Tag Archives: Epictetus

It’s just like the other one, mate…..

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Ffolkes,

Just once, I wish…. Shit! Duck!…. Get down, you bozos, this is live fire!…. Crap, who wasn’t paying attention to the perimeter alarms? Where’s my M-16? Thanks, keep your head down…. Oh, okay, Stan, no worries, we’ll check those later…. Damn, ffolkes, sorry ’bout this…. Stay behind the armored plating, & you’ll be fine….

We haven’t had an attack like this in months, since putting in the new digital cams on the perimeter…. Looks like they finally hacked them, or brought them down somehow; Stan says the monitors are dark…. Well, hang on, they never bring enough firepower; this should only take a few moments to drive them off….

Okay, good work, troops…. Ffolkes, you can go ahead and take your assigned seats now…. we’ll be taking off for the pearl beds in a few minutes…. Anybody sustain any injuries they can’t deal with using the first aid kit in the seat compartment? Good…. Stan, you’ll check the troops, please, to make sure they’re all intact? Thanks…. Me, I’ll get into the cockpit, and fire this sucker up….

Well, THAT was exciting, yes? Nothing like some adrenaline to get the juices moving, is there? My issue with that is the four hours it takes me to get over those little rushes that are our gift from our little supercharger gland…. It’s kind of fun, feeling ten feet tall and covered with armor, though it does take its toll later, when the crash comes at the end of the rush….

I prefer to have copious quantities of a preferred adult beverage on hand to consume, or some other merely semi-legal substance that will instigate the same sort mellowing process, with fewer side effects than the alcohol…. I guess my “spirits” are getting old; I know my liver is, for sure…. Can’t take those mornings after anymore….

Oh, that? Ah, don’t sweat the small stuff; this morning’s attack was actually a planned exercise; I don’t advertise them ahead of time, for a lot of reasons, the main one being security…. But, the forces that were firing at us, though using live ammo, would only have aimed to wound, not kill. The exercise is part of a mutual-assistance agreement I have with another libertarian down the street…. Once a month, unscheduled, we each mount a surprise attack on the other’s property, just to keep us each in tune, and give some practice to the shock troops who will be taking the brunt of any defensive casualties, as part of their contract….

Of course, all of the above paragraphs are a complete fabrication….. I don’t believe there are more than three or four words of truth in any of them, or all of them together, even though I padded them as much as possible…. What d’ya think, eh? Not too bad, and certainly not the average opening you’ll find anywhere else… I do try to find something new and fresh for y’all, and sometimes it works better than others, I’d say…. Whether or not THIS is one of those if for y’all to say….

Regardless of how it turned out, though, it IS an intro section, and, as such, there are certain regulations that must be observed…. Not that we pay all that much attention to them, but, we do observe them, from afar, with great admiration…. In spite of our lack of respect for those regulations, we do keep them in mind when composing this, even though WE are only ME; I just fall too easily into the royal ‘we’, so easily adopted when using the famous “sotto voce”…. as we do here, unashamedly, we admit, but, to great effect…. sort of…. To frequent effect, anyway….

Having thus used it, without the typical abuse that can follow, mostly, I believe I have reached the minimum limit of the aforementioned regulations, so, I’m going to summarily end this, hoping to go on to something a bit more entertaining…. I know, this wasn’t bad, but, I didn’t hear any outright guffaws, so, it needs a bit of work…. In the meantime….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Anyone who isn’t confused really doesn’t understand the situation.” — Edward R. Murrow

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

Any one of the following articles would, under most circumstances, be sufficient to produce a rant, if all things were equal…. At the moment, for a day or two, they are NOT equal…. Mother Nature is giving us a taste of how miserable the weather can be, and of how unpredictable it has become in these days prior to the completely chaotic time to come in the future, as the effects of global warming become more pronounced…. For now, She’s giving us a small heat wave, in May, with temps in the area threatening to hit triple digits….

Fortunately for me, the town I live in only expects to get into the mid-90’s, Fahrenheit, which isn’t too bad, but, given my decreased tolerance for heat, is more than enough to put me into a comatose state for much of the day, motionless in front of a fan on high speed…. I just can’t take it like I used to be able to do. Right now, it’s pretty nice outside, at a bit past 4 AM, but, the air is still, there’s no fog, as we usually see in summer, and it already feels muggy…. These are typically NOT good signs for the rest of the day; they tell me that HEAT is on its way….

As such, my energy levels are dropping dramatically, as I KNOW I’ll be needing it all to keep myself still, and cool, for much of the day, confining any physical activity to the morning, or late evening hours. I went to the bother of collecting these articles, so, I’m leaving them here, for you to peruse in your spare time; they’re scary enough all by themselves, even without my added commentary designed to bring out the obvious flaws or lies that you’ll see in them… especially the first one…

The two on either end are quite scary in their implications; the potential scenarios that have evolved, and those yet to formulate, from those issues, are NOT comforting, to say the least…. The one in the middle, on the FCC decision, is more encouraging, as it seems the noise we consumers made about it is having an effect on the officials involved…. YAY! It’s nice when so many people speak that they HAVE to listen….

But, I’m already tired, and sweaty, and it’s only 0423 in the morning, so, from this point, you’re on your own with these…. I WILL follow them with a five-star pearl to drive some of the points home, or, as in this case, to provide some contrasting information, in an ethical sense…. Enjoy this little taste of current events, please, or, at least, LISTEN UP….

http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/NASA-spots-worrisome-Antarctic-ice-sheet-melt-5471531.php?cmpid=hp-hc-nationworld

http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/2014/05/12/fcc-chair-said-to-be-backing-down-on-plan-to-destroy-net-neutrality/?cmpid=hp-hc-bustech

https://news.yahoo.com/spying-on-millions-of-americans-living-in-the–united-states-of-secrets-183952032.html

“Sanity is for the masses who don’t know how to handle insanity.” — Tim Sailer

“An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.” — Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915)

“The most common sort of lie is the one uttered to one’s self.” — Nietzsche

“The measure of man is what he does with power.” — Pittacus

“There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth: (1) not going all the way; and (2) not starting.” — Buddha

Ffolkes, I just can’t make it any clearer than that, without resorting to a rant….

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

Since this will be an entirely fresh Pearl today, I’d best go with a poem of my own, to save the reputation of anyone else I might choose….

Accentuated Lessons

Bold statements of calculated intent
Become common rule of the malcontent.
Avarice assumes such attractive wear
Beguiling deception, illusory and fair.

Grasping and pulling with ghostly hands
Legally proper in all the signatory lands.
Seeking and finding each vulnerable soul
Anguish as payment for exacting the toll.

Wraiths of commerce’s invisible dead guards
Still haunt the dreams left in sad empty yards.
While absentee nobles sit in stiffly elegant splendor
Served by sad-faced detainees in abject surrender.

Escape from reality is illusory at best
Often we falter and fail its daily test.
Only when focused on inner strength
Does peace stay with us for any length.

Peace lies within, always…..

~~ gigoid ~~


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

Having decided to forgo a rant today, that means this will be another old-school pearl…. Yes, I’m being nice today; I’m too hot & bothered to spend the energy to be a curmudgeon… Enjoy!….

“Apparently I’m insane. But I’m one of the happy kinds!” — John Young

“In a technological world where anything is possible, paranoia will  reign supreme.” — Stephen Crandall

“Never encourage Politicians, Fools, or Punsters!” — Smart Bee

“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” — Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

“Common and vulgar people ascribe all ill that they feel to others; people of little wisdom ascribe to themselves; people of much wisdom, to no one.” — Epictetus

” … for these truths hold good for everything that is, and not for some special genus apart from others.  And all men use them, because they are true of being qua being …  For a principle which everyone must have to understand anything that is, is not a hypothesis …  Evidently then, such a principle is the most certain of all; which principle this is, let us proceed to say. It is, that the same attribute cannot at the same time belong and not belong to the subject in the same respect.” — Aristotle

“All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning.” — Albert Camus

And sometimes, they end on that same silly note…..

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

After reading this, in editing/proofing mode, I think it would be best if I keep this closing section relatively short…. There’s too much in the above that could construed as legally actionable, or, at the very least, taken wrongly by those who find it hard to operate BOTH of their functional neurons at the same instant…. which is a clandestine insult those self-same few will never get, as it flies, serenely, right over their heads….

In any case, I heard an old saw once that says an author should always leave his audience wanting a bit more…. Unable to decide if I have reached that point, or not, I’ll concede its relevance, and just take my leave…. See you tomorrow, ffolkes….. if I don’t melt….

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

We’ve got two words for you, mister…. Puff Paste….

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Ffolkes,

I find myself immediately in White Rabbit mode this morning, having slept over eight hours again, not arising until AFTER the coffee machine had gone off at its pre-set time, a time I generally beat by a good hour each day. This morning, I find myself just beginning this process after 5 AM, which is VERY late, for me….

Ah well, such is life, at least, as we know it…. consistency is only present in Nature in predictable ways. The sun comes up pretty consistently, and there are a few other universal factors of existence, (Death, taxes, etc.), we can count on to happen on a regular basis like that. Otherwise, it’s a crap shoot, ffolkes, so most of us get used to not finding things exactly as we left them the last time we dealt with them….

We humans even have a word for that, to wit: entropy, which, loosely defined tells us, “Things fall apart”…. which phrase, by the way, is the title of a very good little book, by a young African author, named Chinua Achebe…. It is considered one of the best English language books about Africa, used in many colleges to exemplify the genre…

The story, about an Igbo tribesman in central Africa, is one that gives us a very good understanding of this principle, (entropy), and how it affects our lives, and our relationships with others in society, as we all try to cope with this basic flaw in the design of our universe…

Of course, it is only a flaw to our way of thinking…. None of the other inhabitants of this plane of existence seem to have a lot of trouble dealing with this particular aspect of reality; they just shrug their equivalent of shoulders, and soldier on, going on to whatever the next thing the universe presents to them for their perception, and their experience….

Not that the universe cares or anything, but, it does make it pretty well impossible to avoid dealing with the iconic forces of chaos, with glaring examples at every turn to remind us of how fragile is our perceptive model, and how often it must be amended with codicils or changes to our attitudes.

All of which, of course, has nothing at all to do with this Pearl…. it’s simply another attempt to draw your attention away from what we are doing here behind the curtain, and to give y’all good reason to come on in, settle down in one of our comfortable seats, order up an adult beverage, and say goodbye to irrationality, as we take off on another exploration of this planet and all its wonders…. I don’t think it would be wise to tell you how the plane runs, or where, exactly, it will take us…. all of that is subject to change at an instant’s notice, anyway…. This is CONSENSUAL REALITY, you know, not some cheap imitation…

That having been said, for what is is worth, (and no snickering from the back rows….), we’ll get on with this, to settle down the nerves of our White Rabbit, so he, too, may enjoy the ride….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Assess the advantages of taking advice, then structure your forces accordingly, to supplement extraordinary tactics. Forces are to be structured strategically, based on what is advantageous.” — Sun Tzu

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Following this instructive, ethically stimulating quote by Lazarus, which immediately follows this paragraph, you will find a discussion of ethics and/or morality, with a short little foray into religious philosophy, from the standpoint of my own personal philosophy, much of which is based on the concept(s) involved in understanding, and, equally importantly, accepting the principle whereof Lazarus speaks, to wit: “duty”. 

Making one’s chosen “duty” a part of one’s life demands a certain degree of honesty, as well as the courage to apply that honesty to one’s own actions, thereby accepting responsibility for them; this attitude is not one I have found to be common to the philosophies of any the religions I have studied….. When the discussion was first posted, no pearls were associated, until the end, but, this one is the perfect lead to what follows….

“Do not confuse ‘duty’ with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.” — Lazarus Long

From 2/12/13:

I am an asshole. A jerk. A prick. A foul-mouthed, misbegotten excuse for a human being…. I, as is true of virtually all seven billion of my peers on this planet, am nothing more than a hypocrite, deserving of eternal residence in the lowest pits of hell for my perfidy….. What, you might ask, prompted this viciously personal outburst of self-denigration? Well, let me tell you….

Most of us, at some point or another, sit down from time to time to think about our actions, those we are considering, and those we have acted out in the past, to get some perspective on how those actions have conformed to our ethical and moral beliefs. In other words, we sit in self-judgment; whether we do so to praise or to chastise doesn’t matter, ultimately, as long as it is an honest appraisal, and we do not flinch from owning up to our baseness where it is found…..

This is why I am forced to curse myself…. Because I’m not a Catholic,  or any other faith that espouses such mummery, (I don’t mean to pick on Catholics…. some of my best friends, etc…..  😆  ….. They’re just an example everyone recognizes, and can relate to as similar to their own….)….  Any who, because I’m not of that Tribe, I don’t have the luxury of confessing to a priest, who would then reassure me that I am still one of the Chosen Ones, and send me on my way having learned nothing but a false sense of entitlement.

I can’t just pass off what I may have done in my life to some faceless butthead in a dress, who, no doubt, has a great laugh at the expense of the penitent, when he and the other priests get together in the rectory for a few drinks, passing around all the latest tall tales and outtakes from the confessional booth…..

I consider myself to be a morally upright person, and hope that my actions reflect that. But, I know for certain that, like every other human being who ever lived, I don’t always live up to those moral beliefs, and fall from grace on occasion…. If I were a less honest man, I’d say that there were mitigating, or at least explanatory reasons for my failures to hold to my own standards, but, if I tried that, my Dad would kick my ass from now until Thursday the next time I see him, so I’m not going to take that chance…. I take full responsibility for my actions, base and cruel as they were, and no one can hold me in lower regard than I do….

