LIFE AFTER DEATH? JUST YOU WAIT AND SEE!

Because I have been twice married (and twice widowed) I have spent considerable time wondering about encountering my two wives once I pass through the Pearly Gates into Heaven (provided I am granted entry). Needless to say, the prospect has left me somewhat apprehensive.

Well, the Christian Bible provides part of the answer...According to Jesus, people won’t be married in heaven. Interesting answer, right?

The way I am left to rationalize it is that the relationship between and husband and wife are to reflect the same relationship between Christ and his church. Marriages are supposed to be SO good that they show you how close God is to us, and what it is like to be in a relationship with him. Check out Ephesians 5:25-32.

In the end, people were created to have relationships -- with God and with each other. They are part of God’s plan for this world, and they will stay part of that plan for the next world too. Some things will change, like marriages that don't work out. But in its place the Bible leads us to expect a deep, satisfying relationship with everyone.

I’m afraid that the Bible doesn’t get much more specific than that. We don’t really know the details of how we will relate in heaven, or what it will be like specifically. But it behooves us to believe that it will be a good humane community that works the way communities now are meant to work but don’t.

If heaven is the place it is supposed to be, surely there is no carryover of worldliness or past life.

With that acceptance I move on to perhaps an even greater "life after death" unknown...

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Dualism is the concept that our mind is more than just our brain. This concept entails that our mind has a non-material, spiritual dimension that includes consciousness and possibly an eternal attribute. One way to understand this concept is to consider our self as a container including our physical body and physical brain along with a separate non-physical mind, spirit, or soul. The mind, spirit, or soul is considered the conscious part that manifests itself through the brain in a similar way that picture waves and sound waves manifest themselves through a television set. The picture and sound waves are also non-material just like the mind, spirit, or soul. The alternative concept is materialism. Materialism holds that everything in our universe is made from physical materials including the human mind or brain and that spiritual attributes do not exist in the universe. This concept holds that our mind and brain are one and the same.                                  ______________________________________________

What actually happens to the mind, or the self, after death?  If there's no basis for dualism, the answer is a no-brainer (no pun intended). The moment the brain loses its exquisitely synchronized organization, consciousness is lost. If that breakdown of physical processes is irreversible, consciousness is permanently extinguished, and the unique organization of matter that constituted that individual's person-hood, self or essence ceases to exist.

But since humans are instinctive dualists, the idea of life after death makes complete sense to our intuitions. And that’s not the only reason why the belief comes so naturally to us.

Death has never been popular. Especially when it is seen as the final and utter cessation of being. The prospect's tolerability increases only when it is re- framed as a mere passage to a heavenly paradise filled with all manner of delights -- all the more so for those who are suffering or disadvantaged in this life. Humans are profoundly egocentric, and it is natural for us to frame the world in self-referential terms. We cannot easily conceive of the world existing without us, and we struggle to imagine our absolute nonexistence. Even those who do contemplate death as a complete cessation of existence in any form tend to imagine how being dead would feel. 

It's no surprise that belief in life after death is an irresistibly appealing idea that has emerged in diverse forms throughout history. Indeed, the denial of death may be the raison d'être of religions.

Most religions share common beliefs about some sort of eternal essence surviving the decay of our body, which is viewed as a mere vessel or vehicle for the soul. From a very early stage of prehistoric development, it appears that humans have been conscious of and preoccupied with death. Anxiety about death, denial of death, and various forms of belief in an eternal afterlife and the spirits or gods that inhabit and govern such realms have defined practically every religion in human history and prehistory.

Cynics and pessimists who argue that there’s no point to life if it is finite often ask: What is the point of trying to accomplish anything if there is no larger purpose to the universe? What's the point if we simply cease to exist after we die?

Even among those with the gloomiest or most uninspired outlook on life, any otherwise mentally healthy person possessing moderate empathy and humanity and a little ability to transcend egotism and solipsism can be moved to care enough to do something, anything, to mitigate suffering and increase happiness in other people. The suffering and happiness of other people are as real as our own and will continue long after we die. We might doubt whether our own existence matters. But others will continue to exist, and others after them. We all have the opportunity to affect others while we are alive, and how we do so will continue to matter to those others long after we are gone.

