God – The Corrigan Encore

How much

October 25, 2023 John Corrigan

Food we all eat it every day. Usually everyone uses money to buy that food. Because money is used to buy that food the news reports on how valuable or money is every day. We can see this value and make decisions like, should I invest more save more or get a part time job.

Corp yield is how much grain or food can be produced per a certain area of land. Farmers and food producers use this number to determine how much land they need to buy or lease however, buying and leasing land is not the only facet involved in increasing or decreasing crop yield. Crop yields is influenced by the health of the eco system that the crops are grown in and the ecosystem is all connected.

Instead of the value of the dollar the news should let the watchers know what the health of the eco system is. The stock market is a poor indicator for the health of a society. The United States is one of the richest nations on earth but, the United States has more poverty than any other developed country in the world. In the 1930’s the United States faced the Dust Bowl. The Dust Bowl was an ecological disaster that was brought on by poor farming techniques and bad priorities. It seems that lessons have been learned since the Dust Bowl but only lessons for the agriculture community not the country or the world as a whole. Currently (since 1980), the United States has experienced 372 weather and climate disasters that have caused about 2.6 trillion dollars.

If our species is to survive we must shift our priorities away from financial wellness and financial health and focus on wellness and health. Our planet is sick and so are our bodies. Instead of a stock market ticker we should see a daily report of green house gas emissions, Crop Yield, and Recycling rates.

There are things we can do own our own, however as a group we have to demand action from our leadership. The Paris climate accord was a good start but is far short from where we need to be. Election season is starting soon do not vote for a cnidate that has bad priorities the economy should not be a focus the planet and people should at the end of the day we cannot eat money. We may be the first species that destroys itself because it was economical and we made a profit.

Well the thing is…

September 13, 2023 John Corrigan

I like to watch and read the news. Here in the United States the Supreme court has made some news with many of its decisions. On June 24, 2022 the supreme court overturned a woman’s right to have an abortion and left woman’s rights up to each state to decide.

Today is September 9 2023 so why am I right now speaking about this court decision made in 2022? I am speaking about the Dobbs decision today because many state laws are just being imposed on women all over the country. Right now 13 states have abortion bans in place and there is so much confusion over state laws that health providers in states that do not necessarily have a ban in place are just shutting down. So I am witting now because this issue matters now and did when it was first over turned and will for decades later.

A big part of the push behind abortion bans was a coordinated effort of the evangelical Christians in the United States of America. The Moral Majority is a group founded by Jerry Falwell and a major point of the religious organization was stopping abortion, through influencing legislation and it seems to have worked.

The evangelical Christians believe that abortion is a sin. The reason for this belief stems from something called the “univocality of the bible”. This univocality means that the bible speaks with one voice and I just don’t think this is true. There is a pretty amazing video in which a scholar I follow mentions how univocality cannot be true

Clearly though this idea for univocality is pretty hard to come up with for any work of art. The bible is an amazing work of art written by many through the years from originally the spoken word.

First it must be known that only a spoken word or a conventional sign is an equivocal or univocal term; therefore a mental contentor concept is, strictly speaking, neither equivocal nor univocal.
William of Ockham

Ockham really helps define what faith is and faith is not fact. Theology is not a sciences and I never want to live in a society where faith or theology make laws. With state laws and no protection for women the United States seem to be on the precipice of a theocracy.

If you disagree with your government, that’s political. If you disagree with your government that is approaching theocracy, then you’re evil.
Margaret Atwood

A government that is a democracy will have disagreements and those should be settle d with logic and ethics and votes however governments that are theocracies are not ran this way. In a theocracy an enemy of the state is also an enemy of god and a theocracy requires a single faith and that is problematic as well because faith is not fact, faith is subjective and different for everyone.

It should go without saying however it seems it must be said. All countries should do their best to avoid a theocracy.

Does family Matter

September 7, 2023 John Corrigan

The United Nations has 193 countries in it and among the countries 7 of them do not mandate paid maternity leave for parents. The United States of America finds itself among the 7 countries. Child care in the United States for working parents costs the parents more than 20 % of their income again among developed nations the United States is last, most nations offer heavily subsidized or free child care. In June of 2022 the United States quit protecting women’s right to health care for abortions. Health care costs for families in the United States are almost twice as much as all other United Nation countries.

The election season will start soon and the politicians will lean heavy on the family and the importance of the family. However if that politician is not addressing the families needs through policies their words are nothing more than lip service and the family doesn’t matter enough for the them to do work.

When something matters and is a priority we will find ways to make that something work.

