Tag Archives: Zen Buddhism

Initial ethical alignments are in progress….

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    Ffolkes,

I made a small tactical error this morning…. Before I started to write this, I read an email, and took a few moments to consider what it had to say….. It was yet another unwelcome begging letter from Organizing for Action, the grassroots fund raising organization formed after Obama’s second election victory… This organization sends me at least two emails every day, each with another call to action, based on whatever political dust-up is currently on tap, followed by a request for money. The calls to action lately relate mostly to the news of what is happening in Congress regarding the current budget mess….. Each email tells me how critical it is that I send them money, or the big, bad Republicans, who have already raised more money than we have (“we” being the good guys, the White House myrmidons as opposed to the Republican myrmidons….), will shut down the government…

I’m torn at the prospect of seeing the massive bureaucracy we call our government grind to a halt; if nothing else the NOISE that is generated is offensive, consisting as it does of the cries of innocent victims, the cacophony of outraged citizens, the outlandish accusations and blame-throwing by both political parties, and the wails of frustration from ffolkes like you and me, who cannot comprehend the depths of ignorance that are being displayed on a daily basis in Washington D.C….. However, on the other hand, as Will Rogers said, the people never suffer so much as when Congress is in session, so, having the whole ball of wax inactive could conceivably do some extensive good, just by not doing anything….

My mistake, as you can see, was allowing the email’s content to get under my skin…. Here we are, government shut down, everything in society at sixes and sevens, and the best they can come up with is, send us $5, so we can fight back?…. What a crock! How stupid do they think people are? Obviously, pretty stupid, as they just continue with their begging, no matter what is going on, or how much they’ve collected…. I guess, for every million emails they send out, they probably have a couple thousand assholes who would send money to Mars, if the politicians asked them to, so they just keep sending them out, relying on the power of statistical percentages to keep the money flowing into their coffers…..

This whole situation is one that brings me to a point where my only reaction is “So? They’re screwing us again? So, what else is new?” I am not only outraged, frustrated, and sad at the ignorance and sheer idiocy currently on display in Washington, I am becoming bored with it…. The same old bullshit, not even dressed in new clothes, keeps falling at our feet, disgorged on a daily basis by people who seem to be congenital liars, thieves, and just plain assholes, ‘scuse my French, which I’m allowed to say because their actions indicate nothing else…. As I said…. BOORRRING…..

We are hearing the same old story, told at the same old stand, by the same old shameless people, insulting us with the same old lies…. I’d be angry, but, it’s more depressing than it is enraging, because of the simple fact that most people in this country not only don’t know they’re being lied to, but, when it is pointed out to them, they try to rationalize, rather than reject…. Rather than admit they have been in error, they’d rather try to justify being wrong, and refuse to change….

It’s saddening, and maddening, to see the LACK of intelligence and independence of spirit that once characterized this country and its people… The American public has turned into a massive crowd of willing slaves to their corporate masters, proud of their ignorance, filled with a false sense of both their own worth, and their entitlement to rights and privileges not earned.

Hmm… I see that I’ve again usurped the intro section to vent… If I have any hope of completing this Pearl by the usual time, I’d better get on with it…. Just consider this your starting point, and I’ll dive in here to begin the search for some outsourced wisdom for us to consider this morning….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“If you are beginning to doubt what I am saying, you are probably hallucinating.” — The Firesign Theater, _Everything you know is Wrong_
_____________________________

“It does no harm just once in a while to acknowledge that the whole country isn’t in flames, that there are people in the country besides politicians, entertainers, and criminals.” — Charles Kuralt

Mr. Kuralt, while correct in his statement, mostly, forgets to include one stupidly large, important group connected to the groups he mentions above, to wit: the huge number of IDIOTS among the unwashed masses who support the politicians, admire the celebrities, and regard the criminals as just another form of entertainment, unless it touches on them directly. It is a disturbing thought to realize the number of people who believe that politicians are honest, who think celebrities are role models, and who regard TV as the closest approach to reality they intend to tolerate…..

In part, he IS right, though…. There ARE people who don’t hurt others as their basic modus operandi…. There are people who don’t vote for thieving assholes (Though that’s a tough one to avoid, given that practically everyone who runs for office falls into that category…. I guess I mean that a lot of people vote for someone on the ballot, without fully realizing they are being lied to…. Mostly, I think they have suspicions, but vote anyway, because they can’t imagine any alternatives….)

Society does not consist solely of those who monopolize the news every day; it is simply the case that those people don’t fit into one of those categories that make compelling news stories, so they aren’t ever written up like those who lie, cheat, and steal, whether that criminality is expressed in Washington D.C. in an office building, in a sound studio, or on the mean streets… Actors end up in this group because they show the unwashed masses what the politicians and criminals are up to in stories and films….

“You could drop a leaflet or a Hubbard squash on the head of a person in any land, and you would almost certainly hit a brain that was whirling in small, conventional circles.” — E. B. White

Hence, due to what sells the best, those three groups end up on the news, in theaters, and on our TV’s, phones, and computers, all day and night, with all the bells and whistles they can figure out how to hang on them…. Since that is all there is to see, it is easy to start to believe that these are all there is, and the world is nothing more than one big illusionary collection of people and events that has no direction, other than straight to Hell in a Hummer….

Yes, there ARE other people in this country other than those three groups…. but, they aren’t making the news, are they? They’re watching it, and, sadly, mostly keeping their mouths shut…. which is pretty much why Hell is only a few miles away now…..

“Democracy is based on the assumption that a million men are wiser than one  man. How’s that again?  I missed something.” — Robert A. Heinlein

This will be a short rant, since I count it as merely a continuation of the first section; it’s a slight change of subject, but, not much, if one looks closely…. Besides the entertainment value of ranting, for me, it’s also my indictment of the very people who are dominating today’s headlines, so, I’m good with however it comes out, to be honest…. I’m disgusted, and disappointed, and a large number of other adjectives that indicate similar feelings, directed at the ‘assholes on parade’ we’re forced to watch… So disgusted, I am going to stop here, because it’s just making me crazy, and want to break things….

“In a cruel and evil world, being cynical can allow you to get some entertainment out of it.” — Daniel Waters, screenwriter of HEATHERS
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For me, poetry has as much, or more, power to take my mind away as does the best prose, or the best films, and runs a parallel course with the words of someone I love, in how strongly I can be affected in my emotions….. In that light, my favorite poets are favored, not because of how popular or famous they are, but because of how I feel when I read them… From this poet, I always find both the power of elegance and beauty, and hope for the spirit we entail as humans….

As Once the Winged Energy of Delight

As once the winged energy of delight
carried you over childhood’s dark abysses,
now beyond your own life build the great
arch of unimagined bridges.

Wonders happen if we can succeed
in passing through the harshest danger;
but only in a bright and purely granted
achievement can we realize the wonder.

To work with Things in the indescribable
relationship is not too hard for us;
the pattern grows more intricate and subtle,
and being swept along is not enough.

Take your practiced powers and stretch them out
until they span the chasm between two
contradictions…For the god
wants to know himself in you.

~~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~~

_____________________________

What you will find below is a Classic pearl… It chose itself, which is the primary characteristic that sets this type apart; when I furnish the parameters for inclusion, the outcome is of a different nature. For some reason, probably having to do with magic, or something, this kind always comes out stronger, and stranger, and more beautiful in execution of the humorous parts, if not always more elegantly attractive due to the identifiable sources involved….

