Tag Archives: Sylvia Plath

Running fast in sequined socks….

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Ffolkes,
A soft breeze stirs the fragrant air, scents of exotic flowers mingling with the calls of sea birds circling over the beach, adding to the sense of serene isolation. Slow, rhythmic, the murmur of waves brushing against the sandy shore serve as background to the racing thoughts of the man lying on a lounge chair, near the sparkling water of the infinity pool. Long, pale, slender, the man sits up, brushing a hand through his luxurious hair, as he gazes around the pool area, constantly searching for anomalous shadows. His eyes, dark, with heavy brows, narrow in speculation as the door leading to the bar flies open, emitting a blast of sound from the blaring jukebox, rudely dispelling the quiet of the night…..

Not too shabby, I think, but, I’m stuck right where I left it, with no clue as to where to go from there. Too many choices, I suppose, and given my track record over the last two days, I’m not going to make any choices whatsoever…. What a bloody cock-up, as my friends across the water would say, if they were as vulgar as I am…. There were some rather good high points, but, several moments of sheer terror, as I realized just how bozoid I can be sometimes, and embarrassment washed over me for the stupidity I displayed…. Yes, ffolkes, me, stupid, all in the same sentence, and quite more intimately acquainted than intended, let me assure you…..

First, the EOA episode on Monday, when I transposed the names of Ayn Rand and Anais Nin in my head, so firmly that I exchanged one for the other several times in one rant, all about the WRONG person’s ideas…. I think the correct words to use would be….. hang on a sec, the thesaurus is across the room….. okay, that would be…. either “tiresomely ignorant” or “completely lacking in wit”, take your pick. Both are appropriate, though each is just slightly short of the mark in terms of degree…. perhaps, “incredibly dim” would fit best….

Yes, almost a thousand words, possibly more, all based on my dyslexic confusion of authors who were not even the same sex, much less clones that could be confused on sight…. No, just my own stupid habit of not checking what is coming out of my head for accuracy, a habit that I need to break, as it doesn’t fit with my own beliefs in the scientific method. Checking sources for accuracy should be automatic, and I skip that step far too often…. There is no possible excuse other than laziness, and that is an unacceptable reason, in my book….

Second in my list of faux pas, I had a long, very interesting dialogue with a reader from Europe (I know this, because Spell Checker tells me…. the spelling of two words by the Euro method, i.e. “ise” instead of “ize” at the end, is a dead giveaway….). We spent a couple of hours trading comments, and I was thoroughly charmed to be so gently put in my place as a curmudgeon gone mad…. This reader was compassionate, sensible, and erudite, and used many of my own thoughts to remind me of why I should hold on to hope for the future.  I was very pleased to have met and traded ideas with such a fine philosopher…. a philosopher whom I assumed was a man, but, in reality is a woman….. DOH!  (Picture an old fart slapping his forehead with his open hand….)

Yes, once again, in my mad rush to fulfill my own internal agenda, I skipped over details that would have given me a clue to the fact that my assumptions were erroneous. I’m getting tired of the embarrassment factor, and will, you can be sure, making some procedural changes in my head. I’ll also be watching out much more closely to make sure that what I’m saying, and writing, is true and complete to the best of my knowledge. Reality doesn’t DEMAND that we pay heed to the principle of notary public, but, it sure makes it less frequently embarrassing if we do….

Well, having consumed a pretty fair-sized portion of crow, I am going to try to suppress my nausea long enough to at least finish this intro, and then get on with the dive for today. I think I’ve covered all I need to in regards an apology; now all I have to do is wait for the guilt and angst to fade away…. no worries. I know that this intro is risking losing interest, but, I had to get this stuff out of my head, to make room for all the nonsense that needs to be let out into the light of day, before it causes any further trouble…. Better out than in, right?…. Shall we Pearl?…..

“For getting attention, there’s nothing like a good, big, mistake!” — Bozo the Clown, Tuesday, 1963
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Okay, here is the deal…. Each of the following is a pearl of virtual wisdom, and each one can be categorized into a different group than each of the others, to wit, in order: Art, Science, Politics, Sex and Psychology (Sexy Psychology), and Philosophy. As you can see, the categories together make a fairly wide, fairly accurate description of Life at Large, or as we call it here, Consensual Reality. Each has its own message for the universe, with its own kernel of wisdom buried inside….

However, even though they don’t seem to have anything at all to do with one another, they are all subsets of the larger category, and, as such, worthy of inclusion here. The point they make, taken together, would probably drive the average reader insane, but, I have faith and trust in the perspicacity and flexibility of the readers of this blog…. Hell, if they weren’t capable of those characteristics, they wouldn’t be hanging around here for long…. Taken together, the point is blunted, but nonetheless effectively wise, as virtual wisdom goes….

Due to the patently obscure nature of this pearl, not only will it NOT be on the Final Test, but, you will receive bonus points for never mentioning where you saw it…. We here at ECR will, in turn, never mention that you were here…. Don’t forget your helmets and body armor….

‘I don’t mind what language an opera is sung in so long as it is a language I don’t understand.” — Sir Edward Appleton

Relativity for Children: Time moves slower in a fast moving vehicle. — Smart Bee

“One claim for the value of the British monarchy is that its existence precludes anyone from aspiring to absolute rule.  I have a theory that the American presidency serves a similar purpose, precluding anyone from managing the government.” — Smart Bee

“One of the prison psychiatrists asked me if I thought sex was dirty, and I said it is if you’re doing it right.” — Woody Allen, “Take the Money and Run”

“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.” — Buddha (B.C. 568-488)

I think they made a movie about these pearls…. starring Jack Nicholson, in one of his finest performances.. It was called, “Five Easy Pieces”, and I never understood it at all, until reading this pearl…. Who knew?….   🙂
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Lately I’ve been exploring the poetry of Sylvia Plath, a poetess I’d never delved into before last year, for reasons that are irrelevant to this discussion. What I’ve found is an incredibly talented wordsmith, and a ton of poems I haven’t previously enjoyed…. so, I’m doing so now…. This one doesn’t have any particularly intimate meaning for me, I just like it, as it is a good demonstration of the depth of her talent…. Enjoy!

Mirror

I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
I am not cruel, only truthful ‚
The eye of a little god, four-cornered.
Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long
I think it is part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.

Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,
Searching my reaches for what she really is.
Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.
She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her. She comes and goes.
Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.
In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.

~~ Sylvia Plath

Wow… those last two lines just grasp your shirt-front and shake, don’t they?….. Whew!….  🙂
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“A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.” — Mark Twain

As I sit here, I can almost feel myself getting older…. It seems to be a predilection of being this age, that one becomes somewhat introspective, looking back over our time here on Earth, and making judgments about what we’ve done, or are guilty of leaving undone, in our lives. This preoccupation seems to be innate, but, I don’t necessarily see a lot of it in others my age, in my experiences out in society at large.

Here, on WordPress, the normal demographics of population diversity seems to run a bit higher, in that respect, than it does out in the Big Blue Room…. probably something to do with the fact that those here on this site are, if nothing else, highly educated enough, and/or affluent enough, to partake in the Internet’s community dialogue…. Sometimes, it’s hard to remember that there are still millions of folks out there who have never, and never will, see any of what transpires here, for whatever reason, educational, financial, or merely indifference…. In that group of people, those my age are concerned much of the time with survival, and tend to be directed outward, to deal with the mechanics of that critical issue.

To that group, introspection is a luxury they cannot afford to indulge in themselves, as it takes time away from activities and mental attitudes necessary for surviving. I have been living on the edge of that group for a couple of years now, and can only be thankful that I am close enough to the edge to be able to afford this luxury; I do have to make sacrifices to have it, so I appreciate it a lot. It was a pain in the derrière, literally, to have to leave home to find internet access, so, not having to do so is a big plus for me.

In my time of introspection, I’ve spent a lot of it fighting off guilt, for the things I’ve done in my life that don’t meet with my own approval, as so aptly referred to by Mr. Twain. We all have those things hidden in our memories, those failures of ethical or moral standards we set for ourselves, and looking back on them is hard, as there is nothing we can do to change it. We have to learn to forgive ourselves for such transgressions, because no one else, not even God, if ones choose to believe in the traditional dogma, can change the past. (Query: Can God build a wall so strong He can’t knock it down, or a rock so heavy He can’t pick it up?…. Just wondered; sorry, little side trip….)

Since we cannot change the past, nor go back and try to make things better, if nothing else, we must learn to hold those little kernels of painful memory inside us, and find a way to deal with the little nugget of discomfort that will always accompany such memories. It is a delicate procedure, as we must deal with chastising and scolding our own selves, while still maintaining our self-love, without which we can never be comfortable, or comforted. One cannot accept love from another unless they feel it is deserved; it will sour and spoil all the flavor of the interaction, dooming it to failure, and pain.

How do we maintain this self-image of someone who is worthy of being loved by others? Well, that, my friends, is a very long story, indeed, and one I’m not going to start here and now, as it could be days before I surfaced again, and we’re already at the point where most folk’s minds, as well as those of regular ffolkes, will be losing interest, unless I pull some literary magic, or set off some figurative fireworks. Currently, my supply of fireworks is low, so we’ll leave a deeper discussion of this subject for another time. For now, let me say this….

We are all creatures of a Universe that puts a premium on flexibility, especially of mind. This flexibility is enhanced when we spend time on ourselves, in introspection, and inner dialogue, and is ultimately part of what is the only way to ever really achieve any balance or stability in life. It gives us the proper perspective on how we fit into the rest of the picture, and points the way to the greatest degree of successful interaction with the other parts of that universe. It is the best way to stay in touch with what we are, and what we need to be, to survive, and to make our lives meaningful in some way.

“We are injured and hurt emotionally – not so much by other people or what they say or don’t say – but by our own attitude and our own response.” — Maxwell Maltz, “Psycho-Cybernetics”

Well worth a dollar, or a moment or two of your time, I’d say…. Try something new and different, spend some time in your own head…. Of course, one should (careful, there’s that word!….) be cautious in this, as with any potentially mind-altering activity like mindful introspection…. You never know when a preconceived notion will jump up and bite you….. and those ingrained prejudices can be hard to spot, as they tend to hide behind walls of ignorance and fear….. Remember yesterday’s pearl…. The Snark might actually be a Boojum…. Catch it, cook it, eat it with some fava beans and a nice Chianti, and then get on with your life….  🙂
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All things considered, today’s effort will make the grade…. which, given the struggle I had to produce it, is a good thing. I feel as if I’ve gone six rounds with the champ…. but, I think I won, if only on points awarded for honesty, and the bruises will fade in time….. Since I can’t really think of anything further I can do to cause trouble, or to cure any, I guess I’ll go find something constructive to do until the library opens, and I can go find a book to read…. gigoid has spoken; so be it…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

dozer3

Sparky was filing his teeth when he exploded….

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Ffolkes,
Once again, fear strikes deep into my soul, faced as I am with a blank sheet of paper and an empty mind. That’s figuratively speaking, of course, as we’ve progressed beyond the paper stage, so it’s actually a blank white screen I’m looking at…. The mind remains empty, alas, and the fear grows….. Well, literal or figurative, we’ve got some issues to deal with, so, I’d likely do well to follow my usual policy in such cases, and go take a break now…. I’ll be right back….

In the usual state of affairs around here in the morning, such a break would solve any difficulties I am encountering in getting started, but today seems to be resisting normality a bit more than is standard. Of course, ‘normality’ is rather scarce here anyway….. The paper/screen is now a bit less blank, thanks to my gift for producing something from nothing, but still with no indications of anywhere brilliant to head off to…. I’m going to have to figure something out here pretty quick, as we’re now two paragraphs in, and still not a single clean idea, or literary device, to be seen…. The brain cops are going to want me to move along soon, so let’s try this….

Howdy, ffolkes! How are y’all this fine morning? It’s 0458 here in Northern California, and I’m once again up, eyes wide open, and rarin’ to get going on today’s Pearl, having already had coffee and a session of worship at the porcelain throne! Why I am up at this hour remains a mystery, but, since I’ve been arising at 0400-0500 now for the last six days or so, I suppose I have to accept that arising at this insane hour is becoming a new routine, that my brain has decided upon without any input from my conscious mind. I’ve tentatively come to terms with it, as I don’t seem to be able to sleep past those hours, no matter when I crash….

But, that’s okay! I’m fine! I’m happy! I’m absolutely fucking crazy!…… Well, maybe not quite that far yet, but, if this keeps up, it won’t be long before that latter statement becomes reality….. Come to think of it, though, maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing….. If nothing else, it might give me a whole new set of ideas for intro sections, coming at the issue from a totally new, and unpredictable direction every day! Hmm…. well, for now, I’ll keep total insanity in reserve, as a backup procedure, such as I had to use yesterday, when it was necessary to break down and use Emergency Procedure #4….. I think I’ll call this one the Bell Jar Procedure, in honor of Sylvia Plath….

And, see, it works….. or, rather, it worked today…. Without having to actually go totally batshit crazy, and without actually having to write anything particularly coherent, or sensible, I’ve completed a five-paragraph-intro….. without you ever noticing what I was doing! Amazing, eh? And so creative! And, if I keep on with the exclamations, and the back-patting, I’m going to hurt myself, so, maybe we’d best get on with the rest of today’s effort….. Shall we Pearl?…..

