Here are some of my little ideas and feelings that boomerang around in my head. Maybe some will resonate and some not so much but I do appreciate you reader taking the time to sit with me through them.
Thank you to my kids and grandbabies. It is good to feel the baby generation’s energy. Bright is the flash of light as they enter my solitude then and go. The room a little duskier and the quiet, deeper after. I fall into step with my habits yet the fresh memory runs in and out of my mind as I do. Yes, be here now and let tomorrow be.
Existence. Please. Reality is awesome. Science that explores reality is awesome. Being a human evolved on planet Earth made from the elements created in stars is awesome. If you have to sugar coat the natural world with myths and suppositions fine, as everyone should have freedom of belief and expression. I just share my satisfaction with life and mortality on a speck of dust in a cosmos that has yet to be determined how the possibility and probability of our humble species existing came to be.
Faith. Not something I personally put stock in. It is too much fatalism for me. Too much puppet masters pulling strings. I do believe in the laws of physics and cause and effect. There are so many possibilities that the occasional occurrence feels just right. But there are also as many other occurrences that don’t. As a thinking human I try to continue to widen my perspective, note causalities, be proactive and hopeful based on precedent. No belief in gods but I believe that energy is nature and everything is natural on its own. I don’t worship energy or matter but I sure appreciate the dance I am part of.
I know I was “trained” and I “trained” my kids to the gender assigned at birth. It seemed perfect to put a daughter in a pretty dress or call a son “Mr. Baby.” Everyone else also treated them according to gender expectations. As adults they are very happy and secure in their gender identity. But I hope they are able to poke at it, seeing if this or that part is fiction. I know within my own bare breast there resides a human with the characteristics society might define as male or female. If, for example, we’re into makeup and nails or beefing up at the gym, it’s a conformity, a uniform that makes finding a place in the society you inhabit more comfortable. The important thing is don’t forget the humanity within and look beyond the uniforms others wear to see the humanity within. And don’t accept the gender expectations keeping you from breaking glass ceilings. IT IS NOT ALL WINDOW DRESSING because the reality of patriarchy and misogyny are still maiming and killing women; men can be emotionally cut off or turn to violence; nonbinary people can be denied or persecuted. It is good for all of us to examine what is taken for granted.
Post religion is a reason-based and science-based world. Religion is replaced by the ethos of equality of all. That means poverty or violence are no longer tolerated. The common good, cooperation, and consensus are the political objectives. Because people then see nature as the basis, it is supremely valued. Because mortality is accepted then the time on Earth is supremely valued.
I do not bargain but I rage as in fierce love of the pearls I have strung together on my string of life so far. People, experiences, ideas—these are worth whatever efforts I must dredge up. Gratitude definitely. Regrets or guilts are dust in the wind. The pull is forward as it always has been.
My feet are grounded on Earth both benign and ruthless. My head is in the clouds where perspective allows me to see Earth’s place in the cosmos . . . Earthly problems and triumphs are so small.
I voted for him to stand with dignity and reason against tRump. I am very left but can tolerate compromise especially when there is such a global destabilizing threat as tRump. But I truly believe putting the environment and inequality on the back burner is a short-term fix at best. Every fossil fuel burned raises the cost of the climate crisis in the not-so-distant future. Every person denied DEI protection wastes human potential, creates social problems, and means human rights abuses. So congrats to us not being under Poilievre but keep eyes open and push back if “centre” gets intolerable.
Religions make no sense to me so I prefer to change the topic, but philosophies are great areas for exploration. Politics comes down to whether you believe in equality and fair resource distribution or not, how ruthless you are prepared to be with other nations, and how retro you are about peoples’ personal lives. I love real democracy and I want real accountability from representatives and big money . . . these days that is controversial. So hard to engage with some people.
I wasn’t born here. I settled here 44 years ago. I also have rebelled against the religions, politics, and social injustices of racism, sexism, classism, and cis heterosexism. I try to wear my whiteness with a smile. I know a lot of “my culture” was rock’n’roll, partying, and nature. I acknowledge I had ancestors but it’s the living who are important. We are all on this stolen land and have to create as equitable a society as we can and all move forward. We are currently well colonized by multinationals. We really have a common adversary, the billionaires.
