Now, dammit, I’m stuck. The first paragraph is too deeply philosophical, if short, to continue pursuing in the intro. Hell, I probably already lost half the first group of Gentle Readers, even if I realized what was up, and faded at the end. I hate to go back & start over; it’s not THAT bad. Oh, wait…. I know. I’ll do this. Watch.

Cool, eh? What? Well, damn; it didn’t work. Oh, well, it was worth a shot, and, no, I’m not going to tell you what it was, because it wasn’t. Much as we like to tease Reality around here, we don’t fuck with the bottom line like that. We will, however, go off on some other tangent, since that one never took place. I hate when THAT happens, too… Don’t you? Oh. Never mind.

Where am I? I won’t say, where was I, because, as you have already observed, I haven’t been anywhere but right here, messing about inside my own head (and getting pretty lost, too….). Fortunately, we’re not on a deadline, not with a Tardis in the garage. But, I suppose we should probably get on with the slow, before it falls apart before we even start. (It may already be too late; that happens….) Why don’t we all grab our beverages, take our seats, and I’ll have Guido (Luigi’s alternate) take us out to the oyster beds…. You might enjoy this; Guido’s a real professional…. It says so right on his resumé….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Diligence increaseth the fruit of toil. A dilatory man wrestles with losses.” — Hesiod (c. 700 BC) — Works and Days, Line 412

Boy howdy, I sure wish it wasn’t almost 1 AM, and, I was at least minimally coherent. Hell, I’d take semi-conscious, at this point. If I were any of those, I might be able to put together a pretty decent rant, given the most excellent starting point offered up by Mr. Russell, using is as a springboard to take some rather nasty shots at the Asininnies. However, all of the above is true, or, all of it is not true; in either case, I’m not very coherent, if that hasn’t been made obvious to this point.

In these situations, y’all know what to expect, I’d guess. Yep. Another rant from the archives, this time from a little over two years ago, when Pearls were constructed differently than now…. What is below was one of three sections, the one which eventually evolved into the ranting section you see today…. Well, when you do see it. For today, this will have to do. I’ll let y’all know when, or, if, I ever get to sleep again…. Enjoy!….

From 3/11/2013:

“The Bible is full of interesting caricatures. In the first book of the Bible, Guinesses, Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree. One of their children, Cain, asked “Am I my brother’s son?” God asked Abraham to sacrifice Issac on Mount Montezuma. Jacob, son of Issac, stole his brother’s birthmark. Jacob was a partiarch who brought up his twelve sons to be partiarchs, but they did not take to it. One of Jacob’s sons, Joseph, gave refuse to the Israelites.” — Richard Lederer, The world According to Student Bloopers

I would say, given what I know about people in general, this litany of errors on the part of students represents one of mankind’s best efforts at getting to the core of the issues in their religious philosophies…. NOT….. As is obvious, that was merely my attempt at a poor joke, an unnecessary one, as it turns out, as people tend to be a lot funnier, in reality, than I can ever make them in my imagination…. You see, this short paragraph, to me, makes as much sense as the story that the churches themselves are trying to get me to believe…. In some ways, it makes MORE sense than the official version, especially the last line…. But, I digress….

” It makes no difference who you vote for–the two parties are really one party representing 4 percent of the people.” — Gore Vidal

How’s that for a 180 degree turn? From religion bashing to the irony of political truth, in one swell foop…. Since that same four percent of people represented by the politicians includes the folks who engage in religion at the top levels (NOT the constituency; the politicians regard them as both tucker, and fodder….), I figure that it might be fun to lump them all together for a change…. I usually try to keep them separate while taking my shots, but, they do tend to work together, so I thought it wouldn’t be inappropriate to have them share some of the wealth I’m spreading around….

“If God were female, do you REALLY think men would exist?” — Smart Bee

Well, actually, I do, because, well, logically, she’d HAVE to? What point would there be in being female, without a male to torment? Of course, many, if not all, of the other issues we have today to occupy our time would not have ever become issues, as a female god wouldn’t have allowed that kind of shit in her house….. To me, this only goes to show that God, should such an entity exist, is probably neither male, nor female; just as likely, it is both at once, as the rest of the universe tends to be arranged in a duality of natural form and function, and it only makes sense that the creating entity would reflect that duality….

“If a lie is repeated often enough all the dumb jackasses in the world not only get to believe it, they even swear by it.” — B.B. Franklin

Now, here is a piece of insight into human nature that most will admit is all too true for comfort. It is an old piece of knowledge, and well known to both the proponents of the God-theory, and by the Beloved Ruling Class, those lovingly solicitous self-appointed leaders of society…. Both groups are well versed in the use of lying to suit their own purposes, and know full well that the average person, upon hearing something told to them by either a member of the clergy, or a talking head on TV, one wearing a suit, and standing in front of a flag, will blindly accept what they are told, without ever examining it for veracity, or even asking themselves why they are being told at all…. They just say, “Duh, okay boss,” and go about what they believe to be their own life, ignorant of how little of it is actually under their own control….

“For me, all I can do is spit in the eye of my fears by living each day with as much passion and commitment as possible to what truly counts, such as love and justice. To give the into the fear and hopelessness would be to declare defeat, something I am not ready to do while there is still the will to struggle. — Lawrence Paradis

Here is the answer, the one that, sadly, 95% of humanity will never even hear; if they did hear it, they probably wouldn’t recognize it as their salvation, anyway. I know, that’s a bit harsh in judgment of my fellow man, but, in my thus far relatively long life, I’ve yet to see very many of them who have the wit to wipe their own drool, much less understand how they are responsible for their own misery and pain, by allowing unscrupulous con men to control them at every turn.

But, as the pearl says, I’m not ready to quit seeking love and justice, by trying to get folks, and ffolkes, to see how the people they believe are ethical,  have been lying and cheating and controlling them their whole life, and not for the benefit of anyone but themselves. So far, I’ve only managed to preach to the choir, but, eventually, my message will get passed around to a wider audience…. We’ll see then how the truth fares against the lies they spread so thickly…..

“It’s easier said than done. … and if you don’t believe it, try proving that it’s easier done than said, and you’ll see that it’s easier said that `it’s easier done than said’ than it is done, which really proves that it’s easier said than done.” — Smart Bee

“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.” — C. G. Jung

“Clay is moulded to make a vessel, but the utility of the vessel lies in the space where there is nothing….Thus, taking advantage of what is, we recognize the utility of what is not.” — Lao Tze

“The truth is, laughter always sounds more perfect than weeping. Laughter flows in a violent riff and is effortlessly melodic. Weeping is often fought, choked, half strangled, or surrendered to with humiliation.” — Anne Rice, Taltos

“Blessed is he who has learned to laugh at himself, for he shall never cease to be entertained.” — John Powell

“How did the great rivers and seas gain dominion over the hundred lesser streams?  By being lower than they.” — Lao Tzu

“To give pleasure to a single heart by a single kind act is better than a thousand head-bowings in prayer.” — Saddi

There are days this process is much more work than others; today, that was certainly so. But, it’s done, so, we’ll take it and run. I’ll see y’all tomorrow, sleep, or no sleep. If it’s anything like the last five days, that’s a negatory, big buddy…. That’s negatory on the the sleep; I’ll be back, regardless….