Wending

Life as haiku

2008-05-01T19:58:00.000-07:00

One breath of Spring air

Brushes away my cobwebs

Denying all words

MYrality, not yours...

2008-04-26T18:57:00.000-07:00

So who can tell me if morality is absolute or relative? What higher (or deeper) authority can I turn to, to ask if I am right in any given situation? I used to think this was the function of a god, or even scripture... but whose god, whose scripture? Mine, of course, we say. But wait a minute, who introduced us? Our parents, and their friends at temple/church.

Now hold on! I'm not suggesting that our parents deified their own shared experiences into SuperParent-in-the-Sky (though it makes for good reading, obviously). Even assuming that our parents believe in a real god, not just SuperParent, they can't convey anything to us except through their own lifelong filter of experiences (it's just not possible), and therefore contaminate a true bare Perception of a god. Before we even know how to look, the Idea of a god that our parents think will be best for us (given Best intentions) is seeded and watered.

But let's get specific. Can a god (even the best one) be turned to for moral authority? Human moral authority? Absolute human moral authority? (It even reads like an oxymoron... yes, I mean you!) Hmmm... I would think that the status of being a god would automatically disqualify you to give advice to lesser beings. Can we give meaningful advice (however well intentioned) to ants? Or microbes? How about atoms? Something is always lost in the scaling, I think.

OK, gods are out. What about scripture? I think we're getting warmer with this. Scripture (of any religion) is inherently an Interpretation/Inspiration of godly moral advice (like software). This is its saving Grace, if you'll pardon me: as it becomes Intermediary between (putative) god and human. This also parallels the Dickian view of the Torah - so be it.

OK, if scripture is in...whose, when, and are we ever gong to get back to whether morality must be absolute or relative? Tune in next time...

Inaugural Posting

2008-04-25T13:40:00.000-07:00

It would be amazing if this blog were in fact "posted" - that I'd scribble out the missive, seal it with wax imprimatur, and jog down to the corner to the squat black post box, with perhaps a lag of about two days until the message was received. Are we really as well served by Certainty as by Possiblity? It seems to me perhaps not: how human is a slight drift in the process! If the Modern Age is all about half-cocked certainty - cold results and lifeless screens - you can have it. I'd rather see a digital tree growing slowly on my desktop, on a planter windowsill with raindrops beading and gliding on the digital window. After a while, I might need my digital shears. Digital Shears, that's what I might well use now! (Especially on this post, now it's grown far beyond initial intentions...)

Hello and well-come!