As many people know, when you live your life with a commitment to others, a lot of really good things happen to you. Your own life becomes much more satisfying, enriched, and meaningful. There are few ways to feel that your own life matters more than being committed to other people (or animals, or even plants, if that's your preferred commitment and if you don't relate well to people). Caring and devotion are more often than not reciprocal.

Carpe diem! You only live once. Make it count. This is not a dress rehearsal. Life is short and time moves fast. When it's over, it's over!

Better to not spend (waste) time worrying about what is humanly inconceivable. 

Life is intended to be a mystery...We are given the option of faith to deal with it. 

"How will it actually feel to be dead? Well, remember how you felt for all those eons before you were born? Just like that." -- Dr. Ralph Lewis, Psychology Today.

BRAMPTON VOTERS FAVORED MAVERICK OUTSIDER PATRICK BROWN OVER VETERAN INCUMBENT

NOTE: I created this spoof ad as an illustration to accompany
the following Wrights Lane post.

No question about it, politics in general have become stranger than fiction and it is the electoral public that has perpetrated the phenomenon in the form of protest voting.

Protest voting occurs when unsatisfied voters abandon their most-preferred candidate even though he or she has a good chance of winning, in the hope that this signal of disaffection will lead to downstream improvements in that candidate’s performance. This approach has been known to backfire however when the underdog candidate actually gains enough votes to win the election.

Disturbingly, there is another form of protest voting in which Devil's advocates demonstrate their annoyance with all political parties and incumbent governments by voting for the most controversial and off-the-wall candidate on the ballot sheet. By making a mockery of the election process such individuals feel they are sending a message, or wake-up call, to all politicians. 

Regardless, generally speaking, voters are collectively fed up, marginalized and overlooked. Life keeps getting more difficult for the hard-working "middle class" so often fawned over by political leaders. As Post Media columnist Mark Towhey recently put it: Canadians spoke clearly in 2010 when they elected Rob Ford as Mayor of Toronto. They spoke clearly in 2015 when they elected Rachel Notely as Premier of Alberta and again when they elected a wet-behind-the-ears Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister of Canada. Britons spoke clearly in 2016 when they voted for Brexit. Americans spoke clearly when they voted for Donald Trump and Ontario spoke clearly when they elected Doug Ford last year. All of them elected to be mold-breakers...Some delivered and some did not.

The forgoing is all by way of getting to a classic example coming out of the surprise Brampton civic election of 2018 in which much maligned outsider Patrick Brown defeated veteran politician, long-time resident and incumbent Linda Jeffrey to become the mayor of Brampton. The upset win received minimal news coverage outside of the Region of Peel at the time.

Patrick Brown

Brown’s bid for mayor marked his third attempt at a political comeback after resigning as Ontario Progressive Conservative leader in 2017 amid muck-raking allegations of sexual misconduct. By means of update, he had previously entered the race to win back his leadership job before the provincial election, but dropped out shortly after. Then in July of 2018, he launched a bid to become Peel regional chair, but that was taken away after the Doug Ford government turned the position into an appointed role instead.

The much-maligned Brown with his never-say-die attitude and within days of moving from his home in Barrie, subsequently entered the mayoral race in Brampton and faced an uphill battle against Jeffrey, a former Liberal cabinet minister, who had the support of high-profile politicians from major parties, including some of Brown’s former colleagues. He no doubt set his political sights on Brampton — despite having only a tangential connection to the city — because Jeffrey seemed vulnerable. Turned out, she was.

While she lost by a slim margin of 4,000 votes, for some reason the Brampton public demonstrated a lack of faith in Jeffrey's leadership -- or dislike for her personally -- and opted for the Johnny-come-lately Brown with his questionable motives and checkered past in political life. 

Jeffrey became mayor in 2014 after she defeated then-incumbent and controversial figure Susan Fennell. Prior to that, she was an MPP from 2003 to 2014, representing Brampton Centre and the former district of Brampton-Springdale.

