May 5, 2013

More on opposition

I have had a marvelous time this week sharing ideas about opposition. While one much younger and smarter than I gave perspective on the purpose of life and its inherent  bimodal make-up. He shared a quote from Thoreau; in part saying that if one is actively participating in activity that will forward the rights of others (including any creature which can recognize the benefit) he is fulfilling his life mission. On the other hand those who choose not to participate in life benefiting activities are, “.  .  .  sucking the marrow out of the bone.” I will leave the remainder of his construct as a footnote to this page of life for any who wish to look deeper into this fascinating mirror of life. NOTE

Another commented on my note saying that it made lots of sense and that we all need to understand that the activities in which we participate are what make up our life sketch. It is this thought that most intrigued me. Go with me back to the USS Hornet CVS 12 in May of 1962. I had only been on board the ship for two months and I began to experience significant numbing in my legs and back. I went to sickbay where I was diagnosed with a couple of weird sounding medical terms and sent to the Navy hospital in Yokosuka, Japan. The Hornet left for more maneuvers in and around the Japanese west coast and I was left in the hospital where I would get daily doses of physical therapy which consisted of pumping weights. This went on for three plus weeks with each week bringing a white coated person who would ask if I was all better. I would say I have numbing in my legs and lower back, and the process would continue. On the forth week’s interaction with medical staff, A stiffly starched gentleman came in identified as Dr. X. He asked me one question. Jacobs, why do you want to get out of the Navy? I was so startled that I blurted out that I had no desire to get out of the Navy and I that I now understood that they thought I was faking, or crazy, and please send me back to the Hornet. The next day I was released from the hospital, sent to Hokaido (northern island of Japan, and returned to my duty post when the ship dock there a few days later.

That thirty second discussion became a major turning point in my life. I could have plead crazy, or homesick, or too ill to work, or anything else and been released on a medical. Instead I took the other path, completed my tour of duty three years later. I have lived with lower back and leg pain all my life, and nothing will change that. If I had been released from the US Navy when I was asked why I wanted out, I would still have been plagued with lower back and leg numbness and pain all of my life, but I would have had the extra pain and disillusionment embodied in giving up; in not completing the race.

Now, imagine my second friend in last week’s discussion. He is down for the count. He has nothing in this life left that is worth working towards. He stands up, squares his shoulders and says to himself, self, I am better than this. I will work toward a new future which includes association with my son, with my dog, with others that I care for. I will find ways of energizing my employment experience in such a manner as to have adequate compensation, to provide for those with whom I have the opportunity of sharing, and to give me the personal satisfaction of knowing that I have done the very best with my life while crossing great chasms and leaping great boondockles one bound at a time. I will be fulfilled while blessing the lives of others.

Another individual pushed his way through a vast array of educational triumphs. He went into the world of work and quickly blossomed in productivity, quality, and remuneration. He took the giant step across that invincible chasm of moving from employee to employer and flourished. He had it all; a great business success, a wonderful family; a love for the gospel of and his creator. In an instant his business was crushed by litigation that would go on for years. He was told by one crusty attorney that he should just roll over and let it go - not to take it personally. Although he had lost his financial fortunes, he still had all the rest; namely, his family, his love of the gospel and his creator, and his integrity. He choose the high road and has succeeded brilliantly in living life in a way that will provide him and his family temporal and spiritual blessings now and through the eternities.

God bless you all as you live your unique lives in ways that will bless those around you.

Duane Jacobs, grandfather, father, uncle, brother, cousin, and fond friend

NOTE by Ford Jacobs: All questions of morality are measured by these two categorical divisions, and all are measured by the affect of one's actions on the experience (negative or positive) of other individuals. To prove this concept, notice that we have people attempting to forward the rights of and, thus, improve the experience of whales, other mammals, birds, and even insects (creatures, like humans, that are aware of their experience). Alternatively, when have you seen people attempting to forward the rights of and, thus, improve the experience of things like rocks (not aware of their experience)? Essentially, only when one aware entity can affect the experience of another aware entity can the area of morality come into play.

From that, I would postulate that sucking the marrow out of life involves a deliberate promotion of the greater good by both minimizing any negative experience and maximizing positive experience in others.

Using this very basic skeleton as a yard stick, I can only conclude that "fornication, robbery, murder, and mayheim" would fall into the category of doing harm and causing a negative experience for others. Going back to my original analogy, these things would be working against the greater good, and thus defined as "choking on the bone." By definition, choking on the bone means falling into a self-serving mode of living and seeking only to maximize the positive experience of one's self, while ignoring the negative impact one's actions have on the experience of others.

It is possible to live greatly, to dare great feats, and to accomplish great things in such a way that one's actions do passively or actively minimize the negative experiences of others. Likewise, it is possible to live greatly while maximizing the positive experience of others. I believe this was Thoreau's line of reasoning when he penned the words regarding sucking all the marrow out of life.

But it goes a little farther than that black-and-white definition. Under this definition, as discussed so far, a passive person could claim to be living a perfectly moral life. Though true, that person cannot claim to be sucking all the marrow out of life. The absense of accomplishment makes the passive person's life spectacularly boring.

To live life to its fullest, one must dare greatly and attempt great things. So long as those endeavors seek the greater good, then fulfillment of those endeavors will be truly rewarding. To live life to its fullest, one must dare greatly, put it all on the line, and engage in the fight.

One of my favorite quotes:

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the are