If any of that is comprehensible to you, I think you could consider yourself to be a regular…. It’s clear that you have a “different” sort of mind, for which logic and compassion dictate that one suggest, it possibly would be smart to make an appointment with your psychiatrist, should you have one…. If you don’t, I’m bound to remind y’all, the law requires you to engage one, if you spend more than the recommended amount of time pearling; you can get around that requirement by keeping your certificate of sanity at hand, as provided to you at birth, and again at your graduation from high school….. That IS what they gave us, right?…. I lost the one I got at birth, but, I just thought they gave me a new on at the commencement exercises in 1968…. Oh, well, no es importante, si?…

Just so it’s all clear… If it doesn’t say who said it, I found it in Smart Bee without any attribution….. and Google didn’t know either…. or possibly, it didn’t care…..

“It’s so clean. It’s certainly uncontaminated by cheese.”

“My main reason for adopting literature as a profession was that, as the author is never seen by his clients, he need not dress respectably.” — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

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

“A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.” — Thomas Paine [Author of the Declaration of Independence and even more, but no politician.]

“Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious.” — Brendan Gill

“I hope I never get so old I get religious.” — Ingmar Bergman

NLTDB  🙂  🙂  :-):   Nothin’ Left To Do But Smile, Smile, Smile.
_____________________________

“Okay,” he said, self-consciously, “not bad.” Small cough…. “Not bad at all….” Larger cough…. “I wonder if anyone will read it?”, was his next plaintive question, so I kicked him out of my head…. But, after I caught my breath from coughing, I realized that, yes, it wasn’t bad at all, so, I can quit now, which is probably for the best, for all of us…. See ya tomorrow, ffolkes…

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
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

dozer3

Give us a piteous whimper, Number Six….

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Ffolkes,

    Today, like any other day, has yet to show its true potential, though even now, the feeling of pregnant possibility is almost palpable. It’s hard to describe, actually, this feeling of electric, buzzing anticipation of…. what?  The very unknown qualities of the future, far-distant or immediate, add a certain tingle of both fear, and burgeoning joy, to the mix of emotions that swirl as we ponder the day’s dawning….

    For some, this jittery, bouncy feeling is too much of a morning, so, they bury their nose in a paper, sip their coffee, and try not to think about what might happen… But, for others, such as meself…. well, let’s just say that there’s no better start to the day than to feel as if it will be filled with challenges, with problems, with solutions, and with both joy, and pain…. Not a bad day, for a human… It’s like Lazarus used to say….

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert Heinlein’s Time Enough For Love

    I can do all of the above, except program a computer (I can learn, though, and am in the process of doing so, slowly….), and balance my checking account…. Well, actually, not true… I have had it balanced, once or twice in the dim, dark past; now, I just let the bank do it, and keep track of it online… So, this means I can consider myself a human, by these standards, which I consider to be an accurate summation, and much the same as the conclusions I had already come to in my life. Of course, reading Heinlein’s work since the age of 11 hasn’t hurt a bit in developing those beliefs and standards….

    Nor did it hurt to be raised by a Master Sergeant…. I always call my dad that, but, I wouldn’t want to give the impression that was ALL he was… He lived for 72 years, but spent only 20 of that in the army, so, there was more to him than that…. But, in my mind, the fact that, after those 20 years of service, he ended up at that rank as his permanent billet, (though he was promoted after retiring; that is standard. By the time of his death, he had been promoted to major….), is an indication of what kind of man he was…. It is a well-known, and accepted, fact that in the army, Master Sergeants are the ones who actually run things…. smart officers leave the bulk of their duty to the sergeants, merely giving good orders, and staying out of their way….

    But, my father was more than merely a Master Sergeant; it’s just a convenient handle to describe him, and to give an idea of what sort of guy he was…. Any who, I’ve wandered around again, without much purpose, and seem to have ended up in a place where I can’t find an easy way out, and into the Pearl… Not unusual, I suppose, merely bothersome…. Oh well, I think I’ll use emergency procedure # 1, which is in its place at the head of the entire group of techniques for saving my ass because it always works… It’s called the Bail-Out, for good reason: it just stops, and…..
_____________________________

    And, you never hear from me again on whatever subject was at hand…. Pretty cool, eh? It ALWAYS works…. So, having been dumped here in the first section, clueless as to something to write (No, nothing new in that, I know, but a PITA, nonetheless….). I guess I’ll go old-school, like I had any intention of doing anything else….  😆

“An older student came to Otis and said, “I have been to see a great number of teachers and I have given up a great number of pleasures. I have fasted, been celibate and stayed awake nights seeking enlightenment. I have given up everything I was asked to give up and I have suffered, but I have not been enlightened. What should I do?” Otis replied, “Give up suffering.” — Camden Benares, “Zen Without Zen Masters”

“When the rich make war it’s the poor that die.” — Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), “Le Diable et le bon Dieu”, 1951

“His seat back is not in the full upright and locked position.” — Smart Bee

“Food, sleep, fear, propagation; each is the common property of men with brutes. Virtue is really their additional distinction; devoid of virtue, they are equal with brutes.” — The Hitopadesa (600?-1100? A.D.)

“All but the hard hearted man must be torn with pity for this pathetic dilemma of the rich man, who has to keep the poor man just stout enough to do the work and just thin enough to have to do it.” — G. K. Chesterton, Utopia of Usurers, 1917

“There’s a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure truth.” — Maya Angelou

“Never commit yourself to a cheese without having first examined it.” — T. S. Eliot
_____________________________

    Poetry such as this needs no adornment from me…..

Love Is A Parallax

‘Perspective betrays with its dichotomy:
train tracks always meet, not here, but only
   in the impossible mind’s eye;
horizons beat a retreat as we embark
on sophist seas to overtake that mark
   where wave pretends to drench real sky.’

‘Well then, if we agree, it is not odd
that one man’s devil is another’s god
   or that the solar spectrum is
a multitude of shaded grays; suspense
on the quicksands of ambivalence
   is our life’s whole nemesis.

So we could rave on, darling, you and I,
until the stars tick out a lullaby
   about each cosmic pro and con;
nothing changes, for all the blazing of
our drastic jargon, but clock hands that move
   implacably from twelve to one.

We raise our arguments like sitting ducks
to knock them down with logic or with luck
   and contradict ourselves for fun;
the waitress holds our coats and we put on
the raw wind like a scarf; love is a faun
   who insists his playmates run.

Now you, my intellectual leprechaun,
would have me swallow the entire sun
   like an enormous oyster, down
the ocean in one gulp: you say a mark
of comet hara-kiri through the dark
   should inflame the sleeping town.

So kiss: the drunks upon the curb and dames
in dubious doorways forget their monday names,
   caper with candles in their heads;
the leaves applaud, and santa claus flies in
scattering candy from a zeppelin,
   playing his prodigal charades.

The moon leans down to took; the tilting fish
in the rare river wink and laugh; we lavish
   blessings right and left and cry
hello, and then hello again in deaf
churchyard ears until the starlit stiff
   graves all carol in reply.

Now kiss again: till our strict father leans
to call for curtain on our thousand scenes;
   brazen actors mock at him,
multiply pink harlequins and sing
in gay ventriloquy from wing to wing
   while footlights flare and houselights dim.

Tell now, we taunt where black or white begins
and separate the flutes from violins:
   the algebra of absolutes
explodes in a kaleidoscope of shapes
that jar, while each polemic jackanapes
   joins his enemies’ recruits.

The paradox is that ‘the play’s the thing’:
though prima donna pouts and critic stings,
   there burns throughout the line of words,
the cultivated act, a fierce brief fusion
which dreamers call real, and realists, illusion:
   an insight like the flight of birds:

Arrows that lacerate the sky, while knowing
the secret of their ecstasy’s in going;
   some day, moving, one will drop,
and, dropping, die, to trace a wound that heals
only to reopen as flesh congeals:
   cycling phoenix never stops.

