Ham

Free will. Ha. There are a few moments of it in life.. at least that I've personally experienced.

Free Will.. As much as everybody here likes to disagree with Mike.. I think he has a pretty good take on Freedom of Will.. everybody seems to have their own set of axioms.. are they chosen, or given? I don't know. My axioms are generally simpler. I wake up in the morning and can generally convince myself that I can still count to ten or so.

The interview.. why are you here.. "I just kind of floated here. I did not choose this, it chose me.." heh so much for freedom of will.. heh

a couple of years ago they undertook a study as to why they could not retain adequate qualified faculty.. heh at the moment they had faculty running away and screaming.. I show up with qualifications.. I feel like I got run over by the stampede. Then they asked me if it was a good place to work at. Would you be slightly interested in working for us? What do you think the answer was.. they hired an organization to try to sort out why they were going down the tubes.. I gave them an honest answer. I don't think they have the capacity to "forgive" me for my reply to this day.

Heh.. sometime I don't even know.. I went back to school at the local 2 year college. Gave me a nice return to Academia. at the time it was a good environment. They took math and education seriously.. I went on to obtain a couple of degrees qualifying me to be able to instruct in a college venue. I could have been one of their success stories. When I came back, they let me teach a few classes but what I found was far less that what I left the few years before- constant infighting, no care for academic integrity.. I kind of floated up on shore. The difference of what it was and what it had become was like day and night. They were actively seeking instructors the year I left- the year I returned basically the welcome mat had been pulled in.. I had a lot of respect for one of my former instructors- first class ethically, mathematically, professionally- the administration reduced him into a babbling idiot.. It's hard to describe this in few words..

arguing with someone about rancid butter.. heh God, it has been a good week here.. How about the rest of you?

I find myself back here again. Sometimes I ask why.. not judgmentally of course. Just why do I keep coming back.. maybe its more of a question for myself..

Knew that we Knew is circular reasoning..

sowy.. i've listened to too much Firesign Theater.. the topic just hit an obscure point of my insanity.. Still. Ghee is nothing but rancid butter.. just enough though. Nicely aged. Hope the recent comments are entertaining enough. God Bless you Friend..

The lack of debt works both ways.. heh.

This kind of experience is a roll of cosmic dice.. sometimes it does not work out in the way that one particularly would like.. professionally of course it's probably cost me a few Million.. but that is Not exactly a Big Deal. Life owes me nothing. How about you?

The Trinity.. deciding on what is true is (far) beyond my job description.. I would say to one side of the argument.. what gives you the authority to define what the Almighty God really is.. and to the other side, what gives you the authority to define what the Almighty God is NOT. I think that you (and I) are in the same position as Godel. At least he logically concluded that even he could not think outside of the box. That is unless one can find oneself in a larger box..

A long time ago.. I did not want the campfire to go out.. well, where am I going.. no idea. Good night dear Friends.

Who am I, who are we, who are..We. Too many pronouns tonight.. I'd like a nice evening of *us* around a camp fire..

I don't think there is any real escape here.. can't escape from what we were or are.. where do we go from here.. fuurther..

thanks Mike.

What a good discussion..

If He wishes to.

At the end of all of this, I will die. It is eventual.. I learned a lot of this from mathematics. A finite, numerable amount of living cells.. well, it may not happen today (or tonight). Countable number of breaths, countable number of heart beats.. only God could count forever.

I would suggest. there is no real scarcity of miracles. Miracles show up as they are needed. I've had a few of them. Not many.

Very interesting discussion.. Perhaps.. we are placed in some kind of Cosmic chess game.. God has limitations.. perhaps He chooses them.. else He could not relate to us.. Sometimes I think knowledge is a human contrivance. Why does the Almighty have to stoop to our condition- maybe knowledge is overrated.. Well, it is what we work with. Why doe He have to know Everything? God being almighty certainly could choose to do so. Or not to. Who am I to impose my personal philosophy on an eternal being.. sometimes in life I gain without making a choice. I just frigging refuse.. heh. I have not chosen my last two career discriptions, they have found me. Anybody else have the same experience? Enough rambling from a disoriented Squirrel. heh.

It really is kind of nice not having to know everything..

That is what happened in the sixties, wasn't it.. I had a few interesting experiences in the early seventies. I don't mind sharing. Some jackass put about fifty hits of acid in the pipe and at least mentioned that we were going to trip after the smoke.. and yes, a lot of it survives the burning process. About ten minutes later it hit.. we walked about a mile and a half along the most beautiful landscape to the local burger king for a meal. It seemed to be about 10,000 years. I met two of the worst bullies I dealt with in school at the restaurant.. this was after high school graduation. They frigging begged for forgiveness. Humbly. they did not notice my dilated eyes.. I am seeing eternity flashing before my eyes.. heh Compare their actions to eternity? No Big Deal. In terms of god and the universe.. I said.. no big deal. You're off the hook as far as I am concerned.. I'm nothing here.. I feel the same today. Maybe forgiveness needs some help along the way.. I dunno.

Does God have to know everything.. I would say no. He does not, unless He chose to. In which case I would have to agree.. hehe

limited in knowing. Scary enough for humans.. I would suggest.. humbly of course.. knowing EVERYTHiNG is way overrated. Whose standard is this? mans or Gods? Try this with students in a tutoring context. No, you do NOT know everything.. they hope that you do, but no, you do not. But, you know enough, or not enough depending on what is needed.. Those that don't like circular reasoning, well, sometimes that is what keeps the world going around.. maybe it is good enough for now..