Tag Archives: Annie Dillard

Fat sausages, sizzling in the pan….

Posted on by
Reply

Ffolkes,

Savory pieces of bacon bits flew elegantly through the highest points of the tent, filling all below with joy at the smell of sizzling pork fat; the crowd went wild…. Vendors hawked their plastic Jesus bobble-heads to unsuspecting Muslim tourists, while numerous swift-fingered waifs worked the crowd, lifting wallets from unsuspecting tourists.

Down in the center, two pathetic roosters were being abused so they’d fight each other, while money exchanged hands all over the stands, as winners and losers took turns feeling stupid….Me, I just watched and grinned, since I was the only one who knew the whole building would be coming down around the ears of everyone inside in approximately four minutes….

And thank goodness for that! I don’t think we need to go back there again; I stopped enjoying what I was writing about halfway through that piece of nonsensical farce, having apparently lost all of my sense of propriety, right along with my taste…. That was supposed to be funny, or at least strange enough to feel that way, but, never seemed to reach anywhere like that…. It was probably the bacon bits…. Nasty little things, those little chemical bombs can’t even be classified as food; they’re an artificially colored and flavored food-like substance, and I haven’t a single clue as to why ANYONE would want to eat them, ever….

However, it’s too late now to worry about whether or not the opening paragraphs made any sense, or even any nonsense; it’s already two paragraphs back, and we all know how hard it is to turn back the clock…. In our minds, or our writing, we can alter time, using the chance to do things over, to do them right, but, we all know the real world doesn’t allow do-overs, and couldn’t care less how you feel about that…. Besides, since it’s me, we just need to be aware of how simple it is to fill up space on the page, as I seem able to fill these intros, with pretty much nothing….

Of course, that’s a skill I’ve been developing now for close to three years, on this site; meeting the minimum introductory regulations has become almost second nature, not requiring all of my attention…. which probably shows in these little disasters I call the intro section. But, it DOES get the task completed, at least to the point each day where I am able to break free of it, and go on to finish the Pearl…. Given the methods I use, that is more of an accomplishment than it seems, though I’m not looking for kudos…. Just some new shoes…. and maybe a shot of two of Jack, when it’s quiet at night….

Shall we Pearl?…..

(1) You can’t win.
(2) You can’t break even.
(3) You can’t even quit the game.

— Ginsberg’s Theorem

Every major philosophy that attempts to make life seem meaningful is based on the negation of one part of Ginsberg’s Theorem. To wit:

(1) Capitalism is based on the assumption that you can win.
(2) Socialism is based on the assumption that you can break even.
(3) Mysticism is based on the assumption that you can quit the game.

— Freeman’s Commentary on Ginsberg’s theorem

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Some people confuse boredom with security.” — Smart Bee

I seem to be unable to find any spare neurons this morning, to help me find some small degree of intellect, or imagination somewhere within the reaches of my mind…. Moreover, I can’t seem to work up the energy to care…. I’d like to rant, as there is always so much to rant about in today’s society, as the two segments of mankind continue at war…..

I’m talking about the war between those who want to control everything and everyone, and those who don’t…. Mostly, throughout our species short, bloody history, the bad guys have been winning; today, the gap between the wealthy, and the other 99% of humanity, is as wide as the Mississippi River during flood season, and growing wider each day….

This, of course, means that this section of today’s Pearl will be an old school variety indictment; it’s what we do here as a default, when ranting is an unattainable goal…. I have no apologies, but, I’m sure they are unnecessary, as it DOES spare you from having to listen to yet another seemingly endless diatribe against people who don’t give the slightest shit about anyone else…. Just take in these pearls, complete with comments, and you’ll get the same effect as if you’d listened to me spew…. Enjoy!…. or, not, as you wish…. just pay attention, please….

