Ffolkes,
“There are two lasting bequests we can give our children.
One is roots.
The other is wings.”
~~ Hodding Carter, Jr. ~~
Pointing the Way
Hajime…. I’m up rather late, though I went to bed early. C’est la vie! It’s a new year, again, so, all can be forgiven, claimed merely as building new habits…. Sure, that’s it…. It’s my story, and I’m sticking to it….
Today’s mess is, for a Pearl, a bit choppy, from this end; it may look smooth and simple, but, believe me, it was not. That said, and, to begin new methods for a new year, I’ll curtail any urges to go silly, or weird, or anything other than efficient…. In truth, this is a ploy, to lull your sense of security into believing me; tomorrow will probably see a return to the general run of idiotic literary tricks and illusions we use to fill up space…. None of that today…. Nope, we’re going straight from here to the oyster beds, and be done with it…. How’s that for efficient? It works like this….
Shall we Pearl?….
“There’s nothing on my mind that couldn’t be expressed by a long insane outburst of hysterical rage.” — Ashleigh Brilliant
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Image from beatchronic.com via Google Images
For the last couple of months, since hearing the first of many songs published by this organization, I have been trying to promote the ideas they espouse, as the only way, for the moment, I can show my support. The video I’ve included is a compilation of a large number of their songs, put up on You Tube since 2013, by one of their other admirers…. It gives a good feel for what they do, and the joy it creates wherever they do it….. Enjoy, and then, consider helping out by joining the organization…. It combines our two best weapons against the machine, to wit: Love, and Music….
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Playing for Change
A Better Place
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“It is the mark of an educated mind
to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
~~ Aristotle ~~
The sense of touch, of which our skin is the primary perceptive organ is, when one stops to consider, the ONLY sense we actually possess as humans….. Hearing, taste, smell, sight, all are merely extensions of that one sense; more advanced, more complex ways of perceiving different types of energy/matter, of which the universe is composed, but, still, only a variation of what the skin does at its most basic level of nerve function.
Each of the organs we possess to collect those perceptions are based on increasingly small particles to be perceived, yet, all MUST be touched by those particles, little pieces of the universe, in order to function, at all. The tongue must have particles of food touch it before tasting; the ears are more finely tuned, to the touch of sound waves, molecules of air in motion. The nose is even more delicately tuned, to detect specific molecules in the air which signify what is perceived there; very delicate particles, indeed, as it can detect tiny, invisible molecules, such as pheromones from our glands, below the level of consciousness…
The eyes are the last, most complex organ, evolved to detect almost the tiniest of particles in the universe, light waves from an energy source in specific frequencies and amplitudes, below even the molecular level, also unconsciously…. (I say, ‘almost’, because, without aid, we cannot perceive at the atomic level, nor sub-atomic particles….) In point of fact, all the direction of our entire perceptive system is generally an unconscious process…. The brain we possess as humans has evolved, clearly, as a means of processing all that complex, fascinating data, all compiled by five varieties of ONE sense…..
This simplicity, combined with the dual nature of the complexity it mimics in Reality, is why we are constantly being fooled by the universe, because Reality isn’t limited to just one type of matter/energy to be perceived. If one can accept the inevitability of this proposition/assertion, it is only the simplest of logic to discover there are, most likely, many OTHER types of energy/matter for which we do not possess any sort of perceptive organ, capable of even detecting its existence, at all…. We are surrounded by a mystery whose limits, and/or existence, we cannot perceive, or possibly comprehend….
But, we humans, with this nearly unlimited imagination, caught in a small, insulated shell, with hardly more perceptive ability than the rocks upon which we so often founder, think we can dream up a God, and, read His mind, too…. Pathetic little monkeys is all we are, naked, hairless, and afraid, with a nature too fucking vicious and stubborn to even admit how small and unimportant we are in the scheme of things. For us to even believe we can see ever HALF of what REALITY really exists as, is the height of arrogance, and stupidity…. But, then, looking at history, what else is new?
“Science has made gods of us
before we were even worthy of being men.”
~~ Jean Rostand ~~
We humans seem to think our minds, and imagination, are proof against whatever Reality may come up with; how else to explain such arrogant foolishness in the face of an entire universe, which, clearly, barely registers OUR existence, at all. It certainly has no pity for us, or any other such emotional response; for fuck’s sake, ffolkes, the universe doesn’t care about humans any more than a star, & it blows them up on a regular basis. If there were living creatures on planets around such a star, do you believe the star wouldn’t blow because they were there?…. Pretty unlikely, from all the evidence available, I would say.
Yesterday, on the last day of the year, I took a walk, as I needed to get outside, and, off my ass for a while…. I set a nearby store as my goal; the round trip is about mile, and the weather was cold, but, clear…. Before I reached the half-way point, the store, I had witnessed three objects/events/indications of the failure of the American Dream, as epitomized in two statements, one from Thomas Jefferson, echoing wisdom he had read by our opening sage, Aristotle, to wit:
“If a Nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be … If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed.” — Thomas Jefferson
“If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost.” — Aristotle
Both of these statements imply the necessity for each person in a democracy to take ‘personal’ responsibility very seriously, to educate themselves, and to monitor the activities of those they’ve chosen to govern…. Anything less will, and, sadly, has led us to the exact place we have come in America…. There is NO common feeling among the population which promotes or facilitates such responsibility; the signs are everywhere….
A block from my door, I came upon an open field, next to a building housing a printing company. The open area, next to the sidewalk, is now covered with trash, not merely bags or thrown down wrapping papers, but, broken couches, tables, torn clothing, and, literally, spoiling trash & food all over, covering a good half-acre of ground, all thrown there, obviously, from passing, or pausing vehicles….
