Evolution of a soul

What is man that thou are mindful of him...Ps 8:4

Lot's of anger in the world today. The problem with anger is it intensifies when people run to their bunker's and echo chambers. I'll have to say that I have some thoughts on the world. On privilege and racism and left wing and right wing. But, I am just worn out with politics these days. Not as a white person or a liberal or a Southerner or a Conservative. Hell, I'm not a conservative but I'm not a far left wing person either. Still, I just find myself going numb when I try to talk to people on social media. Insults are hurled and feelings are hurt and labels like racist, inbred hick, fanatic, godless,religious fanatic and on and on and on.

Lets be honest If you saw and heard a human being crying out for his mother and begging for his life and your first response it to make excuses for the cops and try to find dirt to spread on him then you are broken. I don't care what color or political party or how many times you say you love on Jesus. You are messed up.

Still,I don't recommend defunding the police department either. But, this isn't about that. This isn't even about Elmer Fudd going rabbit hunting without a shotgun. Which is silly in itself. Bugs ain't scared of that ole shotgun anyway. But, I digress. (That means go off topic and ramble for you folks in the back row.)

I was thinking about what I believe in. I recently was listening to a talk between two philosopher's about the primacy of consciousness before matter. I tended to agree with one of them more than the other. Anyway, somebody told the one I agreed with that it was good he was open minded. My guy said open minded doesn't mean you are wishy washy. You wait until you have developed your belief to your own satisfaction and then you can be civil but not feel the need to agree or change your own position. In other words don't be a people pleaser or go along to get along.

I wondered if I was guilty of that. I have bent over backwards at times to make sure I didn't offend somebody. That in itself isn't bad but if it causes you to abandon your core or hard earned world view then you need to check yourself. That being said I often find myself trying not to offend and in doing so I also find that I am assumed to agree with things that I don't always agree with.

So, this isn't going to be my opinion on how black people should feel or how white people should respond to black people or anything like that. But, I did wonder about what I believe about the world.

I hesitate to go there. Because several years ago I decided to make a list of why I hold my religious beliefs. Bad idea. Or at least in my case it was bad for my dogma. My list which I thought would be long and affirming was actually quite short and full of holes.

  Short break for a little joke. These two kid's come down for breakfast. The older brother is 10 years old and the younger one is 5 years old. The older brother say's to the younger one. I'm going to try out some new words I heard dad say yesterday on mom this morning. It worked for dad. Anyway, the boys come down and the mother say's to the 10 year old "What do you want for breakfast?" The 10 year old says "I'll have orange juice and a couple of those damn pancakes." The mother slaps him and then glares at the 5 year old. "Now, what do you want?" The 5 year old says "I don't know but I don't want them damn pancakes."

Anybody who knows that joke knows I cleaned it up some. But, my purpose in telling it is that sometimes you have to be careful when you say things without really understanding what you are saying. I have learned that the hard way. So, I'm careful in making a statement of what I believe in. Not because I'm wishy washy but because I know there are a lot of things about life and death that I honestly don't know.

There are more things in heaven and earth Horatio than are dreamt of in your philosophy....Hamlet by William Shakespeare.

I have come in my years on earth to take the thought of reincarnation seriously. There are reasons for it but I'm not going to get into an argument on religion here. I have just come to the conclusion that evolution is biological and spiritual. I would recommend Dr. Ian Stevenson's book "Where reincarnation and biology intersect." It may still be in print. But, full disclosure. I haven't read it. It's pretty academic and written on a high level. Still, I've read some things from it and have talked with some people who have studied it. But, that's not why I have come to my worldview. It's just one of the subjects that I've seen and that have hit home.

I say all that to say this. If what I suspect is true then we are all one species and one race and one eternal manifestation of (for want of a better word) God. So, the black person that is so angry and wanting restitution from the bigoted white person just might have been a slave holder at some point in their existence. The white bigot that hates black people may have been an oppressed minority in a previous life. Now those are "just so" stories and I don't actually like just so stories. You know the closed minded type story that is a one size fits all explanation for everything. But, it does give a bit of an example of what I'm talking about.

