Sad Christmas Story
Mood: Meh, I'm fine
Music: Hello in There - John Prine
Well, someone died in the family this morning, and I've already told you how I feel about death, so no, I'm not sad, but I might as well report it nonetheless.
My cousin lost his six-month-old daughter (as in, six months in the womb, not born yet) around 4 this morning. His wife, my cousin-in-law (is that what they call them? I've heard of brother-in-laws, sister-in-laws, mother-in-laws, et cetera, but not cousin), woke up early this morning because she felt the baby tumbling around inside of her which isn't unusual. My mother said I would do that a lot early in the morning as well. Anywho, all of a sudden she started feeling tremendous pain. Apparently, it was so bad that they had to call an ambulance to get her to the hospital. The doctors said the baby had died. My mother and the rest of the aunts, and other family members went up there to see Rachel (the mother). It turns out the placenta had pulled away from the uteran wall and the baby. So the baby wasn't getting oxygen. Not only that, but the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck tightly twice. Doctors gave my cousin's wife some drug that induces labor to get the baby out of her, but the baby was getting stuck. Eventually, they had to do an emergency caesarean to get it out before Rachel was hurt. Unfortunately, Rachel has red hair, and women with red hair (for some unknown reason) bleed more than other women, and she was bleeding badly. By the time my mother had left, Rachel was still getting blood transfusions, her platelet count was low, and she wasn't clotting at all. They aren't entirely sure if she is going to live either.
Well, that's the sad part of the story, and here's my thoughts on the extended version of it: Rachel was sobbing to herself as to why god would let this happen. Good thing I wasn't there, because I don't know if I could've contained myself, even with her possibly dying. I simply don't understand why people blame the gods. Leave 'em alone, I say. No, god didn't purposely kill your baby, yes, it is within god's power to do something about it, no, god doesn't get involved with creation, no, god doesn't make distinctions between good and evil. These are my own thoughts (and some of those from philosophers). I'm gonna probably get lambasted for this, but I really don't care about anything anymore. I haven't for quite some time. But here's what I think. God does indeed exist (something had to get things rolling), and I agree with Aristotle in calling it the unmoved mover. It (and I say IT, not he, not she) is incorporeal. Also in agreement with Aristotle, It is pure thought. Through Its thinking like crazy, things come to be (creation here, people, but not those childish stories you find in other religions). Now I believe that It is constantly creating, that's what it does. Then I think it leaves Its creations alone to unfold within the system they were created in. God doesn't get involved after that. To god, all things are good because they exist. Even death, as gruesome as it sometimes is, is good because it is a part of that system. The simple fact is that as living beings, we will die. It (dying) is in our nature to do so. To question god why It didn't do something is foolish. God did It's job, It's creating. It is ultimate wisdom. That is all. I'm sorry if "bad" things happen to you, but you were just unlucky this time around. You can make things better for yourself, but don't go around expecting god to take care of the "problems" you perceive to exist.
Moving on to natures, the unmoved mover, and other religions, it's time I let you all know what I happen to think about a certain religion that rubs me the wrong way: Christianity. You knew it was coming, so here goes...
If you've studied Aristotle (and you really should. It's great stuff! Besides, we are referred to as Aristotelians in our modern way of thinking, here's the man behind it), you know that everything has a nature. This nature is what it is for something to be what it is. It defines what everything is. For example, the nature of human is what it is to be fully human. It is all actualities of humaness. Our soul contains the potentialities to be human, and by living out our lives, we actualize those potentialities, and we are fully human. Let's apply this to Jesus, shall we? I don't believe he ever existed, but putting that aside, I want to explain why I think that if he did exist, he certainly was never god. Jesus was human. He was born a human, and he died a human. Why? He lived out the human life. He died. He loved. He hurt. He lost his temper. He did everything it was to be human. He had a human nature. However, he did not have the nature of god (for how can things have two natures? They would have to be both things simultaneously, and no matter how hard the Christian faith may try to say otherwise, you can't be both things at once.) To be both god and man is to be neither. You would be a hybrid. Your nature would be something completely different. You wouldn't be human. You wouldn't be god. Your something new. Besides, remember how Aristotle called the original cause of everything the unmoved mover? Was Jesus unmoved? I don't think so. He was moved all the time. The most apparent one is that he was moved, by other people, to death on a cross. Nothing can act upon god, not even if it willed it (although it isn't in Its nature to do so), because it is always unmoved. Another part of god's nature is that It is incorporeal. I'm pretty sure that the Christian faith will agree that Jesus had a body. So no. This is why I don't believe Jesus was god (and for other reasons, I don't believe he existed at all). And to make one final clarification that will most likely confuse the hell outta you (or make it all make sense), god and god's nature are one in the same. God is complete actuality. God has no potential, It is everything it is supposed to be. That's part of the being unmoved thing.