The ethics of it

September 5, 2023 John Corrigan

My mom took me and my three sisters to church at young ages. In church we went to service Sunday school and bible study. Our church like many churches in the United States taught me and my sister dogma using the scriptures. As I grew up I mistook dogma for data and faith for fact. Later in life with other perspectives I was able to tease out some of the data and definitely understood that all of my Christian belief is faith not fact.

I have been down somewhat of a rabbit hole with consideration in Christian data versus dogma and wondered how did the dogma for the Christian religion become part of the Christian religion.

The rabbit hole lead me to a profession I never knew existed and that is a Christian ethicist. I stole this exert from the Wikipedia page concerning Christian Ethicists “Christian ethicists use reason, philosophy, natural law, the social sciences, and the Bible to formulate modern interpretations of those principles; Christian ethics applies to all areas of personal and societal ethics.”

So for me the takeaway is that religious doctrine is being evaluated all the time and modified with data and knowledge. It is this growth that keeps religion relevant and usable in our lives and society. One major shift I see in religious doctrine is a shift away from homosexuality as a sin. Many denominations do not consider homosexuality as a sin and welcome the LGBTQ community into the fold as believers.

So at the churches build a doctrine for their believers to live by and to a certain extent each induvial builds a doctrine to live by. We build our doctrine by learning, listening and should include loving family, friends and living sentient beings.

If you find yourself at a crossroads where your church’s doctrine demands you do something that is not loving (like condemn someone who is homosexual) perhaps it is time to rethink that doctrine.

The willingness to change one’s mind in the light of new evidence is a sign of rationality not weakness.
Stuart Sutherland

There is nothing wring with change. The big question for change, dogma. laws and actions, should be why.

Why do I believe this doctrine?

What good is this accomplishing?

Is it good?

One major ethical question is always how do I want to be in this world? That one is huge for me when it comes to religious doctrine. I never want to be someone who would hurt or harm or do anything but love others.

Most people, when directly confronted by evidence that they are wrong, do not change their point of view or course of action but justify it even more tenaciously. Even irrefutable evidence is rarely enough to pierce the mental armor of self-justification.
Carol Tavris

So my hope and prayer is this. I pray that me and all of humanity would be considerate of all life when they make moral and ethical decisions and doctrine.

This podcast is pretty cool

August 28, 2023 John Corrigan

Ok I am not sure if this is a first but I feel like it is. I have mentioned podcasts before but I do not think that I have endorsed one. So a first here on my blog is the endorsement of a podcast. I have to warn you that it is super boring and big on ancient history but I enjoy the hosts and think it is a refreshing take on something pretty heavy. The podcast is Data over Dogma. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/data-over-dogma/id1681418502

Why endorse this podcast? Well, data represents statistics and facts that we can analysis and create narratives from, dogma is “truth’, principles laws laid down by the bosses that are just “truth”. My religious upbringing has been full of dogma disguised as faith. Faith is a conviction concerning a truth, now is that truth in analysis of data or dogma?

Photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels.com

Can data be used to put together a picture of ancient history and religious laws for faith or are believers engaging in apologetics for the dogma they have had passed down to them through their religious culture? Yeah I am not really sure but the podcast gives some data surrounding the ancient religious world and helps me make some sense of it.

I mention that the podcast is one of ancient history maybe I should rephrase that, the podcast deals with ancient history and data from the bible.

I love this podcast and think its pretty cool because data is knowledge and knowledge is power and if you want a powerful spiritual life data can do nothing but help.

One of the podcasts host Dan McClellan also has a tik tok channel that I enjoy as well but today on this post I am endorsing his podcast

In this corner…

August 25, 2023 John Corrigan

Another day came with another conference and another speaker. This time the speaker was at the lectern promoting his office. He runs the organizations Project management office and when his organization completes a project there is not change but transformation.

The speaker wanted the listeners to be aware of this fact because, according to him change is different than transformation. If you are rolling your eyes right now then, we are kindred spirits.

The definition for the word transformation has the word change in it. I understand what the speaker was doing but, I think he could have used better words for this concept. The idea was that change can be fleeting but transformation is forever and all encompassing but see even this is not really true. The only reason transformation was all encompassing was that his office implemented procedures to make it that way.

The truth is we have to work at life and doing the best we can everyday. We cannot just make a few changes and transform into something wonderful or good

What’s tough is being good every day.

— Willie Mays

Knowing that change is not permanent brings with it good and bad news. Bad news is that you will always be an addict. People in recovery can attest to this fact. The idea of once an addict always an addict has little to do with science and more to do with a personality trait or an outlook on life.

Understanding that one can engage at anytime in addictive and destructive traits helps some people take some control of their day. For the one who believes they are always an addict everyday represents a choice and that is a pretty big source of power.

