Tag Archives: Religion

The gamut from savage to sweet isn’t posted….

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Ffolkes,

Though the odds are always against it, the possibility exists that, at this moment, I am one of the single richest men in the world. Of course, this would only be true if I’ve won either of the two lotteries in which I hold tickets for last night’s draws….. One, the Super Lotto, is worth about $45 million or so, and the Power Ball, I’m told, is worth a couple of hundred million, or so… At that level, it really doesn’t matter much exactly how many millions, does it? They all kind of blend together into one amorphous, but large, bundle that is more than the human mind is capable of grasping in one take…. I suppose, after taxes, if I’d won the Power Ball, I’d be richer to the tune of about $100 million…. I think I could live with that….

I just checked, though, and once again, I’m still poor…. for that matter, three dollars poorer, for having bought the tickets that lost last night’s draw…. I still have two more shots at the big time, on Friday, when the Mega Millions jackpot is drawn, and, if my superstitions have any basis in reality at all, now would be the time to show it…. Friday is the 13th, a calendar day that always had good omens for me, as far as I go in believing such things….. It’s true, though, that I’ve had a lot of good stuff happen to me on that day, so, I’m hoping, this time, the universe at large can see its way to granting me just this one little thing….

You see, this one is for 400 million dollars! Yep, a shot at the true big time, a real golden ticket, that would furnish me with enough to make a good start at organizing and funding my own revolution, should I wish to use it in that direction…. Of course, first I’d buy myself and my family some real estate, or maybe my own cruise ship, but, then, boy, you’d start seeing some changes in the world, to the tune of however many congressmen I could buy to keep in MY pocket for a change…. Maybe even a Senator or two, as well…. they seem to go well as seasonal gifts, wouldn’t you say? Maybe just a federal judge or two, making decisions that would benefit me for a change, instead of all those assholes who don’t give a shit for the little guy….

It’s hard to say how I’d spend that much money…. Like most, of course, my mind would turn to MY OWN interests, first…. I AM a human, you know…. But, before long, my conscience would kick in, and I’d start thinking about how I could use all that scratch to start some trouble for the PTB and BRC…. I don’t like to think that just because I join the ranks of those who have such wealth, that I would also fall into the same moral morass into which they so often tumble; I like to think I would use my resources to benefit more than just myself. Perhaps I’m wrong in that, but, I don’t think so…..

Money may be a powerful aphrodisiac, able to lure the weak into displays moral or ethical failure, but, I don’t think its power is greater than that of the man under whose moral authority I was raised…. I’m the one who has to gaze into the mirror every morning, and look myself in the eye….. with his memory peering over my shoulder, to see that I do so….   🙂   Spooky, but, comforting….

Ah well, it’s a pleasant fantasy interlude, dreaming these dreams of wealth beyond measure…. as long as we remember they ARE fantasy…. If it drops into my lap, well, then I’ll yell and scream, and jump for joy…. until then, well….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“You seem to have one of the common American delusions: that the Eleventh Amendment in the Bill of Rights grants you the right to go through life without being offended. Think again.” — ALY
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Most mornings, in this space, I would begin a rant…. a religirant, a politirant, or, perhaps, a universirant, covering ALL the bases I can touch. This morning, however, I am not in the mood for such seriousness, nor am I feeling particularly outraged at the usual suspects, even though I am absolutely positive I COULD be, if I bothered to look for a reason in the news…. I just haven’t done so yet today, and fortunately for y’all, I don’t feel like doing it just now…. Instead, we’re going to look for some pearls to put into a nice little necklace, one that might even choke the BRC where they stand…. But, if nothing else, it will keep me busy, and out of trouble for a time…. I’ll be right back, with some dandy little ideas for y’all to peruse….

“The more I see of the representatives of the people, the legislatures of this land, the more respect I develop for members of the animal kingdom. Fleas and ticks the dogs get, other forms of vermin are not so common. These species got something going for them that we humans need to imitate.” — Smart Bee (which means Google doesn’t know who said it first…. I asked…)

BEST non sequitor FOR 1988:  “Let’s cut through the demagoguery.  America is #1.” — George Bush

“There’s no such thing as a dangerous weapon, only dangerous men.” — Lazarus Long

“Men trust their ears less than their eyes.” — Herodotus

“A statesman is a politician who places himself at the service of the nation.  A politician is a statesman who places the nation at his service.” — Georges Pompidou

“Any government will work if authority and responsibility are equal and coordinate. This does not insure “good” government; it simply insures that it will work. But such governments are rare–most people want to run things but want no part of the blame. This used to be called the “backseat-driver syndrome.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

“Give a monkey a brain, and he’ll think he’s the center of the universe.” — Smart Bee

Well, I see this section DID turn into a rant, of sorts…. The ending really tied it all together with a bow, though, didn’t it?….
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There are times, I think, when life gives us a little surprise, without us being aware that we needed one….. This poem brought one of those moments, for me…. Incredibly powerful, this…. have a care….

A Smile To Remember

we had goldfish and they circled around and around
in the bowl on the table near the heavy drapes
covering the picture window and
my mother, always smiling, wanting us all
to be happy, told me, ‘be happy Henry!’
and she was right: it’s better to be happy if you
can
but my father continued to beat her and me several times a week while
raging inside his 6-foot-two frame because he couldn’t
understand what was attacking him from within.

my mother, poor fish,
wanting to be happy, beaten two or three times a
week, telling me to be happy: ‘Henry, smile!
why don’t you ever smile?’

and then she would smile, to show me how, and it was the
saddest smile I ever saw

one day the goldfish died, all five of them,
they floated on the water, on their sides, their
eyes still open,
and when my father got home he threw them to the cat
there on the kitchen floor and we watched as my mother
smiled

~~ Charles Bukowski ~~

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There is still no rantable emotion floating or gloating around my psyche, (well, there is, but, it’s connected to the above poem, and I can’t touch it right now, or I will shatter into about a billion little pieces…..), and I’m reluctant to go read the news so early in the day, lest my interest serve as a goad to reality, tipping us over into a cross-dimensional crisis in the space-time continuum of some sort or another…. Wouldn’t want that, now, would we? Nope, not us…. I suppose this means that I’ll either have to go find something old from the archives (“No, no,” they cried, “anything but THAT!”…..) or fall back into old-school mode again….

I see by the lack of any reaction whatsoever that, once again, I must make my own decision on that….. Oh, wait, that’s right, I’m SUPPOSED to make those decisions…. right. Okay, well, then, here we go…. Of course, this time, I have absolutely NO idea where this may go, as I don’t know where we’re starting, or anything about this at all… In fact, I wash my hands completely, ffolkes…. this one is on SB, or anyone but me…. and y’all are on your own….

Those green-robed senators of mighty woods,
Tall oaks, branch-charmed by the earnest stars,
Dream, and so dream all night without a stir.

— John Keats (1795-1821) — Hyperion, Book i

“Paranoia is simply an optimistic outlook on life.” — Smart Bee

“All is vanity and vexation of spirit.” — Old Testament — Ecclesiastes i, 14

“The industrial way of life leads to the industrial way of death. From Shiloh to Dachau, from Antietam to Stalingrad, from Hiroshima to Vietnam and Afghanistan, the great specialty of industry and technology has been the mass production of human corpses.” — Edward Abbey

“A statesman is a successful politician who is dead.” — Thomas B. Reed (1839-1902)

“Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.” — Elbert Hubbard

“The essence of good and evil is a certain disposition of the will.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Of Courage, — Discourses, Book i, Chap. xxix

Hmm…. Actually, ffolkes, that isn’t a bad pearl at all…. Tart, sharp, and with a twisty turn at the end, right into personal responsibility…. quite professional, if you ask me…. not to mention, hey, free….
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There, I’ve said it…. or, implied it, which serves the same purpose. Since I have, I’ll just go see how it settled into the packing materials…. I have the impression, after re-reading this, that I should NOT fuss with it any further, but should leave it alone, lest it exact an even larger price than it has already…. On that somewhat melodramatic, unaccountably somber note, I bid thee adieu for today, and will see y’all tomorrow…. given all proper universal alignment of necessary elements….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
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

dozer3

Menus printed in periwinkle or tweed….

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Ffolkes,

There comes a time in each man’s life when we must admit defeat, if only temporarily. Learning to handle those times with grace and dignity not only helps get through them, but allows us to do so without having to spend more time just dealing with the, ….. Wait. What was that? Hold on, I’ll be right back….

Okay, no big…. it was only the bandersnatch, standing in his uffish way, lost in contemplation of the wherefore of the what-if. A bit of tea and he was on his way… Where was I? Dignity in defeat? Fuck that, what a loser of an idea…. I’d rather just win, and be done with it. Failing that, well, there’s always more pizza, so, why fret about it too much? If the game is for anything more critical to life than pizza, well, it probably isn’t worth playing to begin with, and I tend to either avoid those, or play them once, then find other playgrounds to inhabit….

Now, as to what this might mean in a cosmic sense, or even as the subject for a discussion, I don’t think I really care enough to try to figure out either one. In my world, games are for fun, as is life at large; losing track of that just ends up pissing me off in the long run. I don’t enjoy being pissed off, never have, so, I try to find stuff to do that is fun…. Is this a wrong way to approach things? Who knows? Or, more importantly, who cares? Its simple, and it works for me….

Well, it works in the confines of my own head, anyway, and sometimes can offer enough of a diversion to provide the intro section with some rambling, nonsensical fantasy, to demonstrate a quick point…. strangely enough, about Truth, with a capital T, to signify the real thing, as opposed to truth, which, as we all know, can be anything at all….

What? What did he say? Okay, I’ll say it slower, and with some qualifiers for those who require them…. The truth can be anything at all, even, at times, false. By this, I mean that each of us perceives the universe in our own way, and we are forced to believe our perceptions, to call them truth, because they are all we have to make our judgments…. Others, whose perceptions may differ from ours quite drastically, also see THEIR perceptions as truth, as well, for the identical reasons… Who is to judge as to which is the actual Truth?

The first three paragraphs above were, in a real sense, nonsense; none of it was remotely connected to anything true. The last two paragraphs are serious, after a fashion, and True, as far as I know it to be…. All of it has fallen together out of the confines of my head this morning, for no other purpose, as far as I can see, than to get me to this point, where I can decide whether to continue, abort, start over (never!), or just change direction…. Since it’s probably too late for any but the former, we’ll go for a dive and see what happens….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Never forget that when we are silent, we are one. And when we speak we are two.” — Indira Gandhi
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Today, I am celebrating…. I am, for the very first time in moderately long term memory, feeling good, as opposed to crappy, as the day begins…. Thus, hallelujah!, my focus is not confined to gathering my resources, holding them close to my chest, so I can get through the day long enough to complete the necessities. That, for the past several weeks, it seems, has been something of a struggle, to put it mildly. Today, however, I feel better, if not perfectly fine, and will celebrate by being, not lazy, but easy….

Here is an unusual pearl, a set of gem quality pearls, some of excellent luster, some collected days ago, and not all funny…. but, they all have something to say about the society, or politics, or, religion, or culture in which we humans here on Earth engage, if, indeed, what we do may be so described…. Any who, it’s all about the Grand Parade, ffolkes…. which is looking a little shabby around the edges, don’t you think?…..

http://www.sfgate.com/business/technology/article/Report-NSA-spying-on-virtual-worlds-online-games-5047890.php

“L’extension des privileges des femmes est le principe general de tous progres sociaux.” — Charles Fourier, 1808

(My French, though primitive and limited, is good enough to get this one, and I can only agree wholeheartedly…. gigoid)

“As soon as men decide that all means are permitted to fight an evil, then their good becomes indistinguishable from the evil that they set out to destroy.” — Christopher Dawson, “The Judgement of the Nations”

“All little girls were born to become women. All little boys were born with the hope of becoming men.” — Smart Bee

(Although not strictly true in all cases, I think this expresses how I like to think people CAN be, potentially….)

Rem tene, verba sequentur.  “Keep to the subject, and the words will follow.” — Cato the Censor (?)

“When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced.  Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.” — Old Indian saying

“Sometimes there’s no point in giving up.” — Louis Wu “The Ringworld Engineers”

Hmph…. well, it took a bit of a turn there at the end, but, all in all, an excellent pearl, shiny and new…. Onward….
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So, there I was, sitting in the early morning light, as the sun rose somewhere to the East, thinking of an upcoming event, personal in nature, to which I am looking forward, for a number of reasons…. This, as has been my habit of late, caused me to begin some introspection, and a bit of indulgence in some almost maudlin nostalgia…. However, the quick dip down into those depths, once I wiped off the residue, also caused me to achieve a bit of balance in my mind, as a result of the total processing of a great deal of emotional and, as a result, physical feelings… In short, I feel much better, and this poem, such as it is, is the result…. I hope you enjoy it, it ripped out a piece of me, for sure…

Making Room

Our souls, they say, are like shapeless, infinite bags
in which we put all our pain, all our joyous wonder.
Broken hearts and thrilling love, riches to rags,
endless perceptions of serenity, and thunder.

