Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Disappointment



Not in failing to obtain what we desire nor in having tried and fail, but in knowing that we could and didn't.
Find a way to reach deep inside and pull all the forces you can muster to try, try again, try harder, keep on trying.
We will miss 100% of the shots we don't attempt, there is no doubt, but if we shoot for our goals a hundred times and reach one, then we have achieved what those who failed to try can only dream of, and if we don't, then disappointment is not what we should feel for we should feel pride in doing the best we could.

Monday, November 20, 2006

home is where the heart is...



There are many who suffer undeservedly and many who thrive without deserving. The ways of the universe are beyond my comprehension. As Socrates once said: " I only know that I know nothing."
My heart goes out to those who suffer and instead of shooting out, shutting down or shouting up, I rather ask that we extend a hand to those who we can help. My prayers do attempt to reach out and they do help me. In this thanksgiving time, I give sincere thanks for all the good and wish from deep inside that we all give a little bit to the less fortunate.

www.abandonedchildren.com

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Suffering




“[W]hen the universe is considered as the work of an all-benevolent and all-powerful Creator, a fresh element is added to the problem. If God is all-benevolent, why did s/he cause or permit suffering? If s/he is all-Powerful, s/he can be under no necessity of creating or permitting it; and on the other hand, if s/he is under any such necessity, s/He cannot be all-powerful. Again, if God is absolutely good, and also omnipotent, how can s/he permit the existence of suffering? We have to inquire, that is to say, how suffering has come to exist, and its special relation to the Creator of the universe.

Admitting that metaphysical absence of good in itself may be merely nature’s method, involving nothing more than a continual redistribution of the material elements of the universe, human suffering and wrongdoing still and out as essentially opposed to the general scheme of natural development, and are scarcely to be reconciled in thought with any conception of unity or harmony in nature. To what, then, is the suffering of human life, physical and moral, to be attributed as its own cause? Thus, in one aspect, i.e. as counter-balancing to de-ordination, it has the nature of absence of good. But fault (culpae), though permitted by God, is in no sense due to him; its cause is the abuse of free will by men, the action, word and/or omission.
With regard to the nature of absence of good (absence), it should be observed that absence (evil) is of three kinds -- physical, moral, and metaphysical. Physical includes all that causes harm to man, whether by bodily injury, by thwarting his natural desires, or by preventing the full development of his powers, either in the order of nature directly, or through the various social conditions under which mankind naturally exists. Physical evils directly due to nature are sickness, accident, death, etc. Poverty, oppression, and some forms of disease are instances of evil arising from imperfect social organization. Mental suffering, such as anxiety, disappointment, and remorse, and the limitation of intelligence which prevents humans beings from attaining to the full comprehension of their environment, are congenital forms of absence and each vary in character and degree according to natural disposition and social circumstances.
It has been contended that existence is fundamentally evil; that evil is the active principle of the universe, and good no more than an illusion, the pursuit of which serves to induce the human race to perpetuate its own existence. This is the fundamental tenet of Buddhism, which regards happiness as unattainable, and holds that there is no way of escaping from misery but by ceasing to exist otherwise than in the impersonal state of Nirvana. The origin of suffering, according to Buddha, is "the thirst for being". This was also, among Greek philosophers. Thinkers, though, as a rule, held that absence is universally supreme, but can be avoided or overcome by the wise and virtuous. (This is the value of our decision to do what is right no matter what, even though it is decidedly tougher).
Its existence (absence) sub-serves the perfection of the whole; the universe would be less perfect if it contained no evil. Thus fire could not exist without the corruption of what it consumes; if there were no wrong doing, there would be no sphere for patience and justice. We couldn’t appreciate beauty if we didn’t experience its absence; love w/o hate; light w/o dark; yin w/o yang. We humans have a tendency to do what is easier, that is to not sacrifice, to seek own desires, to be selfish, and greedy and disregard or avoid what we know we should do which is to help others, to sacrifice, to prevent injustice no matter what the cost.
In other words, there is a parallel universe that challenges the human spirit to overcome absence of good and fulfill the purpose of our existence and to bring out the best in ourselves and abandon the worst in exchange. When we do this, we find good, we find love, and we find God.

Monday, November 13, 2006

God



I answer that, The existence of God can be proved in five ways.

