Saturday, May 26, 2007
My Thoughts
I really dislike people. It annoys me when people treat animals like disposables. They seem to think that animals are mere annoyances to be tolerated or disposed of if the whim strikes. It doesn't matter to them that animals have feelings and experience love. People seem to think that humans are somehow superior to all other life forms and that these "others" are worthless or at least negligible. Usually they will use one of two arguments to justify their position. One is that we are superior because we are made in the image of God unlike all other beings. The other is that we are at the top of the food chain. Well, it's bullshit.
Let's take the first argument. So we're made in the image of God. How does that make us a complete image? How can we say that no other beings are made in the image of God only from a different part of God's essence? We imagine what God is like by constructing God from ourselves. We construct our understanding of God from our understanding of ourselves. But are we a complete image of God or a partial image? Are we an image of one aspect of God or the entire aspect of God? We get some ideas from the bible, but no where in the bible does it say that we are the complete image, and that other beings are not an image. It doesn't say that other parts of creation are the simple creative constructions and not images of other parts of God's essence. And why is humanity the pinnacle of God's creation? Aren't a lot of lessons we humans are supposed to learn all about humility and acknowledging that we aren't superior? And so why is it so fundamentally impossible for us to be equal to all living beings in the eyes of our Creator? And how can anyone look into the eyes of a gorilla infant and not see the same spark of life that one sees in the eyes of a human infant? Can we really say that such a spark is less miraculous than the human miracle? And if you see the joy in the eyes of a dog when it gets snuggled and played with, is it any less felt than that of a child at play? Ridiculous. God is Love. Animals experience love just as we humans do. So how can we deny the spark of God in animals?
Now the second argument. So we're at the top of the food chain, right? So why are we felled by the smallest of creatures, the virus? If we are at the top, if we disregard the rest of the chain, we'll destroy the pedestal on which we stand. And then we are destroyed. So who's on top? The top of the chain is only on top as long as the rest of the chain remains in tact.
The moment we devalue life in any form we devalue human life. That should scare the human egotists. If you can care for an animal and not give it its full value, then you lack the capacity to give people their full value.
Let's take the first argument. So we're made in the image of God. How does that make us a complete image? How can we say that no other beings are made in the image of God only from a different part of God's essence? We imagine what God is like by constructing God from ourselves. We construct our understanding of God from our understanding of ourselves. But are we a complete image of God or a partial image? Are we an image of one aspect of God or the entire aspect of God? We get some ideas from the bible, but no where in the bible does it say that we are the complete image, and that other beings are not an image. It doesn't say that other parts of creation are the simple creative constructions and not images of other parts of God's essence. And why is humanity the pinnacle of God's creation? Aren't a lot of lessons we humans are supposed to learn all about humility and acknowledging that we aren't superior? And so why is it so fundamentally impossible for us to be equal to all living beings in the eyes of our Creator? And how can anyone look into the eyes of a gorilla infant and not see the same spark of life that one sees in the eyes of a human infant? Can we really say that such a spark is less miraculous than the human miracle? And if you see the joy in the eyes of a dog when it gets snuggled and played with, is it any less felt than that of a child at play? Ridiculous. God is Love. Animals experience love just as we humans do. So how can we deny the spark of God in animals?
Now the second argument. So we're at the top of the food chain, right? So why are we felled by the smallest of creatures, the virus? If we are at the top, if we disregard the rest of the chain, we'll destroy the pedestal on which we stand. And then we are destroyed. So who's on top? The top of the chain is only on top as long as the rest of the chain remains in tact.
The moment we devalue life in any form we devalue human life. That should scare the human egotists. If you can care for an animal and not give it its full value, then you lack the capacity to give people their full value.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Not There Yet
Well, I'm still waiting for the flight arrangements to be made to go back to Cali for the summer. I can't wait. It looks like I'll get there sometime next week. My Darling left for San Diego today. His sister, Rachel, is graduating from college. She'll start her student teaching this summer. I was hoping to be able to ge there for her graduation but I wasn't able to get the travel arrangements to Cali made in time. Sadness.
Research is going. I have a low mass star going through it's evolution, and of course it's taking forever. And I still can't get onto the correct computer through the vpn to continue my helium shell flashes and my black hole - red giant interaction. I'm just itching to get to them.
Research is going. I have a low mass star going through it's evolution, and of course it's taking forever. And I still can't get onto the correct computer through the vpn to continue my helium shell flashes and my black hole - red giant interaction. I'm just itching to get to them.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Liver more again!
I am going to work at LLNL again this summer. They really wanted me to come work for them again. The internship didn't get funding this year, but they were able to find funding elsewhere for me. :) Makes me feel really good that they value me and my contributions. I am valued! And I'll be living with Annie and Lauren again. We'll be staying in Berkeley. It's really nice in Berkeley. The weather is so much nicer than in Livermore. I'll leave for California at the end of the month, and I'll come back the beginning of September. Michael will come back with me after the wedding. We'll have a little adventure for our first month of married life. :)
We just had dinner with John and Julie and a bunch of other friends. It was fun. We had sushi which I helped prepare. Boy do I love the shrimp sushi! We play Zoobie Zoobie, and insanely simple and fun and annoying drinking game. It was a seriously good time. John and Julie are some awesome party-givers.
We just had dinner with John and Julie and a bunch of other friends. It was fun. We had sushi which I helped prepare. Boy do I love the shrimp sushi! We play Zoobie Zoobie, and insanely simple and fun and annoying drinking game. It was a seriously good time. John and Julie are some awesome party-givers.
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