Tag Archives: Lazarus Long

Secrets to becoming an Adept….

Posted on by
2

Ffolkes,
Caution–I was not hired for my disposition…. I’ve always known, it seems, that anger is what we use to cover up our fear, so it is really no surprise to me to feel the depths of anger I am currently feeling. I know exactly why I’m angry, and of what I am afraid; they (the ubiquitous ‘they’…) never tell us whether or not it is ever justified to feel this way, though, so I do have some slight guilt, for feeling anger at any who may not deserve it…. That guilt, however, is very small, and won’t affect my letting that anger out on somebody, should the right circumstances arise; I’m feeling very justified in my anger, and I don’t much care if it spills onto someone…. folks will just have to take the risk today, if they wish to deal with me…. because I am one pissed off puppy…. thanks to the power of bureaucracy….

“Bureaucracy is the art of making the possible impossible.” — Javier Pascual Salcedo

My anger is so strong right now, it is almost a palpable thing, and it is probably fortunate that I don’t plan on actually seeing anyone face to face today. I have no money, so it will be off the library later to post and check email, where I don’t have to talk to anyone unless I choose. I’m also so out of money that I’m still out of cigarettes to smoke, and the 96 plus  hours of doing without is doing wonders for the anger…. fanning it nicely into a very respectable rage… I kind of hope a creditor calls this morning, so I could let some of this out on someone who deserves it….. Plus, since I haven’t smoked a cigarette in that long, my cough is actively trying to turn my lungs inside out, to get rid of the crap in there, so I can, if I’m lucky, cough right in some asshole’s ear….

You know, one of the things I’ve noticed about creditor companies, you know the ones who call up to harass you about a bill you never made, or one you’ve paid off, or one you are late on by a day or two…. it is always a male who calls…. Apparently they can’t get women to do that sort of dunning on the phone, because I’ve never had a woman’s voice call me about any of those kinds of things…. Interesting, eh? Sorry, little side-track…. but, it really doesn’t surprise me that men are the only people with enough asshole in their system to do the job….

Well, that certainly covers enough ground to be considered an introduction, though it doesn’t introduce much of anything….. I suppose one might say it fits right into the uncategorizeable  nature of most of what goes into these sections of the Pearls. “Typical” is a word that seldom applies around here, by design…. so, we’ll just pass over that like it isn’t there, and get on with the standard activities for which we are gathered…. Shall we Pearl?….

“And sometimes the bear eats you.” — Smart Bee
__________________________________

So, I’m cruising, looking for a pearl, and this picture pops up on my desktop…. it is one I found on Facebook months ago, and may have used previously, once, as part of another pearl…. I’m not sure. But, since it has been almost an hour since anything interesting either came up on the dB screen, or in my head ( writing poetry does that to my head for a while…. just a dial-tone sounding buzz in there….), I figure this will do. It is one of those pictures that stimulate inner dialogue in the viewer…. Well, it does in me, anyway…. My first thought when I saw it was, “Oh, poor baby!”, in reaction to her terrified expression and posture, and the second was, “What a perfect caption!”, because, if I were caught in this position, those would be my exact words….

    Onward….
__________________________________

Penance, Made Simple

After all the dross is sent away
a celebration can begin,
time will face up to space, to stay
willing, to shine from within.

Anger and confusion come in to share
brushing reason aside,
eager to welcome all that is fair,
alert to danger, eyes wide.

Re-gift the wicked with their own pain
stand with the just;
fail to partake of the ill-gotten gain,
living in honor, the only must.

Standing fast in the face of wrong
is its own prize and reward.
Holding on to truth makes us strong,
well worth working toward.

Little is left to chance by fate
our lessons are never free of cost.
Seldom does reality make us wait
only when alone, are we lost.

~~ gigoid
__________________________________

I am too angry to rant…. I know, that sounds silly, but it really isn’t….. I am so incensed at the disregard for human needs that is shown by our federal government, I am too distracted to focus down and use my mind to write about it. I know, I hear, or read, about it, and write about it frequently, in one or another of my political or religious (I reckon that should more accurately be, anti-political and anti-religious….) rants, but this is different. It is too close to home, and affects me too directly; I start to write about it, and get all tensed up, and then the uncontrollable weeping to which I am subject under stress starts, my head fills up with fluids, and it’s a big mess….

So, rather than get into that whole ball of wax, I’m going to gather together some appropriate pearls to take my shots at the talking heads today…. If you don’t know at whom these are directed, just pick a government agency, or a candidate for election, or a local/national religious pundit, and apply it to them. It will probably fit just fine…. Any who, here are a bunch of comments on the asininity of government, and those who engage in it…..

“…I am opposed to all attempts to license or restrict the arming of individuals…I consider such laws a violation of civil liberty, subversive of democratic political institutions, and self-defeating in their purpose.” — Robert A. Heinlein, in a 1949 letter concerning “Red Planet”

“Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.” — Lazarus Long

“Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.” — Smart Bee
(See Italian Proverb, below, for further wisdom on this subject….)

Article 19. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. — United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
— adopted Dec.10, 1948. — This article is frequently violated in both spirit and letter — by most UN member governments, including that of the United States.

“Many politicians … are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition, that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom. The maxim is worthy of the fool who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to swim.” — Thomas Babington Macaulay

“He who knows nothing, doubts nothing.” — Italian Proverb
(Rather a precise definition of the members of the Westwood Baptist Church, wouldn’t you say?…. It is also pretty scary-correct if applied to just about any Congressional committee, or even Congressional member…. Hmm… come to think of it, it DOES apply, to virtually ANY Congressional member, House or Senate….)

It took a while, but I found a fitting final pearl for this spot. The above paints a complex picture of life, even though focused only on one or two aspects of public behavior, to wit: politics and religion, as affected by and related to, human stupidity, or cupidity, take your choice…. Hmph, sorry, I get wound up…. any who, this is so elemental, I’m leaving it alone, to stand alone….

“Grain grows best in shit.” — Ursula K. LeGuin
__________________________________

“Don’t hold to anger, hurt or pain.  They steal your energy and keep you from love.” — Leo F. Buscaglia

“Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans; it’s lovely to be silly at the right moment.” — Horace (65-8 B.C.)

In looking back over today’s effort, I see that once again, fate intervened to direct my hand (or, my unconscious mind knows me better than my conscious mind does….). These two pearls were collected during my search this morning, even though they didn’t fit right in with what I was seeking, and I didn’t know why I kept them, for sure. But, now I see, they were needed…. by me. Well, and maybe by you, as well, after getting through my drivel this morning…. In any case, they are quite acceptable as final thoughts, so, they stay…. and we can now get on with the rest of our day, such as it may turn out to be….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

So much for formatting….

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Penny has yet to dance the lambada….

Posted on by
Reply

Ffolkes,
Yesterday, I corrected Time, so we are all caught up in that respect; the missing day has been banished, and no longer exists, for our purposes. This has, unfortunately, allowed Murphy a whole new 24 hour period in which to plan his persecutory activities, and I’m a bit timorous about diving right into a day where he’s had so much leeway for setting up potential chaos. I don’t even have a clue as to where he might strike…. my head seems fairly clear, but I have yet to examine or test out Smart Bee. He could have messed with the program somehow, as I don’t think geeking is beyond his skill set; I’ve been hit too often with little glitches that only could have come from him….. Ya never know, with Murphy….

I suppose one of the reasons I make such a good target for him, and his minions, is that I really, really hate his guts. I don’t care how often he claims it’s his job; I don’t care that the universe HAS to have someone like him, to maintain balances. He’s an asshole, plain and simple, and I don’t care how important he is to the universe. He could figure out ways to fuck with people less than he does; it is obvious to the most casual, and causal, observer that he goes above and beyond the call of his job to create special pain for people. To me, this is unacceptable, and unforgivable…. to have the choice, to make pain for innocent folks, or to mess with them, just because you can, is completely the work of an asshole, and is deserving of the disrespect of every honorable man alive….

If you can’t tell, I’m still angry at Murphy from his actions on Friday morning…. Having the Social Security case worker call me at 0801, to suggest I might wish to WAIT LONGER to get my benefits, was a  brilliant stroke on his part, if one considers such acts dispassionately. Nothing could have ruined my day, and my month, any better than that simple call. I did make the analyst pay, after a fashion…. Since his question had to do with my PTSD, I treated him to a full-on episode of emotional breakdown, at flash speed, complete with blubbering, shouting, and pressured speech, with the particular added bonus of my erudition at full out attack mode…. the man definitely got an earful in a short time….

I don’t know if that will help or hinder, and since the lawyer has yet to return my call (they’re a bit lax about that…. we’ll have to have another word or two on the subject, I can see…..), I am not sure how to think about it. I’m hoping I made it clear to the analyst that any further delays in awarding my benefits would only have a bad effect on me, and that their intransigent dallying is causing me no end of problems, both physical and emotional. Not that they care, particularly, that I can see, but at least I’ve made my position clear to them…. I can only hope the lawyer agrees…. and if not, well, they are the ones who are supposed to be guiding and controlling this process; they should start doing that, to my way of looking at it…. As may be apparent, my patience with the entire process is getting a bit thin…. and if something doesn’t break soon, I’m going to start looking for targets for my angst, which, I can assure you, is building up to a nice, big explosion….

