Oh Those Idea’s Guys

I was having a little smoke in the hot tub as I spent some time with good old Soren Kierkegaard. It is always good to be a little stoned when reading some of my old Philosophy books. I had picked up an old copy of “Fear and Trembling” as I like to read while I soak. Sometimes, we can read a book many times before it just hits us in the face one day with a epiphany of sorts. An understanding that has been missed so many times. And so it was that evening in the hot tub.

This book is an analysis of a story in the Bible, from the book of Genesis. So for those who don’t know and for those who forgot the Sunday school class, Abraham, entered into a covenant with God and was told to leave the house of his father and travel to a land God would show him. God would bless Abraham and his descendants of whom there would be more than the stars in the sky. But herein lies the rub. Abrahams wife Sarah was apparently barren. Anyways. fast forward a bit and he did have a son with his wife’s servant. Not quite what they had hoped. But apparently God was pleased eventually and gave Sarah and Abraham a son. Isaac. They were 90 and 100 years old. Crazy right. FYI, Abraham is considered the Patriarch of Jews, Christians and Muslims although the role varies somewhat in all three religions. But here is where the story takes a turn and where Soren kind of digs deep into faith. God commanded Abraham to offer up Isaac on an altar as a sacrifice to God. And Abraham almost did it. He had every intention until God stopped him, convinced that Abrahams faith in God was such that he would give his most prized and valued possession. His son.

So growing up with this story, we accept it as a sign of Abrahams complete obedience to God. His faith is so strong he questions nothing. Now as an adult, we might gloss over it or even think its pretty messed up. Kierkegaard on the other hand, while expounding on faith in Christians, takes another slant at the story. Abraham is revered. His faith is unmatched. But… Say you hear a news story one day. A guy in your neighbourhood claims God spoke to him and instructed him to kill his own child as an offering to God. Is he a nut? Or just a murderer? Or is he in fact proving his faith to God. So what about Abraham? He didn’t kill Isaac but he was going to. By todays standards does that make him a crazy? A would be murderer? A Zealot? Now, a little marijuana made me look at this booklet a little differently. It hit me not so much as an eye opening question of faith versus psychosis but more as a palm to the forehead moment. What made Soren Kierkegaard set out to even question this story in this way? Well, in my mind he is one of the ideas guys. Someone whose mind just travels along some side roads the rest of us don’t even notice on our quest to reach the end of life faster than anyone. And obviously a lot dumber.

My hubby was an ideas guy. His problem was he lacked any sort of motivation and his ideas remained just that. Ideas. Another guy who strikes me as an ideas guy is Stephen King. So many authors have that first great idea and they follow through only to continue along the same path. They have found their personal little writing recipe and they follow it. Like John Grisham. My hubby gave me his book “The Pelican Brief” for Christmas one year. The movie was already out but I had not seen it. It wasn’t something I had ever really thought about reading and yet I loved the book. I then read “The Firm” and started reading more of his books. Until, one day, I felt I had solved his code. His writing code. Suddenly I was done with John Grisham. Mr. King on the other hand captured me one evening years ago as I laid in bed alone while my hubby was away. It was a book of short stories and the beginning of the book was just the author speaking to me. The title was “Night Shift”. He spoke directly to me. About fear. A cold dark night. I could barely get through the introduction and I was scared silly. He has always grabbed me as no one could. That man had ideas. His brain went to so many places I could never fathom.

I am not that person. An ideas gal. I hear about someone’s idea and it sets my mind rolling. I become consumed with learning all I can about the idea. The plusses and the minuses. The logic and the fanciful side. I peer in at the idea as I spin it around and around until I think I have seen it from all sides. And then, just when I think I have it all figured out, someone points out an angle I have never thought of. And I am off to the races again as I start to consume the idea all over again. But it is not my idea. It is something that caught me in its web and I must know all there is to know. I am a pretty deep thinker as I thirst after knowledge but the reality is I am not unique in my thoughts. Most of us aren’t that unique. A psychologist pointed that out to me once during a eureka moment I had in a therapy session. They go to school to learn this stuff in order to help us mere mortals. But at that moment, on that particular day, she opened up my world and I spent years delving into the world of alcoholism because of that lovely therapist.

