It can be both, enjoyable and terrifying, to sit in quiet contemplation podering all things great and small.

   In order to do this I refer to the work of the venerable Blaise Pascal and his "Disproportion of Man":

   "Behold! This is where natural reason brings us. If it is not true, there is no truth in man; if it is true, he finds in it a great cause of humiliation; either way, he is forced to abase himself.

   And, since he cannot go on without this knowledge, I wish, before entering into larger studies of nature, that he consider nature for a serious and leisurely moment, as well as look on himself, and get to know the proportions between nature and man.

   Let man contemplate Nature in its entirety, high and majestic; let him expand his gaze from the lowly objects which surround him. Let him look on this blazing light, placed like an eternal lamp in order to light up the universe; let him see that this earth is but a point compared to the vast circle which this star describes and let him marvel at the fact that this vast orbit itself is merely a tiny point compared to the stars which roll through the firmament.

   But if our gaze stops there, let the imagination pass beyond this point; it will grow tired of conceiving of things before nature tires of producing them. The entire visible world is only an imperceptible speck in the ample bosom of nature. No idea can come close to imagining it. We might inflate our concepts to the most unimaginable expanses: we only produce atoms in relation to the reality of things. Nature is an infinite sphere in which the center is everywhere, the circumference is nowhere. Finally, it is the greatest sensible mark of God's omnipotence, that our imagination loses itself in that thought.

   Let man, having returned to himself, consider what he is in comparison with all that is; let him see himself as if thrown out of the district of Nature; and, from this little prison cell in which he finds his lodging, I mean the universe, let him learn to judge the earth, its kingdoms, its villages, and himself with a proper estimation. What is man in the infinite?

   But to offer him another astonishing prodigy, let him behold the tiniest things he knows of. Let a mite show him in the smallness of its body parts incomparably smaller, legs with joints, veins in the legs, blood in the veins, humours in the blood, drops in the humours, vapors in the drops, which, dividing to the smallest things, he wears out his imaginative power, and let the last object which he arrives at become now the subject of our discourse; he might think that this perhaps is the smallest thing in the universe. I wish now to make him see therein a new abyss. I want to paint for him not only the visible universe, but all the imaginable immensity of nature within the confines of an atom. Let him see an infinity of universes, in which each has its own firmament, planets, earth, in the same proportion as the visible world; within this earth, there are animals and finally, mites, in which he'll find again the same things as he found in the mite he started with; and finding again the same things without end, let him lose himself in these wonders, as shocking in their smallness as others are in their immensity; for who will not admire our body, which before was imperceptible within the universe, imperceptible itself within the bosom of nature, and which is now a colossus, a world, or rather a whole, in comparison to the nothing, the smallness, we can't arrive at?

   Anyone who considers himself in this way will be seized with terror and, discovering that the mass nature has given him supports itself between two abysses of infinity and nothingness, he will tremble in the face of these marvels; and I believe that as his curiosity changes to admiration, he will be more disposed to contemplate them in silence then search them out with presumption.

   For, finally, what is man in nature? He is nothing in comparison with the infinite, and everything in comparison with nothingness, a middle term between all and nothing. He is infinitely severed from comprehending the extremes; the end of things and their principle are for him invincibly hidden in an impenetrable secret; he is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he arises and the infinity into which he is engulfed.

   What else may he do except to perceive some appearance of the middle of things, eternally despairing to know their principles or ends? All things arise from nothingness and are carried to infinity. Who can follow these astonishing processes? The author of these marvels can comprehend them. All others cannot.

   Failing to contemplate these infinities, men have recklessly taken it on themselves to study nature, as if it had the same proportions as they did. It is a mighty strange thing that they wished to comprehend the principles of things, and to arrive from there at a knowledge of everything, with a presumption as infinite as their object. For doubtless no-one could devise such a plan without a presumption or capacity as infinite as nature's. . . .