Since I’m up and writing, and it’s only 0710 (bounced up at 0635 for some reason…. might have been the falling asleep at 2100 that did it…. but, hey, how ’bout them Giants, eh?…..) I suppose I’d best get started on today’s Pearl. Once again, I’m starting with zero material…. no quotes yet, and no incipient poetry, at least not at this juncture. Ah well, it’s been worse, for sure…. Shall we Pearl?……
__________________________________

“Why does this magnificent applied science, which saves work and makes life easier, bring us so little happiness?  The simple answer runs: Because we have not yet learned to make sensible use of it.” — Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

“That is the key to history. Terrific energy is expended, civilizations are built up, excellent institutions devised; but each time something goes wrong. Some fatal flaw always brings the selfish and cruel people to the top, and then it all slides back into misery and ruin. In fact, the machine conks. It seems to start up all right and runs a few yards, and then it breaks down.” — C. S. Lewis

Sometimes it takes two to make the correct point….. Between these two quotes, we are given a glimpse of both the problem that mankind suffers from most, and the solution to that problem. Of course, the solution is one that, so far, has been unpalatable to most people, but, it is at least visible for discussion…. Most simply put, the whole problem that our species confronts can be ascribed to our spiritual deficits, as they pertain to both our treatment of each other, and our treatment of the world in which we live…..

In the first case, there are still too many people who think it is acceptable to seek power over others; in the second case, that spiritual flaw translates into a sense of entitlement that extends to how we utilize the resources of the planet, to wit: without proper or even minimal restraint. In the sphere of interactions between people, this deficit leads to misunderstandings, cruelty, slavery, and war…. in the case of planetary resources, it leads to strip-mining and unsustainable industry, unchecked pollution, and ecological suicide…..

I could spend a long time detailing just how far along the path to extinction our species has come; in fact, I’ve done so many times in the past. Such detailing is to little effect, however, so today we will assume it is already done, and we have established the fact that we are further along the road to perdition than most folks want to admit. At the same time, it is necessary to admit that we are also no closer to finding an answer to the question of how we are going to persuade the majority of mankind to make major internal changes, to their beliefs, their spiritual compass, and indeed, the very foundations of their entire existence, if they wish to live, and to give their children an even chance of the same….. This is a difficult proposition, as most folks won’t even admit to the necessity for change, much less what they themselves need to do…..

The depth of ignorance, you see, is not the only problem. For many, that ignorance will keep them from ever realizing just how bad things are, right up until the Grim Reaper comes knocking on their door. But, there are many, many people out there who know exactly what they do that is wrong, and they don’t care, because they believe it will have no ultimate effect on them, only on others…. To be so uncaring as to the fates of others, it is required that one be disconnected from reality, including the reality of one’s own motivation. These folks, who live for power, will not even examine their own motives, because they already know that they are flawed; they chose to be flawed deliberately, because it serves their own self-interests, and they are incapable of understanding that they will be as affected by the end game that is coming as everyone else…. and, in this case, one can see how deliberate ignorance becomes its own justice, eventually….

I wish I had an answer…. I wish I knew a way to convince those who need to know that what they, and the fools they allow to control the world through their own inability to see clearly, their own choice to remain ignorant, cannot continue to expect to live if they do not learn to open up their minds to a new way of seeing life. These fools are rushing into oblivion with their eyes closed, believing they are blessed and protected from harm by their faith in a mirage, when in reality, their faith, and their ignorance is guaranteeing their extinction…. and unfortunately, mine along with it… So, yes, I wish I had an answer…. but, I don’t, so I’ll have to make do with my plans to wreak severe havoc amongst the philistines when the time is ripe…. If we are all marked for extermination by the universe, I’m making sure some of the guilty are going down with me…. Trust me….

“In the dark colony of night, when I consider man’s magnificent capacity for malice, madness, folly, envy, rage, and destructiveness, and I wonder whether we shall not end up as breakfast for newts and polyps, I seem to hear the muffled cries of all the words in all the books with covers closed.” — Leo Rosten

“Here pigs will fly, lightning will strike twice, hell will freeze over, and eventually, things will get really interesting…” — Smart Bee
__________________________________

I’ve looked inside, and nothing is turning up in any of the dark corners where they hide, mumbling to themselves until I rip them out into the open air…. so we will have to make do, and settle for something from a proven source…. which shall remain nameless, until I find out who it is today…. Be patient, you will know soon enough…..

Portrait of the Artist as a Prematurely Old Man

It is common knowledge to every schoolboy and even every Bachelor of Arts,
That all sin is divided into two parts.
One kind of sin is called a sin of commission, and that is very important,
And it is what you are doing when you are doing something you ortant,
And the other kind of sin is just the opposite and is called a sin of omission
and is equally bad in the eyes of all right-thinking people, from
Billy Sunday to Buddha,
And it consists of not having done something you shuddha.
I might as well give you my opinion of these two kinds of sin as long as,
in a way, against each other we are pitting them,
And that is, don’t bother your head about the sins of commission because
however sinful, they must at least be fun or else you wouldn’t be
committing them.
It is the sin of omission, the second kind of sin,
That lays eggs under your skin.
The way you really get painfully bitten
Is by the insurance you haven’t taken out and the checks you haven’t added up
the stubs of and the appointments you haven’t kept and the bills you
haven’t paid and the letters you haven’t written.
Also, about sins of omission there is one particularly painful lack of beauty,
Namely, it isn’t as though it had been a riotous red-letter day or night every
time you neglected to do your duty;
You didn’t get a wicked forbidden thrill
Every time you let a policy lapse or forget to pay a bill;
You didn’t slap the lads in the tavern on the back and loudly cry Whee,
Let’s all fail to write just one more letter before we go home, and this round
of unwritten letters is on me.
No, you never get any fun
Out of things you haven’t done,
But they are the things that I do not like to be amid,
Because the suitable things you didn’t do give you a lot more trouble than the
unsuitable things you did.
The moral is that it is probably better not to sin at all, but if some kind of
sin you must be pursuing,
Well, remember to do it by doing rather than by not doing.

Ogden Nash
__________________________________

“Don’t ever become a pessimist, Ira; a pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun — and neither can stop the march of events.” — Robert Heinlein, Time Enough For Love

As with many important truths, this one does not comfort one to know it; a common attribute of remarks by Lazarus, who has a tendency to voice the truth regardless of its potential, or even certain, effect on the audience. And, damn it, it is just so much simpler to let all the bad stuff hold sway on our attention, and give in to the depressive urge to berate and chastise the universe for its lack of tact and consideration for human sensibilities. It never listens, anyway….

My semi-rant in section one today is a perfect example of this principle at work; I do try to maintain some optimism in the face of reality; I even have learned to try to explain away all the weird stuff as being outside the statistical universe being considered. It’s a lie, but it’s my lie, so I usually can buy into it, long enough to allow denial to set in, and thus preventing the otherwise inevitable depression over how bad things have gotten…..

Actually, right now, it is fairly simple to stay completely distracted, as we always have the election, and all the shenanigans taking place on that stage, to draw our attention away from the imminent demise we face as a species, or even, more importantly, our personal concerns of everyday living. It’s easy to deny the inevitability of carbon monoxide pollution when we have Mitt the Twitt’s lies to chase down, or Biden’s latest zinger to admire, or Lyin’ Ryan’s latest example of elitism to watch with dropped jaw….. it’s a veritable circus, and the clowns are in full swing….

It’s not just the candidates providing the entertainment, either…. every Tom, Dickwad, and Mary is chiming in with their two cents, on TV, radio, and, most prodigiously, on the Internet, all trying to get SOMEONE to listen to them during the run-up to the election. Those two cents can get very, very strange, as each commenter tries to make the most outrageous statements and/or claims/accusations about all the actors on stage, and is a whole new package of entertainment for us to have on hand, each one vying for our attention at the top of their lungs, figuratively speaking…..

This is where the metaphor of the circus gains its credibility, although, more accurately, I am reminded by this, most emphatically, of just about any carnival at the County Fairs I’ve been to….. Disheveled, sinister-looking barkers, complete with suspenders and a cigar in their mouth, yelling out the prizes they promise, each one grander than the next, and easy as pie to win: exotic visions that promise endless satisfaction of desires, enormously valuable jewels and objet’s d’art for virtually nothing, and endless illusions to draw the eye away from the seediness and underlying, almost frenetic despair permeating the air….

Yes, indeed, the political scene here in America has always reminded me of a carnival, and the events and activities that prompt my impression of the election as an illusionary device, designed to fool the public into thinking that things will change if they vote, has never been stronger than it is now. I have hope that by voting against the obviously evil side of the campaign, the overall effect on the immediate future will be mitigated to some degree. But, I can find within me very little hope that the eventual outcome is in doubt, and that outcome is not one that anyone is going to like…. at all.

My optimism is fairly natural to me; I’ve always been a hopeful kind of person, and I continue to hold hope that mankind’s future will extend beyond this century, groundless as it may be. My pessimism, unfortunately, has the advantage of having the most evidence in it’s favor right now, even if Obama wins the election, as I expect he will. He is only one man, and the course of human events is very difficult to change once it is headed in a particular direction. My hope is based on the wish that more than just he will learn to make the inner changes needed for us all to survive the storms that are coming…. a slim hope, yes, but hey, it happens to be all we’ve got…..
__________________________________

I seem to have gotten stuck today, harping on the same general issue in both of the prose sections. This is no doubt the result of the intense mind-control I have now assumed, in order to keep from going stark raving mad….. That severe control is causing some stilted thought patterns, falling into short, but seemingly endless loops…. I suppose I will have to sacrifice a standard or two today, in order to clear the internal censors…. but, that is simple enough. I’m human, and temporarily setting aside standards is pretty simple for us, as a rule….