‘Tisn’t simple, this spiritual journey to peace
memory is fickle, easily led astray;
darkness, ever lurking, without surcease
turning innocence to harm, from simple play.

Balance is the key.

Timing is everything.

Good can change bad, bad can change good.

Pain makes room for more joy in our souls.

The only power we need is the power to change ourselves.

~~ gigoid ~~

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Enough being serious, I want funny…. let’s see what I can find….

“The Bible may be the truth, but it is not the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” — Samuel Butler (1835-1902)

Annoy a liberal: Ask him/her/it to be truthful. — found in Smart Bee, included, I believe, out of fairness…. In my estimation, this would be most accurate if displayed as follows….

“Annoy a human… Ask him/her/it to be truthful.” — gigoid  You see, if they ARE truthful, they’ll laugh, and won’t mind…. and, if not, well…. they’ll open their mouth, and prove it….   😆

“Bring a gun!” — First rule of gunfighting

“Education you get from reading the small print. Experience you get from not reading it.” — Saul Lavisky’s observation

“Man is a religious Animal. He is the only Religious Animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion – several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn’t straight.” — Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (1835-1910) — The Damned Human Race

“Accurate reckoning — the entrance into the knowledge of all existing things and all obscure secrets.” — Ahmes the Scribe (17th cent. B.C.)

“We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh.” — Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm (1844-1900)

Okay, so, not ALL gut-bustingly funny, but, not bad…. I USED to work for the government…. is that good enough?….
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Well, ffolkes, I hate to tell you this, but, it will HAVE to be good enough…. Got stuff I need to do out in the real world today, before this burst of energy that I awoke with disappears on me…. Let’s see now….. As I’m sure they’ve said downtown many times in the past, there you go…. See ya….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
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

dozer3

 

Skeptical images go in the bluest bin…. (Spoiler: 94% fresh material…)

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Ffolkes,

I’m often amazed at how much the world can change in one day; never has that been more clearly defined for me than in the past 24 hours, when I took the time to compare that day to the 24 hours that preceded…. The difference, in how I feel, in how I view the world, in the world itself, all are in direct contrast to each other, and serve to send my mind into the realms of thought and introspection…. which is a good thing, mostly, if a bit strange for the average bear…. I’ve never been a particularly average bear, though, so, no worries, eh?….

My condition, both physical and mental, over the last few days was complicated by a certain policy decision I’d made, which, in the light of subsequent events, became, quite obviously, the wrong policy to adopt at this particular time, if ever. Since returning the policy to its former state, all seems to be well, in many respects that were NOT doing well….

This tells me that reinstating the policy was the correct decision, so, once again, that’s a good thing, even if all this is so obscure that even I am not sure what the hell I’m talking about…. But, that’s okay, it’s not really important for any other purpose than my own inner serenity, which is always a bit wobbly, so, we’ll just keep it that way, and let things settle into their most propitious alignments without further interference from me….

Now, wasn’t THAT fun! I could possibly have made that even more obdurately obscure, but, what’s the point in that? I can barely follow it myself, so even the NSA will have trouble figuring out what I’m talking about, even with ALL my meta-data to work with…. They’re missing the key encryption factor, which is located deep within the confines of my brain, in places of which even I am not fully cognizant; I keep it there on purpose, so I can’t tell them if I ever get caught….

Okay, so I’m no James Bond…. I can pretend, can’t I?….. Besides, I’m no real threat, (yet…), to them, other than by what I may write, and that has, thus far, been fairly mild, in terms of actual, practical revolutionary content…. I have yet to actually BUY a gun, (yet…), and haven’t started meeting up with like-minded radicals from other places around the country, (yet…). Nor have I started a newsletter, or published a paper, or any of the other organizational activities one might suspect if I chose to pursue such a course…. (yet…..)

I’ve thought about all of them, and may, someday relatively soon, go about following up on one or more of those impulses; it’s about damn time for some changes in this sad old world, that’s for sure….

But, not yet…. not quite yet….. I’m not convinced at this point as to how many others out there would consider joining with me in such activity, though I suspect there are many more than the BRC would believe…. Plus, when the time actually comes for me to do something practical, do they actually think that I’m stupid enough to tell them about it first? I guess they are, so, we’ll just let them go on believing that, and get on with what we’re doing…. which, at this point should probably involve some diving for pearls…. otherwise, we many never get out of here, and I know I’m low on snack items…. so…..

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Between the vision and the act lies the shadow.” — T. S. Eliot (1888-1965)
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‘Kay…. I’m submitting to the will of Fate, such as it presents itself, as we all must when it does…. Oh, we all like to come up with high sounding rationalizations why our fate is in our own hands, or, we like to pretend it is subject to adjustment, if we hold to a certain set of beliefs, that protect us from its vagaries, but, when it all comes down to the final analysis, we will ALWAYS do what we do, and the WHY has NO BEARING on what will occur…. 

What will be, will be…. This is something that most people have a hard time coming to accept, myself included….. I’ve discovered, over the years, it is often best to go with the odds, so…. in order to honor the concept of “always cut the cards”, I’d like to talk a bit about the process of getting old…..

“Yep, getting old just plain sux.” — lobotero ( http://lobotero.com/ )

This quote was left as a comment for me on a recent post, wherein I was once again discussing my health, and mentioned that feeling poorly was “getting old”…. My new friend, lobotero, agreed with the sentiment, as he, I know, lives with his own difficult health issues…. But, when he said that, I was struck by the simple fact that, although it is true, as true as the sun coming up each day, it only describes half of the universe in which we live, the living half,  and it’s only because we are suffering that the other half, the dying, is so hard to acknowledge…..

“I’d rather die happy than not die at all….” — Bob Weir

Yeah, I’m hating big parts of this getting old shit, most of which is due to the fact that none of it was in the damn manual…. Of course, there was no manual, but, you know what I mean…. When we’re growing up, do the adults tell us, “don’t worry, you’ll be in pain soon, too, dear….”?… No, of course not… It’s all, “Oh, go play, dear, have fun. Use your mind, and your body, just be safe!”, or some such happy shit, never giving a clue, until later in life, that we all should have begun practicing some years ago at those things that will help us later in life…. SIGH… If I didn’t know better, I’d think it was a conspiracy…..

But, I know better than to attribute to malevolence anything that is more likely the result of asininity, or just plain stupidity….. We’re all not the brightest creatures on the platter, you know…. Why else would we still be stuck hanging around some backwater planet like this? There HAS to be somewhere more civilized to go, if only to find an adequate cup of ambrosia….. Logic says there MUST be…. As I am, sadly, no smarter than the rest of the monkeys stuck here, I suppose that means I have to try again to get along with the inhabitants, at least for long enough to get through another incarnation….

I must be feeling a little bit better, as this is the most coherent bit of cogitation I’ve managed for a week or more, as well as the most light-hearted…. I miss my sense of humor when it’s hiding behind the outrage, or the pain, or whatever it finds to stay out of the limelight…. But, one mustn’t spook the muses, now, so, shhh, we won’t talk of it any more just now…. Where was I?

Oh, yes, I was getting old, and, mostly liking it…. I guess that is the thrust of what I’m trying to say here….. I’ve had a HELL of a good time in my life, having managed to do just about all I wanted to do at one time or another, along with, of course, quite a few things I didn’t want to do so much…. But, all of them have taught me something, so, I figure I’m ahead of the game in that respect…. Plus, I just remembered why I MUST be feeling better, and why it’s so…..

When one is using one’s MIND (caps deliberate, to denote I’m really serious here….), when it is fully engaged in doing the work at which it excels, it actually has healing, and recuperative powers, in respect to the rest of the body…. This idea is a commonly held belief in many spiritual circles, and there is medical evidence to support it, as well, so I’m not just talking through my ass (though that has been known to occur…. but, not now….)… Any who, when one is thinking hard, and concentrating, the body has actually been measured, with results that indicate it does not merely STOP AGING, but, in point of fact, will repair some of the damage time wreaks, making us younger…..

For some time now, perhaps an hour or so, I’ve been thinking about what my friend said, above, and the echoes of the thoughts are still reverberating around in my head, stimulating other ideas, bouncing around. colliding with other ideas like a nuclear reaction in full swing, and, in essence, creating conditions in my body that are helping me to get better….. Until, of course, the actual illness itself steps in, to let me know it’s not quite gone… S’cuse me…. break time…. I hope to be right back….

So much for the wishes of a man in the face of fate, or Fate, or even destiny…. To continue…. in that hour that I’ve spent in thinking about how it sux to get old, I have felt better than I have for over a week, and certainly the best I’ve felt since becoming ill, several weeks ago, when I caught a cold for the first time in decades…. But, a full hour of the mind at work, and much of the damage has been, if not eliminated fully, mitigated to a significant degree; you can’t complain about a deal like that, now, can you?…..

So, yes, getting old sux, big time, a lot of the time…. Fortunately, that’s not the end of the story for us humans….. Myself, I have always enjoyed the process of learning, which just so happens to occur at a regular rate as we grow older (as long as we are paying attention….), and wouldn’t trade a single grey hair for those darker tendrils that adorned my head as a youth….. They still grow, grey as they are, a fact that, to me, indicates how things actually are, if we know how to perceive them….

As I’ve grown older, I’ve learned something new with each passing hour; the things I’ve learned make my life much fuller, filled with the feelings and experiences that I enjoy, such as the anticipation and excitement of traveling, or the profound joy of meeting new people, and I don’t believe I’d care to go back to being young, because the trade-off wouldn’t be a fair bargain, for me, or for the world….

I’ll just take things the way they are, and do the best I can to learn to enjoy even the difficult times, as being another kind of lesson….. This one taught me to find my way back to the proper attitudes for my mental and physical well-being, so, I’m content, for the nonce, even though I’m older than I was when I began…..

“You’ve little to fear, brave knight…unless the dragon stops purring.” — Smart Bee
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At times, all I want is a simple poem, that speaks directly to the truth of life…. Oh, look, here’s one now!…..

A Bottle And Friend

There’s nane that’s blest of human kind,
But the cheerful and the gay, man,
Fal, la, la, &c.

Here’s a bottle and an honest friend!
What wad ye wish for mair, man?
Wha kens, before his life may end,
What his share may be o’ care, man?

Then catch the moments as they fly,
And use them as ye ought, man:
Believe me, happiness is shy,
And comes not aye when sought, man.

~~ Robert Burns ~~

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As I was searching the other day, looking for pearls for an old-school pearl I was putting together, a group of another type kept popping up in SB, obviously trying to get me to include them in a post…. I put them aside for the moment, but now will complete the group, and include them here, so they will stop whimpering at me…. Actually, this is looking like it will be a pretty good one….

“People are divided into two groups – the righteous and the unrighteous – and the righteous do the dividing.” — Lord Cohen

EVANGELIST, n.  A bearer of good tidings, particularly (in a religious sense) such as assure us of our own salvation and the damnation of our neighbors. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“At the beginning there was the Word – at the end just the Cliche.” — Stanislaw J. Lec

“Any system of religion which has anything in it which offends the mind of a child cannot be a true system.” — Thomas Paine

“Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.” — Albert Einstein

“All men are born naked.” — Carlos Eduardo Novaes

“If attacked by a lion thrust your arm down his throat. This takes some practice.” — Cyril Connolly

For those who have been reading this blog for a while, you may understand why I recognize this to be one of the finest pearls I’ve ever come up with; for those unfamiliar with how my mind works, (a group that often includes myself….), this will seem like something almost familiar, but, elusive and difficult to pin down….. For what it is worth, a key decryption tool for deciphering the meaning here would be the word, “dogma”; even more useful, the word, “poltroon”…. Of course, if you use the latter, you will need to remember to bring some Windex, or perhaps, a bit of WD-40, to the aftermath party…..
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Today is one of those special days, brimming with the possibility of epiphany, tempered by the patina of age, yet shining with the luster that comes from elegance…. Oh wait, that’s just some oatmeal on my glasses….Whoops! Oh well, I had hopes there, for a moment…. Let’s see if it lives up to any of its promises….

Well, actually, it does…. I like it, and though I’m not particularly hard to please, still, it’s pretty okay…. I know, I’m damning it with faint praise, but, it can’t be helped… If I gush, I seem too egotistical, and, it’s not THAT good…. Whatever it is, I hope y’all enjoy today’s effort, because I enjoyed writing it…. See ya…..

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
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

dozer3

Bring me the brass candlesticks from aisle three….

