Tag Archives: Tao Teh Ching

Murky morals create messes….

Posted on by
3

Ffolkes,
Balderdash! Poppycock! And other such fine expressions!  Aren’t those great words? I love English, which is more than I can say for SOME people. Some folks submit our language to daily torture, some merely mangle it out of any recognizable shape. A lot of people use it, but never figure out how to make it shine. These are the folks who need to use words such as the two at the head of the paragraph, to muscle up their vocabulary, and make it more like Mr. Universe than the skinny nerd we used to see on the back of comics…..

Even I forget to use the vocabulary I have at times; the Thesaurus sits right next to me while I type, but I seldom break it out, a habit I need to break. I do pretty well at not using the same words over and over in the same piece of work, but I think that the more variety one uses, the larger the pool of available alternatives grows. All of us here at WordPress are trying, in our own ways, to become better writers (I hope that’s the case….), and using a larger vocabulary is a sure way to do that……

After such an auspicious opening, one would think that today’s Pearl is a doozie (another fine word…), but only time will tell us whether or not that is the case. Let us now leave this pompousness behind, and wash ourselves clean in the ocean of knowledge….. Shall we Pearl?……
___________________________________

Happiness follows sorrow, sorrow follows happiness, but when one no longer discriminates between happiness and sorrow, a good deed and a bad deed, one is able to realize freedom.” — Buddha

I was married for 23 years. If I had my druthers, I’d still be married; I took vows, which I kept.  Still do, for that matter….. I promised to love her more every day than I did the day before, and in spite of her absence, that hasn’t changed a whit…. and that hurts.  It is only the lessons I’ve learned over the years from Buddhism and Taoism that have helped me to move beyond that pain. The lesson above is one of the most powerful of those lessons…..

In reality, this is pretty hard to accomplish; our western minds tend to take pain and make ourselves almost dependent upon it, using it as fuel for action. This is wrong action, however, and almost always leads to more pain. It is hard for most people, me included, to learn how to put aside pain by changing the way we look at reality. Difficult, but well worth the effort, as it is a sure-fire method of learning self-control.

In a relative sense, it is easy to see what needs to be done, but in reality, reaching this state of equilibrium is not quite so simple. It is also something that each person needs to learn to do all alone; no one can teach you how to change yourself, or your own desires. It can help to hold the duality of reality in mind when considering this; pain is merely one side of the coin that is reality. On the other side is joy.

Neither can be understood, or even felt without the other. This shows that if we can learn to feel both with equal equanimity, to realize that neither one is either permanent or harmful, then they both assume less importance, and can be more easily allowed to pass away, the fate of all transient emotion. Once we have learned to let them go, it is amazing to realize that such pain will no longer control us, and we now have the ability to approach life with the ability to choose our own reaction to events…. This is indeed a powerful tool, and one that can help us to achieve the life we desire….A life free of emotional strife and pain, which is true freedom….

“Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Life of Sertorius
___________________________________

The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
‘T is mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway,
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s,
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That in the course of justice none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), The Merchant of Venice — Act iv, Sc. 1

I like to consider myself to be a fair-minded person, and try to admit mistakes when I make them. My opinion of Will Shakespeare has been well-documented, so I won’t go into that….

I have to admit, though, that this soliloquy from the Merchant of Venice, is very well done, and stands in stark contrast to great gobs of his other works. It has logic, it has rhyme, and reason. It is consistent, and most importantly, it is relatively clear, not all jumbled up with obscure phrases whose context was lost centuries past.  I like it….

It’s not enough to make me change my overall judgment of his body of work, or make me sit through one of his plays…. but, it’s pretty good…. There, see, I can be nice…..
___________________________________

A Lover’s Quarrel Among the Fairies

A moonlight moor. Fairies leading a child.

Male Fairies: Do not fear us, earthly maid!
We will lead you hand in hand
By the willows in the glade,
By the gorse on the high land,

By the pasture where the lambs
Shall awake with lonely bleat,
Shivering closer to their dams
From the rustling of our feet.

You will with the banshee chat,
And will find her good at heart,
Sitting on a warm smooth mat
In the green hill’s inmost part.

We will bring a crown of gold
Bending humbly every knee,
Now thy great white doll to hold —
Oh, so happy would we be!

Ah it is so very big,
And we are so very small!
So we dance a fairy jig
To the fiddle’s rise and fall.

Yonder see the fairy girls
All their jealousy display,
Lift their chins and toss their curls,
Lift their chins and turn away.

See you, brother, Cranberry Fruit —
He! ho! ho! the merry blade! —
Hugs and pets and pats yon newt,
Teasing every willful maid.

Girl Fairies: Lead they one with foolish care,
Deafening us with idle sound —
One whose breathing shakes the air,
One whose footfall shakes the ground.

Come you, Coltsfoot, Mousetail, come!
Come I know where, far away,
Owls there be whom age makes numb;
Come and tease them till the day.

Puffed like puff-balls on a tree,
Scoff they at the modern earth —
Ah! how large mice used to be
In their days of youthful mirth!

Come, beside a sandy lake,
Feed a fire with stems of grass;
Roasting berries steam and shake —
Talking hours swiftly pass!

Long before the morning fire
Wake the larks upon the green.
Yonder foolish ones will tire
Of their tall, new-fangled queen.

They will lead her home again
To the orchard-circled farm;
At the house of weary men
Raise the door-pin with alarm,

And come kneeling on one knee,
While we shake our heads and scold
This their wanton treachery,
And our slaves be as of old.

William Butler Yeats

Of late, I have been leaning more and more on poetry to soothe my fevered brow…. and I don’t regret a moment of that. Here is another from W.B. Yeats, that takes us on a short, wondrous journey into Irish myth….
___________________________________

I’ve relied heavily on the work of others for this Pearl, as a direct result of a massive attack of lazy bones this morning…. Ah well, at least I picked stuff that will be interesting to a wide group of ffolkes…. Lazy can be okay, if properly moderated…. 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!

Has anyone felt my milquetoast?

Posted on by
5

Ffolkes,
I’m not sure why, but I woke up in a foul, fragile mood, which makes me want to bite something, or preferably somebody.  I actually do have an idea why, but only the final event really matters; it is one that is not for publication. I’m finding myself enjoying (if that is the word) some newish side benefits, perks, if you will, of being the proud possessor of PTSD, in all its ugly glory…..

The last few weeks have been a bit rough, in terms of physical pain and financial stress. I’m getting really, really fed up with trying to subsist on the amount of money I was making when I was 22.  Add that stress to the pain I’ve been fighting, and you get the diffuse anxiety, depressive thoughts, and emotional fragility that causes me to burst into tears without any warning…. like right now….. S’cuse me a minute…..

Sorry ’bout that…. any who….. The latest news that has me stressed out is that my landlord is having a problem refinancing the property, and may lose it. So, as of the first of this month, I might have to move, if his refinance isn’t approved. I really don’t want to move…. I’ve grown to hate the process severely. I can no longer do most of it myself, because of my back, so I must find someone to help me. Since I live like a hermit, that will be problematic, and just adds to the stress.

“It’s exhilarating to be alive in a time of awakening consciousness; it can also be confusing, disorienting, and painful.” — Adrienne Rich

That’s enough self pity, I think…. I hate to indulge in it, and don’t really want to put my problems out there for all to see. But, today, I don’t care what people think about it, I just need to vent, and this is my only source for that service….. I’ll try to keep it lighter from this point, ‘kay?….

Shall we Pearl? That is, after all, what I am here for……

Truths would you teach, or save a sinking land?
All fear, none aid you, and few understand.
— Alexander Pope (1688-1744)– Essay on Man, Epistle iv, Line 261
___________________________________

Better stop short than fill to the brim.
Oversharpen the blade, and the edge will soon blunt.
Amass a store of gold and jade, and no one can protect it.
Claim wealth and titles, and disaster will follow.
Retire when the work is done.
This is the way of heaven.
— Tao Te Ching

In discussing religions, I have always avoided showing a preference for one over another. It may seem like I pick on Christianity a lot, but that, I believe, merely reflects the fact that I was raised as one, so I am more familiar with its intransigences. All of them are based on false assumptions, so, to my mind, they are all delusional at their base.

Taoism, on the other hand, is NOT a religion, as it does not promote any particular concept of a dyslexic Dog, and speaks of Heaven only as a reflection of the Tao, an ideal, as it were, without supposing the presence of a supernatural policeman enforcing delusional behavior.

REPENTANCE, n.  The faithful attendant and follower of Punishment.  It is usually manifest in a degree of reformation that is not inconsistent with continuity of sin.

Desirous to avoid the pains of Hell,
You will repent and join the Church, Parnell?
How needless! — Nick will keep you off the coals
And add you to the woes of other souls.
Jomater Abemy
— Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

Instead of attempting to get people to behave acceptably by offering rewards and punishments, Taoism provides suggestions and observations regarding the way to approach reality to achieve a desired result. There is no promise of everlasting life for following the rules set down, nor any threat of a fiery Hell if those rules are broached. There is only the author’s wisdom regarding his approach to life, with suggestions for behavior that lead to desirous results in reality. It is an appeal to reason, rather than treating adults as children with a mad, capricious parent, inconsistent from one moment to the next…..

“Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.” — Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

All of the above suggestions are very good advice, and all obviously based on experience. They have been tested by reality, and found to be accurate in every case. If you have ever filled a glass with liquid to the brim, then tried to carry it somewhere, the first line is one you will agree with right away; it is actually a technique taught in food service to waitrons, to always leave some room at the top of the glass, so that it becomes easy to carry, rather than stressful, and messy. The others are equally relevant, as I can attest, and, as can be seen by reading history books, and the daily news, evidence is ubiquitous in both.

