Hajime…. Probably, what’s going on is merely a function of my own mind, in dealing with all the crap that builds up in there. Whatever the case may be, I’ve been going into some strange places lately. In my head, that is; sadly, I don’t get out enough to say that about the Big Blue Room. These places have the unfortunate ability to keep my attention on them, rather than on Reality, where I have things that need to get done, if only for my own comfort and serenity. I can’t say I’m suffering, per se; I can say I am not happy with Reality just now, and the only responsibility for it rests securely on my own head.
I’d say life can be a bitch, but, that’s not taking responsibility, and the world suffers THAT way too fucking much for me to add to it. I can’t say I’ll be able to put it all aside with any degree of simplicity, but, I will do so, regardless of how much more uncomfortable I get. If I don’t it won’t change, now, will it? Nope. Such is life….. With all that said, I can get to the meat of the matter, which is simply this: I didn’t get much of a Pearl done. I’ll finish it up, best I may, and post it, but, it’s not anywhere close to what can usually be expected around here. All I can say is, oh, well…. Moreover, I’m going to go against my usual habit, and make that all I say. I have a feeling, ruthlessness is the only thing that will get this posted, so, here is ruthless…
Shall we pearl?….
“Do nothing secretly; for Time sees and hears all things, and discloses all.”
~~ Sophocles (496-406 BC) ~~
~~ Hipponous, Frag. 280 ~~
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As is our wont, we’ll go with our old standby, classical music, because I know it will always do for its purpose…. Today’s selection purports itself as being designed for reading…. Enjoy!….
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Classical Music
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********************************
********************************
Off the proverbial cuff….
I never meant to kill that period of time,
it didn’t give me any choice.
It tried to hem me in without reason, or rhyme,
refused me any vote, or any voice.
You have to admit, I buried it deep and fast,
just as if I cared.
I knew, though, it would never last,
or ever be fully repaired.
No news, no pictures can bring it back,
once is all we get.
No pleas of public good, or even public lack;
in stone the past is set.
Futuristic visions now occupy my dreams,
I’m ready to go on.
Look! It fills up the screen, and it gleams!
Where’s the moment I’m sitting on?
Now, I remembered, at long, long last,
is all we really can hold.
Every moment goes by so bloody fast,
we’d best fill them all with beauty, warm and bold.
~~ gigoid ~~
4/30/2013
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Today’s final, old-school pearl requires a moment of explanation. It is what I call a random harlequin pearl, chosen completely by instinct. Smart Bee offers up a group of pearls, and my unconscious mind picks out the ones that have something to say to us for today. Don’t ask me how it works beyond that, because I don’t know, and wouldn’t say if I did. If I look too closely at it, it might go away. In any case, here is our offering for today. There is a meaning to it all, but, you have to figure it out yourselves…. Enjoy!….
*******
“For age is opportunity no less
Than youth itself, though in another dress.
And as the evening twilight fades away,
The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.
It is never too late to start doing what is right.
Never.”
~~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ~~
“… 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” ~~
*******
“…all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
~~ George Bernard Shaw ~~
*******
“Deeds, not words shall speak me.”
~~ John Fletcher ~~
*******
“If a person is to get the meaning of life
he must learn to like the facts about himself —
ugly as they may seem to his sentimental vanity —
before he can learn the truth behind the facts.
And the truth is never ugly.”
~~ Eugene O’Neill ~~
*******
“Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.”
~~ Things We Can Learn From Dogs ~~
*******
“Are you a good witch or a bad witch?”
~~ Subtle Wiccan Bee ~~
*******
********************************
Okay; it’s done. Possibly the fastest ever created, but, we won’t worry about that. We’ll just post it, and be on our merry way. To fulfill our regulatory obligations, I’ll mention I will be back tomorrow. Use the time between now and then wisely; it’s your only real possession, you know…. See ya, ffolkes; count on it…..
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
“It is never too early or too late to care for the well-being of the soul.”
~~ Epicurus ~~
Late summer bloom….
Hajime…. In human experience, it is clear that the subject of ‘delayed gratification’ is associated closely with a great many of our difficulties. Taking the short-term view, while gratifyingly immediate, can often lead to long-term consequences, very few of which are as beneficial as our intentions would have them. In short, we screw our own pooch, regularly. I would say this is not an arguable conclusion, as the evidence is overwhelming.
Now, one might assume, from the professorial tone of the previous paragraph, today’s post will be another long diatribe against the machine. And, you’d be right. However, my diatribe, which has, in segments, been ongoing for several years, won’t be our major feature. In fact, there’s no rant, at all, in any real sense. There is material in that section today, but, you won’t find it hard to get through, as it turned old-school. We have music, we have a new poem, and a damn fine group of excellently polished pearls for your edification. You could say, this one has it all, and be correct. Go ahead, say it….
Okay, so, the obligatory nonsense is in place, we’ve got some rational dialogue, and we’re three paragraphs in; couldn’t ask for better progress. I mean, after all, Dave Letterman coined the perfect phrase to describe us, when he said, “Hopelessly lost, but, making good time….”. That’s us, to a T. Or, if necessary, to a Z. Whatever either of those means. I don’t believe I ever really ‘got’ that one, but, hey, it’s embedded in the language, so, gotta use it now and again, or it goes bad. Words do that, you know….
I think that, right there, is a good indicator, showing us it’s definitely time to get on with this, before it all goes wonky. I’ll be rational, and executive-like, & make the decision to cut this off, ruthlessly. How’s this for ruthless?….
Shall we pearl?….
“As great scientists have said and as all children know,
it is above all by the imagination
that we achieve perception, and compassion, and hope.”
~~ Ursula K. LeGuin ~~
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I had no intention of ranting today, though the urge often occurs. I’m trying to keep from that sort of indulgence for the time being. Sometimes, when looking for pearls for the old-school, Naked Pearls section, I do come across pieces such as these, which I can only describe as perfect pearls, for they create an entire discussion in one’s own head, in order to ascertain the full import of the relatively few words used. In short, they compose a pearl of virtual wisdom, which can, in its essence, only be considered a rant, against all the elements of human nature that cause us so much misery, and keep the bulk of us from feeling or experiencing life as it CAN be lived. I hope you enjoy this trip into the minds of a number of rather smart people….
*******
Thoughts on the Human Condition….
*******
“For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered.
But for those of us who can’t readily accept the God formula,
the big answers don’t remain stone-written.
We adjust to new conditions and discoveries.
We are pliable.
Love need not be a command or faith a dictum.
I am my own God.
We are here to unlearn
the teachings of the church, state,
and our educational system.
We are here to drink beer.
We are here to kill war.
We are here to laugh at the odds
and live our lives so well
that Death will tremble to take us.”
~~ Charles Bukowski ~~
*******
“…there is no poison on earth more potent, nor half so deadly,
as a partial truth mixed with passion.”
~~ Michael Jay Tucker~~
*******
“The entire world is being driven insane by this single phrase:
‘My religion alone is true.'”
~~ Ramakrishna ~~
*******
“There is no nonsense so arrant
that it cannot be made the creed of the vast majority
by adequate governmental action.”
~~ Bertrand Russell, “An outline of Intellectual Rubbish” ~~
*******
“And the people bowed and prayed, to the neon Gods they’d made.”
~~ Paul Simon ~~
*******
“The more laws and order are made prominent,
the more thieves and robbers there will be.”
~~ Lao Tzu ~~
*******
“… But when he [the people’s champion]
has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty,
and there is nothing to fear from them,
then he is always stirring up some war or other,
in order that the people may require a leader.”
~~ Plato, “The Republic” ~~
*******
“What happens to your fist when you open your hand?”
~~ Zen Buddhism ~~
*******
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Image from lastfm.com via Google Images
I finished a poem last night; don’t know why, but the last three stanzas just bled out in about an hour. In honor of poetry, here’s a performance by one of the greatest musician/songwriter/poets of the modern era. I consider his “Sound of Silence” the definitive poem/song of the latter part of the previous century; I know it’s just my opinion, but, go listen, then tell me it doesn’t nail modern society with one swift bullet. In any case, this is a pretty decent collection of his work, in a good studio, with good sound, and, his usual collection of great musicians to play with him…. Enjoy!….
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Paul Simon BBC Sessions ~ 2006
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Illusory Time
Viewed from askance, the river is long;
deep, uncompromisingly intent, swift, strong.
