"Worked hard all mah life
no help from mah friends
O Lord, woncha buy me
a MerRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRcedes BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBenz -Janiz the J
"I get by with a little help from mah frens" the? Guess Who? Answer will be on Google; but not at the Superbowl halftime show..............grrrrr........garn!!!!!!!
Who said: re:LIFE,,,,,,,,," To have lived is not enough" --now say that a second time-- "They have to talk about it."??? One point for the author;two points for the players. Hint: Think E.G. Marshall and the Cowardly Lion . Heh. "Such GoodFrenz" deserve each other; whoop I mean another."Do me no harm, my good man" said Henry the 8 ball--"She's been married 7 times before --every one was an 'Enry--Enery the 8th Iam I amm.."
That's bloody well enough of that Herm, go back to yer English 'ermitage and yer bloody 'Ermits! So many interruptions, eh...as I was sayin' look 'ere:
in the second ring: a double bladed ancient riddle:"Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet." WINNER TAKE ALL out to Starbucks with that foe of all that is evil, MOCHA MAN!!! (Thanks for the tip, Dad) -Heh.
"This is the end, my only friend, the end." byThe Doors (of Perception), with a little help from a real friend, A. Huxley......... This was a"fun" (as in funeral) song to play while James James Morrison Morrison was still around, before his Mother went down to the end of the town...and just FYI The END was a version of Oedipus Rex--and the only version that is musical!!!)::( ..which puts it, for me, in the same genre as The Music Man and now Zac Efron's High School Vehicle ; and in the immortal words of Saint Tim Leher: Re: King Oed--" He loved his mother!" How can you dis a person like that???
On a darkless, or less dark note, our garage DOOR is made by Raynor Doors from Dixon IL---and the logo is exactly the same as the Doors band, letter for letter---who sold out, Jim? Ray? Raynor? Father Dixon? RONNIE RAYGUN????????? Who votes to call the grand jury?
The name of our band was The Sunday Pigeon Massacre, from a humorous column and anti -pigeon screed by Robert Benchley..whose son went on to write "Jaws"--- Peter Benchley never recovered from his fear of water--couldnt walk on it- ha-so he stayed in Manhattan and got a novel out of his novel experience. Needs to move further North..
Our band name never caught on, nor did our band--so for apt simplicity people called us "The Junior Doors."
I am so glad you are all so interested in this............
It's all good fun until some rock god (stone temple american idol) gets hurt. ( we never had these problems even once; no one got trampled at any of our shows AND I do not remember that anyone even stubbed their toe.. probly becuz our songs were completely undanceable... that's the price of being a sensitive artist and before your time etc. Just ask The Mothers..of Invention.. Howsoever...If any one got trampled leaving-- as in"fleeing"-- from one of our shows...I have no idea. And no, it is not mea culpa...
More, Over: Andy Warhol and Lou Reed wrote Heroin--which will be made into a musical shortly ...if we can get Mel Brooks or Mel Gibson interested.........these ol' antiheroes survived by objectifying the stuff, and not killing themselves with it. If Lou Reed can be more sensible than sensitive, anyone can.
On Friendslips: attributed to Saint -not-a-mother- Theresa but- a good invention of the part of the girl from Avila:
After Theresa's most terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day then she was thrown down into a very bad and naughty mudpuddle.........SHE SAID TO G_D: "If this is how you treat your friends, it's no wonder you have so few of them!!!"
Frank Zappa's only song with commercial potential i.e., a minor radio hit= Valley Girl--I have a 45 of this if anyone still has a turntable for vinyl. My sister did not.......I think I'll play it for Flo at midnite..or not.. Hey John! if you are reading this, make a copy for everybody in the whole world-- We owe a lot to Frank for all the rock poverty he endured--it's a good thing he conceived a girl cause Frank's voice uh.........well........FREAK OUT!!! (the neglect of the DJ can lead to jazz.. madness..or o bloody hell...........Frank's album, "Jazz from Hell" is still available..but quite Frankly this rock god is dead-----but his disciples carry on. Orange you glad?
