Bathing in a babbling brook….

Ffolkes,

I don’t care what anyone else may tell you, but, I am here to testify, there is little in this world more frustrating to a writer than a mind emptier than the page at which we are blankly staring. Especially when it tells us it has this great idea, then, when the time comes to begin typing, it’s nowhere to be found; moreover, there is no evidence at all it ever actually existed. In short, it lied to me… My own mind, lying to me, just so I would leave it be…. It occurs to me to bite myself.

Rather than do so, I’ll just mention what also just occurred to me, to wit: Y’know, ffolkes, in today’s world, we are now in the unenviable position, historically speaking, of having placed ourselves right in front of the fan, and the shit is about to hit it, if it hasn’t already started flying through the air, along with all the OTHER CRAP we have poured into it in the last 150 years…. and, we don’t have a change of clothing to put on, even IF we can clean it off after it’s done filling our eyes, ears, and random orifices….

Ah well, at least it got us this far down the page, without the obviously superfluous concept of having something intelligent, or even amusing, to say to y’all about today’s Pearl. I suppose I could give y’all a few hints, but, then there’d be no surprises, and the surprises may be ALL we have to offer today. Hard to tell at this point, when I haven’t even looked to see what is done, and what isn’t. I had already decided, before sitting down, not to worry about that part until done with this. Of course, that was before I knew I wouldn’t have a bloody thing worth saying in my head, probably until after eating something, so there is at least some material inside me from which to create a bit of energy…. Or, not. At this point, who cares?

Okay, so, I’ll use this tool here to fix this. It’s our only hope, I think, of getting out of here without my having to resort to some rather drastic measures, which the insurance company has warned me to stop using, as they cause us to use up the deductibles too fast. Today, sadly, I don’t think I’m going to have much of a choice, not if we intend to get anywhere close to finishing this before lunch. I shall reluctantly use the most efficacious of the emergency methods, #4, which is the fastest, and most popular, of all our methods of extrication…. Here’s how it works….

Shall we Pearl?

“Courage is the complement of fear. A man who is fearless cannot be courageous. (He is also a fool.)” — Lazarus Long

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After having studied Judo, some Karate, both Korean and Japanese styles, some Jujitsu, a bit of Aikido, and Tai Chi, I moved on to the oldest and most complete of the Arts, Kung Fu, finally settling in a school whose sifu taught the Praying Mantis style of Shaolin Kung Fu, as practiced by the monks of the Taoist temple in Shaolin. When my kids were 12, and 10, I enrolled them in the classes, to give them the discipline and knowledge that give the gift of removing one’s fear of violence from life, a gift of nearly incalculable value. Both of them have benefited enormously for gaining the skills which bring us confidence, and the ability to think when others are frozen in fear….

Today’s video is one of the more advanced forms to be learned; there are a great many of them. Master Wu Nanfang, one of the two fourth generation Shaolin Chan Wu Yi Kung Fu Masters from the Wugulun lineage, does a Dragon Form in the grounds of the famous Shaolin temple in Dengfeng City, Henan Province, China.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“A faith-holder puts himself below his faith and lets it guide his actions. The fanatic puts himself above it and uses it as an excuse for his actions.” — Gordon Dickson, Chantry Guild

At long last! I’ve finally found the pearl which gives me the springboard to present an EXACT explanation of the fatal flaw in human nature, responsible for so much of the misery and pain in this sad old world we inhabit. Here is the perfect pearl for it; it shows the exact relationship which turns every human endeavor from whatever good intent it followed, to take it on a path which has no other end but self-destruction. I know, elegantly obscure, is it not? Lovely use of logic to cloud the issue….

Still, with the proper treatment, this will do just fine, to give me the metaphoric example I’ve looked for, which can be used as a benchmark to measure a related, but, separate issue, with similar parameters. Both of these methods attempting to discern WHY many of the more egregiously insane events we have seen all throughout our crazy, violent history take place; to explain, as it were, why so many people die for no good reason…. Easy, and quite obvious to me.