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Ffolkes,

It’s a Sunday…. It’s also another day I can pretty much write off, in terms of getting much done, as this bronchitis is still kicking both my figurative, and my literal ass. I have no energy at all, in spite of the best night’s sleep I’ve had in over a week (got almost 7 whole hours of it, with no coughing, and no needed emergency trips…. whee!….). I’ve decided to not try to push myself into writing a lot, even though I told myself I wouldn’t give in to this being sick stuff, as I have done for much of my life… When I told myself that, I wasn’t considering how old I am, or how damn sick I am, so give me a break, eh? I’m still delirious half of the time, and not too sure when I might be back to relative normalcy….. whatever THAT may mean around here….

Instead, I’m going to include some short pearls that comprised an old Pearl, a new poem I found by Emily (new to me….), and one fresh old school pearl, the type that is easiest on my head, as well as my body, as they don’t take long; plus, bonus material…. actual thinking isn’t required…. Okay, no comments about “oh, we knew THAT!”…. I’m doing my best here, and don’t need the grief….. Any who, I hope this doesn’t drive away too many ffolkes because I’m not being fresh…

I do have stuff I COULD talk about…. Those idiots in Congress are at it again, shuffling about in their ignorance and blind maliciousness, talking about undermining some diplomatic deal the POTUS accomplished with some of the insane assholes from the Middle East, where they pride themselves on how ignorantly they can live…. It’s funny how these Republican assholes (that is, as opposed to those Democratic assholes with whom they share office space…) seem to go into the most fantastic contortions of nasty, ill-tempered, ill-conceived machinations designed (in their tiny minds) to make it hard for Obama, just because it isn’t the way THEY want it done, when, in fact, it is their own image they are tarnishing, by appearing to be small minded and childish….. And they still don’t understand why they lost the election…. I also have a wonderful little quote about gun control that I’ve been saving, and the percolating that I’ve felt going on in there on this one promises to make it a doozy, or, as we like to say around here, some damn good shit….

But, I don’t have the energy for more than what you just got, so, we’re going with the plan outlined above for the day, as it is the best hope I have of coming up with anything worth reading…. at least, that’s my take on it, and, I’m driving…. So….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Well, one must get an idea someplace.” — Stephen Hawking
_____________________________

I was reading one of the old Pearls that the new WP function recommended, and thought there was some pretty good stuff in it…. I was going to just re-blog it today; instead, I’m just going to include a few of the short pearls it contained…. I hope they tickle your fancy, or at least your plain….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

from 12/28/2011

Ffolkes,

Hoy, yo soy una tabula raza. Y cuando you escribo, es muy dificil.  Pero, tambien soy un brujo, y la realidad es mi amigo. Andalé! Vamanos!……. Pop!

Okay, whew! Thought I’d be stuck in Spanish all day; it’s all because last night I had a dream about my first real trip to Mexico, many years ago, when my partner-in-crime, Dusty, and I, rode the train from Mexicali to Mazatlan, a brutal 30 hour ride. We found out an important piece of information on that trip.

Mexican beer won’t get you drunk, no matter how fast you consume it.  It’s a decent way to stay hydrated, but that’s all. If not kept cool, it starts to taste somewhat like badger piss, though I’m only familiar with that on a hearsay level. Sure won’t give a buzz, though; it’s only about 1% alcohol. We forgot, it’s a Catholic country, and still rooted in the last century, minus one, in a cultural sense. Ah well, ’twas alright; we just spent the entire week with whiskey instead of beer. Jack is Jack, no matter where he travels….  Oh, I was wrong yesterday…. I didn’t lose my mind; it’s here somewhere. It’s just that, due to intense mind fog, all thoughts have been grounded.

Okay, I’m ready…. let’s rock….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You could say I’d lost my faith in our politicians.” — Smart Bee

But it was a small loss, considering there wasn’t much there to begin with…. I’d be willing to have a bit more faith in them, if even ONE of them would stop consistently lying to me. Note I said consistently; I’m adult enough to realize that, being what they are, they have to lie. If they could just learn to not lie EVERY time they open their mouths, we could reach some kind of compromise agreement. But they don’t seem to want, or seem not to be able, to do that, so I’ll just have to go on wallowing in my disbelief. That way, I’m not disappointed so often…. My mind ain’t so open that just anything can crawl right in.

“Washing one’s hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.” — Paulo Freire

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘You can’t go home again if home is a place you’ve never been.”– Ursula K Leguin

Sad it is that too many people in our society, of all ages, know exactly what this means, from cruel experience. Society has always had its poor and homeless, and repeated explorations into the reasons for it have all been inconclusive, for they all get to the same point and lose coherent credibility. When the vagaries and complexities of human nature are brought into the equation, the sheer number of variables makes the equation unsolvable.  In other words, nobody knows for sure why society arranges itself as it does.

We just don’t know enough for certain to be able to say with any high degree of confidence, “THIS is why this is so”. Thus, any and all attempts at finding a solution to the problem have been ineffective at best. We live in a nation with more natural resources than all but a handful of countries around the world, but we still have a small but significant percentage of our population who don’t know whether they will eat today, or whether they will sleep indoors tonight. I can’t say I’m any smarter than anyone else who has looked at this issue; I don’t claim to have any magic bullets. But I can feel compassion, and I can wish….

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“If you have a particular faith or religion, that is good. But you can survive without it if you have love, compassion, and tolerance. The clear truth of a person’s love of God is if that person genuinely shows love to fellow human beings.” — Dalai Lama

Here we have some plain common sense, in the guise of eternal wisdom. I like to think that even the most dogmatic religious devotee, of any religion, would agree with this concept. (I know, that’s a stretch, even for one with my sunny disposition, always filled with optimism…. HACK!  Oops, sorry, almost choked….) It’s difficult to object when it matches so closely the most basic beliefs of almost every sect. Though proponents of each world-view may differ greatly on the shape and nature of what they worship, none would deny that love, compassion, and tolerance are lessons taught by all of them, in their study and contemplation of human nature, and its niche in the scheme of things. In every face with which God is seen by Man, one may see these three attributes written clearly on their visage. If we have any redeeming feature written on the slate of our souls, love for one’s fellow man would be that characteristic….

“[…] For all our conceits about being the center of the universe, we live in a routine planet of a humdrum star stuck away in an obscure corner […] on an unexceptional galaxy which is one of about 100 billion galaxies. […] That is the fundamental fact of the universe we inhabit, and it is very good for us to understand that.” — Carl Sagan
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As promised, a bit of Emily’s amazing vision, sans accoutrement…. (also, without formatting, which apparently got lost along the way here….)

A Coffin is a Small Domain

A Coffin is a small Domain,
Yet able to contain
A Citizen of Paradise
In it diminished Plane.

A Grave is a restricted Breadth
Yet ampler than the Sun
And all the Seas He populates
And Lands He looks upon

To Him who on its small Repose
Bestows a single Friend
Circumference without Relief
Or Estimate or End

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~
_____________________________

Also as promised, below you will find a fresh harlequin pearl, ripped from the very bowels…. no, wait, that’s the wrong image for someone with current issues in that direction…. Let’s try again…. Here are some fine, fresh pearls, and I hope you enjoy them…. (It seemed the best thing, to keep it simple…. nobody can say I don’t have tact, eh?…. Maybe not a lick of sense, but, tact, I got….)

“Historians are like deaf people who go on answering questions that no one has asked them.” — Leo Tolstoy

Curse away!
And let me tell thee, Beausant, a wise proverb
The Arabs have,–“Curses are like young chickens,
And still come home to roost.”

— Edward Bulwer Lytton (1805-1873) — The Lady of Lyons, Act v, Sc. 2

“Remember that when you hear a horse, it might be a zebra.” — African proverb

“No law or ordinance is mightier than understanding.” — Plato, Laws

“Intelligence is the ultimate aphrodisiac” — Smart Bee

“A man’s work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened.” — Albert Camus

“There are two kinds of people in the world, those who believe there are two kinds of people in the world and those who don’t.” — Benchley’s Law of Distinction

This MIGHT be the oddest pearl I’ve ever created, but, it’s fairly consistent, and very deep, if you give it a chance…. If it still doesn’t gel for you, just forget it, and go on to the next task in your list…. That always works for me….. Or, just break it down into its individual components; each is perfectly usable as a stand-alone proverb, or, as we call them, oysters….
_____________________________

I have a feeling this Pearl may not be up to my usual standards, but, I just don’t care much at this point…. I’ll check, but, as far as I’m concerned, it’s done, and I can go back to bed now…. See you tomorrow, I hope….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
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

dozer3

Our favorite source for eclectic pants….

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Ffolkes,

Hardly a day goes by that I don’t miss ol’ Gumption…. He was the finest example a man could ever want to see, the all-around best kind of example, of how valuable it can be having a real, verifiable, mother-lovin’ orangutan running your town…. Not to say he was the best dressed mayor we’ve ever had, but, he made up for that by havin’ way more than his share of common sense, and a fine, well-honed sense of humor…. He was real smart about kissin’ babies, too, seemed to just love the little tykes…. and there sure weren’t any worries that he’d be making time with his secretary!….

Of course, it was a mite difficult at times, figuring out just what he was trying to say, but, most of the folks in town got real good at that there sign language he used to use to talk, so that big issue about those campaign promises was sure to blow over, once the right translation got circulated…. It was all a misunderstanding over the sign for “practice”, which, unfortunately, is almost identical to the sign for “masturbation”…. It could have happened to anyone!…. Yep, we’re gonna miss having some Gumption in the town hall, that’s for sure….

However, I’m even more sure that none of us will miss those two paragraphs, now that they’re done…. We can put them firmly behind us, and leave them there, with no regrets whatsoever…. Not only are there no regrets at being done with them, there is GREAT RELIEF, engendered, no doubt, by the realization of just how BAD they are…. Even as I was writing them, I could barely keep myself from tossing my cookies all over the keyboard, which, as we all know, is never a good idea…. It tends to make the rest of the day one of complete and utter chaos…. I don’t know about y’all, but, I’m not going there, not for anything….

Hence, the 360 turn upon completing the second paragraph above….. I mean, the concept of starting off with a bit of humor was a good one, and, in retrospect, actually showed some potential, especially the part about the orangutan in the town hall… Hell, it worked for Clint, right? But, it takes a bit more elegant prose than what I came up with to make it work, even if the elegance may be hard to find while using a southern-fried accent, with all the corn it implies….. The chopping off of consonants at the end of words was making it hard to type quickly, or efficiently, too, so there was that to account for….

What was I thinking? Well, I WAS thinking a bit of change might be nice…. but, I suppose it should be planned out a bit more thoroughly than this, eh? It isn’t quite one of my hidden talents, I’m guessing, to write an intro like that when I’m still in the stone-cold-brain stage of my morning routine…. Oh well, as a scientist, I’m not likely to hold on to the experience too long; no experiment is worth getting all worked up over, especially one that is a complete failure in most respects….

No, indeed, we don’t worry about stuff like failed experiments here at ECR….We just shrug our shoulders, and go on our merry, scientific way, to the next experiment, and the next introductory section, where we LIVE to experiment! Well, maybe not LIVE for it….. but, we definitely LOVE it!

Besides, it always gives me something else to write about, a process which, though it is a constant drain on my creativity, needing all the help it can get, nonetheless makes every word I write worthwhile…. Well…. we like to think so, anyway…. and, it keeps me from thinking about all the idiots out there the world would be better off without, which is what my mind tends to dwell upon, given the opportunity to do so…..

Shall we Pearl?…. Today, I think it would be best to do so, quickly….

“If one only wished to be happy, this could be easily accomplished; but we wish to be happier than other people, and this is always difficult, for we believe others to be happier than they are.” — Montesquieu
_____________________________

Day after tomorrow, I’m going on another cruise…. This one is a little short one, just a few days to Mexico and back, out of L.A….. I’ll be trying to post, but, we’ll see how it goes with the internet on board…. Often, the system they have isn’t up to the task of posting anything other than text, which, for me, is the hardest part to produce when I’m cruising…. Pictures I’ve taken are much more fun to put up, but the network on board the ships I’ve seen varies a lot in the bandwidth available for uploading… I had no problems on board the Celebrity ship in Europe, but all the Princess ships I’ve been on have been less than satisfactory, to say the least…. They’re also WAY overpriced, in terms of access charges per minute….

What that means for right now, though, is an old-school pearl for this section, because that’s what I FEEL like doing…. I’m not yet in enough of a state to rant, and don’t feel like it right now, anyway… I’ve got the grump on, for sure, but, don’t feel quite enough angst to carry it off yet…. hence, this paean to laziness…. Follow the bouncing ideas, ffolkes, and let this pearl lead you right where I want you to go, in your minds, which is where I will leave you today, so it will be easier to find your way back…. Enjoy!…. or not…. As always, the decision as to that remains as an exercise for the Gentle Reader….

