Wrote this one at 19. A friend submitted it to a contest and I won a poetry prize and a commendation from a Zen Priest in Japan. In Japan, great haiku are considered accidents..
Thank you for a great service- holding a mirror up to the way we think about ourselves and our world, This is at least as valuable as the individual points you make and information you share.
It's a complicated world. We live in a an enormous junk yard of broken ideas, piled one on top of the other like old cars. . We need to avoid getting hit by falling junk.
“For me, life, like evolution, is a series of accidents. No intelligent design. No dumb design No design at all.”
We all know men and they have proven themselves to be so utterly unreliable and trustworthy
Therefore, I choose not believe most of anything they say unless I can confirm myself.
Actually, it’s a safe bet if you can’t confirm then rely on your own gut but be sure to suspect the mainstream view for it’s surely wrong.
Having said that my gut tells me to reject what men have said concerning the existence of the earth and the origin of species such as the evolution theory.
Nevertheless both evolution and creation both require believing.
So then for myself I choose to believe in a Creator it’s the most powerful, beautiful and reasonable of the two.
Not to mention one has nothing to offer it simple ends here which reeks of a characteristically human earthly view of things.
While the other has reward and is otherworldly attractive something men would ordinarily not conceive.
You're right, belief in a Creator is the most powerful, beautiful, and in some sense most reasonable choice. I wish I could believe. And when I want to feel at peace I got to a church or a mosque or temple. I do believe that spirituality is one of humanity's gifts. Maybe I just have trouble with organized religions as institutions. Actually, evolution does have "design" if we think of design as meaning and logic. This is the case with the rest of universe. The question if the Designer and whether there is planning. Maybe I just want my Creator to be bigger and beyond all such things.... Thanks for your comment... Go me thinking ...er ... trying to think ...again.
Many people put God and religion in the same box and have not seen the dangers of guilt by association, or of tarring one with the same brush as the other. Of course, this is quite common. Sometimes it is called throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
Well I’ll tell you from first hand experience over many decades of searching I also came up empty.
I was I guess you could say I looking for God in all the wrong
places.
I’ve come to the conclusion man really can’t solve any problems on the contrary he creates problems even where they do not exist.
As it relates to the “rescue” objective of God which the scriptures refer to as salvation.
Man, even religious men, have made an absolute debacle, a failure in fact from the very get go.
It’s amazing when Jesus told his disciples to go out share the story in a short period, 100 years, men actually attempt to take the entire rescue/salvation of God out of God’s jurisdiction, imagine.
Matter of fact I’ll include this little note I find interesting. The apostle Paul comments in one of his letters to one of the ancient groups of early believers “after my departure I know grievous wolves will enter in not sparing the flock”
Western Christianity has hy-jacked God’s salvation and shown to the entire world it’s inability to bring salvation instead we see nothing but division which as you know is hallmark of man.
Quite frankly I don’t need someone to tell me what God said and then tell me what they think God meant by what He said.
I say just tell me what God said and I’ll make up my own mind.
Everyone with a molecule of understanding in these matters will admit relationships with God are intimately personal, a relationship between one person and God which need not include anyone else.
Take my word for it, believing is the most difficult work of all.
I mean living in a world which we can see and believing in a God which we can not see is the hardest work of all.
Which by the way believing is the only work that’s required.
I’ve actually had to pray for faith because I simply did not have any.
That’s quite a statement actually, I wanted so much to believe there was a Goodness outside this physical realm who was who He claimed to be, I wanted so much to believe it, but there so much resistance I had no faith.
Someone finally came along and said if you don’t have any faith then ask for it what better way to prove it all. He further stated: God claims He’s not far away from any man and those seek Him with a true heart will find Him.
Notice how none of this involves a religious institution of man nor a particular religious organization not even a man based religious teaching. It’s all a matter of faith in the fact that God exist and He is a rewarded of those who diligently seek after Him, which I might is a lifetimes work.
It’s not surprising those of faith naturally gravitate to other kindred spirits who share the faith.
Just remember this it is God who gives faith.
God gives a man to believe it simple a gift. Again contrary to what men spout men are not born with faith.
