Tag Archives: Alexander Pope

Virtual reality caught on tape…..

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Ffolkes,
In my wildest, most disturbing dreams, I never thought the world would come to this juncture. We stand once again at a fork in the road ahead. Down one road lies extinction; it’s actually the road we are on now, but we have come to the last possible exit, onto a road that continues on into the future, bright with promise. On this road, humanity has new forms of transport, sustainable and clean. The air is clear, the ocean is blue, and all the creatures who share this planet have been welcomed into the circle of Life, wherein we now reside. Everyone is treated the same, and there are no more distinctions drawn between one man and the next. Resources are husbanded and shared equally, and economic manipulation is a dim memory.

Sounds pretty nice, eh? I think so too. I’m just not terribly convinced that the rest of humanity is going to come down that road with those of us who take it. I’d much rather we all went together, but I refuse to choose to continue on the road we have been traveling, just as I refuse to consider killing myself.  It’s all so clear to me, I have a hard time understanding why others cannot see what I am seeing. If we don’t stop what we’re doing, we’re going to pay the consequences; that’s not a guess, not a theory. It’s truth. I hope y’all can deal with it….

I think I lost my mind.  Please watch where you step.
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You beat your pate, and fancy wit will come;
Knock as you please, there ‘s nobody at home.
— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Epigram

A gen’rous heart repairs a sland’rous tongue.
— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Odyssey of Homer, Book viii, Line 432

Pope, living and writing in the 17th &  18th centuries, was apparently channeling Homer Simpson, 300 years in the future….. Doh!  Even wonderful poetry can be turned into low humor; here is solid proof. These two short pieces of pieces were just irresistible, as they immediately brought to mind a clear image of Homer slapping his head. See, I can be whimsical!…..
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“Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute.” — Josh Billings

“I’m a man of my word. In the end, that’s all there is really….” — Avon

Tough to argue with these; they both are basic elements of my own philosophy. It’s a shame, really, that society in general doesn’t buy into this more. Strong, silent men are in short supply in today’s world, and the twin pillars that hold up our culture, Duty and Honor, have fallen into sporadic use at best. Not enough children are being raised under the moral aegis these concepts provide, and the results are as predictable as they are ugly. Too many young men and women are reaching the age of reason with no inner strength, no strong morals to guide their way; rather than cloaking themselves in honor and duty, they are approaching life armed only with an imagination whose scope has been severely limited by their moral shortcomings. It can be a tough world out there, and it’s only going to get tougher at time goes on, unless society can find a way to shore up the shaky underpinnings of our culture, before it’s too late to try…..

“Cowardice” and “self-respect” have largely disappeared from public discourse. In their place we are offered “self-esteem” as the bellwether of success and a proxy for dignity. “Self-respect” implies that one recognizes standards, and judges oneself worthy by the degree to which one lives up to them. “Self-esteem” simply means that one feels good about oneself. “Dignity” used to refer to the self-mastery and fortitude with which a person conducted himself in the face of life’s vicissitudes and the boorish behavior of others. Now, judging by campus speech codes, dignity requires that we never encounter a discouraging word and that others be coerced into acting respectfully, evidently on the assumption that we are powerless to prevent our degradation if exposed to the demeaning behavior of others. These are signposts proclaiming the insubstantiality (sic) of our character, proclaiming the hollowness of our souls.” — Jeffrey R. Snyder, Fall 1993 _The Public Interest
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A crucifix?  Oy vey, have you got the wrong vampire!

In my diving for pearls, over the years I’ve gone past this one several times (sometimes the randomness generator doesn’t quite live up to its’ name), and have just smiled and gone on. But today, for some reason, I finally got it…….and it’s fucking hilarious! What I wouldn’t do to see this character in an episode of Twilight (though I have to confess I’ve never watched it), or Buffy, the Vampire Slayer! They could call him Simon, pretender to the throne of Satan, master of Guilt, who bores his victims into a stupor, leaving them at mercy to his dark secret, a fetish for the blood of sons and daughters of mothers of the Tribe. If nothing else, the media frenzy  in the religious world would be fun to watch….. You may be asking yourself, is nothing sacred? All I can answer is, “Nope.”………
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“The very emphasis of the commandment: Thou shalt not kill, makes it certain that we are descended from an endlessly long chain of generations of murderers, whose love of murder was in their blood as it is perhaps also in ours.” — Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

Siggy had his moments of clarity amid the nonsense of a lot of his assertions exhibited. This is one of them. Part of what makes a man civilized is to be able to accept this part of his nature, and deal with it in the only honorable fashion; each morning a man must awake and make a conscious decision that, “Today, I will not kill.”, and then abide by it as best he can. Nothing else will work as well, and though it takes no small amount of courage to keep his word, a man of honor will do so, no matter the cost.


