Tuesday, March 2, 2010

That Foul Smell?

Why does shit stink? I seriously pondered this thought as a believer in a wonderful, magnificent God. How could something so fetid, putrid and vile be reconciled to a perfect and pure God?

Perhaps God reveals abstractions to us through analogy? Possibly, shit's offensive nature is revealed in metaphor. In with the good, out with the bad. As we become more like Jesus, we take on good nature and purge bad nature. This is akin to putting pure things into our bodies and expelling impure things as excrement. 

Conversely, when looked at from an evolutionary point of view, one might ask whether shit is even stinky? How can it not be? It stinks! Well, apparently shit is paradise for dung beetles, flies, bacteria and animals large and small, including our canine companions. It appears shit is only stinky to us. Or maybe it is stinky to all of us but certain bugs, insects, bacteria and animals happen to like stinky things.

Ultimately, the fundamental nature of shit is relative in the following sense: either shit is 1) perceived as being shit to us and a gardenia to “them” or 2) shit is intrinsically stinky but “they” like stinky things.

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