Author Archives: Admin

Freedom From Religion

November 18, 2013 4:22 pm ⋅

Foreword:  Though I am not a follower of any religion myself, I respect the positive role religion plays in the lives of all people who are comforted and guided by the doctrine of their beliefs, no matter what particular religion they follow. This essay is about the protection of all religions from each other, as some religions have included in their doctrine that all other religions are beyond wrong and must be oppressed or eliminated.

Thank God for Thomas Jefferson. He understood that in order to have freedom of religion, a society must also have freedom from religion. He made sure that the constitution prevented the installment of one religion having legal domination over all other religions by understanding that America was founded on freedom of religion, not founded on the Christian religion. He foresaw that, in the structure of a country in which representative government could eventually vote into effect laws that would favor the religious beliefs and doctrines of a particular religion, that even Christianity could become the oppressed religion through the effects of immigration and popular vote. The separation of church and state was written into the constitution to protect all people, no matter their belief system, from being forced by the majority religion to comply with laws which would take away anyone’s freedom of choice. America was founded on freedom, not religion. Thank you Thomas Jefferson.

As citizens we have to watch out for those who today are trying to go against the separation of church and state. One recent example of such efforts is laws that impose restricted health care choices on women based on religious beliefs. The women affected by these laws have lost their freedom of choice. But the most dangerous example is the effort by some to establish judicial processes based on the religion of the person who is facing court charges, for instance those who want to establish a separate judicial system based on Sharia law. If that kind of personalizing of laws and judicial systems is allowed to happen, it will lead to resentment, perceived injustice, and chaos. If any one religion is allowed to have such an exemption from our constitutional judicial structure, then all religions will insist on having the same right to establish their own judicial system.

One of the first groups to step up and demand exemption would surely be those whose religion supports polygamy. And who has the right to decide what is considered a religion? There are hundreds of religions in America. Any group of people can concoct a philosophy and call themselves a religion. Praise the Lord, or praise the sun, I don’t mind, as long as your religion does not have doctrines that step on the freedom of others.

The literal bottom line for me is that I believe one more thing about religion that demands absolutely the separation of church and state. I believe that freedom and religion are opposites of each other. A religion is a set of beliefs and structure that, if you don’t agree with, you cannot truly be a member of that religion, therefore you must give up your personal freedom to join, and yet it was your freedom of choice to do so.

I know…………it’s a paradox, and ironic.

But wait, I guess I do have a religion, however very simple, personal, and undocumented until now. It has only three tenets:

(1) the faith based tenet is: Don’t worry, everything will be OK

(2) the first rule based tenet is: Live by the Golden Rule as in “treat others as you would like to be treated”

(3) live by and protect the constitution of the USA.

 

I’ll end this by quoting one of my favorite writings, “Desiderata”, a 1927 prose poem by Max Ehrmann, which concludes with:

“You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its’ sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.” 

Posted in: Belief Systems

Economic Impact Of Laws On The Poor

October 27, 2013 8:03 pm ⋅

It seems sad to me that the people who can least afford the requirements of laws are usually hit the hardest by them financially. Fees for licenses, permits, and services are never scaled to the buyers income. Everybody pays the same fee and thereby the poorest are hit the hardest in complying with the laws.The laws dealing with ownership and operation of motor vehicles is a major example. Cars have to be registered, smog checked, and insured. It’s not a major cost to most of us, just an inconvenience, but to those who are living at poverty levels, it’s a lot of money. And ironically, it is the poorest people who generally own cars that will fail the smog check and they will have to pay even more for the repairs needed to get the car to pass.

Who is most likely to be driving a vehicle that is going down the highway in a cloud of exhaust smoke? If the person could afford a better car, they would probably be driving a better car. So then they get stopped by the police and asked for their driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance. Finding that they don’t have insurance, the car is impounded. Have you ever had to deal with a car that was impounded, perhaps because it was illegally parked?  To get the car back, you had to pay towing charges, storage charges, and probably a fee for a release certificate from the police headquarters. It will add up to hundreds of dollars to get your car back, and that’s if you act quickly.

But consider the process for the poor guy who car was impounded for lack of proof of insurance. To get the police to release the car, he’ll have to obtain the insurance and be able to show proof of it. It will probably take a day or more to get the insurance while the car still sits in storage, running up the fee. It will almost always wind up costing the poor person more due to his inability to deal with the event as quickly as can people who have better financial resources.

Now, I’m not at all against requiring cars and trucks to be insured, smog free, insured, and registered. Those laws are important and helpful for our society, and I don’t have a specific solution to the ability-to-pay inequality problem. I’m just saying that all laws should be designed to achieve the desired result without unequal financial impact on the lowest income persons.

