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While we’re on the quest for truths and a realization of our physical oneness with the universe, I’d like to throw out some clips from an article called Agnostic Christianity that my good friend the Rev. David Butler wrote for his church blog. Now I’ve mostly known David outside his occupation as a minister for the First Parish Congregational Church of Gorham, ME; however his views on religion are incredibly insightful and in step with my perceptions as well. So, I’m going to throw up some good excerpts in hopes that you’ll read the article and perhaps respond.
Here we go:
When preachers get into the pulpit and say that they are certain that God wants you to do one thing or another, they are either manipulating you with dishonesty or badly delusional themselves. To pretend that you know a thing that you cannot know is wrong on so many levels. To take the fruit of human imagination (either current imagination or centuries old imagination) and preach it, promote it, or legislate it as fact and or as the truth, is dangerous and oppressive. It narrows our minds and it creates a barrier preventing any future growth and discovery.
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One of the central themes of the Hebrew Scripture is the proscription against idolatry. The early Israelites understood that the real threat to faith was not unbelief; it was worshipping things that were not worthy of worship. They knew the danger to genuine faith of treating relative things as if they were absolute. They knew that elevating human-made things to the level of sacredness was the one thing that would separate people from a real relationship with God. The very first commandment and the most vital was to “have no other gods before” Yahweh.
Theologian Paul Tillich defined faith as an “ultimate concern.” Everyone has something that has ultimate value to them whether it be God, money, family relationships, humankind, race, nation or some other. Faith is that relationship that we have with whatever it is that we consider truly transcendent. The danger is to have an ultimate concern for things that are not ultimate at all. That is what happens when the Bible is considered sacred in itself. Human beings wrote it. It is a human document. To consider it perfect or inerrant or directly created by God is to take something human-made and to elevate it to the status of God. Even within the bounds of the faith traditions of both Christians and Jews, this is idolatry and the worst kind of affront to genuine faith. We all know how scary it is when race or nation become people’s “ultimate concern,” because those sources of allegiance and identity tend to separate people and alienate one group from other groups. The elevation of one book or one doctrine within a religious tradition to “ultimate” status creates the same kinds of human divisions.
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As Paul wrote so wisely (he was not so wise about many other things), “we have this truth in earthen vessels.” Those earthen vessels are us; our limited thoughts, feelings and understandings. If we believe that God is infinite, then by definition, God is beyond our comprehension. We cannot know or express anything substantial about what we cannot begin to understand. When we trumpet our “truths,” whether from what we’ve been taught or from what we’ve experienced, as the only truth or the truth for all, we are indeed delusional. We are taking the, oh so limited, contents of our own minds and hearts and inflating them into some universal things that they are not. That is an affront to reason, to the real search for truth, and an affront to the infinite nature of God.
And so, for religious people, and I am one, what we “know” is always a personal thing. We have experienced things that we insert into our own personal mythologies in a particular way. We may link those personal narratives with the broader narrative of a part of the Christian tradition, but when we think about the wider world we must always understand that our ideas are, not just limited, but provisional. Our constructs may be built on personal experience, but they remain just our own constructions that don’t even begin to grasp what we believe in as God.
Even the idea of God is a provisional one. What we have experienced when we refer to the experience of God is some tiny microcosm of what the idea of God might actually mean and we can’t quite grasp even that. We can speak only in stories and metaphors and vague language about realities that are completely beyond us. To assert that God, as we interpret God, exists or doesn’t exist is both beyond our ken and beside the point.
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So perhaps the most faithful thing that we can be is agnostic. We look at the universe and into the human heart and sigh with the mystery of it. If it is the infinite we are after, any label, any concept, any thought, had better be provisional or it is just plain stupid. Thoughts of transcendence should open our minds, not shut them off. Ideas of an infinite God of love should connect us more deeply to other people who are different than ourselves, not erect more barriers. True experiences of the holy should leave us wondering at the mysteries, not trying to sell our little ideas to other vulnerable people.
Go read the rest of it here. Potential! will still be waiting for you when you get back.
To continue the unabashed posting of YouTube videos in lieu of real content here’s another song in the tune of science:
Good to see Mr. Nye gets his due in inspiring folks to think beyond the tube. Go look at the stars, kids.