So we shall walk barefoot on walnut shells
of withered worlds, and stamp out puny hells
   and heavens till the spirits squeak
surrender: to build our bed as high as jack’s
bold beanstalk; lie and love till sharp scythe hacks
   away our rationed days and weeks.

Then jet the blue tent topple, stars rain down,
and god or void appall us till we drown
   in our own tears: today we start
to pay the piper with each breath, yet love
knows not of death nor calculus above
   the simple sum of heart plus heart.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

_____________________________

    I haven’t ranted today, and I rather think I’ll not do so at all, being, as I am, in a state of mind NOT conducive to the proper critical assault of some deserving asshole in the public venue…. although, I’m certain, there is SOMEONE in the news today who deserves an insult or two as payback for their asininity…… Hell, I could easily take two or three minutes, peruse the news headlines, and come up with the name of one or two appropriate candidates…. I’m just too lazy this morning to do so….

    I’m gonna go for another old-school pearl, as you probably knew I would, once you saw the word ‘lazy’…. Let’s see what The Notebooks of Lazarus Long have for us along the lines of some ironic, or possibly sardonic, observations on that historically ubiquitous obstacle to the progress of mankind, Religion, or as we like to call it here, the Priestly Hierarchies…. All of these are from Robert Heinlein, via Lazarus, with just a bit of help from Smart Bee….

“History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it.”

“One man’s theology is another man’s belly laugh.  “

“Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child.”

“The most preposterous notion that H. sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all history.”

“God split himself into a myriad parts that he might have friends.” This may not be true, but it sounds good — and is no sillier than any other theology.”

“God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent — it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks, please. Cash and in small bills.”

“Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom.” — Smart Bee

    Well, there you have it, ffolkes…. My own personal invitation to Hell, if the Christians have their way….   😉
_____________________________

    Okay, so, they can’t all be brilliant…. Now, if only I could get ONE of them to approach that, I’d be happy…. Let’s see where on the scale this one falls….

    Okay, well, I’m impressed… I was barely paying attention, and this came out pretty good…. I’ll have to try this more often, if I can figure out whatever the hell it is that I did differently…. See ya, ffolkes…..

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
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

dozer3

Dealing with randomness is almost fun…

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Ffolkes,

Traveling is not what I remember…. When I was younger, it was an adventure, and everything was fun. Now, it is a chore, and an obligation, and it’s all hard, physically speaking…. It is still an adventure, I guess…. there IS a certain amount of adventure implied in being lost in a strange land in the middle of the night, even if the adventure is more of a PITA than a soon-to-be-cherished memory. However, most adventures don’t end with the hero settling for the 1st hotel he sees, just so he can stop moving long enough to catch his breath….

It’s funny how the mind hides stuff from itself…. I’d completely forgotten the hassle and strain of flying to Texas, though I did so only a few months ago, in April of this year. All my mind sees is me, in a younger, stronger version, one unconcerned with how much energy it takes to do the simple tasks involved in getting across the country. It’s obvious that the subconscious mind, or, my subconscious mind, doesn’t like to acknowledge the passage of time….

Any who, to cut short this morning’s whine-fest, I will now attempt to create a Pearl, with a bit of help from the archives…. It’s cheating, I know, but a bit of flexibility is called for in such situations, so, y’all will just have to bear with me, and deal…. I’ll do my best to make it as painless as possible…..

Since I still have an hour’s drive to accomplish today, I’d best get on with it…. so, I will, legal sized intro or not….

Shall we Pearl?….
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Today’s Pearl, as advertised, comes from the archives, specifically, from the middle of July in 2012. The Pearls were still in the old format I was using then, with five sections rather than three, and shorter pieces in each section…. It’s a lot, but, it ain’t bad….

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

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

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

“I’m having BEAUTIFUL THOUGHTS about the INSIPID WIVES  of smug and wealthy CORPORATE LAWYERS..” — Zippy the Pinhead
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“Don’t ever become a pessimist, Ira; a pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun — and neither can stop the march of events.” — Robert Heinlein, Time Enough For Love

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

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

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

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

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

A Brook In The City

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

~~ Robert Frost ~~

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Since I’ve already run the gamut from silly to serious, from giddy to maudlin, and back again, it would be best to just stop here….. so I will.  There is enough confusion in the world, and I’ve done my best to contribute….  🙂   Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here ends the old Pearl, which proved to be more than I had originally intended for today, but, hey, I’m easy, as is well established….. Moreover, I’ve got stuff to do, a lot, so, I’m outta here until tomorrow, when, hopefully, I will be less wiped out than today…. Hope springs eternal, does it not?….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole,
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

dozer3

Pilfered hearts, buried in parody….

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6

Ffolkes,

It’s tempting…. the urge to just give it up is getting strong, and the reasons to do so are growing more compelling each day. As I sit to write today, I’m struck by how conflicted I am inside, where one part of me wants to fulfill the routine I’ve established over the last two years, and another part wants me to just go back to bed. For those two years, the latter part of me has been meek, unable to have its way very often, if at all, over the big, blustering, powerful urge to spill my guts….. Of late, though, it has gained strength, and weight, and is now able to bring a sense of controversy to these morning battles with myself…..

Obviously, the part of me that is still dreaming in bed has lost again, as the words keep flowing on screen; I guess the meek aren’t inheriting the earth quite yet…. It does, however, create yet another conundrum for me to solve, to wit: what the hell will I do today for an intro section? I’ve used up just about every style there is, or, at least, all I can think of, and none of them have been workable as an every day kind of opening, that would stand up to the test of time. The closest I’ve come is these wandering, blathering personal commentaries, four or five paragraphs discussing the workings of my head, which, though they may be interesting at times, probably get a bit trying to the patience to read often….

I’ve tried fictional openings…. I’ve tried ranting, I’ve tried pearls. I’ve tried to be logical, and I’ve dipped deeply into the well of nonsense to draw up some humor, such as it is. I’ve even used the Keystone Kops method, and, in times of extreme emergency, made things up. Hell, I’ve even considered the use of high explosives, but, I couldn’t get the permits…. Oh well…. I did have high hopes for that one, but, city hall gets nervous at private citizens asking for permission to blow stuff up….

Oh well, by this time, I should know better than to get all worked up about it….. The struggle to decide on what to write about every day will continue, as long as I keep flogging myself to write…. It’s looking like that isn’t going to cease any time in the near future, so, I’ll have to learn to live with a daily battle in my head, at least until I learn how to live with it, and accept it as reality….. That is one answer, in truth….I could be all Zen, and call this process a koan, a learning experience, and realize that it is acceptable just the way it is…. Life is struggle, and cannot be lived without pain. Learning to accept the pain is what eventually causes one to be able to live in harmony, and the pain, along with the struggle, will pass into memory….

Yeah, that’s the ticket…. Zen rules!….. Well, it helps, anyway…. Ah well, it’s happened again, so we’ll take the five paragraphs of relative crap, and go on to the next steps in this dance macabre….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Work is not an end in itself; there must always be time enough for love.” — Robert Heinlein
_____________________________

“I put aside my copy of “BOWLING WORLD” and think about GUN CONTROL legislation..” — Zippy the Pinhead

You know, the most amazing thing, to me, about this whole issue with the spying on our telephone and computer data by the government? It is the absolute genuine surprise on the part of the administration at how upset everyone (i.e. the public, or, more simply, “us”…) is over this issue. It’s as if they can’t believe that people are actually upset that the government is collecting all of our phone conversations, and all of our email correspondence, in order to, according to them, “defeat terrorism”.

