Tragedies

Tragedy is not moral. It's amoral. It contains no component of morality. Morality appeals and applies to our sense of justice/injustice. When something 'unjust' has been done, it violates, or probably violates a moral code. Immorality seems to contains elements of commission; acts against someone or something.

Tragedy is: Falling down the stairs; Coincidence, opening your car door at the wrong moment into traffic; Cancer; Accidents.

Tragedy sometime contains elements of omission, often elements of comedy. (future post: Comedy. the sense of irony that the universe has aligned itself against us. The roll of the dice comes up snake eyes, we find a pattern and assume the universe is against us. The real ironic comedy of course is that the universe is cold and indifferent to our needs and wants. Give the sky the finger, shake your fist. The sky looks on, forever unimpressed).

Americans have a slippery grasp of tragedy vs morality. This is why we sue everyone, especially Doctors, for anything. We want someone to blame. We want to absolve ourselves from the realization that the world is cold, and indifferent to our needs. We have this sense justice', that confuses our egocentric belief that everything should always be a Hollywood happy end the way we want it to. When it doesn't it is injustice or negligence (not the same thing, another thing we confuse).

Hegel wrote that tragedy is the collision of right with right. There is tragedy when conditions or decisions are at irreconcilable differences. For then whatever happens, or whatever we decide has some component of wrong in it. Even so, tragedy has nothing to do with morality or justice.

Tragedy: it's much more personal than morality, but still feels like injustice.

Sunday Morning Questions

I created this blog on a Sunday morning, when all I usually have is questions, and very few answers. And even my answers can change on an hour by hour basis, which makes me question my understanding or TRUTH, but that is a another question. It's an exercise in futility, really. These questions have perplexed much smarter men than I over countless ages. But neurotically, I keep asking anyway. It's ironic that it occurs on Sunday mornings, the time when many people are off to 'worship' services of various types.

When I say Sunday Morning questions, I don't (always) mean questions of religion. Religion (of all types) seeks to be the answer for all our questions, when in fact it is the opposite of answers. It shuts off our questions not with viable answers, or even a "I don't know", but with promises based on 'faith'. (Empty promises, my opinion, that it cannot keep, and since it doesn't 'deliver' on promises until the afterlife, no one can cry foul).

By it's very nature, religion provides a false framework, a construct of reality based on language and time. It attempts to provide comfort, a release to the aches. To alleviate feelings of separation, and give feelings of a greater purpose. The community of a church (or almost any organization), tries to gives us a sense of purpose, of common ground with its fellow seekers. Lemmings, basically. Followers. Because we can't trust our own thoughts, our own understandings, Religion seeks to provide those for you.

So my Sunday Morning question is: What is Religion? Lets start with the dictionary:

"a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs."

For the time being lets say the first part is unknowable, untestable, and relies completely on FAITH. That is this part: A set of beliefs.... creation of a superhuman agency...

Lets skip the rituals and observances. These are the human trappings of myth put into action. Not much to them, it's all form.

So to define the component of religion we can get our hands on:

Morality. Moral Code.

Quote

"Personally I have struggled massively with the dilemma of talent vs desire. Choosing desire may not always be the easiest thing to do. It may seem a waste to leave those natural talents behind and strike out in a new direction. But at least you’ll feel alive."

Meri Williams