The adventures of the prophet pt 2

Hercule and the prophet walked out into into the black night. The cold desert wind caused the mighty Hercule to shiver, but the skinny prophet stood erect.

"Now my child" said the prophet,
"Try and lift this small stone".

Hercule bent his trunkish legs downward and reached for a round pebble beneath his feet.

"It is too heavy my lord", whined Hercule the strong.

For the lord was using his magical powers to make it heavy.

"I can usually lift two-hundred times the weight of this small stone said the puzzled Hercule",

Hercule looked at the black sky and the amber sand and let the harsh wind blow across his stubbly beard. He sighed and wondered where his strength had gone.

"Are you using your magic on it" he finally asked

"Yes" replied the lord

A Treatise on Church Corruption

Bring to me the men of God
Who trip ov’r their vestments,
They stumble in their shoes well shod
Unfit for divine assessments.
And each by each they are to kneel
Before the font of reason
And each displays a golden heal
For it’s wealth that is their treason.
And when the bishops try to pray
Heavy gold flows from their jaws
And as it crushes down their cassocks hear them bray
And tear off their gilded gowns with frantic claws.
For they take on the pomp of ancient kings
And all forsake Jah’s edict
But see now the fate it brings
To those who feign believe it.

The adventures of the prophet, pt 1

It was a cold night in Samaria and the strong flow of the wind rattled and battered the sandy desert houses. A disciple Hercule, and the prophet were seated at Hercule’s table for supper. The disciple of the erudite prophet asked his master:

“Master what is the secret of strength"?

The prophet paused and then said to Hercule his disciple,

“Strength is not physical strength, but a strength that is non-physical, and hence the physical has no effect on true strength, the opposite however is not true, true strength girds the mind and hence allows the building up of the physical body.”

Hercule was confused but kissed the prophet on the lips and thanked him nonetheless.

He reached from the communal plate with his wooden spoon and sipped on the fish broth he had prepared for his master.

After some time he gestured towards his large arm muscles and asked the prophet if he should continue his exercise regimen. The prophet knew however that his parable was a metaphor and that Hercule had sadly missed the message.

The Prophet continued:

“Strength is good, it is better than weakness, but an excess of strength is a weakness, and thus too much strength is a weakness that cannot be cured with more strength, but only by weakness. The opposite however is not true; too much weakness is not strength but is a weakness and hence can only be cured by strength and not by any increase in weakness”

Hercule thought for some time and then gestured once more to his mammoth arms. The prophet frowned and decided that poor Hercule must be possessed by a demon of ignorance.

“Follow me my child” said the prophet.

The two ventured out into the cold night, each wearing only a thin white shawl.

RUSSEL CROWE's 'Noah'

A rather trite article on the upcoming Aronofsky Opus Noah (http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2012/aug/13/russell-crowe-noah-darren-aronofsky?INTCMP=SRCH) starring intense character actor RUSSEL CROWE led to thoughts of what the film may hold for fans of Biblical epics:

SCENE 1:

Noah builds the worlds first cruise liner for animals

It is morning, birds call, RUSSEL rises from slumber next to his wife. Though aged 600, he looks a mere 300. His body has withered into a wrinkled husk of a man, contracting to a dry form the size of a 6 year old child. He dreams of rain, so that with moisture his dry, old skin may be refreshed. There is an extended dream scene, perhaps of a cornfield in a deluge.

RUSSEL: WIFE, I SHALL BUILD AN ARK, FETCH ME TIMERS.

Wife: Noah, you are mad, it has not rained here for many a cursed year

RUSSEL: My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.

Wife: Oh No(ah), not again (Laugh Track)

RUSSEL: Whatever comes through those gates….

Wife: I’ll fetch some wood

*    *    *

An Ark is built, the world floods, RUSSEL sets loose a dove
 


Scene 30

RUSSEL: Fly, my pretty, fly!

Enter Commodus, dressed as a dove

Commodus: Caw, Caw

RUSSEL: Dove, find me land, or a tree that lo I may perch my boat upon it.

Commodus: Caw, Caw
Exit Commodus, Play montage of RUSSEL looking hopefully out over a wild sea. The rains have made him young again, perhaps there is a scene in a corn field. Commodus returns with a branch

Commodus: Caw, Caw

RUSSEL: A BRANCH, I CAN USE THIS TO AVENGE MY FAMILY, BUT FIRST, WINE

Together RUSSEL and Commodus get progressively inebriated, until their clothes fall off, exposing their nakedness. Enter Ham.

Ham: Egads, father, your nakedness, I shall avert mine eyes (He does so)

RUSSEL: My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.

Ham: Here father, Shem and I will cover thee

RUSSEL: My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.

Advancing backwards, Ham and Shem cover RUSSEL. Commodus flies off, only to be caught on an overhead power line. He explodes.

RUSSEL: Son, Son….

Ham: Yes father?

RUSSEL: You covered my nakedness, son

Ham: I know, father

RUSSEL: I curse you, son

Ham: What?

RUSSEL: I curse you in the name of Jesus. My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.

