Which is better for the individual; to get pleasure from sitting in front of a computer all day or going to work all day? I ask this due to my belief that “Individual Freedom” is the #1 vision I strive for. In our lives, at birth till we leave the nest of home, we are weaned in varying degrees away from the idea that seeking individual pleasure is good. Selfish is the term we use to denigrate that which seems so natural to us.
In our lives we find that there is good in sitting in front of the computer and in going to work; just as there is bad found in exclusively doing either one. I used to think that my mind enjoyed patterns found in nature because they replicated the patterns found in the way my mind worked. If I could set up a world with the same patterns as those within the architecture of my brain; I would become thoroughly happy.
That however has proved to not be the case in my life. The chink in that suit of armor is the concept of time. When the fruit of the tree of life was threatened to be eaten after we had partaken of the tree of knowledge; “Someone” said to “Someone else or Themselves”, “Lest they eat of the tree of life and become as one of us” We better kick them out of the Garden; From that point Humankind was saddled with the burden of time. It is the deciding factor in everything we do. EVERYTHING.
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http://www.icr.org/bible/Genesis/3:22/
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The “Someone” I quoted as saying “as one of us” has to live outside time. Is that possible? Einstein probably would agree as he thought of pure Energy as existing (for lack of a better word) separate of time matter and space. Only when E was constrained by time would it break down into matter and space. In other words when matter attains the speed of light it changes back to pure energy which then destroys the concept of time.
I bring this up to point out the importance of time, not just in physics but in our daily lives. In every decision we make, perhaps in the way the very structure of our mind and down to our very DNA is formed and therefore works.
The example I always use to explain the effect time has on the decisions we make is this. Imagine you were living in eternity. Imagine you had no concept of time that you lived forever, that the word “end” didn’t exist. Next imagine that you decided that you wanted to tie your shoe. You could feel free to spend as much of your effort and thought to do that one mundane thing. If you spent the equivalent of a thousand years learning the best way to tie your shoes what would you have lost? You would still have an eternity left. All of the penalties and rewards on earth as we know it have to do with manipulating time. We are punished by losing our freedom for a certain amount of time. As in being sent to our room or being sent to jail. At the core of every decision is the weighing of whether the time involved makes something worthwhile doing or not.
Thomas Sowell in his book “Conflict of Visions” explains two basic constructs he believes form the two basic political thoughts. Mr. Sowell does not claim one is better than the other. They are both valid. Throughout the book he allows one to draw the conclusion that while both are valid neither one alone will succeed. I believe Thomas Sowell makes the case brilliantly for the use of Compromise between the two. I came to understand the differences between our political parties at a deeper level after I read his book.
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http://books.google.com/books?id=NwrWDM8FW04C&dq=conflict+of+visions+sowell&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=bH0rrvUB5b&sig=fIgZkizwo1g_cdVjxyQq_KRv_Mo&hl=en&ei=vRkQSuekLqWkNZ222VI&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2#PPR10,M1
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This brings me to the reason for writing this blog entry. Should the Republicans return to their principles? Will our party continue disintegrating if we don’t? When I look at the bigger picture I should ask if the Liberals should deviate from their principles also. That brings up the whole idea of the goodness of compromise. Is it proper to compromise one’s principles?
Of course it is, but only to the point that is determined by the constraints “Time” has placed upon us. For example if it is my principle that tells me I should do the very best in whatever I attempt, then in my above example of the role time plays in tying my shoe; I would never get past that effort before I died. Time forces me to compromise with walking around with shoes that are imperfectly tied, or live a shortened life due to starvation. The best compromise I could make would be to invent a better way (Velcro) and set up a money making venture selling it which would give me the wherewithal to prolong my life to further study tying my shoes.
People do that all the time. It’s called doing what one has a passion for.
I often use the saying “You can make a science out of anything” I usually say that in a negative sense when confronted with a bureaucracy run wild. But good can also come of the same type of thing. Look at all the complicated effort we have made out of putting a ball into a hole. We weren’t happy with one either. Think basketball, golf, and if you expand the concept to a ball in a net well you get the drift.
Most know that a vision or a dream of what we want to accomplish is important and even necessary if we want to make progress. We must fight for that vision with all our might, but we must also know at what point to make the compromise that will keep our Vision moving forward, even though the other side gains something too; that is ok. The reason is simple; the clock is ticking.
More than that, within our party we need both the idealist fighting on the barricades and the pragmatist fighting in the halls of power. Neither will win every battle or argument, but the key is for both to have the vision ever present and well defined, to guide our point of compromise and keep it from being a point of surrender.
Dream big, fight hard and the compromises will not be the terms of Surrender. The compromises back in the day, once upon a time turned into the Declaration of Independence and further compromise brought us the Constitution. Both of which the dreamers and pragmatists from both sides were content with. They knew they did their best, and they were definitely feeling the constraint of time from the British. Their compromise was not a defeat or surrender on either side but a moving forward for humankind.
I must now make my own compromise now with the tyranny of Time and sign off and do something to pay the bills. As God has been so freely translated. Time and Tide wait for no one.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative.
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