Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Monday, September 27, 2010

Ideology

My son, attending college as a freshman this year, is reading Ideology of Death - Why the Holocaust Happened in Germany. He began asking me philosophical questions, so I purchased the book to assist me to enlighten him in his understanding. As I read the back cover I was taken aback:

"Only in Germany did racist stereotypes evolve into a popular ideology of such lethal force that it ended in the horror of the death camps."

This disturbed me as I began to think of the aggressive "popular" ideologies present today:

Universal Tolerance argument - intolerant of opposing their "proper" view
Religious Tolerance argument - intolerant of Christianity
Anti-Islam fever - intolerant of U.S. Constitution
White Supremacist movements - intolerant of other Americans not of their race

So much hate from the liberals directed at the conservatives and visa versa found everyday now in the press agencies. Where is the common thread of the Red, White, & Blue that ran through the towns of American? Who tore down the love that American stood for and replace it with hate that can only destroy? Why must we become violently disagreeable if we disagree on some issue? How did we stray from the movie To Kill A Mockingbird to the television program of Jersey Shore?

Someone help me to understand. Have we forgotten the horrors of the Ideology of Hate?

A wise man wrote:

"Moreover, man does not know his time: like fish caught in a treacherous net, and birds trapped in a snare, so the sons of men are ensnared at an evil time when it suddenly falls on them."





C'ya
Eagle Driver
check 6

Saturday, September 11, 2010

The Issues of Morality

Over at The Thinking Christian blog, there is a discussion on issues of morality. As I read it and the multiple feeds concerning the blog, I was struck at the similarities between some of today's Christian leadership and those of the Pharisee and Sadducee leadership during Jesus Christ's time. History has demonstrated untold brutality from the "Church", from the Inquisitions, to the Northern Ireland war between Catholics and Protestants, etc. So much of the frustrations and disgust of the common man, then as today, has been on the hypocrisy of ideology of Christian leadership. The Christian Worldview is high on Ideology but seems to lack ideas. Jesus Christ attracted multitudes of people with His ideas and lightness of His yoke (ideology). The Pharisaical Leadership worshiped the Law instead of the Lawgiver. Maybe we can learn from their dysfunctional, non-leadership taskmaster-style and return to the message of hope, love, joy, caring, compassionate, humility and thankfulness of Jesus Christ's actions.

Maybe we need to learn from the Centurion in Luke where Jesus says:

"I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith."
(Luke 7:9)

So here we have a heathen, an idolater whom Jesus says has greater faith than anyone in the nation. Maybe we should listen to Jesus' words and recognize there are those who do not follow the Law, but the Lawgiver - they do not say "the Christian mantra" yet have more faith/morality than us or our so-called Christian Leaders. Maybe humility is more powerful than selling books that make the best-seller lists.

Maybe we should stop judging and present ideas of humility, compassion, mercy, hope and thankfulness. Maybe we need to use the current language of today to articulate the ideas to the common people instead of the ideology of condemning opposing worldviews. Last time I checked, the only condemnation Jesus had was for the Religious Elitism (the leadership of the Mega-Church so prevelant today or politicians) not for the common man. In fact the common man was drawn not repelled by Jesus Christ, and who was repelled?

There are religions of the world who justify their deadly violence because of their god. There are religions of the world who justify their ownership of government because of their god. There are those religions of the world who justify their physical abuse of women and children because of their god. What do we use our God to justify our ends?

Morality is to be demonstrated as an attractive idea that we enjoy as an action of our soul. It is not an oppressive ideology to be crammed down the peoples throat. Morality is good and not the sole property of a religion. Remember the Centurion, remember the Lawgiver not the Law? If we are practicing Christians then people should see us as a home rather than a house. Are people drawn to us because they want what we have in our hearts, our soul; or are they repulsed because they see our oppressive ideology of the Law?

Food for Thought, If you are Hungry

Eagle Driver
check 6

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Maturity

I found this anonymous quote on maturity to be quite fitting:

"Maturity is that time when the mirrors in our mind turn to windows and instead of seeing the reflection of ourselves we see others."

Samuel Ullman (1840-1924), who was popularized by Gen. Douglas MacArthur publicly enjoying his poem on Youth, wrote:

"Maturity is the ability to think, speak and act your feelings within the bounds of dignity. The measure of your maturity is how spiritually you become during the midst of your frustrations."

When we acknowledge that our thoughts, words, and actions are the windows which people view us, we begin the mature activity of recognizing the heritage we will leave behind. Dignity is what? Synonyms of dignity are: nobleness, honorableness, worthiness, respectability, reputability, etc. Proverbs 20:11 says:

"It is by his deeds that a lad distinguishes himself if his conduct is pure and right."

While Proverbs 21:2 says:

"Every man's way is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the hearts."


Food for Thought, if We are Hungry,

Eagle Driver
check 6

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Virtue as Habit

Aristotle (384-322 BC), in his book Nicomachean Ethics, describes the "Virtue of Character" as:

"Rather, we are by nature able to acquire them, and we are completed through habit" (pg. 18).

"To sum it up in a single account: a state [of character] results from [the repetition of] similar activities. That is why we much perform the right activities" (pg. 19)

James Allen (1864-1912) says in his book, As a Man Thinketh, on page 24:

"Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results. Bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results. This is but saying that nothing can come from corn but corn, nothing from nettles but nettles. Men understand this law in the natural world, and work with it. But few understand it in the mental and moral world (though its operation there is just as simple and undeviating), and they, therefore, do not cooperate with it."

So the question must be asked: What "virtuous character" and "good actions" habits have our nation's leaders acquired? The fruit they have produced, by any stretch of the rational mind, cannot be determined as good. The habits of Washington D.C. politicians are simply not in keeping with the definition of good character - be it of antiquity nor of modern times.

The change must begin with ourselves to change America.

C'ya
Eagle Driver
check 6

Monday, September 6, 2010

Ideology

As I continue to read my new find, Ideology and Utopia by Karl Mannheim, I am amazed at his awareness and applicability to today's world. On page 36 he states:

"Political discussion possesses a character fundamentally different from academic discussion. It seeks not only to be in the right but also to demolish the basis of its opponent's social and intellectual existence... Political conflict, since it is from the very beginning a rationalized form of the struggle for social predominance, attacks the social status of the opponent, his public prestige, and his self-confidence" (emphasis mine).

Hmm, demolish existence, sounds like both the Republicans and the Democrats have forgotten the Constitution as well as the Declaration of Independence. And to think this book was written in the 1940's.

C'ya
Eagle Driver
check 6