In reality, no plan came together, no starlets squealed, no cakes fell; I just woke up, and was able to stand up without groaning or moaning. This is a good sign, and worth a little initial silliness to celebrate. It may have an unpredictable effect on today’s offerings, but starting the day so well gives me confidence that all will turn out well….. let’s Pearl, shall we… to the tune of a little Mozart this morning, I think….. yeah, that’s nice…..
___________________________________

“My dear boy, the people who love only once in their lives are really the shallow people.  What they call their loyalty and their fidelity, I call their lethargy of custom or their lack of imagination.  Faithfulness is to the emotional life what constancy is to the intellect – simply a confession of failure.  Faithfulness!  I must analyze it some day.  The passion for property is in it.  There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up.” — Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

With this one short rant, Oscar demonstrates that part of the quality of his perceptive abilities which ultimately led to his untimely death. Of course, this is simply my opinion, but then, it’s my dime, so listen up…..  🙂

No, really, Oscar’s observations of human nature were, for his day, unnaturally honest, and he was fearless about expressing what he had to know would be contentious ideas to his world, a time of professed intellectual freedom marked by intense conformism in the common attitudes held by society. The above sentiments, if one were to buy into his sobriety of intent in making them public, are easily dismissed as being overly cynical and disrespectful of the concept of true love, either agape, platonic, or romantic. One would think that the author of such was a calloused, selfish curmudgeon, disdainful of anyone else’s rightful concerns; in truth, his love for his fellow man was so great that he was compelled to hide it behind massive walls of wit and apparent disdain.

And yet, the truthful accuracy of these observations on common faithfulness cannot be denied, at least in practice, for most faith in constancy, as held by the average human, is based not on knowledge, but on wishes, and thus cannot be deemed as realistic, or useful at all for practical life: our dreams do not fall into our lap, they must be diligently searched for. The journey to seek them out is as important as the dream, providing the intrinsic value of the experience. Oscar knew this, I believe, but he also knew better than to try to put across such a subtle point in a normal fashion; so he couched his lessons in sarcasm, sardonicism, and flowery phrases…… much more palatable for his audience…..
___________________________________

Faith is an island in the setting sun
But proof, yes proof is the bottom line for everyone.
— Paul Simon

Here we have a commonly powerful and insightful little couplet from Paul Simon; common for him, that is, not for people at large. Would that it were true of everyone! His vision of faith as being the concept upon which the sun is setting is, perhaps, a bit premature, considering the number of folks still living their lives based on what they believe to be true, beliefs held without any need for such frippery as evidence or proof. It is a skill, or an attitude, that is completely foreign to me, and my ilk (I love that word!….), but it remains the system of choice for untold millions around this poor old planet.

I say poor, because the degradations and stress that the faith-based have placed upon this, our nest, our only home have aged the ecosystem beyond its natural state, until the entire structure is threatening to collapse under the weight of the particulate matter we have pumped into the water, the earth, and the air since the start of the 17th century, when the Industrial Revolution changed the face of society into the Masque of Death we now see on every species threatened with extinction, on every wilting flower and dying tree, in every stagnant pool of water, in every corner of the Earth.

For those of us who can see beyond the blinders and shades that faith provides, we can see the imminence of the end-game here on Earth, the proof of which is seen in every sunset of fantastic colors, never before witnessed by Man, that comes at the end of another day with new and exciting chemicals added to the atmosphere. It can be felt in every warm breeze that caresses our face in the dead of winter, or the snow we see in Summer, or the massive alterations in the Trade Winds, and the world-wide pattern of currents in the ocean. The proof can be tasted, or rather not tasted, as species after species of animal or plant succumbs to the loss of their viable habitat to another housing tract or industrial factory built on their former homes.

How will faith sustain them, when there is no more water? When there are no other creatures to eat? When the climate becomes so hostile, only the hardiest of plants can survive, none of which are comestible? There is a simple answer… it won’t. They, and we along with them, will pay the ultimate price for their elitist arrogance, for their unshakable faith in a pack of lies, foisted upon us all by unscrupulous sociopaths, who give not a whit for the benefit of any other creature than themselves. They, with the all-too-willing cooperation of the mindlessly faithful, promulgate and maintain the vile attitude that the Earth and all its various forms of life are here solely to serve our desires, and anything we wish to do to them is divinely mandated. Man is the Lord of all Creation, according to those I like to call the Advocates (acting as they do as advocates of the Prince of Lies…..), and the world is ours, to do with as we please, without regard for the welfare of any other creature or plant life that exists…..  and, according to them, God smiles on us for doing so…..

All I can say to that is…. what a crock of shit!…..

“This might be the time Nostradamus was referring to when he wrote, The Centaur shall fix the broken toys, resurrect the dead chrysanthemums and devour the half-eaten cake of love.” — Brezsny’s Real Astrology
___________________________________

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” — Francis Bellamy, 1892

Only one short observation here….. this is the original form of the Pledge, as written, accepted for general consumption in the 1890’s…. the addition to it of the adjectival phrase, “under God” was added during the McCarthy Era in the early 1950’s, when the national fear of “godless Communists” had reached a peak, after being whipped into a frenzy by the panicked diatribes of Joe,” the Magnificently Ignorant Even for an Irish Politician” McCarthy….. Interesting side note (at least, interesting to me…)…. the Pledge, though a subject of much discussion and emotional fervor, has no official standing in terms of law; you can’t be put in jail because you won’t say it, or because you don’t remember all the words, or even if you recite it in its original form. I find that to be a small encouragement….
___________________________________

“When you feel so low you have to look up to look down, beat yourself hard with a stick for a while. At least you will feel better when you stop.” — excerpted from The Rush Limbaugh/Ann Coulter Manual of Psychotherapy, for those Self-Styled Conservatives diagnosed with Excessive Brain Function during Random Periods of Consciousness…..
___________________________________

Now that I’ve reached the final segment of this morning’s meander through my disordered mind, I’m at a loss for words. (Gasp!….) Well, maybe not completely at a loss; there are still a few still floating around in there, jostling for screen time. Oh look, there’s a good one!…. a palindrome, cartwheeling across my inner eye, begging for release, rushing forward and back (how else can a palindrome rush?), whining piteously. But, no way I’m going for the cheap laugh today… it will have to percolate for awhile, too bad, so sad. And sadly, I just noted that I found no poetry today to use in my mix of ingredients, or rather, only one little couplet from a song. Sniffle, snuff….. oh well, I’ll make up for it tomorrow…. in the meantime…. y’all take care out there…..