I sincerely hope as well that Jeff doesn't have any qualms with me making this dialogue public. I do so in a way to honor him, for "the fragments of Enlightenment" that we have shared with one another through written conversation. First is the text that Jeff Parker wrote me in response to my Facebook™ Email message (see blog entry: "An Irreverent, Licentious Remark on God!"), and then you will find the long, tedious, rambling remarks that I wrote to him just this evening on Facebook™.
JEFF PARKER'S FACEBOOK™ MESSAGE TO ME:
Hi Matthew,
Divine faith is neither. It is an escape hatch for a troubled intellect. I believe only in Science and curiosity. Only science can achieve the sublime and find universal truths. With that said, everyone's spiritual journey is different. Your's is especially challenging, but you will get through it. Do whatever works for you, but know that Science is your friend. The pastors & priests make promises for some future paradise, some with good intentions, some with cynical and corrupt motives.
Let them take care of your spirt until your body is healed, and even cured, by Science, as mine was. I am amazed every day by the beauty of the natural world around me. Heaven is here right now. Don't miss it. And know that I wish you the best.
RE: MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Email Correspondance.
Jeff Parker, Facebook™; January 5, 2009 at 11:34 AM.
Retrieved on January 13, 2009 at 03:17 AM.
MY RESPONSE TO JEFF PARKER'S FACEBOOK® MESSAGE:
Jeff, I'm sorry to regret having sent you these preachy, pious and proselytizing emails which only provoke your atheism and rational faith in Science, while making me sound like a completely ignorant, brain-washed ascetic. I want you to know that I do also very much believe in Science as the ultimate source for universal truths and healing.
While I have in the past year tired to open myself up to my faith, believing that both it and Science are not a diametrically opposed binary but instead work cohesively together in broadening our understanding of humankind and all things greater than the human intellect, I have at the same time completely abandoned myself to the process of healing though Science.
Science can answer many questions on the mysteries of life, but there are some questions, I believe, that cannot be answered through Science. That's why we have Faith and Religion—to answer the greater preponderances of the human intellect. Major, predominant, contemporary philosophical theories of a Supreme Being and the Divine argue this same thesis.
I agree with you, as I've said, that Science can lead us to many universal truths, but I do not want to be misled to put all my faith excludively into Science; especially now, during my time of immense struggle, discovery and reawakening. I am not a born again Christian. I have been saved not figuratively in the Evangelical sense of the word, but literally both by the miracles of Science and by the miracles of God. Or so I choose to believe!
This, my mutually respective, combined faith in Science and in God, has allowed me to develop a deeper sense of faith in Myself, believing out of circumstance and necessity, that since I have survived death-defying, brutal illness and injury, then I must have a certain calling or purpose in this life that is yet unacheived and still ahead of me to be accomplished and bestowed upon me by a greater being or power that has some important impact on and influence over how the World works.
Is it wrong, in your opinion, to believe that I am meant for something greater, something special, because I have survived? Science doesn't seem to answer the or'looming questions of human intentions, actions and purpose in life. Or, at least, no Science that I have been introduced to answers those questions. If you know of any secular, scientific teaching that could enlighten me as to my purpose in life, please indulge me with the answer!
For now, I'll continue to uphold my faith both in the Divine and in Science, as both will strengthen me in different ways (some physical/tangible and others more abstract/spiritual) and allow me to heal and to survive. Please, do not judge me any less of a person because I hold my faith in the Divine close to my heart, because I am also and equally a firm believer in the miracles, mysteries and mayhem of Science.
In that way, I agree with you! You might be right in saying (although, I'd be hellbent on defending myself against the accusation, if I weren't the victim and survivor of such unspeakable tragedy) that I, like many, use Faith as "an escape hatch for a troubled intellect." I have sought such escape on after falling to an unfathomable low, having my life threatened and saved by Science and by God. And after having my perceptions of the world, my perspective, drastically changed and challenged, flipped upside down onto its dirty underbelly, weak and vulnerable to intimidations of outside forces.
My spiritual journey is "especially challenging!" I ask you though, in admitting this, to not take my faith for granted and denigrate it with awful, licentious remarks.
