Bless the Light That Reason Lends

 we have returned from our travels and are grateful for the natural beauty we enjoyed on our journey, as well as for our safe arrival back home.  one of the last stops we made was at the "ark encounter," which bills itself as an authentic replica of noah's ark that is described in the book of genesis.  this ark is a gigantic wooden structure, claiming to be the largest timber frame building in the world.  if an ancient israelite, such as noah, had built such a boat, it would never have been seaworthy, resulting in the end of all creatures on the earth, if the genesis story is to be believed as literal truth.

the kentucky ark is a boondoggle in many ways:

• it is obviously a money-making scheme for its creator, ken ham.  everywhere one turns, there is an opportunity to spend more money.  there are zip-line and virtual reality adventures, along with multiple gift shops and concession stands.  it costs ten dollars to park your car, on top of the fee for entering the ark.  as seniors we paid a discounted rate of about forty dollars per person for admission; a regular adult ticket costs fifty dollars.
• the ark displays teach that the bible is literally true in every detail.
• there are displays that insist that dinosaurs and humans lived on the earth at the same time.  "baby" dinosaurs, including tyrannosaurus rex, are portrayed as some of the inhabitants of noah's ark.
• one of the presentations tells us that all humankind is descended from noah's three sons and their wives.  one pair parented all inhabitants of africa, another all europeans and asians, and the third all people of middle-eastern descent.
• the ark's creator insists that the earth is only six thousand or so years old and that the universe was created in six days, as the book of genesis tells us.  he presents a timeline that purports to explain how all of earth's history fits a literal interpretation of the biblical account.
• though the pairs of animals in the ark encounter are limited to only a few species, (between 60 and 70, if i remember correctly), ham insists that all animals that exist today are descended from this limited animal population.  using his reasoning, every type of bovine on earth now descended from the one pair of this "type," as ham describes each pair, so that we are to believe that bison and oxen, as well as every other bovine, are descendants of the single pair of cattle on the ark.

this list could go on and on.  ham has built a "creation museum" about an hour away from the ark encounter that reinforces and expands on the presentations in the ark encounter.  fortunately, we did not have an opportunity to invest more money in his denials of science.  we went to the ark encounter because some close relatives who met us in kentucky as we were returning home sincerely believe in what ham teaches.  we didn't want to cause pain to these relatives or engage in a debate with them about their beliefs, so we went through the ark with them and refrained from discussing what we saw while we were with them.

we think that a great deal of harm flows from ham and others like him who insist that credible scientists in many fields are wrong about the history of the universe.  this denial of scientific evidence is the source of a mindset that leads people to refuse vaccines that are safe and effective, to believe in racist points of view based on misunderstanding about the contents of the bible, and a refusal to associate with diverse groups of people who are different from them in many ways.  the "young earth creationist" philosophy distorts the teachings of the bible and turns the bible into something that it is not: a collection of valid historical writings.  when one insists on a literal reading of the contents of the bible, the more profound truths that underlie many of the stories in the bible are lost.  for instance, what are we to make of the two visions of God presented in the noah story?  are we to believe in a vengeful god that would destroy all living beings because of the sins of many, in a god that would select the members of one family for survival while all others are destroyed, or in a God that values life and vows never to cause such destruction again?  it seems to me that the latter vision of God is the understanding that ought to be valid for followers of jesus, rather than the legalistic god that is so often portrayed in the writings of the old testament and continues to be seen in versions of christianity that focus on humans as corrupt and depraved.

may we use our brains to ferret out the truth, rather than succumbing to superstition.  may we not confuse religion and science, making of each something it was never intended to be.  if we believe in a god, may that god be a God of love and mercy.  shalom.

Homeward Bound

 tomorrow we will start our journey towards home.  i know that as we travel westward over the next four days i will have little time to write, so today i'm writing a brief meditation about what's on my mind.  i jotting this down quickly and won't even take time to proofread.  please forgive any mistakes.  

last week i wrote about attachment to possessions.  we can be attached to so many things, and as i contemplate the upcoming trip, i think about my attachment to home.  after being away, i long for home.  i wonder how those who have no fixed home deal with their wandering.  i wonder if they long for home or if home has a different meaning for them.  i wonder if i can let go of my attachment to the idea of home.

we are attached to so much, not just home or possessions.  we are attached to our spouse, our children, our extended family, our friends, our concept of who we are, our thought, the foods we love.  the list could go on.  so as i think about attachment, i wonder if i could ever let go of all my attachments, or if i should release myself from attachment.  this is what i will think of in the moments i have for solitary thought during our trip back to where we started our adventure.

in the meantime, may we all be peaceful and at ease.  shalom.

