Parthenogenesis

The good book and many less good read mankind was made in god’s own image and though the atheists think it’s the imaginary reverse what if it’s that the universe and all its matter what if it’s that all those things before we mattered in our smattering of light what if it’s that all that was and is was plucked round and red into being by one unknowably knowing consciousness tempted by the empty black to fill it with the white noise of chattering possibility and what if it set those first simple blocky shapes it plucked those blobby forms it picked to form themselves into ever more complicated shifts inventing themselves flappy fins and gills then wobbly legs and lungs a caring heart and brain again and again toward a more subtle somewhen else when someone else more knowing stands up and falls down fruited by the tree of life to see we have our farther’s sensitive eyes and can look past walking lifetimes to find the now knowable blueprint tucked in a twisty pocket of ribs and it’s also here we’ll find ourselves red-faced according to the plan laid out for those first formless shapes somewhere else as someones else not trapped but free inside a magical black box filled by the emptiness come back and a poisonous white flask of one possibility silently collapsing into an informing consciousness.

Three minds

I am of three minds—
an un-whole trinity
built by ghostly id,
god-sick conscience,
and one son of never-
virginal egos—
interlocked inside
a mortal’s spirited,
head-in-head conflict.
To the fabulous free
goes my prized heart’s
spoiled meat. Cooked rare,
its fetid, red juices
run in all directions.

---

For this week's Poetry on Wednesday prompt, Rallentanda asks, What's on your mind? My minds are on my mind, all three. This was sparked by my drawing of the same name, and my friend Eileen's suggestion that it be put to words.

When stark outlines get fuzzy

This is the first in the series of philosophical essays I promised under the very broad and probably too self-important sounding banner of Toward a 21st Century Ethos. Because I don't want to write chapter-length posts, I'm skimming the surface on most of this. I hope what's under-treated will be fodder for the comments.

I admittedly chose to start with the topic that has only recently begun to shape itself in my mind. The outlines of my argument may appear vague and shifting, but that fits well with the subject I'm trying to tackle here.

The human mind seems to have an obsessive compulsion to neatly order the universe. We place the objects around us into tidy classifications, perhaps in order to convince ourselves we've mastered the world we live in. We especially like to stick these everyday things, and even each other, into numbered boxes. The problem is that sometimes the objects don't fit very easily, and we have to shave off a layer or two of truth in order to get them to squeeze into their assigned compartments.

Take as examples some very simple categories that are widely accepted, even though improved science and more accurate measuring devices have proved their inaccuracy. From childhood we learn there are nine planets; five senses; twenty-four hours in a day; and 365 days in a year.

Working in reverse, the precise measurement of a day (one earth rotation) is actually 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4.2 seconds. That's not an amount that can be captured very easily on the face of a clock, however. This error in our neat 24-hour rendering of a day of course ripples through the measurement of our year, and we tack a leap day onto our calendars (not exactly) every four years to even things out.

The number of planets that wheel their way around our Sun might actually be eight, as some have demoted Pluto to asteroid status. Or it could be as many as eleven, if you insist on including the maybe-asteroid and its brethren in the Kuiper belt (see the Wikipedia summary of the controversy).

As far as our senses, without even raising the possibility of ESP, some scientists believe we should include proprioception (a combination of self-orientation and location) as a sixth. There are also those who are actively working to hack the ways we receive stimulus from the world, so one day we could, for example, see with our taste buds (see Wired Magazine article Mixed Feelings).

Beyond such accounting tricks for worldly things, we also like to label and define each other. We group people and stereotype them, and kid ourselves that we can "know" them based on such superficial characteristics as occupation, gender and ethnicity. If I remember my Jean Paul Sartre correctly, and I probably don't, part of it arises from a frustration over not being able to ever fully understand what's in the mind of the other. Unable to accept that reality, we distort it and reduce the other person to a parody of themselves.

The human mind is, obviously a very complex thing. Not only are individual personalities much messier than any categories we can hope to try to group them into, they can also contain traits that we normally view as contradictory. The idea that two opposites can co-exist in a single entity is a particularly challenging one for most of us.

It's much easier to come to terms with an unsubtle universe of clear divisions; constructing a worldview based on black-white, either-or, right-wrong, and us-them paradigms. The more nuanced conception that multiple, sometimes contradictory traits can exist in one person seems to threaten our too-secure sense of who we are, and how we fit into the world.

This may seem a bit of a leap, but what if we take the concept even further and extend it beyond the physical realm to that of ideas. The literal and the metaphorical, for example, are always treated as contradictory, but what if Genesis and evolution weren't viewed as mutually exclusive truths? It's a subject I tried to delve into in one of my very early posts here: The Serpent, the Tree of Knowledge and Evolution? What if hidden within the poetic imagery of the forbidden fruit is a seed of truth about how our consciousness actually evolved?

Can Science and religion on some level be reconciled? What about the teachings of the various religions we view as contending for a single truth? What I'd like to suggest is that these "opposing" truths haven't been reconciled not because they can't be, but because it requires us to extend ourselves beyond our usual comfort zones. It means putting aside the petty desire to prove one "side" superior to another, and instead do the hard labor necessary to win a fuller understanding of reality. It means putting our common humanity above serving any narrow ideology.

