Tag Archives: Rainer Maria Rilke

Patently, it won’t fly straight….

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Ffolkes,
Oh, gosh….. it’s happening again. Of course, if I had the vaguest idea of what it was, I could probably figure out how to keep it from happening. Since I don’t even have a vague clue, it will have to run its course….. and who knows the consequences better than I? Well, maybe someone who actually knew what they were talking about might know better, but I haven’t found anyone like that, either. I suppose Murphy thinks he’s cool or something, for having foisted it upon me once more, but he is still the world’s biggest asshole, and you can tell him I said so…. After all these years of suffering at his hands, he don’t scare me none…. I can take it…..

Now, if you are confused by the above paragraph, then my work here is done….. No, really, there’s no point to it, or in it, or even near it. It’s just that I noticed that Murphy seems to make my intro section, at least for a mention, just about every day. He certainly appears on my tag cloud every day, as being one of the subjects under discussion in the Pearl for the day….. That is not necessarily something I wish to be, but, it’s like that hive of bees living in my head….. there they are. So, I figured, today, I’ll just get his mention out of the way in paragraph one, and be done with it. I should have known, he would be there to force me into further mention, stretching his influence to another paragraph or two….. and, yep, here he is, in number two, with more needed to be said.

Murphy’s bottom line is this: If something CAN go wrong, it WILL go wrong. The not so obvious, but no less true corollary is : If there is a chance of more than one thing going wrong, the one that happens will be the one that will cause the most damage. There are, of course, many more corollaries and codicils to the basic law, and all of them hammer home the same theme, i.e., you are not in charge of the universe, so get used to it…… I know, that’s a bit harsh, but, it’s true, nonetheless. I didn’t write it, you know, I just point it out….

Maybe if he would leave me be occasionally, I wouldn’t feel so compelled to disrespect him in print so often. But, NOOOOOOOO, he can’t even let me go a single day without registering his presence somehow, generally within moments of my waking up. It’s as if he had a grudge against me for something I’ve done that annoyed him, but, damn me if I know what it might have been. He doesn’t seem interested in letting me know what it was, or is, that I’ve done, or do, so there isn’t much I can do about it, beyond sucking it up and getting on with the day. Which is probably what I should do now, as this damned intro section is getting out of hand again…. Damn! When I began, I had no intention of putting out four or five paragraphs on this, but, here I am in the fourth one, and no signs of slowing down are noted…..

I would guess the only solution now is to just dump this where it is, and go for the morning dive. What the hell, it can’t be any more ridiculous than this is getting to be, eh? It’s enough to give one pause, in considering how the upcoming new year is going to go, given Murphy’s ubiquitous attentions. Brrr, that makes me shiver…. I think I’ll just go on now, and not even go there…. Three days to the New Year is close enough for me, thanks….. Shall we Pearl?

“Whatever it is, it won’t work.” — Smart Bee
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Here is a very, very old school pearl…. Back in 1998 or so, when I first started creating the P’sOVW, there was only one quote included in the daily email, with a few short comments. In essence, I tried to pick quotes that could stand alone, and give the Gentle Reader a nudge in some valuable direction. Over the years, the process has grown to the stage of development you now see here on a daily basis. Who’s to say whether it is an improvement? Only me, and I’m not sure….

Any who, I found this one hanging around Smart Bee, and it stopped me in my tracks…. It is a perfect pearl…. By that, I mean it is, all by itself, worthy of contemplation, and assimilation into one’s world view, by virtue of its depth and veracity…. If you cannot see that, just let the phrase sort of float around in your head a while, and I think you’ll begin to understand….. If not, well, there are more pearls below….

“Truth is an empty room.” — Smart Bee
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I have a Bird in spring
Which for myself doth sing —
The spring decoys.
And as the summer nears —
And as the rose appears,
Robin is gone

Yet I do not repine
Knowing that Bird of mine
Though flown —
Learneth beyond the sea
Melody new for me
And will return.

Faster in a safer hand
Held in a truer Land
Are mine –
And though they now depart,
Tell I my doubting heart
They’re thine.

In a serener Bright
In a more golden light
I see
Each little doubt and fear,
Each little discord here
Removed.

The will I not repine,
Knowing that Bird of mine
Though flown
Shall in a distant tree
Bright melody for me
Return.