Pain. I am studying pain from the inside out. Can’t find a redeeming quality. I don’t like the shrinkage of life it is imposing. I am talking about it on Facebook because fb is a distraction I use and also I can see how easy it could be to fade fade fade from connection with what life was before it became an hour by hour reality. I still lie in bed a couple of hours after waking to pain, not yet ready to put feet on the floor and begin the steep climb of another long day. I will do it. I want to. Okay I’ll make breakfast and get on with it.
Yes I know. The wars in Gaza and Ukraine and Iran, tRump trying to start another with Venezuela and Columbia and Cuba. Russia and China vying for world domination. Hindus vs. Sikhs, Shiites vs. Sunnis, libs vs. cons. Conflict is a big part of the human condition. Disgusting. I am supporting a defence for our country and reasonable support of our allies. Prioritizing diplomacy and peacekeeping. That’s where I think the budget should go. Throwing in the catastrophic reality of more years of tRump will up the ante a bit.
I believe in defence of our sovereignty not participation in foreign wars. Deployments as peacekeepers yes. Unfortunately, our country is under economic siege and even threats of military intervention by the United States. We are decades-long NATO members and we can’t just get out of that and leave the allies to stand alone against the bully. In a no-clear-win situation we can help each other strengthen our sovereignty, strengthen our economy, internally, and with new partners. If the federal government is dead in the water per climate change we can cut our own carbon emissions and continue to support greener living solutions. I sure wouldn’t want PM Carney’s job of such complexity and needs everywhere.
As if the franchise was ever just handed and as if everyone was ever on the same page. As long as inequality rules and injustice festers, sitting at the same table, let alone talking civilly, is indefinitely on hold. You (generally speaking) don’t care that poverty is stepped over on your street as long as you got yours. You think you define someone else’s sexuality, gender, or what a g-o-d says, or what race or ethnicity is disposable, or how low minimum wage can be, or who doesn’t get healthcare. No one should sit at a table perpetuating old misery.
Post-secondary. Nothing secondary about it. When I was young, people could get by with high school and society agreed it was to the benefit of all to make public school available. Now it is ridiculous not to fund post secondary. Of course, an education, academic or trades or the arts, is worth it. The billionaires and corporations use our educated folks and the infrastructures they build for profit. Time to recycle some of that profit back into the labour creating it. Yes I know it’s a horrible socialist agenda.
Yes to public schools, transportation, libraries, police and fire, universal healthcare, roads and other infrastructure, social security, social safety net. With a robust market and private property. But with enough taxation of multimillionaires, billionaires, and corporations to make it happen. That is the socialism I want for everyone’s benefit.
OMG. What will 10 years hence be under the new master AI?
I am an accident of evolution. Just holding on tight to our spinning rock briefly. I have found all the meaning I need from the reality around me.
I have only contempt for the delusional wrecking of science, rolling back social progress, creating more enemies around the world, and doing nothing about climate crisis.
I put my trust in the continuous creating and destruction throughout the cosmos. And trust that truth is verifiable. I trust our souls need to be our humanity. And we must tolerate decay and mortality as well as light. I use hope-based reasoning, a grounding in love of life and a Cosmic perspective that challenges individualism and confirms the importance of connection.
My focus is on natural beings and observable phenomena and I only seek to better appreciate the natural—from grains of sand to the cosmos—and I fully embrace the reality of mortality. I don’t pray. Yes I have conversations with my conscience, even begging my brain to find solutions or I am taking time to bask in gratitude for the good in my life. I say do what you must 😆 and I hope you RIP as happy as me.
Because mortality awaits us all. I think it is our purpose to leave the world a better place. You may use words like Gnostic or spiritual but I call it all human.
You better roll up your own sleeves. You have to cut your carbon footprint even if it hurts. You have to back educated leaders devoted to progress. Birth rates have to be what the planet can sustain even though some say we can support even more humans but that is short term as we are dependent on the ecosystems we are destroying. No to superstitions or mythical fantasy. Reality demands our commitment.
Thank you for being witness to my existence.