They, in their absolute confidence in their own rightness, are having a hard time with the fact that NONE of the rest of the populace, at least, none of those outside of the government itself, agrees with them….. For some unknown reason (well, you know it, and I know it, but, they don’t….), they think they can do whatever they want in the pursuit of their imaginary demons, and we’re all supposed to fall right in line with that…. In truth, it makes me feel a little better about things when I think about the reaction by the public; I had almost given up on them ever caring at all what the BRC did to them….

I’m not going to rant again today about this; it’s all over the news, and many people are presenting some well-thought-out, and well-researched and -written articles on the subject, probably much better than I could do. I like to think I’d be funnier, but, that isn’t necessarily of importance to such pieces, so, for now, I’m leaving it to them to distribute the information people need to be clear on the issue. Clarity is necessary, because this is one of the best opportunities we, as the public, have had in some time to bring light to bear on the clandestine activities being perpetrated on us by our supposed leaders….. I think it is important NOT to let them off the hook on this, and bring all the pressure we can to make reforms, at least in this one area….

Rather than rant, though, I will put together another pearl on this subject, because I believe that the more we hold the BRC up for examination, whether that regard is focused on humor, their (absent) virtue, their chicanery, or just their displays of idiocy, it’s a good thing to keep to keep the light focused on them as long as possible. If we don’t hold our leaders, such as they are, up for our criticism of their acts against us, then, who will? They certainly aren’t going to be pulling their own covers, or showing off their latest theft from us; it’s in their best interests to keep as much of that away from our attention as they are able to do. So, I’ll keep on making fun of them, just as long as they keep lying to us….

Therefore, here is another seven-star pearl, with the clear intent of either making fun of, or bringing unwanted exposure to, our Beloved Ruling Class, and all of their myrmidons…. (a great word, go ahead, look it up….) (No, I’m serious, you need to look it up, or the first quote won’t make any sense to you….) (Of course, none of it MAY make any sense, but, I do what I can, and no more….) (Ah, the hell with it, it means, essentially, “faceless minions in vast numbers, set to do their bidding”….)

The Bible is true this I know,
For the Bible tells me so.

— Jordan Henderson

“Do not needlessly endanger your lives until I give you the signal.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower
(One of the first recorded instances of a President using computer programming techniques on the public….)

“An election year is the time politicians want to help us out of all the trouble they got us into in the first place.” — Smart Bee

“Disco oil bussing will create a throbbing Naugahyde pipeline running straight to the tropics from the rug producing regions and devalue the dollar!” — Zippy the Pinhead

“Muddy water let stand becomes clear.” — Lao Tse

“Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper.” — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

“If life is merely a joke, the question still remains: For whose amusement?” — Smart Bee

Well, there you have it…. I can’t make it any clearer than that….. Well, perhaps I can…. we’ll try later…..
_____________________________

I only have one thing to say about this morning’s choice of poems…. Take note, for you are reading the work of a genius…..

Reflection On A Wicked World

Purity
Is obscurity.

~~ Ogden Nash ~~

So Does Everybody Else, Only Not So Much

O all ye exorcizers come and exorcize now, and ye clergymen draw nigh and clerge, For I wish to be purged of an urge. It is an irksome urge, compounded of nettles and glue, And it is turning all my friends back into acquaintances, and all my acquaintances into people who look the other way when I heave into view. It is an indication that my mental buttery is butterless and my mental larder lardless, And it consists not of “Stop me if you’ve heard this one,” but of “I know you’ve heard this one because I told it to you myself, but I’m going to tell it to you again regardless,” Yes I fear I am living beyond my mental means. When I realize that it is not only anecdotes that I reiterate but what is far worse, summaries of radio programs and descriptions of cartoons in newspapers and magazines. I want to resist but I cannot resist recounting the bright sayings of celebrities that everybody already is familiar with every word of; I want to refrain but cannot refrain from telling the same audience on two successive evenings the same little snatches of domestic gossip about people I used to know that they have never heard of. When I remember some titillating episode of my childhood I figure that if it’s worth narrating once it’s worth narrating twice, in spite of lackluster eyes and dropping jaws, And indeed I have now worked my way backward from titillating episodes in my own childhood to titillating episodes in the childhood of my parents or even my parents-in-laws, And what really turns my corpuscles to ice, I carry around clippings and read them to people twice. And I know what I am doing while I am doing it and I don’t want to do it but I can’t help doing it and I am just another Ancient Mariner, And the prospects for my future social life couldn’t possibly be barrener. Did I tell you that the prospects for my future social life couldn’t be barrener?

~~ Ogden Nash ~~

_____________________________

As often is the case at this point, I have no rantable material available for this section…. Oh, subject matter isn’t an issue, only the degree of angst available to drive it to the proper pitch. Anything less than shrill just doesn’t get anyone’s attention, or release enough of the angst for duty elsewhere…. Such is life, as we say in the blog world (like that is an actual place, with inhabitants, and all that implies….).  What this means in terms of reality is another pearl of a random nature…. I’ll see what Smart Bee starts off with; that will provide me with a search parameter. Then, when I’ve got an idea in mind, I’ll do a fast cruise through the dB, and pick out the best pearls to make the point….

All this doesn’t generally take very long, but, this morning, it could take a while, as I’ve already put SB through some heavy paces…. We’ll see how it’s holding up…. You may use the first quote you see as the certificate of entitlement for the remainder of the pearl….

“What about reality, you ask?  Well, as far as I’m concerned, reality can go take a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut.” — Stephen King
(This is possibly the best single pearl I have ever encountered!…)

“How often I found where I should be going only by setting out for somewhere else.” — R. Buckminster Fuller
(Okay, that’s a good one, too….)

“How pleasant then to be insane.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald
(Ooh, ooh! Me, too!….)

“Are we at last brought to such a humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in our own possession and under our own direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the _real_ object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?”
— Patrick Henry
(Whoops…. a bit of direction change there, eh?…. Let’s see where it takes us….

“Silence gives consent.” — Smart Bee, channeling the sages of all ages…
(Yep, that’s a good one, as well… nice job, SB… That’s five, let’s find two more, to finish strong….)

“Government [is] an illusion the governed should not encourage.” — John Updike, Couples
(Hmm….)

“Be assured that a walk through the ocean of most Souls would scarcely get your Feet wet.  Fall not in Love, therefore: it will stick to your face.” — National Lampoon, “Deteriorata”
(Oh no! What happened? You did that deliberately, didn’t you… Well, no way, Bubba… try again… Two, and both have to be good…)

“Don’t SAY things. What you ARE stands over you the while, and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson — Social Aims

“I have been a stranger in a strange land.” — Old Testament — Exodus ii, 22

Okay, that will do…. It’s not perfect, but, it’s relatively inoffensive while still being obscurely disturbing…  It had better do. I’m out of quotes…. Smart Bee went on strike after this last one, so, we’re done here; you can thank me later….
_____________________________

Or, you can thank me now, as it is now completely done, and your suffering is at an end. So is mine, for today… Well, I do have to go read it again, to at least make a try to find the typos that are always there, so, I may as well get that done, too….

Whew! Well, I can see now, I’ll be handing out the E tickets at the beginning of today’s ride, as it takes off through the numberless corridors and infinitude of dead-end tunnels of my mind…. Come to think of it, I should probably check to make sure my insurance is paid up, and that all the safety equipment is in place, before I post…. Oh well, I can’t be responsible for those who don’t trouble to stick their own clouds of preconceived notions in their pocket before coming on board…. They’ll have to take their chances along with the rest of us….

