Archive for October, 2011

I’ve always been fascinated by Easter Island and its inhabitants, the Rapa Nui, way the hell out there in the middle of the Pacific, much too far from any sort of contact or intervention by outsiders…on their own and left to their own devices, philosophy, and fate. Forgive me…I’m a history nut, but that tiny little speck, almost invisible in the middle of an IMMENSE ocean, has a story I think we should all hear and learn from.
Like everybody else, they wanted food for their families, security in their homes, and freedom to worship their gods, but even though their resources were EXTREMELY limited, they chose to challenge and fight some of the other people clinging to their little rock, people they weren’t entirely sure agreed with them, their philosophy, or their hopes for the future. To me, it seemsmuch too EASY to demonize people you don’t understand…or even want to…even today.
Turns out, their future was NONEXISTANT, and ever more desperately challenged, they erected more and more moas, tributes to the gods they held so dear…praying, BEGGING them for help, but in doing so, they eventually STRIPPED their tenuous little island of all its trees. You see, they needed logs…something round…to haul those huge basalt statues to their places of honor on the beach, and VERY few cocoanuts float in to replenish those lost to enthusiasm and fanatic religious zeal.
It’s not a pretty story. In time, with food stores and just about EVERYTHING else gone, they even resorted to cannibalism, but even that didn’t save them. People grow even more slowly than trees and not nearly in numbers adequate to sustain an adult cannibal population. Trees, the symbol of hope they ignored, were gone, and so was the hope. Silently among the moas, they died out, and as a writer, I can’t help wondering what it was like for that LAST human being, walking through a desolate island, watching empty sunsets, maybe even praying to those huge basalt statues with piercing, non-seeing white eyes still surveying a paradise destroyed forever.
They had made a simple mistake, considering their environment PERMANENT and IMMUTABLE…and as such, took it for granted…until to their horror, well beyond regeneration, it began to fragment and disappear. I wonder if ANYBODY asked whether it was wise to cut down all the trees when it was all beginning, whether ANYBODY listened to him or even gave what he was saying a momentary thought. Probably not…he was most likely one of the first they ate. Human beings seem to ENJOY eliminating their visionaries.
Like they said in Star Wars, that happened long, long ago and far, far away, now only of interest to archaeologists and incredibly dedicated tourists, and I’ll just bet the tourists snicker when they see the moas, wander around the island, and hear the story. I’ll even bet they feel superior to those poor, benighted souls they consider primitives, cannibals, stone-agers at best…but the archaeolotists don’t…because they see all this as a CAUTIONARY tale.
Now…let’s talk about another island, a beautiful blue island in the midst of an equally IMMENSE void, also much too far out to invite any sort of contact or intervention by outsiders, its people on their own and left to their own devices, philosophy, and fate and like the Rapa Nui thought, overflowing with bounty of every kind, self-sustaining, and endlessly promising. Its people consider it God-given, immutable, eternal, and incapable of serious or threatening change.
But they have the same flaws, those people…who ALSO challenge those they don’t agree with…or aren’t completely sure of….and all of them have begun to try and destroy their fellows on their island…while EVERYWHERE gleefully cutting down their island’s metaphoric trees. Unlike the Rapa Nui, their resourses are vast…enough to convince them that they’ll NEVER run out. There will always be water, so there will always be food…and warm summers, pleasant springs and autumns, and tolerable winters.
They have visionaries, too, but they don’t EAT them…at least not yet. Instead they destroy them with ridicule and laughter. Visionaries HATE ridicule…mostly, I think, because it tells them in no uncertain terms that they’re not getting through, and it won’t be long before they give up, hunker down, and start planning for the inevitable apocalypse…when all of those metaphoric trees are gone. Most visionaries are pretty smart, but even they know when they’re up against a stacked deck.
Of course, the island I’m talking about is planet Earth. We hit the 7,000,000,000 population mark this week…so it’s a pretty crowded little island…a lot like Rapa Nui when they were running around constructing moas out there. And…whether you like it or not, THINGS ARE CHANGING. We’re getting hotter, and our weather is becoming FAR more unpredictable and severe.
You can argue endlessly about whether WE did it or it’s part of some sort of solar cycle, but DAMMIT, THINGS ARE CHANGING! And now, even Saudi Arabia is telling us they’ve passed the midpoint in oil recovery. Those metaphoric trees are getting harder and harder to get to. You can say with certainty that it won’t all come crashing down in your lifetime…and in truth it probably won’t…but what about our children…and their children? Do you hate people you don’t even know yet, your genetic progeny, enough to condemn them to the Rapa Nui’s fate?
Quit trusting science; all they’ve REALLY given us is a BOMB! OK, maybe they’ve also given us a lot of spiffy doodads, but these days, we’re WAY beyond doodad territory. Start trusting your personal philosophy, your instincts, and your innermost thoughts; tap into humanity’s hidden advantage…INSIGHT. Where do you want all this to go? HOW do you want all this to play out? How far are you willing to let all this go? Like Clatu said in The Day the Earth Stood Still…my FAVORITE movie…it’s up to YOU.
Translated: the ball’s in YOUR court, and if you do nothing, it’ll whiz right past you.

