I’d like to introduce Daniel Pech, an aspiring creatonist, biblical writer, and philosopher, amidst many other things. Daniel forwarded me his views on Genesis 1 and 2 in response to a blog of my own on the complementary nature, as opposed to a contradictory and self-contained nature, of the first two chapters of Genesis. I hope here to provide a short meet and greet bio of Daniel to provide a more personal introduction to lead into fuller post later on one of Daniel’s papers.
You can see for yourself Daniel’s prolific writing on his Academia.edu profile. From the art and biology, to the Psalms and Noah, to music and philosophy and beyond, Daniel writes has quite a bit, to say the least. His copious writing style belies very deep and strong critical thinking on the topics he is writing on.
You will see Daniel again on this site under the title An Empty ‘Bottle of Water’ where he introduces us to his view that there are extra dimensions of Genesis that a plain-reading is missing, while holding to a young-earth reading.
I asked Daniel to introduce himself with a few questions,
What’s your name?
Daniel Pech
Where are you from?
Born in Chicago, moved to Oregon at age 12.
What is your education?
GED
What is your occupation?
Freelance writer, biblical historicity researcher, developmentally disabled, long story.
I’m not ‘classic’ low-mid functional. I’m nearly normal in most ways that appear from the outside of me. But I have lots of internal limits that make me subnormal in most ways, some ways very sub-normal, and a lot of far-above-normal abilities few of which ever appear or are even halfway activated.
My autism does not effect my writing. I’ve never written any other way. I hope you get the distinction that I mean there. It’s a lot like being asked if you ever get sick, and you reply, ‘Well, no, because I’m never not sick.’ It’s similar to what I meant when I told one co-worker years ago, ‘If you never go to sleep, you don’t never have to get up in the morning.’
What are your passions, interests, or hobbies?
It’s really an odd question for me. It’s vagueness is exactly as comprehensible to me as to that for a four-year old boy who, in stepping into the family room through the curtain-covered sliding glass door from the backyard to tell his dad something nice about what his toy Tonka truck can do in the sandbox, suddenly finds himself facing an adult dinner party whose guests all ask him to introduce himself as if he were an adult. What’s he going to say? LOL
[While Daniel couldn’t describe this himself, after getting to know him a little I can clearly see that what he does is what most interests him the most: Creationism, bible apologetics and history, philosophy, art, and more. You can see exactly what he has written about on his Academia.edu profile.]
In your work or creative process, what concepts are sacred? Which rules have you made, which ones do you follow?
Question too vague for me.
[I clarified with Daniel: What I mean here is how do you approach a problem? Do you have any techniques you use to help you understand and work through a problem?]
Don’t understand question.
[Do you ever break any rules or techniques to get ‘outside the box’ on a problem you’re working on? What helps you to get ‘unstuck’ when you can’t figure something out?]
For me, such a question is about as meaningful as being asked to fill out a self-tilted ‘Standard Questionare’ at the dentist’s that is comprised of the single question, ‘When you stop chewing on glass, how do your teeth feel?’ As if people normally chew on glass. Without a box on such a form to check that says, “Does not apply’, I’m often left confused as to what answer to give. I was completely blown away, years ago, when, in our waiting for the materials to be delivered for the jobsite, a co-worker got bored in thirty seconds. I had no idea that was logically possible.
Who is your hero? And why?
Noah. The why is too obvious. His bio, not mine.
What is your grand, audacious goal? What do you wish people would know, believe, do?
Understand Noah’s point of view; and that of the entire Children of Israel in Moses’s and Joshua’s day for the particular content of their meager extent of holy scriptures.
What else would you like to people to know about you?
Lots of things, all random.
[Can you give me 3 things? It can be anything :) If you could tell people just a few of the things you feel more important about yourself and your life what would they be?]
That’s two questions:
One, 4 anythings: (1) I like to push a shopping cart fast through the store. (2) I like utter silence, when I live alone, such as no traffic noise. (3) I like to be and sleep outdoors if it is raining lightly. (4) I like to split, haul, and stack firewood, especially outdoors, and especially when its raining (I like to get soaked, but only with the constant option to get inside and get into dry clothes, where there are either no people or only a few and who are not noisy or socially outgoing).
Two, important? If I lived out of a motel room, I would absolutely hate to be greeted by another motel occupant when I step out every morning to go to the library or wherever. It would make me really, really… I would soon have to go out only when that person is not out there waiting to greet me. I have to be able to live, and walk around, with a feeling of anonymity. I could not cope with being a ‘household face’ in which people often approach me to interact with me, run across the street to talk to me, etc..
I’m mentally hyper-attentive to the fact that others are present, and what they do expect, might expect, etc.. That was thanks to my first employer, when I was 19. I seem to recall that I told you of that. My third employer effectively ensured that I’m stuck with that sense, because he rarely stopped trying to get me to converse. I’m not a ‘loner’, I just am not equal to a constant medium-to-high level of social interaction, and any kind of ‘suggestive’ indirect attention. When I was nine, I went to a Christian summer camp for five days, and held my bowels the whole time because the only bathroom made available to us mere children there was a huge long room with a row of stall-less toilets. I never would have believed it, and would not have gone to that camp if I had known. It would have been far easier to face a firing squad than to use that bathroom while anyone in that camp was within half a mile.
That’s only a few of about a dozen things that are really important to me. And only maybe two or three of that dozen have anything to do with writing.
If you are thinking of more ‘normal’ things, you may have to ask very specific questions. :)
I like boats, the ocean, the idea of being out on one. (Not usually cruse ships that have people everywhere). But I would love to live on an aircraft carrier, complete with all hands, as long as I don’t get ‘hassled’ by anyone there.
Some of my favorite episodes of the few fiction shows that I watch are those that are made on boats. There’s the ‘dingy’ episode of Hawaii 5-0 in which Danny Williams and Steve McGarett are out fishing, and they end up in a dingy in the middle of the ocean, and latter find a small yacht. Then there’s the ‘Chimera’ and ‘Agent Afloat’ episodes of NCIS. I love the narrower passageways in the aircraft carrier, mainly when its lighted (can’t see much when the lights are out).
Thank you, Daniel!
I hope this little glimpse into Daniel’s life, character, and personality, piques your interest to read Daniel’s introduction and primer on this site entitled An Empty ‘Bottle of Water’.