Ffolkes,
~~ Mahatma Gandhi ~~
Simen Johan ~ National Geographic ~ Red Monkeys
Damn! This hurts! But, I won’t let it stop me, so, you won’t hear me complain any further. It will, however, keep this intro to a minimum, come hell or high water, whatever that means. It also makes me somewhat of a fool, for trying to do this while completely distracted. Foolishness is one of my strengths, or, so I’ve always believed, so, it shouldn’t affect the overall output; only the timing, and the quantity of mess I can create in one morning… That’s what the label says, and that’s my story.
In order to make it a shorter story, I am going to use method #4 right away, so we can get on with this before I start whimpering, or before my left arm gives out completely…. Don’t worry, even if I have to crawl into the chair after each break, I’ll finish this, or die trying. Since my left hand is almost dead now, I will now employ our emergency exit…. Hang on, ffolkes, it’s bound to be a bumpy descent….
Shall we Pearl?
“Animals have these advantages over man: they never hear the clock strike, they die without any idea of death, they have no theologians to instruct them, their last moments are not disturbed by unwelcome and unpleasant ceremonies, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills.” — Voltaire
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here is more music from my days as a hippie, during the latter half of the 1960’s, from one of my favorite singers of the time; she can still croon out a pretty nice love song today….
Maria Muldaur
***********************
***********************
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ffolkes…. I had a rant started, but, it got moved down the schedule, as I just don’t have it in me today…. Here is a fairly short discussion from 2013, speaking again about our plight as humans in a dying culture…. so to speak…. Take it as you will….
From 3/5/2013:
“The thinking that we are doing has brought us to where we have already been. In order to go somewhere else, we must think in a different way.” — Albert Einstein
One can always trust Albert to state profound ideas in the simplest way…. you gotta love that. Here, his insight has pinpointed the root problem with which our species has to contend if we are to survive to the next millennium, and illuminates the necessary element in solving the issue, all in two short, simple statements. We humans have made a real mess of things, to put it mildly, and now are faced with a dilemma never faced in all our history as a species…. that we know of…. Perhaps Atlantis fell for exhibiting the self-same lack of ethics and moral advancement as our society has done, and Mother Nature stepped in previously, as she is close to doing now…. There is no way to know for sure…. What is certain is that our own time is nearing an end, unless we make an unlikely change in our attitudes and habits….
This is the root of the problem we face, that the necessary changes need to be made in the human psyche, our souls, as it were, and it just isn’t going to happen unless each and every person alive makes the change. The assumption that we have the right to use the resources of the planet for our own benefit ONLY, to strip the physical world of all the materials we want to use for our own purposes, no matter what effect it has on the rest of what exists here has only one outcome possible, and that is our own self-destruction, taking many innocent species with us… The plants, the other animals, the immense beauty of the physical world in which we live are all being wasted by mankind’s insane rush to obtain and hoard anything considered useful to themselves, at the expense of all else…..
This attitude indicates an inferior spirit, one whose moral and ethical advancement is arrested, and even reversed, until all that is left is pure, unadulterated avarice and greed, and complete dispassion for other life-forms. If you have ever seen an open wound, an ulcer, then you know just what the spirit of such a person is like… and the pain they cause for everyone else…. Unfortunately, this ulcer cannot be treated with ointments, and a clean bandage…
To my mind, the necessary changes that can save us are obviously spiritual in nature, and will require some kind of spiritual awakening in ALL humans on the planet, a realization that we are part of a larger scheme of things than merely our own concerns, and that our participation in that larger view of reality is necessary for us to survive. If we continue to deny the reality of this, then our selfish destructiveness will be brought to an end by our own actions. Unless we can get those who care not for anything but themselves to alter that state of mind, we are all going to die, because there won’t be any breathable air, or any non-toxic water, or any food that will sustain us… We will have fouled our own nest unto extinction….
“Our humanity were a poor thing were it not for the divinity which stirs within us.” — Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
Francis doesn’t get much air time on this blog, since most of what he says is crap; he tends to hide a nimble mind behind a screen of religious fervor that colors most of his thinking. In this particular phrase, he is close to a truth, but where he uses the words “divinity which stirs within us”, I would say, “the divinity of which we are part.” Robert Heinlein’s character, Valentine Michael Smith, in Stranger In A Strange Land, perhaps said it best when he said used the phrase, “Thou Art God”…..
