Hi, it’s Baron Wolfman. I hadn’t heard anything from inside the Werehouse for such a long time I had a look in this morning, and Andy Wolfhol was nowhere to be seen. There were just these notes at his desk, illuminated by The Shining spring sun:
English: Sun dogs during sunset outside of New Ulm, Minnesota, United States. Note the sun dogs on either side of the actual sun, with halo arcs passing through each parhelion. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Spring is sprung
my work is done
wonder whether
wandering weather
waits outside window…
aW
God’s special animal.
Gone delinquent
or created
to finish the job
of an auto-destructive
artistic God.
aW
The Overlook Hotel (Timberline Lodge). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Sitting at my desk
devoid of company
is that the reason why
I criticise my species?
Or does it make me
more balanced?
aW
Some creatures of the same species do
and some creatures of the same species don’t
like me
without knowing me.
Therefore it’s them not me.
Hi, it’s Greenygrey. I did go to the cinema once this year – to see the Life of Pi movie, which looked like a travel story comparable to my ramble across North America and Grey’s ozyssey across Oztralia. Moreover, knowing many animals are sacred in Hinduism I thought there’d be a positive message about the relationship between humans and animals.
Life of Pi God and Animals Message
I really enjoyed Ang Lee’s movie, and recommend watching it. I thought the storyline was entertaining and thought-provoking, and the cinematography majestic. However, I was disappointed that the central theme seemed to be that God made humans and animals separate.
Apparently the message is not so strong in the book, which I haven’t read.
I agree that you should take care when interacting with dangerous animals like tigers; as the warning on the front page of the Greenygrey website stresses; and that wild animals should live in the wild. What I don’t agree with is that there is a God-designed distinct separation between humans and animals.
Humans and Animals Similarities and Differences
I think this is a dangerous message for animals and wildlife conservation on Earth, because humans have used a special status under ‘God’ to treat their close relatives badly, pushing many species to extinction.
Ever-improving scientific knowledge and studies into animal behaviour, highlighted in documentaries such as The Wonders of Life show that animals share almost all the DNA and thought processes with humans, and this is because life on Earth has evolved together over millions of years.
Humanity and Animals Share Compassion and Emotion
Humanity is at its best when being caring and compassionate, but even this is not unique. Many animals will put their lives on the line trying to care for others; and even others of other species.
Stories of dogs mourning their masters are common. It could be argued that dogs have been trained to care over the thousands of years they’ve spent with humanity, since wolves and humans made friends, but there are also many cases of animals in the wild adopting or befriending animals from other species.
The video of polar bears and huskies making friends and playing was an example of this, and another even more remarkable one was brought to my attention by Stefan Latham. This showed a leopard killing a baboon and then taking pity on the baboon infant, and seemingly adopting it.
It doesn’t prove there is or isn’t a god or gods, but I hope it shows that there is not such a distinct difference between humans and other animals that the Life of Pi movie seems to suggest.
Please read our Greenygrey declaration in Churchill voice for Remembrance Weekend: We try to keep Britain and Europe free, safe and secular not because we think it is a perfect society or finished product, but because we think it is a developed civilisation, and hope it is heading in the right direction.
Extremist Liberalism and Placebo Effect
Cover of The Bridge on the River Kwai
Combating extremism risks your becoming extreme, in what we call the ‘Bridge on the River Kwai syndrome’, after the classic film about a British officer who gets so involved with building a bridge while a P.O.W (prisoner of war) that he begins to work for the enemy.
To avoid becoming anti-extremist extremists, the Greenygrey tries to mix up its blogs between lots of different topics and categories.
With religious extremists claiming Godly credit for Hurricane Sandy, we think we’re justified in responding. So, here’s our sporting response:
Messiah (Derren Brown special) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
While a belief in God or something else can be a sporting motivational mind tool, we think it is a placebo effect, rather than God actually helping sportspeople who are often competing against people of the same religion.
Examples of a placebo effect at work aired last night on British television, with several people overcoming lifetime mental barriers with the aid of a placebo in the latest Derren Brown Channel 4 special.
God’s not Sporting
As Martin ‘Werewolfie’ Adams inferred on this very site, August 9th How to Win Gold Medals, to our knowledgeGod has never helped a totally untrained sportsperson win an Olympics or world title. Whereas world class sportspeople like Jonathan Edwards and Bruce Lee have achieved their goals without a belief in God.
Bruce Lee Statue, Hong Kong (Photo credit: Ian Muttoo)
Sometimes, it seems like sportspeople from monotheistic religions think God is going to help them against sportspeople who follow the same God, as there is only one God per monotheistic religion.
If there is only one God per billion people, or however many followers the bandwagon propagandists claim it has, is it really going to have the time to choose sides and provide intervention on a personal basis?
And what would we think of a God who regularly lets good people die too young, and then helps its favourite sportspeople?
Godly Games and Careers
Other times, sportspeople thank their God when their team score a goal, point or run; but then the other team scores several. Does God desert them in the intervening period?
A similar story of ‘God-given’ success followed by ‘God-deserting’ failure happens over careers. Sportspeople thank God when their careers are on the rise, but when they age or tire of success, they usually lose to younger and hungrier competitors. Again, has God deserted them… or is it just human ability and the career cycle?
God is busy (Photo credit: Steve Bowbrick)
When there’s a 100-year-old world champion in a speed or strength sport who doesn’t train, and credits God, we might begin to believe in Godly intervention.