I think one of the most disheartening aspects of today’s culture is the lack of honor most people exhibit. When I was brought up, in the 1950’s, it seems like everyone believed in the concept of Honor, and it was just assumed that one could expect others to behave in light of that. As time has passed, I have seen the concept fall further out of favor, and further out of the public consciousness with each passing year, with selfishness and avarice having assumed the central position in most folk’s attitudes. SIGH……I really do miss it……
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“Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.” — Bertrand Russell, Autobiography

These are wonderful sentiments, and I can only hope that when I die, I can have put on my headstone some indication that I had fulfilled all three of these passions. The ability to share love, the passion for learning, and compassion for the weak and troubled are the highest expressions of the human spirit, and pursuit of them is an honorable task to take up as one’s Duty. No man could ever hope for a more fulfilling existence, acting in service to those he loves, which includes all living creatures. One can only wish that this attitude was more prevalent in society at large; we might have avoided some of the troubles we’re having. No sense crying over spilled dairy products though…..you just have to hang on to your hope…..
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Now I understand how the little piece I found yesterday fits in to the puzzle. Not to replace the sig, but rather to join it……..yay, me….y’all take care out there….

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

Just Dozer

Kowabunga!

A particular quality of light….

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Ffolkes,
I’m feeling a bit curmudgeonly this morning; I’m down to instant coffee until I can get to a store, and having to drink this nasty stuff has me close to biting myself in irritation. Fortunately, one of my friends is coming by, and will be bringing coffee with him. One of the advantages of advanced years is the improvement in forethought skills; we knew he was coming over today, and arranged to have him pick some up on the way. Too bad it doesn’t improve the flavor of this instant crap…….
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Deal with others as thou wouldst thyself be dealt by. Do nothing to thy neighbor which thou wouldst not have him do to thee hereafter. —  _The Mahabharata_, c. 800 B. C. (Sounds suspiciously like the Golden Rule to me)

“To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.” — Sun Tzu (fl. c. BC 500)

As the same fire assumes different shapes when it consumes objects differing in shape, so does the one Self take the shape of every creature in whom he is present. — Upanishads (c. B.C. 800) (Metaphysical logic, as sound as it gets….)

“Nothing endures but change.” — Heraclitus (540?-480? B.C.) (Obviously, Heraclitus was no stranger to Reality….)

All of the above statements were recorded (on paper or other form of tablet; t’was all they had then) prior to the birth of Christ, the seminal date upon which our calendar is based. It is fascinating to me to read these, which were all written about 2500-3000 years ago, and to reflect on how little apparent progress has been made in advancing human thought and behavior. The above remnants of the culture of the time clearly indicates an ability to reason that surpasses, or at minimum, equals the best of today’s philosophers. As an example of just how far we have come, or not come, to be more accurate, here is an example of how one of the most revered leaders in recent history, a man known as the Great Communicator, felt about ecological issues in general…..

“A tree is a tree.  How many more do you need to look at?” — Ronald W. Reagan, 1966

Kind of scary, isn’t it?………
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“Do not settle for less than the best your own excellence can command.” — Anne McCaffrey

I identify closely with this; it parallels Axiom #4 of my own philosophy, Peruaosophy, which reads “Excellence is its own reward.” This has been one of the guiding principles of my life, though I do occasionally encounter some resistance from the outside world in trying to achieve it. For some reason, it seems to make other folks feel nervous and threatened, and sometimes even antagonistic. I don’t worry too much over that; I figure its their problem, not mine, and paying too much attention to what other folks think or feel about what I do just encourages them to think its okay, when it is not. Its merely a distraction, and unfortunately, a potentially hazardous one, should my detractors turn from the relative confusion of a simple lack of understanding, to the dangerous rage of ignorant fear and loathing. But one of the more important skills that is learned by the process of seeking excellence is the ability to see a broader perspective, and plan for unexpected dangers during the process of sharing one’s excellence with the world. Forethought is a good thing…..(oooo, deja vu all over again….)
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JABBERWOCKY