“One of these days in your travels, a guy is going to come up to you and show you a nice, brand- new deck of cards on which the seal is not yet broken, and this guy is going to offer to bet you that he can make the jack of spades jump out of the deck and squirt cider in your ear. But, son, do not bet this man, for as sure as you stand there, you are going to wind up with an earful of cider.” — Damon Runyon

(And when you’re standing there, with your earful of cider, and a stupid expression, you’ll realize you should never have elected him in the first place….)

“We cannot assert the innocence of anyone, whereas we can state with certainty the guilt of all. Every man testifies to the crime of all the others – that is my faith and hope.” — Albert Camus (1913-1960) — The Fall (1957)

(Albert was a bit of an optimist sometimes….)

“I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we, too, will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or in politics but for our contributions to the human spirit.” — former US President John F. Kennedy

(Why am I skeptical of this? Oh, right, because he’s a politician, and he opened his mouth… ergo, it’s a foregone conclusion he lied….)

“Christianity might be a good thing if anyone ever tried it.” — George Bernard Shaw

(Oops! How’d that get in here? Oh, well, they’re (politicians and preachers…) all of a kind, so, it can stay….)

For some reason the little Senators make us laugh.” — Smart Bee

(In my case, that’s a full-blown belly laugh, complete with red face, tears, and runny nose from laughing so hard….)

“A liar should have a good memory.” — Quintilian (42-118 AD) — Institutiones Oratoriae, i, iv, 2, 91

(Is a comment necessary? I think not…. We all know to whom this refers…. and his name is Barry…. or Joe…. or Dianne…. or Paul, or Rick, or George, or Mitch…. or Anthony….)

(The last name refers to Mr. Chief Justice of the scOTUS Scalia, who is more of a politician than a judge… Actually, he’d be what is known as an honest judge, defined as one who STAYS bought, once he’s been paid for….)

“Dogs, ye have had your day!” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Odyssey of Homer, Book xxii, Line 41

(This last line, from Pope’s Odyssey, is wishful thinking on my part…. this is what I would LIKE to be able to say to any of those assholes I mentioned in the pearl above….)

Thus endeth this modified old-school pearl, picked fresh for your reading pleasure, with completely new, yet exciting comments to stimulate your….. well, to stimulate…. Onward, he said, rushing into the next room….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’ve been spending some time reading old Pearls, to get new ideas, and, as we have here, to find old ideas, or material, worth posting again…. This poem falls directly into that last category, as one of my favorites, and as one of the best ever written, in my estimation…. I hope you enjoy it….

First posted on 7/15/2012:

For me, one mark of a good poem, and poet, is when one finishes reading the last line, the mind does not immediately let go, but follows the train of thought created by the poem to its conclusion, whatever that may be for each individual reader. Frost is a master at that type of poem, to my mind…. There is so much power in the phrase, “But I wonder….”!…..    Enjoy!

A Brook In The City

The farmhouse lingers, though averse to square
With the new city street it has to wear
A number in. But what about the brook
That held the house as in an elbow-crook?
I ask as one who knew the brook, its strength
And impulse, having dipped a finger length
And made it leap my knuckle, having tossed
A flower to try its currents where they crossed.
The meadow grass could be cemented down
From growing under pavements of a town;
The apple trees be sent to hearth-stone flame.
Is water wood to serve a brook the same?
How else dispose of an immortal force
No longer needed? Staunch it at its source
With cinder loads dumped down? The brook was thrown
Deep in a sewer dungeon under stone
In fetid darkness still to live and run —
And all for nothing it had ever done
Except forget to go in fear perhaps.
No one would know except for ancient maps
That such a brook ran water. But I wonder
If from its being kept forever under,
The thoughts may not have risen that so keep
This new-built city from both work and sleep.
                                        
~~ Robert Frost ~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the last few days, I’ve found some rather good old entries, in Pearls posted back a couple of years…. Some of them are worth a reprint, so, here is one of them, which is obviously the larval stage of a complete, adult religirant….. Enjoy!….

From 7/16/2012:

Okay, here is another “old-school” Pearl…. and yes, it makes a specific point. Read all of them, in order, and the message will be crystal clear…..

