So, how’s that for a fairly nonsensical follow-up to the opening poem. I realize I’ve hit Lewis Carroll a lot of late, but, I’ve just felt like wrapping myself in irony and metaphor a lot, I guess, preparing for the days to come, when I’ll be furiously trying to maintain my footing on the slippery slopes of Reality, as witnessed in the Big Blue Room…. What fun we’ll be able to say we had, me, my guitar, and my computer! Those Time Lord powers will come in handy, I’m sure….

Now that I’ve blathered sufficiently about very little, I can go on to discuss a large problem, and a small one, personal to myself only. First, the large one; I am unable to type for more than a moment or two at a time, as my back has decided today will be a day to gift me with a knife. Sadly, this knife doesn’t sit on my belt in a sheath; it’s lodged in my lower back, just above my right hip. Every time I move, in any direction at all, it feels as if that knife, which is lodged there in the hip, stabs me with pain, just about a level 9, only short of tooth or labor pain, bad enough it has me crying…. Lovely!…

This means I’ll be cheating a LOT today….

Second problem isn’t much, only to do with me and my idiosyncracies of writing; I can’t seem to keep from mixing my persons….. About half the time, I’ve noted in perusing old material, I slip into the royal “we”, forgetting so much I end up switching in mid-sentence. Perhaps I can demonstrate; it isn’t as if we think about it….

See? Just like that, it slips out. Of course, I was demonstrating, but, you see the difficulty, don’t you? Ah well, so much for honesty…. I’ll try to keep it down, but, sometimes, we just can’t help ourselves…..

Fuck it. Let’s get on with this, okay? I’m taking us in, willy-nilly, so, I’d suggest you hang on….

Shall we Pearl?

From 2/22/2013:

“Know that which pervades the entire body is indestructible. No one is able to destroy the imperishable soul.” — Bhagavad Gita (c. B.C. 400)

I first read the Bhagavad Gita when I was about 17, and, along with the Tao Teh Ching, it has had a profound effect on my life, and the attitudes I bring to living it. The above verses are what led me to my belief in the mind’s immortality, as a form of energy like any other in this Universe, and subject to the Law of Conservation of Energy. This has served to remove the fear from Death for me, as I view it as a mere change of form, to one whose characteristics I do not know, or remember, from previous changes. Once fear is removed, Death becomes just another part of Life, and is welcome as such, for the inherent beauty it possesses as the complement to Life…..

“All anger arises out of obstructed desire.” — Bhagavad Gita

This is the second verse from the book that I found to be extremely valuable in learning to live with dignity, with honor, and without fear. This statement, by its very nature, implies that our anger is under our control, and places it into our bag of assets to be used when needed, rather than in our bag of liabilities, or, emotions that keep us from reaching our potential as humans, like fear, anger, greed, etc….. Fear can be seen as the desire to be safe from harm, obstructed, and thus becomes under our aegis of emotions that can be changed, by merely changing our desire…. By learning to deal with fear, anger becomes our ally, rather than our enemy…..

In turn, these two principles, when used conjointly, give us the emotional freedom to make clear decisions about reality’s demands and issues, without our emotional responses coloring the decisions with their negative outlook, and tendency toward denial and obstruction. We become immune to the storms that plague most people, for we know how to adjust our attitudes to suit the conditions under which we find ourselves, instead of falling prey to letting the circumstances dictate our response. True freedom, indeed…

Today, when I found this, I was immediately reminded of all of the things I had lost track of in the distractions of living, and the pain and anger I’ve been feeling since hearing the news of my brother’s illness fell away, no longer able to sustain their hold over my emotions, as I once more am able to see how this is not an issue to be angry about, but rather one to use as an opportunity to grow, and to perhaps be able to give my brother the love and support he needs, despite what he may want, in his own grief…. He is afraid, and trying to keep from either showing, or sharing that fear with his family, and I won’t allow him to die that way, or to be without his family, when it is so unnecessary…..

So, I am feeling better in that respect, and though I am still filled with sadness, I know now that is just my own self-pity, feeling sorry for myself for having to face his death…. Grief is, in truth, misplaced in looking at death, and in reality is more of a solace for the living, than it is a tribute to the dead; our grief is more a feeling of loss in ourselves than it is sorrow for their passing. But, it is not a time for sadness, ultimately, but rather a chance to acknowledge the beauty of a Universe that gives us this opportunity to experience the change in our consciousness….

