“Everything flows and nothing abides;
everything gives way and nothing stays fixed.”
~~ Heraclitus ~~
The Shelbourne Public House, Cork, Ireland
Hajime…. Of late, each time I sit to begin this intro, a veil of lethargy settles heavily upon me, sending my mind off on tangential trains, each idea discarded before beginning to type, as being unworthy, or otherwise unacceptable to those vague standards my mind applies when examining them for their value. Today has been no exception, which is why I decided to just write about it, just so it’s out of my head, where it might do some good. Doesn’t seem to be working, does it?
Oh, well, so goes it for another day. I suppose I’ll need to find another direction to lead us out of where we’ve now ended up, but, that lethargy seems to be preventing any decision. I can’t say, at this point, I am convinced of my ability to get us where we need to go, but, I guess I’ll just keep typing until something presents itself, & we can go from there. Hmm…. this is a rather odd place, isn’t it? I find myself both unwilling, and, unable to decide what should happen next, & if I don’t know, whom shall I ask? The only other entity within the domicile is currently off on her own business, & really doesn’t care. Me, I’m gonna bail, I think.
It may not be the best decision, but, it’s the one I found, so, I’m going with it. I know I can do better, and, given the barest of luck, may someday do so. For today, since we obviously have no luck on which we may depend, I’m going the ruthless road, again, mostly because, a) it works, and b) I can’t think of anything else. Go figure, eh? Ah well, such is life in the blog world; entropy is always there, waiting to chime in. However, having thus disposed of yet another chance to create a masterpiece, without any clear success or failure, it’s the best I can come up with. Gosh, look! It’s a way out. I’m taking it…. Watch that last step, ffolkes…..
Shall we Pearl?
“Whenever I climb I am followed by a dog called ‘Ego’.”
~~ Friedrich Nietzsche ~~
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Image from The Daily Express via Google Images
Back in the day, that is to say, during the 50’s, my first crush was this artist. I still think she is one of the most beautiful of women, with a voice that arrows straight to the heart of anyone, but, especially any man. She can still give me chills to hear her sing ‘Fever’….. I hope you enjoy this live concert from 1984…..
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Miss Peggy Lee Live in 1984
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Modest sounds of impatient concern….
Crowds converge at the raw and grisly scene,
comatose to compassion, curiosity tugging at the hem
with sharp, oh, sharp tools made obscene,
filing the essence of future hopes in spite of them.
Yet who has won the keys to the treasure,
who whipped up the fear of another brother?
Who spent the dreams of the old in selfish measure,
with such arrogant blindness grave issues to smother?
Fateful decisions may prompt still another pause,
to catch and release collective images of insanity.
Surely legitimate anger arises with ample cause
wallowing in self-made entrepreneurs, fluent in profanity.
A quartet of eternities must pass to guarantee change,
regardless of need, or desire, or autonomous manipulation.
Ancient rules and modern aggression is only passing strange
when golden delusion grasps futilely at its related illusory station.
~~ gigoid ~~
8/18/2013
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Naked Pearls
Notes on Life at Large….
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“Profound Truth differs from simple truth
in that the negation of a simple truth is a simple falsehood,
while the negation of a Profound Truth may be another Profound Truth.
E.g. a button with “Life is just as simple as it seems” on one side
and “Life is not as simple as it seems” on the other.”
~~ Subtle Bee ~~
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“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”
~~ Aesop (620-560 B.C.) ~~
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“Food for thought is no substitute for the real thing.”
~~ Walt Kelly, Potluck Pogo ~~
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“The more crap you believe, the better off you are.”
~~ Charles Bukowski ~~
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“There are two sentences inscribed upon the Delphic oracle,
hugely accommodated to the usages of man’s life:
“Know thyself”,
and “Nothing too much”;
and upon these all other precepts depend.”
~~ Plutarch — Consolation to Apollonius ~~
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“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 ~~
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“Just trust yourself, then you will know how to live.”
~~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ~~
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Definitely a bumpy ride today, eh, what? To avoid any further contretemps, or possible litigation, I’ll end this rather abruptly, so as to keep from falling into the same sort of abyss in which we found ourselves above, in the intro. Abrupt, btw, is a good word; strong and clear. It pleases me to be able to show you exactly what it means….. which is to say, watch this, ffolkes…. See y’all tomorrow, given a fair wind & a rising tide….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
“For one human being to love another human being:
that is perhaps the most difficult task
that has been entrusted to us,
the ultimate task, the final test and proof,
the work for which all other work
is merely preparation.”
~~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~~
Reluctantly poised….
Hajime…. We humans are weird. While such a statement could be construed as critical, in this case, it is more of an observation, based on personal experience. To fully comprehend the depth and meaning would require more time than I’m willing to spend today, so, y’all will once more have to deal with any disappointment on your own, cuz I ain’t talkin’…. Don’t worry, it’s nothing untoward, merely, well, weird, and it won’t delay the production of today’s Pearl any more than it already has with this paragraph.
Of course, this means we don’t have anything more to put here in the intro, a not unusual conundrum. One might think, after two days of sloughing off the work, I’d be a bit more organized, but, then, thinking can often lead to inaccurate conclusions, especially when the subject matter, i.e., me, is rather an ambiguous figure, to say the least. If we said more than the least, we could be sued rather heavily, which is why we never do. And, yes, we have now devolved, rather suddenly, I might add, into complete blather & nonsense. It’s our default when we are thus challenged, as you may remember.
Our Pearl today will be okay, anyway. I finally put together a decent rant, stimulated by, of all things, a question somebody asked me on Facebook. The rest is pretty standard, and, if I don’t get started putting it together, it won’t get done. To make that happen, I’ll end this now, here, so there won’t be any further forays into the outer reaches. Hell, at this point, I’m thinking, if I don’t do this right now, the end results will be completely unpredictable, never a good thing for us….. Let’s just get the hell out of here, while we can….
Shall we pearl?….
“By definition, when you are investigating the unknown,
you do not know what you will find.”
~~ The Ultimate Principle ~~
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Herself, Ms. Raitt
Some days, it’s just got to be the best. Here’s a session I haven’t heard yet, so, let’s have a listen, shall we?….
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Bonnie Raitt BBC Four Sessions
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“I know but one freedom, and that is the freedom of the mind.”
~~ Antoine de Saint Exupery ~~
In the most recent months, my thoughts have begun crystallizing, in a large sense. By ‘large’, I refer to Life at Large, the panorama of human experience on Planet Earth, in all its hideously insane, yet, somehow, vividly fascinating glory. In a cosmic sense, we humans haven’t been around very long; it’s only been about 10 or so thousand years since we left off living on the land full time, without the civilizing (?) influence of writing, gunpowder, and the concept of religion. (Thank you to Tom Carlyle…). Yet, in that minuscule portion of close to five billion years of known Universal history, we have come to the rather grandiose opinion we are the pinnacle of the whole shebang, the highest form of life as we know it, with all the attendant privileges and rights, whatever we conceive those to be.
So, here we are, a motley, unrestrictedly reproductive organism, in season all year round, barely past the time of sleeping on soft leaves in a cave lit by torches, wandering over the face of the planet, even probing our proboscis’ all over the solar system, in our search for new places to fuck. By ‘fuck’ I mean fuck in all its incarnations. We are always looking to fuck; each other, other species, the environment, space/time, biologic creation, the physical universe, the moon, other planets, etc. We want to fuck with, around, on, and up against damn near everything we encounter, from dirt, to atoms, to practically anything our wicked, inventive imaginations can think of, and/or turn into reality….
See, that’s our problem, too. We can’t seem to stop ourselves for any appreciable time from fucking with everything, yet, our overactive, innovative imagination is too powerful for us to keep up with, being the simple animals we really still are, in terms of our nervous systems, perceptive and cognitive abilities, and, some of our physical characteristics, which, in and of themselves, can override any of the other talents/abilities/natural characteristics we may possess. For example, certain smells can literally stop your entire metabolism, instantly creating urges to run, vomit, scream, or otherwise indicate systemic panic; the same can happen with a subliminal perception, which, under given circumstances, can send the bravest, strongest human running in terror, without even knowing why they have panicked.
But, we think we are so cool; Terry Pratchett, I think, described it well when he accused us of being so primitive we still thought digital watches were cool. In truth, we are simply out of our depths, for the most part, though it may seem otherwise, if you listen to TV, or, mostly, anyone else who has an opinion. The only REAL truths we now can depend on are the ones we find within our selves, for everything in the world we have created around us is based on false data and conclusions, which, in the face of their relation to actual physical reality, become delusional, and thus, dangerous to us.
One of the most commonly notions regarding human nature is our Ego, which I have capitalized, for that is how it affects us. However, to promote a more productive frame of mind I have found to be of value, I will forgo further capitalization, to encourage each one reading to devalue the importance of how ego drives your bus, so to speak…. You see, we are more than merely a mind, or, and ego. In fact, the ego may only be a hallucination, as some philosophers AND neuroscientists have suggested. Our existence is also greatly affected, in reality, by physical forces, not all of which we directly perceive, and, by spiritual forces, which are also not necessarily easily identified. Yet, each of those two forces, physical, and spiritual, can instantly assume greater significance than anything our mind perceives, up to and including the potential loss of life…
For example, in the physical world, there are many forces we don’t perceive directly; magnetic, gravitational (other than as motion induced by its presence), certain wavelengths of light and electromagnetic, and, others we can only perceive by instruments. Any of these, sufficiently strong, can be dangerous to us. Spiritually, who can deny the power of what happens to us under the influence of love? Or fear of losing love? There are also many spiritual/emotional forces in our makeup we don’t perceive, or comprehend at all….