“The truth is that Christian theology, like every other theology, is not only opposed to the scientific spirit; it is also opposed to all other attempts at rational thinking. Not by accident does Genesis 3 make the father of knowledge a serpent- slimy, sneaking and abominable. Since the earliest days the church as an organization has thrown itself violently against every effort to liberate the body and mind of man. It has been, at all times and everywhere, the habitual and incorrigible defender of bad governments, bad laws, bad social theories, bad institutions. It was, for centuries, an apologist for slavery, as it was the apologist for the divine right of kings.” — H. L. Mencken

BIBLE : A bible is a book which one or more religions consider to be holy, and to be something that they should follow. It is of course generally rather impractical to follow books, not just because they  don’t often go anywhere, but also because they are not very good at public speaking, decision making, problem solving, or any of the other qualities recognized as being an advantage for leadership. A religion based around the teachings of any compilation of Toxic Custard would be very strange indeed. To subscribe to this new cult following, send $15 now. — Daniel Bowen’s TOXIC CUSTARPEDIA

“Angels, I read, belong to nine different orders. Seraphs are the highest; they are aflame with love for God; cherubs, who are second, possess perfect knowledge of him. So love is greater than knowledge; how could I have forgotten? The seraphs are born of a stream of fire issuing from under God’s throne… Moving perpetually toward God, they perpetually praise him, crying Holy, Holy, Holy… But, they can sing only the first ‘Holy’ before the intensity of their love ignites them again and dissolves them again, perpetually into flames. ‘Abandon everything,’ Dionysius the Areopagite told his disciple. ‘God despises ideas.’ — Annie Dillard, “Holy the Firm”

“Man has a single basic choice:  to think or not, and that is the measure of his virtue.  Moral perfection is an unbreached rationality — not the degree of your intelligence, but the full and relentless use of your mind, not the extent of your knowledge, but the acceptance of reason as an absolute.” — John Galt

“Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in their readiness to doubt.” — H. L. Mencken

“The sagacious reader who is capable of reading between these lines what does not stand written in them, but is nevertheless implied, will be able to form some conception.” — Goethe (1749-1832)  — Autobiography, Book xviii, Truth and Beauty

There you go…. I can’t make it any plainer than that…..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s probably a good thing my energy level is so low this morning…. I refrained from generating a discussion of the possible reasons for that (you can thank me later…), in order to keep from getting all wimpy, & to keep from wasting a lot of time whining about it, thus freeing me up to use that little bit of energy to put together the rest of today’s effort, a word definitely appropriate for what happened here…. Now I’m at the end, though, I’m at a loss for what to do…. This went together so fast, and so smoothly, it makes me nervous…. Ah well, it’s not as if I’ve never been THAT before… As I recall, there was this time in 1988….

Screw it, it’s done…. I’m not going to spend any more time second-guessing myself…. I’ll see you mañana ffolkes, provided we’re both lucky enough to get that far…..

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
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

dozer3

Safely beyond the liar’s zone….

Posted on by
1

Ffolkes,

And then, I woke up, wrapped in confusion, surrounded by insanity and ignorance, knowing once and for all, there was no hope for any more of Ma’s sterling pot roast…. which is a shame, since it’s always so juicy, and savory, and packed with love and potatoes….. Now that a bit of nonsense has been ripped forcibly out of my head, unfortunately taking the only available route, through my nose, (ouch!), we have been cleared to be logical. It’s not always easy to obtain that clearance, you know…. all the churches, and the politicians, too, pitch such a horrendous fit every time somebody uses their brain for something other than carrying water from sink to toilet, it’s getting to be a distinct hassle to get them to allow these little shows….

I began today with this paragraph of broken ideas, incomprehensible references, and mismatched styles for a specific purpose, which was to keep from ranting right off the bat…. I slept long, and hard, having used ALL of my sleep inducing techniques and/or substances last night before bed, having first made it to a decent hour before crashing. I did so as part of my plan to NOT pay any attention to the SOU (State of the Union) address that the POTUS was scheduled to make last night….