I had considered using this venue as a confessional, to air out my transgressions on the stage of reality, but, I don’t think that would be any more ethical than confessing to a priest…. Confession may make a difference to the penitent, by absolving him/her from any lingering guilt that could adversely affect them (i.e., they feel better about themselves after receiving absolution…), but, in truth, it doesn’t mean a damn thing, as nothing is done to balance the scale, in a karmic sense, especially for whatever creature or person that was the victim of the cruelty. The only act that would mean anything would be for the perpetrator to use the experience to motivate them to two things….

One, to try to repair whatever hurt or pain they have caused another creature…. man, animal, doesn’t matter…. They don’t deserve to be victimized, no matter their form, and ALL one can do, to fix any harm they have caused, is the least they should do….

Second, use the experience as motivation to make a change in themselves, to act with greater understanding, greater compassion, and greater control over themselves and their feelings…. which is what guilt is all about, right?….

The difference is that, when one confesses to a priest, and receives absolution, there is no motivation to make any changes in their actions…. They know none is necessary, since they can relieve themselves of any guilt they may feel by confessing…. so, why bother?

On the other hand, when one assumes the responsibility for their own actions, the guilt doesn’t go away…. I will never forgive myself for some of the things that I’ve done in my life (nor will I share them in any attempt to gain forgiveness from anyone else…. it’s none of their fucking business….)

(Besides, that whole confessional thing just sounds too much like a blackmail scheme…. the people who confess are sure putting their fate trustingly into the hands of those priests, aren’t they?). That simple fact is what keeps me from falling into the same ethical trap I did when I lost my cool, and acted without thinking,  or took my feelings out on innocent bystanders….. Not going to happen again, a sentiment which, I’m sure, is NOT what you can expect from any religicos after confession….

You will note that there are no pearls associated with this discussion…. That’s because I am such an asshole, none were needed to stimulate me into spilling my guts, so to speak…. Besides, I couldn’t find a proper pearl for the beginning of such a somber subject by the time I was ready to write about it…. But, Murphy must have liked the way I dissed myself, because, hunting for an appropriate closer, afterward, I found these two, which, together, make a grand finishing touch for this subject…. Think of them as bookends….

“Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that’s right is to get by, and the only thing that’s wrong is to get caught.” — J. C. Watts

Boy, that hits the nail on the head, doesn’t it?…..    I’ve got these two quotes reversed in the order in which they make the most sense, but, given the state of things here, that isn’t surprising, is it?…. This is the one that probably should go at the front of this piece, so, just put it there in your mind, okay? Thanks….. (Note from 2014: Actually, you may, or even should, ignore all of these final comments on the care and placement of pearls, as they are currently out of context, all because the pearl that now graces the front of this discussion is so perfectly suitable….)

“We tell lies when we are afraid, . . . afraid of what we don’t know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us. But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger.” — Tad Williams, Spoken by Dr. Morgenes, To Green Angel Tower (part of — Memory, Sorrow and Thorn)

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

Again, to save others from embarrassment or guilt by association, here is another of my old poems, which, sort of, fits in with today’s elusive theme….

Fine and Good, Good and Fine

A pig in a poke’s got nothing on me,
cuz I’m as confused as a man can be.
This ol’ world’s got me spinnin’ around
cussin’ and spittin’, a penny for a pound.

Forty ‘leven times since I was a kid, well,
I’ve fallen in love, ‘least too close to tell.
Every damn time, it all went to crap,
Forty ‘leven times I’ve felt like a sap.

‘Course, each time it happens, I forget the last;
why not? I’m havin’ such a blast….
Livin’ in each moment, filled with joie de vivre,
’til it’s all gone away again, nothin’ left up my sleeve.

Don’t want y’all to think I’m sad or blue,
life’s full of sorrow, lots for me, and/or you..
T’other side of that coin, we can be glad,
is joyful love, and that ain’t at all bad.

My road’s been littered with parts o’my heart,
each one colored with trust, which ain’t always smart.
Yet, long as I don’t lose my connection to joy,
I’ll find my own true love, and be a happy boy.

It’s been some kinda fun, even when I’d take a fall,
and doin’ it over makes no sense at all, at all
Day after day, I keep on keepin’ on, as it’s said;
Guess I’ll keep on doin’ that ’til I’m dead.

‘Nuff said….

~~ gigoid ~~

….with tongue lodged firmly in cheek….


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

Most days, even if running this late, I would put an old-school pearl here, just to maintain the structure for these Pearls that I think works the best…. Today, though, I just happen to have an archived pearl, somewhat old school, lifted from a Pearl posted back in ‘Aught Twelve’…. I think it’s pretty good, and so do you….

From 10/21/12:

I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.

— Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) — Just So Stories (1902) “The Elephant’s Child”

I first read the phrase “feeding the Elephant’s Child” in a Robert Heinlein novel, many years ago, and enjoyed it as a metaphor for reading/learning, before I knew from whence it originally came. Once I did know (a moment of illumination whose exact placement in time is hazy….), I liked it even more, from an aesthetic standpoint.

The above little ditty, from our old friend Rudyard, is brilliant doggerel, astute observation, and deep insight, all presented in a simple, straightforward style, with a powerful, basic lesson for any would-be philosopher, or any one who wishes to encompass reason as their modus operandi, so to speak. Besides which, I find that another piece of Bob’s advice fits well with this one, to wit: “Life tastes better in big bites….”

“Never wear anything that panics the cat.” — P. J. O’Rourke

I like this, a lot. It summarizes perhaps one of the most elemental rules of getting along in the Universe, in essence saying, “You can learn a lot by watching what happens around you…” It is the perfect companion to the concept of learning as presented above, as it contrives to speak to both sides of Reality, i.e., how you approach reality (the clothing you choose to show to the cat….) and how reality will change to react to your approach (the cat’s opinion of your clothing….)

It also gives one a subtle warning about how the wrong clothing can produce unwanted consequences, and we all know how an offended cat is likely to respond…. as Mark Twain once remarked…. “A man who carries a cat by the tail is learning valuable things. He will never again be dim or doubtful. Chances are he’ll not carry the cat that way again, but, I say, if he wants to, let him!”  You can’t say fairer than that….

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought.” — Buddha

One can always trust the Buddha to state the most profound thoughts in the simplest way…. I often wonder how he came to such a complete understanding of Murphy, whose presence is acknowledged in all of what the Buddha stated, but whose ministrations seem to have passed by the Buddha’s existence…. either that, or Murphy shows him a lot more respect than he does anyone else alive.

At times, it seems that what the Buddha states, such as in this statement, is, in at least one respect, an answer to a question that is raised when Murphy intervenes in our lives…. in simpler words, he explains why Murphy is able to affect us as he does, by cutting through the bullshite we perceive, to the truth of what is real….. SIGH…. one of these days, enlightenment will slap me upside the head, and I’ll be able to see Murphy coming…. I hope…

There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.” — Bob Dylan

Often I feel as if not only is life a joke, but it is our duty and purpose on this plane of existence to codify that joke, to put it down on paper, or on screen/disc, to free ourselves from the prison of sobriety, achieving an understanding that everything in this silly universe is here for our amusement, and we have been taking it, and ourselves, seriously for entirely too long…..

So seriously, we have begun to offend those parts of the universe that just want us to relax and enjoy ourselves, and the time is growing nearer when we will have to admit that the joke is on us, for not being able to change our inner selves enough to be able to handle the humor of our situation…. See, the universe thinks death is funny…. not because it is cruel, but because death is just another part of life, and it doesn’t care about one more than the other…. See, now, isn’t it funny how you never noticed that?…..

I once read a science fiction novel, whose title and author escape me completely; in all it was very poorly written, with prose that did not live up to the good ideas contained in the plot line. However, it was a great plot line, in all….Specifically, there was one chapter I liked, which had a super-genius taking on the task of finding the solution to a mathematical treatise, an equation so complex and advanced that no civilization in the galaxy had ever been able to completely solve it.

The genius/hero of the book shut himself up in his room for three weeks, working on the problem. At the end, he was thinking so hard he entered a trance-like state, computing while nearly dead…. after a week of this, he suddenly opened his eyes, gave a look of astonishment, and burst into uncontrollable laughter for approximately 25 minutes. When he could finally control himself, he simply said, “It’s a joke….” and would never discuss it again….

In a pearl such as this one has grown to be, there comes a time when I have to decide whether to continue on, to try to reach the conclusion that was nebulously hovering somewhere in my mind as I began, or to admit that I have once again wandered into uncharted territory, and might find it a bit tricky to find my way back to clarity.

This is that time…. and I’m leaving it up to Smart Bee, as always…. If I don’t find a proper pearl to carry on the tenuous chain of thought I’ve created, then we’ll take the first one that will appropriately wrap it up as a lost cause….. all within a specified number of attempts…. so, here we go… You’ll know in a moment what will happen….

“In a word, neither death, nor exile, nor pain, nor anything of this kind is the real cause of our doing or not doing any action, but our inward opinions and principles.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Discourses, Book i, Chap xi

There, see?…. That didn’t take long at all…. and I managed to find the perfect pearl to cover both bases…. In this case, we will use it as an ending quote, since it sort of summarizes a lot of the discussion, after a fashion. It could conceivably also be used as a springboard for further discussion, but this has gone on long enough, and I wouldn’t want to lose anybody due to an injudicious application of excess verbiage, culminating in tedium…. Of course, we may have reached that point some time ago, but, hey, who’s counting?…. Any who, I hope you enjoyed this little foray into not very much….

🙂

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

I have no excuses, nor apologies, at all…. I have succumbed to the dictates of chosen duty, and done the best I can do to make this an acceptable member of a long line of decently written outbursts of personal angst.

Personally, I think it’s not bad, but, I’m probably not the most appropriate judge of that…. and since nobody has suggested I cease and desist, I’ll keep on keepin’ on, for as long as the impulse to write remains strong and fresh….

Y’all can take that any way you like, as either a promise, or a threat…. either way, it’s true, and I’m outta here for another day…. See ya, ffolkes….

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

Twisted versions of classical toilet accessories….

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Ffolkes,

I’m thinking the old saw about “Early to bed”, etc., is either a crock, designed purely to force dogmatic prejudices upon unwilling members of religious flocks, back when the preachers were not quite so thoroughly entrenched as the teachers of morality for our species, OR, it’s a typo rooted in being misheard….

I think the actual statement originally went “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man wealthy and wealthy, but not very wise.” To my way of thinking, this makes a LOT more sense, from a quality of life standpoint….. The other way is just how the preachers and snakeheads WANT you to believe, as it gives THEM the power over you they crave….

You see, they’re the ones who reap the benefit when you get up early, work hard, & go to bed, all without ever trying to use the brain you were given at birth…. These manipulators, the dogma-bearers and the snakeheads who reap the benefit of all your hard work, will tell you anything at all, without any reference to truth or reality, as long as it will get y’all to do what they want, which is to accept their words as truth, & to do as they say, not as they do….

What amazes me the most about this system is that it WORKS AT ALL! How can anyone, anyone with a brain, one that has more than three functioning neurons, allow themselves to believe such bullshit, just because they were told it was true when they were so young they knew no better than to accept what they were told by an elder…

“Children are to be won to follow liberal studies by exhortations and rational motives, and on no account to be forced thereto by whipping.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of the Training of Children

As long as people allow the corporate snakeheads, so ably assisted by the dogma-dogs, who have been manipulating mankind right along with the money-lenders since we first lived indoors, to fill our heads with bullshit like this, the world will never change, not in any way that will help you and me….. In our world, as it exists today, only the shadowy corporate slave masters ultimately benefit from what happens in the world at large….

I’m not sure what prompted this mini-rant here in the intro, but, it’s all true, so I’m going to not worry about it, and just get on with today’s program, such as it may be…. The above paragraphs MAY be the leftovers from the rant below, much of which was written yesterday afternoon, when I first saw the article in question…. It got me going pretty good, so, this is probably the consequence of the remaining bit of angst from that episode, that drove me to such depths of passion….

So be it…. it’s a good thing, I think, to use our minds first thing upon awakening….. The shock brings us out of sleep mode rapidly, and I’m pretty sure it adds to the clarity of expression that we are seeing. Hope springs eternal….

Regardless of all that, it’s done, and done well enough we can go on without any lingering guilt or resentment for having to contort ourselves unfashionably to create an opening section….. Not bad for an old fart with flat feet, frequent flatulence, & a startlingly bad attitude, all housed in a frail, broken old body, that strangely resembles a Frisbee-toting, card-carrying denizen of the wilds of Berzerkeley, as they looked back in the old days, when hippies roamed free upon the land…. The grey hair down to my waist, thin as it may be, is a dead giveaway, isn’t it?

Shall we Pearl?…..

And here, poor fool, with all my lore
I stand no wiser than before.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

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“In God We Trust.”  I don’t believe it would sound any better if it were true.” — Mark Twain

Boy, it sure wouldn’t, would it? But, you can add that particular phrase (“In God….”, etc.) to all the others coined by the snakeheads, and the BRC, to justify their social interactions, all of which serve THEIR ends, not yours…. Having the populace believe the above makes for a very easily manipulated group of people, all of whom are primed to believe whatever they’re told, by someone on TV wearing a suit with a flag pin, or up in the pulpit….