Ham: Father, you are drunk
RUSSEL: Son, I never loved you, you were always a dissapointment. I am not your father

Ham: No, father, it can’t be

RUSSEL: You were just a bastard in a basket, I used you to get contracts from God. Just a pretty face. My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius and I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next. Bastard in a Basket, BASTARD IN A BASKET

Ham: Father, I saw your nakedness, I know you could not have begat me, for you have nothing betwixt your thighs but the painted face of a bald man with protuberant teeth

RUSSEL: And now I am undone

RUSSEL dies, Ham, distraught, cries aloud, then commits Hari Kuri over RUSSEL’s limp form. Commodus flies down, and weeps. His tears fall onto the face of RUSSEL, but he is no phoenix, and RUSSEL does not stir. The shot lasts 8 minutes. Then black.
Fin.

Then, a voice, calling in the darkness, and the darkness could not comprehend it
RUSSEL: My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.

The Philosopher at sea

When the oaken barrel’s empty base, 

Feeds the peep holes in your face

And grog is gone, the wine run dry

Perceived by a perceptive eye

The tumbling of the masts and sail

The clanking of metal,

Sounds of the whales

The gull that caws above the brine

The eyes on a pittance dine

When, blank sea returns a meagre smile

Sit on deck and think, a while

The storm at night;

An irritation

The constant cracking of the bows and

Their, unchaste vibrations

Make a sailor rather cross

He laughs

A thought

• 1.) (premise) I exist in the present
• 2.) (premise) I existed in the past and the past is something "real"
• 3.) (premise) I have free will and the future is undetermined. 

Conclusion "I" am a growing '4D' time worm and "I" can shape my identity

Inferences:

IDENTITY IN AN FINITE UNIVERSE

1.) If I only live once my identity is valuable only in some abstract way, and hence not of any particular concern.

IDENTITY IN AN INFINITE UNIVERSE

• In an infinite universe reincarnation necessarily follows (as given an infinite time everything that is possible becomes actual) 

If identity is directly shaped by my actual moral/experiential deeds then "I" could only exist where "I"  performed similar actions to those that I performed in my actual life or in a life where I felt the results of those actions.


Thus if "I" were to be reincarnated I would have to perform similar deeds in all subsequent infinite reincarnations. 

Thus I should pick my actions very very carefully indeed.

COUNTERARGUMENT 1

Life whether finite or infinite is imperfect so it’s not all that important to “choose” our identity right, if indeed we can choose our identity. Indeed many things are beyond our control and as long as we have a reasonably ok identity then it is unrealistic and a waste of effort to aim for a much much greater life..

COUNTERARGUMENT 2

Rigid identity and an infinite universe necessarily impliy determinism. (i.e. i was always performing these deeds in an infninte chain with no beginning or end) So I can't change my identity even if I wanted to.

COUNTERARGUMENT 3

I only have control of a small part of what shapes my identity (my actions), bad things still happen if I do good things.

Confessions of an evil man

TWO ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF BEING A DICK

FIRST ARGUMENT: MORALITY IN AN IMPERFECT UNIVERSE

Three preliminary points:

1.) Imperfect things have imperfect value.

2.)The universe in imperfect.

3.) People belong to the universe thus they are imperfect, and their wllbeing has finite value.

PROOF OF 2

FOR THE PERFECT UNIVERSE TO BE ACTUALISED THE FOLLOWING KEY DESIRES MUST BE FULFILLED:

a.) We do not want to be ultimately accountable to somebody else – we want pure free will: Atheism

= Plausibly true at this world

b.) We do not want the universe to be dependent on our thoughts – we want the external to be real: anti-idealism

= Plausibly true at this world

c.) We do not want to know we live forever - If we knew we lived forever life would be meaningless thus we want a period of forgetfulness between lives: reincarnation

= Not necessarily false in this world

d.) We do not want to suffer unnecessarily

= It is almost certain we do suffer unnecessarily

CONCLUSION: IT IS ALMOST CERTAIN THAT SOME OF THE ABOVE KEY DESIRES ARE UNFULFILLED THUS

THIS IS NOT THE PERFECT UNIVERSE

From 1,2,3,: A slippery slope. 

If it is morally justifiable to spend 99.99999...% of my energy on morality then it is morally justified to spend 99.9998…% of my energy on morality. Because of the insignificant difference between the two figures.

- It is morally justifiable to spend 99.99999...% of my energy on morality because people's wellbeing has finite value.

It is morally justifiable to spend 99.999998...% of my energy on morality

THUS

It is morally justifiable to spend 99.9997…% of my energy on morality. BY TRANSITIVITY OF RULE

Etc. etc.

It is morally justifiable to spend 5.99999999...% of my energy on morality

THUS it is morally justifiable to spend 5.9999999998…% of my energy on morality.

Conclusion: I can be a dick

ARGUMENT 2 THE ARGUMENT FROM SELF-PRESERVATION

2.) It is justified to hurt somebody a little to avoid a very large amount of pain yourself– SOME VALUE COMMENSUARABILTY

OR At some point avoiding pain becomes objectively more important than a little immorality.

2. a) Slippery Slope

If I can hurt somebody for 1 unit of pain in order to avoid 45000 units of pain myself I should do so.

If it is morally justifiable to inflict 1 unit of pain on somebody in order to avvoid 45000 units of pain then it is morally justifiable to inflict 1 unit of pain in order to avoid 45999 units of pain. As the difference is insignificant.

Etc. etc.

THUS BY TRANSITIVITY OF RULE

- If I can hurt somebody for 1 unit of pain in order to avoid  0.1 units of pain myself I should do so. 

Conclusion:I can be a dick

Jazzstep

Dizzee ft. Evans