Jeffrey, who called Brown a political opportunist during the campaign, was understandably shocked at her loss. Once Brown registered for the race, Jeffrey took to Twitter to call out his true intentions, saying the mayoral race was an opportunity to “rehabilitate” his career...No question about it, Brown's intentions were blatantly clear and still voters gave him the edge.

Many moons ago I was managing editor of the Brampton Daily Times newspaper, but I am not close enough to Brampton politics these days to adequately unravel the situation concerning Jeffrey's falling out of favor with the city's public, but something drastic must have turned the tide against her.

Despite Brown’s efforts to turn the page on the scandal that erupted in January of 2017, when CTV News reported allegations of sexual misconduct levelled against the then-Tory leader by two women (claims he has denied) his days at the provincial legislature were still making headlines and haunting him.

A government document leaked to the media just days before the vote in Brampton, showed Brown spent nearly $300,000 on support staff and office operations after resigning as PC leader and being turfed from the Tory caucus. The expenses were in line with legislative rules and involved severance payments to staff, Brown said in a statement. And still none of this was enough to deter Brampton voters...Go figure.

Brown also sued CTV News for defamation, although the broadcaster maintains it did nothing wrong when reporting the allegations against him.

He has also written a tell-all book about what he has described as his “political assassination.”

Meantime, all is well that ends well. The dust seems to have settled in Brampton and Brown gives evidence of doing an acceptable job as mayor with little fanfare. He has settled into family life in Brampton and his wife (married after the sex scandal broke) recently gave birth to their first child. But stay turned...He still has a score to settle with the provincial Tories and opportunist Doug Ford who now holds the job he once coveted.

Time will tell!

FYI: HERE'S HOPING OTHERS CAN LEARN FROM MY SAD EXPERIENCE WITH "PEDAL CONFUSION"

Could have been worse, but don't let this happen to you.

"I've heard of it happening to other people...I never thought it would ever happen to me!"  Chances are, we've all had that thought at some point in our life. While I'm reluctant to talk about, I feel that there is merit in sharing with readers something that happened to me the other day that in my mind only happens to other people. Here's my story, or should I say --- admission. You may be able to relate, if not now, at some point in the future.

With the sickening sound of a "thud" or a "crash" still echoing in my ears, I sat behind the steering wheel of my car -- stunned and in disbelief at what had happened. Did I just rear-end the vehicle (a van) stopped in front of me on a hill at a red light in Owen Sound? I was reluctant to get out of my car and to survey the evidence...The other driver was less hesitant.

"What the f--- happened?" were the first words out of his mouth as he emerged from his vehicle and stood ashen-faced, surveying the bitter truth of the matter.

"I honestly do not know!" was the best response I could muster as I rolled down my window..."Sorry!"

Without going into painful detail, suffice to say that I had collided with his rear bumper and trailer hitch which protruded substantially, leaving no evidence of damage to his 2005 Acura. But it was a different story for my more delicate 2012 Hyundai with its resultant shattered front grill and crumpled licence plate.

"Accidents happen!" the other driver (a middle-aged man) allowed as we exchanged ownership information and proof of insurance. Embarrassed and confused, I perhaps ill-advisedly offered the guy $100 for his inconvenience and he readily accepted. We continued on our way...He to deliver a child to a nearby school and I to a 9:00 a.m. appointment with a cancer surgeon at the hospital in Owen Sound.

A joint report of the incident was subsequently filed later with Accident Report Services in conjunction with Owen Sound Police.

But what the f--- happened that morning to cause me to collide with the vehicle in front of me? In retrospect, I have consumed countless hours thinking about that and replaying the scene hundreds of times in my mind. I distinctly remember my car drifting ahead slightly as I was stopped in traffic. I reacted by applying my brakes to stop the forward movement but for some reason my foot hit the accelerator instead. Helplessly, I increased the pressure on what I thought was the brake pedal, but the acceleration continued and "bang". Game over! As simple as that...The oddest feeling in the world! How was such a mishap possible? I always prided myself in safe/defensive driving.

Eventually I recalled reading somewhere a survey determining that older drivers are more likely to experience "pedal confusion" and the unintended acceleration of their vehicles than younger motorists. And that obviously is what happened to me...There is no other explanation.

