Category Archives: Philosophy

Happy Easter, Happy Spring, Happy, Happy Everything

05 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by in Family, Philosophy

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jellybeansIt’s Easter Sunday today, and since my children are grown, my grandchildren are far away, and I am not religious, it’s just another Sunday for me. However, having been raised in the Christian tradition, or more specifically, the Catholic tradition, I can’t help but think about what I am not celebrating. I do not embrace Christianity or any other specific religion.  On the other hand, I don’t fully embrace atheism, either. While I do not believe in an omnipotent god who created, controls, or interacts in the affairs of the material world, I do believe in individual and collective spiritual reality. I also believe in good and evil and that both are present in the world and engaged in ongoing battles.  I hold many beliefs, yet do not have nor feel the need for a “belief system.”   I think that once you put a name to something, it is definable and limited.  My beliefs are constantly changing and growing as I live and learn.

So now that we’ve examined the tip of my personal philosophy iceberg, back to Easter!  In addition to its religious traditions, it also signifies spring!  A rebirth, growing, green, blooming!  And, unfettered sugar!  So, today I give myself permission to eat as many as I wish of the jelly beans given to me by my lovely sister who knows I love them and to anticipate the caramel dark chocolate bar given by my other loving sister.  Both of these people embrace all aspects of the holiday, and I thank them for sharing the sugar side with me.

Quote of the Day

20 Friday Mar 2015

Posted by in Family, Food, Philosophy, Random Thoughts

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“People who love to eat are always the best people.”

                                                                                 – Julia Child

Ironically, this quote comes directly from a dish towel.  I don’t know if Julia actually said it, and I suppose I could look it up on the Encyclopedia of the Internet for veracity’s sake.  But I want to believe she said it, so I’m taking the word of my dish towel.  I also want to believe that it’s true because I love to eat, I love to prepare food, and I love to hang out with other food lovers.  My family is very good in this regard.  In fact my niece is responsible for the towel – it was her contribution to our family’s Christmas gift grab, and I grabbed it.

pie -2My family and many of my friends and I love to prepare food and then talk about food while eating.  In fact, in an act of extreme self-sacrifice and good food sportsmanship several of said friends and family members showed up to eat pi-e when I planned a last minute celebration on 3/14/15 at 9:26:53.  It was a monument to our desire to commemorate a once in a lifetime mathematical event.  Plus, I make damn good pies.  They were the talk of the evening.

There’s Nothing Like a Snow Day

04 Wednesday Mar 2015

Posted by in Philosophy, Random Thoughts

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snow dayWith apologies to Bostonians, linemen, snow removal services and mail carriers, I must admit that I love a snow day.  Maybe it’s because my entire life has been spent in education – getting it, giving it – and and inside me is that little kid who just wants to sleep in and then curl up with a good book and watch the weather through the window.  And only a little part of me is that kid who wants to put on boots and mittens and go play in it.  Well…not much of me  at all.

I’m retired now, so in theory every day should be a snow day if I want it to be, right?  But I still need some sort of permission (excuse) to just spend a day in the house doing whatever pleases me.  If school hadn’t been canceled today, I’d be planning and preparing for then going to the Boys and Girls Club this afternoon to do a cooking class, as I do most Wednesdays.  Retired or not, life usually has a great deal of structure. So, snow.  Permission granted to spend the morning reading in my PJs.  I have all sorts of chores and projects circling around waiting for me to begin them, but I feel like I can pick whichever ones I want and my day will still be lazy and illuminated in that lovely grayish-white snow light that gives one permission to just be.

Maybe tomorrow the weather will be just as good, er, I mean bad….   Sorry, Bostonians, linemen, snow removal services and mail carriers.

