{"id":1106,"date":"2009-12-08T15:55:40","date_gmt":"2009-12-08T20:55:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=1106"},"modified":"2009-12-08T15:55:40","modified_gmt":"2009-12-08T20:55:40","slug":"keep-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=1106","title":{"rendered":"Keep it."},"content":{"rendered":"

I was listening to auto-tuned scientists at Symphony of Science<\/a> and something occurred to me: while faith seems to have been a notion conceived to easily answer the question of what our place is in the universe, that answer has changed considerably, yet still carries the same moniker.<\/p>\n

I shall explain, since that sentence was ill-conceived and verbose.<\/p>\n

Taking the Bible as an example, man sits at the highest point in a hierarchy of earthly beings. He is to act as master and custodian for the planet, an edict handed down by God Himself. In an unforgiving and vast universe, to be the ruler of the only place we can currently visit is a strong enough argument to forget the question altogether. And so faith allows us to avoid dwelling in that uncertainty.<\/p>\n

But faith (again, using the Bible as example) also teaches us that in our mastery over this world, we should be humble and uncovetous. Because among the other 6 billion masters, our place is not clear. Yes, we are to be equals, but how to settle differences? Men rule earth, but who rules men? God, I suppose, but in such a hands-off way, that we simply have to have societies to avoid constant argument over proper behavior.<\/p>\n

Argh. I had this great thought this morning, but I’ve lost it now. It revolved around using faith to elevate man above insignificance, but in modern times being used to show how man should always be deferent to a higher authority, whether that’s God or simply the men who are smart enough to use the concept of God to confuse the simple-minded.<\/p>\n

I thought I had it all worked out how terrorism is actually the result of this, but then I had to go and WORK and mess it all up.<\/p>\n

Still, it got me writing again, which I suppose is worth it. I will not edit this, this time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was listening to auto-tuned scientists at Symphony of Science and something occurred to me: while faith seems to have been a notion conceived to easily answer the question of what our place is in the universe, that answer has changed considerably, yet still carries the same moniker. I shall explain, since that sentence was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p73iP8-hQ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":523,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=523","url_meta":{"origin":1106,"position":0},"title":"Philosophy of belief.","date":"3\/13\/2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Recently, I was asked on this blog whether I had faith in anything. I answered semantically, focusing on the word faith and countering with the words trust and hope. As someone with politically liberal sympathies, the word \"faith\" can spark some discomfort in me. I believe that, particularly as we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ennui"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":282,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=282","url_meta":{"origin":1106,"position":1},"title":"The Wedding: pre-show","date":"3\/19\/2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Weeks ago, as I toiled over some vastly important work project that has since passed into anonymity, an email arrived from an old friend. She had news, so the message read, and she wanted to be certain that she had the right email address. Soon after, I learned that she\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Self-service"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":664,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=664","url_meta":{"origin":1106,"position":2},"title":"Really rings a bell.","date":"7\/31\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The attempt to pass an alternative fuel bill advocating the use of liquid coal has me thinking. Maybe there's an energy source that we've overlooked. Solar, wind, geothermal, etc. are all better options, of course, but I'm talking about something that should be obvious from our childhood. Think now... once\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ennui"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":472,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=472","url_meta":{"origin":1106,"position":3},"title":"A question which has no simple answer.","date":"1\/17\/2006","format":false,"excerpt":"How long does it take to (add your own job here)? For me the blank is usually filled with \"...build a website (or piece thereof)\". And the answer is always, of course, \"It depends.\" Because anyone who works with computers knows that it certainly does. With what words would you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ennui"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":181,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=181","url_meta":{"origin":1106,"position":4},"title":"Vigilante justice.","date":"9\/8\/2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Is it punk or is it puritanical? On my walk into work from my car this morning, I passed a pickup truck parked near MIAD. It had two bumper stickers: \"Marriage: One Man, One Woman\" and (another that I will paraphrase because my memory is failing me) \"Abortion: Two patients\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ennui"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2676,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=2676","url_meta":{"origin":1106,"position":5},"title":"Hunter S. Thompson on floating and swimming","date":"6\/16\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"April 22, 1958 57 Perry Street New York City Dear Hume, You ask advice: ah, what a very human and very dangerous thing to do! For to give advice to a man who asks what to do with his life implies something very close to egomania. To presume to point\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ennui"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1106"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1106"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1107,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1106\/revisions\/1107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}