Now we’re supposed to believe them when they talk to us about spying, and lying, and generally being the assholes they cannot help but be…. ( Hmm, a bit awkwardly phrased, but you get my drift, right?…)

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Senate-committee-OKs-release-of-CIA-torture-report-5375716.php

Following this line, in summary of the most critical of the information contained therein, I have copied an excerpt from the above article, a brilliantly obscure statement of compliance (?), kinda sorta, from some guy who works at the CIA. That critical excerpt, taken directly from the above, is this:

“CIA spokesman Dean Boyd said his agency would “carry out the review expeditiously,” but suggested the process may be difficult.”We owe it to the men and women directed to carry out this program to try and ensure that any historical account of it is accurate,” Boyd said….”

That’s right, that’s what he said, right out there in public, where it was recorded by numerous reporters…. This person, this… Boyd person, is the mouthpiece spokesman for the CIA, an agency whose very existence, (its raison d’etre, its excuse for being part of our world at all), is to provide intelligence (in the form of information, a task that does not necessarily require significant levels of IQ in its operatives…. Flexible morality, yes, but, not IQ points….) from outside the borders of the USA, by inhabiting, and exploiting, the world of shadow, the battlefield of covert operations in other countries, using techniques and methods of operation based on illusion, misdirection, misinformation, and lies…. This is common knowledge, and not subject to debate…. look it up in their charter documents….

This Boyd person, and I use the term loosely, by making this statement, obviously expects us to believe that his agency, whose very existence is rooted in lies and the spread of misinformation, is ready, and willing to give us, or anyone else, an ACCURATE picture of what they’ve been up to? I don’t know about y’all, but, I’m insulted….

In fact, I can’t recall at the moment anything more egregiously untrue, or as insulting, since Nixon’s “I am not a crook!” back in the 70’s…. Or, maybe, Shrub, Senior’s “Read my lips… no new taxes.”….. Since the sheer illegitimacy of both of those statements has long been a forgone conclusion, no longer a matter of debate, I’d say it’s a fair assessment to make of this particular little piece of verbal bullshit…

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Cuban-Twitter-heads-to-hearings-in-Congress-5375669.php

Then, searching further among the headlines of BS we are supposed to buy into, we come to the LATEST of the clandestine shenanigans our beloved Barry, and his “transparent administration” has been up to in the last few years….

Without bothering to actually TELL anyone, some government lackeys, encouraged by the “Arab Dawn” phenomenon in the Middle East, an event whose roots were nourished by the social networking capabilities of Twitter and Instant Messaging technology, decided to attempt to foment rebellion in Cuba among the youth of that country, by deliberately setting up a social network of their own, using it to not only encourage dissent, but, also, (they like to multi-task…) to gather information about the users in Cuba…

Well, I’m shocked…. just shocked, I tell you…. What a surprise, eh? To think that our Beloved Ruling Class here in America, land of the FREE (white Christian minority) would stoop to such egregiously deceitful and deliberate influencing of public sentiment to further their own interests, why it just makes me feel so….  slimed…. Which is how the Cubans must have felt when they found out it was all a sham…

Boy, there’s sure nothing like going around the world making new friends and influencing people, right?…. Christ on a crutch, what the fuck were they thinking? Have these assholes become so blinded by their own sense of entitlement they can’t see just how STUPID that is? Apparently not, which is what will come out, I think, in these hearings…. More stupidity, that is….

It’s all a big clusterfuck, just another example of entitlement gone wild and crazy, making the pundits and elected assholes at every level believe they can be as stupidly obvious about their self-serving avarice as they wish, and nobody will ever care, or catch them at it…. which is a concept, given today’s world, that is not only easily seen as more than just a little stupid, it approaches the level of severe mental retardation…. Having spent a lot of time, (3+ years), taking care of people whose average IQ hovered around 4, I can testify that this sort of belief is about the only sort of which they are capable…..

They’re all a bunch of smarmy, self-serving, avaricious assholes…. and THAT, my friends, is me being NICE!….. I merely used a bit of vitriol, with only one questionably unwarranted word of insult…. I COULD have been extremely nasty, turning viciously vulgar, without breaking a sweat, or becoming at all disconcerted…. Yep, I could have said, fuck them all, really hard, right in the ass, (unless, of course, they LIKE that….); then, kick their sorry asses right down to the lowest levels of the hell they so richly deserve…. but, I won’t say that….

gigoid, the dubious, has spoken.  So be it….

“…. I’m IMAGINING a sensuous GIRAFFE, CAVORTING in the BACK ROOM of a KOSHER DELI –” — Zippy the Pinhead

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Today is another day with mostly fresh material…. which means I’ll need to use another of my old poems, to protect the innocent… Here is one I wrote last December; obviously, I had the above rant in mind, or one like it….

Accentuated Lessons

Bold statements of calculated intent
Become common rule of the malcontent.
Avarice assumes such attractive wear
Beguiling deception, illusory and fair.

Grasping and pulling with ghostly hands
Legally proper in all the signatory lands.
Seeking and finding each vulnerable soul
Anguish as payment for exacting the toll.

Wraiths of commerce’s invisible dead guards
Still haunt the dreams left in sad empty yards.
While absentee nobles sit in stiffly elegant splendor
Served by sad-faced detainees in abject surrender.

Escape from reality is illusory at best
Often we falter and fail its daily test.
Only when focused on inner strength
Does peace stay with us for any length.

Peace lies within, always…..

~~ gigoid ~~


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I’ve ranted, twice, if you want to be picky, and found a poem to fit in with the rest…. Y’all know what that means, don’t you? Yep, it’s time for an old school pearl…. Some might say it’s about damn time, too…. Let’s see if SB can do it all by itself today…. All I’ll do is push the buttons…. Enjoy!

“It also seems to me that the rudest word, the rudest letter are still more  benign, more decent than silence.  Those who remain silent are almost always  lacking in delicacy and courtesy of the heart.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“People are divided into two groups – the righteous and the unrighteous – and the righteous do the dividing.” — Lord Cohen

“Aren’t you beginning to feel time gaining on you? It’s like a predator. It’s stalking you. You can try to outrun it with doctors, medicines… new technologies. But in the end, time is going to hunt you down – and make the kill.” — Soran, Star Trek, Generations

“A wise man first determines what is within his control; all else is then irrelevant.” — Epictetus

“It was not for nothing that the raven was just now croaking on my left hand.” — Plautus (254-184 BC) — Aulularia, Act iv, Sc. 3, 1, (624.)

“The nobler a man, the harder it is for him to suspect inferiority in others.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero

“He knows not when to be silent who knows not when to speak. — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 930

I, having learned to do both, shall now be silent….

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I’m impressed…. Yes, even I have to admit this one is pretty decent, as well as one of the smoothest ever, in terms of how well it went onto the screen…. I’m not going to tempt our old pal Murphy by trying to continue to write any further, but will use a variation of method #4 to bring this to a screeching halt…. See y’all mañana, ffolkes…..

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

Softer explosions seem to be our only option….

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Ffolkes,

It’s odd, getting enough sleep….. It is, sadly, an event that has been mostly absent from my life for years, and I thought I’d learned to do without it…. which is what we humans do when we give up fighting against our fate, becoming resigned to whatever it is we have in life that brings us our own brand of pain and/or misery….. We reach a point where the effort to mitigate our lot, becomes more painful than simply enduring, whatever it may be that troubles us…. It isn’t particularly the most logical, or most effective method we have of dealing with life, but, it certainly can be described as typically human….

Since my humanity is no longer in question, I suppose I’d best turn my hand to putting some pizazz into this introduction…. Yesterday, as you know if you stopped by, I went with a fictional opening comprised of a series of nonsense statements tenuously connected to each other by dubious associations and/or completely oppositional connective linguistic methodology…. You know….  gibberish, as it used to be called back in the day, on the streets…. You know me, I’m not afraid to stuff conventional English in the dumpster, and set off into the wilds of illogic and/or irreverence…. As long as what I’m saying comes across with the correct message, I’m good with however it looks, or sounds, for that matter….

That being said, it still doesn’t get this one done…. Of course, I’ve now blathered for going on three paragraphs, which is NEARLY enough to call complete, but, I don’t believe that’s going to quite fill the bill, even with the prior dispensation certificate I managed to score from the last Inspector who came by….. The whole lobby was torn apart, and we had to operate all day without any bladder-relief facilities closer than two blocks away, at the neighborhood gas station/mini-mart, so I think he felt sorry for us…. I don’t care, I’ve got the certificate in hand, and I think we might have to use it today, if I can’t think of anything else to do….

Oh, wait, I don’t have to do that…. I can use Emergency Technique #4, I forgot…. Okay, we’ll go with that for now…. I know, it’s not my favorite either, but, it ALWAYS works to get the intro section done in a timely fashion…. Therefore….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“To stay young requires unceasing cultivation of the ability to unlearn old falsehoods.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”
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“If Patrick Henry thought that taxation without representation was bad, he should see how bad it is WITH representation.” — Smart Bee

http://www.sfgate.com/business/technology/article/Obama-to-propose-ending-NSA-s-phone-call-sweep-5345715.php

So…. I’m feeling GOOD! (Odd, but true….) Shall we rant?…..

If I’m to believe this article’s headline, Barry says he wants the NSA to stop being bad boys, and play nice with the rest of us….. I believe I’ll wait to see if any of this really happens before I break out the champagne…. This president, I’m sorry to say, has developed a particularly nasty habit, over the course of his time in office, of playing fast and loose with the truth, a tendency which, when observed in the past, in EVERY other psychopathic resident of his position, only becomes worse the longer the perpetrators believe they’re getting away with it…. When action is overdue, talk is cheap…

Due to my intense disappointment in his actions thus far during his administration, I’ll save my trust for later, when… no, IF I see ANY of his statements come to pass, in truth…. If, as I suspect, all goes according to historical example, we’ll see some superficial posturing by the White House pundits, that might eventually get around to SUGGESTING some changes that should be made….. But, none will actually occur in reality, and any real discussion will get bogged down in committee…. Meantime, the media will find some other outrageous issue to distract them from ever following up to see if anything happens along the lines of actual reform…

Now I’ll finish reading the article, & see how my prediction fared…. Ah, I see now…. Upon reading it through to the end, I came across the key phrase, the one indicating the real strategy behind the White House announcement…. to wit: “The president’s plan, however, relies on Congress to pass legislation — something that has so far seemed unlikely.”

Immediately upon reading this, my crap detector went off, with a loud “AHA!”, (inadvertently sending the cat flying across the room to hide in the plants, thinking I was about to come after her for something she did, no doubt…. she has a guilty conscience, I’m sure…. Right….. I’d believe that…. if I believed she had one at all….), when I realized I knew, now, just WHY Barry is adopting this stance, at least, if you believe what he says here…. which, understandably, I’m  now having a hard time doing….

If he just leaves it up to Congress, it’s a foregone conclusion nothing will be done ….. Not by THIS one…. The current Congress has been, for the last three years, at least, the absolute worst one, EVER, for getting anything actually DONE…. This includes ALL of the past elections of congress we’ve seen in our history… I shit you not, this Congress has passed fewer laws, and had fewer bills presented at all, than ANY previous sitting of that august body, by a factor of about 8….. They’re determined to be known as the newest holder of the title of “Do-Nothing Congress”, formerly held by one in the early, or late, 20th century, I believe….

(Side note: This, of course, can be attributed to the Republican majority in the House of Representatives…. The party’s pundits, all older, white, Christian conservatives, determined, and stated in public, soon after Obama was elected, that their entire focus for the time he is in office would be to ensure that NONE of his legislative reforms ever took place, or made it into law…. It didn’t matter to them whether or not any of his programs would actually HELP the citizenry they represent; they were determined to undermine every reform he attempted….

For the most part, they’ve been successful in allowing NOTHING, or, nothing much, anyway, to get done…. all because of their unstated, but obvious, bigoted fear of the black man in the White House, an affront to their sense of Caucasian entitlement, not to mention the severe blow to their sense of reality…. They hadn’t even noticed when they ceased to be the majority in the real world….)

After reading the entire article, I find my prediction confirmed…. This announcement is just another stall tactic, one designed to give the impression to the public that something is happening, when nothing actually IS happening, or GOING to happen, other than business as usual for the spy agencies, who have continued ALL of the activities of espionage they are accused of carrying out…. The government has absolutely no intention of giving up their new toys, and they will continue to lie their little faces off to keep that from becoming public knowledge….

The NSA is STILL spying on the citizens of every nation of the whole world, including their own citizens, without ever having actually slowed down, or ceased ANY of the programs they’ve begun…. If you actually believe it when they tell you they have, well, then, you deserve to have them in your face…. Sorry, ffolkes, but, it’s just plain STUPID to believe these people are going to tell us ANYTHING they don’t WANT us to know….

Oh, every once in a while, we’ll see in the news they’ve sent one of their lackeys chiefs to Congress to discuss issues, or make statements, none of which actually address anything relevant…. they’re just making more smoke….. In the process, nothing is actually being done to stop them at all, not by Congress, not by the Courts, and certainly not by the White House…. No, it’s all just smoke, ffolkes, sent up to get in your eyes, trying to make you think they’re listening to your concerns…..

