I am from the Chain Gang

I am from the Chain Gang - by P.K.Odendaal - August 2013.

You are now used to my favourite quotation by Jean Jacques Rousseau: 'Man was born free, but everywhere he is in chains'. It takes some thought before we will realise that we are in chains. Apart from chains as physical things we are also bound emotionally and spiritually as we are in bondage and victims of somebody else's war.

The idea of the Chain Gang is as old as man himself, but it has been more vividly portrayed in the book of Victor Hugo: 'Les Miserables'. In the book a person called Jean Valjean must serve his jail term in hard labour as part of the Chain Gang, because he stole bread for his sister and her family. In the Chain Gang he had to do hard labour like the breaking of stones.

Two is a crowd

Two is a crowd - by P.K.Odendaal - August 2013

I have dwelt on solitude somewhat in my previous series named 'Death in the Afternoon', but I wish to revisit it here, being very important to our anti-social needs - if anti-social rings a bell for you somewhere. For me it is important.

Privacy.

It is so that the person who has the least privacy in the world - a non-commissioned soldier - is called a Private. I wonder why, because, in all earnestness, he should be called a Public. Apart from his public duties, his work is also open to public scrutiny.

The limits of Free Will

The limits of free will - by P.K.Odendaal - July 2013 

If you are still unsure whether you have free will, this is probably not for you, but read on - you just might be surprised. In previous articles I have elaborated on that and the gist of the argument is as follows:

 

Argument 1

God cannot make a mistake or error. I make mistakes and errors. I therefore do things for which only I am the author.

QED

Oh, the ignorance of these learned people!

Oh, the ignorance of these learned people! - by P.K.Odendaal - June 2013

 In my previous blog I have spoken of the strange and unknown activity called THINKING, and I quoted George Bernard Shaw who once said: 'Few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week'.

My experience is that the more you know, the less you think, and that learned people have stopped thinking. One would have thought that it worked the other way round, but now that I THINK about it, I find it to be so. The reason is that people, who get very skilled in anything, later do things mechanically, and that must then also be true for people skilled in letters and science.

Nothing is quite what it seems

Nothing is quite what it seems - by P.K.Odendaal - June 2013 

There is a saying that one cannot judge a book by its cover, and yet that is exactly what we do every day.

I think that the thing we do most every day is judging some item, thought, person or action and that is our life. At least it is mine, but I am sure it is the life of many other people as well. And then some people have the nerve or audacity to say that we should not be judgmental. That is like saying we should not live. I can, off the cuff, think of at least over a hundred judgments, even if they are only value judgments, which I make every day. I judge whether the things I, or people around me, or in the news, are valid, morally correct, politically correct, true, good, bad, expedient, prudent, important, considerate, enjoyable, fattening, equitable, life threatening and a host of other things.

The bondage of the Church - Part 3 - The Church Government

The bondage of the Church - Part 3 - The Church Government - by P.K.Odendaal - June 2013. 

In a previous article I have superficially written on the devastating persecution and war the Roman Catholic Church prosecuted against its disobedient members and even on people who did not want to have anything to do with it - like Jews and many others. It is too ghastly to go into the detail of those persecutions and wars. I referred you to the book: 'The Dogs of God' by Reston. Of course the recent film named 'Goya's Ghosts' is an excellent portrayal of the life under the Catholic Church, the inquisition and the abuse of church members.

Fact of the matter is that the Vatican set up a government complete with military wing to keep the Pope in power over these two millennia. It is clear from the history that if you did not obey the Pope, you were dead.

The Bondage of the Church - Part 2 - Who is in charge?

The Bondage of the Church - Part 2 - Who is in charge? - by P.K.Odendaal - June 2013. 

In Old Testament times, God spoke to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, to His leaders of the people like Moses, to His friends like Enoch, and to the High Priest in the Holy of Holies.

The reason He did not speak to plebs like you and me in those times was that there was a dividing wall of sin between us and God - and secondly, we were afraid to speak to God lest we should die. I can quote a scripture which is relevant in this regard:

The bondage of the Church - Part 1

The bondage of the Church - Part 1 - by P.K.Odendaal - June 2013 

In previous articles I have written superficially of the bondage of the Church, but now I intend to delve deeper into it. We stand at a crossroads where the Church in general is not fulfilling its calling and its obligation towards Christians anymore. It is not the first time in history that this happens and the Church history is full of this type of abuse, but we cannot have a reformation over and over each century.

Intermezzo - or smell the roses

Intermezzo - by P.K.Odendaal - May 2013

This is not an intermission between the two parts of a very long film to enable you to fill up your popcorn, although that is one interpretation. It is also not a break in the proceedings or meeting to allow for coffee. For me it has a deeper meaning.

In music, in the most general sense, it is a composition which fits between other musical or dramatic entities, such as acts of a play or movements of a larger musical work.

The Gift of Flight - Part 3 - Flying the Husky to Victoria

The Gift of Flight - Part 3 - Flying the Husky to Victoria - by P.K.Odendaal - May 2013.

I have obtained permanent residence in Canada this year, and now live in Edmonton. One of the logistical issues was to ship my Husky aircraft to Canada - a few simple words, but a very daunting task, in hindsight. I shipped the Husky in February and was told that it would arrive ten weeks later in San Francisco, from where I would fly it to Canada - a very daunting task, but very simple in hindsight.