It might seem like I'm making an argument for a relativistic truth, but that's not quite accurate. What I am trying to say is that we, the world and the universe are so immensely complex that our limited mental capacities aren't able to wrap themselves around the entirety of it all. Individually, in fact, we may only be able to grasp a small piece of that complexity.

Uniting those billions of pieces collected by each of our receptive minds, however, gets us much closer to a comprehensive view. As technology allows us to link up more easily and gather these fragments into a whole, that becomes a very real possibility. That's a discussion for a future post.

Eye on the future

My friend JD left a very thoughtful comment in response to the post on my recent feeling of disequilibrium. He rightly challenged me on something that I should have never done: portray a personal opinion provoked by individual circumstance as a universal truth.

Contrary to what my statements may have implied, I am not opposed to spirituality. It's a trait that I believe lies at the core of who we are. I do have serious objections to organized religion, which I feel uses our innate inclination toward spirituality to control rather than free us. Most major religions were created under much different social circumstances than we have now. They have, in my opinion, become so intertwined with the status quo that they can't help but oppose any movement toward legitimate social change.

Of course religions aren't the only entities standing in the way of our progress. Corrupt governments, greedy corporations, and unaccountable financial institutions have also proven quite capable of making out very well while keeping us running in place. We're facing a worldwide economic meltdown, while these various mis-leaders play Nero and fiddle on amid the destruction.

I suggested to JD, half-seriously, that it might be interesting to have a dialogue to find common ground between my penchant for chaos theory and his belief that there is an organizing force in the universe. Going even further, I'd actually like to begin that conversation with a series of posts on the question: How do we arrive at an ethos for the 21st century? I'd also love to broaden it out to as many of you as would like to participate.

People around the web have been discussing the Law of Attraction for some time now. It's usually done within the context of attracting a mate or making money. I like the concept, but not the customary application. What if, however, we used the same method (listing out the characteristics we're attracted to) to conjure the future we want for our society?

I've long been an advocate of the idea that we get the future we imagine, and I hope this series of posts will be a small first step toward conjuring the future I want for the world. The ideas I'm going to discuss are in no way original. They are the synthesis of years of reading and conversing, and I'll borrow heavily from sources to which my memory can't manage the proper credit. If you know of a book or website that goes into much more details on these subjects, please do leave a comment.

This is of course very ambitious of me, and I'm not delusional enough to believe that I have a monopoly on the truth. It would help greatly if people fill in the gaps where needed, especially those with expertise in the areas discussed. In an ideal world, I hope there's even occasion for all of us to meet up face-to-face and have a more robust conversation. I know that things will only change with a groundswell of activity at the grass-roots, and the first step toward that could be finding a way for people from around the world to get together and talk about what we need.

Here's a short list of posts that came directly to mind, which I'll try to tackle over the next few weeks:

• Seeking to resolve not exploit contradictions
• A respect-based economy: removing the corrupting influence of the profit-motive
• Divesting ourselves of unnecessary things
  
• Openness, transparency and collaboration
  
• Grass-roots, direct democracy
• A non-anthropocentric universe
• One mind: piecing together the mosaic

These are meant to be wide-ranging philosophical essays, as you can tell. I'm sure that the posts will take the form of me thinking out loud, and I expect to be challenged often when I stray too far from other people's experience.

Before I dive into it, I might just take a stab at the "law of attraction" game on a much more personal level and try to solicit your help in identifying my ideal new occupation. Oh, and there will still be the weekly poems and drawings to keep us amused and distracted.

Embracing my unholy side

I discovered this interesting quote attributed to my namesake saint on a religious brochure piled in among the free lit at the local café:

I have been all things unholy. If God can work through me, he can work through anyone.
— St. Francis of Assisi

Then it hit me like the clichéd lightning bolt: Perhaps the problem is that I haven't been unholy enough. I may just need to embark on a lot more sinning before God deems me worthy of becoming his instrument. Everyone loves a reclamation project.

The nice guy act certainly hasn't gotten me very far. It could be time to turn over a new, darker leaf and head into the shadows. I think I now have my New Year's resolution.

An unanswered prayer: Liberation from theology

This is an old poem that I've completely re-written. I don't mean it to sound like an attack on the Catholicism to which I was raised. I know the Church's rites and symbols still hold much truth and power for the faithful, and there's a definite need for the spiritual and sacred in all our lives.

The poem is simply about a personal revelation — a moment of self-awareness when we cast off those ideas that have lost resonance. It's a contemplation of that liberating moment when we let the weight of outdated philosophies fall away to reveal new personal possibilities.

Note: The image at right by Infrogmation is titled "Madonna of the Lower 9th Ward." Click here to see the original version.