Besides, I have to decide on whether to write a poem, or find one, and that can be a decision of some magnitude, depending on, well, stuff…. stuff that isn’t always clear, to me, or for me… so the decision is made more tedious, as it were…. and I’m babbling now, so I’m going to put a stop to this, with some ruthless use of the power of will…. just watch me, I’m going to stop typing any moment now, and you’ll see…. keep a sharp eye out, or you’ll miss it….  Oops, there you see, all done…. did you catch it?….. I’m just happy there’s no blood…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

In defense of inconvenient innuendo….

Posted on by
1

10/20/12, aka 10/21/12 ~~ Time, or the labeling of same, is mine to dictate, so, today is tomorrow…. the missing day is banished from memory. So Be It….

Ffolkes,
It seems my unconscious mind has taken a hand in directing my conscious life as well…. but, in this case, it seems to work fairly well, all in all, so I’m going to leave it alone for the time being. I know that sound mysterious, but saying this precisely this way is merely withholding details that would be unenlightening, and at the same time, counter-productive to discussion. Suffice it to say that I am here now, sitting down to write, with more than average clarity, and a degree of unusual comfort…. Thank goodness for coffee, eh?……

I know, I know, that was a less than illuminating paragraph, but, believe me, you really don’t want any more details, so let’s just get on with our regular business, shall we? Suffice it to say that this is a case where you need to trust me, you don’t want to know any more than you do now…. So, you may as well give it up, because I ain’t talking…. Well, I wouldn’t be, but this IS the intro section, and I have to say SOMETHING….

I could point out that, here at Exploring Consensual Reality, you do get more respect…. I could have skipped the above two paragraphs entirely, and not even mentioned the new schedule changes, thus avoiding inadvertently letting out TMI, but figured that my readers are too smart, and might notice something…. so, I figure it’s better to just mention it in passing, rather than try to fool you all into a false sense of complacency. Such a condition is anathema to me, and I refuse to create it in others, if at all possible…. I’d rather create a small bit of confusion, than a great deal of it….

With all that being said, and so cheerfully, we should probably get on with the search for pearls; it promises to be somewhat of a hard line search, as I am starting off with zero to work with (as might have been surmised by this intro, and it’s obvious stretching of ingredients…). This will be posted from the library again, as it is that time of the month when my available cash is scarce…. Until we can get to that point, though, we need to find some pearls…. so, shall we Pearl?…..

“It’s OKAY — I’m an INTELLECTUAL, too.” — Zippy the Pinhead
__________________________________

Okay, so there I was, cruising through Smart Bee, and these little gems popped up. Each one tempted me to begin a rant, or a discussion, but, none of them completely grabbed my attention enough to do the trick. They are all much too valuable to throw out, so I had this idea to include them as a “new-school” pearl….. Y’all can take the ideas herein described, and formulate them into your own pearl of virtual wisdom…. there is plenty here to work with; I’ve used many similar pearls myself to create unforgettable rants, or brilliantly funny forays into nonsense. (Sure I have….. trust me….)

“The correct way to punctuate a sentence that starts: “Of course it is none of my business, but –” is to place a period after the word “but.” Don’t use excessive force in supplying such a moron with a period. Cutting his throat is only a momentary pleasure and is bound to get you talked about.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

“In certain trying circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity furnishes a relief denied even to prayer.” — Mark Twain

“In regard to disagreeable and formidable things, prudence does not consist in evasion, or in flight, but in courage. He who wishes to walk in the most peaceful parts of life with any serenity must screw himself up to resolution. Let him front the object of his worst apprehension, and his stoutness will commonly make his fear groundless” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, _Essays_, Prudence

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

“There’s more than one way to skin a cat, but there  ain’t no way to make the cat enjoy it.” — Jed Clampett

“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

“Once you can accept the universe as being something expanding into an infinite nothing which is something, wearing stripes with plaid is easy.” — Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

So, you should find it reasonably simple to do the same yourselves (creating a pearl, that is, not wearing plaid…) …. and if not, well, they are all fairly strong stand-alone dribbles of good advice/good observations, so you aren’t completely without recourse…. No refunds, though, we’re not completely without shame…. Remember, you get what you pay for in this world, right? TANSTAAFL….. (for the uninitiated, that is, There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch….)
__________________________________

Choosing a Theme

Powerful words playing hide and seek in my mind,
teasing with subtle cruelty, pretending to be kind.
Grand visions and flowery verses of beauty and truth
evaded my inner eye all through the days of my youth.

Affable interludes interspersed with allegorical wit
softened the crimes, against all reason, to finally acquit.
Time became at once an enemy, and an ally
Never once compelled to provide an answer why.

Giving gifts of simple kindness are their own pay,
spreading ripples of compassion are felt far and away.
Love given freely is precious, we are ever told,
increasing love received, more than a hundred fold.

Living long and with passion has centered my soul,
allowing me room, and time, to choose my own goal.
Now that I’ve gone past any need to pretend
I love everything in life, even knowing it will end.

~~ gigoid
__________________________________

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 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….  🙂
__________________________________

Well, there you have it…. Yesterday, or recently, I said, in a poem, “All you can do, is all you can do… and nothing more.” I’ve done all I can do today…. A couple thousand words, mostly all original, an old-school pearl, a new-school pearl, a poem…. it’s going to take me some time to close all the veins I’ve had to open up this morning…. but, it was worth it. It kept me from considering Reality for quite some time, other than as an objective subject for thought, so, that is a good thing…. and, it has the added positive characteristic of being DONE…. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing this one…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Mired in the prime of strife…..

Posted on by
Reply

Ffolkes,
Ah yes, the delights of awakening to the tender mercies of emotional distress…. Within 10 minutes of getting up today (Thursday, the 19th), at the reasonable hour of 0755, I received a call from Social Security, to ask me, in essence, whether I would like to extend the time it takes to secure my disability benefits, another six months, by adding on a visit to a psychiatrist to determine the status of my PTSD….. As you might expect, this caused my emotions to boil over instantly, whereupon I treated the case analyst who had called to a graphic example of just what state I’m in, PTSD-wise, blubbering in incoherent anger, bemoaning in no uncertain terms the federal government’s apparent desire to put me in a grave before letting go of my money….. It was NOT the way I would have chosen to start my morning, to say the least….

Now I have no idea how much longer this will take; I’ll need to talk with my lawyer now, and that can be stressful as well, so I may as well prepare myself for a period of insensibility, as my mind tends to want to shut down when stuff like this threatens my equilibrium. But, sadly, it looks as if I may as well resign myself to another long period of waiting in the dark, and can pretty much kiss the idea of Christmas goodbye for another year….. Too bad, really…. I had hoped to be able to actually go to a store and buy something for my kids for the occasion, but, I guess I’ll once again be trying to ignore the whole scene, and making do with giving them one of my own pieces of family history as a gift, or perhaps writing a poem for them…. not exactly the most thrilling of gifts, but, it’s the thought that counts, right?

Yesterday, the 18th, I didn’t post again, for the second time since starting this blog. It felt weird to not post, just like it did last month when it happened for the first time. As the poor federal case worker found out this morning, there is a lot of pressurized material stuffed into my head, and it needs to come out on a regular basis…. I did complete a Pearl yesterday, but couldn’t get to the library in time to post it, due to waiting for other folks to get stuff done…. SIGH….. Add a few more hit points to that stress level, ffolkes, and start counting!…..

Being a day behind, even though ahead, this will get posted on the 20th of October, 2012…. which, had he lived, would be my father’s 100th birthday…. and is now my youngest brother’s 57th, 58th, or 59th, I can never keep him and my younger sister’s ages straight…. Any who, happy happy to Kevin, and to my Dad’s memory….

As a result of this morning’s folderol, I am retreating, and will start looking for pearls as a substitute for going out to look for a victim; I always find beating up on somebody to be liberating, but inconvenient, what with all the criminal charges and all…. Instead, I’ll just pour all that angst into a rant, or a poem, or something…. maybe even a piece on Zippy, or Pooh, to bring out a few smiles. They (smiles) are buried pretty deep right now, but, a bit of Zippy can do wonders…. Let’s get to it….. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

Raquel Welch:  36-24-36
Bo Derek:  35-24-36
Ann-Margaret:  37-25-36
Bette Middler:  37-25-36
Marilyn Monroe:  37-24-37
Jane Russell:  39-27-38
Jayne Mansfield: 40-23-37
Sophia Loren:  37-25-36

— Smart Bee (?)

So, sue me. It isn’t what you think, unless you are thinking what I’m thinking. I’m not going to say that isn’t possible, or even unlikely…. unless you  are thinking it is about some sexist premise that identifies women as objects. Being male, I’m not an expert on spotting or exposing that, but I’ve been around a long time, and have never held with most of what society holds as true about women, unless spoken by a woman who hasn’t proved to be one of the brainwashed….