On a personal level, I find Taoism to be incredibly useful in dealing with everyday events. It requires the development of new ways of thinking, and getting rid of habitual patterns of behavior based on dysfunctional concepts and institutions, but I can attest that it is entirely worth the effort.

Using these precepts as the basis for all one’s actions is actually a soothing, uplifting process; I find today that merely discussing the differences has improved my emotional state. This can theoretically be extended into every corner of our lives, and provide us with a source of serenity and peace in a world full of strife and confusion…..

“To YOU I’m an atheist; to God, I’m the Loyal Opposition.” — Woody Allen (Well, sort of….)
___________________________________

Yesterday, I wrote one of several pieces on Will Shakespeare…. Murphy has apparently decided to be helpful, in his own way, and keeps shoving into my face more and more examples that demonstrate the extent of the crap he produced.

Rather that piss him off, I’ll put some more in today’s Pearl, to further my campaign to remove him from the pantheon of literary gods, and return him to where he belongs, somewhere in the middle of the pack of writers in the world, a worthy compatriot of Jacqueline Suzanne and the author of “Twilight”……

He arrests him on it;
And follows close the rigour of the statute,
To make him an example.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Measure for Measure — Act i, Sc. 4

“Convey,” the wise it call. “Steal!” foh! a fico for the phrase!
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), The Merry Wives of Windsor — Act i, Sc. 3

I hold you as a thing ensky’d and sainted.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Measure for Measure — Act i, Sc. 4

Can such things be,
And overcome us like a summer’s cloud,
Without our special wonder?
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Macbeth — Act iii, Sc. 4

Ap. My poverty, but not my will, consents.
Rom. I pay thy poverty, and not thy will.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Romeo and Juliet — Act v, Sc. 1

That is probably enough…. these five all strike me as nonsense. Perhaps they show more meaning if put into the context of the plays, but, are still far more obscure than they need to be…. I’ll stop now because Will has taken quite a few hits here the last two days, and is starting to look a bit bedraggled and bloody. Of course, he has a reputation that can probably stand up to that….. Ah well, my suggestion is, if you want to see a good play, go see something that Tennessee Williams wrote, or better yet, Neil Simon….
___________________________________

A Last Confession

What lively lad most pleasured me
Of all that with me lay?
I answer that I gave my soul
And loved in misery,
But had great pleasure with a lad
That I loved bodily.

Flinging from his arms I laughed
To think his passion such
He fancied that I gave a soul
Did but our bodies touch,
And laughed upon his breast to think
Beast gave beast as much.

I gave what other women gave
That stepped out of their clothes.
But when this soul, its body off,
Naked to naked goes,
He it has found shall find therein
What none other knows,

And give his own and take his own
And rule in his own right;
And though it loved in misery
Close and cling so tight,
There’s not a bird of day that dare
Extinguish that delight.

William Butler Yeats

And now the emotional repair job is complete. A bit of light, happy making poetry from Mssr. Yeats, and all is well….. Enjoy!
___________________________________

So be it…. today’s effort was mostly therapeutic, for me, at least by intent. Hopefully, it will bring some light into your life as well…. 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!

Bagels never travel in first class….

Posted on by
3

Ffolkes,
My mind’s eye is clouded and grey this morning. No visions of beauty, or even of horror. No trite phrases, no witty repartee, and worst of all, no nonsense floating around in my head, clamoring for release. It’s all a void, empty space that I may have to try to rent out. I have fallen into writer’s limbo, that terrifying landscape where ideas run off the moment they arrive, and creativity is limited to sock colors. Where material is not merely hard to find, but actively resistant in spite of all efforts on my part to find something, anything to write about……

A hundred sinister eyes peered out from the darkness surrounding the traveler, closely following his progress on the road leading to the castle of the local lord. The traveler took no notice, his hooded face hidden as he stared downward at the back of his horse, seemingly asleep. In the darkness ahead, the vague outline of a building took shape, growing clearer as he approached, until a gatehouse revealed itself, tall and grim, seeming to lean over the roadway leading to the bridge over the river, which was now audible, as a low rumbling just at the edge of consciousness. In the swirling mist crawling out of the river, the traveler sensed a presence……

See, even my fantasies are failing me…. in re-reading this, it is apparent that this might make an entry for the Bulwer-Lytton Contest next year… that is the contest to find the worst opening paragraph that can be written each year, with a monetary prize for the top three entries, along with notice from publishers who follow such contests, looking for new talent. It’s certainly bad enough, and that second sentence in the second paragraph definitely stretches the boundaries of good writing; it is a run on-sentence of major proportions…..

Ah, well, fuck it…. let’s go Pearl, instead……
___________________________________

“I must decline your invitation owing to a subsequent engagement.” — Oscar Wilde

Ah, Oscar! Such a wonderful way with insults he had! This is so subtle that I believe 99% of the English speaking world would accept this from him and never realize they had been insulted…. I’ll have to remember this one the next time I get invited to attend Sunday services somewhere….

Shoot, I know for sure I could say this to my own brother, and he wouldn’t realize it….until he was sitting in church, and took a moment to reflect upon it…. but then he’d decide he must have mis-heard what I said, and would forget it…. He’s not the brightest bulb in the box, my brother….but he is very good hearted, one of the few Christians I can tolerate for more than a few minutes…. And if you ever repeat what I said about him, I’ll deny it, right up to the point where you show it to him online…. then, I’d just grin and tell him he’s heard worse…. which he has….

I’ve always enjoyed insults, as a study, not as a habit. I do use them on occasion, when deserved, but generally I try to be play nicely with others. A well-delivered subtle insult, the kind I like best, is like this one from Oscar; couched in words that outwardly appear to be quite amicable and friendly, yet devastatingly sharp upon reflection. The very best will not even be recognized as an insult at all, but I like them when they wait an hour or two, and then come back and poke the recipient right in the mind’s eye….. after I am safely in another part of town……

I used to collect insults, and once had a list of the 100 most effective put-downs, as collected by the publishers of Mad magazine…. Some of them were pretty corny, even for me….such as “You should be on the stage…. There’s one leaving in an hour….”  That’s just sad, when you think of it…. but, it does get the point across. Then there is this type…. “So, did they ever catch the guy?”  “What guy?”  “The one who ran over your face….”  Pretty silly, yes?  Yes….

And silly is a word that could probably be accurately applied to this pearl. So accurate, it struck home, and I’m now no longer in the mood for insults…. we’ll just have to go on to something else a bit more engaging….. Shall we?….
___________________________________

“You govern a kingdom by normal rules;
You fight a war by exceptional moves;
But you win the world by letting alone,
How do I know that this is so?
By what is within me!
The more taboo and inhibitions there are in the world,
The poorer the people become.
The sharper the weapons the people posses,
The greater confusion reigns in the realm.
The more clever and crafty the men,
The oftener strange things happen.
The more articulate the laws and ordinances,
The more robbers and thieves arise.”
— Tao Teh Ching #57, Lao Tzu

This is obvious. But don’t look at it too carefully, or it becomes unobvious, until you look at it for a long time, when it becomes obvious again. –Smart Bee

The above two pearls were sent to me by Murphy, so I have to write about them. How do I know he sent them? Well, when I was cruising my dB of quotes, the excerpt from the Tao Teh Ching was the very first quote that came into view after opening the program. I debated a discussion, as it is one of the most important of the lessons in that book.

But, I decided to go on, and find something a bit more amenable…. So I hit the key to bring up the next quote, and the second quote, the message from Smart Bee, came into view….. obviously, at least to me, the two were from Murphy, hence their presence here for me to comment….. although I don’t know why I should, since Murphy is such an ass. But, knowing him, if I don’t, I’ll pay for it, so…. here we go…

Each of the assertions in the above quote from Lao Tzu’s book is a subtle lesson, designed to teach the reader about the nature of the Tao.  As it says in the very first chapter of the Tao Teh Ching, the Tao that can be named is not the true Tao. To the Occidental mind, this seems to be a contradiction, and achieving an understanding requires a loosening of the rigid patterns of thought that are typical of the western mind. One must learn to hold two seemingly contradictory ideas in their mind simultaneously, to allow the meaning of each to mingle, and blend with the other, until the true nature of Tao is revealed, even though it cannot be touched, or seen, or heard.

This subtle process is difficult for westerners to use, as we tend to think in a straight line, from a to b; to understand the Tao, one must first understand that, to the eastern mind, a IS b. Instead of viewing the world as subject to cause and effect, the eastern way of looking at the world views cause and effect as the same concept, but looked at from a different vantage. As I said, subtle, but not completely inscrutable….

And now I know why Murphy sent them to me…. If one considers the second quote, and uses the lines from the Tao Teh Ching as the subject of discussion, then it is obvious. But don’t look at it too carefully, or it becomes unobvious, until you look at it for a long time, when it becomes obvious again…..

🙂   Murphy was obviously telling us that, in order to understand the eastern way of thought, use the second quote as the process for examination of the idea, and one can find their way through to an understanding that they formerly could not see….See, now what was so hard about that?…..
___________________________________

“Eternal Vigilance Is The Price of Liberty” used to mean we watched the government – not the other way around.” — Bill Stewart

I don’t know who this Bill Stewart is, but he sure nailed this one…. but then, the American public lost its will to vigilance some years back, and we are now reaping the results of that lack of attention to what is important. The PTB, (Powers That Be) comprised of the beloved ruling class and their myrmidons, the priestly hierarchies, have been brainwashing the American public now for oh, I’d say about a hundred and fifty years or so. Since the confusion generated by the Civil War in the mid-1850’s, the PTB have relentlessly waged war on each of the freedoms that are guaranteed to us by the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.

