Ffolkes,
“True silence is the rest of the mind.
It is to the spirit what sleep is to the body
–nourishment and refreshment.”
~~ William Penn ~~
Harold & Violet, circa 1910
Hajime…. In summary of the past five plus days, let me just say, whew! What a ride! It has taken me nearly 48 hours of near catatonia, and about 20 hours sleeping, to approach the near-human state I have awakened to this morning. I managed to finish a Pearl over that time, by working at it in spurts, as more energy became available. I can’t say it’s the most compelling Pearl ever created, but, it’s pretty good, all things considered. Any summary of the time leading up to today should also include two comments, to wit: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”, (shout-out here to Chuck Dickens….), and “Regardless of our perceptions, the universe remains in balance.”
I realize those may be a bit obscure, in terms of details which might explain their relevance, but, any such relation of details will have to wait for tomorrow, and/or other Pearls yet to be composed. I will say this now: it was one of the most illuminating periods of time I’ve ever experienced. During the time I spent traveling, and during my stay in Oregon to fulfill death duty, I connected with more new, and old friends than in any previous comparable time in my entire life. Though I am a trifle sad at the passing of my friend, his change of path was accomplished with love, and dignity, and compassion, so, in that, I am content.
I am also more than merely content at the serendipity I found in traveling. On both legs of the train ride to my destination in Oregon, I met people with whom I became incredibly connected, about whom I shall speak in time. Suffice to say, I met one of our species’ Great Souls, one of the most influential men of the 20th and 21st centuries, whom I met when I helped him navigate his way through the coach section in which we found ourselves to the dining car for dinner.
He is 85 years of age, though he appears to be in his 60’s, and spent much of the latter half of the 20th century pursuing his interests on the highest level stages of world events/history, starting with his invitation to come to the US from his home in India to participate in the Manhattan Project. He was traveling in Coach, because he wished to meet new people, to help him achieve a sense of balance lost at his wife’s death the year before. We spent, literally, hours and hours exchanging ideas, and our histories, and our contact information, to ensure we would meet again.
I also met two very intelligent, passionately alive young men, one traveling for pleasure, the other on his way to a Zen Buddhist institute to study advanced Zen mysticism, with whom I debated the existence of God for most of the last night on the train…. Since it is almost impossible for me to sleep on the train, it helped pass the long night in both directions. I’m just now getting over the exhaustion I incurred over the four day trip, having slept very little, but, cannot regret a single moment of the time spent awake, for my mind feasted on joyful cogitation, and discovery, the entire time I was gone…
Now, I’m back, and note I have rambled & blathered quite enough for one intro…. I’m sure I’ll relate more of the trip, as I am still processing all that occurred… In the meantime, let’s get on with today’s mess, so we can all get on with the rest of the day…. See ya down the page, ffolkes… Hang on, we’re goin’ in fast & hard….
Shall we Pearl?
“A man can do something for peace without having to jump into politics.
Each man has inside him a basic decency and goodness.
If he listens to it and acts on it,
he is giving a great deal of what it is the world needs most.”
~~ Pablo Casals ~~
***********************************
Image from You Tube via Google Images
I first became aware of this group last year when Leonard Cohen passed away, whereupon a number of artists covered his works in tribute. This A Capella singing group performed Lenny’s “Hallelujah” in a video, with excellent innovative passion. I found this via a link from a friend on FB, & thought it was perfect for today, to honor the passage of my friend, Dennis, and, offer some hope for the future of humanity…. If naught else, it’s grand craic, and, if you can’t appreciate its genius, you are in need of some cultivation of your basic humanity…. Enjoy!….
********************************
Pentatonix
“Imagine”
********************************
********************************
********************************
A Dubiously Soft Morning
Idiosyncratic images, clamoring for regard,
fill up the white, white screen on which I view
my life, never seeing, nor invited to sup
ambrosial remnants of anything new.
Still, yet almost in motion, allegory sails away
bobbing gently, quick and easy to find,
signs of one happy child, seriously at play,
blissfully immersed, focused joy in mind.
Formidable cries of outraged simple justice
echo plaintive relevance, in half the time.
Maladaptive infants, destined for hospice
salvage an only child, daring to sing in rhyme.
Creativity equals unquestioning farce,
often reaching for absurdity, brazenly afire.
Instead, a blow is felt no joy will ever soften,
accepting the price, added to the cost of desire.
~~ gigoid ~~
7/26/2013
********************************
Naked Pearls
Notes on Life at Large….
