The Moral Argument – Pluralism & Relativism

Love 01

I had an accident a week back. I recently ran into the unyielding wall of cultural pluralism with an intellectual and spiritual “thwack”. There was no way I was going to miss hitting it. You see, I’ve been cruising my baby-boom mind & body along for many years believing in cultural pluralism; or the allowance of the diversity of thought and action.

CULTURAL PLURALISM

What is cultural pluralism? Well, I noted one such attribute: diversity of thought and action. Dictionary.com recites a definition as follows:

“A condition in which many cultures coexist within a society and maintain their cultural differences; also called multiculturalism.”

(As a side, I would suggest that this attitude runs contradictory to the most fundamental philosophy of America as the “melting pot” of the world.)

More in the necessity of the past several decades, dictionary.com also defines cultural pluralism as:

“A condition in which minority groups participate fully in the dominant society, yet maintain their cultural differences.”

(Here again aside…. All citizens of America enjoy the same traditional rights, freedoms, and equalities. What this definition is implying is that it is not the individual that enjoys these things, but the groups. So instead of one person equals one vote, it implies one group equals one vote; regardless of the number of individuals within any one group. Think how that changes representation and the resultant loss of individual rights that our Constitution blessed us with.)

Continue reading The Moral Argument – Pluralism & Relativism

Thoughts on the Camino

Hontanna Window

Thoughts and my ramblings on paper has been massive since my return from Spain and the Camino.  Pages and pages have fallen complete and mysteriously uplifted into the heavens of the internet that we call the Cloud, for safe-keeping and a return to earth at a future time for some good use to mankind.  One such small collection of thoughts I recently found, and it seems appropriate to let them become the food by which men live and breathe, and so it offer this short essay.

In the Madrid Airport

I started this post while waiting for my airplane to depart from Gate A14.  It’s supposed to leave at 9:30am, but I can see it’s delayed until a 10:10am take-off.  Schedules have become quite relative to the condition anymore since walking the Camino.  The phrase “in a hurry” has lost its meaning to a great degree.  “In a hurry” for what?  To get to work, to go shopping, to down my coffee because “I’ve got to get back out into that big, exciting world out there?”

Actually, I’m sitting in the Sala Cibelle, or VIP Lounge, of U.S. Airways, at the Barajas Aeropuerto, Madrid.  It’s a very large space with multiple lounging and sitting areas, great views out to the airplanes, and plenty of food and drinks available for the asking.  It’s 7:45am, and the lounge is empty, but for about four people and myself.   Ironic isn’t it to my condition.  I’m back in the civilized world of Madrid – it is a very strange feeling to have so many people about you, going in so many different directions – and everything has a schedule here.  I’m essentially alone with my thoughts and my laptop in the middle of all of this. Continue reading Thoughts on the Camino

El Camino de Santiago de Compostela

Matthew 4:4

But He answered, “It is written, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.””

Peregrino 2

Well, I really am getting down to the final few weeks before I leave on the pilgrimage of the Way of St. James (El Camino de Santiago de Compostela).  My ticket is dated April 3, 2013; four days after I become Catholic at the Easter Vigil at St. Peter the Apostle Church, Naples, Florida.  I thought I would use this post to bring my readers up to speed on what this is all about, and why I am doing this pilgrimage, and I shall.  What I must add though is a recent turn of events.

My parents have been trying to sell their apartment for the past year, so they can move into a retirement community.  They had no luck during that time to either sell their apartment or find a residence they liked, and it came to a point where they just decided to live out their remaining years where they are.  The road was clear for me to go on this pilgrimage, and I bought my ticket.  A couple of days later – you guessed it – they received an offer for their home, and found a new home at their preferred community; all in the same day.  If that’s not God working in their lives, I don’t know what is.  So here I am; aching a bit that my plans are postponed, but delighted that I am still around to get them both moved.  Again, God’s hand all over this one, as I had originally planned to walk in March/April, and I would have been gone by the time they received their offer to sell.

So let’s talk the Camino…. Continue reading El Camino de Santiago de Compostela