Greetings good citizen, yesterday we addressed the shrubbery and today we'll critique the artwork.
What would a snapshot of our society look like? Given that the average individual sees what they want to see [and much of that is imaginary] we would find some mighty bizarre vistas rendered for our hypothetical query.
Even if we were to issue guidelines in an effort to minimize the overbearing religious theme that dominates half of humanities worldview we'd still end up with renderings that portrayed life as the long and arduous journey towards heaven.
Worse, there is zero consensus on what this heaven is like, just that it is 'wonderful' (in a decidedly indescribable way...)
Representations of this mythical quest would vary from ribbon thin trails bordered by steep drops directly into the gaping maw of hell and heaven being represented as a tiny GOLDEN dot on the horizon.And no matter how long you've been walking along that increasingly narrow trail Heaven never seems to draw any closer.
Those who depict the highway version have a more generous interpretation of the Almighty. The road itself is paved with gold and heaven itself is just one of many truck stops along the side of the road, each one bringing a new divine adventure!
For the doubters, the few that live in the real world, the journey is through throngs of nasty, deceitful people all passing judgement upon you as they wander cluelessly into desolation, all while pretending to be pious and upright. For the 'unbelievers' the journey isn't so much a path as it is a maze to be negotiated.
Between the doubters and the pious are the 'abandoned'; those the almighty afflicted either directly or indirectly and their unanswered prayers hardened their hearts but didn't break their resolve.
Some convince themselves if their prayers go unanswered they must have been praying for the 'wrong' things [a ponderous list indeed and World Peace is right at the top!] while the average individual reaches a point where it dawns on them that prayer is just something used to comfort the young, your pleas to the almighty fall upon deaf ears with many of them cancelling each other out in an eternal tug of war where each side is evenly matched.
Still others cut to the chase and realize they are only talking to themselves, finding solace in the fact that nobody else hears what they are thinking or they'd be long dead by now.
The intellectuals would attempt to render images of Democracy with some trying to provide what they think this guy Fabian looked like. Um, for those of you who ask that same question, all you need to know is Fabian is the name of the guy credited with the idea of electing 'representatives' to vote for us. Thus is the most common form of democracy sometimes referred to as democracy at arms length because your participation stops cold after you vote for who you think the better candidate is, often regardless of the facts or their track record.
Since it has too many moving parts it's been repeatedly demonstrated that Fabian/representative democracy doesn't work at all as a system of governance but it works like a charm for providing the 'illusion of participation'.
The 'believers' are too fixated on negotiating the narrow and winding 'stairway to heaven' to pay much attention to their earthly circumstances. The doubters [half of whom pretend to be believers] can't get enough people to pay attention to what's going on because they have too much heaven on their mind! The unbelievers are skinning anyone that will sit still long enough and the dumb ones twice! [Not that ALL unbelievers are 'evil/wicked' despite our dominant opportunist nature.]
How ironic is it that our opportunism leads many of us not to be able to see past the tip of our own noses?
For too many life isn't a journey as much as it is the instructions on the back of the shampoo bottle, "Rinse & Repeat"
Completely rhetorical question good citizen but what does the portrait you drew look like? {Perhaps more interesting is what you think mine looks like?}
[Um, no I can't refund your fifteen minutes because it's not my fault you're a slow reader...ten minutes max.]
Thanks once again for stopping by for your free self-inflicted wound,
Gegner
What would a snapshot of our society look like? Given that the average individual sees what they want to see [and much of that is imaginary] we would find some mighty bizarre vistas rendered for our hypothetical query.
Even if we were to issue guidelines in an effort to minimize the overbearing religious theme that dominates half of humanities worldview we'd still end up with renderings that portrayed life as the long and arduous journey towards heaven.
Worse, there is zero consensus on what this heaven is like, just that it is 'wonderful' (in a decidedly indescribable way...)
Representations of this mythical quest would vary from ribbon thin trails bordered by steep drops directly into the gaping maw of hell and heaven being represented as a tiny GOLDEN dot on the horizon.And no matter how long you've been walking along that increasingly narrow trail Heaven never seems to draw any closer.
Those who depict the highway version have a more generous interpretation of the Almighty. The road itself is paved with gold and heaven itself is just one of many truck stops along the side of the road, each one bringing a new divine adventure!
For the doubters, the few that live in the real world, the journey is through throngs of nasty, deceitful people all passing judgement upon you as they wander cluelessly into desolation, all while pretending to be pious and upright. For the 'unbelievers' the journey isn't so much a path as it is a maze to be negotiated.
Between the doubters and the pious are the 'abandoned'; those the almighty afflicted either directly or indirectly and their unanswered prayers hardened their hearts but didn't break their resolve.
Some convince themselves if their prayers go unanswered they must have been praying for the 'wrong' things [a ponderous list indeed and World Peace is right at the top!] while the average individual reaches a point where it dawns on them that prayer is just something used to comfort the young, your pleas to the almighty fall upon deaf ears with many of them cancelling each other out in an eternal tug of war where each side is evenly matched.
Still others cut to the chase and realize they are only talking to themselves, finding solace in the fact that nobody else hears what they are thinking or they'd be long dead by now.
The intellectuals would attempt to render images of Democracy with some trying to provide what they think this guy Fabian looked like. Um, for those of you who ask that same question, all you need to know is Fabian is the name of the guy credited with the idea of electing 'representatives' to vote for us. Thus is the most common form of democracy sometimes referred to as democracy at arms length because your participation stops cold after you vote for who you think the better candidate is, often regardless of the facts or their track record.
Since it has too many moving parts it's been repeatedly demonstrated that Fabian/representative democracy doesn't work at all as a system of governance but it works like a charm for providing the 'illusion of participation'.
The 'believers' are too fixated on negotiating the narrow and winding 'stairway to heaven' to pay much attention to their earthly circumstances. The doubters [half of whom pretend to be believers] can't get enough people to pay attention to what's going on because they have too much heaven on their mind! The unbelievers are skinning anyone that will sit still long enough and the dumb ones twice! [Not that ALL unbelievers are 'evil/wicked' despite our dominant opportunist nature.]
How ironic is it that our opportunism leads many of us not to be able to see past the tip of our own noses?
For too many life isn't a journey as much as it is the instructions on the back of the shampoo bottle, "Rinse & Repeat"
Completely rhetorical question good citizen but what does the portrait you drew look like? {Perhaps more interesting is what you think mine looks like?}
[Um, no I can't refund your fifteen minutes because it's not my fault you're a slow reader...ten minutes max.]
Thanks once again for stopping by for your free self-inflicted wound,
Gegner
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