Right…. sure they are….. I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you, but, to these myrmidons of the shadowy corporate masters, your concerns are something to be used against you, to fan your fears of the “unknown other”, while simultaneously listening to your every spoken word over the airwaves…. Whatever they tell you they aren’t doing, or can’t do…. well, ffolkes, the smart money says they are not only capable of everything we suspect of them, but are already beyond that level, and are capable of far worse…. Count on it…. Not only are they lying about what they are doing, they are lying about what they CAN do…. which we will ONLY find out when we find the police at our door…..

Think about it, ffolkes!….. When you break down the walls between yourself and the truth, and really THINK about their purpose, the bottom line concept of their given task as spies, LYING, especially about what they are doing in the dark, away from the public eye, is an important part of their JOB!…. And, guess what? They’re good at it….

I hate to be such a curmudgeon about all of this, but, the evidence just keeps pushing me back into that mode, pissed off and ready to start picking off real targets, instead of merely suggesting them…. If you couldn’t tell, I think I pissed myself off…. I’d better go now, before I get REALLY worked up, and can’t find my way out of this rant…..

“A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.” — Eisenhower, First Inaugural Address January 20, 1953

“I don’t mind being in touch with reality, as long as I don’t have to live there.” — Smart Bee, channeling gigoid again
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This poem is a new one to me, though I’ve heard of this poet…. I like it, if for no other reason than it rhymes well…. Since my pleasure is the only real requirement necessary for inclusion…. Enjoy!…..

A Grain Of Sand

If starry space no limit knows
And sun succeeds to sun,
There is no reason to suppose
Our earth the only one.
‘Mid countless constellations cast
A million worlds may be,
With each a God to bless or blast
And steer to destiny.

Just think! A million gods or so
To guide each vital stream,
With over all to boss the show
A Deity supreme.
Such magnitudes oppress my mind;
From cosmic space it swings;
So ultimately glad to find
Relief in little things.

For look! Within my hollow hand,
While round the earth careens,
I hold a single grain of sand
And wonder what it means.
Ah! If I had the eyes to see,
And brain to understand,
I think Life’s mystery might be
Solved in this grain of sand.

~~ Robert William Service ~~

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Many mornings around here I try to vary our usual routine, as much as possible, lest it become stale, or begin to decay, thus becoming difficult to use due to the smell…. Today, I’ve stuck to the norm, so far as there is one, so it becomes obvious that here will be an old-school pearl, because that’s the way we do it…. No other reason would do as well, so it’s fortunate we have it, now, isn’t it? You bet….

I can’t yet say that I know what the parameters might be…. I’ve managed to get this far into this Pearl without really waking up fully, or achieving anything resembling a normal train of thought…. Much of the above rant was composed yesterday, when I first found the article; this morning all I had to do was punch it up, and add my newer thoughts and comments…. Of course, we NEVER DO board any train of thought without first having gone well beyond the boundaries of decency, so, what the hell…. I’m going for it….. Wish me luck, I think I might need it more than I’d hoped….

“I’m a GENIUS!  I want to dispute sentence structure with SUSAN SONTAG!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

“The materials of action are variable, but the use we make of them should be constant.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — How Nobleness of Mind may be consistent with Prudence, — Discourses, Book ii, Chap. v

“A man with a watch knows what time it is.  A man with two watches is never sure.” — Segall’s Law

“The voice of protest, of warning, of appeal is never more needed than when the clamor of fife and drum, echoed by the press and too often by the pulpit, is bidding all men fall in step and obey in silence the tyrannous word of command. Then, more than ever, it is the duty of the good citizen not to be silent.” — Charles Eliot Norton, True Patriotism, 1898

” When two tigers fight, one is certain to be maimed, and one to die.” — Master Funakoshi

“The wise man learns more from his enemies than a fool does from his friends.” — Chinese Proverb

“He that plants thorns must never expect to gather roses.” — Pilpay (or Bidpai) — The Ignorant Physician, Chap. iii, Fable viii

Hmm…. parameters or not, this came out rather well, I think…. Time will tell, I suppose, as it always does….
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Having thus disposed of another day’s worth of built up mental dross, thus lending strength to the street definition of “mental”, I shall bring this to a graceful, elegant close, with the sincere hope that nobody received any injuries that need treatment, or undue, excessive blotches on their clothing…. sarcasm can be hard to wash out….

I trust anyone who DOES have a complaint will take it up with the local authorities…. Tell them, this time, send a bigger constable…. my garden needs fertilizer…. See ya tomorrow, ffolkes, provided I haven’t offended anyone official….

In my defense, I do try to stick to the verifiable truth, so, if they wish to see themselves in what I write, well…. so be it… gigoid has spoken, again… Ta then….

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

Sifting through arbitrarily discarded feathers……

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Ffolkes,

While attending the unveiling of the newest polynomial bathysphere, I noticed a very fine example of meritoriously painted perfluffle, which I took as an indication of the ever-expanding influence of the Veil of Langerhans, prior to manifestation of any attendant mystery. Why that should have prevented us from getting to the Governor’s palace for tea will always be a bone of contention for the participants, even though several gratuitously engendered therapy sessions were severely instrumental in ensuring there would be no effluence before its time. All such diploid expenditures in the arena create insidiously small ripples in the futures market, otherwise the Minister of Ducks is required to intervene, lest there be any breakout of empathy ordered erroneously, or, for that matter, secular bread balls in aspic….

Whew! I feel better now….. So would you, if you had to get THAT sort of thing out of your head, prior to any real work getting accomplished. Since the alternative has been known to cause seriously dangerous wobbles in space/time, it’s just as well I got it out, don’t you agree? Well, whether you do, or not, is immaterial in the final analysis, because, hey, it’s a done deal…. We’re already here, in the SECOND paragraph, where we are legally free to make any and all assertions, evidenced or not, without any fear of retribution from any legal sources…. Of course, it doesn’t preclude a reaction from illegal sources, but the 12-gauge Winchester over & under we keep under the table always comes in real handy in those cases….

In case it isn’t clear yet, I’m sitting a bit on the odd side of my chair, having been unceremoniously awakened at 0144 by the resident furry asshole, who proceeded to get me up, & then disappear altogether, leaving me weeping in my chair…. I have no idea why the weeping is taking place; a leftover gift from my PTSD, no doubt…. But, sitting in one’s chair, weeping without reason, at 2 AM is NOT my idea of a restful night, especially when I stayed up as late as I could, so I could sleep in a bit….. I should know better than to make plans, shouldn’t I?…..

Anger, frustration, and emotional lability thus conspire to cause me intentional harm, thus miserablizing my morning (Wait…. is that a word? Spell Check doesn’t like it, but, I do…. I think it’s a great new word…. If people can make a verb out of the noun, such as when the word “impact” became “impacted” (which always puts a picture of a really constipated guy in my head….), why should it be wrong for me to make one out of an adjective? All this, of course, thus pushed my attitude, and the day, beyond any hope of redemption, save that which comes from fulfilling a duty….  Hence, paragraph one….

I know, it’s probably more than just a little bit odd, to require such a complicated method for relieving angst that occurs naturally; I could, no doubt, find a simpler, more effective way to get this stuff out of my head, without feeling the need to subject the rest of the world to my weirdness. But, what fun would THAT be? None at all…. So, I do what I do, and to hell with the consequences…. To hell, as well, with anyone’s ill will for doing so…. We have this great idea here in America, called “choice”…. and they can always choose to read somewhere else, if they can’t take the heat around here….

As long as we are all allowed to make our own choices in such matters, without undue influence from our beloved ruling class, we have a chance at being fairly happy on this old ball of mud…. Of course, they’re never going to allow that, not OUR BRC….. They’ve much too long of a history of never doing so, to ever think they’ll change…..But, hey, we have hopes…. Unreasonable, and with poor odds in favor of ever coming to fruition, but, we do have them…. Which is, in and of itself, an encouraging note, I suppose…. On that note….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Man is the only one that knows nothing, that can learn nothing without being taught. He can neither speak nor walk nor eat, and in short he can do nothing at the prompting of nature only, but weep.” — Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD) — Natural History, Book vii, Sect. 4
_____________________________

Since I’m up so early, I’m going to fool around a bit before getting serious (if that ever DOES happen today, be sure to make a note of it, in case I need the evidence later, for the lawsuits that are no doubt being researched as I write….)….. Rather than either an old-school pearl, or a rant, here is a short discussion of a concept few people think about as a rule…. which makes it fine grist for my mill….. Comes out tasty, too….

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From 12/10/2011:

“A map of the world without Utopia is not worth glancing at.” — Oscar Wilde (1854-1900

A lot of people will tell you that there is no such thing as perfection, that it only exists as a concept, but has no physical reality. These folks will challenge you to point out something that is perfect, and delight in pointing out the flaws of anything you might come up with. But there is an answer that will shut them up, one always available for pointing. Just lift your hand, put a smile on your face, & point right at their heart….. then, say to them, “There you are. A perfect example of imperfection…..”  Then duck, and run quickly out of weapon range, because the reaction can be somewhat explosive. People who act superior, especially when due to a sense of false entitlement, don’t much like it when you make them look and feel ridiculous…. but it’s their own fault, for exhibiting their stupidity in public, eh?

There is a Utopia. Perfection exists. If it doesn’t, where did the concept come from? We don’t just make up words for stuff that doesn’t concern us; the words we use have a meaning. The meaning may change over time, but the concept it describes does not cease to exist because the meaning changes a bit to reflect the passage of time, or the changes in society and/or culture, both of which cause languages to evolve. Every person alive has a picture in their mind of what Perfect looks like, based on their own perceptions, colored by the meanings they have learned to attach to those perceptions.

In fact, the word ‘perfect’ has a meaning that is clear in everyone’s mind; I can’t think of anyone over the age of oh, five or six, who couldn’t supply an accurate, or at least adequate, definition of perfection when asked. So if they know what it is, how can it not exist? The mere fact that we DO have such a concept in our mind, like with life itself, implies, and proves, its existence….. Don’t worry, it really does…..there are just a lot of folks who don’t like to use their brain long enough to realize that. This reluctance to accept reality won’t hurt them too badly, it just keeps them from growing, and is mildly annoying to the rest of us…….who are busy trying to find our own version of Perfection…..

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

In order to justify, to myself, if no one else, the above departure from routine, I’ll include here a relatively short, five-star pearl to augment and enhance the discussion above, with some comments from history that seem of a similar bent…. Well, I hope that’s how it works out…. we’ll have to trust SB to give us what we need…. Shall we see what we can find?…..

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.  Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.  Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.  Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.  But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.” — Buddha

“To sit silently, and look wise, is not to be compared to drinking sake and making a riotous shouting.” — Ono No Tabitu

“As a person grows older and wiser, they talk less and say more.” — Smart Bee

“All the problems of the world could be settled if people were only willing to think. The trouble is that people very often resort to all sorts of devices in order not to think, because thinking is such hard work.” — Thomas J. Watson

“It is asserted that the dogs keep running when they drink at the Nile, for fear of becoming a prey to the voracity of the crocodile.” — Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD) — Natural History, Book viii, Sect. 148
_____________________________

At first, I was going to go with one of Emily’s poems today…. Then, I was struck by a strong wave of egotism, followed by a wave of empathy for the Devil, all topped of with some rather painful denial of reality…. In the end, I decided to once again spare anyone else the shame, and go with one of my own…. Here’s one from 2012, obviously written while heavily under the influence of The Metaphorse….. or some sort of form of literary epilepsy, causing an outbreak of euphemism….

Fatal Supplication

But what becomes of our deepest dangerous dreams?
Does fantasy rescue any part of life’s imperiled favor?
Reality becomes but silvery pairs of mismatched teams,
Dining with affable elegance, such diffident waste to savor.

Who decides what sorrows to carry bravely to term?
Will fragrant moments of sanity make hasty manifestation?
Only Time’s patient mutability sends messages so firm,
Yet salient impersonal vexation lends credence to ripe imagination.

Can folly bring out sadness and rampant visions of beauty?
What kindness can be found in distant open relations?
With countless faces the dead disturb with dire impunity,
From separate caches of wisdom come simple stylish privations.

Shall shallow emotion serve to provide such explanations?
When does avaricious intensity assume primary focus?
Plain answers slide softly through with multiple mitigations,
While conceptually indignant concepts engage a fatally personal locus.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

Over the last couple of days, I’ve managed to find, and collect, several excellent pearls, all directing one’s attention to the same general area of contemplation, that of the ongoing, life-long quest to discover how to live our lives well, according to our own desires and dreams…. Each of the pearls included in this pearl is one whose truth and relevance has withstood the test of time, and/or my own examination; you can regard them as the rules I use myself to guide my steps toward the place I wish to be, to become the man I wish to become…..

“The worst sin towards our fellow creatures has not been to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that’s the essence of inhumanity.” — George Bernard Shaw, _The Devil’s Disciple_ [1901]

“This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.” — H.H. the Dalai Lama

“A wise man, recognizing that the world is but an illusion, does not act as if it is real, so he escapes the suffering.” — Buddha

“It was the sick and dying who despised the body and the earth and invented the things of heaven and the redeeming drops of blood: but even these sweet and dismal poisons they took from the body and the earth!” — Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra (1885).

