My father's day was wonderful! I spent the afternoon after church eating lunch with my family then taking a nap, then playing with the kids and reading my favorite magazine, Mother Earth News, and eating dinner. Then I did some shopping online for ice cream makers. Anyone have any advice on ice cream makers?
I had a great business idea pop into my head today: a homesteading store that sells items for people to use on homesteads or for emergency preparedness.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Trials, Tribulations, and Trailers
A couple weeks ago, I promised Emily I would not eat out again until we become financially free (that is, our passive income from investments is greater than our living expenses). She was not hounding me about eating out at all. I made this promise to myself as much as to her because I truly believe that our money can be better spent. We work for probably a full three months out of the year just to pay for the interest on a loan attached to the house we live in. Take away Emily’s income as we are about to, and I work for six months out of the year—for debt. So instead of directing my money toward reducing my debt and increasing my peace of mind, I’ve been making semi-weekly trips to Taco Bell, In n’ Out, Eriberto’s, and Chik-fil-A for a satisfaction that departs in less time than it took to obtain it.
Anyway, tonight, as I was out driving around at 10:30, it really hit me what I did: I promised my wife I would not eat out again—for a VERY LONG TIME. I was at the gas station getting gas, and I had to go inside to get a receipt. I walked around the store looking for something yummy. I saw Suzi-Qs, Doritos, Naked juice, sandwiches, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, and lots of other good stuff. But there was a little white angel on my right shoulder telling me that if I bought anything to eat in this gas station I would be worse than unsatisfied. I would be guilty. I walked out of the store not really wanting to. I still felt as though I were pulling myself away from what I wanted—where I wanted to be. But I had made a determination that I was not going to life in this manner. I was not going to live on expensive, sugar-filled, synthetic foods when my gut told me to. And even though my gut and my tongue were telling me to give in, my mind, my spirit, and my wallet were all crying for relief from the excesses of the past.
Back out on the road, I headed toward my destination when I realized I was driving past the street on which I would turn if I wanted to get some Taco Bell. This time, I really thought. Those two crunchy tostada shells filled with soft cheese, beans, and tomatoes all covered in sauce were calling my name. I thought how I had really made an error in promising to myself and my wife such an unrealistic change of behavior over such a long term in my life, and if I were to simply go to Taco Bell and pick up six dollars’ worth of food, I wouldn’t be so great a sinner. I mean really...I might not be financially free for another three, five, ten years? Am I REALLY not going to eat at Taco Bell for ten years? Then I thought how everything I had just thought was nothing but justification fed to me by the little brown and grey angel of death on my left shoulder. (I wouldn’t tarnish the reputation of black by describing evil with it because black is the color of the life-giving soil) My money, my health, my freedom, my prosperity, my peace are all tied to the decisions I make on a daily basis. The decision to eat food not produced by me or bought from the grocery store is a decision that leads to other expenditures and perpetuates the cycle of vanity and incontinence in my life.
I am going to keep this promise.
I brought home my truck today. I just need a hitch on my car, and I’m going to get that within a couple weeks. U-haul has to order the hitch that fits on my car, and it should take 7-10 business days to come in. Once that comes in and I get the hitch and wiring installed, I’ll be in business! Anyone need to move?
Anyway, tonight, as I was out driving around at 10:30, it really hit me what I did: I promised my wife I would not eat out again—for a VERY LONG TIME. I was at the gas station getting gas, and I had to go inside to get a receipt. I walked around the store looking for something yummy. I saw Suzi-Qs, Doritos, Naked juice, sandwiches, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, and lots of other good stuff. But there was a little white angel on my right shoulder telling me that if I bought anything to eat in this gas station I would be worse than unsatisfied. I would be guilty. I walked out of the store not really wanting to. I still felt as though I were pulling myself away from what I wanted—where I wanted to be. But I had made a determination that I was not going to life in this manner. I was not going to live on expensive, sugar-filled, synthetic foods when my gut told me to. And even though my gut and my tongue were telling me to give in, my mind, my spirit, and my wallet were all crying for relief from the excesses of the past.
