In the beginning, there was fish sauce…. and not much else. Of course, this was because things were still new and confusing, and no one had even thought about ice cream, or margaritas. But, the weather was good, so it was okay with most everybody…… people didn’t used to be so greedy. Then, of course, came the rules, first set up by a preacher, and things have gone downhill ever since…..

Life got really hard once there were rules, because, hey, no more fish sauce at bedtime, and folks have been playing the blues ever since that fateful day. We’d probably all rather have the fish sauce, but the blues are a pretty good trade-off, when you stop to think about it. And nobody pays any attention any more to the preachers, so things will get better, unless we start that old politics thing again. Boy, every time we try that crap, somebody’s got to get all elitist and big-mouth, dissing everybody else and hogging all the money, which we need for ice cream and guitar picks….. I hate when that happens….

So, rather than fall prey to the depredations of rogue politicos, or assholes, as we call them downtown, I think we should go diving in the web for pearls, & see if we can find some really shiny ones…. Toothsome, over at adollyisciousirony.com, also known as All About Lemon, her blog site, has started another game, a story game, and today’s first section will talk about that…. Shall we Pearl?…..

Now, of course, since the story game is over, and, fish sauce is still at a premium, we just say….

Shall we Pearl?

“Bernard of Chartres used to say that we are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness on sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size.” — Bernard of Chartres (d. c.1130) — John of Salisbury Metalogicon (1159) bk. 3, ch. 4

But, rather than a morality rant, let’s watch Bugs and the Road Runner, eh?….

Here is a rather amorphous religirant, which is, in truth, less of a rant as much as an exploration of alternative philosophies, offered as a contrast to the general run of organized religions, complete with a massive pearl with ten gems…. Sort of a smorgasbôrd of religious thought from which to construct your own Dagwood, with your own particular sandwich as metaphor for your view of How Things Work, with Why as the condiments, and, Truth as meat and cheese…. Yum!…. Have fun!…. You’ll find utensils and napkins in the seat back in front of you….

From 9/18/2012:

Religion has never attracted me as a pastime that led to any particularly desirable activities. From the very first, even as a small child, I always thought the people at church were trying to get me to believe something that was not only hard to believe, but they wanted me to believe it, just on their word that it was true….. What they were saying wasn’t anything like what I perceived to be true about the world at large; none of it sounded like common sense, if you get my drift…. Plus, the more I resisted what they said, and asked questions that they couldn’t answer, the more insistent they became….. Most kids have a pretty good crap detector, and the whole church thing seemed based on fluff, outright lies, and wishes to me…..

Any who, it seems a lot of my saved up oysters have been on that very subject, i.e., religious dogma, alternative ways of looking at the universe, how it works, and what it means…. (you know, all the good stuff….), so, I thought an old-school grouping would perhaps help ffolkes get a clue about what I do believe….. which can, I have to admit, change from one day to the next….. gotta keep room for new data, y’know…… Shall we Pearl a bit?…..

“Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the bible is filled, it would seem more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.” — Thomas Paine — The Age of Reason

“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)

“I believe in Spinoza’s God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings.” — Albert Einstein

“God:  What one human uses to persecute another.” — Anonymous

“The supreme irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out of it alive.” — Robert Heinlein, “Job”, 1984

“No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature.  Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this; the only right is what is after my own constitution; the only wrong what is against it.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

“If the lord had meant us to have faith, he’d have given us lobotomies.” — Zlatko

“A long and wicked life followed by five minutes of perfect grace gets you into Heaven. An equally long life of decent living and good works followed by one outburst of taking the name of the Lord in vain, then have a heart attack at that moment and be damned for eternity. Is that the system?” — Robert A. Heinlein

“I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being.”–Albert Einstein

“Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well.” — Buddha

Well, there you go…. a complete mish-mash of different philosophies and outlooks, each with its own little piece to contribute to the whole, all ended perfectly with a piece of profoundly simple wisdom… not the virtual kind that is common around here, but real wisdom, that you can put in your pocket, take away with you, and use as needed…..

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Note from 2015: As I have learned about Pearls, and pearls, and, of course, pearls, it became clear they require an odd number of gems to provide the proper balance, whether it be visually, intellectually, or metaphorically. It just works better…. Hence, this old pearl obviously requires one last pearl to finish it off with the proper flourish…. Ooh! Ooh! I know! Here is the perfect finish for this one….

“Thou are God, you know. Let’s do lunch.” — gigoid, Peruaosophy, Axiom #2

“For my part, I think that a knowledge of the future would be a disadvantage.” — Cicero, “De Divinatione”

The universe is not indifferent to intelligence, it is actively hostile to it.” — Smart Bee

“Courage begins when we can admit that there is no life without some pain, some frustration; that there is no tragic accident from which we are immune; and that beyond the normal exercise of prudence we can do nothing about it.” — Victoria Lincoln

“Only the madman is absolutely sure.” — Robert Anton Wilson

“Genius is nothing more than childhood, recaptured at will.” — Charles Baudelaire

“Simplicity is always a virtue. One kid on a riverbank working out a Stephen Foster tune on his new harmonica heard from the correct aesthetic distance projects more magic and power than the entire Vienna Philharmonic and Chorus laboring (once again) through the Mozart Requiem or Bach’s B Minor Mass.” — Edward Abbey

“Certainly the game is rigged. Don’t let that stop you; if you don’t bet, you can’t win.” — Lazarus Long

“Virtue consisteth of three parts, – temperance, fortitude, and justice.” — Epicurus (B.C. 341-270)

To quote the Colonel, “I love it when a plan comes together.” Having met all my current goals, I’m off, to drive, visit, drive, then post…. See y’all tomorrow, we’re hoping….