Religion

Written several years ago, but not published until today.

Having finished my reading of the Bible (all of it), I have come to believe that religion is man-made. It has evolved from humanity's attempt to answer the deepest questions. 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?

The best answer I have found is in Plato's "Timaeus", in which a character named Timaeus states: "Everything that becomes or is created must of necessity be created by some cause, for without a cause nothing can be created... Was the world always in existence and without beginning? or created, and had it a beginning? Created, I reply, being visible and tangible and having a body, and therefore sensible; and all sensible things are apprehended by opinion and sense and are in a process of creation and created. Now that which is created must, as we affirm, of necessity be created by a cause. But the father and maker of all this universe is past finding out." That I can accept. That leads me to the believe that such a Creator, if it exists, is beyond our understanding. It would be something unique, so vast and so totally different from anything in our world that we cannot understand it. It is hard to even think about a creator. I'm willing to concede that there may have been a creator. But if we believe that, we must also accept the existence of an entity that had no beginning, and which itself was not created but had the power to create everything else. All of that reasoning is my effort to apply logic and reasoning to a being (if there is one) that is beyond the range of the human mind to grasp. There is no answer; only belief or unbelief. Assuming the existence of such a Creator, would it possess the qualities described in Christian scripture: loving us but also judging us and ultimately sending us to reward or damnation? That seems inconsistent. There is no way to know whether such an entity. It all comes down to a matter of what we believe. What then is the religion I was brought up to believe in? I was baptised and confirmed as a Christian. Where did this religion come from? And if is not true, what good is it? I have the same question about Judaism, Islam, and every other faith. It seems to me that religion as we know it was created by humans to give order to the unexplainable, and show us how to live a virtuous life and run a working society. But as an origin story, and a path to eternal life, organized religion doesn't work for me. It's more of a framework to bring order to the unexplainable, which all humans seek.

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.