Back out on the road, I headed toward my destination when I realized I was driving past the street on which I would turn if I wanted to get some Taco Bell. This time, I really thought. Those two crunchy tostada shells filled with soft cheese, beans, and tomatoes all covered in sauce were calling my name. I thought how I had really made an error in promising to myself and my wife such an unrealistic change of behavior over such a long term in my life, and if I were to simply go to Taco Bell and pick up six dollars’ worth of food, I wouldn’t be so great a sinner. I mean really...I might not be financially free for another three, five, ten years? Am I REALLY not going to eat at Taco Bell for ten years? Then I thought how everything I had just thought was nothing but justification fed to me by the little brown and grey angel of death on my left shoulder. (I wouldn’t tarnish the reputation of black by describing evil with it because black is the color of the life-giving soil) My money, my health, my freedom, my prosperity, my peace are all tied to the decisions I make on a daily basis. The decision to eat food not produced by me or bought from the grocery store is a decision that leads to other expenditures and perpetuates the cycle of vanity and incontinence in my life.
I am going to keep this promise.
I brought home my truck today. I just need a hitch on my car, and I’m going to get that within a couple weeks. U-haul has to order the hitch that fits on my car, and it should take 7-10 business days to come in. Once that comes in and I get the hitch and wiring installed, I’ll be in business! Anyone need to move?
Monday, June 15, 2009
Update
Cameron says...
I haven’t written for a while because I’ve had to pull my head out of the sand (or—perhaps more fittingly—the garden soil) and work on some tasks related to my real estate investing business. It is a far less pleasurable family business than my gardening has been these last few months, but I believe the results will be well worth my time some years or months down the road. I am working at becoming self-sufficient in two ways: by raising our income, and by lowering our income needs. So far, both have been slow processes, but I am in the beginning stages of both and I feel that as soon as either project reaches a moment of critical mass, they will both explode with success so much that I’ll have to share to prevent all the goodness from going to waste.
I bought half of a truck today! It is the bed of a 1970s model Chevrolet pickup truck mounted onto a flatbed trailer with leaf-spring suspension. I am going to install a hitch onto my car so I can still have my 4-door family car and have a “truck” along with it. I’m really excited, because I’ve been to Lowe’s many many times this year and wished I had a truck. In fact, one time I had to rent their truck for $20 plus gas and a bunch of other fees so I could tote home all the lumber and soil I used to build my raised garden beds. With the equipment purchase and installation ($189 plus wire hookups and a ball hitch...we’re looking at less than $250 here) and the trailer purchase, I should be able to be ready to haul for less than $500! That’s way better than selling my car and buying a pickup truck with no back seat!
The garden is going well. I potted three banana plants and transplanted an eggplant and a banana pepper plant on Saturday, then dunged everything up nicely. My compost heap is shrinking, just like Joe Jenkins said it would, which means that I probably will be able to add to it for a full year without it overflowing. That’s good news. I don’t have much room in my back yard for endless compost bins.
Pictures to follow.
I haven’t written for a while because I’ve had to pull my head out of the sand (or—perhaps more fittingly—the garden soil) and work on some tasks related to my real estate investing business. It is a far less pleasurable family business than my gardening has been these last few months, but I believe the results will be well worth my time some years or months down the road. I am working at becoming self-sufficient in two ways: by raising our income, and by lowering our income needs. So far, both have been slow processes, but I am in the beginning stages of both and I feel that as soon as either project reaches a moment of critical mass, they will both explode with success so much that I’ll have to share to prevent all the goodness from going to waste.
I bought half of a truck today! It is the bed of a 1970s model Chevrolet pickup truck mounted onto a flatbed trailer with leaf-spring suspension. I am going to install a hitch onto my car so I can still have my 4-door family car and have a “truck” along with it. I’m really excited, because I’ve been to Lowe’s many many times this year and wished I had a truck. In fact, one time I had to rent their truck for $20 plus gas and a bunch of other fees so I could tote home all the lumber and soil I used to build my raised garden beds. With the equipment purchase and installation ($189 plus wire hookups and a ball hitch...we’re looking at less than $250 here) and the trailer purchase, I should be able to be ready to haul for less than $500! That’s way better than selling my car and buying a pickup truck with no back seat!
The garden is going well. I potted three banana plants and transplanted an eggplant and a banana pepper plant on Saturday, then dunged everything up nicely. My compost heap is shrinking, just like Joe Jenkins said it would, which means that I probably will be able to add to it for a full year without it overflowing. That’s good news. I don’t have much room in my back yard for endless compost bins.
Pictures to follow.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Final Answer
I have constructed my Final Answer to the composting question. The latest and greatest in compost bins has arrived in my back yard in the form of three used wood pallets ziptied together and lined with landscaping felt, then fitted with two 2x4s that form a groove in which to slide 2x12 boards that form a front wall for the bin.