Hail Mary
by Francis Scudellari

A silence, blue robed dream
Long absent, I approach
Sadness, glaring white, veiled
In twisted flight, beckons

Hail Mary, full of grace,
The Lord is with thee blessed …

Not myself, clouded air,
Footfalls carry me up
Steps thick with time, breath-worn,
Echoed words long forgotten

Are thou among women
Blessed, is the fruit of …

Crumbled brick, locked door lies
Beneath stone figured kneel
Forbidding, rock goddess
Unchanged, unmoved, empty

Thy womb, Jesus, holy
Mary, mother of God …

Prayers falling, failing
Guardian of portals
Once passable, no more
Tears shed from icon's eyes

Pray for this sinner now
At the hour of his death

Free of promise, broken
Hallowed hopes, turned hollow
Symbol of lost causes,
Shade-lifted, soul less clay

Praying for rain and other idol pursuits

In a brilliant demonstration of true political leadership, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue cast aside all pretense at worldly solutions to the state's water crisis and threw himself down before God in hopes of divine intervention (see Georgia governor leads prayer for rain from the Los Angeles Times for the details of his plea). Adding to the irony of the strange event is the fact that the rain-seeking pol's first name is Sonny.

I'm sure his folks named him for either a happy disposition or childlike nature, not his ability to shed light. The causes of Georgia's drought are no doubt complex, and the desperate situation may incline the locals toward miracle solutions, but our elected officials should be addressing policy changes not supernatural entities. Georgia's, and the rest of America's, shameful misuse of resources might well deserve penance and the invocation of God's mercy, but the first step to forgiveness is always amended behavior.

For far too long we Americans have engaged in the profligate burning of fossil fuels; not caring about the repercussions of our selfish actions. The reckless disregard of our land, air and water is finally catching up to us. Decades of blackening the sky with our filth is disrupting weather patterns so that some get flooding while others get drought.

Casting economic development in the image of our true savior, we've built sprawling suburbs that replace filtering wetlands with impervious blacktop. As monuments to our vanity, preferring the semblance of a neatly ordered world, we've topped the earth with insatiably thirsty, well-manicured lawns. Bowing down before their new gilded idols, our politicians have sacrificed we constituents to the ravenous appetites of corporations and granted them as tribute the right to dump waste and toxins into our fresh water supplies.

Georgia is a good demonstration of the false pride of our old ways. What good is it to have big houses, fancy cars and booming digital TVs if we don't have fresh water to drink, or clean air to breathe. Governor Perdue may think he can fool us with a deathbed conversion to conservation, but we'll need to see more action and less self-flagellation.

I've always found it interesting that some people view prayer as a way to curry favor with God. There's a wonderful naiveté in the bargaining that takes place. These supplicants usually say they believe in an omnipotent and omniscient God, yet they think they can mouth a few flowery words and make an idle promise or two to trick their supreme being into granting a reprieve.

I'm not a religious man, but I do believe in a spiritual universe. The best way to praise the divine is through inspired, compassionate action not empty words. The first step is to rededicate ourselves to respect the creation that we've abused for so long. Then we can stop perpetuating our own selfish comforts at the cost of the world's suffering.

It reminds me of an old Randy Newman song, and although I don't completely agree with the singer's biting attack on the religiously minded, there's much truth in his criticism of those foolishly looking for change to come from above rather than from within.

God's Song (That's Why I Love Mankind)
by Randy Newman

Cain slew Abel, Seth knew not why
For if the children of Israel were to multiply
Why must any of the children die?
So he asked the Lord
And the Lord said:

Man means nothing he means less to me
Than the lowliest cactus flower
Or the humblest Yucca tree
He chases round this desert
Cause he thinks that's where I'll be
That's why I love mankind

I recoil in horror from the foulness of thee
From the squalor, and the filth, and the misery
How we laugh up here in heaven at the prayers you offer me
That's why I love mankind

The Christians and the Jews were having a jamboree
The Buddhists and the Hindus joined on satellite TV
They picked their four greatest priests
And they began to speak
They said "Lord a plague is on the world
Lord no man is free
The temples that we built to you
Have tumbled into the sea
Lord, if you won't take care of us
Won't you please please let us be?"
And the Lord said
And the Lord said

I burn down your cities — how blind you must be
I take from you your children and you say how blessed are we
You all must be crazy to put your faith in me
That's why I love mankind
You really need me
That's why I love mankind

Image: Praying Hands (Betende Hände) by Albrecht Dürer.

St. Augustine: Damned from the start?

On November 13th, 354 AD Aurelius Augustinus entered this world destined for damnation, but by the grace of God and the miracle of baptism he was transformed into a saintly philosopher. That's how the man who would become better known as St. Augustine of Hippo confessed it in his autobiography, and it's his soul crushing theological views on Predestination and Original Sin that won out in the battle over Christian doctrine.

Born to a Christian mother and Pagan father in Roman controlled North Africa (present-day Algeria), Augustine was fascinated with classical philosophy from an early age and shifted his views between several "heretical" streams of thought before falling under the spell of the prevailing Catholic hegemony. He put forth a negative interpretation of human nature that allowed the Church to assert itself as the necessary component of personal salvation, and then he set about silencing those who emphasized humanity's free will.

It's interesting to ponder the "what if" of the Church having embraced the philosophies of those the Saint's pessimism intellectually vanquished. Insisting on the literal veracity of the Fall of Adam, and believing that our first father's self-inflicted soul sickness was hereditary, Augustine took the concept of predestination to such an extreme as to condemn to damnation even unbaptized infants who hadn't had the chance to sin.