“He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to what he has.” — Henry Ward Beecher

“You can stand me up at the gates of Hell, but I won’t back down.” — T. Petty

“The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness, and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.” — Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

“Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is too little.” — Epicurus

“Even a cabbage may look at a king.” — Smart Bee

(Look at this one again; think on it a while…. There is more here than meets the ear…..)

“It is not without good reason said, that he who has not a good memory should never take upon him the trade of lying.” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Essays, Book i, Chap. ix, Of Liars

— Bother! said Pooh, when he mixed up the Ben-Gay and the K-Y Jelly.

(Oh!… Ouch!…. Sorry,  that just happened…. I’ll try again for a good closer…. Disregard that one, please; it’s a plant, put there by one of Murphy’s myrmidons, no doubt….)

“Truth is merely common sense, says the naive realist. Really? Then where, precisely, is the location of–a rainbow? In the air? In the eye? In between? Or somewhere else?” — Edward Abbey

That’s better….. Sorry again for the disruption, ffolkes, I’ll double my security at the doors…. Oh, wait, I don’t have ANY security at the doors… Hmm, well, since there’s no budget for that, anyway, we’ll just have to put up with the occasional double entry…. If we move on quickly enough, maybe they’ll think we didn’t even notice, and give up…. Sure, that’s the ticket…. Okay, onward…
_____________________________

Again, a poem that requires no ups, no extras…..

I died for beauty but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb,
When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.

He questioned softly why I failed?
“For beauty,” I replied.
“And I for truth,–the two are one;
We brethren are,” he said.

And so, as kinsmen met a night,
We talked between the rooms,
Until the moss had reached our lips,
And covered up our names.
 
~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

_____________________________

When I read a poem like the one above, I get a feeling in me, that if I could die, for beauty, or for truth, I could be content with life…. Perhaps it’s just me, but, given the popularity over time of Emily’s poetry, so I rather think that such is a fairly common reaction to the power of her visions, rather than something unusual in me…. This is true in spite of the funny looks I’ve received all my life whenever I’ve admitted to such feelings in front of my peers….. Being the stubbornly independent sort of cuss I am, such looks only fueled my desire to BE different, instead of persuading me to conform to custom, to “Man Up!”, have another beer, & put down a bet on the next football game…

Well, sorry, dudes, I’m Man enough, and don’t much care for beer any more…. Plus, I’ve been over football for many years, having grown weary long ago of all the commercialism that infuses every level of the sport, from Pop Warner’s five year old linemen to the nursing homes taking care of the 45 year-old NFL veterans with degenerative arthritis, who can’t walk by themselves anymore…..

Football, baseball, basketball, soccer, and, every other kind of sporting endeavor in which people engage, as far as possible in the last hundred years, has been completely commercialized, channeling and shaping society itself into the modern format, wherein a system is in place to find and train the best in each of those sports, over the course of the youth of the player pool in each country, with the full cooperation of government, schools, and society in general.

This system of sports leagues, associations, rules, and advertisement, allowed unchecked in schools, while simultaneously encouraged in society at large, ensures there will be a never-ending supply of talented players for each sport, so that a very small number of people can make a very large amount of money, buying and selling that talent, and packaging it in the glamor of professional sports….

The entire pantheon of sporting figures we are forced to watch on television is, ultimately, just another distraction, encouraged by those shadowy corporate entities who control society from the wings…. They are the perfect way to keep large portions of the populace quiet and occupied, making up fantasy leagues, vicariously living through the eyes of cameras that lionize the activities of the players, who take classes in college to learn how to talk to reporters…. so they won’t embarrass their schools, their teams, or their owners…. who are the final arbiters of what will take place in those venues, of course….

As a former athlete myself, it’s a sad thing to watch….. But, then, most of what I see in society today is pretty sad, as none of what I see acknowledges any of the problems that are so obvious to me… The world just goes on, fussing and feuding, worrying about whether or not their local quarterback will be able to maintain THEIR reputation around the country, as the local papers would have us believe when they parade his latest exploits all over the section devoted to sports news….

I don’t know how I got going on this, but, it seems to have turned on me, into a short, if cogent rant on the state of the state, as it were…. and I don’t see it as a good state…. Of course, there’s nothing particularly new and fresh about that…. The issues I see, and talk about, have been building up for a long time…. many centuries, in fact. But, the difference between what I am saying in my rants and what has gone before is critical, to my mind….

The issues I’m speaking of in my rants are real, and, like it or not, we have reached a point in our history when ALL of the evil that has been done will be coming home to roost…. The acts of deliberate cupidity being enacted by the corporate masters, who believe in their own invulnerability, are going to have serious consequences, for them, as well as for us….

The carbon (monoxide, dioxide, or any other oxide…. doesn’t matter, none of them belong there in such quantities….) being pumped into the atmosphere each SECOND, by industry and vehicles, is going to reach a point of no return; in fact, it may have already done so…. At that point, our survival as a species will become a question rather than a certainty…..

I, for one, am not looking forward to those times, as it may just turn into what we’ve been led to believe Ragnarök, or Armageddon might look like by some of our more visionary, and visually oriented, religions…. Whatever it is like, even the corporate masters aren’t going to like it, because even their money won’t help….

Sorry to be so gloomy…. I just got to thinking about all of this, and decided to let it flow out, to get some of it off my chest…. Maybe somebody who needs to see it will come by, and start the movement to save the world…. If so, great…. if not, well, there’s always tomorrow, right?….

Well, maybe not always…..

“Why, when no honest man will deny in private that every ultimate problem is wrapped in the profoundest mystery, do honest men proclaim in pulpits that unhesitating certainty is the duty of the most foolish and ignorant?  Is it not a spectacle to make the angels laugh? We are a company of ignorant beings, feeling our way through mists and darkness, learning only be incessantly repeated blunders, obtaining a glimmering of truth by falling into every conceivable error, dimly discerning light enough for our daily needs, but hopelessly differing whenever we attempt to describe the ultimate origin or end of our paths; and yet, when one of us ventures to declare that we don’t know the map of the universe as well as the map of our infinitesimal parish, he is hooted, reviled, and perhaps told that he will be damned to all eternity for his faithlessness…” — Leslie Stephen (1832-1904), “An agnostic’s Apology”, — Fortnightly Review, 1876
_____________________________

I have the feeling this came out okay, but, I can never be sure…. I guess I won’t find out unless I go check it out, so, here goes….. Okay, well, it’s definitely a Pearl, and as such, I declare it done…. This means I can go now, right? Oh, good…. I think I may have hurt myself somewhere…. Oh, wait, never mind, that’s just my pride, which I see I’ve dumped in the trash…..  See ya…..

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
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

dozer3

Even subliminally, it can smell risque…..

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Ffolkes,

I am currently in the throes of putting up the seasonal decorations around my place…. Yes, the lovely new attack dog is going out in the front yard, (right next to the new gun emplacements….), to make sure none of the usual door-to-door sales types will make it up the steps long enough to ring the bell, thereby annoying me…. I’ve gotten one of the latest models, animals trained to hide the body after they’ve run them down and killed them….. You can’t imagine the FORTUNE I’m saving in disposal costs….

I’m also putting up my holiday decorations….  spreading around the chewed-up briefcases and Awake magazines from former sales people who came into the yard, the bloody clothing, the chalk outlines, …… Oh, yeah, and I’m putting the barbed wire over the chimney so that fat asshole can’t get in anymore…. We’ll have the usual crowd of hired thugs outside, too, haranguing whomever walks by, shouting at them to go home, and stop being such well-trained consumers….

Seriously, here it is, just Thanksgiving, and I’m already sick to death of all the Christmas decorations, and the Christmas commercials that have already started dunning everyone on the vacuum tube, reminding them of how little time to spend they have, or what the latest hot item to spend money on looks like, or shouting about how much more they need to spend…..

Constant reminders of how many “shopping days until Christmas” are left to endure rain down on our consciousness at every turn, in stores, by the roads, on the airwaves, on TV, everywhere one looks is another visual and/or auditory barrage upon our senses, applying more psychologically designed pictures and phrases to stimulate the training that we as consumers have been programmed to receive….

I’m sick of it, with still almost four weeks to go to the main event, followed by the after-holiday push to spend more, so that the business ass wipes who run things in the world can squeeze out every possible penny of the disposable income of the middle class, and all the possible extra pennies left in the pockets of the lower classes…. Every little cent that their targeted victims, i.e., EVERYONE, can be persuaded to put toward the foolishness of manufactured desires, instead of using it to buy what is absolute necessity, is what they’re after, and they’ll get it….

But, the commercials don’t care, nor do those who make and pay for the commercials…. They don’t care that the parents of those children they’ve targeted with their ads cannot afford to buy the toy, or other unnecessary item for which they’ve created the obsession, making it so it becomes an issue of status for the child to not have one of the favored items to show in school, or in the park…. The assholes who create this entire commercial frenzy this time of year aren’t going to give up the period of time when they make the most profit, since they can mark everything with a higher price at this time of year, knowing people will buy anyway, because that’s what people do when they’re brainwashed….

Yes, ffolkes, you’re all brainwashed to spend money during the holidays…. There are even articles that help people get over the depression that this brings on at this time of year, depression that actually has a legitimate cause to exist, as it is made clearer to many folks that all of this fuss and bother is a complete fabrication…. The honest truth of the matter is, at this time of year nobody really gives a rat’s ass about Jesus, or compassion, or about anything other than corporate avarice, and making more money this year than last….

The few people who do suffer some qualms about all of this either stay out of it (like me, mostly….), or they get depressed, or they just shake their head, bury their feelings, and try to pretend, along with most everybody else, that they’re really having a good time…. I don’t know about y’all, but, starting now, and right up until the third of January or so, I will be completely ignoring the television, and trying not to even SEE all the ridiculous decorations and signs everywhere, all for the purpose of getting me to spend more money on crap that won’t last beyond the new year….

Oh, and maybe, just maybe, I will try to keep from ranting in the intro section…. even though it does fill up the space rather well….. I have a feeling it’s not the way to pull ffolkes in to read further…. Just a hunch, but, a good one, I think…. Any who, since I’ve once again filled up this section with ranting and complaining about society’s moral compass, or lack of one, there’s no need to carry on any further down that path; we’ll go find a new direction to take, one that, hopefully, will be more entertaining than this…. even if I’m right….

Shall we Pearl?….

“He has half the deed done who has made a beginning.” — Horace

(Around here, this is sometimes a good thing to remember….)
_____________________________

“A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depends on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the measure as I have received and am still receiving.” — Albert Einstein

Originally, when I saw this, I thought it would be a perfect start for a discussion of public ethics, or societal morality, either of which could be supported by its premise, logically speaking…. But, then I thought about what I had said above, in the intro, and decided that the two subjects are similar enough to bring tears of boredom to my eyes, as well as, arguably, having the power to glaze over ANYONE’s eyes in a New York minute…. Ethics and/or morals don’t usually make for the most stimulating rants; they tend to be critical enough to tune out even the most hardened DIY’er, such as a graduate of an EST program, or a survivor from a Sterling Men’s Weekend….

But, old-school pearls are a perfect venue for such critical outpourings…. they can deliver the same degree of displeasure and disgust at the acts being described, but in such a way that the humor makes the criticism more palatable for those who are in need of the knowledge… Well, that’s the theory, anyway, which has always held true in the past….

This format just makes it simpler to get the points across, and in such a way that the receiver doesn’t automatically dismiss it, out of hand…. We can hope, anyway, right?…. Right?… Besides, this is more fun, and much easier on my head, my back, and my hips…. Let’s see how Smart Bee is feeling today, shall we?…. Today, we’ll be looking for pearls that point the way to an honorable life, or, at the least, a life of honorable intent….

“I cannot believe in a God who wants to be praised all the time.” — Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900)

“So you see, the only true proof of what you are is in the way you hear the truth.” — Lemmy Kilmeister

“The majority of the stupid is invincible and guaranteed for all time. The terror of their tyranny, however, is alleviated by their lack of consistency.” — Albert Einstein

“Whatever became of eternal truth?” — Smart Bee

“I used to wonder about the meaning of life.  But I looked it up in the dictionary under L and there it was, the meaning of life. It was less than I expected.” — Dogbert

“There is Moral Sense, and there is an Immoral Sense. History shows us that the Moral Sense enables us to perceive morality and how to avoid it, and that the Immoral Sense enables us to perceive immorality and how to enjoy it.” — Mark Twain

“How’s the wife?  Is she at home enjoying capitalism?” — Zippy the Pinhead
_____________________________

More genius, unadorned….