Confused? I am,two; cogito ergo===>forgive me peoples, I know not what I write........but I hope someone does...Anyone? ANYONE?" Let go of the branch, son." (anyone else up there I can talk to?)(your reponse here >>>>>>>>>>>>>____________<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< would be mos' welcum.
"There is is, then. Too many notes."
goodnight moon good night light, g'nite Amadeus. Write if you get works.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
mr. mephistof-o-fleas the Kringle Kat sez:
"I'm a qualified brain surgeon..I don't have to do this. You know....besides, it's hard to pad these shows out to 30 minutes.............no one enjoys a good laugh more than I do....but now it's just gotten....entirely too silly..........actually almost every enjoys a good Laugh more than I do............(compliments of Monty the Python, season one, the naughty bits bit by bit.............and many happy returns of the year of their Big Reunion -a tight squeeze on Broadway since the gentlemen have put on many bits of weight...but it all worked out, I hear, and no Pythons were hurt in the making of this show.
Semi-seriously, we do have a mysterious Christmas Cat who showed up on our front porch and is just the cue-test being---Hello Kitty!!! (can you say hello back? Anybody?) He is surely an (r)eject ed Haus Katzen and we are hot on the trail of a hot house--just a warm garage would be ok too).............wait a minute>>>>C Cat is trying to say something.........what's that?..........O....I see...well. I'll tell them. (HE'S GOING TO TELL HE'S GOING TO TELL HE'S GOING TO HELL..wait a minim.............)
CC tells me to tell you he will go anyplace warm on one condition...no, TWO conditions:...there has to be at least one Catalina--he means a female Kat-- the Krazier the better--and, the more the Merrier ladies, the Merrier old soul will CCat be. O ho ho ho..the other stipulation is that he will immediately be promoted to the Alpha Caliphate.....and all other so- called uncle toms will be exiled, as the song of the cat sez, "Far Beyond the Northern Sea!" (Mr. Fawlty adds,........"or preferably, IN IT!--a Stage Whisperer so to speak.............."do not go softly" sez Dylan--the dead Dylan-- and the Big Stick is optional.
I f none of this makes any sense, all the reader needs to view is the Complete Fawlty Towers and the Collected Works of Monty Python( in 14 volumes). And after you do that..........
then we'll see if you like a good laugh more than I do!
Semi-seriously, we do have a mysterious Christmas Cat who showed up on our front porch and is just the cue-test being---Hello Kitty!!! (can you say hello back? Anybody?) He is surely an (r)eject ed Haus Katzen and we are hot on the trail of a hot house--just a warm garage would be ok too).............wait a minute>>>>C Cat is trying to say something.........what's that?..........O....I see...well. I'll tell them. (HE'S GOING TO TELL HE'S GOING TO TELL HE'S GOING TO HELL..wait a minim.............)
CC tells me to tell you he will go anyplace warm on one condition...no, TWO conditions:...there has to be at least one Catalina--he means a female Kat-- the Krazier the better--and, the more the Merrier ladies, the Merrier old soul will CCat be. O ho ho ho..the other stipulation is that he will immediately be promoted to the Alpha Caliphate.....and all other so- called uncle toms will be exiled, as the song of the cat sez, "Far Beyond the Northern Sea!" (Mr. Fawlty adds,........"or preferably, IN IT!--a Stage Whisperer so to speak.............."do not go softly" sez Dylan--the dead Dylan-- and the Big Stick is optional.
I f none of this makes any sense, all the reader needs to view is the Complete Fawlty Towers and the Collected Works of Monty Python( in 14 volumes). And after you do that..........
then we'll see if you like a good laugh more than I do!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
TODAY I WALKED ON WATER;
again. WW JVD?-Seems to be some medical term here I don't know............
