CYBERNATIAN

On The Contrary 

The failure  of the Big tree that threatened the lively hood of many or all whose nest was built on.

     As we lay men, particularly from a certain part of the world and certain section of the world population are prone to telling a story to convey an opinion, a wisdom of our ancestors and a piece of advice we deem necessary that people know;

     So here again, I tell a story that is not backed up by any of the methods of known standards of learned men and women of the time, but simply and innocently as any innocent lay man observes them. As we lay men had no backing of the enlightenment that most are endowed, we make no claim of empiricism of science and broad analytical indices to say what feel is right and wrong. We just say them, and our backs are often flexible to the onslaught when it comes and to carry the burden when loaded. Our empiricism is grounded in our collective personal experiences and our indices our traditions that have been passed from our ancestors down the line for generations. In that tradition and without much due emphasis and attention to the norms and standards of modern day academics and the sophistication of terminology and methodology here is an idiomatic story as we lay people see it and feel it.

    I grew up in Africa, Then Africa was not stripped of its trees and there were ample around. Then there were trees that birds could nest on as sparsely as they wished, In time as all Africa’s natural resources, trees were being chopped down leaving fewer every passing day forcing the birds to congregate their nesting more and more to the remaining fewer trees. These processes continued unabated by either nature or human ingenuity till there was only a tree or two remained in a considerable land mass. As knowledge of the vitality of the trees to the well being of the birds and humanity set in, every one scrambled to protect the remaining big trees despite the understanding of the trees morbidity due to lack of support and dependencies on its kinds and equals. The effort to avert the morbidity inherent in nature would have been in vain. Now, the huge seemingly all accommodating tree is not up to the task and due to the increased and concentrated predators visible and invisible, over surface and under surface simply gives in threatening the entire colony. It would be a matter of layman’s logic and rational to say that it would have not been enough nor would it have been appropriate to make the effort to save the last of the morbid trees than to let them die, but to let them grow to the point where every bird has to build its nest on it in the first place. A hundred bushes would have accommodated the number of bird nests and the human needs included better and the failure of one or two would have by much less threatening and have effectual consequences. At last this layman asks a rhetorical question and rests. Knowing that letting the big tree grow to the point where its failure threatens the well being of the entire colony was wrong in the first place, Wouldn’t prudence dictate that as the colony makes an effort to prolong its life, yet make a double triple effort in planting many replacement trees and let them not grow too big again to the point where they have to be propped up by the entire colony to avert their failure so as to make the failure of one or some yet a natural replaceable act?  

 

 

Ayele Teklemariam

 

To Daniel Donnet's View of Religion

 I feel it might shade some light as to how much and how far religious zealots  has gone and is going in literally controlling and disciplining if one is seen to deviate from the official line. The belief in miracle and the making a miracle as the central ethos to their mysticism they have become willing and not at all hesitant to deploy any and all known gadgets and know how to perversely influence, coerce, dominate and subjugate any and all real and perceived deviants. One can cry out loud and there is no help or even sympathy despite the constitutional guarantees for individual rights to worship or not worship, belong or not belong, this letter I believe serves as compliment to the article By Daniel Dennet on religion. Though I disagree with his ideas of what religion and spirituality ought to be and how it ought to be practiced, I strongly agree with his description of the perverse practices by some and even by the overwhelming majority of the authorities of organized religion. 

Organized religion is about interest and material class and group fulfillment not about the inner search for the truth and individual and social self fulfillment despite the audacious self portrayal. As to making the most vital decisions of our lives in consultation with our inner voices I cannot understand the objections to that as we all make our vital life and death decisions in consultation with our inner voices and I see no exception to that. But if our inner voices somehow become inner voices of our religions authorities inner voices' as is often the case, the concern is justified. Organization presupposes classification professionalism, specialization and division of labor on the basis these stratifications.  Is it any wonder then that like all socially stratified structures those in the high end of the structure to have a stake in mystifying the practice and making it shrouded in secrets in defense of their acquired or given status. If any irrationality is condoned or encouraged in any social structure there is no need to explain that it could only be by those who are able and are in position to do so and it is clear who those could be that it needs no explanation. The one big note to be made here is though that all hierarchical social structures are susceptible of encouraging acts of irrationality and irrational exuberance with varying degrees (the curse of division of labor and social stratification).

As these religious institutions and social structures gave rise to science and scientific institution and  the continuous  ineptitude of the latter to find answers for the fundamental perplexing issues of ours' and everything Else's beginning, current existence and future destiny; had engendered and continues to engender the ever continued appeal of the practice of religion and spirituality. The truth of spirituality has been for Melina and I am sure will continue for another to be an effort to find in ones inner self the truth and self that is lucking in the material and scientific world out there, here and everywhere. That search in the gaps by itself  between the material realities of yesterday, today and tomorrow that that we can reach only by our intuition's and that which we can only imagine and could not quantify and qualify by all other ways and means yet available will always draw us to spirituality individually and collectively.

Ayele Teklematiam

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