In his eyes, a life devoted to good works of love and compassion was worthless without the holy sanction of ablution. Grace was bestowed through the Church, not earned outside of it. Of course that's a convenient theological position to stake out if you're goal is to guarantee the survival of a religion as a political and social institution.

I find much more appealing the teachings of Pelagius, who Augustine had excommunicated from the Church. The British born monk emphasized humanity's ability to shape our destiny through our choices. Rather than attributing sin to an inbred spiritual flaw, Pelagius affirmed our capacity to recognize good from evil and take responsibility for the decisions we make. That's a world view certainly much more in line with modern sensibilities.

The illusion of predestination is just a philosophical conceit to avoid social accountability. Today, there's a lot riding on the course we choose as a society. We have an opportunity to achieve much by working together with a common purpose. If we fail that challenge it will be due to a stubborn refusal to cast off our selfishness, not an ancestor's wayward choice in fruit.

Note: The above image is a detail from the painting of Augustine by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1480

Dia de Los Muertos: Honoring my loved ones

It may not be fashionable in these times of creeping xenophobia, but I've always admired the celebration of Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) that takes place on this date throughout Latin America ... and with our changing demographics, increasingly here in the US.

At the core of the festivities is the honoring of loved ones who have passed on, and that's a tradition that most Americans, including myself, neglect far too much. Our society has always overly concerned itself with the present and future, at the expense of reconciling its past. That's understandable for a country that prizes assimilation above the preservation of cultural identity, but much is lost in the forgetting.

To make personal amends and lead by example, I'd like to use the occasion to recognize three of my guiding spirits. In this space, I'll construct a virtual altar at which I'll try to feed the memory of my adored dead with loving words. The joyous celebration of the holiday views death not as an ending but as the next stage of human existence. By invoking the spirits of our ancestors, we keep their energy alive, and I know that each of these three people still exist very vividly in my heart and thoughts.

• My grandfather Anthony was a quiet, kind and patient man. He was dedicated to his family and learned to adapt himself to whatever profession would put food on the table during the hard years of the Great Depression. He valued the weight of his words and didn't use them capriciously. He was a gentleman in the truest sense of the word. I miss the sweetness of his smile.


• My grandmother Rosa was a woman small in stature but big in heart and intellect. She took great pride in her Italian heritage, and highly prized the benefits of formal education. She was fiercely independent by nature, but sadly limited by the circumstances of the time and place of her birth. I'll always remember the brilliant sparkle in her eyes whenever she greeted me with a hug, and the passion with which she discussed politics.


• My father, Tony, was a man of strong convictions. He was very loyal to his family and his faith, and expected us to be equally dedicated. He had a sharp mind and enjoyed a good intellectual argument, but he also loved to kick back and watch a big game or bout. He felt nothing was worth having if it wasn't earned, and made sure to teach us the important lesson of self-reliance. He wasn't quick to anger, but could get very passionate when provoked. In many ways I'll always measure myself against him.

They've each greatly influenced me genetically, emotionally, spiritually and intellectually, and I hope that I leave as lasting an impact on my friends and family. I wouldn't be the person I am today, for better and worse, without them. Although I have to find my own way in this world, I thank them for the lessons they've left with me, and aspire to honor them with all I do going forward.

Note: The images in this post are taken from the amazing art work of my cousin Jen Blazina. The top piece features the wedding photo of my grandparents (Anthony and Rosa), and the lower one that of my mother and father (Marina and Tony). You can see a wider range of Jen's pieces on her website at JenBlazina.com.

The value of these voters may be inflated

The Republican candidates for the 2008 presidential nomination went a courting the religious right this weekend; flowery words and candied platitudes in hand to prove their love to the conservative Christians christening themselves as values voters (see Religious Right Divides Its Vote at Summit from the New York Times).

They are a group who though taking the name of the New Testament's protagonist as their titular guide, never seem to get past the eye-for-an-eye morality of the Bible's first half. They like to rain Old Testament vengeance down on anyone not fitting their mold of moralistic behavior. They have an amazing propensity to ignore the bits of the good book that don't suit their purposes, even though Christ's words most often contradict their own.

Jesus may be their savior, but his lessons fall on deaf ears. Believing themselves righteous beyond reproach, they gladly cast the first, second and every other stone that lies close by their graspy hands. Proclaiming themselves the defenders of life, they were instrumental in electing a President who indiscriminately wielded the power of state execution as Governor of Texas. He also launched us into a war that defies anyone's definition of just, and caused the deaths of thousands of American soldiers and innocent Iraqi civilians.

Their inverted values prize hate over love, and retribution over mercy. Christ's example of forgiveness and inclusiveness got lost in the King James translation of their Bibles, replaced with the fire and brimstone of the Old Testament's vengeful deity. His vilification of those who seek material wealth is conveniently overlooked. His selfless model for feeding the poor, embracing the outcast, and ministering to the sick is mostly forgotten.

If these values voters looked a little more closely at their leadership, they might recognize the manipulation of good intentions that's taking place. Thankfully, the far right's political sway is diminishing as the repercussions of their favorite son's policy's manifest themselves. That's George W. Bush , not Jesus.

