Index 
Compassion Morality Senses Souls
Snowflakes and Universes: It is, of course, ALL about “me”! By definition, without me there would be no more universe, as least as far as “I” can be aware of, know of, and react to. In all likelihood there certainly seems (an oxymoron or “certainty” about my opinion?) to be something beyond, outside, “other than me”, but damned if I know anything about it, unembellished by my random encounters with it, painted by my needs, both genetic and learned, and other predilections, and unaltered by my hopes. So this universe of "me" is the sum of retained and not-so-retained memories caused by both genetic and environmental exposure. That “universe” IS “me”, not you. You probably have your own universe, much like mine in many ways generally, but in detail in no way. What is a snowflake? The more each of us would write about it, the more differences would appear in our descriptions, in our words, in our reflected knowledge, our grasp at what a snowflake “really” is; our words extracted from different memory banks, but both expressing “understanding” from the perspective of each of our “universes” of memories. I search for the words that seem best to me that you might share a glimpse of my universe, my “understanding”, including in this case, for example, how snowflakes grow differently depending on statistical distributions of their lattice arrangements under general conditions of each snowfall and particular condition of each snowflake, including responses to wind, temp, dewpoint, etc. as it passes through time and different conditions, its very formation affecting the environment around it. As I pick up one and a million others in my hand, I note today’s conditions made perfect snowball-making snow (a one in five to ten year return cycle for similar “perfect packers”). But to summarize, that universe, my universe, THE universe, is me. To note a wise man once said, “just me, a simple Buddhist monk.”  Altruism: ISTMRN that some people get all wrapped up in this altruism thing. Proposing altruism (or any other such “morals”) is a shell that either does or “should” constrain behavior to protect the selfish self by enhancing social stability which is good for the self. Perhaps it is called just plain “Godliness”. But I think in this metaphor the shells are reversed. Altruism is an expression of genes and circumstance, not the other way around; it is not a guide but a consequence. As such, of course, it is the way of things. |