In duality, perception creates our only reality;
such faux metaphoric paradox enforces mutability.
By two we perceive, both zero, and one;
digital, binary, on or off, such fun.
Separate, melded, we exist, knowing not what we know
ego, striving to be solitary, looks above, sees below.
Furiously asleep, cultural anomaly claims a victim of choice;
validly unconscious, nobody speaks, nary a voice.
Potential escapees stir in dreams, fighting to wake,
until taking the wheel, for their own bloody sake.
Pots boil in due time, when the fire’s hot,
time exists to our advantage; or, not.
The solitary warrior, head bent in pain,
fights on, with, or without gain.
Night fell, day after day it persisted;
of those who knew, none showed any care, or resisted
Angels, ministers, none had any defense, nor grace;
all that remains is a face.
~~ gigoid ~~
10/22/2016
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Naked Pearls
Serenity’s arcane art….
*********
I’m going to happydance among the stars and wear my stripes any way I want to.”
~~ Stripes the tiger ~~
*********
“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare;
it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.”
~~ Lucius Anneaus Seneca ~~
*********
“To dare is to lose your foothold for a moment.
Not to dare is to lose your self.”
~~ Soren Kierkegaard~~
*********
“How could the drops of water know themselves to be a river?
Yet the river flows on.”
~~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery ~~
*********
“Live your questions now, and perhaps even without knowing it,
you will live along some distant day into your answers.”
~~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~~
*********
“The way I see it, if you want the rainbow,
you gotta put up with the rain.”
~~ Dolly Parton ~~
*********
“Take a breath of the new dawn and make it a part of you.
~~ Hopi proverb ~~
*********
“Change is inevitable, growth is intentional.”
~~ Glenda Cloud~~
*********
“The road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began
Now far ahead the road has gone
And I must follow if I can.
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way.
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.”
~~ J.R.R. Tolkien ~~
*********
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Boy! That’s a big one, isn’t it? So big, I’ll forgo further torment, and just say, see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes. I believe we can safely say it is now an obsession, without being inaccurate. So be it….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
“Go into yourself and see how deep the place is from which your life flows.”
~~ Rainer Maria Rilke in Letters to a Young Poet ~~
Who’s this ‘grumpy cat’ dude?….
Hajime…. Running, chased by gibbering demons, claws extended to rend my flesh, I pant in abject terror. Of course, then I wake up, generally, so, all is well; the nightmare of insanity passes quickly, as a rule. As a human, my mind naturally organizes my perceptions into an ordered framework, one with which it can deal, of which rules are an important part, delineating, as they do, the boundaries of our understanding. Yes, I realize, now, that’s probably a bit more complex & esoteric a thought than I should be trying to express at this point in time; hell, I’m barely awake, having had only one cup of coffee before starting to work on this Pearl….
Ah, well, so much for my application to join the real world. I didn’t really WANT it to be accepted, anyway; it all seems so pointless these days. The world itself is broken, and there’s little to be done now that would, or could, be of any significant help in fixing it; people have pretty much sewn up their future into a casket, ready for lowering six feet down into the ground. The evidence keeps piling up, and few will even look at it, so, my own sense of hope is pretty well eroded down to a nub. But, that’s too depressing a thought with which to start the day, so, how about we let it be, and get on with what I originally began, to wit: today’s Pearl of Virtual Wisdom….
A short reminder to my readers: Pearls, and pearls, as well as mere pearls, are kind of special to me. The collections I gather usually lead to a train of thought, always off the schedule, but, running on time. They are intended as a means of feeling uplifted to begin the day. The fact they don’t usually do that isn’t important; it’s the thought that counts, right? Right. On that cryptic, if transparent note, let’s get this slow on the toad. All I have today is a poem from a couple years ago, and a rather odd, Zippy-directed old-school pearl. It’s what I’ve got, and, as always, will have to do….
Shall we pearl?….
“Als das Kind noch Kind war, gab es diese Fragen:
Warum bin ich mich, und warum nicht dich?
Warum bin ich hier, und warum nicht dort?”
~~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~~
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A dream, weeping….
“Never a dull moment to spare”, he said
with a crooked grin, and a broad wink.
“Can’t keep Reality hanging by a thread….
what would Chaos, or Entropy think?”
So, we plucked up our dreams of old,
to carry us on, in dutiful, strong arms,
stuffed a candle in the remaining fold,
for luck, and perfect proof against charms.
Storms follow the sun, but, never stay;
lessons round every corner, all free.
Past fleeting doubts, in a sad disarray,
the journey becomes the reason to be.
Simple kindness manifests untold riches,
in defiance of common cause’s demise.
Bold courage, hanging in stitches,
mends wounds that come as no surprise.
Still, waters run deep, ’tis said by many.
Too much pain cannot apprehend
the salient, sharp points of epiphany,
nor, plainly, to wisdom aspire to pretend.
Folly dogs even the simplest truth,
fumes of toxic ignorance and bile,
alienated as a loose rotten tooth;
it often hides itself, for a long while.
Sought after eons ago, we cried out,
to believe, to suffer no more doubt.
But found instead good reason,
for love, and truth, from season, to season.
~~ gigoid ~~
~~ 8/30/2014 ~~
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Naked Pearls
Watch that last step….
*******
“A wide-eyed, innocent UNICORN, poised delicately in a MEADOW
filled with LILACS, LOLLIPOPS & small CHILDREN
at the HUSH of twilight??”
~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~
*******
“It is one of the commonest of mistakes to consider
that the limit of our power of perception
is also the limit of all there is to perceive.”
~~ C. W. Leadbeater ~~
*******
“To develop a complete mind:
Study the science of art;
study the art of science.
Learn how to see.
Realize that everything connects to everything else.”
~~ Leonardo da Vinci ~~
*******
“If our behavior is strict, we do not need fun!”
~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~
*******
“I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship.”
— Louisa May Alcott ~~ ~~
*******
“It is good to have an end to journey toward,
but it is the journey
that matters in the end.”
~~ Ursula K. LeGuin ~~
*******
“When this load is DONE I think I’ll wash it AGAIN..”
~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~
*******
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Well, there you have it. No excuses; it is what it is. And, I’m done. Not merely done; I’m outta here. I will, however, be back to do this again, to as little purpose as ever. Thus far, nobody has figured out an effective way to stop me…..
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
“I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together!”
~~ (The Beatles) I Am The Walrus ~~
A well-earned rest….
Hajime…. Apparently, the muse responsible for stimulating my creativity didn’t get the memo. I’m now capable of sitting long enough to do a bit of writing, but, can she be found? No. I’m pretty sure she got sidetracked by Murphy, who delights in seeing me experience frustration; he probably talked her into a week in Mexico, or somewhere else far away from wherever I’m sitting. Now, here I am, once again staring blankly at a screen covered in a vast white plain of fear, wondering what the hell I’m going to do now…..
Ah, well, so be it. I refuse categorically to go back to tricks, or traps, or nonsense, or even Piffle, to fill up this intro section; don’t ask me why. Not that I wouldn’t tell you, but, we’d be here forever trying to justify that which cannot be justified. But, then, reality doesn’t much care about justification; we humans are the only ones who seem to put any credence in it. But, I digress, as usual…
Screw it, he said, with feeling. Let’s just get on with it, since there isn’t a lot to get to. The poem I’m gestating isn’t ready, apparently, so, we’ll all have to make do with the handful of pearls I found, & be happy with that. Since there is now hope for more time to write, I’ll show a bit of faith in the process, (unnatural as it may be, for me), & hope for more in the near future… For now, let’s just do this….
Shall we pearl?….
“The only people for me are the mad ones,
the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved,
desirous of everything at the same time,
the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing,
but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles
exploding like spiders across the stars…”
~~ Jack Kerouac, “On the Road” ~~
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Naked Pearls
Finding the center…
*******
“Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.”
~~ Seneca ~~
*******
“”I say that a man must be certain of his morality
for the simple reason that he has to suffer for it.”
~~ G. K. Chesterton, Illustrated London News, 8/4/06 ~
*******
“The question was put to him, what hope is;
and his answer was, “The dream of a waking man.”
~~ Diogenes Laertius — Aristotle, xi ~~
*******
“Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future,
you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way in the answer.”
~~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~~
*******
“All virtue is summed up in dealing justly.”
