Deeply "rooted" faith conviction

Deeply "rooted" faith conviction in communities and families can not be "reasoned with"...
It is an emotional position, no amount of fact or logic permitted. They are easily triggered to a temper tantrum...
AS a senior exhibited at a church breakfast I attended some years ago.... The senior assistant facilitator of the event was almost in tears..... Blurted out.... "Why do you hate Jesus so much?"
History recorded by neighbouring peoples has no record of such an extraordinary person. Thus, it is beyond a reasonable doubt, that the "icon" of faith is a FICTIONAL CHARACTER. As the centuries pass by the story is re-interpreted and embellished. More "possibilities" added to the interpretations. Then considered FACT by the faithful.
This view was obvious by a co-worker from 20 years ago. He described biblical content as "inherent truth". He insisted that his view nullified all current knowledge. His summation: "Everything happens for a reason." Thus I conclude adding the word "inherent" in front of the word "truth" trumps all other points of view. "They" have "laid down" their biblical law..
It's "Christianity" over the centuries: conversion | assimilation | genocide

Have you ever sat back and retraced your footsteps?

Have you ever sat back and retraced your footsteps? Replayed your personal interactions with others?

Unfortunately, I have. The ability to remember interactions from many years past. Remember the dialogue word for word, and do a reevaluation. I recall in the workplace, the conversation with the senior technical specialist. “Howard, you are a perfectionist, you will never survive here.” Wow, where did that come from? The casual comment made when he passed by on the way to the coffee machine. Was this statement a result of a general conversation with coworkers? Could he not restrain himself from passing on his or the group’s consensus to me? This happened in the technical workplace, soon to be 20 years in my past, by an individual 25 years my junior.

Reflecting on that statement two decades later. I’ve arrived at an assessment of our species. “Those who feel that they cannot compete play dirty!” We have many levels of personal understanding and experiences. We can decide based on our general knowledge and familiarity. One point I recall from a motivational tape. I purchased it through the Daytimer catalogue back in the 1980s. It described a senior gentleman at a petroleum conference in Calgary, at the podium. At the end of his presentation, there were questions from the audience. One question was: “why is your company so successful?” In his slow southern voice, he responded, “because we drill more wells.”

Lived experiences mould altruism, compassion, and general understanding. We should find ourselves in a conundrum more often. Social status comprising group acceptance, spiritual or religious views. All of which provide us with layers of lenses for bias. These multilayered biases create us as an individual personality. General communication will have little or no disagreement. Imagine an individual finding self in new surroundings. There will be a learning curve for all concerned in this new social environment. All individuals will monitor the newcomer. The newcomer will evaluate the group.

Back to the earlier statement, “Howard, you are a perfectionist. You will never survive here.” 25 years of hands-on technical service work. In later years, as a technical specialist, providing support to junior employees. I need not justify my conclusions on technical matters. Given the opportunity, I can very present the many dots that lead me to make a conclusion or decision. Conclusions together with an extreme detail from memories of technical troubleshooting from my past. Within the first three months, I conclude the following of the entire social group I found myself in. The entire technical team had evaluated my work ethics, technical experience, ease of collaboration and communication with coworkers. This brings to point, this same individual that stated that I was a perfectionist. On another occasion he said: “Howard, why do you use your hands so much when you speak?” Well, I didn’t respond. I would suppose that it results from mimicking people that are in leadership roles or in front of a class. I had performed in the role of a technical specialist. Provided classroom training to junior employees over 20 years earlier in Calgary. I have never thought about it. I see no reason not to use this adapted skill. It is part of my transfer of technical knowledge and experience to others. Either in day-to-day one-on-one communication or in front of a class. The conclusion two decades after the fact. This senior technical specialist within this new workplace felt threatened by my presence.