The hullabaloo that surrounds that event has  become, to be plain-speaking, tiresome…. Every single pundit, talking head, and self-styled ‘analyst’ will be spouting off tonight, before, during, and after the speech, and it drives me crazy to listen to them fill up space in the empty air that would be better served by silence…. Along with the less than stimulating cacophony provided by their patter, the speech itself promises to be a masterpiece of political showmanship, not to mention a shitload of deliberate lies…. He, the POTUS, is an excellent public speaker, in his way, with a sure touch for giving people the words they want to hear, that will soothe their fears, and stimulate their hopes, all without ever promising anything, or actually telling anything remotely similar to the truth, or reality….

“For neither men nor angel can discern hypocrisy – the only evil that walks  invisible.” — Milton, “Paradise Lost”, iii:682-684

Oh, it SOUNDS as if he’s actually made promises, but, it is clear already that the actual promises he makes, such as those he made in his first campaign for election, will be completely ignored when he is actually in office…. If queried, one hears all sorts of backing and filling, but no direct references to anything he said before, and the question is either deferred, or deliberately obfuscated into incoherency, which the general public will completely pass over as something they don’t understand…. The public’s attention span for this sort of lying is pretty short, as long as they believe the second lie told, to cover the first, and that, for this POTUS, is a simple matter to accomplish, given his speech-making skills….

Now that I’ve completely failed to stop my initial rant here in the intro, we’ll call a halt to any further outbursts, at least for the time being…. I had hoped to incorporate some of this into a rant later on, but, I just can’t seem to stop myself from going there whenever the urge strikes…. I start to think about one of the issues that has garnered my attention in the recent past, the outrage and anger takes over my fingers, and off I go… SIGH…. It could be worse I suppose…. I could be writing porn…. It would probably make me more money than this does, you think?….

Shall we Pearl?….

“… But among the children of the Great Society there were those whose skins were black.  And lo!  Their portion was niggardly, and of the fatted calf they were sucking hind teat …  Now it came to pass that a prophet rose up amongst them, and they called him King.  And he went unto Pharaoh and said, “Let my people go to the front of the bus.”  But Pharaoh answered: “In the fullness of time and with all deliberate speed shall this thing come to pass.  When ye shall prove yourselves worthy, shall ye have your just portion — yea, verily, like unto a snowball in Hell.” — “The Begatting of a President”
_____________________________

I went looking for some material in the news, finding a lot of stuff that appeared off center enough to poke at, but, nothing that grabbed me and said, “Ooh, ooh, this one!”…. Plus, having arisen so late, and so foggy-headed, in a relative sense, I think it may be best if I postpone any further comments on the SOU show last night at the Congressional Playhouse; I’ll let the other pundits have the stage for the day, with the possibility that one of them will write something that I can use as a springboard for my own thoughts tomorrow.

That’s lazy, I know, but, I’ve never denied being so; it’s a gift…. It’s a common characteristic among us geniuses, even those of us here at the bottom end of that category, having it’s motivational basis reside in the desire to find faster, easier ways to perform mundane tasks, in order to spend more time in one’s mind, where everything is clear and serene, as opposed to the sloppy, chaotic universe we see on the other side of our eyes….. And, see, we can do that all in one sentence!… Well, I can….

What that means in the here and now is an old-school pearl, of course…. what did you think? I’m no Toothsome, who can draw you a cartoon out of the endless depths of their talent at graphic arts, (besides being a truly beautiful woman….)…. I’m also no Gary Trudeau, or Keats, or Yeats, or Walter Winchell…. I am, however, gigoid, and this is enough…. I’ll be letting Smart Bee pick out these pearls, so, don’t blame me for whatever comes in the rest of this section… I’m on break until section two…

“The human mind is a dangerous plaything, Boys.  When it’s used for Evil, watch out!  But when it’s used for Good, things are much… nicer.” — the Tick