A plummeting dollar and upward trending inflation will mean much economic hardship for Americans, a situation exacerbated by the monetary drain of this unwinable war. The next President will likely have to deal with a major recession, needing to feed growing numbers of hungry and provide health care to the mounting uninsured. I don't see anyone in the Republican ranks up to that task. Maybe it will take the second coming of Christ himself to win them back the White House, but I don't think he'd find much worthwhile in the Republican's current platform.

Christ for President
Words by Woody Guthrie

Let's have Christ our president.
Let us have him for our king.
Cast your vote for the carpenter
that you call the Nazarene.

The only way we can ever beat
these crooked politician men
Is to run the money changers out of the temple
And put the Carpenter in

O It's Jesus Christ our president
God above our king
With a job and a pension for young and old
We will make hallelujah ring

Every year we waste enough
to feed the ones who starve
We build our civilization up
and we shoot it down with wars

But with the Carpenter on the seat
away up in the capital town
the USA would be on the way prosperity bound!

Ferragosto: Taking off, the Virgin Mary taken up

In the best tradition of my ancestors' homeland, I took a much deserved break from blogging yesterday. In Italy, August 15th, better known as Ferragosto, is a national holiday. If you ever happen to visit one of the country's big cities on that date, you'll find most of the shops and restaurants closed and the locals off to the mountains or seaside for vacation. The tourists outnumber the residents, and an almost eerie quiet descends on the usually bustling towns.

The abandonment of diurnal activity is very fitting considering the occasion the fest marks. August 15th is also the Roman Catholic holy day that celebrates the Assumption — when the Virgin Mary was taken body and soul up to heaven.

I've made several trips to the "old country," and if you take the time to visit the churches and museums that shelter great art across the nation, you'll surely witness many depictions of the Virgin Mary. There are hundreds of paintings and sculptures that show her beatifically cradling the baby Jesus in her arms, and a good number of artists have also interpreted the moment of her Assumption into heaven.

One of the most famous of these latter paintings is Titian's masterpiece, The Assumption of the Virgin (shown above), which graces the altarpiece of the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice. I had the opportunity to view its three-tiered design in person, and it is much more impressive than the facsimile of it you can view on a computer screen. Mary hangs between heaven and earth, captured mid-journey, as the throng reacts to her loss. It's an interesting visual treatment of the contradiction between her divine and earthly natures, and it's a juxtaposition that's even more intresting when considering the pagan origins of Ferragosto.

The feast has pre-Christian roots in the Roman holiday of Feriae Augusti where those empirical polytheists most prominently celebrated their virgin goddess, Diana, as well as the natural cycles of fertility and maturity. Diana, the Roman version of the Greeks' Artemis, was both the goddess associated with forests, nature and the hunt and the deity invoked to aid in conception and childbirth. She was the protector of women and probably an amalgam of various earth goddess figures.

I don't want to start sounding like The Da Vinci Code's Dan Brown, but the fact that the Mary the Christian religious icon assumed several characteristics of the pagan goddess with whom she shares a holiday certainly starts one to head scratching. As religious doctrine took shape, it's not hard to imagine the personality of the historical figure of Mary receding to be replaced by the more worshipful traits of a deity. In that sense, the holiday may mark a metaphorical assumption of Mary as well as a physical one.

Two millennia after she lived, it's impossible to know what Mary the woman was truly like beyond the obvious generalities. I'm sure she was a protector and font of strength, who nurtured a child to make his way in a troubled world. No doubt she was wracked by the same emotions, pain and worries every mother feels as she watches the life she brought forth gradually taken away from her.

As her story was adopted by a growing Church it was necessarily taken from the historical realm into the mythic. A very mortal and womanly figure got transformed into a divine abstraction, assuming the nature of a goddess. As much as she may have gained upon reaching the realm of the heavenly, much was also lost. Equating Mary's story with virgin births and the cheating of death, the very human and natural rhythms of fertility and mortality were disrupted in the telling. It's not hard to see a connection between that diconnect and the Catholic Church's often problematic views toward women.

Life imitates art: Big birds and little men

Recently, the science-related headlines seem to be plucked from our favorite fictional titles. Whether it's the discovery of new planets and solar systems, Martian oceans and caverns, giant penguin bones, or hobbit-like fossils, the mind reels at the echoes with our favorite stories and fables. It's ripe material for me to speculate on the nature of myth and the power of the human imagination.

The news story du jour is of an ancient bird species called Argentavis magnificens that 6 million years ago glided over the pampas of present-day Argentina. Weighing over 150 pounds with a 23-foot wingspan, it's fun to imagine the great birds wheeling through the sky in search of prey (see Ancient American bird was glider from BBC News). It also puts all of us Lord of The Rings geeks into a reverie recalling the giant eagles J.R.R. Tolkien described coming to his heroes' rescue.

This comes on the heels of the discovery of the remains of a hobbit-like hominid that lived in Indonesia as recently as 18,000 years ago. Homo floresiensis was described as small, big-footed, and inhabiting caves, and the story put all hobbit-o-philes into a hopeful tizzy that their favorite fictional creatures might have a basis in fact. There is a new book on the discovery that is reviewed at American Scientist Online (see Choosing One's Relatives); and if you think I'm exaggerating how seriously some take such news, in my online wanderings to research this post I found out about a book called Quest for Middle Earth that treats Tolkien as history (see the press release Is the Lord of the Rings Real History?).