Bringing up the previous statement, “those who cannot compete, play dirty.” This I conclude to be not a human trait. A study of behaviour trained primates to play a game. In rotation, given a cucumber or a grape as a reward for their turn in the game showed the following. The equal performance or similar performance received a cucumber instead of a grape. When the primate understood the unfairness, it refused all future participation. This technical workplace 2000/2001, of coworkers with University educational backgrounds. I have between four and five decades of technical hands-on performance and knowledge. A high school education. After two years, I was given double the severance. I signed a document stating I would not take them to court for wrongful dismissal. There were two other unconnected instances of differing viewpoints about religious affiliation. I answered and did not engage in any in-depth dialogue.

On the morning of 9/11, a coworker who was my senior but 25 years my junior came over to my work cubicle. At 7 AM near the end of our all-night shift, he said to turn your second screen onto CNN.com. I did and immediately saw the twin Towers and the embedded airplane. He looked down over the wall of the workspace with his arms folded. He said: “See Howard, if people follow the Bible more closely, things like this wouldn’t happen.” I looked up at him with my handshaking. This is the first time that something like this has happened on our continent. I recall my repetitive nightmare as a young child. The Cuban missile crisis. At that moment, I responded to him, my handshaking. “If it wasn’t for people like you and people like them, things like this would not happen.” During the months after 9/11, there were financial cutbacks on wages. A reduction of 30% on everyone’s paycheck. Reflecting. I realize I withdrew from almost all interactions in the workplace. I sat at my workstation. I used my perfectionist ability. I did “a more perfect” call handling and diagnostic procedure.

Why am I going on with such extreme detail about things that happened so long ago? Not for most of the masses. I do so for the very few that may connect the dots in the stories. They may arrive at a new sense of understanding within themselves.

The majority having their own personal identities of self-esteem and self-confidence within the confines of the social structure. Those levels in many social circles are rarely challenged. They are only challenged in new surroundings, with new individuals finding themselves in the group. The comparisons on a social level are ongoing in many species.

What ancient people knew.

I wrote this 8 years ago:
Our planet, 365 rotations of day/night in the annual orbit around the sun. The tilt relative to the sun during the orbit causes the seasons.
Ancient peoples studied the night sky and their measurement of time was the wheel of the Zodiak
12 houses of the Zodiak - symbols for each of the 12 from positions of objects in the night sky that as groups of objects.
Acient peoples knew that after the 12 time periods were cycled through, the view of the night sky came back to a recognizable starting point.
365 days = one earth orbit around the sun = 1 earth year
2,065 earth years = one Zodiak 'house' time period
12 house time periods = 1 great year (Eon, old testament)
Every approx 26,000 years our night sky shows that the travel of our planet, solar system, and galaxy comes back to the same physical place in space.
The ancient peoples knew this.
Every year in August our planet passes through an asteroid belt - shooting stars in the night sky.
A large crater in the Gulf of Mexico, viewed from space, shows the evidence of a collision sometime in the earths past.
Therefore, at some time in any one, or more, of the 12 'house' time periods, (2,056 years each), our solar system orbit passes the earth, in it's annual orbit,  through an asteroid belt of larger objects.
Or, at least once in the 26,000 'great year' (Eon), our planet does so.  There are impact craters in Siberia of smaller objects that have at some time in the earth past penetrated our atmosphere.
Therefore, at some time in either one, or more, of the 2,056 years solar system orbits, or at sometime in the 26,000 galaxy orbit our planet comes in close proximity with other advanced life forms existing on other planet(s), and our earth is 'visited'.  This is shown by the etchings on ancient objects that from todays prespective and knowledge we would acknowledge as 'flying' machines.  Throughout time man has recorded these visits.  They recorded them to the best of their ability with the knowledge of their time.  They didn't know any better, or have an explanation for the events.  From their primative understanding they 'whorshiped' the advanced civilization(s) visitors. Just as the first nations peoples of North America whorshiped the European visitors at the beginning of colonialization of this the North Amercian continent.
Time to 'think' people, we have never been alone, we have been visited many times.  The possiblility is that we have been around the 26,000 year orbit (cycle) approximately 3.5 million times.
At some time in this ancient past of this planet we came to be here. Perhaps stranded from a 'visitation', or colonized from an advanced civilization, in an ancient time and we have survived to be here and now today.
The measurement of the positions of the stars, and planets, and the ability to track and simulate, with computer models today, makes the puzzle man has struggled with for thousands of years, an almost a child's play puzzle to solve.  Because we now have the knowledge and the tools to demonstrate/simulate the movement of objects in our night sky.  This is what, at some time in our past, the ancient peoples already knew - we lost the knowledge through the generations of 'survival' on this planet.
.....enjoy, /howard