A new law was recently passed in Texas which requires that doctors have hospital admitting privileges within 30 miles of where they perform abortions, resulting in closing of all but about 20 clinics in a state of 26 million people. Does that mean that women cannot get abortions if they really want them? No, but it means it’s going to cost more, because they will have to travel to those clinics still available in Texas or to another state where they can get help. Once again it is the poorest people who are most heavily impacted financially by this new law. Many of those low income women will be economically forced to have children that they cannot afford to care for properly which often leads to needing more social services which the taxpayers pay for.

It should be a standard process in our creation of laws and enforcement of them to consider the impact on “the least among us” and to try to find ways to offset that impact. Such a process is not only the right thing to do; it is economically wise. In regard to the two examples presented in this article, there are negative impacts on our economy resulting from the implementation of those laws.

The legal requirements of owning, maintaining, and fueling cars add up to discouraging struggling people from having one. That results in a reduced ability to find and maintain a job and makes it more difficult in general to take their children and other family members to school and to get medical care when needed; not impossible, just more difficult. Hardships add up.

Regarding the Texas legislation making it more difficult for women to get abortions, I realize there are many people who have religious objections to abortion, but I don’t see an equal concern for the quality of life of the children born due to those laws. Which is the greater evil?

In the end everything comes down to economics. All laws, no matter their intentions, have economic consequences, and the potential consequences should be considered and offsets implemented as a part of the process.

“Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor.” Sholom Aleichem

“If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.” John F. Kennedy

 

Posted in: Politics

Where You Are In The Universe

October 26, 2013 6:25 am ⋅

The dictionary defines “infinite” as:

in·fi·nite [in-fuh-nit] adjective

1.  unlimited or unmeasurable in extent of space, duration of time,etc.: the infinite nature of outer space. 

2. unbounded or unlimited; boundless; endless.

Since it is our perception that the universe is infinite in its’ size, and that that is unknowable and yet possibly true, please consider what I am about to tell you as a perception as well, and also is unknowable and yet possibly true. Are you still with me? Here we go.

Imagine yourself standing on a mountaintop and you can see in all directions (except down through the earth, of course).  Turn your eyes in any direction and look toward the end of the universe. How far away is the end of the universe?  It is an infinite distance.  Look up, look down, no matter which way you look it is an infinite distance. As you look in all directions you can now envision that you are inside a sphere and perceiving the edges of it as though you are inside an infinitely large, perfectly round ball.  So, where are you exactly positioned inside this ball?  Since it is exactly the same distance, infinity, in any direction you look, that puts you precisely in the center. The center of the universe is right there behind your eyes. And what is behind your eyes? Your mind.

The same is true for all life here and throughout the universe. We are all one, and all are the center of the universe.

 

Posted in: Imponderables

A Great Mathematics Paradox

October 26, 2013 5:21 am ⋅

When you flip a coin, heads or tails, with each flip of the coin there is exactly a 50/50 chance of heads coming up. No matter how many times you flip the coin, it remains a 50/50 chance of heads for each flip. But we all know that sooner or later it has to come up tails. If you were making bets on each toss of the coin and you begin by betting one dollar on the first flip and then doubling the bet each time you lose, you will eventually win and can walk away with the profits or start again with a new low bet, provided you don’t run out of money before the streak of losing ends, and providing someone is stupid enough to take those bets in the first place. That is why casinos have a maximum bet at their blackjack tables. The bet limit prevents you from simply doubling your bet each time you lose, and then eventually walking away with a sizeable win at the end of your losing streak. 

It’s called “gambler’s fallacy” by mathematicians. Sometimes when people are gambling,  they base their betting strategy on knowing that streaks always end sooner or later. Remember, you can eventually win, but only if you have enough money to double your bet with each hand of blackjack, because you have to win back your previous loss. A long streak can amount to an awful lot of cash on the table. Consider this: You start with a one dollar bet and you lose the round, so you now bet with two dollars on the table, and having lost again, you must put four dollars out, and as you continue the losing streak, you double your previous bet each hand.  By just the tenth hand, you’ll have $512.00 dollars on the table. If they let you continue and you keep losing, you’ll have $524,288 out there by the 20th hand, and when your losing streak hits the 30th hand, you’ll have just under 537 million dollars bet on the hand. And you started with one dollar. That’s why they give you free drinks in casinos.  (see the chart below for how the 30-day progression goes beginning with one penney)

Perhaps this erroneous thinking is just a mind-bender like this story: Three men enter a hotel and approach the clerk to pay for a room they will share for the night which costs $30. Each man gives the clerk ten dollars for their share of the fee, and they go upstairs to the room. Moments later the clerk realizes he has overcharged them for the room, which should have cost 25 dollars, so he takes five one-dollar bills from the register and hands it to the bellhop to take upstairs to the guests. At the room the bellhop explains to the men what happened and tries to give the men the five dollars, but instead they each take one dollar from him and tell him to keep the remaining two dollars as a tip. Now, as a result of all this, each man has paid nine dollars which (3×9) equals 27 dollars, and the bellhop walked away with his 2 dollar tip. So lets sum it up. Each man wound up spending 9 dollars for the room, which totals 27 dollars, and the bellhop got the 2 dollar tip, so 27 dollars plus the 2 dollar tip equals 29 dollars. But recall that they had actually paid 30 dollars downstairs, so what happened to the other dollar?

