Mass Extinction and Tribal Urges

November 2, 2023 10:34pm

The Earth has endured five mass extinction events. The most recent (and well-known) was 66 million years ago and resulted in the demise of the dinosaurs. Most of the extant species evolved from some precursor since that time.

Earlier extinctions resulted in even greater loss with one accounting for the disappearance of 90% of marine organisms and 70% of land organisms. Each time these resets occur, life begins again to differentiate and diversify. Often the extinctions are the result of volcanic activity, and we will, no doubt, experience it again. Volcanoes and/or asteroids are almost certain to wipe out humankind at some point in the future. Then a new consciousness may arise with new Gods and stories, but life will bring with it the old familiar baggage and we will suffer from the same desires, instincts, and passions. New Shakespeares and Einsteins will emerge, and the old tribal urges will rule the brave new world.

Balfour Declaration, Hamas Attack

November 19, 2023 9:49pm

I think I have achieved the status of “old hippie.” My hair, which I have let grow for the upcoming 250th anniversary events, – you know, Lexington, Concord, Bunker Hill – is now so long, I have to put it in a queue to keep it out of my face. It seems fitting. My views have changed much in the past few years, it feels proper to have an outward manifestation of the inner evolution.

I have read about the Zionist movement, the British Mandate in Palestine, and the founding of the nation of Israel since the Hamas attack on Oct 7. I’m surprised to learn that the Balfour Declaration did not have the weight of Parliamentary action behind it. Instead, it was a private letter from Lord Balfour to Lord Rothschild (a wealthy Jew and a Zionist) conveying the sympathy of the British cabinet with Zionist aspirations. Containing only 67 words and composed of vague verbiage, the letter was published in newspapers and shared with Zionist circles. It called for a “national home for the Jewish people.” The goal appears to have been the support of British and American Jews for Allied efforts in WWI. When the letter was written in 1917, Palestine was 10% Jewish. In the next years leading up to 1948 when the British relinquished the Mandate and the Jews declared Israel to be a new independent nation, around 380,000 Jews immigrated to Palestine. The Balfour Declaration stated that the civil and religious rights of non-Jews in Palestine would not change.

So, Palestinian Arabs felt they were marginalized in their own lands. Following a series of wars in which the Israelis expanded their territory, the conflict continues today.

The Hand, the Finger – Khayyam

November 20, 2023 8:31am

Today, in my reading, I came across a reference to the “invisible Hand” of Adam Smith. It was first used in his “Theory of Moral Sentiment” (1759) but is probably better known from “The Wealth of Nations.”

Actually, I was watching an interview with the newly elected Libertarian President of Argentina who promises to radically reverse 100 years of failed socialist policy….it was he who mentioned the “invisible hand” which I remembered from Smith. Anyway, this led to other similar metaphors, and I looked up “the moving finger” thinking it was Biblical (here, I was conflating Daniel 5:5 with “the moving finger.”) In Daniel, Belshazzar, the Chaldean king, saw a man’s fingers writing on a wall – the proverbial “handwriting on the wall” – a prediction of Belshazzar’s demise.

The metaphor of “the moving finger” comes from “The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.”

“The moving finger writes; and having writ,
Moves on; nor all thy pity nor wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line.
Nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.” – Omar Khayyam

In short, we all write our own stories which then can never be changed. I covered this idea in my journal entry about the big book.

What has ever lived up to expectation? Reality erodes all dreams until all that remains is the pile of dust that once was us.