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

“And thou hast slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.
— Lewis Carroll, “Through the Looking-Glass”

No comments here, I just like this a lot; reading it makes me happy…….it can work for you, too, if you like!…….
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Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,
And without sneering teach the rest to sneer;
Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike,
Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike.
— Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
— Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, Prologue to the Satires, Line 201

For some reason, probably buried somewhere deep in my unconscious mind, when I read this I was struck by a mental image of the last couple of Republican debates, which I must admit have provided us all with a wonderfully comic sideshow, complete with outrageous statements, vicious lying and in-fighting amongst the candidates, curiously obscure positions, and dubious economics. It’s been great, and provides tons of material to write about. But it also gets too easy to forget the seriousness that lurks behind the silly false fronts that they all throw up to keep people from knowing their true agendas; each of those people is serious about their desire to assume the mantle of power in this country, and each of them would be a greater disaster than the others. Take your pick; if any of them come even close to getting into office, I’ll be heading for the farthest place I can find to duck and cover…….any one of them would accelerate the already out of control rush toward extinction, and would create messes that may never be cleaned up…..
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He who allows his day to pass by without practicing generosity and enjoying life’s pleasures is like a blacksmith’s bellows – he breathes but does not live. — Sanskrit Proverb

I hereby pronounce this to be good. We hear the same message a lot of different ways, so it is good to see a new way of expressing such an essential point, one that fully embraces the meaning of, and behind, the words used. So much so, that it really doesn’t need any embellishment from me, so I will merely say……engage, examine, evaluate, and effect a change in your life. You’ll like it….trust me……
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Well it took a bit of effort, but it all came out well, I think. It’s certainly good enough for a retired dilettante, and I should know….. y’all take care out there…..

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Metaphorical marmosets in mufti….

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Ffolkes,
So here’s the deal…..yesterday when I went diving in search of pearls, I came across the material you will find below. I have no idea how it happened, but the poems I found all pointed toward the same compass point, and when I strung them together, they made a fine little story, a metaphor for the life of a Man. So today’s Pearl is all Poetry (minus a small portion, included merely as free hints). This is all you get today, as it burned up all my creative juices stretching points to create this poetic ramble…..but fear not, it also has given me a plethora of new ideas, which you will find in future episodes….. remember, these all lead you to a point, so let the mind flow with it, and you’ll get a nice little charge out of it at the finish……

Who says in verse what others say in prose.
— Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
— Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace, Epistle i, Book ii, Line 202

“In walking, just walk. In sitting, just sit. Above all, don’t wobble.” — Yun-Men

“Families, when a child is born
Want it to be intelligent.
I, through intelligence,
Having wrecked my whole life,
Only hope the baby will prove
Ignorant and stupid.
Then he will crown a tranquil life
By becoming a Cabinet Minister
— Su Tung-p’o

And this the burden of his song
Forever used to be,–
I care for nobody, No. not I,
If no one cares for me.
— Isaac Bickerstaff (1735-1787)
— Love in a Village, Act i, Sc. 2

Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight,
And burned is Apollo’s laurel bough,
That sometime grew within this learned man.
— Christopher Marlowe (1565-1593) — Faustus

A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow in the morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.
— T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land

“How does the poet speak to men with power, but by being still more a man than they?” — Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) — Burns, Edinburgh Review, 1828

Order is heaven’s first law; and this confessed,
Some are, and must be, greater than the rest,
More rich, more wise; but who infers from hence
That such are happier, shocks all common sense.
— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle iv, Line 49

Careful, Mister.  Old Zeke is liable to fire that sucker up!

Feel free to send your comments (which will all receive a response), kudos (gratefully accepted), or criticisms (cheerfully ignored) with a SASEmail. In the meantime, y’all take care out there…..

Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Unraveling a Gordian knot…..

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Ffolkes,
Burgeoning clouds of thought, building, simmering, promises and threats, climbing, until, at last, lightning bursts forth, followed closely by thunder, pushing aside the tenuous air, as the fire streaks to earth…….morning, ffolkes….
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“Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business.” — Tom Robbins

One might assume that since I am a believer in the scientific method, that magic would be something I don’t believe. In that, as with most assumptions we make, they would be in error. I do believe what Arthur C. Clarke had to say on the matter (as well as Heinlein, and others), which is, “Any scientific principle or action that is sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic.” And the converse is true as well, but we aren’t going there today; too much to do. But I will reiterate the point, to wit: understanding the universe is our purpose. It’s why we are here; it is our task as rational, presumably intelligent creatures to do our utmost to determine how the universe works, and to learn how to make that knowledge a boon to life, not just ours, but every living creature that exists. Unfortunately, most of humankind doesn’t even know this purpose, and the rest are too busy screwing the rest of us over, and don’t have the time for altruism……SIGH…..
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Grief tears his heart, and drives him to and fro
In all the raging impotence of woe.
— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Iliad of Homer, Book xxii, Line 526

No real compelling message here; I just thought it was a good example of how poetry can take human experience and condense it into two simple lines of simple words. All of the power of our rage, our grief is implied, and felt in this little couplet; we, or at least I, can visualize ourselves in that position easily, and reading this brings the feelings right back into the forefront of the mind, as if it were happening now rather than in the past. The power of poetry continues to amaze……
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“The difference between a misfortune and a calamity?   If Gladstone (insert name of qualified idiot here) fell into the Thames, it would be a misfortune.  But if someone dragged him out again, it would be a calamity.” — Ascribed to Benjamin Disraeli, c. 1867

I like this little insult; it is cruel, witty, and just as pertinent today as it was 144 years ago….all you need to do is fill in the name of whomever you please from the list of public figures we see in the news each day. So far, I’ve plugged in 17 names myself, and found it to be accurate and funny for each one. Goes to show that a sharp wit never grows dull…….
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Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.

I came across this little daisy chain of ideas during a recent dive, and harvested it with no real idea of where to use it. It is a very logical progression of ideas, and seems very profound. But in further reflection I see what it is that struck me about it, i.e., it’s TOO logical a progression to really reflect reality. True Reality isn’t logical, at least not as a general rule. Reality has to account for many things that defy logic, and as such is pretty flexible, and unpredictably labile. While sentences such as this one may seem like a handy train of ideas to give one an understanding of how people grow or change, it actually decreases true understanding. The very logic that holds it together also implies that it is incomplete in its’ descriptive powers, and can possibly lead to misunderstanding and controversy……
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IDIOT, n.  A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human affairs has always been dominant and controlling.  The Idiot’s activity is not confined to any special field of thought or action, but “pervades and regulates the whole.”  He has the last word in everything; his decision is unappealable.  He sets the fashions and opinion of taste, dictates the limitations of speech and circumscribes conduct with a dead-line. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

No comment is needed here; this says it all. And needless also to say, the IDIOT tribe has survived unto today, and continues to influence mankind more than is warranted. All you can do is all you can do, so stay alert and be ready to protect yourself and your loved ones from the next wave of stupidity to wash over society……
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“I can handle reality in small doses, but as a lifestyle it’s much too confining.” — Lily Tomlin

Lily’s humor is always deeper than it seems at first glance. I’m considering having this one put on my headstone…… y’all take care out there…..

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Green socks and red suspenders….

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Ffolkes,
Softly, lovingly, the words flew, seeking minds to take their measure; the day begins…..

“I believe that it is better to tell the truth than a lie. I believe it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe it is better to know than to be ignorant.” — H. L. Mencken

One would think that the above statement is self-evident. This is not to say that Mr. Mencken is stating the obvious, but rather that the concepts he shares are clearly true, and leave little or no room for disagreement. Every religion, every culture, every person on the planet would see these, and find it nearly impossible to denigrate any of them, or argue that they are not personal values that all of us are taught to respect from the time when we were small. They are ideas that are intrinsic to a free society, and their absence in everyday interactions between society members leads to controversy, every time. Every person, politician, and corporation, news outlet, hell, everybody you speak to would have you believe that they are true to these principles, and make them a part of their modus operandi. What they don’t add is that they have their fingers crossed behind their backs when they look you in the eye and tell you it is true.

