Fear

Fear is an interesting thing. It drives much of what goes on around us in the world, and unfortunately, much of what most of us do (I think).

Now this might seem a little obvious, especially at present with the state of the world and our Global Economic Meltdown and the fear that is driving markets. Fear of losing money, jobs, etc. And before that we've had the global war on terror. But putting these Global/Social fears aside they tend to over shadow the everyday fears that drive (pretty much) all our lives.

Am I too fat, too thin, not pretty enough, not funny enough, do I earn enough money, have I made the right decisions, will I make the right decisions, am I happy, do my friends like me, am I accepted??? etc, etc, etc.

Fear is no way to live life. Someone much smarter and thoughtful than I once said....

"Fear is the baseless fabric of our own vision. Fear has no place in our hearts when we have shaken off the attachment for wealth, for family and for the body."

Fear tends to be based upon our unrealistic expectations and view of the world around us. That somehow we can cheat death and destruction and hold onto the things around us. That for some illogical reason rather than accepting what comes our way we can wrestle control of the uncontrollable through worry, denial, striving, religion, or any number of other mechanisms which doesn't actually increase our control.

And yes, even as a religious man and ardent follower of Christ I lump religion into that category. Tosteal another quote from Gandhi...

"Fearlessness is the first requistite of spirituality. Cowards can never be moral."

Now I think that cuts pretty deep. How many people can truely say they are fearless? Fearlessness means being able to put what is right before what you want. To put what is right before yourself.

And it goes further.

"Fearlessness is a sine qua non for the growth of the other noble qualities. How can one seek truth or cherish love without fearlessness?"

To truely love someone you need to be fearless. Love requires a certain acceptance of vulnerability and trust. And unfortunately we live in a society and world that does not promote the growth of noble human qualities. It promotes fear, not love or acceptance, it promotes selfish interest and nurtures hatred.

The first step I believe is being aware of fear.

"There is so much superstition and hypocrisy around that one is afraid to even do the right thing. But if one gives way to fear, even truth will have to be suppressed. The golden rule is to act fearlessly upon what one believes to be right."

To Infinity........

The world is coming to an end if you hadn't heard. Particle accelerator experiments at CERN may create tiny black holes which some scientists think could join and destroy humanity. It's unlikely, or so i'm led to believe.

We had a discussion today at lunch about theoretical physics. Dark matter, dark energy, and other things that even most cluey physicsts I know don't understand. Someone commented on how pointless it all is, how meaningless everything and existence is. We are one tiny part of something so huge and mind boggling that it beggars belief.

But in all that here we are. You and me. Of all that exists we are possibly the most complex, most improbable of all. But that's not it. There is something beautiful in my opinion about accepting this and facing infinity with an eagerness, and joy and to do so with hope, respect and dignity. That is not meaningless. Far from it. If anything it surely gives meaning to everything. We are in the most privileged position to either be the best or the worst or somewhere inbetween of what this universe has to offer.

Bloody awesome I reckon.

To infinity and beyond.

Faith in the WA Elector........ Restored

Well, after the boringness of State politics the WA electors have spoken. And they've really livened things up! Thank goodness.

It's restored a bit of my faith in the WA voting public, the swing from Labour and their useless waste of 8 years and however many billions of surplus dollars. And there's been a good swing towards not only the arguably lack luster Liberals, but thankfully to the Nationals and independents.

Way to spice up State politics. Lets just hope that it leads to good outcomes for the state. I'm opimistic personally about some of the smaller parties and independents having some power. I also really hope the other larger parties take notice that the voters ain't quite as big a bunch of dumb-arses as they seem to think.

Stay posted. It's not over yet ;)

Sex Slaves, Swingers and Totally Addicted to Blog....

I have a problem and it's time that I share it.

I've been occassionally checking the http://blogs.news.com.au site and reading the "ask bossy" blogs. The short is that people write in with problems, they get posted up and the lady who runs the site gives suggestions and comments. Then the real fun begins. It's open slather and every joe smoe gets to give comments, abuse and generally vent their spleen.

It amazes me the problems people have and is a real insight into the human condition (seriously). As are the responses of the masses.

The latest one has a lady writing in about her boy friend of 4.5 yrs whose started getting a little freaky and controlling when it comes to sex (sorry I probly shouldn't be judgemental and use "freaky"). He's indicated that he's upfor her having sex with his friends and other girls while he watches.

Now you'd think this'd surprise me but I've been following the site for a month or more now so I'm a bit desensitised to the freakiness that seems to occur out there in the "real world". What surprised me more was some of the comments by the sites writer who is apparently a psychologist or something maybe. She spoke to an "expert" about rough sex and fantasy stuff.

"You ask a lot of interesting questions about this issue and I have to admit I’m far from an expert when it comes to slavery or rough sex. So I asked a real expert, practicing dominatrix and Mistress Amanda Dwyer, who runs Sydney’s Salon Kitty’s, and has pretty much seen it all. Here’s what she says about your situation: “Fantasies such as one partner ‘owning and controlling’ the other are quite common for both men and women and are of themselves no reason to start worrying about whether there are severe problems within the relationship. Having sex in public places, roughing up, humiliation, abduction, interrogation, rape and swinging are all variations of exploring ownership and control of which sex slavery is very much part of the theme. In my experience I’ve found both sexes are interested in watching their partners having sex with another (swinging). I’ve observed men are far more interested in their partners being involved with another male or female, while women seem happier to voyeur their partner with another woman rather than another male."

