Ffolkes,
The image of Gathering Together.
Thus the superior man renews his weapons
In order to meet the unforeseen.
~~ I Ching ~~
Greenock, Scotland, seaport near Glasgow
Okay, so, here’s the deal. In the usual way, I’d blather, or tell a tale, or, perhaps, hold a chatty gossip session, in order to get this intro section done. Occasionally, when my level of angst is high, I’d rant…. None of them seems to work on a consistent basis, not to my satisfaction…. So, I was thinking, how ’bout we just skip it altogether…. In this section I’ll simply say “Hello, and good morning. Shall we Pearl?”, and that will be the end of it… What do you think? Will it work…. Just for fun, let’s try it today, alright? Here we go….
Good morning, ffolkes….
Shall we Pearl?
“I am ignorant and impotent and yet, somehow or other, here I am unhappy, no doubt, profoundly dissatisfied… In spite of everything I survive.” — Aldous Huxley
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Though never a huge jazz fan, I don’t believe there’s ANYONE who can listen to these two artists playing together without having a smile come to their face, or tapping their toes in time…. Enjoy, ffolkes…. We’ll never see their like again….
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
Ella & Louis (Full Album)
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I’ve decided to be nice…. Below you’ll find today’s rant, such as it is….
“Strange, because they are so frankly and hysterically insane — like all dreams: a God who could make good children as easily as bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them happy, yet never made a single happy one; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal happiness unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who gave his angels painless lives, yet cursed his other children with biting miseries and maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice and invented hell — mouths mercy and invented hell — mouths Golden Rules, and forgiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man’s acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him!” — Mark Twain, _The Mysterious Stranger_
Really. ‘Nuff said, I should say. In fact, I don’t think I can improve much on that, so, I’m not going to try…. Let’s pearl, instead…. You will find, I’m sure, that each of the following seven pearls can be applied to either politics, OR religion, with equal facility…. Enjoy…..
“The avaricious man is like the barren sandy ground of the desert which sucks in all the rain and dew with greediness, but yields no fruitful herbs or plants for the benefit of others.” — Zeno
“Familiarity breeds contempt.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 640
“We are what we repeatedly do.” — Aristotle
(What’s this doing here? Easy…. We keep voting, don’t we?…. Or, in the case of religion, we keep believing it, don’t we? Well, some of us do… others, not so much….)
“And out of mind as soon as out of sight.” — Lord Brooke (1554-1628) — Sonnet lvi
(They count on this, a LOT….)
“Any excuse will serve a tyrant.” — Aesop (620-560 B.C.)
“Remember, to them it is us who are the enemy” — N.F.Simpson
“All governments need enemies. How else to justify their existence?” — Edward Abbey
There! Now, wasn’t that better than one of my rants? I though so, and, that’s all that really counts, so, deal with it….
Ooh! Ooh! I found another one, and it’s the perfect closer….
2. No matter what they’re talking about, they’re talking about money.
~~ Todd’s Political Principles ~~
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“Never a dull moment to spare”, he said
with a crooked grin, and a broad wink.
“Can’t keep Reality hanging by a thread….
what would Chaos, or Entropy think?”
So, we plucked up our dreams of old,
to carry us on, in dutiful, strong arms,
stuffed a candle in the remaining fold,
for luck, and perfect proof against charms.
Storms follow the sun, but, never stay;
lessons round every corner, all free.
Past fleeting doubts, in a sad disarray,
the journey becomes the reason to be.
Simple kindness manifests untold riches,
in defiance of common cause’s demise.
Bold courage, hanging in stitches,
mends wounds that come as no surprise.
Still, waters run deep, ’tis said by many.
Too much pain cannot apprehend
the salient, sharp points of epiphany,
nor, plainly, to wisdom aspire to pretend.
Folly dogs even the simplest truth,
fumes of toxic ignorance and bile,
alienated as a loose rotten tooth;
it often hides itself, for a long while.
Sought after eons ago, we cried out,
to believe, to suffer no more doubt.
But found instead good reason,
for love, and truth, from season, to season.
~~ gigoid ~~
Written 8/30/2014.
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Today’s final pearl is somewhat esoteric; it’s what happens when SB is on a tear. I have to take what I can get…. This one seems to be comments on living as a human in this Universe, such as it is, and, such as we are, in it…. I think…. You tell me, if you think it’s something different…. Well, I KNOW it’s different…. I mean, just…. never mind. Enjoy. Please?…. It IS pretty cool….
“In answer to the question of why it happened, I offer the modest proposal that our Universe is simply one of those things which happen from time to time.” — Edward P. Tryon
“Mark how fleeting and paltry is the estate of man,–yesterday in embryo, to-morrow a mummy or ashes. So for the hair’s-breadth of time assigned to thee live rationally, and part with life cheerfully, as drops the ripe olive, extolling the season that bore it and the tree that matured it.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, iv, 48
“I have everything, yet have nothing; and although I possess nothing, still of nothing am I in want.” — Terence (185-159 BC) — Act ii, Sc. 2, 12, (243.)
“Than catch and hold while I may, fast binde, fast finde.” — John Heywood (c. 1565) — Proverbes, Part i, Chap. iii
“The whole life of man is but a point of time; let us enjoy it, therefore, while it lasts, and not spend it to no purpose.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of the Training of Children
“Hence these tears.” — Terence (185-159 BC) — Act i, Sc. 1, 99, (126.)
“Dying is a very dull, dreary affair. And my advice to you is to have nothing whatever to do with it.” — W. Somerset Maugham
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This may be the freshest Pearl in some time. That’s accurate, because it’s just as vague as it can be; look close, & you can see the time period described could be anything from 10 minutes to 10 years…. Gad! I love obscurity!…. Or, it might just be the word “obfuscation” which is one of my all-time favorites, and perfectly applicable in today’s situation. Nonetheless, we’re done here, so, I’ll leave this nonsense where it belongs, here at the very end, and take my leave, post haste, before it catches on…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
gigoid, the dubious
PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.
“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch
À bientôt, mon cherí….
gigoid 