*********
“All beginnings are hard.”
~~ Chaim Potok, “In The Beginning”, 1975 ~~
*********
“Big, undreamed-of things.
The people on the edge see them first.”
~~ Kurt Vonnegut Jr ~~
*********
“Only through time time is conquered.”
~~ T.S. Eliot, “Burnt Norton” ~~
*********
“Think of everyone as a idiot.”
~~ MSgt. R. H. Moore, Driving Rule #1 ~~
*********
“It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants.
The question is: what are we busy about?:”
~~ Henry David Thoreau ~~
*********
“To a rational being it is the same thing
to act according to nature and according to reason.”
~~ Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Meditations, vii, 11 ~~
*********
“You think your pain and your heartbreak
are unprecedented in the history of the world,
but then you read.
It was books that taught me
that the things that tormented me most
were the very things that connected me
with all the people who were alive,
or who had ever been alive.”
~~ James Baldwin ~~
*********
“If you are stopping now, then stop.
If you are seeking a time when you finish,
there will never be a time when you finish.”
~~ Zen Koan ~~
*********
“If you get confused, listen to the music play.”
~~ Robert Hunter ~~
*********
********************************
It’s been a number of years since my mornings were so infused with positive energy to any appreciable degree; to feel such again is nothing less than a joy, which I can only work to extend as far as I can. I guess by seeking the balance it brings with it, that can be made real. In point of fact, that’s the plan for the day, and the coming days. Let’s go get a start on it, shall we? I’ll do my best to return tomorrow, with another fine Pearl of Virtual Wisdom, and hope all of y’all have as fine a day as I am having, and intend to maintain…. Be well, be happy as you may, and, remember to stay mindful, and, alert. Things really do work out better that way, y’know….
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 
I am sorry to hear about your friend…..sounds like the train ride was interesting and I am with you…I no longer fly…..when I left the service of my country I had an airplane removed from my ass and have never stepped on another. Great music….thanx for introducing me to this group they are a new fave….have a good day….chuq
Thanks, amigo; glad you enjoyed today’s mess. The group is amazing, isn’t it? Incredible blend of voices & talents…
Thanks for your condolences; he was a mate of yours, a Marine scout. His cousin, a Navy ‘Nam vet, was there, & sat vigil with me until Dennis expired, so, he left us in dignity, and with his loved ones around him… I’m not too sad, for his life was lived with honor, & he left the same way…
Planes are okay, if one is going a far distance, but, you miss a lot of the journey’s value by ending it so quickly… & you don’t get to see as much of the land over which you pass. I can get some sleep on a train, if I can afford a sleeper, but, they’ve gotten really expensive, & it’s more fun to wander the train, anyway…
I’m over on your site now, catching up a bit… Collapsed again last night, but hit the Closing Thought; now on to CT #2…. Later, bro….
*grin* Gad, but, sleep is good!….
gigoid
Nah sleep is overrated especially if you are insomniac as I am….not by choice but by pain….chuq
Men do not listen……end of!
😉
*smile* A bit harsh; a few of us do try to be mindful… Who, specifically, hasn’t been?…
Most of humanity… 😦
Hello.. friEnd.. gigoid..
heArT fELt condolences
for the loss of your human
friend.. and words
of concern
for your
currently
small furry
friend in form
of Cat named Lelu who
is a little under the weather now..
as Yoda says.. a little different by
me of course.. size matters not in
all matters love as essence
verses form.. Essence
can move
past
Infinite.. now..
and this crude
matter of form..
whether furry
or old
of
sKIn..
never matches
the potential for
Love as essence
that lives within and
can and will Branch out
as agape love to all of dARk
and liGht as a practice of liFe within
reaching out further as UniVersaL soUL
as hUMan LIvinG WiThin.. inside.. outside..
above.. so below and all around as ‘they’ say..
anyWay.. the new ‘King Kong’ movie that will take
a back seat for me as the wife and i.. most seasonAlly
and in form and fashion attend.. heHe.. as ‘Beauty and the
Beas’t.. opening up on Saint Patrick’s day as mythology of
wood folks tHeir too.. in Island way Springs.. anyWAy2.. the
King Kong poster at Super-Walmart Dance Hall middle
aisle.. where i continue to celebrate just another
milestone of 7000 miles of public dance
in a little over 42 months., reminds
me of a full Grown real
Gorilla holding
a Yellow Cat
not unlike Yellow
boy before the Yellow
Boy came out from the
woods and cried out for
some tender vittles/water and some
predictable subsistence from under
neath the shed.. me luring him out
patiently with one nibble at a hand
out of give.. reaching in for a new
purr of life.. for both he
and me as
that would
eventually
come.. anyway..
