Category Archives: drawing

Mental Changes

by in art, drawing, humor, philosophy, politics, psychology, religion and tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Experiencing, as I am, the mental changes of aging, I’m finding certain positives occurring. Although being unable to remember what I had for dinner two hours after eating can be annoying, the advantages of ‘forgetting’ an unappealing event or appointment, accepted as excusable, has its advantages. On the downside, along with the short-term memory loss comes the inability to keep up with conversational topic switches, as when talk of a fishing trip abruptly segues to local politics.

All in all, I guess one must cheerfully accept the inevitable decline aging presents and stay upbeat. One’s longevity likely depends on it.

Playing it Safe

by in art, drawing, humor, philosophy, psychology, satire and tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

I’ve been thinking lately how one might exercise a desire to build a safe and insular world for oneself. By cultivating relationships one can dominate and carefully avoiding social interactions one might suppose would threaten discomfort, one might find an ideal peacefulness. One would suppose such an organized life to be an anxiety free one where there is no need for any sort of stoic discipline to ward off unpredictable negatives. I’m sure there are those who would say such a construct would be devoid of richness, of the thrills and excitement that uncertainty promises, but a well-grounded, intelligent and thoughtful individual would surely realize a contentment that supersedes adventurism.

The pitfalls of playing it safe.

When You Die You WILL Meet God

by in art, drawing, humor, philosophy, psychology, religion and tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Driving down the highway the other day I saw a billboard that informed me that when I die, I will meet God.

I got to thinking about just how that conversation might go. I suppose the gist of it would concern how deserving I was; whether I was of sufficient character to join the heavenly host, whether my behaviors during my biological existence made me eligible for other-worldly benefits.

Would I be asked, I wonder, if my behaviors were reasonably upstanding, my thoughts of a benevolent if not pristine nature. Of course God, I assume, would have the answers to those questions and was playing a bit of a game with me to determine how I might spin the narrative, but, in honesty I would have to respond that in my opinion my good behaviors at least balanced the bad, evaluated on the basis of intent to contribute, on the one hand, or exploit, on the other, my fellow man.

So, if God scores on a curve, I guess my odds of reaching the great beyond aren’t too bad.

The Rest of the Story

by in art, drawing, humor, life, philosophy, psychology, religion and tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I’ve been thinking lately about the story of Abraham and Isaac. Abraham, the father, is challenged by God to justify his faith by sacrificing his beloved son Isaac. The man and son make their way to the mountaintop, the son prostrates himself upon a rock, the father lifts a large knife………. but then God intervenes and acknowledges Abrahams unwavering faith.

After the event God assures Isaac that he was really in no danger, that it was only a test, but one has to wonder how Isaac thereafter felt about familial relationships, how he afterwards perceived his father’s mental health, how he might have wondered how benevolent God actually is and finally what it means to be truly alone in the world.

I guess the moral of the story is: beware of parents who claim to be in direct communication with a less than benevolent God.

Accommodating the Uncomfortable

by in art, drawing, humor, philosophy, politics, psychology, religion and tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I’m anticipating, as summer approaches, extended social encounters I will likely find uncomfortable. The realization that my visitors live their lives within realities different than mine, that the narratives they spin are often contradictory to my own makes for a certain tension, always present and energy sapping.

The rule to avoid talk of religion and politics is always warranted but even with that, philosophical conflicts are bound to occur. In other years I have relied on a bit of chemical numbing to see me through but I’m aware now, as my functioning slows, my ability to quickly retort wains, I must take care, to stay articulate so as not to produce even greater discomfort.

But, as you might have guessed, these visitors are family and the value of maintaining an open communication with them may be the most important thing I ever do.

The Downside of the Reformation

by in art, drawing, humor, philosophy, politics, psychology, religion and tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

I’ve been reading that, while the reformation of the Christian Church in 16th century Europe, the establishment of Protestantism in reaction to a corrupt Catholic Church, would, on the face of it, appear to be a time of enlightened reform, quite the opposite was true.

Luther’s translation of the Bible into German made it available to a laity that was then able to form churches based on their understanding of Biblical truth, which tended to vary, sometimes considerably, from one congregation to the next. This precipitated accusations of heresy and totalitarian mindsets closed to sectarian differences, leading to an intolerance greater even than that of the Catholic hierarchy.

These issues were all pretty important back then, people believing, as they did, that Hell was in store for most of the population.

Fear of the Unknown

by in art, drawing, humor, philosophy, psychology, religion and tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

I’ve been viewing maps recently that were produced during the Middle Ages. It has become clear to me that the early cartographers needed to rely on a certain amount of imagination to create a geographic depiction of the world. The church at the time took pains to build a Biblically favorable geography that had little to do with reality.

I’m wondering how a medieval intellect, a contemplative sort, sitting on the beach looking westward out across the Atlantic Ocean might have imagined what lay beyond. Many sailors of the time feared sailing too far west lest they fall off the edge of the world. Nightmares of an awaiting Hell so nearby must have terrified the medieval mind.

These days the contemplative sort might be looking upwards, outwards, imagining the earth being sucked into a black hole or being overwhelmed by dark matter and being no less terrified than his medieval forbearer. Fear of the unknown is the constant I guess for all of humankind.

A Dark Age

by in art, drawing, humor, philosophy, politics, psychology, religion and tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

I’ve been reading about the intellectual world in Western Europe as it existed in the early centuries of the second millennium.

With the fall of Roman Civilization 600 years earlier, scholarship had declined, knowledge of the past had been reduced to monastic reproductions of Latin texts providing the church the opportunity to re-imagine the historical narrative to its own advantage, limiting it to a closed Christian perspective and its reliance on the ‘Word of God’ to explain the complexities of the natural world.

This constrictive culture led the few scholars of the time, whose concern for self-preservation amid accusations of heresy, to temper any announcements of research findings setting back intellectual development for centuries.

The eventual breaking free of such a restrictive situation can only be attributed to the indomitable human spirit, even though it did take a long time.

Patron Saint of the Internet

by in art, drawing, humor, philosophy, psychology, religion and tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

I’ve been reading that in the year 2000 Pope John Paul II proposed that St. Isidore be declared patron saint of the internet. In the 7th century Isidore wrote a book that was widely reproduced and read. At the time the book, Etymologies, was nearly as popular as the Bible. In Etymologies Isidore determined derivations of words from Greek to the vernacular but what made up the bulk of the twenty volumes was his compilation of what he considered to be the entirety of human knowledge.

Much of the contents of Isadore’s tome has been determined to be imaginative conjecture and has been dismissed by scholars as the perpetuation of myth and the conveyance of misinformation. Reason enough, I suppose, that he should be associated with the internet.

Keystone Species

by in art, drawing, humor, philosophy, psychology, science and tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I’ve been reading that biologists have determined that certain predators are key to preserving diversity in various eco systems: starfish, for example, serve the function by consuming mussels that would otherwise destroy the diversity in tide pools and fresh water largemouth bass are a keystone species in freshwater streams controlling the populations of minnows that would otherwise over-graze plant life. In the waters off western Alaska sea otters control the populations of sea urchins that can devastate kelp forests.

The lesson to be learned, I guess, is that keystone species are necessary to control populations of system threatening species in order to maintain healthy diverse eco-systems. I wonder whether a keystone species might exist somewhere that could control the species most responsible for threatening the health of the earth.