Apparently there have been thousands of cases of accidents occurring when drivers hit the gas but are convinced they are applying the brakes and researchers believe it is the result of a glitch in our sensory motor response.

In search of substantiating information, I had to pursue the subject further when I got home later in the day.

“There’s always a degree of error in the actions we undertake,” explained Luc Tremblay, associate professor and associate dean of research at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Kinesiology. His area of expertise is multi-sensory integration.

“So in this particular case, if the receptors in your leg are interpreting your foot on the brake, you cannot think you’re actually on the gas pedal. You think the car is not responding to you pressing the brake and you end up pressing even harder on the gas because it feels like the foot is on the brake pedal.”

“Then the panic takes over and this is a whole other psychological aspect,” he added.

Tremblay said when we age our senses, like vision and hearing, diminish as do the receptors in our limbs, muscles and tendons.

"They don’t provide the same signals as the elastic properties of the limbs are changing, such that the feedback you’re getting from your leg moving is not the same anymore, so you are not as accurate and the inputs your brain is getting are not the same." (You will no doubt have to read that paragraph at least one more time in order to fully understand it.)

He said when we reach for cup of coffee and thrust our arm forward, we have the visual assistance to grasp it correctly, but in the case of using our leg on the gas and brake pedals we’re operating our limbs without visual assistance so there’s more chance for error.

“In the case of driving, you’re going to move your limbs towards one pedal versus the other, but there’s going to be variability in the initial trajectory and we see the variability in the initial trajectory on older adults is greater than younger individuals.”

Tremblay also pointed out that because the left hemisphere of our brain controls the movement of the right side of our bodies, and vice-versa, the 10 per cent of the population that is left handed, and therefore has left foot dominance, would be better at driving with the use of their left legs. How interesting!...Especially since I'm a lefty.

In all honesty, I feel that I'm a little too old to start driving with my left leg...It would just add to the potential for further pedal confusion for me.

Knowing what I now know about this unusual driving phenomenon, I just have to be more alert when I'm behind the wheel of my car, having my wits about me and being more purposeful and deliberate in all my driving habits. Think, think, think!!!

And remember what the f--- happened to me before...Never letting it happen again!

There is also another option which is inevitable for all 80-plus senior drivers. But for now we won't go down that road.

God just help me get through the coming six weeks of three-hour trips to the London Cancer Centre for radiation and chemotherapy treatments.

Meantime friends, think of what happened to me every time you put your foot on the brake pedal of your car. It may just help save you from an unfortunate accident.

Human Imagination Can Change the World

Thoughts gleaned from poet, essaist, and Zen Buddhist priest Norman Fischer in his new book "The World Could Be Otherwise: Imagination and the Bodhisattva Path." I'm totally on board.

The imagination is powerful. It creates its own self-validating truth strong enough to effect inner and outer transformation. The Bible and other religious texts, folktales, myths, rhymes, poems, plays, novels, anecdotes, music, ritual, pictures, dreams — all imaginative productions rise up from the unconscious to expand the soul, to help us feel who we really are and what the world really is.

Imagination isn’t an escape from reality. Imagination deepens and enriches reality, adding texture, depth, dimension, feeling, and possibility.

The 21st century is busy and rough. For privileged people with demanding careers, social lives, families, and myriad interests, life is better than it has ever been. But it is also more difficult, more stressful and demanding. The possibilities for growth and accomplishment are dizzying: One must be more, know more, experience more, have more fun — and all of this at an ever-accelerating rate. It is hard to catch a breath.

The imagination doesn’t measure, devise, or instrumentalize. Its nature is to open, to mystify, to delight, shock, inspire.

For the majority of people, who do not enjoy such great expectations, the daily struggle to survive in ever more trying social and economic circumstances is relentless. The top 10% of the world’s population owns 90% of the wealth, leaving the other 90% scrambling to get by. More and more people simply cannot manage.