~~ Aristotle ~~
*******
********************************
Well, ffolkes, there you have it. A classic style Pearl, short, sweet, but complete. I hold out hope for the future, so, let’s go out and find it, shall we? I’ll be back to try this again, perhaps with a bit more to say. One may hope, after all…. See ya….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
“For one human being to love another human being:
that is perhaps the most difficult task
that has been entrusted to us,
the ultimate task, the final test and proof,
the work for which all other work
is merely preparation.”
~~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~~
Reluctantly poised….
Hajime…. We humans are weird. While such a statement could be construed as critical, in this case, it is more of an observation, based on personal experience. To fully comprehend the depth and meaning would require more time than I’m willing to spend today, so, y’all will once more have to deal with any disappointment on your own, cuz I ain’t talkin’…. Don’t worry, it’s nothing untoward, merely, well, weird, and it won’t delay the production of today’s Pearl any more than it already has with this paragraph.
Of course, this means we don’t have anything more to put here in the intro, a not unusual conundrum. One might think, after two days of sloughing off the work, I’d be a bit more organized, but, then, thinking can often lead to inaccurate conclusions, especially when the subject matter, i.e., me, is rather an ambiguous figure, to say the least. If we said more than the least, we could be sued rather heavily, which is why we never do. And, yes, we have now devolved, rather suddenly, I might add, into complete blather & nonsense. It’s our default when we are thus challenged, as you may remember.
Our Pearl today will be okay, anyway. I finally put together a decent rant, stimulated by, of all things, a question somebody asked me on Facebook. The rest is pretty standard, and, if I don’t get started putting it together, it won’t get done. To make that happen, I’ll end this now, here, so there won’t be any further forays into the outer reaches. Hell, at this point, I’m thinking, if I don’t do this right now, the end results will be completely unpredictable, never a good thing for us….. Let’s just get the hell out of here, while we can….
Shall we pearl?….
“By definition, when you are investigating the unknown,
you do not know what you will find.”
~~ The Ultimate Principle ~~
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Herself, Ms. Raitt
Some days, it’s just got to be the best. Here’s a session I haven’t heard yet, so, let’s have a listen, shall we?….
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Bonnie Raitt BBC Four Sessions
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********************************
********************************
“I know but one freedom, and that is the freedom of the mind.”
~~ Antoine de Saint Exupery ~~
In the most recent months, my thoughts have begun crystallizing, in a large sense. By ‘large’, I refer to Life at Large, the panorama of human experience on Planet Earth, in all its hideously insane, yet, somehow, vividly fascinating glory. In a cosmic sense, we humans haven’t been around very long; it’s only been about 10 or so thousand years since we left off living on the land full time, without the civilizing (?) influence of writing, gunpowder, and the concept of religion. (Thank you to Tom Carlyle…). Yet, in that minuscule portion of close to five billion years of known Universal history, we have come to the rather grandiose opinion we are the pinnacle of the whole shebang, the highest form of life as we know it, with all the attendant privileges and rights, whatever we conceive those to be.
So, here we are, a motley, unrestrictedly reproductive organism, in season all year round, barely past the time of sleeping on soft leaves in a cave lit by torches, wandering over the face of the planet, even probing our proboscis’ all over the solar system, in our search for new places to fuck. By ‘fuck’ I mean fuck in all its incarnations. We are always looking to fuck; each other, other species, the environment, space/time, biologic creation, the physical universe, the moon, other planets, etc. We want to fuck with, around, on, and up against damn near everything we encounter, from dirt, to atoms, to practically anything our wicked, inventive imaginations can think of, and/or turn into reality….
See, that’s our problem, too. We can’t seem to stop ourselves for any appreciable time from fucking with everything, yet, our overactive, innovative imagination is too powerful for us to keep up with, being the simple animals we really still are, in terms of our nervous systems, perceptive and cognitive abilities, and, some of our physical characteristics, which, in and of themselves, can override any of the other talents/abilities/natural characteristics we may possess. For example, certain smells can literally stop your entire metabolism, instantly creating urges to run, vomit, scream, or otherwise indicate systemic panic; the same can happen with a subliminal perception, which, under given circumstances, can send the bravest, strongest human running in terror, without even knowing why they have panicked.
But, we think we are so cool; Terry Pratchett, I think, described it well when he accused us of being so primitive we still thought digital watches were cool. In truth, we are simply out of our depths, for the most part, though it may seem otherwise, if you listen to TV, or, mostly, anyone else who has an opinion. The only REAL truths we now can depend on are the ones we find within our selves, for everything in the world we have created around us is based on false data and conclusions, which, in the face of their relation to actual physical reality, become delusional, and thus, dangerous to us.
One of the most commonly notions regarding human nature is our Ego, which I have capitalized, for that is how it affects us. However, to promote a more productive frame of mind I have found to be of value, I will forgo further capitalization, to encourage each one reading to devalue the importance of how ego drives your bus, so to speak…. You see, we are more than merely a mind, or, and ego. In fact, the ego may only be a hallucination, as some philosophers AND neuroscientists have suggested. Our existence is also greatly affected, in reality, by physical forces, not all of which we directly perceive, and, by spiritual forces, which are also not necessarily easily identified. Yet, each of those two forces, physical, and spiritual, can instantly assume greater significance than anything our mind perceives, up to and including the potential loss of life…
For example, in the physical world, there are many forces we don’t perceive directly; magnetic, gravitational (other than as motion induced by its presence), certain wavelengths of light and electromagnetic, and, others we can only perceive by instruments. Any of these, sufficiently strong, can be dangerous to us. Spiritually, who can deny the power of what happens to us under the influence of love? Or fear of losing love? There are also many spiritual/emotional forces in our makeup we don’t perceive, or comprehend at all….
However, the ego, due to its own nature as part of us, believes in itself so strongly, it acts as if none of that is anything it cannot overcome to achieve its own ends…. To my current way of thinking, this is a bit grandiose, given our history of success at making reality do what we want. Yes, we have made great technological advances, but, none of them have improved the human condition a whit, and, in fact, are now becoming a danger to the entire species, by continuing to treat the universe as its own toy…. simply because we deny our own nature, which remains divided, unaware of the potential progress to be made by ‘merging the three parts…. which, in truth are but two, the mental and the physical; the spirit is the bridge between them, upon which we refuse to walk…
This discussion was provoked by an exchange I had on Facebook yesterday, prompted by a not unusually provocative statement by a friend (Red, the Fabulous), who is, in my estimation, one of the five smartest people alive. And, yes, I know y’all might think that’s hyperbole, but, it isn’t. In any case, the following exchange took place, which I reproduce now because it is a fine summary of all I’m trying to say here today, in just a few lines…. To wit:
Red: “I want to live in a world where people know how to merge. ”
Me: “If you’re talking traffic, you;re dreaming. If you’re talking life, well, it might be some time yet… *wink* ”
Red: “Yes.”
T.C: “Physically, mentally or spiritually? ”
Me: “They are all three the same exact thing; our inability to ‘merge’ them is a big part of all the troubles you see in the world… I, too, would like to live in such a world, in which we all could look past our ego’s need to divide them, and us… ”
That’s the word I needed… divided. We have a divided nature. It’s natural, in a universe that exists in duality. But, we let one part of our nature overmaster the rest of what the universe has to tell us; by doing so, we create our own inner conflict, which is reflected into the society we have created. Until we learn to ‘merge’ the different parts of our nature, to see the connections there are in life, then we will remain separated, from ourselves, from each other, and from our own universe. In doing so, we condemn ourselves to our only real hell, which is living disconnected from life…. and the love that is possible when we are part of everything…
Serendipitously, I have already shown the exactly right pearl with which this discussion should be closed… Here, then, is the correct path, as indicated by, naturally, a poet….
“For one human being to love another human being:
that is perhaps the most difficult task
that has been entrusted to us,
the ultimate task, the final test and proof,
the work for which all other work
is merely preparation.”
~~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~~
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A Failure to Germinate
Marking the days in elements of sad disarray
only holds me thrall, as I laugh while I may.
With cold, hard hands so impatient and cruel
pulling me to this vale of tears, a pathetic old fool.
Feelings sit silent, cast in shadows and light
breaking forth to implicate such vengeful might.
Just below the surface they patiently hide
to sally forth bravely, colors bright as they ride.
Tears and pain transform valued assets in hand
while comfort and serenity retreat to a far land.