No, this list is only here to note that what society seems to project, in magazines and advertising, through fashions and trends sponsored by those who determine such matters (i.e., the moneymen…) as the image of beauty, is not the same as what public opinion obviously feels about what makes a woman beautiful, in terms of weight and shape. All of the women in the above list were, and/or are, considered to be the visual pinnacle of what the public believes is beautiful, as evidenced by the popularity of their work, in film or on stage…. but none of them are at all similar to what the manipulators of fashion would have us believe is the ideal shape…. Whereas models can only be described as slender or willowy, all these women are what we might call zaftig, or rubenesque, in their visual proportions….. Personally, I agree with the public…. I find Ann Margaret to be much more pleasant to look at than any model in a magazine that I have EVER seen….. And, the fact that I feel entitled to make a judgment makes me as guilty of objectifying women as a man who utilizes brothels for sex…

Thus, if we grant the truth of that revelation, the mere existence of the list becomes the most objectionable piece of it….. It illustrates that the process of objectification is subtle; just applying such standards to women at all tends to cause people to think of them as objects, rather than as people. Society has been male-oriented for a very long time, a state of affairs justified as “might makes right.” Sadly; a lot of what is wrong in the world can be traced to that unfortunate fact. Men have, out of their own insecurities and fears, set things up so that women have very little say about what happens to them in life; those decisions are made for them by fathers, brothers, or husbands in most of the world. In order to do this, and not suffer pangs of guilt at every turn, men, and women, are taught that it is okay to objectify women, and to treat them as if they are property…. and property needs to be labeled, hence lists such as the one above….

Yesterday, rmott62 posted a blog, (http://rmott62.wordpress.com/2012/10/19/your-lies-are-part-of-our-genocide/), which I re-blogged on my site, speaking about this very subject, to wit: how the language we choose can objectify those of whom it speaks.  You can probably get a better idea of how insidiously the issue of victimizing women permeates society by visiting her blog; she speaks powerfully, with no punches pulled, from experience, and with great insight, much more forcefully than I ever can, so I recommend to you very strongly that you go to her site, and read what she has to say…. It will change the way you look at much of what passes in our society for normal, and make you ashamed for not noticing…. if not, it should, for we are all guilty of perpetrating the evil, if only by not acting or speaking up, for as long as the victimization of women, and the entire prostitution industry, continues to objectify, demean, and drag women of all ages into perpetual slavery…..

__________________________________

I keep hoping, but the poem I feel in my head isn’t ready to come out yet, and time is passing (at the leisurely pace so beloved of the federal bureaucracies…..)….. so, if I want to get this Pearl posted today, I’d best be coming up with another poem for this space. I’ve become somewhat addicted to this morning dose of verse; it seems to make the prose taste better somehow….. Whatever the reason, I like it…. Here, then, is another fine piece from the annals of history, with some whimsy applied as the primary search criterion…. hell, whimsy could easily be construed as an algorithm, almost, in this sense…. Besides, the poem I’ve found is the perfect choice to follow the first pearl’s message. Any who, sensible nonsense aside, enjoy!…..

Men

When I was young, I used to
Watch behind the curtains
As men walked up and down the street. Wino men, old men.
Young men sharp as mustard.
See them. Men are always
Going somewhere.
They knew I was there. Fifteen
Years old and starving for them.
Under my window, they would pauses,
Their shoulders high like the
Breasts of a young girl,
Jacket tails slapping over
Those behinds,
Men.

One day they hold you in the
Palms of their hands, gentle, as if you
Were the last raw egg in the world. Then
They tighten up. Just a little. The
First squeeze is nice. A quick hug.
Soft into your defenselessness. A little
More. The hurt begins. Wrench out a
Smile that slides around the fear. When the
Air disappears,
Your mind pops, exploding fiercely, briefly,
Like the head of a kitchen match. Shattered.
It is your juice
That runs down their legs. Staining their shoes.
When the earth rights itself again,
And taste tries to return to the tongue,
Your body has slammed shut. Forever.
No keys exist.

Then the window draws full upon
Your mind. There, just beyond
The sway of curtains, men walk.
Knowing something.
Going someplace.
But this time, I will simply
Stand and watch.

Maybe.

Maya Angelou

__________________________________

As always, when lacking the wherewithal to rant, or to discourse intelligently (if that can be said to ever happen….) I retreat into the wisdom of the ages, developing an idea with pearls that says, well, whatever it says…. I do try to make it enlightening in some fashion, even if only by providing some comic relief to the sober nature of much of the other material here. Here, then, are some pearls that spoke to me about enlightenment, each in its own little whisper….

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” — Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), “Lady Windermere’s Fan”, 1892

With virtue you cannot be entirely poor… Without it you cannot be really rich. — Chinese Proverb

A master programmer passed a novice programmer one day.  The master noted the novice’s preoccupation with a hand-held computer game.  “Excuse me”, he said, “may I examine it?”   The novice bolted to attention and handed the device to the master. “I see that the device claims to have three levels of play: Easy, Medium, and Hard”, said the master.  “Yet every such device has another level of play, where the device seeks not to conquer the human, nor to be conquered by the human.”  “Pray, great master,” implored the novice, “how does one find this mysterious setting?”   The master dropped the device to the ground and crushed it under foot. And suddenly the novice was enlightened. — Geoffrey James, “The Tao of Programming”

“God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent- it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks, please. Cash, and in small bills.” — Lazarus Long

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” — Alvin Toffler

“Avoid fried foods which angry up the blood.” — Satchel Paige, early to mid-20th century sage

“The Buddha, the Godhead, resides quite as comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer or the gears of a cycle transmission as he does at the top of a mountain or in the petals of a flower.  To think otherwise is to demean the Buddha — which is to demean oneself.” — Robert Pirsig, “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”

“Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst.” — Thomas Paine

The Journey is the Reward, Not the Destination. — Zen Koan

A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: “Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time.” When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, “The one I feed the most.” — George Bernard Shaw

Well, there you go…. If you’re not enlightened by now, well, you’re on your own, because that’s the best I’ve got in stock. Hmm…. gee, you don’t get the impression this is a metaphoric manipulation, do you? …….  Nah! Trust me!  No hidden agendas here, or metaphoric stimuli intended to create moments of zazen illumination….It’s all the real deal, and used properly, has been known to produce wonderful results…. and, well, the price is right, yes? Free advice is always worth what you pay for it….. Ta for now, luvs…..
__________________________________

Well, the gods of literature can relax now…. I didn’t need to resort to either Zippy, or Pooh to get the Pearl done. I even managed to avoid using Will Shakespeare again…. though I do have a LOT of material of his that is appropriate for target shooting, it wasn’t needed today. Some might be thankful for that, but, they’re just jealous, for not thinking of it first….. Today we are back in waiting mode, with the added hope that the federal game of slow-them-down-as-much-as-possible won’t be able to find the dice, and won’t hold things up any more than they already have been….. Fat chance, I know, but, hey, gotta have our groundless hope, eh?…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Insert non-standard cliche here…..

Posted on by
1

Ffolkes,

The following is the post that was intended for posting yesterday, October 18th; it was written in time, but Reality intruded to prevent me from getting to an internet access point before the end of the day…. ah well, twice in a year and a half isn’t bad…. Enjoy, and I’ll do my best to see that I get posted tomorrow as well…
Wild horses, I swore, are not getting me up early again…. but, that was before the silly beasts started in with their neighing at scream volume, and pounding hoof beats. And what is with the ropes and shit, dragging my butt onto the floor?….. Any way you look at it, I lose, it seems…. At least today, I made it to 0700 before having to give up and get up, once more in the grip of sleeplessness, and more going on in the head than I care for this early…. Ah well, I’ve had it thoroughly drilled into my awareness that Murphy gives not a sh__, er, whit for what I care for, or about…. So, off I’ll go, into Pearl land, seeking, as always, excellence and enlightenment….

Yesterday, I read a pearl, in passing, that said something like, “You know you’re getting old when…. reading the obituaries is like reading a high school yearbook….” A bit grim, I know…. but, it reminded me that such events are catching up to me, as more of my peers, from high school, and beyond, are starting to bite the dust with alarming regularity….. And, in today’s day and age, other calamities can strike without warning, bringing sorrow and fear with them….

One of my friends, the wife of my oldest friend (we’ve known each other 52 years now, since grade school, and they’ve been married for over 23 years….), was very recently diagnosed with breast cancer, and will be having a double mastectomy on Friday, I believe…. My friend, of course, is very upset and afraid, though he is holding up well; he is an honorable man, and intends to be strong for his mate….. The prognosis for the surgery is good, as they caught it early-on, and have found no traces of spreading into the lymph system yet; this type of cancer has a very good survival rate, when caught at this stage, so we are all hopeful those statistics hold true….

So, any who, I only mention this so I can ask for you to send out good thoughts and, if you are so inclined, prayers for her good deliverance during surgery, and for many more years of sparkling (she’s good at that….). I’m not sure where the surgery is being done, so if you would just send them toward Northern California, I’ll make sure they get to the right vicinity…. thanks very much, she deserves, and needs, all the help she can get…. as can my friend….

Well, there’s a way to get the old juices flowing….. bring on a spate of tears, and the old metabolism just jumps right up into work mode… a bit harsh, though, I think, to have to put one’s self through that to find a muse…. But, then, when have we ever done things normally around here? That’s correct, that answer would be…. never…. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

Herein you will find a recipe for Life Well-Lived….. the first ingredient is illustrated here:

Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt.
Chase after money and security and your heart will never unclench.
Care about people’s approval and you will be their prisoner.
Do your work, then step back.
The only path to serenity.

— Tao Te Ching

The second ingredient needed to add to the first is here:

Hug O’ War

I will not play at tug o’ war.
I’d rather play at hug o’ war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.