The total cost for this project was $34--$11 for a bag of 100 zipties (already onhand), $15 for a roll of landscaping felt, and $8 for a mattock I bought at the Oceanside Swap Meet that morning (used for digging a relief in the ground into which to set the pallets more or less level). I got the pallets for free from a lady who has a farm/ranch nearby. After digging a "foundation" for the pallets, laying them in place and securing them together with the zipties, I dug out the rest of the ground inside of the bin to form level-ish surface that was flush with the bottom of the pallets. Then I dumped in the vegetable-only compost I had been keeping to attract worms (This pile was seated directly on the ground to allow worms to travel up into the material.) into the bin and followed that with enough grass clippings to form an 18-inch layer of vegetable material to act as a sponge/barrier to prevent liquid from leaching into the ground from my humanure compost pile. Then I dumped out the plastic bins in which I had been keeping my compost up until that point into the new bin and covered those with grass clippings. Along the way I had to use some of my "variable bulkhead technology" inserts a.k.a. my 2x12 boards. I'd have to say that this is the most attractive and easiest to use composting solution I have used yet. I might get a couple vining plants and plant them in the ground on the side of the bin to spruce it up a wee bit.
I must give credit where credit is due, and that's not to me. Many web pages contain instructions for building compost bins out of pallets. I just did the work.
Last night I went down the street and knocked on the door of the neighbors who have a huge front yard with waist-high grass. I asked the man who answered the door if he would mind if I cut his grass to use it as mulch in my garden. (I thought saying "compost" instead of mulch--especially "humanure compost"--would have made an already strange man on his doorstep seem even stranger, and while I'm really not worried about what people think about me, I am worried about not getting what I want, and I wanted his grass!) He said the lot in front of his house was actually owned by someone else, and he has been trying to contact the owner to ask him to cut the grass without success. After asking him whether he thought the owner would wand me to cut the grass , he said he didn't know. I thought...hey, what the heck. It's a fire hazard and this guy standing here in front of me doesn't like it. And it doesn't look like a wheat crop. So...it's better to ask forgiveness than permission, right?
The grass was so tall and thick I had to go over it once with the front of the lawn mower deck raised up in the air then again with all four wheels on the ground to cut it down a little lower. I had to empty the bag after every row. I cut for an hour and finished an area probably 50 feet by 50 feet. I filled up four bedsheets and one 35-gallon trash can. With all those grass clippings, I was able to lay a 16-inch layer in the bottom of my compost bin, then dump the two full 55-gallon bins in the new bin I built and cover those with grass clippings, then have a little pile left over.
So I have a good source of compost cover material for a while down the street from my house until there's no more grass or the owner finds out and asks me to stop (if he does) or I stop composting. There's also a big field next to an apartment complex close to my house that has very tall grass. So I'm set with compost cover material for a long time, I think.
I think it's interesting to note the lengths to which I am going to engage in homesteading activities. I would laugh at me if I weren't me.
Maddy and I decided to try on some new hats today. What do you think?
The total cost for this project was $34--$11 for a bag of 100 zipties (already onhand), $15 for a roll of landscaping felt, and $8 for a mattock I bought at the Oceanside Swap Meet that morning (used for digging a relief in the ground into which to set the pallets more or less level). I got the pallets for free from a lady who has a farm/ranch nearby. After digging a "foundation" for the pallets, laying them in place and securing them together with the zipties, I dug out the rest of the ground inside of the bin to form level-ish surface that was flush with the bottom of the pallets. Then I dumped in the vegetable-only compost I had been keeping to attract worms (This pile was seated directly on the ground to allow worms to travel up into the material.) into the bin and followed that with enough grass clippings to form an 18-inch layer of vegetable material to act as a sponge/barrier to prevent liquid from leaching into the ground from my humanure compost pile. Then I dumped out the plastic bins in which I had been keeping my compost up until that point into the new bin and covered those with grass clippings. Along the way I had to use some of my "variable bulkhead technology" inserts a.k.a. my 2x12 boards. I'd have to say that this is the most attractive and easiest to use composting solution I have used yet. I might get a couple vining plants and plant them in the ground on the side of the bin to spruce it up a wee bit.
I must give credit where credit is due, and that's not to me. Many web pages contain instructions for building compost bins out of pallets. I just did the work.