However, the ego, due to its own nature as part of us, believes in itself so strongly, it acts as if none of that is anything it cannot overcome to achieve its own ends…. To my current way of thinking, this is a bit grandiose, given our history of success at making reality do what we want. Yes, we have made great technological advances, but, none of them have improved the human condition a whit, and, in fact, are now becoming a danger to the entire species, by continuing to treat the universe as its own toy…. simply because we deny our own nature, which remains divided, unaware of the potential progress to be made by ‘merging the three parts…. which, in truth are but two, the mental and the physical; the spirit is the bridge between them, upon which we refuse to walk…
This discussion was provoked by an exchange I had on Facebook yesterday, prompted by a not unusually provocative statement by a friend (Red, the Fabulous), who is, in my estimation, one of the five smartest people alive. And, yes, I know y’all might think that’s hyperbole, but, it isn’t. In any case, the following exchange took place, which I reproduce now because it is a fine summary of all I’m trying to say here today, in just a few lines…. To wit:
Red: “I want to live in a world where people know how to merge. ”
Me: “If you’re talking traffic, you;re dreaming. If you’re talking life, well, it might be some time yet… *wink* ”
Red: “Yes.”
T.C: “Physically, mentally or spiritually? ”
Me: “They are all three the same exact thing; our inability to ‘merge’ them is a big part of all the troubles you see in the world… I, too, would like to live in such a world, in which we all could look past our ego’s need to divide them, and us… ”
That’s the word I needed… divided. We have a divided nature. It’s natural, in a universe that exists in duality. But, we let one part of our nature overmaster the rest of what the universe has to tell us; by doing so, we create our own inner conflict, which is reflected into the society we have created. Until we learn to ‘merge’ the different parts of our nature, to see the connections there are in life, then we will remain separated, from ourselves, from each other, and from our own universe. In doing so, we condemn ourselves to our only real hell, which is living disconnected from life…. and the love that is possible when we are part of everything…
Serendipitously, I have already shown the exactly right pearl with which this discussion should be closed… Here, then, is the correct path, as indicated by, naturally, a poet….
“For one human being to love another human being:
that is perhaps the most difficult task
that has been entrusted to us,
the ultimate task, the final test and proof,
the work for which all other work
is merely preparation.”
~~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~~
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A Failure to Germinate
Marking the days in elements of sad disarray
only holds me thrall, as I laugh while I may.
With cold, hard hands so impatient and cruel
pulling me to this vale of tears, a pathetic old fool.
Feelings sit silent, cast in shadows and light
breaking forth to implicate such vengeful might.
Just below the surface they patiently hide
to sally forth bravely, colors bright as they ride.
Tears and pain transform valued assets in hand
while comfort and serenity retreat to a far land.
Bold, bright patterns of hope garnish my ruinous state
until reality enters, full of disdainful portions of hate.
I sort out the illustrious measures of vision gone mild
only to find them transformed, now vicious and wild.
In my deepest desires I find myself calloused and cold
with faithless advocates whose souls have been sold.
My search finds little to support any hope of relief
far too much time has passed to bolster such belief.
The sad becomes real, and real becomes unfounded
until flights of such fancy are all dead, and grounded.
Nature has informed me of the newly hatched crime
of which reality boasted proudly, time after time.
The last answer we think of is always the best
as we come to terms with fate, our hope at rest.
~~ gigoid ~~
9/27/2012
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I couldn’t, in good conscience, call this one a Naked Pearl grouping; it’s just too odd. It starts oddly, ends oddly, and uses an odd path to get where it ends up. The best I can call it is to say it’s a random harlequin pearl, and let it go at that…. For one thrown together in jig time, it’s really not bad…. Enjoy!…
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“To be, or what?”
~~ Sylvester Stallone ~~
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“There’s no easy quick way out,
we’re gonna have to live through our whole lives,
win, lose, or draw.”
~~ Walt Kelly ~~
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“Self-improvement is a dangerous form of vanity.”
~~ Alan Watts ~~
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But where shall I start?
The world is so fast, I shall start with the country I know best, my own.
But my country is so very large, I had better start with my town.
But my town, too, is large. I had best start with my street.
No, my home.
No, my family.
Never mind,
I shall start with myself.”
~~ Elie Wiesel ~~
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“Depend not on fortune, but on conduct.”
~~ Publius Syrus ~~
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It is the heart afraid of breaking
that never learns to dance.
It is the dream afraid of waking
that never takes a chance.
It is the one who won’t be taken
who cannot seem to give.
And the soul afraid of dying
that never learns to live.”
~~ Bette Midler, The Rose ~~
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“A child of five would understand this.
Send someone to fetch a child of five.”
~~ Groucho Marx ~~
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This is pretty late getting done, compared to our usual time to post; oh, well. Such is life in the fast lane, ffolkes, so, we may as well just deal, and get on with the day. Hopefully, this will help make that go better than it otherwise might. Then again, perhaps not. Time will tell, as it always does, the mouthy bastard. I, personally, shall merely say, see y’all tomorrow…. and, that’s all the warning you’ll get….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
If all our misfortunes were laid in one common heap,
whence everyone must take an equal portion,
most people would be contented to take their own and depart.”
~~ Socrates ~~
Heralding Spring ~ Street Scene
Hajime….. Life’s a funny thing, don’t you think? Now, perhaps, if you’re like me at all, the first thought to enter your mind upon reading that is to make an internal decision as to the meaning of ‘funny’, then react according to that meaning. Personally, I tend to smile first, at the irony of a human being trying to assign meaning to a word in English, especially one with such a multitude of meanings, and, shades of meaning. It’s one of the best parts about the language, it’s flexibility…. as well as one of the more confusing aspects it displays. After all, life itself is ambiguous, by nature, so, a language used to talk of it needs to reflect that.
I believe that should do it. I’ve set a tone of rational discourse, so as to provide some camouflage for what is below, which may SEEM rational and organized, but, in truth, is a cobbled-together mess, hampered as I was by a new, surprise physical issue, a gift from the past to remind me of my former foolishness. Well, it seems that way, anyway. In short, I got distracted, by a new source of pain, about level 8 or so, in my ankle, which severely limited my ability to walk or move around…. This, naturally, made everything harder, not to mention more painful. I’m not complaining, per se; I’ve dealt with the pain of a sprained ankle literally dozens of time in my life, so, that isn’t the problem…. It’s getting anything done in my usual routine that became impossible….
So, I’m up early to try to cobble a Pearl from nothing…. and, I’m almost there…. One last part, & we’ll be good to go. To foster the success of that plan, I’ll dump you right here, so we can get the slow on the toad, before the toast gets soggy. I’d hang on if I were y’all; this method gets a bit unstable going around the corners….
Shall we Pearl?….
“The hour is striking so close above me,
so clear and sharp,
that all my senses ring with it.
I feel it now: there’s a power in me
to grasp and give shape to my world.
I know that nothing has ever been real
without my beholding it.
All becoming has needed me.
My looking ripens things
and they come toward me, to meet and be met.”
~~ Rainer Maria Rilke, from Book of Hours ~~
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“Life without music would be an intolerable insult.”
~~ Edward Abbey ~~
Today’s musical choice reflects the quote at the top of this section, a statement with which I am in complete agreement…. My life would be much less enjoyable without classical music, and this young lady’s talent shows us why…. Enjoy, ffolkes….
Naturally, since so little got done yesterday, we’re going to the archives…. Way back in the archives, to be exact, to the early days of this blog on WordPress…. Here are two short discussions, centered around some rather tasty pearls…. Enjoy!….
From 12/22/2011:
“He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.” — Confucius
“He who does neither is eligible to join the crowd as a Republican candidate for the Presidency in 2012.” — gigoid
Although there are moments, when I’m reading some new report on the latest verbal bomb from the Republican gallery of fools, that I despair for the race, I have to admit it’s really handy for us writers. Every day, sometimes several times, we are presented with material by these folks, who seem to not only have the habit of shooting themselves in the foot, they seem to enjoy it, or at best are using it as a campaign tactic to draw attention. There isn’t even any need to go deep to look for stuff the politicos would rather you didn’t know, because they have taken it upon themselves to offer that information in their own statements, made obvious by their loquaciousness on certain subjects, and their reluctance to speak on others.
It’s almost as if they are printing up pictures of themselves with arrows pointing to their most vulnerable points; I really don’t understand how so many obviously unqualified and downright idiotic people ever got the notion that they could possibly do this. The only thing I can come up with is that they are completely out of touch with objective information, and have determined that subjective judgments are sufficient reason to qualify them for the Presidency.
In other words, they are delusional, as that word is defined as continuing to hold as truth information that has been proven false. Now do we really want folks who suffer from delusional thinking to be the one with the button that launches the nuclear holocaust? I don’ know about you, but I would give that question a resounding “NO!”…..and not feel a whit of guilt…..
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“The world is full of burled and gnarly knobs on which you can hang a metaphysical system. If you must.” — Edward Abbey
Here then is a logical mind. My evidence? His reluctance to impose an invented set of rules on a world that resists any such restraint is, in my mind, eminently sensible. Why do we have to make up stuff to try to explain how the universe functions? What quality does our curiosity have that compels us to seek out some kind of system to help us to deal with reality as it is? Humans seem to want some kind of order to their existence, and for some reason, can’t seem to come to terms with things the way they are. They seem to need to apply their own set of prejudices to the world, an impulse stemming from some unknown inner compulsion that has held back the tide of human progress for just about our entire history.
My own opinion is that human nature, being what it is, noted way back in the old days, that a man with no principles can manipulate other people through their own set of behavioral rules. By balancing a friendly, smiling face with a completely sociopathic conscience, they have been able to keep most of mankind in thrall ever since we first started farming and coming together in cities to trade. And they continue today; as a matter of fact the news of late has been full of evidence of their millenia-long hold over the rest of humanity. We (the gullible masses, identified by H. L. Mencken by the word ‘the booboisie’) have even given them a name; we now call them the 1%.
