Silence: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Silence occurs across a spectrum, like so much else in reality, still it might be helpful to categorize three arenas of silence that we encounter in our lives.

The Good: Ahh...the precious solace of a quiet moment outdoors away from it all, the comfortable time of hanging out with someone between shared words, the peacefulness of a smile while sleeping. Our lives are patched together with so much busyness sometimes, our minds savor these times of tranquility.

The Bad: Shhh....then, there are the silences which radiate awkwardness.  The times we choke on sharing our thoughts with a friend or when we are intrigued by a stranger and instinctive inhibition keeps us from starting a conversation. At these times we can search inside ourselves for wit and gentleness to inspire worthy conversation.

The Ugly: Aughh!!!!  and finally there is that devastating arena of silence that can arise after we lose someone to death or, perhaps even worse, through abandonment.  When our heart is screaming and we stay silent, few things challenge us more.   One path to handling such deathly silence is to gather what courage we can and seek sincere dialogue with a good friend.

Feel free to share how you generally seek out good silences in your life while leaving bad and ugly silences behind?

Mustering Courage Without Mustering Troops

Thirteen years have passed since the heinous tragedy of September 11, 2001.  Over three thousand human lives were violently destroyed that horrible day.  In hindsight, I find the response mounted seems only to have stirred the whirlwinds of further violence and chaos.  Striking back resulted in more than thirty thousand additional civilian deaths and trillions of dollars expended on warfare that could have been spent on education, infrastructure and diplomacy.

Part of me wants to blame my country's vengeance on the cognitive dissonance of religious belief.  As a nation of a high percentage of Christians one would think the Humanist principles of Thou Shalt Not Kill, Turn the Other Cheek and Love Thy Neighbor touted by biblical mythos would come into play significantly.  Instead, Smite Thine Enemy is the atavistic vengeance (rebranded as "justice") that my hawkish country chooses to embrace.

Part of me wants to blame my country's violent behavior on our evolutionary inheritance.  We are the genes that our parents' parents won for us.  Since Nature is the landscape of survival of the fittest, individuals and social networks that have made it this far by demonstrating physical strength will continue to do so, unless we press for Humanistic morals to trump brutish territory and resource disputes

At my core, I feel empathy for all who have lost loved ones to violence whether on September 11th or any other day of the year.   Overall, I am deeply troubled that our governments are not working harder to expand diplomacy, infrastructure and education.  Instead they seem caught in a political cycle of violence which rewards military strength and profitable industrial weapon complexes at the cost of millions of human lives.

Still, I realize Goodness is a slowly won cause that will take great courage to move towards. Humanity has the potential to rise above our inherited dogma and genetic desires and to plan long term using all the understanding and perseverance we can muster.  Our reward is a world that is either increasingly stable and thriving or increasingly chaotic and divisive.  Which world will we choose?

Poetic Interlude

Verse for Heart and Mind...both!

A poet who reads his verse in public may have other nasty habits. 

--Robert Heinlein 

(Time Enough for Love, 1978)

irrational-Me, meet rational-Me

until Death do us part may we Live in internal synchronicity I conjecture absence of evidence is evidence for the need of a refined hypothesis i Imagine a world that cannot exist infuse it with whipped dreams then write it tRue

The Book of Mormon: A Very Meta Review

DISCLAIMER: EXPLETITIVES! EXPLETIVES! EXPLETIVES!
(Somehow I don't see getting through this review without using a smattering of curse words...well the C word won't be used; that I'll guarantee.  Still, Mom and "you know who you ares," best to consider forgiving, forgetting in advance and move on to your Tea Party Gazette post haste.

DOUBLE DISCLAIMER: SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!
(If you have plans to see The Book of Mormon, you may want to skip this Goodness First installment...at least until you have seen it...then read it twice :)

An HIV Innoculation, Book of Mormon Style

Okay, enough preamble. I recently saw The Book of Mormon (TBoM) at the Forrest Theater with a few friends this past weekend.  For those of you who are unfamiliar and have chosen to read this anyway in spite of my disclaimers, TBoM is the successful, irreverent, Tony-award winning musical created by the South Park duo, Tray Parker and Matt Stone.  The basic premise of TBoM has two Mormon elders, both teens freshly indoctrinated to save the world, being sent to Uganda to save the pagan people there with the Book of Mormon's particular vision of Christ.