Death Wants More Death

death wants more death, and its webs are full:
I remember my father’s garage, how child-like
I would brush the corpses of flies
from the windows they thought were escape-
their sticky, ugly, vibrant bodies
shouting like dumb crazy dogs against the glass
only to spin and flit
in that second larger than hell or heaven
onto the edge of the ledge,
and then the spider from his dank hole
nervous and exposed
the puff of body swelling
hanging there
not really quite knowing,
and then knowing-
something sending it down its string,
the wet web,
toward the weak shield of buzzing,
the pulsing;
a last desperate moving hair-leg
there against the glass
there alive in the sun,
spun in white;
and almost like love:
the closing over,
the first hushed spider-sucking:
filling its sack
upon this thing that lived;
crouching there upon its back
drawing its certain blood
as the world goes by outside
and my temples scream
and I hurl the broom against them:
the spider dull with spider-anger
still thinking of its prey
and waving an amazed broken leg;
the fly very still,
a dirty speck stranded to straw;
I shake the killer loose
and he walks lame and peeved
towards some dark corner
but I intercept his dawdling
his crawling like some broken hero,
and the straws smash his legs
now waving
above his head
and looking
looking for the enemy
and somewhat valiant,
dying without apparent pain
simply crawling backward
piece by piece
leaving nothing there
until at last the red gut sack
splashes
its secrets,
and I run child-like
with God’s anger a step behind,
back to simple sunlight,
wondering
as the world goes by
with curled smile
if anyone else
saw or sensed my crime

~~ Charles Bukowski ~~

_____________________________

I’m having a bit of pain this morning, a surprising event, considering all the sleep I’ve gotten the past four days…. Ah well, c’est la vie…. The net effect of that, though, is that I am getting lazier by the moment, and have decided to go in a new direction altogether…. I’ve been collecting links, to articles that I intended to rant about, or use to justify a rant, however one wishes to look at it… Laziness, however, always takes precedence over ranting, so, instead, I’m just going to provide you with some reading material, should you choose to follow the links to their sources….

What you will find is a group of articles that will show you just how avarice, and immorality, and corruption, and, and, and,….. almost every human failing that brings people into conflict with one another, are not just present in modern life, but, have become the standard of our cultural interactions….. Each of these articles discusses a segment of society that is engaged in some kind of behavior that is unethical, or paranoid, or corrupt in some way…. well, except for the last one, which offers a solution, of sorts, to a lot of the tension and stress caused by the manifestations outlined in the other links…. The last one, as radical as it is in its language, its spirituality, along with its author’s mildly abrasive approach, is perhaps the sanest article in the whole lot….

So, read these, if you’ve got the time…. Then go and try some meditation, or whatever method you choose to get back in touch with your center, which is where we all need to learn to exist….. Strange, isn’t it? How such a simple idea, existing at one’s own center of being, is really and truly the key to a happy life…. Yet, there it is, in all its simplicity…. All we have to do is pick it up, and use it….. Hey, it’s worth a shot, isn’t it? Nothing else seems to be working, if these stories are any indication…..

http://news.yahoo.com/eu-lays-down-steps-us-must-protect-data-142411846.html

http://www.sfgate.com/technology/dotcommentary/article/Spying-on-online-sex-lives-raises-red-flags-5017893.php

http://blog.sfgate.com/crime/2013/11/27/san-jose-cop-charged-with-writing-bogus-tickets/

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Holiday-shopping-season-begins-on-Thanksgiving-5019245.php

http://blog.sfgate.com/morford/2013/11/26/meditation-for-the-damned/
_____________________________

This one took some doing, it did, so it only gets a cursory examination for errors…. which I’m doing now, even though you can’t see me…. Some days, this process shows me more than just the usual justification for its evolved state…. That may sound a bit obscure, but, that’s okay, because we’re done for the day, and it won’t hurt at all, unless you get all huffy and try too hard to figure it out…. Don’t fret, amigo, no está importante….. See ya tomorrow….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
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

dozer3

Lock up the dahlias, I’ll get the peonies…

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Ffolkes,

There’s a new airline company to choose, next time you plan on traveling a long way from home…. It’s called Porcine Air, because pigs CAN fly, you know?!!! I know for a fact we are all prepared to believe in such a company, as long as the natural laws of our universe have been altered, and the weather reports from Hell are calling for ice and snow…. How else to explain three days of semi-natural sleep, for anyone with the physical conditions that plague me? I have no explanation, or any rational idea as to why or how it might have happened…. and, at this point, I don’t think I ever will, because I don’t care….. Why should I look such a nice horse in the mouth, eh? That would be ungrateful, not to mention tactless; let no one ever say I wore those hats!…..

Joking, or, more accurately in this case, an approximation of joking, aside, I am, once again, flabbergasted, and pleased, I think, to have awakened at what has to be the most normal time to arise that I’ve seen, in, oh, these many moons…. It is now just 0550, military time, meaning this is the AM…. which makes this the latest start for a Pearl in well over six months…. Oh, wait, maybe a bit less than that… I DID get that cold last month, & spent a lot of time in bed; I may have been up later one of those days…. Other than that, which we can blame on exigent circumstances, it’s been a very long time since I got so much sleep in one period, so, I’m not sure just how to react…..

I suppose I could show some remotely professional behavior, ignoring the time of day altogether, but, I don’t think I could carry off the arrogant entitlement such behavior would demand, not this late in the day, and not without my curmudgeon hat….. Becoming one of the BRC, in that respect at least, has always been difficult for me…. I just can’t bring myself to the point where I can allow myself to treat other people like dirt, just as a matter of course, a behavioral trend which seems to be the net result when almost anyone assumes the position of ‘beloved ruler’ in our society…. It’s as if it is assumed, by everyone, that getting elected gives one the right to start acting like an asshole, with the concomitant arrogance that seems to blossom in those who put on that new hat….

Don’t fret, though, ffolkes, this doesn’t signal the beginning of a rant here in the intro section, again…. I’m being quite careful NOT to start one of those this morning; I have one, already on tap & ready to go for section three, and don’t need, or want, to go into that mode here….. This is an event for which, I am quite sure, y’all are immensely grateful, or, at minimum, moderately relieved, at having dodged that particular bullet today…..

In fact, I’ve done so well at blathering so far today, in what is effectively a stealth mode, it is suddenly apparent that I’ve already reached one of the legal minimums for introductory statements, and can abandon all attempts to stretch this any further than it already has been…. That’s arguably a good thing, actually, as I’ve been finding recently, when I do too much stretching of peripheral phrases in these missives, far too many wrinkles show up in the final version, after they’ve dried off, and have been consumed a few times…. So, we’ll surprise y’all again, and stop,… right….. here….

Shall we Pearl?….

“You may not be able to change the whole world, but at least you can embarrass the guilty.” — Katha Pollitt

Well…. THERE’s good news!….. I’ll say it again….. Shall we Pearl?….
_____________________________

The little pearl that I put just above has just assumed favored status among pearls…. I love it! It expresses so well the approach we take here at ECR, in our almost daily battle against complacency and foolishness among the populace…. I often, far TOO often, feel as if it is a futile task, this trying to educate the unwashed masses as to how they are allowing themselves to be screwed over on such a regular basis….

Either I am preaching to the choir, as I think I am, far too often, or I’m shouting into the wind, with no one listening at all… It can be a frustrating feeling, until I remember that I do this not to save others, but to save myself, from sheer insanity….. If I dwell on reality for long, it can lead to outright despair, based on all-too-real issues in the all-too-real world….

In order to maintain a more productive attitude, by eloquently embarrassing as many of the BRC as possible in the fewest number of words, I will now go old-school, which I’ve found to be not merely the easiest way to poke fun at them, but the most effective, by delivering an accurate message to those who are reading what I’ve put before them….

Pictures, even if painted with words, show what is needed to be known far better than words alone, so, I try to use these pearls to create inner visions in the mind of the Gentle Reader, visions that will show them exactly whom to fear, and whom to revile, without as much chance of miscommunication…. Enjoy!….

“You cannot run away from a weakness; you must some time fight it out or perish; and if that be so, why not now, and where you stand.” — Robert Louis Stevenson,  _The Amateur Emigrant_

“I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not understand. Nevertheless, with what I am, I can reflect light into the black places of this world – into the dark places in the hearts of men – and maybe help change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am . . . this is the meaning of my life.” — Alexander Papaderos

“As those persons who despair of ever being rich make little account of small expenses, thinking that little added to a little will never make any great sum.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of Man’s Progress in Virtue

“Among what he called his precepts were such as these: Do not stir the fire with a sword. Do not sit down on a bushel. Do not devour thy heart.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Pythagoras, xvii

“How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then rest afterward.” — Spanish proverb

BRAIN, n. An apparatus with which we think what we think.  That which distinguishes the man who is content to _be_ something from the man who wishes to _do_ something.  A man of great wealth, or one who has been pitchforked into high station, has commonly such a headful of brain that his neighbors cannot keep their hats on.  In our civilization, and under our republican form of government, brain is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of office. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“And THAT’S the TRUTH! THPPPPPT” — Lily Tomlin’s “Lily Anne”
_____________________________

Genius needs no adornment….

Finisterre

This was the land’s end: the last fingers, knuckled and rheumatic,
Cramped on nothing. Black
Admonitory cliffs, and the sea exploding
With no bottom, or anything on the other side of it,
Whitened by the faces of the drowned.
Now it is only gloomy, a dump of rocks —-
Leftover soldiers from old, messy wars.
The sea cannons into their ear, but they don’t budge.
Other rocks hide their grudges under the water.

The cliffs are edged with trefoils, stars and bells
Such as fingers might embroider, close to death,
Almost too small for the mists to bother with.
The mists are part of the ancient paraphernalia —-
Souls, rolled in the doom-noise of the sea.
They bruise the rocks out of existence, then resurrect them.
They go up without hope, like sighs.
I walk among them, and they stuff my mouth with cotton.
When they free me, I am beaded with tears.

Our Lady of the Shipwrecked is striding toward the horizon,
Her marble skirts blown back in two pink wings.
A marble sailor kneels at her foot distractedly, and at his foot
A peasant woman in black
Is praying to the monument of the sailor praying.
Our Lady of the Shipwrecked is three times life size,
Her lips sweet with divinity.
She does not hear what the sailor or the peasant is saying —-
She is in love with the beautiful formlessness of the sea.

Gull-colored laces flap in the sea drafts
Beside the postcard stalls.
The peasants anchor them with conches. One is told:
“These are the pretty trinkets the sea hides,
Little shells made up into necklaces and toy ladies.
They do not come from the Bay of the Dead down there,
But from another place, tropical and blue,
We have never been to.
These are our crêpes. Eat them before they blow cold.”

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

_____________________________

As I noted above, in the introduction, I had this ready to go…. It is an old rant, sort of, from early this year, but, as might be assumed, it remains relevant today….. else I wouldn’t have used it here…. It’s one of my better rants, too, which is another reason I’ve put it here…. I just don’t feel like I could equal this kind of output today…. Regardless, it’s worth paying attention to, for certain, especially for those who would believe that everything that happens in Washington D.C. is happening for their benefit…..

From January 21, 2013…..

“Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the Government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.” — Justice Louis D. Brandeis, dissenting, Olmstead v. United States, 277 — U.S. 479 (1928)

Finding pearls is sometimes frustrating, but then I find one like this, which is just a perfect representation of what I want to say, and it all seems worthwhile again…. This statement, though written in 1928, could not be more relevant to the present if it were written yesterday. We are observing this principle in action, as the POTUS and Congress thrash around, trying to convince the public they are responding intelligently to the furor over gun control. Of course, there IS no intelligent response possible, but they’ve never let that stop them before, so…..

Gun control will always be a hot-button issue, even after they’ve been taken away. And, you can bet your booties that day is coming, as the BRC and the unseen manipulators who control society will continue to create conditions that produce the mad ones, the ones who ultimately break free of their insanity, to let it loose on the world. This scenario suits the purposes of the ruling class very well, as it allows them to keep the populace stirred up in fear, making them easily led to the place they wish them to go. It is always easier to take away a right, when the people clamor for the government to take it away, out of unreasonable fear…..

A mighty pain to love it is,
And ‘t is a pain that pain to miss;
But of all pains, the greatest pain
It is to love, but love in vain.

— Abraham Cowley (1618-1667) — From Anacreon, vii, Gold

This is often how I feel about my country. I consider myself to be a patriot, in the classic sense; I support the idea of my country, but do not necessarily support the government. I love the idea of America…. a place where men and women are free to work out their own destiny, without the interference of the system they have created to oversee the necessary societal issues, i.e., without being persecuted for their beliefs, whatever they are…. The concept is an ideal, and one that the world has never actually seen before, not in practice. There have been attempts in history, but none so bold as the one made by our forefathers, who managed to create a system with the potential to create a veritable utopia….