***SPOILER ALERT*** Athiests, I suggest you click away…NOW! Go play a game or something.
My lady told me NEVER to write anything like this. She’s timid about the internet; you know, eyes everywhere reading what I’ve written, but what the hell…I LOVE a good fight…so here goes. I believe in God even though these days it’s not fashionable, but as you might guess if you’ve been reading this blog, I’ve NEVER been a slave to fashion. Anyway…when I was practicing medicine, I saw far too much I couldn’t really explain away…old men and women with no possible way to keep on living who told me they were waiting for specific members of their family to arrive, and when they came, the patient kissed them, said goodbye, and died.
How on Earth can ANYBODY do something like that? Those people were spent, used up, FINISHED, but somehow they hung on. Not only that…they KNEW they would hang on. I also remember one particularly traumatic night in the emergency room when I was trying to help a man in heart failure after a massive heart attack. He, too, was used up, and while I issued a stream of orders, he lay there, incredibly peacefully, until at last he said, “Yes, Lord, I’m ready!” Then looking up at the ceiling, he died. We all looked up there, too, but all we saw was acoustic tile and surgical lights.
Even though it’s really spooky, I’ve come to understand there are more things going on in our reality than ANYBODY could ever explain, influences we don’t know understand or appreciate, even miracles…take ESP, for instance. I know after this a lot of you are going to say, “That’s it! He’s gotta be nuts!” A predictable response…and you have a right to your opinion. My personal insanity is not outside the realm of possibility, but I promised myself I would always be honest with you guys, even when it makes me look a little wierd. One scary night I had an unexplainable experience, something that has mystified me ever since. I’ve written about it before, but it was a BIGGIE for me. It happened during hurricane season.
For weeks people had been talking about a tropical depression in the gulf, and of course, we stayed glued to the weather news on TV. One morning when I was driving to work, the news guy said, “Well, it’s not a depression any more; now it’s a hurricane…and it’s name is CARMEN,” and when he said the name, it was like a flashbulb went off in my mind. After kind of a white blur, I saw myself lying on the sofa in the parlor, my dog at my side, playing with an old transistor radio I hadn’t seen for years. To tell the truth, I was POSITIVE it had been lost forever somewhere along the line, but there it was, so clear, so precise…almost like a photograph.
About five the next morning, we were awakened by incredibly forceful wind blowing outside our window. Now, our bedroom is way at the back of the house, perilously close to two massive old oaks, and when I heard the wind screeching and the oaks groaning, I told my lady it was dangerous where we were and we should move to the guest bedroom in front…as far as we could get from those complaining trees. After we had settled in, I slept a little, but soon awakened. It was getting light, and I wanted to see what was going on, so I took a pillow, moved to the parlor, and stretched out on the sofa next to a large window, my dog following me.
The storm was violent, and while I was watching its fury, my lady got up, came in, and said, “See if you can find out anything with this,” handing me that old radio I didn’t know we had any more. She even brought me a battery, and while I was searching, trying to find an active station, I realized. “This is what I saw…EXACTLY!” I told you it was spooky. “Where the hell did you get THIS?” I asked. “It was In the bedside table drawer,” she answered. “There’s a lot of old stuff in there. Does it still work?”
What was that all about? I wish I had wriiten it all down before it came to be, but of couse, I brushed it off at the time. The whole experience was too precise, much too accurate to wish away, and it showed me how things are happening all around us all the time, unexplainable things I’ve learned to accept and cherish…just like the presence and promise of God. Wasn’t it Shakespeare speaking through Hamlet, who said, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy?” Cool guy, Shakespeare…and one SPECTACULAR writer. As usual, he was right.

