I AM one of the most stubborn people alive, it seems… Hmmm….  I had thought to write that line differently, using the words “must be” where now stands “AM”, in shouting mode, but, once written, it became clear that there was no doubt at all connected to the idea, so, I went with the more positively certain incarnation…. Come to think of it, though, if I am flexible enough to accept the change in words, then I’m not as stubborn about change as I had surmised, so, the entire exercise devolves into sheer obsolescence, as its internal logic falls apart…… So much for THAT beginning…

All that remains is the original concept, that I am, or must be, pretty damn stubborn, to continue writing this amount of material each day, when there is so little response to what is written…. For over 2000 words a day, I pour my soul into this blog, usually taking a few leisurely shots at national politics, or one or more of the churches that abound in our society, all for the purpose of getting my head emptied of the stuff that might sit in there and rot, causing more trouble than it’s worth, for me, and for others who may come in contact with me, thereby suffering the consequences of being the only one there when my angst blows…. It’s not a pretty sight….

Of course, I could stop watching the news altogether…. I did that for a while, but found that it creeps in around the edges, and forces itself into one’s sphere of attention, like it or not….. Plus, as an inveterate, addictive reader, I tend to inhale newspapers whenever I see one, no matter how old; I’ll read just about anything with words on it, including, in a pinch, cereal boxes (Some of them have some way cool stuff on the back for kids, so they’re fun!….Nutritional information is more interesting than it seems at first glance, too….). It’s hard to completely keep free of all the news in this society, as it tends to push into our awareness regardless of how much we try to avoid it….

It helped that for a long time, I had no television; not being current in the events of TV-world has been quite lovely, to be sure. I never did care much for most of it anyway, and find that I don’t miss it much. Now that I do live with one again, I find myself still preferring to read, or jump on the computer to fill my need for words to eat; my brain consumes a massive number of them on a daily basis, so I need a rather large supply, in ALL sizes and shapes, to keep up with my appetite for them. A book each day has been my goal since I was about 10 years old, a goal I’ve managed to achieve, and more….

I read as much as my physical condition allows me to do, which is not as much as I would like…. I tend to prefer to sit while reading, and that particular activity has a limit to it these days, due to the insidious advent of pain, that builds up if I sit still too long, or stand too long, or walk too long, or do ANYTHING for too long… “too long” being a very short period, unfortunately…. But, I find I can go from one position to another, from sitting, to standing, to sitting, to lying down, in rotation, for much of the day, if I’m careful, and never become too painful. It makes it a bit choppy when trying to write, but, for reading, a good place marker keeps me from wasting a lot of time when I change position or activity….

I suppose one of these days, I’ll have to break down and buy a smart phone, or a Kindle, or other tablet computer, so I can do all my reading on that, wherever I am, standing, sitting, or in between….. I’ve been waiting for the technology to become cheaper, as it does over time after new items come out; the prices now for smart phones and tablets is becoming reasonable…. They still are overcharging for access, but, that, too, will go down in time, as the competition in the market increases….. Soon, we’ll all have our Google glass computers, built right into our VR glasses frames, with complete audiovisual connection to the entire world network, probably with voice-activation and virtual monitors on any handy surface….

Oh well, all that will come soon enough… In the meantime, I’ll continue to read using all the different methods I’ve accustomed myself to using, and be content with that…. And, I’ll continue to write my 2000+ words every morning, to get the crap out of my head, and onto the Net…. where, hopefully, some of it may stimulate some cogitation amongst the other denizens… I can hope, can’t I?….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion.  Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.” — Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Peter Carr, Aug. 10, 1787
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“Learning to look in the mirror without judging too harshly, letting the voice of society cut us without judging too lightly, letting the voice of imagination blind us, but, rather, seeing ourselves with truth and compassion, aware of who we are, where we need to get better, where we need to forgive, is the goal of a healthy life.” — Callan Williams

Oh, how sweet! A beautiful sentiment, worthy of any true knight in shining armor…. Y’know what, though?…. Fuck that…. bugger them all, and let them figure out their own shit….  Sorry, my curmudgeon woke up…. and, though I usually agree with Mssr. Williams’ ideas, I’m sorry, but this sounds really, really new-age bullshitty….. In all honesty, if I heard someone say this to me, live and in person, I believe I would probably puke on their shoes….. What a bunch of Pollyanna crap! It reminds me of the current school of philosophy that tends to look at all students as poor, or victims, and attempts to build up what they believe to be the problem, i.e., self-esteem among the students, when all that is really needed is some damn honesty among the faculty….