Is bullying the result of a natural evolutionary process?

Think back to our recent history. Before electrification, most families were between eight and 12 children. This time was agricultural and rural. Early radios were battery-powered and used sparingly.
Consider then family units and societies before the last 50 years. They were larger families, and geographically tightly knit social communities. The focal point of social cohesion usually centred around a church.
Consider another aspect drawn from biblical writings. It is described how the conquered nation marked the doorways of the firstborn. The firstborn marked to be killed. Knowing that a small amount of information from our history of a species, why? What did they know that because this to be standard practice?
Step back from this historical knowledge. Consider this from a biological species perspective. All organisms on the planet compete for resources. Within many mammals, the dominant male maintains a hierarchy over the herd. Dominance is maintained by physical superiority. The strongest of the species maintains a genetic lineage.
Why within our historical texts would we want to kill the firstborn of a conquered territory? Let's view this from a biological perspective. Consider that this is a one-time occurrence. Survival of the species must will attained by utilizing all the best attributes. At the genetic coding level, the fertilization process best equips the first offspring. The fertilization being able to detect ancestrial genetic material. During fertilization, an overlap of ancestral code, causes defects and reduced conscious abilities. The ruling families of Western Europe show this phenomena. Arranged marriages between cousins in the monarchy resulted in reduced cognitive abilities.
I would conclude that this is true of all organisms. Thus it may assume this to be a natural rule of nature.
Consider the previous century, many families averaged 8 to 12 children. There can only be one firstborn. The evolved social behaviour of the family and the community will be then the power of the majority. The firstborn would only be on average at best 8% or 10% of the general population. Consider that 85% to 95% of the general population would hold power over the firstborn. This is the observation in the school playground. The individual that gets picked on, or bullied, or subject to peer pressure is the firstborn. They are a minority by their birth circumstance. All other siblings develop social skills which the firstborn did not establish.
If we step back in time with this conclusion, ancient biblical texts, now assesed in a new way. Conquerors marked the doorways "of the firstborn". It was thus understood that the firstborn would be a future threat to assimilation.
The easiest to convert, dominate or assimilate would be not the firstborn. Why? All but the firstborn are easier conversions. As within beehives, Royal jelly causes the development of another Queen bee. Without the royal jelly, a worker bee will result. Those not the firstborn, predisposed to be in a social supportive role.
This brings to point another observation. that from the genetic pressure to continue the species at an individual level. The dominant majority within a social group is not the firstborn. Thus intimidation and bullying by the majority assure an available selection for breeding. The minority, being the firstborn, would condeed to the peer pressure and give in. Societies pass this off by stating "boys will be boys". Another one from our past, "he's seeding his wild oats".
Over many generations, what we see as toxic male behaviour, was the normal behaviour of the day. Guard dogs result from selective breeding for dominant behaviour. In previous centuries we have achieved dominant behaviour in our own species. This would be a general rule of social structure in large families. The first born may be of higher intellectual ability. Dominant behaviour would override intellectual ability. A population is in the hands of the dominant majority, the genetic material at hand is at a diminished value. Do the firstborn from these relationships result in the same "best possible" offspring? Yes, of course, they do. Because the firstborn will always use the best genetic material available. Yet, the best genetic material of the species in the majority of cases is not available. The highest achievement of genetic material used, would be from unrelated individuals. Firstborn of unrelated families would yield firstborn of the highest achievable genetic material. Consider that the Canada goose is monogamous, it has only one mate for life. Consider that our species pursues many relationships through its lifetime. This is nature's way of assuring the greatest genetic diversity. Only within faith communities, is there strict adherence to monogamy. This handed down within these communities for centuries. Our species is not by default monogamous, as with the example of the Canada goose. Western European descendents have thus achieved global dominance through the denial of promiscuity. Christianity with its virgin birth. Biology and genetics today would suggest that a virgin birth is impossible. Thus this story would relegate to a tale of promiscuity.
Look back at the Greek and Roman empires.  Observe that power was in the hands of those that claimed ethnic purity. In all aspects of our modern age of agriculture through the use of genetics, we breed for specific traits. Passive temperament would be the selective breeding choice for the pet industry. I would suggest that the Greeks and the Romans were breeding for a stronger military force. A ranking Roman officer brought home the woman of his choosing from conquests abroad. Let's throw in another curveball. The conquest of Knights was one of honourable duty. They were according to the historical record, "in search of the Holy Grail". Understanding of the interaction of genetics in our current time, I would suggest this. That "the Holy Grail", was female genetic material. This was the new genetic material brought back to the homeland, that would produce firstborn which would be better genetically equipped than those of the general population. It would be perhaps these firstborn of the high-ranking officers, that would follow in their father's footsteps of a military career, or be intellectually capable of attaining a high position within the religious component.
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It doesn't get any better than this!