“There is no end. There is no beginning. There is only the infinite passion of life.” — Frederico Fellini

“The school of hard knocks is an accelerated curriculum.” — Menander

“The value of passion, like fire, is judged finally by the amount of warmth and light it creates. Fanatics, like forest fires, burn bright but destroy all in their path that is tender and green. To be useful, fire must be confined. To live passionately, we must develop discipline; to love powerfully, we must forge bonds of commitment. Passion is inseparable from compassion.” — Sam Keen

“We are an intelligent species and the use of our intelligence quite properly gives us pleasure. In this respect the brain is like a muscle. When we think well, we feel good. Understanding is a kind of ecstasy.” — Carl Sagan  _Broca’s Brain_, 1979

“Be free and open and breezy!  Enjoy!  Things won’t get any better so you better get used to it.” — Smart Bee

“As empty vessels make the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest blabbers.” — Plato (428-348? B.C.)

Hmm…. I’m not sure but what Smart Bee is trying to tell me something here…. I wonder what it could be?….
_____________________________

Today’s poem is one I read when I was still in elementary school, and is one with which, most likely, everyone in the US is familiar… To my knowledge, it still holds the Guinness Book of Records for being the shortest poem in the world; I heard once it is also the most well-known poem in the world, and I like to think that is true…. It also is a wonderful example of the power of the metaphorse; believe it, or not, this is deeper than you know…..

Fleas

Adam
had ’em.

~~ Ogden Nash ~~

_____________________________

“Sensors show a moron in this sector, Captain.” — Spock (Well, he COULD’VE said it!….)

What a great line… and, a perfect lead-in to section three, where we will continue the rant-avoidance techniques that have been in play all morning…. I’m just not in the mood to pick a subject; I’ve got too many things to be outraged about, and can’t make up my mind without more effort than I’m willing to make… so be it.

Instead, here is a group of pearls that have been collecting over several days…. Some are pointed at the preachers and priests of the dogmatists, some at politicians, and all at those who would rather believe a delusion rather than face their fear of the unknown, thus abrogating all claim to the intelligence they otherwise might possess…

“Angels, I read, belong to nine different orders. Seraphs are the highest; they are aflame with love for God; cherubs, who are second, possess perfect knowledge of him. So love is greater than knowledge; how could I  ave forgotten? The seraphs are born of a stream of fire issuing from under God’s throne… Moving perpetually toward God, they perpetually praise him, crying Holy, Holy, Holy…But, they can sing only the first ‘Holy’ before the intensity of their love ignites them again and dissolves them again, perpetually into flames. ‘Abandon everything,’ Dionysius the Areopagite told his disciple. ‘God despises ideas.'” — Annie Dillard, “Holy the Firm”

“The intensity of anxiety when you tell a lie is nothing compared to the relief when you find out it is believed.” — John Francis Putnam (1964)

“In our country are evangelists and zealots of many different political, economic and religious persuasions whose fanatical conviction is that all thought is divinely classified into two kinds – that which is their own and that which is false and dangerous.” — Justice Robert H. Jackson

“The man who smiles when things go wrong has thought of someone he can blame it on.” — Jones’ Law

“Christ says, “Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked – the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.” — C.S. Lewis  _ Mere Christianity_

“Sure, it’s going to kill a lot of people, but they may be dying of something else anyway.” — Othal Brand, member of a Texas pesticide review board

“If you love the sacred and despise the ordinary, you are still bobbing in the ocean of delusion.” — Lin-Chi
_____________________________

Upon beginning today’s effort, I was a bit leery of what might happen…. It seems my fears were unjustified, as this came out quite well, I think, and may even be one of my all-around best, in terms of style, subtle  humor, and well, balance… Or, it could be shit, and I’m hallucinating again… Oh, well, either way, it’s getting posted, so…. See ya tomorrow, if I’m as lucky as I was today….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
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

dozer3

Coping skills for bald penguins…..