‘I have seen soldiers panic at the first sight of battle, and a wounded squire pulling arrows out from his wound to fight and save his dying horse.  Nobility is not a birth right but is defined by one’s action.” — Kevin Costner, Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, 1994

“A wise man first determines what is within his control; all else is then irrelevant.” — Epictetus

“Freedom of speech and freedom of action are meaningless without freedom to think. And there is no freedom of thought without doubt.” — Bergen Evans, The Natural History of Nonsense (1946)
_____________________________

I KNEW this would happen…. It is now just 4:20 in the AM, and this Pearl, except for a couple of minor items, is done…. This means I have to figure out what to do about this f___ing cat that is still demanding attention, until my lady gets up, when I’m hoping she’ll agree to give me a break from this hostage situation…. It’s tough to be held captive, cat-sitting to prevent chaos, when all you really want to do is go back to sleep….

Ah well, at least the Pearl for today is done…. such as it is…See you mañana, ffolkes…. Well, I’ll see you then, as long as Time continues to pass, beckoning us ever onward toward our destiny, in a random state of confusion, unless and until we realize, we always make our own…. Which, you ask? Both…. We make our own state of mind, and our own destiny….

So be it… gigoid has spoken….

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

Perhaps not, but his spatula was meticulous….

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Ffolkes,

Pain has an element of blank;
It cannot recollect
When it began, or if there were
A day when it was not.

It has no future but itself,
Its infinite realms contain
Its past, enlightened to perceive
New periods of pain.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~


I’ve previously used this poem; it may be one of Emily’s most famous, so it’s probably familiar to many people…. I don’t know if Emily had pain herself, of a physical nature, beyond what everyone else feels, when they bark their shins, for example…. If she didn’t, her depth of insight was even greater than I had previously imagined….. This is an assertion I believe implicitly; Emily was, without doubt, the most advanced human EVER in that respect, in my opinion, and by all the evidence at hand…. Her poetry must be considered as proof of that, proof that leaves no room for doubt as to the accuracy of the claim..

This particular poem explores a couple different sides of the nature of the beast, again displaying that incredibly elegant, towering talent only she possessed, by cramming so much feeling, so much meaning, and so many ideas into eight short lines of verse, it almost explodes into one’s consciousness, growing there like a flower in spring…. She wrote at least one other poem on the subject, a bit different in scope, but nonetheless powerful for that…. It went like this….

There is a pain—so utter—
It swallows substance up—
Then covers the Abyss with Trance—
So Memory can step
Around—across—upon it—
As one within a Swoon—
Goes safely—where an open eye—
Would drop Him—Bone by Bone.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~


As lovely and powerful as her poetry may be, I’ll bet you’re wondering why we’ve begun today with a discussion of American English poetry of the Nineteenth Century…. Some of y’all, who have been around ECR a while, will guess why I’m writing about it; they’re already aware of how much my pain can distract me from Life at Large…. and would guess that today’s words are in response to a bout with it of major proportions…. They’d be right to think that, too….

Yesterday, as part of a personal quest to get into better shape, if only for the purpose of being able to walk around in those places to which I travel, such as on shore excursions during a cruise, I went for a short walk… The day before, I had tried a new technique, of taking a pain pill, applying some of my magic ointment to my back and hips, then going for a walk…

I was rewarded by a relatively pain-free stroll all the way downtown, with a few sit-down breaks to blow, and let the numbness recede from my thighs; all told, I walked about two miles, and a bit more…. This is much further than I’ve been able to walk for a couple years now, so I was encouraged enough to try again the day after, i.e. yesterday…

This time, I applied my cream, took my pill, and enthusiastically left, to try to cover the same ground…. After a couple of blocks, I stepped off a curb, onto a small twig, which proceeded to roll about two inches, taking my foot, and my balance, with it…. Using my walking stick, a quick shuffle, and a hard, rapid twist, I was able to keep from falling down…. BUT….

The quick movement, with the accompanying twist, gave the injured ligament in my lower back a good, hard yank…. This, naturally, caused me to experience the customary sharp, intense burst of excruciating pain in my lower back, just as if a large knife had been thrust about two inches into the hip, followed instantly by the total freeze-up and pain of my entire back entering full spasming mode…. This also aggravates the hip joints, so I was barely able to keep upright, and mobile enough to walk…. Hell, it was ALL I could do not to start screaming and beating on the nearest object, animate or inanimate, with my stick….

Turning around, I made it back home without getting arrested for assault, took an extra pill, ate some magic chocolate, put on more ointment, and went straight to bed, where I’ve been for much of the last eighteen hours or so…. I’m up now, and still in full spasm mode, though quiet right now, thanks to about a ton of Norco and all the cannabis I could eat…. Since the pain has been my constant companion for most of the last day, I thought I’d try to share some of that, though I’m not sure why…. I guess I thought it would make a little different start to the day….

I guess it’s also because it’s really hard to deal with this unless, and until, the experience is purged, at least verbally, in order for me to process it in a timely fashion…. I’ll stop here, as y’all have no doubt had enough of my near-whiny neurotic need to share….

Sorry, but, getting the concepts, and the feel of the experience, outside the mind helps to deal with what is still there, which currently requires a good large piece of my consciousness to keep me from running down the street, screaming in pain, HOPING that someone will tell me to stop, so I can BITE THEM REALLY, REALLY HARD!!!!!!

Now that I have further indicated the depth of my insanity (Six exclamation points makes that fairly obvious…. A mere four of them has been shown by research to be proof of clinical psychosis….), I suppose it’s time to go for a dive, to find some pearls…. Hopefully, I can sit long enough, and keep at this long enough between breaks, to finish…. If not, well, we may just be here all day, so, if I were you, I’d check to make sure I had my box lunch, and a supply of water on hand….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Despair leads to boredom, electronic games, computer hacking, poetry, and other bad habits.” — Edward Abbey

Such as blogging….
_____________________________

As might be guessed on a day such as this, I won’t be ranting, any more than I already have…. I’m going to go for old-school pearls for both prose sections today, to avoid going back to the archives again…. I COULD go back there, but, even the research involved in that seems like more work than I’ll be able to do…. So, I’m going for a dive, where being surrounded and supported by the waters of reason, I can maneuver almost normally…. You’ll see what I find…. Oh, yeah…. no parameters at all today, just random weird nudges toward virtue and/or dignity (if such is possible during the creation of a Pearl….)…..

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.

— Theodore Roethke

“And what is a good citizen?  Simply one who never says, does or thinks anything that is unusual.  Schools are maintained in order to bring this uniformity up to the highest possible point.  A school is a hopper into which children are heaved while they are still young and tender; therein they are pressed into certain standard shapes and covered from head to heels with official rubber-stamps.” — H.L. Mencken

“Everything, saith Epictetus, hath two handles,–the one to be held by, the other not.” — Robert Burton (1577-1640) — The Anatomy of Melancholy, Part ii, Sect. 2, Memb. 3

“Be not diverted from your duty by any idle reflections the silly world may make upon you, for their censures are not in your power, and consequently should not be any part of your concern.” — Epictetus

“Psychedelic drugs cause paranoia, confusion, and total loss of reality in politicians that have never taken them.” — Timothy Leary

“Addison, what are we going to do?”  “Me, I’m examining the major Western religions. I’m looking for something that’s soft on morality, generous with holidays, and has a short initiation period.” — Dave and Maddie on Moonlighting

“There were two brothers called Both and Either; perceiving Either was a good, understanding, busy fellow, and Both a silly fellow and good for little, Philip said, “Either is both, and Both is neither.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Philip

And there you have it…. Madness incarnate, right there on your screen….. Well, it WOULD be, if it weren’t all so damn true….
_____________________________

After a relatively short break of twenty minutes, spent in a frantic search for my glasses, (which, it turns out, were stolen and hidden by Jo Jo, the Psycho-Cat From Hell…. I found them in one of her cat caves, where she had stashed them after taking them off my desk….), I’m back… I’ve already used Emily today, so we’ll go with another classic favorite of mine, one of the most influential Romantic poets from the eighteenth century…. There are those who say he was THE driving force for the entire Romantic poetry genre that burgeoned during his lifetime, an assessment with which I have to agree…

The Human Seasons

Four Seasons fill the measure of the year;
There are four seasons in the mind of man:
He has his lusty Spring, when fancy clear
Takes in all beauty with an easy span:
He has his Summer, when luxuriously
Spring’s honied cud of youthful thought he loves
To ruminate, and by such dreaming high
Is nearest unto heaven: quiet coves
His soul has in its Autumn, when his wings
He furleth close; contented so to look
On mists in idleness–to let fair things
Pass by unheeded as a threshold brook.
He has his Winter too of pale misfeature,
Or else he would forego his mortal nature.

~~ John Keats ~~

_____________________________

I can see the light at the end of this tunnel I’ve entered; I’m pretty sure I can make it that far….. Again, an old-school, unguided (and, please, no comments about misguided….)** pearl, ripped fresh from the oyster beds of my mind….. and Smart Bee’s nearly endless database of excellent cookies….

** (Without, of course, a reasoned justifying argument to explain the assertion….)


“Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, iv, 43

“Truth, in the matters of religion, is simply the opinion that has survived.” — Oscar Wilde

“Liberty don’t work as good in practice as it does in speeches.” — Will Rogers

“Government lies, and newspapers lie, but in a democracy they are different lies.” — Smart Bee

“- if it GLISTENS, gobble it!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

“If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.” — Albert Einstein

Because I could not stop for Death —
He kindly stopped for me —
The carriage held but just ourselves
And immortality.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~
_____________________________

Well, I made it, and about time, too…. I’ve again consumed a massive amount of drugs, all with the purpose of smothering my nervous system to the point of insensibility….. After a seemingly endless amount of time spent in agony, trying to keep occupied in my mind, I am now starting to enjoy the results, and will soon be free (True freedom is the release from pain….) Since it won’t be long before all coherence flees screaming into the night (well, early morning, anyway…. it’s still dark here at 0530, now that we’ve begun daylight savings for the year….), I’ll bring this to a grateful close (the gratitude is on YOUR end, I’m sure….)

I can’t do this anymore…. See you tomorrow…. Hopefully, by then, I’ll be feeling more like a human being than a pharmaceutical test subject…..

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

Dreaming in Calliope’s house….

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Ffolkes,


In the near distance, sharp echoes of gunfire erupted, shattering the peaceful quiet covering the wide, debris-littered street, reluctantly revealed in the dim light of the struggling morning sun. In the bitter cold, icy clouds of vapor bled slowly from the mouth of the man standing in a doorway, as he gazed with intense concentration to his left, down the street toward the sound of guns in the distance. Nothing else moved, nothing made a sound….

Then that damn cat jumped on the back of the chair, again, breaking my concentration into tiny little pieces, and I gave up…. Sorry, ffolkes…. I HAD wanted to write a brilliant fictional opening this morning, but, my “muse” (as my blogger-friend Lou suggests) doesn’t particularly care for what I came up with, apparently, because she keeps doing stuff to distract me from trying to write it. Who knew that a 5 lb. black cat could be a literary critic? Actually, it’s a bit lowering, thinking about how I COULD have been a rock star….

Not really, it just sounded good, and gave a good finish to a weak paragraph…. SIGH…. How frightfully depressing! I’m reduced to critiquing my work paragraph by paragraph, just so I can monitor the quality of what I’m creating….. How sad can one get? I suppose I could ring up one of those support groups for struggling authors, but, that would mean I’d have to actually SPEAK to another person…. Today, that’s probably not a good idea….

Last time I felt like this, I experienced a deep fugue state, which apparently lasted three days, or so, by all evidence…. When I woke up, seven local politicians had gone missing, and were never seen again…. That’s not to imply that I had anything to do with it, but, such events have happened before, in other towns, at other times, and, well….. Hell, I don’t actually KNOW for sure that I did it…. I DID send some nice flowers to the families…. But, I think I’ll just stay in today, and not go looking for trouble…. it always manages to find me anyway….

I wonder, do other bloggers have this sort of difficulty? Or is it just me? Homicidal urges notwithstanding, I don’t believe I’ve been overly troublesome for society to have to deal with; I’ve managed to stay out of jail thus far in my life (I’m not counting that one time in Guatemala…. we broke out the same day they put us in there, and we didn’t actually KILL anyone, so, I don’t think it counts….) I suppose I should just use all my experiences as material, and write the story I’ve lived…. and then I realize, A) nobody would believe it, and B) not even I could be so egotistical as to think my own life would be of interest to enough ffolkes to warrant such indulgence….

Oh well, at least I have this time each day to pull this crap out of my head, where it (obviously) would fester, and put it onto the screen, where the only possible trouble comes only if others take it seriously…. which I know MY Gentle Readers would NEVER do…. They’d know better….. On that note….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“If I had only known, I would have been a locksmith.” — Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
_____________________________

“Rdio drops Echo Nest after Spotify move” — SFGATE news headline, financial section

What does that MEAN? Unless one knows it comes to us from a financial page, this sentence would be nearly impossible to decipher…. unless, of course, it were a coded message…. In that case, I’m sure the NSA, (or any other of our fine public institutions that deals in encryption-breaking, such as the FBI, CIA, and, no doubt, a number of others), wouldn’t have any difficulty at all in drawing every last iota of meaning out it….

As it is, one need only speak the technical language of business-speak, whereupon it becomes clear we’re talking about some companies going through merger & acquisition contortions, jockeying for a bigger piece of whatever pie they’re consuming…. But, hey! It COULD have been a terrorist plot… sure it could…..