First, a corrupt Federal judge made a landmark decision regarding businesses, and the rights thereof, giving “corporate personhood” to any corporation, but most specifically to those who paid him for that decision. This, in its essence, makes profit a right for these corporations, and just about any kind of process they may use to make that profit is made legal by this law. In other words, the law guarantees them a profit, no matter how much they may lie about their products, or to what lengths they may go to obtain a profit….

Since the beginning of the 20th century, this country has been involved in at least four major conflicts, and they all took place in the first half of the century. WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam shoved the nation into war time culture, exactly as Field Marshall Goering, of the the Third Reich, explained when he was tried at Nuremberg for his war crimes. The PTB convinced the  public that our nation was under attack by the forces of Evil…. Evil that was given a different face for each war. And, at the end, each war found the rights of the average citizen curtailed just a little bit more….

In the latter half of the century, the country was not forced into battle until our oil supplies became problematic. The PTB were having a harder time coming up with a face to put on the ones who are reportedly attacking us, until Saddam came along. Since the first intervention in Vietnam in the 50’s and 60’s, to the intervention in Middle Eastern conflicts in the 1990’s, to now in 2012, all of our wars have been illegal, in my mind, according to our Constitution.

Ostensibly, Congress is the only entity who is authorized to declare war. But, time after time, beginning in Vietnam, the President of this country has used his Executive powers as the Commander in Chief to engage in wars in Kuwait, Irag, Afghanistan, and probably a few places that haven’t been published.

Each time we are dragged into another conflict, using the same old tired story of being under attack, the PTB manage to place more restrictions on the unsuspecting public, until many of the rights we were given in the Bill of Rights have now been eliminated.

We can no longer gather to protest the government’s actions; if we do, we are “disturbing the public peace” or we are “serving the interests of our enemies”, thereby turning ordinary American citizens into criminals for actions that used to be protected by the Constitution. It is no longer considered legal to criticize the PTB; it’s unAmerican and a threat to National Security….

Our vigilance has been spotty at best, and the PTB are very well versed in the scientific methods of controlling large numbers of people; they have been practicing their skills for thousands of years. They know exactly how to phrase their words to inflame the public, to make them afraid, and thus set themselves up as the saviors of society. And they know exactly who to target with their rhetoric…..

Their primary targets are the same people who look at Mitt Romney as a man of character, and cheer him on as he makes his bid to get into the highest seat of power in the land, never realizing that they will be counted as his very first victims…. This man has NO interest in making things better of the average American. His words and actions have clearly shown that he is one of the elite, the super rich, who are not subject to the laws the rest of us must follow, and if elected, he will waste no time in making life a living hell for anybody making less than $250,000 a year….

I’ve been watching the government now for about 60 years, and every word of what I’ve written above is based upon what I’ve seen and heard from them in that time. None of it is made up. The PTB in this country, and in every country in the world, live only for their own aggrandizement, and have no interest in making life better for the average man or woman. They are only interested in maintaining the power that they have, and seek only to solidify their stranglehold on the remainder of society.

If you think otherwise, I challenge you to offer some kind of evidence for that. All the evidence that I have gathered, and witnessed, tells me that I am not wrong to mistrust the politicians and priests, because everything they do is designed to keep me , and you, and the rest of society in the role of victim. They’re good at it, they’ve practiced a lot….

Obviously, this is a subject I can rant about for days, which only makes sense, as I have a lot of years of experience at watching the ruling class in action. But, the rest of the day calls me, and my butt is getting tired of this chair….. so, I’ll leave this here, and merely say this…The situation in the world today is a result of NOT being vigilant, of not paying attention to the PTB, and assuming that they are looking out for our interests.

Well, we were wrong, and now we are paying the price, in the loss of those freedoms that made this country the world’s example of how the common man can be free. Now we are merely another example of how the wicked and corrupted in society can completely dominate the law-abiding masses, who allow themselves to be turned into sheep….. SIGH, and we showed such promise!…..

“When you stay on the tracks, ignoring the facts, you can’t blame the wreck on the train”. — from the song, “You Can’t Blame . . ”
___________________________________

Well, I certainly had a bit to get off my chest, didn’t I? Hopefully, I didn’t put anybody to sleep; I do tend to get carried away when I’m in the flow. But, we can all heave a big sigh of relief, and get on with the day….. 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!

Figuratively speaking, it’s already toast….

Posted on by
1

Ffolkes,
One day a long time ago, back in the Pleistocene Era, I was laying out back of the cave in my saber-tooth skin hammock, trying to sleep through the heat of the late afternoon, when my cave-mate, Lucy, yelled out the upper story window hole, “Did you pick up those extra mastodon steaks I asked for from the hunting trip this morning? Your brother and his cave-mate are coming over for dinner tomorrow, and I want to make sure we have enough meat; your brother eats like a T-Rex!” “Yes, I got them,” I called back, basking in the glow of a husbandly task successfully completed…..

Ah, bliss! Nothing like barbecued mastodon to make up for the pain of having to sit through a night with my brother’s mate….As the mate of an important member of the tribe (my brother is chief hunter….) she thinks it is her responsibility to hear and repeat every bit of gossip she can find, a responsibility she takes very seriously, to the everlasting regret of the rest of the family, my brother included…. Living with her as he does, his defenses against hearing all of her drivel about everyone else’s business are quite refined, and effective, seemingly. He, at least, hasn’t killed her yet, though I cannot say whether the thought has or has not crossed his mind……

I think I’m going to stop here, leaving my cave-mate and my brother to deal with his partner’s loquacity on their own. I have bigger fish to fry…. Or, at least, shinier pearls to seek, so to speak…. Shall we have at it? Time’s a wastin’!……

“I’m having BEAUTIFUL THOUGHTS about the INSIPID WIVES  of smug and wealthy CORPORATE LAWYERS..” — Zippy the Pinhead
___________________________________

“Don’t ever become a pessimist, Ira; a pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun — and neither can stop the march of events.” — Robert Heinlein, Time Enough For Love

I suppose one could say I am pessoptimist, a word I have just coined to help me explore another part of the duality of existence. I watch society, with both anticipation and trepidation, both of which are justifiable when dealing with something as capricious as human behavior. Reality itself is enough of a problem to deal with, given its wildly unpredictable nature, but the universe doesn’t care at all that it is a frightening experience, just to breathe and open one’s eyes to the chaos that surrounds us.  Reality marches on, regardless of our opinion of it; since we have the choice, why not look at the brighter side?

It is the pessimist in me that sees all of humanity’s flaws, and the optimist that sees all the beauty that we CAN create when we so desire. What is difficult is that one never knows where or when the beauty will surface, whereas the flaws make themselves as obvious as dog poop on the shoes in a closed room…. The pessimist in me knows this, which is why I view each moment rushing at us from the future with a degree of fear.

But, the optimist in me knows that fear is always balanced by the fact that whatever takes place has an equal chance of being the kind of experience that brings joy to my world. So much bad happens in the world, it can be hard to slough it off; it can come at us unrelentingly, like physical pain from a broken nose, or problems with the DMV….. But, one joyful perception can easily balance the scale…. and even make us glad for the negative, since it provides the contrast that makes the positive so much sweeter….

“For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.” — Emerson

SIGH… I guess all one can say is, I’m glad that I have the choice, even if making that choice can be a problem in and of itself…. One must remember that the Universe is, no doubt, proceeding as it should, so I’ll just keep my eyes, and options, open….
___________________________________

A Brook In The City

The farmhouse lingers, though averse to square
With the new city street it has to wear
A number in. But what about the brook
That held the house as in an elbow-crook?
I ask as one who knew the brook, its strength
And impulse, having dipped a finger length
And made it leap my knuckle, having tossed
A flower to try its currents where they crossed.
The meadow grass could be cemented down
From growing under pavements of a town;
The apple trees be sent to hearth-stone flame.
Is water wood to serve a brook the same?
How else dispose of an immortal force
No longer needed? Staunch it at its source
With cinder loads dumped down? The brook was thrown
Deep in a sewer dungeon under stone
In fetid darkness still to live and run —
And all for nothing it had ever done
Except forget to go in fear perhaps.
No one would know except for ancient maps
That such a brook ran water. But I wonder
If from its being kept forever under,
The thoughts may not have risen that so keep
This new-built city from both work and sleep.

Robert Frost

For me, one mark of a good poem, and poet, is that when one finishes reading the last line, the mind does not immediately let go, but follows the train of thought created by the poem to its conclusion, whatever that may be for each individual reader. Frost is a master at that type of poem, to my mind…. There is so much power in the phrase, “But I wonder….”!…..    Enjoy!
___________________________________

“I observe that there are two entirely different theories according to which individual men seek to get on in the world. One theory leads a man to pull down everyone around him in order to climb on them to a higher place. The other leads a man to help everybody around him in order that he may go up with them.” — Elihu Root

I’ve also heard it observed that there are only two kinds of people in the world…. Those who make lists about the types of people in the world, and those who are bored to tears by that…..  🙂    Sorry, couldn’t resist, even for such an obviously true aphorism, one that is completely  worthy of pearl status…..

I like to think that I act from the latter motivational base, that of working with my peers rather than against them, with my only thought of reward the good feeling that serving others gives me. One piece of evidence that I’ve been successful at that can be seen in my own place near the bottom of what most would consider the social scale. If I had been leaving bloody corpses behind me, I think I’d be enjoying a few more physical comforts than I do, and would have bodies buried somewhere that could be used against me, if they were publicized. When one has nothing, there is nothing to steal, is there?

“If you wish a life of trouble, fill your house with treasures.” — ancient Chinese proverb

I think the morality implied by the original pearl above is obvious, and is one that neither side of the issue would argue. But then, those who climb on the bodies of their peers to advance would never admit to such behavior; rationalization is one of mankind’s greatest skills. But, rationalized or not, they DO know that what they do is immoral; they have merely learned the art of lying to themselves as readily as they do to others.

