Still, the physical therapist I saw last time this came to pass showed me an exercise which will correct the issue without too much trouble, so, at least it’s not a permanent state, thank goodness. To have to fight this all the time is a pain; I spent almost two weeks in relative misery a while back, so, knowing how to apply a fix is what I call serendipitous indeed…. But, it doesn’t help get today’s Pearl done, while trying not to spew all over the keyboard…. so, I’ll warn y’all now you’ll be seeing some archived material today, as creating fresh stuff is probably beyond my current powers…. That isn’t to say I can lay any claim to any real control over the process, but, it does at least acknowledge my efforts to keep producing different, if not totally new material… such as it may turn out….

I’m no Alex Pope, for sure, nor am I Sam Clemens in disguise; this I know for sure, though I do try to emulate both at times…. They’re worthy role models, to my way of thinking, at least in a literary sense…. Since Sam died before he got very old, and Pope, as far as I remember, also didn’t live to a ripe, old age, I think I’d rather emulate some other literary figures, like maybe Wordsworth, or Shaw, both of whom lived into their 80’s, if I recall my historical reading correctly…. At least with more time, I’ll have a better chance of approaching some level of competence at this, though it isn’t guaranteed…. But, then, in this world, guarantees are, for the most part, non-existent in a real sense….

Now that I’ve blathered and rambled sufficiently to satisfy any legal requirements anyone may come up with, I think I’ll go find some of those archived materials I spoke of previously, so I can get on to the exercises I need to do to get rid of this nonsensical physical issue that promises to complicate my day…. If I can get the fix in soon, I may be able to skip a lot of the misery so easy to come by when one is continuously feeling nauseous, even if it is a mild nausea…. It’s a bit like being just a little bit pregnant, I guess…. there’s really no getting away with any shortcuts…. Ah well, the Anglo-Saxons said it best, I suppose, when they gave us that oh-so-expressive epithet to fit almost any occasion, to wit:

FUCK!…. FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!

There, I feel better now…. a little bit, anyway, which will have to do….

Shall we Pearl?

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

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For many years, I have avoided watching TV, which, though a good idea, has nonetheless caused me to miss what GOOD material HAS been put on the air, somehow slipping past the idiots who generally choose what the public will see…. The series of Sherlock Holmes adventures dramatized on the BBC during the 1990’s is a perfect example of this…. I’ve been enjoying immensely catching up to all those fine pieces of work, starring an actor whose physical appearance is the closest to how A.C. Doyle describes Holmes, to wit: Jeremy Brett, who also happens to be a fine actor, gleefully playing Sherlock’s demented persona perfectly…. Here is one of these little hidden gems, with a link that will give you more links, to almost all of them, with some time and patience…. Enjoy, ffolkes, these are some delightful episodes, well-written and superbly acted….

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“Necessity has no law.” — Saint Augustine (354-430) — Soliloquium Animae ad Deum

Here is a perfect example of how the delusions and lies told by the dogma dogs has infiltrated the common mind of humanity, spreading false ideas that cause no end of societal misery…. This paraphrase of the old standard, “The end justifies the means,” has caused more misery in human history than almost any other idea…. It goes hand in hand with another lie, which is generally fed to the innocent minds of children, who have no real defenses against the ones telling them, thus perpetuating the false beliefs in each person, before they have any chance to realize any other, possibly opposite, concept…. to wit: we are merely the creations of a supernatural tyrant, and unworthy of existence unless we surrender our minds to that entity’s pathetic desire to be worshiped for its largesse….

Now, even in my less than ideal frame of mind, these lies are infuriating, almost enough to make me keep ranting along those lines…. but, not quite…. This is some serious nausea today, if I move injudiciously…. So, here is a rant from the archives, to sublimate my need to pull the covers off those who are holding the entire human species hostage, preventing us from ever having a chance to achieve our real potential, all because of their own cowardice, and fear of what the real world is like…. SIGH…. Sometimes, when I say it like that, it’s hard to feel like we deserve any chances…. We certainly seem to prefer to wallow in our stupidity, more than we seem to enjoy thinking, and learning, and living in “delicious ambiguity”….

A quite old rant, last posted on 7/22/2013:

I’m all at sixes and sevens this morning, and don’t have anything to say, other than this…. bleah….

Since that won’t do, even for what passes around here for acceptable, here is an old rant, from mid-2012, on a favorite subject….

“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 gather 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 point to it, or see it at all; nor can we, in a finite sense, 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, folks, 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 panties in a bunch because I didn’t kiss, or even 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? Apparently, to them, it isn’t a graven image, in spite of fitting every definition of the word. It also occurs to me to wonder why an omnipotent being would need, or even want, 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 even 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?

Well, 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….

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Given my previously admitted state of mind, or lack thereof, here is one of my own poems, written sometime in 2013, I think…. I’ll check later, but, it isn’t really important, as it speaks quite nicely to the subject above, in at least one sense….

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I have already laid the groundwork for this section to see an older pearl, but, first we’ll see if SB is feeling nice enough to help out a bit during this time of mild crisis…. If not, I’ll fill it in from past works, but, first, let’s see what we can find, with today’s theme loosely held in mind…. the ONLY way I can hold them today…. loosely, that is…. Okay, well, that went fairly well…. This should do the trick nicely….

“I have observed that the world has suffered far less from ignorance than from pretensions to knowledge. It is not skeptics or explorers but fanatics and ideologues who menace decency and progress.” — Daniel Boorstin

“Change your mind, it’s starting to smell.” — Smart Bee

“A good example is the best sermon.” — H. Jackson Brown

“Now, that the sovereign power and deity, whatsoever it is, should have regard of mankind, is a toy and vanity worthy to be laughed at.” — Pliny The Elder

Given the difficult circumstances in which I find myself today, this turned out fairly well. Well enough, I’d say, to classify as “done”…. which, as we all know, is the only requirement to be fulfilled…. Makes it easy on days like today…. So easy, I’m outta here, and in good time…. Time enough to go find some mischief to get into, right after I apply the fix to my brain’s ability to tell where it is in relation to the ground…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, hopefully with a bit more going for me than today…..