But, within moments of the signing of the Constitution, the bankers, the preachers, and the lawyers were all taking their shots at the system, trying to find ways to amend its protections, and weaken the defenses against the very things they are trying to do. Since the Bill of Rights became law, there have been members of the Beloved Ruling Class trying to dismantle them, and reduce the protective qualities they possess. Much of the time they don’t even bother to hide it, but just couch it in terms that distracts the public from examining their claims too closely…

That struggle, to maintain the purity and intent of the original Bill of Rights, continues to this day, and is now undergoing its most fearful threat since the initial days of this country, more dangerous even than the Communist Purge in the 1950’s, during the McCarthy era of our political history. Once again, events have been manipulated to make it appear as if there is great danger, to the public, and most significantly to our children. Emphasizing this danger to our progeny is the most powerful weapon the BRC possesses, and they are making full use of it in the media, you can be certain…. Manifest a threat to children, and the ire of the public is yours to control….. much like Pavlov’s dogs….

I also think that Justice Brandeis was being nice, when he mentions that the BRC may be acting with good intentions, but lack of understanding. I think that the BRC knows EXACTLY what it is doing when it pursues legislation such as the current limits to gun ownership, and I don’t think they care at all that people don’t really NEED their protection or their help to protect themselves from the evil in the world. What the citizens DO NEED is less intrusion by the BRC into their private, or even public, lives.

I don’t care how ethical a government official SAYS they are, I don’t think they are more ethical than me, or the average Joe….. Nor can they be trusted to act in a manner that is beneficial to me, or to any other private citizen; their actions are only concerned with their own private agenda, and anything they say to the contrary is a BIG, FAT LIE! (Sorry, don’t mean to shout at you….)….. This, I think, is an assertion that doesn’t even need me to point out the proof, as it jumps up in everyone’s face on a daily basis…. The BRC LIES TO US, every day, and it isn’t hard to catch them at it, as it happens virtually every time they open their mouths to speak….. What amazes me is that they get away with it so easily….

“I believe and I say it is true Democratic feeling, that all the measures of the Government are directed to the purpose of making the rich richer and the poor poorer.” — William Henry Harrison

As is obvious, I’m not the only one who is dissatisfied with the BRC, or as some say, the Government. I like to use the BRC, because then I can supply the defined parameters to include ALL of the various types of assholes who are part of that group; lawyers, preachers/priests, bankers, Senators, Congressmen, judges, elected officials, all are charter members of the BRC, and the targets of my ire, as well as the meat for my consumption here on ERC. I guess it would be accurate to say that the BRC consists of all those who seek power over others for their own personal gain, and just let it go at that….

“One of the most difficult of the philosopher’s tasks is to find out where the shoe pinches.” — Ludwig Wittgenstein

There is the pinch-point, ffolkes…. There are essentially two types of humans…. those who seek to have power over other people, and those who seek power over themselves. Anyone who doesn’t fit into those two categories is not living up to their full potential as a human being, and will not in any way have any say in what happens in the world. They are the cannon fodder, the unwashed masses of folks who go through life without ever directing their conscious mind anywhere but right in front of themselves, oblivious to all the evil that occurs around them, as well as unaware of all the beauty that exists.

That is their choice, and I cannot fault them for their lack of courage; it’s a scary world out there…. but, as human beings, I believe we have a duty to our fellow man, and that duty means NOT keeping quiet, NOT letting those who would do evil act with impunity. In my position, all I can do is speak up when I see injustice, or immorality, and issue my objections to what I observe…. It’s all I can do, so I’ll do it all I can… because, as Albert sez…..
Albert E & true sin_____________________________

The old saying goes, “the proof is in the pudding”, and though I’ve never known exactly what that means, other than speculatively, it sounds good, and I’m hungry, so, we’ll go proof this, and see if the converse is true at all…. If you followed that logical train, you may have been here too often, but, it’s okay, it’s all tax -free, and tax-deductible, if you’ve got the chutzpah to claim it….. I’ll be right back, hopefully…..

I seem to have completely forgotten an entire range of expressions I once had in my mind to cover situations such as this…. But, since we’re here at the end of today’s effort, rather than the beginning, it shouldn’t be such a problem as it might have been, earlier…. Now that I’ve reestablished connection with blather mode, it’s time to go, before I get started again, which could delay posting another couple of hours… Besides, I’m done here, and having done worse, I’m outta here….. See ya….   🙂

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
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

Kowabunga!

This cat doesn’t have a stealth mode…..

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Ffolkes,

Two days in a row of sufficient sleep…. Though not tempted to say “wow”, not even quietly, lest I tempt Fate beyond its capacity to ignore, I will say it’s another record for me, with a new learning experience thrown in….. what a deal! I’m learning what it’s like to wake up without being overly grumpy, feeling as if all is right in the world, rather than immediately focusing on what may be out of sync, or not so pretty….

As a practicing curmudgeon, I’m pretty sure I’m not allowed to go three days consecutively like this, so, I’m enjoying it while I can…. At my age, one becomes accustomed to the morning state of grouch; that’s fine, because Oscar always WAS my favorite Sesame Street character, anyway, so it generally fits right in with my historical outlook, designed, or maybe, evolved, to embrace the harsher side of the new day…..

Today, however, not even potential shenanigans by our old pal Murphy could disturb the tranquility I possess this morning, not without events I don’t believe he’s had the time to get set up…. So, I’m hopeful for the state of this Pearl, as I can approach its construction with a relatively clear mind, and a lighter heart than is normally the case in the morning…. As I said, it’s somewhat of a new experience, and I think I am enjoying it, possibly more than is allowed, or encouraged in these cases…. Can’t have the citizenry having TOO good a time of a morning, now, can we? That tends to annoy the Murphy, and put his myrmidons out of work….

But, that, as they say, is HIS problem, not mine… I’m just going to sit here, and enjoy feeling pretty damn good, as opposed to feeling miserable, or even just okay….. After a while, one misses the sense of feeling okay, when it’s been gone a while, even though what is currently being felt has a tendency to overcome any tendency to focus on that; being miserable, especially, is enough of a distraction to keep one from getting bummed out over NOT having something, believe me…. (Huh? What did he say?…. Uh, well, never mind, we’ll just go on, and try to catch up on the fly….)

Ah well, such is life with pain…. there’s always something to keep us distracted, even if it’s no more than a change in routine…. Funny, isn’t it, how the brain learns new tricks and techniques to make life acceptable, no matter how disturbing, or riveting the condition we experience?….. One learns to find different outlooks, different ways to view the world, that allow us to direct the way we feel about it, so that we are not forever in the thrall of the physical condition that keeps us so occupied with dealing with its symptoms…. I don’t know about anyone else, but, I don’t ever intend for my pain to keep me from doing what I wish to do, no matter how debilitating it gets….

I’ve played entire second halves of football games in severe pain, trained right over and through pain while conditioning my body in martial arts, and, for many years,  worked at my jobs, in hospitals, and in restaurants, while bent over, grunting in pain from the injury to my back, or some other kind of body pain….. Most areas of the body, internal and external, that CAN experience pain, are familiar to me….

None of it ever kept me from doing what I wished to do, and it won’t now…. It’s just that, now, there is a higher price to pay for being able to do anything overtly physical, and that price is no longer negotiable…. It’s heavy, and delays in payment are NOT accepted….

Since I do have a bit of space today, to enjoy a bit of normality, so to speak, I’m going to take advantage of it, and try to get this done, so I can spend some time today doing something fun, that I normally would eschew due to pain…. Now all I have to do is figure out what that might be….

No worries, it’s already furnished me with enough material (and, apparently, more than enough….) for an into, before anyone even noticed…. I’m going to bite the bullet, and get this Pearl going…. now…. Wanna come along?…. I promise, nothing bad will happen….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Ask of friends only what is honorable.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.)
_____________________________

Authority intoxicates,
And makes mere sots of magistrates.
The fumes of it invade the brain,
And make men giddy, proud and vain;

By this the fool commands the wise
The noble with the base complies.
The sot assumes the rule of wit,
And cowards make the base submit.

— Butler

I think this poem is pretty clear in its message, which is one that is arguably true in all cases, if the history of Mankind is any indication. We humans seem to not be able to resist the corruptive power of power over others; in EVERY case for which we have a historical record, the rulers of any nation, tribe, city, or village seem to change when they assume the mantle of office, becoming everyone else’s nightmare, as they cease to work for the public good, turning instead to the task of emptying the public treasury…. If you have any examples to the contrary, please, PLEASE show them to me, because I’ve been unable to find any, in all my reading…..

We have today the perfect example of this phenomenon, taking place in the public eye, on the largest, most scrutinized public venue possible…. After the election in 2008, I had high hopes for seeing some good changes, what could be called actual reforms, as the newly elected President SEEMED to be as idealistic, and altruistic, as anyone I’d seen in the public eye since Kennedy, or Carter…. Now, I know Kennedy was not the saint he was supposed to be, but, Jimmy Carter was about as honest as you will find a politician…. That is why the Congress of the time, which was under Republican control, pretty much  blocked ANY changes Jimmy might have wanted….

Now, however, we have a POTUS who is not merely being obstructed in his attempts at reform, but is forced to fight a public relations battle with the Republicans, who have turned this Congress into the WORST session in history, worse even than the famous “Do Nothing” Congress in the early part of the twentieth century…. This year, they’ve passed 49 new laws, the lowest number EVER, by a factor of five (the next lowest number is around 300 new laws in one session…. from that famous “Do Nothing” group….)…. Every single piece of reform legislation that has been put before the House, which is Republican controlled, has been ignored, or buried, or otherwise obstructed, so that the POTUS’s agenda is effectively blocked….

But, this hasn’t kept the POTUS from taking advantage of his position, to lie to the public over issues that were supposedly answered in his campaign, with promises to accomplish certain tasks important to the public…. Most importantly, the POTUS maintained that this administration would be the most “transparent” in history, that nothing would be hidden from the public…. This has turned out to be the biggest lie told, as this administration has become the most draconian of ALL administrations, with illegal spying, lies about the spying, torture at Guantanamo, abrogation of the Constitution, and the persecution of journalists who are critical of them….

I’m incensed at what is happening, and afraid as well…. If a POTUS who is supposed to be the most transparent is doing this, right out in the public eye, refusing to even answer questions on subjects he deems secret, is allowed to continue in the current vein, there will be NO FREE PRESS, and NO FREE SPEECH left by the end of his reign…. There have been so many journalists prosecuted for obtaining information they didn’t want published, those journalists are becoming wary of writing anything about them…. If that trend continues, then we’ll never even KNOW when they are fucking us over, will we? Nobody will have the courage to stand up and tell us….

Please read the article attached to the link below, and then tell me I’m wrong…. Tell me I’m not right to say that even Saint Barack has fallen prey to the corruption syndrome, and has allowed the shadowy masters of reality to bind him to their cause…. which has NOTHING to do with making things better for the common man…. But, first read this, and weep….

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/diaz/article/Don-t-shield-government-from-watchdog-reporting-5003376.php

Pretty scary stuff, isn’t it? I was taught that, in this country, the principles of freedom, of speech, of the press, of religion (though I could care less about that one…. but, it’s also a right that people SHOULD have, as a matter of course….), and of all the other basic functions formerly protected by the Bill of Rights, were never going to be taken away…. Sadly, to my chagrin, in the last few years, since the incident on 9/11/01, the ruling classes have used the fear and public paranoia generated by the event to manipulate the law, and the American people, to a point where none of the rights guaranteed in that document are worth the paper they’re printed on….

I’d love to hear any arguments that ffolkes, or even folks, might have, to the contrary…. even though I don’t think anyone will be able to do that, as there just isn’t any contrasting evidence to present…. But, I’d love to hear it, anyway, if only to get a gauge on how others are viewing this issue…. Also, share this with others, please…. This is an issue that NEEDS to be discussed in public…. If it isn’t, then you can kiss, at best guess, ALL your freedoms good-bye, for certain, and, most likely, for all time…..

“Be patriotic – question authority.” — Bumper Sticker

“When did the words “national security” become the root password for changing the Constitution?” — Smart Bee
_____________________________

In the section above, I asserted that I was hopeful when the last election happened, even though, by then, I was getting a bit disturbed by some of what I had learned about the current administration’s behind-the-scenes activities… Most especially, I was becoming concerned by the continued denial, and outright ignoring of any accusations of such, and the aggressive persecution, and prosecution, of anyone who challenged them, or used any information they deemed secret due to national security reasons….  (Hmm, there’s that term again…. wonder what that says?….. Well, that’s what occurs to me…. what does it tell you?….)