as i eventually learned,,
the science behind emotions
in state of the art of that as it
comes now.. what i was missing
was the oxytocin furry nurture of
life that the Gorilla and Kitty were
experiencing in mutual mammalian
adoration.. where.. yes.. size matters not..
as it is the bond of Love that counts.. fur to
fur or naked ape skin as humans continue
to run more these days all shaved from head to toe..
there is a lot of science now to heart and spirit and soul
more mystical in the days of feeling and sensing or not in
the olds days of heaven and hell.. sadly.. we humans can get separated
in our ways of religion/culture for restricted ways of language.. butt most optimisticAlly..
tHeRe is the technology of online communication noW.. wHere global hands Now of
Love can reach out further than ever beFore.. and share a Kitty picture online..
and sure..
some
words
of
wisdom
to go along
with a Free Cat
oF liFe in Wild and Love
as iF a Territorial killer for sport
can love away from feral in cat
biscuits and purrs the same.. most
of the day attached to Katrina.. where i live
@least.. Hell.. there could even be hope for
Republic Congressmen and Senators too.. hmm..
perHaps.. if they crawl under my shed.. i will offer them a nibble too..;)
Now off to the wonderful pearls
of wisdom you share from days
and men and women gone by.. mostly now..:)
“True silence is the rest of the mind.
It is to the spirit what sleep is to the body
–nourishment and refreshment.”
~~ William Penn ~~
Words get in the way of Love.. Non-
Verbal communication aS even science
sHows now is the champion of human
reciprocal social communication..
for Love.. even within
one
person..
inside.. outside..
above.. so.. beloW and
yes.. as ‘they’ say.. aLL A’round..
And oh.. by a way.. so glad that the human
face to face.. flesh and blood connection has
invigorated your spirit of liFe in libido way..
through your train travels..
surely.. we
are
evolved
that way
in poTenTial
to feel and sense
this way.. all day.. everyday
aS even Curious George experiences sTiLL..
if connected to otHeRs in flesh and blood face to face time now..:)
“A man can do something for peace without having to jump into politics.
Each man has inside him a basic decency and goodness.
If he listens to it and acts on it,
he is giving a great deal of what it is the world needs most.”
~~ Pablo Casals ~~
A best thing of now.. is.. tHeRe are many avenues
of even playing fields for merit to escape the
mundane of restricted
avenues
for both
art
and
science
in institutionalized
preferable ways..
15 minutes of fame
for everyone in follower
wayS.. hehe.. in Leary days.. come now..
as they say on Google plUs.. influencing the world now..
in all the
liGht and
dARk ways
that comes too..
WiTh Freedom of
Expression that must
entertain the right along with
the wrong for free to exist full..
and on top of that.. the DArk is
alWays aMuSinG for me in volume of art/words.. heHe..
Trump is like my all time favorite for curRent dARk.. haven’t
even had to bother any dARk YouTubers lately for DArk muse..
as hey..
as ‘they’
say.. don’t discount
the power of the dARk
Force in bRinGinG greaTeST liGhts yEt..
Pentatonix.. yep that group is an excellent
example of folks moving up in free avenues
of YouTube.. eTc.. one still will not find a CD of
them in
‘Best
Buy’
as they
move it most
all out of plastic..
as the Internet
is killing
many
traditional
Means of Big Corporations
Monopolizing the artistic fLair..
and for those of us who don’t need to
make any money.. it’s a field day of simply fun..
while ‘we’ SMiLe at those chaSing dollar bills in that
sad way of
forcing
life
for Lincoln sents..
tHeRE IS A better way
of Give and Share for the
sMaLL groups we now can virtuAlly make..:)
“All beginnings are hard.”
~~ Chaim Potok, “In The Beginning”, 1975 ~~
All
nows are
challenge..
adaptation..
Success
When
Victory
And try aGain when fAil..
@
lEast
to ME..NoW..:)
“Big, undreamed-of things.
The people on the edge see them first.”
~~ Kurt Vonnegut Jr ~~
A FavorRte pARt
of now..
are the
folks on
the edge
can go mostly
unnoticed to
FurtHeR
Free NoW..
tHe fuN iS iN thE DoinG..
whaT coMes whAt may nexT..:)
“Only through time time is conquered.”