My expectations going into this performance were rather in line with catching a live South Park episode (there actually is one on Mormonism) that pokes fun at religion through song and dance.   In fact, I expected something akin to Spamalot!, the Monty Python spoof inspired musical which rehashed much of the troupe's skit-based antics for fan benefit.  Now, I verily enjoyed Spamalot!, alas I also found it personally like watching Flying Circus reruns in 3D with the sound turned up to eleven.  TBoM, on the other hand, was creatively original through and through, yes delivering irreverent humor in spades, but also creating a well crafted story arc and many amazing moments that knocked my socks off.

To be sure, the production wasn't perfect, which might be expected since this was a cloned performance from New York...kind of like getting a Philly pretzel when you were expecting a New York sourdough bagel; your taste buds do still end up fairly happy, in spite of the bait and switch.  There were no celebrity headliners, which in itself is a little disappointing, and still the stupid insert sheet in my program indicated several understudies were standing in at this particular show.  This tacky behavior seems to be prevalent across Broadway and it always leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth;  I mean, when you pay over a hundred bucks for your mezzanine seat, you kinda expect the first run performers to be on stage.  And sure enough, as the opening numbers unfurled I found myself sneering a bit at the fact that some of the cast was obviously lip-syncing the songs like too many Caribbean cruise musicals I've had the misfortune of suffering through.

Nevertheless, I got past my nit-picking rather quickly.  The tapestry of the story integrated plot threads, stage magic and the musical and dance performance medium amazingly well.  Oh, did I mention South Parkian irreverence; well this show implemented said irreverence to the MAX!  Which normally is more than fine with me, yet I even wondered if they went too far once I saw the dazzling, Lion King inspired, African rhythmic number "Hasa Diga Eebowai."  The primal rhythms transported me into a childlike "Hakuna Matata" vision of African culture, that is until, the visiting Mormon elders on stage discovered the English translation equated to "Fuck You God."  Need I say more, this musical wasn't pulling punches; it was sucker punching its audience for added effect.

As I noted, normally I wouldn't think twice when it comes to such a display of religious irreverence.  Laughing at the everyday religious beliefs kind of comes with the territory when you've come to the conclusion all the gods and goddesses out there are lies that have survived like a hangover after a few too many drinks the night before.  This time around I actually felt rather sensitive to what believers in the audience might be feeling at the religious effrontery to Mr. Monotheism himself.  I became very aware of the demographic of the audience, which was pretty much the same as any mainstream play: a shuffling of middle class suburbia of all ages, with a triple handful of "blue hairs" on top.  And perhaps it was this elder generation present, the couples that could have been my parents in addition to the presence of a friend of mine I felt found the content more offensive than expected, which added to my own discomfort.  Then, I thought, WOW, I actually have a streak of empathy in me, intellectualized empathy, but empathy nonetheless.

After the first act, I expected about twenty percent of the audience to abandon the show.  I had a premonition it would be like the time I saw Pulp Fiction with a buddy of mine and halfway through he walked out of the theater saying this is just wrong, I'll meet you later. Now if that had been a date, I might have followed, but I had forked over good money to see the movie, so I grudgingly sat through the rest, not entirely enjoying myself at least in part because I felt my friend had abandoned me, but also wondering if I had slighted him by staying put. (Pulp Fiction imho does take a second viewing and a bit of film history hindsight to appreciate fully).

TBoM was not to be a repeat of this abandonment circumstance; every seat was filled for Act II, and though it's possible the high ticket price was the force that kept the audience in their seats, I was overwhelmed as the audience reaction to the irreverent humor continued to rise to an ever higher crescendo.  During these cavalcades of laughter and applause there were moments when I felt like I had found my church of irreligion; the multitudes around me understood that religion was all a ruse, and that we were laughing in epiphany at society and ourselves for being fooled in the first place.

Oh wait, I promised you SPOILERS and EXPLETIVES.  Suffice it to say The Book of Mormon features numerous choreographies of Mormons with their white shirts and black ties, a neon-lit Jesus spouting eloquent insults, a visit to hell complete with a Satan inspired ballad, messianic frog-fucking on-stage to cure AIDS, and even super-sized black balloon cocks (errr, I meant the other C-word, Mom) wielded with orgiastic aplomb to celebrate the Mormon faith.

Importantly, the performance does end with a signature South Park hidden agenda moral, one that pokes unabashedly at being anti-religious.  Alas, if you thrive on modern, no holds barred satire then you should catch this fantastic musical and discover TBoM's spurt-in-your-face nuance for yourself.

Amen. (Awomen too!)