So, what's going on here? Are these discoveries really proving that Tolkien was writing about real-world events? Was there a Middle Earth inhabited by supernatural elves, orcs, hobbits and wizards? Did the author's creative subconscious tap into a lost history of our world that informed his mythical account? Did Frodo Baggins exist? Of course not, but asking such questions illustrates an important point. It's in the realm of myth that these stories have their true power, and trying to re-interpret them within the context of science actually diminishes them to the point of absurdity.

The story Tolkien created in the Lord of The Rings series has captured the imaginations of generations of readers, leaving a lasting impression. There are important cultural lessons in its fictive universe, warning us of the corrupting influence of greed and the dangerous grip of the lust for power. Written as the implications of Industrialization began to manifest themselves more clearly, and describing the Faustian bargain of apparent social progress coming at the expense of our natural environment and spiritual well-being, the novels can be seen as an urgent call to action on many levels. Tolkien's story has the power of truth on a cultural and moral level, but that doesn't mean it is a scientific account of physical reality.

If you couldn't tell, my rambling post is meant to reveal parallels to the current controversy over Intelligent Design. Creationists get very angry with folks who describe the Bible as myth, as if that depiction relegates it to insignificance. These literalists like to argue that Genesis is a historical record of the Earth's creation, proving our planet to be a mere 6,000 years old. In the face of the overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary, such claims actually undermine the Bible's relevance. The real power of the Garden of Eden story is as metaphor, and all of its readers should appreciate the artfulness of its imagery, which emotionally and spiritually captures the moment humanity gained consciousness.

As much as devotees may want to believe in a real hobbits and talking serpents, the characters of both Tolkien and Genesis only make sense within the bounds of our imagination. It's fun to mix fable with fact, literature with science, but each has its own separate and critically important role.

Evolutionary trivia: Darwin started out a Creationist

Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History this week opens a temporary exhibit dedicated to the life of Charles Darwin and the theory of evolution that will always be linked to him. Amazingly almost 150 years after he first formally published On The Origin of Species, religious zealots are still attacking his theory and promoting their Creationist doctrine that dates the Earth's genesis to the 6,000 years of Biblical accounting in defiance of all scientific evidence.

Among the details revealed in the traveling exhibit is the fascinating tidbit that Darwin boarded the Beagle as a Creationist, but his worldview was forever altered by his observations of flora and fauna on the ship's tour of South America. Maybe that should give us hope that the battle is not yet lost, and the majority of Americans will come to their senses once they get past their religious misleaders' empty rhetoric and examine the scientific record.

The Chicago Tribune has a good article summarizing the exhibit and what it depicts of Charles Darwin's life and work. Here is an excerpt (the linked article may require a log-in):

New Field exhibit takes on Darwin detractors
By William Mullen

... Darwin believed in creationism as he studied for the ministry in college, though he was more attracted to scientific pursuits, including geology and beetle collecting. Those interests won him his spot on the Beagle voyage months after he graduated in 1831.

As he filled notebooks with scientific observations while traveling the coasts of South America, Darwin's religious doubts grew.

Geological formations he saw showed the world to be millions and billions of years old, not thousands. Plant and animal specimens he collected, both living and fossilized, suggested species constantly adapting to changing environments. ...

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Pope bows down to Bush, and we all feel a little dirtier

Pope Benedict XVI continues to impress with his ability to stand up for the status quo, embrace the powerful, and dismiss the oppressed. He's certainly filling the shoes of St. Peter quite nobly (please insert sarcastic tone).

The Pope met with Emperor George W yesterday at the Vatican, and there was no need to flip a coin to see who would kiss the other's ring first. Benny already had his lips pursed.

Below is an excerpt from the Washington Post story on the meeting (and the link to the full text, as always). I picked three paragraphs that I found particularly insightful.

First, there's the narrowly focused bit about being concerned for Christians in Iraq. Granted he is a Christian leader, but shouldn't a truly religious man concern himself with the well-being of all people regardless of race or creed? Innocents are dying in Iraq and that should be the operative issue, no matter where they line up for services. I'm not a Biblical scholar by any means, but the Gospel stories I recall from my Catholic upbringing certainly depicted Jesus taking unto himself the poor, sick and downtrodden — and he didn't inquire as to their particular religious beliefs before helping them. Of course, there were no Christians then, per se.

Second, there is the exhibition of extreme bravery in making nice with a leader whose pursuit of war you've previously questioned. It points out the political nature of the Vatican — it's not just about faith and morality, and of course never has been. Does anyone really buy the "Just War" theory on Iraq anymore? Is the naked pursuit of geo-political advantage through open aggression something that Jesus blessed in his short time on earth? I guess I missed that sermon.

