Ffolkes,
A man who has faith must be prepared
not only to be a martyr, but to be a fool.
~~ G. K. Chesterton, “Heretics”, 1905 ~~
Sez who?
Irish Gull w/attitude, Galway
Hajime…. This morning, it isn’t morning. Well, actually, it is, when you will see this, in my time zone, anyway. The time in your own may well be different, but, for convenience, we’ll go with morning. Especially since it’s actually yesterday, and you’re reading this courtesy the power of the Tardis, which delivered it to this time, per instructions, sometime in either the past, or the future; I have a hard time deciphering that manual page. All I know is, the post will end up in the right place, at the right time, just as if the Doctor himself were in the house, and, at the controls.
Now we’ve begun the day appropriately, with a fair bit of nonsense and fantasy, why don’t we try something more, oh, cerebral? Hmm… perhaps that isn’t the best idea…. I think, as Calvin once remarked, my cerebellum just fused, when confronted with an arithmetic conundrum from his teacher. So, yep, cerebral is out. How about a bit of comedy? Ah, I see. The obvious attempts already made have turned y’all a bit green; maybe I should open this window over here…. Oops. Forgot, pressurized cabins shouldn’t be opened in flight. Better not. Last time I forgot, half the seats went flying out in the suction, with Gentle Readers still attached….
Okay, I’ll stop. It must be too early for this sort of playfulness; perhaps it’s from not having my third cuppa until AFTER I got up. But, it could be the shoes. We’ll never know now, because I’m making an executive decision, and getting us all the hell out of here, before I hurt myself, or anybody else, in my thrashing about…. Actually, that’s the easy part; this part is harder than it looks….. Watch this….
Shall we Pearl?….
“Accurate reckoning — the entrance
into the knowledge of all existing things
and all obscure secrets.”
~~ Ahmes the Scribe (17th cent. B.C.) ~~
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Young Donovan Leitch
Image from Pinterest.com via Google Images
Donovan Leitch, who performed using his given name only, was, in many ways, the most influential musician of his era. A legendary songwriter, excellent guitarist/musician, and, a model of the ideals by which my generation had become enamored during the famous/infamous 60’s. He influenced me, and many others of my age, to embrace openness, honesty to self and others, and, the concept of humanity as a whole living together in love and peace. It’s idealistic, and romantic, and, it’s still represents a way of living with which I can find no argument as having value…..
This video is of a live show from 2012, after he finally was elected to the R&R Hall of Fame…. The sound quality isn’t the best, and, his voice isn’t quite as strong as it once was, but, you can always go listen to one of the albums to hear that….. You gotta love this man, for he has shared all his love with the world, in his music…. Enjoy, ffolkes…. I will, for sure, and, why not?…. What’s not to like, eh?….
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Donovan
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While searching through the archives yesterday, looking for something else entirely, I came across this piece, from almost three years ago. It made me laugh, so, rather than ranting about shit, again, which I can’t currently change, I’ll subject y’all to some sarcasm/sardonicism re: our old friends, the Dogma Dogs, and be done with it…. I’ve changed the formatting a bit, to match my current style, and, corrected a couple grammatical errors I found. I hope you enjoy it; I did, writing it, and, reading it again….. But, then, perhaps I’m prejudiced in the matter….
From 1/30/3013:
“Theology is never any help;
it is searching in a dark cellar at midnight
for a black cat that isn’t there.
Theologians can persuade themselves of anything.”
~~ Robert A. Heinlein ~~
I had an idea, but it went away…. They do that sometimes. The idea was connected somehow to this quote from Bob Heinlein, and, as might be expected, was intended to serve as the springboard for yet another episode of raking Christianity, and/or religious institutions in general, over the proverbial coals. Since the clever concept I had thought of originally has deserted me, I have absolutely no idea of where to go with this…. I mean, it’s a simple enough matter to turn it into a rant; I have no problem coming up with a newly sharpened stick to poke at the priesthood whenever needed, or merely wished for. But, having bellied up to that bar already this week, I hadn’t intended to go there…. Let’s see what happens now….
“And on the seventh day, while He was resting, He created snack cakes. And He saw that they looked good, and He did bite into one, at which time he realized that they tasted like something that had been sitting on a shelf wrapped in cheap plastic for decades. He had too much goop on His fingers to blast them into the void from which they had come, and therefore He drove them out until they had left the Promised Land and were stuck in a cheap, tacky display on the end of the aisle.” — Haagendasz 3, 12-15
While I am firmly convinced that this makes as much sense to me as it does to read in the Bible from, oh, say, the Book of Leviticus, or even Genesis, I am not sure it will make a proper ranting platform. I mean, it IS as easily proved as any of the real stuff in the Bible, and certainly holds the same amount of logic to its assertions. But, somehow, it just isn’t SERIOUS enough to soothe the ranting urge… No, we’ll just have to keep looking….
“One would like to stroke and caress human beings,
but one dares not do so,
because they bite.”
~~ Vladimir Lenin ~~
Ah, now THAT is a sentiment I can get behind. It shows deep insight into human nature, and in a small way, says something about how that nature is self-destructive. A fine little aphorism, but, not really suited for ranting, as it is so true and complete in itself….. We’ll keep looking….
“Forgive us, for we know not what we do.
Not that we CARE or anything.”
~~ Smart Bee ~~
Aha! Now, that’s the kind of pearl that can start off a grand rant! It’s a perfect perversion of the Christian insistence on keeping their believers buried deeply in ignorance and fear, and ironic enough to please the most discriminating of critics. I love the ending line; it’s just so….. Christian! At least, by every measure I’ve ever seen, it is…. Now, there are Christians out there, I’m certain, who will take some offense at that, but, I would ask them to stop a moment and think…. There, there, now, darlings, I know it hurts, but it will get better the more you do it….
