Wednesday 14 November 2001

Pic of the day: "Where all think alike, no one thinks much at all."

Without these chains

It starts innocently enough in this morning before I go to work. It is past payday (the 12th in each month) and I fire up my portable to do a money transfer. Like many Norwegians, I use Internet banking. I still have the portable set up for this, it has my security certificates and stuff like that, and it is also more stable when connecting to Internet. The new computer sometimes disconnects without warning.

Another reason to fire up the portable is that it has the software to access my old NetCom address. I have forgotten the password, but it is stored in the dial-up setup on my Toshiba. Since I don't use that address officially anymore, there shouldn't be much mail. There isn't. 43 spam, 1 letter from a friend who habitually forgets my new mail address, and one virus from a boss at work.

***

Yes indeed. I know I've promised not to write about work, itching as I may, but I don't think this falls under that contract. You see, it's not from the company mailbox, but a presumably private mail address belonging to one of my leaders. It does not matter here who of them. But I have not had any correspondence privately with any of them, nor been asked for my mail address. This is the virus/worm that also reads mail addresses from your computer's Internet cache, and indeed it is sent to the mail address used in my diary archive.

I don't know whether I should be flattered that my bosses still read my journal archive; I certainly don't mind or I would not have written under full name. As I have said before, I write this for my friends but my friendship is free to all that freely accept it. But I found myself grinning and thinking: 'Perhaps I may yet influence them to become a Christian mystic like myself; or more likely to buy Civ3 ...' A quote from the Bible came to mind quite unbidden.

When the apostle Paul held a gripping speech before King Agrippa and the assembled nobility, he concluded: "I would wish to God, that whether in a short or long time, not only you, but also all who hear me this day, might become such as I am, except for these chains."

Without drawing any other parallels, I have to say that I feel largely the same way. I wish that all that read my journal may become like I am, only without these chains. Oh wait, I don't actually have chains. Oh well, you know what I mean. I wish you could be as content as I am but without my limitations. I'm not sure it is possible, though.

***

An online friend, popularly known as Shmitz, mused in his LiveJournal a while ago that most of us probably choose the direction in life that we think is right. We would not willingly choose an inferior lifestyle. Therefore, it cannot be arrogant to believe that you are right. This is indeed logical, and so is another conclusion: It would be arrogant to believe that others willingly choose to do the wrong thing. When they do something that I feel is Just Plain Wrong, then, it is best to assume that they think it is a good idea. In so far as it makes any sense to discuss it with them at all, it would have to be on that mutual understanding, that each of us presumes to do the right thing.

It would be easy to jump to the conclusion that it makes no sense to discuss ethical questions at all, but this is not so. Firstly, a large part of our lives is lived without any conscious decision at all. The more we take time to reflect on our behavior, and the more we meet people with different values, the more we can see these unchosen choices.

For this reason, it is probably pointless to convince a a practicing homosexual that his actions are Just Plain Wrong, even if you should think so. Chances are that he has been thinking about this ten times more than you have, or a hundred times, because he has been exposed to contrary opinion on a daily basis. That doesn't necessarily mean that he is more right than you are (depends on whether you rely on human rights or ancient scriptures) but it is a safe bet that your ideas won't have much impact. On the other hand, in modern western society celibacy is so rare that many of you have probably not given it a second thought. There circulate various horror stories of what damage it could do to body and soul, much like our grandfathers were told about masturbation.

Keep reading, and you may find out! At least I hope you will find some new thoughts now and then.