SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS (1)

SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS (1)

 I continue my blog, not on a strict, disciplined weekly basis, but more haphazard. My aging brain directed me to some ‘sayings’ I had gathered over the years, under the heading of Incoherent Utterances, but I decided to give them a new title: Some Random Thoughts. Actually, the proper name for these is APHORISMS, defined as ‘concise and perhaps witty ways to express a thought’. Well, forget about the ‘witty’, that requires more talent than I possess. I chose ‘random thoughts’, because it better suits my aims to avoid words whose meaning is not immediately clear: aphorism is not a word we encounter too often. Also, I write for a global audience, where English is the second language

The concepts that engage my consciousness, are, I believe, not really original, because “everything is connected to everything else”, one of the laws of ecology, suggesting that every thought has its root in something previous: basically, there is nothing new under the sun. 

While I am thinking and writing, an ‘aphoristic’ thought is gathering momentum in my brain. Here it is: “The much-hyped AI will probably travel a road contrary to the ancient Tower of Babel, which fueled world-wide development. AI could well cause the exact opposite: global destruction”.

Some more examples.

Here are some of my sayings, picked rather at random from my collection.

• The veil that hides the face of the future is woven by the hand of Mercy.
• Wisdom comes from trying to see the totality of things. Without observing a matter from beginning to end, no positive development is possible.
• When bluster and lies find a ready acceptance in the nation, collapse is not far away.
• The general acceptance of television has accelerated the disappearance of organized religion.  
• If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the word ‘fear’ needs an acceptable explanation.
• The fear of the Lord starts with seeing the harmony in creation, observing the intricacy of all that lives.
• If wisdom is seeing the interrelatedness of matters, then stupidity is failing to see the coherence of all that is.
• The Bible says that ‘the lust of money is the root of all evil’. Evil started in the Garden of Eden when humanity chose utility – the apple – over the aesthetic, the beauty of creation.
• Dr. Sabine Dramm, in her book on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, captured his thought in a stunning summary: “What Bonhoeffer presents as specific to the Christian faith is the perception of God and the world as one, and the perception of life that has its wellspring in this world in God, and in turn proceeds from this world back again to God.” This statement is mindboggling – for me at least.
• I see Friedrich Nietzsche as the first true ecologist. I base this on a statement in his book, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, where he writes: “I conjure you, my brethren, REMAIN TRUE TO THE EARTH, (his emphasis) and believe not those who speak unto you of super-earthly hopes! (heaven, in other words) Poisoners are they, whether they know it or not. Despisers of life are they, decaying ones and poisoned ones themselves, of whom the earth is weary: so away with them. (The majority of preachers).

If you have a favorite saying, secret hope or fear, or, text, Bible or otherwise, send it to me: bert@hielema.ca, and I will publish it to the world.

I will expand on this APHORISM topic in future instalments.