I've bolded the bits that surprised me. I'd personally be worried if my partner had fantasies about owning or controlling me. Might not be a problem with the relationship, but that's surely a problem of theirs they need to see someone about.

And "In my experience I’ve found both sexes are interested in watching their partners having sex with another " What the!?!! Is it just me, but I don't think I'd be into sharing in that way.

Anyways, it's very educational reading some of this stuff, both in terms of what some people get up to and have to face in their lives, as well as aspects of your own life it questions and/or strengthens.

Still judge not lest ye be judged :)

(that goes for freaky swingers as well as me reading these sort of blogs. ;)

The State of the Election

I took my car in for a service today. I'm on the bus on the way to work and I thought I'd try blogging from my phone. It's really quite relaxing using public transport.

How's the WA election campaign going? It's boring, short sighted, and lacking in any sort of substance. I'm a public servant, and i've seen things grind to a holt over the past couple of months leading up to the election. Seriously. The government doesn't really seem to want to govern incase they give the opposition some ammunition or stuff up and so far the opposition hasn't explained what they are going to bring to the party. Piss weak.

But really, I think it's our own fault. Society in general. We seem more interested in personalities, gossip, etc. We're interested in what we can get, such as a quick tax cut. We whinge about education, health, carers, but what do we do other than whinge? Our politicians are the short sighted product of our short sighted society.

And what's the solution? I have to admit I consider myself a moderately informed and interested whinger. What can I do? Does voting for a minor party really make a difference? Can we make a difference? Are we too far gone as a society?

Whoever wins is probly not that big a deal. It's all much of a muchness and we're getting what we deserve.

How depressing.

Legalism and Revisiting Baptism

Any of you who know me will know this has been a point of contention for me the last couple of years. I attend a COC that has what I believe is a narrow definition of baptism that somehow means according to them I haven't actually been baptised and so can't become a member.

The upside is that I've done a lot of reading , praying, discussing and I have a much better understanding of baptism than I did before. Rather than changing my opinion of my own baptism I think it has strengthened it and has deepened my relationship with God. It's also made me a little more understanding of others.

I was reading something last night that reminded me about the whole baptism thing. It's a book on the life and history of Jesus (I think "Jesus, the greatest life of all". Sorry I don't remember the author or the ISBN Jodie ;)). The chapter I read last night discusses the historical significance of the pharisee's and sadducee's, how they came about, why they opposed each other in a semi-symbiotic way, and their significance to the time Jesus lived in and to the message he brought.

Middo's recently written about legalism. Well this was out of control at the time Jesus lived. The Pharisee's had laws for everything. For example the sabbath had 39 laws RE what you couldn't do, and the focus had come off what the point of the day of rest was.

Luke 6:1-5 – 1Now it happened on a Sabbath, Jesus was passing through grain fields, and his
disciples were plucking and eating heads of grain by rubbing them in their hands. 2Then some of the Pharisees said, “Why do you do what is illegal for Sabbath?” 3Answering them, Jesus said, “Have none of you read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him?” 4How he entered the house of God, and taking the bread of offering, he ate and he gave to those with him, that which was illegal to eat except for the priests alone?” 5Then he said to them, “The son of man is lord of the Sabbath.”

Man wasn't created for the sabbath, rather the sabbath was created for men. The Pharisee's had flipped this around.

Now I was thinking last night about how this related to baptism, and the belief that baptism must be by full immersion and you have to be at least 13 or older (or whichever age you pick). Now my opinion is that this is legalism. Baptism was created for man, not man for baptism. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not pointing the finger if you believe Jesus was baptised by full immersion as an adult and that's how you want it. I spose I'm saying if you judge other peoples baptism against this you are venturing into the area of legalism and judgmentalism.

Now moving on from this point, it's my opinion that Christians in general are and have been too legalistic for too long, and maybe always. I think many of us unfortunately place sin above the person (e.g. sex before/outside marriage, homosexuality, abortion, gambling, drinking, drug taking, protitution etc, etc.). Grace and salvation are offered for all, despite sin or anything else. Thank God I reckon. I hope I'm slowly getting better at living that.

A Question About Jesus

I work with Physicists. Now I am a physicist myself and we tend to be logical, calculating, reasoning types (as well as nerds for the most part ;). I'm the only Christian or even religious person in the group of us that have lunch everyday and we often have quite good discussions about religion (as well as lots of other stuff). While not being believers the others are quite open and understanding, even though they can't understand why I would believe in a god.


One asked a question today which I don't really have a good answer for yet. "Why did God need to send Jesus to suffer and die?" Simple question and I think most christians would give a simple answer. But why was Jesus' life forfeit for our sins? My friend asked "why couldn't God just forgive us?" I think it's a lot more complicated and there is much more to it that we often credit.


We both understood the importance and significance of God becoming man and providing an example to us, rather than simply sending instructions or commands. But why the requirement to die? I speculated that this could be related to Jewish practices at the time, where forgiveness or atonement was related to sacrifice. But this still doesn't explain why Jesus' death was necessary.


Any thoughts? I'd appreciate some help/insight into this one. :)