I took today’s inspiration for this short period of ranting from Reality…. I ripped it out of the headlines. just like Reality rips poems out of my soul, with no mercy, and a lot of bloodshed, metaphorically speaking…. In this particular case, the metaphorical blood will show up as I rend the flesh and limbs of whatever poor member of our Beloved Ruling Class who draws my ire, and my attention today….. Oh god… I just realized, this means I’m going to have to actually READ that article, so I’m not talking through my ass…. Hmm… or maybe…. yeah, that’s better….

Rather than take the chance of becoming incapacitated by the sheer tedium of that business report, I’ll find an appropriate pearl on the same concept, and use THAT as my springboard, saving Rdio and Spotify for my coups de gras, nearer the end, where the blood loss won’t have such a deleterious effect on anyone’s sensibilities…. Yeah, that’s the ticket…. be right back with that…. Okay, so it took a little longer than I’d surmised it might…. you never noticed, anyway, did you?…. Nope… so, to try to keep the BS at a minimum, (oops, too late…. ), here ’tis…..

“I know everything, I just can’t remember it all at the same time.” — Sara Kate Robinson

Oops…. sorry, wrong one…. Ah, here we go…. check this out….

“Since it is Reason which shapes and regulates all other things, it ought not itself to be left in disorder.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Discourses, Chap. xvii

Damn, that’s good, but it’s not the one I wanted, either…. Where’d I put that damn thing?….

“A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.” — Oscar Wilde

Ah, the hell with it…. I can’t find it, so, I’ll just finish off what is now an old-school pearl, with a more general theme than the intended rant…. I’ll see what I can do about the rant later…. for now, I’d best let Smart Bee get this out of its system, by letting it give me four more pearls, to make this one of the seven-star variety….

“The earth hath skin, and the skin hath diseases.  One of these…is called man.” — Nietzsche

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

“Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions.” — Albert Einstein

In dwelling, live close to the ground.
In thinking, keep to the simple.
In conflict, be fair and generous.
In governing, don’t try to control.
In work, do what you enjoy.
In family life, be completely present.

— Tao Te Ching

So be it….. gigoid has spoken…. he didn’t say much, but, he spoke, so there….

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/howaboutthat/10695841/In-pictures-Artist-Saint-Hoax-transforms-world-leaders-into-drag-queens.html

After I finished the above section,  and had uttered the final “so there”…. I went for a cruise on the internet, to the UK Telegraph news site, where I came across this WONDERFUL set of pictures, all of which you can see by following the link…. One of them is below this, to give you a taste of them…. they’re all brilliant, and hilarious…. Enjoy!


drag-kim-jong_2851191k    (I couldn’t figure out anywhere else to put this, so you get it here, in this weirdest of pearls, which resembles nothing I’ve ever produced before…. and don’t ask me to tell you what THAT means!…. Or, for that matter, what any of this means…. I’m done worryin’ ’bout tryin’ to figure it out…..)
_____________________________

“To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.” — Emily Dickinson

A Man’s a Man for A’ That

Is there for honesty poverty
That hings his head, an’ a’ that;
The coward slave – we pass him by,
We dare be poor for a’ that!
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
Our toils obscure an’ a’ that,
The rank is but the guinea’s stamp,
The man’s the gowd for a’ that.

What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin grey, an’ a’ that?
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine,
A man’s a man for a’ that.
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
Their tinsel show, an’ a’ that,
The honest man, tho’ e’er sae poor,
Is king o’ men for a’ that.

Ye see yon birkie ca’d a lord,
Wha struts, an’ stares, an’ a’ that;
Tho’ hundreds worship at his word,
He’s but a coof for a’ that.
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
His ribband, star, an’ a’ that,
The man o’ independent mind
He looks an’ laughs at a’ that.

A price can mak a belted knight,
A marquise, duke, an’ a’ that;
But an honest man’s aboon his might,
Gude faith, he maunna fa’ that!
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
Their dignities an’ a’ that,
The pith o’ sense, an’ pride o’ worth,
Are higher rank than a’ that.

Then let us pray that come it may,
(As come it will for a’ that,)
That Sense and Worth, o’er a’ the earth,
Shall bear the gree, an’ a’ that.
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
That man to man, the world o’er,
Shall brithers be for a’ that.

~~Robert Burns ~~

_____________________________

Apparently, Smart Bee has rebelled, as it did in the first section, on previous occasions…. I found this old-school pearl seemingly comprised of the same sort of unintended collection that occurred above…. It’s pretty good, all things considered, so, I’m being lazy again, and putting it in here, even though I haven’t ranted today…. I know, breaks your heart, don’t it?…. (I may be an egotist, but, I’m NOT stupid, you know…) Any who, enjoy this blast from the past, ffolkes…. it’s your last chance today to do so….

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

From 12/4/2012:

So, I’m diving around, looking for oysters, and these random quotes on various aspects of religion kept popping up. Since I’m not particularly bursting with material, or angst, sufficient to either rant, or write much of interest, I thought I’d string them together for an old school pearl…. my default position in these instances. There is no real point to be made here, though it is entirely possible that there is one…. I just like these because they made me think…. Hopefully, they’ll do the same for you…. enjoy!….

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.   He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” — C. S. Lewis

“A myth is a religion in which no one any longer believes.” — James Feibleman, “Understanding Philosophy”, 1973

“While it cannot be proved retrospectively that any experience of possession, conversion, revelation, or divine ecstasy was merely an epileptic discharge, we must ask how one differentiates “real transcendence” from neuropathies that produce the same extreme realness, profundity, ineffability, and sense of cosmic unity.  When accounts of sudden religious conversions in TLEs [temporal-lobe epileptics] are laid alongside the epiphanous revelations of the religious tradition, the parallels are striking.  The same is true of the recent spate of alleged UFO abductees. Parsimony alone argues against invoking spirits, demons, or extraterrestrials when natural causes will suffice.” — Barry L. Beyerstein, “Neuropathology and the Legacy of Spiritual Possession”,   The Skeptical Inquirer, Vol. XII, No. 3, pg. 255

We are arguing like a man who should say “If there were an invisible cat in that chair, the chair would look empty; but the chair does look empty; therefore there is an invisible cat in it.” — C.S. Lewis

“Man is certainly stark mad; he cannot make a worm, and yet he will be making gods by dozens.” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Essays, Book ii, Chap. xii, Apology for Raimond Sebond

“…there can be no public or private virtue unless the foundation of action is the practice of truth.” — George Jacob Holyoake

No, it isn’t a trick…. The last one was, indeed, added on purpose, and actually brings all the rest into focus, making what I said above about this pearl having no point a lie…. or perhaps, premature ejaculation would be more appropriate….. Whatever it is, or might have been, or isn’t, it is what it is, so there…. And, believe it or not, it actually makes some sense, on a very basic level…. Any who, it was a few moments of exercising a muscle we all need to keep strong, so, all is well that ends well, yes?….. And, at the very least, you may comfort yourself with knowing it is ended….

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

Or is it?….. cue Twilight Zone theme music….  dedo dedo dedo dedo…. dedo dode dahhhhhh!   Ha ha ha ha ha….. It will NEVER be over…… except in your dreams, all of which have turned to nightmares….. You may go now, if you dare….
_____________________________

I’m fairly certain the events that have transpired here this morning would fall under the heading of Results of Unintended Consequence. The only fresh portions today are at the beginning, and at the very end…. Everything in between those two points was created yesterday, or much further in the past….

Looking back over it all not only convinces me of the truth of my categorization, but also establishes a new, if all-too-achingly-familiar, pattern of insanity and self-indulgent egoism. As such, it may not be exactly the most enlightening thing you’ll read today, but, it will most certainly be the most challenging, in re: it can alter, or at least affect, your own level of insanity…. That being said, I think it’s probably best if we go now, before the authorities arrive…. See ya tomorrow, if I’m not in jail, or on the run….

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

One sure thing we know for certain about Life…. it’s always fatal….

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Ffolkes,

“Dreaming permits each and everyone of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.” — Charles William Dement

Wandering through endless halls of wondrous elegance, with classical paintings adorning the walls, and chandeliers providing brilliant light to bring out the beauty of the surroundings. I try to avoid bumping into any of the what seems like millions of people, all naked from the waist up, but wearing slacks, skirts, shorts, etc. with shoes…. A few even wore hats, though we were indoors…. All very odd looking, but, not at all off-putting, except, perhaps, for the gang-bangers, whose sagging pants and sideways cap are as stupid-looking in dreams as they are on the streets….. Everyone was dancing, to an old waltz, familiar, but just out of memory’s reach….

I knew somehow, (as we always seem to know, in our dreams…) if I could just find one person, all the others would be okay, and no harm would come to them…. but, as it usually goes in dreams, I didn’t know who I was to look for…. I also knew that, if they didn’t dance, they’d never be given back their shirt tops, coats, and/or their blouses; why the dancing was supposed to kept their hopes alive, I have no clue….. As I moved from one massive ballroom to the next, the haunting, melancholy music that had been playing changed to a rag-time tune, whereupon all the half-dressed, frenetic dancers began jumping around in something that resembled the Charleston…..

This went on for hours, it seemed, until I turned in my sleep, and a stab of pain in my back woke me up, bringing me out of the dream, and into full awareness…. All in all, it was one of the strangest dreams I’ve ever had…. That is actually saying a lot, because my dreams, when I remember them at all, are ALWAYS strange…. I once asked the psychiatrist I was seeing, when I was off work due to the incident that shattered the last remnants of my sanity, why my dreams were so infrequent, and yet so strange when they came…. He said nobody understands dreams, and I was just lucky I didn’t dream more often….

I believed him, this time, without having to perform any further research into dreams, as I had done that already, when I was in high school… In our sophomore English class, the teacher assigned us to write a term research paper, college style, due at the end of the year…. He taught us how to do that type of paper, then let us go to whatever libraries we wished to use for our research….

The subject I chose was Telepathy, Dreams, and Paranormal Activity, which, though actually too large a subject, worked out well for one so unpracticed at the paper’s method of construction…. It gave me enough range of subject matter that the length of the paper (A minimum of 25 full pages, with footnotes and bibliography… the whole nine yards….) became moot; there was PLENTY of material to choose from…. at the University of California, Berkeley’s main library…

This was because I talked my father into driving me to Berkeley, to the UC there, so I could use their main library, which gave me a LOT of books to pick from, as well as extensive help from the librarians…. I used the reasoning that I would be able to look around the campus with him for living spaces and resources, as I had made up my mind, even in my sophomore year, that UCB was going to be my school…. I had known that ever since I learned that they had the best reputation in astronomy and sciences degrees in the world, along with a few others such as MIT, Cal Tech, Stanford, and a very few others…. I figured, why not go for the BEST?….

To bring us back toward some kind of rational end point here in the present, I’ll merely say that I already knew a lot about the subject of dreams, or, at least, more than most people, so it wasn’t really a surprise to hear a well-educated psychiatrist admit to ignorance in the field…. Since the medical pundits DON’T claim to possess a lot of knowledge about how the brain works, especially in sleeping mode, I really asked for rhetorical purposes, to see if he could perhaps shed some light….

Alas, no; I still wonder why my dreams are so infrequent… I suppose their infrequency is a factor in why they are so vivid in my memory, as they certainly create an impression on my unconscious mind…. Oh well, this is one of those things we can’t do anything about, so, I’ll take the advice of Epictetus, and not worry about it….

I will also note at this point that we shot right past the legal minimum for an intro, so we’re good to go for today… We even have enough coffee on board to make anything I write more coherent…. Glory Be!….. I think, maybe, y’all had best fasten those belts, tight, and hang on, because this could be quite a ride…..

Shall we Pearl?….

“I don’t think it would have all got me down quite so much if just once in a while- just once in a while- there was at least some polite little perfunctory implication that knowledge should lead to wisdom, and that if it doesn’t, it’s just a disgusting waste of time.” — J.D. Salinger, Franny & Zooey
_____________________________

I’ve made an executive decision regarding the format of today’s Pearl…. I’m tired of ranting every day, and I’m positive ffolkes are tired of me ranting every day about the same stuff, relevant as it may be…. Anything gets old after a time, and it isn’t as if I were writing short, easy pieces…. No, I have to go all verbose, and saddle my poor readers with seemingly greater portions of angst every day…. “BASTA!”, he cried…. “Enough! Let them eat cake!”

Okay, well, no cake, but what I WILL do is create TWO old-school pearls to go along with the most excellent poem I found for this morning’s missive…. For those of my Gentle Readers who come by often, it will be what I’m sure will be a most welcome change, as well as a little break for me, and my arthritic fingers… In this first pearl, let’s see what Smart Bee can come up with when I ask for quotes about Asininnies, and their jobs…. (e.g., doctors, lawyers, judges, police, etc…. you know, the Asininnies…)

“A thing either is what it appears to be; or it is not, but yet appears to be; or it is, but does not appear to be; or it is not, and does not appear to be.” — Epictetus

“A physician, after he had felt the pulse of Pausanias, and considered his constitution, saying, “He ails nothing,” “It is because, sir,” he replied, “I use none of your physic.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of Pausanias the Son of Phistoanax

“He is running for Congress … Do you know why he will be elected? Because all the gun owners will vote for him. Why will they vote for him? Because  he is against any new law which will require registration of firearms. He claims that if there is a war, we might be invaded by Communists. And we will all need guns. With nuts like that in Congress, it could happen.” — Larry Siegel

“Of the various executive abilities, no one excited more anxious concern than that of placing the interests of our fellow-citizens in the hands of honest men, with understanding sufficient for their stations.” — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) — Letter to Elias Shipman and others of New Haven, July 12, 1801

“There is no happiness where there is no wisdom.” — Sophocles

“As the government of the United States is not in any sense founded on Christian religion…” — Joel Barlow (1754-1812) — Treaty with Tripoli (signed 1797)

“In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.” — Napoleon Bonaparte

I couldn’t have said it better myself….
_____________________________

Today’s poem is from an author who is new to me…. I like the rhyming in this poem; it reminds me of more than one of my own poems, in that respect…. I also enjoyed the sense of metaphor, and the use of imagery that uses such metaphor to make it’s point…. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did….

