Gene's Blog

THIS WONDROUS WORLD

From Steve Goodier. I swear I should rename this site, the Steve Goodier library, giggle. His isn’t the longest term newsletter I get but it must be very close. There are some techie things I’ve been getting longer, but I believe I was introduced to Steve by someone from the old CWG list at Spiritweb. In the first years, it was a daily, but for the past several, it has been when he can. And I am always glad when he can. Hell, I’m glad when I can, lol. I’m going to tell you a little personal story of the perils of stairways after it – just in time for those of you who might be putting things away for the season, hiding things away for the season or maybe just going on down to change the furnace filter, lol. First, Steve. :^)

Not everyone has a good grip of science. But these children’s
scientific musings at least show humor and creativity!

To explain nuclear reactions, one child said, “When they broke open
molecules, the found they were only stuffed with atoms. But when they
broke open atoms, they found them stuffed with explosions.”

Concerning astronomy, one child said, “Most books now say our sun is a
star. But it still knows how to change back into a sun in the
day-time.” And another said, “Some people can tell what time it is by
looking at the sun. But I have never been able to make out the
numbers.”

“Vacuums are nothings,” said a young physics student. “We only mention
them to let them know we know they’re there.”

“Evaporation gets blamed for a lot of things people forget to put the
top on,” one child observed.

“Rain is often known as soft water, oppositely known as hail,”
reported a budding meteorologist. Another added, “Thunder is a rich
source of loudness.”

Other children added these observations: “Isotherms and isobars are
even more important than their names sound.” And, “It is so hot in
some places that the people there have to live in other places.” And,
“The wind is like the air, only pushier.”

These children have a way to go in their quest for more knowledge, but
I applaud their efforts to learn more about the universe.

Unfortunately, the reputation of science suffers in some circles.
There are those who feel that a scientific mindset and a spiritual
outlook are contrary to one another. They believe that facts revealed
by science contradict spiritual truths. Not so!

William Bragg, a pioneer in the field of X-ray crystallography, made
the point well. He was asked whether science and theology are opposed
to one another. “Yes, but in the sense that my thumb and forefinger
are opposed to one another — between science and theology, we
cannot grasp everything, but surely the combination reveals more of
the cosmic mystery than either can touch alone.” They need each other.

If you love the universe — if you love life, then learn about it.
Learn about it from every place possible. Learn from science. Learn
from the spiritual disciplines. Learn and keep an open mind, for that
is the only way to truth. And the more you learn, the more you’ll
discover that there is nothing so enchanting or wondrous as this world
in which we live!

— Steve Goodier

It is rare that I think Steve misses anything, but I occasionally have a word to add. And do tonight. For one thing, I want to point out, again, that he is an ordained minister. I’ve never known one personally with such an open mind. His is a church I might even attend – once at least, just to shake his hand on the way out if nothing else. If whatever his denomination is does that. I’m a little fuzzy-headed and either finally need new glasses or am having a bit of double vision going on. I’ve had the same pair since 1995. :^). Fortunately my vision stopped detiorating when Vision World came out with flexon frames, giggle. I have a lop-sided nose, quite my own fault, as I may some day tell some of you, and have done some, the extremist in me got me into trouble once upon a time – thank gawd THAT phase seems to have passed. Mostly. Anyway, the point is that made it really hard to get glasses that would fit, they rub a hole on one side of my nose or the either. Well this wondrous young woman, whom I told about this problem, heated these up and bent them perfectly. They have NEVER been uncomfortable in the slightest. And I can’t break them, the flexon is permanently shaped to my particular nose. She did tell me I would probably need bifocals soon and I guess I did almost as soon as I got out the darn door. But since I refuse to believe that, and these seem to be going to last forever, I have never gone back to do anything with them, or had my eyes checked since. I mean I still SEE distance as well as ever. Or did until today. Might have been since Wednesday but today is the first day I was out and about and needed them really. I just don’t wear them when I read or am on the computer – solves the bifocal problem without bifocals. :^) American ingenuity at its best. Or Swedish-American stubbornness at its worst. Might be either. Or both. Probably both. :^)

