Saturday, July 31, 2004
Running out of titles
Another odd day. They all are, I suppose.
Today was our CPA's last day -- she's retiring. Exec. Dir. is out of the office. Deputy Exec. Dir. stops by 10 minutes before the reception to ask if I'd give the speech (instead of him). It wasn't an entirely unreasonable request, because he'd known her all of a month (as compared to my two years.) More than 10 minutes notice would have been nice.
Being the affable and flexible fellow that I am, it went just fine. Strange situation, though. The woman has cancer in her lungs and brain, but she strictly fobade any mention of it. Seems her adult daughter doesn't know about her illness. I can't imagine that. In my family we're utterly incapable of keeping a secret. It'd be around the next day. Also, I can't imagine facing something like that without every possible measure of support from my family.
Finished Post Captain. Excellent, as ever. Went to the library, but they didn't have the next one on tape or paper. Kind of frustrating, but I will check in Shelbyville in the morning. The series is like LOTR -- really one loooong story. So, I browsed and browsed for something to listen to and finally settled on something. Went to check out -- the Wodehouse is overdue from there. I'd thought it went back to Shelbyville, dammit!
Had a good workout tonight. First arm workout since last week due to muscle pain. Would have been great because there was only one other person in the weight room. Pretty teenaged girl. Problem was, she was playing some horrendous Christian rock on the CD player (and restarted the CD when it ended!) I don't know why I react to badly to this sort of stuff. I strongly believe in Christ's message of love. I suppose I resent bad music and bad lyrics being used to market the sacred like Pepsi-Cola. I don't really agree with the theology it presents either. I think it overemphasizes faith.
What is the point of faith in a vacuum? So you steadfastly believe what you are told to believe. If it does not affect the way you live, what is the point?
I articulated something else that bothers me about Christianity as a religion (and Islam and Judeaism, for that matter.) God is always presented as a completely separate entity from the individual. God is over there, I am over here. My eternal fate depends on my relationship with God. Until one comes to God, one is apart from God. I do not beleive this to be the case. I think I'm a part of God. All creation is. My life is a little spark of God-light. We cannot be apart from God because we are God and God is us and everything else.
In a way, even if you do think God is a separate entity, it's arrogant to think we can have a relationship with God. In some sense it places us on a equal level. We are sufficiently parallel to enter into transactions with God. Seems like bargaining with the Ocean.
But the main reason I reacted so badly was that the music was really crappy.
Today was our CPA's last day -- she's retiring. Exec. Dir. is out of the office. Deputy Exec. Dir. stops by 10 minutes before the reception to ask if I'd give the speech (instead of him). It wasn't an entirely unreasonable request, because he'd known her all of a month (as compared to my two years.) More than 10 minutes notice would have been nice.
Being the affable and flexible fellow that I am, it went just fine. Strange situation, though. The woman has cancer in her lungs and brain, but she strictly fobade any mention of it. Seems her adult daughter doesn't know about her illness. I can't imagine that. In my family we're utterly incapable of keeping a secret. It'd be around the next day. Also, I can't imagine facing something like that without every possible measure of support from my family.
Finished Post Captain. Excellent, as ever. Went to the library, but they didn't have the next one on tape or paper. Kind of frustrating, but I will check in Shelbyville in the morning. The series is like LOTR -- really one loooong story. So, I browsed and browsed for something to listen to and finally settled on something. Went to check out -- the Wodehouse is overdue from there. I'd thought it went back to Shelbyville, dammit!
Had a good workout tonight. First arm workout since last week due to muscle pain. Would have been great because there was only one other person in the weight room. Pretty teenaged girl. Problem was, she was playing some horrendous Christian rock on the CD player (and restarted the CD when it ended!) I don't know why I react to badly to this sort of stuff. I strongly believe in Christ's message of love. I suppose I resent bad music and bad lyrics being used to market the sacred like Pepsi-Cola. I don't really agree with the theology it presents either. I think it overemphasizes faith.
What is the point of faith in a vacuum? So you steadfastly believe what you are told to believe. If it does not affect the way you live, what is the point?
I articulated something else that bothers me about Christianity as a religion (and Islam and Judeaism, for that matter.) God is always presented as a completely separate entity from the individual. God is over there, I am over here. My eternal fate depends on my relationship with God. Until one comes to God, one is apart from God. I do not beleive this to be the case. I think I'm a part of God. All creation is. My life is a little spark of God-light. We cannot be apart from God because we are God and God is us and everything else.
In a way, even if you do think God is a separate entity, it's arrogant to think we can have a relationship with God. In some sense it places us on a equal level. We are sufficiently parallel to enter into transactions with God. Seems like bargaining with the Ocean.
But the main reason I reacted so badly was that the music was really crappy.
// posted by Frank L. Dempsey @ 12:53 AM 
