It's a miracle

Saturday, October 4, 2008
Old man Carl was here again to paint. I think he’ll finish the house today. It is hilarious when he works in the backyard because the Chow won’t go within 15 feet of him. The Chow keeps about 15 feet between him and Carl at all times – enough distance that the Chow feels safe but close enough that he can keep an eye on Carl at the same time. O.J. Simpson was convicted on 12 counts of robbery and attempted kidnapping. Kimbo Slice was destroyed in 14 seconds in an MMA fight on CBS. The Cubs lost 3-1 as the Dodgers swept the NLDS. Dad and I were supposed to seal the blacktop today but he slept in late and then it took all afternoon to patch the holes in the driveway. We’ll have to seal another day.

Read chapter 10 on my book on Existentialism. I’m definitely not a fan of Soren Kierkegaard and it is not because he was one of the few existentialists to embrace religion. Kierkegaard stresses that God transcends the world and there for transcends ethics. He thinks we should perform a “suspension of the ethical” when God or our religion calls for it. This is really scary to me. This idea is what makes extremists in every religion very dangerous. Extremists are certain they are right, they are willing to die and kill for their beliefs and since they are supported by faith, what is considered ethical to most of us does not apply to them. This is one of the major problems facing the world today. Also, Kierkegaard thought we should avoid the aesthetic life. This is in direct contradiction to my belief in Epicureanism, which calls for seeking pleasure and avoiding pain.

We've got a warehouse of butter, We've got oceans of wine, We've got famine when we need it, Got a designer crime, We've got Mercedes, We've got Porsche, Ferrari and Rolls Royce, We've got a choice, She said meet me in the Garden of Gethsemane my dear, The Lord said Peter I can see Your house from here, An honest man
Finally reaped what he had sown, And farmer in Ohio has just repaid a loan, It's a miracle, Another miracle, By the grace of God Almighty, And pressures of marketplace, The human race has civilized itself, It's a miracle.

I usually complain about the problems I have with life but when it comes to the world and society as a whole, I think Roger Waters expressed my feelings well. Roger laments that the world is governed by the booms and busts of economic cycles. Think about it, how we treat others doesn’t matter, neither does warfare, stress, or happiness, what matters is attaining and maintaining the good economic cycles. This is primarily how our Presidents are rated. People will say, “Well, I don’t care about anything else because he ran the economy well” or “He’s probably a nice guy but he ran the economy into the ground.” Economic conditions lead to an “ends justify the means” mentality. We’re willing to overlook most of the truly important things in life because the economic marketplace is the ultimate good for our society.

My different perspective on economic conditions and how they pertain to happiness was just another thing that alienated me from my former coworkers. All three of my previous jobs were with insurance corporations. The goal for the corporation and my coworkers was to always increase profit. Despite the likelihood that increasing profit meant working harder, longer hours, increased stress levels, perhaps laying off a few coworkers, none of that mattered to them because increased profit leads to raises, new cars, bigger houses and nice vacations. Happiness for me was just surviving the day and anything that reduced my daily stress level and kept my life simple. I am always an outsider.