Thomas Sowell Quotes #8

“[U]nder any movement or set of collective beliefs, a feeling of being on the side of angels can be a dangerous self-indulgence in a heedless willfulness that is sometimes called idealism. This kind of idealism can replace realities with preconceptions, and make the overriding goal the victory of some abstract vision, in defiance of reality or in disregard of the fate of fellow human beings. The symbols of the preconception can become goals in themselves.”

~from Wealth, Poverty and Politics, page 420

In a vision driven group, “buying into the vision” is seen as more virtuous than actually doing something useful. Even those in the group who aren’t doing anything, or who are doing things poorly, will be held in high regard if they “get a hold of” and celebrate the vision. Conversely, those who may be doing productive work which is good for others, but show little enthusiasm for the vision, will be seen as dangerously independent and not “team players.”

Further reading: Shop Class as Soulcraft (Brief Book Review)

Unicorns in the Bible

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The Bible (King James Version) mentions the unicorn several times: Numbers 23:22, 24:8; Deuteronomy 33:17; Job 39:9; Psalm 22:21, 29:6, 92:10; Isaiah 34:7.

Other versions of the Bible, such as the New American Standard Version, will instead use the term wild ox, as the Hebrew word, rê’em [pronounced: reh-ām’], probably refers to a wild bull.

Atheists like to bring up the Bible’s use of unicorns to attack its validity. Surely, if the Bible mentions unicorns, a mythical beast lacking any evidence for ever existing, then the Bible itself is a mythical document not to be taken seriously.

But what an intellectually lazy argument it is to automatically assume that the KJV Bible, a document translated over 400 years ago from Hebrew, Greek,* and Latin sources,** would use the word unicorn in the same way it is used today. Indeed, all you have to do is go back 200 years to find unicorn defined differently than today. The 1828 Webster’s Dictionary defines it as this…

unicorn

A rhinoceros. And the same dictionary defines rhinoceros as this…

Rhino

This does not mean that the KJV Bible is talking about rhinoceroses when using the term unicorn. But, it does make it rather obvious that the definition of unicorn is not the same today as it was 400 years ago, and the argument to write-off the Bible as myth due to its use of the word unicorn is unfounded.

Here is a good video which inspired this article…

* The Greek of unicorn is μονόκερως transliterated as monokeros [one horn].

** The Latin version of the Bible (the Latin Vulgate) uses the term rinocerotis in Deuteronomy 33:17 and rinoceros in Job 39:9.

God & Humour

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Notice that humour, no matter what culture you’re from, is based on the “fallenness” of Man. There is always the contrast of our nobleness against our absurdity: a well dressed man slipping on a banana peal; the oldest and wisest of us being too deaf to understand what’s going on; the majestic design of our bodies and any white man dancing…

Whether the joke is dark, clean, dry, family oriented, racial, or about animals, the formula is always the same.

So what if our “fallenness” was taken away? What if we were always noble and majestic without all the insanity? Would we be grey and boring? Well, it depends. But, for the moment we can at least be certain that our humour is a product of our circumstance: the contrast of what we were designed to be opposed to what we currently are.

Does God have a sense of humour? It doesn’t appear so in the Bible. Jesus wept, but He didn’t laugh — at least it wasn’t recorded if He did. On the one hand, if the formula above is correct, God can’t have a sense of humour as He is not fallen in any way. On the other hand, we are created in His image, so if we have some sense of humour it must come from Him.

The only explanation that makes sense is that God does indeed have humour but it transcends our own — a humour based on joy rather than the conflicting absurdity which is our current existence. Our humour is but a broken shadow of His own.

It’s hard to understand as everything we experience seems to be relative to other things. You put your left hand in ice cold water, and your right hand in hot water, then put both hands in room temperature water — your left will feel it as hot while your right as cold. So, which is it? Does the picture below make you sad or angry? Or do you laugh?

dark

Generation to Generation Quotes #1

“Thresholds for both physical and emotional pain are lower when we are functioning dependently, and are higher when we are motivated to accomplish something. But there is also an interrelational aspect to this threshold dimension of pain. Where members of a family are too quick to spare another pain, the resulting dependency tends to make the other’s threshold fall. In addition, he or she will become addicted to having pain relieved through someone else’s functioning. Conversely, where families can begin to increase their threshold to another’s pain, the other person’s threshold is likely to rise, even though he or she may at first go through ‘withdrawal’ symptoms when the ‘addiction’ is taken away. Those who focus only on comfort, on relieving pain, or filling another’s need, tend to forget that another’s need may be not to have their needs fulfilled.”

~from Generation to Generation, by Edwin H. Friedman, page 48

IC1101

ic1101

I’m always amazed when I think of IC1101, the largest galaxy known.

Whereas our own, Milky Way, galaxy is about 100 thousand light years across and contains about 200 to 400 billion stars, IC1101 is 6 million light years across and may contain up to 100 trillion stars.

The galaxy is made up of mostly old reddish yellow stars, in contrast to the Milky Way’s young bluish stars. There are not many new stars being created in IC1101, and it most likely grew to its size by several galaxies colliding into each other over the ages.

I wonder what the night sky would look like if Earth were a part of IC1101 rather that the Milky Way. Would there always be a reddish yellow glow, even at midnight? Would our telescopes be able to penetrate the trillions of stars to reveal the universe beyond? Would we even know there were other galaxies?

Here are a couple of good videos featuring IC1101….

Related reading: The Largest Galaxy in the Known Universe – Futurism