~~ Emily Dickinson
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“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

Perhaps Rainer Maria is right, for living without love is often followed by giving up, and death from loneliness. Other, more dark emotions, such as rage, anger, or desire for revenge may give reason to carry on without love, but not for long. These destructive passions will eat up a soul from within if carried for long, as we all have reason to know, from history, and too often, from experience.

When we are in love, we have a purpose for all that we do, and our lifetime of preparation is only then fulfilled. When love goes, or fails to thrive and flourish, for whatever reasons, we lose that sense of purpose, and feel pain as only the bereft can know. Though I have always given my own love freely, I have felt such betrayal myself, all too many times. I cannot explain it, as I’ve never given any of the women with whom I’ve been involved any reason to doubt my love, my fidelity, or my willingness to be flexible. Honor was, apparently, not enough to add to love to make it indispensable…..

“Of all the agonies of life, that which is most poignant and harrowing- that which for the most time annihilates reason and leaves our whole organization one lacerated, mangled heart- is the conviction that we have been deceived where we placed all the trust of love.” — Bulwer

This gets a big, “fer sure!” from me…. Nothing hurts more than love betrayed, and I can say this from personal experience, as can most of us. Ah well, love is a big subject, and I could spend a long time finding quotes, and commenting on them, without ever fully completing the task of understanding love, or understanding what it means to us humans.

In fact, I find myself now lost, with no place to take this pearl that will work to increase my, or your, understanding of the matter. It affects us all, on a very personal level, of course, but each in a different manner, and thus can only be shared with difficulty. Since I’ve lost the thread of what I was searching for, I’ll leave you with some verse on the subject, and leave this discussion in limbo, where it may or may not find its way back to reality….

Amor, ch’al cor gentil ratto s’apprende,
prese costui de la bella persona
che mi fu tolta; e ‘l modo ancor m’offende.
Amor, ch’a nullo amato amar perdona,
mi prese del costui piacer si` forte,
che, come vedi, ancor non m’abbandona.
Amor condusse noi ad una morte.

Love, which is quickly kindled in a gentle heart,
seized this one for the fair form
that was taken from me-and the way of it affects me still.
Love, which absolves no loved one from loving,
seized me so strongly with delight in him,
that, as you see, it does not leave me even now.
Love brought us to one death.

— Dante, La Divina Commedia: Inferno V, vv. 100-106
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I have to say, this is one of the strangest Pearls I’ve done in a while….. Choppy and incomplete is how it feels, though I’ve put in a lot of work to get it where it is. I can honestly say it isn’t the best of all possible Pearls; it isn’t even in the top 50%. But, it has that ineffable characteristic of all good Pearls, to wit: it is done.

It’s probably just as well nobody pays me to do any of this, as that might encourage me….. Not that I need encouragement to continue doing the only thing that is keeping me sane, but, it had to be said…. Perhaps if I was getting paid, I’d have a little shame, but, since I’m not, I think I can get away with it…. as long as y’all don’t blow the whistle on me……  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!

But for the grace of Sally….

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Ffolkes,
So begins another day in Paradise, eh? Paradise being defined, of course, as wherever I am. As the romantic fool that I am, I’d love to be able to say that “Paradise is wherever ____ is….”   the blank space used here to delineate the lady who makes me feel that way. Sadly, I currently have no name to put in the space, though I hold out hope that it won’t stay blank forever. Until then, I, like every other old fool in these parts, have to furnish my own paradise, such as it may be…..

No worries, though…. all things considered, I am a pretty easy going guy, and it doesn’t take a lot to make me happy…. A good book, a bite to eat, and I’m pretty much good to go. I’ve learned to live without the extreme pleasure of morning conversation, or the balm of knowing there is someone at home who cares enough just to want to be there. I do miss that feeling, though, that knowledge that there is someone out there who gives a shit what happens to me, and actually spends time thinking about me during the day, just as I miss having someone to occupy my mind in that way. Ah well, life goes on, and that kind of relationship only happens when we stop thinking about it, and start getting on with life…..

