Welcome to Gaia! ::

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, life isn't always fair, and maybe it was my fault.



Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year- old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Panadol, sun lotion or a Band Aid to a student - but could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband, churches became businesses, and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar can sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.

He is survived by three stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, Someone Else is to Blame, and I'm A Victim.
Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

You forgot the man you put his RV on "auto drive" and went into the back to make himself a cup of coffee.

Common sense isn't dead. It's just that people in power fail to use it once they get that lust for more power. Old people will always whine and complain about how the present has gone to hell, just as their elders did when they were young (there was some writing either in Greek or Latin (ancient times) that said how horrible the world has gotten. See? never changes) And people are morons every day. That's how it's always been, nothing's ever gotten worse, but neither has it gotten better.

"common sense" was, i believe, an invention of the enlightenment.

the supposition was that all humans were endowed by their creator with: a basic common understanding of how life worked.

but maybe that premise was just wrong.

maybe it was too culturaly narrow.

moslems, jews, and christians have as part of their worldview a sense of linear history, movement from one point to another. even if we are no longer so infatuated with ideals of "prgress" or "destiny", the rooted sense of having been brought into being at some specific time, and being aimed at some eventual set time of ending, has defined the world view of the west.

but it does not define the hindu view, which is cyclical and embraces all of time and space. in fact it has been suggested that hindu philosophy is more suited for dialogue with quantum physics than are other traditions, because it has this sense of flux within a field.

perhaps this is also true for buddhism?

it does seem that other oriental traditions such as Taoism and Shinto do not have a deep concern for linear moivement in history.

and that is just one example, of how our "common sense" may be culturally limited.