Only when we come to understand that we are part and parcel of everything else that exists, no more, no less than any other part, can we reach the understanding, and the compassion, that will be needed to overcome the problems we have created through our specie’s deliberate ignorance and avarice….. We must accept the responsibility that comes with divinity, to cherish and protect all the different parts of reality that make up the whole of our being, instead of using whatever we see to increase our own creature comforts, at the expense of the rest of reality.
Our species MUST undergo a spiritual awakening, or we will surely be condemned to an ignoble end, much like the thousands of species our kind has already added to the list of those who have disappeared from this plane of existence. I wish I could say that all I’ve said here is speculation, but, there is too much hard evidence that supports what I’m saying to ignore. The time we have to awaken our brothers and sisters who have been brainwashed into disbelieving their own power is growing very short, I’m afraid…. I’m also afraid that it isn’t going to happen, and that would indeed be a great waste……
During his 1956 presidential campaign, a woman called out to Adlai E. Stevenson “Senator, you have the vote of every thinking person!” Stevenson called back “That’s not enough, madam, we need a majority!” — Smart Bee
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today we’ll go with an old favorite; this poet, to me, epitomizes the meaning of the word itself. She, and her work, define poetry like no other….
Enjoy, ffolkes…. (Well, Shawna doesn’t have to unless she wants…..)
With narrow, probing, Eyes–
I wonder if It weighs like Mine–
Or has an Easier size.
I wonder if They bore it long–
Or did it just begin–
I could not tell the Date of Mine–
It feels so old a pain–
I wonder if it hurts to live–
And if They have to try–
And whether–could They choose between–
It would not be–to die–
I note that Some–gone patient long–
At length, renew their smile–
An imitation of a Light
That has so little Oil–
I wonder if when Years have piled–
Some Thousands–on the Harm–
That hurt them early–such a lapse
Could give them any Balm–
Or would they go on aching still
Through Centuries of Nerve–
Enlightened to a larger Pain–
In Contrast with the Love–
The Grieved–are many–I am told–
There is the various Cause–
Death–is but one–and comes but once–
And only nails the eyes–
There’s Grief of Want–and grief of Cold–
A sort they call “Despair”–
There’s Banishment from native Eyes–
In Sight of Native Air–
And though I may not guess the kind–
Correctly–yet to me
A piercing Comfort it affords
In passing Calvary–
To note the fashions–of the Cross–
And how they’re mostly worn–
Still fascinated to presume
That Some–are like My Own–
~~ Emily Dickinson ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This pearl, a nine-star necklace of shiny, mysterious gems, created itself, in a manner of speaking. However, rather than distract, and, possibly, bore you to death trying to explain how, I’ll just tell you, it seems to be speaking, in a general, yet pointed way, about living Life with Reason as one’s guide, rather than allowing ignorance to rule one’s fate….. If y’all think otherwise, feel free to say so, if you dare…. Oh, not that anything untoward would happen to you, but, remember, here on ECR, we deal only with what is provable in Reality, so, any nonsense will be treated as such…. Any reasoned response is welcome, of course, with sincere approbation. (Well, look it up, for goodness’ sake!…. It’s a simple copy & paste on Dictionary.com….)
“The glory of a firm, capacious mind.” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Odyssey of Homer, Book iv, Line 262
“… denn da ist keine Stelle, die dich nicht sieht. Du musst dein Leben andern. (… for there is no place that does not see you. You must change your life.) — Rainer Maria Rilke, “Archaic Torso of Apollo”
“Be not as one that hath ten thousand years to live; death is nigh at hand: while thou livest, while thou hast time, be good.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, iv, 17
“Depend not on fortune, but on conduct.” — Publius Syrus
“It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation, which give happiness.” — Thomas Jefferson
“Truth is eternal, knowledge is changeable. It is disastrous to confuse them.” — Madeleine L’Engle, An Acceptable Time
“Food for thought is no substitute for the real thing.” — Walt Kelly, Putluck Pogo
“A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser to-day than he was yesterday.” — Alexander Pope
“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” — Plato
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, it’s done, That, I think, is as far as I should go in describing what happened here; anything more would tempt fate, not to mention Murphy. If I could reach it at all without stabbing myself, I’d pat myself on the back for a job well done…. except that it would be more accurate to say it is a job; well, done. So be it. gigoid has spoken, probably more than was wise. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, should I be favored by the gods of serendipity, and, provided I can get my tenses and persons squared away….
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
gigoid, the dubious
PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.
“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch
À bientôt, mon cherí….
gigoid 