To my way of thinking, it’s sad, as well as stupid, for far too many reasons to list here; relating one will do. It’s sad because these people will never even see any need to change, until it is too late for them to do anything that might help. And it is stupid, well, just because it is…. no, sorry, just kidding… It is stupid because a life that is built on lies is no life at all…..

Joshu asked the teacher Nansen, “What is the True Way?”
Nansen answered, “Every way is the true Way.”
Joshu asked, “Can I study it?”
Nansen answered, “The more you study, the further from the Way.”
Joshu asked, “If I don’t study it, how can I know it?”
Nansen answered, “The Way does not belong to things seen: nor to things unseen. It does not belong to things known: nor to things unknown. Do not seek it, study it, or name it. To find yourself on it, open yourself as wide as the sky.”

I can see the Way, but cannot point to it, and this makes me pessimistic, for it (the Way) is possibly our last hope for redemption as a species, and the people who most need to find it are not even looking. I am optimistic because I see great promise in Man, even if I am not certain that promise will be kept….
___________________________________

Since I’ve already run the gamut from silly to serious, from giddy to maudlin, and back again, it would be best to just stop here….. so I will.  There is enough confusion in the world, and I’ve done my best to contribute….  🙂   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!

Omelets don’t enjoy public exposure….

Posted on by
14

Ffolkes,
For the last 5 weeks or so, I have been unable to overcome the WordPress technical glitches that are plaguing my system. I have to perform a workaround to sign in. If I try to access another WP site while logged in, I either get put into an infinite loop that refuses to even load the page, or I get logged off, and can’t sign back in on the other site, because I’m logged in on mine. Being a geeky sort, I’ve figured out how to keep publishing, using three separate techniques to get around the glitch, whatever it is.

Unfortunately, this glitch also means I have been totally unable to access any of the sites of all the people I follow, other than once or twice. I can get there, but I have to log out, find the site using Google, then sign back in to comment, so it is very time-consuming, making it impractical for me, as I just can’t sit that long. Just writing my own blog I have to take breaks every 10-15 minutes, and trying to follow and read the 100+ blogs I want to read is just too much.
    As a result, the traffic on my site has also gone down, because it is true what they tell you in those blog tutorials; the success of any blog depends on the blogger visiting other sites, and maintaining that community contact. Since I can’t get to other sites, the only folks that I can see that come to my site are the ones who either hit the Like button, or comment (all of which I answer….); of the 150 people who signed up to follow my blog, only about 20-30 of them seem to be regulars, as my Likes and comments are still less than double digits (i.e., less than 10).

Now, this in itself is not troublesome for me, as I don’t write just to gather followers. I write for self-therapy, and to create discussion. If it eventually leads to a lot of readers, that would be great, but it’s not what I’m trying for. I’d rather have a smaller number of regular readers who comment, or at least read what I have to say because they like the content.

But it does bother me that I cannot read the blogs I follow. I follow them because I like what the people there write, or post, or create (some are VERY creative….) and I miss the dialogue I usually have with them, as I am in inveterate commenter when I read a blog. I enjoy it when folks comment, as it shows me that I’ve written something that stimulated someone else’s mind; I comment because what they wrote stimulated mine, and I want them to know it….. but now I can’t, and it’s driving me bat-shit crazy.

I’ve hesitated to contact WP about the glitch, as the last time I tried to get help, it took weeks, and was very frustrating; it actually made my PTSD worse, so I’m a little reluctant to go through that again. But now, I’m going to HAVE to ask for help, because the glitch is either spreading, or morphing, or something; I’ve had to use two workarounds just to sign in today. It’s too much, and I have to do something. The annoyance factor has grown to exceed my reluctance, so I’ll contact them today to see if I can get it fixed…..

To all those ffolkes who stop by every day, THANK YOU…. I’m glad you enjoy the Pearls, and you can be assured they will continue. Thanks also to those who stop in at least weekly  (I know of at least 5 who do so, as they “Like” or comment on four or five every time they come by, catching up, as it were…), or even just occasionally. I do appreciate it. Thanks especially to those who comment regularly, or even sporadically; I love to dialogue. And to all those who just stop in occasionally, thank you for that, and I hope what I write continues to draw you back, even if only occasionally.

To all the folks I follow…. please be patient. I’ll work with WP to get this fixed, and will spend a couple of days catching up to all of them, as best I may. I’m just hoping the effort to identify and fix the glitch doesn’t turn into another soap opera…. time will tell, as always…..

Now that I have thoroughly bored all of you to tears, I think it’s time to Pearl. Shall we?…..
___________________________________

“A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.” —  Robert Heinlein, The Notebooks of Lazarus Long

This statement, I believe, is one that almost any historian would agree with, as it has been said at different times in different words for as long as humanity has had a history. It is a deduction that has been proven time after time since the beginning of civilization; there is no argument against it that hasn’t been answered, so it is generally held to have the weight of a natural law…. This is a frightening thought when applied in relation to modern America…..

“In our society, the Republicans set out to prove that the Democrats can not be trusted to run the government. And the Democrats set out to prove that the Republicans can not be trusted to run our government. The real problem here is that both the Democrats and the Republicans have come up with something which is absolutely true and perfectly correct. This means that the people get to pull some sort of horrible trick on themselves and live with their choice for four years.” — Smart Bee

I wish this had come with attribution, so I’d know who to congratulate for a very succinct, accurate statement of the current State of the Union. Combining the common sense of this statement with the proven accuracy of the first quote, we arrive at the conclusion that our society has not only ignored the past, but no longer cares at all about the future.

Every four years, the folks who make up the beloved ruling class start spouting off about all the stuff they think the sitting administration has done wrong, sending out endless distractions and lies that are designed to keep the public’s attention off what they are really up to. In doing so, they are not only distracting people away from history, but teaching them to ignore it.

“And it shall come to pass that idiots shall roam the earth, and morons shall rule the masses.” — Smart Bee

In this current fiasco leading up to November’s election of a new POTUS, or re-election of the old, the level of distraction and outright lying has reached new heights. The GOP, in its efforts to stop the reforms being instituted by the sitting POTUS, have been gathering money at unprecedented rates, all to finance the political ads that will determine the tenor of the campaign.

The Political Action Groups that support the GOP platform, which were formed to get around the campaign contribution reforms, have generated literally hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for advertisements for Mitt the Twitt (designed to convince the public that he actually does give a shit about the common man) and against Barack Obama (designed to picture him as the spawn of Satan).

SATAN, n.  One of the Creator’s lamentable mistakes, repented in sackcloth and axes.  Being instated as an archangel, Satan made himself multifariously objectionable and was finally expelled from Heaven.  Halfway in his descent he paused, bent his head in thought a moment and at last went back.  “There is one favor that I should like to ask,” said he.   “Name it.”   “Man, I understand, is about to be created.  He will need laws.”  “What, wretch! you his appointed adversary, charged from the dawn of eternity with hatred of his soul — you ask for the right to make his laws?”   “Pardon; what I have to ask is that he be permitted to make them himself.” It was so ordered. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

It is a constant amazement to me how people, whom I normally consider to be well-grounded, can fall for the nonsense these political hacks are putting out. Especially those who are supporting the Twitt; it is absolutely astounding to me that ANYONE would believe anything that comes out of his mouth, as he flips from one concept to another, claiming to support, or oppose those concepts according to what he believes the crowd wants to hear. There are too many documented instances of this for them to deny it, so they don’t. They just ignore it, and THE MEDIA LETS THEM DO IT!

I’m really sick of it all; it is distasteful to my persona to hear this much lying, and not have it condemned. Mitt lies, Barack lies, Congress lies, and the rest of their compatriots are all lying as well. And the voting public, who ignores history, goes out and votes, not knowing, or seemingly caring, that there are NO candidates who are not lying.  I am a member of that number, though I do know I’m being lied to. But, if I don’t vote, then I’m throwing in the towel without even throwing a punch, and have no right to complain. I may have to choose between the lesser of two evils, but at least I have a choice.

“Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil.” — Jerry Garcia (1942-1995), Musician, the Grateful Dead

The whole election scenario is pretty discouraging, for anyone with a modicum of common sense. It’s hard to watch society shoot itself in the foot every four years, and harder still to live with the lack of viable choices. Especially when I know that natural law, i.e., Mother Nature, will eventually assert itself, and our species will join the dodo and the T-Rex on the list of species that just didn’t have what it takes to make it in this universe. SIGH….. it’s too bad. Our species shows such promise, but then turns around and nullifies any progress with paroxysms of mass stupidity…. and then pats itself on the back for good measure.

We’re all idiots……

“Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people I had to kill because they pissed me off.” — Smart Bee
___________________________________

“Some say that my teaching is nonsense. Others call it lofty but impractical. But to those who have looked inside themselves, this nonsense makes perfect sense. And to those who put it into practice, this loftiness has roots that go deep. I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures. Simple in actions and in thoughts, you return to the source of being. Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are. Compassionate toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world.” — Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

My morning rant above got a bit out of hand, and I had a hard time keeping it as short as it is. So, in order to provide some contrast, I will not say much here. This doesn’t need much help anyway; it’s about as clear as it can be. Sure, I could expand on it, give examples, provide an allegorical tale or two, but it wouldn’t improve it. So, I’ll leave it be, and just ask you to roll it around in your head for a while. It will give you all there is to give…. which is more than is apparent, as with any deep truth….. If you wish, you can just tell yourself I’m being compassionate, by not exposing you to further railings from this quarter….
___________________________________

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace

I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.

I like to think
(right now please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.

I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.

Richard Brautigan, 1967

I may have used this a couple months ago, but it is possibly my favorite poem of all time, period, so I’m putting it in again…. I think you can handle it….. It’s one of my personal images of Heaven, or as we agnostics are fond of calling it, Utopia…. Or, as Oscar said….