Privileged or not, we are all aware of the world beyond our households through the now ubiquitous news media, which has become our collective nervous system, twitching our attention with constant jolts of true and false information about political, environmental, economic, and social problems. This becomes the stuff of our psyches and our conversations. What will the future bring? What’s the world going to be like for our children and grandchildren? Will there be a world? Dread fills the air. Sometimes we feel it; mostly we don’t let ourselves feel it. It’s too much. What can we really do about it?

I concur with author Norman Fischer's conviction that the world could be, and actually is, otherwise — that its possibilities aren’t limited to the tangible, the knowable, the negotiable, to the data we are constantly collecting about practically everything measurable.

Data gives us the illusion that we know the world. But the world is more than we know. The imagination doesn’t measure, devise, or instrumentalize. It doesn’t define or manipulate. Instead, its nature is to open, to mystify, to delight, shock, inspire. It extends without limit. It leaps from the known to the unknown, soaring beyond facts to visions and intensities. It lightens up the heavy circumscribed world we think we live in. It plays in the deep end, where heart and love hold sway.

Spiritual practice is one of the key sites of imagination. Like Fischer, I don’t see a big distinction between spirituality and religion, as many do these days. To me, spiritual practice is simply authentic religion, connected to observance and experience, beyond ideology and belief. I realize this view is unusual. Many people in our time, having been brought up without any religion, naturally feel religion is weird, unnecessary, and old-fashioned. Many others shy away from religion because they were raised within a religious atmosphere that seemed dedicated to scaring them out of anything risky, joyful, or open, keeping them safely on the straight and narrow.

At its depth, this is not what religion is supposed to be doing. Religion is supposed to help us live more completely within our human imagination. In doing this, it provides a counterforce to the gravity of a human world that has always been full of trouble and strife. Karl Marx famously called religion the opiate of the people. But he also called it “the heart of a heartless world.”

Even at its worst, religion has a glowing coal of wildness hidden in its contemplative, mystical side — in texts, teachings, practices, and experiences that come from the uncharted expanses of the human imagination, religion’s heart and soul. The word “spiritual” evokes this essential and powerful side of religious life, the source of creativity, the spring from which the dreamers and visionaries of the world drink. I choose to retain the word and the idea of religion because despite their many sins, the great religions of the world contain a wealth of lore, languages, practices, and rituals that we can’t afford to jettison now, when we need them more than ever.

CURIOSITY OVER OLD BOOKMARK OPENS UP AMAZING STORY OF ARCHIBALD W. DINGMAN

There is a lot of history wrapped up in a seven-by-two-inch bookmark nestled in the pages of a 155-year-old family heirloom book "Life of Abraham Lincoln" resting on one of my bookshelves, along with a prized collection of other antique publications that have come into my possession over the years.

The mint-condition bookmark, featuring a young Victorian girl with beautiful long blond hair (see photos), was a marketing piece produced by Dingman's Electrical Soap Company of Toronto in 1885. Coincidentally, there are still a few copies of the bookmark in private collections and currently priced on eBay at $25.98.

On the reverse side of the bookmark is an interesting message in language of the day, extolling the merits of Dingman's soap products and headed Pennywise and Poundfoolish: "Buying poor cheap soaps to do the washing with -- to save a cent! and spending pounds in medicine to restore your energies Wasted on Wash Day. You will save not only pennies and pounds, but your health by using DINGMAN'S ELECTRIC SOAP which actually does the washing itself if you will only give it It's Way."

It would seem that the company was an extemely aggressive promoter, at times pre-occupied with the competition, as seen below in another Dignman ad.

The founder of the soap company was Archibald Wayne (Archie) Dingman who had a way of making things run and making money from running them. Born into a large United Empire Loyalists family, he left his home near Picton, ON to work in the oil fields of Pennsylvania. He then settled in Toronto in the early 1880's, where he founded the aforementioned soap factory under the name Pugsley, Dingman Company Ltd. When the soap business proved profitable, Dingman began investing in other promising ventures. He was a founder and General Manager of the Scarboro Electric Railway, partnering with noted members of the business elite, Henry Pellatt (builder of Casa Loma), brewer Robert Davies and financier John Starks. The electric rail venture opened up Kingston Road to bedroom community development and earned Dingman his second fortune.

