Dramatic scenes of pomp and circumstance….

Ffolkes,
I’ve been sitting here, staring at the screen, waiting for inspiration; it seems to have taken a wrong turn somewhere, and no random ideas are floating around in my own head that would be worth writing about. Thus I have turned to the old trick of just putting down thought processes and ideas that are at the forefront of my consciousness. Sometimes, in the middle of this type of elocution, an idea will strike, and suggest a direction to take. Other times, like so far today, my mind becomes a vast, empty plain, with a hint of shiny sparkle way off in the distance. That sparkle is my inspiration. I can see now that the vast, empty plain is all around me, and inspiration is not going to come any closer this morning. Such a pity…I had high hopes when I rolled out of bed; hopes for a brilliant opening statement, that would set a high mark for the rest of the pearl to match. But, it is not to be, and such is Life. I suppose unpredictability is normal, so there isn’t much I can say about it other than….. let’s  boogie…
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“The axioms of reason are non-demonstrable assumptions. Why should faith not be granted the same privilege? The denial of the truths of faith is, in the last analysis, no less a faith than faith itself, for it rests on personal assumptions which are apart from scientific necessity. In other words, as the truth of reason carries its own evidence, so also with faith. To the mind to whom the axioms of reason are not self-evident, they cannot be proven. So also in the case of faith: for the mind that is not enlightened by faith, the evidence of faith is ridiculous. But for the man whose eyes have been enlightened by the Spirit, faith has its proper evidence, though different from that of reason.” — Paul K. Jewett, Emil Brunner’s Concept of Revelation

I swear, this is the biggest crock of shit I’ve ever seen in one pile. Yet it can serve as a lesson, in how logic can be perverted to support the most ridiculous concepts. The author makes several assumptions that are just not true, starting with the first sentence, and, reasoning from that point comes eventually to rest on a conclusion that has no demonstrable place in Reality. He maintains that the assumptions of reason cannot be proved; this is a false assumption.


Reason does not adopt any assumption until evidence has been gathered in sufficient quantity to demonstrate proof; only then will reason use that assumption as fact, which may then be used to reason further. Faith is based entirely on assumptions that have no demonstrable evidence of proof; as such, they must forever remain assumptions, and may never be used to reason any further, for any conclusions based on false assumptions can only be false.


This is an immutable law of reality; there is no possible argument, as it is demonstrated time and time again, as people who can’t understand or deal with reality in its natural state continually come up with nonsensical reasons to disregard reality in favor of faith. The results are predictably unfortunate, both for those who rely on such faulty reasoning, and for the rest of us who must suffer their proselytizing……

“If we really understand the problem, the answer will come out of it, because the answer is not separate from the problem.” — Krishnamurti

“One of the most frightening things in the Western world, and in this country in particular, is the number of people who believe in things that are scientifically false.  If someone tells me that the earth is less than 10,000 years old, in my opinion he should see a psychiatrist.” — Francis H.C. Crick
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“The man who carries a cat by the tail learns something that can be learned in  no other way.’ — Mark Twain

I love this quotation. Mr. Clemens must have edited it to some degree as his career progressed, because I have also seen it quoted this way:

“The man who carries a cat by the tail leans a valuable lesson; he will never be dim, or doubtful. Chances are he won’t carry the cat that way again. But, if he wants to,  I say, let him!”

I think its much more powerful in the latter format; much funnier too. Since I haven’t really researched the etymology of the quote, I can’t say whether it is all Twain’s, or if some editor had him change it, or even whether it is truly his work. In my opinion, none of that really matters; it’s just too good as it is to fuss around trying to over-analyze. Just think about it (using the second incarnation from above) and enjoy……
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“Never commit yourself to a cheese without having first examined it.” — T. S. Eliot

Now, that’s something you don’t hear every day…… but then, T. S. made a habit of saying things no one had ever heard before. One of the surest ways to recognize genius is rooted in that very idea; genius makes a habit of exploring unknown territories of the mind. The paths of reasoning that they follow, which may be intuitive as well as rational, are generally paths of which the rest of us are not even aware. Or, if they follow a well-known path, they find that it goes much further than had been previously known.


All of us have a touch of this within us; I’m sure everyone has moments of lucidity and revelation that approach this kind of mental acuity. We just don’t live there, whereas the genius spends his entire waking life seeing things that others cannot. It can be a bit disheartening to the rest of us, when we see how simple and clear are the things that they come up with, but we always get over it, and benefit from their progressive thinking. Now, if we could only figure out how to get everyone else into the same boat, we might be able to figure out how to keep from killing ourselves off…..
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Beware of that person who is slow to anger. For when it is long in coming,  it stays longer and is warmer and dies not so easily. Abused patience is a  very strong fuel for a fire not easily put out by any known means.

I like this, probably because it reflects pretty well how I feel every day as I read the latest shenanigans of our beloved ruling class. They don’t seem to be aware of this truism, or they would be more careful, because I doubt that I’m the only person in society who feels this way. The pervading sense of entitlement so entrenched in modern society is blinding those in charge to the effects of what they are doing on the people over whom they hold sway.

The natives are getting more restless as time goes by, and eventually that pot is going to blow the lid off and spill all over the cooks. Being an impatient sort, I hope it happens fairly soon; I’m tired of clenching my jaw so hard. Perhaps this is why I am writing so much; I’m trying to stoke the fire…. and getting more pissed each day….. the beloved ruling class is going to have a hell of a time putting this fire out…..
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How dieth the wise man? As the fool.

Here is one that I think we all tend to forget, or possibly deny. It’s a hard thing to accept that death is not like life; we are accustomed to at least some degree of favoritism according to our own particular sense of entitlement. It must be a very disturbing thing for those who are very devout in their religion to consider that even the most miserable sinner, and the most repugnant pagan, have the same consideration given them by death as it does to themselves. Death comes to all, the wise, the fool, and the believer….. the ultimate democrat….


This may be, now that I think of it, the major reason for creating the concept of Heaven and Hell; the clergy needed some method to control and manipulate their followers. Giving them reasons to justify their sense of entitlement works very well; it sets up a dichotomy of purpose very powerfully, so that the believers all know that even when they die, they will receive favorable treatment from St. Peter. To me it is a particularly sad existence, to believe that one is better or worse than anyone else, when so much of reality proves it to be a false belief….. only the weak of spirit need that kind of crutch…….
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It was a hard-fought battle, but I managed to stuff the genie back in the bottle, at least temporarily. It shouldn’t give me any more trouble until tomorrow morning. I’m a little scared of going back over today’s missive to proof and edit; what I find, in the state of mind I’m in, could get thrown out entirely, necessitating a fresh start. Oh well, may as well get started….. meanwhile, y’all take care out there…..


Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

Kowabunga!

1 thought on “Dramatic scenes of pomp and circumstance….

  1. I really, really hate to make typos, and I don’t know how this one got past my three edits….In the section discussing Mark Twain’s quote, the second quotation is missing an “r” in the word learn….please disregard, as I’m not editing again; I don’t trust the editing page; every time I try to fix an error like this, it changes the formatting all around, and I can never get it back to the right form. So, deal with it….sorry, ’bout that….

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