Bold, bright patterns of hope garnish my ruinous state
until reality enters, full of disdainful portions of hate.
I sort out the illustrious measures of vision gone mild
only to find them transformed, now vicious and wild.
In my deepest desires I find myself calloused and cold
with faithless advocates whose souls have been sold.
My search finds little to support any hope of relief
far too much time has passed to bolster such belief.
The sad becomes real, and real becomes unfounded
until flights of such fancy are all dead, and grounded.
Nature has informed me of the newly hatched crime
of which reality boasted proudly, time after time.
The last answer we think of is always the best
as we come to terms with fate, our hope at rest.
~~ gigoid ~~
9/27/2012
********************************
I couldn’t, in good conscience, call this one a Naked Pearl grouping; it’s just too odd. It starts oddly, ends oddly, and uses an odd path to get where it ends up. The best I can call it is to say it’s a random harlequin pearl, and let it go at that…. For one thrown together in jig time, it’s really not bad…. Enjoy!…
*******
“To be, or what?”
~~ Sylvester Stallone ~~
*******
“There’s no easy quick way out,
we’re gonna have to live through our whole lives,
win, lose, or draw.”
~~ Walt Kelly ~~
*******
“Self-improvement is a dangerous form of vanity.”
~~ Alan Watts ~~
*******
But where shall I start?
The world is so fast, I shall start with the country I know best, my own.
But my country is so very large, I had better start with my town.
But my town, too, is large. I had best start with my street.
No, my home.
No, my family.
Never mind,
I shall start with myself.”
~~ Elie Wiesel ~~
*******
“Depend not on fortune, but on conduct.”
~~ Publius Syrus ~~
*******
It is the heart afraid of breaking
that never learns to dance.
It is the dream afraid of waking
that never takes a chance.
It is the one who won’t be taken
who cannot seem to give.
And the soul afraid of dying
that never learns to live.”
~~ Bette Midler, The Rose ~~
*******
“A child of five would understand this.
Send someone to fetch a child of five.”
~~ Groucho Marx ~~
*******
********************************
This is pretty late getting done, compared to our usual time to post; oh, well. Such is life in the fast lane, ffolkes, so, we may as well just deal, and get on with the day. Hopefully, this will help make that go better than it otherwise might. Then again, perhaps not. Time will tell, as it always does, the mouthy bastard. I, personally, shall merely say, see y’all tomorrow…. and, that’s all the warning you’ll get….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
“I may be going to hell in a bucket, but at least I’m enjoying the ride.”
~~ Bob Weir ~~
Stability….
Hajime…. Today’s Pearl reflects the evolution of which I spoke, briefly and obscurely, yesterday. It seems to have evolved along with my new routine, with just as much forethought put into its institution, i.e., none at all. It just happened that way, much like the Universe. Go figure, eh? In this particular case, it works, perhaps as well as any new thing in the Universe, if somewhat less comprehensibly. In the end, it won’t matter, unless the relative degree of confusion I’ve created turns out to be less than called for in the contract. What contract, you ask? Well, you may ask; it doesn’t mean you’ll ever find out.
Hmph. I guess I slipped over into curmudgeon mode, without realizing it. Must be the shoes, which I’m not wearing today. Whatever it is, it has created a rather odd, if creative, Pearl. We have a multitude of pearls today, all strung together into a self-directed rant to offset the romantic qualities of our old-school offering. None of that tells you much, but, that’s the way it’s supposed to be; what fun is it to know it all ahead of time? The Doctor wouldn’t like that. So, why don’t we stop teasing, and tempting the Fates, & save ourselves some of the mess that can engender? We’ll pull out the good, ol’ ruthless gene, & get where we need to be in a New York minute….
Shall we pearl?….
“Live the questions now.
Perhaps then, someday far in the future,
you will gradually, without even noticing it,
live your way in the answer.”
While conversing with a friend yesterday, I had occasion to use the title of today’s video selection, a quite valuable factoid, which you see below, under the artist’s name. I call it a factoid, when, in truth, it is more like a solid, immutable truth about human nature, which all of us need to be aware of, and use in all our interactions. When we don’t remember this little gem, it costs us, every time…. Ffolkes, I give you Ron White, with any number of examples of how You Can’t Fix Stupid…. Enjoy!….
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Ron White You Can’t Fix Stupid
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********************************
********************************
Naked Pearls/Self Directed Rant
*******
“To use power
is to make yourself infinitely vulnerable
to greater powers”
.~~- Bene Gesserit ~~
“In dealing with the State, we ought to remember that its institutions are not aboriginal, though they existed before we were born: that they are not superior to the citizen: that every one of them was once the act of a single man: every law and usage was a man’s expedient to meet a particular case: that they all are imitable, all alterable; we may make as good; we may make better.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Man is ready to die for an idea, provided that idea is not quite clear to him.” — Paul Eldridge
“It’s silly to go on pretending that under the skin we are all brothers. The truth is more likely that under the skin we are all cannibals, assassins, traitors, liars, hypocrites, poltroons.” — Henry Miller
“The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.” — H.L. Mencken
“Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays,”Self-Reliance” (First Series, 1841)
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” — Edmund Burke (1729-1797), in a letter to William Smith
********************************
Intelligent Crimes
The value of wit is often said to cause harm,
for those who think, such is its greatest charm.
The new and the bold cannot be fulfilled
if innovation and change is left unwilled.
Society behaves at its base as a mob
conformity and submission its primary job.
Any sign of rebellion against the mob’s rule
is met with resentment, naming such rebel the fool.
Intellect and talent are looked at askance,
expressing artistry stands nary a chance.
To stand out from the rest of mankind
is fraught with danger, for body and mind.
Often I stand to watch in solemn dismay
as beauty and joy are left by the way,
ignored and reviled by the unwashed masses
who prefer darkness, and acting like asses.
With shouts of derision the normals make known
their fear of intelligence, greater than their own.
They hope to stop all semblance of progress;
for thoughts and ideas, they couldn’t care less.
The world struggles on in spite of all opposition,
managing to maintain its advanced position.
Pulling the foolish along in spite of reluctance,
helping each to learn the survival dance.
Hard though it may be to keep up with the future
genius manages its plans to develop and nurture.
In the final analysis, those who live by reason
enjoy life the most, season to season.
~~ gigoid ~~
10/7/2012
********************************
Naked Pearls
Life & Love
*******
“When you arise in the morning,
think of what a privilege it is to be alive
–to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love….”
~~ Marcus Aurelius ~~
*******
“I must say that the biggest lesson
you can learn in life, or teach your children,
is that life is not castles in the skies, happily ever after.
The biggest lesson we have to give our children is truth.
We’re all built with illusions.
And they break.”
~~ Goldie Hawn ~~
*******
“Hold tenderly that which you cherish,
for it is precious and a tight grip may crush it.
Do not let the fear of dropping it cause you to hold it too tightly:
the chances are, it’s holding you, too.”
~~ Bob Alberti ~~
*******
“We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.”
~~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ~~
*******
“Love is a verb.”
~~ Limon ~~
*******
“For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered.
But for those of us who can’t readily accept the God formula,
the big answers don’t remain stone-written.
We adjust to new conditions and discoveries.
We are pliable.
Love need not be a command or faith a dictum.
I am my own God.
We are here to unlearn the teachings
of the church, state, and our educational system.
We are here to drink beer.
We are here to kill war.
We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well
that Death will tremble to take us.”
~~ Charles Bukowski ~~
*******
Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.
~~ Grandma Moses ~~
*******
********************************
Having thus assuaged my own sense of duty, I may now escape into the day, to find some real-time trouble to cause for the machine. I guess I’m really going to have to do what I’ve always thought would be necessary, & learn to program computers. The time is coming when it may become our final weapon in the upcoming societal wars…. Guess it’s time to begin the tactical/strategic planning, and begin the campaign…. Ah, well, tomorrow is soon enough, right after I post another mess like this one. See y’all then, ffolkes; I can’t make myself stop….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
Hajime…. Today’s opening section has a lesson. The lesson possibly, or even probably, appears more often than not without my mindful appreciation; this too is part of the lesson, one designed to teach us/me how to apply that mindfulness more consistently. To read the lesson, which also requires some thought to identify, one need only look at the two quotes at the bookend position for this section, one after the other, in any order. One is a perfect tautological piece of insight regarding our own mind; the other is a warning, as to how we use that mind. Taken together, the contrasting concepts seem, to me, to provide a pathway toward light, if not full illumination….
