This, via Thorn Coyle, is good:
"Kilgore Trout once wrote a short story which was a dialogue between two pieces of yeast. They were discussing the possible purposes of life as they ate sugar and suffocated in their own excrement. Because of their limited intelligence, they never came close to guessing that they were making champagne." Kurt Vonnegut
"All outward forms of religion are almost useless, and are the causes of endless strife…..Believe there is a great power silently working all things for good, behave yourself, and never mind the rest." Beatrix Potter
Now go read the rest.
I'm not sure whether or not there's some cosmic force aiming towards "the good." Carol Christ kind of has me convinced no, Chardin kind of has me convinced yes. My garden kind of has me convinced no; my grandson kind of has me convinced yes.
But, in the end, I don't care. Aided by the universe, or headed into the wind, I need to be on the side of the Earth, on the side of women, on the side of the poor, on the side of art, on the side of thriving. I have to take responsibility for trying to figure out what "the good" is and for doing it. Back in the misty days of my discovering Wicca, I read somewhere that, "A witch takes responsibility." It sealed the bargain; I knew that I was home.
5 comments:
I think the universe just *is*. I don't believe there's any higher purpose, and I certainly don't believe that there's any reason to expect Good will triumph. I personally think Good is pretty hopelessly outnumbered, outgunned, and outmoneyed.
Did I mention I'm somewhere between atheist and agnostic?
Respectfully disagree with Eli. Good triumphs. On this I always fall back on the Abel Wolman model.
Only graduates of Johns Hopkins University have ever heard of Abel Wolman. He was a professor there. He invented the process by which water could be purified in great quantities.
It is estimated that the number of lives Abel Wolman saved with his research outnumbers all those killed by violence in the 20th century. Yes, we're overpopulated, but I think most of us are good. Or we wouldn't be overpopulated because we'd kill each other.
Note I said "good" and not "nice." We're rude, opinionated and arrogant, but if we see a little kid with a bleeding knee, most of us will stop and administer first aid.
beautiful, hecate,
when i first read dreaming the dark i felt as if i had been leading my life with one leg tied up, and now i had permission to walk with both feet on the ground. we have to have a reason for getting out of bed in the morning. i want to give people a reason to miss me when i'm gone, and i want to have fun while i'm here. i wake up every morning and try to do the best i can, that's my practice.
Well, I dunno. I know that *I* can trend towards the good.
That's sufficient.
We all have the power to do what we can to make the world a better place or a worse one -- isn't that enough to be getting on with?
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