Responsibly Irresponsible

Well... That was certainly a shock. I went to link something to a friend of mine and found that, for some reason, my blog had been removed. I'm not entirely certain who did it, or why, but it seems to be back now. Obviously.

The weirdest thing about that is that I never received an email or any other kind of contact regarding any kind of violation that would result in my ramblings becoming removed for one reason or another. The only thing I can figure is that whoever did it got mad that I didn't have anything valuable in my inbox and decided to be a jerk and yank the blog.

So, anyway, I'm sitting here at a friend's house, doing my good deed of the week and agreeing to watch his spawn for him while he works tomorrow/today/meaningless title to a title-less concept, and on the way, I started thinking about responsibilities and what mine are, and how I always put them off until the very last minute.

For example, I have yet to file my taxes, mostly because I am a fool.

That aside, what amazes me is just how responsible I am about my irresponsibility, paradoxically. I was discussing with a good friend the other day about this very thing, and that's what planted the seed. We were talking about how we always put things off until the last possible minute, but it always manages to get done and done on time, correctly, the first time. For the most part.

Or something along those lines.

Really, what it boils down to, is that I feel the need to live for the adventure of living, and not for the sake of it. Life is short - too short to just take for granted and let slip you by. We aren't getting any younger and we sure as hell can't live forever. Not in a physical sense. So... why not experience anything and everything you can?

I'm not saying go hog wild and completely blow off responsibility by getting yourself hooked on hard drugs because who the hell cares anyway kind of thing, but I am encouraging the taking time off from work and doing more than just lazing about the house in one fashion or another. Ever wanted to go to Maui, for example? What, realistically, is holding you back? Chances are, nothing that's of any real consequence anyway, so why not go ahead and do it?

I have had many adventures in my time due to many factors, such as a willingness to take stupid risks in the name of entertainment and good old-fashioned American mischief, and a lack of proper impulse control. My friend has a hard time of getting me out of the house to just come and hang out, but at the slightest suggestion of adventure or something out of the ordinary, I jump at it, because.... well, again: Why the hell not?

Example: If all someone wants to do is hang out, I'd rather sit at home and play a video game. However, if someone wanted to go knock on every door in Baltimore until we found someone he was looking for, I'd be all over it, because that just sounds like an afternoon to me.

Look, I'm not saying to do stupid things like going around, knocking on doors, but I am encouraging you to go out and do the things that you really want to do. Why sit around inside, sulking, when you can go for a hike or to a cafe or something to meet someone new? Why pass up the opportunity to make the day an interesting one, rather than a dull one?

What is stopping you? Honestly?

I say that what's stopping you is nothing more than you just not really thinking about it. The thought to do something out of the ordinary crosses your mind, but chances are, you dismiss it immediately because why bother with the unknown? You may not be doing anything interesting right now, but at least you know what to expect.

Am I right?

Probably not, but it was worth a shot.

I also just got to thinking about the things that I write here. When the blog went down, I realize that I've been taking it for granted. It's a lot more important to me than just some place to dump random thoughts. It's also a portfolio, of sorts, as there are many sub-sections that I have that are not available to the public (at this time) view, many of which contain other writing projects and even a few completed works. It was then that I realized that in my taking it for granted, I was being responsibly irresponsible with it. Sure, I posted in it, but not with the regularity that it deserves.

I won't go on some tangent, promising you more frequent updates, because that will probably never happen. I don't share all of my thoughts with you all, because I'd never stop writing. While that's awesome, it's also not exactly realistic, because I don't have a way to make money off of this talent.

Another reason that I write in this blog is that I feel what I have to say with any particular entry is important. At first, at least, and then I go back and read what I wrote and usually feel lousy about it afterward. Some would say that's me being self-aggrandizing, and they'd be right, most likely.

I feel particularly lousy about this writing now, even before it is completed, but that's alright by me. I'm sure someone can glean some form of meaning from it somewhere, and if that's what happens, it doesn't really matter how I feel about it, after all.

Or I could just be a sociopath. Who knows?

How Christianity Ruined the World

I've been sitting around lately, unable to formulate a thought coherent and cohesive enough to put onto this thing, and therefore, have been letting it and other projects collect metaphorical dust. What I didn't know then, but do now, is that there has been something on my mind lately and I just couldn't put a finger on it.

Now, as I go into this, some may begin to question my sanity, and I'd have to assure them that this is only proper, and that I encourage it to be done with every person that you encounter on a daily basis. Just in case.

What's been on my mind is the lack of progression as more than just a society, but as a race in general. If there is intelligent life out there besides human beings, I'm confident that they've already found us, made contact, and then said "To Hell with these people. They're too violent."

It amuses me to think that they have Cockney accents.

Not only are we a violent species, known throughout history as far back as we can trace it to be killing each other (read here for further reference) - scientifically and religiously, both! - but we are also very easily led.