The Place I Write – My Study Tells the Story of My Life

24 Thursday Jan 2013

Posted by in Art and Creativity, Family, Philosophy, Random Thoughts, Weddings

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Note:  This post is written in response to the WordPress Writing Challenge: The Devil is in the Details

my studyThe room faces east, so in the morning, my favorite time to write, the sun streams in the large double window and glows off the terra cotta walls.  In fact, I must reluctantly adjust the blinds to block the rays that hit my face as I sit on one of the two comfy patchwork-patterned club chairs with laptop, my first cup of coffee  on the table beside me.  This room more than any other in my house is a warm embrace filled with the story of my life.  Each of the many family photos hanging on the walls and littering the tops of file cabinet, desk, sewing-machine table, and bookcase  has its own story to tell.  The one on top of the photo-printer of my Mom with her four small children on the grass in front of our home in the “projects” in Cleveland  shortly before my father abandoned our family and her long odyssey into poverty-stricken single motherhood began.  The one of my sister Susan smiling from an outdoor cafe table some forty years later when the five of us returned on what we called the Pilgrimage to Cleveland so our Mother could revisit the city where she grew up, married, and gave birth to four of her five children.  The nose-to-nose portrait of my two happy, beautiful daughters that they had made as a Christmas gift for their parents ten years or so ago when they were still in their twenties.  The close-up of the flawless, wide blue-eyed baby face of my niece, born following three miscarriages to my “baby” sister, whose only heart’s goal in life was to have children.  The snuggling, smiling heads of my Mom and my only brother who spent every week day with her during the two years of her treatment for the cancer that ultimately took her life. The portrait of me taken by the College PR department when I began my 25 year career at Ivy Tech, a favorite of my Mom’s that hung on her picture wall until her house was sold.  I never liked the picture much, but it was her favorite of me, and now I’m thinking I looked much younger, thinner, prettier then.  Pictures of my children, brothers and sisters, nieces, nephews, even one of my ex-husband playfully kissing the cheek of my brother-in-law, all carrying stories of the joys and sorrows of their own lives.  It could be overwhelming – but somehow it’s mostly reassuring to know my place among them.

The other clutter in the room comes from piles of projects.  Magazines to be read, binders and files full of papers to be put away or dealt with.  I’ll turn 65 this year, so there’s a tote-bag full of information on Medicare to wade through.  A box of travel information and mementos that I will use to help me sort and identify the 1500 or so photos I took on my trip with friends this past summer to Hungary, Austria, Yugoslavia, and the Czech Republic.  So much to do.

IMG_2165In one corner of the room, my large desk is surrounded by and cluttered with items of form and function.  I love the framed print by N. A. Noel on the wall above it of a little Amish girl holding a white cat.  It looks so much like my younger daughter and Happy, the cat we had when my girls were growing up.  A tearful Rachel held that cat in her arms years later when, old and ill, it was put to sleep.  Next to that hangs a canvass print of a photo I took of the reading room of the Library of Congress – my Mecca – on that lucky day when a friend and I happened to visit it on a rare day that it was open to the public and photography was allowed.   On the short side of the desk corner wall are four square painted canvasses depicting keyboard symbols  &, !, @, and “.  The chrome and brass desk lamp came from a shopping trip in Indianapolis many years ago during a visit with my friend Sarah One, so designated because of the later acquisition of my friend Sarah Two.  And then, there’s the pencil mug, the Gertrude Stein in the shape of her harsh square face, ears and all, with the small figure of Alice B. Toklas perched on the handle.  This treasure I acquired from a catalog many years ago in another life when I was a stay-at-home mom, gardening, canning, and doing needlepoint.  Also holding desk tools is the green and gold stein, the only remaining memento from my undergraduate years.  And on, and on.  Amazingly, as crowded as the room is with memories and physical clutter, it’s still a restful place for me, a place of comfort.  All the unfinished chores will wait for me.  When I’m here, the lurking threat  of possible boredom disappears.  There will always be something interesting to do.  For now, though, the face of the  baby Ben alarm clock my sister gave me and the sunlight leaving the windows for the roof are reminding me that this day must move on.

Does God Facebook?

19 Saturday Jan 2013

Posted by in Philosophy, Random Thoughts

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Well, I’ve had an interesting morning.  It all started the other day when I read a post in my Facebook News Feed from someone, I don’t remember who – you know how it is when you’re online, who had  commented on a post from God.  My first thought was, “God has a Facebook page?”  I wasn’t sure how to feel about that, and I’m still not sure.  Notwithstanding my personal beliefs, I found it difficult to imagine the God of any creed I’ve ever been acquainted with at the keyboard of a computer wading through pictures of his (more on this designation later) FB friends’ Friday night beer escapades and kids’ sporting events, updates on this morning’s reluctance to go to work,  and ever more clever comments relating to pop culture.  And what would his posts look like?  Would he keep it light (Still love ya’, guys! How ’bout some sunshine today!), or discuss developments in Syria or the famine in Africa? Then questions arise about who he friends or doesn’t friend.  And what if he unfriends you?  And how does he feel about making verbs out of nouns?  And then the God on FB conundrum brought to mind my puzzlement over God and Jesus bumper stickers.  Dizzying. All of this floated around my consciousness for the past several days, leading me to today’s interesting morning.