I’m on the spectrum and although I know I am not as smart as my favourite writers on Substack, I get a feeling that many of them, who have not swallowed the guff from the MSM and government are, likewise, on it too. To an extent we’re outsiders looking in and are unconcerned about fitting in .. coz we never did.
There are a lot of people "on the spectrum" who either don't know it -- or, as I used to, reject the idea. We are, by definition, "outsiders" but as the great philosopher Merleau Ponty said (I think) "outside is inside and inside is outside".
I have to say, I think we all have a degree of autism or ASD or whatever, and that 'disability' forces us to grow or develop abilities that at first seem due to cruel chance or in some way negative, but with time are treasured and honed. I also see the advantages of age and the slowing down or whatever as forcing us to think or learn literacy on new levels, so, here's to you and us Julian, cheers.
Darwin called his book Evolution of the species. Which supposes nothing about the origin of life but changes in species classical horse. This predated modern biology which has found the cell to be incredibly complicated. There is a YouTube video in which a computer scientist calculated that there is not enough time for life to be created randomly since each change must pass through the species and become dominate before another is introduced. I studied geology and accepted evolution but never really thought about it much till I saw that video. I think there is a lot of crap in science especially since the Covid scam. I think the elites in all fields are as stupid and corrupt as the politicians.
Thanks for putting me on to Philip Roddis. As for McGovern - -I am a BIG fan. Also you are sooooo right -- information is NOT knowledge. I haven't gotten around to setting up Stripe for donations. Not on Substack nor on my website www.ageingyoung.com. The best support come from commenters like you who introduce me to interesting writers and ideas.
I am a high IQ linear thinker. Have been accused all my life of being unable to "relate" to "normal" chaotic thinking methods. All methods are valid, though. It's the product that survives and matters, not the process. When the same people who still insist that a plane hit the Pentagon in 2001 put this narrative out, no one's radar should allow any wiggle room at all for "error" to them.
I think that "intelligence" and "thinking" are poorly understood, as is the brain and cognitive functions. Personally I think "homo sapiens" is hubris. In my second book, yet to be published, I rename him/ her/ it as Pan Ludens. The Ape that Plays.Of course, I am being a little facetious but there is real biological basis for this. As Heinlein says, we are not rational creatures, we are rationalizing animals.
Fazia já algum tempo que não recebia artigos seus.
Ficasse um tempo sem escrever??
Sempre aprecio seus escritos, assim como dos que você citou no artigo.
Ainda estou no estágio de ler o mais que posso, não sei se atingirei em algum momento o nível capaz de analisar e tirar boas conclusões, mas, espero continuar no caminho.
PS.: o Alastair Crooke citou algo escrito por você em um artigo que ele escreveu dia 17.04.2023 no SCF:
"Julian Macfarlane comentou que a Rússia iniciou uma verdadeira 'revolução', com a China agora se juntando a ela. todos os Estados têm igual direito à soberania, segurança total e pleno respeito”. Ele contextualiza isso em termos de um foco de Jefferson na tirania da Coroa Britânica, enquanto Putin formula sua doutrina de ordem multipolar, em oposição à tirania hegemônica das 'Regras' dos EUA."
It often takes me a week or more to write an article. That's because I rewrite, start to finish, so man times, as I think about what I am saying and look for contradictions and then research This article as originally twice as long! I really envy writers who can write shorter, more succinct articles.
Always interesting to read your thoughts.
I am looking forward to your book! You do great work!
Wonderful, touching and human Julian. I share your age and a lifetime of your confusing condition.
For what it's worth I managed with help to open a substack thing yesterday and will post some poems for general comment and amusement.
Health and happiness to you.
I am looking forward to your poetry.
Lying on the hillside
I cut the moon in half
With a blade of grass
Wrote this one at 19. A friend submitted it to a contest and I won a poetry prize and a commendation from a Zen Priest in Japan. In Japan, great haiku are considered accidents..
As another "on the spectrum", I like the way you think.
The way I try to think ....ummm.... Cogito ergo sum. Nahhh.... I see, I feel. Therefore I think. Therefore I am.
"Better one converted sinner than a hundred true believers !" 😉
Well, I have certainly sinned!
Thank you for a great service- holding a mirror up to the way we think about ourselves and our world, This is at least as valuable as the individual points you make and information you share.