“A map of the world that has no Utopia is not worth considering.” — Oscar Wilde
___________________________________

Okay…. I feel pretty lucky. Not yet 0800, and I’ve got this whipped. It’s a bit windy, but it flies. Or it will, as soon as I get it sent out…. 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!

Highest quality stress in town….

Posted on by
3

Ffolkes,
Knowing it will be like this doesn’t make it any less annoying when it is; it just makes it worse, actually. But, being the trooper I am, I will do my best to look beyond it, and act as if it isn’t important. Which, cosmically speaking, it is not, nor will it ever be. Important, that is. If it was, maybe we could get a better one, but it’s not, so that’s wishful thinking. As we normally do, we will use what we have, the best we can, and hope it will be enough….

Of course, having no idea whatsoever as to what “it” I am speaking of, the previous paragraph really has no meaning, other than finding the means to fill up space. Having stared into space for a good 10 minutes without a single worthwhile thought rising to the surface of my mind, I figured I’d best get started, and just trust that the words would come. Well, they came, even thought they weren’t particularly aroused, Heck, they weren’t even breathing hard! The fact that there is no meaning to any of it has no bearing on reality, other than as a means of getting started on today’s Pearl….

I suppose I’m going to need to take my own advice, quit being lazy, and get some material organized for use in the introduction section. A few pearls, some brainstorm ideas, and an outline ought to do it, and won’t bore me to tears (hopefully). I find myself falling into this position too frequently of late, of being short of anything for the intro, so I may as well be proactive and take away my reasons for complaining. Not that the complaining ever does me any good; it just annoys me more than I already am when faced with such blocks.

Until then, you’ll just have to put up with my pissing and moaning…. or not, as you wish. I do try to make the rest of the Pearl more attractive, but don’t always hit that mark as well as I’d like. And, I think my inability to figure out how to get to other ffolkes blogs is causing me to lose some readers; site traffic has been limited to a few faithful followers in the last couple of weeks since WordPress decided to make it difficult for me to access any blogs.

Ah well, I’m not in this for competition, but for self-therapy, so it doesn’t matter too much…. I just miss being able to read all the great stuff on the other blogs, especially my poetesses, and the other curmudgeons with whom I banter at times…. SIGH…. Shall we Pearl?……
___________________________________

“I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man.” — Chang-tzu, Taoist

So, as it turns out, I am a coward. What I mean by that is, when it comes to emotional pain, I will go through all sorts of contortions to avoid it. I will distract myself, I’ll deny, I’ll forget…. all time-tested methods of putting something unpleasant aside. I can say in my own defense that a) I’ve already experienced enough turmoil in my life, and don’t need more, and b) I have yet to start lying to myself about being a coward in this area…..

How does the butterfly koan apply? That’s for me to know, and you to figure out…. No, really, sorry, I didn’t mean that, just fooling around. It applies because the world exists in duality; we perceive that universe by defining and evaluating those dualities according to their relation to each other (light/dark, etc.) as well as according to our own preconceptions and/or preferences. Sometimes what we perceive is clear and readily defined, while at other times, one can make no “heads or tails” of what we see, hear, taste, smell, or feel. And sometimes, the perceptions are just so powerful that we cannot easily deal with what we are perceiving, so we retreat from them. Or I do, anyway….

Now, my cowardice in this respect is, perhaps, justifiable. I put myself through a lot of hard times during certain times in my life, and the emotional toll was heavy. I am now more in balance, but the feelings and thoughts I had can come back in full force, at unexpected moments… Such is the case when I read about the sex trade, and think about how many of my sisters in the world are still being abused, physically and mentally, by the misogynistic assholes that perpetrate the atrocities.

I have previously re-blogged several articles from blog sites written by women who have survived, and left, the sex trade. The stories they tell, and the insights they have achieved, are incredibly powerful, and wrenching to the emotions. It is a rare thing for me to be able to stop myself from crying after reading the first paragraph, and it can take me ten minutes to read a two page article, as I have to stop and compose myself before returning to the story being related. I am always astounded by the strength of mind it took for them to get where they are, and I grieve for the pain and misery they still must contend with as survivors with PTSD (my old friend….).

Reading their stories also have the effect on me of wanting to buy a gun, and start eliminating some of the traffickers from the planet. This urge arises out of my anger and guilt, for it is males who perpetrate the  atrocities, and I am ashamed of how low others of my gender can sink. But, alas, until I CAN afford to buy one, that little dream will have to wait…..

All I can do is to try to make people aware of the extent of the problem, by directing them to the stories told by the women who have lived through that Hell, with re-blogs and pearls such as this one. That is why I say I’ve been a coward, because my mind cravenly hid the awareness that connects to the outrage I feel when I get started on this issue, not being brave enough to put my emotions up on that higher level….and used the technical glitch I’ve been having with WordPress as an excuse (I’m currently unable to connect to any other WP sites if I’m signed in… I just get sent to a blank page while the browser falls into an infinite loop….).

Hence this somewhat dispassionate discussion of the issue. I’ve managed to get through this without bursting into tears, so I’ll consider myself lucky, and make myself a promise to re-blog for them as soon as I can get there to do so…. and I’ll not let myself chicken out…. This is an issue that will not go away; we men will never be free until we free our sisters from this bondage….

To read some of these articles yourself, use the WordPress search function to find these three sites, by blog titles….  Diary of A Dublin Call Girl, rmott62- Are We Not Human?, and Stella Mar, a Manhattan Call Girl…. all three have powerful messages that need to be spread around the planet….
___________________________________

Here is an old school pearl, just because…. all these came up while perusing the dB today, so I figured, why not? They all have something to say that is applicable to today’s society. Sadly, none of it is particularly positive in nature…. It just goes to show that is it easier to find the negatives in life, because they are so numerous. Fortunately, the positives are much more valuable on a per capita basis, so it all balances out in the end…. One must only be patient in coming to that end…. BTW, there IS a hidden message in this grouping of pearls, but there is no need to try to decipher it, as it won’t be on the quiz….. But if you do, it will bring some extra clarity to the group’s purpose….

“Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.” — Thomas Jefferson

“It’s said that ‘power corrupts’, but actually it’s  more true  that power attracts the corruptible.  The sane are usually attracted by other things than power.  When  they do  act,  they  think of it as service, which has limits. The tyrant, though, seeks mastery, for which he is  insatiable, implacable.” — David Brin, The Postman

“Success in almost any field depends more on energy and drive than it does on intelligence. This explains why we have so many stupid leaders.” — Sloan Wilson

OCCIDENT, n.  The part of the world lying west (or east) of the Orient.  It is largely inhabited by Christians, a powerful subtribe of the Hypocrites, whose principal industries are murder and cheating, which they are pleased to call “war” and “commerce.”  These, also, are the principal industries of the Orient.  — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the rights of the people by the gradual & silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” — James Madison, Virginia Conv. 1788

“Crime does not pay … as well as politics.” — Alfred E. Newman

“Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue.” — Buddha (B.C. 568-488)

See? The last line brings balance into the equation…. Don’t forget to register and vote this November, ffolkes. It’s important this time, for the forces of evil are gathering their powers to make a run at total world domination…. yup, it’s THAT serious….
___________________________________

Dreamland

By a route obscure and lonely,
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,
On a black throne reigns upright,
I have reached these lands but newly
From an ultimate dim Thule-
From a wild clime that lieth, sublime,
Out of SPACE- out of TIME.

Bottomless vales and boundless floods,
And chasms, and caves, and Titan woods,
With forms that no man can discover
For the tears that drip all over;
Mountains toppling evermore
Into seas without a shore;
Seas that restlessly aspire,
Surging, unto skies of fire;
Lakes that endlessly outspread
Their lone waters- lone and dead,-
Their still waters- still and chilly
With the snows of the lolling lily.

By the lakes that thus outspread
Their lone waters, lone and dead,-
Their sad waters, sad and chilly
With the snows of the lolling lily,-
By the mountains- near the river
Murmuring lowly, murmuring ever,-
By the grey woods,- by the swamp
Where the toad and the newt encamp-
By the dismal tarns and pools
Where dwell the Ghouls,-
By each spot the most unholy-
In each nook most melancholy-
There the traveler meets aghast
Sheeted Memories of the Past-
Shrouded forms that start and sigh
As they pass the wanderer by-
White-robed forms of friends long given,
In agony, to the Earth- and Heaven.

For the heart whose woes are legion
‘Tis a peaceful, soothing region-
For the spirit that walks in shadow
‘Tis- oh, ’tis an Eldorado!
But the traveler, traveling through it,
May not- dare not openly view it!
Never its mysteries are exposed
To the weak human eye unclosed;
So wills its King, who hath forbid
The uplifting of the fringed lid;
And thus the sad Soul that here passes
Beholds it but through darkened glasses.

By a route obscure and lonely,
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,
On a black throne reigns upright,
I have wandered home but newly
From this ultimate dim Thule.

Edgar Allan Poe

It has been a long time since I read any of Poe’s poetry; his stories are so good, one forgets he also was an excellent poet. This is a perfect example of that talent…. and I needed a beauty break….. enjoy!
___________________________________

Rats! Thought I was done…. Today’s effort was just that…. an effort. But, perseverance has carried the day once again, so I’m putting myself into the hands of Fate, and letting this go out for consumption…. 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!

An Elite Cadre of Irrelevant Nouns….

Posted on by
6

Ffolkes,
Twisting and turning, Reality struggles to evade my grasp, changing shape before my eyes. The effort to hold on brings sweat to my brow, running into my eyes and stinging. With a mighty shove at my chest, Reality surges out of my arms, and breaks for the door outside, laughing over his shoulder, taunting me.