— Shel Silverstein

When these two parts are smoothly integrated into a malleable state, add this:

“I was standing in the kitchen one day, fixing a sandwich or something, when suddenly I heard a very distinct “sneeze” emanate from the fridge. Naturally curious, I opened the door and scrutinized the various food items. Suddenly, the mayonnaise began to scream, “The ketchup did it! The ketchup!” Of course, I was stunned. This, after all, was an inanimate object. And, truthfully, to this very day, I’ve never been able to coax the ketchup to say or do anything and have concluded the sneeze was my own imagination.” — Smart Bee

At this point, nearly uncontrollable giggles should emanate from either the substance being mixed, or from the mixer; both are a good omen for the success of the dish…. Now we can add the fourth ingredient, as below:

“The survival of the fittest is the ageless law of nature, but the fittest are rarely the strong. The fittest are those endowed with the qualifications for adaptation, the ability to accept the inevitable and conform to the unavoidable, to harmonize with existing or changing conditions.” — Dave E. Smalley

As any good chef or artiste knows, harmony comes, strangely enough, in odd numbers…. and thus with this final ingredient, blended well with what has gone before, you will find yourself in the presence of true beauty and grace…. This is a two-medium ingredient, textual/conceptual and visual….. (picture by Carol Welsh, from her blog at WordPress, here: http://carolwelsh.wordpress.com/  )

“Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living…. and above all, those who live without Love.” — Albus Dumbledore, from J.K. Rowlings’ Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows”
__________________________________

I had no time to hate, because
The grave would hinder me,
And life was not so ample I
Could finish enmity.

Nor had I time to love, but since
Some industry must be,
The little toil of love, I thought,
Was large enough for me.

~~ Emily Dickinson
__________________________________

Here are some examples of the astounding depths of Stupid that can manifest in humans……

“The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.” — Pat Robertson, Man of God and serious Republican presidential aspirant, in a letter to supporters
(My calculator broke when I tried to count how many wrong things there are in this statement…..)

“Trees cause more pollution than cars ever did.” — Ronald Reagan
(I had a hard time believing he actually said this in 1982, or thereabouts, but, there it was, right there in the newspaper…. and, in the annals of history, as it remains as the record for the stupidest thing ever said by a US President…. though Ronnie’s VP, Gerry Ford, later made some valiant attempts to break it, during his own stint in the Oval Office….)

Where Mind and each believing mind are not divided,
And undivided are each believing mind and Mind,
This is where words fail;
For it is not for the past, present, and future.

— Seng-T’San (540?-606 A.D.)
(Actually, this may not be stupid…. but I can’t tell for sure, because it is so opaque, and hides its meaning so deeply in complexity, it sounds stupid…..and is therefore subject to the Duck Test…. i.e., if it quacks, etc……)

“Facts can be used to prove anything that’s even remotely true. Facts, shmacts!” — Homer Simpson
(Come to think of it, ANYTHING Homer says could be included here…. I regard Homer to be the absolute incarnation of Human Stupidity, and thoroughly regret his popularity, though it doesn’t surprise me at all….)

Kinsey: “Oh, please. Given the chance, half of all American citizens won’t even vote, and the half that do vote are too stupid to know what they’re doing.” — from Stargate
(I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that, if you heard it on TV, it must be true…. or, in this case, be a pretty clear reflection of society….)

This kind of search, for pearls of real stupidity, as opposed to their opposites, is a slow one… Not that there are fewer examples of this kind of thing available, but, Smart Bee tends to lean toward the other end of the spectrum, keeping and displaying the most valuable and elegant aphorisms uttered through the ages, rather than these demonstrations of humanity’s other talents. So, here is a last example, which will, no doubt, be welcomed with open arms…. Just remember not to use these as Pearls Of Virtual Wisdom, or for goodness’ sake, real wisdom…. I won’t be responsible for the outcome….

I met a fool i’ the forest,
A motley fool.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), As You Like It — Act ii, Sc. 7
(In this case, what we see is a double dose of stupid…. one, what is written…. and two, all the fools who fall all over themselves to say that Shakespeare was so wonderful…. when what he was, was the best hack of his time, with a good PR man…. People still fall for this crap!…..)
__________________________________

You may have noted a certain lack of original material in today’s Pearl…. which is not surprising, given my current state of mind….. It was all I could do to come up with commentary for this morning’s efforts, as I’m still a bit groggy from the hour, and quite empty of anything but the barest skepticism, my constant companion…. On days like these, I depend on Smart Bee, and the wisdom of others to carry me through this process, trusting that routine, of sorts, will produce an acceptable group of pearls. All in all, I don’t think I did too badly, and, as is the standard rule here, it’s done, and it’s not getting done over…. So be it…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Smatterings of apologetic sincerity….

Posted on by
6

Ffolkes,
I know that I am falling behind on comments; I knew it would happen, as I don’t have the time online to get to most of them. Lately, it has been all I could do to get posted, and check email, so for those who have commented on any of my posts, please be patient. I’ll get to them ASAP…… If it helps, you all have my abject apologies….

Tomorrow, I’ll be filing my SS forms with the lawyer, and they should be off to the bureau itself by Tuesday…. then I can once again enter the Twilight Zone of waiting for a federal response. Theoretically, it should take less than 90 days for a decision, so I am hopeful of hearing before Christmas…. and if the decision is as it should be, positive, then I may actually get to have Christmas this year, something I’ve had to skip for the last three or four years, since food was more important than gifts….. it is a heartening thought.

Even though I haven’t been Christian for a long time, I enjoy that time of year, because of the temporary state of human society, which manages to put aside much of the normal degree of corruption and slavishness to show some compassion and fellow-feeling. I hate the commercialism of it, but even the corporate excesses that are encouraged every time one turns around by another ad to buy, buy, buy, aren’t enough to dim my pleasure (though the one where the yuppie mom is getting the Mercedes SUV with a bow in the driveway does tend to make me grind my teeth at the sheer elitism…..) For a couple of weeks, the people of the world are almost tolerable, to each other, and to me…..

And, if all goes according to plan, should my SS be awarded before Christmas, then come January, I’ll be off to at least one part of the world where I’ve never been before, at least for a time, even Ireland in the winter, if necessary….. I’m not afraid of rain….. and it will just make the pubs seem all that more cozy….

It’s nice, isn’t it, to be able to think some positive thoughts, and encourage some dreaming. So much better than the dragging depression I’ve been going through lately, I must say….. As a matter of fact, I’m going to take my positive attitude, and put it to work finding pearls. Seems like I might even come up with something positive to write about….. one can never tell…. Shall we Pearl?…..

“Probability factor of one to one… we have normality, I repeat we have normality.  Anything you still can’t cope with is therefore your own problem.” — The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
__________________________________

Here are some true pearls of virtual wisdom from the acknowledged Grand Master of Science Fiction…… arrogantly solipsistic, delightfully honest, absolutely moral according to whim, and eminently useful in pursuing a full life of honor and joy…..

“The only real sin is hurting others unnecessarily. All other sins are made up nonsense…. (Hurting yourself is not sinful, just stupid.)”  — Robert Heinlein

“A desire not to butt into other people’s business is at least eighty percent of all human wisdom… and the other twenty percent isn’t very important.”
“You butt into other people’s business.  All the time.”
“Who said I was wise?  I’m a professional bad example.  You can learn a lot by watching me.” –Dr. Jubal Harshaw — Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein

“Don’t store garlic near other victuals.” — from The Notebooks of Lazarus Long

“The two highest achievements of the human mind are the twin concepts of “loyalty” and “duty.” Whenever these twin concepts fall into disrepute — get out of there fast! You may possibly save yourself, but it is too late to save that society. It is doomed.” — from The Notebooks of Lazarus Long

“There is no conclusive evidence of life after death. But there is no evidence of any sort against it. Soon enough you will know. So why fret about it?” — Robert Heinlein

“The more you love, the more you can love — and the more intensely you love. Nor is there any limit on how many you can love. If a person had time enough, he could love all of that majority who are decent and just.” — Robert Heinlein

and lastly….. a statement that serves as an adjunct to Peruaosophy, and indeed, as part of the basis by which that philosophy was created…..

“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.
But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants “just a few minutes of your time, please — this won’t take long.” Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more!
So learn to say No – and to be rude about it when necessary. Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you. (This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don’t do it because it is “expected” of you.) ” — Robert Heinlein
__________________________________

For The Blind Poet, Embraced

I sit to open a vein, exposed in public places,
happy to be written, judging by the faces.

None can see the price so willingly paid,
at the feet of imagination is that cost weighed.

Still shadows of reality shine quite as well
to hide all the bleeding as if under a spell;

While visions and fantasies vie for attention,
hoping to win a once-hoped-for final mention.

Technology may or may not rue its day
never knowing or caring its part to play.

All the precious moments of inspiration
Fall ever short of our own imagination.

~~ gigoid
__________________________________

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage.” — Alexander Frazer Tyler (1748-1813), — The Decline and Fall of the Athenian Republic

It seems to me that we, here in America in the early 21st century, are just about at the selfishness phase(s). We’ve been using and squandering a large portion of the available resources of the planet now for quite a while, and apparently haven’t learned to play well with others yet, as a culture. In fact, I might even go so far as to say that we have entered the complacency stage, as we seem also to feel entitled to have so much, and share so little with the rest of the planet, which is a complacent sort of arrogance. Elitist, to be sure.

