Saturday night we had a pasta party at Phil's. 'twas my idea, having spaghetti and garlic bread on hand. Phil had some friends staying the night too, and Misha came over, with Mary in the mix we had 5 guys and Mary.
before Mary was over some of us got to see "Basic Instinct" for the first time ever. Silly movie, but it was kind of fun. Phil didn't have much on the way of cooking and serving utilities, it turned out. not having a colander though just makes spaghetti more interesting to make i think. anyways, dinner was nice even on foam plates. afterwards we crammed 7 people into a Volvo and went to see "Contact"
Now, if you've read the book, you might have trouble appreciating the movie. I sure did because the movie, even at two and a half hours, was like an abbreviated, Hollywoodized sensationalistic Apollo13-2001-2010-feel-good-movie wannabe. The movie is actually kind of cool if you can rationalise it as an entirely separate entity from the book. Compared to the book though, the movie is a silly SNL parody of good science fiction.
Anyways, yeah I'm picky about my SciFi. The movie was cool not in so far as it tried to be cool like the book, which after reading the book it seems to fail at miserably, but that in the last hour or so it got in to a sort of theological questioning bent. The main character, Ellie, is a-religious and gets denied a spot on the Alien spacecraft because of it. After all, 95% of humanity believe in God-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah ... she's bent on empirical proof, Science is her Religion. This seems kind of primitive to me, but you've got this New-Age preacher-boy friend of hers who's kind of in love with her and all .. well that bit's silly, but his thing is kind of the meaning of life. Religion offers him meaning, but he opposes blind faith in Science as that isn't necessarily meaning anything better for the people.
Anyways, after the cretinous, self-serving, I'll-tell-ya-what-ya-wanna-hear Christian dude gets himself blown up by a religious fanatic and Ellie goes on her joyride to the center of the Galaxy and all and comes back with this wonderful prophecy that We are not Alone but without proof, well ... folks are skeptical, and it becomes almost comical with the government like "Oh, you want us to accept your story on faith?"
Look at it this way though. Or, I'll tell you how I look at it. None of us can very well prove to each other a truth of this nature. Some people "find God" which might be some spiritual transcendent thing with deeper meaning, or they could be hallucinating the whole thing, who am I to know? One could compare Ellie as a prophet of the Aliens to Jesus or Mohammed as the prophets of God. You've got the miracles, be it parting the Red Sea or building this bizarre contraption based on a signal from outer space. Hoaxes? I dunno, you can talk to me about that if you want, but I'm just dealing with the idea here. Anyways, there is no proof one way or another. Jesus can say what he says, the Bible can retain such testimony for 2,000 years, but without God expressing his Will in any tangible way, it's just another crackpot theory designed to help us through life. Same with Ellie ... maybe she pulled an awesome joke on humanity, or maybe she is telling the truth, but it's kind of irrelevant really because the Aliens aren't really into making themselves felt just yet.
Why does the truth not matter? It's kind of like second-guessing yourself based perhaps on paranoia. Is someone watching you? God? Aliens? Ahhhh, who's to know? But why should it matter? I mean, you don't really know right?I mean, there's plenty of Christians perfectly eager enough to warn me away from Sin and all, to give me the Word of my hell-bent ways, but they can't prove shit to me, and neither can Ellie prove anything either. Instead a scientist acts on what s/he knows, and acknowledges that this might actually be wrong. The humility of not knowing for certain is a good thing, I think, if you want to keep improving what you know ... if you can admit you're wrong, you may have a better chance at being right, if you are a critical thinker.
But why should it matter? Why are you worried that you are doing wrong anyway? Are you doing wrong? Knock it off! Are you worried about what right and wrong is? Well, can't you make a lot of decisions yourself with the nice noggin' you have? We were made imperfect, even if that is in God's image. People have been making mistakes for a long time. I think it better though, wiser if you will, if you worry yourself over what is and isn't a mistake, than worrying over finding the definitive authority to tell you what is right and wrong.
I remember arguing with that Christian that one day, where he was saying what is not the word of God was the word of Satan ... well even if you believe in God, and his perfection, wouldn't it be somewhat reasonable to conclude that if all this mistruth is around us that we were built with this analyzing tool, our head, to figure out what is right and wrong? The bible could be wrong, it's been translated and transcribed, relayed and shit like crazy. How do you know Satan didn't creep a passage or two in there? You use your redundancy moral right-and-wrong filter and think for yourself.
I wouldn't expect anyone to take my word on blind faith either. Jesus was cool because he said many good things. That gives him cache with me, though it stops short of making him divine. If what you say is say is consistent with what people have experienced, if it makes sense and all, then they can look upon you as an adviser. If you are spewing bullshit then you should perhaps be discounted, but people can decide for themselves whether things are making sense or not.
Why doesn't God make his presence felt? What about the Aliens? Could the Aliens be God or something? Who knows their will, green men or God? I mean ... they're beyond our comprehension. I'm not God, why should I be guessing at his will? I have my own will, I'll figure it out as I may, sink or swim via the auspices of Divine Will or Natural Selection ... if we do our best then someday we may grow to know and better understand whatever it is that's out there, that's beyond our current understanding, but let's not lose the trees for the forest eh? Let's do what we're doing right for now and worry about Judgment later.
Eh, I'm rambling. It all goes back to people's search for meaning - why we do what we do? We want to have a reason for it all, why to get up in the morning and such. For the glory of God? For our research and education, scientific exploration of the mysteries of life? To go to work to eat and buy stuff like food so we can continue to live? To play with our kids? To watch TV? To get over a hangover and find some more of whatever vice we're into to avoid the question for another day? Because we're genetically programmed to wake up so we can eventually reproduce and later die? Heck, I dunno ... but stories like an afterlife, or the Aliens that await us out there, with knowledge, brotherhood, and comraderie in our future ... those are very compelling reasons, even if they may seem irrational to your detractors. The point I'd make is that it's up to you to find a good reason, the best reasons you can find, to wake up in the morning. Reasons that are morally sound in that they're not self-destructive or harmful to others. Don't be a heroine addict, but don't be a psychotic fanatic either if you can help it any.
So what do I believe? I think I'm full of shit, but should enjoy sharing it with those who dare their exposure to it, if for no other reason that to keep me out of trouble. Okay, there's more than that I'm sure, but I don't feel like a sophisticated self-analysis at the moment. Maybe I'm full of shit, but I'd like to make it the best shit I can, maybe people will buy it someday and I'll have fewer things to worry about, like money to buy food and housing. La dee da.
Well, I've maybe left folks with something to think about. Maybe not. Please email me your reactions. Thank you.
H O M E
16 July
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