“I was trying to daydream, but my mind kept wandering.” — Steven Wright
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“How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? Only one, but it takes a really long time and the light bulb has to want to change.” — Smart Bee

Boy, if it wasn’t for the power of metaphor, I would be lost!….. This statement, though presented in a manner that makes it obviously a joke, is actually quite serious in its relevance to sanity, psychiatry, and how the mind works, in general. I worked for many years in the field of mental health care, as a therapist, and I can tell you quite honestly, that this is absolutely true, in many cases of what the rest of society terms insanity….. a word, and a concept, that most of society avoids at all costs, and completely misunderstands, for the most part…. You see, every person who lives in this society on Earth today is just a little insane, with some of them reaching higher levels through their own efforts to excel…… 🙂   Society itself is insane, you see, and one needs to be the same in order to effectively cope….

It may surprise some ffolkes to know that they are insane; I know it surprised me when I first became aware of this fact. We all go through our lives with a certain image of ourselves, and very rarely does that image in our minds look insane. But, let me assure you, there really isn’t any visible way to be able to tell if a person is insane, as it is completely invisible, under most circumstances, as long as the person isn’t speaking, or acting in some way that provides a clue as to their inner state of mind. Even for those of us trained in recognizing its presence, through the use of observation of other defining characteristics, there is no guaranteed method for spotting someone with a mental condition, unless they give it to you up front by acting out in some overt fashion.

Sure, there are tells, as a gambler would say…. When one eye is happily spinning in the opposite direction as the other, it’s a pretty good sign of some inner turmoil…. Pacing and mumbling to oneself, back and forth in a small area, while ignoring all around them, can be another dead giveaway of someone who is experiencing a few extra perceptions in comparison to the rest of us. Sometimes, really bad grooming can be a sign that the person’s mind isn’t focused on how they affect others, and staring at a wall, holding what appears to be a conversation with oneself, can be another indication that not all is well in that person’s world….

But, without some overt signs such as these, you just can’t spot mental illness, and it is extra hard to see it in one’s own image, since we tend to clean that up before we look at it, or try to share it. And, since EVERYONE ELSE is also insane, at least a little, it can be hard to spot, for the same reason one cow in a herd is hard to pick out. You may have heard the old saw about “one in four people are insane, so if you have three sane friends, it’s you”….. What would be more accurate to say is, “all of you are insane, but three of you are coping well with it in an effective manner, and one isn’t…. ”

It’s helpful to know that the overt signs one may see are indicative of the severity of the condition, i.e., the more acting out one observes, the more severe the break in the mental state. But, that isn’t always accurate, as normally sane folks, acting in the grip of strong emotion, can show the same kind of acting out, with the difference of not having it occur all the time, but only when provoked. Thus, it can be seen, it can be very difficult to judge whether a person is insane, or merely temporarily out of control…..

This is where I bring it all together, by referring back to the original pearl…. Coping with life can drive anyone crazy, and does, every day….. Some  cope with it better than others, and those are the people who are considered to be sane, as they can deal with reality without resorting to outlandish ways of dealing with their fears. Those who cannot find ways of coping with their fears, which arise from what reality gives us to deal with, end up acting in ways that are strange and uncomfortable for the rest of us, and are often dangerous, in a physical sense, for them, and for those around them…..

In all my experience, with every kind of mental illness I saw in almost 30 years working in mental hospitals, the primary characteristic of those who got better, was that they made up their own minds to do so…. That’s it…. Simple as it may seem, deciding to give up the methods they used, and make a change, was always based on a personal decision on their part, and was THE key ingredient in the regime of ideas, medicines, therapies, and treatments used to combat their illness. In other words, it took a long time, and they first had to want to change….. Without that, nothing worked…. It is a well known aphorism among mental health therapists that, “they get better IN SPITE of what we do, not because of it….”

So, if you’re getting worried about your own coping skills, just keep in mind that to remain sane, it means you have to want to do so…. But, that’s all it takes, if your are sincere, for you will do whatever else is needed, once your will power has been engaged…. That’s what people do….

“Great minds think alike, apparently so do we.” — D. Bennett

“Falsely luxurious, will not man awake?” — James Thomson (1700-1748) — The Seasons, Summer, Line 67
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In keeping with the tradition established for today, and in honor of yesterday’s romantic events, here is a brilliant poem by someone very familiar with the idea of insanity, as it was her lifelong companion….. Maybe that’s why I feel so connected to her?…..

Mad Girl’s Love Song

“I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,
And arbitrary blackness gallops in:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed
And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

God topples from the sky, hell’s fires fade:
Exit seraphim and Satan’s men:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I fancied you’d return the way you said,
But I grow old and I forget your name.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

I should have loved a thunderbird instead;
At least when spring comes they roar back again.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)”

~~ Sylvia Plath

Brilliant! Absolutely, insanely brilliant!   🙂
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“The media are now the tool of tyrants and despots. Tyrants and despots encourage fear, because fearful people will accept extreme political solutions, will demand extreme political solutions.” — Jon Carroll, S. F. Chronicle, January 8, 1997

Jon Carroll, on the political scale, would be considered to be just a bit left of the center, maybe a foot or two, as he tends to side with liberal ideas more than conservative. Over the years, I’ve found his take on life and society to be, most of all, even-handed, and reasonable. He avoids the trap of becoming overly critical of conservative ideas, while at the same time showing absolute fearlessness in addressing difficult questions and issues. As a media member, for him to make this statement was most likely painful, in that he had to admit his own culpability to do so. He does that, quite well, without becoming overly pedantic or shrill about it…. while still nailing the controversial point he is shooting at….

The recent hullabaloo over gun control is a perfect example of the process he describes, in action. Whenever a madman grabs a gun and starts shooting people randomly, or even targeting one group or another, the media immediately descends in hordes on the location of the shooting, giving out endless bulletins with the latest news on the events, interviewing police, victims, bystanders, and pundits to provide “balanced coverage” of events the public “has the right to know”…. regardless of how degrading, or painful, or ignorant, or insane, or stupid it may sound, or how much pain it may cause the victims. No stone is left unturned to examine and evaluate every emotional nuance for the viewing public, without any regard for morality, or justice, and definitely without any regard for compassion, or empathy….

After the event has ended, the media then turns to the “discussion” of the meaning of the events, which means it gives the Beloved Ruling Class a free source of advertisement for its agenda, which, allow me to reassure you, has nothing to do with what may be good for YOU. All the talk you hear from politicians after these shootings is aimed at increasing the fear of the public, to make them believe they are powerless in the face of a madman with a gun, and only if the people will allow ONLY the police and government to have guns, why, everything will be fine, and there would never be any more shootings at public schools…

I’m sorry, but, I’m afraid I can’t buy that…. There are over seven billion people on this planet, and there is nothing at all that is going to prevent some of them from going crazy, getting a gun, (or knife, or poison, or grenade, or dynamite, or…….) and using it on other folks. Believing such nonsense is, I’m sorry, just stupid….. It won’t stop, and there is nothing that will stop it, unless we figure out a way to change human nature…. a quest that, so far, has been completely unsuccessful, and isn’t likely to ever be otherwise….. People have violence in their nature, and thinking that the government, or any other entity, can change that is, well, not too bright….

But, fear is strong in most of society, and those folks have no clue, in general, that they are so easily manipulated. They tend to allow anyone who promises them to stop the fear to tell them what to do, just so they don’t have to think about it, or face it themselves. Governments have known this for centuries; look up Hermann Goering, the Nazi general under Hitler, some time, and see what he had to say about the people, and how their leaders could, and did, make them do whatever they wished, just by fanning their fears….. It’s a practice by no means uncommon among governments throughout history, up to and including the present day version….

Yep, ffolkes, that is indeed what it means…. most people are cowards, plain and simple…. When it comes to their own fears, they won’t do much of anything in the way of conquering those fears themselves…. They would much rather let the politicians promise them to keep the streets safe, if only they will give up the right to defend themselves, or allow a preacher to tell them to submit to earthly authority in order to receive eternal life (Or, in other words, “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday, for a hamburger today…..” — Wimpy, Popeye’s friend, and metaphorical common man….). The media, whether out of ignorance, or out of deliberate dispassion, will continue to give them a public platform from which to perform their manipulations, and never blink an eye in guilt….

Me? I’ll pass on the hamburger, thanks, and go make sure my powder is dry…..

“I now have absolute proof that smoking even one marijuana cigarette is equal in brain damage to being on Bikini Island during an H-bomb blast.” — Ronald W. Reagan
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Okay, that will do…. It is barely after 0700, and I’ve proofed once, and buffed a few scuffs so they shine a little…. It will have to do, as I’m not going back and doing it again…. not unless I suffer a power surge that deletes it all, an unlikely event in the face of the precautions I have in place to deal with that possibility….. 🙂  

Nevertheless, precautionary techniques notwithstanding, it’s done…. So be it…. It’s probably a good thing, as I’m getting tired of pretending to be sane, and need to go let it out somewhere…. Oh, wait, that’s what THIS is supposed to do…. Oops…. Well, we’ll just have to hope for the best, I suppose…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

dozer3

Apply the absinthe as an ointment….

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3

Ffolkes,
Some mornings, just listening to the coffee brew, smelling that wonderful aroma, as it turns itself into the nectar we crave, is sufficient to soothe the savage breast….. or, would be, were it not 0447 in the AM…. I guess I hit the rack a little early last night, as my eyes popped open, with obvious intent to stay that way, just a few moments ago, and forced me out of bed, somewhat less than breathlessly eager to start the day. Unsure as to whether or not I should piss or go blind, I shall proceed to do neither….

I think, in this instance, I’m going to drop back five yards, and punt….. an option I often forget to utilize. Modern football has lost its class, for the most part, having long ago forfeited any such claim for the excitement of outright savagery, so the strategic advantage of such a play is lost on most students of today’s game. But, it can still go a long way toward improving one’s field position, especially if trapped on one’s own end of the playing field.  I enjoy the look of surprise and consternation on Murphy’s face when I boot the ball over his head, sending him scrambling….. One of the few moments I spend with him that I can honestly say I enjoy….

There, that’s done…. I decided, since I was up so damn early, why not be efficient? So, in two short paragraphs, otherwise known as one swell foop, I have completed the morning’s quota of BS and nonsense, and mentioned Murphy. so he can’t say I didn’t give him his due, thereby filling two requirements with one intro…. In addition, it has created three entirely acceptable paragraphs of that intro section, which is practically the whole nine yards…. What a deal!….

Not only that, but in the process, I’ve managed to create enough space in my head to find my mojo. Yep, I just looked over, and there it was, all shiny and rested since my last use, when I got so carried away I….. well, I probably shouldn’t talk about it…. the statute of limitation hasn’t been reached yet…. But, never mind that…. now that I’ve got my mojo firmly tucked away in a pocket, we can go directly to work, and feel confident that, whatever happens, it will be for the best…. A bit naive, maybe, but no choice now but to cast off and set sail….. Shall we Pearl?….
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Within the oyster’s shell uncouth
The purest pearl may hide,
Trust me you’ll find a heart of truth
Within that rough inside.

— Mrs. Osgood

At last! It has been ages since I last saw this gem from Mrs. Osgood, whoever she is….. This, as is apparent, is my vision statement for this blog. In fact, it is the best statement I’ve seen, ever, to describe what a Pearl of Virtual Wisdom comprises, as it puts what is important, truth, right where it should be, covered and protected by a smooth surface of alabaster, surrounded by a crusty shell, so ugly it possesses an oddly beautiful strength. The only difference between a POVW and a real pearl then, is that only one of them can be held in your hand…. Otherwise, one is a metaphor for the other, interchangeable in the clever confines of our imagination….

Since I have been serendipitously rewarded for my search today by finding this, which I had misplaced, after a fashion (that means I forgot about it until just now, when I found it again….), I’ll take a moment here to give my disclaimer regarding those self-same Pearls…. to wit: Pearls of Virtual Wisdom are just that…. Virtual Wisdom. They are NOT real wisdom, and any attempt to use them as real wisdom is, well, a risky proposition at best….. The owner of this blog assumes no responsibility for any such misdirected folly, and will only apply first-aid as needed to maintain life signs until the arrival of professional medical personnel.

Okay, there…. sorry, but, you know how those bureaucrats are… Every once in a while I’m required to post that disclaimer, or they won’t renew my anti-irony insurance….. It’s a pain having to pay it…. I really don’t see much difference between insurance sold by corporations, and protection rackets run by organized criminal organizations…. Both are identical in outcome, i.e. you pay money to other people so they guarantee your safety from being robbed, but, only the former is legal…. I don’t understand fully why that is, because, as far as I can see, there isn’t any real difference.

If you pay the mob, then they don’t rob you themselves, so you are protecting yourself from them. With the bureaucrats, you pay them so you are allowed to remain in business, which, if you look at it, is exactly the same thing, but one shuts down the business by destroying the merchandise, the other by shutting the doors with lawsuits….. It’s just one more piece of evidence that government is nothing more than organized crime, only legal…..

Okay, that’s enough blathering…. I just wanted to share the poem with you, and take the opportunity to make sure that everyone who reads my stuff is aware of the delicate nature of its relevance to reality…. Remember, ffolkes, to take everything you see here with a grain of salt, or your favorite savory substance, or take it under advisement…. just take it, please….

“Why are these athletic shoe salesmen following me??” — Zippy the Pinhead
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Mirror

I am silver and exact.
I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
I am not cruel, only truthful ‚
The eye of a little god, four-cornered.
Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long
I think it is part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.

Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,
Searching my reaches for what she really is.
Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.
She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her. She comes and goes.
Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.
In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.

~~ Sylvia Plath
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Chauvinism, confession, and guilt…..

I am an asshole. A jerk. A prick. A foul-mouthed, misbegotten excuse for a human being…. I am, as with most of my peers, a hypocrite, and deserving of permanent sentencing to the lowest pits of hell for my perfidy….. What, you might ask, prompted this outburst of self-denigration? Well, let me tell you….

Most of us, at some point or another, sit down from time to time to think about our actions, those we are considering, and those we have acted out in the past, to get some perspective on how those actions have conformed to our ethical and moral beliefs. In other words, we sit in self-judgment; whether we do so to praise or to chastise doesn’t matter, ultimately, as long as it is an honest appraisal, and we do not flinch from owning up to our baseness where it is found…..

This is why I am forced to curse myself…. Because I’m not a Catholic,  or any other faith that espouses such mummery, (I don’t mean to pick on Catholics…. some of my best friends, etc…..  🙂  They’re just the example everyone knows about….)….  Any who, because I’m not of that Tribe, I don’t have the luxury of confessing to a priest, who would then reassure me that I am still one of the Chosen Ones, and send me on my way having learned nothing but a false sense of entitlement. I can’t just pass off what I may have done in my life to some faceless butthead in a dress, who, no doubt, has a great laugh at the expense of the penitent, when he and the other priests get together in the rectory for a few drinks, passing around all the latest tall tales and outtakes from the confessional booth…..

I consider myself to be a morally upright person, and hope that my actions reflect that. But, I know for certain that, like every other human being who ever lived, I don’t always live up to those moral beliefs, and fall from grace on occasion…. If I were a less honest man, I’d say that there were mitigating, or at least explanatory reasons for my failures to hold to my own standards, but, if I tried that, my Dad would kick my ass from now until Thursday the next time I see him, so I’m not going to take that chance…. I take full responsibility for my actions, base and cruel as they were, and no one can hold me in lower regard than I do….

I had considered using this venue as a confessional, to air out my transgressions on the stage of reality, but, I don’t think that would be any more ethical than confessing to a priest…. Confession may make a difference to the penitent, by absolving him/her from any lingering guilt that could adversely affect them (i.e., they feel better about themselves after receiving absolution…), but, in truth, it doesn’t mean a damn thing, as nothing is done to balance the scale, in a karmic sense, especially for whatever creature or person that was the victim of the cruelty. The only act that would mean anything would be for the perpetrator to use the experience to motivate them to two things….

One, to try to repair whatever hurt or pain they have caused another creature…. man, animal, doesn’t matter…. They don’t deserve to be victimized, no matter their form, and ALL one can do, to fix any harm they have caused, is the least they should do…. Second, use the experience as motivation to make a change in themselves, to act with greater understanding, greater compassion, and greater control over themselves and their feelings…. which is what guilt is all about, right?…. The difference is that, when one confesses to a priest, and receives absolution; if the guilt is relieved, then there is no motivation to make any changes in their actions…. They know that none is necessary, as they can relieve themselves of any guilt they may feel by confessing, so why bother?

On the other hand, when one assumes the responsibility for their own actions, the guilt doesn’t go away…. I will never forgive myself for some of the things that I’ve done in my life (nor will I share them in any attempt to gain forgiveness from anyone else…. it’s none of their bloody business….)…. (Besides, that whole confessional thing just sounds too much like a blackmail scheme…. the people who confess are sure putting their fate trustingly into the hands of those priests, aren’t they?). That simple fact, of admitting and owning my guilt, is what keeps me from falling into the same ethical trap I did when I lost my cool, and acted without thinking,  or took my feelings out on innocent bystanders….. Not going to happen again, a sentiment which, I’m sure, is NOT what you can reasonably expect from any religicos after confession….

You will note that there are no pearls associated with this discussion…. That’s because I am such an asshole, none was needed to stimulate me into spilling my guts, so to speak…. Besides, I couldn’t find a proper pearl for the beginning of such a somber subject by the time I was ready to write about it…. But, Murphy must have liked the way I dissed myself, because I found these two, which, together, make a good closer for this subject…. Think of them as bookends….

“Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that’s right is to get by, and the only thing that’s wrong is to get caught.” — J. C. Watts

Boy, that hits the nail on the head, doesn’t it?…..    I’ve got these two quotes reversed in the order in which they make the most sense, but, given the state of things here, that isn’t surprising, is it…. This is the one that probably should go at the front of this piece, so, just put it there in your mind, okay? Thanks…..

“We tell lies when we are afraid, . . . afraid of what we don’t know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us. But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger.” — Tad Williams, Spoken by Dr. Morgenes, To Green Angel Tower (part of — Memory, Sorrow and Thorn)
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As I began today, so early, I had a moment of trepidation, thinking I might scare off my muse, but finding my mojo apparently made that a groundless fear, as I don’t seem to have found any lack of things to say…. More proof, I suppose, that I just can’t shut myself up….

Ah well, the path to sanity is littered with such misconceptions and folly, and rightly so…. I don’t need all these extra words floating around in my head, just looking for mischief to cause…. You take them, please….  🙂  I hope they bring you as much fun to read as they did for me to spew… er, write….

Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

dozer3

The plaza began to fill with orphan collectors….

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Ffolkes,
Typically….. Whoa! Wait a minute, here…. Well, hell……That word, “typically”, should NOT be where it is, and is, for a fact, one of those words that is programmed to trip my alarms, as it is on the list to never be used on this blog, when used in reference to myself….. Typical, normal, average, any word that resembles these has no application to my personality, or my life, for that matter, so I try not to use them at all when I’m talking about me. Of course, I also try not to use words of overt praise very often, as it might tend to swell my head, and my hat wouldn’t fit….. can’t have that…..

What most disturbs me about seeing the word there at the outset, is imagining what I might have had in mind for it to say. Whatever it was, it’s gone now; no trace anywhere of what it might have been, which means that my subconscious mind is again playing tricks on my conscious self, setting up little traps like this to confuse and distract, just as if Murphy didn’t do enough for me…

I know I told myself to go into hunker-down-and-wait-mode, which involves a great deal of looking for distractions to pass the time, and confusion is old friend, but, I didn’t think it would start so quickly, or, as it is my own head fussing with me, didn’t think it would feel so much like Murphy was at it again…. Apparently, my subconscious mind has been paying close attention when he has exercised his talents….

(This concludes the Murphy mention for the day…. bless his pointy head….)

Five to six weeks…. that is the current estimate for when a decision MIGHT get made on my SS disability. Yesterday, I saw the doctor who reviews the overall case for the agency, and is responsible for making the recommendation to grant or deny the application for benefits.

According to him, five to six weeks is what it generally takes for the final decision to wind its way through all the desks it has to pass after his contribution, so I think I can trust that figure, as he seemed to be competent. What he stated to me in the exam sounded good, since he indicated his belief that I am disabled enough to qualify, so I am hopeful of a correct decision, as another denial might very well push me too far over the edge to make it all the way back….

“Forward goes the vanguard of the lunatic fringe, tickling the death clowns of normality.” — HealNorm

So, if I sound a bit tense, or distracted, you’ll know where my mind has wandered; I’m trying hard NOT to think about it, and trying NOT to get my hopes up for a resolution, just in case the Analyst checks the wrong box by accident, or out of malice (though why he might feel any is hard to guess…. but, you never know, with a bureaucrat, just what is going through their tiny little minds….). That would be a typical Murphy-like transaction, wouldn’t it, to have it all go to court because of a typo, or a bad mood…. Come to think of it, I should probably just shut up about it altogether, so I don’t give Murphy any ideas….

“I’m just here for moral support. Ignore the gun.” — Smart Bee

Uh, oh…. you know what that means…. I’m going diving, and you can’t come along, nyah, nyah!…. Sorry, a little inner-child-breakout there…. Actually, I don’t mind if you come along, as long as you check your own equipment, and don’t get in the way while I’m trying to find some adequate pearls….. No worries, there aren’t many sharks in this part of the ocean, and they all know me, so it should be safe…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“It is better to be ignorant then (sic) to believe in something untrue.” — Smart Bee

Wow…. I found this unattributed statement in Smart Bee a moment ago, and it stopped me in my tracks….. At first, I thought it was due to the misspelling of “than” that caught my attention, but, after re-reading it a time or two, it just got weirder, and weirder, the more I thought about it…. My first explosive reaction was, “What a choice to have to make!” Then, my penchant for poking at inconsistency reared its ugly head….

Logically speaking, how could one accomplish the latter without first embracing the former? To go a bit deeper, why would one be considered better than the other, and, who decides? Anyone who can absorb this amazing statement into their persona is, to my way of thinking, is not someone to whom such an important distinction should be left to decide, as no matter which way they turn, it’s liable, nay, guaranteed, to be the wrong way….

I suppose the sentence could be improved, by the application of an AP comma…. to wit:  “It is better to be ignorant, then to believe in something untrue.” Now, in that form, it at least displays some logical sense, if in no way any common sense. I mean, with the comma providing the obviously intended break between ideas, it just sort of proves its own validity, for those who can either understand, or failing that, buy into anyway…. right? Right…. What he said….

As is obvious, as well, is that I’m not particularly serious here…. This is obviously the work of a person under the influence of drugs or alcohol, who got left where they could get to a computer, and started blathering to themselves, not knowing it was being preserved for posterity. I can’t think of any other reason for it to be in Smart Bee…. it doesn’t fit any of the criteria I’ve been able to identify for inclusion in the database….

It isn’t logical, it isn’t true, and it really doesn’t make any sense, though, in some strange way, it sounds as if it should do, or be all those things…. but, maybe that’s me…. I’ve been known to be wrong on occasion…. Hmm, yes, I remember distinctly, back in 1958…..   😉

“But your creed, your ethos… it was one of your most appealing features.”
“You know, Larry, sometimes I say things… and afterwards, I can’t remember saying them.”

— The Yak and The Badger debate philosophy
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Apprehensions

There is this white wall, above which the sky creates itself-
Infinite, green, utterly untouchable.
Angels swim in it, and the stars, in indifference also.
They are my medium.
The sun dissolves on this wall, bleeding its lights.

A grey wall now, clawed and bloody.
Is there no way out of the mind?
Steps at my back spiral into a well.
There are no trees or birds in this world,
There is only sourness.

This red wall winces continually:
A red fist, opening and closing,
Two grey, papery bags-
This is what i am made of, this, and a terror
Of being wheeled off under crosses and rain of pietas.

On a black wall, unidentifiable birds
Swivel their heads and cry.
There is no talk of immorality among these!
Cold blanks approach us:
They move in a hurry.

~~ Sylvia Plath
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“…it is now some years since I detected how many were the false beliefs that I had believed to be true since my earliest youth.  And since that time, I have been convinced that I must once and for all seriously try to rid myself of all the opinions which I had formerly accepted, and begin to build anew, if I wanted to establish any firm and permanent structure for my beliefs.” — Rene Descartes, Meditations

And, after due consideration, he came up with, “I think, therefore I am.” That’s it…. after all his steady cogitation, all his heavy thought, he comes up with six words….. Seems like he might have gone a bit further with it, since he was already thinking, but, hey, that’s just me…..  He probably got distracted solving a quadratic equation in his head, or something equally fascinating, and just wrote down the first thing that came to him….. I suspect a lot of philosophies start that way, if what is in them is any indication…. Many of the ancient philosophies seem to me to have been put together during a drunken night around a campfire, and copied down the next day while hung over….

Actually, Descartes “I think” statement is one of the more consistent and logical of the statements that speak to belief, and its origins. I cannot say it is logically unassailable, for it is not, but, it is consistent within its own paradigm. This logical flaw is one reason I modified the idea when I came to make my own set of philosophical assertions, Peruaosophy…. where I said, in Axiom #1, “I think I am…. that’s close enough.”….. Much more tautological, I would say, and not subject to the same sort of picking apart, as it has no holes in it. Well, actually, it’s so holey it doesn’t need air-conditioning, but that is what supplies that logical strength, as it is a flexible enough proposition to fit any size mind….

It is not what we eat but what we digest that makes us strong,
It is not what we read but what we remember that makes us wise,
It is not what we earn but what we save that makes us rich,
It is not what beliefs we hold but what we do with those beliefs that make us what we are.

— Old Chinese misquotation.

You gotta love honesty…. I love that this is so aptly named as a misquotation; that kind of honesty just tickles my fancy, and makes for some good mental exercise…. In this case, it means trying to figure out WHICH part is misquoted, a process by which one can learn a lot, both about what is said in the quote, or misquote, and about themselves, and how their mind works. If it works, that is….

I am not sure exactly where this pearl is going…. it started out okay, but seems to be wandering a bit now, and I can’t seem to figure out how to find the way back to my original intent….. must be time for fresh coffee…. be right back….

“We begin life with a seemingly blank slate, and, though the writing that gradually appears on that slate is not our own, our judgment of the things written thereon determines what we are and what we will become. In much the same way, our work will be judged by the use to which other people put it…” — Marion Zimmer Bradley, _The Codex of Riveda_

What, then, is the mind? What is consciousness? We know they exist, for we perceive ourselves as a separate entity from the rest of what we perceive. Encountering other minds serves as corroboration of our perceptions, while at the same time offering solace for our separation from the universe, trapped alone in the confines of our minds, with only our own thoughts as company. I don’t know about anyone else, but just knowing there are others who are in the same boat is a comforting thought….. It’s a big universe, full of dark and dangerous energy, as well as beauty and opportunities for joy, and it would be a shame to have no one with whom to share it all….