It doesn't get any better than this!
"Faith is a virtue."
Just spin the wheel, know your score.
Play the "Faith Wheel of Fortune."
Faith is "glorified" ignorance!
No, I'm not sorry that you are offended.
YOUR feelings are your responsibility.
As a member of this species, it is the individual's responsibility to be "informed" to achieve a level of common understanding which is aligned with new understanding during our current age of existence.
/h
"Faith is pretending to know what you do not know."
~ Peter Boghossian, assistant professor of philosophy at Portland State University.

I wrote the following six years ago:

Christian 'childhood' neighbour: "I'm NOT in DENIAL."

My response:
When ancient writings are taken as unchangeable and true, regardless of the advancement of knowledge, when as you have mentioned, university education is taking people away from god, that you would refuse “FREE UNIVERSITY CLASSES” as a senior…
THEN it is my opinion that you are practicing “willful blindness” and you along with those of your ‘world view” are “paranoid” of the changing world around you….. That is “denial” of new knowledge that will allow for new decisions to be made.
The NEW KNOWLEDGE around you, is the “REASON” that you have the advances in genetics and medical procedures and treatments that extend your life expectancy.

The basis for the opinion of observed ‘denial’ is the refusal to acknowledge that laws of nature can not be suspended for the “miracles” of the ancient writings to be “real”.

Immaculate conception
Global flood
Water parting for an army to pass
Walking on water
Water to wine
Touch healing
Talking snake
Looked back and turned to a pillar of salt
Burning bush
Stone tablets are given on a mountain top
Living in a whale
Stories from the past – nothing more…
“Grape juice and crackers” on Sunday with others doesn’t make it ‘real’…
Just “group reinforcement” of the ‘wishful thinking’.
The “fake it till you make” mindset – except the end result is not attainable, just a delusion.

“Religion/Faith” the adult “pacifier/soother” for the “inner child” experiencing ‘fear’ of the ‘unknown’.

I remember...