In that spirit, I think I’ll make this one of the shortest intro sections in several months, and get on with today’s dive. I’m trying to cultivate patience, in my quest to keep from killing any federal employees, so I will extend that cultivation into the area of relationship, and be patient for the appearance of someone with whom I can find happiness…. who knows, maybe they’re already nearby, and I just haven’t been attentive enough to what is around me…. Time will tell….. In the meantime, Shall we Pearl?…..
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“”We’re not talking about the same thing,” he said. “For you the world is weird because if you’re not bored with it you’re at odds with it. For me the world is weird because it is stupendous, awesome, mysterious, unfathomable; my interest has been to convince you that you must accept responsibility for being here, in this marvelous world, in this marvelous desert, in this marvelous time. I wanted to convince you that you must learn to make every act count, since you are going to be here for only a short while, in fact, too short for witnessing all the marvels of it.”” — Don Juan

So far this morning, my mind is playing tricks…. It is allowing itself to become distracted by any little thought that passes by, refusing to settle in to one train of thought for long. I’ve now been at this about an hour, and not even this wonderful pearl from Carlos Castaneda is able to push my brain into an analytical mode of operation, at least, no so far……

I first read the Don Juan series of books, the first four anyway, when I was in my twenties, having first come across them when in college. They were a significant part of my philosophical training, and included my earliest attempts at moving away from the more classical forms of philosophy. I even went so far as to experiment with the mushrooms used by the Indians to produce visions, the psilocybin branch of fungus whose use became popular through the books. I can’t say I saw the visions I expected, but, it was definitely a learning experience….. I’m just not sure exactly what I learned….

But, that is what Don Juan is saying here, after all…. We don’t really pay attention to the universe, because we are too busy trying to control it, so we end up missing the perceptions that would be the most valuable to us, while we are trying to change that which cannot be changed. The universe is filled with “stuff” about which we know nothing, because we are unable to free our perceptive abilities sufficiently to see, or hear, or feel them. We are like blind men, shuffling about a dark room, bumping into furniture we cannot see, and exclaiming that we love the pain in our shins….

For example, in one of the Don Juan books, the brujo, Don Juan, describes to Carlos Castaneda a method of traveling rapidly across the desert…. The runner assumes a bent over posture, with arms hanging down by their sides, in a posture that appears as if they are bending over to grasp an object on the ground. While standing in place, one begins to bring the legs up to the chest in a high kick, but without kicking, but dropping the leg down as the other comes up, producing a running in place movement, with the feet rising high over the ground at each step, and bounding like a kangaroo when it hits the ground. The runner then focuses their vision a fairly long distance ahead, leans forward, and begins to run across the landscape, like a bounding, bent-over beast…..

It all sounds rather odd, and awkward, but, I have experimented with it, and can honestly claim that it is exactly as effective as it is claimed to be. While on a visit to my uncle, who lived near the desert in Phoenix, AZ, I went out into the open desert nearby to try to perform the described method. I assumed the posture, began moving my legs (and found my breathing automatically fell into a synchronous pattern that matched the leg movement), and then leaned forward to run….

It was an incredible experience, as one begins to almost fly over the ground, touching only with the feet for a second or less, then bounding on…. I didn’t keep count, but after only a moment of running, I stopped, and turned to look back at where I had begun…. I was astounded to see that in a mere few seconds, perhaps fifteen or so, I had traversed several hundred yards…. literally about five times as far as I could run over flat ground in the same amount of time, running normally…. I was dumbstruck, but, being a scientist by training and nature, I proceeded to try it again, with exactly the same results…. I’ve tried on different types of landscape, and it is as effective on the beach, or on a hilly mountain area, as it is in the desert; even in urban landscapes, as I’ve covered several blocks in mere seconds in my experiments…..

Now, of course, I don’t run at all, (too much risk of tweaking my back….) but, should it ever be needed, it remains a way that I could travel a long distance with little effort, for I found that after running this way, one is NOT fatigued, but, if possible, one feels even more energetic at the end of the run than at the outset. It also serves as a reminder that the universe is much bigger than just what we see, or pay attention to in our little bubbles of attention. It is our place as humans to explore all of that universe that we can, to try to understand as much of it as we may….. And the quest to know must go on until we are laid beneath the ground, to pass on to the next stage of existence…..