The only thing Steve says above with which I take issue is that there is nothing so enchanting or wondrous as this world upon which we live. Because I have seen another so much grander that it puts even this wonderful oasis of life to shame. The tiniest glimpse I’ve had of it, proves that to me, I know it deep within my very soul. And I love this place with all of me, it is only that I am completely certain this is NOT the epitome of our experience. Which doesn’t lessen what he has to say at all, really, while we’re here we might as well enjoy it. I mean, considering the options available? Even if this is second best, it is still pretty darn good. And there is no argument between religion and science nor should there have ever been. I’ve known THAT virtually all of my life. Lying on my back looking up at the night sky as a child the sense of awe and wonder that overcame every time, still holds me in thrall, though I can no longer see the night sky of my youth. Not even up where I grew up, lol. I went up there a few months ago one night and the city lights have so encroached that what was, is no more. I knew from virtually my first reading of Genesis, in concert with what I SAW as the scale of the universe, that when God said He did something in a day, that He was not talking 24 hours of my time. Since then, I’ve just viewed the literalists, as silly. Who the bleep knows what a “day” is to a being that could, did, make a universe of the scale of this one? One we know is roughly 15 BILLION years old. The very idea is silly. So I’ve never seen science and religion as at odds, except for those odd balls who insist Genesis happened in one earth week. Nothing in religion, in my mind, is incompatible with science in the slightest.

That it could all just be some sort of cosmic accident? Life, I mean, even one red blood cell, even blue-green algae the original “food” on this planet, an accident? No. That I didn’t buy, still don’t. I believe God set in motion the processes that are evolution, and has watched His creation blossom in as much fascination and love as we do the lilies of the field. Steve is right though in that science and religion DO need each other, neither stands complete without the other. Nothing does here in the realm of duality. Up must have down, for up to exist. Hot must have cold, for hot to exist. Science and religion are opposite sides of the same coin of the realm, giggle. That’s all. :^)

Now then, as to my double vision, this is probably coincidence, and I’d be sure of that but for the not believing in coincidences part, giggle. And I doubt I suddenly need a new prescription. Why would one suddenly need one after, 12 years or so? Apart from the bifocals. Which I do not need and do not want. I do NOT mind taking my glasses off to read, or work here, the only problem I EVER have with that, is remembering where I put them. I mean, I can call my cell and find it – not that I have to do that much, giggle. So what I am wondering is, just how hard a conk on the head does one need to have double vision? Because I have had one of those. Last Wednesday evening, late, around 11 I took Cisco out for his last bathroom break though my garage, and on my way back in with him, I saw my bike. Now, I had been meaning to bring it in for a couple weeks and put it in the basement for the winter, it was just that when I thought of that I was always somewhere else, and it never occurred to me when I was actually IN the garage with it. But it did Wednesday night. So I thought, well, hey just do it now.

So I did, should have moved my car, cuz I had to wrangle around it some and that annoyed me, and delayed Cisco’s treat – since he was a baby (and he turned 12 on 11/14) he has gotten a treat EVERY time he goes potty outside. He knows this. And gets impatient if I dawdle, talking to neighbors or whatever, giggle. That door to the garage is spring-loaded but doesn’t always shut all the way, and I’ll be talking to my neighbor when I see the kitchen light through it, and then hear that roar – which is just his way of saying, “I’m waiting”. :^). Anyway, his treats are behind the door that goes to the basement so he was sort of in my way as I wrangled with the bike. And I have some stuff on the steps, not much, but a few things, and I was going to get the bike down there THEN give him his treat. Well, somewhere around a quarter of the way down, something happened, still not sure what, it might have been HIM, or it might have been me trying to carry the darn bike, but I suddenly found myself in free fall, it felt sort of weightless almost except for the cement floor rushing up at me part. I had this image flash in me of landing on one of those handle bars (should NOT have gone to see the Body Worlds exhibit when it was here, giggle, I KNOW how many organs are crammed in there) and decided that was probably not a good thing, so I somehow managed to twist so that I landed on rear, down to my shoulders – still holding on to that damn bike, and then my head hit. Well, whenever I do something like that, Cisco figures it his fault and he heads for the hills. I thought about belling the cat, you know? Putting a cell or something on his collar, but it would never work, because he won’t come near me when I do something like that, not until I can get up and prove I’m not mad at him anyway, giggle.