“The mind of man is far from the nature of a clear and equal glass, wherein the beams of things should reflect according to their true incidence.” — Sir Francis Bacon

I suppose I’m just wandering now, rambling around in my own mind, without a clue as to how to bring this to a close…. but, here goes….

“I think I am…. that’s close enough.”  This is MY philosophy of life, and my take on consciousness…. As I see it, I know I’m here, and I know what I can do in my own mind….. and no matter what the rest of the universe is up to, or believes, that’s enough for me. I don’t need confirmation of my existence, or permission from a  supernatural entity, or anyone else, to live my life the way I choose.

Mssr. Descartes statement is, to my mind, too stiff, too formal, and doesn’t meet the test of illogic…. We all interpret Reality in our own way, according to our own perceptions of that Reality, and our own set of decisions about how we will approach life…. our attitudes, as it were. We can make those attitudes whatever we choose, regardless of how clear are our motives to others; in my mind, all living creatures have that right…. with, of course, the caveat that whatever attitudes we choose must be able to merge with the attitudes of others, or, at least, not step on the other person’s right to the same freedom of choice…..

In short…. You were issued a mind when you came into this universe…. It would be a good thing, for you, and for the universe, to learn to use it….

Just a suggestion…. The reason I urge each and every one to make this effort is my strong belief in Axiom #2 of Peruaosophy, perhaps the most accurate, and powerfully influential, of all the axioms therein…. to wit:

Axiom #2: “The Nature of the Universe is Change. Unpredictable, innovative Transformation of Reality is the Norm. If you have a problem with this, you are in for a Rough Ride.”
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Well…. that certainly came out better than I had surmised it might when I was in the middle of it all…. Hmm, now I’m creating my own metaphors right here in my own mind, because that statement right there is a pretty accurate description of most of my life up to this point…. Fancy that!….

I’m afraid to go any further with this, as it may have reached a delicate line, between being seen as carelessly brilliant, or blatantly bozoid, which, I can assure you, are both a part, if a trifle random in their relative placement therein….. If you can decipher the sense in that statement, you’re in the right blog…. I’m not sure that I am, other than…. wait for it….  I THINK I AM!…..  And that’s good enough for me…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

dozer3

Professional bibliographers needed for fiesta….

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Ffolkes,
Forgetting, even for a moment, that I am “blessed”, is a dangerous pastime. I realize there is, ostensibly, a certain panache attached to someone who is singled out by natural icons for special attention and celebrity, but I’d give my right arm and three toes to have been passed over by Murphy for this particular honor. The fuckface just won’t leave me alone, and I’m getting damn sick of it, let me tell you…. and, no, I don’t think ‘fuckface’  is too harsh, or too vulgar, in this instance….. the asshole……

Okay, okay, I’ll calm down, and stop the vulgarity, at least for the nonce….. (I love those old-fashioned words…) It’s just so bloody frustrating to try to accomplish anything with him hanging about, sticking out his foot, or just pointing and laughing, to distract and annoy me. You’d think that he’d been hired by the corporate masters to slow me down in my ranting, but, with my pitiful following, I can’t see why they’d waste the money on hiring the best, when they could probably fuss with me much more cheaply…. Hell, all they’d have to do is continue to have SS dance and delay my case even more than they already have done; it would piss me off royally, more than I already am, and certainly affect my ability to write….

Of course, they’ll never stop me entirely, not as long as I have a breath, and connection to the internet; no way I’m going to shut up now. As I’ve said previously, I spent about 60 years keeping my mouth shut about all this stuff, to avoid controversy, and I’m done with that now. In fact, the more controversy, the better, to my mind, as it can only lead to more people hearing about what I’m saying, and more people becoming disenchanted with the PTB, and the BRC…. which is my ultimate goal…..

It will be an interesting matter, actually, to see what will happen…. Should I gain enough followers for my blog to become influential in society, how much would be allowed before they came to shut me down?….. I guarantee, my words will be dangerous enough to them to prompt a response; the question is how much danger they’re willing to endure….

Ah well, I can only hope for that kind of influence; it isn’t going to happen tonight, nor will it happen tomorrow…. But, I’ll keep on keepin’ on, and I’ll keep on taking shots at the entrenched assholes who are killing us, until it either does some good, or I am unable, for whatever reason, to keep writing…. Any such reason would be most likely provided by the BRC and PTB, as I can’t think of anything I might do that would be able to do that, at least, not without enemy action….

It’s all moot at this point, but, hey, once again, just blathering about it has filled up the intro section… It sort of happened on the sly today, as I didn’t even notice until just now that we were approaching enough bulk to consider it a wrap…. I guess I’ll take it…. It isn’t the most thrilling, or the most gripping introduction I’ve seen, or written, for that matter, but, like the Pearls themselves, it grows more attractive as it approaches completion…. I’m a sucker for something that is “done”….. Besides, I’m getting a bit bored with this one, so…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“I can handle reality in small doses, but as a lifestyle it’s much too confining.” — Lily Tomlin

This is one of many statements of its type, some from Miss Lily, some from other comedians and social philosophers, all of whom are special to me…. They are special because they poke fun at society in the mildest way, but with clarity that is belied by their apparent simplicity and obvious humor. It is easy for a lot of folks to dismiss little gems like this, as being unimportant, or less than serious, just because it speaks with tongue in cheek… Nothing could be further from the truth, as this statement is absolute gospel to a large percentage of the adult population of this country….

“Reality is for those people who can’t handle drugs.” — George Carlin
(My attribution here might be incorrect, but, George inspired the line, if he didn’t write it himself….)

Here is another line from the revolution that happened back in the 60’s and 70’s, and it points up a very definitive difference between those folks who spend their time in the mainstream of society, and those who exist at the extremes, in this case, in what is generally conceived to be on the Left end of the scale…. Those who inhabit the other end of the political spectrum tend to rely on alcohol to blunt the effects of Reality on the brain, rather than what are dismissed by them as recreational drugs, such as marijuana, psilocybin, mescaline, etc.  In some ways, you can get a good idea of the philosophies themselves by looking at how they approach the subject of drugs and alcohol, and by the differing methods of enhancing life with them….

Those who rely on alcohol are those who prefer to NOT know the truth, about anything. It seems to me that the physical effects of alcohol parallel exactly the way these folks look at life…. When under the influence of alcohol, one’s senses are depressed, and it is much harder to see the truth than at other times…. and that is the way they like it…. With consumption of alcohol, the hearing decreases, judgment is impaired, vision blurs, sense of touch is lessened, and fine muscle control is compromised, pretty much in that order of occurrence. It is the same each time, but with continued regular consumption, a certain tolerance is developed, a tolerance that slightly mitigates the effects, but certainly does not keep them from happening.

Those who use drugs to enhance or adjust their view don’t deny the truth, but they want it to be all prettied up for them in some way, so it isn’t so harsh and ugly…. Most of the effects of the drugs are in the mind, with some notable exceptions;  the perceptions of all the senses are not depressed, but altered in some way, usually personal to the user, in physical response to the chemical in the drug that causes the cognitive alterations.  Either way, whether with drugs, or with alcohol, perception of the truth is what ultimately suffers, which is what the proponents of both ends of the spectrum tend to forget, or deny….

“Have you ever wondered if taxation without representation was cheaper?” — Smart Bee

I have…. It is and it isn’t, and we are witnessing that phenomenon right now….. This may be why many people have such a hard time with reality; when one becomes aware of just how screwed up things are, and how much lying, cheating, and stealing is going on right before our eyes, it is rather daunting to take in all at once, so people do as they’ve always done, and slip into massive denial of the truth, preferring to just ignore the evidence that is slapping them upside the head….

One time, I actually sat down to do the math on the above question, and what I found was surprising…. Neither way works…. There just isn’t any logical way to govern people, and make it either profitable, or even reasonably cheap…. Well, not as long as the lying, cheating, and stealing is part of the equation, anyway….

“The word “dog” does not bite,” — William James

Boy, if that isn’t the truth…. but, try to convince the general public of that….. It is one of the basic issues to be considered when speaking to the public, one that the BRC and PTB members all know very well, as it is their chief weapon in controlling the populace…. Most folks don’t think…. when they do, it causes them pain, so they tend to let someone else do it for them, and just go along in blissful ignorance, accepting whatever they’re told without a clue. They never consider that the word itself is not the thing it describes; even worse, they don’t care to know….. It is the simplest thing in the world for the Beloved Ruling Class to fool the public, because they actively participate, with apparent glee, in their own debasement….

“As a matter of cold fact, a lot of people have no use for you because they can’t use you.”  — Smart Bee

Sometimes, I’m not sure which disgusts me more…. the callous disregard for others that is the defining characteristic of all politicians and preachers, or the deliberately blind, fawning ignorance of those who refuse to become fully human, use their minds, and take responsibility for their own life…. To my way of thinking, both are deserving of every bit of trouble that reality can give them, just for their intransigence…. otherwise known as rampant stubbornness, or more simply, massive stupidity….

I’m being deliberately offensive this morning, as I’m sick and tired of how the general public refuses to wake up and smell the gunpowder, and I don’t really care if it hurts someone’s feelings. Anyone who disagrees with my assessment is free to offer up their own take on the matter, and I’ll give it equal time for discussion…. but, if what I’ve said hurts feelings, then apparently what I’ve said strikes just a little too close to the truth for comfort, and I would suggest that the person take a look at that before setting themselves up for embarrassment, by trying to argue without a leg upon which to stand….

In the past year and a half, I’ve written thousands and thousands of words trying to wake people up to how much they are giving away by refusing to think. It is my greatest hope that what I have to say may have some small effect on the world, an effect that might in some way contribute to our chances of surviving our own foolishness. I’m afraid my hope is, sadly, rather slim, but, I am not ready to quit my campaign, nor to change tactics. I’ll keep on poking at the BRC, and the priestly hierarchies, and every other enemy of mankind (for that is how I see them….) for as long as I can, and hope for the best….

“One of the greatest advantages in the world is enjoyed by the person who says and insists that they are telling the truth, when in fact, they are telling the truth.” — Smart Bee
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Getting There

How far is it?
How far is it now?
The gigantic gorilla interior
Of the wheels move, they appall me —-
The terrible brains
Of Krupp, black muzzles
Revolving, the sound
Punching out Absence! Like cannon.
It is Russia I have to get across, it is some was or other.
I am dragging my body
Quietly through the straw of the boxcars.
Now is the time for bribery.
What do wheels eat, these wheels
Fixed to their arcs like gods,
The silver leash of the will ——
Inexorable. And their pride!
All the gods know destinations.
I am a letter in this slot!
I fly to a name, two eyes.
Will there be fire, will there be bread?
Here there is such mud.
It is a trainstop, the nurses
Undergoing the faucet water, its veils, veils in a nunnery,
Touching their wounded,
The men the blood still pumps forward,
Legs, arms piled outside
The tent of unending cries ——
A hospital of dolls.
And the men, what is left of the men
Pumped ahead by these pistons, this blood
Into the next mile,
The next hour ——
Dynasty of broken arrows!

How far is it?
There is mud on my feet,
Thick, red and slipping. It is Adam’s side,
This earth I rise from, and I in agony.
I cannot undo myself, and the train is steaming.
Steaming and breathing, its teeth
Ready to roll, like a devil’s.
There is a minute at the end of it
A minute, a dewdrop.
How far is it?
It is so small
The place I am getting to, why are there these obstacles ——
The body of this woman,
Charred skirts and deathmask
Mourned by religious figures, by garlanded children.
And now detonations ——
Thunder and guns.
The fire’s between us.
Is there no place
Turning and turning in the middle air,
Untouchable and untouchable.
The train is dragging itself, it is screaming ——
An animal
Insane for the destination,
The bloodspot,
The face at the end of the flare.
I shall bury the wounded like pupas,
I shall count and bury the dead.
Let their souls writhe in like dew,
Incense in my track.
The carriages rock, they are cradles.
And I, stepping from this skin
Of old bandages, boredoms, old faces

Step up to you from the black car of Lethe,
Pure as a baby.

~~ Sylvia Plath
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“Dreaming permits each and everyone of us to be quietly and safely insane  every night of our lives.” — Charles William Dement

I used this a few days ago, and have since had some thoughts on the subject that fit right in with the sentiment this expresses. It begins with my own experience with dreams, which, I believe, is not typical, at least in some respects….. I’d get something to nibble on, if I were you, this could take a while to explore, in order to give it the treatment it deserves as one of our (our=humans..) least understood characteristics….

In high school, for a paper I was required to write for English class, I chose the subject of Telepathy, Dreaming, and Paranormal Activity in Humans…. which turned out to be far too massive a subject for one college-style, 20-page research paper, as I found literally thousands of pages of documented material on each of those sub-categories. So, I trimmed it down to a paper on Dreams and Dreaming, and became familiar with the latest research and information available on the subject in 1966.