Part of being human is to have a choice, at birth, with our first perception of reality in this state of consciousness, of whether to approach the universe with open eyes and hearts, admitting our willingness to learn, or to react to what we feel and see with fear, turning away from that which frightens us, learning to accept a consensus given by others, perverting imagination into cunning, and the tendency to ignore the urgings of the heart, and the mind….

Those who choose a path of knowledge and reason, versus one of fear, faith, and ignorance, by opening their minds and hearts, learn to use the power of imagination to create beauty and harmony in a universe of wonderful complexity, with the very entertaining characteristic of Entropy, and Chaos, as equal parts of what is here to be perceived, right alongside their opposite, yet complementary qualities of Order, and Will.

Destruction is a part of Reality, to balance Creativity; Compassion is balanced by Indifference; all the universe exists in duality, explaining the reason our senses operate as they do…. by registering and decoding the sensory perceptions present in reality with eyes which see by the presence or absence of light, ears which hear the silence between the notes, and other senses which offer their own interpretation of energy manifesting in other forms, yet still, in duality….

“Either God exists or He doesn’t.  Either I believe in God or I don’t. Of the four possibilities, only one is to my disadvantage. To avoid that possibility, I believe in god.” — Pascal

In these blog posts, I often sound, no doubt, as if I have no doubt, particularly when speaking of those who rely on faith-based reasoning to decide how to live their lives. I cannot respect such a decision, as it is the kind that cannot possibly be made if using the most simple standards of truth, and reason. No person willing to look at the evidence with an open mind could make such a decision, for it is possibly the most unbelievable set of delusions one could come up with; yet, for thousands of years, the modern version of snake-oil salesmen have passed off this unreasonable story as if it was truth, insisting each and every individual who believes otherwise to be wrong, no matter how compelling the evidence of their arguments.

Now, I can’t claim to be the most ethical, or moral, or most virtuous of men; I am much more accurately described as the above Warrior of Light, full of self-doubts, unsure, in my darker moments, of my own worth. Yet, I am able to say with some objectivity, I find myself also to be much more honest, and truthful, than perhaps 75% of the people in the world. (I would add, of the remaining 25%, approximately 98% of them are wrong; in effect, lying to themselves, through ignorance or innocence, most of the time, thus, not always their fault, or choice…. Very few of the people I’ve met in the world are very concerned with truth at all, other than as a vague concept they have heard about, but seldom consider either objectively, or, as regards themselves….)

My own claim to virtue, partial as it may be, is based on an advantage I enjoy over most people I have known, (aside from my siblings, of course), of having Master Sgt. Robert H. Moore always standing behind me, monitoring all such issues as they occur in my life…. Since I was a teenager, and before, whenever I couldn’t figure out, or didn’t know what was the RIGHT thing to do in a difficult situation, I would simply imagine my dad, standing nearby, watching.

Somehow, I’d usually be able to find the correct, most ethical, most honest way to deal with whatever it may have been; it wasn’t always the easiest, or most efficient way, (in fact, easy seldom entered the picture…), but, it always seems to work out best, for ALL the concerned parties…. Perhaps it’s merely a fantasy of my own making, but, it has always worked for me….

In fact, my dad was pretty good at teaching me, and my siblings, the most important lessons I learned, without needing to actually speak directly about them very often at all. Not that he was taciturn, or silent; just not very voluble, unless stimulated by intense emotion. Instead, he just lived his own way, so that as we watched, the right way to do things was perfectly clear. This meant that, with merely a look, he could tell us whether our behavior met his approval; if you did well, he said so. If you didn’t, he didn’t need to speak at all.

To me, that’s a very big advantage over whatever other people’s families may have done for them in this respect; I can use my own mind to make decisions, as long as I do that in a way that my dad would approve of; otherwise, I find, nothing comes out as well as when I live according to the following list of rules, which could easily have been dictated by my father, the aforementioned Sgt. Moore…..