Posted on by
Reply

Ffolkes,
Nature will always tell us, in her inimitable style, when we are getting too weird. I’ve had this proven to me on numerous occasions, as I have a tendency toward weird, a genetic gift from my grandfather, who made his living as “a performance artiste” around the turn of the 20th century. She (Nature, of course…) generally lets us know we have strayed beyond the boundaries of propriety in some grand, publicly embarrassing fashion, such as slyly convincing us that, “Yes! Everyone at the soirée really WANTS to see me dancing on a table with a lamp shade on my head!” Of course, she lied, but that doesn’t come out until later, when one is already in the doghouse……

What, you might ask, does this have to do with the morning Pearl? Not a damn thing that I know of…. when I sat down to type, this is what came out….. Oh, it’s all true, though I believe it might have been a colander rather than a lamp shade…. I’m pretty sure I remember thinking (if what I do when deeply influenced by the Beast can be called such….) that the colander had a cool, spaceman look to it, which is why I wore it. But there is nothing from that night (a night whose memory, blurred as it is, I keep in the category of ~I-hoped-it-had-been-forgotten~….) that has anything to do with getting this Pearl finished. Or, rather, started….

I suppose it’s just another of the odd little mind-games I play with myself during this introductory section. Though it doesn’t have anything to do with creating a Pearl, one could say that it helped in the process, by giving me something to do for a beginning, even though it has absolutely no relation to anything remotely interesting. Of course, if you are the kind of reader who enjoys thinking of the author in embarrassing situations, well, then, I guess this is right up your alley…. Boy, and they call ME weird!

Regardless of why, or how, or even if, this intro section evolved into its present state, here it is, four paragraphs later, still trying to find the doorway into the diving area, so we can go find some pearls. Oh, wait, I see it now!…. Okay, we can now stop discussing this abysmal foray into weirdness, and get on with the day’s business…. Shall we Pearl?…..
___________________________________

“Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent,  hard-working, honest Americans.  It’s the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity.  But then–we elected them.” — Lily Tomlin

During the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, the true financial picture of humanity was drawn, with the ratio being 99% to 1%. It seems that Lily had noted this phenomenon somewhat earlier in time, using slightly different, but no less valid, figures of 98% to 2%. I think it would be safe to say that these two statements are equal, and pretty much describe accurately how society is structured, financially, and, as it turns out, morally….

That simple fact is what makes it so hard for me to accept what takes place in the public arena, without having to resort to ranting. Not that I mind ranting, far from it….. but it’s hard to accept the truth of the situation, because that truth is that people have actually CHOSEN to put themselves in the situation we have today. Actually, it is more accurate to say, it is due to the inaction of those who disagree with the politicians and corporate pirates; they get disgusted and don’t vote, so all the idiots who fall for the BS being flung around end up voting the thieves back into office, every time……

I mean, it’s not as if the truth isn’t out there to be found. Every day, people like me, and Jueseppi B., and 3hickspolitico, and a lot of other web sites, write the truth about what is being said in the public arena. We rant, and show, by way of incontrovertible recorded audio and video proof, that the talking heads are lying their butts off, and people just nod their heads and ignore it, preferring to bury their heads in the sand rather than accept the truth.

“If a million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.” — Anatole France

It is disheartening to say the least, when so many folks choose ignorance over truth; it is almost enough for me to wash my hands of it, and let them enjoy the fruits of their ignorant choices. Unfortunately, that means that I, too, must put up with the thieves who suck from the public tit, and that is not acceptable to me. I’m tired of having to look away, or ignore the latest outrage from that quarter, just to stay sane. SIGH….

Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife
Their sober wishes never learn’d to stray;
Along the cool sequester’d vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.
— Thomas Gray (1716-1771) — Elegy in a Country Churchyard, Stanza 19

But, so be it. Hating it, and complaining about it won’t make it go away…. all I can do is this. I write, time and time again, warning people of the crap they are putting up with, and show them how they are being used and abused by the beloved ruling classes. It’s probably just shouting into the wind, but since it is all I can do, I’ll keep doing it. After all, all you can do is all you can do….

