Just a little dirt on it...

The secret to living on this planet is learning to live with dirt. Everything we touch is dirty on some level. All the food we eat, all the water we drink... it all contains some pollution at some level. All the things we touch are dirty. All the social structures show cracks, all the people we meet are broken. The key to surviving, and perhaps even thriving, is to find the pearls in the muck.

I remember a sermon illustration about morality that I heard once, where this guy wants to teach his son that he should flee any appearance of evil, by asking his son if he wants some of his brownies that have a little bit of dog poop in them...

but... you know... all brownies have a little bit of dog shit in them... at some level. This whole world is submerged in shit. The only way to move forward, is to pick out the bits of chocolate... and hope you can taste the difference.

Everything is broken. Every action has a bad motive somewhere. It is the nature of the curse, that everything is sullied...

The best we can do is minimize the shit, maximize the chocolate...

The best we can do is fix as best we can, in the time we have left...

The best we can do is try to make the people around us better, and forgive them when they aren't perfect...

The best we can do is to do our best, and forgive ourselves when it isn't good enough...

The best we can do is move along, when the shit takes over...

Evil = Broken

Hollywood and writers of today, and yesterday have warped the concept of evil until it has basically no meaning. In fact, popular culture equates evil with mischief, but evil is something much different. Evil is a measure of how broken something is. Corruption is not an addition of a malevolent force, but rather a good thing that has broken. I've been reading Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein. In it the Arch-Angel Foster is talking about an alien species with a "tripolarity" and he says:

I have it on High Authority that Don Juan himself could not manage to take Earthly interest in any of their three polarities... that's not an opinion; he was borrowed as a test. He screamed, and prayed to be returned to the solitary hell he has created for himself. Robert Heinlein - Stranger in a Strange Land Pg 343

It is sorta in passing, but the statement "created for himself" I think explains alot about how hell works, and why people are sent there. These people are broken, and could hurt others, like a Black Hole. The only way to repair a Black Hole is to wrap space around them, so it consumes itself. Evil people are that broken... that they have to be cut off so they can't consume other people. Hell is not a luxury that an all powerful God gets to indulge in so He can give these terrible people their "comeuppance" for eternity. Hell is a necessity to keep these broken people from harming the people that God has chosen to fix.

I don't need Ecstasy, I've got Electronica

I don't need Mary Jane... I've got Peter Paul and Mary

I don't need to Jack-Up... I've got Jack Johnson

I don't need Jones... I've got Norah

I don't need Ice... I've got Vanilla

I don't need a Brick... I've got Brickman

I don't need Doobies... I've got Dido

I don't need Ecstasy... I've got Electronica

Music, My Anti-Drug