“The distinctions separating the social classes are false; in the last analysis they rest on force.” — Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
The battle lines for Armageddon have been drawn, and the combatants have chosen their sides; the war is coming, and I wouldn’t do a thing to stop it, because freeing ourselves from the people who live for power is our only hope for survival as a species. The 1% probably believes that they will be the only survivors of a world-wide catastrophe, and odds are, they may be right. But I’ll be damned if I’ll go without putting up an epic fight, for my life, and my liberty……
“We have met the enemy, and he is us.” — Walt Kelly (in POGO)
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It’s a day for Emily, I think. I also think we’ll go with one of her best-known poems, just because…. Enjoy! Many millions already have done….
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chillest land
And on the strangest sea,
Yet never in extremity
It asked a crumb of me.
~~ Emily Dickinson ~~
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Hmm…. Well, I did try, but, SB is in a snit, apparently, and won’t give me anything usable. We’ll have to fall back ten yards, and punt. Here’s a pretty good little pearl from a couple years ago…. Enjoy!….
From 2/23/2014:
All things considered, it’s been an interesting morning here at ECR…. I was up a bit late, but, the morning’s routine went smoothly, so I began to write in an unusually comfortable, clear-headed state, an event that, arguably, made the intro as coherent and organized as it is, for a change. The rant above not only went well, it went epic, and quite agreeably, from my standpoint, so, we’re good there, too. I’ve repeated myself with the poem, but, that’s merely a factor of how good it is….
That, of course, brings us to section three, and the obligatory, and, in this case, most welcome, old-school pearl…. We’re shooting today for a seven-star necklace of gems that will make me spew coffee through my nose, from laughing so hard and unexpectedly…. Let’s see what SB can come up with to accommodate us….
“I think, therefore, I am.” — Rene Descartes
“I think I think. Therefore, I think I am.” — Smart Bee
“I think I am. That’s close enough.” — gigoid the dubious
“It is most difficult to acquire wisdom without first having survived a whole mine field filled with folly.” — Smart Bee
“If you are wearing one brown and one black shoe, you have a pair like it somewhere in the closet.” — The Rule of Elderly Survival
“It happens sometimes. People just explode. Natural causes.” — Smart Bee
“Eternity’s a terrible thought. I mean, where’s it all going to end?” — Tom Stoppard, _Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead_
“On one occasion Aristotle was asked how much educated men were superior to those uneducated: “As much,” said he, “as the living are to the dead.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Aristotle, xi
“There are worlds out there where the sky is burning and the sea’s asleep and the rivers dream; people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there’s danger, somewhere there’s injustice, somewhere else the tea’s getting cold. Come on Ace, we’ve got work to do…” — The Doctor, Survival [Last lines of last episode]
It seems Smart Bee had a different agenda than mine…. S’fine…. I like this one better, since I didn’t have to suffer the nasal spew…. I’ll leave you with that image, reluctantly….
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There you go It’s all rather a cheat, but, it’s done, so, who cares? Not me; getting done was my entire purpose here today, so, I won. Moreover, I did it before the cat woke up, which made it much simpler. I’ll try to get myself squared away, ffolkes, but, given how long a road that may turn out to be, it may affect the next few Pearls…. Oh, they’ll show up, one way or another…. but, I can pretty much guarantee you won’t see a big jump in quality any time soon…. ‘Course, I’ve been wrong before, too. In any case, see y’all tomorrow, with a bit of luck….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
Hajime…. Up a bit late, & running smoothly, he sits to write, ever clueless in pre-coffee state…. “What are you doing, trying to type before the first sip?”, he cries, piteously. “Don’t you remember what happened last time?” Shuddering with the memory, he hunches his shoulders, rises, & walks off into the nether regions of the mortal coil, attempting to shake off the sense of foreboding sitting heavily on his left shoulder, trying to make him turn to look at his fears…. Moaning softly with the effort, he shuffles into the loo, to sublimate the blues….
Not too shabby, I’d say, for a first effort, pre-coffee…. We’ll play it as it lies, too, since it’s laid up so close to the hole. A tap in for a birdie, we can hope. Not that we’re concerned with our handicap; no, it’s more the challenge of playing a game in my head as I write I enjoy. Since, however, we are not here to enjoy ourselves….. Wait! That is what we ARE here for! What was I thinking? Oh, right….
Well, never mind, I’ve wandered & blathered sufficiently to soothe the monitors, so, we’ll just be off to the oyster beds without further fussing. In fact, we’ll get this slow on the toad with some style, and cruise over in the Tardis. Sound good? Good. Let’s do it, before the warranty expires….
Shall we Pearl?….
“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.” — Carl Jung
The band needs no introduction. Suffice it to say I was at one of their concerts earlier in the year this show finished off, which I have on my computer to watch again whenever I like…. I listened to this show live, as well…. It’s a good one, as many were….. Enjoy, ffolkes….
The discussion I’m working on isn’t done, and I’m too late today to finish it before posting. Here is a discussion from 2012 to fill in for the day…. I hope you enjoy it; it’s from the early days of ECR, when I was still feeling my way to the form it now shows….
From 915/2012:
“I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinions of himself than on the opinions of others.” — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
See? There, now, I’ve been saying this for years, and here’s old Marcus Aurelius, that Roman cogitator extraordinaire, putting it straight out there way back around the time of J.C.’s failed attempt at societal reform. A very cogent, yet poignant description of human nature and the preponderance of Ego that drives most of humanity to act out of their own ignorance, rather than consider the veracity or usefulness of someone else’s ideas. This format for stating this answer to one of the great questions is one that all the best philosophers choose when creating aphorisms; clear, simple language and brutally honest self-examination provide us with true wisdom, like it or not……
What particularly gets me about people at large is the high percentage of folks who fall into the trap that Ego sets; for some reason, people seem to prefer the cozy blindness with which ignorance can cover them to the cold, harsh light of self-knowledge. The very ego that sets them apart from the rest of the animals who inhabit this planet becomes also the greatest threat to survival, when it is allowed to dictate how one views reality.
The state of society in today’s world rests on the brink of total collapse; any number of issues currently in play in the world can lead us to upheaval unseen since the last Ice Age. Pollution, created by mankind, is pumping tons of carbon monoxide into the air every minute, and all those precipitates are eventually bound to cause changes to climate that we will have no power to stop, or reverse.
The economy of the world is constantly on the verge of collapse in these times, due mostly to the unacknowledged crimes of the 1% of mankind who controls 99% of the money and resources. These crimes arise, again, out of Ego, as the elite of the world believe that they are “different” from the rest of humanity, and deserve to make all the decisions, which oddly enough, are only beneficial to themselves….. again, the power of Ego trumps virtue…..
I’m a smart guy, pretty much, but this is a problem for which even I cannot find a solution, other than the age-old, time-worn, and always ineffective war between the classes. That solution has been tried innumerable times throughout history, and each time the same structure of society re-settles into the same old shape, with a few people at the top, making all the important decisions for the rest of humanity. All because we, as individuals, and as a species, cannot learn to control our ego, to persuade it to act for the benefit of all, rather than just looking out for itself….. I figure that whatever happens will be what we deserve, and I can’t say that I think it will be very pretty, for the species….. or for a lot of individuals…..
Maybe there is a solution…. as a matter of fact, there is one that has been around for as long as mankind has been writing stuff down…. and it’s always the same little piece of advice, a little idea that can change one’s entire life and world-view….. but only if it is accepted, and believed, and applied to reality…… Everybody knows this, but, how many actually live it?…..
“Do unto all as you would wish to have done unto you, and reject for others what you would reject for yourself.” — Mohammed
That’s right, the Golden Rule…. a basic tenet of EVERY philosophy that Mankind has ever formulated; even most religions will acknowledge the wisdom of this, though it doesn’t serve their interests as well as they would wish. But, throughout history, we have always known what is the right way to act…. we’ve just always chosen not to apply the principle in interacting with others…. Instead, we allow our ego to dictate how we behave, thus bringing us to the current world, with all of its problems and dangers…..
SIGH….. It’s really quite easy, and it’s the only answer that will work, in the long run. It really is too bad that most of humanity isn’t buying into it, isn’t it?……
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Between what I see and what I say
Between what I say and what I keep silent
Between what I keep silent and what I dream
Between what I dream and what I forget:
Poetry.
~~ Octavio Paz (1914-1998) ~~
*********
Visible life
Forty-two days of pressure and internal rain,
leave marks of salvation, often in pain.
Such sharp reminders of yesterday’s remorse
fight heavily to keep a straight course.
Rash moments, bright, and routinely immense
Give us pleasure, bereft of common sense.
Still the night comes soft and eternally dear
to bring out wishful dreams so vitally clear.
Life’s myrmidons give freely in protest
lifting with skill, soul pieces first to infest,
Loudly brash, with no such voices to remain
Sealed in infamy, branded ugliness all too plain.
Now come brave signs of chapter and verse
Shielded by ignorance, irritable and terse.
Gravid portions of in-between retaliation
leave only pale marks of initial gestation
With hope even pallid warriors grow brave
Leading all humanity, to a warm, stale grave.
Hope never falters, nor leaves any trace
Yet lingers forever in a welcoming space.
Cheerful faces yet shine out of time
for tricking and fumbling sweet melody sublime.
Fill in the spaces with a long, strong retort
life is ever visible, if only as last resort.
~~ gigoid ~~
9/15/2012
*********
Griefe brought to numbers cannot be so fierce,
For, he tames it, that fetters it in verse.
