Wednesday 18 February 2009

On not being judgemental.......... mostly.

My buddy Eddie from the States sent me this in an email. (A long way further down.......... stick with it!) He said it came to him whilst he was driving along to visit a friend, and he wrote it down as soon as he got there. It’s about being judgemental of others, and I’ve emailed it on. Eddie gets God way better than I do…….. but we bat it all to and fro endlessly. That's the way you get to thrash out what's good, bad, or maybe, and working or not in this life. It's the only way people like me and Eddie, can live. Endlessly wondering, and, like the song says, living with a 'Constant Craving' for something always just out of our reach. He's the most open-minded guy I know, and although it gets pretty wacky sometimes (Doesn't it Eddie??), I trust his judgement, opinions and guidance hugely, and I know it works with him as regards me too.

Anyway, I guess I’m more just plain spiritual than religious in the traditional Adam-and-Eve sense, (and so is Eddie), and in that broad and open spectrum of belief in something way bigger than 'us', I believe that something pretty weird and wacky is going on ‘Out There’.

But I don't know exactly what.

And, as far as I can see, nor does anyone else, which makes it a pity we just can't all get along believing in our different ideas on it. Lots of killing and suffering for bugger-all as far as I can see, and mostly by those who like to feel justified in what they do. That makes it not Godly, but pure Evil in my book, but, hey, what do I know, eh?

At the very least, as much as you do, that's what. :o)

I’ve been trying to get into Astronomy since buying a big six-inch reflector telescope back in September. I’ve got real memory problems, so much of what I read goes straight out again, which means I'm short of facts coming to mind here, but I do know one thing. The more you read about it, the more I know you just can’t help wondering at just what it all means, when you try to get to grips with the sheer hugeness of it all. For instance, what about stars 120 times the size of our sun, which itself is absolutely massive compared to our Earth.

Below is a pic showing how small Earth is compared to our Sun. Kinda mind boggling isn't it? :oI















Imagine a Sun 120 or more times he size of this one (Our Sun)

The distances involved are as mind boggling………… distances measured in the millions of years it takes the light to travel to us. That’s light travelling at 670,616,629 mph (Or, if you wanna be all European about it…… 1,079,252,848.8 km/h).

I can tell y’all that's bleddy fast, ..........and when you travel THAT fast, for a million years, then wherever you come from is a bleddy long way away. Travel for several million million years........ it almost ceases to be anything to do with numbers. It's beyond imagination.

Head the other way, and go way down real, real small, and it's just as impressive. Science is investigating things soooooo small we don't have the technology to detect it, let alone see it, or image it.

All boils down to something pretty special............ way more special than is ever in our various religious stories various groups of miserable humanity fights to bring supremacy to, although I'm also open to any of those stories having some of the answers.

Before anyone says it, yes, I know bugger-all about it, but at least I own up to that. Nor am I going to get into a ruck with anyone who does know a lot, because in the scheme of it all, they'll know bugger-all too. :o)

That's the trouble to being open to all the possibilities.......... you can wind up blowing up your own ass. Prolly not an altogether unpleasant experience.

I know, I know......... Sorry. :o)

So........... imagine, or rather TRY and imagine how far you’d travel in millions of years at about 670.5 million miles an hour. (How many hours in a million years....... no, lets not bother, eh?) That distance is NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING compared to what is really out there, way beyond the faintest of mankind's scientific reach. The beautiful thing is that we can all look at those wondrous celestial bodies so far away, but how many people ever really bother? Just look up at the sky on a clear night. The light from those stars you can see takes millions of years to reach us in many cases, so we can see what was there at least when the light left it's origin. That star may no longer exist. It's amazing stuff.

Get a pair of 10x50 binoculars, and look at it again, and see so many more stars, as the binoculars increase your eyes modest light-gathering power by a hundred times or so.

Amazing............ everything you can see is huge............ each and every pinprick of light.

It gets too big for my little itsy bitsy brain sometimes, but I kinda like that. If I’m having a Bad Night worrying about all the real or imagined shit that plagues me, I often go outside the back door, and look up at the stars, think about how far away some of them are, and it kinda puts things in perspective. Sometimes, in the summer at least, I get a chair out there, and sit with a cuppa (Yes, decaf tea!)

Try it next time something's got a hold of your brain, and it's frying in pure lard.

If all else fails, do it naked. Gives it an edge. (Officer) :o)

So, where was I? ……… Yup, something is definitely going on, and my view is that if whatever it is was revealed to us, there is not a human on earth who could understand it, it would be that fantastic.

Ok, so that’s my take on it all, and Eddie’s isn’t so different, he just gets the God Thing and the Faith Thing better than I do, but I’m working on it.

A lot of people don't struggle with all this stuff, and I'm not talking about religion, but all the abstract stuff surrounding us all.

It's the Thinking that does it y'know. :o)

Mind, you, those who don't wonder greatly will never go mad either. They’ll walk around for however long they've got, do stuff, and die. So will I, but I’m wondering greatly too, which is why I just might die at least a bit madder than I already am, having finally fallen out of my tree trying to see around the corner.

I hold the view that complete sanity is ho hum and boring.

Give me wacky any day. :o) (Yeah, right........... who'm I trying to kid, eh?) :o))))

I’m rambling, and have gone soooooo far from the simple writing to illustrate why we shouldn't judge others, at least too quickly anyway.

So, with humble apologies, here’s the writing that Eddie sent………..

