{"id":1753,"date":"2016-04-21T23:28:06","date_gmt":"2016-04-21T23:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/?p=1753"},"modified":"2016-04-21T23:28:06","modified_gmt":"2016-04-21T23:28:06","slug":"re-post-man-proposes-god-disposes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/?p=1753","title":{"rendered":"Re-post: Man Proposes, God Disposes"},"content":{"rendered":"

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”
\n-Proverbs 14:12 (ESV)<\/span><\/em><\/h4>\n

What we wish we had and what the world actually contains are often two different things. As I have written previously here<\/a>, ambition and restlessness — what some have called divine discontent — can spur a man toward\u00a0beneficial innovation. We can point to literally hundreds of inventions that have solved seemingly intractable problems, improving and extending life all over the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then there are those so-called improvements — based on flawed assumptions — that create unintended consequences that are worse than the problem they purport to solve.<\/p>\n

\"Mosquito<\/a>

The bug is a feature<\/p><\/div>\n

The author and poet, Rudyard Kipling<\/a>, warned of these kinds of solutions nearly 100 years ago. In his 1919 poem, “The Gods of the Copybook Headings,” he pointed out the folly of breaking the laws of God and nature, instead of working within them.<\/p>\n

Before we visit the poetry corner, I want to explain that a copybook is a teaching aid that contains sayings or verses, followed by blank sections. The student is to practice writing and penmanship by reading and copying the prescribed passages. Copybooks also provide moral instruction, so that students spent their time reading, copying and internalizing worthwhile ideas. Enter Kipling:<\/p>\n

\n

The Gods of the Copybook Headings<\/span><\/h3>\n

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
\nI make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
\nPeering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
\nAnd the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.<\/p>\n

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
\nThat Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
\nBut we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
\nSo we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.<\/p>\n

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
\nBeing neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
\nBut they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
\nThat a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.<\/p>\n

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
\nThey denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
\nThey denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
\nSo we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.<\/p>\n

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
\nThey swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
\nBut when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
\nAnd the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “Stick to the Devil you know.”<\/p>\n

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
\n(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
\nTill our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
\nAnd the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “The Wages of Sin is Death.”<\/p>\n

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
\nBy robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
\nBut, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
\nAnd the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “If you don’t work you die.”<\/p>\n

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
\nAnd the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
\nThat All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
\nAnd the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.<\/p>\n

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
\nThere are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
\nThat the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
\nAnd the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;<\/p>\n

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
\nWhen all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
\nAs surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
\nThe Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!”
\n-Rudyard Kipling<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We see the same sort of untethered thinking that Kipling warns against in domain after domain — from widespread Vitamin D deficiency resulting from sunblock and fear of sunlight, to increased Malaria deaths following the worldwide ban on\u00a0DDT, to political and social programs that presume the perfectibility of man.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you are restless and feel compelled to solve one of the great problems, listen to wisdom and make sure your solution conforms to the moral and physical laws of the world that is.<\/p>\n

So how about you? In what ways do you measure your thinking against natural and divine law? Add your comments below.<\/span><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” -Proverbs 14:12 (ESV) What we wish we had and what the world actually contains are often two different things. As I have written previously here, ambition and restlessness — what some have called divine discontent — can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10,73,1,55,85],"tags":[161,158,159,160],"class_list":["post-1753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-integrity","category-motivation","category-uncategorized","category-wisdom","category-worldview","tag-gods-of-the-copybook-headings","tag-poetry","tag-poetry-corner","tag-rudyard-kipling"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1753"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1754,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1753\/revisions\/1754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}