January 27, 2023

2023.01.27
Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.

And yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through some stages of instability--
and that it may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you;
your ideas mature gradually--let them grow,
let them shape themselves, without undue haste.
Don't try to force them on,
as though you could be today what time
(that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will)
will make of you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit
gradually forming within you will be.
Give Our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Nicole B. led my Science and Spirituality group in a discussion Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, based on this article. An optimistic way of thinking of an ultimate convergence for humanity and everything, Very much in line with that kind of 90s transhumanist vibe
Notes to my future self: two of the ideas I like from the alternate, more-math-based universe of Neal Stephenson's Anathem is Gardan's Steelyard, where the lighter or least complicated idea rises to the top when balanced against a heavier, more complicated idea and most importantly Diax's Rake: "Never believe a thing simply because you want it to be true"
I just backed up my computer and my website - kinda the old fashioned way, dumping a single root (or two) - ~/data on my Mac, ~/sites and ~/data for my website - onto an external solid state HD. I guess I prefer that to those more automated systems, just like I don't really trust my photos to iCloud (and anything I consider important I make sure is in ~/data/photos )

Just a friendly reminder to pick a backup plan and run it :-D