Useful Beliefs
do you believe in Father Christmas, do you believe in a brave New Year?
do you believe in the ten commandments, is your life filled with fear?
To believe is to accept that something exists, or that something is true, when there is no evidence or proof to back up that belief. Millions of children around the world believe in Father Christmas, Santa Claus, Kris Kringle, Saint Nicholas….. He will remain in the hearts of children forever, and the children have proof, he brings them toys and other gifts every Christmas. This belief is useful too, for doesn’t he have a list of who’s been naughty and who’s been nice, checking it twice before he leaves toys and presents for the nice children, and a lump of coal for the naughty boys and girls. A perfect cautionary tale for parents to blackmail their kids into being nice near Christmas.
Some beliefs are neither useful nor true ~ like a Flat Earth. Those who believe the Earth is flat are either deranged, or willfully stupid, or as thick as two short planks. There is plenty of evidence to prove the planet Earth is more or less a sphere, as are all the other planets visible through a telescope. Also believing in a flat Earth is not useful, since long-distance navigation is based on the great circle theory, which is navigating a ship or an aircraft using spherical trigonometry. Ergo believers in a flat Earth should never ever get on an aircraft or go on a cruise.
One does not have to believe everything one hears. ~ Cicero
Another belief that is neither useful or true is Alien Visitation. There are plenty of spurious reasons given to prove that alien visitation happens all the time, and I don’t believe any of them. There is also one crushing piece of evidence to disprove the very idea that creatures / people from the stars regularly visit the Earth ~ nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. The nearest known exoplanet is 4.25 light years away, so allowing for basic physics that means a round-trip of about 12 years, even if our starship can get near the speed of light. Just never going to happen.
One false belief that is useful is in Pythagoras’ theorem; the square on the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides. Or more practically just remember 3,4,5. This is mostly true, but some believe it is always true. Try navigating from England to New York using Pythagoras and the Gods only know where you will land. Sometimes even the dearest held, and most provable belief is only mostly true.
Believing in God, any God, is maybe the most commonly held belief of them all, along with whichever prophet fits the religion of your choice. This belief is useful to many, especially the clergy of every religion, but there is no proof whatsoever, and that’s the whole point. Religion is all about Faith not Belief ~ and if you start to look into Faith you get into a circular argument. Anyway I think religion isn’t based on faith, it’s about the fear of eternal damnation
Some say that real belief needs no proof. And that faith is trust without reservation. All I know is I trust scientific and engineering methodologies more than I trust priests and demagogues. And I believed in Love.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
the Earth is positively not flat
Christmas Fun ~ Greg Lake
Santa Claus has the right idea ~ visit people but once a year
When did you stop believing in Father Christmas, when did you realise that Santa Claus might not be real? When did you start thinking, that your parents placed the gifts under the tree?
Part of me still believes in Father Christmas, the small boy, and the grown man who believes that there’s more to this Cosmos than we can ever know. The part of me that believes in my Goddess Aphrodite, and that the sun will rise after every night.
Please listen as a child.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
I believe the sun will rise tomorrow
Christmas is a Future Thing
Christmas is forever, not just for one day.
Aside from the whole birth of Jesus Christ thing a couple of thousand years ago, around dawn at some stable in the middle of the desert, why should Christmas Day be different from any other day in the calendar? Maybe we feel we should be especially nice to people, be more giving and forgiving, be more loving towards ourselves and others? Perhaps it’s the one day in the year we think of, email, telephone, or visit friends, relatives, or loved ones we haven’t thought of or seen since last Christmas. Perhaps Christmas Day is the day that our heart breaks all over again.
Some people look forward to Christmas, thinking that the day will bring them the happiness they so want and need. Trust me, looking for happiness in the future is a short road to misery ~ even believing that you will be happier at Christmas than the unhappiness you’ve suffered for the rest of this year might not be your best ever plan.
One result of trying to find happiness in the future is that we can wish our lives away, believing the future will be better than now. There are some basic rules; nothing ever changes, the only thing we can change is ourselves, and tomorrow will pretty much be the same as today.
There are some supplementary rules, one of which is that travel over the Christmas holidays is going to be fucking terrible. Flights will be packed and delayed, trains will be cancelled, and the roads will be full of Sunday drivers who have no idea how to cope if it even so much as rains. And if it snows…..
My 5th or 6th worst memory of a Christmas is trying to drive the 300 miles from London to Durham, on Christmas Eve, in a blizzard. That annual journey was one of the reasons I never looked forward with pleasure to Christmas. It grew so that I dreaded Christmas Eve.
And yet, around midnight, I still searched the night sky, hoping to see the magic of Santa.
Christmas changes everyone and everything. Christmas changes our memories of the past, our attitudes in the present, and our expectations for the future. We each of us hope for a brighter Christmas and a better New Year. So, Hallelujah ~ Noel ~ Be it Heaven or Hell, the Christmas we get we deserve.
Some say that Christmas has become too commercialised. And there is no such person as Santa Claus, magical or otherwise. All I know is that I have a friend who leaves a carrot out for his donkey and a glass of tequila for him.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
how will Santa cope when there are moms on the moon?