~~ T.S. Eliot, “Burnt Norton” ~~
And when
now coMes
And stays.. tiMe dies..
staYcation
Heaven..
aS iN
Hell all is tIme..
relativELy sPeaKinG
NoW aS EinsTeiN miGht
DancE
And
SinG
too.. sTiLL
AS Cosmic Artist..
SeNTiEnt sTaR duST pLus..:)
“Think of everyone as a idiot.”
~~ MSgt. R. H. Moore, Driving Rule #1 ~~
See idiot as thiNk..
Move
Free
Fly
Breeze.. HiGher..
wiTh zero poINt words..:)
“It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants.
The question is: what are we busy about?:”
~~ Henry David Thoreau ~~
Balance
like
ants
or
imbalance
as Human proves so far
in big groups.. Ants for the Nature Win..
i suppose..
‘we’ are
going to
have to beCoMe
more like ants to survive
aS WhOle.. hmm.. drones
everywHere
i
go..
online..
aT leASt..
iN HiVE..;)
“To a rational being it is the same thing
to act according to nature and according to reason.”
~~ Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Meditations, vii, 11 ~~
Nature
IS A God
of few words
wHeRE iNnate
inStinCt and inTuiTioN
as eMoTioNs and SenSes
in Mammal way more STiLL
rule the
world
at
the level
of the individual
@lEast.. with Culture
moreover and Religion
as the man-made life
Killing Viruses
currently
destroying
many forms of senTiEnt
StAR duST PlUs lifE on eARTh..:)
“You think your pain and your heartbreak
are unprecedented in the history of the world,
but then you read.
It was books that taught me
that the things that tormented me most
were the very things that connected me
with all the people who were alive,
or who had ever been alive.”
~~ James Baldwin ~~
Hmm.. first oF aLL
NatUrAlly Shape
shifting words..
a favorite
paRt
of aLL
Natural
HuMan art to me..
secondly.. this sPeaks
Volumes oF the potential
to increase cognitive empathy
for the pain and suffering of otHeRS
in all the media that comes in newer online ways of Life..
we have yet
to see
the
syNerGy
of what comes
neXt for this
IS A Grand
and
Brave new
Experiment for
the eNtire hUman race
as all connected aS Such..
a wonderful time to be alive..
when the future cannot be predicted wHOle..
heHe.. at lEast for open minded folks and thaT
explains
the rest
of
the
Trump
shit in a little
way of sHit.. at leASt..
Be afraid.. Be very afraid..
closed minded and body folks..
or fly like soMe NoE.. hiGher as
Jonathan Seagull WiLL Naturally do
EsCaPInG all the cAges and LiFe jacKets of beForE..
ReaAlly.. my friEnd.. it kinda comes from/down to this..
66 million years ago.. as science tEnds to
sHow.. a Big Rogue Asteroid hit what
is now the Gulf
of Mexico..
hELping a
Rodent ancestor
we share roots with
75 Million years ago..
IN eventually Dominating
the Earth in that Rodent’s
coming offspring
then as
ancestral
root.. Killing
the Dinosaurs
off.. too.. as ‘they’ say..
so.. reAlly.. what do we have
to lose.. by BeinG Happy as we cAN WiLL aS
NoW iT’s a miracle of Rock that we are even heaR now..
Love is written in the StoNe.. my FriEnd.. oF A FucKinG asTeRoiD
HeAR..
@ least
he
she
eTc..
iN hUman
Form aLiVe..
WiTh all the oThEr
Rodent offspring that/who Love too..
and Dolphins.. eTc.. all that Loves NoW..
Challenge..
Struggle..
Adaptation..
Change.. noW
is all about Now..
so.. as ‘they’ say..
make
the
best
of now..
aS Sure..
more asstroids are
alWays CoMinG as Challenge.. more..
Dance liKe tHe MaTriX on FiRe/Flood.. No Luke WarM iN FReED..;)
“If you are stopping now, then stop.
If you are seeking a time when you finish,
there will never be a time when you finish.”
~~ Zen Koan ~~
stART
Now
noW
STArt
“If you get confused, listen to the music play.”
~~ Robert Hunter ~~
Yes..
as ‘they’
say… shut uP aNd liVe..
DancE and SinG noW and forgET to thiNk..;)
See ya friEnd..
Way beHind on FuN..
As iF thAT caN HaPpen.. he He..;)