“All religions are founded on the fear of the many
and the cleverness of the few.”
~~ Stendhal ~~
See? I don’t discriminate!…. Now that your mind is loosened up a bit, so you won’t strain it, consider this…. In the Christian world, once one has been granted admittance to the group, becoming a member of the Church, how much effort do those members make to become better people? How much do they actually use the precepts of their dogma to influence their behavior BEFORE they act? How many of them actually try to weave the teachings of Jesus into the fabric of their lives?…. My own observations tell me the number is pretty small, compared to the whole…..
Christians make a big fuss about making sure it is understood how compassionate and forgiving Jesus is/was, as he meant for all his followers to be; then they go and drop bombs on a bunch of short brown people, because those people aren’t Christian…. Oh, the stories and fantasies given in justification always point to some other reason, but the bottom line is, because those other people are “heathens”, they aren’t entitled to any of that compassion or forgiveness. Only their co-members are entitled to consideration as something other than dirt…..
What often makes me the angriest, when I see this behavior, is the outrage expressed by those self-appointed Chosen Ones when their entitlement is challenged, in pieces such as this one. The entire weight of the Church is often called into play to respond to any criticisms leveled against it in public, much like a dragon protects its stolen gold, reacting with fire and destruction to any perceived threats. It pisses me off because their manipulation of others, and their stated wish to be of service, is all based on LIES and hypocrisy, delivered with a smarmy smile that just says to me, “Snake!”, and makes me want to look around for a shovel to pound it with….
If an article in a newspaper that is critical of the Church is widely read, there will be, guaranteed, a fire-storm of heated responses from the Church’s mouthpieces, all heaping abuse, and accusations of discrimination against the critics. The making of such accusations is the typical, almost knee-jerk response of the Church whenever it is called to task for its shortcomings; they learned long ago that the best way to distract the membership from the truth of any criticisms is to make their own false accusations in return, but louder, and for a longer time…. They know that any lie, repeated loudly and repeatedly, will be accepted as truth, especially by their members, who are already predisposed (read: brainwashed…) to believe whatever the preachers/priests tell them….
“Ignorance can be compounded, made denser,
until the light of our spirits is smothered.”
~~– Deng Ming-Dao ~~
I’ve given up arguing with the faithful; it’s a pastime that is endlessly amusing, but, ultimately, saddening. Kind of like the frustration of wrestling with a pig; you just get dirty, and the pig likes it….. It is hard for me to watch people continually make the choice to be ignorant, to be cowards, afraid to face the universe on its own terms: it is even more frustrating to see them consistently tell others what they should think, and how they should live, based solely on their own standards.
Trying to get most folks to see reason is much like banging one’s forehead against a brick wall…. not terribly amusing, and the blood is hard on one’s clothing, as well as the insult to the forehead….. Since I’m not a fool, I have ceased trying to get them to see beyond their own misapprehensions, and just use what I see as fodder for these posts….. Less frustrating, to be sure, if no less depressing….
I seem to have ranted myself into a corner again; I don’t see a way to continue this without becoming either vitriolic, or boring (some might say “more” boring…. all I can say to them is “thptttttt!”….); I’d guess it’s probably too late to avoid being rude. Since there is still some ways to go before we can call it a day, I think I’ll close this off, and go in search of an appropriate poem for the day…. As a final word of caution and warning, in the unending struggle against ignorance, let me leave you with these….
“If all mankind minus one were of one opinion,
mankind would be no more justified
in silencing that one person than he,
if he had the power,
would be justified in silencing mankind.”
~~ John Stuart Mill ~~
“All a man can betray is his conscience.”
~~ Joseph Conrad ~~
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Funny Bones
Dreaming the way home, lost, unseen,
from the dance, where
he felt so free, and clean.
Sorrow couldn’t find him there.
Waiting, filling up the hours, hoping,
some connection can be found
keeping busy as bees, coping.
Love creeps in, without a sound.
Fat days, skinny nights, passionate
visions of semi-conscious entities,
cannot seem to fully illuminate
or hide our innermost frailties.
Resolute, find the perfect sense, codify
simple rules with every breath
never waiting, anxious to modify.
fear nothing in life, not even Death.
~~ gigoid ~~
5/13/2013
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Naked Pearls
Pooh and the Buddha Nature
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“When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain,
and you Think of Things,
you find sometimes that a Thing
which seemed very Thingish inside you
is quite different when it gets out into the open
and has other people looking at it.”
~~ A.A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner ~~
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“They are too green,” he said,
“and only good for fools.”
~~ J. de La Fontaine ~~
~~ The Fox and the Grapes, Book iii, Fable 11 ~~
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Our characters are the result of our conduct.
~~ Aristotle ~~
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“Virtue is but heroic bravery,
to do the thing thought to be true,
in spite of all enemies of flesh or spirit,
in despite of all temptations or menaces.”
~~ Albert Pike (1809-1891) ~~
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“If we attend continually and promptly
to the little that we can do,
we shall ere long be surprised
to find how little remains that we cannot do.”
~~ Samuel Butler ~~
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A gentleman does things no gentleman should do
in a way only a gentleman can.”
~~ Luigi Barzini ~~
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Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum:
“I think that I think,
therefore I think that I am.”
~~ Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary” ~~
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When Po-chang was asked about seeking for the Buddha nature:
“It’s much like riding an ox in search of the ox”
~~ Zen koan from Po-chang ~~
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“In the dark time
will there also be singing?”
“Yes, there will be singing
about the dark time.”
~~ Bertolt Brecht ~~
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Done, and, in Tardis time. Funny how that works…. Rather than prattle any further, I’ll play nice, & simply bid thee adieu, until another day, most likely tomorrow, given a fair wind and a rising tide…. See y’all then, fer sure…
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 