Though trimmed down, there was still a great deal of information on dreaming to be found, and it was all quite fascinating, especially as dreams had been a subject I had always avoided, for reasons I wasn’t aware of until later, when I learned more about how to look inside myself at things I didn’t wish to see….. BRRRTP! EHHH! BEEP! BEEP!….. Shut that off!….. Side issue, side issue! Warning! Too much extraneous information ….. Sorry, that isn’t relevant, and my interior editing function went off…. Okay, where was I?…. Ah….

What I discovered in my research led me to the conclusion that dreams are one of our most powerful defenses against the real world, and are instrumental in mitigating the deleterious effects dealing with all of its demands can cause, in spite of our best effort and intent. As stated above, we immerse ourselves in the random, undisciplined maelstrom of insanity that is dreaming, every night, in order to resolve the feelings we have engendered in ourselves about what we’ve seen and done. This immersion allows us to process all the unresolved issues our minds have created, and face each new day with a fresh outlook, as sanely as we can….

When we don’t dream, or our sleep is disrupted, by physical or environmental intercession, we become less sane. Nervous, easily distracted, with senses alert for any danger, the world we see around us assumes a fearful aspect, and we fall even deeper in the clutches of our own despair. This has been demonstrated time and again, both in laboratory experiments, and in real life. I think everyone can relate to the feeling of waking up after a night of disturbed sleep, and understand, at least a bit, how difficult it can be to face the day when one is already tired and depressed. It is a completely different experience than awaking full of energy, and a sunny outlook, one that nobody wishes to repeat…..

I’ve been working at completing this pearl for days now, and can’t seem to find the thread that will bring it to a close, or even to a more productive line of reasoning…. When I first started it, I had a good idea of how it should go, but, in trying to get things done, it got lost in the shuffle… But, I have this…. In our dreams, our imagination is at its finest, and we are treated to the sheer joyous power of it nightly, when it fills our sleeping minds with image after image that seemingly makes no sense, but has an underlying piece of reality in it that connects to our spirit, and allows us to accept what in the real world we would never even see….

That power is so great that, without any conscious effort on our part, our daily stress and angst is processed, and resolved, at least to the point where it will not trouble our conscious mind the following day. Instead, we start the day fresh, and are better equipped, mentally and emotionally, to deal with whatever new issues the universe presents for our entertainment. Without being able to dream, we start the day on edge, nervous, and filled with unspecified dread of what may happen, all with no identifiable reason.

Another day, I’ll go into another aspect of dreaming, one that ties into our creativity…. It is safe to say that dreaming is an integral part of what I do each morning when I sit down to write these Pearls, both in its value in giving my mind the surcease from care it requires, and in the very process of creation itself, when I attempt to connect to that part of the imagination that dreaming uses naturally, to send us into the realms of madness each night…. Bringing that into the real light of day is truly a wondrous event, and one I seek continuously…..

“I found the answer . . . but forgot the question.” — Smart Bee
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As this Pearl evolved, I wasn’t sure how it would turn out…. After going back over it, however, after a couple of tune-ups, I think it came out rather well, all things considered. Well enough to let it fly, at the very least…. I’m not going to even think about how it might go over, as that always turns out to be a waste of time, as is most speculation on the future… Before I start to babble again, I’ll let y’all get back to whatever you were up to until now, hopefully with a smile on your face, and a song in your heart….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

dozer3

Working in from the outer edge…..

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7

Ffolkes,
“You tell Bupkes, either he’s there at six o’clock, in full clown regalia, nose and bicycle horn included, or I’m calling the guild, and he’ll never work another Mardi Gras in this town!” Everard Cross, who consistently won the neighborhood grouch award because he believed in living up to his name, growled his threat to the wife of Bupkes the Clown into the phone, then slammed it down hard enough to bounce.

At the top of his voice, he yelled out, “Honey, get me the Guildmaster on the phone; I need to roast a clown.” Picking up his well-chewed cigar from the ashtray, he chomped down on it and chewed. while he gazed with naturally beady eyes across the desk at his next victim, er, client…. “I hate clowns…” he thought, as he gazed at yet another smiling face surrounded by red curls, and the biggest red nose he’d ever seen….

Hmm…. Not too shabby for pre-coffee. It’s always a risk, trying to be coherent before that first sip or two of morning’s blood; I never know if my head will cooperate. It seems this morning, I caught it in a decent mood for once, and was able to finesse that out while the coffee was brewing. SIGH….. It is always a conundrum, though, to figure out if such smoothness so early is a good omen, or bad. It could turn either way, given the natural tendency around here toward unpredictability, so it’s a good idea to not commit oneself too early, lest one get shat upon…… not my favorite morning activity, you can bet…..

In fact, I have yet to find ANY activity in the morning that can be fully trusted to offer itself as omen for the day. Everything that happens seems to be fraught with potential for good or evil, and the final decision as to which isn’t apparent until the very last moment…. This can make the choice to continue, or to abort, anything I begin somewhat of a challenge, as you might guess.

It has gotten to the point that, lest Murphy completely take over my life, I refuse to make a decision about stuff like this, and sink into frozen inactivity. There is little else I can do some days, and if both of us are in a pissy mood, well, it can get ugly…… There have been days of late where not a damn thing moves or gets done until noon, or until one of us blinks. Fortunately, Murphy is bipolar, and can’t concentrate long enough to win at least half the time, so it evens out pretty well…. but, it’s a big pain having to go through that on a daily basis…

Ah well, I could lament the daily battles with the forces of nature for a long time, but, we DO have other stuff to accomplish today. I myself must go shopping for food, before there is no money left to do so, so it would no doubt serve me well to get started on today’s Pearl. Not that I want to be a toadie, and just cave in whenever someone tells me what I should be doing, even if it is logical. I’ll just stall around a moment here, and fill in with some extraneous verbiage that has nothing to do with anything at all, before I give in to the power of suggestion. If nothing else, that will fill in the rest of THIS paragraph, and make this a visually symmetrical intro…. one of our corollary goals…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“The secret of life is to appreciate the pleasure of being terribly deceived.” — Oscar Wilde

Oscar’s speech, and his grasp of the art of conversation, were legendary for showing wit along with intelligent insight. Often, with aphorisms like this one, that depth of insight became quite shiny….. It doesn’t seem like much, at first glance, but is actually quite good advice, though given with tongue firmly planted in cheek. In one simple sentence, he condemns modern society for its lack of integrity, and offers to mankind the only true way to be content with our lot…..

In this society, we, the people, are deceived on what is essentially an hourly basis, by our leaders, by our priests, by businesses, by the police, by each other for the sake of expedience; almost every minute of our lives we are being lied to by someone, especially if one watches a lot of TV. We have, culturally, become so inured to being lied to that we have come to assume it is not just okay, but is the only way to get ahead in life…. Sadly, this may be true…. The presence of honesty in human interaction has become so rare that most people just expect the lies, and learn to live with them per Oscar’s suggestion.

In its simplicity, and in its Zen-like attitude, what Oscar shared is very much Eastern in its outlook. It isn’t a common idea in Western culture to “go with the flow”, but rather to “fight on”; the concept of acceptance to deal with challenge is foreign to most of us raised under Christian standards. But, regardless of where one is raised, the lies are still out there, being used by those in power to confuse, distract, and manipulate the voting public, and I think we can count on them to continue in that vein for as long as it continues to work for them….

So, maybe it is time to look at what Oscar said as a challenge, rather than advice. Perhaps, if the public began to NOT accept the lies, but began to question those in authority, to demand that the truth be told, then maybe there is a chance for us to survive the coming collapse….. Maybe…. it may already be too late….

I read an interesting article the other day, and I use the word ‘interesting’ in its most dangerous sense, as is common in Eastern culture, where being wished an “interesting life” is a curse…. The article made this statement, to wit: the climate is not changing. It has changed…… In other words, the moment that the environmentalists have been fearing for years has arrived, and we have reached a point of no return.

The millions of tons of particulate matter (“pollution”) we have been pumping into the air for the last 100 years has reached a point where irreversible changes in the balance of the planetary ecosystem have been made, and the climate, which has just begun to alter its centuries-old patterns, will now continue to grow more unpredictable, and more violently destructive than has ever been seen before in history. These changes are not going to stop, and in fact, will worsen over time…. and, I am unhappy to report, this is not fear-mongering, this is not speculation, this is not a lie…. this is demonstrable fact.  See for yourself, here:

http://www.poodwaddle.com/clocks/worldclock/

I am so pissed off about this that I am going to have to stop this pearl right here; I’m already trembling from the jolt of adrenaline the anger stimulated in me. Those in power over society have ignored the warnings that scientists and environmentalists have issued for decades, and their intransigence is now going to kill all of us, slowly and with great pain for many, as life on this planet becomes more and more of a challenge, to live, nay,  just to survive.

There is only one reason this is happening, and that is the FACT that the Beloved Ruling Class has, for centuries, lied and cheated the rest of humanity, and have arranged matters so that they are the only ones who are truly comfortable… most of humanity has to struggle to obtain just enough of the resources being hoarded to live in hunger, barely able to survive.

Bah! I am incensed, and can hardly contain my rage…. It makes me want to go out and start….. well, I started to say “killing”,  referring to the members of the BRC, but, on second thought, killing is too good for them. I think I’d rather keep them alive, but make them suffer, just as much as they have made others suffer their entire lives….. It’s time, ffolkes, for humanity to step up, and boot the assholes out…. They are killing us, and I think it is about time we did something to return the favor, don’t you?….. Think about, but don’t take long, because it’s already too late…..

“If I had a Q-TIP, I could prevent th’collapse of NEGOTIATIONS!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

“Rare gift! but oh what gift to fools avails!” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Odyssey of Homer, Book x, Line 29
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Conversations Among The Ruins

Through portico of my elegant house you stalk
With your wild furies, disturbing garlands of fruit
And the fabulous lutes and peacocks, rending the net
Of all decorum which holds the whirlwind back.
Now, rich order of walls is fallen; rooks croak
Above the appalling ruin; in bleak light
Of your stormy eye, magic takes flight
Like a daunted witch, quitting castle when real days break.

Fractured pillars frame prospects of rock;
While you stand heroic in coat and tie, I sit
Composed in Grecian tunic and psyche-knot,
Rooted to your black look, the play turned tragic:
Which such blight wrought on our bankrupt estate,

What ceremony of words can patch the havoc?

~~ Sylvia Plath
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“The only end of writing is to enable the readers better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.” — Samuel Johnson

I have to agree with Sam on this one; this is a very nice way to look at writing, and a fair and complete description as well. If I can do either one of these things for, or to, my readers, I would consider what I wrote to be a success, no matter how many ‘Likes’ it got…. In that same vein, I’d like to take a moment today to shout out a big THANK YOU to all the ffolkes who have stopped in to read what I write, and especially to those who have commented, hit the ‘Like’ button, or otherwise let me know they were there…. or even if not, Thanks!

Two days ago, I posted my 600th blog, and, in a serendipitous occurrence, had my 200th and 201st followers come on board the same day. I was rather jazzed, as you may imagine….. Even though I what I write, I write for myself, as a form of therapy, it is nice to hear that other ffolkes, and folks, are enjoying what I’ve written enough to either comment, Like, or Follow.

I write to get all the crap out of my head, that, if left there, would fester until it spilled out on some unsuspecting citizen, and that is uncomfortable for both of us.  Rather than have to struggle internally all day to keep from biting people, I write, and get most of the angst and bitterness, that dealing with the world creates, out… I am a firm believer in “Better out than in….”  Hopefully, what I am writing will be enjoyed by somebody, whether for the humor, the attempted insight, the truth, or the bozoid tendencies, I don’t much care, as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody’s feelings….

Well, wait, that isn’t true…. If a reader happens to be a priest/preacher, a politician, or another of those I consider to be part of the BRC and those shadowy corporate icons who run the world from behind the scenes, well, then I hope what I write makes you very nervous. If it hurts your feelings, well, I would consider that a good thing, if only because you still have feelings that can be hurt….. As the first of today’s pearls indicated, I’m rather perturbed at the actions of that group of people, and couldn’t give a shit about how my thoughts affect them, as long as it is negatively… The worse the better, as far as I’m concerned….

As for everyone else who comes by, just be aware that, ultimately, everything I say here is truth. I won’t say I’m not human, and that I don’t occasionally lie…. I do, just like everyone else alive.  Sometimes it can be for expedience, to save myself trouble, such as telling someone I don’t have a cigarette, when I do… More importantly, I will sometimes lie to spare someone’s feelings, and if that upsets the gods of karma, well, so be it… I don’t like to hurt people…. and to me, that can justify a small lie, at least on a temporary basis… Maybe that’s morally weak, but, hey, I’m just a romantic bozo, and can’t help the way I feel…. I can change it, and I do, but, the initial feelings are pretty well spontaneous combustion, and not subject to that sort of control…. But, that is all out in the Big Blue Room…. everything I put down here is the truth, as I know it, so you can count on that…..

So, while I’m doing drone work here, I’ll explain the word ‘ffolkes’…. I use that word, with that spelling, to indicate the people who read this blog, or receive the daily email of the blog, or know me, or know of me…. ‘folks’ is everybody else…… This is an easy way to keep track of the whom to which I may be referring…. and isn’t that a grammatical and syntactical gem?  What I mean is, it makes it more intimate, as to me, ffolkes are my friends, while folks are strangers…. ffolkes possess a brain, and aren’t afraid to use it, while folks tend to sit on theirs….. ffolkes can use logic as a scalpel, folks use it as a hammer. I think that will give you the drift…. I spell it that way for two reasons… one, because I can, and two, because I like it….  🙂

There is probably a legal limit to the number of paragraphs one is allowed to use to just fuck around and say nothing much, but, I don’t ever seem to reach it, no matter how much I ramble and prattle on… Here we have now seven of them, all with very little to confer that could be construed as real  information. Hopefully, y’all will know now what I mean by “ffolkes”, and I hope it gives you the same warm feeling it does me, to know that you are in a friendly environment, where you may find acceptance, respect, love, and compassion, right alongside the viciously sarcastic curmudgeonry I aim at the BRC and their myrmidons…..