“A police state is great, so long as you’re the police.” — Smart Bee
___________________________________

Okay, here is another “old-school” Pearl…. and yes, it makes a specific point. Read all of them, in order, and the message will be crystal clear…..

“The truth is that Christian theology, like every other theology, is not only opposed to the scientific spirit; it is also opposed to all other attempts at rational thinking. Not by accident does Genesis 3 make the father of knowledge a serpent- slimy, sneaking and abominable. Since the earliest days the church as an organization has thrown itself violently against every effort to liberate the body and mind of man. It has been, at all times and everywhere, the habitual and incorrigible defender of bad governments, bad laws, bad social theories, bad institutions. It was, for centuries, an apologist for slavery, as it was the apologist for the divine right of kings.” — H. L. Mencken

BIBLE : A bible is a book which one or more religions consider to be holy, and to be something that they should follow. It is of course generally rather impractical to follow books, not just because they  don’t often go anywhere, but also because they are not very good at public speaking, decision making, problem solving, or any of the other qualities recognized as being an advantage for leadership. A religion based around the teachings of any compilation of Toxic Custard would be very strange indeed. To subscribe to this new cult following, send $15 now. — Daniel Bowen’s TOXIC CUSTARPEDIA

“Angels, I read, belong to nine different orders. Seraphs are the highest; they are aflame with love for God; cherubs, who are second, possess perfect knowledge of him. So love is greater than knowledge; how could I have forgotten? The seraphs are born of a stream of fire issuing from under God’s throne… Moving perpetually toward God, they perpetually praise him, crying Holy, Holy, Holy… But, they can sing only the first ‘Holy’ before the intensity of their love ignites them again and dissolves them again, perpetually into flames. ‘Abandon everything,’ Dionysius the Areopagite told his disciple. ‘God despises ideas.’ — Annie Dillard, “Holy the Firm”

“Man has a single basic choice:  to think or not, and that is the measure of his virtue.  Moral perfection is an unbreached rationality — not the degree of your intelligence, but the full and relentless use of your mind, not the extent of your knowledge, but the acceptance of reason as an absolute.” — John Galt

“Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in their readiness to doubt.” — H. L. Mencken

“The sagacious reader who is capable of reading between these lines what does not stand written in them, but is nevertheless implied, will be able to form some conception.” — Goethe (1749-1832)  — Autobiography, Book xviii, Truth and Beauty

There you go…. I can’t make it any plainer than that…..
___________________________________

A Party Of Lovers

Pensive they sit, and roll their languid eyes,
Nibble their toast, and cool their tea with sighs,
Or else forget the purpose of the night,
Forget their tea — forget their appetite.
See with cross’d arms they sit — ah! happy crew,
The fire is going out and no one rings
For coals, and therefore no coals Betty brings.
A fly is in the milk-pot — must he die
By a humane society?
No, no; there Mr. Werter takes his spoon,
Inserts it, dips the handle, and lo! soon
The little straggler, sav’d from perils dark,
Across the teaboard draws a long wet mark.
Arise! take snuffers by the handle,
There’s a large cauliflower in each candle.
A winding-sheet, ah me! I must away
To No. 7, just beyond the circus gay.
‘Alas, my friend! your coat sits very well;
Where may your tailor live?’ ‘I may not tell.
O pardon me — I’m absent now and then.
Where might my tailor live? I say again
I cannot tell, let me no more be teaz’d —
He lives in Wapping, might live where he pleas’d.’

John Keats

Hmm…. it seems that young Mr. Keats also had issues with society…. but he sure could make it sound important! I like the ending especially, with its tongue firmly entrenched in his cheek….. Enjoy!
___________________________________

Often, reaching the end of a day’s work is a surprise, at least from a time-centered view. Nonetheless, I have done so again, and feel it would be best not to fuss with it any further. Knowing when to walk away is the most important skill we have, in a lot of ways…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!