As I race toward the door, I see him fly through it, without bothering to open it, cheating again by using magic. I stop then, sure that if I open the door to follow, I’ll spend the entire day searching without ever finding him. Once again, I will have to just start the day without the benefit of Reality….

Nothing new there, of course. I lose track of it all the time, and to be honest, I’m getting rather used to it. It is difficult sometimes, when knowing the state of things might be helpful, but I find I can usually fake it without causing too much damage or chaos. Most folks don’t pay close attention to it anyway, so that part is easy.

It’s just that it makes it harder to see Murphy, should he decide to grace me with his benevolent attention; hell, he’s been known to bribe Reality to shift directions on me in mid-stride. But, all in all, I find that not being in touch with Reality can be quite advantageous, especially when denial is called for…

In our society, denial is a valuable ally. If I were to pay attention to ALL of the evidence available, I probably would be so frightened and angry, I’d never get anything done but for ranting. There is just too much of it to make denial practical on a constant basis, so I use it when I can, just to be able to get anything done.

Being able to “tune out” of Reality is, in fact, a skill that all humans use, mostly unconsciously, and it has been both a blessing and a curse for all of our history. While it is valuable to be able to distract ourselves from the negativity so ubiquitous in Reality, it is also dangerous, for the negatives are those things we need most to look at, and to change. It’s a conundrum we’ve never solved satisfactorily, and the opportunity to do so may not last much longer….

Softly sweet, in Lydian measures,
Soon he sooth’d his soul to pleasures.
War, he sung, is toil and trouble;
Honour but an empty bubble;
Never ending, still beginning,
Fighting still, and still destroying.
If all the world be worth the winning,
Think, oh think it worth enjoying:
Lovely Thais sits beside thee,
Take the good the gods provide thee.
— John Dryden (1631-1700) — Alexander’s Feast, Line 97

Well, I could most likely meander around this issue for a while longer, but this isn’t getting any pearls on the page; Reality is a big subject, with a lot of different viewpoints to discuss. We will therefore leave Reality wherever he got off to, and proceed with our normal, or at least regularly scheduled, activities for the morning…. Shall we Pearl?…..
___________________________________

Climate ‘Tipping Point’ Nearing

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

Here are two links, that comprise together the first pearl for today. As mentioned above, the time we have, as humans, to save our pathetic asses from extinction by our own hand, continues to grow shorter, even as I type, and as you read. The article relates news about the latest report by a panel of climate scientists who have studied the available evidence, and have concluded that the planet’s ecological equilibrium is nearing a “tipping point”, a point of no return, as it were, for the process of environmental destruction.

April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory out of desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in a forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
— T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land

Of course, as a well-balanced article, the author includes a reaction from a scientist who is prominent for his criticism of such theories, having decided on his own that the evidence is either misinterpreted, or falsely erroneous (or, erroneously false, your pick…). He labels their warnings as “extremely unlikely” and “highly implausible”. Of course, I don’t think he has actually read the article, but hey, he’s entitled to his opinion, isn’t he?…. Right….

    Regardless of how much denial is thrown at studies such as this one, their veracity is not affected. It’s all true. The scientists don’t try to predict exactly how long it will take, only that the evidence shows that it will happen sooner than we would like to think.

It’s kind of like Creationism vs. Evolution, in that disproving one does not prove the other; nonetheless, one remains true, and it isn’t the one based on imaginary events for which there is no clear evidence. Sorry, but even one such as myself, whose grasp of Reality is tenuous at best, cannot deny such evidence; it isn’t going to go away just because I don’t believe it….

I’m not going to rant forever this morning on this point. The second link above is to a World Clock at poodwaddle.com. This clock shows a number of different areas that are affecting the environment of the planet, showing the rates at which various processes, such as population growth, and pollution being pumped into the atmosphere, are taking place in real time. The figures being presented are clearly supportive of the ideas expressed by the group of scientists in their report, and if you can comprehend the figures, as I do, then you will see just how scary the situation has become…..

So, don’t take my word for it. Go check out the article, and the Clock. And if you don’t get a bit frightened, well, then you’re not really paying attention…. Stay alert, my friends, and keep your eyes and ears open…. The value of Denial is coming to an end….
___________________________________

Written on a Summer Evening

The church bells toll a melancholy round,
Calling the people to some other prayers,
Some other gloominess, more dreadful cares,
More harkening to the sermon’s horrid sound.
Surely the mind of man is closely bound
In some blind spell: seeing that each one tears
Himself from fireside joys and Lydian airs,
And converse high of those with glory crowned.
Still, still they toll, and I should feel a damp,
A chill as from a tomb, did I not know
That they are dying like an outburnt lamp, –
That ’tis their sighing, wailing, ere they go
Into oblivion -that fresh flowers will grow,
And many glories of immortal stamp.

John Keats

I needed a beauty break, after such dark beginnings. This poem, while a bit dark itself, still brings me a sense of peace, if only from the beauty of the words themselves…. and the ending gives hope, so….
___________________________________

Some professors asked a monk to lecture to them on spiritual matters. The monk ascended a podium, struck it once with his stick, and descended. The academics were dumb- founded.  The monk asked them, “Do you understand what I have told you?”  One professor said, “I do not understand.” The monk said, “I have concluded my lecture.” — Smart Bee

This sounds like any number of Zen koans I’ve heard or read over the years. It is appropriately obscure, yet so simple it gives its own answer within its boundaries. Now, to a mind trained in Western modes of thought, the point of the monk’s lecture will be as densely concealed as London in one of its famous fogs. To anyone who has made a study of Buddhism, or Zen, or even Taoism, the monk answered the question himself, quite clearly…..

The monk could have made his point, even to the academicians, with a few more words, giving them a direction in which to point their reasoning powers. But, keeping to the character of the lesson, he used the fewest words he could to drive the lesson home.

Since one of my purposes in this blog is to try to show where the two modes of thought may mingle and blend, I will not leave the answer as an exercise for the Gentle Reader. Most simply put, the monk told the professors that spiritual matters are not understood; they are merely real, like the podium, and no matter how hard you strike it, it remains unchanged.

The lesson is deeper than it appears to be, as with most lessons of this nature. It implies a lot about self, and reality, and how our viewpoint of each can determine the direction and tenor of our spiritual experiences. It implies the most important piece of understanding, which says that it is not necessary to understand everything in order to have an appreciation of it, or to be able to deal with it successfully.

It is only necessary to be those things a human can be…. honest, clear-thinking, clever, compassionate, kind…. and Life will proceed as well as can be expected. It actually makes life much more pleasant when one is able to stop fighting against reality, and learn to “go with the flow”…. It’s much easier than trying to change everything to suit our own preferences, a habit doomed to failure, for sure and for certain…
___________________________________

SIGH…. By now, one would think I’d be accustomed to the effort it takes some days to get this done. It all started out well, then took a deep dip into molasses, which, as we all know, is slow…. It doesn’t taste very good either, by itself; it’s okay as an ingredient in other items, like cookies, but, by itself, is pretty disgusting. Hard to clean up, too…. Such is life here in gigoid land, and there isn’t anything I can do about it at this late stage, so it will have to fly as it is…. again.  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….

 

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

Kowabunga!

Bilking nuns as an Olympic event….

Posted on by
6

Ffolkes,
They say, when they are in the mood, that Life is like a Mounds Bar…. sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t. I’m not sure just what scientific research was accessed to come up with that summation, but it works, mostly. It certainly applies to my head in the mornings….

“Beginnings are delicate times” — Princess Irulan, from Dune, by Frank Herbert

The Princess was a Bene Gesserit scholar in the book, the contracted wife of the Emperor of the Galaxy, Muad ‘Dib, Paul Atreides, Spirit of Shai-hulud, married to him to seal the peace with House Corrino, and legitimize his ascension. None of this, of course, means anything outside the book, but it sounds impressive, doesn’t it? And the statement she makes is oh, so true!

The entire balance of events in any situation involving people depends heavily on the impressions made in the beginning. Wars have been fought, and have ended, because of what happened when two opposing forces meet for the first time. Initial impressions are the strongest, and the most difficult to change. Thus it becomes an important tool for those with power to examine a situation closely, before committing anything, and to take care to create the desired impression at first contact.

This concept applies in many other life events. As well, it is a most relevant concept in literature, and can be considered essential knowledge for me and other would-be writers. The beginning of a story, or a book, or an essay, or even a medical/psychiatric report, is very important to fulfilling the purpose of writing whatever it may be. At least, it is important if the writer wants the reader to continue reading after the opening paragraph. If those first words don’t grab the reader’s attention, and pin it to the page, then there is little hope of ever getting them to read, or to consider what is being written as anything other than a waste of time….. That is human nature, and isn’t going to change.

So, if I have your attention now, we can get on with the reason we are here, to Pearl.  With no further mucking about, let’s have at it, shall we?…..
___________________________________

Why shouldn’t WOMEN have to put the toilet seat back UP?! — Smart Bee

When I was working, a popular subject for water-cooler discussion was the ongoing, never-ending war between the sexes. For some reason not clear to me, men and women seem to feel as if they are in competition with each other, in a contest to find the most annoying things about the other sex, and make fun of them for those qualities. One of the typical conflicts between the two has always been the toilet seat, a conflict arising out of the very basic differences in the plumbing system of each gender. Men are pointers, women are setters, and the difference is critical only because we both use the same appliance to deal with our needs.

The above question is often asked by men, usually after an argument over having failed to put it down after using the facilities. Being a man, it naturally seems to be a relevant question to me, but for some reason it just seems to piss off the woman involved. I mean, it DOES have hinges; the process of moving it up and down isn’t rocket science, and isn’t particularly hard to figure out. But, due to the ongoing hostilities, women have decreed that it is the responsibility of men to make sure the seat is in the down position, ready for the female to use. How this came to be will, no doubt, forever remains a mystery, but is nonetheless true.