Since I’m uncertain as to whether I have enough left to fill in one more past this one, to make a cosmically balanced nine paragraphs, I will settle for eight, and the solid foundation it implies…. For some strange reason, whenever I think of eight, I get a visual image of Pont Neuf potatoes, nicely golden brown… What does that mean?…. Ah well, there are some mysteries we are destined never to solve, I guess….. Housekeeping done, and remember ffolkes, I love you all, and hope your life proceeds according to your dreams…..

Were I so tall to reach the pole,
Or grasp the ocean with my span,
I must be measured by my soul:
The mind ‘s the standard of the man.

— Isaac Watts (1674-1748) — Horae Lyricae, Book ii, False Greatness
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I’ll take it…. I performed the best type of proofing, by walking away for ten minutes, then reading it from scratch…. A tiny bit of polish, a stray thought or two added in, and it’s well-nigh perfect, as such things go (Remember that phrase, please; it could be important if this ever becomes a legal issue…) …. It is, therefore, officially done…. I’ve got a lot to do today, so, I’ll wish you a productive diurnal activity period, sometimes known as a g’day, and get on with it….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

dozer3

If my dilettante calls, take a message….

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6

Ffolkes,
Invariably, when I’m up at 0530, my mind turns to mush, or, more accurately, is mushy upon arising at that early hour….. Since I’m fond of oatmeal, this state isn’t all that unpleasant…. just slow. The addition of some butter, brown sugar, and a little bit of milk, in a figurative sense, puts me right into the correct mood for Pearling, so, all I have to do now is decide where I can find any such metaphorical condiments at this hour…. Real ones, sure, they’re right there in the kitchen, but, metaphor is a bit hard to come by so early in the day. I suppose I’m going to have to go out and milk the metaphorical cow…..

Ouch…. Well, that’s what happens when I try to write before consuming any coffee…. Milk the metaphorical cow, indeed! I walked away from that paragraph, to go get the coffee, and take a moment for morning worship,  😉  then saw that phrase when I got back. Imagine my chagrin, which, albeit strong, wasn’t enough to make me delete it… I’m leaving it there as an object lesson in humility, (or maybe that’s a lesson in abject humility….), and as a reminder to never try to compose anything before focus has been achieved, or at least courted….. Silly ass…. Someone so accustomed to the kind attentions of Murphy should know better than to tempt him with such foolishness…..

Now that I’ve come to my senses, as close as I dare approach at this hour, I find myself at somewhat of a loss to know where to go from here…. Three paragraphs in, and confusion is already rampant; it could end up being one of THOSE days, in which case, I might as well just go back to bed now. It’s too bad, really, that I’m such a moralist; it makes it hard to slough off when I want to hide from reality. Try as I might, I can’t bring myself to duck when reality swings at me; I’ll throw up a block, if I can, but ducking is cowardly, it seems to me, so I just stand there and take the first shot. I’m tough, though, and I can usually get right back up…..

Since my upbringing seems to have cornered me into finishing today’s Pearl before giving up, I guess we should get to it. It’s been great of late, now that the pressure to get done has been mitigated by not having to travel anywhere to post this material. Every morning, I get up to a fresh template for the Pearl, and proceed to fire up Smart Bee for the morning dive, in order to fill up each section with brilliant quotes and ironic humor, just waiting for me to dress it up for consumption.

I’ve been very happy with the freshness of the material that has come out of this process lately, which, given Murphy’s ever-ready presence in my life, should probably make me nervous. Thankfully, though, he doesn’t seem to mind it if I write, as long as I mention him every day….. I guess he wants more press in his old age…..

Wait, no, I didn’t mean that! You’re not old…. You’re just age-enhanced! That’s it….. Ffolkes, I think I’d best be quiet now, and get on with today’s business, before Murphy decides to take offense….. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“Life is not separate from death. It only looks that way.” — Native American Proverb (Blackfoot)

Right! What a wonderful pearl! Not only is it short and sweet, it’s just packed with insight and implied wisdom…. In my mind, when I read it, I get a vision of a fireworks fountain, spewing light and beauty into the air, in blazing, colorful sparks…. A bit fanciful, but that’s the impression I got upon seeing it the first time….

You see, I’ve been thinking a lot of late, about Death vs. Life, due most likely to the fact that my own time to face that specter is approaching, seemingly ever more rapidly, as it tends to do later in our lives. When we look back over the time we’ve had on this Earth, the time left seems so short….

But, it isn’t really any shorter, nor, I’ve come to believe, is there anything to fear from Death’s approach. We all get to live just one day at a time…. Nay, not even so much…. we live one moment at a time, and we can’t make it go faster, or slow it down. So, worrying about what might happen in the future is a waste of the moment, and not worth the effort of doing so.

In addition, I’ve come to the conclusion that what happens after Death comes for us isn’t anything to fret over, either, because, logically, death is merely a transition phase, from one level of perception to another, with the other being a reality for which we do not possess the ability to perceive, lacking some organ, or some mental awareness that is needed to do so…..

There is no evidence at all that consciousness, as we understand it, persists on this level of reality after the body has died. On the other hand, there is also no evidence at all that it does not continue to exist, on some other level that we are not aware of; add to this the simple fact that in our universe, according to physical laws, energy, in ALL of its forms, cannot be destroyed, only changed in form. The Law of the Conservation of Energy has been proven many times, and is not a matter for dispute. When one considers consciousness, i.e., the MIND, as a form of energy, it makes perfect sense to assume that it changes forms when we die, but is not destroyed. It is the only logical answer, as far as I can see….

The wise women and men of the Blackfoot tribe apparently were aware of this, as well as being aware that the universe exists as a duality, with each characteristic of reality having its opposite complement, that defines and proves its very existence. We see the world in these opposites, so it is very easy to be fooled into thinking that what we see is the true nature of that reality…. but, it isn’t, because those two opposites are all part of the same grand scheme of things, and cannot be separated, not in reality…. only in our minds, where we separate them in order to comprehend them….

“Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.” — Murphy, courtesy of Smart Bee

Why does he do that? Why wait until I’ve spouted off for almost a thousand words before dropping these little bombs? Ah well, fuck him, and his bloody white horse! Everything I said above is the absolute truth, in my mind, so Murphy can just go f__k  himself. Even though this aphorism is also true as the day is long, I don’t think I’ve gone so far astray that it applies… so, in spite of the Irish asshole, we’ll push on….

I have yet to discern any reason that can logically, or even speculatively, answer the question of why we don’t remember any of the time we’ve spent dead, or whatever it’s called when we’re busy not living on this plane of existence. You know, before you were born? And after we die? All of that is a long time, and since it is logical to assume the energy that makes up our consciousness is still in existence when we aren’t alive, in the classic sense, then it is also logical to assume that our minds are busy doing….. something else.

What that may be, well, your guess is as good as mine…. But, some folks’ guesses aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on…. I doubt seriously that the typical version of Heaven is a likely scenario, nor is Hell…. I regard those as just the unscrupulous concepts created by the BRC and/or priestly hierarchies to try to control the populace, not having any basis, or evidence to support them, in reality. In fact, there is ample evidence that shows otherwise, if one is open to perceiving it…..

I figure what Robert Heinlein said once is the best way to look at it… “There’s no evidence that says we live after death; there is also no evidence saying we don’t. Soon enough, you will know, so why worry about it now?” (That may be slightly paraphrased, but the idea is precisely accurate….)

Ah well, this subject, due to its nature, is one that we, or I, could ramble on about all day, and, from the looks of things, almost have done so. Life and Death are popular subjects, understandably enough, and since we all are experts, there’s no lack of stuff to read about it; everybody’s talking, as Glenn Campbell said. But, since we have the rest of this Pearl to finish, I guess I’ll let this go for now….. Just keep in mind, ffolkes, Death isn’t anything to fear, because, if nothing else, Life itself is proof of our continued existence after it is gone…. Think about it….

“The adventure is over. Everything gets over, and nothing is ever enough. Except the part you carry with you.” — E. L. Konigsburg

“One never realizes how much and how little he knows until he starts talking.” — Louis L’Amour
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The poetry of Ms. Plath is relatively new to me, having somehow escaped my notice for most of my life. Now that I have more time to feed the Elephant’s Child, I’m glad I found her…. Here is another brilliant, torturous vision from her incredible mind…..

Witch Burning

In the marketplace they are piling the dry sticks.
A thicket of shadows is a poor coat. I inhabit
The wax image of myself, a doll’s body.
Sickness begins here: I am the dartboard for witches.
Only the devil can eat the devil out.
In the month of red leaves I climb to a bed of fire.

It is easy to blame the dark: the mouth of a door,
The cellar’s belly. They’ve blown my sparkler out.
A black-sharded lady keeps me in parrot cage.
What large eyes the dead have!
I am intimate with a hairy spirit.
Smoke wheels from the beak of this empty jar.

If I am a little one, I can do no harm.
If I don’t move about, I’ll knock nothing over. So I said,
Sitting under a potlid, tiny and inert as a rice grain.
They are turning the burners up, ring after ring.
We are full of starch, my small white fellows. We grow.
It hurts at first. The red tongues will teach the truth.

Mother of beetles, only unclench your hand:
I’ll fly through the candle’s mouth like a singeless moth.
Give me back my shape. I am ready to construe the days
I coupled with dust in the shadow of a stone.
My ankles brighten. Brightness ascends my thighs.
I am lost, I am lost, in the robes of all this light.

~~ Sylvia Plath
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Okay, so here’s the deal…. I went a bit overboard above with today’s rant on Life and Death, so we’re going old school for section three…. This group of pearls turned out to be one of my favorite kind…. It’s slippery, it’s deep, and it’s a challenge to find the punch line, yet each one could stand alone for a discussion, were I so inclined….. Perfect…. The punch line is, of course, left as an exercise for the Gentle Reader, with the motivation today being outsourced to Sesame Street…. If you think you’ve found the piece of wisdom buried in the coalition of ideas, give Grover a call at the soda shop; he is usually in there between 9 and 11 AM….. He’ll give you the prize for finding today’s punch line, right over the phone….

Mit der Dummheit kaempfen Goetter selbst vergebens.  [Against stupidity the very gods fight in vain.] — Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) — The Maid of Orleans, Act iii, Sc. 6

“If you can walk, you can dance; if you can talk, you can sing.” — a saying from Zimbabwe

“I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education.” — Wilson Mizner

“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.” — C. G. Jung

“There is no harm in praising a large dog.” — Smart Bee
(Let this one roll around in your head a while…. it grows….)

Finally, to put things into the proper perspective, I give you our final pearl of the day…. Say ‘howdy’ to Grover for me, will you?….

“I’m meditating on the FORMALDEHYDE and the ASBESTOS leaking into my  PERSONAL SPACE!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
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There…. that’s done. I’m content with it, if not ecstatic. But, then, if I ever get ecstatic, it probably wouldn’t be as good…. To find excellence, it is often required to assume that good enough isn’t enough….

For now, though, it’s good enough, even if I don’t work for the government anymore. A fact for which I am eternally grateful, if a bit miffed about style…. I know, that’s obscure, but I wouldn’t want to be inconsistent, now, would I? No, of course not…. Well, maybe just a little….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

dozer3

Fluent in nearly dead languages…..

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Ffolkes,
Apparently, sitting here, staring at the computer screen doesn’t work very well at producing viable ideas about which to write…. (Sometimes, being grammatically correct doesn’t come out very well,either, does it?…..) Who knew? I thought, when I first started creating a daily blog, that ideas would flow like water from a glass,, not knowing at the time that the process resembles more a volcano’s slowly moving lava, which only moves at all as long as it’s hot….. same as an idea. And, gad! Could I be any more simplistic and boring with my example? No, I didn’t think so….

Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to read the mail first thing today, rather than keeping a clear mind. The email about the Facebook Class Action Settlement got my head all worked up first thing, before I even had sufficient coffee to grunt in appreciation.

It seems that somebody objected to FB using their images to sell stuff, and sued them to the tune of 20 million or so (that’s the settlement payout, anyway…)…. So, anybody who files a valid claim with the court can get at least $10, and possibly more, if not many people file a claim; the 20 million is to be split equally among the claimants, depending on how many file.

I doubt I’ve got a valid claim, and don’t really care much either way, but somebody could get real lucky, and it’s nice to see a big company get burned for their chicanery…. That doesn’t happen often, and probably would never have happened at all if the company were older, and part of the “good old boy” circle of folks who are rich as Croesus…. They protect themselves, and would never lose such a suit….

(Now, seriously, did you think I’d pass up a chance to take a poke at the BRC or one of the hidden masters of evil? Fat chance….)

The companies that are a part of that group would never have allowed the suit to reach court in the first place, much less allow it to lose….. and if you have to ask how they can do that, you haven’t been paying attention…..