“People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering.” — St. Augustine

I guess it all boils down to this:  Pay attention!…… You never know what may come in handy…..
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“Be patient toward all that is unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves.” — Rainer Maria Rilke

Black Cat

A ghost, though invisible, still is like a place
your sight can knock on, echoing; but here
within this thick black pelt, your strongest gaze
will be absorbed and utterly disappear:

just as a raving madman, when nothing else
can ease him, charges into his dark night
howling, pounds on the padded wall, and feels
the rage being taken in and pacified.

She seems to hide all looks that have ever fallen
into her, so that, like an audience,
she can look them over, menacing and sullen,
and curl to sleep with them. But all at once

as if awakened, she turns her face to yours;
and with a shock, you see yourself, tiny,
inside the golden amber of her eyeballs
suspended, like a prehistoric fly.

Rainer Maria Rilke
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The price of Truth varies over time, and according to the whims of circumstance. Though its intrinsic value is, of course, immutable, the consequences of its publication, or its suppression, can change drastically. I had originally thought to put a diatribe here, a pointed rant on a frequent flier in the skies of ECR (Exploring Consensual Reality…. you know, this blog, the place you ARE….). The rant, however, faded from my mind after a couple of pearls showed up to distract me…. then came the other two of those included below, and I saw that I was done…. These four simple statements make a very valid, pointed argument for Reason, and Truth, and for their value in bringing some sort of order from the chaos in which we live…. So, here is an old school pearl, with a very sharp point….. read it carefully….

“A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.” — Oscar Wilde

“If the Bible proves that God exists then comic books prove the existence of Superman.” — Smart Bee

“It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.” — Buddha

“Who then is free?  The wise man who can command himself.” — Horace (65-8 B.C.)

See? Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it? And you’ll be glad to know that this WILL be included in the final exam, to be given someday, far in the future….
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“I’ve wasted an excellent opportunity to remain silent.” — Smart Bee

I sure have! Too late now, though, so it will have to do. I’ve already labeled it for placement in the “it’s done” category, and as you know, once it goes there, there’s no turning back….. I’m off, to try to figure out how to pass the time until the mail gets here, to either delight, or depress, me, depending on the contents, or lack, thereof…. Boy, isn’t grammar, punctuation, and syntax wonderful? I think so….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!

Evidence of brave new ventures….

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Ffolkes,
Since global warming seems to have pretty much eliminated the previous patterns of weather we have been accustomed to see, it’s getting hard to know what to wear in the morning. From Wednesday to Thursday, the temperature here made a dramatic one-day drop of over 20 degrees. Instead of sultry heat, we had a cool, brisk breeze off the water all day, with temps about normal for this time of year.  I’m surprised that there aren’t now thousands of folks fighting colds brought on by the rapid changes…. They may start coughing & sneezing at any time, if things operate as they usually do when we get these kinds of quick climate reversals…..

Personally, I seem to be immune to such colds, as I’ve only had one I remember, back in my twenties, and garlic took care of it in two days…. great antibiotic, that allicillin…. It’s the one that exists naturally in garlic, a selective antibiotic, that will kill all foreign bugs in the human body, without ever killing the ones natural to our system…. Great discrimination, and not surprising the medical world seems to ignore it…. they’d lose a lot of money if garlic were in common use. If I’m any example of how well it works, it is pretty damned effective, as I haven’t had either a cold, or a flu, or any other respiratory disease take hold of me in over 40 years, since I first learned of the medical properties of garlic….

Whenever I feel the first symptoms of a cold, that itchy, crowded feeling in the nose, and mildly dizzy, disoriented feeling that comes with fluid in the middle ear, I start eating a clove of garlic every few hours, raw…. Taking it like that for two day seems to be enough protection; the first symptoms have never progressed beyond that stage into a full blown cold, or flu, or any other bacterial infection….. EXCEPT for the one time, when I was about 43, and got stuck for a full day without any garlic available…. I fought that cold for a week, eating 6 cloves a day, feeling miserable…. and still had it less time than most colds stick around…..

So, if you don’t believe me, just try it…. at first sign of a cold, before it is firmly established, begin taking a single clove of garlic by mouth every four hours, just like a regular antibiotic the doctor would give you. Chop up the clove (about thumb size) into a minced state; put it in your hand, have a glass of water ready, and just wash it down quickly like a pill that doesn’t taste good…. The garlic taste is a bit strong, but not too bad if you wash it down fast…..

