Ffolkes,
~~ Alexander Jablokov, “The Place of No Shadows” ~~

Hajime….. All of us, during our lives, must learn to live with disappointment; it’s one of our most important tasks. For example, yesterday, I said I would have a new Pearl ready, one worth reading. Well, that isn’t happening…. Oh, I’ve created a Pearl, but, as to its worth, I cannot be certain enough to say it is worth reading. I did, of course, and I’m still standing, so, we know it’s not toxic; whether it reaches the level of literature we’ve come to expect is another matter, one you may take up with your legal team, if you have one. My team says, bring it on….
Hah! I don’t have a legal team, and neither do you, since none of y’all are corporate snakeheads, to the best of my knowledge. But, it was fun to say it, so, let it be, will ya? Good. Now I can use this little device the Doctor recommended for today’s use. It’s a bit hard on the Space/Time Continuum, but, that’s getting so ragged, nobody should notice until its too late…. Hmm…. Kinda sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Oh, gosh, look at the time!…. We’re outta here, ffolkes, or the Time Lords will revoke my certificate of usage for the Tardis…. Hang on, this one is a bit bumpy in spots….
Shall we Pearl?….
~~ Plato, The Republic. Book II. 377B ~~
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We are going with classical, simply to save time…. It’s what I listen to, anyway, most of the time, so, it provides a similar ambiance for reading as it does for when I write…. Enjoy!….
Classical Music
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Time constraints, and a recalcitrant database, kept me from having a fresh rant; here is a piece from the archives to fill in the gap thus created…. Enjoy!….
From 3/24/2013:
I stand no wiser than before.”
~~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ~~
“This instant is thine; the next is in the womb of futurity, and thou knowest not what it may bring forth; maturity of the unborn is in the keeping of the Law. Each future state is that thou has created in the present.” — Akhenaton? (c. B.C. 1375)
“The question is not whether we will die, but how we will live.” — Joan Borysenko
Living life well is a subjective goal, and, as such, whether or not it we are successful in reaching the goal is purely a subjective judgment. This kind of judgment requires introspection, which makes it somewhat of a conundrum for many people, as their skills at that particular activity are severely limited from disuse. Very few people today spend much time in self-examination, from what I can see. If they did, they sure wouldn’t act the way they do, or dress the way they are, or carry on such a foolish, self-destructive course of living….
“The study of the errors into which great minds have fallen in the pursuit of truth can never be uninstructive. . . No man is so wise but that he may learn some wisdom from his past errors, either of thought or action, and no society has made such advances as to be capable of no improvement from the retrospect of its past folly and credulity.” — Charles Mackay
Introspection, however, requires both honesty and ruthlessness, in being able to recognize those things within us that are not of value, and to remove them from our persona. As such, it is what most folks would term as “hard” or “difficult”, and they will avoid it at all cost, laziness being a rather common human trait. It is much simpler, and easier, to just take what all the powers that be, (otherwise known as either the beloved ruling class, or those most heinous of criminal manipulators, preachers/priests), are selling as moral standards, and use them, regardless of whether or not they are truly moral or not…. and I assure you, mostly, they are not….
“Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think.” — Arthur Schopenhauer
I often feel like Goethe, in what he stated above, as I believe myself to be one of the few who actually do use introspection on a regular basis. I believe this because, if other folks were using this process, the world would look a lot different. Women would feel safe walking the streets; old folks would feel cared for; gay, lesbian, and transgender individuals would not suffer discrimination for their orientation; racism would be dead, and religion would join mythology as a piece of mankind’s past, rather than its current status as our jailer/executioner…..
“Being good at being stupid doesn’t count.” — Smart Bee
All of these societal problems (bigotry, racism, discrimination, slavery, entitlement, misogyny, etc. )arise from the attitude of elitism held by those individuals among us who never look within, to see just how ugly their inner selves have become, from using the sick, twisted elitism as preached by the modern religious and political leaders. We, as a species, cannot afford to listen any more to the Judeo-Christian (note: add Talmudic, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Shinto, etc…. gigoid, 3/24/13) ethic as propounded by the beloved ruling class; this kind of entitlement and aggrandizement has led us to the very brink of extinction, as we continue to treat the planet as our toy, instead of as our home. We cannot keep pouring millions of tons of carbon monoxide into the atmosphere and expect nothing to happen, because what WILL happen is already happening…. our weather is changing, and not in a good way…. the planet is warming up, and when it is warm enough, the ice at the poles will melt, and everything on Earth will feel the effects….
“The faith in which I was brought up assured me that I was better than other people: I was saved, they were damned … Our hymns were loaded with arrogance–self-congratulation on how cozy we were with the Almighty and what a high opinion he had of us, what hell everybody else would catch come judgment day.” — Robert A. Heinlein
As Akhenaton pointed out over 3000 years ago, what we do in the present will determine how the future will be. What our species is doing now will guarantee that most of us won’t be around to see what happens in that future, because we will be dead within a hundred years, or less, if things don’t begin to change TODAY…. Since it is unlikely that will happen, well, we may as well take the advice given to many school children in the 50’s, in learning to deal with an atomic blast…. to wit: bend over and kiss your ass goodbye…. I hate to be so cynical, but, introspection requires honesty, so….
“You were s’posed to laugh!” — Zippy the Pinhead
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Oh, there it is again, fiddle faddle;
Begone, I said, vamoose, skedaddle!
It looked at me as if I were insane:
Scoffed, it did, filled me with pain.
Where does it come from?
Where does it live?
I’d stick out my thumb,
if I had more to give.
If only, should, would, could it be?
It went away again, this time free.
It will be back again, this I know;
or I’m wrong, and it won’t show.
Who cares?
Who hears?
Such goings on wobble the sphere,
I wish it wouldn’t do that here.
I’ve been wrong before…..
~~ gigoid ~~
4/19/2013
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Our final pearl today is a simple, seven-star old-school pearl, which speaks of a life lived well….
“For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his mind will be the greatest enemy.” — Bhagavad Gita (c. B.C. 400)
“Because of our routines we often forget that life is an ongoing adventure.” — Maya Angelou
“Failure to understand reality is not reality’s fault.” — Bill Henneman
“It is our choices … that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” — Albus Dumbledore — J.K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets”
“Courage is the ladder on which all other virtues mount.” — Clare Booth Luce
“To him who is in fear, everything rustles.” Sophocles
“Therefore, be ye lamps unto yourselves, be a refuge to yourselves. Hold fast to Truth as a lamp; hold fast to the truth as a refuge. Look not for a refuge in anyone beside yourselves. And those, who shall be a lamp unto themselves, shall betake themselves to no external refuge, but holding fast to the Truth as their lamp, and holding fast to the Truth as their refuge, they shall reach the topmost height.” — Buddha
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Okay. I have fulfilled my duty. So be it…. I shall not burden y’all with any further nonsense, or sense, but, shall take my leave forthwith, until tomorrow, when we’ll try again…. We now return to our regularly scheduled cat-pampering…..
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
gigoid, the dubious
The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.
PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.
“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….