[what does this post have to do with Goodness First?  Laughing at ridiculous ideas for one!  And generally accepting those who (peacefully) hold ridiculous ideas for two.  Life's a journey...so hey, we are in it together...let's bring a little laughter and a few effin' hugs along the way!!!]

to-MAH-to, po-TAH-to: the distinction between Morals and Ethics

As we strive toward creating Goodness in our personal lives and the world around us, we frequently assess whether the values and actions of ourselves and others are morally and ethically sound.  Yet is there really a difference between something that is moral and ethical? In one moment I have found myself sharing my belief that capital punishment is wrong for "moral" reasons while in another I'd share my conviction that killing animals for food is wrong for "ethical" reasons.

At first blush both terms seem fairly synonymous.  The word "moral" seems to apply when a value is universally true, whereas the "ethical" label seems best used in conjunction with values aligned with professional integrity.  Still, I've generally found the semantic distinction fuzzy at best; that is, until I recently stumbled upon a discussion that presented morals and ethics more succinctly.   In short, morals are values derived from an internal source, whereas ethics are values derived from an external source.

For example, one might value having a clean bedroom.  At a moral level, one is internally driven to keep the room clean, changing linens when they begin to smell and keeping the room fairly neat according to ones aesthetic inclinations.  On the other hand, ethically one might be influenced by external forces such as culture, research and superstition to act specifically; thus, changing the linens every third day at 5:30am, piling dirty clothing in a hermetically sealed hamper with a sprinkle of baking soda, and keeping the room scented with the Better Homes and Gardens sponsored fragrance of the month.

I feel describing behaviors as moral and/or ethical according to this definition to be extremely useful.  It permits one to recognize that moral values arise from the heart, that metaphorical place which initially tells us what is Good.  On the other hand, that which is ethical can be of a higher (or misguided) standard, ideally one that arises from critical thinking permitting Goodness to be pursued more effectively with the mind's careful consideration.  Of course, people are influenced by many external sources: ones profession, family and religion, etc.  Each of which may wield ulterior motives other than the greater Good.

Importantly, I find rational ethics to hold the promise of permitting us to override our pre-programmed animalistic nature, as needed.  Certainly, we shouldn't disown the beautiful part of the human beast that evolution has crafted.  In fact, humans and humanity are continually at a tipping point, where we get to decide what is Good and to integrate our best knowledge into behaving better.

Thus, it is most possible to integrate a variety of ideas presented by a curmudgeonly Dawkins AND a biblical Jesus alongside a fictional Mary Poppins to derive a personal ethic built upon a universe-provided, albeit imperfect, moral foundation.

Journeying on a path of Goodness, therefore, boils down to evaluating the merit of internal and external ideas in our minds and hearts and then implementing them with integrity and compassion
to create the best world we can.

The Spectrum: Insight into Seeing Gradations of Light

An old tradesmen's adage goes something like this: "When you add a drop of wine to a barrel of sewage you have a barrel of sewage. When you add a drop of sewage to a barrel of wine you have <dramatic pause> a barrel of sewage."

Drink up! I dare you!

On the surface, these words of wisdom speak to the secret of maintaining a quality product.  Alas, the deeper message encourages the purity of diametric opposites (sewage and wine, in this case) highlighting how human perception is often colored by two allegedly distinct states.

Pick your favorite pair: black and white; true or false, good and evil; sweet and sour; right and wrong; and yes even dead and living. Each of these allegedly binary conditions pervade our everyday conversations and internal contemplations.

In most every case (which falls in frequency somewhere closer to always than to never) these positions are statements of convenience, never quite entirely accurate; a truer assessment will pretty much always fall on a spectrum between the extremes.

For instance, let's consider dead and alive. At first blush this seems like something that must either be one or the other, and never anything else. Yet, consider these: an unfertilized ova, a person in deep coma on life support, the individual tissue cells of a plant or animal, the DNA strand on a particular chromosome, the Earth as a rocky sphere thinly coated with life, one of the estimated 2.5 million people currently caught in human trafficking, a close friend whose body has long since decomposed but whose memory lives on strongly within us, or even a beloved fictional character.  In all these cases, I would argue the assessment of being alive or dead falls somewhere between the extremes of being fully alive and fully dead.

Spectrums better express the complex reality we live in.  Complexity by definition implies that a simple, pure description will not suffice, and yet it is useful to make these succinct black and white assessments in conversation.  Which is to say, I'm not suggesting we censor such words, but instead that we realize their use should be inferred to indicate a condition state is close to an extreme point on the spectrum.

