End of the World

No message received from the tide this morning. Some readers are breathing a sigh of relief … "Whew! … Pilgrim regained his sanity!

Not so fast! :slight_smile:

On my way to the beach … a little more than 2 kilometers door to door … I was told there would be no message from the tide this morning. Rather, I was instructed to whisper a message to the tide and beseech the tide to carry my message to all corners of humanity … to the ‘ocean of humanity’.

Now some readers are saying to themselves … “Oh shit! … I can’t take any more of this BS!”

OK … so stop reading.

First some chronology of the events of this mornings’ walk. I received the message I was instructed to deliver on the way to the beach. I stopped for breakfast as usual at the KFC … a couple hundred metres from the beach. When I arrived at the beach I found the tide to be receding … going out.

I don’t understand the physics of the movement of tides. I’m puzzled how such a dramatic shift can happen in 24 hours. For the past two days at roughly the same time the tide was obviously coming in … and this morning … going out???

Wallowing in my ignorance, I simply assumed the tide understood it would receive a message from me this morning that had to be carried out into the Big ocean. :slight_smile:

What was my message?

The message is titled “A Confrontation with Truth”.

I wrestled with myself over the use of the word “confrontation” … the word has such an aggresive/violent tone. After considerable reflection settled on keeping the word … Why? Nobody … at least very very few people volunteer to encounter Truth … face to face. The event is simply too painful and fraught with peril. Trust me … says the snake oil salesman. :slight_smile:

I have no credentials to speak of such an incredily complex topic … unspeakably complex. My hope is some readers will embrace the counsel of Thomas Kempis … author of the book “Imitation of Christ”.

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On with my message …

Imagery is helpful when attempting to convey the explainable. Consider the image of a large glass house … completely enveloped with a veil … blocking … both physically and visually … whatever is beyond the glass walls. Nonetheless, some of what exists on the other side of the glass and veil seeps in … likely by osmosis. I’m speaking of “Truth”. The realm of Truth exists largely on the other side of the glass walls and veil.

Suppose one day the glass walls shatter into thousands of pieces … there are only two possible outcomes:

  1. Those individuals with enough courage and strength of character will tip toe among the fragments of glass until they reach the safety of the threshold of Truth.

  2. Those individuals found lacking in courage and strength of character will assume the fetal position among the fragments of glass … paralyzed with fear … clinging to the hope that someone will notice them and carry them to the safety of the realm of Truth.

The veil? Is this something like Plato’s parable of the cave dwellers or like Paul’s recognition that “we see through a glass darkly”? Those who are awake to changes seem to agree that we exist in an age of transition, but do not clearly note from what to what. How do you see this age? Some have called it the age of information. If this is true and the information is toward the betterment of the human race, one might look to evolutionary psychology to inform us on how to join religion and science in a common goal.
In the hopes of what we can be we must never forget who and what we are. All skipped steps in growth and development must be repeated.
On evolutionary psychology see the Primer by Cosmides and Tooby.

http//:www.cep.ucsb.edu/primer.html
This does not seem to work. To find the work cited search Cosmides and Tooby “Primer of Evolutionary Psychology.”

World War III, socio-economic collapse, and the desperate attempt at trying to preserve modern technological infrastructure at great costs to the natural environment.

Will religion or science save us? No, they’re both the biggest problem and orchestrator of all this. World would be better off without each.

There is no total end of the world until things reach nuclear to any great extent.

That’s funny considering technological innovation is ultimately itself nihilistic.

The ultimate wit of the universe is IT’ s saving grace.

The universe or cosmos is a big place and human beings are rather unimportant.

Ierrellus … naming conventions create mental blocks and/or myopia.

Nested in the frame of my above comment I would say … “Another Age of Transition”

Mach,
The universe has allowed the creation of beings that can opine on the nature of the universe–a mirror glimpse maybe. But that creation is a big deal.
As of yet, we have not fully explored the possibility that genetic determinism, which produces all organisms, can explain for us the characteristics of our minds. There may be hope for us yet.

There seems to be a move toward mindfulness in the Western world. PBS ran a special on how this type of here and now awareness meditation is being used even by the police to combat the mental clutter that plagues us all. Maybe it is time for another infusion of Eastern wisdom into Western mentality.

A species that keeps on being unable to understand each other will never have the ability to understand something as complicated as the rest of the cosmos.

And yet there is something about mirroring . reflection . which overcomes lack of understsnding

Ierrellus … bidirectional infusions have been in high gear for the past century … the momentum seems to be accelerating.

Ego is the constraining factor … the “not invented here syndrome” and the “my dick is bigger than yours syndrome”.

The universe/cosmos marches forward despite human ego.

Gnostic Gospel of Thomas … the word “gospel” as in “good news” … number 70

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Such as what exactly?

The end of the world won’t happen, Jesus will hop on down from the sky riding on a flying dinosaur where the rapture will save everybody. Don’t you see, there is nothing to fear after all.

Your sarcasm is based on a severely limited view of who or what Jesus is.

Tom,
I’ve enjoyed reading The Book of Thomas. Your quote is especially pertinent to our discussion. The source of our redemption is inside.

Absolutely!

… and it seems patience while holding on to tensions is the most significant challenge.

Just read this article … Ron articulates the above comment …
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