The Law of Accidents

In spite of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, there are still those scientists, teachers and others who doggedly stick to the story/fable that everything we see is the result of happenstance, thrown together over uncountable billions of years. All the excuses, arguments and made-up theories such as Big Bang, Evolution, Chance, etc. are fabricated for the sole purpose of eliminating the idea of a 'Higher Power' in the universe. And to all of these propositions there is but one answer: LAW.

So, maybe in some alternate universe there is something like life without law, but here...everything is 'governed' by law. First of all, you have the Laws of Nature. This is not one but multiple laws. From the time we are small children we discover these wonderful laws and it is explained to us that these laws are undeniable and irrefutable. For instance, birds and fish cannot mate and produce bird-fish. This is a law. Water is lighter and larger when frozen. This is also according to law. If it were not so, the whole earth would be useless. We have the Laws of Physics, the Laws of Genetics, the Laws of the Elements, Laws of Mathematics, Laws of the Universe and the list goes on.

In fact, there is not one single particle of our existence and surroundings that is not covered and governed by binding laws. All of this not only suggest, but shouts that if you have a law, you have order, not chaos. If you have order, you must also have design. If you have design, you must have a designer. What I am wondering is how this immutable fact has escaped the supposedly brilliant minds of our day?

How can you look at a complex machine and say, “This must have taken millions of years to evolve into it's present form, because it is so complex.”? Well, it would be absurd to say such a thing. But it is equally...no, it is even more absurd to look at, know about and study life, the laws of nature and of the universe and say that all of this law, order, complexity, unity and beauty just happened to get this way because of a bunch of accidents and a lot of time.

So briefly, what they are telling us, in their poorly designed fable, is that if you take a whole bunch of cars and crash them together with nothing more than the power which came from within themselves and let them sit for a long, long time after that, without acting upon them in any way (because there cannot be any intelligent design), that eventually we would see a Lamborghini appearing slowly out of the rubble, one piece at a time, growing, forming and creating itself, wanting to form a new car out of the rubble of a very large accident. At first we might see just little nuts and bolts forming and then, because they knew, (after becoming conscious, of course), that this was not enough, they would see that there needed to be more nuts and bolts. Then, when there was nothing but nuts and bolts everywhere, they would decide that the nuts and bolts needed to start holding something together, so some of the nuts and bolts would start shaping differently into flat objects which the nuts and bolt would attach to, forming little blobs of metal held together by nuts and bolts. From there, time would do the rest and eventually, billions and billions of years later, we would have a beautiful, well-oiled working machine... a self-aware, thinking Lamborghini.

Does this sound sensible? Does this sound believable? Does this sound like the truth? If you answered no to any of these questions then, congratulations! You can think! Perhaps the thing that annoys me most about the assumptions of those who teach such foolish, idiotic fables to us and our children is that they assume that we will actually believe them; that we cannot think far enough ahead or behind to realize that what they are telling us is the biggest hunk of (%&*#) that anyone ever passed off as truth. Someone must think we are pretty stupid to believe such things and allow such tales to be taught as truth both to us and to our children. Maybe it has something to do with the laws of human nature. But wait. If there is a law, there is order and if there is order, there is design and if there is design...

Closer Than You Think

From the time we are born, we are looking for approval, acceptance or validation of some kind. First, we look to our parents and siblings who smile when we do something they like and frown when we do not. After that, we look to teachers and other adults to provide that approval. For some, I suppose the search for acceptance might be the sum of their existence. They might even see life as a hopeless quest for approval in a largely disapproving world. It seems that there is always someone older, smarter, richer, higher or more powerful than we are and from whom we crave acceptance in one way or another. Unfortunately, this kind of approval-seeking has no end.

As a woman who has borne several children, I understand the approval-seeking process amazingly well. My first visit to the doctor's office with my first pregnancy put me right back to a sort of parent-child relationship with my doctor. If I did everything I was supposed to, gained the right amount of weight, had the right number of red blood cells and a 'clean' urine sample, I was validated, praised and given encouragement to keep going. If, however, I was forgetful of taking my pills, gained too much or too little weight, had weak blood or an 'unclean' urine sample, I was pronounced negligent with a shake of the head, given a strict regimen to help me reform my behavior and told in no uncertain terms that I was in trouble. As a result, I was inclined to push myself harder and be more self-critical and worried than perhaps I deserved.