Interventionist God or Not
While these sporting examples seem trivial compared to the damage of Hurricane Sandy and other natural disasters, they are from the same philosophical question when it comes to blame and achievement: whether there is an interventionist God or not?
We will probably never know for sure whether there is a God, and how it works if there is one; so we have to learn, question and debate from the evidence we have. For us in sporting terms, it’s so that religious extremists don’t have a guilt-trip walkover.
Hi, it’s Wolf Whistzer, intrepid newshound at the Greenygrey. Great news from our line in New York, because the G is back up and running. After we introduced the G-Line to you on the Greenygrey blog last month (22nd October), explaining it used to be called the GG-line, and is all greenygrey on the map, it was closed along with most of the metro as Hurricane Sandy approached last weekend, hitting on Sunday (28th October). Along with the L line, the G line was the worst hit.
No Direct Line to God
We don’t claim any premonition or anything inspired the blog, and helped to save New York… and hope you won’t blame us for it either. The GG-line was being suggested as a link by Zemanta for sometime. You could ask why we finally got around to looking into the G-line a week before it suffered its worst flooding, but we don’t have any answers.
Thankfully, nobody was hurt in the G-line, and we give our commiserations to all the victims, families and friends affected by Hurricane Sandy; and all the other natural disasters affecting the world.
And no, we didn’t know Hurricane Sandy was heading that way either. It also caused a lot of damage in other places too, and we didn’t mention them; and a lot of places we have mentioned have had no storms.
Angry God (Photo credit: Michael Klaas)
Unfortunately, some religious leaders and groups did claim it was God’s wrath on New York and the USA, with reasons to suit their religions. As usual, when natural disasters happen to enemies it’s God’s revenge for opposition, and when it happens to your people it’s God’s anger at disobedience.
As long as there are people like that, we think we are justified in countering them. So, sorry to all moderate monotheists, but tomorrow we’ll have our sporting return.
‘Many athletes win tournaments while believing in god; and perhaps that belief gives them an edge over their opponents. However, I doubt if any win through belief alone; without training.’
Martin ‘Werewolfie’ Adams
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 11: Jacob French is welcomed as he completes his trek at the Sydney Children's Hostpital on April 4, 2012 in Sydney, Australia. French today completed the over 5,000 km trek from Perth to Sydney on foot, donning a full body stormtrooper costume he successfully raised over $100,000 for the Starlight Children's Foundation. Since July 2011, Jacob has walked 10 hours a day, Monday to Friday, lost over 12kg in weight, and gone through seven pairs of shoes. The Starlight Children's Foundation provides programs to help lift the spirits of sick children in hospitals accross Australia. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
Hi, it’s Greenygrey here. We’re proud to say that Grey’s epic ramble around Oz is now up on Manic Readers. We’ve let our ghost-writer, Marc Latham, take the credit.
To celebrate, we have put the Werewolf of Oz big battle scene as a free doc on the home page of the Greenygrey website, while the arriving in Sydney poems are a free doc on the biography page.
Why Existence is Miracle Enough
We read a good article by Ben Gilliland in Monday’s Metro (May 21st, 2012), and thought we’d share some its wisdom with you; mainly because it had a kind of greenygrey theme.
Why Existence is Miracle Enough asked ‘Why do we need religion to see miracles in the world around us, or to find significance in our existence?’
We agree with this, and so does Marc Latham. It was the theme of one of his Folding Mirror poems in March 2011:
For God’s Sake
If there is a
god
it gave you
life
for love of
god
is that not enough
While a belief in a personal or cultural monotheistic god can be a comfort, and a motivator, it can also create divisions, prejudices and war.
Marc Latham is reading Peter Prew’s The Human Reality at the moment, and it inspired this poem. Prew argues that humanity has been showing the same signs of delusion as a schizophrenic since it gave up its nomadic way of life; when it lived at one with nature and had a horizontal social stratification under the Great Spirit.
Prew considers that since human communities grew and became sedentary, the social stratification has become vertical, and this has led some humans to seek power and declare themselves special under their god. Consequently, this has led to wars with other human communities, who have also developed in a similar way. Prew believes it has also led to enslavement and poverty for many.
Sky gods whispered
to Earthmother of the
natural harmony,
the Great Spirit of all.
But humanity hid it under monotheism
Jesus Christ crucified for humanity’s sins
Prophets followed speaking of God dreams
people were kept in dark
resources sacrificed
with love to representatives
of warring Gods.
Marc Latham latest FM poem is a comment on the book burning controversy that’s been going on over the last few days, as well as all the other crimes done by those proclaiming to be working in the name of a good God; and how he thinks it shows up all the sillyness and destruction that the monotheistic religions have been spreading around the world for two thousand years… with no respite in sight judging from the media and believers’ reactions!
Not that everything done by the religions is bad, or all the believers at fault, but there has been a lot of what they would consider devilish acts done in the name of the monotheistic religions, and they have many a time created Hell on Earth.
Long after Jesus Christ is said to have left the Earth, the Devil was created out of pagan gods like Pan, who were then disposed with. The poem therefore makes the point that the Devil is only in those who believe in it. The title is derived from an old horror film.
The Devil Rides Out…Of You!
Devil, Devil,
repent thyself,
the Devil must be
within you, because
you don’t believe
in what we say.
pagan gods Frankensteined to Devil
you say what pays
and create fear
around us, with
the Devil inside you.
your belief,
Devil, Devil.
mistYmuse 