So more forgiveness

Monday July 16, 2007 - 8:21PM EDT

So in this recent dustup of a senator and allegations of escort purchasing and who know what else I hear the familiar chime of forgiveness of god. Well I've heard that bullshit statement enough already. Seems like when some people do something wrong they stand by their forgivness of god and walk with an air of peace that it is disgusting. Fuck you and your god because your statement protects  you not from my mighty wrath. Ha, no my wrath may not be mighty or even something they even care about but when people like to announce to the world that they believe or have ask for the forgiveness of god it tells me that they are trying to hide or justify their actions. As far as I understand what is between you and god and not something that needs to be professed to have any extra effect or truth in your own mind. But this is the human mind in all its intricacies. What these assclowns do is simply resolve within themselves that it is ok and put whatever issue there is to rest. It is maddeningly frustrating to watch because they take no responsibility for the effect they have on other people. In the case I mentioned above it is a personal matter anyway so I really don't care either way.  But the same excuse is used in countless other things. I don't care what they believe in it takes more than saying you repented or ask for forgiveness from some magical entity for me let it pass.  But this is the way of people and their religion. So many of them in one view propose treating fellow man rightly but then within the same realm of understanding the most important thing above all else is allegiance to an incorporeal idea that exist only in one's mind. As long as you ask for forgiveness from some deity then you are golden.  What a fucking load of BS. That kind of thinking is so damaging to the welfare of human society. But this is the idea that has been passed down and I am baffled that hardly anyone sees the contradiction. It is a tangled mess.  I have profoundly more respect for someone that says I messed up and there is nothing I can do about it than someone asking for god's forgiveness. If you ask for the forgiveness of those you hurt and simply your fellow man that is most respectable (in a relative sense, because your probably still a bastard regardless).

Whenever I think about people's behavior I always think about biology. Growing up we are rarely ever taught that human behavior is the result of biological processes. I've come to a point where I can't imagine that there is a better way to understand it all than through biological processes. It is still in its infancy and it may take a very long time to understand it completely if we ever can in the span of time humans exist. I think about all the reasoning rooted in pure philosophy and religion that look to explain how people behave and how it is slowly but surely being replaced by more sound reasoning. Particularly morality.  That was one of the things that was always rooted in pure philosophical discourse. But we are now seeing (those that are actually paying attention) that "moral" behavior may be part of a group of rather simple biological urges.

Richard Dawkins has a theory that the gene is the base unit of evolution. Meaning that genes do everything the can to survive. It took me a second to understand what that meant but it is a very interesting idea. We as humans have always seen ourselves as the center of things, as being most important. What if that is not the case. I am not talking about humbling yourself to a god, which still puts you yourself pretty high up there in importance.  I am talking about, or what Dawkins is talking about is the gene being the center of things. That we as humans are simply the protective vessel and transport for the gene to reproduce. Think about that for a minute. We humans are like a bottle only important in relation to the water inside. We have no real use in ourselves.  All our ideas of society are utterly worthless all that matters is the DNA we have inside. It is hard to wrap your mind around because we are used to thinking of ourselves as being it. In the context of this idea all philosophical discourse on the meaning of life is comically off-base. I like to think about it this way. There are single celled organisms like amoeba that we consider alive but they really don't resemble anything like a human.  They move on their own and copy themselves by breaking apart. One could probably build a little robot capable of the same and essentially create life. Imagine that it is these little organisms that run the world. Except they only have one aim in life.  Acquire energy to make themselves be able to reproduce.  Now imagine that is what a gene is. A tiny little organism that is only interested in reproducing. We humans and every other creature for that matter is just the result of evolution and the gene finding increasingly better ways to reproduce and protect itself. Better to be inside a creature than just spawning haphazardly in a pool of goo where the who knows what kinds of chemicals in the environment will destroy you. You are better protected and can reproduce more efficiently that way.  So we are just the giant  personalized transport vehicles of genes. It is like if cars had thought and they thought this world was theirs when really it is just people who drive them. Maybe that is a bad analogy but it kind of invokes the picture I want you to see. Damn I'm hungry.