Either God exists or he doesn’t. Let’s look at the black side first. If He doesn’t exist, where did all THIS come from? Cosmologists say the big bang most likely occurred when one universe bumped up against the edge of another reality and spawned a new one, us, but where did those OTHER bumping universes come from? Always there…without ANY beginning…just always there? And NOBODY created that other place? JUST ALWAYS THERE? And you think THAT makes more sense than a Creator? Give me a break!
Whichever way you look at it, neither idea makes sense. Either there are a lot of universes bumping into one another, creating new ones, eternally, without beginning or end, or a Being made the whole thing, also eternal, without beginning or end. Get used to the idea. SOMEBODY or SOMETHING has always been here…eternally…without beginning or end, but we just can’t wrap our minds around that sort of puzzle. We’re too finite, too clothed in personal experience to get beyond what we can see and feel and remember. Personally, I think it’s all part of TIME, the illusion we’re locked within. That’s what Einstein called it…and he hasn’t been wrong yet.
They say God’s in the details, so let’s run with it. The incredible thing is our reality exists thanks to the perfect balance of the four fundamental forces of physics. If any one of them were even SLIGHTLY out of whack, none of this would have come into being…none of US, either. Random chaos without purpose would be hard-pressed to come up with so elegant a system, and what about the mathematical certainty and perfection of our galaxy, our solar system, and our planet? Like the best clock ever devised, they move, circling in precisely determined orbits and rotations…so predictable scientists can predict solar eclipses THOUSANDS of years in the future.
You may say, “Okay, so the universe is mathematically perfect…and by the way is and always has been…without creation or end…just there…kind of a mystery for our little minds,” but that’s actually a leap of faith, albeit an egocentric one. How DARE you bumping, eternal universe people make fun of those who believe it was created? They’re making the SAME leap of faith…just in direction you don’t happen to agree with. The fact is we CAN’T figure it out, and maybe we’re not meant to. Maybe each and every one of us is supposed to work it out for ourselves however we can, even fearfully late at night when the bedcovers offer only empty security.
Love is the only emotion not chemically mediated in human beings, perhaps the only thing we can actually create, and once allowed in, it transforms us, growing, enveloping us in the beauty of truth, and changing our lives. You bumping universe preple are living in a really DANGEROUS world because if in fact it’s all random, with no Creator, no Supreme Being, why be good? If there are no consequences, why not be selfish, greedy, cruel…and evil? Most people DON’T because they instinctively understand that good is better than evil and love is more rewarding in the long run. Cruelty and evil just don’t sit well on the shoulders of humanity…while love and kindness fit us like a glove. Sounds a little like God’s wrapped up in all this to me, but that’s only MY opinion.
Sorry, Guys, but I don’t buy the random, eternal, never-created, bumping universe theory. There are just too many potholes in that road. People who believe in God also believe He’s the personification of love, and inherently cherishing that concept, they do what every religious luminary we’ve EVER had says we should. Love one another, do good to one another, help one another, and love God. I have no idea what motivates those random universe, godless people, but to tell you the truth, to me they’re even spookier than that night Carmen hit.
Maybe you doubters are right and I AM crazy…but I gotta tell you. It’s a happy kind of crazy…and isn’t happiness what we’re all looking for in the end? I say, when you find happiness, GRAB HOLD AND HANG ON TO IT! There are enough bad things lurking, waiting to come your way, so treasure whatever goodness you can find while you follow your path…and maybe when it’s all said and done, you’ll find life less painful, possibly even JOYFUL. At least, that’s been my experience. Life’s funny that way; you learn as you slog and trudge along…if you’re paying attention.
I sincerely hope the athiests have given up on this post by now. If not, I’m gonna get a lot of comments from them. Athiests can be REAL pests when you rile them up, almost as bad as mosquitos and horseflies…and just about as relevant in MY opinion.