That all being said, I think it came out pretty well, if a bit flagrantly scattered. Hmm, nice…. “Flagrantly scattered” might just be a new iconic phrase to describe this blog; don’t be surprised to see it again somewhere…. Sorry, distracted again; it’s happening a lot today…. Any who, I guess, since this is the closing section, I should bring this to a close, so, I will…. TTFN….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…. Oh, and, Blessed Be…. (No, I’m not Wiccan, but, I like the thought…. it fits in with my concept of “good vibrations”….)(Plus, it will, from this day on, always be there, at the end of every post, as a tribute to, and to specifically direct it to, my friend Carole, to add to her good vibrations, in her fight against the big C….)

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

dozer3

Prior to the arrival of thrills….

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1

Ffolkes,
Vague. A very descriptive word, though what it describes is anything but precise in nature. It certainly fits my mind this morning, and looks as if it could slide right over into being the word of the day. It would be an easy choice, as no preparation is needed; I’m already there. I’m not sure it’s the kind of word I want to base a whole day on….. then, again, not picking it may annoy Murphy, who no doubt flung it up there into my head himself. It’s just his style……

As well, it’s not as if it is a condition that is unknown around here. I’ve been known to get vague, and stay that way, for days on end, actually. It’s kind of fun, teasing shop workers, confusing bus drivers, and if a chance to annoy a cop comes up, well, I’m all over it. I know, that can be dangerous here in Vallejo, but, I like to live dangerously sometimes, and if one can’t annoy a cop now and again, where is all the fun in life to come from, I ask you? Though not in the realm of CEO’s yet, the police are pretty well-paid these days, and are the obvious target for anyone who has a gripe against society; they have to know that going in. So, don’t get all righteous and prim on me; they’re supposed to be able to take that kind of harassment from the public, and if they can’t, they’ve no business wearing a badge. To my mind, a sense of humor is the single most important tool a police officer can have, and the ONLY one he/she can’t do without….

Now, how did we get from being vague and curmudgeonly to a discussion of societal mores? Sometimes I amaze even myself…. and I have no idea how it happened this time. Hmm…. must have been the mention of the salary of a CEO that set me off. THAT is certainly a subject well worth dissection, and a bit of people bashing. I can’t think of a single category of society that deserves it more than CEO’s, the assholes. Any one of them will do….. I don’t care how stupid and mean a person is, they have to know that NOBODY is worth the kind of money they are being paid…. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY…… I don’t care how much they spout off, and quote figures, or anything else; they aren’t worth that much money, nor is whatever function they perform. It isn’t, period. And nothing can be produced to support that it is, so they may as well just shut it….

I can see from the last paragraph that a rant is coming on, or could be if I were to allow it…. not surprisingly, I guess. The salaries of those corporate assholes is one of my favorite peeves, and it doesn’t surprise me at all to go from 0 to rant in one half-paragraph. Again, I can’t think of a more deserving group of folks about which to rant, but, I’m not even out of the intro yet…. give me a break, will ya? Hah!…. I’ll bet this is all Murphy’s work…. leading me by the nose into a subject that he knows will cause me to blow up like a puffer fish, then standing back and laughing, as I try to write my way back into some semblance of normalcy (not that normal is ever our goal here….).  I’d call Murphy an asshole, too, but, he already knows he is, and delights in it too much….

Weird…. there’s another fine word, and one that fits well at this point. I guess you could say this was a better than average intro section, as it traversed the land between vague and weird, and never once fell into whining, or complaining about Reality, though goodness knows there is always enough of that to provide ample material for those activities. Not doing so is considered a win around here….. Since we’ve won so handily today, it would most likely be best to go for a dive before things start to fall apart…. which can happen in a heartbeat…..  So…. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“Be wiser than other people if you can, but do not tell them so.” — Lord Chesterfield (to his son)

One might think that Lord Chesterfield was being somewhat devious, or ingenious, at least, when he said this to his son. But, I can attest, from personal experience, that he is right in every respect, and for anyone who is smarter than your average bear, necessary knowledge, if one wishes to survive. It is a hard truth, and one that many people will find distasteful, but, it is nonetheless true for all that….. That truth is this: some people in the world are smarter than others. If you are one of them, it is well to not advertise that fact too loudly, or try to assume a lot of prominence for one’s intelligence, for several reasons, the foremost of which is that other people, not as smart, will object, merely on the principle of ‘fairness’, or ‘democracy’…..

I’m not sure about why it is so hard for a lot of folks to understand the concept of ‘average’, but it is clear that it doesn’t seem to register with a lot of people that the very meaning of the word implies that at least half of the people alive are well under that average in intelligence. They HAVE to be, or it would not be the average, now, would it? The hard part for people to understand, I suppose, is that the odds are that THEY themselves are part of that lower half. Someone HAS to be, but, nobody wants to be labeled as “below average”, or to think of themselves that way. For anyone who is at all empathetic to inner turmoil, it is hard to watch, knowing controversy and denial is inevitable, yet wishing it weren’t…..

“Every person is an individual; we all have a set of designer genes.” — Smart Bee

Knowing this, and accepting it, is the key to solving the intelligence issue, if it exists for you. Whether smart or dumb, ugly or pretty, thick or thin, each of us is unique, and therein lies the key to living with serenity. Learning to use our abilities to their maximum, at whatever level they exist, is the only use of knowledge that will lead us to success; concentrating on the differences in life that exist is a time wasting proposition, and will lead only to more trouble and pain. Our salvation lies in our uniqueness, not in how we are the same. The knowledge that there are people smarter than us, and there are those who are less so, is knowledge that should give us hope, rather than take it away, for it implies unlimited opportunity. When there is no limit to the kind of people who exist, then there is no limit to what can be done by them when they interact…. That is common sense, not deep logic…. though it is deeply logical as well….

“The logic of worldly success rests on a fallacy: the strange error that our perfection depends on the thoughts and opinions and applause of other men!
A weird life it is, indeed, to be living always in somebody else’s imagination, as if that were the only place in which one could at last become real!” — Thomas Merton, “Seven Storey Mountain”

Sometimes, it seems as if it would be nice if there weren’t so much diversity of ability in the world; it might make things simpler. But, given human nature, probably not…. We’d still find some way to fuss and fight with each other…. If it isn’t about intelligence, it would be about looks, or money, or ancestors, or any of the other myriad of subjects man finds to fight about…. We are contentious creatures, at best…. and often, I am left, after writing such a treatise as this one, with a feeling much like Friedrich gives us here…. in fact, I’ve felt this way often…..

“It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them.” — Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
__________________________________

I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You

I do not love you except because I love you;
I go from loving to not loving you,
From waiting to not waiting for you
My heart moves from cold to fire.

I love you only because it’s you the one I love;
I hate you deeply, and hating you
Bend to you, and the measure of my changing love for you
Is that I do not see you but love you blindly.

Maybe January light will consume
My heart with its cruel
Ray, stealing my key to true calm.

In this part of the story I am the one who
Dies, the only one, and I will die of love because I love you,
Because I love you, Love, in fire and blood.

Pablo Neruda
__________________________________

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

“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” — Buddha

Monk:   Where can I enter Zen?
Master Gensha:  Can you hear the babbling brook?
Monk:    Yes, I can hear it.
Master Gensha:  Then enter it there.

A bird can fly, but a fly can’t bird. — Tao of Pooh.
(Not as undeep as it seems…. think on it….)

