The artist

The artist says to the critic

“Throw into the pot your own soul before you judge me”

But the critic replies 

“From each according to his ability, to each according to his need”

For the critic has no soul to lend the soup.

Consequentialism versus Teleology

            When making decisions it’s only natural to think of the outcome of an action, prediction after all is one of the big things that make us superior to lesser creatures. If someone was to justify their actions by claiming the ends justify the means we would associate them with others who have used this argument to justify terrible acts against humanity. The question is however do the ends justify the means? Abraham heard God tell him to kill his son and since killing is by most accounts wrong Abraham had to justify his actions somehow, for Abraham the end result did more than justify the means it suspended ethics entirely. If God was the ultimate good then as far as Abraham was concerned anything God asked for was good regardless of how Abraham felt about it.      Let’s explore the difference between Consequentialism and teleology. Consequentialism is the thought that even immoral acts can be justified by desirable outcomes, Teleology however differs in that the nature of something will intrinsically move towards a definite end rather than having the end characteristics of an act forced upon it by human will. A consequentialist would say killing this man to serve the greater good is justified because someone (them) find the end result to be good but a teleologist would say that killing is wrong because committing an immoral act will lead to an immoral end. Teleology is all about making actions with the end result in mind the difference however is that the actions leading to the end are just as important.       Abraham is a bit of a paradox, since killing is wrong and he was about to kill his son he was about to commit something immoral because of something God told him, Here he is very close to the consequientialist however Abraham believes following God is good and that in following God he can commit no wrong, for Abraham killing his son must be good because God commanded it so when he was about to sacrifice his son he was at heart doing what he saw as right. The only thing that can tip the scales in either direction is God or the existence of him, Had Abraham come this close to killing his son because of some delusional voice he would be a consequientialist but if God does exist and is the ultimate good than his rationale is correct and he falls under Teleology.  

(This is kind of an unfinished post because I really didn't feel like finishing it with mid terms but also kind of felt like it should be posted for some reason.)

What a week.

       I am in a strange mood this week I’ve been reading some pretty heavy books, I’ve had some big decisions to make and it’s hard to focus on school when your sister runs away from home. The most stressful thing of all has been the isolation of living in stem, without a car of my own and being an hour drive from any happenings I’m beginning to experience the loneliness I felt growing up here as a child. Terrible terrible loneliness with only breaks to remind you how lost you are. Really it’s amazing no one seems to suffer from abandonment issues when they leave. Did I mention my sister ran away from home? That was pretty crazy. I had the car reserved for tomorrow and was going to get out a bit but nope not now, might need the car to pick her up from who knows where. Am I mad at her? Yes totally, she didn't just get mad and run away. She planned this, how far ahead? Who knows? I’m sure deep down she’s hurting but her stated reasons for running are claims that her parents are too strict? Too strict has under gone some serious changes, in the past it was a term belonging to parents who suffocated their children in ridiculous rules now apparently according to Abby it applies to parents who won’t let their daughter hang out with twenty year old men and get drunk. I am concerned for her safety, I'm VERY concerned but still frustrated with her. Sigh… going to be a hard week.

King of an ant hill.

           I grew up in a small town of oh… two-hundred or so people, the surrounding areas were pretty much the same as well. Now in a small town you have social climbers much like in larger places, the people who are always looking to get on top of things. Only in a small town the top is not so high at all, declaring yourself ruler of my hometown (stem) is like claiming sovereignty over a dirt mount. The pride people have in their achievements could only be a testament to their overcoming personal weakness, certainly not a testament to their own ability. If it were out of a love for something they created or a love of their beginnings I could lend them some credibility but NO they are not kings of ant hills for selfish reasons. The birth of these Kings comes from the inability to follow another so that in order to be free of following another one will claim kingship of a small island and subject themselves to lesser lives, others are born leaders destined to rule great things but their courage failed and they settled for less. I cannot stand these people because the threat of becoming one of them is so high for me. The kings of stem are already beneath me, I am so over this town but there are other rulers of things far greater than stem. I am no greater than the ones whose lands stretch to the feet of hungry and hearts burned by misadventure or the ones whose kingdom is knowledge and wisdom or any of the greater rulers of this age. Standing on top a mound has the illusion of being on top of the world but when you venture out you see it was all false, all castle hills are like this each more grand than the last. There is no final destination, those greater than me are just as much at risk to become kings of ant hills as I. The temptation to reach a comfortable point and rest is so strong, all castles have their own treasures and they call us to take these with us. Burdened by what we call treasures we take weight from castle to castle till we can no longer make the next journey. I once found myself carrying so much weight and being so comfortable in my rule I nearly forgot how to find the road, but then in the dark I heard a faint whisper from a friend. Realizing my mistake I left all and fled for the road, a bit later and a few castles over I now keep a vigilant ear for the whispers from my master, as long as he calls I will follow him from castle to castle until there are no more castles to be found. 

