source file: mills2.txt Date: Thu, 20 Mar 1997 19:56:19 -0800 Subject: Re: TUNING digest 1020 From: Johnny Reinhard When young people ask earnestly for some insight on their purpose in the universe (well, I do get this question fairly regularly while working summers at Camp Rising Sun for bright teenagers) I offer the following. Oh, and yes I do think this is relative to the list. Since we are of the universe -- our very stuff pedigreed universe material -- perhaps we are the very attempt of the universe trying to understand itself. This desire to "understand" is succeeding quite well of late, historically speaking, as evidenced by the quantity of great strides that have been made in the 20th century...not quite over, even with cloning. The myriad of idiosncratic voices is merely a tapestry of perspective. On the matter of atheism vs. theism, there may be a lot said for the "irreligous" position. Charlie Parker reputedly used the term for himself, and I found it in the 18th century _Common Sense_. That is indeed my feeling on the matter. One need not be "against" theism, if that is what is sometimes meant by "atheism." Though given no guarantees pointing to an afterlife, one can -- unsheperded -- joyously live life and thrive tolerantly. Johnny Reinhard Director American Festival of Microtonal Music 318 East 70th Street, Suite 5FW New York, New York 10021 USA (212)517-3550/fax (212) 517-5495 reinhard@idt.net Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Fri, 21 Mar 1997 05:21 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA07564; Fri, 21 Mar 1997 05:21:48 +0100 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA07561 Received: from by ella.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) id UAA23335; Thu, 20 Mar 1997 20:20:22 -0800 Date: Thu, 20 Mar 1997 20:20:22 -0800 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@ella.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@ella.mills.edu