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Posted By Carrie Thore on May 16, 2012

Turkana Boy and Compassion

I just watched a documentary about Richard Leakey. His work is absolutely amazing and it is incredible how much he has contributed to the understanding of ourselves. He was asked what separates us from animals, and he said that it is our compassion and empathy by using the Turkana Boy as an example of such behavior. Turkana Boy, a 1.5 million year old hominid fossil, was discovered by Leakey’s team.

According to “Lucy’s Legacy:”

Bruce Latimer of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and others have argued that Turkana Boy suffered from a condition that stunted the growth of the openings in his vertebrae, the so-called vertebral canals. The resulting compression of the spinal cord would have made it difficult for him to get around. That the Turkana Boy survived past childhood may indicate that members of his social group protected and provided for him.

Maybe our compassion and empathy is something which separates us from other animals. With many animals, a baby that is deformed or defective in some way is abandoned by the mother. I think the problem with such an idea is that compassion and empathy does not fit throughout all of history among all humans. Even with today’s humans, babies are routinely killed for no other reason than being born female. I don’t know of any other animal which kills its own young solely based on its gender.

Category: Animals and Animism, Emotions, Science | No Comments »
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Posted By Carrie Thore on May 12, 2012

This is an article about how to forgive a honeybee. It has been said that holding a grudge is like being stung to death by one bee. I have had honeybees since April 15^th and have yet to be stung by them. I even have a lawn chair by their hive and like to sit and watch the various color of pollen they carry back home. They are incredibly docile creatures, so the grudge quote must apply to wasps and not honeybees. If one of my bees happens to eventually sting me, I will expect an apology written on a nice card and possibly a bouquet of flowers. The card should say something like she has been so worried about my current emotional, physical and psychological state that she no longer sleeps because she stung me. Is that a realistic expectation? Why do we expect such reactions from our fellow humans after they harm us in some way? My experiences with people are that most people are fairly docile and just go about their work without much notice of others. All people are beneficial to others even if that benefit is by serving as an example for others not to follow. Typically other people are unaware if they happen to hurt someone else.

I had such a difficult time last semester because of one particular woman who I had to be around. It was a challenge for me to figure out her benefit to humanity. Now, I think she serves an example for how not to treat others. I was listening to couple of biology graduate students, who happened to have met the woman, and they were talking using words like crabby to describe her. They did not mention her by name, but I said her name and they looked at me shocked and said, “How did you know that is who we were talking about?” I just heard a small description of their first impression of her and I knew immediately who made them so upset. Not many people leave such an impression and maybe that is her benefit to everyone because she shows us how not to treat others.

We do not forgive animals for how they behave because we do not consider animals equipped with a sense of right and wrong. I think in such cases when a human harms us, it is better to view our fellow man (or woman) as an animal. Break their behavior down to something equivalent to how an animal would react. If someone is particular aggressive or mean to you, then consider that maybe due to poor breeding or in humans what we would politely call their genes. It may be their past experiences of mistreatment or some form of trauma that causes them to behave in the way they do. Give them an excuse for their particular behavior, let it go and move on. There is no point in holding on to a grudge and being stung to death by one bee.

Category: Animals and Animism, Emotions, Forgiveness | No Comments »
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Posted By Carrie Thore on April 13, 2012

I think I have developed a disorder of avoiding a woman who I have to be around this semester. I don’t know what she is going to do or say next, and I have discovered that I apparently can’t handle a lot of verbal aggression or abuse. I’m usually pretty good with people and get along with most everyone. Even if I don’t particularly like someone, I do make an effort to be nice to them and stay on friendly terms. It isn’t like that with the woman I’m avoiding. It is difficult for me to be in the same room with her, and I become startled when she is anywhere near me. My problem with this woman can probably now be classified as an avoidance disorder. I’m not usually afraid of people, so I don’t understand what is going on within me.

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Posted By Carrie Thore on April 5, 2012

My neighbor does not believe humans are animals. I have no problem being an animal and would certainly choose this life form over a fungus, plant, archaea, protista or bacteria. I like being a human, even if that means I will not live as long as a jellyfish or cannot be cut into pieces and regenerate myself like many species of flatworms. In the human body there are 10 times more microbes than human cells, so in other words, there are more microbes than me cells in me. I guess my neighbor could be right in saying that humans are not animals. Maybe we are only vessels for bacteria.

I have a copy of “Biology for Christian Schools” which appears in a similar format to a textbook, but it does not contain the facts a science textbook usually contains.

Some disturbing quotes from this “textbook” are:

“The people who have prepared this book have tried consistently to put the Word of God first and science second.” (Translation: We believe bats are birds because of Leviticus: 11:13-19)

“Experiments have shown that under proper conditions plant material can form coal in 20min.” (Someone should really tell the coal companies they no longer need to blow up mountains.)

