Ffolkes,
“We must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind us to the fact
that each moment of life is a miracle and a mystery.”
~~ H.G. Wells ~~
Super Moon 9/8/2014
Hajime…. It is now a bit after 5 AM here in California, which means I’ve been up for at least two hours, trying to find the words to begin. As you see, the words found are, shall we say, less than compelling? Yes, we shall. Yet, even though there isn’t anything particularly elegant or inspiring laying about my mind, there is enough material already in place to make up a dandy little Pearl. Therefore, we went with the realistic confession of our inability to create, which, though less than riveting, gets us down the page….
How far it will get us remains to be seen, as I am unsure, given my current mental status, just how long I can keep up this inane patter. Why, just a moment ago, as I wrote the previous sentence, I had to stop, play with Leelu, and find my way back to this sentence, while keeping up the illusion we actually planned all this. Not bad, I’d say, for someone currently without a clue. Still, even if I’m lacking in clues, I do have my chutzpah, which generally serves me well to carry off any such maneuvers; needless to say, I keep it close at hand on such mornings.
I think it’s all used up now, though, so, perhaps this would be the right time to take this slow on the toad. Sure, that’s the ticket. In fact, I’m going to employ our long-neglected, formerly most-used technique for getting us out of the intro. We call it, simply, old #4, and it works quite quickly when we remember it. In fact, so quickly, I’d best stop here, before it cuts me off before…..
Shall we Pearl?….
Eternity has nothing to do with the hereafter… This is it… If you don’t get it here, you won’t get it anywhere. The experience of eternity right here and now is the function of life. Heaven is not the place to have the experience; here’s the place to have the experience.” — Joseph Campbell
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That’s right; when you see this icon above this section, it means you’ll be hearing a collection of classical music. Go figure…. Oh, and, enjoy!….
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Classical Music
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Y’all may be wondering why, since I arose at 3 AM to begin this Pearl, I have no fresh rant. The simple answer is I’m fresh out of angst. Of course, that would be stretching the truth, but, it will work for today. Here’s one from 2013 to soothe my fevered brow…. and, get us down the page….
From 4/20/13:
Quis custodiet ipsos Custodes? [Who guards the Guardians?] — Juvenal
This is the perfect opening for a discussion of gun control, for me, as I believe strongly that this is the bottom line issue for that particular subject…… Sure, taking guns out of the hands of people who are insane is a good thing; nobody, I think, can argue that. The problem lies in figuring out WHO gets to decide what sanity is, the same issue that comes up in discussing getting rid of firearms altogether.
You see, I’m sorry, but, I just can’t bring myself to trust the Beloved Ruling Class to decide who is sane, and who isn’t. Part of this stems from the fact that I don’t consider anyone in public office to have a very tight grip on sanity to begin with…. How effective can it be to have insane people making the rules for deciding who is insane? Not very, I suspect….
Yet, I read many articles that profess the belief that the police, and the army, who naturally would have to have guns (Why? If nobody is supposed to have them, why would they need them?), are more trustworthy than the common citizen. I’m sorry, but, just what planet did you say you came from?
It certainly isn’t Earth, because, last time I looked, all the police, all the folks in the army, and all the folks who tell them what to do, are all PEOPLE, just like anyone else, suffering the same fears, the same delusions or preconceptions, and the same lack of morality, as does the average Joe on the streets. In fact, due to my experience at observing and identifying psychiatric symptoms common to the insane, I can honestly state that I see a higher percentage of police and military personnel who have a demonstrable lack of moral compass than I do in the general public.
Part of the problem is that the police and military end up as being attractive to the type of person who enjoys having power over others, whose self-image requires them to be in positions of authority, to be able to view themselves in a positive light, as successful. They equate money and power with success, and so gravitate to those sectors of society that deal in those commodities.
Normal, stable personality types seldom need to exercise power over others, and so avoid such pastimes, but to the selfish, and the sociopathic, the police and the army are seen as a path to what they term as success. If you see a flaw in this logic, please, enlighten me…. Until I see some evidence to the contrary, though, I find this to be a valuable, and accurate summation of the situation, thereby affording myself the opportunity to avoid the majority of their machinations, at least in a directly personal sense….
We all have to deal with them eventually though, so it’s good, I think, to be aware of the above arguments, as it will forewarn anyone who absorbs it, and takes it to heart, allowing them to defend themselves from the worst of the BRC’s attempts at repression, or oppression, if not all. Maintain a high level of doubt when considering announcements and decrees, stay alert to the news, and the meaning behind what you see there, and be ready to jump when the balloon goes up.
Things out in the Big Blue Room are getting a bit serious in spots, with potentially disastrous possibilities being threatened, so it would be a good thing to be ready for whatever may take place, no matter how insane…. And remember, guard yourself, against the Guardians themselves, if need be…..
“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift; the rational mind is faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” — Albert Einstein
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Rejection
“Jesus loves me, this I know,
For the Bible tells me so…”
I’d be crying a river, I thought
if ever such crap I bought.
Sorry if it hurts your sense of style,
but, hypocrisy always gives me bile.
Being lied to accidentally is okay,
but, deliberate lies make me angry, and fey.
Oh, God, hear what I pray!
Keep me from your followers today.
Having to listen to so much that is wrong
makes me puke, before it makes me strong.
I don’t know why it isn’t clear to other folks,
which is alright, you know, different strokes.
But, why should that mean that they must
force me to believe, or fail in trust?
Spare me the lies, and the make-believe,
fairy tales are easier to hear, and to weave.
They give us a lesson which we can feel
but don’t pretend at all to be real.
Reality can scare us, that’s a given fact,
still, met with care it will leave us mostly intact.
Met without fear, standing tall and alone
Life will allow us to make it our own.
Folly beckons, and so many follow
mass delusions seem to me most hollow.
I’ll have to stick to my own chosen way
while so many go so sadly astray.
It’s lonely at times, it may seem sad,
but really isn’t, and I’m quite glad,
that knowledge is always stronger than fear,
year after year, tear after tear…..
~~ gigoid ~~
3/18/2013
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Naked Pearls
Aristotle & friends…
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“… as sight is in the body, so is reason in the soul…”
~~ Aristotle ~~
~~ Nicomachean Ethics, Bl. I, Ch. 6, 10966, lines 29-30 ~~
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I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know:
the only ones among you who will be really happy
are those who have sought and found how to serve.”
~~ Albert Schweitzer ~~
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“Always question Authority;
oft venal and wrong.”
~~ Wise Bee ~~
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“The chief good is the suspension of the judgment,
which tranquility of mind follows like its shadow.”
~~ Diogenes Laertius — Pyrrho, xi ~~
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If we are not stupid or insincere when we say
that the good or ill of man lies within his own will,
and that all beside is nothing to us,
why are we still troubled?”
~~ Epictetus — Discourses, Book i, Chap. xxv ~~
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“He knew that insofar as one denies what is,
one is possessed by what is not,
the compulsions, the fantasies,
the terrors that flock to fill the void.”
~~ Ursula K. LeGuin, _The Lathe of Heaven_ ~~
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Life is doing things, not making things.
~~ Aristotle ~~
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Well, it’s done. I had high hopes for this one, which, clearly, had to be adjusted to account for reality. Since those adjustments took extra time, and space, I’ll forgo the usual blather here, and merely say, see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes. Perhaps, if all goes well, it will even be something special; you never know. We’ll see what we can do to make it so…. For now, to echo a pig, that’s all, ffolkes! See ya on the flip side….
Y’all take care out there,
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
The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.
PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.
“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch
À bientôt, mon cherí….
gigoid 