I Have Seen The Future And It Sucks!

Well here we are at the end of another year and hey once again many people seem convinced the world will end within a year from today! The new year is a time when various psychics and clairvoyants make predictions about the coming year. Mostly they are wrong. I have decided to boldly enter the fray! My predictions are guaranteed to be 100% accurate! And that is not because they are tame or lame. I am not predicting for instance that Wednesday will come on Wednesdays this year or something stupid like that! These predictions are flabbergasting! They are colossal! They will amaze you by being both profound and completely accurate! So with no further hyperbole here are my predictions:

# 1. A natural disaster will strike a developing nation and they will be unprepared and ill equipped to cope with it. Hundreds of people will perish and thousands will be left homeless. Chaos will prevail and then be squelched by questionable authoritarian means. Squalid survivor camps will result in disease and exploitation of the weak.

# 2. A major corporation will be found to have engaged in unethical or even illegal business practices. These activities will have harmed many innocent people and ultimately the corporation itself. Despite this the consequences meted out to the guilty corporate officers will be largely symbolic.

# 3. A country that few Americans could find on a map will become of major concern to our national security. Our leaders will attempt to negotiate with leaders in this country but these attempts at diplomacy will be fruitless. We will be accused of using covert military force and unable to disprove these allegations.

# 4. A rising Hollywood star will be involved in a scandal that could destroy her career. Her fans will rally to her cause but she will become the object of ridicule.

# 5. A governmental leader will be exposed as being in the pocket of certain large donors to the detriment of his constituency. He will at first deny these allegations of corruption but ultimately will admit some minor errors in judgement. Ultimately he will leave government service in order to devote himself to family matters.

# 6. A new drug craze will sweep the country as young people use either a substance recently synthesized or rediscover an old substance but use it in a manner or form vastly different and more hazardous than it has been used previously.

# 7. A major sports figure once thought to be a role model will be found to be a disappointing and hypocritical figure.

# 8. A major piece of the infrastructure in a large American city will fail. Later investigations will reveal this failure was due to years of neglect and short sightedness on the part of political leaders.

# 9. A scientific discovery will have a major impact on our understanding of how the universe works. Long established theories will be threatened and new concepts will emerge but physicists will admit we know much less about the universe than we thought.

# 10. We will learn that one of our main allies has not always dealt with us fairly in fact they will be found to be two faced and selfish! Despite this our leaders will consider their cooperation so essential that they look the other way.

Well there you have it 10 amazing predictions guaranteed  to come true! Go ahead and quote me! Tell your friends! We know the future!



Russell

But Then Again Being A Pagan Sounds Good!

I was sorry to hear Christopher Hitchens passed away. He was one of my favorite people. I like nonconformists. I am not currently an atheist I am more of a non theist. I like the Course In Miracles class I have been attending and find their Buddhist like approach to Christianity pretty amazing. I know all my miracles happen between my ears. Which is also where many of my problems are. The Course would say all my problems are there. Maybe that's true, still this illusion of an objective reality containing others whose behavior is beyond my control is pretty hard to shake.

While I can understand how the whole universe could be imaginary, the idea leads me to expect to see Rod Serling standing nearby. I'd probably smell his cigarette before I saw him. I am not sure which is stranger; the idea that life is directed and goal driven or, the idea that it is not. It is strange that various religions and theologies have come into and gone out of existence. I think it's weird that polytheism used to be universal and now monotheism pretty much is. Why does having lots of gods seem silly when once it was taken for granted? Will current religions still be around in a few thousand years? If you are objective about it you know the answer is most likely "no."

I think it's weird when people think that people who disagree with their beliefs are going to go to hell or at least Lubbock. Of course they always disavow any personal enthusiasm for other people's eternal damnation. I knew a devout woman who lamented how sad it was, that many good people were going to go to hell because they did not believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. She felt sorry for them but said it was God's will that they burn forever. I don't understand how a person can believe in a god that they are morally superior to. This lady had compassion and tolerance but her version of God was an asshole! I couldn't worship a god I considered to be an asshole, I can't even believe in a god like that.

Truthfully I think what people believe in probably says a helluva lot more about them than about any deity. I like the idea expressed by a really wise and kind man that "God is Love and He works through people." Actually this concept goes really well with the concept of Jesus I get out of A Course In Miracles, or the Buddha nature as I understand it. I think it's possible that a really useful idea like this might last for thousands of years. I am not sure it needs a theology to sustain it. Theology may be more of a hindrance to spiritual growth than a means for attaining it.

I think it would be really cool of people could love each other while totally disagreeing with each other. If my affection for another person is conditional to their agreeing with me I really do not have any affection for them. Really what I am in that case is an insecure person needing reinforcement from others to avoid being overwhelmed by anxiety. I saw a movie clip once that showed some mostly naked people dancing around Stone Hinge, they looked like they were having a really great time and some of the women were beautiful too. I am not sure what they believed in but I have an open mind to whatever it was!


Russell

WARNING! This Is Maudlin

I would have figured I would have written something new by now, but my friend killing himself really knocked me for a loop! Nothing seems that important except how important we all are to each other. I am really going to... I was going to say going to miss him but, shit! I really do miss him he's gone right now! I thought I would be mad at him but I'm not, at least not yet. I have found myself getting mad at other people but I know I just want to blame somebody. They say a bad day is when everything goes wrong and there's nobody to blame! I don't blame anybody for my friend's death, not even him.

I know suicide is one of those selfish acts. But who hasn't been selfish? When I am in pain I have no doubt about my place in the scheme of things; I'm the part that hurts! Face it when we're sick or hurt we get selfish and self centered or at least I know I do. I suppose if the pain gets bad enough we will do anything to make it go away.

A little over 14 years ago another friend of mine had killed herself. She was married and had two young sons. It really bothered me that not only did she kill herself but also her sons' mother, her husband's wife and her parents' daughter. It's the same now but, maybe because I knew this friend's pain better than I understood her's, I just can't judge him. Maybe I have grown some too.

My first wife used to threaten suicide regularly and made many half-hearted and several earnest attempts to kill herself. Believe it or not you get used to it. I think what I have come to learn from all this is that life is really good and really tenuous. We are here for the blink of an eye! I don't care how rotten things seem at the moment it's only a moment. Life turns on a dime and every turn is unpredictable.

You will never live happily ever after but neither are we born just to suffer die. Life is like a game of Monopoly that nobody wins and nobody loses. The point is to enjoy your time with the other players. They are not going to be around forever and neither are we so, enjoy their company while you can! Whatever you do don't get mad and throw the game board in the air! Free parking is just around the corner! I miss you buddy...


Russell