Hold on tight baby!
So i've been thinking a lot lately about philisophical things. I guess this has been spawned by a friends blog, but also by my life in general. I find that most of what's been happening in my life and in the lives of other lately is happening for a reason. But here is what i came on to write about, and knowing me i'll probably end up writing about something else. Is truth relative? This just occured to me though...what is truth? Is it that which is right? If that's so then i must define what rightness is, or being right...i guess i could say that being right was being 'good' right? (no pun intended) But the definition of 'good' is the absinse of evil, or, if you want to follow what Plato said (cus everyone things he's a pretty smart guy) he said that 'the good' is whatever the gods deem as good...but then he talked in circles and said that 'the good' could also be that which the gods find favor in... thus you get the chicken and the egg conundrum (those dang greeks). For fun, and just for ease, i'll use the dictionaries definition of Truth. I've decieded on this before actually looking it up, and i hope it works in my favor. HAHA okay, so the first definition of truth i can't use, because it uses the word truth in the definition...so i'll use the second one. Okay, so the second definition is: Conformity with fact or reality. Simple and to the point. I'll point it out right now, my agrument thus hinges on this defintion of truth, so if you want to debunk it and debate it i'll make it easy for you. So, is truth relative? Basically i'm asking is, is what's true for me, what's true for you? I've come to a few conclusions. I'll say that at the moment i'm not sure, but maybe through this thought process i'll come do a decision. At the moment it appears that truth is partialy relative. I'll coin these terms (i bet this isn't original, but if they are that would be uber cool) I think there are Hard Truths, and Soft Truths. For example: God exists or He doesn't. That is a very Hard Truth. God exists or He doesn't, whether you belive in Him or not. Your belief in Him does not change His existance. If you are a Christian your whole life, and you believe in God, and then you lose your faith (through whatever measure), God does not stop existing, only your belief in Him does. So that is an example of a Hard Truth. But there has to be subjective truth, if there wasn't subjective truth, then how could there be opinions and debates. For example: My friend Ryan is colour blind, and he does not see all the colours that i see. Part of his colour blindness is what's called Orange-Green blindness. This means that he sees orange and green as the same colour. Here is where subjectiveness comes into play. When he goes out into the field full of green grass to find the post marked with orange flaging tape, he can't find it because, like everything else, it appears green...or is that orange....or maybe it appears to be a colour that no one else that is colour sensitive can see. His idea and interpretation of green and orange is different that mine. While scientifically the wave length's of the refracted light has not changed, what he sees, and what is reality to him is different than me. Thus using the definition of truth, given to me by the all knowing dictionary, truth must be subjective. Why do i call this a Soft Truth though? I think Soft Truths are things that can change for individuals. Soft Truths are mostly subjective. Hard Truths are things that are not subjective. For instance, if i, within the confines of earth and all its physical laws, jump into the air, the force that we have named gravity will effect me, and i will fall back down to the ground. I cannot change this fact, no matter how many angles i look at it from 'gravity' affects us all. That is a truth, one that cannot be changed. But what of Soft Truths? these deal more with morality i think. Some would say that killing is bad, and generally that is accepted as reality and fact (as my definition of truth says) But, what about a culture where killing is accepted? If you are raised from birth, say in a tribal setting, where killing is accepted.Then your belief would be that killing is fine...that would be your reality? right? There is where Soft Truth lies, Soft Truth is much more malable, and bendable....lawyers love Soft Truth..jk. Ugh my head hurts.I think this is my belief on this topic for now.
Thanks Kirstyn
Religion
I have been reading a lot of existentialist literature lately, its nothing that i've set out purposely to do, its kind of just happened. It started with Night, the existentialism is not as pervailent, because Elie Wiesel is trying to get his story out. The second book was Blue Like Jazz. I read this on the recomendation of a friend, and i am very glad i did. The book was just fantastic. I believe the title is Blue Like Jazz: Non-christian thoughts on Christian Spirituality. The book's intro had me hooked, here is an excerpt from the book:
My father left my home when I was young, so when I was introduced to the concept of God as Father I imagined Him as a stiff, oily man who wanted to move into our house and share a bed with my mother. I can only remember this as a frightful and threatening idea. We were a poor family who attended a wealthy church, so I imagined God as a man who had a lot of money and drove a big car. At church they told us we were children of God, but I knew God’s family was better than mine, that He had a daughter who was a cheerleader and a son who played football. I was born with a small bladder so I wet the bed till I was ten and later developed a crush on the homecoming queen who was kind to me in a political sort of way, which is something she probably learned from her father, who was the president of a bank. And so from the beginning, the chasm that separated me from God was as deep as wealth and as wide as fashion.”
How often is that the problem, i know many people that stuggle with this. They struggle with making God personal. Im not saying its easy, it can be very hard. Donald Miller, the authour, said that he never understood Jazz music growing up, it just seemed like this raqucet, and it didn't make sense, it wasn't consonant. He said though that he was leaving the Sydney Opera House one evening and there was a man playing jazz on a saxophone, the man had his eyes closed and was playing his heart out. Standing there watching this man, Miller finally understood Jazz. I think that's just absolutely beautiful.
