I wish it need not have happened in my time,' said Frodo.
'So do I,' said Gandalf, 'and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.'--Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings}
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." -Albus Dumbledore to Harry Potter
"If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals."-Sirius Black in Harry Potter
"It's never been about living forever, Jackie ... it's about learning to live with yourself-forever"-Pirates 3
"Meetings don't need to be endless to be eternal." President James E. Faust
"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." James Dean
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Love and Truth
So profound: "If you never know truth then you never know love!" - 'Where is the Love', Black Eyed Peas
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Response to Global Warming Incredulity
From what I studied in chemistry, man made climate change is realistic enough for me, and it's a subject that should be taken seriously. Its easy to listen to the pundits, they count on people not being well informed, and they have something to gain.
The reality is that exploitive consumers rarely take into consideration means by which to make waste products a functioning part of the necessary consumer cycle. That's what I loved about the native Americans. They would use everything, create hardly any waste, and were always mindful of how they impacted their surroundings. They did not rape and pillage the land like the Europeans did once they came to the Americas.
I don't mean to say that we need to live like the Indians, but we should be responsible as we create products to also build in systems of disassembling those products into components that can then be used in viable and healthy alternative means. We should also be aware and responsible in creating machinery or any useful commodity that is dependent on limited resources. It should be taken into account that the driving means of those commodities are limited and therefore it should only be used as means to an end not the end in and of itself. There should be a plan for using those inefficient means to help us attain products that will not use up limited resources.
I propose that we change the laws for patenting any new technology. I propose that all technologies past, present, and future not be allowed the exclusive rights that come by way of a patent or copyright, until within its design they also include a means to safely recycle, or dispose of such materials, thus describing the life cycle of the materials, chemicals, or substances necessary for the product from creation to re-usability.
Make no mistake the reason our economy is getting slammed as well as the pollution that is amassing in this world stems from the same human dilemma. When larger and larger numbers of people become increasingly greedy and selfish, chaos and the law of the jungle results. When people work together for the betterment of all, not first treasuring comforts, luxuries, money, and power for themselves; then we will find the solutions to the great dilemmas of the economy and the environment, and then our children will not bemoan their circumstances.
The reality is that exploitive consumers rarely take into consideration means by which to make waste products a functioning part of the necessary consumer cycle. That's what I loved about the native Americans. They would use everything, create hardly any waste, and were always mindful of how they impacted their surroundings. They did not rape and pillage the land like the Europeans did once they came to the Americas.
I don't mean to say that we need to live like the Indians, but we should be responsible as we create products to also build in systems of disassembling those products into components that can then be used in viable and healthy alternative means. We should also be aware and responsible in creating machinery or any useful commodity that is dependent on limited resources. It should be taken into account that the driving means of those commodities are limited and therefore it should only be used as means to an end not the end in and of itself. There should be a plan for using those inefficient means to help us attain products that will not use up limited resources.
I propose that we change the laws for patenting any new technology. I propose that all technologies past, present, and future not be allowed the exclusive rights that come by way of a patent or copyright, until within its design they also include a means to safely recycle, or dispose of such materials, thus describing the life cycle of the materials, chemicals, or substances necessary for the product from creation to re-usability.
Make no mistake the reason our economy is getting slammed as well as the pollution that is amassing in this world stems from the same human dilemma. When larger and larger numbers of people become increasingly greedy and selfish, chaos and the law of the jungle results. When people work together for the betterment of all, not first treasuring comforts, luxuries, money, and power for themselves; then we will find the solutions to the great dilemmas of the economy and the environment, and then our children will not bemoan their circumstances.
What are we?
I love science. It is a means of discovery. It enlightens us with truths we otherwise would not know. It throws down bigoted false ideals and superstitions. It is albeit an imperfect tool to discover truth, but a great champion for refining the knowledge we have until in time, we come to the full truth. I believe that true science and true religion complement each other. I believe they go hand in hand as instruments to disseminate and enlighten mankind. I learn from both of these. The more I learn about the inner workings of the human mind, body, and brain, the more convinced I grow into the realization that what we, humans, really are, are not animals, but machines. We are organic machines, fitted with overlying and very sophisticated integrated systems that construct what we perceive as reality, or life. Joseph Smith is known to have said that there is no such thing as immaterial matter, all in fact is matter. I believe that. I don't believe in space. I believe in matter too refined to notice, much like air molecules are too small to see with the natural eye, but which all can feel when the wind blows. Our coarse scientific instruments at the present can not detect spiritual matter, and its interesting that the smallest particles known to man continue to show smaller particles from which they are comprised. I believe Joseph Smith was right in declaring that spirit is but refined matter. I see the imperfect machinery of the human body, combined with the perfected machinery of the eternal spirit body, consisting of refined matter, as a human soul. In studying the many mysteries of the nervous system, brain, and human functions, I can't help but notice that what we think and believe has very real physical effects translated into neuronal activity, neurotransmitters, neurohormones, neuronal connections, cell growth, as well as cell death. Emotions and thoughts are reflections of physical properties happening within the human brain. It is interesting to note that people can endure hardship and external trials by what they hold on to in their head. Joseph Smith taught that when a man works by faith he works by mental exertion instead of physical force. It is by words, instead of exerting his physical powers, with which every being works when he works by faith. Science is now speculating that our perception of consciousness arises from language and the ability to mentally associate language to our perceptions. Patients that have had their corpus collosum severed in fact seem to have two minds, but only one conscious, meaning they seem to be aware or conscious of only one hemisphere, typically the left hemisphere where the language centers of the brain are located. This correlation of verbal representation, working by words, faith, and consciousness, is quite fascinating to me. Somehow in the complexities of the interactions within the neuronal networks of the brain, the pre-frontal cortex and the anterior lateral portion of the temporal lobe seems to be able to reorganize, regulate, or short circuit otherwise deleterious external stimuli. The key seems to be in the mental belief structure and the reality of purpose to the mind in enduring any specific set of circumstances. This capacity is fascinating. Even more so when the held belief or endurance is substantial and actually couched in reality or truth. It seems that belief, hope, and faith are powerful methods of reorganizing the mind.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Same Sex Marriage
1 Pet. 3: 15
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
Alma 32:21
And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.