“There will always be a battle between the sexes because men and women want different things. Men want women and women want men.” — George Burns

Thus far in history, at least that part of history since the invention of the toilet, and the hinged seat for it, a solution has never been found. It often seems to me that men and women must enjoy the ongoing war, because neither side seems willing to approach the issue with anything other than ego and divisiveness.

No real solution has ever been sought, to my knowledge. Women spend their time trying to “domesticate” their men to put the seat down after using the toilet, and men spend their time ignoring them, thus ensuring that the conflict will continue. It all seems a bit pointless to me, as I can see two or three possible answers to the question that would serve to ease the hostilities…..

No one can see their reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see. — Taoist Proverb

This little gem from Taoist philosophy holds the key to the end of the war. If men and women can, just for a few moments, look at the matter with logic, with the purpose of improving the situation, I believe the answers will make themselves apparent. One answer, in my mind, needs no physical effort at all; it involves a difficulty, but only because people find it difficult to make changes in themselves. If both men and women could, and would, put aside the anger and emotional investment in the conflict, then one small attitude adjustment would suffice to remove the entire problem…..

If men could develop some sensitivity (I know, tough when it’s essentially foreign to their nature, but still possible to develop….), then they could see how leaving it up could conceivably cause problems for those who must sit down to use the appliance. As a matter of fact, this is how I personally became aware of the solution, for I once sat down to use the toilet, and found myself falling into the bowl, as someone had left the seat up, and I hadn’t noticed. It wasn’t the most pleasant of experiences, and from that time on, I was more conscientious about putting it down…. so, just a bit of empathy, and that won’t be a problem for men to take the second to put the seat down…..

Women would also need to develop more empathy for men for the solution to work for them. The toilet seat is on hinges, and as mentioned, isn’t particularly hard to learn how to use. It’s just up or down, and no other choices. So, some tolerance for the forgetfulness that is part of the male nature would go a long way toward solving the bitterness when they leave it up; just put it down for goodness sake, and don’t complicate the issue with anger and emotional storms, all over a moment that in other situations would prompt the woman to feel affection for the man’s charming childishness…..

Another solution presents itself to my awareness, as well. The toilet, and the whole system we use, have not been looked at with the intent of improving it for centuries. The toilets we use today would be recognizable to John Harrington, inventor of flushing toilets in 1596; it hasn’t changed shape or basic function since its invention all those centuries ago.

It seems to me that a clever engineer could figure out some way to eliminate the need for the toilet seat altogether, thus eliminating the whole issue. (No comments, please, on using the word elimination in re: this whole issue. It works, it fit, so get your mind out of the gutter for a bit….)  I mean, we can put men on the moon, and currently have people living in space on the ISS; why on earth can’t we figure out how to make a toilet easy to use for both sexes…. Seems like a no-brainer to me…. But, since no brains are involved in the process, I guess that isn’t surprising….
___________________________________

Noah

R.I.P. Old Friend

    Yesterday, I tried to include a picture of Noah, but couldn’t make it fit. I’ve played with it a bit, and got it into an acceptable size. Here, then, is a picture of one of the world’s best dogs…. May he rest in peace….
___________________________________

A Faery Song

{Sung by the people of Faery over Diarmuid and Grania,}
{in their bridal sleep under a Cromlech.}

We who are old, old and gay,
O so old!
Thousands of years, thousands of years,
If all were told:
Give to these children, new from the world,
Silence and love;
And the long dew-dropping hours of the night,
And the stars above:
Give to these children, new from the world,
Rest far from men.
Is anything better, anything better?
Tell us it then:
Us who are old, old and gay,
O so old!
Thousands of years, thousands of years,
If all were told.

William Butler Yeats
___________________________________

Well, to my mind, it doesn’t seem like much…. but it will have to do. The new format does take less time to put together, but I’m not sure yet that it will fulfill all I need it to do…. Time will tell, I guess. In the meantime, y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!

Prudish pianos sit, forlorn in the mist….

Posted on by
2

Ffolkes,
The beast has fallen from the mizzen mast, and the jib is down. I was awakened by the laughing of clowns, injecting the first cup of coffee intravenously, to save time. It struck me as I stretched prior to beginning that I had not brushed the cactus, but it looked as if I had. Such thoughts being extraneous to our purpose here, they shall be deleted. Such is the fate of unwanted, unloved cogitations, cast adrift at their most vulnerable moment, salient only to themselves. Thus it began, strangely tart, but uncommonly picturesque. The band refused to play Mozart, so Copeland had to do….

If the above is any indication, it might be a good idea to buckle up…. the ride today promises to be a bit unsteady. Should be fun though… I haven’t felt this much strong whimsy in a while…. I can see the priests, pundits, and bankers running off screaming already, deathly afraid of my savage wit…. Sure, that’s the ticket…. Before I slip entirely under the waves of insanity here, let’s get on with the Pearl, shall we?…. It would be best, I think….
___________________________________

All things considered, insanity may be the only reasonable alternative. — Smart Bee

This explains this morning’s attitude… I must have been percolating this idea in the back of my mind all night, and woke up with it still buzzing around in there… It makes sense, in a perverted sort of fashion. Especially after looking at what I wrote yesterday. Oh, not that it wasn’t good….in fact, it was one of my better efforts in a while, over 2500 words, all fairly potent. No, what I refer to is the subject matter of which I wrote. A lot of it consisted of indictments of mankind or society for crimes against citizens, serving to show just how bad things are when viewed pessimistically, and how insanity in the face of that seems almost necessary, to maintain any scrap of self-control. Insane may be crazy, but it IS a choice to stay true to oneself, rather than to give in to the insanity someone else may thrust upon us.

People often wonder why there are so many disturbed folks out there, which amuses me no end…. How could it be otherwise? The pressures on every person alive in today’s madcap world is intense and unrelenting; what surprises me is how FEW truly insane people there are to be found outside institutions. Most of the really, truly mad ones are in those institutions, where they have discovered they are safe from the depredations that society forces upon everyone outside the fences. They receive three hots and a cot, and all they have to do is keep from making any sense when the doctor is around, or when anybody with a nursing license is watching, and they have no worries. Free food, free TV, medical care, and all on somebody else’s dime. What a deal!

So, don’t look down your nose at those among us who have chosen the path of insanity in order to cope with the world at large. They may be on to something…. they certainly have a lot less to worry about than most of us do. All they have to do is be creative in their delusions, let out the inner demons now and again, dance a jig in the common room each night,  and they can be just as happy as a clam at high tide….

“Once you accept his assumptions even a madman seems reasonable.” — Smart Bee
___________________________________
~ A wonderful poem by Audrey Hepburn ~ Written when asked to share her “beauty tips.” It was read at her funeral years later.

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.
People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.
Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms.
As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands; one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others.


I trot this out now and again, just because it is as beautiful as she was…..
___________________________________

Political tags – such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth – are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. — Robert Heinlein

This is a truism in my world. I read it many years ago, and after examining it extensively, have found it to be a perfect reflection of reality as I perceive it. It is a very useful statement for the understanding of all sorts of concepts regarding what happens in the political arena, serving as it does as sort of a program, allowing one to identify the players quickly and accurately, according to the role they assume and display for viewing by the public.

What is unfortunate about its veracity is how it seems to work in the modern world. It seems to me that of the two identified types of people, only the first type, those who wish everyone to be controlled, are the ones in office, or running for office. By nature and inclination, the second type does not involve themselves any more than necessary in the political process; it offends their sensibilities to even have to watch it played out in the public arena.

They do whatever is required to maintain their own independence from excessive control by others; that also is natural to them. This, sadly, leaves a great portion of humanity to its own devices, allowing the beloved ruling class, comprised solely of those who wish to control others, to abuse and oppress them to their heart’s content.

Ah well, Mr. Heinlein would suggest that those folks are only getting what they deserve for refusing to use what little intelligence they have to protect themselves, and, in at least that sense, he is correct. It just makes me sad to see so much pain and anguish among them when it is so unnecessary; I’m a sucker for hard-luck cases.

In the end,  I suppose it doesn’t matter at all in a cosmic sense; we all will do whatever it is we choose to do, and if that choice is to wear blinders, and bend over when asked, well, we would get exactly what we deserve from life…. Not me, though…. I like my butt just the way it is, thank you very much….

Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are certain in every battle to be in peril.”
— Sun Tzu (fl. c. B.C. 500)
___________________________________

“If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.” — Francis Bacon

Francis was a pretty smart man. Smart enough to have folks suspect him of writing a lot of Will Shakespeare’s works, apparently during his copious free time between joshing with the queen and the other courtesans, writing his philosophical treatises, and abusing the peasants. Of course, we see a lot of this quotes lying around, gathering dust, and a short examination of them reveals why…. most of them bore the reader to tears before they get to the point of what he wrote.

Yet this short little piece ascribed to him indicates more, as it is startlingly clear and absolutely accurate. It must have been written in his early years, as it also is in direct opposition to a lot of his later writings, which tend to rely on faith and religious principles he should have avoided altogether. As a matter of fact, now that I mention it, his writing over time seemed to become increasingly heavy and obscure, reflecting the confusion in his mind, no doubt, created by the disparity between the above obviously rational line of thought and the religious doctrine with which he became enamored in later years.

His later writing also demonstrates just how true the above line is, as over time, as he came to believe in more certainties, his writing and mind became more filled with doubts. In his youth, when he allowed himself to entertain doubt, he was clearly more certain of what he knew.

