Universal Road

The Internet has opened up a lot of knowledge to the everyman and this is something that organized religions really don’t like. The problem they have is keeping the real truth hidden from their members while continuing to promote their own truth without letting the proverbial cat out of the bag.

Easter, now called Resurrection Sunday in many branches of the Christian faith, is a good example of this. There is no reference to Easter in the early Christian writings, nor can it be found anywhere in the Bible. That’s because it wasn’t originally a Christian holy day (holiday). It was, in fact, an early pagan celebration, the name of which is traced back to Eastre, the Teutonic goddess of Spring.

Christians took over the festival in part to give their own congregations something to do so as they wouldn’t follow the old pagan traditions and in part because they needed some sacred event to celebrate at that time of year. The contemporary mix of Calvary, resurrection, and a bunny who delivers painted eggs, is a blending of the two rituals. It was always interesting to see how the church tried to explain the rabbit thing.

We have a local Methodist church that holds a Saturday fund-raising event each year they call Carnival. They also hold a tailgate-style trick or treat event in the church parking lot to provide a kid-safe Hallowe’en. If the little old ladies who organize these events only knew the real origins of the terms they might think twice about continuing them. Carne vale (farewell to meat — or, perhaps, more accurately farewell to flesh) is not really about giving up meat for Lent!

Ain’t religion fun?

All aspects of the Internet are being flooded by SPAM. Now, your definition of SPAM may not be mine. Some people think any unsolicited email is SPAM. Others include only unsolicited business email. Neither of those is technically correct. It is, however, a fine point, like trying to define pornography. It usually has to be put in context.

But, whatever you define it as, there is no denying that SPAM is invading all parts of the Internet and comments left on blogs and websites are no exception. It is sad to me that otherwise seemingly intelligent people resort to spamming in one form or another in order to get attention; typically to try and build back-links for their own blogs or websites.

I chuckle at the efforts many will go in order to try and make their spam look less blatant, to make it look like a real comment. I got one today that actually looked like a serious comment on one of my articles untill I checked and saw that it was left on a page I’ve set up but haven’t written anything on yet! Oopsie.

Folks, I love comments — real comments — whether they are supportive or not. If you don’t like what I write feel free to tell me about it. If you’ve got a question ask me. If you think I’m on the mark let me know. Share your own ideas. But why bother wasting your time and mine with an insincere post that has no purpose but self-gratification. You are completely missing the purpose of this site and your own life. And it’s your life that is slipping quickly by!

Over the coming months a large amount of what I post on this site — both as blog posts and page content — will relate to that most human of all questions, “Who Am I?”

The answer may continue to be elusive but the thought brings to mind that quote variously attributed to Goethe, Webber, Cooley, and Bierstedt, among others:

I am not who I think I am
I am not who you think I am
I am who I think you think I am.

Most of us need to think on that a little before it comes into any kind of focus. It relates strongly to the whole “looking-glass self” concept put for by Cooley early in the 1900s and has a lot to do with how we see ourselves:

1.We imagine how others view us.
2.We imagine how they will judge us based on that view.
3.We develop our self through our ideas on how others judge us.

“The way we imagine ourselves to appear to another person is an essential element in our conception of ourselves.” said Robert Bierstedt in reference to the “I am not who I think I am…” quote above.

Whether you examine the concept of self psychologically or philosophically you find opinions and questions but few, if any, answers. It is, therefore, a suitable topic for this site.

Randall Munroe is the creator of XKCD (xkcd.com), what he calls, “A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.” The strip above is reprinted with permission. You can see more at the URL linked near the beginning of this paragraph.

I provide, however, Randall’s standard disclaimer, as posted on his website:

“Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).”

Enjoy!

This section, under the Thoughts menu tab, is known as a blog. Blog, for those of you who may not know, is a contraction of the words web log. It is a kind of e-diary or online journal. Of course, what separates it from typical bound paper diaries or journals is that it is meant to be read by many people including you.

Additionally blogs are meant to be written in regularly. It’s not much fun coming back time after time to read what’s been written only to find the same old same old. So I’m going to try and write in here often. It won’t be every day. Sometimes it may not even be every week. But I will try to make it often; as often as possible. Do come back!

Another good thing about blogs is that they are interactive. You can post a comment using the form below. I would like to allow comments to show immediately but, unfortunately, there are many spammers on the Internet who write non-relevant comments which are either a promo (usually for some junk site) or just garbage itself. Because of this I review each comment manually and release for post only those that are valid.

Generally I won’t censor or restrict any relevant comment. I believe strongly in free speech. You can have your say and it will be made available for others to see if it is on topic for this site — even if it is negative or takes issue with things here. Every discussion has varied opinions and different points of view. Yours is welcomed.

If, on the other hand, you have something to tell or ask me but don’t want it made public just say so in your comment and I will respect that. If you want an answer to a question or help with a problem be sure to provide an email or other contact information. I do sometimes charge for personal counseling but the first contact is always free. Send your email or phone number and I will get back to you as quickly as my schedule allows.

Welcome to Universal Road. This site has been in process, at least in my thoughts, many long years before Al Gore invented the Internet (of course I know he has been miss-quoted and never actually claimed that!), long before I ever imagined their would be such a thing, and it will be a constant work-in-progress for a long time yet to come.

In the beginning (where have I read that before?) it will have lots of blank pages and many pages that won’t even be here yet but in time, as more and more content is added, there will be lots of things to see, ideas to explore, and comments to make.

Some writing here will reflect common opinion and be well known by many, some will be my own unique take on things, some will be controversial and, I expect, some will be down-right disturbing. That’s just the nature of the subject(s) that will be examined here as I search for the truth. I cannot be responsible for how you react to raised consciousness and falling barriers so do be careful where you step!