The Meaning of "Meaning"

I was beginning to think that I understood what you meant by "meaning", but now I'm not so sure. Neither "supernatural" nor "spiritual" seems to define it. Is it something like what Plato the Greek said about material and the ideal existence? You know, that things we see are only shadows of the true reality, which he called "the forms". The difference is that you call this meaning an illusion that is generated by your own mind, whereas Plato would probably say the opposite, that the material thing is more like the illusion. Maybe it's an artist thing.

Okay, let's try another word. How about "essence"? When you paint one of your buildings, it's recognizable, but it doesn't look exactly like the real building that you used as a model. Are you trying to capture the essence of the building? Are you depicting what the building wants to be when it grows up? Are you saying that this is what the building should look like, or would look like if it knew how? Do you consider the painting to be an illusion, inspired by the real building, but largely developed by your own mind?

You know how I feel about this gay marriage thing, but it's the law of the land now, until somebody changes it, which is not likely to happen any time soon. You were right when you said that it wouldn't affect me much. My daughter just came back from attending a gay wedding in Washington, D.C., where it was already legal. She knew one of the partners from way back in high school, and has kept in contact all these years. If it was me, I wouldn't have gone, but it wasn't me.

Is it illegal to discriminate against gays in business and trade? I know that you can't discriminate based on race, color, or gender, but being gay is none of the above. Some people have been calling for the passage of such a law in Michigan, which leads me to believe that it's not already a law, unless it's federal, in which case it wouldn't matter what Michigan law says about it. Then again, how would a store clerk know if a customer was gay unless he, she, or it told him? As far as I know, the only difference between a gay wedding cake and a straight wedding cake is the little bride and groom dolls on the top. Why couldn't they just sell those dolls separately and let the customer put them on the cake after he, she, or it got it home? You're probably right, though, some people are sure to make public spectacles of themselves over this.

County clerks are elected officials, so I don't think you can just fire them. A  county clerk could fire a staff member over this but, to get rid of the actual county clerk, you would need a recall election. I suppose a judge could issue a court order and jail the clerk if he refused to comply, but he'd still be the county clerk. I seem to remember a confrontation like that in or around Cheboygan, but it was a long time ago and I have forgotten the details. It wasn't about gay marriage, but some city council members or county commissioners were jailed for refusing to obey a court order about something or other. I don't remember how it came out, which is surprising because I'm usually interested in legal questions like that.

I used to wonder why God allegedly spoke in person to certain people in the Bible, but He apparently doesn't do that anymore. Now I think that He never did that, but of course I can't prove it. All I know for sure is that God has never spoken like that to me. I assume that means He wants me to figure things out for myself, so that's what I try to do.

Have a nice trip and watch out for those tornadoes.