“Rock layers are visible where mountains have been cut away by rivers as in the Grand Canyon or by man as in building roads. According to the deluge theory of fossil formation, these rock layers were formed by Noah’s Flood.” (I’m going to tell my former Sed.-Strat. professor about this, and then watch her spontaneously combust from anger.)

“Soil formation: Evolutionists have stated that soil takes thousands or even millions of years to form. In several areas of the world, however, actual measurements have accounted for several inches of soil being formed in less than 100yrs. This rate of formation indicates that the earth is young.” (In your face Soils and Hydrology professor!)

“Are humans merely highly intelligent animals? Is man a monkeylike organism that merely has enough intelligence to learn a complex communication system using word and letter symbols? It is true that the average monkey is more intelligent than some retarded human beings. Then is man merely a very smart animal.” (Yes, humans are animals. We do have a common ancestor with monkeys, but we are more closely related to apes. Bees communicate through dancing and chemoreceptors, so the next time you give directions to the grocery store try to communicate through dancing. Early humans could not read or write and some cultures still do not have a written language.)

Category: Animals and Animism, Christianity, Science, Science and Religion | No Comments »
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Posted By Carrie Thore on March 13, 2012

Nowadays, I don’t read so many blogs about Atheism, Christianity or even my beloved Buddhism. I find it strange that studying religion was such a HUGE part of my life for so many years but now it isn’t. It is like my religious phase has passed and there are now other things I need to focus on. I don’t see my time spent reading religious texts and studying religious people as wasted because I learned a lot about what people believe and why they believe it. I did find most religious people rather frustrating because they could not (or would not) answer my questions or even speak to me. I didn’t like the gender inequality that many Christian denominations promote or the whole “give all you have to the preacher” mentality. Studying atheism sometimes made me a little paranoid about the crazy-Christians taking over the US. I like Buddhism and still pick up “The Teaching of Buddha” when I’m feeling weighed down with negative emotions. It was fun to hang out with Wiccans for a short time and see how they follow a more cycle based religion.

I guess spiritually I’m still at the same place I was before my fervent study of religions. I have many unfinished articles saved to my computer and a file filled with scanned documents that I wanted to explain on this blog. I’m sure my interests will swing back into interpreting myths or finding the meanings behind a passage from the Bible, but now I’m content to just live my life without worrying if there is a deity or if I need to find a spiritual path.

Category: Atheism, Christianity, Cults, The Teaching of Buddha, Wicca | No Comments »
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Posted By Carrie Thore on February 24, 2012

“A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage. Everyday sends to their graves obscure men whose timidity prevented them from making a first effort.” Sydney Smith

I need to become a little more courageous. I don’t mean the courage required for beekeeping or jumping out of a plane because I have those types of courage within me already. I want the feeling of daily courage to confront my life with self-confidence. When I first wake up in the morning, I’m filled with so much pessimism. It is like my entire life is worthless and I have no future. I do realize that my feeling is self-pity is closely related to cowardice. I really don’t know what I want from life, so I don’t know how to fix the problem. It isn’t like I can ask someone for help about my lack of purpose in life and problems with self-pity because help doesn’t exist.

One thing which keeps my mind fairly busy is my food challenge project. It does give me some sense of purpose to write about gardening, beekeeping and my chickens. Most people have been supportive of my project and it keeps me going

Category: Fear | 3 Comments »
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Posted By Carrie Thore on February 20, 2012

I have a horrible tendency to make mental pro/con lists of everyone I meet. Most people come out with more pro attributes than con, so they are then filed in my brain as a halfway decent person. Others are more complicated and require me to dig a little deeper to find their good qualities. I’ve honestly never met a truly evil person in my entire life. There are people annoy me and others who I avoid because my brain views them as someone who I don’t need to associate with, but those people are not evil. Recently, I made a pro/con list of a woman who I don’t particularly understand. She is rather sarcastic and mean with most people and someone who I make a point to avoid. Coincidentally, I frequently pass her while driving and she always has a scowl. I have been actively thinking good thoughts about her and trying to see past her actions. If I prayed to a deity, my prayer would be something like, “Help me find the good in that woman.” My list of her good qualities include her intelligence and her ability to focus. Focusing for a long time on a task is an ability which I do not possess so it is something I can admire about her. I can’t scowl properly, but I’m sure it would be handy for some situations. The woman also has very nice dental work. Well, it is a list in progress, but those are the positive qualities that I can clearly see she possesses. For the past couple weeks, she seems to have become less sarcastic. I’m not sure if that is because I’m working so hard meditating about finding the good in her or if I’m overlooking her negative traits. I don’t know her well enough to know if she has suffered from extreme trauma. Condemnation is easy, but it is probably better if I view her as someone who deserves sympathy and pity because everyone suffers at some point in their life.

