the watchmaker...an analogy

The most famous statement of the teleological argument using the watchmaker analogy was given by William Paley in 1802. Paley's argument was seriously challenged by Charles Darwin's formulation of the theory of natural selection, and how it combines with mutation to improve survivability of a species, even a new species. In the United States, starting in the 1980s, the concepts of evolution and natural selection (usually referred to by opponents as "Darwinism") became the subject of a concerted attack by Christian creationists.

However...some believe that they have an answer to this...



...and what of Paley? Well...that is no mystery. Just ask Darwin...

In order to pass the B.A. examination, it was, also, necessary to get up Paley's Evidences of Christianity, and his Moral Philosophy. . . The logic of this book and as I may add of his Natural Theology gave me as much delight as did Euclid. The careful study of these works, without attempting to learn any part by rote, was the only part of the Academical Course which, as I then felt and as I still believe, was of the least use to me in the education of my mind. I did not at that time trouble myself about Paley's premises; and taking these on trust I was charmed and convinced of the long line of argumentation.

Charles Darwin. Autobiography

Paley's argument...

if God had taken such care in designing even the most humble and insignificant organisms, how much more must God care for humanity!

The hinges in the wings of an earwig, and the joints of its antennae, are as highly wrought, as if the Creator had nothing else to finish. We see no signs of dimunition of care by multiplicity of objects, or of distraction of thought by variety. We have no reason to fear, therefore, our being forgotten, or overlooked, or neglected.

Paley struggled to reconcile the apparent cruelty and indifference of nature with his belief in a good God, and finally concluded that the joys of life simply outweighed its sorrows.

Life's joys outweigh the sorrows...good thought...no matter what the watchmaker was thinking...perhaps we are all a little late...when our time comes.

Oh...and Gould...well he needed to argue something other than bad design...you know...God does not play dice...and there is no bad design...just works in progress.

Love,
The Lass

The hubble field

and this my friends...is the whole of it.




take a look...at the most important image ever taken...it will give you pause. If it doesn't...we need to talk.

Love,
The Lass

happy father's day....

To all the men in my life...happy are you have son's and daughters...to make you crazy...and make your life eternal...



Love,
The Lass

No one says it quite like Cat...no it isn't easy...but take your time...and think....

Obama the lightworker? Okay...just what we needed...

Well, this was predictable. How spiritual...how absolutely Oprah spiritual...the light worker. What is frightening about this hole topic is...no doubt there are people who believe this. What am I speaking of? Read on...

Many spiritually advanced people I know (not coweringly religious, mind you, but deeply spiritual) identify Obama as a Lightworker, that rare kind of attuned being who has the ability to lead us not merely to new foreign policies or health care plans or whatnot, but who can actually help usher in a new way of being on the planet, of relating and connecting and engaging with this bizarre earthly experiment. These kinds of people actually help us evolve. They are philosophers and peacemakers of a very high order, and they speak not just to reason or emotion, but to the soul.

There's a vast amount of positive energy swirling about that's been held back by the armies of BushCo darkness, and this energy has now found a conduit, a lightning rod, is now effortlessly self-organizing around Obama's candidacy.


Mark Morford...wrote this.

Well Mark...I feel your pain. I mean really...I think you have gone off the deep end...or hopefully this is satire. In any case...I would like to add my own "Spiritual Spin". Obama...is a left...far left politician...who has you all charmed...and that means he is much like another snake oil salesman...not naming names...

Oh...and one more thing...

Don't listen to that man....

Love,
The Lass

Maslow and a bit of an argument.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a theory by Abraham Maslow that states that humans have five basic needs: psychology, safety, love/belonging, esteem and self-actualization. These needs are arranged in a hierarchy where the higher needs come into focus when lower needs are satisfied.

While Maslow's theory makes intuitively sense in our western culture there is no scientific evidence to support such hierarchy. Maslow supposedly rethought his theory at the end of his life. Even though the theory lacks scientific support it is very common in psychology textbooks and many people are exposed to it.

I personally think it is an ill-conceived concept that limits people in their struggle to live fulfilled lives. It gives people the idea that happiness depends on satisfying needs. In reality people overestimate the impact of satisfying a need due to something called impact bias. I think that the struggle of satisfying needs and avoiding pain is a major source of unhappiness in our society today. I think it is time that we get rid of Maslow's theory.

Really???? Yes Really...

Read on....

As a trained Behaviorist, this was the beginning point for Maslow. But then he changed his mind. How did that happen? When? What trigger it? He tells about the change in The Farther Reaches of Human Nature.

“Our first baby changed me as a psychologist. It made the Behaviorism I had been so enthusiastic about look so foolish that is could not stomach it any more. It was impossible.” (p. 163)

As he recognized that babies come with an inner self or inner nature, the over-simplicity of the Behaviorist model would no longer do. As this new understanding grew, he later wrote the following as recorded by Edward Hoffman his biographer in The Right to be Human: A

Biography of Abraham Maslow (1988).

“Man is ultimately not molded or shaped into humanness. . . . The environment does not give him potentialities and capacities; he has them in inchoate or embryonic form, just exactly as he has embryonic arms and legs. And creativeness, spontaneity, selfhood, authenticity, caring for others, being able to love, yearning for truth are embryonic potentialities belonging to his species-membership just as much as are his arms and legs, brain and eyes.” (p. 232, italics added)

So it was in the last year of his life, about 1970, he evaluated his theory and the many case studies of individuals who had taken it up as a way to guide their lives. He found about 95-98% of the people did not do as well as his theory predicted. The reason was that they lacked a general moral and spiritual system of value and contact with God, Spirit.

He then revised his theory, calling it "Theory Z," to include at the top of the self-actualization hierarchy, God-realization or Self-realization. He was back where his intuition began, at the cost of many people not doing as well as they might have, if he'd been more brave.

What are you talking about lass? Ok...keep reading...

Saint Therese of Neumann lived, under 24/7 National Socialist military and medical hostile inspection and guard, without water or food, for decades. She stated she lived on God's Light. She lost no weight, and witnessed Christ Jesus' crucifixion on a weekly Friday basis, during the "Book of Revelation" outpicturing of the "mark of the beast" in Nazi Germany. Paramahansa Yogananda, a Saint, bravely visited her (he was not Blond and Blue-Eyed, you see), and both co-witnessed the Crucifixion records displayed for Saint Therese, and said he understood how she was indeed living on the Light of God. He joked to her, don't tell anyone...it will put the farmers out of a job. (Chronicled in "Autobiography of a Yogi,"

Just consider this...when considering needs...the soul is directly linked with God...and in that...no food, no other needs can or will come between it...and the light of God's Grace...

What proof? Well...let's see...I think Christ is a very good example.

Think it is time to go to sleep...I do need to do that.

Love you all...

The royal pain in the neck...and loving you all for putting up with her.

The Lass

Oh...and El Cid...I read the book...now time to argue...oops...debate...oops...discuss...oh I think you understand...you self-actualized...oops...soulful woman...living in God's good grace.

somewhere...

Far beyond the sea...he is there waiting for me. Well I think you get the message...a sailor's heart...sailing into his heart...somewhere out there he is waiting...



Some may think me foolish to have waited...some may think me foolish for having faith. But I think I always knew...for me...there would be but one...and that is the truth of it.

Counting down the days to Alaska again...to celebrate a wedding. And in that...celebrate life...just as I love to do.

Love,
The Lass