I remember like it was yesterday.
Soon this will be 20 years ago. I was part of a hardware troubleshooting, diagnostics and calibration team. A dream job! The Recruiter pursued this employment opportunity, and after three months, I was finally on board. Wow! A dream job that utilized my technical knowledge and experience from 20 years earlier. That earlier employment had lasted almost 2 decades. I was at the top, but a hostile takeover on the stock market precipitated into 18 months later being out of a job. And now, here was a dream job, everything that I brought to the table I could put into practice. At the time I was 52 years of age, about 20 to 25 years older than the senior individuals in the hardware devices team. Three months of training on their products, little difficulty, it was a breeze. Troubleshooting practice at the end of each class, I was able to diagnose usually in one-half or one-third of the time of all others in the class. This was an 8-foot long printer, not as complex as the mainframe technology of 20 years earlier. Back in those days, the disk controller alone was the physical size of a stand up soft drink coolers, the kind with the two sliding glass doors.
I began to see patterns during the first three months of working with the team. I remember, like they were yesterday, statements made to me by a coworker passing by.
"Howard, there is nothing you have to say that we want to hear." ~ senior co-worker
"Howard, you are a perfectionist you will never survive here." ~ senior co-worker
"Howard, you do not have to say a word, and I find you offensive." ~ senior Director (had hired me)
A short time later, I was given a letter to sign which "doubled" the severance not to take them to court for wrongful dismissal.

During these two years of employment, I had returned to my rural home community during the Christmas season. I dropped into the local watering hole, had one beer, to see who was there. I sat at the end of the bar, had no intention of staying very long. A short conversation with one of the residents who sat at the far end of the bar. "My house is paid for, and since Faye passed away, I don't need much to stay here in my home area. I would have gladly taken a janitor's job at the local potash mine."
Here is the slurred response from the resident, holding a management position at the mine. "Howard, you are too smart for us, we don't want you here!"

I decided to post this dialogue because of a conversation a few days ago.
We sat across from each other at the A&W from out of nowhere came the following.
"Howard, you are smart. Howard, you are a teacher. Howard, I don't want to listen to you."
Three statements one after the other not prompted by anything, an emotional response of defence.

So looking back, where do we go from here?
"Patterns", yes I see patterns, I see patterns everywhere.
A long time ago in 1969, I applied for a job referred by a coworker. I arrived and stated where I was from and the person that had recommended me. Charlie was his name, the local manager. A smile on his face come in Howard, sit down. I have a short test for you to take and then we will get started.
He brought the test, I sat and finished it rather quickly. It didn't seem to make much sense to me at the time, how could something so simple be the preamble for a high-tech job in computers. It was a series of objects on pages where I had to pick the one that was different. This was child's play! I gave the test back to him, completed in a rather short time. Charlie said, "this will only take me a minute, I will go back to my office and lay a template over your answers."
Few minutes later Charlie came back to the reception area. All I remember from that many years ago was that he had an odd look on his face. He said "are you in a hurry, can you stay a little bit longer? I need to make a phone call." Yes, I stayed and he went back to his office to make a phone call. I don't recall how long the phone call took, but my only recollection was that I was hired on the spot.

So I'm 71 years of age, and I appear to be very good at recognizing patterns. For more than a decade, my pursuit of pattern recognition has shifted from fixing things to observations of behaviours of our species. Wow, that's fantastic! It appears I've painted myself into a tighter corner. The lifetime experience allows for a quicker assessment of personal interactions. To summarize, "… I see what you're up to." "… I know what you just did."
It's all about pattern recognition, patterns of human behaviour. The socially conditioned responses many people have to life events. The learned behaviours. Quite specifically, the toxic male learned behaviours. We observe everywhere, being exposed for what they truly are.

We have been CONDITIONED

We have been CONDITIONED to RESPECT AUTHORITY
ONLY "KNOWLEDGE" deserves RESPECT
Are "you" a container/messenger of "FACTS"?
OR the repeater of "opinion"....
"FAITH" is AUTHORITY by OPINION, a LIFE CHOICE
When the response to "Why do you think that?"
Is: "It's a matter of FAITH".
The obvious position is DENIAL to KNOW,
and a CHOICE to RETREAT to IGNORANCE