Isaac Asimov is a scientist and writer of great renown, having published well over 200 science fiction novels and collections of short stories, as well as nearly the same number of hard science text and reference books. He had an interesting comment on this subject, to wit: “There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is as good as your knowledge.” — Isaac Asimov. Newsweek, January 21, 1980  I like this because it states its premise clearly, succinctly, and powerfully, making itself the perfect example of the type of intellectual statement that would be completely ignored, or possibly vilified, if related to a political aspirant. In this country, if you want to get elected, you can’t afford to say or do anything that might indicate agreement with this observation; there are too many voters who are lifetime members of the cult. This is why they say such dumb things when they are campaigning for office; it keeps their name up in front of the Stupids, and they know their assertions will be bought at face value, no matter how outrageously untruthful or anti-intellect it may be. There are times, and of late they are legion, when I get really disgusted with the sad state of affairs in this country, and for that matter, the world. Just seems like there’s not enough of us shouting out the truth, and those who are not invested in truth don’t hear it anyway…….

Behold the child, by Nature’s kindly law,
Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw;
Some livelier plaything gives his youth delight,
A little louder, but as empty quite;
Scarfs, garters, gold, amuse his riper stage,
And beads and prayer-books are the toys of age.
Pleased with this bauble still, as that before,
Till tired he sleeps, and life’s poor play is o’er.
— Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
— Essay on Man, Epistle ii, Line 274

It’s just a personal quirk, I guess, but when I find a piece of poetry such as this, I get a tingly sliver of sheer pleasure that shoots up my spine, and hits my consciousness with a sharp jolt of joy. Look at it! It even sits there attractively, balanced and lovely, shining slightly with a glow of insight, and profound understanding. Eight lines. Two quatrains of everyday words, put together so cleverly, an entire lifetime is celebrated between the first and last lines. Not only the life, but the experience of life, comes through as clearly and powerfully as if whispered directly into your ear. Mssr. Pope gives us an image, a picture painted on the mind’s canvas, and shows with deft strokes how each of life’s stages flows from one age to the next, until at last it progresses to the final curtain. Poetry like this is one of life’s grandest surprises, an unexpected gift of joy. Gotta love them poets…..

“Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you’ll understand what little chance you have of trying to change others.” — Jacob M. Braude

If one is in the habit of following the ebb and flow of current events, as am I, it becomes increasingly difficult to ignore the signs of impending global disaster. Pollution of the air, land, and sea; global climate changes melting the polar ice; an ever-widening financial gap between segments of society; divisiveness and religious controversy amongst all nations and cultures; increasing evidence of the effects of over-population. All of these, and more, are clear indicators of the breakdown of society at large, and of the need for far-reaching changes to stop and reverse our progress down the path to extinction. And unfortunately for all of us, human nature is such that the statement above is absolute truth. Each of us is solely responsible for our actions; no one can make us do what we won’t, unless we allow it. And this is the root of the whole problem….

Too many people abrogate their responsibility to Life. It’s too hard to think, or consider deep philosophical concepts, and there is too much to do in order to stay even with life’s demands. So people tend to let others think for them. Even though they have the power to make their own decisions, they let others tell them how to behave, when to eat, what to buy, what to believe. They react with anger and violence when challenged about their beliefs, even though they cannot express what those beliefs are, other than to repeat what they’ve been told. Talking heads come on TV and the most aggravatingly insane drivel that comes out of their mouths is held as gospel truth. Politicians make up incredible lies and make promises that appeal to the most extreme segments of the populace, fanning the fire of their ignorant fear of anything different, just to get elected. When in office, those promises are ignored in favor of whatever new policies will guarantee the continuing process of lining their pockets with public funding.