Can you watch a movie on an iPhone and obtain it’s full effect? Filmmaker David Lynch shares his opinion:
I’m not even going to set this one up for you.
This is amazing:
A still more glorious dawn awaits, my friends.
There’s something to be said for someone with the gumption, know-how and spare-time to become an inventor. Now we’re not talking about a pooper-scooper, or being the guy who invented the iPhone or aromatherapy. I’m talking about the real inventors, people who adventure into the depths of imagination and drag from it great clanking things of purest fantasy. Sure the people who thought up the iPhone are great but can they compare to some of these folks?
François Delarozière – Leonardo daVinci on a Merry-Go-Round
When I wrote the line “great clanking things of purest fantasy” in the above paragraph I was thinking of François Delarozière. This Frenchman has spent his life designing bringing huge robotic animals to life. As creepy as that sounds, it isn’t. With shells of gorgeously carved wood François’ creations have an asthetic out of Jules Verne or even Pinnochio (fitting cause he also works with marionettes) that are absolutely amazing to watch in action:
The fun doesn’t stop there:
Yes. That’s right, a collosal spider and a four story tall elephant. Sure they’re not really inventions in the typical sense. But are you going to argue with a guy who can operate a gigantic robot spider? Probably not.
Not that he would do anything to you, I mean look at the guy:
See that smile? The man is made of pure whimsy.In collaboration with La Machine a French collective of artists and engineers based out of Nantes he’s made a pretty good name for himself and his installations. Nante’s has taken his team into their hearts and they now have a huge workshop space with a gigantic tree-garden, a wind tunnel where you can fly a person-sized flea, and a massive undersea themed merry-go-round. It’s all right here on their website. I’m already making travel plans.
But there are plenty of other cool folks to talk about, next up we’re going to go deep in the archives to bring you a major blast from the past. Do you like flying? Or landmines? You have this guy to thank:
Zhuge Liang – Chinese Master of the Thousand Wisdoms
So maybe that’s not his formal title but it could have been, plus it sounds cool.
Like the Stephen Hawking of kicking your ass.
If Wikipedia serves us correctly (and God help us if it doesn’t) Zhuge Liang is pretty much the name you drop in China if you’re talking about wisdom. He’s supposedly responsible for the first flying machine (a giant Kongming Lantern), the first landmine, a delicious steamed bun, and the repeating crossbow. Yeah, that repeating crossbow. The weapon your twink friend always wanted his half-orc paladin to have but the DM wouldn’t let him have because he had already made so many consessions for that character. Only the one in Dungeons & Dragons was based off a later model. Z.L.’s was built earlier and fired faster and further. Yeah. Pownage.
You cannot defeat me, for I have already won.
This guy was also a master strategist. Running out of arrows while on campaign reuniting the entire Han Empire he had his soldiers construct a bunch of straw men, put them on boats and then, in the early morning mist make sounds of preparing for attack. The enemy on the opposite side of the river from them promptly filled the straw men with arrows, the boats were retrieved and the arrows collected. Zhuge had stolen about a thousand arrows from his enemy and not lost a single man.
He also carried around a fan made of crane feathers, possibly to tempt enemies into insulting him so he could declare war upon them. This is the equivalent of Chuck Norris taping a “KICK ME” sign to his back.
Carlos Owens – Mecha-Man
Yeah, Troy Hurtubise was cool with his bear suit, but his vision was limited. Want to really ‘rassle with a grizzly? Well, what about doing it in a mech suit? Impossible, you say? Apparently no-one ever told Carlos Owens that:
You can now clean up your pants.
What you see there is an 18-foot-tall, working, mecha. Built by an Army engineer in Alaska (where the “lots of spare time” portion of the Inventor equation is in abundance) who decided to take this up as a pet-project while he was in the service. The robot has a little trouble with walking on complex terrain but Carlos is optimistic that his psuedo move-by-wire system can be fine tuned with the hydraulics in the mecha’s legs. That’s all Carlos has done really, no other inventions to date but well, no one else really has a corner on the DIY Decepticon market. Popular Science went nuts with it. And Carlos isn’t actually interested in fighting bears, his real purpose for building it is well… in hopes of engaging in some mecha vs. mecha fights with other folks.
Which is why he’s on the list.