A good example of what to avoid, I would say, if one wishes to maintain any rationality in their thinking. It sure did mess up poor Frankie’s work…. I mean, who would WANT to be known as Willies ghost-writer, anyway?…..
___________________________________

The path is the way.
The way is the truth.
It is found, but not held;
walked on, but not followed.
— Tao Teh Ching

When I was 16, my father took me on a trip to visit the UC Berkeley campus, to see if I really wanted to attend there after high school. We drove up from our home near the Central Coast of California to the burgeoning megalopolis on the east side of the SF Bay where Berkeley sits, with my eyes and mind on overdrive, taking in a completely new landscape, one completely foreign to my naive mind, which had spent most of the previous years living in a town of 750 souls. In retrospect, I don’t think that I could have made any other decision, as I was in the throes of intellectual ecstasy, taking in vast amounts of new perceptions and experiences as fast as I could swivel my head.

One of the places we visited on campus was the bookstore at the student union. Having been a book addict since the age of 9 or so, it was like falling into heaven. My dad had a hard time getting me to leave to go look at other stuff, as I was entranced by all the books I’d never seen.

On a table near the check-out stands, on a clearance table, was a slim book with a beautiful black and white image of a typical Chinese painting of mountains with bamboo shoots in the foreground, and some ideograms running down the side. The English title of the book, at the top, read merely, “Tao Teh Ching”. Visually, it was the most beautiful book I’d ever seen. Little did I know how much that simple tome would change my whole life, and the way I viewed the world.

It goes without saying at this point that I bought the book. On the drive home, I lost myself in Lao Tzu’s 88 verses that comprise the Tao Teh Ching, and have been lost in the beauty and truth they provide ever since. “The Way that can be known is not the true Way.” That is the first line of the book, as per that translation, and my mind was freed from all its previous restraints.

It was as if I had been awakened from a long sleep, and awoke with eyes so clear that only the truth could be seen. My father, I’m sure, thought I’d lost all sanity as I read, gasped, and made little moans of awakening surprise at the things that the book showed me. It is a day I will never forget, and one that, in my mind, set me on the scholar/warrior’s path that I have walked to this day…..
___________________________________

I suppose by this time I should be accustomed to my own lack of organization when it comes to these Pearls. When I awoke this morning, an hour later than I thought I would (thank goodness for an hour of sleep that I wasn’t expecting!….), I was, as usual, unsure of where we might end up. As usual, I needn’t have worried, as it all came out okay, and didn’t take all that long. I’m content. Well, as content as I ever am, anyway. So, y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!

Tears will fall for feathers….

Posted on by
3

Ffolkes,
As a computer geek of long standing, glitches of a technical nature, while usually fun in a challenging way, are not what I care to confront upon first sitting down to write. Early morning is the best time, I suppose, to perform reboots, but being forced to do so by recalcitrant software trying to live up to pre-coded requirements for updates is a pain, like any other unwanted activity we are forced to engage in, such as paying taxes, and NOT shooting at politicians. Grumble, mumble, hmph! Now I feel all curmudgeonly, and I haven’t found a single pearl yet…. this could get ugly, ffolkes….

Grump, is, I believe, going to be the order for the day. Other than my usual ranting, I haven’t really put on my cranky shirt or pants for a while. Even my recent bout of pain didn’t put me there, surprisingly, but I can feel a good-sized quantity of grumpy stuff piled up in there, just looking for a subject upon which to spew. Well, so be it….

I’ll just issue a warning here to keep back a bit while reading today, or wear your favorite lobster bib or rain slicker to help avoid any splatter on your clothing…. it may get messy. Episodes of spewing this type of material have, in the past, exceeded local regulations for release of toxic materials all in one place, so have a care….

Before I panic anyone further, I believe I’ll just dive in, start the search for suitably grim pearls, and hope that at the end of today’s efforts, we end up with a worthy Pearl…. hope is our only friend right now, I think…. Okay, the tide is in, let’s go……
___________________________________

“The programmers 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.” — Smart Bee

Although this is intended as parody, it is, in reality, quite accurate. If one replaces the word “programmers” with “Taoist sages”, it is a nearly exact copy of texts I have seen by Taoist scholars discussing the Way that is not the Way. What impresses me the most about this is the descriptions they use to portray the image of the sages, to show those attributes that can give the seeker a clue as to how to find that which they seek.

“Simple, like uncarved blocks of wood.”  This is purely Zen not merely in its depth; the Zen Buddhists also use the Uncarved Block as a talisman of focus for meditation and mindfulness. “Aware, like a fox crossing the water.” Can one be more alive, and more aware if it, than that?

Another line of this type that I’ve seen is one of my favorites…. “The ancient sages were alert, like ice on the verge of melting”…. Ah, what an exquisite image, and an admirable state of mind to seek after. It is often puzzling to me to think of how differently the world would appear should more of mankind choose to follow such philosophies.

What would be the overall effects of having the greater portion of society seeking to increase the world’s supply of rationality and right action, including those who govern? How much further down the evolutionary road toward Utopia could we be if religion and politics had not achieved the stranglehold on the rest of us that they have? How different would life be if everyone was “Kind, like a hostess greeting her guests”?  My guess would be, things would be a lot different….
___________________________________

‘T is sweet to hear the watch-dog’s honest bark
Bay deep-mouth’d welcome as we draw near home;
‘T is sweet to know there is an eye will mark
Our coming, and look brighter when we come.
— Lord Byron (1788-1824) — Don Juan, Canto i, Stanza 123

I guess the curmudgeon in me went back to bed…. This is just here because I like it. It’s a nice little paean to dogs, and how their unconditional love for us, hard to understand as it is, can make our whole day better, just by being who and what they are….
___________________________________

Calvin: “Do you believe our destinies are determined by the stars?”
Hobbes: “Nah.”
Calvin: “Oh, I do.”
Hobbes: “Really? How come?”
Calvin: “Life’s a lot more fun when you’re not responsible for your actions.”
— “Calvin and Hobbes,” Bill Watterson

Sharp, sharp wit! Pointed straight at the very heart of modern society, laughing at those who cannot laugh at themselves. Robert Heinlein once said that you could tell how rational a person was just by asking their opinion of astrology, and he was mostly correct in that. To my mind, astrology is what I would call a half-assed science, in that it assumes that the motion of the stars and planets in the sky determine the characteristics of our personality, and affect the events of our lives, depending on our decisions, of course.  😉

This assumption is theoretically possible, I suppose, if one also assumes a somewhat different set of natural laws to be in effect than what seems to be the case. But, at a stretch, it COULD be true. If true, however, it still fails to take into account the actual nature of reality, in that things exist only in duality, each with its counter-balancing opposite number in the universal scheme of things. This is incontrovertible fact, clearly demonstrated on every level of reality, from atoms to stars. With this in mind, it becomes clear that if the stars and planets affect the events of our lives, then those same events have an equal effect on the motions of the stars and planets.

Well, there goes that theory…. Observation of those motions show absolutely no changes that can possibly be ascribed to what is taking place on Earth. None. Oh, they’re all moving about, and it is an extremely complex and beautiful dance indeed that they perform. But to try to imply that what I’ve done this morning, or what anyone did, in some way affected what time the Sun came up, well, that is what I would call plain stupid, with a strong dose of denial thrown in for increased stubbornness….
___________________________________

“A chair has no problems … It’s there; nobody bothers it. It doesn’t have to pay rent or get involved politically. A chair can never stub its toe or misplace its earmuffs. It doesn’t have to smile or get a haircut, and you never have to worry that if you take it to a party it will suddenly start coughing or make a scene.  People just sit in a chair, and when those people die other people sit in it.” — Smart Bee

Though reading this makes me want to stick my tongue firmly in my cheek, it sort of grabs me by the shirt-front and gives a bit of a shake, too…. Obviously, it is a very concrete look at the duality of existence, and does very well at outlining the advantages of being an inanimate object, over being a member of a pathological society of sentient entities.

Of course, since it is so concrete, it fails to mention any of the disadvantages that a chair has in society, such as never getting to eat a cheeseburger with grilled onions (sheer bliss!). A chair can’t really get a lot of enjoyment out of playing in the mud, and then getting to take a shower with a friend, either, can it? And even though it can’t lose any earmuffs, neither can it make a snowman on a crisp winter morning, cold ears or not….

This sort of stuff (my all-inclusive term for such distractions) is probably best avoided, or if not avoided, disregarded, as far as being useful is concerned. It may be a nice, easy way to spend a few moments to read, but spending much time in consideration of its content is giving it too much relevance.

To my mind, it encourages sloth, and ignorance; it champions the concept of non-involvement in reality to avoid the pain of commitment, and offers a rationalization for non-action. As such, it is insidiously evil, for it draws one in with apparent humorous affection for a well-known image, then uses that affection to create a state of mind that is contra-productive to independent thought or action.

Better to spend time more constructively, I should think, but, hey, to each his own…. I’ll be busy thinking about my refrigerator, and won’t have time to think about chairs….  🙂

“Joyous distrust is a sign of health. Everything absolute belongs to pathology.” — Nietzsche
___________________________________

“There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth: (1) not going all the way; and (2) not starting.” — Buddha

What a perfect last pearl! This could easily be applied to the previous section on astrology, either as a beginning, or ending, quote. But since I just found it, I’ll just serve it up fresh, as it stands alone quite well, don’t you think? I do…..

Not only is this a perfect ending to what has been a fairly normal strange journey, but really requires no enhancement. This one is good for both motivation, and for meditation, so, enjoy!….
___________________________________

There are mornings when the words flow like good wine from my mind to the screen. Then there is today, when each one had to be kicked forcibly out into the light, complaining all the way. Ah well, having already been reminded of karma, I have no reason to complain, so we’ll just put this to bed, and send it on its way, to mix my metaphors a bit….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

 

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

Kowabunga!