This lesson is particularly valuable today for me; it gives me some hope the hole into which I continue to tumble all too regularly may be filling itself in, to some degree. That’s a good sign, as I’ve been getting tired of cleaning up the scrapes and bruises I keep acquiring when it opens up in front of me, and I end up bloody & battered at the bottom, gazing at a small strip of blue or black at a great distance above me. Not much fun when one has plans to fly, and the cost of bandages is becoming prohibitive, to say the least. Total bummer, dudes & dudettes, allow me to assure you. But, with this therapeutic sign grasped firmly in hand, I’ll get on with the slow, & try to get it on the toad…..
Not only will I sally forth with some extra impetus, I’ll do it now, so I don’t lose any of the emotional impact. It comes in handy when energy flags, you know. At any rate, we’ll see if we can come up with something worth spending your time reading, whereupon I will head off to find some clean air, and dirt to play in. Sometimes, when your a human male, getting dirty is a basic need, so, I’ll go back to my simian roots for a time & see if it helps. It should; I’m due….. On that cryptic note, let’s go see what kind of trouble we can find below…..
Shall we pearl?….
“Who sees all beings in his own Self,
and his own Self in all beings,
loses all fear.”
Okay, so, maybe trouble was the wrong word to use. This lady’s music certainly won’t give us any of that, will it? I also don’t believe she needs very much introduction, as one of today’s most popular artists. All I’ll say now is, enjoy!…..
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Sheryl Crow Live
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“Think not forever of yourselves, O Chiefs, nor of your own generation. Think of continuing generations of our families, think of our grandchildren and of those yet unborn, whose faces are coming from beneath the ground.” — Peacemaker, founder of the Iroquois Confederacy, (ca. 1000 AD)
I had originally intended to use this quote as the opening thought for a rant; instead, I’ll take it more to heart, by forgoing a new rant in favor of an old one. Here’s a pretty damn good religirant from the archives; it’s more than three and a half years old, but, still on the mark… Enjoy!…..
From 12/12/12:
“He who proselytizes in the cause of unbelief is basically a man in need of belief.” — Eric Hoffer
This is true…. you never see an atheist going door to door, trying to convert the pious to their unbeliefs. However, I would go further on this train of thought, and add that, “He who proselytizes, in any cause, in basically a man in need of a life.” I’m sure it occurred to Mr. Hoffer, but he was too busy trying to explain this statement to somebody who didn’t understand the word ‘proselytize’….. For my own case, I have never, ever understood why people feel compelled to go door to door to try to get other people to believe what they believe; it’s one of the most persistent delusional systems I’ve ever witnessed, to believe that anyone wants to hear what they have to say, much less they will find their beliefs palatable to others, or find anyone who believes them to be superior to their own…..
“More people would learn from their mistakes if they weren’t so busy denying they made them.” — Smart Bee
Humans seem to have an immense blind spot when it comes to their own actions and beliefs. Most of them never seem to question the things they are told, even when those things are presented with no evidence other than faith. Of course, the people who are invested in the religious system, to wit: the preachers, begin their indoctrination when their constituents are very young, when they are still prone to accept whatever an adult says as truth. This ensures a life-long predilection for being simple to control…. or, in short, mental slavery, if you will. Unless there is some sort of rebellion of spirit, where new knowledge is injected, these poor saps will spend their entire lives believing that what they have been told is real, when, in fact, they are fitting themselves with shackles, that will forever imprison their minds, and their imagination…..
“To defend one’s self against fear is simply to insure that one will, one day, be conquered by it; fears must be faced.” — James Baldwin
In my life-long quest for the truth, I’ve come to believe that religions, while originally intended to benefit people, (by their iconic progenitors, anyway…. I’m sure Jesus was a quite nice man, and wanted the best for those to whom he preached his own philosophy of compassion….), have historically been taken over by the predators who live to control others.
To be fair, some of those who become priests, or any of the other varieties of religious fanatic that prevail in our society, may indeed believe that their beliefs are true, and act accordingly, but the majority are, as far as I can tell, only concerned with maintaining status quo, thereby benefiting themselves, while never actually allowing any REAL progress in the development of the human condition. They would have society behave as if we were still living in caves, in essence, still cowering in our meager shelter while the storms and lightning are raging outside, terrified of the power of what we do not understand, and, therefore, allow ourselves to fear….
“A universe of death, which God by curse
Created evil, for evil only good;
Where all life dies, death lives,
and Nature breeds Perverse,
all monstrous, all prodigious things,
Abominable, unutterable and worse
Than fables yet have feigned, or fear conceived,
Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimeras dire.”
~~ Milton, Paradise Lost, Book II ~~
(Side note: I’ll bet Milton had a hard time sleeping….)
The Universe is a big place, and there is a lot to learn. Fearing that knowledge, or fearing what changes that knowing will always bring, is the act of a coward, to my mind, and should not be encouraged. Supernatural beings of unlimited power are not a required component to the understanding of Nature and the Universe; we need not fear that our lack of knowledge of how things work is unattainable. Just because we do not understand a part of reality does not mean that whatever it is, is beyond our understanding.
It is not necessary to ask for exemptions, or intervention by our own personal gods, for us to achieve happiness, or even contentment; that is completely within our own power, if we but acknowledge that part of us that is free, and connected to everything else we can perceive. The connections may not be fully understood, but they are there, and if we can only learn to recognize it, the power to change reality lies within us, all the time…. As Epictetus said, “Happiness lies in learning to accept a simple truth. There are some things you can change. And there are some things you cannot.” It’s really quite that easy, you know, once one learns to accept this fact of life…. No dogma required…..
“If brains were outlawed, nothing would change.” — Smart Bee
********************************
Serendipity Morning
My mind wants to fly,
my soul wants to hold close, the source,
strong, the moments of time;
each as precious as golden thread,
binding together such elements of longing desire.
Love hovers, always patient,
seeking the open heart,
reaching for the promise of tomorrow…..
only for one, only for now, only what is real….
Dreaming, the morning calls,
heavy with mordant belief,
replete, and eternally alive…..
~~ gigoid ~~
4/1/2013
********************************
Today’s final, old/new-school pearl is one for the books, for sure, and for certain. (My standard disclaimer for those ideas/events which, in my estimation, are something on which it is safe to place belief, even bordering on faith, up to and including the wagering of serious money, whichever may be appropriate….) Some days, even, or, especially, when I am not really focused on it, I’ll cruise through my source(s) without first setting any parameters. Generally, I think of it as a random harlequin style pearl, and that works just fine, both for the process, and to describe today’s effort.
The difference is, today’s results are particularly well directed. They form a continuous train of thought, sort of, loosely (as ever), but, if followed, leads to some rather valuable concepts, all of which can be applied to our examination of consensual reality with better than average results, in re: personal serenity/happiness/all good things…. If it doesn’t quite do that for you, well, that’s okay; there are only three, maybe four people in the world I know of who would/will get that far in their thinking. If there are more, they’ve never contacted me, or come into my ken, which includes a veritable shit-load of people, what with reading, experience, and all.
In my mind, this one is a self-directed rant, a journey to enlightened thought, an odd sort of poem/song/dance (try reading it out loud to your pet/companion…), and good clean fun. Hell y’all might even like it…. Enjoy!…
Naked Pearls
‘The Head….’
*********
“Neither the water nor the moon make any effort to achieve a reflection.”
~~ Deng Ming-Dao ~~
*********
“The Way of the sage is to act but not to compete.”
~~ Lao Tzu ~~
*********
H = R – E
“Happiness equals Reality minus Expectations”
~~ Subtle Bee ~~
*********
“No one regards what is before his feet; we all gaze at the stars.”
~~ Quintus Ennius ~~
*********
“He does not seem to me to be a free man who does not sometimes do nothing.”
~~ Cicero ~~
*********
“Why is it that we rejoice at a birth and grieve at a funeral?
It is because we are not the person involved”
~~ Mark Twain ~~
*********
“In the beginning, God created the Earth and he said, “Let there be mud.”
And there was mud.
And God said, “Let Us make living creatures out of mud,
so the mud can see what we have done.”
And God created every living creature that now moveth, and one was man.
Mud-as-man alone could speak.
