Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Better Late Than Never
(2)
Believe it or not, I am still reading The God Delusion. Just today I began the chapter titled, 'The Good Book and the Moral Zeitgeist.' Sounds fascinating (but what means, 'zeitgeist'? Better look it up... and after reading the article I still don't know what the fuck it means). Anyway... I continue to be impressed with this book. Chapter 5 was concerned with The Roots of Religion, and chapter 6 was concerned with The Roots of Morality. Chapter 5 clearly equated 'modern' (eheh) religion with modern cargo cults. I loved it, of course. Chapter 6 wondered, 'Why are we good?' The answer was essentially pragmatic: we are good because it works. Not all of us are good, of course, but enough of us are good. Some of us are bad, but most of us are good. Good, works. Bad only works in special rare circumstances.
Alexander The Great, for example, was bad. He killed many people. But he was also good in that he created pathways of cultural and economic exchange which eventually benefitted all of the affected cultures. Alexander was eventually promoted to God, but death demoted him. George Bush is as clearly bad as Alexander was, but George Bush hopes to be eventually declared good by history in the manner of Alexander. It's a long shot. (Oh, don't look for this in the book.) I give Bush credit for eliminating 'sanctions' against Iraq. Nothing else.
In other news it appears that Jesus' daddy has been identified using DNA evidence: Conan. Conan is a chimp presumably not related to Conan O'brien. I will telephone God with this good news later.
I have been neglecting the modern practice of sexual mutilation known as circumcision. (The link does not quite work. To see what I meant, do a search on, 'circumcision' after you arrive there.)
Got my hair cut today by a beautiful young woman. I told her that she had an interesting face. I eventually asked her ethnicity. It was Hispanic. I thought so. I told her that her (asian) eyes were what prompted the question. I gave her a four dollar tip (haircut was 11 dollars). I resisted further flirtations mostly because the contrast between her classic young face and my old fat face was simply too much to overcome. I couldn't justify it.
My other encounter with a glorious young woman today was at the Kaiser blood unit. I 'gave blood' for my periodic coagulation test. The woman was African-American. She was never impressed by me, as I recall, but I knew from experience that she had a great butt (walking away). I called her 'honey' or 'sweetie.' I told her that her penetration of my vein (being gassed here) was 'Done like a pro!' I was sucking up to her of course. She smiled.
It seems to me that I am now learning something I should have learned before the age of 16.
Believe it or not, I am still reading The God Delusion. Just today I began the chapter titled, 'The Good Book and the Moral Zeitgeist.' Sounds fascinating (but what means, 'zeitgeist'? Better look it up... and after reading the article I still don't know what the fuck it means). Anyway... I continue to be impressed with this book. Chapter 5 was concerned with The Roots of Religion, and chapter 6 was concerned with The Roots of Morality. Chapter 5 clearly equated 'modern' (eheh) religion with modern cargo cults. I loved it, of course. Chapter 6 wondered, 'Why are we good?' The answer was essentially pragmatic: we are good because it works. Not all of us are good, of course, but enough of us are good. Some of us are bad, but most of us are good. Good, works. Bad only works in special rare circumstances.
Alexander The Great, for example, was bad. He killed many people. But he was also good in that he created pathways of cultural and economic exchange which eventually benefitted all of the affected cultures. Alexander was eventually promoted to God, but death demoted him. George Bush is as clearly bad as Alexander was, but George Bush hopes to be eventually declared good by history in the manner of Alexander. It's a long shot. (Oh, don't look for this in the book.) I give Bush credit for eliminating 'sanctions' against Iraq. Nothing else.
In other news it appears that Jesus' daddy has been identified using DNA evidence: Conan. Conan is a chimp presumably not related to Conan O'brien. I will telephone God with this good news later.
I have been neglecting the modern practice of sexual mutilation known as circumcision. (The link does not quite work. To see what I meant, do a search on, 'circumcision' after you arrive there.)
Got my hair cut today by a beautiful young woman. I told her that she had an interesting face. I eventually asked her ethnicity. It was Hispanic. I thought so. I told her that her (asian) eyes were what prompted the question. I gave her a four dollar tip (haircut was 11 dollars). I resisted further flirtations mostly because the contrast between her classic young face and my old fat face was simply too much to overcome. I couldn't justify it.
My other encounter with a glorious young woman today was at the Kaiser blood unit. I 'gave blood' for my periodic coagulation test. The woman was African-American. She was never impressed by me, as I recall, but I knew from experience that she had a great butt (walking away). I called her 'honey' or 'sweetie.' I told her that her penetration of my vein (being gassed here) was 'Done like a pro!' I was sucking up to her of course. She smiled.
It seems to me that I am now learning something I should have learned before the age of 16.