“I wanted to change the world.  But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself.” — Aldous Huxley

Okay, so here is a bass-ackwards pearl, just because…. I started off collecting for a pearl on a point of Eastern philosophy, and how it differs from Western. That changed, into what seemed to be a collection of different ideas from separate philosophies, all of which were connected somehow. But, then it came to the final pearl, and it all fell into place…. What we have here is nothing more, and nothing less, than a complete philosophy of life, in five short lessons. Encompassed within the relatively non-existent confines of these principles, one from each of five different parts of the world, each from a different time in history, and from a different master of thought, is everything that one would need to live a life of complete rationality and peace. Sometimes, I just don’t know how I do it…..    🙂

‘Nuff said…. just meditate on the five truths, and you’ll get where you need to go….. and remember axiom 7 of Peruaosophy…. “Do your Duty. Honor the truth. Respect Life. Share your Love.”…. and all will be well….
__________________________________

Smart Bee was particularly cooperative today…. one of the best things it showed me was a new disclaimer. I am adding it below, because it mirrors my thoughts on this subject perfectly…… enjoy! Just replace the words “All software” with “Whatever gigoid wrote”, and it will all apply perfectly…..

NOTE: “No warranties, either express or implied, are hereby given. All software is supplied as is, without guarantee.  The user assumes all responsibility for damages resulting from the use of these features, including, but not limited to, frustration, disgust, system abends, disk head-crashes, general malfeasance, floods, fires, shark attack, nerve gas, locust infestation, cyclones, hurricanes, tsunamis, local electromagnetic disruptions, hydraulic brake system failure, invasion, hashing collisions, normal wear and tear of friction surfaces, comic radiation, inadvertent destruction of sensitive electronic components, windstorms, the Riders of Nazgul, infuriated chickens, malfunctioning mechanical or electrical sexual devices, premature activation of the
distant early warning system, peasant uprisings, halitosis, artillery bombardment, explosions, cave-ins, and/or frogs falling from the sky.” — Smart Bee

I think that should about cover it….. if not, well, I’m sure you’ll let me know what I’ve forgotten, won’t you?…… Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Eradicating past indiscretions….

Posted on by
8

Ffolkes,
Ah, yes, apartment living…. I had forgotten just what it was like. Come to think of it, this is the very first apartment I’ve lived in since college, 43 years ago. It should prove to be interesting…. we’ll see how long it takes for my true curmudgeon to come out…. probably not long, especially if I’m forced to observe cases of deliberate ignorance, or urban attitude (ie, gang attitude…).

I’m afraid I won’t show enough patience if that happens, because I have little toleration for either one, arising as they do from the same lack of will, a characteristic all too common in modern life. Ah, well, probably best not to look for such conflict before it happens; I just prefer to have a plan already in place when it does…. cuts down on reaction time, which can be critical in crisis situations….

I sure miss having internet service at home. This hooking up publicly is getting to be a hassle…. plus, I’ve found there are at least 40 or 50 times per day that I would have normally been online, as I’ll think of a question, and start to Google it, only to be frustrated by the lack of connection. I also miss reading the blogs I’m accustomed to reading. I’ve been able to keep up a little bit on my Reader page, as one can now hit Like for blogs listed there, without reading the entire blog…. it’s handy for those picture blogs I go to, as the main picture is on the reader page, so I know if I like it or not…. Gotta, gotta get ahold of Comcast today, for sure….

Since I’m up so early, 0730, I may as well go diving. Want to come along? Let’s go Pearl, shall we?…..
__________________________________

“The superior man thinks always of virtue; the common man thinks of comfort.” — Confucius (B.C. 551-479)

Sometimes it can be hard to tell whether a quote attributed to Confucius was actually uttered by him; there are a lot of people out there who consider themselves funny, and they use his name without any by-your-leave. This one, though, has the “look and feel” of his philosophy, as he was often concerned with virtue, and the effect of that virtue on society….. Around here, we always go by the theory that, “if it waddles like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.”

This idea, regardless of its accuracy, (and it is very accurate…. trust me….) is one that many people would never consider, since those same many people never use introspection or self-inquiry to judge their own actions. Mostly they don’t think at all, of course, as is the habit of the major percentage of humans, but in this especially, the greater portion of mankind never even thinks about whether their actions are virtuous or not. They simply don’t care what their own motivation consists of, preferring to treat the universe as their own little plaything, insisting that reality bend itself to their viewpoint.

“If we are not stupid or insincere when we say that the good or ill of man lies within his own will, and that all beside is nothing to us, why are we still troubled?” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Discourses, Book i, Chap. xxv

Reality, naturally, takes umbrage at such behavior, and will generally furnish such fools sufficient trouble to keep them busy, if not actually awake and aware. In that sense, reality is self-adjusting. But no matter how many times some folks get stepped on, they never can figure out that their own actions are what brought them to the point they currently inhabit.

I often wonder how some folks reach the age of consent, much less the age of reason; their lack of ability to reason would seem to me to be terminal in the short run. But, our society, in the process of advancing beyond the cave dweller stage, protects such fools, and their stupidity is rewarded, rather than punished. In such cases, my wonder at how they reached the age they inhabit  turns to regret, that they reached the age of reproduction….

“Since everything in life is but an experience perfect in being what it is, having nothing to do with good or bad, acceptance or rejection, one may well burst out in laughter.” — Long Chen Pa

Using this principle, I laugh all the damn time, it seems.  But, sadly, the world does not laugh with me…. That’s okay, though, for I have hope that things will eventually shake down into some sort of intelligent order. Call me crazy, but that hope does exist…. even though I know it is a relatively futile hope…. Is there any other kind?…..
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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

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Everyone knows Winnie the Pooh…. Even if, like me, you’ve never read the actual book, all are familiar with his antics in the 100 acre Wood with Eeyore, Roo, Piglet, Owl, and the others, and everyone knows how much he likes his honey. But, most folks don’t know that Pooh, besides being an Uncarved Block, with Zen master knowledge, is also possessed of somewhat of an unknown dark side. This side of Pooh doesn’t always get the acknowledgment that it should, so I have collected some of his lesser known statements, as recorded in Smart Bee, my quote database, and compiled by the hacker culture…. Pay attention, ffolkes, it could save one of your nieces or nephews some skin…. Here, then, are several statements made by Pooh as he engaged in his OTHER natural activities….

— Bother! said Pooh, as he blew away half of the 100 Acre Woods.

— Bother! said Pooh, as he rolled another joint for the President.

— Bother! said Pooh, as he drew the Glock.

— Bother! said Pooh, as he booby trapped the ambulance.

— Bother! said Pooh, Beavis and Butthead are barbecuing Barney!

As you can see, Pooh is not the shy little hunny bear he pretends to be for Christopher Robin, is he? I think I like him better this way…..
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There you have it…. another fine mess. Actually, I’m not altogether unhappy with it…. the poem was pretty quick, for once, and only took a couple pints of blood to color in the hard parts…. Plus, Pooh saved me the trouble of a rant by jumping up in my face and insisting to be included today…. So be it…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

An Elite Cadre of Irrelevant Nouns….

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6

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

John Keats

I needed a beauty break, after such dark beginnings. This poem, while a bit dark itself, still brings me a sense of peace, if only from the beauty of the words themselves…. and the ending gives hope, so….
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Some professors asked a monk to lecture to them on spiritual matters. The monk ascended a podium, struck it once with his stick, and descended. The academics were dumb- founded.  The monk asked them, “Do you understand what I have told you?”  One professor said, “I do not understand.” The monk said, “I have concluded my lecture.” — Smart Bee

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

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

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

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

It is only necessary to be those things a human can be…. honest, clear-thinking, clever, compassionate, kind…. and Life will proceed as well as can be expected. It actually makes life much more pleasant when one is able to stop fighting against reality, and learn to “go with the flow”…. It’s much easier than trying to change everything to suit our own preferences, a habit doomed to failure, for sure and for certain…
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SIGH…. By now, one would think I’d be accustomed to the effort it takes some days to get this done. It all started out well, then took a deep dip into molasses, which, as we all know, is slow…. It doesn’t taste very good either, by itself; it’s okay as an ingredient in other items, like cookies, but, by itself, is pretty disgusting. Hard to clean up, too…. Such is life here in gigoid land, and there isn’t anything I can do about it at this late stage, so it will have to fly as it is…. again.  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….

