Flipper got sick on Friday night. He tried to make it to the bathroom, but instead left a three foot puddle of vomit on the carpet. The beige carpet. We threw a wet towel on it, and left it to clean in the morning. All of the Sysmidgets had dentist appointments in the morning. I took them, and left the Sysmistress to fend with the giant vomit stain. I was pulling pack up to the house as she was pulling out of the driveway. The carpet cleaner had busted, and she was running out for a replacement part. Damned handy, that woman. As we passed, she asked if I would take a basket of food to the church to get blessed. Sure.
The Sysmidgets and I were in the lobby of the church, with about 50 other families. What I had been expecting to be a 5 minute process turned into a 20 minute children's sermon. I saw quite a few parents poking and prodding their young children to participate in dialog with the priest. The symbolism of the food was the topic. Including Peeps. Oh yeah, the priest insists on the pronunciation "Geez-US!", using the linguistic subtlety similar to using a baseball bat to break an egg.
We were back at home, with our sanctified butter, about the same time the Sysmistress was arriving back home.
"How'd it go?" she asked.
"Fine," I said, "but they were really milking it."
We had Easter dinner at our house. We didn't go to services. None of the practicing Christians in the family said one word about the holiday itself. They were more concerned about the Master's gold tournament. No one said "Grace." It was really just an excuse for a family gathering. Mind you, my religious beliefs are not something that I dwell on with my family. As far as they're concerned, I'm benignly non-practicing. So no one was avoiding any topics of faith for fear of starting an unpleasant discussion with me. They just don't come up. Never have. Not at Christmas either.
In that sense, it's pretty easy being a non-believer in a family that really doesn't make a big deal out of believing in the first place.
Now for one of those segues that's not a segue.
The SysmMutt and I have been having some difficulty lately. He has been too rough with the boys. Jumping and biting. And I've had to establish with the dog that I am the alpha in the house, and if he messes with the kids, he will be disciplined. So, to show that he gets it, he's been showing that he is submissive. One of the ways he shows it is by peeing on the floor. I don't want the dog to be afraid of me (unless he's doing something wrong). And it's been driving me crazy that when he's being good, when he's listening, and when he's getting praise from me, he's still peeing.
So I read up on it. He is trying to please, the best way he can. In the dog world, submissive urination is supposed to be the signal that you are being completely "with the program." I need to adjust my body language to avoid sending the signals. I shouldn't look him in the eye. I should squat next to him instead of stand in front of him.
It's working. He's still listening better. And I'm not setting off whatever mental buttons that release his bladder. We all win.
I've been reading a bit lately. Juggling books by and about C.S. Lewis, Richard Feynman and Albert Einstein. They all address faith in an interesting manner. Obviously, Lewis was a prominent Christian. Feynman and Einstein both admitted to a spirituality, in a way, but not a spirituality that fits into conventional ideas of an organized dogma.
I think I can run with a version of Feynman's version. To put it into my own language - I think it's extremely unlikely that we could ever understand the scope of the universe. When things become beyond our grasp, and beyond our ability to even think of how we could think about them, it's tempting to label those things as "God". But why should we expect to have the capacity to understand everything, any more than I expect my dog to be able to understand the things that I do? It's a monumental display of hubris to say that if humans can't figure something out, then that topic is mystical. More accurate would be to say that that area of knowledge is beyond our operating parameters.
2 comments:
It's something I've always thought myself - maybe humans aren't smart enough to work out how everything works, and why things are the way they are. But to then go from that to a personal God seems fundamentally poor logic to me.
As JBS Haldane once said, "Now my own suspicion is that the Universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we CAN suppose." Indeed. As a side note my father read the book My Friend Mr Leakey, written by JBS Haldane, to me as a child. As did his father to him. I read it recently to my daughter, and she thoroughly enjoyed it.
Anyway, I've noticed Richard Dawkins gets a lot of unwarranted (and incorrect) criticism about his views on religious belief (mainly due to the fact the a lot of people misinterpret what he is saying), but anyone who has read The God Delusion will see that his views are very much in line with those of Richard Feynman.
We are all atheists in my house hold so the only arguing that goes on is usually between me and someone on the TV!
We are egotistical even in our thoughts of God. I often wonder why anyone would think 'personal salvation' would lead to 'jewels in heaven'. As though even our deaths are singularly important.
I am not ashamed of my faith, because it is merely an extension of the world around me. I am ashamed for those who would believe that peeing on the floor would equate luxury in the afterlife. Thanks for these thoughts.
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