I’m betting that when we change over, we are in a place where our minds are much more in tune with the very base of reality, and able to direct the formation of the next form it takes…. Hey, it makes as much sense as any of the other suggestions of what happens that I’ve heard, and has the advantage of fitting the facts of observable, recordable reality, pretty precisely….. and if I’m wrong, well, I’ll deal with that when I get there….   🙂

I’ll tell you this quite frankly…. if the Christians are right, or the Muslims, or any of the other organized institutional churches, then I will definitely have a few words for whatever is passing itself off as God, to answer for the actions of His/Her/Its followers…. and I won’t be taking any BS for a response….

“And now there is merely silence, silence, silence, saying all we did not know.” — William Rose Benet

From 2/23/2013:

“I represent a sardine!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

After reading that line, you might just be wondering if I’ve slipped my leash again…. and, you’d be justified in that thought. However, rest assured, I’m perfectly sane, if somewhat metaphorically, so it’s all good, right? Right…..

Now, such a bald statement from our old pal is liable to make one think at first that he is either kidding (not bloody likely….), or he is currently having hallucinatory delusions of being a seafood lawyer, or fish solicitor, as my British friends would say. While both of those are possible scenarios, similar in nature to Zippy’s previous episodes of verbal gymnastics, neither is correct in this instance, as I happen to know that he is teaching a lesson in metaphorical manipulation, or, as it is commonly known, lying his ass off, to keep you preoccupied while he is doing something else he doesn’t want you to see, or know about…. He’s tricky that way….

I suppose he might be trying to tell us he is a theatrical/literary agent of some sort, and has a sardine who a) has written the next best seller, entitled “The Truth About Tuna”,  an exposé of the fishing industry, b) has a voice like Pavarotti, c) juggles three seahorses while riding a motorized wheelchair, or d) paints incredibly lifelike pictures of cruise ships, from an underwater view…. He might, if that is what he meant, but, it isn’t…. It is all just a distraction, a hullabaloo to draw your attention away from his real purpose, which has to do with several cases of motor oil, a rag-time band, two Senators, and a motel out on Route 666….. You really don’t want to know, now, do you?

No, really, ffolkes, I had a reason to show Zippy’s little gem off today, and it was really a good one…. So, it’s really too bad that, by the time I finished with the second paragraph above, I completely lost track of whatever it was I had to say about it….. That, of course, is embarrassing, but not as much as having to turn tail, right in the middle of a pearl, or what SHOULD have been a pearl, and go old school, just to save my ass from complete well, asininity (what else?….)….

So, here is what Smart Bee came up with, and taken together, the pearls all DO have a point…. just don’t ask me what it is, because even if I knew, I don’t think I can be trusted today to say it correctly, or even interpret it accurately…. So, you’re kind of on your own…. Don’t worry, they’re all safe, just pointed a little….Enjoy!….

“Look under enough rocks and you’ll find _something_ slimy” — Smart Bee

“And gentle Dulness ever loves a joke.” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Dunciad, Book ii, Line 34

“Don’t edit reality for the sake of simplicity.” — Smart Bee

“No people do so much harm as those who go about doing good.” — Mandell Creighton (1843-1901)

“A thief believes everybody steals.” — E.W. Howe

“I have a feeling that at any time about three million Americans can be had for any militant reaction against law, decency, the Constitution, the Supreme Court, compassion and the rule of reason.” — John Kenneth Galbraith

“My way of joking is to tell the truth. It’s the funniest joke in the world.” — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

Well, there you have it, such as it is…. Ta then, luvs…..

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One might think by this time in my life, pain wouldn’t be able to surprise me like this, giving me new fits of frustration at its ability to disrupt my life’s workings. I have reached a point of stability now, but, waking up in enough pain to cause weeping is never a good sign; days beginning that way have a tendency to go downhill from what is already a low point. If I wasn’t such a tough guy, I’d whimper….

However, since I AM such a tough guy, I can’t afford to let it stop me from doing what there is to be done, of which, this Pearl was the first item to get finished. Having done so, I am encouraged, enough to let this die a natural death, so as not to delay its journey to oblivion…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, pain, or no pain….