Finally, to top off my Sunday with a cherry, there is the wonderful juxtaposition of the Pope bowing down before the Emperor as the Bush administration is accused of overseeing human rights violations through rendition and torture. George did boast about the nickel he tossed in Africa's collection plate during the G8 summit. He forgot to bring up his sin of omission on climate change, however. The Pope may want to take confession after this particularly dirty little visit, or atleast undergo a thorough scrubbing — the body is much easier to clean than the soul. His opinions on doctrinal questions may be considered infallible, but he certainly errs in the company he chooses to keep.

Pope Tells Bush of His Concern About Safety of Iraq's Christians
By Michael A. Fletcher

President Bush met Saturday for the first time with Pope Benedict XVI, who the Vatican said expressed concern about "the worrying situation in Iraq," especially the deteriorating plight of Christians there. ...

The Vatican has been critical of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, but both sides said they did not dwell on those differences Saturday. ...

Just before Bush arrived in Rome on Friday, a court in the northern Italian city of Milan opened the trial of 26 Americans who Italian prosecutors say are CIA operatives who kidnapped an Egyptian cleric in 2003 in Milan and sent him to Egypt. None of the Americans has come to Italy for the trial, which has become a point of friction between the United States and Italy.

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A very un-natural history museum

For some who find that their story doesn't fit the facts, it's easiest to ignore those facts or even change them to fit the story (I think that's a bastardization of someone's quote, but I don't know whose). That's exactly what a group called "Answers in Genesis" has done with the Creation Museum that is set to open on Monday in Kentucky.

The phrase "junk science" is used a lot by conservatives to dismiss any theory that could cost big business their profits, but this new museum is the true definition of the term. Ignoring all known evidence, the curators of this fantasy land have concocted dioramas that depict humans frolicking with the dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs, we're told, were described in Genesis and co-existed with our earliest ancestors. Noah even brought pairs of the beasts onto his ark. That kind of compressed timeline, which runs counter to the fossil record, is a necessary evil when you view the Bible as an accurate historical document of the Earth's creation 6,000 years ago.

The exhibits described in yesterday's New York Times remind me of the kitschy 1970s Sid & Marty Krofft kids show Land of the Lost (see the picture above), where a modern day family is transported to a world filled with dinosaurs, furry little caveman-like creatures, and nasty reptilian villains called Sleestak.

Unfortunately, by abandoning the metaphorical and mythical qualities of the Bible in order to interpret it literally, these religious fanatics actually rob the stories of their power. In trying to convey their twisted take on history, all they're left with are the absurdities of a Saturday morning cartoon show.

Here are excerpts from the New York Times review of the museum, and a link to the full article:

Adam and Eve in the Land of the Dinosaurs
By Edward Rothstein

... Outside the museum scientists may assert that the universe is billions of years old, that fossils are the remains of animals living hundreds of millions of years ago, and that life's diversity is the result of evolution by natural selection. But inside the museum the Earth is barely 6,000 years old, dinosaurs were created on the sixth day, and Jesus is the savior who will one day repair the trauma of man's fall.

It is a measure of the museum's daring that dinosaurs and fossils — once considered major challenges to belief in the Bible's creation story — are here so central, appearing not as tests of faith, as one religious authority once surmised, but as creatures no different from the giraffes and cats that still walk the earth. Fossils, the museum teaches, are no older than Noah’s flood; in fact dinosaurs were on the ark. ...

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Gingrich vows to convert all of us heathens

Newt Gingrich is back on the national political stage after his "contract on America" ran its course in the 90s. He gave a speech at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University in order to eulogize the deceased preacher, and stake out a claim for the religious right's backing in the 2008 election.

Newt, as always, is full of nicely skewed insights on what's happening in the country. Despite the fact that the White House has been in the hands of the most fanatically Christian president in our history, Gingrich is feeling persecuted these days. We "radical secularists" are dragging the nation down.

Funny thing is, after complaining about how difficult the non-believers are making it for the faith based community, "slimy like a" Newt said something pretty interesting. Here are the quotes from today's Washington Post:

"In hostility to American history, the radical secularists insist that religious belief is inherently divisive," Gingrich said, deriding what he called the "contorted logic" and "false principles" of advocates of secularism in American society.

"Basic fairness demands that religious beliefs deserve a chance to be heard," he said during his 26-minute speech. ...

"Anybody on the left who hopes that when people like Reverend Falwell disappear, that the opportunity to convert all of America has gone with him fundamentally misunderstands why institutions like this were created," Gingrich told reporters.

(Gingrich Assails 'Radical Secularism', Washington Post, 5.20.2007)

I guess that cherished religious freedom really only pertains to the Christian community ... and I'm guessing even some of those folks, such as the Catholics, might be excluded from Newt's universe of believers.

[warning, the next paragraph contains heavy sarcasm ... ]

We all need to back off and let these poor oppressed fundamentalists have free reign to convert all of the heathens and followers of false gods before the US is hit by more of God's wrath (we did have that Hurrican Katrina coming, after all, with the crazy anti-Christian things we've been up to).

[the period of sarcasm has now passed, we return to the blog's normal nasty tone ...]

Let's hope that the Newt crawls back under the rock from which he emerged pretty soon.