I also have kind of been reading Fear and Trembling by Soren Kierkagaard. This is a tough read, very tough in comparison to Blue Like Jazz. The book was written in the late 1800's, somewhere around 1880 i believe. Kierkagaard wrote the book in response to what he saw happening in the church. He was trying to have people look at having their own faith, and not to rely on the faith of others. It sounds silly now, but his book is what started this sort of modern protesteantism. Because before that people were often faithful because they saw that other people were faithful. Kierkegaard basically said that 'i can tell you how to swim, i can even show you, you might be albe to tell me how to move you arms and legs as if you were swiming...i could go as far as to put you in water and hold you there, but you are not swimming' That is how he described faith. 'i can tell you how to believe, i can show you, you can act like it, but you are not truly beliving unless you EXPERIENCE it for yourself'. I think that's all that i wanted to say.
Oink!
Foosball's for the Devil!
So i went to my old highschool on saturday to watch a football game. I went to keep my mom company as she was kind of obligated to go (this happens when your a teacher). I realized how lucky i am not to have been forced to play sports growing up. I saw parents yelling at the refs, and i asked aloud without thinking (seriously): Why are you yelling at the ref, yelling at him isn't gonna change his descision....and its not gonna change what the kid did? I got some looks from parents when i said that. I thought i was thinking it, well i was, but i was thinking aloud. oops. I then thanked my mom for not making me do sports. Its not like i never played sports when i was younger, i played in a organized soccer league (or football as i've grown to call it, like the rest of the world) and it fostered my love for the game. On that note, at the 'football' game i said, aloud again (i must have been really tired): In real football the clock doesn't stop, and it counts up. Again, more weird looks.
Anyway, i just thought of something. My friend Kirstyn got me thinking about something theother day. She's taking an environmental studies class at school, and we got to talking about the definition of the word wilderness. She says that Wilderness is anything around us, and anything that we do. Now no offense Kirstyn, but that is totally a city person response. Unless you have ever experienced (oh no im sounding like an existentialist) true wilderness you won't know what it is. I think wilderness is an idea. Now bear with me while i unpack the idea. If you look at the word, it contains the word wild, to me 'wild' is something uncontroable. So wilderness is something uncontroallable. If you are in wilderness, your in a place that you cannot control. There is not much physical wilderness left in the world. Humans have controlled so much, for example; If you are in a forest with your camper and food and supplies, you are not in wilderness. You are in the forest. If you are in the forest, with just the clothes on your back, and nothing else, with no idea what to do, and your not in control, THEN you are in wilderness. Wilderness though is much more than physical, you can be in emotional wilderness as well, thats a place, like i stated earlier, that you cannot control. Emotional wilderness is much more common, and unlike the physical wilderness (which only some really get to experience), this is much more widely experienced. That hard break-up, the stress of school, the death of a friend...those times when you feel just worn out, and lost. That is wilderness. To me wilderness is an experience and an idea. Comments anyone?
Boxing my shadow
I need to stop fighting myself and beating myself up over stuff i do, in other words, i need to stop boxing my shadow.
On a similar note, K'naan freakin rocks, i've never had goosebumps listening to hip-hop before. Everyone out there should hear the passion of Voices in My Head.
in response to my last post
to quote Chris Martin "I may be calm on the surface, but i'm screaming underneath"
ahhhh
please don't cuddle with him right in front of me....that kills me.
I'm watching you do this as i'm writing this, why has this anxious feeling not gone away, trust me i've tried
-peace (please)
choices
Its shocking sometimes how our small choices can change our lives in major ways. I listened to a speaker this evening who was originally from this area, but now lives in the eastern united states. Her daughter,the daughter of a small town preacher, is now serving a 5 and a half year sentance for conspiracy to commit murder as well as drug trafficing charges. How did this happen? It started with her moving south to Kansas for a summer, and getting involved with a couple friends who were fairly sketchy. She stated dating a guy, and after a long time she found out he was an ex-con. Then a while after that she found out he was a drug dealer, and later still he was a drug user, and finally she learned that he was the leader of the local Crypts. Eventually she dumped him and started dating another crypts member. Her life was going down hill, she was out of control, using drugs, having sex, and living a life that she never thought she would live. Eventually she got caught in a sting operation while trying to buy a gun to protect her against her ex-boyfriend who had just raped her and left her in the street naked. She has served two years already and is out in 2010. The point is not how she got to where she is, but why she got to where she is. She said its all about poor choices. It comes down to who let influence your life. Will it be friends that build you up, or someone that tears you down? Coming from a Christian home i take forgranted the life that i have been given,and the family i have been blessed with. It pains me to learn of so many family's that are hurting and breaking. God has really been teaching me the past few weeks about how good my life is, and that i shouldn't been complaining. He's been bringing people into my life for me to pray for and this in turn is making me exam my own life and how i see it. Its very comforting.
in retrospect
i probably been a little more worried about that swat team. Perhaps there could have been a shooter in the school...and not in the appartments next to us. Our school is so naive.
SWAT
We watched a swat team get ready outside the school today. it was cool. I decieded to go get a piece of pizza and when i walked around the school the swat team was standing in front of me looking at me. kinda akward.
Fashion
i was flipping through the tv today and i saw america'a next top model. one of the judges looks like a clown.
-->