Surgery & God

I guess if you make the argument that if humanity has set itself up for a particular problem, lets continue using the example of cancer, then you could claim that the human solution of surgery is not actually going going against god's will, but instead repairing human's damaged by human's. However, if you believe god has willed you to be faced with death, how do you justify going against it and saving yourself? I suppose if you believe in him as an omnipotent being, you say, "Look, if he wanted to kill me, he would just do it." Would he really? Could he really? I don't know now. Arguing about the idea of god and omnipotent entities will only take us in circles forever. I will stop there now. I retract the confidence with which I a made a certain statement regarding god and surgeries in my previous post.

Things That Matter

So, as of late, I have been really reanalyzing what I am concerned with. What I am compelled to achieve, who I am compelled to be.

I study psychology because I like the subject, but I do not really like it that much anymore. I have learned a lot about it, and it has taught me a lot about "people". To pursue a career in psychology, of any sort, I would need substantially more education, higher degrees, and a motivation to help people (I would argue the last for most careers, at least a pretend motivation to help others). But, I am realizing that I do not want to help people the way I used to think was good.

I once thought to help humans live longer and happier was a good thing. It is not. It is grossly inhuman and unnatural to live as long and greedily (at least in America) as we do. I do not want people to live longer; I want people to live humanely. Life-saving surgeries to save of us from mostly problems we have set ourselves up for, like guns, cars, cancers, are just us further becoming god, which no human deserves. If you truly believe in god, it is not his will that you accept treatment to save yourself from cancer when he is trying to kill you. That is fearing him and death, and submitting to a different god: the post-industrial society.

With all of this said, do I support socialized health care? Absolutely yes. Why? Because the I am not convinced that those privileged enough to pay for health insurance are always the most deserving of the treatment. Additionally, I believe we could create more and better jobs because health care providers would not be for profit, therefore, not stingy about hiring. The state could also prevent these businesses from BONUS HORDING CEO ASSHOLES.

Eine kleine Nachtmusik

I absolutely love music at night. Lately I have been listening almost exclusively to Romantic and Classical pieces by Verdi, Chopin, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn. I do not think I will ever stop listening to Chopin. He is my favorite Romantic piano composer right now. I can never go wrong listening to his Nocturnes, Preludes, or Ballads at night.

I am also beginning to appreciate the Verdi requiem much more now that I am actually listening to it in its full orchestral context. My choir is performing this work next month, and it is long. Mozart's Requiem is still my favorite though, it is too good. I have obtained a number of other composer's Requiem arrangements though, and so I cannot wait to listen to those.

Kelsey did an awesome book project based on Beethoven's "Moonlight" Piano Sonata #14, which I had forgotten about. I got an album of Beethoven Sonatas recorded by pianist Daniel Barenboim, who I very much like, which contained "Moonlight," as well as "Pathétique" Sonata #8, and some others. It is a very good recording of some of my favorite piano sonatas, and I highly recommend it.

I love new music and I love it most at night.