Religion

Written several years ago, but not published until today.

Having finished my reading of the Bible (all of it), the time has come to once again attempt to I have come to believe that religion is man-made, humans' search for meaning about the deepest questions.   Where do we come from, and where do we go when we die? Are we alone, or is there a higher power that is somehow in charge? How did all this come to be? Was the universe created, or was it always thus? If created, what came before? What created the creator?  

These questions are intriguing, but unanswerable. Such an entity as the Creator (if it exists at all) is unknowable to humans. It would be too vast and totally different from anything we could understand. 

Applying reasoning (which perhaps is a mistake when dealing with this question),  it is hard to even think about a creator. I'm willing to concede that there may have been a creator, but that would have to be an entity with no beginning or end, which itself was not created but had the omniscient power to create the universe.  

But would that be an entity with the qualities described in scripture: loving and watching over everyone; judging human behavior and sending us to our reward or damnation; sending his son to Earth and then bringing him back to Heaven, to later return and save the faithful and send the damned down to Hell; reincarnating souls to a higher or lower level (as in Eastern religion); requiring that we follow the Ten Commandments, attend church or temple, take communion, eat no meat (again, as in Eastern religion), eat only kosher food, wear clothes with tassels, circumcise men, obey prescribed behavior towards a spouse, and so much more. 

What then is religion? Where did it come from? It seems to me that religion was created by humans. I think religious doctrine evolved in to explain the unexplainable. order society and show us how to live a good, virtuous life. But as an origin story, it doesn't work for me.

The Covid Diary

I just discovered this hitherto unpublished summary of my bout with Covid in 2023.

First Nine Days

Started feeling bad Nov. 22/23. Absent from Megan's Thanksgiving dinner.

Teleconference with Doximity Dr. Kucura Nov. 25

This is the sickest I've been in many years. Nasal congestion, sore throat, fever (as high as 104), body aches, cough (productive), no appetite, diarrhea. Rattling chest sounds (bronchitis?) during early stages. 

Exhaustion: slept most of day and through the night. 

Brain function: difficulty concentrating.  e.g. creating spreadsheet comparing yield spreads (10 yr vs. 2 year and 2 month) took much longer than it normally would. Interpreting results was equally difficult. Reading a novel, watching a movie or TV show seemed too much effort. But watched social media from outset.

Lost 12 pounds in first seven days; lived on fluids.  Eating even a few bites of solid food was as much as I could do, and then under protest.

Nancy: "I've never seen you this sick." Threatened to take me to the ER if I didn't start eating. 

Day 10

Today is first day I've felt hungry. Still very spaced out. Brain fogged. 

Day 11

First sip of coffee since this began. No alcohol during the entire period. 

Day 15 (Dec. 6)

Getting better. Cough is much less severe. This is more protracted than any cold I've ever experienced. Energy level still very low. Still sleeping more than usual in daytime.  Unable/unwilling to walk dogs or drive. Able to edit Wikipedia without too much effort. No alcohol since before Day 1 - remarkable.  Diarrhea mostly gone. Still waking in middle of the night with pyjamas/bedsheets damp with perspiration. No alcohol.

Day 17 (Dec. 7)

Diarrhea. sinus headache. No alcohol.

Day 18 (Dec. 8)

Last night was almost normal. Slept soundly, minimal coughing. Today: sinus headache. Still no alcohol since inception.

Day 20 (Dec. 13)

Diarrhea.

Day 21 (Dec. 14 )

Still have lingering symptoms: fatigue, cough, hoarseness. Dr. Floyd says this could last another week (4 weeks total). Weight: 207. 

Day 22 (Dec. 15)

Weight: 205. Still no alcohol since inception of covid.

The Adventures of Donald Trump

I may be the first person to conflate Donald Trump with H. Rider Haggard. 

This was born after browsing through the pages of Wikipedia (as I do every day). I found myself engrossed in an article about Haggard's 1886 novel "She: A History of Adventure." 

As any schoolboy of my generation knows, Haggard wrote his novel after a stint as a civil servant in Africa. His adventures included the expedition that established British control over the Boer republic in the Transvaal. Haggard himself raised the Union flag over the capital of Pretoria in May 1877. Later he declared: "It will be some years before people at home realize how great an act it has been, an act without parallel. I am very proud of having been connected with it. Twenty years hence it will be a great thing to have hoisted the Union Jack over the Transvaal for the first time." 

Haggard believed it was Britain's mission to conquer and hold in subjection, "not from thirst of conquest but for the sake of law, justice, and order."  To my jaded eye, his Transvall adventure bears a striking resemblance to Trump's recent exploits in Iran and Venezuela, his dreams of annexing Canada and Greenland, doing something to Cuba, renaming the Gulf of Mexico, and God only knows what will follow. 

I wish it would all go away like a bad dream or a bout with diarrhea. But that's not likely to happen soon enough. 

N.B. Haggard's novel was recreated in the 1965 movie "She" starring Ursula Andress.