~~ John Donne ~~
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Naked Pearls
Human, done right….
*********
Between those who use their neighbors, and those who use a cane.
Between those in constant power, and those in constant pain.
Between those who run to evil, and those who cannot run.
Tell me which ones are the cripples, and which ones touch the sun.
~~ Ceili’s Muse “What you do with what you’ve got” ~~
*********
“There is only one nature
the division into science and engineering
is a human imposition,
not a natural one.
Indeed, the division is a human failure;
it reflects our limited capacity
to comprehend the whole.”
~~ Bill Wulf ~~
*********
“If you make a mess, clean it up.”
~~ Mom ~~
*********
“No man, for any considerable period
can wear one face to himself,
and another to the multitude,
without finally getting bewildered
as to which may be the true.”
~~ Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter (1850) ~~
*********
“A possum must be himself, and being himself he is honest.”
~~ Walt Kelly ~~
*********
“A person is not given integrity.
It results from the relentless pursuit of honesty at all times.”
~~ Anonymous Bee ~~
*********
“Men can only be happy
when they do not assume
that the object of life is happiness.”
~~ George Orwell ~~
*********
“I searched into myself.”
~~ Heraclitus ~~
*********
In the vacant places, we will build with new bricks.
~~ T.S. Eliot ~~
********************************
It will be okay; I know it will, if I can just wait. So, we’ll post it, and wait to see what happens. Trust the process, Luke! Okay, Ben, back off, now. And leave the pastries….. Hmph. I hate when my head goes all strange like that. Oh, well, tomorrow is another day, theoretically. I’ll see y’all then, unless I regain my senses before then…. Fat chance of that, right?…. Right….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
Hajime…. For reasons which shall remain mysterious, today’s intro will set a new record for brevity. To do so, I’ll need to dump y’all off at the oyster beds rather abruptly; it can’t be helped. To keep to the plan, this is all you get…. I know, a pain, but, needs must, Mr. Windigate, so, we’re outta here….
Shall we Pearl?….
“If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.”
~~ Marcus Aurelius ~~
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Star Trek: Renegades Image from startreknews.net via Google Images
When the internet became ubiquitous, an internet version of Star Trek began to show up online, in movies an episodes made by various fans. This movie is one of those released last year some time, and lives up to all its history…. Enjoy!…. Oh, and, there are more on the You Tube page where this resides….
I got nothin’ today…. Here is a discussion of politics from 2013, with a short rant from 2012….. It’s all still valid information, only, now, it’s worse by a factor of about 4…..
From 4/18/2013:
To attempt to soothe the ruffled feathers of my friend who wants me to rant, I give you now a rant from 2012, post-election category…. It kind of fits in with the morality play above…. sort of, maybe…. any who, enjoy…..
“Integrity is when what you say, what you do, what you think, and who you ARE all come from the same place.” — Madelyn Griffith-Haynie
Okay, I know we are all probably sick to death of politics, and the election, and everyone would like to have a break from talking and thinking about it….. I know I am. So, I’ll try to make this fairly short, and make it the last political diatribe for at least a day or two. It may be possible, if nothing in the news jumps up to stimulate my outrage (which may be on a short vacation itself….. I hope. I could do with the emotional space….).
Any who…. here is what I was thinking when I came across this little gem…. What if we devised a test, that in some way would enable us, as voters, to determine the relative status of each of the candidates according to this rule? A way, as it were, to measure their degree of integrity, which is something I think we can all agree would be a good thing to see in a politician, unlikely as it may be. If we could, say, set up a scale of integrity, and make it law that a person had to score in the top 5% of the scale in order to merely be eligible for office, I think we might see a whole new set of politicians, who had never before been seen in public.
In fact, in thinking about the current crop of those in office, it is entirely possible that ALL of those in office now might not be eligible…. I am not excluding the President, out of fairness, though I personally believe he might score in the top 10%…. I still have questions about some of the stuff he has signed that didn’t seem to be very well publicized, as they didn’t exactly fit with his image….. The newest version of the Patriot Act, the NDAA, that he signed last New Year’s Day comes immediately to mind….
I don’t care if he did try to mitigate some of the deleterious effects of the law, he still signed the damn thing, thereby seriously endangering a number of the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution. Plus, the method he used to keep it from the public awareness was rather suspect, in my mind, and reminiscent of the old days under Nixon, Johnson, Reagan, and the two Shrubs, may they all rot in whatever level of Hell they are destined to occupy….. (I know, I know…. not being a Christian, that curse has little weight, but, hey, it’s a pretty clear indicator of my opinion of all of them….)
As I suspect it might, this grew to be somewhat more than I intended it to be, so I’ll cut it short here. But, my suggestion above, about the test for integrity that should be a given for political aspirants, is completely serious, and I wanted to get that out. Maybe by the next election, we can get the rest of the country to buy into it…. which should be interesting, and fun. I’ll be looking forward to the expressions on the faces of all the supporters of those now in office, when their people gloriously fail to pass the test…. and to the results it will have on society, should it ever be adopted…. I don’t see any way at all that it could do anything that wouldn’t improve the situation…..
And so I penned
It down, until at last it came to be,
For length and breadth, the bigness which you see.
~~ John Bunyan — Pilgrim’s Progress, Apology for his Book ~~
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Notes of process and program…
Poems, alas, don’t chase through my head,
bumping and pushing each other like brothers at dinner.
They’re more ripped out of my innards, instead.
Time and circumstance reveal no ultimate winner.
Simmering and bubbling near my unconscious mind
these maddening rhymes blind me sans glimmer.
Building until bursting as if to be dined and wined,
the remaining denizens appear much slimmer.
Fiery visions retain such glorious fatal dimension,
in retrospect, yet fail to leave a permanent scar,
until blessed, or cursed, with focused attention,
singing, crying, bleeding, fast as a movie star.
Pretty soon can’t be soon enough, she said
to a chameleon colored thief bathed in moonlight.
Fancy candles in stripes of blue, gold, and red
foster honest dreams in shades of white.
Passage to daylight is problematic, at best:
beastly ghosts of insomniacs cast no shadow.
Even judges with robes can pass the wrong test
while the rest of us go with what we know.
~~ gigoid ~~
1/3/2013
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Naked Pearls
Human Philosophy
*********
“I think I am! I think I am!”
~~ the little engine that philosophized ~~
*********
“The unexamined life is not worth living to a human.”
~~ Attributed by Plato to Socrates, Apology ~~
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“Food for thought is no substitute for the real thing.”
~~ Walt Kelly, Putluck Pogo ~~
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“Als das Kind noch Kind war,
gab es diese Fragen:
Warum bin ich mich, und warum nicht dich?
Warum bin ich hier, und warum nicht dort?”
(“When the child was a child,
there were these questions:
Why am I me, and why not you?
Why am I here, and why not there?”)
~~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~~
*********
“It takes a long time to bring excellence to maturity.”
~~ Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 780 ~~
*********
“Except for our thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power.”
~~ Descartes ~~
*********
“Self-trust is the essence of heroism…
It speaks the truth, and it is just,
generous, hospitable, temperate,
scornful of petty calculations,
and scornful of being scorned.
It persists; it is of an undaunted boldness,
and of a fortitude not to be wearied out.”
~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, _Essays_ ~~
*********
“It takes a very long time to become young.”
~~ Pablo Picasso ~~
*********
“It is the heart afraid of breaking
that never learns to dance.
It is the dream afraid of waking
that never takes a chance.
It is the one who won’t be taken
who cannot seem to give.
And the soul afraid of dying
that never learns to live.”
~~ Bette Midler, The Rose ~~
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Well, there you have it; yet another mess from gigoid’s fertile mind. I make no apologies, nor have I any regrets, other than to find it done before actually being fully awake. We’ll see how it flies before making any judgments. Meantime, I’ve got stuff, so, I will see y’all tomorrow, should the wherewithal to do so find its way into my presence…. Odds are good, once again….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
“Don’t take life too serious. It ain’t no ways permanent.”
~~ Pogo, by Walt Kelly ~~
Subtle colors on an abandoned church ~~ Galway
Hajime…. I’m beginning to like the martial opening we’ve been using lately; my life, for the past nearly thirteen months, in retrospect, seems to have been one long battle with my own body, simply for the sake of expediency on the part of a corporate slave, mistakenly labeled a doctor. I have hopes the battle is nearing an end, but, in the meantime, I remain in a position of being an insomniac for days at a time, in spite of all I have tried to do to hasten or mitigate the process of surviving this external assault upon my health. Tonight is looking as if I’ll be up again until dawn, at which time I’ll either collapse, or find a pocket of energy to pass a semi-normal day. Ah well, at least the pain relief part is working; that’s a big plus….
There. The whine has been served; sorry there aren’t any crackers to go with it. We’ll have to make do with a bit of cheesy humor to cut the acidity a trifle. Hmm, how ’bout this?
What did the chicken say when she laid a square egg?….
“Ouch!”
If that isn’t cheesy enough for y’all, I’ll just have to consider myself a failure, because it’s the best, or, in this case, the worst I can do. Hey, it made a young pitcher smile during a game, many years ago, when I told it to him to calm him down after two straight walks. If it got a smile out of a stressed-out young athlete in the middle of a game, y’all can certainly give it at least a raised eyebrow, or maybe a snicker. Snickers are good; I sure wish I could still eat them. Sadly, the nuts would cause way more trouble than a few moments of bliss is worth.
Okay, so, let’s see how we’re doing…. A bit of complaining disguised as introspection, check. A strong touch of silly, check. Cool childhood memory, check. Surreal non-sequitor following a VERY odd segue from smarm to candy in one and a half sentences, double check. Not bad for somebody who’s been up for, hmm, let’s see now…. oh, right. About 64-plus hours, and counting. Let’s see YOU be funny that far into the throes of clinical insanity! Hah!