If you have ever had a hard boss, you know what I am talking about. Bosses sometimes act as though they own you, your life, your children, your time, your freedom, your thoughts, etc. They know, of course, that they do not and they will thereby deny any responsibility for your welfare, but when it comes to sacrificing your time, freedom, pride, family or anything else, they will not hesitate to expect or even demand such a sacrifice. This kind of relationship tends to make one feel as powerless as a babe in diapers. In response, we might work harder, sacrifice more or even compromise our standards in order to gain the approval of such a boss. As a result, we might think less of ourselves and most certainly be extremely unhappy.

Teachers might feel this way about overbearing parents. Parents might feel this way about teachers who refuse to give an inch. Adult children might feel this way about controlling parents and parents might feel this way about a manipulative child. A poor man might feel this way toward a bill collector and a businessman might feel this way toward a city council. The list is endless.

Victor Frankl, survivor of a Nazi prison camp, teaches us a principle that overrides all of these negative possibilities. He said that he discovered, almost by accident, that when he was in the most difficult circumstances, (a death camp for instance), he was able to carry on a conversation in his mind with his wife whom he loved. In that conversation he could hear her voice, speaking sweet words of love and friendship. As he heard those words and answered them in his mind, he began to feel joy and happiness. There he was in the midst of the worst-case scenario and he was feeling joy! This discovery taught him that he had the power within himself to be at peace and feel joy in spite of his surroundings.

For me, there is one person whose approval must be met at all costs. When I approve of myself, when I ask myself what I think of me, when I have accepted, validated and approved of my own actions, behaviors, thoughts, words, life etc. then I have done what Victor Frankl did. I have achieved peace amidst war, harmony in the face of discord, power instead of impotence. Like Victor Frankl, I can carry on a conversation in my mind with the one person who knows me perfectly and can give the most honest assessment of me. All the validation and approval from outside sources can never replace self-approval. And though you have the friendship of the whole world and do not accept yourself, happiness will still be out of reach. Like Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz” who needed to realize that her happiness was waiting for her in her own back yard, approval, acceptance and happiness may be closer than we think.

Independence Day

Today's world is so full of convenience, entitlement and luxury that, as far as history is concerned, people have become soft. I have heard of remote villages where they live on dirt floors and go bare-footed, but they still have a television. This, I think, represents the insanity of our day, when you can have the most extreme poverty beside ridiculous luxury, all in the same household! But why should life be that way? Have the luxuries of life become necessities in our eyes? Could we more easily go without food than without satellite TV?

Some years ago, I sat in a public health office waiting for an appointment. I overheard a discussion between a social worker and one of her clients. They were arguing over the amount of food stamps the family would receive during the month. The man was pleading for a little bit more than the allotted amount because he said that his family needed the extra money they would save in order to pay for their cable TV. He said that they simply couldn't go without it. After I finished chuckling to myself, I sat pondering on the man's dilemma. Here he was, a poor man, obviously without a job, begging for government food, just trying to get by day to day, with the help of people being paid to decide what he was entitled to. I wondered what choices he had. I wondered if the only thing left in his life was to beg for enough money to have enough entertainment so that he could sit all day 'watching' other people live.

With the growing numbers of people dependent upon government support, this seems an increasingly important issue. I mean, unless these numbers are staying the same or decreasing, we will eventually find ourselves in the position where there are more people asking for money than people able to give it. Then, like an upside-down mortgage, we will be in an irreversible mess. But for now we just have a lot of people who are being shelved, as it were, living in relative comfort, ease and security, without contributing anything to their own support. How can we even begin to count the cost of the loss of dignity, self-respect, responsibility, accountability and productivity?

Now, we are told, everyone has a 'right' to health care. Add that to the list of entitlements and you have an ever-growing burden being placed upon working people whose motivation for working is becoming increasingly difficult to muster. Like the cartoon that shows a man out of work on a park bench saying how glad he is that he can still have health care even though he is out of work. The other man on the bench then asks him why he has lost his job. The other man says that the company he worked for had to lay him off in order to provide the new health care for everyone.

The irony of this situation is not a joke. This is the reality of our time. We are living in the age of the upside-down economy; when people have been led to believe that they have a 'right' to have whatever they want or need. Thus far, in this country at least, this belief has prospered. Those who feel entitled to food, clothing, shelter, health care, entertainment, education etc. have been able to find a government willing and able to force the rest of the population to provide that 'right'. But, as I said before, when the tipping point is reached and there are more on the receiving end than on the other, we will see a different picture. Perhaps then, people will declare their independence from such bondage.

No one wants to live his life being forced to provide for others who cannot, will not, or who for generations past, simply have not worked. Forced charity is not charity at all. To willingly give of one's substance to those who need it is a virtue. -- This is the way of freedom. To take support without giving something of equal value in return is a crime.--This is the order of the day. To be forced, year after year, to support by your labor those who do not work is slavery.-- This takes the cake.