Our last stop on this little tour however, is a man who needs no introduction:
Nikola Tesla – Lightning on the Brain
See? You totally knew I was going to mention him.
Now, researching articles for Potential! isn’t usually that difficult. You comb Google Images and reword a Wikipedia article for about a half hour and try to come up with some funny quips. On occasion though, you run into something like Nikola Tesla’s Wikipedia article.
Science cannot contain me.
The article is massive and littered with phrases like “thermoionic emissions,” “condenser discharge transformations” and “force-free magnetic fields” which are probably all code words for “death-ray lightning gun.” All kidding aside, Nikola Tesla probably knew more about science than anyone in his day. The guy rarely drew blueprints, instead picturing every aspect of an invention with his reported photographic memory before setting to work. As someone who has difficulty picturing what lunch looked like two days ago I can only hope that there is a place for someone mildly funny in his futuristic empire.
Anyway, the inventions:
Tesla’s Egg of Columbus: An Egg of Columbus is a problem that seems extremely difficult or insolvable but can actually be sloved by a simple action. The story goes that Columbus (when he wasn’t spreading disease or completely misjugding the distance to China) once dared a bunch of Spanish nobles to stand a hard-boiled egg on it’s pointy end without propping it up. They couldn’t and asked Columbus to try it. He tapped the egg on the table, flattening the top and stood the egg up on it’s own. Everyone thought he was real clever.
Now Tesla decided to do this the other way. The hard way. For the World’s Columbia Exposition he opted to construct a massive magnetic current alternator to spin a copper egg to the point where the gyroscopic action of the egg would balance it perfectly on it’s tip. Yeah, you heard me. This was a science project he thought up to solve a problem that no one was really that worried about, in an incredibly elaborate and backwards way, just to show he could. Tesla’s earlier plans for the Expo were rumored to be a gigantic middle finger made of lightning that flashed the words “FUCK YOU, COLUMBUS.”
Everything Else: I’ll save the other inventions for a later, more in-depth Tesla investigation. However it is safe to say that Tesla was one of the most underappreciated figures in modern electrical science and engineering and that the world has benefited greatly from his research. From x-rays to Atomic Robo, Tesla has helped push the world forward in incredible ways.
Plus there were those rumors of a death-ray…
Since we’re on the topic of politics and Obama:
Alan Grayson (D-Florida) will not apologize. Not for bacon, not for nothing.
In case you haven’t heard the buzz the Nobel awards committee have decided to give President Obama the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. Placing him alongside Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, the Dali Lama, Kofi Anan and Desmond Tutu along with many others. Only three other US Presidents hold that title: Jimmy Carter (for his outstanding peace work) Woodrow Wilson (for founding the goddamn League of Nations) and Teddy Roosevelt (for ending the Russo-Japanese War, giving The Hauge it’s first case and probably cause he threatened to beat it out of them with a stick.)
"Grrrr..."
All that said, the induction seems to have come a little early. Nelson Mandela spent twenty-seven years in prison and was forced to work in a lime quarry for standing up in what he believed in. There was even a plot by the South African aparthied government to spring him from jail just so they could shoot him down. Gorbachev faced Chernobyl and decided to go public about it, completely rewriting the Soviet Union’s freedom of information policies. He also faced arrest and a millitary coup by some of his closest friends, brought about the downfall of the very government he was elected to. He also had the strength to hold on end the Cold War and steer his country into the 21st century. Obama certainly faces adversity, but his toil is just beginning. He is the new guy and the nomination seems more like a pat on the back, a welcoming into the club. To put it lamely: He’s the new superhero on the team with cool powers and hip dialogue but until he takes his licks and really slugs evil in the face, he’s just an obvious revamp.
’76 Prize winner Mairead Corrigan Maguire (guess where she’s from) puts it well in her response to the news: “President Obama has yet to prove that he will move seriously on the Middle East, that he will end the war in Afghanistan and many other issues.”
Big decision time there, B.O..
On the positive side this kind of seals the deal. Barak Obama has been entered into one of the big lists of the modern world and he’s going to have to prove that he’s worthy of the honor. We are really close to closing Guantanamo and ending policies of torture in US institutions and Obama has pushed that. Voices across the Middle East, where most of Obama’s work remains unwritten, have spoken out to his worthiness as a candidate. There are still detractors but hope seems to be a catching thing. Even Mahmoud Ahamadinejad’s adviser gave congratulations, urging Obama to continue to spearhead the fight against injustice.