So after that thump, I lay there for a bit, thinking, hmmm, okay, I wonder what is still working. My grandpa broke his hip for the first time around my age, for the last time 35 years later, so that didn’t worry me too much, but I wasn’t sure I could move for a little bit there. So I ran a systems check of sorts, okay, shoulders wiggle, don’t hurt, toes move, though one of them sure hurt, hips seemed okay, right leg fine, left knee done in, moving that one hurt (that is the one I did NOT have cartilage taken out of two years, the good one dang it) like, well, heck. In case there are kids reading this, giggle. If there are? Welcome. :^). So I pushed the bike off me, rolled to one side and got up. I could stand, left knee and big toe really hurt but I could put weight on them, so I figured no structural damage, just routine owies.

Sat the bike back upright, hobbled up the stairs to find Cisco hiding behind the living room table (which he only does when he knows he has done something wrong, giggle. All those doggie psychiatrists who tell you that you have to correct them within a couple minutes or they’ll not know what your on about? Are full of it. ALL his life, he has greeted me in the same spot when I come in, EVERY flipping time, except when he’s done something he knows he isn’t supposed to during the day, THEN he is hiding behind the living room table, peering at me from under it. There have been times when it took me two days to figure out what he did, but that he forgot he did it? NEVER happened. If I didn’t cranky right away, when I did find it, he’d just look at me like, what? That was DAYS ago – that part is true, giggle. But when he’d been naughty, it was almost always my fault anyway, leaving something he couldn’t resist out, stuff like that – except his first three years, three months, labs and lab mixes have horrible separation anxiety and they will chew ANYTHING when left alone – yeah I know this is getting to be quite a digression giggle, and he did. I went online to read about it, a woman there said labs chew till they are three. She locked hers in the kitchen where there wasn’t anything to chew and he ate a hole in her poured floor, giggle. I mean after the first year, when Brandon died, I had NO choice, I had to leave him alone when I went to work – I could hear him just howl when I’d get in the car in the morning, it just broke my heart, but I had no choice – so he’d chew anything. I soon learned about not leaving shoes out, but he chewed every piece of furniture I had, couch, love seat, rocker, wood work, living room chairs, wallboard. How he could even do that I have no idea, the cord off my vaccum. Well you’ve got the picture – but you really don’t, you cannot believe the things I would come home to some days – with him hiding behind the living room table, giggle. When he turned three, I told him okay, buddy, THAT is it. Didn’t matter. It was three more months before he stopped. I guess he finally believed that no matter when I left, I WOULD always come back. So far I always have. Even if he is hiding behind the living room table) so I assured him he had done nothing wrong, and I had his doggie snack for him.

Went to bed, woke up with my left knee blown up to twice its size and I am pretty sure I am going to lose the nail on that big toe. Could NOT get both a sock and a shoe on, so had to take Cisco out with just a shoe on my left foot, I could walk on the knee though it looked bad, and he was good to me, didn’t make me go down the hill to the road to keep him on the “right” side of the sidewalk, the “wrong” side is city property and subject to leash laws, so a kind young officer informed a few months ago. He said he must not have ever noticed us down there before in the morning, though we have BEEN down there AT that time virtually every morning for going on 11 years together. But he was good, looked at me, I said no, and he came back up to me. So Ibuprofen did in the swelling and ice, so felt pretty good, most of the weekend, turns out it is a lot harder to sit at a desk for 8 hours than lie on the couch with a bag of ice, so it got darn sore today and the ibuprofen didn’t do much. I went straight to the 800 mg, which a doctor advised me a while back to do, since when they prescribe it for inflammation they do so at that dosage, he said I could just do that myself and maybe save myself a visit – HMO’s don’t you just love ’em, they really like seeing you in there, lol, NOT. Got through the day but on the way home, I drove in today for some reason, I noticed I was NOT seeing well. I had to get a lot closer to things before I could make them out, a weird sort of double vision, almost double, more unclear edges. But I haven’t had a head ache, apart from that original thump that never hurt at all. So now I am wondering what that is all about. Maybe it is a miracle and my eyes are healing and tomorrow I’ll wake up not needing glasses at all anymore. I think I am going to go with that, for a few days anyway, giggle. Unless the knee stays sore enough to make me think I should do an mri, but I don’t want more knee surgery, I only have the one good one and I want it to stay good, so that isn’t my first choice and besides the copays on those procedures have just gotten out of hand and I don’t want to reward bad behavior. Do you think I have this rationalized well enough? giggle. maybe I ought to go do a few sudoku’s just to be sure I am thinking straight, giggle. So, well, that was thanksgiving. I shudder to think what christmas might have in store for me.

And, at least the damn bike is finally in the basement. much love, :^) gene