If the day could come when we could honestly see out of each other's eyes and understand that there is more that connects us than divides us then maybe some of the hate and bitterness could heal. I honestly don't know.

I'm married to a science fiction/fantasy fanatic. So I have seen Star Wars and Star Trek and Babylon Five and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I sat through all the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings movies in the theatre. So, anyway in Star Trek Enterprise (the weakest of the franchise imo) there is a scene where the aliens decide to make contact because mankind had achieved warp speed. But, I am also a horror movie fan and a horror novel and comic fan and I have a really big interest in the research of the paranormal.

So, I was listening to a podcast the other day sipping my morning coffee and I heard Whitley Strieber (google Communion if you don't know who that is) make a statement. He said the reason the visitors or what some people call aliens haven't made oficial contact with mankind is because of the holocaust. Once the so called aliens saw human being burn each other to death in ovens they decided that earth wasn't ready for any kind of leap forward into the cosmos.Edit: Actually he said the Nazis killed a young Jewish boy who would have discovered anti gravity and that is why the aliens didn't make contact. Now, I'm not in any way making light of the horror of the holocaust. Whitley Strieber wasn't either. But, if I were an alien race I know one thing for sure. I wouldn't want these psycho's of the human race let loose in the broader cosmos either.

Distant cousin from down the line. Brand of people who ain't my kind. Holy Moses I have been removed...Elton John

I wonder if we might be removed. Unfit for the next step in evolution and just stuck going around and around on this third rock from the sun until it explodes or we have an evolutionary leap in consciousness.

But is it all our fault? We are born and raised in this skin and with the circumstances of our birth we start to either pull up or fall farther down depending on what? The luck of the draw? The sperm lottery? The will of an old man with anger issues in the sky? I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be offensive. But, it does make you wonder just what are we responsible for.

Well, if some scientist are right then we are nothing but a collection of neurons and atoms and chemical firings of a dying mass in our skull. So how could we honestly be responsible for anything? How could you judge Hitler or Stalin? They were just meatbots. On the other hand you have some who think this old guy in the sky made a bet with a powerful arch angel called Satan and the deal is if this powerful arch angel can get these naked apes called humans to mess up then he can bar b q them for eternity.

Now that is a bit of an oversimplification of a scientific thought or possibility and a religious dogma that in all honesty is much deeper than that when you let go of the absolute fundi stuff. But, still it's a thought and the question remains.

Just how much responsibility do we have towards each other? I think if the day ever comes when we can talk with each other instead of at each other. When we stop trying to be absolutely right and consider the other absolutely wrong. Maybe we can make progress. I had a thought the other day.

As a white person maybe I can start to listen a little better. Now, I'm not talking about bowing down and extending my neck to be cut off or told to shut up. But, maybe I can acknowledge that black people have never felt completely accepted in this country. Their ancestors were brought here in chains. The Confederate flag that was a source of pride and heritage for some of us was a symbol of slavery and abuse to them. Maybe if it were the other way around I'd be tearing down statues too. I don't know. I can't know.

But, even though I feel there are many great opportunities for all races in this nation and I honestly believe that. But, that still doesn't mean that black people don't feel like they have a target on their back when they go to the store in a car or walk down the street. They see a statehouse in Michigan being over run by white people with guns and that's just the 2nd amendment in action. But, a black kid with a bb gun is killed by a white cop and some of y'all say "well he should have put the gun down." I'm not here to make the argument one way or the other. I'm just saying we need to listen.

We also need to stop yelling and screaming at each other. I see people who are inviting people to Sunday School in one post on facebook and then posting slander about somebody with no real understanding if it's true or not on the next. That marble monument or idol that some of y'all want back in front of the statehouse? One of the commandments on it is "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." But, I guess that only counts if thy neighbor is a white evangelical. On the other hand if you are a young black person and you want me to listen to you then stop with the "Dear White People shit" I'm not a "white people." I'm Steve and we can talk.

Anyway that's my bag. It's subject to change but I'm not going to go along to get along. Not anymore.

Peace.