“Give every day the chance to become the most beautiful day of your life.”

– Mark Twain

There is very little that we can control however we can control us and our choices and when we do it will be hard (like everyday) but, with the right choices life can be and is beautiful

Kintsu.. who what?

August 10, 2023 John Corrigan

Kintsugi is an Japanese art of repairing broken pottery using gold as the material for repairing the cracks. The philosophy behind Kintsugi is very similar in nature to wabi-sabi , which is embracing the imperfect.

There is a great song written by Trains lead singer Patrick Monahan and performed by Train and Ashley Monroe called Bruises.

The song deals with embracing our flaws as part of who we are. It can be tempting to cover up imperfections but it will not work. People can spot fake people a mile away.

It’s all right to make mistakes, you’re only humanInside everybody’s hiding something.
Dido Armstrong

Its important to put forth your “real self” flaws and all to the world, especially our family and friends. If your relationships are loving ones the family and friends will not only accept you flaws and all they will celebrate you with gold, flaws and all and, if they don’t they will eventually come around.

This is by no means a recommendation to hurt someone. It is ok to celebrate your flaws however it is never ok to break another person. Never

A sentient being

August 2, 2023 John Corrigan

The idea of being sentient to me has become a barometer for life. If a form of life is sentient than I believe that is life worth protecting. It was this type of thinking that caused me to change my diet. Right now my family and I are eating plant based protein because of the fact that many of the animals used for protein are sentient beings.

There are strangely enough, many situations that you may find yourself in that require the need to define life and this definition I created for my self has helped me navigate.

“Do what you feel in your heart to be right — for you’ll be criticized anyway.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Cider House Rules, is a great movie and I watched the movie but did not read the book (I know shame on me, I do intend to read the book someday). The movie is a classic and should be watched by all. In the movie a young man learns that rules written by those in charge may work in theory but not application.

You are living your life and you should learn what is right and wrong for yourself and not really on others to tell you. Learning right from wrong for yourself is called ethics and it is confusing and hard sometimes and there is nothing wrong with seeking help, however at the end of the day you must decide what is right or wrong

Who are we

July 26, 2023July 26, 2023 John Corrigan

I have started watching my new favorite tv show on DIsney +, Secret Invasion. I have to warn you now that, this post has one only one small spoiler. The tv show follows Nick Fury and Talos as they uncover a conspiracy plot to take over earth.

Talos is an alien and unbeknownst to Nick Fury allowed all Aliens from his home planet (which was destroyed) to come to earth. There is a great scene where Talos confesses to Nick Fury that he has requested his fellow refugees come to earth.

Nick Fury asks Talos what he was thinking. Talos confesses that he was hoping that the aliens and the humans could live in peace. Nick Fury let Talos know that this was probably not possible because humans could not even live in peace with each other.

This scene made me think about how humans have consistently chosen violence over peace.

There is a great article in the scientific journal concerning War and human nature. The major surprise from the article is that war or violence is not human nature. Basically complex societies seem to be the reason for the violence.

I always take issue when humans try to make themselves out to be more than they really are.

We ain’t nothing but mammals
Eminem

Humans are part of the animal kingdom. I was asked by someone why I choose to become a vegetarian and I answered them saying that I don’t see why a humans life should be considered more important than a cows or a chickens.

Society has tricked us into a hubris state bordering on solipsism. This selfish state has justified genocide lives and the destruction of our planet.

Lets start rejecting the lies of complex society today and embrace life.

Unconnected in a connected world

July 24, 2023 John Corrigan

Today was my first day back from a weeks long vacation. Me, my wife, and niece spent a week in the bayou Teche. We were camping in our rv and had a blast. We did some exploring, fishing, and a whole lot of swimming.

When I got into work this morning the emails were there in abundance, so were the instant messages and phone calls. I got top work on the backlog and I am finally starting to clear out the workload. I purposely left behind my work cellphone, tablet and laptops. I was unplugged and disconnected but I didn’t feel that way. Out there on the water I felt more connected than I had in a pretty long time.

I thought it was odd as I stood alone on the water, fishing that, I would feel connected. I am a huge fan of nature but, I don’t think nature has magical properties. I do think nature can be restorative though simply because nature has a way of cutting out distractions (like pretty much all my emails, messages and calls) and making us focus on what matters.

So what is it that really matters? Life and the environment that we live in matter more than anything else. Last week we experienced the hottest days on record. Man made climate change has caused serious damage to life and the enviroment that we live in.

The man made climate change was accomplished through and still happening because of a lack of perspective. As a species we have become distracted and lost focus of what really matters.

Maybe we should all take a week of disconnect unplug and reconnect with what matters.