 

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

Kowabunga!

Negotiations broke down early this year….

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7

Ffolkes,
Today’s offering is a tribute to the power of procrastination. Or will be, if it ever gets done. Of course, to get done, it would be well to get started, but we don’t want to rush into anything, now, do we? In order to become a master of procrastination, as I am, one must learn that timing is everything. Work cannot be completed until JUST the right moment arrives, and there is no way to tell ahead of time when that might be. It all depends on the Wild Hair Syndrome, which, as we all know, can strike at any random moment….

But, once the Wild Hair has been combed, the words can flow, and another Pearl can find its way out into the cold, cruel world for all to see and enjoy. (Well, hopefully…) We’re expecting our own Wild Hair to show up any second now…. If you like, while we are waiting, we can discuss the weather, or, how ’bout them Giants, eh?…. No? Hmm…. politics?… No?…. a little rant?… No?…. oh, wait, here it comes now. Just look at it! Shiny and tall, with fresh color! It really duded up for this occasion…. Well, let’s get ‘er combed, so we can be on our way…. hand me that soldering iron, would you?…..

There, that should do it…. Okay, we may now proceed to our regular order of business, and end this period of professional procrastinating. It has been brought to you by your favorite Dutch uncle, gigoid, who hopes that you have enjoyed the interlude, and invites you to come on back any time you want to hang out awhile & accomplish absolutely nothing…. shall we Pearl?….
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A monk said to Joshu, “I have just entered this monastery. Please teach me.” 

“Have you eaten your breakfast?” Joshu asked. 

“Yes, I have,” replied the student. 

“Then you had better wash your bowl.” — Smart Bee

This little story, a typical Zen lesson, is a good example of why the Eastern philosophies have always appealed more to me than the typical Western mode of thought. The student is led to a point in the story, then left to find the actual lesson for themselves, forcing them to use their ability to reason in order to reach the teaching point. The lesson is thereby much more strongly reinforced, by the experience of searching for the answer to the puzzle, teaching both the lesson in the words (take the first step first, then the second….), and the lesson in the act (stretch your mind to find the truth…).

This method of teaching, and of learning, is much more effective, as well as more efficient than the typical formats that Western society tends to use. Here in the Occident, the teacher stands before a group of students, and gives out structured lessons, with a lot of memorization and rote learning of long passages from religious texts.

The students then take tests that determine how many factoids they have remembered, thus indicating how much they have learned…. to conform. Of course, they don’t learn how to reason, but you can’t have everything, and the ability to reason among the general populace is not highly prized, nor encouraged, among the hierarchy of Western leadership. They much prefer their subjects to be ignorant and pliable, thank you….

Irony: Limbaugh saying that dittoheads think for themselves. — Smart Bee

Hmm…. this is developing rant-like characteristics, and I don’t wish to go there… but it’s hard not to. It’s getting really difficult to not pay attention to the degree of craziness currently present in society. For goodness sake, Romney is going to be the Republican candidate; it’s a numerical lock now. Romney….

Here is a man with no integrity whatsoever, none. A man who has spent his entire life pursuing wealth at the expense of the taxpayers, and been very successful at it, too. He grew up privileged, was an elitist bully all through school, and has spent his entire career in public office changing his story to fit whatever he felt people needed to hear to get elected.

Not only has he lied time after time, often just making things up on the spot, but he doesn’t hide any of it. It’s all there for anyone to see, AND NOBODY SEEMS TO CARE! It’s like, “oh well, he’s all we’ve got, so we’ll overlook his dishonesty, his lack of self-control, his bigotry, his lack of qualifications, and his obvious lack of compassion for women, immigrants, gays, blacks, latinos, and almost every American that isn’t a white Christian”….. None of that stuff is being counted against him, and I don’t get it…. It’s like all of his worst features, as a human and as a politician, are completely invisible to his supporters, while simultaneously being all-too-obvious to the rest of us…..

It’s hard to trust the American voting public; I’ve seen too many instances in my life of them voting the worst possible way (Nixon, for one, two Bush’s for another…. and let’s not get into Reagan this morning, I don’t have THAT much time….)  I’m hoping, for sure, that some rationality will break out on the first Tuesday in November, and we will elect the incumbent for another term.

Barack’s made some bad moves, but mostly is trying pretty hard to get some good stuff done. Now, if he would only step away from those Executive Orders on National Security, I could feel a lot more comfortable with him…. as it is, he remains in the “not to be fully trusted” category due to his political pundit status…. He did, after all, seek the office, and that is a strike against him in my book. 

NONE of the beloved ruling class can be fully trusted, and if you don’t believe that, well, you are living in a different world than the rest of us…. You should probably think about upgrading your security…..

And don’t forget to wash your bowl….
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As further proof of Serendipity…. one never knows where good advice can be found, until it hits you in the head….

    Be like Han…. damn good advice, in my world…. of course, in my world, Donald the Trump would play the part of Darth Vader…. eerie resemblance of spirit there, isn’t it?….
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While Europe’s eye is fix’d on mighty things,
The fate of empires and the fall of kings;
While quacks of State must each produce his plan,
And even children lisp the Rights of Man;
Amid this mighty fuss just let me mention,
The Rights of Woman merit some attention.
— Robert Burns, Address on The Rights of Woman, November 26, 1792

Now, here is something you don’t see every day…. support for Women’s Rights written by a man. A pretty famous man, at that. It’s very heartening to me to find this, as it indicates some hope. Apparently, even 200+ years ago, there were men around who were able to throw off the indoctrination all males are given from birth, in conjunction with the oppressive set of behavioral rules set for women, and be able to see how unbalanced our patriarchal society has become. 

For centuries, men with no honor, and no integrity have been the ones who make the laws of our society; those laws, naturally, favor men, assigning women to a lifelong position of subordination. Anyone who feels that this is inaccurate is welcome to provide examples of the opposite viewpoint; I am confident there are none of significance, having made a careful study of the matter for many years.

As of this year, the issue remains volatile, and relevant. Congress is considering, at this very moment, a bill to make women’s pay more equitable in comparison to their male counterparts in the workforce. In fact, looking at those who support the bill, and those who do not, is a pretty good way to see just how divided society remains on the issue. Rationally speaking, equality for women isn’t something debatable. Even hardened conservatives hesitate to come out and say they don’t support women’s rights, though they continue to vote that way.

To me, it is incomprehensible that it should still find supporters outside the church hierarchies of most religions; they are the ones with the most to lose, should things change. But, in reality, there would be no net loss to society if women had equal status with men in a legal sense. The only effects would be positive, at all levels; that much is obvious to anyone who looks closely at the possible outcomes.

Alas, Mankind is not in the habit of making decisions rationally; if we were, we wouldn’t be in the fix we’re in. Maybe, maybe, things are changing a bit, and this bill will tip the scale toward a more sane reality. “Free our sisters, free ourselves…”  It was true when I first heard it back in 1968, and it’s true now…. and I still have hope, fool that I am….
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Once again, procrastination wins…. a bit later than some, earlier than others, but, I’ll take it. Doesn’t matter now, anyway, as it’s done, and I can’t get it back in the bottle….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!

Tears will fall for feathers….

