Ya know, I don't need this. The guilt. Why do I have to open two letters, right in a row, from mothers. This one's from mine. "I just hope you are worthy of our trust in you and that you are behaving responsibly."
Well, of course she assumed I probably was not worthy. That assumption is implicit in the statement. This is May of 1963. She asks again about my scholarship papers that I need to sign and send to them. I didn't do it. I don't remember why. I had other things on my mind. Irresponsible things.
Earlier today, when I saw the next letter would be from my mother, I thought it might be a nice segue into something I was thinking about on the yoga mat this morning. Contemplating religion - now what brought that on? Oh, yeah. Something in last month's National Geo - a scientist/Christian apologist (and a fairly intelligent one, at that) implying that our sense of morality, our sense of right and wrong, is some kind of clue to the existence of a God. I capitolize it to distinguish it from all the other gods we know exist. The ones we swear to, at and by.
So I got back to a notion of mine, that if indeed there actually is NO god - I mean God - then our sense of right and wrong comes from ourselves. But how? Why? And suddenly the phrase "we the people" popped into my head, and I thought oh, of course. Explains why so many people get so religious about the Declaration of Independence. We the people don't want bad things happening to us. Axiomatically, we need to assure the right of all beings to exist and to exist as well as possible. Because it is the only way we can assure that right to ourselves. The suffering of others is proof positive that suffering is possible for us as well. We the people do not want to be murdered. We the people do not want to be hungry. And if some of we the people want to murder others of the people, those people do not want to be murdered. And that desire, the desire of both not to be murdered, outweighs - totally knocks out of the park - any right of another to murder. Self defense - that's another story.
And the music goes round and round...
Am I behaving responsibly yet?
Well, of course she assumed I probably was not worthy. That assumption is implicit in the statement. This is May of 1963. She asks again about my scholarship papers that I need to sign and send to them. I didn't do it. I don't remember why. I had other things on my mind. Irresponsible things.
Earlier today, when I saw the next letter would be from my mother, I thought it might be a nice segue into something I was thinking about on the yoga mat this morning. Contemplating religion - now what brought that on? Oh, yeah. Something in last month's National Geo - a scientist/Christian apologist (and a fairly intelligent one, at that) implying that our sense of morality, our sense of right and wrong, is some kind of clue to the existence of a God. I capitolize it to distinguish it from all the other gods we know exist. The ones we swear to, at and by.
So I got back to a notion of mine, that if indeed there actually is NO god - I mean God - then our sense of right and wrong comes from ourselves. But how? Why? And suddenly the phrase "we the people" popped into my head, and I thought oh, of course. Explains why so many people get so religious about the Declaration of Independence. We the people don't want bad things happening to us. Axiomatically, we need to assure the right of all beings to exist and to exist as well as possible. Because it is the only way we can assure that right to ourselves. The suffering of others is proof positive that suffering is possible for us as well. We the people do not want to be murdered. We the people do not want to be hungry. And if some of we the people want to murder others of the people, those people do not want to be murdered. And that desire, the desire of both not to be murdered, outweighs - totally knocks out of the park - any right of another to murder. Self defense - that's another story.
And the music goes round and round...
Am I behaving responsibly yet?
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