Joanna McMeikan - Thoughts


Hi! Thanks for visiting www.joannamcmeikan.com, I hope you're enjoying it. 3/31/07 - A Sleep and a Forgetting I was talking to some friends recently about what's going on in the world these days, and it struck me again - as it often does - that there are sometimes laughably simple answers to the hardest questions. That is not to say there are ever easy solutions - practical solutions involve the cleaning up of huge, sloppy, difficult messes created over millennia by we the careless people... but easy answers? Yes, I think so. Simple, clear pathways to point us where we need to go (even though the going will always be difficult). Most pertinently, I think the answer to all the hatred that goes on in the name of religion... all the Christians who judge homosexuals, all the Muslims who hate Westeners, all the atheists who despise believers, all the Hindus who buy into the caste system, and so on and so on... could so easily be prevented and indeed sidestepped entirely, with nothing more than a hefty dose of humility and common sense... and these three little words... "I don't know". Let's all say it together. "I don't know". I believe - but I don't know. I think - but I don't know. I choose - but I don't know. I have faith - but I don't know. And I never will. And that's okay. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * We come to this life knowing so very little. Wordsworth wrote: Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home: Heaven lies about us in our infancy! ...and so it is. Whatever you believe god to be. Let's be honest - we have absolutely no idea where we came from. Or why we're here. Or where we're going. We have a lot of amazing and wonderful stories about it - but really no idea which of them, if any, might even be vaguely in the ballpark. If we breathe deeply and gently for a moment, and reflect, and watch the trees swaying or the sun gently setting behind the clouds, can we not exhale a long breath, and smile, and relax, and melt into the earth a little, and admit that we too are swayed by winds and cycles and patterns or non-patterns far beyond our tiny, limited capacity to understand? That all religions, and I include atheism in this, when taken to their extremes and followed as law or as definitives instead of as idea or as concept, are just desperate attempts to pretend that this obvious truth is not so? Desperate attempts to control the uncontrollable? To avoid and deny the huge smelly elephant in the living room - the certain knowledge that we will all ultimately die and face the great unknown, and we will do it not much better informed than the day we stepped off the boat... If we're lucky... or perhaps if we've been diligent enough to follow a path of love and kindness and non-judgment... perhaps we get to leave having grown a little, and go... wherever... however... whatever... "It is not given to us to grasp the truth, which is identical with the divine, directly. We perceive it only in reflection, in example and symbol, in singular and related appearances. It meets us as a kind of life which is incomprehensible to us, and yet we cannot free ourselves from the desire to comprehend it." - Goethe Random List: Favorite Comedians: Eddie Izzard, Catherine Tate. Favorite New Toy: A talking Ernie from Sesame Street. I only wish they made a Bert. New creative impulse: Twisty balloon sculpting. Currently Listening to: John Mayer - Continuum Looking forward to: An upcoming long weekend in Lake Tahoe - my first visit. Not Looking forward to: Anything involving insects that might happen in Lake Tahoe. Or anytime really. ****************************************** MORE POINTLESS RAMBLINGS TO COME SOON! **************************************** READ EARLIER RAMBLINGS BY CLICKING BELOW: 4/29/2004 - Birthday Ramblings 6/20/2004 - Princesses in the Post Office 8/02/2004 - The Mythology of the Past 9/23/2004 - Brownie and Mister Whiskers 12/13/2004 - Ostriches and Soapboxes 2/27/2005 - Oscars and Finger Puppets 5/18/2005 - Who Am I? 3/03/2006 - Interview from ARTE SIX **************************************** PLEASE E MAIL ME IF YOU HAVE ANY COMMENTS! joanna@joannamcmeikan.com Write to Joanna with your thoughts, questions, opinions, suggestions.**

Hi! Thanks for visiting www.joannamcmeikan.com, I hope you're enjoying it.

3/31/07 - A Sleep and a Forgetting

I was talking to some friends recently about what's going on in the world these days, and it struck me again - as it often does - that there are sometimes laughably simple answers to the hardest questions.

That is not to say there are ever easy solutions - practical solutions involve the cleaning up of huge, sloppy, difficult messes created over millennia by we the careless people... but easy answers? Yes, I think so. Simple, clear pathways to point us where we need to go (even though the going will always be difficult).

Most pertinently, I think the answer to all the hatred that goes on in the name of religion... all the Christians who judge homosexuals, all the Muslims who hate Westeners, all the atheists who despise believers, all the Hindus who buy into the caste system, and so on and so on... could so easily be prevented and indeed sidestepped entirely, with nothing more than a hefty dose of humility and common sense... and these three little words...

"I don't know".

Let's all say it together. "I don't know".

I believe - but I don't know.

I think - but I don't know.

I choose - but I don't know.

I have faith - but I don't know.

And I never will.

And that's okay.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We come to this life knowing so very little. Wordsworth wrote:

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!

...and so it is. Whatever you believe god to be. Let's be honest - we have absolutely no idea where we came from. Or why we're here. Or where we're going. We have a lot of amazing and wonderful stories about it - but really no idea which of them, if any, might even be vaguely in the ballpark. If we breathe deeply and gently for a moment, and reflect, and watch the trees swaying or the sun gently setting behind the clouds, can we not exhale a long breath, and smile, and relax, and melt into the earth a little, and admit that we too are swayed by winds and cycles and patterns or non-patterns far beyond our tiny, limited capacity to understand? That all religions, and I include atheism in this, when taken to their extremes and followed as law or as definitives instead of as idea or as concept, are just desperate attempts to pretend that this obvious truth is not so? Desperate attempts to control the uncontrollable? To avoid and deny the huge smelly elephant in the living room - the certain knowledge that we will all ultimately die and face the great unknown, and we will do it not much better informed than the day we stepped off the boat...

If we're lucky... or perhaps if we've been diligent enough to follow a path of love and kindness and non-judgment... perhaps we get to leave having grown a little, and go... wherever... however... whatever...

"It is not given to us to grasp the truth, which is identical with the divine, directly. We perceive it only in reflection, in example and symbol, in singular and related appearances. It meets us as a kind of life which is incomprehensible to us, and yet we cannot free ourselves from the desire to comprehend it."
- Goethe

Random List:

Favorite Comedians: Eddie Izzard, Catherine Tate.

Favorite New Toy: A talking Ernie from Sesame Street. I only wish they made a Bert.

New creative impulse: Twisty balloon sculpting.

Currently Listening to: John Mayer - Continuum

Looking forward to: An upcoming long weekend in Lake Tahoe - my first visit.

Not Looking forward to: Anything involving insects that might happen in Lake Tahoe. Or anytime really.

********************************************

MORE POINTLESS RAMBLINGS TO COME SOON!

********************************************

READ EARLIER RAMBLINGS BY CLICKING BELOW:

4/29/2004 - Birthday Ramblings

6/20/2004 - Princesses in the Post Office

8/02/2004 - The Mythology of the Past

9/23/2004 - Brownie and Mister Whiskers

12/13/2004 - Ostriches and Soapboxes

2/27/2005 - Oscars and Finger Puppets

5/18/2005 - Who Am I?

3/03/2006 - Interview from ARTE SIX

********************************************

PLEASE E MAIL ME IF YOU HAVE ANY COMMENTS!

joanna@joannamcmeikan.com
Write to Joanna with your thoughts, questions, opinions, suggestions.