Live, Love, Laugh, and Be Happy

 as we've been on our travels, one of the things we've enjoyed doing is going through "antique malls" where collectors rent small spaces within a large warehouse sort of building where they display things they want to sell .  much of what we see are small knickknacks and household goods, such as dishes and stemware, that were once treasures in someone's home.  i often think about the former owners of these things.  what were their lives like?  how would they feel if they could see the things they loved displayed for sell in such a place?

during our lives, we collect so many things.  in our own home, we have many sets of dishes that we love to use.  we have crystal stemware for special occasions.  we have beautiful objects that we delight in.  we have furniture that has special meaning for us and that we have enjoyed using through our years together.  when we are gone, little of it will find a place in our children's homes.  most of the things we have delighted in will either be sold in an estate sale or wind up in an antique mall somewhere.  no one who sees what we have collected during our lives will know our history or the special meaning these objects held for us.  the detritus of our existence will be dispersed for someone else's enjoyment or profit, and our lives will be but memories to those who knew us.

this is the common experience of all of us.  our worldly possessions will pass from us at some point, perhaps when we are forced to move into smaller living quarters or into a care facility because of the infirmities of old age, perhaps when we pass from this existence.  the joys and cares of our lives will disappear with these objects, and it will be as if we had not existed, except in others' memories and in the good and bad we have done during our lifetimes.  we hope that our lives will be cherished by those we have touched during our time on this earth, but our bodies will disintegrate and return to the earth from which we came.  the saying, "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" is so true, and it is the ultimate end that all of us have in common.  the objects we loved will take on different meanings than what they meant to us.  our association with them will be forgotten.

may we remember that what is important is the good that we do, not how much we possess.  in the end, those possessions become meaningless, except to those who knew us most intimately.  may we cherish the memories that are associated with the things that we love, while releasing ourselves from attachment to them.  may we distinguish between what is essential and what is not.  may we not cling to or crave that which is not essential.  may we know that in the end, only lovingkindness and compassion are truly important.  shalom.

On the Road Again 2

 my wife and i are traveling.  right now we are in the shenandoah valley of virginia.  today we are going into west virginia to see one of the most famous bridges in the usa--the bridge over the new river gorge.  we have seen so much beautiful natural scenery on this trip: mountains, forests, waterfalls, rivers, lakes, and streams of various sizes.  my time for writing is limited, so i will close with this:

may you be filled with lovingkindness and compassion;

may you be well;

may you be peaceful and at ease;

may you be joyful.

Here Is That Rainbow

 a few days ago, my brother would have celebrated his seventieth birthday.  he died three years ago, not long after we moved to our new home here in the mountains.  he was five years younger than me, and we lived very different lives.  as i think of him, memories come flooding back.  when he was born, my parents were building a new home on property next to the building where we had rented an apartment for the previous four years, so his birth coincided with our preparations to move into the home our parents had built for their growing family.

my brother and i shared a bedroom in this new home once he was old enough to move from his crib/youth bed in my parents' bedroom.   i started first grade just before my brother turned one-year-old.  this meant that as he grew from a baby into a young child i was away from home most of the day.  i was so wrapped up in my new life as a schoolboy that i paid little attention to my brother.  where i was very independent and self-contained, he was a "mama's boy," clinging to my mother and never wanting to be far from her.

i loved to go stay with my grandparents during the summer.  during the first summer after i completed first grade, i spent two weeks with my mother's parents and two weeks with my father's parents, a pattern i continued until i reached high school.  near the end of the summer just before my brother's fourth birthday while i was staying with my mother's parents, my brother was stricken with a life-threatening illness.  my parents made a desperate drive to the larger town where my grandparents lived in the middle of the night to get my brother to the hospital.  he spent several weeks in the hospital, fighting for his life.  in those days, children weren't allowed to visit in the hospital, so i couldn't go see him.  i can remember standing outside the hospital while my mother brought my brother to the window so we could see each other once he had recovered enough to leave his hospital bed.  i felt so helpless standing there waving up to him and wishing that i could just give him a hug.  he looked so frail, and it was then that i realized how close we had come to losing him.