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3

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

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

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

Before I panic anyone further, I believe I’ll just dive in, start the search for suitably grim pearls, and hope that at the end of today’s efforts, we end up with a worthy Pearl…. hope is our only friend right now, I think…. Okay, the tide is in, let’s go……
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“The programmers of old were mysterious and profound. We cannot fathom their thoughts, so all we do is describe their appearance.

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

Who can tell the secrets of their hearts and minds? The answer exists only in the Tao.” — Smart Bee

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

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

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

What would be the overall effects of having the greater portion of society seeking to increase the world’s supply of rationality and right action, including those who govern? How much further down the evolutionary road toward Utopia could we be if religion and politics had not achieved the stranglehold on the rest of us that they have? How different would life be if everyone was “Kind, like a hostess greeting her guests”?  My guess would be, things would be a lot different….
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‘T is sweet to hear the watch-dog’s honest bark
Bay deep-mouth’d welcome as we draw near home;
‘T is sweet to know there is an eye will mark
Our coming, and look brighter when we come.
— Lord Byron (1788-1824) — Don Juan, Canto i, Stanza 123

I guess the curmudgeon in me went back to bed…. This is just here because I like it. It’s a nice little paean to dogs, and how their unconditional love for us, hard to understand as it is, can make our whole day better, just by being who and what they are….
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Calvin: “Do you believe our destinies are determined by the stars?”
Hobbes: “Nah.”
Calvin: “Oh, I do.”
Hobbes: “Really? How come?”
Calvin: “Life’s a lot more fun when you’re not responsible for your actions.”
— “Calvin and Hobbes,” Bill Watterson

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

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

Well, there goes that theory…. Observation of those motions show absolutely no changes that can possibly be ascribed to what is taking place on Earth. None. Oh, they’re all moving about, and it is an extremely complex and beautiful dance indeed that they perform. But to try to imply that what I’ve done this morning, or what anyone did, in some way affected what time the Sun came up, well, that is what I would call plain stupid, with a strong dose of denial thrown in for increased stubbornness….
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“A chair has no problems … It’s there; nobody bothers it. It doesn’t have to pay rent or get involved politically. A chair can never stub its toe or misplace its earmuffs. It doesn’t have to smile or get a haircut, and you never have to worry that if you take it to a party it will suddenly start coughing or make a scene.  People just sit in a chair, and when those people die other people sit in it.” — Smart Bee

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

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

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

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

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

“Joyous distrust is a sign of health. Everything absolute belongs to pathology.” — Nietzsche
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“There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth: (1) not going all the way; and (2) not starting.” — Buddha

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

Not only is this a perfect ending to what has been a fairly normal strange journey, but really requires no enhancement. This one is good for both motivation, and for meditation, so, enjoy!….
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There are mornings when the words flow like good wine from my mind to the screen. Then there is today, when each one had to be kicked forcibly out into the light, complaining all the way. Ah well, having already been reminded of karma, I have no reason to complain, so we’ll just put this to bed, and send it on its way, to mix my metaphors a bit….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

 

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

Kowabunga!

Are we sure they’re knobbly?

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14

Ffolkes,
Some days making the effort to get up out of bed seems less attractive than others, to be sure. Especially when one’s first arising from bedside is accompanied by a great deal of pain, such as today. The effort it takes to get standing all the way up is, to say the least, excessive. Walking is problematic, as every motion seems to aggravate the lower back, where my spine enters the girdle of the hips. Every muscle in my lower back is tight, like a piece of wood, while the mid- and upper-back muscles are poised in anticipation of spasms (those that aren’t already seized up, like those under the scapula…..).  Such a joy….

Of course, this is not a particularly new event; it’s like this probably 3 or 4 days out of 7. Most days I awaken with pain level around 3 or 4, and try to keep it from exceeding 5 during the day’s activities. Days such as today, however, when I begin at level 6 or 7 upon arising, make it hard not to just take a pill and go back to bed…. thus avoiding the greater levels of pain I know will come, as the already painful muscles tire and stiffen further…. it’s a grand life, to be sure, but it’s mine, and it’s all I have, so I’ll just have to deal with it, now, won’t I?  Yes, I will….

And as such is the case, I refuse to give in to it. I won’t go back down, I will stay up until I cannot take it any more, and try to do whatever I can to stretch the muscles enough to ease some of the stiffness that I live with. Some day, when I finally am awarded the money that SS owes me (money I myself put into the system for just this purpose, that they are so far unwilling to share….) one of the first things I’ll do is get myself a massage. One can only understand the reduction of muscle tension as true freedom if one has experienced this kind of unrelenting pain, pain that never stops, and never allows one’s muscle’s to relax enough to feel normal. When it is released at last, the sense of release and relief is more than I can express; it is nothing less than true bliss…..

Ah, but such moments are for the future…. today, it is pain, stiffness, and more pain for me, until I can either get a balance of medication in me to put up a barrier between the pain and my conscious mind, or I can get my lower back to loosen up a bit, and give me a breathing space…. in the meantime, we’ll go for a dive, and search out something else to focus on… it can only help…. so, let’s Pearl, shall we?….
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I’m sorry…. I can’t do it today…. I’m trying to behave normally, just as if I wasn’t in severe pain, and it’s just not working today…. so I’m going to cheat… for today’s Pearl, I will post below a number of pearls, and a couple of pictures that inspire me in some way, whether for their extreme cuteness, or for their beauty…. that’s about all I can manage this morning, then I’m going to try to deal with the pain, somehow… though what I’ll do is not known at this point…. anything is better than this….. so, here are some pearls and pictures for your consideration

“It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.” — H.L. Mencken

“And it does matter.  An honest man or woman is an honest man or woman more because he or she is honest in the small, everyday things that “don’t matter” individually, but which make up a well-lived life, than because of some single great temptation that was passed.  A person who is concerned about individual rights or about individual dignity makes his or her difference not because of any sweeping great statement or action, but because of the accretion of small, individually seemingly insignificant acts that spread that dignity and confirm those rights through every action they take.  It matters because every action you take, and every action I take is an expression of the human spirit.” — William Oliver (oliver@uncmed.med.unc.edu)    I can just hear the calliope music in the background when I see this; they are in complete tune with each other, for sure….I got this picture off the news site, SFGATE, many moons ago… the attribution is in the lower right corner, if you enlarge it enough….
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“Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life. (The conviction of the rich that the poor are happier is no more foolish than the conviction of the poor that the rich are.)” — Mark Twain

What’s the most popular order at the Zen hotdog stand? Make me One With Everything! — Smart Bee

“He didn’t say that. He was reading what was given to him in a speech.” — Richard Darman, director of OMB, — explaining why President Bush wasn’t following up on his campaign pledge that there would be no loss of wetlands.
___________________________________This photo was found at Photobotos.com, and the photographer’s name can be found there…. I think it’s just too cool for words…..
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“Wickedness is a myth invented by good people to account for the curious  attractiveness of others.” — Oscar Wilde

“I expect nothing.  I fear no one.  I am free.” — Nikos Kazantzakis (Zorba the Greek)
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I wish I had found this earlier….it’s a good one to describe this morning’s progress…..

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all doing direct the other way–in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” — A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, 1859

Finally….. the origin of the phrase, “picture perfect” from Carol Welsh’s blog:  http://carolwelsh.wordpress.com/, where you can find many such photos as this one….___________________________________

That’s all I’ve got today ffolkes…. sorry ’bout that, but I can barely keep myself from throwing the extra monitor through the window. I’d do it for the tension release, but it would no doubt make my back hurt worse than it already does.  Tomorrow I’ll write a real Pearl, as I’m sure by then I’ll have plenty of mental energy built up to get it done. Today is pretty much a foregone conclusion, so I’d best be getting to it… Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!