Nonetheless, I maintained my hope, at least long enough to write this poem, which my computer tells me I wrote just a couple of months ago, but, I believe that date is when I found it in my past notes, from having been composed soon after the election in 2012, and transcribed it into the poetry folder….. Any who, I like it, even though the final stanza is now a bit optimistic according to my current opinions, which are based on more current evidence….

Destiny’s Vote

It was a special day, written on tablets of stone
with fanfare, and crepe paper, a symphony of lies,
played with verve, but discordant, and alone,
never more the grand parade, no more apple pies.

Heated dialog full of prejudice, hatred, and fears,
fills up the airwaves, a cacophony of callow untruth,
playing up to ignorance, bringing anguish, and fearful tears,
while Nero’s fiddler sits down, in the only open booth.

Watchful and afraid, I see the coming conflict
clouds of ignorance and intellect, preparing to fight,
one to fight with darkness, and abject fear to depict
opposed at the base, banishing fear with truth, and light.

Seeds of anger and bigotry are planted very deep,
growing best in darkness, hiding in shame and fear,
waiting for moments of trouble, its destiny to keep,
looking for weakness, seeking to draw its victim near.

Sing not yet a funeral dirge for tolerance,
that particular die is not yet cast;
there still remains a very good and honest chance,
our common dream of freedom may yet hold fast….

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

Okay, so I lost track of the light-hearted part of today’s quest for readable material, fresh from the source…. As it has yet to be determined just where that source is, or what the hell it will take to get it to produce something viable, I’ll just do as I always do, resorting to an old-school pearl, with NO parameters, except, of course, light hearted…. which usually means it will be at least peripherally concerned with how to go about living Life in a way that is pleasing, to you, and to the Universe….. Let’s see what we can come up with….

“Things to do today:  Get up, Survive, Go to bed.” — Smart Bee

“Those who are clever, who have a Brain, never understand anything.” — Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

“A mind’s journey begins with a single “Why?” ” — Confucius (?)

the average person is average
the common people is common
the straight people is straight
you gone be the crooked weird
rare intelligent bird creep type
that what you gone be, honey

— A. R. Ammons

“Goodness speaks in a whisper, evil shouts.” — Tibetan proverb

“Only the half-mad are wholly alive.” — Edward Abbey

“It makes sense, when you don’t think about it.” — Smart Bee

One of the signs of completion I acknowledge is when Smart Bee picks out the first and last quotes for any particular old-school pearl; that’s part of what makes it old-school…. In this case, I can only nod my head, and go, “Yep”…..
_____________________________

Again with the learning curve…. I’m done already, even with the majority of material being fresh today…. This again bodes well for the rest of the day…. Let’s see if the feeling of everything going well extends to the concept of proofing…. Well, not too bad, and certainly “nothing to get hung about”, in the eloquent words of John Lennon’s mom…. It’s also another epic production, ffolkes, I know, but, I keep telling y’all, I can’t seem to find the off switch, once I get started….

Oh, wait, here it is…. Okay, see ya…..

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
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

dozer3

Albert says, “Insanity is relative, too!”….

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3

Ffolkes,

I never know what to do when I get enough sleep…. It’s such an unusual event, it always takes me by surprise…. That assertion, in and of itself, is NOT a surprise, as I’ve experienced the lack of good sleep for more years than I can count…. At first, it was due to my primary function, as a father, and husband, during those years when I had a wife, and children growing up…. I’m sure any father can empathize with what happens then…. I can’t really explain why, but, I know that I did the same as my own father, in that, I was always the first one up, and almost always the last one to bed….

That was just the way the job works, ffolkes, and I had no strong objections to it, as it was Duty….. As such, it offers no choice as to how it is to be accomplished, (to wit: without fail…. and no excuses….), and that was fine with me….. After my family was grown, I started experiencing the physical conditions that now work to keep me from sleeping easily, or with comfort, for more than a few hours at a time…. I learned to make do on whatever I was able to get, and learned to appreciate the power of napping as a supplement to the sleep I wasn’t getting at night… It’s always worked for me….

Then, occasionally, like last night, I get a night off, so to speak…. I went to bed last night at about 7 PM, having returned from a nice dinner out with milady Patricia, followed immediately by the consumption of my sleep aid (Alice Toklas style…), as is normal activity for a Sunday evening, prior to retiring…. I got really sleepy almost right away, while sitting in front of the computer, (probably from being full from dinner….), so I decided to just go down then, at 7, instead of waiting for the brownie to kick in…. So, I retired, whereupon I fell asleep immediately, proceeding to sleep hard, only turning twice, for about eight hours…. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the clock at 3 AM, as it meant I’d slept like a log for at least eight straight, which happens MAYBE twice a year….

I turned over & got another hour & a half, too, so, I’m up now, just bursting with energy…. at 0500 AM, when there is nothing open, and nothing to do, other than what I’m doing now…. It’s a good thing that I do have this to do now, or I’d be sitting around, twiddling my thumbs, vibrating with all the pent up energy I have available….. It’s probably better for the space-time continuum this way, too, as none of that energy will get used in ways that could affect the balance and stability we are currently enjoying…..

That could change any minute though, so I’d be smart to take what I’ve got here, and run with it…. It’s arguably of the correct length to qualify as an intro section, though some might have arguments to bring, saying it doesn’t DO anything, or SAY anything remotely introductory in nature…. I say to them, “Fuck off, busybody, nobody asked you”…. Well, no, I probably wouldn’t be that rude, though it would certainly pass through my mind as one of my options…. I would however, ignore their criticisms, and use the bloody thing to start off anyway, as I plan to do right now….

There, you see, I’ve done it again…. Another intro with absolutely NO redeeming qualities, nor ANY qualities that could conceivably be construed as appropriate material for either an introduction to anything, or, as an educational event, the only thing that might otherwise qualify it as acceptable for use among the unwashed masses…. That’s unless, of course, one considers all you have learned about me, which was, or is, with no doubt whatsoever, much more than was requested, or expected, or, for that matter, deserved…. But, it’s done, and there’s no going back at this point, so, like all of us here at ECR, you’ll just have to learn to live with it…. such as it is…. whatever it is…. Whew!

Shall we Pearl?…..

“It is our choices … that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” — J.K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets”, spoken by Albus Dumbledore
_____________________________

Given the accuracy, and potential relevance, of the quotation that ended the intro section, I’d best make a good choice here, or I’ll be seriously in arrears to my karmic responsibility…. What THAT means may be a bit unclear, but, suffice it to say that “I”  know what it means, which is, basically, “Get your shit together, and do it right!….. Otherwise, you’re going to be in deeper shit than you can imagine….”  I don’t know about y’all, but, I get that sort of thing rather often from the Universe…. Must be the Irish in me…

Since I have to come up to scratch here, with no further fussing about, I’m going to go old-school….. It’s my only hope to achieve some kind of rational balance this morning, since I’ve gone so far off the rails, irrationally speaking….. If I can’t bring this back in line, not even a poem of great power will suffice to balance things out, so, I’m hoping to get some cooperation from Smart Bee, as I depend on it a lot to give me what I need to make these pearls cogent, logical, and filled with beauty…. It’s asking a lot of a dB software program, I know, but, hey, if you can’t trust your shareware, what can you trust?…. With that, let’s see what I can find to turn this away from the Dark side of the Metaphorse, and back into the Light….

“I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself.  Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to Heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.” — Thomas Jefferson, Letter To Francis Hopkinson, Paris Mar. 13, 1789

“Everybody experiences far more than he understands. Yet it is experience, rather than understanding, that influences behavior.” — Marshall McLuhan

Here the heart
May give a useful lesson to the head,
And Learning wiser grow without his books.

— William Cowper (1731-1800) — The Task, Book vi, Winter Walk at Noon, Line 85

“Apparently there is nothing that cannot happen today.” — Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (1835-1910)

“Ask a toad what is beauty?…a female with two great round eyes coming out of her little head, a large flat mouth, a yellow belly and a brown back.” — Voltaire (1694-1778)

“When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.” — Things We Can Learn From Dogs

Hah! Bet I fooled ya with the ending, didn’t I? Hell, I almost fooled myself….   😆    It sure does feel good when a plan comes together….
_____________________________

I stood
Among them, but not of them; in a shroud
Of thoughts which were not their thoughts.

— Lord Byron (1788-1824) — Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto iii, Stanza 113

Though I’ve seen the name, I had never, before this morning, read any of the work by this poet, Charles Bukowski…. He’s well worth the effort, from all I can see…. I picked one that is a bit long, but, pretty damn powerful…. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did…..

2 Flies

The flies are angry bits of life;
why are they so angry?
it seems they want more,
it seems almost as if they
are angry
that they are flies;
it is not my fault;
I sit in the room
with them
and they taunt me
with their agony;
it is as if they were
loose chunks of soul
left out of somewhere;
I try to read a paper
but they will not let me
be;
one seems to go in half-circles
high along the wall,
throwing a miserable sound
upon my head;
the other one, the smaller one
stays near and teases my hand,
saying nothing,
rising, dropping
crawling near;
what god puts these
lost things upon me?
other men suffer dictates of
empire, tragic love…
I suffer
insects…
I wave at the little one
which only seems to revive
his impulse to challenge:
he circles swifter,
nearer, even making
a fly-sound,
and one above
catching a sense of the new
whirling, he too, in excitement,
speeds his flight,
drops down suddenly
in a cuff of noise
and they join
in circling my hand,
strumming the base
of the lampshade
until some man-thing
in me
will take no more
unholiness
and I strike
with the rolled-up-paper –
missing! –
striking,
striking,
they break in discord,
some message lost between them,
and I get the big one
first, and he kicks on his back
flicking his legs
like an angry whore,
and I come down again
with my paper club
and he is a smear
of fly-ugliness;
the little one circles high
now, quiet and swift,
almost invisible;
he does not come near
my hand again;
he is tamed and
inaccessible; I leave
him be, he leaves me
be;
the paper, of course,
is ruined;
something has happened,
something has soiled my
day,
sometimes it does not
take man
or a woman,
only something alive;
I sit and watch
the small one;
we are woven together
in the air
and the living;
it is late
for both of us.

~~ Charles Bukowski ~~

_____________________________

Even though it’s a bit early yet, I’m not in the mood to rant today…. and, as we all know…. (well, I know, so that’s all I need….), any good rant requires some angst; in other words, some kind of strong emotional power source, to drive one’s creativity all the way over into the ranting state…. I got so much sleep, and I’m so mellow this morning, that isn’t going to happen…. Hence, I’ve used that as an excuse to dip into the archives again, this time for a short, but powerful, religirant…. It was first posted in 2012, some time prior to the national election in November….. It’s not the longest I ever did, but, it’s pretty cute, and dead-on accurate, in describing my views, if naught else….. Enjoy!…..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.” — Sir Winston Churchill

“….for DEATH awaits you all, with nasty sharp  pointy teeth!” — Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Death. The great equalizer. Nobody gets away from it. As a matter of fact, it has been proven, beyond a shadow of doubt, that everyone who breathes air, dies. So, air must not be good for us, right? That’s logic…. Of course it’s logical. It is also, however, not true, and serves as an example of the fact that logic doesn’t always lead to the correct answer to any particular question…. sometimes you gotta just go by what is real….

I like the first quote, by Winnie C., the PM…. When my turn to find out what happens after we die comes around, should the Christian viewpoint turn out to have been true, I would prefer to meet my maker with this same attitude. To my way of thinking, if it (Christianity) IS true, then God has a lot to answer for…… Seriously…. I’m sorry, but I just can’t believe in any deity who would allow his creation to show such perversions as this species has shown. Whenever I bring this point up to a priest, or theologian of any sort, all I get is “God works in mysterious ways….”

Yeah? Is that right? You say there is some hidden purpose to those actions we don’t understand? Well, fuck God then, because he’s acting like an asshole. I don’t care a whit if there is some hidden purpose; there is NO ACCEPTABLE REASON to suppose that a merciful God would condone child molesters, or rapists, or torture, (even during war). I don’t believe it; it is neither logical, nor rational…. Most importantly, it isn’t reasonable….

Claiming that God is beyond our understanding, and therefore we cannot understand his reasons for allowing such actions, is pure bullshit. If he is that far above us, why are his morals so perverted? I don’t care what you say, I won’t accept the rape of a child as being justifiable from ANY standpoint. None. And if God does have some justification, well, I ain’t buying it. No matter what it is, it isn’t right…. And going along with it, believing the lie, is just another cowardly way of avoiding responsibility….

Men are responsible for these actions, not God. Men kill, and rape, and pillage, and manipulate and coerce their fellows into performing acts of heinous nature. Numerous times in our bloody past, this killing has taken place in the name of God, as the fanatical zealots so common to Christianity, throughout its vicious history, carried their own particular brand of oppression to new lands, forcing the natives to swallow their version of reality, regardless of how they felt about it.