The Alchemist in the City

My window shews the travelling clouds,
Leaves spent, new seasons, alter’d sky,
The making and the melting crowds:
The whole world passes; I stand by.

They do not waste their meted hours,
But men and masters plan and build:
I see the crowning of their towers,
And happy promises fulfill’d.

And I – perhaps if my intent
Could count on prediluvian age,
The labours I should then have spent
Might so attain their heritage,

But now before the pot can glow
With not to be discover’d gold,
At length the bellows shall not blow,
The furnace shall at last be cold.

Yet it is now too late to heal
The incapable and cumbrous shame
Which makes me when with men I deal
More powerless than the blind or lame.

No, I should love the city less
Even than this my thankless lore;
But I desire the wilderness
Or weeded landslips of the shore.

I walk my breezy belvedere
To watch the low or levant sun,
I see the city pigeons veer,
I mark the tower swallows run

Between the tower-top and the ground
Below me in the bearing air;
Then find in the horizon-round
One spot and hunger to be there.

And then I hate the most that lore
That holds no promise of success;
Then sweetest seems the houseless shore,
Then free and kind the wilderness,

Or ancient mounds that cover bones,
Or rocks where rockdoves do repair
And trees of terebinth and stones
And silence and a gulf of air.

There on a long and squared height
After the sunset I would lie,
And pierce the yellow waxen light
With free long looking, ere I die.

~~ Gerard Manley Hopkins  ~~

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Okay, so…. Lately, I’ve been bringing up old religirants from the archives, since I seem to have covered most of the bases at various times in the past…. It saves me time and energy, and the rants I’ve revived were all still valid in terms of what they bespoke…..

Bully for me, but, in the long run, boring for y’all…. So…. Here is a link to another of Mark Morford’s brilliant takes on religious dogma, and the stranglehold with which it has gripped the throat of humanity for thousands of years…. After the link, I’ve created another old-school pearl, which will focus on those deluded asininnies who insist on sharing their ignorance with everyone else….. or else….

http://blog.sfgate.com/morford/2014/03/04/how-to-sucker-a-billion-christians/

“Yeah, God is dead, he laughed himself to death.” — Smart Bee

“Science does not promise absolute truth, nor does it consider that such a thing necessarily exists.  Science does not even promise that everything in the Universe is amenable to the scientific process.” — Isaac Asimov

(Which is the very reason it is superior to religion as a means of understanding the Universe, AS IT IS, without the unnecessary inclusion of supernatural forces to control our destiny…. thus, handily relieving us of all responsibility for our own actions…. Nice scam, eh?….)

“Science has proof without any certainty.  Creationists have certainty without any proof.” — Ashley Montague

“There is nothing so stupid or dangerous or painful that people won’t eagerly do it, if by doing it they will make others believe they are better or stronger or more honorable.” — Jason Worthing (Orson Scott Card, “The Worthing Chronicle”)

(This concept includes going along with a delusion so one will be accepted as part of the flock….)

“Humility is a virtue all preach, none practice, and yet everybody is content to hear. The master thinks it good doctrine for his servant, the laity for the clergy, and the clergy for the laity.” — John Selden (1584-1654) — Humility

“I figure that if God actually does exist, He’s big enough to understand an honest difference of opinion.”  – Isaac Asimov

“Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true.” — Demosthenes
_____________________________

A perfect Pearl is one that fulfills all of the rules and regulations in my mind for how a blog with my name on it, user- or real-, OUGHT to be…. Those rules and regs, of course, are somewhat amorphous, but, they DO exist….

Today’s Pearl may just be one of them, if I’m any judge, and, who better? Except, of course, you, my Gentle Readers…. If you enjoyed today’s effort more than usual, please feel free to leave a comment, & let me know… I’ll enter that data into the records, along with my own for today, which will give us…. GASP, why, look at that!  It’s a consensus!….. Right here on Exploring Consensual Reality!….

Hmmph….. Riiiight…. See ya……

🙂

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

A Swift Kick In The Pants, Inc….

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Ffolkes,

Terrible things could happen now…. they could, you know. And, we’ll deserve every second we experience of mind-numbing, soul-chilling, petrifying terror, because, hey, we’re the ones who left the door wide open, inviting it to enter our domain, bringing with it our ultimate doom…. Yes, it’s our own damn fault, and we will know the truth of the matter, because we have been warned, having previously been given wisdom such as this….

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” — Albert Einstein

Albert E & true sin(A bit more powerful a message when combined with the graphic art, isn’t it?….)

This is not new wisdom, that we’ve never before seen or suspected; history has provided us with innumerable instances proving the truth of this particular aphorism….. Time after time throughout our relatively short span of existence on this world, we find nearly innumerable examples of men or women who had prior knowledge of an issue of questionable morality,, and, by their silence, for whatever reason, allowed it to take place, to the detriment of all….

It doesn’t make it right, knowing how common a problem it is, but, it is certainly not an uncommon issue for mankind…. Such issues are not, perhaps, of those we are given by Reality, our favorite gifts, …. In fact, many don’t look on this, or any knowledge, as gifts, and THAT is a big part of the entire problem….

Our problem, then, can be seen as a failure of spirit, that has to do with a basic virtue, one that has been claimed as the basis for all other virtues; without this characteristic, none of our finer qualities are ever seen in the light of day…. That pillar upon which all other virtue rests, then, is Courage…. Yes, plain and simple, courage….

I have found, in my fairly long life, that most of mankind are cowards…. Sad to say, but, true nonetheless, since all the evidence is clear…. I say this, as well, knowing I’m not an exception, though it IS something I’ve tried hard to mitigate, in order to feel I have the right to call myself honorable, and meet my own eyes each morning in the mirror…. Fear is a hard thing for most of us to admit, even though it isn’t considered abnormal; it’s strength, and the way it causes us to lose control frightens us…

However, that is also its saving grace, as the guilt one feels, for having given in to it, can, and does, stimulate us to greater effort, whereupon we can find that courage within ourselves, the next time we are in danger of giving in…. This is how almost everything we do, and have done, of an ethical nature, ever gets done…. because someone discovers they DO have the courage to act when there is danger, moral, ethical, or physical, threatening them, or threatening those for whom they care…..

That is what it takes, you see…. No virtuous act can ever take place, unless good people have the courage to act in the face of the Evil that exists, in spite of the fear they feel in the presence of that Evil. If they don’t summon, or find somewhere with themselves, the courage to act ethically, or morally, if that is needed, then Evil has free rein to let itself out to play in human affairs, to the detriment of us all….

Each of us has to find that courage within ourselves, the courage to put aside our fear, to carry on with what we know to be right, even though expediency and comfort are left behind in such cases…. Living with honor and integrity is never the easiest path we can take; it is always fraught with danger, because it doesn’t avoid evil, because it’s too hard, but, rather, confronts it, endeavoring to deal with it in a straightforward, upright fashion…. thus, preserving one’s own honor, when forced to have truck with what always leaves us feeling a bit dirty….

Now that we have wandered so far afield this morning, I’m not sure what will happen to this Pearl…. Minor ranting isn’t uncommon in the intro, but, I do try to limit it to no more than eight or ten paragraphs, so we don’t take forever to get into just the first section…. a resolution which, this morning, is NOT unfolding according to plan…. Allow me to sum up, and get on with it, if you will…

All of what I wrote above is true and complete, to the best of my knowledge, and constitutes a fairly accurate assessment of today’s situation here on planet Earth…. Evil is out there, and when we… that’s you, and me…. fail to stand up to it, look it in the eye, and tell it to “fuck off, you bloody sod!”, then it will continue to manifest its existence, causing untold pain and suffering for us all…. So, be brave, ffolkes, and don’t let Evil have its way without at least some token resistance, ‘kay?…. ‘Kay!…..

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Asked what he gained from philosophy, he answered, “To do without being commanded what others do from fear of the laws.”” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Aristotle, xi
_____________________________

Today’s pearl is one that I’ve worked on ahead of time, so, the fact that I’m up later than usual, and got a slow start, won’t have much effect on when it gets posted today…. all in all, a good thing…. It DOES mean that I’m ahead of myself, and need to slow down a little, or I’ll be bumping into myself from behind…. which is not only hard on me, but isn’t so good for the space-time continuum…. I’ve seen some pretty bad cosmic aftershocks from that kind of metaphorical/metaphysical dust-up….

To counteract any possible chance of THAT taking place, (my insurance guy told me I can’t afford ANY more repair bills for space and time…. those metaphysical construction guys charge OUTRAGEOUS prices to fix things!….), this will be an old-school Pearl, attempting to balance out the mini-rant in the intro, and the religirant from the archives  in section three…. So, here is a group of fine pearls, fresh and shiny…. just for y’all….

“Solon used to say that speech was the image of actions;… that laws were like cobwebs,–for that if any trifling or powerless thing fell into them, they held it fast; while if it were something weightier, it broke through them and was off.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Solon, x

(So much for the concept of legislating morality, eh?….   Remember, ffolkes, Solon was the first human to codify and bring order to the concept of the Law, so, he should know…. gigoid….)

“If you were going to shoot a mime, would you use a silencer?” — Steven Wright

(I wouldn’t…. I’d want everyone to know….  gigoid)

“Life is a great surprise. I do not see why death should not be an even greater one.” — Vladimir Nabokov, quoted in “Time”, 1981

(“Me, too”… gigoid again…. I guess I’m commenting on these pearls….    🙄     )

“A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.” — Robert Heinlein, The Notebooks of Lazarus Long

(Just as an exercise…. when was the last time you heard a modern politician use a historical basis for anything they are going to do? And, how many of them are aware they are repeating some of history’s most well-recorded cultural patterns with their own actions?…. I can answer both…. the correct number of those of our leaders who either pay attention to the forces and lessons of history, or have any idea of their own part in that, is ZERO…..)

“Do not try to live forever. You will not succeed.” — George Bernard Shaw

(Good point….)

Enjoy the present hour,
Be thankful for the past,
And neither fear nor wish
Th’ approaches of the last.

— Abraham Cowley (1618-1667)

“It’s all in there, don’t y’know?…. All there inside us already…. Happiness, love, serenity, peace, courage, compassion, all are waiting for us to discover them, right there where they have always been, inside us, abiding until we find them again…..”  ~~ gigoid the dubious

(This last pearl is one I wrote as the final line for a mild religirant back a couple of years ago…. It is my own first attempt at an aphorism, of any real success, which makes it worth mention…. to me, and, after all, it IS my blog…. gigoid, delving deeply into egoism….)
_____________________________

In cruising through the archives of past Pearls, I came across this poem, one of my own, (today only, I’ll say it…. “one of my own, of course”….) first posted in October of 2012…. It’s better than I remember it to be, which means I did something right…. It’s also got a lot of ME in it, if you know what I mean…. Enjoy….

Raging at Aging

As old as you feel, we are told, is old as you are,
custom assures such vision will carry us far.
Reality begs to differ, may it be so bold
it’s really quite painful, and very, very cold.

The power and strength we felt in our halcyon youth
desert us with age, yet another unwelcome truth.
Irony rules our time here on this bountiful earth
as we reflect the changes, over time since our birth.

As physical powers fade from this fragile shell,
we learn our mind can serve us, quite as well.
The strength that once filled our bones and hearts
is now applied by will, to more arcane arts.

Life’s greatest gift is our freedom of choice;
no matter how often we forget, we still get a voice.
Energy, or apathy, by our will we may choose,
failing to do so, our only way to lose.

Each of us lives in the grip of time and space,
always seeking our balance, our own chosen place.
One must accept reality, for, ’tis true at the core,
all we can do, is all we can do, and nothing more.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

As noted above, I was reading through some Pearls from a couple years ago, and came across some old rants I’ll be recycling, due to their continuing relevance, as well as because they’re good rants… This one is fairly mild, in all, but does hit the point to made squarely on the head…. Enjoy….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From 12/12/12:

“He who proselytizes in the cause of unbelief is basically a man in need of belief.” — Eric Hoffer

This is true…. you never see an atheist going door to door, trying to convert the pious to their unbelief. However, I would go further on this train of thought, and add that, “He who proselytizes, in any cause, in basically a man in need of a life.” I’m sure it occurred to Mr. Hoffer, but he was too busy trying to explain this statement to somebody who didn’t understand the word ‘proselytize’…..

For my own case, I have never, ever understood why people feel compelled to go door to door to try to get other people to believe what they believe; it’s one of the most persistent delusional systems I’ve ever witnessed, to believe that anyone wants to hear what they have to say, much less they will find their beliefs palatable to others, or find anyone who believes them to be superior to their own…..

“More people would learn from their mistakes if they weren’t so busy denying they made them.” — Smart Bee

Humans seem to have an immense blind spot when it comes to their own actions and beliefs. Most of them never seem to question the things they are told, even when those things are presented with no evidence other than faith. Of course, the people who are invested in the religious system, to wit: the preachers, begin their indoctrination when their constituents are very young, when they are still prone to accept whatever an adult says as truth.