In conclusion (a horrible way to end papers. So, if you're writing one, never start off the conclusion paragraph with "In conlusion" or "To sum it all up" or anything else of that nature [ha! A small joke there...]) everything I have told you is wrong. Everything you believe is wrong. Everything everyone else has told you is wrong. You have to find the answers for yourself, and you can only do that by proper inquiry. True wisdom lies in those who can figure out the right answers, even if they don't know exactly what they are looking for because they know how to look for it. You want answers? Learn to think. If you've thought of a solution that has possible contradictions, it is wrong. Can 2+2= 4 or 5? No! It has one answer. 4. So, if you've come up with a "logical" solution to a problem, but that solution has mutliple answers, it's wrong. Start over. Don't worry. You'll make mistakes. It's hard. I don't know of anyone who has been able to successfully do it all the time. Nor do I think we are able to fully know everything at once. To do so would make us gods, but we aren't gods, we're humans.
If I think of anything else, I'll make posts about it later. For anyone learned in the subject of Philosophy and Aristotle, feel free to dispute my theories. I'll admit that I don't understand Aristotle as often as I'd like to, but I'd like to think I have at least a foothold on his ideas.
Music: Hello in There - John Prine
Well, someone died in the family this morning, and I've already told you how I feel about death, so no, I'm not sad, but I might as well report it nonetheless.
My cousin lost his six-month-old daughter (as in, six months in the womb, not born yet) around 4 this morning. His wife, my cousin-in-law (is that what they call them? I've heard of brother-in-laws, sister-in-laws, mother-in-laws, et cetera, but not cousin), woke up early this morning because she felt the baby tumbling around inside of her which isn't unusual. My mother said I would do that a lot early in the morning as well. Anywho, all of a sudden she started feeling tremendous pain. Apparently, it was so bad that they had to call an ambulance to get her to the hospital. The doctors said the baby had died. My mother and the rest of the aunts, and other family members went up there to see Rachel (the mother). It turns out the placenta had pulled away from the uteran wall and the baby. So the baby wasn't getting oxygen. Not only that, but the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck tightly twice. Doctors gave my cousin's wife some drug that induces labor to get the baby out of her, but the baby was getting stuck. Eventually, they had to do an emergency caesarean to get it out before Rachel was hurt. Unfortunately, Rachel has red hair, and women with red hair (for some unknown reason) bleed more than other women, and she was bleeding badly. By the time my mother had left, Rachel was still getting blood transfusions, her platelet count was low, and she wasn't clotting at all. They aren't entirely sure if she is going to live either.
