I've been glued to the tube, more specifically glued to the Weather Channel and CNN who are as fascinated by Hurricane Dennis as I am. I'm sure their ratings are through the proverbial roof.
It was the same last September when I was following Hurricane Ivan - I was following every minute of the adventure - reality TV at its best. There is no better reality than watching the power of Nature... she is one powerhouse ("She's a brick house...").
The thing about natural disasters is there are no theories or opinions other than just hunkering down and watching it do its thing. Sure, there are those that ask the "Why?" question... it pretty normal to ask that, but the fact is the hurricane is strong and apparently gaining even more strength as it approaches its target - Pensacola or Mobile..? As good as our weather technology has become the machines can't say for certain what Nature is 'thinking.' Where the hurricane will strike for sure is till an unknown, although not a complete mystery, simply watching where its at now and how far it is from the coast when can predict with some certainty what area it will hit... maybe a 90-95% window of accuracy.
This particular hurricane is now spinning at 145 mph... mighty she blows... a Category 4 and so close to the coast. I also ask "Why?" I can't help but think of the comment from the 'Reverend" Jerry Falwell when the twin towers were hit - something like "God's revenge towards the homosexual" or some such nonsense. I wonder what he says about these hurricanes that have struck Florida and it neighboring states?
In viewing the channels covering Dennis I have seen several views of the damage from Hurricane Ivan (and others) from last year... still a war ravaged wasteland in many areas - deserted houses awaiting demolition some ten months after the fact. People still living in trailers provided by the government as they have no homes left after last years destruction. What do the Jerry Falwell's say about this..? Is God punishing Florida for lying about the Bush election? Is God punishing the Red States for following Bush..? Hah!
Nature does not have a conscience. Nature does what it is designed to do - change... change in order to continue on. Nature gives life and takes life. It is necessary. Nature has no human qualities like asking why? It just performs. There is no guilt, no sorrow, no disappointments... and conversely Nature has no joy, no pleasures, no thrills. Nature doesn't even have a memory. What would it do with a memory? Nature does not need those things. They would prevent Nature from changing, from continuing. Those things I mentioned are human qualities - 'why?' based upon our personal judgments.
We can easily ask 'why?' when we see the terrorist bombings in London, in Madrid, in Bali, and of course, the U.S.... because these were acts commited by ourselves - we humans perpetuate acts, both good and evil, upon ourselves... it too is natural given our history. It is also our nature to ask 'why?' and because some of our questions cannot be answered by our own kind, we ask a larger presence.. our gods.
'Our' gods... we take these concepts of what 'our' gods should be and attach 'our' ideals and morals to what we choose 'our' gods should be. After all God is 'ours' so shouldn't 'our' God listen to us and do what we pray for and what we think is the right thing? Stupidity! God is not 'ours' to do our bidding. This is ego speaking and ego lasts as long as the body lives. Siddartha is dead. Jesus is dead. Mohammed is dead. What remains is the Buddha nature. What remains is the Christ within. What remains is always what exists when ego is no more - the original face. This is what is more powerful than even Nature. Nature can and will give and take from us, from all of life, not just human, but our Buddha nature, our Christ within, our face before we were born is eternal. Siddartha knew this. Jesus knew this. Many throughout history knew this, and many now know this... Life is eternal, matter is in constant flux. We either accept this or we ask why, why, why until mind reaches Category 4... maybe then the realization will hit the shores of our understanding...
Cecil
10 July 2005
