They ain't nuthin' until I call them...."
He brings me to the place I want to be. "Meaning" is 'what we say it is'. We create and name 'meaning' in our language about it.
Does that mean there is no 'meaning' outside of what we call it? Well, the first two umpires give different possibilities. We can "know" meaning when we see it. We can interpret 'meaning' and hope to get it right. Each of us is somewhere on that spectrum.
But, just to ponder under your particular Castor Oil Tree--what if, what just if, "meaning" is only and always what we 'say it is'?
What if 'meaning' is not a function of what happens but what we 'say about' what happens? Where does that leave us....Ponder on....
Meaning doesn't exist until we language it. It isn't a ball or a strike until we 'say so'?
How may mourings and settled realities would that knock loose and over?
What DOES "meaning" mean?
something to ponder under the tree
When I started all this I framed it within the paradigm of Jonah sitting under the Castor Oil tree pondering Nineva.
In one of Kurt Vonnegut's novels, he invents a religion called, I think, Bonkonoism. At any rate, the creation story of that religion is this: God looked at all the mud and made some of it sit up and live. And the mud that sat up said to God, 'what does this mean?' And God answered, 'It has to mean something?' The mud that said up said, 'of course it does!' And God said, 'I'll leave that to you....' And God went away.
Something like that.
And something to consider under your own personal Castor Oil tree.
What does 'meaning' mean? Where does it come from? Why do we need it?
Before the worm eats your tree, ponder that....
In one of Kurt Vonnegut's novels, he invents a religion called, I think, Bonkonoism. At any rate, the creation story of that religion is this: God looked at all the mud and made some of it sit up and live. And the mud that sat up said to God, 'what does this mean?' And God answered, 'It has to mean something?' The mud that said up said, 'of course it does!' And God said, 'I'll leave that to you....' And God went away.
Something like that.
And something to consider under your own personal Castor Oil tree.
What does 'meaning' mean? Where does it come from? Why do we need it?
Before the worm eats your tree, ponder that....
how hard is love?
I am in a grand and wondrous funk because two people, members of the parish, whom I love greatly are so...angry, disappointed, offended...I really don't know what, about me that they are hiding out, not connecting in any way, not willing to talk things out.
Love is hard. It requires so much patience, so much humility, so much hope beyond hopefulness, so much ability to wait and wait and not believe in miracles.
Love is hard, so hard. Maybe, too hard.
Love is hard. It requires so much patience, so much humility, so much hope beyond hopefulness, so much ability to wait and wait and not believe in miracles.
Love is hard, so hard. Maybe, too hard.
Buzzard on Cornwall Ave
This morning I came out of our house with my bad-dog Bela, ready for a walk, when, across the street, about 100 feet away I saw a huge bird with a bare--looked like fire burned head--and an enormous body. It was, I knew a turkey buzzard. It was busy eating a dead squirrel, something not unusual on our street, but the bird was!
Bela and I got within 10 feet of the creature before it flew away into a nearby tree. I felt the draft from its wings. It must have weighed 40 pounds and the wingspan, I estimated, was at least six feet. Bela was much more interested in the eveserated squirrel than the buzzard.
I'd never seen anything like that upclose before. I've talked to people all day about it and most said these creatures are the 'road kill cleaners'. I just wish there were more of them. I hate road kill just splayed out there, swelling and rotting. As forboding as the bird was, road kill is worse.
I just don't want to be a friend to one of those creatures....
Bela and I got within 10 feet of the creature before it flew away into a nearby tree. I felt the draft from its wings. It must have weighed 40 pounds and the wingspan, I estimated, was at least six feet. Bela was much more interested in the eveserated squirrel than the buzzard.
I'd never seen anything like that upclose before. I've talked to people all day about it and most said these creatures are the 'road kill cleaners'. I just wish there were more of them. I hate road kill just splayed out there, swelling and rotting. As forboding as the bird was, road kill is worse.
I just don't want to be a friend to one of those creatures....
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