The following is an excerpt from “The Teaching of Buddha” and deals with this idea of developing sympathy for others.

People should have more sympathy for one another; they should respect one another for their good traits and help one another in their difficulties; but, instead, they are selfish and hard-hearted; they despise one another for their failings and dislike others for their advantages. These aversions generally grow worse with time, and after a while, become intolerable.

These feelings of dislike do not soon end in acts of violence; yet they poison life with feelings of hatred and anger that become so deeply carved into the mind that people carry the marks into the cycle of reincarnation.

Truly, in this world of lust, a man is born alone and dies alone, and there is no one to share his punishment in the life after death.

The law of cause and effect is universal; each man must carry his own burden of sin and must go along to its retribution. The same law of cause and effect controls good deeds. A life of sympathy and kindness will result in good fortune and happiness.

Category: Emotions, The Teaching of Buddha | No Comments »
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Posted By Carrie Thore on February 16, 2012

“It is easy to find a stick to beat a dog.”

I just read that phrase for the first time. It is such an interesting way to say if someone is determined to punish someone, they will find a way to do it.

Here is the excerpt I read:

“From its inception, the Christianity v. Darwinism debate has been dominated by theologians who insisted upon arguing against science and scientists who insisted upon arguing against theology. Only very rarely, does a representative of one side take the trouble to read the other’s books, and Christians are as ready as Darwinists to restrict their field of vision to the lowest possible ground, which they scrutinize in their search for sticks with which to beat the infidel dog.”

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Posted By Carrie Thore on February 12, 2012

Valentine’s Day is coming up and I have been thinking about couples who have good relationships. My brother and sister-in-law have an excellent relationship. They married young and have been together for over 14 years. I helped my sister-in-law with a recent Sociology report and in the conflict section she said that my brother and her never have conflicts. I can believe they don’t argue because I see how they interact with each other. The two of them fit together extremely well, and they work together to create a good home-life for their two children. I think part of their success is they share the same values and both of them are completely unselfish and non-materialistic.

Most people my age have already been married and divorced at least once. I don’t see anything wrong with divorce if the couple argues all the time or if one spouse is abusive to the other. It’s wrong to believe that only men can be abusive. The wife can be the abusive spouse. Women go about abuse in a different way, which may not be physical or sexual, but more manipulative and controlling. I feel very bad for a man in such situation because the wife has the upper hand and can threaten to take his children, his house and ruin his career. Such an abusive narcissistic woman wouldn’t think twice about hurting her husband in ways to force him to stay in the relationship just so he can be the “whipping boy.” When I see that type of relationship, it really bothers me and is difficult for me to keep my mouth shut and do nothing. It is ultimately up to him to decide what to do, and all I can do is write out my complaints in my little corner of the internet which very few people read or take much notice.

To those of you in a bad relationship, I wish you the courage to walk out and realize there is someone out there who will treat you in the way you deserve to be treated. Nobody should have to go through life being mistreated by someone who is supposed to love them.

I wish all of you in good relationships a Happy Valentine’s Day… wait a minute all of you in good relationships have Valentine’s Day every single day, so I wish you a long life with the one you love.

Category: Depressed Thoughts, Love | No Comments »
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Posted By Carrie Thore on February 6, 2012

I have been thinking a lot about what love is, and I have come to the conclusion that love is a type of gratitude. It is being thankful for having someone in your life whoever he or she may be.

A few months ago, I wrote an article defining a “henpecked husband” which made me think about what love looks like. A good relationship is built on a solid foundation of gratitude. One person in the relationship cannot give all the love and the other never reciprocates it. If someone can’t appreciate their partner on any level, then it is a relationship of power and abuse. Can such a marriage last? Well, that depends on your definition of marriage. Can that couple cohabitate in the same dwelling, eating the same food and raising the same children? Yes, but it probably isn’t a healthy environment for children to grow up in seeing one of their parents belittling and disrespecting the other. Abuse is the epitome of ungratefulness.

I have a friend who told me his grandparents celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary a couple of years ago. I asked him if they are still happily married and he said, “Yes.” A good relationship can help people live longer. When someone looks forward to being with the same person everyday they have something very powerful to live for. The feeling of being wanted is the greatest feeling in the world. The opposite is also true. If someone is in a bad relationship or feels unappreciated, then I think he or she would suffer from sleep problems, would tend to be ill more frequently and die earlier.

The greatest gift you can give anyone is to let them know how grateful you are for them, and the greatest need of all is to be loved. I would like to let all of you know that you are worthy of love.

Category: Gratitude, Love | No Comments »
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