Your friends may avoid you for a day or so, since the raw garlic will come out in your sweat, but that will only help isolate the cold germs, and keep them from spreading, or being reintroduced or restrengthened with new germs…… and, if one cultivates a healthy, natural attitude, the odor can be quite pleasant, all in all…..

Well, that turned into a small medical infomercial….. so I guess I can count this as an introductory section, and get one with the true business at hand….. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“In the future, the most important work skill will be a lack of ethics.” — Dilbert, by Scott Adams

Mr. Adams probably knows already, but this future arrived some decades ago. I had made this observation regarding business ethics back in 1968, not long after getting to Berkeley, and being exposed to sources of information that the rest of the world doesn’t wish to acknowledge. Lying about quality of products, cheating the government on taxes and the public on prices, cut-throat policies toward rivals, office politics that focus on the negative for promotion, advancement due not to merit, but to despotism or, worse, nepotism. All of these practices are now the normal state of affairs in the American business world, at the top, at the bottom, and at every stage between. To be successful in business in this country, one must actively pursue activities that are certain to keep them out of any Heaven belonging to any religion…..

Hell, one of American business’s greatest success stories is now running for president of this country, and making no bones about his own ethics…. He has NONE. Not a single thing that he can point to and be able to honestly say, “this is morally and ethically correct”. He can’t say it, because it would be a lie, according to not only the religions from around the world, but according to the very religion he claims to follow.

The leaders of the Mormon church aren’t going to expose his chicaneries…. they make far too much from it…. 10% of $250,000,000 a year is nothing to sneeze at, and no way they’re going to put it at risk by chastising him in public, or anywhere else…. He is a preacher’s dream….. stupid, immoral, rich, and willing to say he believes whatever they tell him, as well as willing to say anything at all to achieve his immoral and unethical ends…. to wit: power over others…..

“A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes another’s.” — Jean Paul Richter

Have you noticed at all that the focus of the Romney/Ryan campaign is not any particular issue that concerns the public, other than the one they are using?….. All they do is make up lies about the President, or about what he has proposed to alleviate the pressure on the lower and middle classes, or about one of his proposed efforts to mitigate the damage to our economy and society that was directly caused by the Bush administration (the Shrub(s) left a HUGE mess, folks, and four years is only the beginning of what it will take to fix what he did….more, likely, as the Republican party is STILL blocking all attempts at reform, meaning it takes longer to fix what they already screwed up…..).

Mitt the Twitt, and Lyin’Paul Ryan don’t go into public without some barbed comment to make about the President…. and they, and their supporters, don’t seem to care that it is all lies, or misrepresentations, or taken out of context, or just plain made up. They keep right on spouting the same talking points, over and over, even when independent fact-checking organizations have PROVEN their lies….

It seems to work on the weak-minded, because there are a lot of people out there who will repeat the same lies for them, just as if it were true…. It is actually quite a pathetic, saddening sight to me, to see so many Americans fall into this pit of inequity and shame that comprises the Republican campaign…. it is clear proof, unfortunately, that racism and bigotry are not dead in this country, despite all the progress we’ve made over the last 75 years…

Sadly, it is THAT progress that is scaring the proponents of regression that still exist here; it scares them silly to have a black President… My God, what is next, a Muslim woman as President? Or worse, a strong, passionate, gorgeous, frightfully intelligent gay person? What is the world coming to?….. Ideas such as these scare these ignorant assholes to death, and they are proving that, in pursuit of their idiocy, they will go to ANY lengths to keep reason and rationality from being a part of American politics…. because they KNOW that they will make less money off the really ignorant that way…..

When all is said and done, the most important thing to Romney and Ryan is not politics, not ethics, and certainly not public spirit…. It is money. The most important thing to them is that the society is maintained in a state where they continue to make money at the expense of the weak and vulnerable, and have the power over others that is such a key piece of their own self-image…. Can’t feel like a man, unless they’ve got women, blacks, latinos, old people, and anyone who disagrees with them under their power….. Paranoia runs deep, my friends, and they feel it all the time…..

