The Alien Invasion Has Begun!

No, this little guy is not the alien...  the alien took his picture.

We scare ourselves with cinematic visions of extraterrestrial invaders.  They come from other planets for some resource that we possess in abundance (water, humans, air...), and they have no sympathy for us at all.  All these characteristics (except the other planet thing) sound very familiar.

We are the aliens.  Though our evolutionary history is from this planet, we left it long ago to live an artifactual life "above" this Earth.  When we first put soles on our feet, built fires and shelters, used weapons, and planted seeds, we separated ourselves from nature and our own planet.  Today we have created artificial entities, corporations and nations, to distance ourselves even more from the ecosystem and all others.  Our machines plow down trees, mountains, creatures of all kinds, and humans that get in our way.  We use everything and everyone to sustain our way of life; because our way of life is all that is important to us.

We are the aliens, and it is telling that we scare ourselves when we look at ourselves through others eyes.  We are the invaders, the predators.  We are destroying the Earth for the resources we need to feed our machines and our selves.  We are the conquerors and the conquered at the same time.  We are invading... resistance is futile...

Integrity

Integrity is the state of being whole and undivided.  In a social/ethical sense it means that one is not divided in word and deed, that what he says is what he believes.

Taken by my 2 year old granddaughter, Emma.

Integrity is a man-made concept.  My body is an example of integrity only in the grossest sense.  I appear to be undivided on the surface, all contained in my skin, my "person."  But a closer look reveals that I am at best a leaky bucket.  I have my cells, but I am also a vast, complex ecosystem of micro-flora and fauna.  I am living within a cloud of personal particles and bacteria, and I leave a pat of me behind where ever I go.  The very elements, atoms and molecules that make up my body are constantly being exchanged for new ones.  I am a cloud, a semi-stable, persistent whirlpool of stuff that I ate, drank or inhaled.

I doubt I can ever be integral.  My mind swirls with new ideas, hypotheses, and opinions with the influx of daily data from my experiences.  Though there is some continuity - I still recognize myself as me - I must say that my thought flow in a river that is never the same from day to day.  What I think today, I may doubt tomorrow.  Such inconsistency does not qualify me as one having integrity.

I hope that when someone wiser looks at what I am... a mosaic of many thoughts and ideas, a collection of experiences and actions, he or she might see an integrity that I have missed because I was looking far too closely.

As fuzzy, cloudy, and messy as I am, I am still me... just me.

simplicity

I believe in simplicity.  I believe believe in straight lines from point A to point B.  I believe in Ocam's Razor, that the simplest answer to a problem or question should be accepted.  I believe in human-scaled solutions to problems whenever practical.  I believe truth can be expressed simply in a few words, or maybe an equation.  I believe that even though there are over 100 elements, the "elements" of light (sunlight), water, and earth (soil) may sufficiently explain many interactions of my life.  I believe in simplicity.

Fear Tactics... not a fan.

I am tired of people threatening me everyday.  Start with religious leaders: If I don't toe the line, remain faithful to the reading schedule, the meeting schedule, and the service schedule, I will fall prey to the devil and lose my ticket back to God's loving arms.  The world is dangerous!  Seen and unseen enemies lurk only inches away to snare me.  And, the world is going to end next Wednesday, so you have a little time to get right with God before He destroys everything.  And, you better get on the right side of God because when Christ (the Prince of Peace) comes again He will lovingly destroy all the wicked.  Be afraid... be very afraid.

Then there are the politicians:  Our country is on the way down into chaos.  Our God-given liberties are being threatened.  Terrorists are crowding in on us, they are already in our midst, ready to release weapons of mass destruction.  The federal government is a massive conspiracy reaching into our lives to enslave us (So they all want us to elect them to take the helm of this great evil...)  Thank God we have our guns!  We are going to need them!  And it could be next Wednesday...  Be afraid... be very afraid.

It's too late for us to save ourselves from catastrophic climate change.  The polar bears are the first to go!  China will take over the world.  North Korea will rain destruction down on our capitalist heads.  Mexicans are migrating in taking all the really good jobs that we need for our children.  Common Core Curriculum is brain washing our children, dumbing them down so they can never compete with the Chinese, or the Mexicans...  Drugs are poisoning our society!  Guns are killing innocent people!  Cancer is killing us all.  The Sun may blow up!  And there's a monster black hole in the center of the Milky Way!  Be afraid... be very afraid.

First... do fear tactics really work?  As a junior high teacher, I found that the more I threatened, the more problems I had with kids.  Threats do not work.  Fear may be a motivator, but it can only be sustained for so so long.  Fear does not inspire anyone to do good works.  We just cover our butts and watch for our enemies.

And, I already know that I am going to die (hopefully not today).  I already know that I am not safe from the tribulations of life.  I already know that I am not as free as I would like to be sometimes.  I am already afraid of the dark, of heights, and of spiders...  I don't need everyone telling me that I am living on death row...

I hear all the threats, the fear mongering...  but I am listening for Hope, Vision, Values.  I am listening for Humanity.  I am listening to someone say that we have a great future ahead of us... that we can embark on a great adventure.  There may be risks, but we are up to them all.  Let's go!

still true...

I am STILL not voting for any of these candidates...

Problems vrs Solutions

I once tried to teach junior high students about the relationship between order and energy or work.  In a social experiment I had them put away books as fast as possible, while I timed them.  The books were thrown onto the the shelves in no order at all.  Then I told them that they had to be in order, upright on the shelves.  With the stop watch ticking away, the kids still hurried as much as they could, but they also communicated a lot more and there were a couple who rose to lead the process and insure that the books were indeed in order.

I could give thousands of examples.  Children naturally pull out every toy from the toy box and scatter them around the house.  A park naturally becomes littered.  Our houses become cluttered, as do our daily lives.  Disorder, or "chaos" is easy and may, in fact, be a natural state within many systems.  Order requires work and the expenditure of energy.

It is very easy to spot problems; it is a lot more work to solve those problems.  Creating "order," creating solutions, and fighting entropy requires more time, energy, work, communication, and leadership.   I believe it is a law of nature.

Hell is easy... Heaven on Earth will require a lot more work.  

We are busy!

The grandkids are here...  I have no time for posting today.