that illness changed the dynamics of our family in many ways.  my father, who had never been close to me as he was consumed with his work, doted on my brother.  he never lost sight of how close my brother had come to death, and anything he wanted my father got for him.  my brother used my father's fear of losing him to manipulate my father, as children will do.  i remember many family shopping trips when my brother would see a toy he wanted.  if my parents told him he couldn't have it, he would throw himself to the floor, kicking and screaming, until my father agreed to purchase for him.  i grew to resent this seeming favoritism towards my brother and began demanding that my father treat me equally.  my mother pointed out to my father that i was right to feel as i did, and, from that point on, anytime my brother wrangled a new toy out of my father, my dad gave me some money for my little savings account.  now, i understand why Dad gave in to my brother, as every day he was reminded how close to death my brother had been.

because of the difference in our temperaments and ages, my brother and i were never really close, though we shared a room.  he was more athletic than i, though neither of us were that interested in sports.  we both loved music, and both of us took piano lessons and played band instruments.  i was more serious about music than my brother and made it my career, but my brother became interested in acting.  he starred in many amateur productions in college and later as an adult.  he went to work on a boat that did oil exploration in oceans all over the world after dropping out of college and saw much of the world as a result.  he eventually married a young woman from thailand and brought her home to the states after the birth of their son.

when my nephew was five, my brother and his wife divorced, and she and my nephew moved away while my brother continued to work on the ship.  when that job played out, his company moved him to an office job in their headquarters in the city where his former wife and son lived.  this was a good situation for him, as he got to see his son frequently and was able to live a more settled life and renew his love for acting.  he completed his college degree and seemed to be content to live a more conventional life.  after a few years, another company bought out his company and began letting people go, including my brother.  by that time he was in his fifties and was never able to find a permanent job.  it seemed that no one wanted to hire someone his age.  he was either over-qualified for the positions available or too old.  he took a series of part-time jobs but struggled to support himself.  he tried valiantly to make a career as a professional actor and got sporadic gigs, even playing a small part in a major movie, but his career never took off.

as he aged, his health deteriorated, probably from a combination of poor nutrition, smoking, and his inability to pay for health insurance.  he was stricken with throat and oral cancer, which was eliminated by surgery and follow-up chemo and radiation treatment.  then he had pneumonia, a heart attack, and a broken hip.  once recovered from all those health crises, he decided to move to the small town where our younger sister lived.  i took a truck to the large town where he was living and helped him get moved.  he seemed quite happy with his new living situation.  my sister was at his house frequently and loved having him near her.  just as he began to get settled in and feel at home, he had a heart attack in the middle of the night and died before any medical care could reach him.  my sister was spending the night at his home when this happened, so he was not alone when he died.

every year on his birthday, the struggles he faced come flooding back.  he worked so hard to make a good life for himself and to support his son.  he was the kindest of men, constantly taking in stray animals that were destined for euthanasia were it not for his generosity.  it seems as if all the goodness he embodied went unrewarded, with life constantly slapping him down.  yet, he never gave up.  when a door was slammed in his face, he looked for another to open.  i have to believe that the good karma he generated resulted in a better life for him after this one ended.  wherever my brother is, i hope that he is happy and surrounded by loved ones and pets who adore him.

may we do the best we can, no matter the circumstances of our lives.  may we learn from those who persevere in the face of every challenge.  may we never give up on lovingkindness and compassion.  may we not live to be rewarded for our good behavior but in order to make life better for those around us.  shalom.

Wake, Now, My Reason

 we humans are quite gullible.  for example, shortly after we moved here about four years ago, we went with some friends to listen to a sales pitch out of curiosity and because of the offer of a free meal at a local restaurant.  the room where the presentation was made was packed, so we weren't the only ones around who were lured by the offer of a meal at no cost.  the product being offered was a seat and back cushion that contained some "powerful" magnets.  these magnets, we were told, would cure most anything wrong with us, particularly back pain.  some members of the audience were asked to try the cushions out, and unsurprisingly they reported that their pain was instantly cured.  my wife and i were astounded that a number of people in attendance bought into this scam, including the husband of the couple we came with.  how could anyone believe that this cushion was worth the several hundred dollars that it sold for?  some people even bought extra magnets at an exorbitant price because the salesman convinced them that adding more magnets increased the curative powers of his product.