The problem with this is that we kind of let it happen, and have been doing so for countless ages. Ever since mankind first got drunk and said "To Hell with moving around! I'm staying here!" and the first real city formed, we have decided that we needed a leader. The problem with this is that there are people out there who only see opportunity and grab for it whenever possible, and they are usually pricks of the highest caliber. In today's day and age, we call them lawyers.

Back then, they were referred to as "Your Majesty."

Oh, we also continually refer to one as "Your Holiness."

I cannot believe that we, as human beings, believe that the Pope is the mortal voice of God, and that everything that flows from his mouth is Divine. I'm not saying that every Pope has been a prick, because there are certainly many cases of the opposite. The problem is that there are just as many cases of douche-baggery in the Papacy. This has led to many a bad decision being made with seemingly good intentions, but the weed of corruption is there, and its roots are starting to form in the lower echelons of the Catholic hierarchy, as is evidenced by many recent events.

While I and many more have a long list of complaints about the decision-making capabilities of the "mortal voice of God" that is conveniently elected, there is one in particular that I feel has made a devastating blow on humanity as a whole: The decision to go at odds with science.

Many people say that it's because science is an evil thing that exists only to disprove the existence of God. I understand how some people would come to those conclusions, seeing as how quacks and charlatans abound in every profession that you can possibly think of. The opinions of this special breed of jerk exist solely to anger others, and should be excused as such.

Any good scientist will tell you that they just aren't sure about the existence of God Himself, even if they dispute happenings in the Bible. Being uncertain about something isn't the same as outright not believing. To feel and see it otherwise is simple foolishness, and if this is how you react to the things that science says are happening and how it is that way, then you should be ashamed of yourself!

Or pat yourself on the back, because my list of railings against science are equally long. We may get to talking about that later, but for now, more to the point.

In the days of the Renaissance, the Church got offended by things that scientists and other creative minds were saying and doing. There was a cultural revolution going on, and they feared losing their grip of power on the people. A silly and needless fear, to be sure, but one they felt was valid nonetheless. They declared these free thinkers to be sinners, heretics, and blasphemers. They oppressed them into submission.

Those that resisted were the ones who formed what was to be forever known as the Illuminati, but again, that's a different discussion for a different time that is probably never.

I feel that it was around this time that creative minds went into hiding. This is evidenced at the fact that the only real technological jumps we made in the years following were, for the most part, for the purposes of killing each other, or preventing ourselves from being killed long enough to kill someone else first. This vicious cycle was brought about due to not only the metaphorical war being fought against science, art, and so on, but the physical ones that were constantly being fought "in the name of God."

It seems that the Church began to forget about the 11th commandment that Christ Himself brought to us: Love thy neighbor as you would yourself.

I find that the Church and those belonging to the far Right tend to be the first to cry out when their freedoms - the one of religion in particular - are being tread upon, but are also the first to plow right over the express freedoms of other individuals "in the name of God."

What kind of God tells us to do one thing, but then expects something else that can only be described as the almost-polar opposite? Certainly not the God that I believe in, because the One that I know shakes His head at such things.

This can probably be linked to the fact that many belonging to the far Right tend to believe more in knowing their Bible than they do in knowing God, and taking such old language so literally as to become completely blind to love of anyone that is outside of this bubble of yours is shameful to Him, and what He really wants for you. For all of us.

I'm not going to turn this into a preaching session, don't worry, but that is some food for thought.

The Church has since been fighting against some of the most brilliant of innovations in technology, not the least of which was stem cell research. They have constantly lobbied Congress to pass abortion laws nation-wide, all because they can't separate their moral stances from their political ones. They have constantly stuck their noses where they don't belong for far too long and impeded on us for so long that we have suffered for it by not being where we should.

Too often does the religious Right preach messages of hatred, intolerance, and fire and brimstone. They have made us afraid of anything that is on the Outside. They have taught us to fear anything that is different, because if it's different, it is against God.

Despite us being told to be fruitful and multiply, we are taught that sex is an evil and dirty thing. Despite being told to love our neighbor, we continue to speak and show hatred towards them, and further try to impede on their rights to be happy, just because their vision and lifestyle of it doesn't match ours. We are being taught, from a very young age, to match the image of God deemed appropriate by one guy, whereas God wants us each to represent Him in His way.

We have strayed very, very far from these principles that were given to us so many thousands of years ago (the world is not 6000 years old, thank you very much) by the One that we say we follow and love with our lives and all our hearts... the One we refer to as "Father."

And yet we disrespect Him so.

It's no longer just affecting small groups of people, though. It's now gotten to the point where the whole world has been held back, and now we're in a situation where the excrement has hit the air conditioning as a result. Our very planet is facing issues that, I believe, had science been given a fair chance to grow alongside with religion instead of constantly against it, we would have already had solutions to these issues by now and they wouldn't even be of concern.

Or I could just really be a sociopath. Who knows?

Eh?

I'm feeling the need to rant. About what, I don't know yet, but something tells me that we'll be seeing a full-fledged entry here soon. Hopefully I'll have time at work today to mull over the details.