People are lazy. It’s a fact, and is actually one of our most important survival characteristics. Our minds are armed with the power of imagination, and it is always willing to focus that talent in order to make life easier and more comfortable. This is why we invent stuff; to make life easier. Not because we want to improve ourselves or our environment, but because we are too lazy to work hard to achieve our desires. If we can think up a way to perform simple, tedious tasks with less effort, we will do so. It’s a natural ability, and it is an integral part of our nature. And used in this sense, it is a valuable tool. But most folks end up taking their lackadaisical tendencies too far, which allows the less moral among us to increase their influence over our lives. My fear is that society at large has waited too long, and become too rigidly committed to the behaviors which will eventually lead to extinction to be able slow, or stop our progress toward the abyss…..and I don’t want to die yet!……

Y’all take care out there…..

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

Kowabunga!

Wayward minstrels and sleepy cats….

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Ffolkes,
It’s really too bad that we can’t just shoot somebody when the deserve it; I’ve got a long list of folks who do, as do all of you, I’m sure. But the cops get real upset about it, and then the neighbors will talk behind your back, even the dog probably won’t like you anymore. Plus, later on, when you’re feeling all regretful and stuff, it’s just a pain, and all in all, not worth the bother. Insulting them to their face, or sending them into financial ruin, will just have to satisfy that urge for blood; hell, make it good and nasty, & maybe they’ll go shoot themselves! That’s the ticket…..

In case you couldn’t tell, I woke up with crankypants already on, and I’ve been looking for something or somebody to let it out on for the last hour or so. Feeling this way, and not having an acceptable outlet, is extremely frustrating, and as a former psych tech, I know it’s not good for me to keep all this bottled up inside. I suppose I could go out and find some unarmed idiot to get into an argument with, so I can let it all out on them. But that isn’t kosher, (kosher means anything not touched by pig blood), nor is it a good policy for improving one’s karmic burden. But then I’d feel like dirt, because one of my own pet peeves is when someone dumps crap on me that I don’t deserve. In the final analysis, that is a lose-lose situation, with both parties walking away feeling worse than when they started.

Ah, the hell with it. I’m just going to go out the way I am, and the world can just deal with me the best it can. I’m outnumbered, so at least it’s a level playing field to start…..I guarantee it won’t end that way……let you know tomorrow how it went……if I survive. The world at large has some pretty good crankypants, too…..

Euripides was wont to say, “Silence is an answer to a wise man.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of Bashfulness

“He is the best of men who dislikes power.” — Mohammed

“As long as there have been humans we have searched for our place in the cosmos. Where are we?  Who are we? We find that we live on an
insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe.  We make our world significant by
the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.” — Carl Sagan

Life must go on;
I forget just why.
— Edna St. Vincent Millay, ‘Lament’, Second April (1921)

And the vision that was planted in my brain still remains.

So ends the bloody business of the day.
— Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
— The Odyssey of Homer, Book xxii, Line 516

A fitting end to another gem….. y’all take care out there…..

Sometimes I sits and thinks
    and sometimes
I just sits.
gigoid

Kowabunga!

If it were merely a dream…

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Ffolkes,
T’is Sunday once again, and my, my, doesn’t he have a good grasp of the obvious? As an introductory phrase, naming the day meets only the minimum standards for opening ploys. There are certainly more choices, many of which are much more compelling, so why choose one that merely sets the stage in re: time, but says naught else about place, or circumstance, or mood, or any of hundreds of other non-default literary devices for leading off a new document? (Whew, gotta learn to watch that sentence length; that one was so long I forgot it was a question!) Well, I’ll tell ya why, if you’ll keep your pants on……


I’m lazy. I admit it. Hard work is just that, hard, and I find little reason for engaging in it except under the most urgent circumstances. I’ve found that probably 95% of the time, because of the power of imagination and creative thought, I can come up with another method of achieving the desired end result that uses much less grunt power than the usual way. Applying the principles of physics is especially helpful for those occasions when large appliances or furniture, at the behest of our distaff companions, require a new configuration. I’ve found over the years that the science of vectors, and the principles of the fulcrum, are particularly valuable in such situations in keeping exhaustion at bay. Plus it’s always nice to be admired for one’s brain, rather than always hearing praise for one’s brawn.


So don’t be shy, men, use your head, instead of always assuming the role of mule. It’s just as effective, and guarantees that your deodorant won’t fail you at a critical intimate moment……here are some little snippets to help stimulate the old grey cells, just a little bit….don’t want to get carried away on most folks’ day off…….

