The more things change, the more they stay the same

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Today is the 7th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. We all remember where we were at that moment when the attacks occurred. I was on my way to Springfield to take a test for a job. Yes, 7 years ago I was looking for employment, just like I am now. Doesn’t seem like I’ve accomplished much in these 7 years. I did get my college degree and work for 2 years since then but my life sure hasn’t progressed any. I’m probably doing worse now than I was then.

Received a package my from friend Jim today. He sent 2 Pink Floyd t-shirts, 2 cigars, sunglasses, a dvd of “Married with Children,” and a box of knives. I’ll probably try a cigar soon but I have to be careful, I don’t want to get hooked on them again. Watched “Malcolm in the Middle,” Malcolm and his mom had mono. It rained almost all day so I couldn’t do anything outside. I spent some time watching old Nintendo video games on youtube.com. Watching those videos of games from the late 80’s takes me back to my childhood – a much happier time. That is one of my major problems, I spend everyday looking backwards, to the past. That can’t be healthy. To move on, I need to be more forward looking. It is just so hard to let go of the past, since that is when I was happy while the future only brings uncertainty.

Found a show on Sci-Fi channel called “Destination Truth” about the paranormal. It was pretty good, they searched for a sea monster in Vietnam. I don’t believe in anything paranormal but I’m drawn to all shows on the subject. Maybe that is the human part of me that wants to believe. I think we do have a biological or genetic, and certainly social, need to believe in the unknown. That is why it is so hard for many people to approach the supernatural from a rational perspective. Finally, I read some blogs on the internet written by people with similar personal problems. It is good to read how other people feel and relate to their problems. I know I am not alone.

I read some philosophy writing of Hobbes, Locke and Hume. David Hume is one of my favorite philosophers (probably in the bottom 5 or 6). I think he was way ahead of his time. He died the year America declared its independence. He explained that we don’t know if there was a First Cause. This is still true today. Scientist don’t know if the universe had a beginning, maybe it always existed, maybe it expands from a big bang and then collapses, over and over. Hume declared that morality does not come from God, rather it comes from principles that promote our interests and the interests of our fellow human beings. This is brilliant, especially since it was made a century before Darwin. I view morality the same way. To me, if morality came from God, it shouldn’t change over time. Several things that were moral in the past (such as slavery) are not considered moral now. Also, morality is not universal across different cultures. Hume observed how humans are motivated by passions, not reason. Like one of my college professors once said, if humans always acted rationally, there would be no need for marketing and advertising. Hume seems to me to have been an atheist and many websites describe him that way. I will not speak for him, but he was certainly agnostic, skeptical, and one of the first philosophers to espouse naturalism. Hume also addressed the problem of evil. He expressed that God could not be completely beneficent because he has not eliminated evil or if he cannot eliminate evil, he is not all-powerful. However, there are some areas in which Hume was quite conservative and I wouldn’t agree with all his thoughts. For example, he appeared to support high economic inequality through his support of private property rights.