What I think I am, what I think I was created to be, what I think I should be...
In the end it is only what I choose to be that matters.
I cannot think of a more simple synopsis of the meaning of life: thoughts and actions. I am made of that which is acted upon, but I am that which acts; I build, I begin, I create, I complete. I also dream, and imagine, and believe, and think, but the substance of these is in the action. Without action I am merely that which is acted upon.
Choice is the end of life, and the beginning; but if I do not choose I never live, I only exist.
Evolutionary theory has a new twist: self-determination. Self-determination recognizes that there is natural order in all things...snow flakes, lipids, genes, etc; when acted upon, everything changes to a more ordered state.
There is a wonderful step forward in this line if thinking, but the idea of a rock self-determining in the midst of a magma flow is quite absurd since the elements that compose the rock and every other kind of element for that matter have no self, they are not that which acts but that which is acted upon. So what does determine this order? Does it change? Are there exceptions? How did the order come to be? If we understand the workings of this order where does that lead? If we understand the workings of this order can we determine the end results? Can we change the results within the framework of this order? Points to ponder.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Family Vacation
On the 14 of June we arrived home from a long anticipated family vacation. We left home on the 29 of May en route to Denver Colorado for the Mason Family Reunion and arrived late in the afternoon. Grandpa Mason provided us and everyone else rooms in a posh hotel for three or four nights and we enjoyed being reacquainted with aunts, uncles, and cousins (and lots of second cousins at this point).This is the over head picture of the pizza party we had on Saturday night, it was mostly Galbraith's, but then most of the family are Galbraith's, more than two thirds.
One of my favorite parts of the family reunion was staying up till two or three a.m. playing cards with Dad, Nathanael, and Ryan; we did that two nights running. It was fun to just relax, talk, and tell jokes and stories with them; it's kind of a tradition that Dad and I started at the first Mason Family Reunion in 1997.
We went to the Denver temple on Friday and that was the first time that I have been in the temple with all of my married siblings at the same time; eight of us are married now. We did a sealing session with Grandpa and the spirit and experience were great. I think that was the most poignant moment in the whole reunion for me except possibly the fast and testimony meeting we attended with Grandma and Grandpa on Sunday. I got up to bare testimony and testified about families in our Heavenly Father's Plan and paid tribute Chet and Mary Lou Mason as the great patriarch and matriarch of our family.
On Monday the 2 of June we packed up and headed for Utah and our great friends the DeMille's.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
The reunion and vacation
From the 29th of May to the 14th of June we were on vacation. It was interesting, fun, challenging, beautiful, relaxing, energizing, educational, thought provoking, and deeply satisfying. I've posted on facebook some of the many pictures we took but here is one that deserves it's own post.William DeMille let me tag along and help out with his bees. It was great fun and I learned a lot; specifically I learned why my brother Seth and I weren't successful at bee keeping as teens.
You have to open hives about once every two or three weeks and rotate the frames, check egg production including queen cells, honey stores, and if there is a good balance of drones and workers. You can actually shift frames along with population, eggs, honey and all to help strengthen a weak or struggling hive!
William also showed me a honey tree that he hived a swarm out of last year. He keeps watching in hopes of getting another swarm because the one he took last year is thriving.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Article comment post
Today I received an e-mail from a magazine Miller-McCune, they are printing a comment I made on an article called 'The Doubt Makers'.
Here's the link to both http://www.miller-mccune.com/article/348
The article is rather long and really not worth the read unless you are trying to understand conspiracy theorists from the far political left, so here is the comment I made:
POSTED BY: Mark Galbraith, May 21, 2008, 02:23 PM
"This article is insidious. It makes some assumptions that are simply untrue, namely that: scientists and reporters can establish objective truth; that this established truth is not subject to personal perspective or flawed data/data interpretation; that only one side of any argument has an agenda; and that consensus among experts means the truth has been found.
The problem is that all of these assumptions are untrue. The truth as we know it, as we search it out, is simply our best understanding and interpretation of the finite data we gather in a particular limited context. This truth is neither absolute nor pure, whether in relation to climate change, theories of evolution, gravity, black holes or any other scientific subject; the truth as we know it is just our best guess.