There are those ideas we all look back at that have advanced our lives and propelled humanity forward. One that has always been revered is the invention of the wheel. But without an axle what good was a wheel. Who came up with that great idea? And ice box and later with the invention of electricity, the refrigerator. Electric light. Cement. The telephone. Combustion engine. Ford and his assembly line. Medical breakthroughs. The list goes on and on and today we selfishly enjoy the labours of all of these ideas guys without much thought as to why things work the way they do. Everyone has a small handheld computer in their pocket without any knowledge of its inner workings. Now it should be noted that every new invention was actually built on the previous ideas of those people who came before. Often at great cost to themselves. Ford was considered a nutcase. Marie Curie’s research into radioactivity brought great benefits to mankind and yet caused her death.

But it isn’t just the physical trappings of society that came from the ideas of the past. It is our understanding of the world and the universe which is all because of those from the past who questioned accepted ideas of their own times in history. In the beginning, (yes I stole that intro), people needed to understand their world and so Gods were invented. How else to explain thunder and lightening. Earthquakes and volcanoes. Those were ideas guys way back when. In time people fell in with the accepted thoughts of the days. Now we understand weather and the earths rumblings due to scientific research. But we still don’t know as much as we could. One day future societies will laugh at how gullible we are and how simplistic we seem. The more we learn about the universe the more we realize how little we know. But in the long run we are truly blessed that there are those who will question things for us. Just for the joy they find as they make new and greater discoveries.

While I am in awe of those who came before I am also wary of those today who are the ideas guys. Not so much their ideas. Rather their motivation. From the beginning of time there have been those who seek to control the world. They often use and abuse the greatest thinkers of their respective times. As I cast my mind over historical moments I see the path more clearly. The aim to control others through manipulation, lies and gifts. Money and power are the ultimate goals in many cases and trickery is the everchanging yet years old way to get what they want. Greed creates monsters and the promises fed to the have nots are just that. Promises which will never be fulfilled. Society has changed in such a way that we no longer believe we need each other. Nothing can be further from the truth. The one thing that will never change is our need for a compassionate and caring community. One that lifts its lowest members and shares with all. One that reveres the wise while it also sets the needs of the community above all else. Life today is very much about the individual. We don’t need anyone. That my friends is the greatest lie of the history of our world.

Four hundred years ago a man by the name of John Donne, one of the greatest love poets wrote “Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions”. His most recognized poem is a paragraph taken from this writing. The first line is one everyone has heard at one time or another. “No man is an island”. Even then people were concerned about the breakdown of humanity. John was concerned for his own health and impending death but recognized the need for society to bind together, to care for one another. For when one dies we should all mourn their loss. Because we are all a part of something much bigger than ourselves. Yep, he was also quite the ideas guy. So much so that the last line of the paragraph would go on to influence yet another ideas guy. “Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” Ernest Hemmingway made that last line famous over three hundred years later. It shows the influence that the past has over the future. The great quote the great just like the new ideas guys build on the old ideas guys.

I think one of the most important lessons I have learned in life has come from a combination of many who have crossed my path. Authors, scientists, religious leaders, philosophers, friends, children and even my Grandkids. Yet in the end it is the strangers from everyday life that teach me about mankind and society. The trolls on social media. The people begging on the street. The young man who holds the door. The child who moves aside as I pass by. The random woman I chat with in a store while shopping. The clerk at the gas station who lends me booster cables. The stranger who leaves a poem on the miniature obelisk shaped garden ornament which lends strength to my sweet peas. My world is filled with strangers each and every day who both teach me and inspire me. They remind me that I too am a small rock that is part of a continent. I will always remember those who have filled my heart when I needed it the most. I, like them are a part of mankind and they show me that John Donnes words are as true today as they were before. We need each other. Now more than ever.