“What is the purpose of all this?” man asked politely.
“Everything must have a purpose?” asked God.
“Certainly,” said man.
“Then I leave it to you to think of one for all of this,” said God.
And He went away.”
~~ Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Between Time and Timbuktu” ~~
*********
“Were it possible for us to see further than our knowledge reaches,
and yet a little way beyond the outworks of our divination,
perhaps we would then endure our sorrows with greater confidence than our joys.
For they are the moments when something new has entered us,
something unknown; our feelings grow mute in shy perplexity,
everything in us withdraws, a stillness comes,
and the new, which no one knows,
stands in the midst of it and is silent.”
~~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~~
*********
“C’mon then. My log does not judge.”
~~ Margaret, the Log Lady, from Twin Peaks ~~
*********
********************************
Well, it’s late, and it’s epic, but, most importantly, it’s done. Just in time, too; my deadline angst alarm went off some time ago. I’ll be nice again, & forgo any further tricks, traps, or bullshit, & just say, see y’all tomorrow, when I’ll try again to reach an island of sanity in an insane world….. Ta, then, luvs….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
“Every man is the architect of his own fortune.”
[Faber est suae quisquae fortunae.]
~~ Sallustius ~~
Leelu 10 days after assuming her duties….
Hajime…. Apparently, the physical changes my body’s going through have altered my routine. After more than a year of disturbed sleep, my typical time to arise was between 3 and 5 AM. For more than a week now, I’ve been sleeping a good six to eight hours, waking up between 5 and 6 AM, the latter being my most usual time to post, and, the deadline I gave myself to do so…. Since I’m now usually only starting to write at that time, it will obviously have to change…. Oh, goody. S’alright, though, change is good. Or, we like to act as if it were, though we often privately disagree….
Where was I? Oh, right. So, it means we’re late again, according to the way my brain is programmed, which causes little burps of astonishment, to go with the naturally generated confusion so common in the mornings for us humans. I’m quaffing coffee as fast as I can, to pump up the ol’ creative urges; so far, it ain’t happening. I’m afraid I may have to cheat a little bit, but, no worries, we’re covered there. All that really needs done is to finish an old-school pearl, and figure out what to put in for today’s rant. Easy money, right? One may hope….
Given the ubiquitous presence of panic at missing the programmed deadline, and the already described confusion, it’s probably best to end this section now, before it gets away from me altogether. I know, it’s unusual to see such forethought, but, hey, even a blind pig roots up an acorn now and again…. I’ll just let y’all make the mistaken assumption I’ve found some maturity, and get on with what needs done. Yeah, that’s the ticket…. To foster that illusion, let’s try this little trick I learned last week, while rooting through an old pile of junk…. Oh, crap, it’s gone! Oh, well…. I suppose I’ll just have to pretend it’s the day before tomorrow, when, really, it’s the day after yesterday…. if you see what I mean….
Shall we Pearl?….
“They copied all they could follow but they couldn’t copy my mind
so I left them sweating and stealing a year and a half behind.”
~~ Rudyard Kipling ~~
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Image from rollingstone.com via Google Images
Paul Simon has a new album out, called Stranger to Stranger; I listened to a cut on You Tube, deciding, from that, it lives up to his previous standards of excellence. I would recommend listening to it yourself, though I didn’t include it today, as I just felt like hearing some of his older pieces.
But, if you follow the link to You Tube, (thanks to new unannounced changes to the editor by WP, again, the link is hidden behind the arrow on the video screen) there is a channel of very high definition videos on the VEVO channel, including the new album. For today, here is one of the best of the best in today’s world, and one of the all around greatest musicians of all time, I should think…. a true genius in expressing human nature via our most innate human Art, music. In my world, existence without music would be intolerable….
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Paul Simon
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“Surely every human being ought to attain to the dignity of the unit. Surely it is worth while to be one, and to feel that the census of the universe would be incomplete without counting you. Surely there is grandeur in knowing that in the realm of thought you are without a chain; that you have the right to explore all heights and all depths; that there are no walls or fences, or prohibited places, or sacred corners in all the vast expanse of thought; that your intellect owes no allegiance to any being, human or divine; that you hold all in fee, and upon no condition, and by no tenure, whatsoever; that in the world of mind you are relieved from all personal dictation, and from the ignorant tyranny of majorities. Surely it is worth something to feel that there are no priests, no popes, no parties, no governments, no kings, no gods, to whom your intellect can be compelled to pay a reluctant homage. Surely it is a joy to know that all the cruel ingenuity of bigotry can devise no prison, no dungeon, no cell in which for one instant to confine a thought; that ideas cannot be dislocated by racks, nor crushed in iron boots, nor burned with fire. Surely it is sublime to think that the brain is a castle, and that within its curious bastions and winding halls the soul, in spite of all worlds and all beings, is the supreme sovereign of itself.” — Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899), “The Free Soul”
For several days, since finding the above quote from Mr. Ingersoll, I’ve been trying to compose a discussion of its principles. However, in the same manner as another aphorism a few days ago, there really isn’t a lot I can add to this. As far as I can see, it says what it means to say, says it well, and stops; who am I to improve on what is so perfect already? So, I’ll let it fly as it is, knowing it hasn’t been sullied, or demeaned by anything I could say. Moreover, those who take it to heart will find themselves to be in a frame of mind more conducive to the process of finding some inner peace. Can’t say fairer than that…. Enjoy!….
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Seeing is Conducive to Belief
Folly sits so comfortably upon my fevered brow
one would easily believe that I would know how
to look at Life with a jaded, weary eye
seeing enough, and more, to know Why.
Such seems the case, as I will it to be,
an open book of a face, it looks so like me;
what’s known to be so, needs no close attention
familiar sights require no minding, nor mention.
The eye is drawn at once to the stark and new,
and sent back to sleep by successful review.
Once we find evidence we feel we understand,
curiosity languishes, dismissed at command.
Ancient sages knew the insidious value of illusion,
preachers and pundits know the power of confusion.
Each pair of eyes contains its own point of reference,
each mind sets its own standards of preference.
Seeing is believing, for those who live in thrall,
accepting what is perceived is all they ever recall.
Unknown to them, reality follows another set of rules,
Deeper, more dangerous, and no place for fools.
~~ gigoid ~~
10/11/12
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Naked Pearls
More Thoughts on Life at Large
*******
“Become what you are.”
~~ Buddha ~~
*******
“A mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought, alone.”
~~ William Wordsworth ~~
*******
“Learning is the best of all wealth;
it is easy to carry,
thieves cannot steal it,
the tyrants cannot seize it;
neither water nor fire can destroy it;
and far from decreasing, it increases by giving.”
~~ Naladiyar (c.5th-6th century) Tamil ethical literature ~~
*******
“Let life happen to you.
Believe me: life is in the right, always.”
~~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~~
*******
“The caterpillar is secure in the womb of the cocoon.
And yet, to achieve its destiny,
it must cast off its earthbound burden…
to realize the ethereal of the butterfly.”
~~ Master Po ~~
*******
“If my decomposing carcass helps nourish the roots of a juniper tree
or the wings of a vulture – that is immortality enough for me.
And as much as anyone deserves.”
~~ Edward Abbey ~~
*******
“Are you sure it isn’t time for another colorful metaphor?”
~~ Spock, “The Voyage Home,” stardate 8390. ~~
*******
********************************
I promised a friend to post a couple pictures of my son, and the burger challenge he met, and destroyed…. He had 30 minutes to eat the massive burger(s) you see below…. He did in fifteen, and was still standing at the end, with a huge smile, as you see below…. Amazing appetite…. I guess, if you work in construction, and spend time after work practicing martial arts, you can afford to eat in such quantity…. Good looking burger, too…. I give you, Cory, doing what he enjoys….
********************************
Not only am I done, but, with bonus material. I’m not going to quibble over how it got done; instead, I’ll take it and run. Not bad poetry for off-the-cuff, eh? On that odd note, I’ll bid thee adieu for another day, & wish y’all a peaceful, serene holiday weekend…. I tend to avoid celebrations where explosions are commonplace, but, no big; I know people like their illusions. I’ll be back tomorrow with another shot at this; take heed. That’s the only warning I give… See ya, ffolkes….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
“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 Tzu ~~
Cobh, Ireland
Hajime…. Most ffolkes, when able to sleep in a relatively normal fashion, probably wake up feeling pretty good. I can only wish that were the case with me, for it would sure be nice to wake up that way on occasion. As it is, even though I managed to garner six good hours of rest, I am in a foul mood upon awakening. Don’t ask me why, because, apparently, even that pisses me off; I asked myself that simple query, & damn near tore my own head off. This, sadly, leaked over to the point where even Leelu’s morning attention-seeking behaviors prompted a blow-off of steam out of my ears, along with some creative cursing, which probably shocked her delicate sensibilities…..