This blind, unreasoning zealotry continues today, with the current Republican candidate all set to bring the US right back into the Stone Age, should he. through some cruel quirk of fate, be elected as POTUS. If that happens, I’m pretty sure Armageddon will be close behind, as I don’t think the rest of the world is going to sit still long enough for him to cram his own faith down their throats.  Hell, right here at home, should he be elected, I’d be surprised if there isn’t a revolutionary upheaval within a few months of the election. I know I would certainly be considering assassination as a viable political tool…. It is now legal for us to use torture as a resource, why should we balk at assassination?

Ah me…. I guess I got too much sleep. It seems to have awakened my old hippie instincts; I haven’t talked revolution in oh, six or eight months now…. I suppose I’ll just have to wait until November, to see which way to jump…. Let’s hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. That’s always the best policy…. for survival, anyway….  and that may become our primary goal, if things keep on keepin’ on….

“It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere.” — Voltaire
_____________________________

Aha! I see, by the last paragraph in section three, just why this religirant appealed to me…. It happened to get written, and posted, the LAST time I got so much sleep!…. No wonder, then, I suppose…. Like will always call to like, eh?….. Well, it does in my world, where Imagination rules, giving the lie to Reality, which, if one stops to think about it, is subject to change without the slightest notice…. That kind of makes imagination and reality pretty similar, don’t you think?…. Well, maybe, or maybe not; one  set is capitalized, the other isn’t, so one has to be right, right?…. It’s good enough for our purposes here and now, I’d say, as it fits right in with today’s theme…. whatever that may be…. Maybe when I go back over this to proof, I’ll figure out just what that is…..

Well, there’s a lot of it, that’s for sure…. I think, if I must make a statement, I’d have to say, today’s theme would be best described as “The Quest for Enough”, with appropriate subtext, best acknowledged by merely stating, “Enough is enough, and more than….”. I hope that isn’t TOO obscure, but, if so, well, sorry, it’s the best I can do today…. I seem to be a little fuzzy these days, no matter how much sleep I get, but, hey, I’m entitled…. Can’t be sharp as a tack EVERY day….. Well, maybe I can…. but, that’s no reason to make things easy on ANY of us, is it?…..    😆   See ya….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
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

dozer3

Sincerity has never been more welcome…..

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4

Ffolkes,

I’ve never experienced this before…. Even MY coffee, which has been known to raise the long-time-dead, in a heartbeat, isn’t doing the trick this morning…. I grind French Roast beans, dark and savory, then put twice as much in the drip basket as is recommended, just for starters… then I add a teaspoon or two more, just to make it right…. I promise you, no coffee in the world, including espresso, is stronger, or has more of the life-giving caffeine than does what I make right here at home… It’s part of why I have such a hard time when traveling, as nobody can duplicate it in public, not without destroying their profit margin….

But, today, it ain’t happenin’…. I mean, I made it like usual, and in good time, too, before I tried to type. But, even now, after a good half-cup, I’m still dragging my ass, wondering if it would wake up my partner if I went back to bed, or if I should just lay down on the couch for a while, until my brain is done sleeping, an event that seems NOT to have happened before I got up…. Normally, I’m good to go as soon as I get some coffee in me; it’s rather magical the way it gets me going, so it’s hard to understand this change in my reaction to it….

It’s certainly disconcerting, as I depend heavily on my coffee, to make things all better each morning…. I haven’t a clue as to how ugly life may get without it; it’s not something I thought I’d ever have to cope with, at least, not until some doctor told me to give it up for my health… Not that I would, but, hey, I’d have to at least consider it, for a minimum of four or five seconds…. I’m pretty sure I’d rather die than give up that morning rush of clarity….

There is NOTHING in this life that compares to it, (Well, except, maybe, the last few moments of a certain activity, which shall remain nameless, so I don’t have to worry about censors….. Those last few seconds of physical joy with a loved one ARE quite similar to what happens at that first sip of blood the mornings, even if I’m only allowed to refer to it with euphemisms in a family blog….), and I insist on maintaining a certain standard of quality in my life, lest that life become more of a burden than a joy to me…

Aha!….. I feel a bit of my lethargy starting to break up, like the ice on a river in winter, that starts to thaw in the spring, after the temperatures rise above the frozen tundra level….. The coffee, it seems, rather than deserting me, and having NO effect, was just taking its time, working its way into the crevasses in my mind, soothing and supporting, until finally, it breaks through the pain, the stiffness, and the mental fog, to bring its message of peace, and hope for a new day…. Well, maybe not all that, but it sure does bring clarity, and a sense of well-being that isn’t there to start the day…. I don’t know how many of y’all are morning-coffee-addicts, like me, but, those who are will know what I mean….

Perfect timing, too, I’d say…. I was almost ready to chuck aside all normal bets, and start taking money on the new line, but, once again, Life, and Fate, had other plans for me today…..  I’ll just go with the flow, and head out into today’s diving area, which was scouted out earlier, during a moment of lucidity….. It promises to be a fruitful dive today, with reports of some brilliant beds of oysters, and, no doubt, some superior pearls…. Time will tell, as always…

Shall we Pearl?…..

“All I ask of life is a constant and exaggerated sense of my own importance.” — Smart Bee
_____________________________

Here is a fresh pearl, with a group of pearls chosen in a new way…. I picked out one of them several days ago, knowing it would be a good inclusion for one of these…. Rather than use that as a parameter for choosing the others, I went random, and managed to find just the right six other pearls to make this an unusual, but quite pointed little metaphor….. It contains some good advice, as well as some good answers to questions we all have, all the time…. Of course, you gotta believe!….. Just like in church, see?…..

“Virtue is but heroic bravery, to do the thing thought to be true, in spite of all enemies of flesh or spirit, in despite of all temptations or menaces.” — Albert Pike (1809-1891)

“God Himself has no right to be a tyrant.” — William Godwin (English minister, reformer, philosopher, — “Sketches in History” 1784

“As one gets older, one discovers everything is going to be exactly the same with different hats on.” — Noel Coward

“It’s not denial. I’m just very selective about what I accept as reality.” — Calvin (“Calvin and Hobbes”)

“Almost everything you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.” — Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

“Everything in excess! To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

“I’m pretending I’m pulling in a TROUT!  Am I doing it correctly??” — Zippy the Pinhead
_____________________________

Looking through some archived material last night, I found this poem, which I wrote in January of 2012, on the anniversary of my first year of blogging the newest version of these Pearls…. The poem came just after, and, as an obvious reaction to, a politirant in the section before the one where I found it…. It’s pretty clear, I think, and not too shabby,

Terror at Constitution Hall

Standing quiet, waiting on hope’s bright wing,
a stranger heralds the gift of Time.
Lyrical, spherical melodies we sing,
yet with silence, as a mime.
If fortune favors the bold and the fool,
truth may be spoken with courage unveiled.
But fortune oft is capricious and cruel,
and truth is naught but cold, with freedom failed.
Humanity has rights, ’tis often said,
if courage and truth can prevail.
If fear and ignorance are the diet we’re fed,
Life without liberty will end to this tale.

~~ gigoid ~~


You get a two-fer today, because I also found this one, along the same lines, but, different enough to offer a bit of contrast…. Hope you enjoy them, such as they are….

Future Shocked:

Weeping, I wake;
waking, I weep, I weep.
I weep for the ages to be lost,
for children never born.

Time comes calling, strident and spare,
nudging us toward the future with bony hands.
No pausing, no waiting, always away,
Frantic hearts unseen, unheard.

Spirits are dark, afraid.
And the Beast hunts, hungry and cruel,
seeking out the weak, and the foolish.

We all weep now….

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

The following religirant is from June of 2012, and remains as cogent as the day it was first written….. thank goodness, as it gives me a reason to use it now…..  My advice is to take it with the usual grain or two of your favorite flavored salt….. Myself, I like a mixture of onion and garlic salt….

“Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think.” — Arthur Schopenhauer

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

There are many folks out there who, when reading my material for the first time, might get the impression that I am an atheist, and an anarchist. The stuff I write would tend to give that impression, I have no doubt. But, it really isn’t the case, and just goes to show that not everything is always as it seems….

I’m not an atheist, at least not in a classical sense. I would more accurately be described as agnostic, as I believe strongly in a spiritual component in the universe. But, the very concept of omnipotence, and omniscience, implies that one cannot define God, or whatever entity one considers to be the ultimate authority. A finite mind cannot comprehend an infinite mind; anything we can imagine cannot, by definition, be accurate or complete, as our minds are not infinite in scope.

It could be said that our imagination IS infinite. We can, at the very least, comprehend the concept of infinity, even if we cannot touch it, or see it, or count that high. But, to actually think that what we imagine about God is the same as reality is not only arrogant, it is foolish. Yet a large percentage of the human race not only believes they know what God looks like (ironically, God always looks like the folks who are claiming Him as their deity….), but that they know what He wants. To my way of thinking, this is sheer self-aggrandizement, and unjustifiably arrogant….

I suppose it helps them in dealing with the everyday stresses of life to think that they are special. To think they are beloved of God, and what they do is important to Him. This sense of belonging is important to a lot of folks, due I think, to their own fears about their ability to deal with reality as it exists. It gives them a sense of entitlement, and justifies their actions, no matter how immoral or unethical they may be. It allows them to act upon their impulses without restraint, to lie, to cheat, to steal, all in the name of the Lord. And, if they should happen to feel a tiny shred of guilt about what they are doing to other folks, why, they just confess their sins to Jesus, and all is forgiven!….

Sorry, ffolkes, but I could never buy into the whole scenario, from my earliest days. All of my experience, and all of my reasoning have led me to a different view of reality than what is described by any religion. I have observed the behavior of most people of a religious bent to be, as a rule, hypocritical, cruel, bigoted, racist, and, for the most part, unrelated to any moral or ethical system of any depth. The most religious in society go so far as to threaten violence toward anyone who disagrees with their beliefs, justified by their own self-proclaimed right to spew their hatred on anyone who differs.

I believe in compassion and kindness. I believe in love. I believe in protecting the vulnerable, and helping the less fortunate. I believe in beauty. And, I believe in reality, whatever that may be; it’s purely subjective for the most part. I DON’T believe in the divinity of Jesus, or Buddha, or Lao Tzu, or Mohammad, or any other religious prophet. I don’t believe there is some white haired, bearded old guy sitting on a throne of gold up in the sky somewhere, looking down and getting his pants in a bunch because I didn’t salute his graven image first thing after I got up.

That whole graven image thing, and the idea that God wants, or needs, our worship has always been a thorn in my side. I mean, can’t these zealots understand the irony of worshiping an image of Christ on the cross? Don’t they know that the cross is a graven image? And why would an omnipotent being need MY worship? It makes no sense. None. I cannot imagine of ANY reason for a God to care at all about such petty bullshit; I don’t care to be worshiped, why should He? Having someone act that way toward me makes me uncomfortable, so I can’t see why a God would even want to go there. What purpose does it serve?

One of my computer alarms just went off, and made me realize I was ranting, which I had not started out to do. I think y’all can get the gist of my arguments by this time, and those who are in disagreement with what I’ve written aren’t going to be persuaded away from their long-held delusions by my words, so further soliloquy would be futile.

I’ll just finish by saying this…. until Mankind grows up enough to be able to put aside the crutch of religion, and learns to stand up to reality as it exists, without the delusional imaginary friend to intercede on their behalf with the universe, then our path to extinction will remain clear…. It’s too bad really, because our species shows a lot of promise…. it’s too bad we will never be allowed to explore our limits as an adult species, because we will have killed ourselves off before we ever got out of childhood….

“There ain’t no devil, there’s just God when he’s drunk.” — Tom Waits, Heartattack and Vine
_____________________________

I’m pretty amazed, and that is hard to do…. I’ve been around a couple of blocks thus far in my life, and have seen a LOT of strange stuff (I DID work with the mentally ill, remember? They came up with some pretty bizarre issues, for sure and for certain….), but, it isn’t often I write an entire Pearl while half-asleep…. As I type this, my eyelids are drooping, and my entire being is yearning to be laying down, with my head pillowed comfortably, sawing the proverbial logs as I pound that pillow to smithereens….. Alas, I still have to proof this, which is tough, given the nature of THAT beast… Well, whining about it won’t get it done….

Y’know, there are times when I begin to think that maybe, just maybe, there is something to be said for unconsciousness…. I seem to do my best work when I’m fighting it off…. No matter, whatever the reason, this one isn’t bad, and will certainly do for today’s posting…. So be it…. gigoid has spoken, right before he falls back asleep…. See ya…..

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
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

dozer3