And in the election coming up in November, we have, as one of the choices, possibly the most elitist candidate ever to run for the highest office (though Reagan was no slouch at that….) (come to think of it, neither was Franklin Roosevelt, but he seemed to be able to put it aside, for the most part…. He wasn’t nouveau riche, you see…. he still had some degree of noblesse oblige left in him….) Mitt the Twitt Romney is unapologetically elitist, and doesn’t seem to care who knows it, even the voters…..

“Whereas it has been known and declared that the poor have no right to the property of the rich, I wish it also to be known and declared that the rich  have no right to the property of the poor.” — Smart Bee

Even if we leave aside all the myriad of reasons that Mitt is unqualified for the position of POTUS, and my use of the word myriad is both intentional and accurate, his sheer arrogance and lack of sincerity should be enough to convince people of his unsuitability for the office. There are literally thousands of reasons not to give this egregious fool such great power,  all of which indicate he would abuse that power from day one. But none of those reasons even matter…. to me, his greatest point of detraction is that he is, plain and simple, an asshole, or, as is sometimes used in lieu of that word, a dick….

Actually he is both an asshole and a dick, as those words are commonly defined. The running mate he chose is a perfect indicator of how little he cares about the voters, other than what they can do for him, not the other way around. Pauly, Lyin’ Ryan is, if anything, a bigger asshole than Romney, though he might not be as big a dick, and is no more ashamed of it than his ostensible boss. Each of them is a bare-faced liar. Each of them displays the compassion and sincerity of a Tasmanian devil, on a good day. Each of them is motivated by simple greed, and the desire for power, and, of course, the wish to be handed the keys to the national treasury.

Both have been manipulating the system since their well-funded time in college; neither has ever even held a job that could be considered an actual job; they’ve been sucking at the public teat for their entire adult lives. Now, they are making their grab for the ultimate prize for a thief…. the keys to the national treasury, handed over by ignorant voters who buy into their lies, because they think that these two pieces of white bread will save them from the scary black man as President…. They are counting very heavily on the fear of part of the population to carry the tide of victory in their direction, and are feeding that fear as much as they can, with constant lies and misrepresentations, and without even the benefit of sincerity….

As we all know, I could rant about these two all morning, but there are things I need to do today, even though it is Sunday, and I don’t want to spend any more time stirring up shit, even though the shit is only what clings to the Republican ticket every time one of them opens their mouths to spit out another lie….. But, we’ll get on with the day, and try to find something more positive to do…. Just make sure y’all get out there and vote on November 6th, ffolkes, we need to show these assholes that there are more of us than there are of them, and we still have the vote on our side…..

“If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and measures you want to vote for… But there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote against. By this rule you will rarely go wrong.” — Lazarus Long
__________________________________

So be it…. this Pearl is a bit choppy, by my estimation, but it will have to serve, as I don’t have the energy today to go back & start over….. as if I ever do…. But, it is what it is, and it can’t be anything else, so Popeye wins again…. whatever that means…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Celebratory moments on parade…..

Posted on by
1

Ffolkes,
Being a geek never felt better…. yesterday, in frustration, I uninstalled Smart Bee again from my computer, then re-installed it, and gloryoski, Skeeter, it worked! It’s back, and looking grand, I must say….. SIGH…. I feel much better now……

So much better, I slept well, and woke early, just to get a good start on this Pearl…. it’s really good to have material to work with. I’ve grown dependent, I guess, on having sufficient quotes from other smart ffolkes to stimulate my thought processes, and not having them was taking its toll. Now I feel so good, another poem dripped out last night while I was basking in the glow of a successful install. Not great, but pretty good, I think…. and all original, so that has to count for something, right?…. It all rhymes, too, so Mrs. Lowe and Mr. Olsen would be proud…..

Without further ado, let us get on with today’s process….. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“OVER the underpass!  UNDER the overpass!  Around the FUTURE and BEYOND REPAIR!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

In celebration of the return of SB, I offer this brilliant aphorism from Zippy as thanks, and as a tribute to the power of nonsense in Life. If it weren’t for the concept of ridiculousness, I’d be just another bozo on the bus, rather than a sharp, progressive purveyor of reason and honor…. and Pearls of Virtual wisdom might never have been liberated from their shells….

In the Harry Potter books, and movies, I was particularly impressed with Ms. Rowling after reading the part about Boggarts in the second novel, and finding out the spell that banished them, to wit: Ridikulous! shouted in stentorian tones while thinking of what you fear in a comical venue. Such sharp insight! It was a perfect, perfect piece of story-telling, and gave me a whole new perspective on the depth of the whole Hogwarts experience…. “Never tickle a sleeping dragon” indeed!….. With that in mind, and in recognition of the return of plenty to a world in dearth, here is an old school pearl, with a message about how to live well, and happily….

“Don’t try to have the last word. You might get it.” — Lazarus Long

“Ignorance is not bliss — it’s oblivion.” — Phillip Wylie

“Stereotypes are like a supermarket. They are convenient, economical, and useful. They do our thinking for us. We don’t have to waste time trying to make sense of our ignorance. Stereotypes slice through the niceties of language, tide us over the loose ends we don’t understand and wrap up into a comfortable package our narrow – mindedness about everything and everybody except ourselves” — Chuck Stone (Washington Post 6/3/96)

“Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” — Abraham Lincoln

“A man who carries a cat by the tail is getting experience that will always be helpful.  He isn’t likely to grow dim or doubtful.  Chances are, he isn’t likely to carry the cat that way again, either.  But if he wants to, I say let him!” — Mark Twain

“Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live.  It is asking other people to live as one wishes to live.” — Oscar Wilde

“As God is my witness – I am that fool!” — Gomez Addams

And, on that note, we shall forge onward with renewed vigor, and a carefree heart!……
__________________________________

Confidentially Paranoid

Only when the bright sunlight of dreams draws nigh
can the dark glass of reality factor true value..
Destiny’s horses run in fear as time goes dry,
for grappling with fate in such traitorous venue.

In pallid costumes made of graven cast-off tales,
fallen angels and demons show the measure of faith.
No sad transactions should escape these well-marked trails,
no angry relatives cast insults to a sedentary wraith.

Meaning can always hide in literal cold intent,
yet show mere facets of honor to perishable youth.
Sincere contentions leave with sorrowful bent,
while bastardly arguments fill in poorly for the truth.

Gone are moments filled with florid blasts of rhyme
left to moulder on the shoulders of unreasonable hope.
Only courage can save these measures of unspoken time
to gather new issues of powerfully broad and painful scope.

~~ gigoid
__________________________________

It is time, the Walrus said, to speak of many things…… or at least one…..

“Shakespeare was an intellectual ocean, whose waves touched all the shores of thought; within which were all the tides and waves of destiny and will; over which swept all the storms of fate, ambition and revenge; upon which fell the gloom and darkness of despair and death and all the sunlight of content and love, and within which was the inverted sky lit with the eternal stars — an intellectual ocean — toward which all rivers ran, and from which now the isles and continents of thought receive their dew and rain.” — Robert G. Ingersoll (American lawyer and orator)

Now, to look at this, one might think that this Ingersoll person was a smart fella, having obviously read a lot of Shakespeare. I am forced to point out, however, that being able to read does not necessarily mean one can think, or that one is entitled to an opinion. There are clues within this statement that reveal its weaknesses, the foremost of which is that it is a large load of bullshit…… I, too, have read a lot of Shakespeare, though not by choice. At first, I read him because it was assigned in school by some ignorant English teacher who had fallen under the normal delusion taught in most schools about Will, i.e., his stuff was good…. when in reality, most of what he wrote is just a pile of shit piled really high….. Afterward, I read him to find further examples of his failings to show people in proof of my assertion, to wit: he is the most over-rated, and most egregiously pandered to author of all time….

Oh, he was prolific, and wrote a lot of stuff that is fairly good, by any standards…. but, given the massive amount of stuff he wrote, that is merely proof of the law of averages. For the most part, what he wrote is too wordy by half, obscure in meaning that clouds the story, or has no connection to the story at all, and tends to a flowery saccharine flavor by the choice of his words. He did achieve a large popularity in his own time, either due to good press, or the normal bad taste of the public; I don’t really care. In today’s world, his story lines are trite, and tend to stick to common themes that every author treats; in addition, his use of slang went completely overboard, and has turned what may have been decent rap in his day, into such tripe that it just sounds like random noise, similar to the common run of rap today…. it amazes me how many bad musicians there are in the world…. but that is another story….

In order to demonstrate for you the absolute nonsense that flowed from his pen, I’ve included some samples of his work below…. they pretty much speak for themselves….. badly…… so I’ve added my comments in parentheses…..

O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven;
It hath the primal eldest curse upon ‘t,
A brother’s murder.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Hamlet — Act iii, Sc. 3
(Ooooh, such tension and horror….. NOT…. merely mundane, as far as I can tell…..)

“The venom clamors of a jealous woman poison more deadly than a mad dog’s tooth.” — William Shakespeare
(I’ll bet Will was real popular with the women of his time….. NOT)

Where the bee sucks, there suck I;
In a cowslip’s bell I lie.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), The Tempest — Act v, Sc. 1
(Huh? What? Is this part of the play?…..Which part?…. Which play?)

O, that he were here to write me down an ass!
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Much Ado about Nothing — Act iv, Sc. 2
(Don’t worry, Will, I’m here…..)

A plague of sighing and grief! It blows a man up like a bladder.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), King Henry IV — Act ii, Sc. 4
(I suppose if your society doesn’t yet have rubber, or balloons, a bladder is the best you have…..)

