What Am I?

Tucson Weather Today

_____

Yesterday afternoon I allowed myself an hour off from my usual routine to view an hour-long YouTube video wherein Professor Richard Dawkins reveals how he came to write his explosive first book The Selfish Gene, a work that was to divide the scientific community and make him the most influential evolutionary biologist of his generation. He also explores how this set him on the path to becoming an outspoken spokesman for atheism.

I found this BBC presentation to be both entertaining and informative, a combination of personal pleasures not often granted me. I enjoyed it immensely.

The Selfish Gene

_____

WORD FOR TODAY

spiritual
adj.
1. Of, relating to, consisting of, or having the nature of spirit; not tangible or material.
2. Of, concerned with, or affecting the soul.
3. Of, from, or relating to God; deific.
4. Of or belonging to a church or religion; sacred.
5. Relating to or having the nature of spirits or a spirit; supernatural.


The word 'spiritual' denotes a concept I am unable to comprehend. Whenever I read its definition or hear it described the idea will not take concrete form within the sphere of my understanding. I cannot separate some imaginary mental-only me from the solid mas of the physical me. All is one.

At Wikipedia I am told:

Most Christians understand the soul as an ontological reality distinct from, yet integrally connected with, the body. Its characteristics are described in moral, spiritual, and philosophical terms. According to a common Christian eschatology, when people die, their souls will be judged by God and determined to spend an eternity in Heaven or in Hell.

Nonsense.

To me, my spirit, my soul, are merely synonyms for my self.

Simple as that.

Wikipedia also tells me: When modern scientists speak of the soul outside of this cultural and psychological context, they generally treat soul as a poetic synonym for mind.

Well, hurrah for the scientist.

"What then is human life?" I ask.

And I answer:

"Life is an accumulation of chemical elements and compounds that combine and react together in a natural manner for a specific duration and then disperse."

Simple as that.

_____

At what exact moment does death occur? When the heart stops beating? When brain waves go flat? When breathing stops?

An intriguing article in Salon addresses the question.

Here is the link

_____

BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Harper Lee

Born April 28, 1926

Author of To Kill A Mockingbird

ALSO 

Terry Pratchett

Born April 28, 1948

Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre.

_____

__________

There is nothing so ridiculous but some philosopher has said it.
--Cicero

Some Sincere Soul Searching

Tucson Weather Today

_____

For want of a better term, I have been indulging in a bit of what the religious tend to call soul searching, -- asking myself . . . what is really and truly important to me?

The first thing that occurred to me was my proclivity for judging others. To observe other people and compare their overt activities to what I, within my secret thoughts, believe to be proper or correct. As in...

Yesterday I was able to once again watch one of my all-time favorite movies, Gigot (pronounced JEE-go, I think) and was once again reminded of how easily a person (myself included, myself especially) can be lulled into self-righteousness. How we, unless always alert to human failings, sneer at the (zany antics, we call them) unfortunate foibles of those we brand as inferior to ourselves.

Gigot (Jackie Gleason) is, in this movie, a Parisian janitor who is mute and docile, a noble simpleton kicked around by uncaring society. Yet he is tenderly human: He frequents all local funerals and never fails to cry. When he finds a local prostitute (Katherine Kath) and her bright-eyed daughter Nicole (Diane Gardner) sheltering in his doorway he takes them into his home. The lumbering giant and wee Nicole become fast friends, and Gigot finally has a family. But how long will this happiness last?

I had seen this 1963 film only one time before, and thought that it was one of the most bittersweet movies I'd ever seen.

And I then remembered another time I had seen Jackie Gleason in an extremely sad role... that of an aging Army Master Sergeant Maxwell Slaughter in the Steve McQueen movie, Soldier In The Rain.

For those who have never seen it, below is a review of this oldie but goodie.

Film critic Craig Butler wrote about the film's theme, "An absorbing film that deserves to be much better known, Soldier in the Rain is a sometimes uneasy blend of comedy and drama that doesn't always quite come off, but has so much going for it that one is glad to overlook its flaws. A buddy picture set in the peacetime Army.

Soldier is concerned with how a strong friendship can develop between two people of differing personalities and aims. Jackie Gleason and Steve McQueen are different types, and the fact that they have such a strong bond may at first seem unlikely, but as the film progresses it somehow seems natural and inevitable. Blake Edwards and Martin Richlin have done an excellent job of adapting William Goldman's novel, and together with director Ralph Nelson have opted to emphasize the character aspects of the material over the plot.

Anyway, my soul-searching led me to the above thoughts, and for some reason I decided to include them in today's blog entry.


I had entered my seventies before I realized, with a surprising flash of insight, that I had spent a lifetime in ignorance of how I appeared through the eyes of most of the people interacting with me day by day, or at least week by week.

Less than two years ago, and for no apparent reason, I suddenly came to know without a doubt that the man (let's call him George) who delivered our wintertime heating fuel for most of my young adult years not only did not like me (though he successfully pretended to) but he actually disliked me... despised me. I was, you see, the antithesis of himself. He was a steady, hard working, church going, law abiding citizen everybody in town liked and respected.

I was not.

More to come at another time . . . in one form or another.

_____

WORD FOR TODAY

soul
noun
A soul -- in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions -- is the incorporeal essence of a person.

I think of soul as being the basic me of my self. And that's all. I do not equate it with the idea of spirit as do some people, but merely the core of myself. No more than that.

_____

BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Hugh Hefner

Born April 9, 1926

_____

__________

A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.
--Oscar Wilde