Ah well, such is life in Amurrica, land of the whee….. if nothing else, we have a good time, right? It seems sometimes as if our culture is centered around that idea, i.e., having “fun”. So much of our energy is poured into activities designed to de-stress people after working that it becomes obsessive, and seems to take over.

The quest for “fun” becomes not just a pastime, but an avocation, nearly as important as the work that provides the means to have the fun, which, due to the BRC and our lovely advertising industry, is where most people tend to put their “disposable income”. Partying and seeking a good time are our cultural goals, it seems, and a lot of money goes into that quest, more money than is prudent, no doubt…..

I’ve stumbled into a mini-rant again, it seems, and once again have usurped the intro section for concepts better fitted for a pearl. Oh well…. that’s life here at Exploring Consensual Reality; we never know ahead of time where this whole thing may lead us. That’s why we dress for any type of weather and/or terrain, and always have a towel and an umbrella close at hand. (Not to mention a flask of adult beverage, for emergencies…..) It also explains the odd expressions on the folks who are observing from the shadows, a good thing, in my estimation….. Shadow people should never be catered to, in any fashion, so confusing them suits me just fine….

Now that the ambient confusion level has risen to a satisfactory number, I think it is time to gather up our equipment, such as it is, and dive in…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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Say NOPE (Not On Planet Earth) to NIMBY — Smart Bee

As acronyms go, both of these are pretty typical, but I’ve included them here to make a point about the power of words…. NIMBY, of course, stands for Not In My Back Yard, the cry of the modern suburbanite when confronted with any of the less than savory aspects of society. Prisons, hospitals, government buildings, schools, businesses, churches, anything at all becomes intrusive in their eyes, when it is suggested it be built near where these people want to live. They read the Constitution, back in school, and are firmly convinced of their right to not be bothered by anything they don’t like….. and they certainly don’t want to have to think about any of the issues that necessitate the unwanted neighbors’ moving to their area.

This selfishness is prevalent in many segments of society, and there are a large number of people who think it is perfectly acceptable to make laws that discriminate against certain parts of society, as long as it isn’t their part. These are the people who have embraced the rights that are given by the Constitution, but are not willing to take the responsibility for maintaining those rights for anyone but themselves. They go beyond the intent of the Constitution, in that they assume that the rules therein are written ONLY for their benefit, and not for the benefit of anyone else. They do not, in other words, accept the basic premise of the Declaration of Independence, to wit: ALL men are created with equal rights…..

“Words are, in my not so humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic, capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it.” — Albus Dumbledore, in The Deathly Hallows, the movie based on the novel written by J.K. Rowling

The magic that is in the words of the Declaration, in the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution lies in their universal application to human experience. These rules, that we have, by dint of our living here, adopted as our legacy of rights, are only powerful when they are used for all. Every modification of one of these laws, every new law, that lessens that universal validity decreases their power, and their magic, and will ultimately lead to the loss of those rights we now enjoy. And, it will happen because people don’t understand, or are not able to deal with, the power of language and words….

You see, the BRC, and the people in society who are behind the scenes, controlling the media, and the banks, and the news outlets, are very adept at using words for their own purposes. They can lie without a qualm, masking their lies behind attractive phrases that create belief, never letting on that the new words will have the effect of perverting whatever the subject matter is, to a point where any advantage to be gained is gained by those who made the alterations to the original statement.

There are a myriad of techniques to twist words into whatever shape and meaning one desires, as any writer can tell you…. Hell, that’s our gig…. and the BRC knows every one of those techniques, having been responsible for creating most of them. To put it most simply, they lie, and they lie so well that they have been able to control society to their satisfaction for several thousand years now….. This is fact, not supposition, and is demonstrated daily in clear signs, if one is able to interpret those signs…. One of the signs to look for is to wonder what isn’t there…. We see the news that is put out each day, and it can be a very good thing to look at what ISN”T there…. Sometimes the music is made clearer by the silence between the notes, you know?…..

“I finally got it altogether, and found out that rental space for it was far more expensive than anticipated.” — Smart Bee

I can only agree with this, with the caveat that the price is worth it, whatever it is….. This pearl has gone wonky on me…. I had intended to issue a scathing report, chastising society for the daily abrogation of responsibility that I see in so many people, for allowing the BRC and the masters of evil to have such a strong hold over their lives.

But, I find myself in a place where my compassion for a lot of those people outweighs my anger at their cupidity; it isn’t their fault that they get lied to, and I guess I have to say I know it isn’t always their fault they fall for those lies. I would, but I can’t say that I haven’t done so myself, a time or two, and can empathize with the feeling of shame at having fallen for that crap, and not wanting to either admit to it, or even think about it….

So, I can’t really chastise so much as commiserate, and hope that talking about this kind of stuff will stimulate at least a few ffolkes to look around the bunches of stuff they see each day, and try to pick out the lies and perversions to which we are regularly subjected, on so many levels of communication. It’s not like they try to hide it or anything; it’s all right out there, if you know what to look for….. If they say, “Trust me..”, or, “Studies show…”, or, almost anything, you can bet they’re about to tell you a lie…. Hell, with most politicians, just opening their mouths pretty much guarantees one will be lied to…. that isn’t a joke, or an accusation, that’s a matter of public record, checkable by anyone….

I guess all this makes the hardest part of modern life the process of trying to decide who is telling us the truth, and who is lying to us…. and we all have to make those decisions for ourselves. It would probably be a good thing to at least think about how to go about doing that, as it may just end up saving your ass….

Dare to be true: nothing can need a lie;
A fault which needs it most, grows two thereby.
— George Herbert (1593-1633) — The Church Porch
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I’ve wanted to include some of Ms. Plath’s poems for some time, but couldn’t find a site that published them, due to copyright issues, until yesterday….Now that I have, you’ll be seeing more of her work in the months ahead…. She was brilliant!….

Morning Song

Love set you going like a fat gold watch.
The midwife slapped your footsoles, and your bald cry
Took its place among the elements.

Our voices echo, magnifying your arrival.  New statue.
In a drafty museum, your nakedness
Shadows our safety.  We stand round blankly as walls.

I’m no more your mother
Than the cloud that distills a mirror to reflect its own slow
Effacement at the wind’s hand.

All night your moth-breath
Flickers among the flat pink roses.  I wake to listen:
A far sea moves in my ear.

One cry, and I stumble from bed, cow-heavy and floral
In my Victorian nightgown.
Your mouth opens clean as a cat’s.  The window square

Whitens and swallows its dull stars.  And now you try
Your handful of notes;
The clear vowels rise like balloons.

~~ Sylvia Plath
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“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” — T. S. Eliot

T.S. has put his finger right on an issue that I see as a large factor in the state of affairs in society today, the issue of courage. He recognizes that only having the courage to face the unknown can eliminate the fear that comes with ignorance, and how showing courage is essential to making any progress in life. One cannot enjoy the sunlight and still be afraid of the dark…. I think I said that right…. Regardless, I think you know what I mean…. it takes some strength of will, and a willingness to endure risk, in order to gain the experience needed to come to terms with Reality…. which, as we all know, can be pretty scary….

Most folks, sadly, never find the courage to really question what happens to them. Most folks accept whatever they’re told by those in authority over them…. parents, teachers, politicians, preachers, all are ready, willing, and able to tell them how they should dress, or think, or what they should believe, and whom they should believe, all “for their own good.”

Not only do most people accept what they’re told, they never even consider that there just might be any other way to see the world, because it is more comfortable, and, they think, safer, to just go along with what they’re told. In one respect, it IS safer, in that as long as they continue to go along with the program, they won’t be asked to put themselves out, or have to go through the effort of learning, or thinking….

Our society does not encourage children to think; in fact, our entire system of education is designed to prevent that very thing. Well, perhaps saying it is designed that way is a bit harsh…. A lot of quite moral people do contribute their ideas and talents to the educational process, with good intentions, but their efforts are, and always will be, blunted by the powers that be, none of whom are invested, or have any interest, in having a population capable of critical thought.

Having a large number of people who question authority isn’t in their best interests, and you can rest assured that the systems they set up to educate the young are NOT going to create an atmosphere that encourages any such thing…. As George Carlin so aptly pointed out, all they need is people who are smart enough to operate the machines, but not smart enough to question why they get paid so little for doing so….

The advent of the Internet put a big dent in the machine that the BRC has built over the centuries to keep society under their control, and they are still scrambling, trying to get a handle on the now uncontrollable flood of information readily available to people who never before had any idea that they were so ignorant.

A lot of smart ffolkes are out there in the world, and more and more of them are now able to share their knowledge of what is Truth with the world at large… a lot more than ever before in history. I am positive this makes the BRC and the masters of evil quite nervous, as shown by the daily attempts to curtail the flow of information through legislation and fear mongering over “identity theft” and “national security concerns”.

But, the Genie is out of the bottle, and I don’t think they’ll ever be able to get it back in as completely as before. The world now has access to more knowledge, on a wider basis than ever before in history, and that spread of knowledge is going to have an effect. It may not be obvious yet, but, it will happen, and the world will become a different place, with different rules, none of which can be guessed at now.

The question remains as to whether the changes that are coming to society will happen in time to save us from the physical effects our specie’s foolishness is forcing on us, and as to whether or not the process will proceed without the need for violent revolution. I can’t see the BRC or the masters of evil giving up their grasp on the rest of us without a struggle….

The question, then, is this… do we have the courage to take responsibility for our own lives into our own hands? Or will we just accept whatever Reality subjects us to, without any attempt to gain control over our own destiny?….. Time will tell, and I hope we all are still around to hear the answer….

“We can lie in the language of dress or try to tell the truth; but unless we are naked and bald, it is impossible to be silent.” — Alison Lurie
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I’m really not sure how to look at today’s effort…. While writing it, it felt fragmented, and it seemed to be a struggle to keep on track. After proofing and polishing, I can see it didn’t come out too badly, and managed to make a good point or two… If nothing else, the Morning Song is worth sitting through the rest of it, I’m sure…. Besides, where else could you find so many confident assertions, totally unsupported by facts and figures, but here?… Oh, right, just about anywhere…. Oh, well..

I’m going to go see if I can cause some trouble out in the Big Blue Room. (Don’t fret, to me, trouble = twisting reality’s tail, not anything immoral, or cruel…. just fooling with folk’s minds whenever possible, & inviting them to join me in either thinking, or laughing….Harmless fun, that’s all….)  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

dozer3

More emerald than jade……

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Ffolkes,
BANG! CRASH!  Hey, folks, don’t mind the noise….. SMASH! BANG!…. Murphy has brought some friends this morning…. CRASH!….. and they got into a big argument, that has turned into a huge brawl.  RUUUUUMBLE! POW!…… Ouch, that had to hurt!….. I imagine they’ll stop breaking up my furniture in a few minutes, so if y’all don’t object, I’ll take a short break here, and let them finish up. BlAM! POP! CRUNCH!…. Oooh, that was nasty!  Duck!….  Okay, I’ll be back shortly, when peace breaks out…..

Okay, then….. they seem to have finished up. What a mess! A couple of mornings ago, Murphy made me knock over a lamp first thing upon awakening, and must have thought it was funny, because he did it again this morning….. only worse, as it took the entire table down today. Then, I sit up, only to find Murphy, and three of his pals, rolling around, locked in fierce combat on my floor, with furniture flying in all directions…. It was almost like a scene from an old western, only there was no honky-tonk piano in the background, and no ever-present odor of horse manure…..

It was almost enough to make me go back to sleep, but, being the dedicated blogger I am, I got up and retreated, WITH my coffee, to worship at the porcelain throne for a while….. which seems to have worked, as they all got bored and left…. It’s handy that Murphy and his myrmidons have an objection to bathrooms and other places dedicated to cleaning up….. That sort of adolescent attitude is helpful to us old farts….. especially those of us who have achieved frequent-flier status in there….

Now, though, I’m at somewhat of a loss, without any idea of where to go from here…. It took all I’ve got to get this far, and I’m afraid I may have used up a good portion of today’s equanimity to keep from freaking out so early. I’m not sure what that will mean later on, but it promises to make life interesting….

Uh oh, there’s that word again…. interesting…. My life has, per the curse leveled at me when I was younger by the old Chinese gentleman, been far too interesting for my comfort up to this point, and I’m not sure I can live through any more “interesting times”…. I suppose I could just hide for the day, stay in my room and let the world go on about its business without my unnecessary presence; it’s not as if I’m involved in any seriously important stuff right now.

But, I can’t allow hiding to become a habitual response to Murphy’s ubiquitous efforts at disrupting my serenity, or he’ll win. Not going to happen, not on my watch….. So, we’ll slip on flippers and a mask, and go see what the old dB has for us this morning….. Shall we Pearl?…..

“How’s the wife?  Is she at home enjoying capitalism?” — Zippy the Pinhead
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I’m feeling a bit nasty today, it having occurred to me that I am now into my third year of waiting for Social Security to get through winding their way to giving me my benefits…. It’s insane, is what it is…. So, the following old school group of pearls all have one object… to vilify, denigrate, and otherwise make fun of government, and all those insane, sociopathic people who engage in that disgusting habit…..