“What is left when honour is lost?’ — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 265

Nothing is left, when honour is lost. Nothing worth having anyway….. and that is exactly what will be left for all of us lower and middle class Americans, should the Romney/Ryan Gang of Thieves, Worshipers at the Altars of Gold, ever get within shouting distance of the Oval Office….. You can take that to the bank…. or they will…..
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Semblance of Time

The dreams and visions of modern times are pallid and pale
filled with fear and loathing instead of joy and wonder.
Reality is aging poorly, submitting less data to loudly regale
Sad faded images lacking substance, or proof of thunder.

Sisters and brothers of nightly performance speak in spite
building up scars to protect, or keep a semblance of sanity.
Knowing illusion is near and dear, steeped in muscular delight
while compassion and intelligence get smothered by humanity.

Loneliness soon became the friend of many sizes of fools
stealing through mazes of social tests as if truly wise, or old
while companies of sterile opportunity are hiding their tools
from anyone who might be feeling even a little bit bold.

Painful momentary flashes seem to outline society’s fate
until sheltered heavy monuments to elder gods fall from grace.
We’re all getting tired of being told we’re far too late
never ever nearing tolerance, nor regaining solicitations of face.

A hard message awaits us all when we dare to even stay
of life’s dispassionate disposition and curmudgeonly faux heart.
Only with the strength of heroes can such tales make their way
Only a poet will deftly turn morbid pain, into a valid work of art.

~~ gigoid
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In the normal course of events here, I would hesitate to put the following three pieces next to a poem of my own, lest the comparison completely destroy my ego. But I’m not unhappy with today’s offering of my life’s blood; it isn’t yet as powerful as I would like, but it’s progress….. And these three little portions from three of my favorites can thereby serve as examples…. The power, the scope, the language of all three are exactly the kind of writing that I hope for to flow out of my mind someday…. The sheer artistry that is shown here is the goal I have for my poetry, and, for that matter, for my prose, as well. I could do worse……

Chaos of thought and passion, all confused;
Still by himself abused or disabused;
Created half to rise, and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled,–
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle ii, Line 13

The hour is striking so close above me,
so clear and sharp,
that all my senses ring with it.
I feel it now: there’s a power in me
to grasp and give shape to my world.
I know that nothing has ever been real
without my beholding it.
All becoming has needed me.
My looking ripens things
and they come toward me, to meet and be met.

— Rainer Maria Rilke, from Book of Hours
(This passage by Rilke leaves me slack-jawed in awe, every time I read it…..)

My skin is kind of brownish yellowish, white.
My eyes are greyish green.
But I’m told they’re orange at night
My hair is reddish, blondish.
But is silver when it’s wet.
And all the colours I am inside
have not been invented yet.

— Shel Silverstein

You can be the judges, if you would, and let me know if I ever make this grade….. a little kindness when I don’t would be appreciated, but isn’t necessary for improvement, so be harsh if you feel the need. I’ll just ignore what doesn’t make sense to me, anyway…. If nothing else, we all got a decent dose of good stuff today, and that can be enough, if one is prepared to accept reality as it is…..
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In looking back over the effort today, I am not entirely displeased…. which is to say, it will have to serve. I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s ramble through the crowded hallways in my head, and that nothing you’ve seen here today has convinced you that returning is a bad thing…. If nothing else, you will find here an honest approach to life, in all of its glory, and all of its sad and painful poignancy….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Ultimately, the scorpion went away…..

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Ffolkes,
Sadly, I haven’t finished moving, though it is progressing fairly well. To save time and energy, both of which are currently in short supply, today’s Pearl will consist entirely of quotes, sans my usual commentary…. regular readers may fill in what they believe I might have commented, or discussed, or ranted about…. newcomers will enjoy the poem, if naught else makes sense…. hope y’all are doing well out there… things should be back to normal in a day or two…. or as close to normal as I am capable of getting…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“True myth may serve for thousands of years as an inexhaustible source of intellectual speculation, religious joy, ethical inquiry, and artistic renewal.  The real mystery is not destroyed by reason.  The fake one is.  You look at it and it vanishes.  You look at the Blonde Hero–really look–and he turns into a gerbil.  But you look at Apollo, and he looks back at you.  The poet Rilke looked at a statue of Apollo about fifty years ago, and Apollo spoke to him.  ‘You must change your life,’ he said.  When the true myth rises into consciousness, that is always its message.  You must change your life.” — Ursula K. LeGuin

A man can’t get rich if he takes proper care of his family. — Navajo Proverb

Here is a little bit of humor to start the day right…..

