Musings #2

Dear,

so, you're here again. Please, sit down, and let us listen to the wind together. I will speak, and you can listen or leave. I want you to be free.

Sometimes, we have to do things that are deeply unpleasant, out of necessity. Sometimes, if we do not do those unpleasant things, we can be certain that something more unpleasant will meet us up the road. On the ships of old, there were ship-doctors. In times of battle, they would sometimes have to cut off limbs of the sailors, in quick and painful operations without anaesthetics, because those limbs had been damaged beyond repair, and because, if they had not been cut off, the sailors would have died. We all know the image of a seaman with a wooden leg. We can be sure that, had his leg not been wooden, he would have been dead. If a limb is stricken by gangrene, it must be sacrificed and cut off, or it will infect the rest of the body, resulting in death.

Life is neither black nor white. Rather, it is black, and white, and everything in between. It is also multicoloured. We see only a small range of electromagnetic frequencies with our eyes. Only in very, very rare instances do we see pure white, or pure black. Even then, it is not pure. In Nature, everything is affected by everything. Move one pebble on a beach, and you will move the centre of mass of the whole solar system. Turn on an electric wire, and you will change the whole collective magnetic field of the Earth. Life feeds on life. The strong survive, and the weak die. In Nature, everything is recycled. Life and death are inextricably linked. What is born must die. What matters most, in my opinion, is how it lives. How it is allowed to live. Who are we to say what is right, and what is wrong? Look at the world. Who are we to judge?

Josef Mengele made medical research on prisoners in German concentration camps during the 2^nd world war. It must have been greatly unpleasant and frightening to be experimented on. Some research subjects even died, we are told. This is probably true. His research was done to help Germany in the war, and today, much of modern medicine is based on research done by Mengele, and it has been used to save people from highly unpleasant, scary and even life-threatening situations. It is being used to this day, to help people survive things that in other times would have killed them. By now, we can safely assume that many more people have been helped because of what he did than had to die and suffer for him to learn what he learned. Can one say that Mengele was a thoroughly evil man, then?

In Nature, everything learns from everything. Every action results in a consequence. A wise man will study the consequences in relation to the actions, and in that way, by changing accordingly, he will come closer to his centre. In that way, he will learn how Nature works. This is the basis of both science, human relations, and relations with the self.

In human society, we have law. One can see that the rulers of our day have great material force, and can quash any rebellion that might begin. They have powerful technology that allows a few men to subjugate many men. A wise man does not run into a wall. What this tells us is that if we wish to change things, it should be done so lawfully.  Maybe, in time, we will be wise enough to not need laws. Nature has provided us with good laws. Nature is beautiful and old, and has been working flawlessly for eons. Why make more laws?

Some human laws are decidedly unrighteous. There is talk of freedom of speech, but some speech is prohibited. Some subjects can only be talked about in certain ways. Some people are silenced. If people see this, will they take those who speak about freedom of speech seriously? Take the Holocaust, as an example. Many hold that 6 million Jews were gassed in German war camps, as part of a mass extermination program. Others, some of whom are professors and scholars, have been willing to risk their freedom, their careers and their social standing to tell another story. Their story is roughly as follows: there was no mass extermination program, and far below 6 million dead. I do not remember being there, so I cannot say what happened. What I do know is that it is wholly unscientific and morally reprehensible to prohibit free discussion, of any subject. What do we call those who say one thing, yet do another?

When a knot is tight, it is no use to tighten it, if you want to untie it. If you want to untie it, you must loosen it. You can cut it, too, but then you will shorten the rope. When a gardener takes care of a rose bush, he will prune it. He will cut off what is unhealthy, so the rest of the plant can stay strong, and free of disease. A wolf mother will snap at her cub if it is too wild. She is tasked with the responsibility of teaching her young to survive in a hard environment. If she teaches them well, they will become strong, and can prosper. When one looks at the starry night sky, with its innumerable stars in the silent, peaceful void, how can one say that anything is wrong?

May your life be healthy and strong, my friend, and, when you die, may you do so with a smile on your lips.