Day 1: $.01
Day 2: $.02
Day 3: $.04
Day 4: $.08
Day 5: $.16
Day 6: $.32
Day 7: $.64
Day 8: $1.28
Day 9: $2.56
Day 10: $5.12
Day 11: $10.24
Day 12: $20.48
Day 13: $40.96
Day 14: $81.92
Day 15: $163.84
Day 16: $327.68
Day 17: $655.36
Day 18: $1,310.72
Day 19: $2,621.44
Day 20: $5,242.88
Day 21: $10,485.76
Day 22: $20,971.52
Day 23: $41,943.04
Day 24: $83,886.08
Day 25: $167,772.16
Day 26: $335,544.32
Day 27: $671,088.64
Day 28: $1,342,177.28
Day 29: $2,684,354.56
Day 30: $5,368,709.12     That’s one cent rising to over five million dollars in thirty days. 

Posted in: Uncategorized

Love Is a Concoction

October 25, 2013 6:31 am ⋅

Love is a concoction made up of many ingredients, which is the reason why it is so hard to define love in a simple statement. Certain components when mixed together will create the emotional mindset that we call love. Love makes you want to be a better person. There’s no word for the opposite of lonely, but that’s a feeling that is a component of love. Love is not just one thing. It is a concoction of many different feelings and emotions which combined make you feel very lucky.

Love is largely about opposites. Loving and being loved is the opposite of lonely. Listening is the opposite of doing all the talking.  Caring, giving, sharing, and providing are the opposite of focusing only on your own needs and desires. Love is more about giving than getting, but the more you give the more you get in return. Love is like gravity. You can feel its’ effects on you, but you can’t tell what it is really.

I wrote a song or two about love. Here are the lyrics to one of them.

Maybe I Can Show You

If I’m always there to hold you when something makes you cry,

If I can console you and make those teardrops dry,

If I can make you smile again the way you always do,

Then maybe that will show you that I love you.

 

If I can take you places and hold your hand in mine,

If I can bring excitement to your body and your mind,

If I can make good feelings come from everything we do,

Then maybe that will show you that I love you.

 

Words cand never say it, just words will never do,

But day by day, hour by hour, I’ll share my life with you.

 

If I can bring you flowers when there’s no occasion to,

If I can do some things to make life easier for you,

If I can show it every day in all the things I do,

Then maybe I can show you that I love you.

 

Posted in: Love

Procrastination

October 25, 2013 6:04 am ⋅

Ahhh…..we’ll get to that later.

Posted in: Uncategorized

The Learning Process

October 25, 2013 5:47 am ⋅

The manner in which we learn things is upside down from what we think we’re doing when we learn something. When learning how to do something, we’re actually learning all the ways not to do that something. The learning process is based on errors. We have an image of what we want to do and we can eventually learn to do it by failing to do it over and over. Observe an infant learning to reach out to touch or pick up an object. At first his hand flails around, missing its’ target. Gradually his brain gathers the visual feedback information from all the missed targets and can operate the arm successfully to reach the desired target. That learning process doesn’t stop with simply learning the basics. As anyone knows who has learned to play a musical instrument or how to type, much practice is required to succeed.

All success in life is based on learning by way of eliminating the errors. This is one of the best examples of how irony and paradox acceptance can help you in life. Do not be afraid to fail over and over again when there is something you’re trying to accomplish.

Posted in: Our Minds

Familiar Sayings Based On Irony/Paradox

October 25, 2013 5:17 am ⋅
  • Be careful what you wish for.
  • You can’t have your cake and eat it too.
  • My greatest fear is that I’ll get what I deserve.
  • Live each day as though it’s your last…..because one day it will be.
  • Too many cooks spoil the soup.
  • Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
  • What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger (and smarter).
  • No good deed goes unpunished.
  • Only the good die young,
  • What if the hokey pokey is really what it’s all about?
  • Without fear or despair there is no hope.
  • There’s a thin line between love and hate.
  • We have nothing to fear but fear itself. 
Posted in: Daily Life