As Leibniz wrote, the best of all possible worlds that god would have created, are we justified in trying to change it? Or should we say with the author of Tao that
Do you want to improve the world?
I don’t think it can be done.
The world is sacred.
It can’t be improved.
If you tamper with it, you’ll ruin it.
If you treat it like an object, you’ll lose it.
There is a time for being ahead,
a time for being behind;
a time for being in motion,
a time for being at rest;
a time for being vigorous,
a time for being exhausted;
a time for being safe,
a time for being in danger.
The master sees things as they are,
without trying to control them.
She lets them go their own way,
and resides at the center of the circle.
Should one pray to have their situation altered if the world is sacred and this is the best possible world that the good god could make?
Is making a vaccine trying to change the world? If this is the best possible world, does it mean that a world without disease was not possible and to ask for such a world is to ask for too much? What does this argument mean for heaven then? Or hell for that matter?
Happy Holidays everyone.
Quit tampering with your blog
You really can’t improve it
Sacred it is to your fans
Of it we all approve it
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Your wish is my command
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How many wishes do I get? I think the customary wish list is three. I shall return!
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We can make an exception for you and grant you four wishes
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Overwhelmed with your generosity.
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Like Yoda you sound. 🙂
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Come up and hear me sometime.
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Do that I will. 😀
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Everything everyone tries to do to tamper or alter their situation then, would be just as acceptable or natural as not, since everything is exactly as it should be, or would be.
And happy new year.
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I think that is the logical conclusion.
Happy New Year, to you and yours
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My first thought is that hi-tech humanity thinks rather too highly of itself in terms of its capacities to control and shape and affect. The planet IS. It does what it does. We could try being less destructive however. Plenty of scope to change ourselves.
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Oh yes, plenty of scope to change ourselves.
Reminds me of an anecdote I read many moons ago of a Bishop who had intended to change the world and in his death bed having failed miserably realised he should have tried to change himself and maybe that action might have changed the world about him.
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That’s a good anecdote!
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I think so too. We are always disappointed when we set out to change others
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It never does work. One has enough bother with oneself!
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TRUTH: The planet IS. It does what it does.
We are merely temporary inhabitants that like to meditate and ponder on how we might affect its nature but in truth, it is WE that need to change.
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Yes. It is we that should modify our behaviour and the world around us might change with that modification
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Nothing is sacred, including the world, at least not in the strong sense of being unassailable and inviolable. In the weaker sense of being highly valued and important? Sure, but that doesn’t lead to the same restrictions. One leads to inaction, the other a healthy caution.
Happy Holidays Mak!
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Happy Holidays Mike!
A healthy caution is good.
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Yesterday while binge watching George Carlin, I found this video where he says humans are arrogant; we talk about saving the planet, endangered species and all while we have been unable to save ourselves. Everywhere you go people live in poverty, wars abound and we keep making weapons that can destroy us many times over. The planet will survive us & heal itself. It is us who must needs save ourselves.
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Too true. If we destroy ourselves, the universe will go on and won’t miss us. What matters is what matters to us, individually and collectively.
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If we tried to save each other, maybe there would be no need to worry about the planet. A man can dream
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If the cosmologists are correct, our Sun will eventually destroy the Earth and the universe will end in heat death. Which means that everything occurring between now and then is little more than a steady step towards a state of total entropy. So given those circumstances, we might as well jettison our notions of everlasting cosmic significance and enjoy the ride.
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Even if the cosmologists were not right, our lives don’t enjoy a cosmic significance. Many of us live and die and are soon forgotten no wonder we are obsessed with greatness. People to do all sorts of things for greatness just so they can be immortalised.
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