Re: faith
Posted by
Douglas Roberts-2 on
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/Faith-tp7580633p7580705.html
I'm not prone to experiencing "premonitions". Additional factoid: I ride paranoid because they *are* out to get me.
Yet, the day before yesterday as I was heading south down to Santa Fe on the GSA1200, my premonition organ wiggled, and a voice inside my head said, "I sense danger." Like somebody who rides paranoid needs to hear that, right?
So I went from DEFCON 2 to DEFCON 4. Twenty seconds later at the very next traffic light in Pojoaque a northbound duelly pickup truck turned suddenly, unexpectedly left into the intersection across my path, smack ass dab right in front of me. Had the little voice in my head not spoken, I would have been grill hamburger. As it was, I had engaged that extra little bit of defense which gave the margin I needed to miss him.
We won't even go into the bit about the fat guy on the Harley who was going to follow the truck through the intersection, and who nearly fell off his bike in the process of aborting.
Apropo of nothing, of course, except that I retain my faith that they are out to get me when I'm on the motorcycle.
--Doug
On Mon, Sep 24, 2012 at 2:01 PM, Steve Smith
<[hidden email]> wrote:
Dave -
Not true - because I have a countervailing belief - I
am smarter and more aware than they and can thwart their
evil intentions.
Inarguable reasoning Dave... I commend you. Unfortunately I slipped
behind the curve on my self-image regarding smart+aware a while
back. It may be early onset wisdom or late-stage cynicism...
It *was* my youthful idealism that had me quite willing to hurtle
down the highways with nothing between me and the road except a few
feet (or inches) of air and maybe a 1/8 or less of leather. I was
supremely confident in my own smartness and awareness as the perfect
antidote to all challengers.
<Anecdote> For example, one evening just after dusk 30+ years
ago, I was hurtling down Interstate 17 in the right lane (like a
good doobie since I was roughly traveling at the speed limit and was
not passing anyone) when something made me think I needed to get
into the left lane... I checked mirrors, hit my turns, looked over
my shoulder, and drifted left only to realize that the right lane
was no longer there (well, most of it anyway). I stopped quickly
and backtracked to find that in fact over half of the right lane had
sloughed off into the canyon in a mudslide. I went back "upstream"
a hundred yards facing traffic with headlight and flashers in the
right lane and pulled over the first two cars who I left to pass the
word along and went on my way (I still had 7 hours riding ahead of
me that night).
Those with "Faith" might say that "God spoke to me". I simply
believe that my cultivated awareness hinted to me that something was
amiss up ahead (missing guardrail in my headlights? Dark abyss
below my threshold of consciousness? Had I heard or felt something
over engine/road vibrations?)... Today I'm pretty sure I would just
hurtle off the end of the pavement with a goofy puzzled expression
of WTF?
</Anecdote>
And if the world is not interested in harming me, why
did it give me a death sentence?
I'm pretty sure that despite the world's total disinterest in me
(and by extension you), that death sentence is a blessing compared
to some of the alternatives (read your Utopian/Dystopian literature
for references). Of course, I just might be spending too much time
juggling failing parents up and down the halls of nursing homes.
- Steve
============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
--
Doug Roberts
[hidden email]
[hidden email]
505-455-7333 - Office
505-670-8195 - Cell
============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at
http://www.friam.org