Now, of course, I can add guilt to the mix, as there’s no reason to take my angst out on an innocent cat (if there be such a thing….). Even though, by now, she ought to have figured out when to leave me be, there’s no justifiable reason to take my feelings out on any creature not deserving of it. So, I’m going to take a break, make up with her, then come back to finish this missive, such as it may be with all the handicaps I’m experiencing in getting it done. I did manage to finish some of it yesterday, during breaks in the fog in my head, which has been slipping in & out of my consciousness for a week or more. The rest will have to come out of whatever is in there this morning…. So be it….
It’s days such as this which make me wish, strongly, for a God upon which to blame the universe. It would be so convenient, if I could only bring myself to believe in such a convenient delusion. But, I can’t, so, that makes it my responsibility to pull my own chestnuts out of this fire…. Again, so be it. If I don’t, it won’t get done. To give us half a chance to do so, I’m going to take that break now, then return, & go on from there. Wish me luck, ffolkes; I have a feeling I’ll need some….
Shall we Pearl?….
“The man who carries a cat by the tail
learns something that can be learned in no other way.
He will never be dim, or doubtful.
Chances are, he won’t carry the cat that way again;
but, I say, if he wants to, let him!”
My friend, chuq, who has a blog called In Saner Thought (here: https://lobotero.com/ ) told me he was listening to this yesterday. I hadn’t thought of it for a long time, so, naturally, here it is today for your listening pleasure. An iconic album, with three of the best of the time, playing together with verve, and genius. Enjoy, ffolkes; it doesn’t get much better than this in the rock & roll world….
“Hate, the price you pay
For thinking you got the only way…”
~~ Blues Traveler ~~
As iterated above, my state of mind is rather, well, shitty. Trying to rant would, probably, not be a good idea, as the results could conceivably bring charges. Since my lawyer is on permanent vacation, we won’t go there. I’m already feeling enough self-inflicted guilt, so, rather than torment y’all with another piece from the archives, I’ve cobbled together a self-directed rant for your reading pleasure…. Maybe, if I do it right, it will soothe my angst well enough to get through the rest of today sans any further debilitation. (Good luck with that, I’d say, but, hey, it counts that I’m making an effort, right?)….
So, with the opening lines from Blues Traveler echoing in your head, follow the bouncing thoughts through the seven pearls below, and you will find yourself at the end of a perfectly decent rant against the machine, and my work will be done for the day. Even if you end up confused, well, such is life, and that may be even more of a lesson than anything I can provide. Either way, it gets us down to the next section, so, we’re going with it, regardless of how it may appear, or, for that matter, not appear. So be it…..
“The revolution WILL be televised, but you’ll only be able to understand it if you don’t watch the television coverage.” — Russ Nelson
“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.” — Voltaire
“If you can see in a given situation only what everybody else can see, you can be said to be so much a representative of your culture that you are a victim of it.” — S.I. Hayakawa, educator and politician
“History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren’t there.” — George Santayana
“Much that is dreadful and inhuman in history, much that one hardly likes to believe, is mitigated by the reflection that the one who commands and the one who carries out are different people. The former does not behold the sight and does not experience the strong impression on the imagination. The latter obeys a superior and therefore feels no responsibility for his acts.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
“Well, it just seemed wrong to cheat on an ethics test.” — Calvin
“I feel better about world problems now!”
~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~
********************************
Today’s poem was selected simply for the title, which fits into the obvious theme for today…. From a bit over a year ago, during my time in Hell, I give you my lamentations….
gigoid’s lament
Not a bit of all the pain I feel
is worse than all I see;
all worldly truth, solid and real,
has faded away, never to be free.
Honor stripped of all regard,
while compassion simply fails;
Ignorance , powerful, hard,
crows as reason wails.
Crushing resistance, mandating the vote,
selling illusion, smiling all the while.
Pundits, speaking purely by rote,
arrange all the lies in a tidy pile.
Stupidity ’tis said, is a risky choice;
the price is always the same.
Reality has no pity, no warning ever voiced,
only a gravestone, carved with, our name.
~~ gigoid ~~
1/19/2015
********************************
Our final pearl for the day is fresh. It’s rather abstruse, from what I can tell, but, it’s all pretty clearly a lesson in life at large. Since it’s the only part of today’s Pearl that is relatively fresh, it can stay, no matter how it comes across…. I do hope you enjoy it; it IS pretty good, which means it may not entirely fit in with the rest, but, fuck it. I’m not in a mood to care…. Enjoy, if you will….
*******
“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 ~~
*******
“The miracle is not to walk on water.
The miracle is to walk on the green earth
in the present moment,
to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now.”
~~ Thich Nhat Hanh ~~
*******
“We are all born mad. some remain so.”
~~ Samuel Beckett ~~
*******
“What you leave behind
is not what is engraved in stone monuments,
but what is woven into the lives of others.”
~~ Pericles ~~
*******
“… 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” ~~
*******
“To demand ‘sense’ is the hallmark of nonsense.
Nature does not make sense.
Nothing makes sense.”
~~ Ayn Rand ~~
*******
“For after all what is man in nature?
A nothing in relation to infinity,
all in relation to nothing,
a central point between nothing and all
and infinitely far from understanding either.
The ends of things and their beginnings
are impregnably concealed from him in an impenetrable secret.
He is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness out of which he was drawn
and the infinite in which he is engulfed.”
~~ Blaise Pascal ~~
*******
********************************
Well, ffolkes, there you have it. Since I already know just how good this one isn’t, we’ll leave it all to chance, and go post it while I’ve got the chutzpah. Which may not last too long. I’ll be back tomorrow, if only to make sure this isn’t the final words you hear from me. I don’t think I’d be able to live with that. See y’all in the morning, ffolkes, if I decide to let myself live…. Not to worry, that’s just rhetoric…. accurate, but still rhetorical. See ya….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
“A man is not aware of his virtues (if any).
Nevertheless, one hopes that they exist.”
~~ Edward Abbey ~~
Tower of London from the Thames
Hajime…. ‘Tisn’t often I’ll begin by apologizing, but, that doesn’t cause it to mean less, to me, at least. Today, I’m doing so to explain the Pearl you will see, as it is one I probably will try to forget, if only for the cost of getting it done. Without complaint or retreat into plaintive excuses, I’ll merely say I was unable to sleep again, until late this morning, thus making me late getting started, as well as beginning another day with fatigue rather than any particular enthusiasm. Oh, well.
That said, the Pearl should, after a fashion, speak for itself. Most of it won’t be too fresh, as I don’t have any fresh on hand, or, for that matter, in mind. In fact, with what I have in mind, I probably couldn’t pass a test to get into kindergarten. I am, nonetheless, rather determined to get it done, no matter how it turns out, if only to soothe my own disappointment. One must find one’s reasons to go on oneself, mustn’t one? One must, and one has done. So be it.
Since I don’t have much, what you see is, once more, what you get. I, for one, am going on; y’all can follow if you like….
Shall we Pearl?….
“Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human beings infinite distances continue to exist, a wonderful living side by side can grow up, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see each other whole against the sky.” — Rainer Maria Rilke
********************************
Yep. Classical music, as the icon indicates so clearly. Well, it’s clear to me; listen up to the music, and it may do the same for y’all…. or, not. So be it.
Since I don’t have the wherewithal to produce a rant, here is a rather extensive discussion from early in 2013, on the subject of gun control…. a subject which is rather important to ALL of us, in the long run. Me, I’m of the same opinion as Clint Eastwood, an eminently sensible man, all in all, to wit: “Gun control means, if there’s a gun in the room, I want to be the one controlling it.” Y’ll can do as you like in the matter…. Enjoy!….
From 2/9/2013:
“Is this an out-take from the “BRADY BUNCH”?”