"Archie" Dingman

A Venue for “Respectable” Society: It was 1893 when Dingman completed the building of a Toronto landmark, Dingman’s Hall. He envisioned it as the way station of choice for travellers on his electric rail line, at the edge of the booming city. More than a hotel, he envisioned an event venue and salon. His clientele included the most respectable of stolid Empire social clubs – the Orange Lodge, Sons of Scotland and Maids of England.

The Heritage Toronto building has undergone numerous upgrades over the years but still stands proudly on the northwest corner of Queen Street East and Broadview Avenue in Toronto's east end.

The site was built for $25,000 in 1891. The Romanesque Revival building, was the tallest on the east side of the Don River. In its early years, it featured a the Canadian Bank of Commerce branch on the ground floor, professional offices on middle floors, and grand halls on the upper levels.

The Royal Canadian Bicycle Club was perhaps the tenant that gave Archie the greatest pride. The club had been formed from the Canadian Volunteers, a decorated militia whose regimental name was attached to a 100-member, all-male athletic group at Dingman’s Hall, eventually becoming a winter sport and curling club. The Toronto Evening Star approved of their facilities at Dingman’s Hall: “The club parlours are upholstered and furnished in the best of style and the pictures of the winning teams decorate the walls. A padded boxing room, a pool room, a card room, a smoking room, a reading room and a first class gymnasium are among the attractions.” In later years the club would focus exclusively on curling and move across Broadview in 1907 to become today’s Royal Canadian Curling Club at 131 Broadview.

Click to enlarge image.

By 1900, Archie Dingman was growing restless. He’d certainly won at soap manufacturing. His electric rail ventures had stalled as the 1890s economy softened. Perhaps he just wasn’t cut out to slide into retirement as a middling player in the hospitality sector. Maybe event space management wasn’t enough of a challenge. For whatever reason, when his soap factory burned down in 1902, rather than rebuild, he pulled up stakes at age 52 and moved to Alberta. There were reports of oil slicks forming on the surface of Sheep Creek and Dingman was intrigued by the fact that the Rockefellers of Pennsylvania were already making a fortune there.

In Alberta, Dingman formed the Calgary Natural Gas Company, and successfully drilled and supplied gas on a modest scale to local businesses. But he really struck pay dirt in 1913 and 1914 when he formed Calgary Petroleum Products Company, recruited young R.B. Bennett (future Prime Minister) and his senior law partner, James A. Lougheed (grandfather of former Premier Peter Lougheed), as investors, and drilled the Dingman 1 oil well at Leduc that launched the Alberta Oil Patch. 

Today Archibald W. Dingman is primarily remembered as providing the foundation for Canada’s oil industry in Alberta. He had great faith in the promise of the province, commenting in 1930 that he was confident that a great future awaited the oil industry in Alberta, and Turner Valley was just one of the many structures in which large quantities of oil would be found.

Dingman died 1937, 11 years before the Leduc No. 1 well would launch the modern petroleum age. But his persistence and entrepreneurial attitude set the standard for all that have followed.

Amazing what you will find with a little digging!

Dingman was truly a remarkable man who seems to have passed under the radar in Canadian history for the most part. I'm kind of glad that I have been able to put some relevant pieces together, thanks to an old bookmark that sparked my curiosity...Stories like this intrigue me and keep me coming back for more.

And oh, by the way -- about that Abraham Lincoln history, authored by Dr. J. G. Holland...It was entered according to Act of Congress, USA, in 1865 by Publisher Gurdon Bill in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts. My first-print edition was included in the estate of a great aunt, Fannie Pike (1856-1940) of Strathroy, ON and subsequently left to my parents by her brother, (my grandfather) Nelson Perry, in 1950.

NOTE: Especially significant for me was finding a pencilled label glued by my father Ken Wright on Page 423 of the Lincoln history (circa 1940) making note of the famous Gettysburg Address delivered by President Lincoln, November 19, 1863 at the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Pennsylvania (location of the horrific Battle of Gettysburg at the end of the American Civil War).

Broadview Hotel (formerly Dingman's Hall),
as photographed in 1945.