Last night I went down the street and knocked on the door of the neighbors who have a huge front yard with waist-high grass. I asked the man who answered the door if he would mind if I cut his grass to use it as mulch in my garden. (I thought saying "compost" instead of mulch--especially "humanure compost"--would have made an already strange man on his doorstep seem even stranger, and while I'm really not worried about what people think about me, I am worried about not getting what I want, and I wanted his grass!) He said the lot in front of his house was actually owned by someone else, and he has been trying to contact the owner to ask him to cut the grass without success. After asking him whether he thought the owner would wand me to cut the grass , he said he didn't know. I thought...hey, what the heck. It's a fire hazard and this guy standing here in front of me doesn't like it. And it doesn't look like a wheat crop. So...it's better to ask forgiveness than permission, right?
The grass was so tall and thick I had to go over it once with the front of the lawn mower deck raised up in the air then again with all four wheels on the ground to cut it down a little lower. I had to empty the bag after every row. I cut for an hour and finished an area probably 50 feet by 50 feet. I filled up four bedsheets and one 35-gallon trash can. With all those grass clippings, I was able to lay a 16-inch layer in the bottom of my compost bin, then dump the two full 55-gallon bins in the new bin I built and cover those with grass clippings, then have a little pile left over.
So I have a good source of compost cover material for a while down the street from my house until there's no more grass or the owner finds out and asks me to stop (if he does) or I stop composting. There's also a big field next to an apartment complex close to my house that has very tall grass. So I'm set with compost cover material for a long time, I think.
I think it's interesting to note the lengths to which I am going to engage in homesteading activities. I would laugh at me if I weren't me.
Maddy and I decided to try on some new hats today. What do you think?
Friday, June 5, 2009
Fear and Loathing In San Diego
Cameron says...
I am fighting the urge to reenlist in the Marine Corps. Fighting. With swords. The enemy has brought the fight to me, so to speak. Where I once thought I owned the ground of surety in our decision to exit military service, I find myself fearing financial disaster. I find myself weighing whether the reality of the situation I fear would be worse than the disappointment of committing to the military for another four years.
It would be just that--a disappointment. I have looked forward to October 7, 2009 for a long time because the military is not what I want to do with my life, and to throw away the chance to pursue something fulfilling just for a little money would be a travesty. The prospect fills my mind with darkness. Yet at times, I feel my mind knotting with fear and longing for an anchor, though it would be a shallow water indeed where I would find my moorings as Sgt Smith until 2013 or beyond.
I am fighting the urge to reenlist in the Marine Corps. Fighting. With swords. The enemy has brought the fight to me, so to speak. Where I once thought I owned the ground of surety in our decision to exit military service, I find myself fearing financial disaster. I find myself weighing whether the reality of the situation I fear would be worse than the disappointment of committing to the military for another four years.
It would be just that--a disappointment. I have looked forward to October 7, 2009 for a long time because the military is not what I want to do with my life, and to throw away the chance to pursue something fulfilling just for a little money would be a travesty. The prospect fills my mind with darkness. Yet at times, I feel my mind knotting with fear and longing for an anchor, though it would be a shallow water indeed where I would find my moorings as Sgt Smith until 2013 or beyond.
In these moments of temptation, when I cradle my 8-day-old son in my arms knowing he trusts me implicitly with his life, as do my other two children and my good wife, I feel a sheepishness for having dreams in the first place. Even though the living I could make in the military would be cut in half with Emily not working anymore, reenlisting is the surest way to have any income after October of this year and probably the only way to be able to continue paying rent or a mortgage in San Diego County--my indefinite sentencing ground. I feel as though my dreams are a hindrance to the security of my children. I feel as though the pursuit of a challenging long-term goal and a sense of fulfillment in my daily life is an irresponsible departure from the call to fill the needs of the here and now for four other human lives.
I try to realize that I can't see past October 7, 2009. God can see it, though, and He can see that although the interim may be messy, the rewards beyond that time for employing my gifts and ambitions in a righteous cause are manifold. He can see that many husbands and fathers have stood on this threshold before I have and settled for the sure thing rather than exacting a higher price for their labors in life. He can see that a door has been and always will be open to two roads in life—a tame one and a wild one. The tame road encounters little risk, requires little faith, and offers little reward. The majority of men opt to step through this door—sometimes out of fear, sometimes out of lack of ambition, and sometimes out of temporary necessity. There is no shame in walking this path. The man who reaches for security in order to labor diligently and with integrity all his life for the betterment of others is worthy of a crown of honor. But Cameron Smith is a pot of boiling acid with too much ambition and too much creativity to live a subdued life. In my mind, the sure thing in life is God. The sure thing is the oft-repeated promise, “Seek, and ye shall find.”