Our culture is not only being held hostage by one party in one house of Congress, but by one attitude that tends to become overused, i.e. compassionate uplifting of the poor and ignorant, regardless of how they feel about it…. It’s the Mother Teresa syndrome, where the only way for the person to feel good about themselves, and to feel like they are “better”, they must be offering help and sustenance to someone poorer, and less able to fend for themselves…. never stopping to figure out the simple fact that viewing the world in this way is what keeps it that way….

It is their own insistence on helping those in poverty that creates the condition in the first place…. the proper solution is to change society so there are jobs and resources for these folks to help themselves, not to give them what we feel they need…. But, too often, ignorance walks hand in hand with compassion, because the compassionate tend to allow feelings to dictate their actions, rather than reason. Feelings are important, and need to be considered before acting, but, the actions should never be based simply on what is felt, or it will never achieve the necessary relation to reality to reach the necessary goal…. which is self-reliance, not universal empathy. Empathy is a useful tool, but, not the only tool we possess, to be relied upon exclusively….

“The truth of a proposition has nothing to do with its credibility. And vice versa.” — Lazarus Long, aka Robert A. Heinlein
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I’ve never been completely sure exactly why I like the poems of Emily Dickinson so much, but, then, I’m not one to question my own taste. Whatever the exact reason may be, you’ve got to appreciate the absolute genius of her use of metaphor, so patently obscure, it is beautiful, if only for its ethereal sense of unreality….

I realize the rant today left a bit to be desired…. I just didn’t have the proper amount of anger and outrage collected to fuel it to the point of explosiveness I enjoy so much…. But, then, it’s hard to work up a lot of hard feelings over the improper use of empathy….. Hey, it got me through one section of today’s effort, so, it will have to do… They can’t all be brilliant, can they?….. Having thus forced down my portion of crow, we’ll get on down the line with an old-school pearl, my favorite excuse for actual work…. Here is a randomly chosen pearl, on a subject which is not yet clear…. Smart Bee will know what I’m looking for, to save this Pearl from obscurity, and the shame of irrelevance….

“How it is that our memory is able to retain the least triviality that happens to us, and yet not good enough to recollect how often we have told it to the same person?” — Duc de La Rochefoucauld

“I often have long conversations all by myself, and I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word I am saying.” — Oscar Wilde

“…there are periods of history when the visions of madmen and dope fiends are a better guide to reality than the common-sense interpretation of data available to the so-called normal mind.  This is one such period, if you haven’t noticed already.” — The Illuminatus! Trilogy

“Never argue with a Scorpio–even if you win, you lose” — Smart Bee

“It is the mark of our whole modern history that the masses are kept quiet with a fight. They are kept quiet by the fight because it is a sham-fight; thus most of us know by this time that the Party System has been popular only in the sense that a football match is popular.” — G. K. Chesterton, A Short History of England. 156

“The only game that can’t be rigged is peekaboo.” — Cruickshank’s Law #4

“I see a good deal of talk from Washington about lowering taxes. I hope they do get ’em lowered down enough so people can afford to pay ’em.” — Will Rogers

You know, I think this is the first time ever that SB has done this to me…. Taken together these seven pearls, each of which is relatively okay as a stand-alone thought, form a picture of an idea so outrageous, so amorphous, so irrelevant, it boggles the mind…. “What idea is that?”, you may well ask…. and that’s the problem…. I have no frigging idea where this went, or what it means…

The only part that makes any sense to me at this point is the one in the middle, because, hey, I’m a Scorpio… I guess that’s the ultimate point SB is making… If it doesn’t work for us Scorpio ffolkes, we just change the rules by which the game is being played…. It should be noted that this is far more effective when we don’t let the other players know we’ve done so… So, the rule for reading this pearl becomes, cast your mind free, and don’t expect to find a point…. It’s just a hedonist pearl, all feel-good, and no thorns…., other than those we poke ourselves with….
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I am hesitant to even proof this one; it has a perilous feel to it…. Oh well, no whining aloud allowed…. Well, better than I’d hoped for; that’s something, I guess….. I don’t think Papa Hemingway has anything to worry about in terms of this ever being compared to anything of his, but, just in case, I’ll go ahead and post it anyway…. Sometimes, ya just gotta settle for what is, and not worry about what might have been…. See ya….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.