Statistical science thrives on this understanding.  When we test a claim empirically, the evidence at best will give us high confidence of something, and at worst will give us cause to dismiss the claim as extremely unlikely.  This may seem like I'm giving support for disbelief in Evolution and opening up the floodgates for the rational belief in the god or goddess of your choice, alas there is a great divide between having a 99.99% confidence that Evolution is at at work in the world and less than 0.01% confidence that the existence of said deities is true. (hypothetical confidence levels presented are my personal estimates only)

Back to that vintage glass of wine.  It most certainly contains a bit of dirt residue from your wineglass, second hand smoke particles that have landed on the surface, and billions of molecules of water that were all too recently in some creature's urinary system.  And so, when it comes each sip of minutely tainted wine, we simply ignore the trace amounts of sewage present and enjoy the joyous flavors in the moment. (to do otherwise is to subscribe to the inanity of homeopathy)

In the realm between good and evil that is our complex reality, recognizing neither end state actually exists or even could exist should not deter us, as the knowledge informs us on how we can better strive toward that positive end of the spectrum which is Goodness.

Podcast Power!

So here we are in the twenty-teens; the Interweb is increasingly an integral part of our global culture and streaming media is commonplace in bringing education, entertainment and all things quirky and questionable thru whatever media device we have at hand.  Content flows from torrents, wikis, websites and, of course, media giant sources, old and new.

Personally, when it comes to getting the latest news, entertainment or inspirational ideas to inform my pursuit of Goodness, audio podcasts have dominated the landscape for me.  These podcasts are on demand and they're perfect to listen to during your daily commute, while working out, or while relaxing wherever you are.

Today, I review briefly a few of my favorite podcasts, which you can stream for free, without commitment, regularly or on occasion as life permits.   (search for them on Stitcher, iTunes or your favorite podcast app) The links  I provide all point to the podcast's main website.

NPR Hourly News Podcast:   This is on the top of my Stitcher Favorite playlist.  In under 5 minutes NPR provides an excellent update of the biggest news in the United States and across the world.  In my opinion, NPR coverage maintains solid journalistic standards.  Augment this news brief podcast with whatever in depth coverage you like, NPR Money, World News, Environmental News, and you won't be disappointed.

The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe:  Steve Novella, neurologist and skeptic figurehead, leads his crew in reporting the latest on the pseudoscience and science fronts.  His medical credentials and communication skillset are brought to bear consistently in the discussion of topics ranging from evidence based positions on vaccines to GMO food healthiness.  The rest of his team effectively complements Steve's leadership to bring humorous, friendly, and mildly irreverent conversation in their weekly broadcast.

Food for Thought: As a fairly new vegetarian I scoured the Interweb for a podcast that could inform me on the latest topics on plant-based food nutrition and animal compassion.    Colleen Patrick Goudreau does a great job at creating a friendly tone while covering a variety of topics.  The opinions in this weekly podcast aren't always as assiduously evidence based as I'd prefer, so keep that in mind; however, the empathy and common sense suggestions she makes, are fully worth listening to and considering when building a nutritious meal plan that is also mindful of environment and our animal cousins.

The Reality Check: this weekly, Canadian podcast does a great job of researching and presenting the facts behind myths and pseudoscience topics.  Topics covered have ranged from camping myths like does it make sense to try to suck venom from a snake bite to debunking full blown conspiracy theories.  Listening to this podcast makes me feel as if I'm hanging with a few buddies over a brew as we chat up interesting things about the world and whether or not they are indeed fact, fiction, or somewhere in between.

The Best of the Left:  This podcast is the epitome of progressive podcasts out there.  Jay Tomlinson is the media guru of this show who three times weekly presents a progressive issue in depth.  His method is to stitch together numerous other talk show vignettes and sound byte moments in a meaningful way.  The aggregation of left and right positions to inform is capped off with his insights and listener calls that he adroitly defends or destroys as reason merits.

The Humanist Hour: Perhaps most aligned with my world view of seeking Goodness, the American Humanist Society's podcast offers a rounded look at building an honest ethical world view.  The heart of secular humanism lies within the idea that we can find Goodness in life more effectively by dispensing with the mythological beliefs of our forbears. Interviews and discussion of secular topics that help individuals and societies live well together comprise the regular fare on this friendly podcast.

Of course, there are plenty of other podcasts out there (Sound Opinions, Car Talk, Intelligence Squared, and Star Talk are ones high on my list), Those reviewed here, I believe, effectively contribute to informing a world view that mindfully and supports taking peaceful action along toward building a better world. Check them out, let me know what you think, and by all means, share your favorite podcasts!