**  Hello and Welcome to the Psychiatric Hotline **

If you are obsessive-compulsive, please press 1 repeatedly.
If you are co-dependent, please ask someone to press 2.
If you have multiple personalities, please press 3, 4, 5 and 6.
If you are paranoid-delusional, we know who you are and what you want – just stay on the line so we can trace the call.
If you are schizophrenic, listen carefully and a little voice will tell you which number to press next.
If you are manic-depressive, it doesn’t matter which number you press – no one will answer.
If you suffer from panic attacks, push every button you can find.
If you are sane, please hold on – we have the rest of humanity on the other line and they desperately want to ask you a few questions.
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Black Cat

A ghost, though invisible, still is like a place
your sight can knock on, echoing; but here
within this thick black pelt, your strongest gaze
will be absorbed and utterly disappear:

just as a raving madman, when nothing else
can ease him, charges into his dark night
howling, pounds on the padded wall, and feels
the rage being taken in and pacified.

She seems to hide all looks that have ever fallen
into her, so that, like an audience,
she can look them over, menacing and sullen,
and curl to sleep with them. But all at once

as if awakened, she turns her face to yours;
and with a shock, you see yourself, tiny,
inside the golden amber of her eyeballs
suspended, like a prehistoric fly.

Rainer Maria Rilke
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“The world holds two classes of men – intelligent men without religion, and religious men without intelligence.” — Abu’l-Ala-Al-Ma’arri (973-1057)

“Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and, above all, love of the truth.” — H.L. Mencken

“Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotism.” — Einstein (1879-1955)

These quotes are from three pretty smart fellas…. the first one is an Islamic philosopher and poet, whose philosophy argued that religion is inferior to reason, and only useful to those who seek power over others……. I’d say that’s pretty smart….. You can find more on him in Wikipedia, at this link….   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Ma%CA%BFarri
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This will go down as the shortest Pearl in a very long time….. but, it’s pretty tasty, all in all…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Entropy is easy; it’s Chaos that’s tough….

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5

Ffolkes,
I’m still deep in moving mode today, at least theoretically. The help I was told I was getting from my landlord seems to be morphing into no help, so I’ve had to,  so far, do it all myself. I’ve been lucky, and careful, and haven’t hurt my back yet, but much more, and I’m pushing the odds. Hopefully, he will come through today…..

I’m finding myself completely justified in my previously stated dislike for moving. One full day of it, and I’m emotionally, and physically exhausted. I remembered the worst part…. after one has finished getting stuff out of the old house, and taken it over to the new, then the work begins. All that stuff I’ve just moved has to find a new home in the new place, and I have no idea at this point what is going where, beyond knowing whether it’s kitchen stuff, bathroom stuff, or other stuff. Plus, I’ll be moving it into a smaller total space, so it has to be ruthlessly organized, or it’s not going to fit…. Wouldn’t that be fun? Get everything over there and find out some of it has to go, because it won’t fit. Looking forward to that….. not!….

Okay, I done whining now. I’ll just finish up here with a Pearl, and get back to the drudgery to come….. Shall we Pearl?……
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“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human  mind to correlate all its contents.   We live on a placid island of ignorance  in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should  voyage far.  The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little;  but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.” — H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu

Sometimes, I think we have already arrived at this point in time….. but, if not, then we are not far away…… with this firmly in mind, please find the following, all of which lead one gently to an idea that may, or may not, make you feel better. Which, of course, is NOT the purpose…. nonetheless, the conclusion framed by these quotes is one you NEED to know……

“It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have  been searching for evidence which could support this.” — Bertrand Russell

“Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace.” — Dalai Lama

As a man can drink water from any side of a full tank, so the skilled theologian (politician’s too!) can wrest from any scripture that which will serve his purpose. — Bhagavad Gita

“Discourse on virtue and they pass by in droves. Whistle and dance the shimmy, and you’ve got an audience.” — Diogenes

“Anyone who isn’t confused doesn’t really know what’s going on.” — Edward R. Murrow

“The only real failure in life is the failure to try.” — Smart Bee
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Buddha in Glory

Center of all centers, core of cores,
almond self-enclosed, and growing sweet–
all this universe, to the furthest stars
all beyond them, is your flesh, your fruit.