Measuring progress

                Being me means the big picture is always in the back of your mind, a grand dream forming before oneself. This means I forget the little things so often and I’m envious of people who live in the moment at times. Like all great stories this one has a beginning, middle and an end. I like to see where I am in this story line. In a matter similar to selling a product to myself I measured myself on specifications and achievements. What I can do and what I have done seem like a good test of character but it always left me feeling short. If I’m twenty-one years old and can do these things and I've flown across the country chasing Joe black, I've learned of deep mysteries from the living champions of faith, I've served billionaires at horse races, I've fought with ant hill kings and God himself calls me a good friend why can I not afford a car? It’s not like my dreams end in simple transportation; I want to see the world changed when I’m done with it. I can do this but why not that? Always a question on my mind until I decided to look at the way I measure myself. It was cold outside sometime two years ago and I was hugging a friend goodbye when she told me how much I meant to her, that memory surfaced again later displaying something I missed. The true means of measuring one’s self is to look for meaningful impact in those around us. Like many things it’s a secret to life that’s encoded in the sacred texts: “1 Corinthians 13 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”  Truly to count a life of value it must affect others in a positive way. When I look at how I affect others it keeps me from blaming my environment for short comings, it helps me to appreciate the individuality of people and it keeps me from pride without costing confidence.  I still feel so far from achieving my dreams, the arches of my dreams are so large some nights I walk through cathedrals of thought and While Day dreaming has its place of course, I itch with zeal and I work for what I think will matter. The more I have a positive impact on people however the more futile my personal attempts seem and the closer things come into reality. 

Paradoxes

             Its five o clock in the evening and I’m trying to study for midterms, I have my caffeinated beverage my music playing through my noise canceling headphones. A question comes up in the room beside me that seeps through the melodies, this is a question about trust. The details of the question aren't as important as the question itself. Regardless of how many variables you change there is still no inequality to the equation, both doubt and trusts have the same appearance. If I love this person then I should trust them but what happens when I’m wrong and they hurt themselves? Still undecided it did appear to me as a common theme in life.             Life seems to be full of impossible decisions, if choice A and B were warring factions we would be the deciding factors. Sometimes we can create our own choices, sometimes choices are made for us and sometimes choices disappear but at some point we have to choose sides in this stalemate. We choose sides by giving value to something that otherwise has a static value. We do this when we make the important choices like who to marry, what to do without lives and does God exist? I never believed in the prophesy about the “one” who will someday show up and be everything I’m expecting, without choice relationships become meaningless.  We each could pick from more than one partner and it’s the value we lend them that also gives value to the relationship. Some choices are not as dynamic by nature; I never believed that other religions (atheism) were masses of ignorance or that they did not experience faith like we do, however there either is or isn't a greater soul that binds all things. If God exists he does so independent of the values we give things.    These choices make us who we are, we are not our choices we are ourselves but choices are how we form ourselves. Sometimes we assign the wrong values and faults manifest in us, we cannot even see where we went wrong because of synthetic happiness. Synthetic happiness is where we grow more comfortable to a choice we've made in the past as time goes by, an example would be picking the wrong flavor of ice cream and thinking “well I like vanilla more than chocolate anyway”. Things get more serious when were thinking things less about ice cream and more about the people we chose to marry, where we work and God.  If we make a wrong decision that has lasting effects confusion ensues when we can’t see where we went wrong, Synthetic happiness exists to help us live with bad decisions but it also blinds us to real issues.  When making decisions we need to remember that the values we set today will affect choices we make tomorrow.              I’m going to make a decision about the question I mentioned. I’m probably going to trust this person because that’s the kind of person I am, I would rather leave myself vulnerable and believe in people than to surround myself with walls(of course Trust does not equal unquestionable faith).  I think the reason we are given such questions is because the human mind draws conclusions from comparisons. In order to choose faith there has to be doubt and an equal force in both at least before a choice is made in one or the other. 

The pornographacation of art

 When thinking about what should be first on my "new" blog or public note pad as it may come to be, I had many different topics in mind but I decided to go with what was on my mind. The pornographacation of art in our world today(is that spelled right?). Art and porn have a long standing history of being related for example in ancient Greece the story of  Pygmalion is about a sculpture who created  a statue out of ivory, named it, fell in love in love with it and then prayed for it to come to life(which it did).

(Just imagine this thing coming to life, hot right?)

What made this story so popular is that it connected with people, who doesn't want their fantasies to come to life? This is what porn is all about, satisfying "our" desires. (Michael Vuke has some interesting stuff about this topic.). Erotic material of course can be art, song of Solomon is a wonderful example of Erotic art however the damage from the mix up is that people stop looking for art and start looking for porn in other areas of their life such as music, movies, friends, relationships, and pretty much anything else including church. The mantra of the porn industry is "Anything people want well give it to them", when you start looking for inputs that follow this mantra you stop looking for art. Art is meant to be a form of expression, true art is part of someones soul made manifest, its meant to change part of you not reinforce repetition. Morals aside nothing innovative comes from simply satisfying desire, Steve jobs understood this. At dinner one night with Marc Andreessen Steve let him hold his new prototype Iphone to which Marc replied " Boy, Steve, don't you think it's going to be a problem not having a physical keyboard?" Steve looked him in the eye and said "they'll get used to it"(source).  The story of the Iphone's success speaks for itself, Steve knew that people could want something that didn't exist rather than fulfill a need he created something new to want. I could let the world off on anything but my brethren Christians should avoid this kind of behavior, When the search for self pleasure overrides the search for meaning it impacts the church in a terrible way. The Bible however you feel about it should be considered Art but when tapered off and paraphrased it can become a form of self justification. The concept of self should be something you work to remove in your relationship with Christ, Soren Kierkegaard describes Abraham's love as "Hatred of self". The pornographacation of art is best summed up as prostituting ones soul for the artist and hedonism over reason for the receiver.