Well, that's the sad part of the story, and here's my thoughts on the extended version of it: Rachel was sobbing to herself as to why god would let this happen. Good thing I wasn't there, because I don't know if I could've contained myself, even with her possibly dying. I simply don't understand why people blame the gods. Leave 'em alone, I say. No, god didn't purposely kill your baby, yes, it is within god's power to do something about it, no, god doesn't get involved with creation, no, god doesn't make distinctions between good and evil. These are my own thoughts (and some of those from philosophers). I'm gonna probably get lambasted for this, but I really don't care about anything anymore. I haven't for quite some time. But here's what I think. God does indeed exist (something had to get things rolling), and I agree with Aristotle in calling it the unmoved mover. It (and I say IT, not he, not she) is incorporeal. Also in agreement with Aristotle, It is pure thought. Through Its thinking like crazy, things come to be (creation here, people, but not those childish stories you find in other religions). Now I believe that It is constantly creating, that's what it does. Then I think it leaves Its creations alone to unfold within the system they were created in. God doesn't get involved after that. To god, all things are good because they exist. Even death, as gruesome as it sometimes is, is good because it is a part of that system. The simple fact is that as living beings, we will die. It (dying) is in our nature to do so. To question god why It didn't do something is foolish. God did It's job, It's creating. It is ultimate wisdom. That is all. I'm sorry if "bad" things happen to you, but you were just unlucky this time around. You can make things better for yourself, but don't go around expecting god to take care of the "problems" you perceive to exist.
Moving on to natures, the unmoved mover, and other religions, it's time I let you all know what I happen to think about a certain religion that rubs me the wrong way: Christianity. You knew it was coming, so here goes...
If you've studied Aristotle (and you really should. It's great stuff! Besides, we are referred to as Aristotelians in our modern way of thinking, here's the man behind it), you know that everything has a nature. This nature is what it is for something to be what it is. It defines what everything is. For example, the nature of human is what it is to be fully human. It is all actualities of humaness. Our soul contains the potentialities to be human, and by living out our lives, we actualize those potentialities, and we are fully human. Let's apply this to Jesus, shall we? I don't believe he ever existed, but putting that aside, I want to explain why I think that if he did exist, he certainly was never god. Jesus was human. He was born a human, and he died a human. Why? He lived out the human life. He died. He loved. He hurt. He lost his temper. He did everything it was to be human. He had a human nature. However, he did not have the nature of god (for how can things have two natures? They would have to be both things simultaneously, and no matter how hard the Christian faith may try to say otherwise, you can't be both things at once.) To be both god and man is to be neither. You would be a hybrid. Your nature would be something completely different. You wouldn't be human. You wouldn't be god. Your something new. Besides, remember how Aristotle called the original cause of everything the unmoved mover? Was Jesus unmoved? I don't think so. He was moved all the time. The most apparent one is that he was moved, by other people, to death on a cross. Nothing can act upon god, not even if it willed it (although it isn't in Its nature to do so), because it is always unmoved. Another part of god's nature is that It is incorporeal. I'm pretty sure that the Christian faith will agree that Jesus had a body. So no. This is why I don't believe Jesus was god (and for other reasons, I don't believe he existed at all). And to make one final clarification that will most likely confuse the hell outta you (or make it all make sense), god and god's nature are one in the same. God is complete actuality. God has no potential, It is everything it is supposed to be. That's part of the being unmoved thing.
In conclusion (a horrible way to end papers. So, if you're writing one, never start off the conclusion paragraph with "In conlusion" or "To sum it all up" or anything else of that nature [ha! A small joke there...]) everything I have told you is wrong. Everything you believe is wrong. Everything everyone else has told you is wrong. You have to find the answers for yourself, and you can only do that by proper inquiry. True wisdom lies in those who can figure out the right answers, even if they don't know exactly what they are looking for because they know how to look for it. You want answers? Learn to think. If you've thought of a solution that has possible contradictions, it is wrong. Can 2+2= 4 or 5? No! It has one answer. 4. So, if you've come up with a "logical" solution to a problem, but that solution has mutliple answers, it's wrong. Start over. Don't worry. You'll make mistakes. It's hard. I don't know of anyone who has been able to successfully do it all the time. Nor do I think we are able to fully know everything at once. To do so would make us gods, but we aren't gods, we're humans.
If I think of anything else, I'll make posts about it later. For anyone learned in the subject of Philosophy and Aristotle, feel free to dispute my theories. I'll admit that I don't understand Aristotle as often as I'd like to, but I'd like to think I have at least a foothold on his ideas.
posted by cjufnf at 3:53 PM
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