474: Change is Inevitable
The truth is I am clearly a liberal--I am so accepting of the notion of change that I really don't protest it unless I see a clear reason that something's a bad idea, like buying a very large and expensive toy when already in massive debt or things to that effect. In practice, I'm centrist, because I don't exactly go around enforcing change myself, particularly if it's going to inconvenience myself or someone else in a way I haven't noticed because I haven't deliberated on it enough and researched all the options.
I find that both of the extremes are miserable in their own ways, though, because conservatives are fearfully backpedalling to reclaim their lost kingdom or whatever, and [radical] liberals are desperately trying to institute the change that, at its given rate of progress, won't take effect until well into their golden years or later, feeling oppressed in the meantime. It's not exactly my place to judge either--or, I don't feel right condemning either for simply having opinions--but what strikes me the most is how much of that misery comes from, "Things are not the way I want them to be." They never will be 100% the way any one person wants them to be. This is the perfectionist in me [and others] complaining that the world isn't perfect--the Zen in me accepts that it won't be and gets along with what actually is.
People have the right to be miserable of their own accord, I suppose, but it's frustrating watching them whine when they've chosen to ignore the good advice given to them [letters to Dear Abby come to mind, though a lot of that is hoping that the good advice is NOT what they didn't want to hear after all].
Creationism vs. Evolution is a particularly strange battle, as one is a philosophy and the other is an actual practice. What science can you perform with Intelligent Design? Even if proven true, knowing that everything was deliberately made--but in such a way to suggest it wasn't--is useless. Evolution is visible in strains of virii and bacteria, and studying this evolution can help combat them. This isn't proof of evolution in other animals [like humans], because fundamentally nothing can be "proven," but it is a recognized phenomenon.
I mention this because one scathing criticism of science was that a scientist's beliefs would fundamentally change day by day, according to the evidence, which is funny because that seems to suggest it's a bad thing. There is a much appropriate quote, originally regarding finances but definitely a scientific mindset:"When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?" -- John Maynard Keynes
What I find astonishing about Creationists is how they give the term "theory" the connotation of "mere opinion" and fail to accept the scientists' accepted meaning of "statement corroborated with extensive evidence"--as opposed to "statement pulled completely out of one's ass and backed by 'because I said so.'" Even the term "fact" itself isn't set in stone, and even "facts" like "God wrote the Bible" can be disproven with evidence showing that the Bible is a compilation [and translation] of writings by various men, not God. Just about the only 100% unrefutable fact is that what we think of as facts are accepted or disbelieved according to how the viewer decides to interpret the evidence.
Where I'm going with this derailed train of thought is that I'm so resigned to change that, as a result of my perfectionism, I have an exceedingly detached view of life. I have no real sense of home anymore--where I called home for twenty-odd years of my life became strangely foreign when I returned after a few years away, and I have only been in this apartment for one year to recognize it as anything more than where I stay. I fear, until I actually become a homeowner, I will never regain that familiar sense of home, even though I accept that this is the way it will be.
Similarly, I no longer have as close friends the friends of my childhood or even when I was in college--while I haven't unfriended them in any sense of the word, certainly the friends I made then are as different now as I am now and these past friends are no longer familiar. Part of this is my antisocial tendency, but also simply that all of us have moved apart [I to Maryland] and failed to keep regular contact over time.
Furthermore, it affects my art [and dance], because I have this patent inability to repeat what I do before. It's as though subconsciously I don't want to do the same thing I've done before, so I try to change it slightly, even if my conscious mind doesn't want to vary from the previous way. This has been the source of my headaches trying to illustrate my book, that I can't draw the characters quite the same way again :/
Finally, when the facts do change, or I'm manipulated into examining them more closely, I do change my mind. The biggest one was abortion: I used to be pro-choice, but when asked if I would get one if I became pregnant before I was ready, I don't think I could. Mind, I'm still pretty centrist--I am not pro-abortion by a long shot, but clearly abortions aren't a desirable "right" to defend. It's like fighting for the right to eat asbestos--who the hell really wants to do it? Why do radical pro-life activists seem to think women would be aborting every child conceived if abortions aren't made illegal?
For the most part, I end up resigning myself to letting other people fight over the world. I could die tomorrow, and as long as I didn't suffer slowly and painfully in dying, I would die pretty much peacefully. [Furthermore, I've had a near-death experience that's cemented my "belief" that there is no afterlife, so I would not go to Heaven or Hell, but instead to a dreamless sleep [nirvana].] Nothing in particular bothers me to the point where if nothing changed I would go postal. Maybe that's something that comes with getting older, the acceptance that, oh, well, the world will go on whether I interfere or not.