“An elephant: a mouse built to government specifications.” — Lazarus Long

“For some reason the little Senators make us laugh.” — Smart Bee

PATRIOT, n.  One to whom the interests of a part seem superior to those of the whole. The dupe of statesmen and the tool of conquerors.  — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

Beware the Jabberwock, my son
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch
Beware the jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious bandersnatch

— _Jabberwocky_, by Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson)

(Didn’t anyone ever tell you? In Jabberwocky, indeed, in most of Dodgson’s work, metaphor is king…. the jub jub bird is, of course, a Supreme Court justice, and obviously, a frumious bundersnatch is a member of Congress (in Dodgson’s world, a member of Parliament)….., and the Jabberwock? Patently, we’re talking of the President (or the Prime Minister, take your pick…..)

“Gun collection programs are a good way to get rid of a murder weapon.” — Smart Bee
(Oops…. wrong pearl…. wait…. no, it’s okay, it will work here…. sorry, but, when irony strikes….)

Honest politician — Oxymoron

“All authority is quite degrading.”  — Oscar Wilde

Lastly, to round it off at nine… a very cosmic number, BTW… a summary of the other eight pearls, from one of the sharpest political and social philosophers of the twentieth century…..

“Americans like to talk about (or be told about) Democracy but, when put to the test, usually find it to be an ‘inconvenience.’   We have opted instead for an authoritarian system *disguised* as a Democracy.  We pay through the nose for an enormous joke-of-a-government, let it push us around, and then wonder how all those assholes got in there.” — Frank Zappa
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Soliloquy of The Solipsist

I?
I walk alone;
The midnight street
Spins itself from under my feet;
When my eyes shut
These dreaming houses all snuff out;
Through a whim of mine
Over gables the moon’s celestial onion
Hangs high.

I
Make houses shrink
And trees diminish
By going far; my look’s leash
Dangles the puppet-people
Who, unaware how they dwindle,
Laugh, kiss, get drunk,
Nor guess that if I choose to blink
They die.

I
When in good humor,
Give grass its green
Blazon sky blue, and endow the sun
With gold;
Yet, in my wintriest moods, I hold
Absolute power
To boycott any color and forbid any flower
To be.

I
Know you appear
Vivid at my side,
Denying you sprang out of my head,
Claiming you feel
Love fiery enough to prove flesh real,
Though it’s quite clear
All you beauty, all your wit, is a gift, my dear,
From me.

~~ Sylvia Plath

SIGH…. gotta love genius….
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“Can I leave now?  My brain is full.” — Smart Bee

I’m not sure exactly why, but this appeals to me; I’ve felt this way often, and can empathize strongly with whoever wrote it….. In its quiet little way, it also points at my own current state of mind, in that I seem to be out of outrage…. There are so many examples in my sphere of perception, of the evil being done every day, by the government, by churches, by random assholes with more testosterone than brains, I’m finding it hard to pick out just one or two to rant about…. For me, that is a disastrous state to be caught in, since much of what I do here involves ranting about stuff that tickles my outrage….

I suppose y’all might just be laughing at me just now, as this may seem like a minor complaint…. and, in a cosmic sense, it really is. But, lest we forget, MY cosmos is the one being affected, which will affect what I write about, and when, and how much, and y’all will be the ones that have to deal with the fallout….. You’ll be singing a different song, then, I’ll wager…. Ripples in the pond, don’t’cha know?….

This isn’t to say that’s what I WANT to happen; I’ve given my opinion previously on how much I dislike being unable to write something, whether it’s a rant, or an old-school pearl, or a poem…. Writing has become for me as important as reading, and I’ll consider writing ANYTHING, if it seems even the slightest bit intriguing, just like I’ll read just about ANYTHING, including milk cartons and cereal boxes, if that’s all there is to read…. Now, writing has assumed an equal importance in my scheme, and any glitches in the process can stimulate worry…. mankind’s true nemesis….

“More people have died of worry, than ever bled to death.” — Lazarus Long…..

Rather than spending any significant amount of time worrying, I decided to seize on what I had, and just jump in & start writing…. So far, it isn’t too shabby, but needs…. something…. aha! A hook…. I need a hook…. okay, let’s see what we have laying about…..

Nope, nada damn thing to be seen anywhere in the vicinity, which kicks the worrying up a notch or two, for sure…. Calliope has deserted me for other parts, the headlines are too bland to get worked up about, and the Westboro Baptist Church of Fools has been strangely silent of late…. All I have here, as I gaze around the room in pathetic hope, are the same old items I’ve been looking at for seven months now, since moving here…. most of which has either been already explored, or isn’t worth mentioning….

I see now I should have, perhaps, prepared for this a bit better; research is always useful, and it would be nice to not have to get all antsy just because my imagination is coming up empty. Whining about it isn’t going to help, or solve the issue, so we’ll skip right by that, and go into strategic planning mode, followed by a dip into tactical operations mode, and we’re home free…. Let’s see now, first, a small diversion… I can do that…. Look, over there! It’s a pearl!….

“Why can’t we ever attempt to solve a problem in this country without having a ‘War’ on it?” — Rich Thomson

Now, THERE’s a question for the BRC, but I’m afraid it wouldn’t get as much response as we’d like…. Good strategy demands, after a diversion, a foray out into enemy territory, to gather intelligence…. so….

“All power rests on hierarchy: An army is nothing but a well-organized lynch mob.” — Edward Abbey

Okay, that’s intelligent…. now, we shoot back…..

“If a million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.” — Anatole France

Yep, that had to hurt…. Okay, so now, all we have to do to have achieved our strategic goal is to finish them off with unassailable logic, combined with a bit of humor…. no worries…

“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” — Albert Einstein

“It’s not the pace of life that bothers me, it’s the sudden stop at the end.” — Hobbes

See? It’s all in the wrist…. Using two pearls for the last thought was deliberate, though it helped that both of them came up one after the other, as if pre-ordained…. But it just fit, as the first supplies the unassailable logic, and the second the humor…. and, as we all know by now, timing is everything……
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As probably came through loud and clear, I was a bit worried about this Pearl; it didn’t want to come together without some rather tricky meandering. All in all, though, it came out okay, and, once again,…. wait for it…. It’s done! That factor alone accounts for at least half of its charm, in my book…. What’s more, it’s still quite early in the day, so there is hope that the less than auspicious beginning can be mitigated enough to make the rest of the day a bit less chaotic… Time will tell, I have no doubt, whatsoever…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

dozer3

Hobbies and habits of wild mundanes….

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Ffolkes,
Today promises to be interesting….. and I say that with some caution, lest it turn from merely interesting to INTERESTING, as in “oh what an interesting wound! Does it always bleed so heavily?” This is more like, “oh, what an interesting new book! I’ve always wanted to learn about that!”  Well, at least that is how I hope it transpires…. As you know, Murphy tends to hang around here in the mornings a lot, and things can go strange at any moment….

That being said, I want to make it clear…. I am a Whole Ass…. This is purely a subjective judgment, you understand; it has nothing to do with reality as a whole, and is only of concern because it can affect my writing, to a degree….. We won’t let that hinder us from getting on with the morning’s business, but I thought you should know, in case something I said comes out a bit harsh. I wouldn’t want you to think I’m like that all the time; I just do it well when I do…..  Just sayin’…..

I’ve been busy the last day or two, but have managed to find some pretty nice pearls, so I think we should cut this a bit short today, and get right into the meat of the matter…. besides, I’m still a bit light on stuff for this intro, so I’ll save what I have for another morning, when I don’t have so much material to work with….. So, shall we Pearl?…… (Gotta love that artistic license, as applied to grammar…..)
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All life is a conjugation of the verb “to eat” — Smart Bee

I’m not sure why, but I like this a lot….It isn’t true, of course, unless one is metaphorically literate, as we all are here at Exploring Consensual Reality. If one is clear on the power of metaphor, then it becomes a really good one-liner, both amusing and, in a strange way, true as the day is long. Unfortunately, it is also extremely subtle, in that one must look deeply into the meaning, past the normal, and into the layers below the surface before its truth becomes clear. Shallow thinkers need not apply…..

I find the above statement to be very eastern in its subtlety and depth, which leads me to think of other examples of this type of statement. There is possibly no better western interpretation of an eastern idea than this passage…..

“The world, Govinda, is not imperfect or slowly evolving along a long path to perfection. No, it is perfect at every moment; every sin already carries grace within it, all small children are potential old men, all sucklings have death within them, all dying people — eternal life. It is not possible for one person to see how far another is on the way; the Buddha exists in the robber and the dice player; the robber exists in the Brahmin. During deep meditation it is possible to dispel time, to see simultaneously all the past, present and future, and then everything is good, everything is perfect, everything is Brahman. Therefore, it seems to me that everything that exists is good–death as well as life, sin as well as holiness, wisdom as well as folly. Everything is necessary, everything needs only my agreement, my assent, my loving understanding; then all is well with me and nothing can hurt me. I learned through my body and soul that it was necessary for me to sin, that I needed lust, that I had to strive for property and experience nausea and the depths of despair in order to learn not to resist them, in order to learn to love the world, and no longer compare it with some kind of desired imaginary world, some imaginary vision of perfection, but to leave it as it is, to love it and be glad to belong to it. These, Govinda, are some of the thoughts that are in my mind.” — Hermann Hesse, _Siddartha_

Such passages as this have helped me to understand both sides of the concepts involved here, eastern and western alike…. It is one of only a few such pieces of literature, books that capture the essence of what is in the eastern view of reality, stating it in the words of our western culture, thus helping us to understand ideas that our culture approaches much differently. When one reaches a certain level of understanding, then passages such as the following become not only words of beauty and elegance, but words of depth, bringing a new level of comprehension to our minds….

“The sages of old were mysterious and profound. We cannot fathom their thoughts, so all we do is describe their appearance.

Aware, like a fox crossing the water.
Alert, like a general on the battlefield.
Kind, like a hostess greeting her guests.
Simple, like uncarved blocks of wood.
Opaque, like black pools in darkened caves.

Who can tell the secrets of their hearts and minds?

The answer exists only in the Tao.”–Tao Teh Ching

From either source, east or west, the search of inner peace begins in understanding, and for understanding one must “eat words”….. and learn how to conjugate…..
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Blackberrying

Nobody in the lane, and nothing, nothing but blackberries,
Blackberries on either side, though on the right mainly,
A blackberry alley, going down in hooks, and a sea
Somewhere at the end of it, heaving. Blackberries
Big as the ball of my thumb, and dumb as eyes
Ebon in the hedges, fat
With blue-red juices. These they squander on my fingers.
I had not asked for such a blood sisterhood; they must love me.
They accommodate themselves to my milkbottle, flattening their sides.

Overhead go the choughs in black, cacophonous flocks—
Bits of burnt paper wheeling in a blown sky.
Theirs is the only voice, protesting, protesting.
I do not think the sea will appear at all.
The high, green meadows are glowing, as if lit from within.
I come to one bush of berries so ripe it is a bush of flies,
Hanging their bluegreen bellies and their wing panes in a Chinese screen.
The honey-feast of the berries has stunned them; they believe in heaven.
One more hook, and the berries and bushes end.

The only thing to come now is the sea.
From between two hills a sudden wind funnels at me,
Slapping its phantom laundry in my face.
These hills are too green and sweet to have tasted salt.
I follow the sheep path between them. A last hook brings me
To the hills’ northern face, and the face is orange rock
That looks out on nothing, nothing but a great space
Of white and pewter lights, and a din like silversmiths
Beating and beating at an intractable metal.

~~  Sylvia Plath

I’ve never read any of the poetry of Sylvia Plath, but I have a feeling I’ll be reading a lot more of it…. Enjoy!
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Here is what I call a synthetic pearl…. I realized just a moment ago that I haven’t ranted in a few days, about either of my favorite targets, victims, subjects, politics and religion. I’m running very late, for me, and I don’t really have the energy to give a rant my best. Instead, I give you two brilliant pearls on the subject, followed by a statement of conclusion, in the form of a pair of questions, from Lao Tzu…. If this doesn’t stimulate some brain cells, then I’m afraid I have bad news for you…. you died yesterday, and forgot to clock out….. For those who are still present, and conscious, I give you this beautiful, yet not organic, but, rather, synthetic pearl, finely crafted in the cavernous, well-equipped laboratory I call my mind….

“And don’t tell me God works in mysterious ways”, Yossarian continued, “There’s nothing mysterious about it, He’s not working at all. He’s playing. Or else He’s forgotten all about us. That’s the kind of God you people talk about, a country bumpkin, a clumsy, bungling, brainless, conceited, uncouth hayseed. Good God, how much reverence can you have for a Supreme Being who finds it necessary to include such phenomena as phlegm and tooth decay in His divine system of Creation? What in the world was running through that warped, evil, scatological mind of His when He robbed old people of the power to control their bowel movements? Why in the world did He ever create pain?” — Joseph Heller, Catch22

“Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins.  Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness *positively*, by uniting our affections, the latter *negatively*, by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions.  The first is a patron, the last is a punisher. Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one….” — Thomas Paine, opening lines of _Common Sense_ 1776 — *asterisks denote Paine’s use of italics*

“Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear? Can you remain unmoving till the right actions arises by itself?” — Lao Tzu
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The above posting may seem like insignificant rubbish at first glance, but if you read between the lines, you will be surprised to discover the annals of Burt Bacharach, world peace, Oxford Advanced Readers Dictionary, quantum physics made easy, and an easy-to-use step-by-step walk-through on how to make a time traveling device that actually works. — DISCLAIMER

I am almost certain that I can’t possibly create any more confusion, or inflict any more damage today, so my work here is done. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!