We dwell at the bottom of the sky.

For now the poet cannot die,
Nor leave his music as of old,
But round him ere he scarce be cold
Begins the scandal and the cry.
— Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892)
— To ——, after reading a Life and Letters

In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane. — Oscar Wilde

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

How lov’d, how honour’d once avails thee not,
To whom related, or by whom begot;
A heap of dust alone remains of thee:
‘T is all thou art, and all the proud shall be!
— Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
— To the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady, Line 71

Vulnerant omnia, ultima necat. [All the [hours] wound you, the last one kills.] — Latin Proverb

Wisdom indeed! Mind its virtual nature though, and apply with caution…..y’all take care out there…..

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

The Naming of the Shrew…

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Ffolkes,
In some ways, retirement has been good for me, while in others I tend to struggle with the lack of urgency that generally accompanies most of those things we do for work.  I don’t think I ever realized it, but for my entire work career I worked with the constant background hum of tension. In retrospect, it is clear that the emotional state one must cultivate in order to go do those tasks we’ve chosen as our means of acquiring gelt is one of mild, constant fear, a legacy of our past, of living in a world of constant danger. This fear, a very base emotion, is present merely to provide us with motivation to act against our better instincts, and instead bow to societal and cultural pressure to channel those instincts into some sort of civilized form of hunting for sustenance, like, say, as a graphic artist working for an ad agency, or as a secretary, or almost any damn thing we as a species have evolved as sublimated replacements for the hunting arts we no longer need. 

Some of us, such as yours truly, develop the art of making long, complicated, run-on sentences to give the impression that language and letters are my weapons of choice in the battle for survival in today’s complex world of the future. Whether this weapon serves me well, or not, I suppose it is less challenging than learning to survive in the wild.


Now that I’ve reached that point in life where I’m supposed to “rest on laurels”, I find myself instead to be restless. After 46 years or so of working at one job or another, I got used to that little bit of fear that was always there to give me the back-story, the motivating factor that got me up and out the door every day to go do…whatever I was doing at the time. Cooking, serving, writing, wrestling, therapizing (I made it up), or any of the other hats I wore, all had that basic, clinging fear of failure that went along with them, giving me that little squirt of adrenaline to get me going.


I’ve found that in retirement, one has to re-learn the skill of providing impetus out of our own store of rationales. Without prior knowledge of this (yes, another thing that got left out of the manual), it can turn into a harrowing experience, fraught with possibilities for failure in totally new areas of endeavor, and exasperating in its elusiveness. 

I would guess that in at least one respect I have a slight advantage over many folks, rooted in my life-long love of reading and learning. Change, in and of itself, is not fearful to me; it can be frustrating, and sudden, and totally bizarre, but it doesn’t make me afraid, just tired.  I’m learning, slower perhaps than I might otherwise prefer, but learning nonetheless, how to maintain my equilibrium living under a completely new set of rules. I may be an old dog, but I ain’t dead yet……


Well, there you have it…..another flight through fancy, holding court with a congress of ravens, all of whom look at me with dark, beady eyes, and all in harmony, squawk out, “Nevermore!”……now I know why Edgar Allen was so flipped; they’re scary little buggers……hope y’all enjoy today’s Pearls as much as I enjoyed the process of finding them…..

“$100 invested at 7% interest for 100 years will become $100,000, at which time it will be worth absolutely nothing.” — Lazarus Long, “Time Enough for Love”

“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” — Buddha

A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.
— Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
— Essay on Criticism, Part ii, Line 15

“The function of free speech under our system of government is to invite dispute. It may indeed best serve its high purpose when it invites a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger.” — former US Supreme Court Justice William Douglas

The value of knowledge lies not in its accumulation, but in its utilization.

“A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.” — James Joyce, “Ulysses”

I thought for a bit that today’s group would be a good message, but I couldn’t quite find a thread that tied them all together into a package with a nice little bow. Ah well, another time….you get away lucky today…… y’all take care out there….

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Delusions of adequacy….

