In the beginning, God created skies and earth.
Welcome back. I hope you are well today.
It’s just plain American to disdain indoctrination in others, but ignore it in ourselves. I have little time and energy for being indoctrinated when I know it's happening to me.
I acknowledge that I too am indoctrinated. I believe capitalism is the best economic system in the world, even when it blows up every fifty years or so. I believe I live in the greatest country ever even though we love war and the Dollar Almighty.
But my indoctrination will only go so far. I prefer not to cross that line where a doctrine becomes a superstition or an idol. So, I have some rule to live by.
“If it doesn’t happen, it probably never happened.”
A variant of that is: “If it cannot happen, then it probably never happened.”
For instance, it happens that people who get cancer live. In many cases, apparently if you listen to people talk, the doctors say, “There’s no natural explanation for why so and so was cured,” even after chemo and radio and whatever-o therapy was applied. Then, someone says, “It was a miracle.”
Okay. This happens a lot. What does not happen is someone gets cancer, a witch doctor or another modern shaman, called a spiritual healer, utters an incantation and the cancer floats out of the body, to the wonderment of all those present and taking cell phone pictures that are not faked, and then turns into a Hershey bar.
The former scenario is possible among a very low percentage of blessed survivors…I suppose. The latter does not happen except in a Mel Brooks movie.
My favorite rule of thumb is Occam’s razor: the simplest explanation is the best.
William of Occam: 1287-1347 CE
By simplest, William of Occam did not mean the explanation that is the easiest to believe. If that were true all religions and politics would be more scientific than a microscope. No, he simply meant the explanation that does not require a lot of other explanations to make it true is probably the best explanation.
For example, ancient people watched the same sky we watch today. They believed the sun and planets moved over a flat and fixed earth. They did not know that earth was a planet. Without instruments, how could they think otherwise?
Next time, I will write about the planet Jupiter and faith.
Blessings…
I acknowledge that I too am indoctrinated. I believe capitalism is the best economic system in the world, even when it blows up every fifty years or so. I believe I live in the greatest country ever even though we love war and the Dollar Almighty.
But my indoctrination will only go so far. I prefer not to cross that line where a doctrine becomes a superstition or an idol. So, I have some rule to live by.
“If it doesn’t happen, it probably never happened.”
A variant of that is: “If it cannot happen, then it probably never happened.”
For instance, it happens that people who get cancer live. In many cases, apparently if you listen to people talk, the doctors say, “There’s no natural explanation for why so and so was cured,” even after chemo and radio and whatever-o therapy was applied. Then, someone says, “It was a miracle.”
Okay. This happens a lot. What does not happen is someone gets cancer, a witch doctor or another modern shaman, called a spiritual healer, utters an incantation and the cancer floats out of the body, to the wonderment of all those present and taking cell phone pictures that are not faked, and then turns into a Hershey bar.
The former scenario is possible among a very low percentage of blessed survivors…I suppose. The latter does not happen except in a Mel Brooks movie.
My favorite rule of thumb is Occam’s razor: the simplest explanation is the best.
William of Occam: 1287-1347 CE
By simplest, William of Occam did not mean the explanation that is the easiest to believe. If that were true all religions and politics would be more scientific than a microscope. No, he simply meant the explanation that does not require a lot of other explanations to make it true is probably the best explanation.
For example, ancient people watched the same sky we watch today. They believed the sun and planets moved over a flat and fixed earth. They did not know that earth was a planet. Without instruments, how could they think otherwise?
Next time, I will write about the planet Jupiter and faith.
Blessings…
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