I see now, it’s time to get on with this. If I don’t, I’m liable to do, or say something I’ll regret, and, like Lazarus said, “When the ship lifts, all bills are paid. No regrets, ever.” I’m not sure what he means by that (yes, I am….), but, it sounds pretty intelligent, and right now, it’s also the best I can come up with. Rather than try again, I’ll merely say this: Luigi! Get us the hell out of here, now!
Shall we Pearl?….
“I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am.” — Samuel Johnson
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Asleep At The Wheel Image from amarillo.com via Google Images
I remember growing up on the music style epitomized by this band, later learning to play quite a bit of it myself, when my friend Tommy and I would get together to play guitar. The style is called western swing; this group has epitomized the sound for as long as I can remember…. which is getting to be a pretty long time now…. Enjoy, ffolkes; it’s called easy listening….
Rocky Outcrop on Mars Image by NASA’s Curiosity Rover, November 2015, from Space.com
You may well wonder why an image from Mars adorns the top of today’s ranting section. Since I’m the one who put it there, I suppose that makes me responsible to tell y’all WHY I would rant about some random piece of rather unattractive real estate on another planet. SIGH….
Well, if I MUST explain something so obvious, I’d best be about doing it, hadn’t I? Okay, it’s like this. The article on Space.com mentioned the picture was causing some excitement among scientists, as it seems a great many of the rocky soil you see is just jam-packed with all sorts of useful minerals, metals, and other substances of industrial use to Earthly technology. In other words, Mars is an untapped treasure chest of materials which are growing scarce on our planet…. Is it becoming any clearer? Does that suggest anything rantable to anyone?
I hope so, for it certainly does to me. Our species has almost turned this planet into one large desert; give us a century or two, and there won’t be a growing thing left on Earth, but for in greenhouses, possibly underground, using solar power to run the machines, since, without plants, the climate and landscape would not be somewhere anyone would wish to live. The resources on Mars means we have an entire NEW planet to rape, and pillage, and turn into another vast series of skyscrapers, freeways, and parking lots.
Oh, joy….. Get it now? When you or I look at such a picture, we see the endless vista as a chance for exploration, and the possibility of increasing our understanding. There are many in our world who will look on it as land to be developed. And, if, as the report mentions, the rock on this hill is a treasure mine of a group of valuable substances, you can bet there is some oligarch or speculator type out there in the banking world who is already looking into securing the mineral rights, and the right to build McDonald’s signs all the way to the horizon….
“Well, they paved Paradise, put up a parking lot, with a pink hotel and a swinging hot spot….” — Joni Mitchell
While I wish I could finish this rant, circumstances have intervened to preclude further diatribe. I know, you’re disappointed. So am I. But, it’s now a bit after 3 AM, and my brain is officially off-duty at 3. Anything I tried to logic from here could turn ugly, so, we’ll leave it for another thyme. It’s nice having access to a Tardis, I’ll admit; even when I fall asleep at the wheel, it takes me where I need to go, which is not Mars. Not today, anyway. I may end up there, should my presence be required, but, that’s a pretty long shot, I’d say.
Basta. Let’s go see what happens down below, before we get silly, and spoil the whole tenor of the section….. Ranting in soprano, or baritone, for that matter, isn’t as easy as it may sound…. Especially in the thin atmosphere on Mars….
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I’m not certain, but, I’m pretty sure this one was written on a day much like today has been/will be, may the memory of it fade quickly from my ken…. again. It’ll do, for now, again….
Dead Hands,Typing…
Puzzled anew by anomalous blocks of pain
caught, bemused, chained to routine, insane.
Stilled within breathless beauty
Engaging epiphany, insistent, called to duty.
Knees bent in lieu of a faithful rendition
suffuses, confuses, locked into stale perdition.
Clearing corrosion with hands encased in stone
Singular frozen follicles, masked by bone.
Partial focus brings unfiltered flavors to light
coloring each particle in simple delight.
Forlorn, novel conceptual artists singing in tune
nine notes in harmony, soft as the moon.
Honed blades of carbon steel flash in rhyme,
filling sensual receptors well past closing time.
Borrowed from neighbors in a week-old game
still bloody, without a proper name.
No flooded memories can justify such cost
no simple stationery, bilious, afraid, lost.
Ten times ten will never be enough
To fill so empty a stolen trough.
Bartering simplicity takes well into the night
solidly temporary pillars turned bright.
Unknown to all the pretty children who came
none were called, none had any remaining flame.
~~ gigoid ~~
Written 2/25/2015
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This one is a classic pearl; short, pithy statements, deep, wide, and clear. Of course, you have to follow the bouncing idea ball, but, hey, I can’t do everything! Don’t worry, you’ll see; this one’s easy…..
How admirable, he who thinks not,
Life is fleeting,
When he sees the lightning!
~~ Basho ~~
“Wonders never cease, as long as you never cease to wonder.” — Reflective Bee
“If you do not wish a thing heard, do not say it.” — Klingon proverb
“Except for our thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power.” — Descartes
“Without music, life would be a mistake.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
“Ignorance of one’s misfortunes is clear gain.” — Euripides
“There is no God. But it does not matter. Man is enough.” — Edna St. Vincent Milay, Conversation at Midnight
“Better a cruel truth than a comfortable delusion.” — Edward Abbey
“Everything is simpler than you think and at the same time more complex than you imagine.” — Goethe
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Though I have little recollection of doing so, it seems to be done. I’ll take it, as it’s getting hard to stay focused. I think I’ll go pace a while. Y’all can go do whatever you like; me, I’m going to pace, and dream of sleep….. See y’all tomorrow, unless I AM sleeping….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
"If a man take no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand."
~~ Confucius ~~
LeeLoo, hard at work.
Good morning.... We are not happy. In fact, we are not we, but, nonetheless, we aren't happy. Nor would you be, if your plans to garner a bit of sleep fell through as thoroughly as have mine. It is now 0129, according to the microwave clock. That's too frigging early, even for me. I had hoped to make it all the way to 0400, but, it seems my body prefers for me to experience TD q4h, whether I am ready for it or not. (TD = tardive dyskinesia, the bane of all opiate junkies and victims of medical abuse, to wit: me....) I don't know about y'all, but I just LOVE being up all fucking night, shaking and pacing! Can you think of a better way to lose weight?.... Well, actually, I can....
Ah, well, not long to go now.... My stay in Hell should only last another eight or nine days. Piece o'cake, ya think? And, hey, I've gone this long without ripping anyones tongue out with my bare hands, so, it's looking good for making it through this without any jail time. Bonus! Mom would have been proud....
Now, of course, I am in even deeper doo-doo.... How can I save this, without resorting to outright cheating, or perverse manipulation of the sort we all must endure from the BRC and those of their ilk? (I sure am glad I'm in a different ilk....) (Exactly what IS an ilk, anyway?.... Never mind....) I suppose I could write a quick fictional opening, but, the reality based crap at the top kind of aced that idea. How about some.... no, better not. That didn't work out well the last time we tried it. Maybe we could.... nope. Forgot; we lost our license for that. Hmm.... this is getting sticky, isn't it?
Ah, I know. I'll break out an old #4. It works every time. It's also our cheapest method for getting us out of here, as it's simply too fast and effective to be illegal, thus saving us a small fortune in legal fees. As those of y'all who have been here before know, y'all should hang on to something solid, and, for heaven's sake, put down your drinks.... Luigi, it's a # 4; hold on!....
Shall we Pearl?....
"Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of joy you must have somebody to divide it with." -- Mark Twain
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White Rabbit mode kicked in, for some reason; hence, the default musical selection for today reverts to our standard.... Enjoy!....
Those among you who have read the book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig will know what I mean when I say I've been on a personal chautauqua, seeking the path to my own center of being. It's been a long journey, as I had apparently wandered much further than I had imagined, which, when one stops to think, is only natural, given the whole concept of losing one's way.... Any who, I'm getting closer, and can feel both poetry and prose percolating, with the promise of copious floods of nonsense, verbal trickery, and a bit of philosophy yet to come. For now, in place of the rant which would usually grace this section (a bit o ego there, yes?...), here is a nine-star pearl, with some thoughts on how it all got to be the way it is today, in this crazy old mode of existence we call Reality.... Enjoy, ffolkes....
"Humankind cannot stand very much reality. -- T.S. Eliot
"And it came to pass that in the hands of the ignorant, the words of the bible were used to beat plowshares into swords..." -- Alan Watts
"Prejudice is the child of ignorance." -- William Hazlitt
"The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible." -- Bertrand Russell, Marriage and Morals
"The entire world is being driven insane by this single phrase: 'My religion alone is true.'" -- Ramakrishna, Hindu saint & reformer
"Most of the dogmatic religions have exhibited a perverse talent for taking the wrong side on the most important concepts in the material universe, from the structure of the solar system to the origin of man." -- George Gaylord Simpson
"Any religion...is forever in danger of petrifaction into mere ritual and habit, though ritual and habit be essential to religion." -- T.S. Eliot, Selected Essays, 1927.
"Before you have sex you have to be elected to a high government position." -- Zippy
"Grown men, he told himself, in flat contradiction of centuries of accumulated evidence about the way grown men behave, do not behave like this." -- Douglas Adams
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When life calls, ready or not....
Memories are all we have sometimes to keep our sanity intact, with learned phrases and subtle rhymes lessening life's vicious, vibrant impact.
Presently all seems composed and intent in stark contrast to hollow day, forlorn patchwork emotions of unheralded bent, fill up night's bower, leaving hell to pay.
