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Fri 1 Jul, 2005 08:43 pm
Hi everybody! (waving paw at you)
It's your cute, adorable, fuzzy wuzzy, Stray Cat!!! It's the holiday weekend. I'm just having a couple glasses of wine, kicking back and enjoying!!
I'm so in the mood to philosophize! So here goes...feel free to join in if you want to...on any topic...
I want to start with the idea of "Blind Faith"..... which is something I've been thinking about. Now, people often sneer at that. They think it's only for brain-washed cult members living in an ashram. But is it? Really?
Frankly, I don't know how anybody gets through life without some "blind faith" once in a while at least.
I'm of the opinion that you could be the most cynical atheist or the most undecided agnostic -- but you must have had a moment when you had to make a leap of faith -- or maybe, someone took a leap of faith in you.
When I was in high school -- just a teenage Stray Cat -- I was so excited when I got my Learner's Permit. I was all revved up to get my license. But I remember when my Dad sat me down and had a talk with me.
He said, "Stray, if anything happens.....if your car breaks down on you...don't accept help from anyone...no matter how nice or how kind they look...don't even roll down the window...just say, "thanks, but help is on the way." You don't ever.....EVER ....accept help from anyone....but the police!!!
"The police regularly patrol the highways and sidestreets," Dad went on to explain.... "so you just sit tight...they should be the only ones that you accept help from. "
Then my Mom chimed in, "but what if the policeman is bad?" To which my Dad answered, "well.....sometimes, you've got to trust somebody."
That story has taken on a whole new significance to me as I go through life. What my Dad was saying was, that there are times when you have to make that leap of faith. You can be discriminating about who you trust...you might, for instance have better luck with the police officer than just any ol' body,....but sometimes....you just have to bite the bullet and ....trust!! You have to have ....blind faith!!
How about 9/11? Imagine how terrifying and traumatic that was for the people who were trapped in the towers....finding themselves hurt....and buried under a pile of rubble....What got them through?
I think it must have been one of those "blind faith" moments..Maybe they had blind faith in God...mayble they prayed to God.....maybe they had blind faith in others, like the firemen (if I can just hold on, I know they'll find me), ....or maybe they had blind faith in themselves...(I can do it, I'm going to live..)
Oh! And those successful people who go around saying they did it all on their own? I think they're full of it. Coz' I don't think anybody really does it all on their own.
I think, somewhere along the line, someone gave them a break..someone took a leap of faith in them..even though they really didn't have to...
So, there are times in anyone's life, whether you regularly practice a particular religion, whether you are a fence-sitting agnostic, or whether you are a cynical "show-me" atheist, that you have to have blind faith...if not if God, then in other people, or even....just in yourself!!
That's just my thought for today....but you can feel free to post here about anything that's on your mind...
Religious faith is a whole nother animal. Like comparing donuts to bagels.
Well, yeah.....What I'm saying is there are people who have that religious faith -- I'm one of them -- but even those who don't, have had those moments when they've had to have blind faith!!
I'm saying you can't get through life without it -- whether you have a traditional appreciation of religion -- or even if you don't.
Am I getting too deep here? (wiping down bar with cloth)
Damn!! My philosophy pub's really tanking. Nobody wants to talk about anything over Fourth of July weekend.
They all just want to stuff their faces with hot dogs and have a beer.
Not that I particularly care. I was just in a mood to shoot the breeze tonight.
I'll have to start another pub -- another time.....(wiping down bar with cloth)
<pushes through the saloon doors, walks in, sits down at the bar, strikes a wooden match off his own stubbled cheek, and lights up a rather mangy-looking hand-rolled cigarette...>
Blind Faith. Can't Find My Way Home. Great song. Not a great band, but they had their moments.
This is the Blind Faith thread, right?
Kicky's arm slides off the bar and onto his leg, waking him. He opens his eyes and realizes he has fallen asleep on the bar. Again. There is the faint smell of cat fur in the air.
He looks around the place. Empty. Quiet. No sign of anyone, let alone Stray Cat. He sees a jukebox in the corner. He gets up and walks to it.
He pulls out a crumpled five-dollar bill, smooths it out by sliding it across the top edge of the jukebox a couple times, and slides it into the machine. The sound of buttons being pushed echoes loudly through the room as he selects several random songs without much thought.