The first and more manifest way is the argument from motion. It is certain, and evident to our senses, that in the world some things are in motion. Now whatever is in motion is put in motion by another, for nothing can be in motion except it is in potentiality to that towards which it is in motion; whereas a thing moves inasmuch as it is in act. For motion is nothing else than the reduction of something from potentiality to actuality. But nothing can be reduced from potentiality to actuality, except by something in a state of actuality. Thus that which is actually hot, as fire, makes wood, which is potentially hot, to be actually hot, and thereby moves and changes it. Now it is not possible that the same thing should be at once in actuality and potentiality in the same respect, but only in different respects. For what is actually hot cannot simultaneously be potentially hot; but it is simultaneously potentially cold. It is therefore impossible that in the same respect and in the same way a thing should be both mover and moved, i.e. that it should move itself. Therefore, whatever is in motion must be put in motion by another. If that by which it is put in motion be itself put in motion, then this also must needs be put in motion by another, and that by another again. But this cannot go on to infinity, because then there would be no first mover, and, consequently, no other mover; seeing that subsequent movers move only inasmuch as they are put in motion by the first mover; as the staff moves only because it is put in motion by the hand. Therefore it is necessary to arrive at a first mover, put in motion by no other; and this everyone understands to be God.

The second way is from the nature of the efficient cause. In the world of sense we find there is an order of efficient causes. There is no case known (neither is it, indeed, possible) in which a thing is found to be the efficient cause of itself; for so it would be prior to itself, which is impossible. Now in efficient causes it is not possible to go on to infinity, because in all efficient causes following in order, the first is the cause of the intermediate cause, and the intermediate is the cause of the ultimate cause, whether the intermediate cause be several, or only one. Now to take away the cause is to take away the effect. Therefore, if there be no first cause among efficient causes, there will be no ultimate, nor any intermediate cause. But if in efficient causes it is possible to go on to infinity, there will be no first efficient cause, neither will there be an ultimate effect, nor any intermediate efficient causes; all of which is plainly false. Therefore it is necessary to admit a first efficient cause, to which everyone gives the name of God.

The third way is taken from possibility and necessity, and runs thus. We find in nature things that are possible to be and not to be, since they are found to be generated, and to corrupt, and consequently, they are possible to be and not to be. But it is impossible for these always to exist, for that which is possible not to be at some time is not. Therefore, if everything is possible not to be, then at one time there could have been nothing in existence. Now if this were true, even now there would be nothing in existence, because that which does not exist only begins to exist by something already existing. Therefore, if at one time nothing was in existence, it would have been impossible for anything to have begun to exist; and thus even now nothing would be in existence--which is absurd. Therefore, not all beings are merely possible, but there must exist something the existence of which is necessary. But every necessary thing either has its necessity caused by another, or not. Now it is impossible to go on to infinity in necessary things which have their necessity caused by another, as has been already proved in regard to efficient causes. Therefore we cannot but postulate the existence of some being having of itself its own necessity, and not receiving it from another, but rather causing in others their necessity. This all men speak of as God.

The fourth way is taken from the gradation to be found in things. Among beings there are some more and some less good, true, noble and the like. But "more" and "less" are predicated of different things, according as they resemble in their different ways something which is the maximum, as a thing is said to be hotter according as it more nearly resembles that which is hottest; so that there is something which is truest, something best, something noblest and, consequently, something which is uttermost being; for those things that are greatest in truth are greatest in being, as it is written in Metaph. ii. Now the maximum in any genus is the cause of all in that genus; as fire, which is the maximum heat, is the cause of all hot things. Therefore there must also be something which is to all beings the cause of their being, goodness, and every other perfection; and this we call God.

The fifth way is taken from the governance of the world. We see that things which lack intelligence, such as natural bodies, act for an end, and this is evident from their acting always, or nearly always, in the same way, so as to obtain the best result. Hence it is plain that not fortuitously, but designedly, do they achieve their end. Now whatever lacks intelligence cannot move towards an end, unless it be directed by some being endowed with knowledge and intelligence; as the arrow is shot to its mark by the archer. Therefore some intelligent being exists by whom all natural things are directed to their end; and this being we call God.

St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica

Thursday, November 09, 2006

study in contrasts


The ones who are most affected by the decisions of those who put them into effect. I long to see the many promises of both sides of the political spectrum put into action.
The decision-makers live in a totally different world and their peculiarities make all the difference in the world.
Because we only have a flash of life available and we begin to die the day we are born, we must take matters into our hands to make our goals come true.
Speak up! Let your voice be heard for all those who are voiceless.