I have never talked to my priest (or rather, my priest has never discussed with me) about any "promise for some future paradise." He doesn't mention some ulterior, celestial heaven; but instead, he talks to me about demonstrating God's love though our good intentions, actions and experiences with others and about thereby creating a degree or amount or experience of Heaven on Earth: "Heaven is here right now!"
And my priest has yet to answer all my questions and resolve all my doubts. For example, I still wonder how, if God is this blessed, divine, all powerful and eminently/entirely loving being, he could have allowed for this awful tragedy to befall me. Why has he allowed for such great sufferance in my short, young life (delusions, disease, dysfunction, and disfigurement)?
If my faith cannot answer these questions, then I still don't see Science readily offering me any answers or affirmations of life well-lived and good health deserved. Just as much as Faith is a source of great doubt in my life, Science will always be, in my mind, the harbinger of death and disease, not Enlightenment or Salvation. I'll tell you...I'd be a Buddhist, if only I knew enough about that religion to follow their belief system.
My priest does not have "cynical and corrupt motives." He is a well-intentioned, kindhearted, blessed man who only wants to provide me with absolution of my trespasses, assurances of my forward path in Faith, and affirmations of my life and of my miraculous survival/salvation: redemption and reward and recompense in God and in Science.
Finally, in closing, I ask why have you canceled our friend connection on Facebook™? Is it simply because you so wholeheartedly disagree with and were offended by my reverent proselytizing or do you have ulterior motives? I would very much like to have you as a Facebook™ connection, so that we can stay up-to-date on and informed of developments in each others' lives, and because frankly... honestly... truly, I do very much enjoy and benefit from our interactions and correspondence.
Still however, I do not want to be such a burden or offense to you. I just hope that we both can continue to enjoy the beautiful fragments of Enlightenment that we gain from each others in our binary, opposed perspectives on the world. Please, re-accept my invitation to connect on Facebook™, as I would be very grateful to call you a Friend. I want to continue a dialogue with you and hope that you would be interested to know periodically of how I am doing (as I would of you!).
Please, let this be an continuation of our conversation, another jumping off point and not a final, abrupt end to our cyber-interactions. Indulge me, please! Invite me in! Talk to me and continue to share your wisdom with me. I am many times over a better person for what I have gained and will gain from our experience corresponding together.
As always, thank you for reading this email and for offering me your time and attention. Thank you for being willing to consider my thoughts as legitimate and sane and not as merely "an escape hatch for a trouble intellect." And thank you for responding thoughtfully to my remarks! God Speed! Peac Out! Blessings! Until some time soon...
Your Friend,
Matt(e)o | QHereKidSF
P.S., Onto a tangent, I digress: Are you familiar with LinkedIn®, the professional development and networking web service that connects colleagues and classmates though effect and active Internet linkages? Well, if you are not familiar with it, then I encourage you to set up a profile and to connect with me directly there as a member of the College of William & Mary Alumni Network Group.
My public LinkedIn® profile URL is http://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewblanchard/. From there, you will be able to set up an account of your own and request a connection with me.
http://qherekidsf.blogspot.com/
http://www.bebo.com/qherekidsf/
http://www.myspace.com/qherekidsf/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewblanchard/
http://www.pandora.com/people/mblanchard79/
http://www.wmalumni.com/member/mblanchard2002/
THE GREAT ENEMY OF TRUTH IS VERY OFTEN NOT
THE LIE, DELIBERATE, CONTRIVED AND DISHONEST,
BUT THE MYTH, PERSISTENT, PERSUASIVE AND UNREALISTIC.
— John F. Kennedy
SI ON SAIT EXACTEMENT CE QU'ON VA FAIRE,
À QUOI BON LE FAIRE?
If we know exactly what we are going to do,
What's the good of doing it?
— Pablo Picasso
An Escape Hatch for a Troubled Intellect! Email Correspondence.Matthew Blanchard, Facebook™; January 13, 2009 at 3:04 AM.Retrieved on January 13, 2009 at 3:24 AM.
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