“Ask, and it shall be given.”
“Knock and it shall be opened unto you.”
If I fear, it is because I lack faith. What would financial disaster bring? Hunger? Homelessness? Family separation? Death? Do I believe that there is a reward for faithfully enduring all of these things? If God should see fit to try me to these extents, I should suffer the trials cheerfully. Though I do not presume to know God’s plan in my life, I believe that if I am on his side, He is on my side. I believe that if I am doing my best to improve my lot in life, he will guide and prod my life into success, and as His definition of success for me unfolds, if I accept it, I will be happier than I could have ever been without His help.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
First Harvest
Cameron says...
Yesterday I harvested three square feet of kale, spinach, and mixed salad greens, and today I harvested more lettuce and six radishes! I'm a real farmer boy now! I cooked the kale by sawtaying (YOU spell sautee in the present imperfect tense--it's a FRENCH word. You can't put ING on it without RUINING it!) some garlic and onions with some chicken bouillon (also a French word--pronounced bwee-YAWN) and parsley, basil, and salt. Then I wilted the kale in the butter and its own water, and it was very very nice! My dogs liked it, and so did my kids! I made salad out of the greens from yesterday, and the greens and radishes from today are sitting in my fridge waiting for tomorrow.
This was her second bite. The look on her face says, "Daddy, daddy, I WANT IT!"
Mahonrimoriancumur the dog likes the kale dish...
...and so does McCoy the dog.
Benjamin didn't eat any kale. Well, his mom did, so technically he did too.
Yesterday I harvested three square feet of kale, spinach, and mixed salad greens, and today I harvested more lettuce and six radishes! I'm a real farmer boy now! I cooked the kale by sawtaying (YOU spell sautee in the present imperfect tense--it's a FRENCH word. You can't put ING on it without RUINING it!) some garlic and onions with some chicken bouillon (also a French word--pronounced bwee-YAWN) and parsley, basil, and salt. Then I wilted the kale in the butter and its own water, and it was very very nice! My dogs liked it, and so did my kids! I made salad out of the greens from yesterday, and the greens and radishes from today are sitting in my fridge waiting for tomorrow.
This was her second bite. The look on her face says, "Daddy, daddy, I WANT IT!"
Mahonrimoriancumur the dog likes the kale dish...
...and so does McCoy the dog.
Benjamin didn't eat any kale. Well, his mom did, so technically he did too.
Monday, June 1, 2009
My XBox is Natural After All!
Sometimes in my search to live simply and naturally, I find myself becoming slightly radical in my thoughts--and you know if I think it's a radical thought, it must really be a radical thought. I have to admit that some of my desires and goals are motivated simply by the fact that before the industrial age, there was a way to provide for all of our needs using completely natural means. Take refrigeration for instance. Immediately before the electric refrigerator was invented, people stored milk and eggs in the ice box—a box that held a big block of ice cut from a frozen river and sealed the air in so that the ice and the inside of the box would stay cold for a very long time. Before that, people stored meats by curing them; vegetables by drying them, burying them underground, preserving, or storing them in cellars; and dairy products were simply consumed fresh or fermented to give them a somewhat longer shelf life. I have always had a big ideological problem with refrigerators because there are so many ways to do the same thing a refrigerator does without polluting the environment or becoming dependent upon man-made technologies. It seems like a big waste.
Refrigerators are not the only things. Electric and gas oven ranges are pretty silly in my opinion too. The automobile is a good invention. It does something that no other natural means of transportation can do—it travels faster, longer, more comfortably, and with more cargo space on less fuel than any horse or mule ever could. Back to the original point...
A lot of times we tree-hugging types tend to lump in all modern technologies as evil (or its 21st century politically correct equivalent) because they are unnatural—they weren’t around in Biblical times. They weren’t around in medieval times. They weren’t around for Alexander or Genghis or Xerxes, and now all of a sudden we have cars and electricity and dishwashers and pollution and global warming (which is a MYTH—don’t get me started on that one) and gee, wasn’t life better before Ben flew a kite?
My answer is, “No.”