"I don't care if it rains or freezes
As long as I got my plastic Jesus
Sittin' on the dashboard of my" used Camry I don't care if it's dark or scary etc. etc. etc.
Speaking of incidents, may I suggest having look at one or more of the following:
Headline: Garrison Keillor attacks Unitarians on their own turf: "Let's take back Silent Night!"In Salon magazine no less!
Garrison Keillor's parents, very strict Brethern, small size sect: "Some of his stuff is okay."
picky picky picky.
On line response probably not from a Christian or a Unitarian, "Right! Don't change it, it was bad enough in the first place! -Probably he is shopping in the wrong stores and is getting sick of the whole thing.
Corollary question: The ancient Greek author Aristophanes wrote the great comedy, "The Clouds". I believe that one of the brain -foggiest clouds in question was Socrates. This Komical Kat, Mr. Artist himself didn't help Socrates' case when it came time for the Hemlock...Society. Is Socrates walking on water/clouds right now? How but Aristophanes? How about Dr. Death? I haven't the foggiest notion, haha............. seriously if anyone knows the answer or even wants to speculate please give me a post ."The Truth is out there."
I always wanted to say that..
"She never says that!"
Consumer Warning: While I wish to continue to give you fragments and the freedom for you to connect the dots any way you wish, sometime in 2010 I may have to give you a story which might even have to be done in installments. Most magazines in the past have serialized short stories and books. We now all have that option, and anyone can do it without owning a magazine or looking silly bending on their knees in front of an editor- caveat emptor; and do see the cover of current New Yorker featuring Obama Santa Summit- feel free to skip over the naughty bits, depending on what your limbic system defines as Naughty. I do have a Christmas sweatshirt that says Naughty on the front. I would be happy to loan to anyone if they need it, keeping in mind that it was a Christmas gift from my Unitarian friend and partner in crime/THM, and it seems to fit quite nicely, double entendre intended.
scream of consciousness enough? O---- too much......("I was blind but now) I see." "You say you see. Hence your blindness remains."
Monday, December 28, 2009
New,clear physics
I notice that I mentioned First Things as the alter ego of the New Yorker but I have not included anything as yet from their pages..Bill Maher as told us that religion is a neurological disorder, a somewhat ambitious speculation. To be a disorder however would require us to find the order, that is what is normal. It seems to me that everyone has a religion, even Bill Maher. Especially Bill Maher; his statement is not testable or falsifiable but is a faith statement. He does not say "maybe," or "perhaps."
Nonetheless I do not defend religion.. I don't think religion--or politics--are a satisfactory response to Life.. In a cosmic sense, religion is abnormal, which is why most people can't get enough of it--it certainly can be an opiate--but it never satisfies anyone either. I have a religion but Jesus is not a religion, He is a Person. Religions can be broken down, but a person is a singularity. My religion,like my opinions,can change in an instant--but like Popeye, I yam what I yam..........
But this is not First Things' opinion however I do not take their opinion slightly, like the New Yorker they have excellent science writers such as Stephen Barr. In his book review of "Neuroscience and Religion: Delusions, Delusions, and Realities about Human Nature by Malcolm Jeeves and Warren S. Brown, he reflects:
"Fundamentally, we are in the same position today as Newton was: He discovered precise equations describing how mass in gravity effect each other, but he famously said, in his Principia, I have not been able to discover the cause of those properties of gravity........ and I frame no hypotheses,............ to us it is enough that gravitational forces really exist, and act according to these laws."
"It is no less reasonable to except the existence of both mental and physical aspects of reality and to say that they do in fact effect each other in predictable ways that can be described, without having and hand or even supposing that there exists a mechanism for that interaction. Indeed, this is really all that neuroscience itself can do. For instance, it can tell us that a lower than normal concentration of dopamine in the brain ways to the subjective experience aborted more apathy. It can find that electrical stimulation of a certain tiny region of the brain produces mental status reaching for mild amusement to hilarity"
Saturday, December 26, 2009
LIFE
(A Dashboard Confessional)
Q.: What is life?
