My doctor brother was doing rounds, with his students on his heels. One man had his heart on the right side instead of the left. The difference is slight, but it is big if you are placing a stethoscope.
He just smiled at me, and we watched each student put on the stethoscope, feel around and make the discovery. Every one of them was afraid he was doing something stupid. Then each one finally got up the courage to say the heart was on the OTHER side.
Nature does not produce perfect replicas. That is why we have two sexes and a random combination of genes. The genius does not produce a brood of geniuses. He produces some geniuses and other children in a random distribution. This is a matter of statistics. It allows those who do not want to believe in heredity to talk about the exceptions.
When we say an animal like the kangaroo developed big feet ( which the word “kangaroo” means) to fit his environment, we have that millions of the offspring of earlier kangaroos just had ridiculously big feet.
Nature says, “Maybe we need some big feet.” Nature says, “Maybe we need a heart on the right side.” Nature is usually wrong about that. The freaks it produces usually die out at a ration of a million to one.
In the meantime, none of us is “normal.” If all the earlier ape-men had been normal, we wouldn’t be here.
But everybody worships “normal.” Addicts need to quit drugs and they will be in that magic condition, “normal.” A person who is satisfied with life as it is cannot understand why an addict is not happy with being normal.
Which brings me back to the rule I was given, “Do unto others as you wold have them do unto you.”
And it brings me back to another thing I keep saying: The critical rules of life are simple, but none of them are EASY.
An addict’s “normal” chemical makeup makes him unhappy, just as your normal makeup makes you happy enough. If you believe in JESUS’ Golden Rule, it is not enough that you insist they do what would make YOU happy.
You have to understand THEM.
The Oriental Golden Rule is both simple AND easy: “Do NOT do unto others what you would NOT have them do unto you.” If you have a chemical balance that makes you happy enough, you do not need to understand that an addict doesn’t. If you tell him that all he needs is to get back to normal, you are not asking him to do anything you would not want someone to ask of you.
But Jesus allows us no such wiggle room. You have to DO something. You have to understand where the addict is coming from, the fact that his normal chemistry is WRONG.
#1 by H.S. on 06/09/2005 - 9:05 am
The “evolution” you speak of here was debunked many decades ago.
There is a book full of all the ex-proponents’ quotes (the actual scientists) saying it isn’t true, but they’re still working on other theories.
Not my opinion, established fact.
A bit of what you say is true, but it’s sad you bring up such silliness to discuss some of your very worthwhile theories.
#2 by Bob on 06/09/2005 - 2:47 pm
As I said before, anybody who has ever been in business has seen evolution in action.
The question is not evolution, but how much evolution explains. Animals or businesses do survive which are the ones who are best in the enironment in which they live.
But does evolution explain ALL animal and plant life? That is another question entirely and the one which you are addressing. But the two questions should not be confused.
#3 by H.S. on 06/10/2005 - 12:36 am
I agree “the two questions should not be confused.” However, your article had nothing in it whatsoever to do with your comment response: “As I said before, anybody who has ever been in business has seen evolution in action.” That’s why I belabor the point – you are confusing the two. Your use of the term “evolution” only had to do with what I objected to which is the continued thought pattern propagated only by Political Correctness that there has ever been species to species, or any major intra-species genetic anomaly change.
There ARE NO such things as “early ape-men” except in fantasy PC professor minds, and the kangaroo has never NOT had ridiculously big feet, which you noted by translating its name for us. Neither thing has to do with business or situational evolution. The “we came from lower life forms” type evolution is THE CORNERSTONE of the Priesthood and the religion of Political Correctness.
“Normal” IS OK. Normal (comparative range of usual/acceptable criteria) can be established. It is established when facts and observations or rules are set into place. It is not normal for kangaroos to have little feet. It is not normal for addicts to act the way you described – either from a character problem or a physical/organic damage problem.
Your primary goal for the writing is fine: “You have to understand where the addict is coming from, the fact that his normal chemistry is WRONG.”
Yes, the fact is that [some] addicts’ normal chemistry is WRONG. It is abnormal. It does not lead to any evolution of anything except to change the process that we deal with it.
There IS NO such “Oriental Golden Rule.” Jesus repeated the DO unto others law as well as the DON’T do unto others law. How narrow to infer He didn’t. He is Creator God. But philosophizing on it as if they were opposing and mutually exclusive ideas is WRONG. YOU have to WORK at knowing when to apply the right one and DOING is ALWAYS harder. It requires more effort and discernment.
The so-named by theologians Golden Rule was NOT the one He concentrated on. The top two He repeated were (1) Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul, and (2) Love your NEIGHBOR as yourself. The do unto others comment was deeply in context with the situation. You certainly could not be silly enough to justify and rationalize murdering any people because *you* infer to them some sort of personal opinion agreement with you that *you* wouldn’t like to be born them.
That is “making of no effect the law” of God, who is Jesus. It is calling evil good and good evil.
#4 by Don on 06/10/2005 - 11:38 am
I don’t follow any version of the Golden Rule. Is there a reason I should?
#5 by Don on 06/10/2005 - 1:34 pm
RE: The “we came from lower life forms” type evolution is THE CORNERSTONE of the Priesthood and the religion of Political Correctness.
They (the Priesthood) have it bass ackwards. They are the lower life form, so only devolution could have brought us from something else to them.
#6 by Don on 06/10/2005 - 1:52 pm
If the cave men had been as profoundly stupid as the current crop of “Social Scientists”, those wonderful denizens of the modern campus that Bob takes on in “Why Johnny Can’t Think”, then surely we would not be here to discuss the matter.