as i think of the people that are being taken in by hucksters with regard to the covid-19 virus, i remember that sales pitch from a few years ago.  unproven "cures," such as ivermectin, are promoted by a few commentators on tv, and thousands of people are convinced that now they have nothing to fear from covid infection.  this horse dewormer was endorsed by their favorite right-wing personality as an effective treatment, and, of course, they believe that this person knows more that all the scientists and medical experts who are telling them that this treatment is hogwash.  the same was true for hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug that was promoted by former president trump as a covid treatment.  despite all the medical evidence, there were those who believed that this drug was the answer to their fears about being infected, primarily because trump endorsed it.

the same sort of trickery is seen in our religious beliefs.  we are willing to believe the most incredible tales if they appear in a "holy" book or if they are told by a charismatic preacher.  order the miraculous prayer cloth or place your hands on the radio or tv as the preacher prays and you can be cured of any disease.  send money and "god" will bless you.  attend and contribute to the right church, say the right words, or perform the right rituals and you will spend eternity in a bliss-filled heaven.  we can suspend our reasoning powers and buy into the malarkey that passes for "true" religion because it is easier to accept what someone else says than to think through things for ourselves.  what the peddlers of phony medical treatments and phony religion are selling is hope, not reason.  why do the hard work of thinking when it is so much easier to accept what another says.

may we not fall for the propaganda that we hear and see on television, radio, and the internet.  may we examine all claims and ferret out what makes sense and what doesn't.  may we use our brains to sort out fact from fiction.  may we not adopt any belief simply because those around us endorse it or because it is handed down to us by our parents.  may reason triumph over unreason.  shalom.

To Promote the General Welfare

 recently president biden announced that the labor department of the federal government would begin requiring that all employees of businesses in which one hundred or more workers are employed must be vaccinated against covid-19 or undergo weekly covid testing.  many such employers already require their employees to be vaccinated as a condition of their continuing employment.  while on the face of it, this may seem to be governmental intrusion into the lives of millions of individuals, the underlying reasoning is that employees who are unvaccinated may easily spread the virus to other employees who must work in close proximity to the unvaccinated.  these employees have no choice if they wish to continue their employment, so being forced to work alongside unvaccinated fellow workers is a threat to everyone's health.  when someone catches the virus at work, they then take it home to their families, further accelerating the spread of the virus.  a course of action like the one the biden administration is taking is a better alternative than once more shutting down the economy in an enforced quarantine for everyone.

as we think about the continued refusal of many to take a vaccine that has been proven to be safe and effective, a mandate to be vaccinated is necessary.  if we cannot stop the spread and continued mutation of this virus into increasingly virulent forms, we cannot function as a society.  even those who have been vaccinated will be susceptible to infection if a vaccine-resistant strain of the virus emerges, as it surely will unless most people join the ranks of the vaccinated.  nearly universal vaccination for other diseases is required in this country.  why should covid-19 be any different?

i recently read a report about a county in a neighboring state in which the vast majority of its residents have refused the vaccine.  though the residents are watching as friends and loved ones succumb to the virus, many of them dying or suffering long-term effects, most are still suspicious of the vaccine.  practices to diminish the spread of infection, such as mask-wearing and social distancing, are ridiculed.  many of those who have been vaccinated have done so secretly so that their neighbors are unaware of their status because it is socially unacceptable in this small county to take the vaccine.  those interviewed were wary of the federal government and its motives in urging people to take the vaccine.  some said that the development had deliberately been slowed in order to insure the defeat of donald trump in the last election, and, therefore, to take the vaccine is to be pro-biden.  against the  backdrop of thinking such as this, it seems the only way to increase the rate of vaccination is to adopt a mandate such as the one the president announced.

another argument that the anti-vaccine proponents have put forward is the fatalist proposition that when "god calls your number", you will die, regardless of the cause.   "you have to die of something," these folks say, so, knowing as "christians" that they will go to a better place when they die, they claim to have nothing to fear if and when they catch covid.  "god" will protect them.  if "god" does not keep them safe from infection, then it is "god's" will that they catch the vaccine.  if they die from it, that, too, is "god's" will.  God deliver us from such "god-fearing" christians.

may we act in our own self-interest and that of those around us by being immunized against covid-19.  may we put aside faulty reasoning and suspicions of the government's intentions and listen to medical experts and scientists.  may we understand that part of living in a free society is feeling responsible for the well-being of all those in the society.  instead of opposing sensible regulations intended to keep us all safe, may we support those who are acting in all of our best interests.  shalom.