A.: Life is a magazine.
Q: How much?
Assessment: $0.75
conditioned response: That's a lot of money!
Conditional assessment: Well, that's life!!! (Insert emoticon of choice here)(but do not lol or even to yourself. Those who laugh at life are doomed, for revenge is Life's.)
!!!!!!!!!!!!!Chaim!!!!!!!!!!
"New Paragraph"
It may help to think of this "bloating" (Dragon speak means "blog") as:
1 ; a very very very very long Xmas card
2: Like a magazine: Specifically like the college magazine,Carleton Miscellany-but much more miscellaneous.
3: A very efficient filter number from which one can extract as many as 3 thoughts in one sentence. So says Flo.
4: The latest form of stream of consciousness writing: My stream : Your consciousness.
5 colon a book: Specifically a reverse dictionary. I create the word and you tell me what it means! It is also useful as a lead-in document to force the reader to use the Internet even more than you do; to prevent the blowing of minds. Primarily mine, already mined.You can Google all my sources and then tell me what I meant! ( Most Reliable Source: Donovan's flip side of Sunshine Superman: "The Trip: Its central thought: "I really wanna know.") (do I slash we?)
6: A dialogue between magazines, for instance, The New Yorker and the other New York Magazine, First Things. But no name-calling allowed. This should eliminate 90% of the "dialogue." A wonderful way to reduce verbiage/baggage!
7: A perfect mass/mess/AGe, a potpourri that includes not only sweet Flo-wers but also equal amounts of
skunk cabbage and essence of wormwood. Inspirational, yes? Or not..........
Addendum: Pearls Before Swine! Stephen their Creator loves bloggers. His blogger is Goat, PhD. But he only gets a hit once a week: From Rat. I may be the escaped goat i.e. Charlie Brown. He did not get even one Valentine. So Charlie, wherever you are, this blog is 4 u + all ur funee palz. Mary Xmas, Charlie Brown-Mary being the name of the little redhaired girl of course. The Year of the Card. Ha ha. But. The football has es-caped!
God: Forgive me, for I have sinned. Forgive all these careless words; but even worse, I have thwarted many a missal, missing the mark. It would be much better if I would tow the Mark and his little Book,too.......... and if You forgive me, praise You; the rest of these readers will have to,too. Two for one-- and One for all!!!!!! also. Thanks: A lot, you lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday, December 25, 2009
Heppy Heppy Yom Xmas Navedad
to salve the mistri of the mizzil;here tiz:
Krazy Kat by Mastah Hairiman waz sanctioned by William Randolph Hearst. His altered ego, Charles "Kitizen" Kane was very like unto WRH in that they both were lonely geniuses too wealthy to be healthy who wanted to have everything their way. Hence their blezzings on KK was as mixed as the morality of Ignatz Mouse the tormentor of Kat. The strip was not liked much by the public but since Hearst and Herriman were friends at the paper, the strip was published all over America;but like Walt Kelly's "Pogo", it went over most peoples' heads and sensibilities; but the deep fantasy land of Coconino County was a favorite among other cartoonists and artists, as it is to this day. Some of the drawings of moons in Calvin and Hobbes are drawn as a direct tribute to Ignatz and Krazy.......well........it's complicated........
Glossary:
"mizzil" (missile) is the brick Ignatz would, as a standing gag, hurl at the head of Katz
"twarta" (thwarter) witch in this gag is a steel helmet given to KK by Senor Coyote to protect Kat's Dome from said Mizzils/miss -ives.
The rest of the story-yetz Ill give it a retz zoon enuf-Mousy the villain attaches a classic gag cartoonish gift-a magnetized horshoe- to a ballon and bids it to float over KK's head, to remove the twarta. But, as the brick approaches Kat, deus ex bird sees balloon and in a Kase of Mistaken ID, sed boid pops ballon, metal lid falls back on KatDome to mek a long story less long:KK Kommitz sin of thwrting mizzil. Sad, huh?
well you hadda bee der as we wud say in Chicaga.........it was funny 70 years ago......ile send thee the original copy of the streep if anybunny haf innerest...........