...I don't really have a conclusion here. Another rambly post like you've come to expect from me.
Time for nappy :p [there's another old person thing, there]
I find that both of the extremes are miserable in their own ways, though, because conservatives are fearfully backpedalling to reclaim their lost kingdom or whatever, and [radical] liberals are desperately trying to institute the change that, at its given rate of progress, won't take effect until well into their golden years or later, feeling oppressed in the meantime. It's not exactly my place to judge either--or, I don't feel right condemning either for simply having opinions--but what strikes me the most is how much of that misery comes from, "Things are not the way I want them to be." They never will be 100% the way any one person wants them to be. This is the perfectionist in me [and others] complaining that the world isn't perfect--the Zen in me accepts that it won't be and gets along with what actually is.
People have the right to be miserable of their own accord, I suppose, but it's frustrating watching them whine when they've chosen to ignore the good advice given to them [letters to Dear Abby come to mind, though a lot of that is hoping that the good advice is NOT what they didn't want to hear after all].
Creationism vs. Evolution is a particularly strange battle, as one is a philosophy and the other is an actual practice. What science can you perform with Intelligent Design? Even if proven true, knowing that everything was deliberately made--but in such a way to suggest it wasn't--is useless. Evolution is visible in strains of virii and bacteria, and studying this evolution can help combat them. This isn't proof of evolution in other animals [like humans], because fundamentally nothing can be "proven," but it is a recognized phenomenon.
I mention this because one scathing criticism of science was that a scientist's beliefs would fundamentally change day by day, according to the evidence, which is funny because that seems to suggest it's a bad thing. There is a much appropriate quote, originally regarding finances but definitely a scientific mindset:"When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?" -- John Maynard Keynes
What I find astonishing about Creationists is how they give the term "theory" the connotation of "mere opinion" and fail to accept the scientists' accepted meaning of "statement corroborated with extensive evidence"--as opposed to "statement pulled completely out of one's ass and backed by 'because I said so.'" Even the term "fact" itself isn't set in stone, and even "facts" like "God wrote the Bible" can be disproven with evidence showing that the Bible is a compilation [and translation] of writings by various men, not God. Just about the only 100% unrefutable fact is that what we think of as facts are accepted or disbelieved according to how the viewer decides to interpret the evidence.
Where I'm going with this derailed train of thought is that I'm so resigned to change that, as a result of my perfectionism, I have an exceedingly detached view of life. I have no real sense of home anymore--where I called home for twenty-odd years of my life became strangely foreign when I returned after a few years away, and I have only been in this apartment for one year to recognize it as anything more than where I stay. I fear, until I actually become a homeowner, I will never regain that familiar sense of home, even though I accept that this is the way it will be.
Similarly, I no longer have as close friends the friends of my childhood or even when I was in college--while I haven't unfriended them in any sense of the word, certainly the friends I made then are as different now as I am now and these past friends are no longer familiar. Part of this is my antisocial tendency, but also simply that all of us have moved apart [I to Maryland] and failed to keep regular contact over time.
Furthermore, it affects my art [and dance], because I have this patent inability to repeat what I do before. It's as though subconsciously I don't want to do the same thing I've done before, so I try to change it slightly, even if my conscious mind doesn't want to vary from the previous way. This has been the source of my headaches trying to illustrate my book, that I can't draw the characters quite the same way again :/
Finally, when the facts do change, or I'm manipulated into examining them more closely, I do change my mind. The biggest one was abortion: I used to be pro-choice, but when asked if I would get one if I became pregnant before I was ready, I don't think I could. Mind, I'm still pretty centrist--I am not pro-abortion by a long shot, but clearly abortions aren't a desirable "right" to defend. It's like fighting for the right to eat asbestos--who the hell really wants to do it? Why do radical pro-life activists seem to think women would be aborting every child conceived if abortions aren't made illegal?
For the most part, I end up resigning myself to letting other people fight over the world. I could die tomorrow, and as long as I didn't suffer slowly and painfully in dying, I would die pretty much peacefully. [Furthermore, I've had a near-death experience that's cemented my "belief" that there is no afterlife, so I would not go to Heaven or Hell, but instead to a dreamless sleep [nirvana].] Nothing in particular bothers me to the point where if nothing changed I would go postal. Maybe that's something that comes with getting older, the acceptance that, oh, well, the world will go on whether I interfere or not.
...I don't really have a conclusion here. Another rambly post like you've come to expect from me.
Time for nappy :p [there's another old person thing, there]