Recently someone I knew was publicly promoting an issue which I believe very dangerous to the well being of civilization and society as a whole. These comments stemmed from that impetus and I would share them with all, for i believe the subject matter is paramount to all. Unfortunately the deeper implications associated with such a subject tread on important religious matters which not everyone acknowledges, believes, or holds as valuable. For this reason, I chose to pose my argument in a medium anyone can relate to: functionalism and utilitarianism. This argument is not complete. The dynamics and discussion would overflow if carried into the details of my views from a psychological and neurological perspective when comparing a homosexual household to a heterosexual household in child rearing. And while I have much more to express on the subject, for now I will share the following;
Marriage has been, and should always be between a man and a woman. Anything else is a distortion of; the functional physiological complements inherent to gender difference between spouses, civilizational moorings of society, and the intrinsic differences and difficulties necessary in the perfection and growth of men and women.
Historically, civilizations have recognized marriage between a man and a women because it is profitable to society. Without supporting it, civilizations would shrivel up and die. Today, modern technology may allow for in-vitro fertilization and people may pass off their children to be adopted by others, but make no mistake, over time, maybe decades, maybe centuries the final product of letting loose the glue that defines and binds families will be an ever expansive general disregard for any traditional definitions and established civilizational practices within society.
In time the organizations that today would be used as an excuse for making same sex marriages and families viable from a functional propagation of the human species perspective, would unravel. And make no mistake that when that happens, and if a great minority, or worse, the majority of people alive practice such a lifestyle, it will only take one generation to cause the potential demise of societies. If not utterly ruined, societies would for sure sustain considerable decades or centuries of civilization growth and achievement loss. No matter what arguments amount, same sex marriages will never, on their own merit and capacity, be able to produce what heterosexual marriages produce, or better said - reproduce - and that is the human race. It is in society’s best interest, therefore, to safeguard and support the institutions that propagate its own survival, anything else would be a kin to allowing a potentially lethal disease into your body that in time will be the death of you. Ponder it.
Also when you have time read up on the Roman empire and notice how their great empire collapsed after rotting from within due to issues of redefining lawful marriage standards and allowing run rampant and unbridled the seeking and attainment of increasingly inordinate forms of physical sexual gratification.
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
Alma 32:21
And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.
Recently someone I knew was publicly promoting an issue which I believe very dangerous to the well being of civilization and society as a whole. These comments stemmed from that impetus and I would share them with all, for i believe the subject matter is paramount to all. Unfortunately the deeper implications associated with such a subject tread on important religious matters which not everyone acknowledges, believes, or holds as valuable. For this reason, I chose to pose my argument in a medium anyone can relate to: functionalism and utilitarianism. This argument is not complete. The dynamics and discussion would overflow if carried into the details of my views from a psychological and neurological perspective when comparing a homosexual household to a heterosexual household in child rearing. And while I have much more to express on the subject, for now I will share the following;
Marriage has been, and should always be between a man and a woman. Anything else is a distortion of; the functional physiological complements inherent to gender difference between spouses, civilizational moorings of society, and the intrinsic differences and difficulties necessary in the perfection and growth of men and women.
Historically, civilizations have recognized marriage between a man and a women because it is profitable to society. Without supporting it, civilizations would shrivel up and die. Today, modern technology may allow for in-vitro fertilization and people may pass off their children to be adopted by others, but make no mistake, over time, maybe decades, maybe centuries the final product of letting loose the glue that defines and binds families will be an ever expansive general disregard for any traditional definitions and established civilizational practices within society.
In time the organizations that today would be used as an excuse for making same sex marriages and families viable from a functional propagation of the human species perspective, would unravel. And make no mistake that when that happens, and if a great minority, or worse, the majority of people alive practice such a lifestyle, it will only take one generation to cause the potential demise of societies. If not utterly ruined, societies would for sure sustain considerable decades or centuries of civilization growth and achievement loss. No matter what arguments amount, same sex marriages will never, on their own merit and capacity, be able to produce what heterosexual marriages produce, or better said - reproduce - and that is the human race. It is in society’s best interest, therefore, to safeguard and support the institutions that propagate its own survival, anything else would be a kin to allowing a potentially lethal disease into your body that in time will be the death of you. Ponder it.
Also when you have time read up on the Roman empire and notice how their great empire collapsed after rotting from within due to issues of redefining lawful marriage standards and allowing run rampant and unbridled the seeking and attainment of increasingly inordinate forms of physical sexual gratification.
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