I have no idea what time it is tonight, somewhere between seven and ten, I guess, but frankly, I don’t really care. You see, we FINALLY got to Galveston…Angel’s eye all healed up and my lady and me TOTALLY ready for some R&R in the salt wind, sun, and foaming surf. Of course, obstreparous Baxter is with us, but he’s young, and adorable…and learning quickly. Even the people he pounces on forgive him.
Just this moment I’m sitting on our balcony enjoying the sounds of the gulf and its seemingly ENDLESS expanse all the way to the horizon…salt water…the same stuff coursing through our bodies with every heartbeat…and incorporated so long ago we can’t remember, but when I’m sitting beside the sea, I EMBRACE it like a friend lost in the convolutions of eternity; I think most people do. Delivered over eons by asteroids and comets, the ocean is really our nursery, our liquid parent, and somehow when I’m here, I UNDERSTAND…and thank it…and God for working things out this way.

I know I can only see the surface and never really know what’s going on down in the comparatively small patch swirling below…thousands of births each day, for sure…and thousands of deaths, little bitty deaths, small fish devoured by birds or bigger fish, shrimp snatched up by crabs, even dolphins…my friends…gorging themselves on nature’s bounty, but for me, sitting in the midst of all this wonder, all I see is beauty.
A land creature, I understand the boundaries I have to live with, but Ialso tend to envy those other mammals I can see out in the surf, chirping, jumping, and celebrating their lives, happy and seemingly carefree. To them, what is simply IS, and they joyfully accept their lot. It’s impossible to impose human concepts of good, evil, opportunity, and necessity on what’s going on out there, so I’ll leave the sorting out to God. At this PRECISE moment, I’m totally ENCHANTED…which is where I want to be.

There’s something viscerally ELEMENTAL about an ocean…maybe because somewhere inside us there are memories, carefully hidden memories, or maybe only because it’s beautiful and exciting, or maybe because it’s a shadowy glimpse of where we all began and yearn to return to…a simpler world free from the constraints of wrongdoing, guilt, laws, and repercussions…our scrupulously maintained moral walls, but sitting just beyond the roar and foam, all those concepts kind of float away in the constant wind.  My eyes command me; what’s churning below is stirring…and beautiful…and endlessly FASCINATING.
I want to go there, jump into that surf and foam, taste the salt, join my progenitors, and swim, but my lady is implacable. “NO,” she says, “SHARKS!” (She’s not all that big on sharks.) But what sharks? There hasn’t been a shark attack in Galveston since God knows when…but she won’t be moved. I love her, and I know I HAVE to work out some kind of resolution we can both live with…so…I’m planning to go wading with her…and while she intently looks for seashells…as she ALWAYS does…I’ll slowly slip out into deeper water and swim like hell. At least, that’s my plan.
There are LOTS of dophins out there; she’s seen them, too, and we BOTH know they’re EXPERT at dealing with sharks. Our seabound, brothers aren’t deterred, so I don’t think we should be either. They kinda PUNCH ‘em in the belly…REALLY HARD, not hard enough to kill but hard enough to get their attention, and it ALWAYS works. Actually, it looks like they’re playing when they do it, but the sharks don’t seem to understand and swiftly swim away.

My lady worries a lot, particularly since I don’t choose to worry a whole lot about anything. The way I see it, life’s too short to burden yourself like that, but she compensates by worrying for both of us…and I’ve learned to live with it. Swimming out there would be FAR more fun than swimming in the pool at the condo…and much more philosophically enlightning, but…you know…it’s a nice pool…a REALLY nice pool…with chairs all around, a shower, and float mats for catching a little sun. What the hell? I’ll do BOTH…fake her out, swim in the gulf as long as I can get away with it, then go back, wash off, and dive into that pool.
GOD, I love Galveston!