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Ffolkes,
A great confusion arose in my mind yesterday; a confusion so great I could not find a way out, and several things that should have been done were not. This missive is one of those things…..I actually had most of it done, but my ever-present extremely high level of anxiety had me out doing other things that seemed more important at the time. Turns out it wasn’t but, hey, Murphy knows me by first name, so it doesn’t surprise anymore when stuff goes wrong. Thus today I must play clean-up on yesterday’s unfinished tasks, thus keeping me from what I’d like to do, which is get some writing done. No hope there today, not when it takes almost all I’ve got to write a Pearl. Speaking of which, I finally found the little poem that explains about the Pearls, at least from a minimalist standpoint. I merely take it as proof that I am not alone, that others have walked this path before me, seeking out the finest oysters, and bringing their Pearls of Virtual Wisdom into the light of day……

Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow;
He who would search for pearls must dive below.
— John Dryden (1631-1700) — All for Love, Prologue

“Nothing is rubbish if you’ve got an inquiring mind.” — Doctor Who

:sagan: /say’gn/ n. [from Carl Sagan’s TV series “Cosmos”; think “billions and billions”] A large quantity of anything. “There’s a sagan different ways to tweak EMACS.”  “The U.S. Government spends sagans on bombs and welfare — hard to say which is more destructive.”  — from The on-line Hacker Jargon File V423

How charming is divine philosophy!
Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose,
But musical as is Apollo’s lute,
And a perpetual feast of nectar’d sweets
Where no crude surfeit reigns.
— John Milton (1608-1674) — Comus, Line 476

Order is heaven’s first law; and this confest,
Some are, and must be, greater than the rest,
More rich, more wise; but who infers from hence
That such are happier, shocks all common sense.
— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle iv, Line 49

“As the tempest and the thunder affect not the sun or the stars, but spend their fury on stones and trees below; so injuries ascend not to the Soul of the great, but waste themselves on such as are those who offer them.” — Akhenaton? (c. B.C. 1375)

Lotta poetry today, yes? It’s good for the mind to stretch in different ways sometimes; keeps it flexible….y’all take care out there…..

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Barring further difficulties….

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Ffolkes,
Fear not, mes amis, the sun does indeed come up every morning, and since I try to get these done before it gets too far up in the sky, they actually provide me with a reason to get up. Yesterday’s little mini-rant re: my ongoing battle with reality in its baser aspects prompted responses from friends, which I should have realized would happen. I was mostly laying things out so I could examine them, but it did turn out to sound worse than I make it out to be. Sure, I’m uncomfortable sometimes, and actually more embarrassed than anything else, but it could be worse. Seven years ago I was looking at having no retirement at all; zip, zero, zilch. So it could be worse, and I will survive, and be happy, because those are two things I’m very good at….. I’m sorry to have worried my friends, but I guess they wouldn’t be my friends if it hadn’t, a fact for which I am continually grateful.


Meanwhile, back in the real world, I must go out to do battle with bureaucracies in a multitude of guises. Places to go, forms to fill out, stores to cruise, people to avoid or engage, miles to go before I get to the naps to take category. It’s tough, but I don’t mind; as long as I get to the nap, the rest will take care of itself. It’s all just routine, easy but time-consuming BS. I suppose that makes composing this silly thing the high point of the day, eh what? Picking these Pearls was most likely the most fun, and most productive thing I’ll do all day. And if not, well, the sun will be back up tomorrow…..

It really doesn’t matter if you’re the prey or the predator, if you want to live to see the sunset, you’ve got to start the day running.

Seas roll to waft me, suns to light me rise;
My footstool earth, my canopy the skies.
— Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
— Essay on Man, Epistle i, Line 139

Sounds travel slowly. Sometimes the things you say to your kids don’t reach them till they’re in their 40s.

I held it truth, with him who sings
To one clear harp in divers tones,
That men may rise on stepping-stones
Of their dead selves to higher things.
— Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892)
— In Memoriam, i, Stanza 1

There are two intelligent responses to contemporary Western civilization: laughter and despair. You’ll note I’m not laughing.

“There is one art of which man should be master — the art of reflection.” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Remember, kids, it’s all illusion, just a dream. To change is natural, though often a surprise. It is our mind that makes the decision as to whether it is a burden, or a gift…..

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!