This is the first real thinking for yourself blog
Bachman: "Irene was God's warning"
Holy crap! Is this woman for real? God’s warning? If a hurricane is god’s warning, he has been warning us for a really really really long time. If this is the same vengeful god that made bushes burst into flames, do you think he is going to keep warning us with what - the weather?!
Come on people, this is a classic case of thinking for yourself. Everyone comes with their own brain and guts and that is all you need to know things for yourself. To think for yourself. It feels so good, it resonates with you. You do not have to blindly believe everything you brother, parents, teachers, priest or president told you. I am not saying that they might not be right and it might not be your truth, I am just saying ask the question, find the answer for yourself, your real answers. That is the only right answer, the one that is right for you. If you do not ask yourself these questions you are following blindly and basing your life on what other people think is right for you. Maybe they do know what is right for you, what if they don’t? Whose life is it?
Like if someone says to you, you’re a jerk. You have to stop, before you get emotionally envolved and ask the question, have I been a jerk to this person? Now comes the hard part, you have to re-run the incident, or whatever, then you have to re-run it in your mind from the stand point of the person who called you a jerk. Then comes the really hard part – you have to be honest with yourself – were you a jerk? If you were, you have to take it in and you acknowledge it, wrestle with the way you want to make it right with that person/situation. Sometimes just honest acknowledgement in itself is enough.
The reverse is also true, it you ask yourself if you were a jerk, played back the scene back objectively in your mind, and you were not a jerk. Then it is over. You do not have to take it in, feel bad, engage, defend yourself or do anything about it. It is not about you.
That is a simple scenario. What if it is your country telling you that to be American and patriotic and to keep this country free, you must join the military, learn to kill and sometimes learn to do such horrific things that your life is ruined forever or worse yet, you go to places you never come back from. Your parent’s want you to go, they are proud, you school wants you to go, ROTC is in your high school all the time. Those guys look great in their uniform, don't they. They have more shoes that match their outfits than you do. It’s a job. Does it feel right to you? Is that who you are? Is that who you want to become? Is that what you want for your country?
Or how about religion, religions are the worst at using guilt and fear to get you to do what they want. The religions of the world have a long history of atrocities committed in god’s name to others who do not believe in the same god. Sin. Heaven and hell. The devil. Could these just be invented by religion to manipulate the masses? Do they seem plausible to you? If they do great, if you are thinking for yourself and not believing because you have been told, and you have some personal experience, great again. But really, a devil, a white guy with a pitchfork and flames…..I have seen no evidence of hell, only the hell created on earth by people. We create our own hell, when we are not thinking for ourselves and we allow others to create our life for us.
How about the example of a young woman who has been raised catholic, the catholic church has said it is a sin to use birth control. She has had several kids already, she does not want anymore. Her body cannot handle any more pregnancies. When I think about it, it seems to me the only fair, human and honorable thing to do is to allow her to decide for herself.
My favorite example of thinking for yourself is Galileo, born in 1564 in Italy. He thought for himself all right. He saw irrefutable evidence that the earth revolved around the sun. The catholic church of the day supported the idea that the sun revolved around the earth. OK, I could see where they would think that, from the plant earth here, it does look like that. But like I said, Galileo thought for himself and because he would not renounce his evidence, the catholic church held him on house arrest for the rest of his life. I bet they feel really bad about that now. Oh yea, sorry Galileo, our mistake, heh, heh. What else are they adamently right/wrong about?
God. The unresolved, unproved, unexplainable presence of something bigger, better than ourselves, at least we hope. No it is more than a hope, it is experiential. We have all experienced ___ to what degree? If there is one god, and he said, thou shall not kill, why do we hear, oh yeah it’s ok to murder, rape and pillage your enemies. Any enemy of yours is an enemy of mine, is what everyone’s god says! That can’t be right. And if it is a battle between the gods, then maybe we should just stay out of it.
The only thing that is for sure, is that this is an amazing and wonderful planet. When I am in nature that is when I think of a creator, as everything is so perfect, in balance and harmony - all acording to natural law. Animals eat and kill when they are hungry, sure there are some exceptions but no other creatures spend as much time wrecking havoic on each other than humans. Nothing feels vengeful about this god that create nature. You can go anywhere on this planet and if untouched by man, it is an eden. When you go out in nature and quiet your mind, ask yourself the real questions, you will get real answers. Don’t just believe me. Try it for yourself. Real answers feel right. Right for you, feels right for you, in your guts. Practice thinking for yourself. See how it feels. You might not get a lot of support, in fact you might get some resistance, no, you will get resistance. We can’t become the world we want to see if we keep letting someone else do our thinking for us.
When I was substitute teaching in Emily’s 2nd grade classroom a few years ago, we had an assignment to label a list of things, were they fact or were they opinion. It was a new idea for most of those kids. I wonder how many of us every day mix up fact with opinion. How many times have we let others think for us? Were we even ever taught to think for ourselves? We need to practice, like our life depended on it, cause it does. Don't make him have to send another storm....
thanks for listening