I decided it was time to do a little research.  So, I searched Facebook for God.  (Wow!  That sounds so metaphysical and deep.  Disappointingly, it was quite literal.  Maybe I should try the more abstract version some time?  Nah.)  The search netted ten results.  Four of them were sites with the straight-up God designation; three were community sites with God as part of the title that shared quotes, images, and stories intended to inspire belief in God; two related to the video game God of War; and one was for the Godfather movies.

Now, forgive my seeming digressions here, but I was talking about the interesting aspect of the morning’s labors, and any time you’re on Facebook, or really the Internet in general, digressions are inevitable, and usually interesting.  So let’s start with the spiritually incongruous God of War sites.  These are created for fans and constituents of the video games of that name apparently dedicated to blood, violence, and vengeance perpetrated by its hero, Kratos, who was wronged by the gods and is spending eternity seeking revenge.  Probably an oversimplification, but I could only hang out there so long.  Know, however, that there is an action figure that pretty much tells the story, and I assume it can be yours.god of war

So moving on then, the Godfather site was much as you’d expect.  Favorite quotes from the tough guys, movie nostalgia, general mobster adoration.  And, of course visual depiction of the God(father) himself.godfather

All right then, long way around, let’s get to the straight-up God sites themselves.   One of them was what was called an “Interest” page.  When I clicked my way there, it appeared rather different than the usual Facebook offering of posts, comments, etc.  Instead it offered a definition of God (apparently the creator of the site – there was none of the usual “About” information for the site) from Wikipedia, the bible of all information, divine or otherwise. It then consisted of: 1)Photos of my friends and God (sample below)friends with god2) an About God section that informs the reader that he “Appears in” Paradise Lost and lists several Books “About this”, including five titles – two by believers and three by, well to put it gently, skeptics like Christopher Hichens (God is Not Great) and Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion); and finally a section called “Posts by my friends about God” – including two posts by one of my Facebook friends.   From this site a learned a number of things.  God is invisible or just full of hot air (see picture above).  He is really open-minded and doesn’t take himself too seriously (see book list above), or else wants us to think that.  He’s a real populist when it comes to research and lets Wikipedia define him.

The author of the second God site was a self-proclaimed phony: “We’re not trying to pretend we’re God. We’re only trying to share, Love, Peace, and beautiful pictures which involves (sic.), God and Jesus.” Sheesh!!

That left me with just two contenders for the real God Facebook page.  The next possibility was identified on the site list as a Public Figure.  Good start.  In the information About the site, the author provided lengthy Personal Information beginning thus: “God is the English name given to the singular omnipotent being in theistic and deistic religions (and other belief systems) who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism.”  And on and on at some length.  Promising.  Furthermore, you can follow Our Lord on Twitter!  There were lots of God quotes, exhortations to Click “like” if you love God (kindof needy, but OK….), inspirational pictures of pretty scenery and eagles, and like any good Facebook page, you can post or comment.  No mention, by the way, of Syrian conflict or African famine.

The final God claimant identified itself as a Comedian page.  Well, we all know God loves a good joke, and the author was very diplomatic, “If you are offended by religious humor or satire, please make sure not to like the page.”

So, what else did I learn from my research into God’s  Facebook presence? Well, he’s pretty well liked.  The God Interest page had 7,513,991 “Likes”.  The God with the Twitter feed was liked by 3,673,942 people.  Only 250,250 folks liked the phony God.  God the Comedian was liked by 443,175 people.  Sounds pretty impressive until you hold it up against the 8,427,276 likes for the Godfather.  Furthermore, the combined likes for the two God of War sites totaled 5,589,065.

There was one more definitive finding (see pronoun reference in first paragraph).  See if you can figure it out from the profile pictures taken from the God Facebook pages.

Some things never change.  So be it!