What Makes Us Stupid?

Well, Gentle Reader, I really don't have an answer available, given that I am saying "What makes us stupid?" which is to imply that I really don't have the intelligence either to figure out the answer.  Every day, I see people behaving stupidly.  Smokers are the most common offenders.  Ever since the early Sixties' or so we have known that smoking can kill us and that fifty percent of smokers will die from smoking caused illness.  People still light up, and especially those who can least afford to: the poor, homeless, those who cannot afford their habit.  They still persist in lighting up.  And don't get me started about other addictions and harm reduction, which, without sufficient treatment and rehab quickly turns into harm production.

Then there was the idiot on the bike who did a left hand turn in front of me as I was crossing Burrard Street on a walk signal.  I called him out on it and he responded with his upraised precious middle finger.  I replied "Nice finger.  What do you use it for?"

Cyclists really seem to have the corner on stupid.  Shortly after there was the rocket scientist on two wheels riding up on the sidewalk right next to the clearly designated bike path.

Bus drivers can be pretty bad too.  Today, we listened while quietly rolling our eyes as this particularly stupid looking transit operator complained bitterly to a transit passenger about the new bike share program and how those awful bicycles block parking spaces without considering that that might be part of the idea.  I really had to hold my tongue and I have learned the hard way that only those with a death wish will try to publicly educate the wilfully stupid.

I will also feature here the letter I wrote this morning to one of our weekly newspapers, my response to a very angry born-again atheist.: 

I would like to respond to Bruce Levens' letter to this weeks Courier`.

 

I find Mr. Leven's tone to be quite angry and vitriolic which begs the question of why he would protest so much about a process so innocent and personal as prayer.  People of faith are not particularly interested in having our claims backed by scientific evidence for the simple reason that they are two very different entities that respond and appeal to very distinct facets of the human personality.  Not everything needs to nor ought to be validated by scientific inquiry, especially matters of faith, love, mercy and justice.  As I said these are very different entities, apples and oranges.

 

My experience of prayer, because I am a person who prays regularly and frequently, suggests something quite different from Mr. Levens' claim that "Prayer distracts from seeking practical, proven scientific approaches to problem solving and creates irrational expectations about God's intervention."  When I am in prayer I become calm and centred and more aware of the practical measures that I need to take to resolve or address a situation.  The two practices, in my experience, prayer and pragmatism, work together, hand-in-glove.  They are both-and, rather than either-or.  True, there are those who abuse prayer and try to use it as a substitute for taking responsible action, but these are generally the exceptions.  It is also helpful to know that when people of faith try to use prayer as an excuse for not taking practical action that this is often a symptom of underlying emotional and psychological issues and sometimes a session with a therapist and appropriate medications become God's chosen instrument of healing.

 

Blaming religious faith for the world's wars and conflicts has long been a favourite whipping boy for fundamentalist atheists.  The worst conflicts of the Twentieth Century have been caused by the likes of Hitler, Stalin and Mao, all ideological atheists, collectively responsible for the systematic slaughter of hundreds of millions of human lives.  As for the Islamic fundamentalists of the Twenty-First Century, the vast majority of Muslims disavow and condemn their nefarious and murderous actions as being completely incompatible with the Quran.  People of faith will generally admit that the teachings of their religions have often been abused and cherry-picked as an excuse for maintaining power and killing, harming and exploiting those who get in the way of tyrants and despots.  This has nothing to do with the essential teachings and everything to do with the tendencies of people without ethics or scruples to use any available noble cover for their evil actions. 

 

I do hope the Courier will publish this letter, as I believe that Mr. Levens` correspondence merits a response.

I know absolutely nothing of Mr. Leven's personal life nor even that he has one.  I suspect an unhappy, angry individual.  I do not know what has hurt him, just as I do not know what has hurt the guy on the bike, or the bus driver.  I suspect that regardless of our opinions, our beliefs, our perspectives that what is really important is the kind of people we are and the kind of people that we strive to be.  We are all of us broken, hurt and bleeding and we try to use our minds and our clever words as a distraction.  We are like half-decomposed cadavers in fancy dress.

I do not know what makes us stupid.  Only that we are incredibly wounded and for the most part outrageously stubborn about accepting healing.  We can only pray for humility, even the born-again atheists such as Mr. Levens.

I will conclude with part of an email to a friend this morning:

I don't really have a name for how I live as a Christian.  I seem to have put almost entirely behind me the Anglican, and by extension, Catholic ways of codifying my life in Christ.  But I haven't returned to a purely Protestant way of understanding how I live as a Christian.  I think that for a long time, since my early twenties, I have ceased to think of myself as Catholic, Anglican, Reformed, Charismatic, or Protestant, or other.  They've all long been for me kind of useless catch-alls. ....

I do feel that I am returning to an earlier simplicity in my walk with Jesus that was very strong with me when I was twenty and I believe that God is going to be building on this foundation with me.

I am so uncertain about what to do about church.  I do feel that I should be in contact with those who believe but there is nothing open or viable right now and I do accept that God has called me into a three year wilderness with him and with him alone. 

When I was suffering from PTSD, some two and a half years before I was diagnosed and treated by a shrink, I chose JOY as the key-word of my recovery and my life.  I believe that God is now vindicating this election....

I

I think that if anything has particularly changed in me over the years, I think that I've developed a much better sense of humour.