It's a complicated world. We live in a an enormous junk yard of broken ideas, piled one on top of the other like old cars. . We need to avoid getting hit by falling junk.
“For me, life, like evolution, is a series of accidents. No intelligent design. No dumb design No design at all.”
We all know men and they have proven themselves to be so utterly unreliable and trustworthy
Therefore, I choose not believe most of anything they say unless I can confirm myself.
Actually, it’s a safe bet if you can’t confirm then rely on your own gut but be sure to suspect the mainstream view for it’s surely wrong.
Having said that my gut tells me to reject what men have said concerning the existence of the earth and the origin of species such as the evolution theory.
Nevertheless both evolution and creation both require believing.
So then for myself I choose to believe in a Creator it’s the most powerful, beautiful and reasonable of the two.
Not to mention one has nothing to offer it simple ends here which reeks of a characteristically human earthly view of things.
While the other has reward and is otherworldly attractive something men would ordinarily not conceive.
You're right, belief in a Creator is the most powerful, beautiful, and in some sense most reasonable choice. I wish I could believe. And when I want to feel at peace I got to a church or a mosque or temple. I do believe that spirituality is one of humanity's gifts. Maybe I just have trouble with organized religions as institutions. Actually, evolution does have "design" if we think of design as meaning and logic. This is the case with the rest of universe. The question if the Designer and whether there is planning. Maybe I just want my Creator to be bigger and beyond all such things.... Thanks for your comment... Go me thinking ...er ... trying to think ...again.
Many people put God and religion in the same box and have not seen the dangers of guilt by association, or of tarring one with the same brush as the other. Of course, this is quite common. Sometimes it is called throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
Well I’ll tell you from first hand experience over many decades of searching I also came up empty.
I was I guess you could say I looking for God in all the wrong
places.
I’ve come to the conclusion man really can’t solve any problems on the contrary he creates problems even where they do not exist.
As it relates to the “rescue” objective of God which the scriptures refer to as salvation.
Man, even religious men, have made an absolute debacle, a failure in fact from the very get go.
It’s amazing when Jesus told his disciples to go out share the story in a short period, 100 years, men actually attempt to take the entire rescue/salvation of God out of God’s jurisdiction, imagine.
Matter of fact I’ll include this little note I find interesting. The apostle Paul comments in one of his letters to one of the ancient groups of early believers “after my departure I know grievous wolves will enter in not sparing the flock”
Western Christianity has hy-jacked God’s salvation and shown to the entire world it’s inability to bring salvation instead we see nothing but division which as you know is hallmark of man.
Quite frankly I don’t need someone to tell me what God said and then tell me what they think God meant by what He said.
I say just tell me what God said and I’ll make up my own mind.
Everyone with a molecule of understanding in these matters will admit relationships with God are intimately personal, a relationship between one person and God which need not include anyone else.
Take my word for it, believing is the most difficult work of all.
I mean living in a world which we can see and believing in a God which we can not see is the hardest work of all.
Which by the way believing is the only work that’s required.
I’ve actually had to pray for faith because I simply did not have any.
That’s quite a statement actually, I wanted so much to believe there was a Goodness outside this physical realm who was who He claimed to be, I wanted so much to believe it, but there so much resistance I had no faith.
Someone finally came along and said if you don’t have any faith then ask for it what better way to prove it all. He further stated: God claims He’s not far away from any man and those seek Him with a true heart will find Him.
Notice how none of this involves a religious institution of man nor a particular religious organization not even a man based religious teaching. It’s all a matter of faith in the fact that God exist and He is a rewarded of those who diligently seek after Him, which I might is a lifetimes work.
It’s not surprising those of faith naturally gravitate to other kindred spirits who share the faith.
Just remember this it is God who gives faith.
God gives a man to believe it simple a gift. Again contrary to what men spout men are not born with faith.
I come from the same place as you
I’m on the spectrum and although I know I am not as smart as my favourite writers on Substack, I get a feeling that many of them, who have not swallowed the guff from the MSM and government are, likewise, on it too. To an extent we’re outsiders looking in and are unconcerned about fitting in .. coz we never did.
There are a lot of people "on the spectrum" who either don't know it -- or, as I used to, reject the idea. We are, by definition, "outsiders" but as the great philosopher Merleau Ponty said (I think) "outside is inside and inside is outside".
