Today’s poem is a paean to my pain, written a couple years ago, after a particularly bad day, like yesterday & the day before. It passes, but, sometimes, it just needs to be acknowledged with a few epithets, y’know? At any rate, today is better, as happens, so, we’ll quit the personal journal in favor of getting the slow on the toad…. In support of that, we’ll forgo any further nonsense, which I’m afraid is about all I’ve got this morning, if truth be known. Oh, well, he said. Let’s cover our tracks by making some…..

Shall we Pearl?….

We humans have a rather large opinion of ourselves, in relation to our place in this universe. That is, no doubt, a direct result of having both more intelligence than we need as a living creature, and, an imagination which leads us to believe our own thoughts have power over reality. Both of these, sadly, have brought us to our current situation here on Earth, as both have been completely misunderstood, and badly handled by almost everyone who ever possessed both qualities.

Oh, sure, history relates the many wise men who have passed on their wisdom to us; our society, however, does not reflect ANY of the wisdom they shared. It reflects, most sadly, the second quote’s implications, which directly reflects our own nature, as beasts, and, as creatures of imagination. As a species, we have always been irritable creatures, jealous of our territory and possessions, constantly “at war” with the environment to wrest from it the necessary elements to survive. We learned to kill other creatures for food, as do many earth animals; we, however, raised the skill to a level at which no other species can compete, thus assuming, in our minds, the top of the food chain…..

How little we actually understand, of ourselves, or the world around us. Even if we are on the verge of space, and, the frontiers of many scientific discoveries, we know so little of how it all ties together, and, our own place in it, we are in danger of venturing into areas for which we are not equipped to handle, in such a way as to have any good result. I am not speaking of scientific breakthroughs, but, rather of spiritual inadequacies. How can we expect a species which preys upon its own members to be able to create life, or conquer a Universe, without first destroying themselves?

I don’t believe we can. It seems clear to me reality is giving us very clear warnings of late, that we have overstepped the boundaries of what we understand about our own planet, and ourselves. We are NOT as powerful as we think, and our fumbling around in this environment without such understanding is resulting in planetary changes of drastic nature, which very few people have the courage, or the wit to either understand, or admit. Not only do the assumed “leaders” of society refuse to acknowledge how little they actually know, almost every person alive is, because of societal prejudices and behavioral training, unwilling to use what intelligence they have to even examine the issue.

Society, since it first began, has viewed life as a ‘war’. This attitude is embedded in every culture on Earth, save a couple isolated from the rest for long periods in the beginning of civilization. Every human is taught to think of life as a struggle, a war against the universe, one which we can win, or lose, according to our beliefs. This, of course, does reflect the duality of our nature, which, though we mostly don’t know or admit it, War, as it were, became our society’s most used form of approaching life, and all its problems and issues…. including relations between people, at every societal level.

Thus, we see the Art of War, Sun Tzu’s brilliant summarization of the basic principles of successful campaigning against an opponent, with its primary assertion, as stated, becomes all the more important as a tool for evaluating and understanding human society. The statement with which we began is absolutely true; as such, it has been taken to heart by every human predator since we began interacting in a societal manner. Since every interaction, in the eyes of some, is an act of war, they will use every part of their imagination to deceive whomever they perceive as any kind of threat to their own self-importance.

Over the course of history, what is the most persistent theme? Empire. Conquest. War. The victors write the history books, and the world continues to suffer at the hands of humans with no sense of humanity, who are willing to use whatever it takes to achieve their own ends, which almost always includes the power to control others, regardless of the inhumanity or unethical/immoral results that may occur to those innocents. In their blind lust for power and self-importance, is hidden their true motivation, fear of life as it exists in reality.

The same fear our distant forebears felt when lightning struck close by, or, an earthquake struck, or, a vicious storm flooded the land; fear of reality, which leads to anger, which leads to hatred, which leads to darkness and death. Because we now have the technological means and knowledge to understand these phenomena does not prevent our apish nervous systems from reacting to fear of the unknown; this is our fatal flaw, for only by accepting fear can it be overcome. Only by accepting our ignorance can we learn to face the world without flinching, freeing us to live without the necessity of always being on guard against disaster and pain.

But, we don’t, mostly. The entire species forgets it exists on a bell curve, and not all will see, or understand the world as others may. This has led to confusion, and, ultimately, will lead our species onto paths where there is only one destination, where we join all the other failed experiments of the evolution of the universe into whatever it may become. I have a feeling, very strong, supported unfortunately by reason and evidence, we will NOT be conquering the galaxy, as so many would believe we shall…. Our own nature is our worst enemy, and that is a war we cannot win, without learning to view the universe in a completely different way than we now perceive it. Trying to fight a war with reality seems, to me, a pursuit without any real purpose, or chance of winning. Reality makes the rules….. and, one of the most basic of rules is, unless we all win, everybody loses.

Rather than beat this horse any more, we’ll finish off with a few pearls, to sort of drive the points home, as it were…. I only wish one, or more of them, gave us some clear indication of what direction we need to take, with a truly viable chance of working…. Oh, well, all we can do, is all we can do….

“Money talks, but it is not obliged to tell the truth.” — MBA Bee

“…this would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it.” — John Adams, Letter to Thomas Jefferson, 1816

“Do not be afraid of enemies; the worst they can do is to kill you. Do not be afraid of friends; the worst they can do is betray you. Be afraid of the indifferent;  they do not kill or betray. Yet only because of their silent agreement, betrayal and murder exist on earth.” — Bruno Yasienski, contemporary Soviet novelist

“Veni, vidi, vici” [I came, I saw, I conquered]. — Gaius Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.) (See? How long before Caesar’s time was the Trojan War? Our history is rife with it…)

“If people get a kick out of running down pedestrians, you have to let them do it.” — Paul Jacobs, marketing director for a video game company

“The Book says BURN and DESTROY repent and redeem and revenge and deploy and rumble thee forth to the land of the unbelieving scum ’cause they don’t go for what’s in the Book and that makes ’em BAD.” — Frank Zappa

“25 states allow anyone to buy a gun, strap it on, and walk down the street with no permit of any kind: some say it’s crazy.  However, 4 out of 5 US murders are committed in the other half of the country:  so who is crazy?” — Andrew Ford

I’d say we are all getting pretty crazy, wouldn’t you?….

“Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun; it shines everywhere.” — William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night — Act iii, Sc. 1

“Universe, n.:  The problem.” — Andy Tannenbaum

“I think my new thing will be to try to be a real happy guy. I’ll just walk  around being real happy until some jerk says something stupid to me.” — Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey

“How are we to know whether we actually exist or only think we exist?” — Curious Bee

“The grass is always greener over the septic tank.” — Erma Bombeck

“Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, Where have I gone wrong? Then a voice says to me, This is going to take more than one night.” — Charlie Brown, _Peanuts_ [Charles Schulz]

“Sometimes, Number One, you just have to…bow to the absurd.” — Picard, “Up the Long Ladder”, stardate 42823.2

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I’m glad I have learned to trust the process; this gets done more efficiently when I do. Not that the quality is in any way improved thereby, but, hey, we’re tryin’, right? Right. It’s close enough for me. It’s also done for today, so, without further machinations, contortions, or excessive verbiage (beyond the already copious quantities furnished), I’m outta here. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes. I’m committed. Or, should that be, I should be committed? Ah, well, let me know later, okay?…. Ta, then…..