What Would Tarvu Do?

26 Feb 2010
Posted by jim

So lately I've become intrigued by a certain religion.  It's called Tarvuism, and is shining sweet light into my universe(s) right now.  So much so, I'm seriously thinking about becoming a priestmunty!  I guess my first step will be to locate the nearest Chabernacle (shouldn't be too difficult).

I'm also pondering often about what the Givil really looks like (it's never revealed, of course, for security purposes).  And does communicating with an Octopus mean you speak Octopese?  So many questions...

And while I was driving my car this afternoon -- thinking about all this --  the president's "health care summit" came on the radio.  While listening, I started thinking about what I considered to be the basic natures of "liberal" and "conserative".

Back in college, after taking a couple political science classes, I became of the opinion that in most cases conservatism was more based on the idea of an ideal world. And in that sense, I definitely often agree.  For example, all things being equal -- and under favorable conditions -- less govenment in society would make more sense.

Now, Tarvu spoke of there being a Universe 1 and Universe 2 (We live in Universe 2). In these terms, to me, the conservative viewpoint falls closer to Universe 1.... But in our Universe (#2), we don't get to govern for the world we wish we had. We have to govern with the world we have (I think Don Rumsfeld said that).

And so in this world, we really have to look out for those that could use our help.  Jesus, Buddha, & Krishna all said that (along with many others)....

This idea reminds me of something I heard recently from a (self-described) Christian, who posited that someone shouldn't be forced to help someone else.  They should only help because they want to. For him, this led to disliking government assistance for others, because he felt forced into it through the taxes he pays.  (By the way, I feel similarly about being forced to support unnecessary -- or any -- wars with my taxes.)

So, I do understand it when people say we shouldn't be forced to "help" others.  But then again, there is a strong emphasis in all religions on helping each other out, no matter what.  And to me, this logically extends to the government, to the realistic extent that it can.

But yet after all this, I'm still not sure what the Tarvunty advises on this matter.  And so my question remains: what would Tarvu do?