Now you feel how nothing clings to you;
your vast shell reaches into endless space,
and there the rich, thick fluids rise and flow.
Illuminated in your infinite peace,

a billion stars go spinning through the night,
blazing high above your head.
But in you is the presence that
will be, when all the stars are dead.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Rilke is a poet fairly new to me; I first read one of his pieces a couple of years ago. I like most of what I’ve read; it seems very accessible, very personal, and quite insightful in places…. all of which make him a good poet, in my mind….. Enjoy!
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[A small difference of opinion on the U.S. Supreme Court in ‘Texas v. Johnson’ 491 U.S. 397 (1989)

“If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the Government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.” — Justice William J. Brennan, writing for the majority

“Surely one of the purposes of a democratic society is to legislate against conduct that is regarded as evil and profoundly offensive to the majority of people; whether it be murder, embezzlement, pollution or flag burning.” — Chief Justice William Rehnquist, dissenting

Yeah, that’s a bit of a difference in those positions, for sure. The second one, by Justice Rehnquist, is somewhat disturbing, in that it attempts to justify the Mrs. Grundys of the world, and gives the sense that the majority does not have to accommodate any minority. It is just another way of trying to legislate morality, a practice that has proven, through thousands of years of history, to be a futile pastime. Laws, and the threat of punishment for breaking them, have NEVER been effective in getting folks to act right, and they never will.

The dichotomy described by these two opinions on the Court reflects pretty well how society is breaking down in the upcoming election. The Democrats are trying to spend another four years cleaning up the mess left by the last Republican president, possibly the worst president we’ve ever had, in terms of both foreign policy and economics.

The incumbent president, Barack Obama, has spent four years trying to get us out of two wars, and trying to return some of the social aid for the poor and vulnerable, along with having to deal with economic policies from his predecessor that put a stranglehold on the middle class. He’s done fairly well, considering the Republican party has thrown up every obstacle they could to keep him from doing anything at all. They have not even come close to fitting the label of “loyal opposition” but have insisted on turning the issues into a social battleground at every turn.

The election in November will, I hope, sustain my image of my country’s basic intelligence. I am hoping that all the apathetic middle class voters who generally don’t vote, due to their feeling that it doesn’t matter who is elected, will pull their heads out of the sand (or their ass, wherever it resides when they are hiding from reality….) and come out and vote the liberal ticket…..

The Republican ticket wants to turn back the clock, and go back to giving all the perks and tax breaks to the rich, while reducing the services that are now available to seniors and the poor. This doesn’t even mention the all-out war they’ve declared on women’s rights regarding healthcare, and their right to vote. If they have their way, the only thing they want a woman to be is a brainwashed, barefoot, baby-making machine.

There are other issues. of course, but these are the main ones I see as being decided by the two separate poles of voters, and I would really like to see a good turnout, to let the conservative idiots see just how much of a minority they are. If they somehow manipulate matters so that the Romney/Ryan two headed beast is elected, they will work to consolidate and strengthen their hold over the rest of us, destroying the middle class, until all that is left is the 1% rich, powerful beloved ruling class, and the 99% poor, vulnerable, and disenfranchised in this country.

If that happens, there is no telling what may occur next….. We could easily see a period of assassinations, coups, and civil skirmishes, as the true patriots in this country are liable to take up arms against such deep encroachment on their rights. I know I am tempted to buy myself a rifle, and a scope, and go hunting….. and I wouldn’t be hunting squirrels, let me assure you…… Oh, and  forget trying to make me believe that violence never solves anything, because that is just delusional…. ask Alexander the Great, or Ghengis Khan whether violence worked for them….

Stay alert ffolkes, there are strange times ahead….. things are going to get interesting, in every sense of the word…..
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Not a very uplifting Pearl, needless to say. I’m glad I put the poem re: Buddha in the middle…. kind of lessens the sting of the last political pearl. I guess it all reflects my own state, one of, shall we say, less than complete satisfaction with the world at large….. SIGH….. such is life….. Wish me luck getting a Pearl out tomorrow; it may not happen, if all does not go well today…… Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!