Yesterday was a bust. A massive attack of vertigo kept me from doing much at all, including a Pearl. It’s the first actual miss in over a year, I think, but, this time, it wasn’t my fault…. (Yes it was….) (NO, it wasn’t….) (Yes, it was….) (Ah, go f__ yourself!…)….

Ah well, regardless of who wins the argument, I’m getting one done today, no matter what it looks like, or how smooth it isn’t; I don’t like to miss a day. Since the primary focus of doing this is NOT the message, or even the fame (well, in this case, the lack of fame….), but, rather, the process as therapy for my own inner demons, it’s more important than mere celebrity…. to me, anyway….

Hmm… a bit somber for an opening, but, I’m too much in the groove to do it over. Besides, I know this Pearl will be choppy. Oh, you won’t be able to tell from where you’re sitting, but, believe me, getting this done at all was a challenge, one answered very well in the affirmative. Of course, it took three dead bodies and two false fire alarms, but, who’s  counting? The bodies weren’t even from my staff, so, that’s good. My budget wouldn’t stretch to training new staff right now….

I’m pretty sure I don’t have much of a clue today; I’m writing pretty much by instinct right now. I am hoping it will get better by the time we get to the rant, but, hey, we take it the way it comes, because we’re legally required to do so, AND, it keeps Momma happy. With Mother’s Day coming up, we all know how important it is to keep Momma happy….. Of course, she ain’t MY momma, but, she thinks she is, and it doesn’t hurt business to let her think so…. I just wish she wouldn’t sit out front & flirt with every guy over 12 who walks in the door….

Okay, I’ve blathered sufficiently, both for the legal requirements, and the personal. Of course, those latter regulations are perfectly non-existent, but, shhh….. the authorities don’t know that part….. Y’know, I think I’d best take us outta here, before this gets any more complicated…. Luigi, hit it!…..

Shall we Pearl?

“Don’t ever become a pessimist, Ira; a pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun — and neither can stop the march of events.” — Lazarus Long, in Robert Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

From 2/16/2013:

“Laws are only words words written on paper, words that change on society’s whim and are interpreted differently daily by politicians, lawyers, judges, and policemen. Anyone who believes that all laws should always be obeyed would have made a fine slave catcher. Anyone who believes that all laws are applied equally, despite race, religion, or economic status, is a fool.” — John J. Miller, And Hope to Die (in _Jokertown Shuffle – Wild Cards IX_)

Fiction is the repository and temple of the Metaphorse…. which explains this passage from a novel I haven’t read, but obviously need to get around to finding, so I can. This is such a perfect statement of Reality in society today, it could only be said in a work of fiction, because anyone stating this in the public venue would be shouted down by the aforementioned politicians, lawyers judges, policemen, and may I add, preachers/priests and the rest of the priestly hierarchies…. none of whom would wish for the truth of the idea become commonly held knowledge, or even a point of discussion…. They have too much invested in keeping things just as they are to allow any such utterance, without the protection of metaphor….

With metaphor, in both prose and poetic form, the truth can be intimated, and made clear for those who otherwise would never even consider the concepts involved, without being connected directly to Reality itself. Most of society has been brainwashed since birth, and are trained to accept as true anything told to them in a newspaper, on a TV by a person in a suit, or by someone holding a Bible, no matter how disconnected from Reality that may be. Reading things in a book, a piece of fiction, they are taught, is suspect, and not to be believed without corroboration from someone in authority….

“God said it, the Bible told me, and I believe it, so that’s the end of it!”  How many people do you know who would say that? It saddens me no end to know that even I, who tend to drive that sort of person crazy in no time at all, know several folks who feel this way. I have to say, if nothing else, these folks are stubborn, but, stubbornness is not always a survival technique… it can also serve as a death warrant. One has to learn to give up knowledge that is shown indisputably to be false, or face consequences not to their liking.

As I’ve stated before, I have no issue with ffolkes who are sincerely devout in their beliefs…. I’ve found that people who do try to live by the rules that Jesus put forth are generally good people, with good instincts, and have a lot of compassion and kindness in their nature.  I have at least two people in my own family who fit that description, and at least three of the people with whom I grew up are what I would call true Christians, because they use their faith as a supportive tool to enhance their lives, not as a crutch, or a reason to feel entitled…..