    So, though I am not perfect, or holy, or Superman, or in any other way more special than anyone else, other than, perhaps, in my unique mindset, I feel confident that my opinions on human nature are valid, based on evidence, not faith. This, if nothing else, satisfies me, in terms of having lived up to my chosen duty, and have not added to the weight of oppression and darkness that so afflicts our world, because of that oh-so-human nature, and its incredibly powerful negative effects on our planet, and other forms of life, including, sadly, our fellow men…. Ah well, karma exists, if only as a metaphor for reality, so, time will tell the final story….

“All you can do, is all you can do.”

~~ gigoid ~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is another great poem from my poetess/friend, Maggie Mae, a still-young artist I believe will one day be known to the entire English speaking world…. Seriously, you will see what I mean when you’ve seen some of her work. I often get a feeling of dejá vu after reading her poems, similar to the reaction I get at times to Miss Emily Dickinson, though their styles are, if not worlds apart, are in different rooms in the same palace of Art….

I suppose it may have something to do with both women seeming to find the concept of overt rhyming to be superfluous to their poetry; when a rhyme is needed, it is there. Most of the time, the content, rhythm, and imagery they use is sufficient to create the intended message, without requiring them to stay within the boundaries of convention.

Maggie Mae sees the world with the same KIND of vision as did Emily, but, with her own eyes and mind to interpret what she sees, in striking images of great metaphorical power, images which go straight to the inner brain, swirling there, bringing a message from the universe for us to learn…. Enjoy, ffolkes… I’ve included a link to her site after the poem, so you may see exactly what I mean….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ffolkes…. The following pearl showed up on SB, in virtually the order you see, with only minor shifts needed to finalize the process. I can’t explain it, nor will I try. I suggest you just allow your mind to follow along, to wherever it may lead you…..

“Diligence increaseth the fruit of toil. A dilatory man wrestles with losses.” — Hesiod (c. 700 BC) — Works and Days, Line 412

“If fear alters behavior, you’re already defeated.” — Brenda Hammond

“He had that rare weird electricity about him — that extremely wild and heavy presence that you only see in a person who has abandoned all hope of ever behaving “normally.” — Hunter S. Thompson (b. 1939), journalist — Fear and Loathing ’72

“Discussions of morality must inevitably lead to immoral statements.” — Bradshaw

“Suppose that a great commotion arises in the street about something, let us say a lamp post, which many influential persons desire to pull down. A grey-clad monk, who is the spirit of the Middle Ages, is approached upon the matter, and begins to say, in the arid manner of the Schoolmen, “Let us first of all consider, my brethren, the value of Light. If Light be in itself good…” At this point he is somewhat excusably knocked down.  All the people make a rush for the lamp post, the lamp post is down in ten minutes, and they go about congratulating each other on their unmedieval practicality. But as things go on they do not work out so easily. Some people have puled the lamp post down because they wanted the electric light; some because they wanted old iron; some because they wanted darkness, because their deeds were evil. Some thought it not enough of a lamp post, some too much; some acted because they wanted to smash municipal machinery; some because they wanted to smash something. And there is war in the night, no man knowing whom he strikes. So, gradually and inevitably, today, tomorrow, or the next day, there comes back the conviction that the monk was right after all, and that all depends on what is the philosophy of Light.  Only what we might have discussed under the gas lamp, we now must discuss in the dark.” — G. K. Chesterton, _Heretics_, 1905

“Diogenes struck the father when the son swore.” — Robert Burton (1577-1640) — The Anatomy of Melancholy, Part iii, Sect. 2, Memb. 2, Subsect. 5

“He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.” — Rafael Sabatini

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fortunately for me, I had a lot of this Pearl done before starting today; I’m up pretty late, having again slept better than has been my habit of late…. Not that it seems to be of great value as yet; I still feel tired, from the constant stress I’ve been under, thanks to my HMO. Ah well, getting one of these done, in spite of that, is quite satisfying, and, since that feeling is rather rare these days, I’ll take it, and be on my way into the day. See y’all on the rebound, ffolkes….

À bientôt, mon cherí….