Such vigorous and elevated temper brings us rare moments to ponder, filled with lessons all need to remember lest base perception lose valued wonder.
Laugh loud when entropy sticks fast leaving shameless anger in its wake. Let bygones pass quietly into the past reaping only what is left to take.
Final words of wise imagination tell us living well's the best revenge, it appears ever eluding choirs and congregations finally finding home, never buried in tears.
~~ gigoid ~~
Written 9/10/2015.
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Today's final old-school pearl speaks to our humanity, and, how to go about being the best human one can be.... Pay attention, ffolkes; this one is bound to be on the Quiz....
He not busy being born Is busy dying.
~~ Bob Dylan ~~
"Anyone who has had a bull by the tail knows five or six more things than someone who hasn't." -- Mark Twain
"No one can see their reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see." -- Taoist Proverb
"Down in their hearts, wise men know this truth: the only way to help yourself is to help others." -- Elbert Hubbard
"You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you get what you need." -- The Rolling Stones
"In theory there is nothing to hinder our following what we are taught; but in life there are many things to draw us aside." -- Epictetus -- Discourses, Book i, Chap. xxvi
"No amount of ability is of the slightest avail without honor." -- Andrew Carnegie
"I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." -- Albert Einstein
"It's like brother Nietzsche said--being human is a complicated gig, so give that dark night of the soul a hug and howl the eternal yes." -- Chris, the Philosophical DJ on the TV show, Northern Exposure
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Since it's taken nearly three days to get this done, I'd best take it the way it now, before I decide to start over (no worries, not gonna happen....). In point of fact, I must go out today, into the BBR, to take LeeLoo to her first visit to the vet.... No telling when, but, I will be back.... Meanwhile, stay alert, keep your powder dry, and question authority; you know, the basics.... See ya....
Y'all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you; Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy and everyone else, too...
When I works, I works hard. When I sits, I sits loose. When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why....
Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes, I just sits.
Elder Trees at the Temple of Angkor Wat Image from the UK Telegraph 8-6-2015
Good morning…. Boldly, he sat to begin, in spite of knowing full well the futility of even trying on such a day. Truly, his will is strong, if misguided, if he believes he can pull this off; only such loyalty to purpose could even give such hope. Yet, there is a certain poignancy to consistent failure; mankind has always liked a sad story. Perhaps, if he ever has time, he’ll think about that….
Morning, ffolkes…. I think I’ve gotten whatever that was out of my system. I’m not really sure where it actually came from, and I can’t recall ever falling into that particular mode of expression, speaking in the fourth person, so to speak, talking about myself as if I were watching from a distance. Oh, well, it must have something to do with the 57 minutes of staring at the screen I did while cudgeling my brain to come up with today’s title…. and, look at the poor thing! Pathetic!….
Oh, well. It’s probably a good thing I got up early; it gives me more time to clean up the crap that spills. It is also a good thing nobody’s paying me to do this, or I’d feel really bad about the quality of my work. But, I put my time in on the financial wheel of karma, so, it’s my turn to coast a bit. My dad would FLIP if he thought I was getting paid for any of this!….
But, enough about me; let’s go find some pearls, before this gets any further from reality. I’m already into territory I’m not sure I could find my way out of….
Shall we Pearl?….
“The superior man is the providence of the inferior. He is eyes for the blind, strength for the weak, and a shield for the defenseless. He stands erect by bending above the fallen. He rises by lifting others.” — Robert Green Ingersoll
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☬
My brain is rather uncooperative today; it’s probably pretty obvious by now. Almost an hour to come up with a title, and, far too long for a weak intro…. Now, I cannot seem to even decide what kind of music to listen to…. At this point, it becomes clear there’s only one thing to do, which is to say, “Fuck it”, and go with our default. Here is about an hour and a half of somebody’s idea of the best classical music. If I can’t pull it together in that amount of time, it’s hopeless…. In any case, I hope you enjoy it…. I picked it solely for the picture it showed on the page….
Today’s ranting section will consist primarily of homework…. Yes, I know, I’m not your teacher, unless, of course, you wish me to be. However, it never hurts to learn. Period. So, here is some pretty good material that was sent to me by an anonymous commenter named ‘anders’. I checked out the three links he/she/it sent, and found them to be quite interesting.
The document on Natural Law is quite good; the other I have yet to finish, but, makes a lot of sense so far. The others were found at Tales From The Conspiratum, where an article from Jon Rappaport was reblogged; he’s an author and frequent contributor to Natural News, Waking Times, Think Progress, and a number of other alternative-to-MSM news sites…. All good stuff, in no particular order…. We’ll follow it up at the end with an old-school pearl, taking some shots at the Asininnies (who else?….)
(For any visiting folks, or Gentle Readers who may be irony-challenged, that’s irony…. Think about it a minute….)
“Thank goodness modern convenience is a thing of the remote future.” — Pogo, by Walt Kelly
(This one is more sardonic, than ironic, but, it works….) (Does that make it iconic?…. Or, iconoclastic?…. Just wondered….) (Yes, I know I’m strange… Don’t worry, the pearls don’t care….)
“As with the Christian religion, the worst advertisement for Socialism is its adherents.” — George Orwell (The Road to Wigan Pier 1937)
“All Bibles are man-made.” — Thomas Alva Edison
“A man parks his car in front of the main entrance of the Congress. Immediately, a member of the security team goes after him yelling: “Sir! Sir! You cannot park in here! All the congressmen are about to go out!” The man replies, “Don’t worry. I have a good alarm in my car.” — Smarmy Bee
“In fact, one thing that I have noticed . . . is that all of these conspiracy theories depend on the perpetrators being endlessly clever. I think you’ll find the facts also work if you assume everyone is endlessly stupid.” — Brian E. Moore
“How should one deal with a man who is convinced that he is acting according to God’s will, and who therefore believes that he is doing you a favour by stabbing you in the back?” — Voltaire
“Is it legal to advocate the long overdue overthrow of a corrupt govt.?”” — Smart Bee
“The world is divided into people who think they are right.” — Bumpersticker
“Those who cling to the untrue doctrine that violence never settles anything would be advised to conjure up the ghosts of Napoleon Bonaparte and of the Duke of Wellington and let them debate it. The ghost of Hitler could referee, and the jury might well be the Dodo, the Great Auk, and the Passenger Pigeon. Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Nations and peoples who forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms.” — R.A. Heinlein
“Nationalism is an infantile sickness. It is the measles of the human race.” — Albert Einstein
“You expect me to believe that? . . . Del Grant ~~ “Not particularly. But it happens to be the truth….” — Avon
Hmm…. Apparently, this could go on forever. There are already thirteen, and SB is still running hot; I was, and remain, not entirely sure about going on to #13; last time I did that, the Space/Time Continuum sent me a memo to stop fooling around…. We’ll stop there, thus showing both the compassionate side of our nature, and the common sense to stay in the good graces of the S/T Con, certainly an entity/iconic force of Nature, with whom it probably isn’t wise to mess….
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☬
Around this time last year, I was having a lot of pain; this is a poem I wrote at the time…. I hope you enjoy it, it’s pretty honest…
Elemental, dear Watson….
Don’t worry,
it’s not
me
you hear
screaming.
It is
only
my bones,
giving in,
to
cowardly,
pathologically,
repetitive,
fucking,’
complaints
of
past abuse,
and
all the fun
we had.
playing,
hard.
I don’t mind
too much;
I can spend my
TIME
in another space
in my head,
pretending
my bones
don’t
exist….
It
is,
indeed,
a shame
they
always
come
back….
Fuck.
It
hurts.
More proof,
I guess,
either
God isn’t,
or,
He is.
IF
He isn’t?
Oh,
Well….
Ante up.
Deal.
IF
He is?
Then,
I don’t fucking care
who
doesn’t like it,
I say,
He
is
a bully,
a coward,
a hypocrite,
and,
truly,
an enormous asshole.
I suppose,
God
is
what comes,
to,
and
from,
People,
because
they
feel
a need,
for
someone
to
blame,
for
a
Universe
they
cannot
understand
or
accept.
I
will
take the complaints.
After all,
they
are
my bones.
~~ gigoid ~~
Written 9/14/2014.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
☬
The icon should give y’all a clue this pearl is a little different. It kind of got away from me, as I tried to put two pearls together in one session with Smart Bee. (It seemed to be in an extraordinarily good mood, giving out lots of good stuff, so, I pushed the envelope a bit….) It worked out fairly well, but, I’m not exactly sure if it’s completely sane. It is, however, all good advice on how to live, even if a bit skewed at points here and there, so, you might want to take notes…. No telling if any of it will be on the Quiz….
“Nothing in excess — including moderation.” — Smart Bee
“In the midst of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.” — Albert Camus
14. “Wipe thine ass with what is written and grin like a ninny at what is Spoken. Take thine refuge with thine wine in the Nothing behind Everything, as you hurry along the Path.” — THE PURPLE SAGE, HBT; The Book of Predictions, Chap. 19
“Reality is a cliche from which we escape by metaphor.” — Wallace Stevens
“A man is not aware of his virtues (if any). Nevertheless, one hopes that they exist.” — Edward Abbey
“The present is the only thing that has no end. — Erwin Schrödinger
“No matter how often you’re scolded, don’t buy into the guilt thing and pout… run right back and make friends.” — Things We Can Learn From Dogs
“All people smile in the same language.” — Smart Bee
I sit beside the fire and think of all that I have seen,
Of Meadow-flowers and butterflies in summers that have been;
Of yellow leaves and gossamer in autumns that there were,
With morning mist and silver sun and wind upon my hair.
I sit beside the fire and think of how the world will be
When winter comes without a spring that I shall ever see,
For still there are so many things that I have never seen:
In every wood in every spring there is a different green.
