Sunday, June 6, 2010

Sometimes

In many traditional Christian services, these words are said,"We have done those things which we ought not to have done, and we have left undone those things which we ought to have done."  This confession of sin reminds me of the traditional 2x2 table used in the statistical method of analyzing contingency tables of counts or frequencies of events that have occurred. 



Actions


Done
Not done
Oughts
Do
cell A
Omission - ought to have been done but wasn't

Don't do
Commission - ought not to have been done but was
cell D

In the traditional analysis, the upper left empty cell is referred to as cell A.  The other empty cell, lower right and diagonal from A, is cell D.

It occurred to me the other day that cells A and D are not empty every day.  In fact, some days the omission cell and the commission cell are empty while the ok cells are not.  Such days are smooth and shiny.  Good days! 

I try to avoid falling into the notion that I can think without error of what I should and should not do.  It seems possible that some of the things I plan to do are actually not a good idea and some things I don't plan to do would be better done.  Of course, there is also the matter of the passage of time.  By what time is an action to be known as good?  Maybe the result will be good at some future time, but not for centuries.  Similarly with what I plan to avoid committing.  Possibly, at some time in the future, having done a deed now planned for
Don't do would have been very beneficial.  I guess I need infinite knowledge to know what to do!  Still, sometimes I do ok!




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