In other words, they don’t use their faith as a mask, to hide from the world what they really are like inside…. or, as tool of manipulation, to further their own agenda, which generally involves theft from everyone else, in one form or another….. I have found, by experience with real people in the real world, that a good 95% of those who claim to be Christians are NOT true believers…. Only about 5% of those who call themselves Christians make any attempt to live up to that social reformer’s rigorous standards….

Of that figure, 95% of all self-identified Christians, the great majority can be considered, and are generally labeled, as the ignorant masses, whose minds have been under the control of someone else their entire lives. The smaller percentage of that number, probably only about 1 or 2% of the 95%, are those who either don’t believe in the dogma at all, but use it as the modus operandi for their sociopathy, or those who at least believe it on the surface, but only because it is to their advantage to do so… They would believe anything at all, if it kept them in power….

“Always watch where you are going.  Otherwise, you may step on a piece of the Forest that was left out by mistake.” — Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

I’m not sure whether those who stubbornly cling to their faith (i.e., they walk through the Forest with eyes closed….) are like that because of their nature, or their nurture, and in the final analysis, it doesn’t matter. But, it sure would be nice, for those of us who ARE aware of the truth behind the lies we’ve been told all our lives, to have a few more of us out there, working against the small percentage of people who are taking advantage of the massive ignorance and apathy of the great masses of people, who don’t have the time or mental energy to care about anything but what is happening right in front of them.

Those who control society for their own personal benefit, without any regard for the rest of humanity’s suffering at their hands, aren’t going to change, and they aren’t ever going to give up what they’ve got without a struggle…. I can only wish for enough ffolkes like myself, who can see the truth, to find a way to save at least a few of our species, if only for some galactic zoo of extinct species…… If enough of us get together, there is still a small chance, though the odds of success are diminishing, second by second….

“I don’t feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.” — John Wayne

(Did your jaw drop as far as mine when you read that?)

Bah! Enough pessimism for one day…. let’s go find something a bit more uplifting, shall we?….. As a parting thought, please note the following, which serves to illustrate and define the general feeling in modern society, in terms of ethics and morality…. Consider, if you will, the cultural paradigms that are needed to make this statement a joke, one that no one at all would think was out of place…. In other words, by its calm acceptance of the implied lack of ethics, it shows how deeply ingrained is the attitude (made crystal clear by Mr. Wayne…), in the members that make up that society….

“I think our No.1 problem is that nobody wants to take responsibility for anything, but don’t quote me.” — Randy Glasbergen, “The Saturday Evening Post

I find it mildly curious to note, both Socrates, (470-399 B.C), and Laozi, known commonly as Lao Tzu, (604-531 B.C. ),  each died more than 2400 years ago in human history; yet, today, they are still known as, perhaps, humanity’s most revered scholars, one the most influential in Western thought, the other in the East. Each one left a legacy of wisdom, of simple ideas to last a lifetime, giving us the benefit of the workings of their innermost minds, powerful enough to have lasted through the centuries.

In my experience, using a thought from either of them as the basis for a pearl is guaranteed to make it more relevant to reality, not to mention more perceptive and intelligent, in re: the conclusions/lessons/concepts being presented…. It doesn’t seem to matter which comes first, or last, or if only one is included; the pearl comes out  better.  Using them both, especially as bookmarks around the wisdom of five other historical sages, though rare, seems to make the best old-school pearls….

“They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.” — Confucius

“Aristotle was once asked what those who tell lies gain by it. Said he, “That when they speak truth they are not believed.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200AD) — Aristotle, xi

“A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser to-day than he was yesterday.” — Alexander Pope

“Remember this,–that very little is needed to make a happy life.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, vii, 67

That will have to do. I’m not sure exactly how it got done, or how it came out, but, I’m trusting to the process to carry the day…. Foolish hope, I know, but, hey, remember the second quote today, about optimism? I take that to heart…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if you’re lucky….