The Courtroom

Once upon a time there was a courtroom and the courtroom resided in the head of a man.
And you were judged and I was judged and she was judged and he was judged, and there was not one single soul left upon the earth that was not judged.

And God said, "Why do you judge so?"

And the man said, "Because it helps make sense of it all"

And God said, "How do you know your judgments are true?"

And the man replied, "Because it looks so"

Then God said, "I'd like you to take a look at all these people and see how wrongly you have judged"

And God showed the people to the man, the judgment, and then the truth.

And the man realized how sad his judgments had been, how totally wrong.

And the man said, "Do we all judge ?"

And God replied, "Only those that judge, judge"

And the man said, "How do I stop this, I've done this all my life?"

And God said, "I have an idea"

And God said, "Send the jurors out for lunch, because without them the judge cannot judge. Better yet, send them on vacation. Or better yet still, send them away on a permanent vacation and the judging will stop, and the jurors will be happy because deep down they don't want to judge either”

I sent this to Suzy, and she said it reminded her of something that happened to her a long time ago that taught her to not judge people so easily.

She was on a train, and there were some a couple of kids there, misbehaving quite a bit, and their Father was just looking out of the window, seemingly impervious to their disruptive behaviour. A man sitting nearby them, said something to him; not in a critical way, but more in a conversational way, and it transpired that this father and his children were returning home from a hospital where his wife, and their Mother, had just died.

Poor sod.

Can you imagine that?

Suzy said she learned a lesson from that, not to judge people on a first glance. Imagine if she, or someone else had remonstrated with him about his kids’ behaviour. It would have been a horrible situation, and who knows the consequences from doing that, eh?

Ok, life isn’t that simple, but I guess we all could do with taking a breath, and having another ‘think’ before judging someone. Me as much as anyone, before y’all think I’m being holier-than-thou. I have had to eat my words more than a few times in this life. It goes with being outspoken, and having a ‘wading-in’ personality as opposed to a reserved dark-horse nature. I guess, in tandem with not judging, is to be ready to change your views when they’ve been proved wrong. At least I’ve always been able to do that, at least as I got older and wiser, and realised that I didn't actually know it all for sure-certain. :o)

I have been at the mercy of those who’ve judged me wrongly, especially in recent years, and steadfastly refused to apologise, or shift their position, though, and it’s done some considerable harm. (You screwball bastards know who you are!)

(Ooops, sorry y’all. It gets outta the cage every now and then!) :o)

Ok, that’s 'deep' enough for one day, eh? :o)

On a lighter note, Lomax is doing well, and my blowing oh so gently on his sore little bollocks seems to have been helping, going by the expression on his little face, and his half-closed eyes. ;o)

Sally, another good and trusted friend, said, and I quote here,……..

“……….and I don't think it's disgusting blowing on his little pink sore bits .... I think it's really sweet ... you daft sod!!!”

So, there you have it…………. Suzy thinks it’s Eeeuuugh…….. that’s nahsty”, and Sally thinks it’s “Really sweet”.

What do y’all think………. Lets have a vote! Nasty, or Sweet?
Y'all can do the poll at the top right of this Blog page.
Clever innit??? :o)

Suzy sent me this pic of Tom, who is Lomax’s brother. Suzy had the other two tomcats, which her son called Spartacus and Tom. Spartacus is a ginger colour, and Tom, like Lomax, is black and white.

Here's a pics of Spartacus and Tom when they were kittens of eight weeks or so...........



Ahhhh......... cute innit??? :o)

Suzy is much inspired by Lomax’s bravery, in fearlessly going under the Knife in order that he could selflessly spare the she-cats unable to resist his considerable charms, and so get themselves Heavy With Kitten.

‘Arrangements’ are being made even as we speak. :oI

As you can see from the picture Suzy sent this morning, Tom has his doubts.


Ok, y’all, that’s gotta be it for today………. maybe for tomorrow too. :o)))
Take care out there,
K. :o)

2 comments:

  1. At last! I always thought that you should blog. All that thinky crap needs somewhere to go ;)

    I so get this - the non judgement thing, and Suzys' example of the family on the train illustrates it's perfectly.

    Thought appears and if it causes you pain always question it. Painful thoughts can be pinned down to judgements of others pretty much every time.

    So ask yourself - Is that true? Still think so? - ask again. Can you absolutely know that it's true? How do feel when you believe that? Turn it around.

    Sorry to be a bore about it but that (if you don't recognise it) is The Work of Byron Katie (watchers - google her she's brilliant!) and it will always bring you back to a peaceful place.

    Basically it is in our nature as human beings to judge people - we can't seem to help it but as you point out it's not good for us to believe ourselves on that. So welcome the judgemental thought because what it does is bring you back to The Work and that brings you peace, learning and growth.

    I suppose that is what watching the stars does for you too. It must be fantastic to look at it all through a powerful telescope. Puts things in perspective a bit.

    You take care too xx
    Sue.

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  2. I like that, Sue......... Thinky Crap...... I'll adopt that phrase. :o)

    You're right, it needs somewhere to go.
    Have to see if I can keep it up, although it might dwindle in the Spring/Summer. It will prolly be spasmodic, as, f’rinstance, I’m buggered if I can come up with anything this afternoon. Knackered after a rough everything-that-could-go-wrong-did-go-wrong shift at work.

    Anyway, thanks for the comment. Wise. :o)
    K.xxx

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