~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~
I’m rather hoping it is, in sooth…. if not, we all are in serious trouble, up the proverbial creek without a hint of a paddle. Not that it should be anything new or unfamiliar, as most of our history has been spent thus occupied. Of course, previous centuries didn’t have the distinct advantage of having either the Brady’s, or Zippy, in all his insane wisdom, as cultural icons, as well as ethical touchstones….. They had to make do with Socrates, and Plato, and stuffy old guys like that….. Aristotle was practically a rock star in his day, and remains a pretty smart dude, by all evidence, but I still prefer Carlin, I think, for the most cogent philosophy for modern times….
“In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.” — The Constitution of the United States of America Amendment 6, 1791
For a moment, I wondered what my unconscious mind was thinking when it made me copy and paste this amendment into the pearl, as a pearl…. especially as it seems to be in conjunction with the Zippy quote…. Here I am, five minutes later, still wondering what the hell I was thinking…. It happens that way sometimes…. just give me a few moments here, and I’ll come up with it…. Aha! Got it! Naturally, I only needed to go back to basics…. The answer to the question of how the two quotes are related is…. Reality….
Aye, that’s right, reality. It’s what we do here, explore reality, and all its implications, ramifications, and delineations. Also, it’s temperature. Well, perhaps that isn’t the right word, but…. Reality, as is clear and obvious to the most casual observer, exists in varying degrees (hence: temperature…. see?). The degree of reality that is included in an out-take from the Brady Bunch is clearly not the same degree of reality that is implied in the Sixth Amendment. I’d say, the Amendment would hit around 8 or 9 on the real scale, with 10 being the Reality of Amber, where all roads lead. (See Roger Zelazny’s book, The Courts of Amber…..), whereas the highest the Brady’s could hope for would be a 2 or a 3 on that same scale. They’re too oppositional in nature to be rated otherwise, as well as being on opposite ends of the scale of Relative Importance to ME and YOU…..
Now we get to the meat of this matter…. Of late, there has been a lot of public discourse regarding gun control, as a result of the media’s steadfast love of gore and manipulation. Another school shooting took place a few weeks ago, wherein some crazy idiot got hold of some firearms and used them in an insane manner. This, of course, all morality aside, is still a reprehensible act, and, IMHO, most easily solved by just taking one of his own guns and using it on him, at the time of his crime. Bang, problem solved, and since he’s standing there over the bodies he has made, no question of guilt. In such cases, the why of his guilt should not matter; whatever it is, it is reason enough to put him down, in defense of humanity. The other questions can be answered after the children have been defended….
Sadly, there are two segments of humanity who don’t agree with this logical outcome. One segment is what I term the humanitarians, a misleading term, since it usually involves the denial of much of human nature. The other, of course, is our old nemesis, the BRC…. our Beloved Ruling Class…. Neither of these groups will agree that allowing people to have guns should be allowed, or that killing the killers is a proper solution for the issue. In both of these positions, they are dead wrong, and, more, they know they are. This serves to make their arguments more shrill, more emotionally based, and, in their eyes, more valid, in some strange form of weird logic….
“Everybody in this room is wearing a uniform, so don’t kid yourself…”
~~ Frank Zappa ~~
One of the most edifying parts of this discussion, for me, is how it makes it so easy to identify those who are wearing the uniforms, and from what camp they are from, according to their colors and insignia. You can tell the humanitarians, they’re the ones wearing the faux-camouflage pants, in support of the troops, they’ll assure you; they want the police to be the only ones who carry guns, believing, for some unknown reason, that police are somehow more moral or ethical than other people. (Of course, they also would have trouble if you asked them to define the words, “moral”, or “ethical”, in any other terms than those used in a philosophy paper they memorized in college, or in seminary….)
The BRC are always easy to spot, as their sense of entitlement provides them with all the armor against opinion, or law, they ever need. They want guns to be only held by the militia, (which they control), or the police (whom they also control), because it makes them nervous as hell to know there are guns out in the land, in the hands of people who would use them, for certain, if they attempt to perform their illegal lying, cheating, and stealing anywhere in their presence. It also makes them nervous knowing that they would be in danger for real, if the truth about what they do is ever made public with enough evidence to convince the masses to act…. They don’t want to have to worry they will be over-matched in firepower when that day comes along….
SIGH…. I’ve opened a can of worms, again, I know it….. I’m not going to claim to have all the right answers to the situation we find ourselves in today. Though it is a different world, technologically and culturally, from the time when the Second Amendment was written, deciding to abandon its precepts on that basis is not, and should never be, enough to justify any change in a law that is so important to the common man, the very people for whom the laws were created, to protect them from the self-same usurpation that is now being attempted. Once the law is amended, and weakened, the term “slippery slope” becomes very real, and a valid fear for those people.
To put a cap on it for now, I’ll say this…. Quite simply, I do not trust those who would take the right to bear arms from the people. I have seen NO evidence, in history, or in recent current events, that ANY governing body, or ANY group, or ANY single person, of ANY persuasion can be trusted to have guns, and use them solely for the benefit of the people, without turning them to their own purposes, first. NONE. You can’t show me any, either…. Go ahead, I’m listening….
I have studied people every day of my life, and I know too much of human nature to ever believe what I’m told of another person’s intentions; even the best intentions can change in mid-stream, turning its back completely on any commitments made previously. People lie, they cheat, they break in their minds, and they can’t, as a whole, ever be trusted to act rationally on a consistent basis….. at least, not any more rationally than can I myself….
“In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane.”
~~ Oscar Wilde ~~
Such being the case, I’d rather keep my guns, thanks. I’ll accept the risks that go with that freedom, which includes the risk of bad people getting their hands on guns, and doing bad things to others. Don’t worry, if they do it in front of me, I’ll help…. and not by running away and hiding…. Life is dangerous, ffolkes, and one either learns to get along with that idea, or one spends a lot of time worrying about shit that can’t be changed…. A very unhappy state of affairs, to my way of thinking, and not very realistic in the long run….
“When the panorama of human existence becomes chaotic and confused,
it is quite soothing to watch the sun rise in the East.”
~~ gigoid~~
********************************
Blithely Untitled
A poem came to me today, willy, nilly,
along with a sharp blow to the head.
Since it left me feeling just a bit silly,
anything that rhymes should lessen the dread.
Manifesting destiny into a small, insidious group
we push on toward sanity, concentrating hard.
Full engaging moments spent navigating the loop
shall ever make a difference to victims found in the yard.
Still corpses of creatures, straight out of nightmare
fill up the corners of our tortured minds.
While ever saddened, the iconic male, most debonair,
gazes softly, ironically, at all the mutual interest he finds.
Moronic public statutes compel outbreaks of sanity,
responding to momentary impulses toward inducing peace.
Still, the motions get completed, in fertile stages of inanity
while the bulk of our inmates can find no surcease.
Reluctant motivation to continue is unbound,
striving to ascertain how far there yet remains to go.
No precognitive guesswork will make any less of a sound
to soften the final strains, or teach us to truly know.
~~ gigoid ~~
2/7/2014
********************************
Today’s final old-school pearl is the only fresh material I can provide today; in spite of its relative freshness, it’s a little strange. But, it works, as it is merely giving us some stuff about living we may have either forgotten, or, overlooked in our haste to be…. In any case, none of it will hurt you, and may even help… Go figure…..
Though man a thinking being is defined,
Few use the grand prerogative of mind.
How few think justly of the thinking few!
How many never think, who think they do!
~~ Jane Taylor ~~
~~ Essays in Rhyme, (On Morals and Manners, Prejudice, ) Essay i, Stanza 45 ~~
“The hard questions always have more than one right answer. The easy questions have no answers at all. That’s the universe’s way of keeping things balanced.” — Solomon Short
“It is better to know nothing than to know what ain’t so.” — Josh Billings
“Yesterday is but today’s memory, and tomorrow is today’s dream.” — Kahlil Gibran
“Look to the essence of a thing, whether it be a point of doctrine, of practice, or of interpretation.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus — Meditations, viii, 22
“A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.” — Hugh Downs
“Nobody ever died of laughter.”
~~ Max Beerbohm ~~
********************************
It’s done, and that’s the best I can say of it. Today is what we call REALLY trusting the process. So be it. I’ll try again tomorrow, if I can manage to rest/sleep enough to waken with a functioning neuron or two. In any case, see y’all tomorrow; personally, I don’t seem to have much choice, if I am to remain in the vicinity of sanity….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
gigoid 