This ensures a life-long predilection for being simple to control…. or, in short, mental slavery, if you will. Unless there is some sort of rebellion of spirit, where new knowledge is injected, these poor saps will spend their entire lives believing that what they have been told is real, when, in fact, they are fitting themselves with shackles, that will forever imprison their minds, and their imagination…..

“To defend one’s self against fear is simply to insure that one will, one day, be conquered by it; fears must be faced.” — James Baldwin

In my life-long quest for the truth, I’ve come to believe that religions, while originally intended to benefit people, (by their iconic progenitors, anyway…. I’m sure Jesus was a quite nice man, and wanted the best for those to whom he preached his own philosophy of compassion….), have historically been taken over by the predators who live to control others.

To be fair, some of those who become priests, or any of the other varieties of religious fanatic that prevail in our society, may indeed believe that their beliefs are true, and act accordingly, but the majority are, as far as I can tell, only concerned with maintaining status quo, thereby benefiting themselves, while never actually allowing any REAL progress in the development of the human condition. They would have society behave as if we were still living in caves, in essence, still cowering in our meager shelter while the storms and lightning are raging outside, terrified of the power of what we do not understand, and, therefore, allow ourselves to fear….

“A universe of death, which God by curse
Created evil, for evil only good;
Where all life dies, death lives,
and Nature breeds Perverse,
all monstrous, all prodigious things,
Abominable, unutterable and worse
Than fables yet have feigned, or fear conceived,
Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimeras dire.”

— Milton, Paradise Lost, Book II

(Side note: I’ll bet Milton had a hard time sleeping….)

The Universe is a big place, and there is a lot to learn. Fearing that knowledge, or fearing what changes that knowing will always bring, is the act of a coward, to my mind, and should not be encouraged. Supernatural beings of unlimited power are not a required component to the understanding of Nature and the Universe; we need not fear that our lack of knowledge of how things work is unattainable. Just because we do not understand a part of reality does not mean that whatever it is, is beyond our understanding.

It is not necessary to ask for exemptions, or intervention by our own personal gods, for us to achieve happiness, or even contentment; that is completely within our own power, if we but acknowledge that part of us that is free, and connected to everything else we can perceive. The connections may not be fully understood, but they are there, and if we can only learn to recognize it, the power to change reality lies within us, all the time…. As Epictetus said, “Happiness lies in learning to accept a simple truth. There are some things you can change. And there are some things you cannot.” It’s really quite that easy, you know, once one learns to accept this fact of life…. No dogma required…..

“If brains were outlawed, nothing would change.” — Smart Bee
_____________________________

As things turned out, this may be one of my best all-around efforts to date…. Balanced, but with enough lightness of spirit to keep it afloat, I think… Whatever the reason, I’m happy with it, and it’s done, so, hey, we know what that means, don’t we? Yep…. See ya, ffolkes….

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

Seventy-seven reasons to sit shiv-eh in the nude…..

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Ffolkes,

“I feel my immortality oversweep all pains, all tears, all time, all fears, – and peal, like the eternal thunders of the deep, into my ears, this truth, – thou livest forever!” — Byron (1788-1824)

To look at this inspiring quote from Lord Byron, one might think he refers to religion, and the afterlife so glibly promised by those who engage in that particular human foible…. I’m fairly certain, however, that would be a mistaken assumption…. This, I expect, was more the result of the same sort of attitude as displayed by Bob Heinlein when he said, “There’s no conclusive proof of life after death. There’s also no conclusive proof there isn’t. Either way, soon enough, you will know, so why fret about it?”

If I am not mistaken in my memory (a rare occurrence…) Lord Bryon joined Yeats, and Keats, his contemporaries, and friends, in the unusual insistence on NOT buying into the whole dogma fallacy, and, they weren’t shy in saying so…. proving they lived in a truly free society, because, though all of them burned out and died rather young, none were hounded or persecuted for their beliefs while they were alive….

This is as opposed to society’s eventual reaction to Oscar Wilde, whose homosexuality, or, as most believe, his bisexuality, put him in direct opposition with the forces of public morality of his era, whereupon they sent him to prison, where his health broke, and he died young, as did the three romantic poets…. But, not by fate, but, rather,  by human folly.

I’m not sure just why I’m talking about Romantic Era poets, or about the victims of dogma, either…. I was staring at the screen, lost in contemplation, when I decided to use a pearl to get me started (my mind was, in a creative writing sense, quite empty….), so I went to SB and found the quote from Byron, which, acting on instinct, I brought over and used as a springboard for discussion….

A discussion, as it turns out, truly worthy of some nontenured research fellow at college teaching a boring English Literature class on a July day, in a boring monotone, that would put the most dedicated student to sleep, I’m sure…. But, even if I don’t have any idea how I got here, here we are, four or five paragraphs down the pike, and all warmed up, finger-wise….

See how that works? I write, you read, and we have fun…. Simple, yes? Now, why would you want to go anywhere else in the morning for your first dose of Reasoning, Ranting, and Rhyming, which is pretty much all we do here…. Oh, I remember why…. Hey, I can’t do anything about Murphy’s tender mercies, nor can I keep myself from ranting over the shenanigans, (to use a NICE word they don’t deserve…) of the Asininnies (The BRC, the Priestly Hierarchies, the Shadowy Corporate Masters, the Blue Meanies, and the Mundanes…. at least, those of the clan Stupid….) whenever I run across more evidence of how nasty they are….

In spite of all the minor handicaps under which we operate, I think we do a pretty decent job here at ECR, of staying sane, and spreading that sanity around as far as we can…. If people don’t want to use it, well, I can’t go out there and beat it into their heads…. (Well, maybe I could, but it might be hard to continue publishing this blog from a prison cell….) When the sky turns green, and we can no longer see the moon at night for all the carbon and methane in the air, I guess they’ll get the picture…. Until then, well, I’ll just keep on keepin’ on….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Excuse me, Worker, I’ll just be a nanosecond.” — a computer, from Firesign Theater’s I Think We’re All Bozos On This Bus
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Robert Heinlein called the latter half of the twentieth century, “The Crazy Years”, with good reason…. I have reason to believe that the period of US history to which he SHOULD have applied the term might better be placed in the beginning of the current century, instead….

As proof of that, below, I offer five links, to articles on ONE news site, all of which give a pretty good estimation of the depth of the problems we have in society today…. It’s a pretty good overview of some of the issues, but one should remember to remember the irony of having to read the words they’ve written, at all…. My comments will follow each link, in parentheses to avoid confusion….

“Two rules we should always have ready,–that there is nothing good or evil save in the will; and that we are not to lead events, but to follow them.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — In what Manner we ought to bear Sickness, — Discourses, Book iii, Chap. x

http://www.sfgate.com/raiders/article/2nd-Raiderette-joins-suit-over-wages-expenses-5203869.php

(In sooth, this one isn’t so crazy as sad…. In the massive pyramid scam that comprises the structure of the NFL, the bosses make billions, the players, basically a bunch of grown up kids, make millions, the lackeys (like cheerleaders, equipment managers, beer vendors, stadium workers, and all the other mundane drones working in the business somewhere…) make a few thousands, while the fans, who are paying in all of that gelt, pretty much get screwed… but, then, what would you expect of a business that engenders billions of dollars of revenue each year, while engaging in what is essentially a complicated game of tic-tac-toe, with live x’s and o’s….. Actually, the whole NFL scenario reminds me of the whole Religion scenario…. same scam, different clothes… Robes and collars in one, uniforms and helmets in the other….)

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Sochi-city-hall-orders-killing-of-stray-dogs-5200318.php

(We all knew the Russian government was crazy, as often proven by their chief crazy, Vlad, the Bad boy, Putin….. and this little exhibition of the power of expediency over compassion is a perfect example of how the leaders of society take nothing but their own agenda into account when making decisions, regardless of how those decisions may affect another living creature, canine, or simian….. They don’t give a shit for anything but themselves, in essence, and this is more proof of it, to my way of seeing things….)

http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Senate-sends-farm-bill-to-Obama-5202152.php

(You know which farm bill this is, right? I’m pretty sure this is what they call the Farm Subsidy Bill, the one that distributes the BILLIONS of dollars, stolen by the government from taxpayers, to various American farmers, to supplement their income by paying them NOT to grow things…. Farmers, being PAID to NOT GROW food…. now, if that isn’t crazy, then I don’t know what the word means….)

http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/television/article/Bill-Nye-defends-evolution-in-Kentucky-debate-5202990.php

(You know we’re in trouble, as a species, when a scientific theory that has been proven beyond all doubt is STILL being questioned in public…. The fact that the debate here is taking place in a Creation Museum is one of the more ironic parts of this….. Here, in one spot, is gathered all of the major points of ignorance that are held as true by Creationists, who believe the world was created 6,000 years ago, reportedly by some aged, white-haired, Caucasian Supernatural Being, with serious busybody tendencies, (whom nobody saw, other than a few minor prophets, where they had been in the desert, happily  having visions from dehydration, and experiencing beautiful, inspiring visions from consuming the desert plants…), with the aid and collusion of some of history’s most accomplished con men, in support on the ground…. The mere fact that the matter under discussion here is still being questioned, by ANYONE, is the most ironic, and the saddest part of this one….)

http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Slain-Napa-girl-kept-in-suitcase-freezer-police-5204040.php

(I’m pretty certain I don’t need to comment at all here, though I will; this story is infused with craziness…. The sheer insanity of this couple’s journey into methamphetamine hell, turned them from being human, into monsters….

I lay the blame for this death squarely at the feet of the BRC, as more proof of the failure of their “War on Drugs”….. Hell, from what I can see, everything the BRC has ever done to fight drugs has only worsened the problems that produce the drug use in the first place…. The drug use that is endemic in the lower reaches of the financial scale in our society is a direct result of the widening gap between the rich and the poor….

The sense of futility and hopelessness that goes with living in poverty, (and I know it’s real, having been there….) leads to despair, and drugs often seem like the only way to forget it all for a while….. Deal with THAT issue, the financial gap, and there MIGHT be some improvement in that area of societal behavior…. It’s obvious by the last 50 years that the current methods used to deal with drug use are NOT working….)

There you go ffolkes, a compendium of evidence that goes to prove how insane society has become…. I wish us all the best of luck in the coming years…. We are going to need it, badly….
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I’m trying to make today’s Pearl a fresh one from beginning to end, so, here is one of my own poems, that speaks about society, and how it treats those who perceive the universe with greater clarity than the majority…..

Intelligent Crimes

The value of wit is often said to cause harm,
for those who think, such is its greatest charm.
The new and the bold cannot be fulfilled
if innovation and change is left unwilled.

Society behaves at its base as a mob
conformity and submission its primary job.
Any sign of rebellion against the mob’s rule
is met with resentment, naming such rebel the fool.

Intellect and talent are looked at askance,
expressing artistry stands nary a chance.
To stand out from the rest of mankind
is fraught with danger, for body and mind.

Often, I stand to watch, in solemn dismay
as beauty and joy get left by the way,
ignored and reviled by the unwashed masses
who prefer darkness, and acting like asses.

With shouts of derision the normals make known
their fear of intelligence, greater than their own.
They hope to stop all semblance of progress;
for thoughts and ideas, they couldn’t care less.

The world struggles on in spite of all opposition,
managing to maintain its advanced position.
Pulling the foolish along in spite of reluctance,
helping each to learn the survival dance.

Hard though it may be to keep up with the future
genius manages its plans to develop and nurture.
In the final analysis, those who live by reason
enjoy life the most, season to season.

~~ gigoid ~~

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Okay, I’ve EARNED this old-school pearl…. The above material, in section one, while not quite as tiring as a rant, still left me pretty tired from the effort to be both reasonable, and tactful…. It’s harder than you think to NOT bite people…. HARD!, whether figuratively, or literally….

Nonetheless, I think I’ve showed decent restraint today, as evidenced by the miniscule amount of bandaging material that we’ve had to use so far…. Also, I’m happy to report, there have been no injuries today that broke the skin!…. Hurray!….. So, I’m going to put together a classic, seven-star pearl, without any specific  parameters, other than my own whimsy, and Smart Bee’s admittedly odd sense of direction…. Enjoy!…..

“I’m having an EMOTIONAL OUTBURST!!  But, uh, WHY is there a WAFFLE in my PAJAMA POCKET??” — Zippy the Pinhead

“And it shall some to pass that idiots shall roam the earth, and morons shall rule the masses.” — Smart Bee

“[In America] we like our solutions quick, and we like ’em stupid.” — Bill Maher

“Distrust interested advice.” — Aesop

“I refuse to be intimidated by reality anymore.  What is reality? Nothing but a collective hunch.” — Lily Tomlin

“A little learning is a dangerous thing but a lot of ignorance is just as bad.” — Bob Edwards

“DON’T go!!  I’m not HOWARD COSELL!!  I know POLISH JOKES…  WAIT!! Don’t go!!  I AM Howard Cosell!…  And I DON’T know Polish jokes!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
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I’m almost certain, without having even proofed this, or gone back to edit at all, that it will do some real damage, if it gets into the right hands…. In that respect, all I can do is hope, because I’m too lazy to go promote it myself…. C’est la vie, mis amis! No soap, radio!   See ya….

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