Barry Manilow's voice begins to waft it's way through the room.
You remind me...I live in a shell...
Kicky looks around the empty room, and quietly begins to sing along.
safe from the past and doin' okay...but not very weeeell...
Kicky walks to the bar and picks up a random bottle from behind the bar. It happens to be Old Grand Dad. He unscrews the top, takes a big swig, and resumes his singing, this time, with some feeling.
...no jolts, no surprises...no crisis arises......my life goes along as it should...
...singing very loud now, intensity building as he feels the chorus approach...
...IT'S ALL VERY NICE...BUT NOT VERY GOOOOOD...
...AND...I'M...READY TO TAKE A CHAAAANCE AGAIN...READY TO PUT MY LOVE ON THE LINE WITH YOOOOUUUU...
...arms raised, really belting it out now...
...BEEN LIVIN' WITH NOTHING TO SHOW FOR IT...
...pumping fist with emotion...
...YOU GET WHAT YOU GET WHEN YOU GO FOR IT...AND I'M READY TO TAKE A CHANCE AGAIN...WITH YOOOOOOOUUUU...
I try to be optimistic about how a predicament will turn out and usually have a gut feeling about whether or not to trust a person or a situation. I know I have acted on blind faith before, but, couldn't that also mean "following your instincts"?
BTW, set kicky there up with another drink while I set up the karaoke machine so he can sing that Manilow song againÂ…I think he's got potential!
(Holding cold cloth over eyes, due to severe hangover)
Is....somebody.....there?
(Lifts cloth up, just a little and peers into pub)
Wow! Looks like my pub did better business than I thought!!! Especially since I don't even have a license to run one of these things....
pussy
interesting question
but no
there is no such thing as your leap of faith
it is merely mind games
Hmmm....well, that's interesting, Steve. But I'd have to say that I think "mind games" are something separate from what I'm talking about.
A "mind game," IMO, would be if I were trying to get you to do something without you realizing it. I think that's something very different from what I was talking about as far as having "blind faith" in someone.
I think colorbook came closer to what I was referring to when he used the words "trust" or "instincts." (Although, I think there's some controversy over whether human beings actually have "instincts" the way animals do.)
However, I think of trust as something that you normally give to someone you've known for a while -- and they've "earned" your trust. As opposed to the "blind faith" I was talking about, that you would give to someone that you don't know very well -- or they might even be a complete stranger.
It could be that "gut feeling" colorbook mentioned -- or it could be because of what they represent (police officer = safety, fireman = will rescue me). See what I mean?
Anyway, I have to go out for a while now. So help yourself to the drinks, people!!
a little cautionary tale about leaps of faith
a man is very successful in his business, and he decides to prepare his teenage son to take over the company some day, he teaches him all about bookkeeping and inventory recording, and how to deal withcustomer and employee problems, and one day he tells his son he is going to teach his son the most important lesson a man in business will learn.
he tells him to climb up on the roof of the house and stand at the edge
now jump, the father says, and i will catch you
the child jumps and the father walks away
as the child lays bruised and bleeding on the ground, he asks his father, why didn't you catch me
the father replies, the most important rule of business son, don't trust anybody, not even your own father
Heee! Well, I like the story, djjd...and believe me, I get what you're saying. I do get it!
But let's say the same employer has three candidates show up for a job interview -- all equally qualified, all have pleasant enough personalities. So he now has to make a decision, "which one to hire?" So he says, (slapping fist on table), "I'm going to hire that one!"
You can call it a "gut feeling." But, for some reason, he thinks this one particular person has something...or that one person just appeals to him in some way. So...isn't that taking a leap of faith..and hoping that he has, indeed, picked the best person for the position? Even when there is really no "logical" reason to think so?
Hic! Sorry, shouldn't have that last glass of wine...boy, I serve good stuff here!
He...me neither. I just had a nice glass of Pinot Grigio. Feeling niiiiiice....
You boozehound! Er, I guess that should be boozekitty, huh...
(licking paws,...ignoring that one)..
Kicky fires up the jukebox...Karma Police, by Radiohead begins to play...
Would you care to dance?
(hic)...sure....pick me up....(hic)...off the bar....
Stumble It!
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