{for future refernce itz EZ to de-complxifie these cultural references of any kind--simply (Barnea) Google any of these names and you will know than I do about these in 5 minutes or less. Or if you like walking on the Dark Side Wicked Pedia can be just as good..google also wicket gate and you'll find the Ultimate Alternative News Source of Bunyanesque proportions
Ima Heppy Heppy Ket in a land fur aweh.........Lve and Mercy!Mercy!Mercy! on me and my Krtistmas Ket (she sez helloo to y'all)
Krazy Kat by Mastah Hairiman waz sanctioned by William Randolph Hearst. His altered ego, Charles "Kitizen" Kane was very like unto WRH in that they both were lonely geniuses too wealthy to be healthy who wanted to have everything their way. Hence their blezzings on KK was as mixed as the morality of Ignatz Mouse the tormentor of Kat. The strip was not liked much by the public but since Hearst and Herriman were friends at the paper, the strip was published all over America;but like Walt Kelly's "Pogo", it went over most peoples' heads and sensibilities; but the deep fantasy land of Coconino County was a favorite among other cartoonists and artists, as it is to this day. Some of the drawings of moons in Calvin and Hobbes are drawn as a direct tribute to Ignatz and Krazy.......well........it's complicated........
Glossary:
"mizzil" (missile) is the brick Ignatz would, as a standing gag, hurl at the head of Katz
"twarta" (thwarter) witch in this gag is a steel helmet given to KK by Senor Coyote to protect Kat's Dome from said Mizzils/miss -ives.
The rest of the story-yetz Ill give it a retz zoon enuf-Mousy the villain attaches a classic gag cartoonish gift-a magnetized horshoe- to a ballon and bids it to float over KK's head, to remove the twarta. But, as the brick approaches Kat, deus ex bird sees balloon and in a Kase of Mistaken ID, sed boid pops ballon, metal lid falls back on KatDome to mek a long story less long:KK Kommitz sin of thwrting mizzil. Sad, huh?
well you hadda bee der as we wud say in Chicaga.........it was funny 70 years ago......ile send thee the original copy of the streep if anybunny haf innerest...........
{for future refernce itz EZ to de-complxifie these cultural references of any kind--simply (Barnea) Google any of these names and you will know than I do about these in 5 minutes or less. Or if you like walking on the Dark Side Wicked Pedia can be just as good..google also wicket gate and you'll find the Ultimate Alternative News Source of Bunyanesque proportions
Ima Heppy Heppy Ket in a land fur aweh.........Lve and Mercy!Mercy!Mercy! on me and my Krtistmas Ket (she sez helloo to y'all)
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Mizzlils (non toes)
And now for something completely shorter.............
Who said this?
"I wunda if it's sinfil to be a mizzil twarta?'
Who said this?
"I wunda if it's sinfil to be a mizzil twarta?'
Sunday, December 20, 2009
POST:WASHINGTON POST-PREVIOUS POST,TOASTED
Hey Joe! Wattaya know? I just got back from the rodeo show. I took my show on the road, you see. And now I'm back. See. Any questions?
I was visiting my sister, who teaches at the University of Maryland, and she and Flo helped get me out Washington DC prior to the giant northeaster that hit the area yesterday. While flying back, I met some wonderful folks from the Chicago area, who were going to see a Chicago show, presumably musical, which purportedly represents an historic session featuring a jam with Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and Carl Perkins; this was not unlike my comments from last week about the Traveling Wilburys, who played together for more than a year. So, John, there is some more pop culture here; happy for your comments.