Most forcible Feeble.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), King Henry IV — Act iii, Sc. 2
(Oh, aye, what a handy turn of phrase…. NOT… What does this mean?….)

They fool me to the top of my bent.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Hamlet — Act iii, Sc. 2
(Uh, to where? I think more likely, he’s the one trying to fool…. the audience….)

O, never say hereafter
But I am truest speaker. You call’d me brother
When I was but your sister.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Cymbeline — Act v, Sc. 5
(Honestly, this sounds like something I’d write when really, really drunk, and think it was hilarious…..)

Okay, that’s probably enough for one day…. I’ve got well over four pages full of stuff of his like these, so there is a lot to choose from…. Just doing what I can to spread the truth, as I see it…… and this truth needs telling, to get society away from this ridiculous celebrity worship when it comes to him, and to artists like him, who rely on public opinion more than Art to determine the value of their material…. Call me Ishmael, if you must…. just don’t forget to call me…..
__________________________________

Boy, that was great fun! Lots of material, old friends to pick on, and a new poem, which is always better out than in…. can’t beat that with a stick. I’m going to sign off here, so as not to tempt Fate into retribution so early in the day….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Insanity runs in our pod-group this cycle….

Posted on by
2

Ffolkes,
Hmm….. The demise of Smart Bee as a resource for this blog is confirmed; there is something magical going on (translation: I don’t understand why it’s happening….) that is preventing SB from operating correctly, and I’m out of ideas of how to fix it. I’m going to have to think about this, seriously, and without delay; no other choice, if not the chicken-with-the-head-cut-off option. With no internet access on demand, quotes and poetry are limited to my library (non-digital), and a lot of old Pearls…. I may have to authorize some selective mining from that last source…. I do have a lot of stuff that hasn’t seen the light of day for a long time, and may just work again for inspiration….. Hmm….

Okay, I know I’m desperate when I start and finish a paragraph with the same word, especially one that isn’t even considered standard English. Of course, my English is anything but standard, I should hope…. Any who, I’m going to think about this now, and come back to it when I’ve developed a strategy…..

Okay, I’ve figured out the right approach….. I’m going to pretend it never happened….. Hey, if the GOP can base their entire platform on denial of reality, why can’t I base my blog on the same blissful ignorance? There’s obviously millions of people out there who will buy into that kind of rhetoric; witness the money collected by the GOP from people from whom they will proceed to destroy if allowed into office, to wit, lower middle class folks who are scared of the black man in the Oval Office, and will throw their support blindly to anyone who promises to get him out of there….. Denial is big-time politics, ffolkes, for sure…. and if it works for them, I’ll give it a try….

No, I won’t, don’t worry….. I couldn’t….. I don’t know yet what I WILL do, but, it will all happen as it is meant to do, so I’ll just write around the edges…… Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

Religion has never attracted me as a pastime that led to any particularly desirable activities. From the very first, even as a small child, I always thought the people at church were trying to get me to believe something that was not only hard to believe, but they wanted me to believe it, just on their word that it was true….. What they were saying wasn’t anything like what I perceived to be true about the world at large; none of it sounded like common sense, if you get my drift…. Plus, the more I resisted what they said, and asked questions that they couldn’t answer, the more insistent they became….. Most kids have a pretty good crap detector, and the whole church thing seemed based on fluff and wishes to me…..

Any who, it seems a lot of my saved up oysters have been on that very subject, i.e., religious dogma, and alternative ways of looking at the universe, and how it works, and what it means…. (you know, all the good stuff….), so I thought an old-school grouping would perhaps help ffolkes get a clue about what I do believe….. which can, I have to admit, change from one day to the next….. gotta keep room for new data, y’know…… shall we Pearl a bit?…..

“Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the bible is filled, it would seem more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.” — Thomas Paine — The Age of Reason

“History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it.” — Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love (1972)

“I believe in Spinoza’s God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings.” — Albert Einstein

God:  What one human uses to persecute another. — Anonymous

The supreme irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out of it alive.– Robert Heinlein, “Job”, 1984

“No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature.  Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this; the only right is what is after my own constitution; the only wrong what is against it.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

“If the lord had meant us to have faith, he’d have given us lobotomies.” — Zlatko

“A long and wicked life followed by five minutes of perfect grace gets you into Heaven. An equally long life of decent living and good works followed by one outburst of taking the name of the Lord in vain, then have a heart attack at that moment and be damned for eternity. Is that the system?” — Robert A. Heinlein

“I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in     youth.  I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being.”
–Albert Einstein

“Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well.” — Buddha

Well, there you go…. a complete mish-mash of different philosophies and outlooks, each with its own little piece to contribute to the whole, all ended perfectly with a piece of profoundly simple wisdom… not the virtual kind that is common around here, but real wisdom, that you can put in your pocket, take away with you, and use as needed…..
__________________________________

November Dreams of Spring

Crass and cold, the beggar finds me swollen, so frail and fat
with painful stepping motions, running, like a Republicrat.
Building with straw and spittle, should artists come aground,
we all pay heavily, a billion for a bloody pound.

Too desperate, too ashamed to play such a part
We ask for belief, and sweet liberty, dressing up so smart.
It falls between the simple cracks, always in a hurry
To find a shrunken ego, ashen, swift, and full of worry.

Never there was a more penitent group, such a sterling way
To fast in luxury, making sure the guilty enter, but do not stay.
Forgotten gods can find their diffident suitors tonight
With dream-fitted convention, and a natural sense of delight.

For all the silken babies cried, to see the broken dreams of power
forgiven moments of certitude serve, filling up the maiden’s bower.
All the patient, loving veterans of ancient foreign time,
give up their first impressions, dying, dying for a rhyme.

~~ gigoid

Odd, isn’t it, how we sometimes fall into a trance to write…. or, maybe that’s just me…. ah well, regardless, enjoy!….
__________________________________

Often of late, I find myself staring at the screen with a vacant expression, listening to the patter that passes for thoughts in my head. I can sit like this for a long time, just meandering here and there in my memory, re-living good and bad moments from what has turned out to be a lot more years than I ever thought about, really. Until I became 60, I had never thought about how it would feel to be that age, a discovery that surprised me to a certain degree. But, as I thought about it just now, I realized that I really had not considered what I might be doing in my 60’s, either as a career, or as a person. Part of the surprise, I know, is connected to the fact that I am currently without a life-partner, as the ones I chose as my supposed mate seem to have chosen to be elsewhere. This, being alone, was not part of my plan……

I had thought to be sharing all the joy, and all the pain that my life has brought me, with a person who I thought was as committed to that as I. Instead, I am left wondering, as Tom Robbins put it in “Skinny Legs and All”,  “How do you make Love stay?” His premise is is based on the idea that love is easy to find, but impossible to keep, given the craziness of the modern world, and the state of confusion and angst that seems to be the legacy of everyone these days. I’m not sure I completely agree with his final assessment, but I can see how it came to him, having had many similar experiences in my years. I hope he is wrong, and there are still people out there who can actually give their word to someone else, and mean to keep it….. If not, then the world is beyond hope, to my way of thinking, and we may as well just give up….

Of course, there is still that small part of me that won’t do that; I’m not sure if I should call it being stubborn, or stupid. Maybe it is what Emily calls Hope, that will not die easily. Whatever it is, it keeps me getting out of bed every day, with the view in mind to see what the world has to offer, whether it is more BS like I’ve been putting up with now for a few years, or whether there is some sort of justice to the world, and I’ll soon meet, or get together with, a person with whom I can share all of what I have inside me to give, and who will live up to whatever promises we can make to each other. And if not, well, I guess I’ll just keep flirting with the young lady at the coffee shop, and listen to her talk about her boyfriends, smiling to myself, grieving for might have been, and hoping for what might yet be…..

Leave the past behind;
leave the future behind;
leave the present behind.
Thou are then ready to go to the other shore.
Never more shalt thou return to a life that ends in death.
— The Dhammapada (c. B.C. 300)
__________________________________

Whew! That last section turned on me…. it became quite a self-confession, didn’t it? Well, it’s a bit revealing, but it’s too well written to get rid of, so I’ll just have to suffer the embarrassment of hanging my laundry out for all to see…. and what the hell, it’s all true, so the chips can just fly where they may….. in the meantime, y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

Sometimes I sits and thinks,

and sometimes

I just sits.

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Reasonably moderated bed springs – free to good home…

Posted on by
8

Ffolkes,

My apologies to anyone who has been commenting on my last few Pearls, and has not received a reply. I am only able to hook up to the Net once a day, usually around 11:00 or noonish, so I’ve been limited to getting the Pearls posted, and taking care of necessary business, such as email. Even my shared computing tasking program is annoyed with me, as it wants to connect to the Net several times a day to get new work. Such is life, at least until I can figure out how to get ISP service at my new apartment….. SIGH……

I also miss getting to read the blogs I follow…. I’ve been getting to a few a day, but only four or five of them, and I’m sure everyone thinks I’ve died or something…. Perhaps not, but I feel like I’m in limbo, for sure….. ah well, I must counsel myself to be patient. If I can wait on Social Security without biting anyone, I can do this, too…..