Human existence on this planet is much like the life cycle of the individual human. As human consciousness, intellect, knowledge, skill, problem-solving, and industry has evolved, so have the methods, tools, paradigms, principles, and capabilities—just as a human progresses from infancy through toddlerhood, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, parenthood, and old age. There was a time when all fires on the face of the earth ignited by natural means—dry vegetation in hot climates; lightning strikes, and so on. There was a time when all tools were accoutrements to either a human or animal body, i.e. teeth, fingernails, fists, tusks, tails, etc. There was a time when all electricity was working in the atmosphere, only occasionally visiting the surface of the earth during storms.
Human curiosity has observed these phenomena over the millennia and harnessed them, manipulated them, and focused them into efforts that have advanced the human race. The most natural of all these forces is the human need to progress. So it is only natural that in this late age in history mankind has learned as much as we have. It is only natural that we are using tools, fire, and electricity to make our lives better. The biggest challenge now, I think, is learning to use all these things in a way that works with the earth rather than creating more work for it and ourselves.
Of course, lest we think we’re masters of any universe, we must remember that even with the “advanced” technologies we have, we still have not even scratched the surface. Think about the technologies God uses. He has a huge ball of burning gas invisibly, intangibly tethering at least nine other heavenly bodies to itself. This ball transmits energy over an invisible, intangible medium through 93 million miles of empty space, where it meets with our atmosphere and is distributed all over the surface of the earth in the form of light and warmth. This energy powers every single living thing on the planet either directly or indirectly by first finding storage in the cells of plants and then making its way through the food chain.
None of this knowledge about the natural world is news to anyone, of course. Nevertheless, there is a difference between comprehending it and understanding it or being able to use it. We may be able to say we have come a long way, but until we know how to create a battery as big and powerful as the sun or generate gravity or write computer programs that can feel and reason and observe dynamic scenarios and make appropriate judgments, we don’t know squat. After all, we still don’t even know how to cure a cold.
Refrigerators are not the only things. Electric and gas oven ranges are pretty silly in my opinion too. The automobile is a good invention. It does something that no other natural means of transportation can do—it travels faster, longer, more comfortably, and with more cargo space on less fuel than any horse or mule ever could. Back to the original point...
A lot of times we tree-hugging types tend to lump in all modern technologies as evil (or its 21st century politically correct equivalent) because they are unnatural—they weren’t around in Biblical times. They weren’t around in medieval times. They weren’t around for Alexander or Genghis or Xerxes, and now all of a sudden we have cars and electricity and dishwashers and pollution and global warming (which is a MYTH—don’t get me started on that one) and gee, wasn’t life better before Ben flew a kite?
My answer is, “No.”
Human existence on this planet is much like the life cycle of the individual human. As human consciousness, intellect, knowledge, skill, problem-solving, and industry has evolved, so have the methods, tools, paradigms, principles, and capabilities—just as a human progresses from infancy through toddlerhood, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, parenthood, and old age. There was a time when all fires on the face of the earth ignited by natural means—dry vegetation in hot climates; lightning strikes, and so on. There was a time when all tools were accoutrements to either a human or animal body, i.e. teeth, fingernails, fists, tusks, tails, etc. There was a time when all electricity was working in the atmosphere, only occasionally visiting the surface of the earth during storms.
Human curiosity has observed these phenomena over the millennia and harnessed them, manipulated them, and focused them into efforts that have advanced the human race. The most natural of all these forces is the human need to progress. So it is only natural that in this late age in history mankind has learned as much as we have. It is only natural that we are using tools, fire, and electricity to make our lives better. The biggest challenge now, I think, is learning to use all these things in a way that works with the earth rather than creating more work for it and ourselves.
Of course, lest we think we’re masters of any universe, we must remember that even with the “advanced” technologies we have, we still have not even scratched the surface. Think about the technologies God uses. He has a huge ball of burning gas invisibly, intangibly tethering at least nine other heavenly bodies to itself. This ball transmits energy over an invisible, intangible medium through 93 million miles of empty space, where it meets with our atmosphere and is distributed all over the surface of the earth in the form of light and warmth. This energy powers every single living thing on the planet either directly or indirectly by first finding storage in the cells of plants and then making its way through the food chain.
None of this knowledge about the natural world is news to anyone, of course. Nevertheless, there is a difference between comprehending it and understanding it or being able to use it. We may be able to say we have come a long way, but until we know how to create a battery as big and powerful as the sun or generate gravity or write computer programs that can feel and reason and observe dynamic scenarios and make appropriate judgments, we don’t know squat. After all, we still don’t even know how to cure a cold.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