Thanks I really appreciate your post - I see the world in similar way am relieved that my logical cynicism is not totally unique!
I doubt that your "logical cynicism" is really "cynicism" -- just "logical". "Cynicism" is what conformists call realism and insight.
A well considered analysis. Great to see there are still those capable of this art form
I have to say, I think we all have a degree of autism or ASD or whatever, and that 'disability' forces us to grow or develop abilities that at first seem due to cruel chance or in some way negative, but with time are treasured and honed. I also see the advantages of age and the slowing down or whatever as forcing us to think or learn literacy on new levels, so, here's to you and us Julian, cheers.
Darwin called his book Evolution of the species. Which supposes nothing about the origin of life but changes in species classical horse. This predated modern biology which has found the cell to be incredibly complicated. There is a YouTube video in which a computer scientist calculated that there is not enough time for life to be created randomly since each change must pass through the species and become dominate before another is introduced. I studied geology and accepted evolution but never really thought about it much till I saw that video. I think there is a lot of crap in science especially since the Covid scam. I think the elites in all fields are as stupid and corrupt as the politicians.
Shame your still in the box that evolution is real…
But still a good read
My dear Julian.
I have been lurking and following your Substack-gems for some time, but at last I felt the need to post a comment.
I would like, if I may, to add to your must-follow-read list:
Firstly, steelcityscribblings.uk, in the form of Philip Roddis (yes, one l, and 2 d`s!!), and like you, he is "is one hell of a wordsmith."
Secondly, Ray Mcgovern if he had a substack blog.
Then one small change to your essay: "Information is not knowledge", as opposed to truth.
So thats it for know from this SAFFA living in Germany.
Oh yes, almost forgot.
Will do my best to support you on a monthly basis, just need to find the right button to click!
All the very best wishes, keep up the good work.
Cheers,
Billy
Thanks for putting me on to Philip Roddis. As for McGovern - -I am a BIG fan. Also you are sooooo right -- information is NOT knowledge. I haven't gotten around to setting up Stripe for donations. Not on Substack nor on my website www.ageingyoung.com. The best support come from commenters like you who introduce me to interesting writers and ideas.
you don't need to be on the spectrum to see the obvious lies. they aren't even trying anymore.:
Biden got 81 million votes (more than Obama) while campaigning from his basement.
Safe and effective
There are many genders
Ukraine is winning
We are not in recession
I guess they figure they don't HAVE to "try " anymore.
I am a high IQ linear thinker. Have been accused all my life of being unable to "relate" to "normal" chaotic thinking methods. All methods are valid, though. It's the product that survives and matters, not the process. When the same people who still insist that a plane hit the Pentagon in 2001 put this narrative out, no one's radar should allow any wiggle room at all for "error" to them.
But then I am approaching old, what do I know?
I think that "intelligence" and "thinking" are poorly understood, as is the brain and cognitive functions. Personally I think "homo sapiens" is hubris. In my second book, yet to be published, I rename him/ her/ it as Pan Ludens. The Ape that Plays.Of course, I am being a little facetious but there is real biological basis for this. As Heinlein says, we are not rational creatures, we are rationalizing animals.
Olá Julian.
Fazia já algum tempo que não recebia artigos seus.
Ficasse um tempo sem escrever??
Sempre aprecio seus escritos, assim como dos que você citou no artigo.
Ainda estou no estágio de ler o mais que posso, não sei se atingirei em algum momento o nível capaz de analisar e tirar boas conclusões, mas, espero continuar no caminho.
PS.: o Alastair Crooke citou algo escrito por você em um artigo que ele escreveu dia 17.04.2023 no SCF:
"Julian Macfarlane comentou que a Rússia iniciou uma verdadeira 'revolução', com a China agora se juntando a ela. todos os Estados têm igual direito à soberania, segurança total e pleno respeito”. Ele contextualiza isso em termos de um foco de Jefferson na tirania da Coroa Britânica, enquanto Putin formula sua doutrina de ordem multipolar, em oposição à tirania hegemônica das 'Regras' dos EUA."
It often takes me a week or more to write an article. That's because I rewrite, start to finish, so man times, as I think about what I am saying and look for contradictions and then research This article as originally twice as long! I really envy writers who can write shorter, more succinct articles.