   We naturally believe that we are more capable of arriving at the center of things rather than embracing their circumference. The visible extent of the world surpasses us visibly; but, since we surpass small things, we believe ourselves capable of possessing them, and yet it requires no less capacity to reach nothingness as it takes to reach everything; the one is just as infinite as the other; and it appears to me that anyone who comprehended one of these extreme principles of things would have also arrived at the knowledge of the other infinite. The one depends on the other, and the one leads to the other. These extremities touch each other and reunite by going in opposite directions and find themselves again in God, and in God alone.

   Let us then know our limits; we are something, and we are not everything; such existence we have takes from us the knowledge of first principles, which arise from nothingness; and the smallness of our existence hides infinity from our view. . . .

   Behold: this is our true state. It is this which renders us incapable of knowing anything for certain or from being absolutely ignorant. We wander in a vast medium, always uncertain and drifting, pushed by one wind and then another. Whenever we find a fixed point to attach and fix ourselves to, it shifts and leaves us and, if we follow it, it slips away from us and flees from us eternally. Nothing stops for us. This is our natural state, but the one most contrary to our inclination; we burn with desire to find a firm seat, and a final, constant base on which to build a tower which will lift us to the infinite; but all our foundations crack, and the earth opens up into an abyss.

   Let us not then seek assurance or finality. Our reason is always deceived by the inconstancy of appearances; nothing can fix the finite which lies between the two infinities which enclose and flee from it. . . . "


   If man is never to know all things that reside in the Mind of the Author of all things that is and is not but was given the faculties with which to think and create, surely what the mind of man can conceive he can achieve.

   Time travel: must be possible.
   Invisibility: must be possible.
   Eternal Life: must be possible.
   Containing the U.S. Federal Government: well, that one is a little tougher to conceive.

   A new age has dawned on humanity. With the discovery of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the building blocks of individual life, scientists are now beginning to understand and manipulate the traits that make us unique.

   The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an accelerated universal effort to identify the approximate 25,000 genes in human DNA and determine the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up the DNA.

   In a relatively short amount of time these molecular engineers have successfully identified the genes that cause everything from Down Syndrome, Crohn's Disease, heart diseases and some cancers, to those that even determine hair and eye color and sex of the child.

   The success of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) identifies embryos that harbor desired and undesired traits. For PGD, the early embryo is examined after in vitro fertilization (IVF) for inherited diseases or to determine the sex of the embryo for sex-related genetic disorders. The process starts with a basic IVF. When the embryo is at the 6- to 8-cell stage, 1-2 cells (blastomeres) are removed and sent to the genetic laboratory for diagnosis using either polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) techniques, depending on which disease is being sought. The unaffected embryos are then transferred into the mother's uterus.

   The attainment of the complete map of our DNA and the ablility to construct the "double helix" as we see fit , along with unconventional methods of conception, comes the capability to manufacture a person or persons to our heart's content.

   Eventually, polydegreed scientists and good intentioned parent(s) will have the option of selecting each and every feature of the newborn a la carte for any purpose they see fit. From height and weight to hair, eyes, musical ability, and even their intelligence will be on the menu.

Question:

Will the progeny of this brave new world grow up and conclude that they are the product of Intelligent Design?

 
   If ever there were a time for the "morning after" pill this would have been it. As everybody would agree: "It takes two to Tango," but somebody is ultimately at fault.

   For the past several years America has been traipsing around the globe and flaunting Her stuff without a care in the world. Some would say it is Her fault because She dresses provacatively and entices others with Her wealth. Others would would say it was an act of "control".

   No matter how it happened, the "election" impregnated Her with an unwanted "glob" of Representatives and we need to act fast. 

   Since the entire world sees America as a juvenile She cannot get the prescription on her own. Does She seek guidance and comfort from Her surrogates, the U.N.? Should America have Her older siblings, the mature and "enlightened" Europeans, transport Her across the border to Canada for the solution?

   Others know that America is responsible for America and will take care of Herself. Some will cry and wail, "why me?" during gestation, while others are busy making plans for the future of the consequences wrought from an innocent indiscretion.

   Which side of the debate or you on and what are you going to do about it?