SEARCH FOR THE VOICE OF REASON

 

SEARCH FOR THE VOICE OF REASON

The first three paragraphs below are repeated from my FB post,

It is hard to find a voice of reason among those who are politically motivated, because the world of politics is an imperfect world of conflicting ideas, created by imperfect human beings. I believe that most of us are basically good people who want to see the good in other people, and long for a more perfect union, but who among us is perfect?

We often fail to see the potential for evil that lurks in our own hearts. It is far too easy to believe that you are the one with perfect judgement, the one who actually knows the difference between good and evil, and therefore, anyone who disagrees with you must have been lured to the dark side by the lies of that “other side”. If only those who agree with us were in control, the world would be a wonderful place!

I grew tired of the hatred and name calling evoked by some of my posts as they touched on the current political upheaval, and vowed to discontinue posting political opinions. But some Face Book friends pointed out to me that to refuse to stand up for what’s right is to allow evil to prevail. It is conventional wisdom that sometimes it is necessary to fight fire with fire. But if you fight evil with evil, everyone gets burned.

This illusion of our own innate perfection is the delusion that drives some of us to try to shut down all voices that we disagree with. But that is the antitheses of what our country was founded on. If we are to hold on to the narrow thread of the right to pursue life, liberty and happiness that was carefully woven into our Constitution and Bill of Rights by the founding fathers of this great nation, then we must listen to other voices, search our own hearts, recognize our own faults, and pray for guidance.

“In God we trust” was not just a political slogan of the founding fathers, it was a recognition by a group of very wise men of the reality of their own human imperfection. They came to this wilderness on the other side of the world to escape the tyranny of those who thought it was their divine right to control the people of this planet. As free individuals, they created a government of the people and sought to secure it for everyone. And, while the nation they created is not perfect, it was a step in the right direction.

At this time, when to some of us, evil seems to be winning, I believe that there is hope. The world has not come to an end just because the side you favored is not in control, people can learn, and there is some evidence in the political world that reason will eventually prevail. Consider these quotes by Winston Churchill who helped save the world from the threat of global socialism and extreme social engineering during the second world war:

If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at forty, you have no brain.

 

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.

Don’t lose hope, God is still in control. Continue to pray.  

If we lose our connection with the Higher Intelligence that upholds the natural laws that rule the universe with mathematical precision, we descend into the chaos of our own making. So, in this time of conflicting ideas, we must stand up against the tyranny of those who believe that they have the right to silence anyone who disagrees with their opinion. Do your own fact checking. That’s hard to do, when the mainstream media outlets are controlled by the same people who seek to control you. The forces of evil can cancel free speech, but they can’t cancel God.

ERC – Sunday, February 7, 2021

STONES AND BONES

 

REFLECTIONS ON A PILE OF BONES

Getting some exercise with Max today, walking in an area that was logged off a few years ago, I saw some small crystals sparkling at me from a rock lying at my feet, tiny facets glinting in the sun. I raked aside the leaves a bit, to get a closer look, and came upon a pile of weather-bleached bones, probably deer. While Max enjoyed a chew, I relaxed and began to think. Not too long ago, perhaps a year, this had been a live, breathing, warm-blooded creature, not all that different from me, a live, conscious entity, walking through the woods, looking for a place to lie down and die. Is that what I am doing, even though I have no such thought in mind? It’s just a matter of fact, that sooner or later, I will leave behind a pile of bones too, the now-sturdy bones to which I am attached, that have enabled me to experience the pleasures and pains, joys and sorrows, glories and griefs of life on this planet.

Then I thought of my parents. I know where their bones lie buried, they are side by side, just as they were in life, and there’s actually a place reserved there for my bones too, when I’m done with them. The bones of my parents, my four grand-parents, and one pair of great-grand-parents are buried in three different graveyards in Iron and St. Francois Counties in Southern Missouri. But, beyond that, I don’t know. Their parents, grand-parents, great-grand parents, etc., my ancestors, left behind a lot of bones, scattered across the landscape with various strands of DNA in their marrow that make up some of what and who I am today. They left their bones behind years ago somewhere in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa; piles of bones, extending back in time, even to the Pyramids and the Ancient City of Petra, and beyond. Stones and bones… and what memories were recorded, stored to be hidden or revealed, in those stones and bones! Will I ever know? Yes, I think so, because nothing is ever totally lost, nothing is created or destroyed, only changed in form, and clues always remain.

I have big thick book, compiled by one of my mother’s cousins, tracing one line of my ancestry back to Central Europe, and I have had my DNA analyzed. From family history, facts and fictions passed down, I thought I knew that I was half German, about a quarter Irish, about a quarter Scott, but part of that might be Native American ‘Indian’. Past five or six generations, seven at most, - that’s a mere 150 years or so - DNA tracing is more of an art than a science, even though it is being improved as we speak. It turns out that there’s little doubt that what I thought I knew about my ancestors from family lore, was only a very rough estimate of the truth.

Analysis and re-analysis of my DNA has revealed that the one-half German part was actually from a mixture of ancestors who lived in what is now Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, and Russia, and their ancestors, along with those of my Scott and Irish immigrant ancestors, were probably mostly Vikings! Also, some of the German part also had roots in Eastern Europe, Northern Africa, Greece, and the Middle East. Even farther back, of course, we are all related unless you are a recently-arrived ET! At any rate, the history of this ball of mystery revolving around a medium-sized star, on the fringe of an arm of the Milky-Way Nebula, is cleverly written in stones and bones!

ERC- 2/3/2021