So who knows what will happen, Obama seems mired in the many hurdles the presidency has to offer when it comes to reforming a nation, changing our world image and patching the huge holes in our foreign policy. The greater Middle East will be Obama’s crucible in the years to come. Can a President who has elected to send more troops to Afghanistan in one hand and take the Nobel Peace Prize in the other and not have a sense of contrast?
Hopefully in 2012, or even 2016, we’ll be able look back and understand that this was the right decision. One thing is for sure: There is a long road ahead.
NAME: Tu Casa Salvadorena Restauraunt (urbanspoon)
TYPE: El Salvadoran Restauraunt
INFO: 70 Washington Ave, Portland, ME 04101
PRICE: $6-13 an entree.
“Tu Casa” is Spanish for home. Located on Washington Ave (on the Peninsula in Portland) Tu Casa is one of the many international options open for eating in this sometimes neglected corner of the city. Considering that the other option for Central American Cuisine is a place that translates to ”crazy chicken” my dear Mint Films colleague Andy Barbo and I decided that to go ”home” was the best option.
Now Portland is not short on burrito options, there are maybe 15 options for Burritos in the GPA (Greater Portland Area) from fake-Mexican (Magaritas) to fake-everything (Taco Bell) to authentic-something-or-other-wrapped-in-a-tortilla-so-we-call-it-a-burrito (Wild Burritos, Bruce’s, the late Granny’s etc.) but for authentic South/Central American cuisine you typically need to head out to Washington Ave.
Now El Salvador is small, 21,040km² to be precise (compared to Maine’s 91,646km²) and crowded (almost five times Maine’s 2008 population) but they do make good food. The pupusa, a kind of tortilla-turnover being one of their signature dishes which is supposed to be quite good and sopa de pata which seems like a high-culinary version of a cafeteria dare.
Not speaking Spanish or knowing anything about El Salvadorean cuisine however, I was in a tight spot the first time I walked into the medium-sized restauraunt. The menu was mostly in Spanish (authentic Spanish, the kind that doesn’t help you out with pictures) with only some recognizable words like shake, and burrito and I was confused by the order-at-the-counter-and-then-sit-down procedure that all the regulars seemed to find the easiest thing in the world, so I gringoed out “burr-EE-tow com POY-oh” and then requested a blueberry shake. The guy behind the counter laughed and said that I did a good job. I then stood around for a while until he told me to sit down. When I came in the second time with Andy I was thankfully able to naviagate around this.
So, for repeats: Walk in. Order/Pay at the counter. Sit down. Eat. (You can also watch any number of interesting Latino channels they have playing on the TV in the corner.)
The Set-Up: What if Mom came home one day and said “I think I’m going to knock down a lot of walls and set up a restauraunt on the first floor of our house.” If she was managed to pull it off on a shoestring budget the result would probably look like Tu Casa. Clean, if a little spartan. Relaxed with people talking, to eachother, to cellphones or to the TV chattering away in the corner. Fun, not to shabby, but probably not a place to bring your prom-date.
The Eats: Home-cooking is the key word here. Presentation is not. My burrito was delivered alone on a plate like some delicious avacado-filled Ayers Rock. Andy got fajitas (adventurous aren’t we?) and aside from the bell peppers on one side of the plate the meal was an adventure into the world of browns. I did see some guy eating something that could have been sopa de pata which was bright and colorful but presentation-junkies beware, this place is not your friend.
But it doesn’t have to be.
Burr-EE-tow cawn POY-oh, SEE VOOZ plates.
The food is good, filling, warm, sittin’-at-Mom’s-table good. You get a red and a green sauce for spice which is sufficient for most. The portions are hearty but you can usually clean your plate and don’t feel like you’ve been shortchanged. The shakes are great, simple, things of beauty and you can crack can after can of Goya if you’re thirsty for soda-pop. They serve beer too!
The Rest: Wondering if you remember anything from those four years of Spanish in High School? Miss the meals mom made back in San Miguel? Want a dollar fifty papusa? This aint a bad place to go for any of those options. Plus it’s local.