I should probably stop writing this intro now, and get on with the day’s dive….. so I will.  Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“Sin lies only in hurting other people unnecessarily. All other “sins” are invented nonsense. (Hurting yourself is NOT a sin–just stupid.)” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

It would be foolish to try to claim that there is NOT a part of me that wishes there was a God as described by most of the Christian sects, or the Islamic, or Jewish, or any other of the major and/or minor religions in the history of Man. Who wouldn’t want to have all the responsibility for thinking, or for acting within reason, taken out of their hands? It would be wonderful, but as it’s pretty unlikely, to all appearances, that part of me will have to remain unfulfilled….. I’d rather adopt and set the above moral standard as my own, as I happen to agree with it wholeheartedly. It forms the root, the base, the touchstone of all of my morality, the basic raison d’etre for my every decision of whether or not to act, and how to react, from an ethical standpoint of my own choice, without thinking about whether or not it is according to dogma.

I first came across Lazarus Long and his irreverent take on life when I was about 15 or 16 years old, right when I was taking classes at my parent’s church to fulfill the requirements for admission as an official, saved member of the church (Presbyterian, if it matters….), and wondering how I was going to break it to all of them that I couldn’t do it…. It was a hard decision, but, since the teachers couldn’t answer my questions about Bible incidents that puzzled me (not part of what we studied, but from different chapters I had read…), I stopped attending any services, because I didn’t want to be a hypocrite…. I could even rationalize my decision, as having been made out of concern for the safety of my family and friends, since now the church could conceivably fall down on them if they were with me when I came in…..

“Anybody who wants religion is welcome to it, as far as I’m concerned — I support your right to enjoy it.  However, I would appreciate it if you exhibited more respect for the rights of those people who do not wish to share your dogma, rapture or necrodestination.” — Frank Zappa, “The Real Frank Zappa Book”

I also happen to agree with Frank on this one. What I do believe about religion, and the concept of God, or god, or Dog, is my own business, and begins with not pressing it on others, unless they ask; in such cases I will discuss the subject superficially, without expressing any preferences one way or another…..

Unless, of course, they begin to proselytize. In THOSE cases, I will use every bit of shock value pop psychology I know of to lead them down some primrose path, messing with their heads until I get bored with them…. which usually doesn’t take long; they’re generally fairly uninteresting people. I tend to prefer people who have a bit of salt to their personality, just a touch of insanity somewhere in their blood…. Such ffolkes are much more fun to be around than folks who spend their time feeling bad about wanting to feel good….. and they annoy me far less often, as a rule…..

If God is omnipotent, why does he need my money? — Smart Bee

“The human condition is such that pain and effort are not just symptoms which can be removed without changing life itself; they are rather the modes in which life itself, together with the necessity to which it is bound, makes itself felt. For mortals, the ‘easy life of the gods’ would be a lifeless life.” — Hannah Arendt
__________________________________

Vague Glimpses of a Rainbow

All the sad notions of propriety had fled,
Screaming their anger for pausing in song,
Until late came the rabid fog, colored in red,
As serenity cried, unafraid to live so strong.

Fallow fields in faithful patience set free,
Dragged from birth, by their own nature cast
Saving each moment against fear yet to be,
Carved into silence, by ignorance held fast.

Historical forces plod slowly ’tis often said
Anxieties streaming stiffly, one epoch to the next.
Cultural mania stands nonchalant in its stead
No sadder epitaph has such bittersweet context.

Patterned bags of forgotten virtue lie in wait
Blessed by reminders whose souls value affinity
Frozen webs surround the fields in gravid state
Grasping passionately within obvious opportunity.

Passage to future realities isn’t guaranteed
Small favors for deities was left off the menu
No roses, nor manna, nor gallant aerial steed
Left traces of fatal, yet originally gracious venue.

~~ gigoid
__________________________________

Having just spent three hours (okay, I exaggerated…. only two….) searching in vain for a pearl to finish with, I became incensed with frustration, and rather than scare my new neighbors with a verbal outburst, I calmly set a parameter, and collected the following pearls on one subject, to wit: human nature…. As far as I can tell, all of them rate a solid 10 on the truth scale….. As always, just follow the bouncing thought as it explores your own inner self….

“The world always makes the assumption that the exposure of an error is identical with the discovery of truth–that the error and truth are simply opposite.  They are nothing of the sort.  What the world turns to, when it is cured on one error, is usually simply another error, and maybe one worse than the first one.” — H. L. Mencken

“The ultimate evil is the weakness, cowardice, that is one of the constituents of so much human nature.  When, rarely, unalloyed nobility does occur, its chances of prevailing are slim.  Yet it exists, and its mere existence is reason enough for not wiping the name of mankind off the slate.” — John Simon

“We are all terrible little creatures.” — Martin Amis

“The tragedy and the magnificence of Homo sapiens together rise from the same smoky truth that we alone among the animal species refuse to acknowledge natural law.” — Robert Ardrey, _The Social Contract_

“Man, were he not corrupted by Governments, is naturally the friend of Man, and that human nature is not of itself vicious.” — Thomas Paine

“I think we’re all Bozos on this Bus!” — Firesign Theater

Now I feel better….. and I hope you do, as well….
__________________________________

“I hope something GOOD came in the mail today so I have  a REASON to live!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

I know just how Zippy felt when he voiced this plaintive wish…. but, the mail doesn’t get here until later, so this will have to do…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

The rules call for wearing magic knickers….

Posted on by
3

Ffolkes,
I am damned. In fact, I am damned by God Himself…. He told me Himself, back when we were kids together in Jerusalem, oh, two or so thousand years ago…. You see, we didn’t get along very well. Our families lived in different parts of town; His was from the Golan Heights district, up there where all the priests, and political figures, and all the other rich folks lived. Mine lived downtown as far as you could go; the river was my backyard…… He called himself Yeshua back then; what I am called doesn’t matter any more…. but you can call me by the name I am known by in history books…. you can call me Judas…..

Well, that would certainly make for a decent story…. easy to write, too, as a lot of the action has already been covered by history and religious books, so I could pick and choose what stories to include…. all, of course, looked at through my mind’s filter, and twisted just right to fit into the story line….. It would probably be fun to write, but it might not be the best activity I could choose from a karmic standpoint…. Many ffolkes consider it rude to make fun of religions, and, concurrently, making fun of their constituents.

Me, I enjoy it. The stiff, prudish people who make such complaints are, in my mind, the perfect targets for such barbed humor, as they have chosen to have no sense of humor, and are a pain in the ass to be around, for anyone with more than two functional brain cells…..


But, that’s all just camouflage, this morning, anyway….

The truth is, I’m out of material…. can’t think of a damn thing to write about, and Smart Bee isn’t cooperating. I spent a half-hour last night searching for some pearls for this morning, and could only come up with more Shakespeare BS couplets for my growing collection. It’s beginning to look as if I’ll have to break down and use….. no, I won’t do it. I won’t go to my last resort….. It can’t be THAT bad yet. I refuse to go there….

Instead, we’ll just go diving, and hope for the best…. shall we Pearl?…..
___________________________________

Unwrapped Morning

A jewel of deepest green, sparkles by firelight
Held fast by time, and space
Leaves only passive passion, pale and bright
Naught but grief, yet but a trace.

In morning’s bright parlor, burning for hate
Unspent moments fall, seeking pain
Spilling blood forlornly, cowed by fate
Left with nothing, life in vain.

Pallid purpose calls, to that fallow ground
In bold fashions, aflame
Conscience falls aside, value unbound
Death calls, forever lost, the game……

gigoid

Hmm…. not too bad, all in all. It certainly ripped out a piece of my soul, and laid it out there for all to see….. and if nothing else, it counts as a pearl…..  🙂
___________________________________

Here we have an old school pearl, on a subject which, though not near and dear to my heart, is nevertheless often in the forefront of my awareness, such as it is…. Aging gracefully in a world designed to prevent any such dignified efforts….. let’s see what Smart Bee and his cronies have to say about it…..

“I don’t want to be young again, I just don’t want to get any older.” — Smart Bee

EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN
1. Share everything.
2. Play fair.
3. Don’t hit people.
4. Put things back where you found them.
5. Clean up your own mess.
6. Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
7. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
8. Wash your hands before you eat.
9. Flush.
10. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
11. Live a balanced life–learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
12. Take a nap every afternoon.
13. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
14. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
15. Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup–they all die. So do we.
16. And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned–the biggest word of all–LOOK.
— Robert Fulghum

“He’s so old his blood type was discontinued.” — Bill Dana

Remote from cities liv’d a swain,
Unvex’d with all the cares of gain;
His head was silver’d o’er with age,
And long experience made him sage.
— John Gay (1688-1732) — Fables, Part i, The Shepherd and the Philosopher

“The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.” — Smart Bee

“A desire not to butt into other people’s business is at least eighty percent of all human wisdom… and the other twenty percent isn’t very important.”
“You butt into other people’s business.  All the time.”
“Who said I was wise?  I’m a professional bad example.  You can learn a lot by watching me.”
— Lazarus Long, from Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein

And what, pray tell, has attaining this advanced age brought in the way of wisdom?  Just this…..

“Just smile and nod. You’ll get through a lot of life that way.” — Richard Langellotti
___________________________________

Okay, since I’m not finding anything in Smart Bee, we’ll go lazy….. here are some pictures of cats, found on Facebook, that are pretty self-explanatory…..


___________________________________

This may be the laziest Pearl ever….. other than the poem, which is always a painful process, I’ve pretty much avoided any of the usual long-winded rants and/or essays that are staple for the normal state of events here. This could be a good thing….. I guess we’ll see…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!