At the next corner was further proof of people’s lack of ‘commhair’, (Gaelic for ‘community’), where I found, lying right next to the sidewalk on the corner, the body of a dog, obviously run over by a motorist, who had then pulled it off the street, & left it, covered partially with cardboard, (from the trash lying nearby), to rot, right on the street, where children, old folks, and animals walk daily…. By the time I got there today, it had been there about five days, without anyone reporting it, (I had tried several times, but, could never reach anything but recordings, at the police and city bureaucracies I called), or, burying it, at the very least….
On my way back, I stopped at the newspaper office, at the corner opposite the open field where the trash and corpse lay… I asked the receptionist if the paper had a number for the police or city where what I’d found could be reported for disposal…. She sent me back to the news room, where I explained the issue to a couple of reporters there, working on the next issue, I suppose….
They listened politely, with some slight empathy at what I described, but, didn’t seem to grasp the simple fact they were looking at a blockbuster story, if they chose to address the issues involved, i.e, the lack of community spirit prevalent in society, as well as the inability forced upon the public to seek help from those we elect to TAKE the responsibility for such things from us…. I had to smile, shake my head, and leave, having done all I could do to resolve my own sense of responsibility….
I went outside, & sat on a bus bench outside the paper’s office, & thought of what I had just experienced on my walk…. whereupon, I began to weep…. I felt such a strong sense of sadness, at the death of the American Dream, fought for so bravely by those founding fathers, and protected, sincerely, by thousands and thousands of true Americans since then, including my own father, against the depredations of those who would deny us our freedoms as secured by the Constitution…. I sat there, silently, with tears running down my face, for about five minutes before I could get up, cross the street to avoid the now-ripely-odoriferous canine corpse, to finish my walk….
It’s all dead, and nobody even realizes it, but for a few true Americans, who have educated themselves, and have watched, in pain and anguish, as our government has steadily been BOUGHT by corporate influence; in the courts, since the mid-nineteenth century, and for the entire twentieth century, as those inroads into one branch have spread, like the only true form of life Man has created, the computer virus, carrying its load of evil and selfishness into Congress, and, the White House, until none of those three branches have any interest in pursuing anything but their own agendas, none of which are concerned with securing anything for the people who live here…..
The general run of American has no courage, no education, and no actual freedom to do anything other than follow custom, which they do not even realize is a slave’s collar. The evil inherent in the philosophy of “me first” has killed the hopes of those who founded this country, as well as removing it from the reach of the average man, which, in essence, was the primary intent of the Bill of Rights, all of which are now merely a Bill of Suggestions…. as long as they don’t get in the way of the bottom line profits of the oligarchs who now run most of the world….
The courage to speak out against the madness, the courage of a child, to say, “Look! The Emperor is naked!”, is now gone from the American spirit, as well as from much of the world…. and, we all have heard what happens when evil goes unnoticed, allowed to remain in the dark, where it would have us all exist….
“Oppression can only survive through silence.”
~~ Carmen de Monteflores ~~
In a way, I hate starting the New Year with such a depressing rant…. yet, I have a feeling it is needed just now…. All of us, those who can see, as well as those who do not, need to begin anew, to face Life with more courage, and honest effort to show ourselves to be truly human… that is to say, Kind, Compassionate, Brave, and, with Honor as our standard of existence. Anything less than that just isn’t going to overcome the damage already done to society, and, the entire planet’s ecosystem….
“Earth felt the wound; and Nature from her seat,
Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe
That all was lost.”
~~ John Milton — Paradise Lost, Book ix, Line 782 ~~
You may believe that, or not; the Universe doesn’t really care….
I do; I can’t seem to help myself, even though I know human nature all-too-well…. I love the silly critters; I am one. So, I’ll keep on spouting off, or, ranting, or, whatever I need to do to spread the Love I feel…. It is, in the final analysis, the only damn thing we have to fight back with….
gigoid has spoken, quite enough for one day….
So be it.
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New Year Haiku
The old year is gone.
Who knows what the next will bring?
Glad to say, not me.
~~ gigoid ~~
12/31/2015, 8:05 PM
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Our final old-school pearl today is, as is often the case, a bit obscure. It’s a classic seven-star bracelet of gems, with a message; my problem is I don’t know exactly how to express it….. I guess it’s kind of like a New Year; ya never know what’s gonna be up ahead, waiting for you to learn…. Enjoy!….
“All our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind.” — Kahlil Gibran (Sand and Foam)
“Every one is bound to bear patiently the results of his own example.” — Phaedrus (c. 8 A.D.) — Book i, Fable 26, 12
“Charity sees the need not the cause.” — German Proverb
“How bold one gets when one is sure of being loved.” — Sigmund Freud
“The wishbone will never replace the backbone.” — Brave Bee
“Honesty is the best policy – there’s less competition.” — Van Roy’s Law
“Do not the spirits who dwell in the ether envy man his pain?” — Kahlil Gibran
Aha! Got it! I think I have figured it out; hint…. it’s advice on how to approach new challenges…. 2nd hint: K.I.S.S…..
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I am done, thankfully. The new year seems to have brought a bit of attention from our old pal Murphy, who has a new trick; he’s fussing with the software, causing it to freeze every couple minutes, to wait for it to catch up to my commands…. SIGH…. Ah well, it’s done, so, we’ll press our luck a bit, & try to post it…. Wish me luck…. For the nonce, I shall bid thee adieu until tomorrow, when, hopefully, I’ll have fixed this, or, found a workaround…. Until then, ffolkes, y’all enjoy the day off, and all the festivities you can tolerate without getting homicidal…. Ta, then, until they figure out a way to stop me from doing this again….
Y’all take care out there,
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….
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