Another proud moment in the history of organized religion

Of all the founding stories of world religions, I would guess that none is less well celebrated by its followers than that of the Church of England. There were many good reasons to split from the Catholic church back in the 16th Century. Martin Luther even authored the 95 Theses in 1517 that listed them out. But in 1534, King Henry VIII needed only one: he was tired of his old lady. Having lost interest in his first wife Catherine of Aragon, Henry wanted to consumate his crush on the lady-in-waiting Anne Boleyn.

May 19 marks the 471st anniversary of the event that proved the lack of wisdom of indulging Henry's lusts: Anne Boleyn's beheading. It took less than 3 years for the possibly syphilitic Henry to tire of his second bride and seek out a third (Jane Seymour). Their union did produce a daughter who would go on to become Elizabeth I. Unfortunately for Anne, Henry didn't seek an annulment this time, but had her brought up on false charges of adultery and sentenced to death.

Henry proved he wasn't a complete brute, however, allowing Anne to be executed by a skilled French swordsman rather than the usual clumsy axeman. Somehow I don't think Anglicans will be marking her passing at mass tomorrow. God save the queen, indeed.

Proof of the Pope's fallibility

If you were raised Catholic as I was, you're probably familiar with the concept of Papal Infallibility. Basically, we're told that the Pope cannot err when he speaks on matters of faith and morality, as he is guided by the Holy Spirit. Well, either the Holy Spirit was on break during Benedict XVI's trip to Brazil, or the Pope was speaking off the cuff.

In a brilliant piece of revisionist history making, the Pope told a group of bishops that the indigenous peoples of South America had "silently longed" to be converted by the conquistadors, that the experience purified them, and any attempts to revive indigenous religion would be a "step backward."

The years of suffering and brutality that accompanied that conversion to Christianity was just part of the purification process, I guess. Next Benny will tell us that the Jews of Spain were really masochists who wanted to be tortured by Torquemada during the Spanish Inquisition, and that any attempts by their descendants to reclaim their heritage would be a huge mistake.

Some may find my picture of the Pope offensive, but it's certainly no more disrespectful than his remarks. Consider us even.

Here are excerpts from the Reuters story:

Brazil's Indians offended by Pope comments

By Raymond Colitt

BRASILIA, May 14 (Reuters) - Outraged Indian leaders in Brazil said on Monday
they were offended by Pope Benedict's "arrogant and disrespectful" comments that
the Roman Catholic Church had purified them and a revival of their religions
would be a backward step.

In a speech to Latin American and Caribbean bishops at the end of a visit to Brazil, the Pope said the Church had not imposed itself on the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

They had welcomed the arrival of European priests at the time of the conquest as they were "silently longing" for Christianity, he said.

Millions of tribal Indians are believed to have died as a result of European colonization backed by the Church since Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492, through slaughter, disease or enslavement. ...

Even the Catholic Church's own Indian advocacy group in Brazil, known as Cimi, distanced itself from the Pope.

"The Pope doesn't understand the reality of the Indians here, his statement was wrong and indefensible," Cimi advisor Father Paulo Suess told Reuters. "I too was upset."

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Favorite Song of the Day (04.23.2007)

I know the theology of it isn't very complex, but the following song resonates with me lately.

I can't say I believe in God, certainly not one that has any real impact on the events of this world. I do believe in a Spirituality that's found in each of us, and maybe that's the true Supreme Being -- the collective soul of all life past, present and future.

Whatever the case, it serves us all best to do what we can for each other in the here and now. We certainly can't depend on miracles to pull us through.

Divine Intervention by Matthew Sweet

I don't know where I'm gonna live
Don't know if I'll find a place
I'd have to think about it some
And that I do not wish to face
I guess I'm counting on His
Divine Intervention

I cannot understand my God
I don't know why it gets to me
One day my life is filled with joy
And then we find we disagree
All depending on his
Divine Intervention

Does He love us?
Does He love us?
Does He love us?
Does He love us?
Now does He love us?
I look around
All I see is destruction
We're all counting on his
Divine Intervention

When he comes the sun shine
When he comes the sun shine
Sunshine, the sunshine
Here it comes...

Happy Eostre!

In case you've been troubled by the seeming disconnect between the Christian holiday of Easter and the fertility imagery (eggs, chicks, bunnies) that is commercially linked to it (an incongruity raised with the usual skewed humor in this week's episode of South Park), the answer lies in the derivation of the holiday's name.

Here's how the Etymology section of the Wikipedia Easter article explains it:

The English name, "Easter", and the German, "Ostern", derive from the name of Germanic Goddess of the Dawn (thus, of spring, as the dawn of the year) - called Ēaster, Ēastre, and Ēostre, in various dialects of Old English. In England, the annual festive time in her honor was in the "Month of Easter" or Ēosturmonath, equivalent to April/Aprilis.

This interpretation is based on the writings of 8th Century historian the Venerable Bede. The fertility imagery certainly synchs up much more with pre-Chrisitan vernal celebrations than a commemoration of the resurrection of Christ. It's interesting to note that the rest of the Western languages use words for the holiday derived from the Hebrew word for Passover -- Pesach -- as many believe the last Supper was in fact a Seder meal.

So, as you bite the head off your next chocolate bunny, think about how you might actually be honoring the Pagan goddess of the dawn.