I sit beside the fire and think of people long ago,
And people who will see a world that I shall never know.
But all the while I sit and think of times that were before,
I listen for returning feet and voices at the door.
— J.R.R. Tolkien
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
☬
How this one got done will probably forever remain a mystery; nor is it one I’d care to investigate. It’s done, and, right now, that’s the best I can say of it; I’ll make no claims to quality today. In fact, it would probably be best to just take my leave, before this gets to a point where I’ll have to end up making some sort of apology…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes; this time, I may need to find a good reason to do so…. Nah, no worries, I’ll be back…. Ooh, too Arnoldy?…. Ah, well, see ya….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
“If you can’t think for yerself, you shouldn’t think at all.”
~~ Smart Bee ~~
Oh, really? Image from the UK Telegraph Animal Pictures of the Week, June, 2015
Good morning…. While recognizing the complete lack of a pattern to the sleep I’ve managed to find of late, I’ve noted one characteristic that seems common; I’m up at least two hours, at least once per night, dealing with the drama of tardive dyskinesia, which is merely fancy terminology for the twitches, or, as we not fond of calling them, the true heebee jeebees…. If you haven’t had the dubious pleasure of experiencing this condition, allow me to congratulate you on having missed out on one of Life’s LEAST pleasurable events…. Quite frankly, it sucks….
If I’m able to sleep after the shakes have passed, all is fairly well; often, that doesn’t happen, as the process of finding ways to distract myself from the jitters, plus distractions from the pain that’s always nearby, will often wake me up so I can’t return to the arms of Morpheus…. who wouldn’t hold me, anyway, as I’m too shaky & grumpy….
Which is where y’all have the dubious distinction of finding me today…. I’m going to issue a warning, to have a care today. I’m in a really rotten mood, and I can’t seem to find any reason in me to be nice…. If I did, I’d toss it in somebody’s face. In fact, I’m going to have Luigi take y’all on to the oyster beds, while I go consume some marginally legal drugs, to see if I can find a bit of peace inside somewhere…. I’ll meet y’all down the road apiece, if I can shake this off…… If not, well, too fucking bad….. Get ’em outta here, Lou, while there’s still time….
Shall we Pearl?….
“There’s no easy quick way out, we’re gonna have to live through our whole lives, win, lose, or draw.” — Walt Kelly
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I don’t think I have to explain why I chose this music today; if you don’t get it, go back & read the intro again, you will….
“Why doesn’t everybody leave everybody else the hell alone?” — Jimmy Durante
Oh, what a perfect opening line for a rant…. Too bad I’m in such a snarky mood; I’m even too pissed off at the world at large to rant well…. Oh, there’s plenty of emotion available…. So much, I can’t afford to let it out, lest it shoot the wounded, and attack the white flag; I’m afraid any ranting I do today would leave too many open wounds and dead bodies to make it practical. Here’s one from the archives that will have to do…..
From 4/13/2013:
“Custom does often reason overrule and only serves for reason to the fool.” — John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester
This aphorism is one that I think most people would accept as true, at least part of the time. It also points up what I see as a basic flaw in human nature, a characteristic that everyone possesses, and few overmaster. It has to do with our core beliefs, and the attitude we assume as our method of perception, the orientation of our world-view, as it were. We all perceive what is out there in the universe, but we are not capable, at this time, of understanding, or even noting, all that is there to be perceived, as we are limited to what we can see, hear, feel, touch, taste, or deduce, in our immediate vicinity…. We don’t yet know how to include the input of anything not in our physical presence, other than vicariously (via TV, radio, books, etc…..).
We do, however perceive what we are near, and what we do with those perceptions is what determines how the events of our lives will proceed. What is more, each one of us perceives all of this IN A DIFFERENT WAY….. Two people can look at the same article, or event, and see two entirely different things; just ask them….. We use the same senses, the same KIND of brains to process the data, at the same time to observe the same event, yet the interpretation of those events will vary, by as many degrees as there are people perceiving them. This unique ability, to process data in a completely new and different way from anyone else’s method, is, as might be guessed, both a blessing, and a curse….. It is the latter that concerns me today…..
In order to coexist in the same place and time, people have learned to accept certain perceptions as being identical, for the purposes of communication, e.g., everyone knows what “fire” is, and knows not to touch it barehanded…. (Note: in a way, this blog is all about the process of such communications…. we explore the reality that is consensual, that we all agree to deal with as being the same for all of us…..) This is the blessing it gives, the opportunity to increase understanding, to allow people to work in tandem, making both much more capable, making two more than just one plus one….. This is a very useful tool in the real world, and has helped our species achieve the degree of civilization we now enjoy….
But, the other side of this characteristic has an equal part in our destiny, and may in fact be the more important of the two, in the ultimate sense….. You see, we are all herd animals, and desire the approval and company of our peers; without it, we suffer, much more than we even know. It is not “human” to remain alone too long…. Oh, there is nothing wrong with solitude, and much great thought is achieved when one is not distracted by others….. On the other hand, a human who is alone for too long becomes a pale imitation of his/her true self, without the presence of other minds to test his/her theories, to discuss and share their feelings and accomplishments, to vent their frustrations, to experience love….. Without these things, our spirits become small, and lose their moral compass, leaving us adrift in a reality that seems dark, and dangerous….
This dependence on custom (which I define as the total construct of human society, the set of rules and regulations, all unwritten, by which all of us shape our behavior in respect to each other…..) is so strong that, as the aphorism states, one becomes willing to set reason aside, in order to keep and maintain our feeling of having a place in society. We will assume whatever mask that society demands, at times, in order to not have to wear a mask of our own devising, one that we do not find comfortable…. This is the curse of which I spoke….
You see, there are a number of people who have no compunctions whatsoever in using this human characteristic to their own ends….. They don’t believe in any of the crap they spew, but will say or do anything to make sure that others do, because this is how they control the general populace… They spread their lies, fast and often, until they are believed…. these lies promulgate fear amongst the uneducated and timid, who then demand that “something be done!” by those in charge…. which is exactly what those people wanted, for they can now proceed to further fan the flames of fear, while surreptitiously looting the public treasury to make it seem as if they are doing something constructive…. “Hey, they’re stealing our oil! Let’s spend a few billion to bomb the crap out of them so we can keep driving SUV’s, with great cup holders!”
Oh well, I guess that’s all the rant I’ve got in me today…. It’s kind of mild I know, but I was trying to be scholarly, rather than controversial and accusatory…. I think I’ve succeeded in that, but, it doesn’t quite give the same thrill and/or release as a good, nasty rant, with some great name-calling… Well, I can always call them assholes, because, hey, it fits, and it’s easy to type…. Any who, I’ll stop now, right on the edge of illumination, and allow the Gentle Reader to follow the train of my thought to its obvious conclusion…. For those too busy, or too lazy to do so, I’ll summarize….
Don’t listen to what anyone else says, not about YOUR perceptions. And, for sure, kick the asses of anyone who tries to convince you of their integrity in an elected capacity, or any position of authority…. A lot of people, on every level of society, are just trying to control you for their own purposes, and deserve any ass-kicking that comes their way…. Be like a cat…. cats don’t give a SHIT what anybody thinks, they just are….. No apologies, no fuss, just leave me alone, because I’m busy being a cat….. This is good advice, so, listen up, I’m trying to do you a favor….. 😆
“We need very strong ears to hear ourselves judged frankly, and because there are few who can endure frank criticism without being stung by it, those who venture to criticize us perform a remarkable act of friendship, for to undertake to wound or offend a man for his own good is to have a healthy love for him.” — Michel Eyquem de Montaigne _Essays_, bk. III, ch. 11 [1595]
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Savory
Blown across steppes of imagination, a spore
finds a niche, takes root,
tries to live longer than now, before
chaos/peace descends, and desire is moot.
Feathered into fecundity, another possibility
builds a nest, hatches kin,
aims at immortality, sans responsibility,
chance manifests, as it does, again.
Leading toward peril, entropy saves creativity,
making tools, and lazy time;
solid signs imply such simple nativity,
as another snitch drops his dime.
Subtle compassion billows, passion to unfold,
covering hearts bloodied by time,
burning flesh made valid, unwaveringly bold,
turning love to brilliant rhyme.
Years weigh lightly, supported by youth,
gaining weight with each year,
only the old men know the actual truth,
peace comes only by losing our fear.
~~ gigoid ~~
Written 4/9/2013.
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Again from the archives…. Enjoy!….
From 4/12/2013:
Time now for an old school pearl, harlequin style…. Don’t fret if that makes no sense to you, it’s just the way things go around here….. Today’s group of pearls all have something in common, but, it really doesn’t matter, because the point of it all is too weird to even vocalize. Just enjoy them for their relevance in a world gone mad….
“One is not idle because one is absorbed. There is both visible and invisible labor. To contemplate is to toil. To think is to do.” — Victor Hugo
“Forget the cake, go for the icing.” — from Observations on Life From Children
“.. bleakness…. desolation…. plastic forks…” — Zippy the Pinhead
Go, Soul, the body’s guest,
Upon a thankless arrant:
Fear not to touch the best,
The truth shall be thy warrant:
Go, since I needs must die,
And give the world the lie.
~~ Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618) — The Lie ~~
“Don’t try this at home, kids. This should only be done by trained, professional idiots.” — Plucky Duck
“and what i want to know is how do you like your blueeyed boy Mister Death” — ee cummings, Buffalo Bill
“When I was five years old, my mother used to tell me that happiness was the key to Life. When I went to school, they asked me to write down what I would like to be when I grew up. I wrote down, “happy”. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment. I told them they didn’t understand Life.” — John Lennon
Just so you know, the above is one of the finest seven star pearls I’ve ever created, I think….. Mark it down…. you were here when it was first made…. fresh from the wilds of inner space…..