In science change is the only constant that can be held absolutely true. The second we come to consensus that any scientific subject is settled is the second we loose all hope of finding truth. Agendas are universal. Whether they are conscious or unconscious every person, every group of people, every organization, every government, every business, every media outlet, every entertainment venue, and every expert has an agenda. The agenda of this author seems clear in the message of the article: only the bad guys have an agenda, you can trust the media, scientists all agree and you should too…if you don’t you’re a bad guy!
Lastly, consensus among experts means the truth has been found…bologna! Truth is not a democracy! Truth is not limited by our understanding or perception of it or by the agreement of the few or the many that we have found and established it. We cannot define the truth, we can only search for and identify the pieces we find, and try to fit them into the great puzzle that in the end is put together according to our view of the world. Any true scientist will admit that science isn’t interested in the truth, science is only interested in finding the answers that prove a hypothesis, that reinforce a theory, that explain a law, so the grant money won’t dry up…back to the agenda. May be it’s time we get back to equal time and let people find their own answers; after all it’s not just reporters and scientists that are sifting to find them."
Here's the link to both http://www.miller-mccune.com/article/348
The article is rather long and really not worth the read unless you are trying to understand conspiracy theorists from the far political left, so here is the comment I made:
POSTED BY: Mark Galbraith, May 21, 2008, 02:23 PM
"This article is insidious. It makes some assumptions that are simply untrue, namely that: scientists and reporters can establish objective truth; that this established truth is not subject to personal perspective or flawed data/data interpretation; that only one side of any argument has an agenda; and that consensus among experts means the truth has been found.
The problem is that all of these assumptions are untrue. The truth as we know it, as we search it out, is simply our best understanding and interpretation of the finite data we gather in a particular limited context. This truth is neither absolute nor pure, whether in relation to climate change, theories of evolution, gravity, black holes or any other scientific subject; the truth as we know it is just our best guess.
In science change is the only constant that can be held absolutely true. The second we come to consensus that any scientific subject is settled is the second we loose all hope of finding truth. Agendas are universal. Whether they are conscious or unconscious every person, every group of people, every organization, every government, every business, every media outlet, every entertainment venue, and every expert has an agenda. The agenda of this author seems clear in the message of the article: only the bad guys have an agenda, you can trust the media, scientists all agree and you should too…if you don’t you’re a bad guy!
Lastly, consensus among experts means the truth has been found…bologna! Truth is not a democracy! Truth is not limited by our understanding or perception of it or by the agreement of the few or the many that we have found and established it. We cannot define the truth, we can only search for and identify the pieces we find, and try to fit them into the great puzzle that in the end is put together according to our view of the world. Any true scientist will admit that science isn’t interested in the truth, science is only interested in finding the answers that prove a hypothesis, that reinforce a theory, that explain a law, so the grant money won’t dry up…back to the agenda. May be it’s time we get back to equal time and let people find their own answers; after all it’s not just reporters and scientists that are sifting to find them."
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Pie Day in Maryville
The Maryville Branch pie day celebration (3.14 as in March 14th). What a great opportunity for all the guys to show...how crazy they are by eating a 9" cream pie in three minutes. This is not one of my greatest moments but I suppose it needs to go down in history anyway.
By the way...I won. Not sure what that says about me, but it was fun.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Busy Spring
This year seems to be accelerating dramatically in every respect. We will be having our sixth child...one closer to a really respectable family size. We will be taking our first real family vacation. Church and family activities seem to be multiplying and we can hardly keep up. To add insult to business my work is so chaotic and demanding that I can rarely get through a daily list without passing much of it forward to the next day.
Today Gabriella slunk into our room under a blanket as I was working on my laptop and handed me a little note that said "To Daddy, Havfun--Dear Daddy hav a good day tomoro. I like that song to. I wont you to know that I love you." I was listening to dance music and the girls especially like it because they dance. A song that I particularly like came on and I mentioned that I like it...it seems that little girls pay a lot of attention to what their daddys say, more than I thought they did.
Today Gabriella slunk into our room under a blanket as I was working on my laptop and handed me a little note that said "To Daddy, Havfun--Dear Daddy hav a good day tomoro. I like that song to. I wont you to know that I love you." I was listening to dance music and the girls especially like it because they dance. A song that I particularly like came on and I mentioned that I like it...it seems that little girls pay a lot of attention to what their daddys say, more than I thought they did.
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