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I did it. It’s done, and I don’t care at all what it looks like, feels like, or hell, I don’t care if it shimmies like my sister Kate. It’s done, so, it stays…. I’m outta here, too, before I say something I’ll later regret….. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if I’m still free of incarceration….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
Good morning…. The odds on that have improved a bit, thankfully…. Mind and body yearn for more sleep; five hours, though welcome, doesn’t quite make up for the weeks of 2-3/day I’ve just gone through. I have to admit, though, more, in this case, is better. Not that I’m a bundle of energy, by any means, but, it is nice to not have to summon my courage just to stand up….
Today’s Pearl promises to be something of an anomaly, though why that should be is still unclear…. It’s a sort of background hum with which we are familiar, from the identical phenomenon in my nervous system; when it’s there, tension reigns, though the underlying reason seems hidden…. It is only when it stops we note we’ve been so tense; the relief is immense. Sadly, there isn’t much that relieves it for my nervous system; for Pearls, I have yet to even identify the root cause, much less figure out how to get it to stop…. So, we end up with weird, which may not seem all that odd, but, trust me, it will be…
Since I can’t seem to find much of anything to say here, and don’t want to completely bore anyone in the intro section, we’ll take this slow on the road…. Luigi! Fire that sucker up, & let’s hit it! Time’s a wastin’…..
Shall we Pearl?….
“Learning isn’t a means to an end; it is an end in itself.”
~~ Robert A. Heinlein ~~
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A few days ago, a friend sent me a link to a You Tube video, which I enjoyed so much I’m including it here today. It’s a verbal performance of a W.B. Yeats poem, The Stolen Child, one of the most famous poems in all of English literature. The accompanying original video and music are the perfect enhancement to the poem’s beauty, and though short, one of the most intense doses of beauty I’ve ever been fortunate to experience…. I hope you enjoy it….
“Justice is incidental to law and order.” — J. Edgar Hoover
For someone of my ilk, such a statement, with its inherent arrogance and sense of entitlement, is an obvious invitation to rant; one might say, metaphorically, it’s a red flag to my bullish intellect…. But, that would leave me open to too many bad puns on referring to myself as a bull, or with bovine qualities to my thought processes… I certainly hope NOT…. Nonetheless, whichever metaphor we end up with, if any, I’m going to rant…. J. Edgar is just too much of an asshole to pass up the chance to chew on him. He was SUCH an asshole, I am prompted to pearl….
“He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends.” — Oscar Wilde
I’m sure Oscar must have been thinking of J. Ed; I think he met him as a child…. I mean, J. Edgar was a child…. Oscar was already nearly dead at the time…. In fact, it’s a little known historical fact the sight of J. Edgar’s face at the age of three, was the event which actually kicked Oscar over the edge…. (Little known = I made it up…. But, imagine it. Remember J. Edgar’s face when he was at the FBI? At three he must have been a truly scary sight; probably never had to buy a Halloween mask in his life….)
Okay, I’ll stop picking on the dead FBI guy. We’ll get back to what he said above, which, as far as I can tell, is just about as far removed, philosophically, ethically, and morally, from the ideas and concepts involved in the US Constitution, as it can possibly get. I don’t believe the framers of the Constitution had that sort of brutal single-mindedness in mind when they drafted the document; it’s completely foreign to the same view of, well, everything…. The intent of Mason, Franklin, Jefferson, Paine, and the rest was to secure Justice for the people, not place it in the hands of the faceless myrmidons who have taken over the police forces, not to mention the courts, of this country.
“All I kin say is when you finds yo’self wanderin’ in a peach orchard, ya don’t go lookin’ for rutabagas.” — Kingfish
Yesterday, when I began this rant, I had the firm intention of dissecting Hoover, and the ridiculous, self-centered attitudes he espoused, which have, sadly, become the modus operandi of almost every police force in this country…. The more I think on it, however, the greater is my feeling of futility, as I so often feel as if I’m preaching to the choir when I rant; the people who NEED to see, and think about this material, almost never do see it, as they’re not interested in changing their minds. Hell, most of them aren’t even aware they HAVE a mind….
So, I’m gonna sublimate, to please myself. We’ll find some statements, about politicians, dogma dogs, snakeheads, myrmidons, pimps, and all the other assholes who are dragging us all down to Hell with them…. Let’s see what SB can come up with today to poke a few holes in their misguided sense of adequacy…. Ah, what the hell; we’ll poke a LOT of holes today…. How about, say, oh, 13 holes?…. Hope they bleed a lot…
Was there a time when dancers with their fiddles
In children’s circuses could stay their troubles?
There was a time they could cry over books,
But time has set its maggot on their track.
Under the arc of the sky they are unsafe.
What’s never known is safest in this life.
Under the skysigns they who have no arms
Have cleanest hands, and, as the heartless ghost
Alone’s unhurt, so the blind man sees best.
~~ Dylan Thomas (1914-1953), “Was There A Time” ~~
“I like the way ONLY their mouths move…. They look like DYING OYSTERS” — Zippy the Pinhead
“The public demands certainties; it must be told definitely and a bit raucously that this is true and that is false. But there are no certainties.” — H. L. Mencken (1880-1956), “Prejudice”
“Our “neoconservatives” are neither new nor conservative, but old as Babylon and evil as Hell.” — Edward Abbey
“If men will not be governed by the Ten Commandments, they shall be governed by the ten thousand commandments.” — G.K. Chesterton
“Be entirely tolerant or not at all; follow the good path or the evil one. To stand at the crossroads requires more strength than you possess.” — Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)
“With rank goeth privileges- so it ever shall be. But also with it go responsibility and obligations, always more onerous than the privileges are pleasant.” — Robert A. Heinlein
“I am as firmly convinced that religions do harm as I am that they are untrue” — Bertrand Russell
“Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue.” — Confucius
“I’m going to have you wrapped in a U.S. flag and burned personally by the President, in high octane American gasoline!” — The Firesign Theatre movie, J-Men Forever
“Ignorance is Strength.” — George Orwell’s 1984
“Remember: there’s a big difference between kneeling down and bending over.” — Frank Zappa, “He’s got 20 million dollars in his heavenly bank account.”
Ye shall know the” truth, and the truth shall make you mad.”
~~ Aldous Huxley ~~
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Here is a poem I haven’t re-posted since first written… Don’t know why, as it may be one of my best, such as they are…. I hope you enjoy it…
Dreaming, I wait….
In the most patient moments of rationality
kindness flows smoothly in a special milieu,
fallow thoughts speed first from equality
to give no anxious fever, anger to eschew.
Indignant mothers and step-sons in-law
shall fade simply from brilliant to grey,
intoning ritual dogma, fresh, avid, and raw,
falling, falling, in massive pastoral disarray.
Safety lives not, save brightly in ignorant bliss,
it follows us all, silent and infinitely frail,
foremost too often, soft as a virgin kiss,
alive, always eager, willing, and pale.
Intimate knowledge finds only the bold few
with courage and virtue to gift, unbidden.
No solemn royal version may pass in review,
true love for man, never to remain unhidden.
Sweet feathers of Emily’s hope uplift,
calm, drowsy episodes bursting with light,
With final glad cries we set ourselves adrift,
swimming in the oceans of natural delight.
When sorrow is banished, in ages yet to come,
roots solidly anchored, cold and remote,
Ample supplies of kindness sit silent and dumb,
and the old stranger shrugs on his faded coat.
Dreaming, then, I wait with shadows in the night
aspiring to inspire, a message from the muse’s heart
Never forgotten images, framed in color bright,
tempt me only, grieving, steeped in serenity’s arcane art.
~~ gigoid ~~
Written 9/18/2013.
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Our final pearl is, apparently, a small, if significant part of what makes today’s effort such an anomaly…. Created in only two sessions at the computer, it came together quite easily, which is the first sign of possible oddity. After a bit of rearrangement, I realized it’s actually a pretty good pearl, for a certain type of mind…. The others who read it may find it a bit hard to penetrate, but, s’okay, not everyone likes peanut butter, even the chunky kind…. Enjoy, ffolkes; I think you can figure it out from here….
“It is not necessary that whilst I live I live happily; but it is necessary that so long as I live I should live honourably.” — Immanuel Kant
“Remember what the dormouse said… FEED YOUR HEAD…” — Grace Slick
“A good reputation is more valuable than money.’ — Publius Syrus — Maxim 108
“A little learning is a dangerous thing but a lot of ignorance is just as bad.” — Bob Edwards
“The worst deluded are the self-deluded.” — Christian Nevell Bovee
“Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.” — Baltasar Gracian
“The happiness and unhappiness of the rational, social animal depends not on what he feels but on what he does; just as his virtue and vice consist not in feeling but in doing.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus — Meditations, ix, 16
“Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
“Food for thought is no substitute for the real thing.” — Walt Kelly, Putluck Pogo
At this point in the process, you may ask, what the hell was that all about? I have only one response….
[dignified silence]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Y’know? Maybe I’ll make that last line my standard response to ALL queries…. Yeah! That’s the ticket!….
Then, again, that might tend to stifle any potential dialogue…. Okay, we’ll continue to use it only when appropriate…. Now we have that settled, I’m outta here, with energy, a bit of the ready in me pocket, and time on me hands. It’s a big world out there in the Big Blue Room outside the place where my computer lives…. I think I’m going to go see what kind of trouble I can create today…. Not get INTO, mind you, just create…. I’ll try not to involve any innocents, but, they would probably be better off staying off the streets, anyway…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if I don’t run into anyone faster than me….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
gigoid 