Seriously, 2009 and this Christmas/new year season has been a watershed for me, as I hinted earlier in this blog. Subsequent events indicate that, as the year draws to a close, that which I have been seeking, and seeking to share, has only intensified. This blog does not represent just me but all the people that have brought us to this moment of communication. There is not a language on earth that I can use to even describe this, much less analyze it or control it. In addition, it has taken me 60 years to get out of my little boxes, as Pete Seeger used to sing, and to understand that something much larger than my understanding, reason, emotions, or will is involved here. The 3 pound brain that we all each have is in itself physically irreducibly complex. The added factors of billions of these brains any one of which represents the most complex organized unit in the known universe, attempting to communicate from vastly different experiences, genetics, and other influences even harder to define, makes it a genuine miracle that we can talk together and know one another at all. People that I thought I knew, it turns out I didn't know very well at all. Considering the complexity of just existing as a human being, I am not sure why I would've assumed that I even know myself, much less anyone else.
Existentialism is one modern way to evade reductionism and still retain materialism, but even with pure existence being philosophicaly affirmed, there are still many questions; many are looking for a third way between right and left, ideologies, and parties. We are constantly and often unconsciously searching for a happy medium or some third way which probably does not exist except at some locus outside of ourselves, it does not seem to be within ourselves, unless we count mere diversions as alcoholism, drug abuse, and apathy as, "alternatives."
Paradigm shift? New perspective? It may be something more than that and even more difficult to understand, much less accomplish.
But I do know that having spent time with my sister Catherine and watching her at home and at work, has given me another level of understanding of how little I understand another person, who is an unrepeatable singularity and not just a shadow of my own thinking or fantasy or dream life as sometimes artists and even physicians tend to think. Again, I can take only a fragmentary response to a Reality that is far bigger than any of us. C.S. Lewis once commented that if we really knew and could see the immense reality of the person next to us, we would be tempted to worship her or him as a god. But like the proverbial iceberg that sank the Titanic --( "even God could not sink this ship!" )-- most of our soul is under water and not seen; but even before we see the person we may run aground and sink on the unseen and unknown bulk we cannot begin to appreciate / perceive. This may be an aspect of why our relationships are so complicated and why they so often are ruined/shipwrecked. As Murphy's law suggests, the more complicated something is, the more there is to go wrong, the more often it goes wrong, and usually at the worst possible time. Corollary: if you fiddle with something long enough, you'll break it. The more interventions, as with mutations, the more of a monster you will have and not a hopeful monster whatsoever regardless of what Stephen Jay Gould may have thought.
Perhaps the best approach to these matters is the approach that the poet and the parable spinner are forced to take. The Canterbury Tales are certainly one of the first of many approaches- in the English language- to the problem in which we are forced to abandon artificial concepts and boxes in favor of individuals who will outlast the homes they live in and the monuments around them, but not the souls in the midst of whom they dwell. Bon mots, as Einstein said about Christ, are amusing but not pertinent to the enormity of the subject.
Not to trivialize matters, but to use some pop culture to make a point, Dr. Seuss said about Christmas, "it came without ribbons it came without tags, it came without packages, boxes, or bags. Christmas can't be bought from a store......... maybe Christmas means a little bit more." The younger we are, the less we tend to appreciate this; but as we get older, stuff on the material plane begins to shred and fray to show another dimension, a much larger dimension which we can more easily appreciate; or allow it to sink our ship by piercing our hull. Certainly the former scenario has happened to many "larger than life" people such as Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Duke Ellington, T.S. Eliot and WH Auden and, as I just learned, Dave Brubeck the jazz artist who is the only artist I know who had a hit song in 5/4 time! The end of the year and the December season can be very difficult to endure but the opportunities to add a dimension of understanding may be unprecedented. Human beings naturally have ever marked time by seasons, occasions, anniversaries, festivals, birthdays, important dates in history, and so forth. That is in our nature. Indeed, we often use these cyclical days, dates, and seasons to plan for change, when on any given "ordinary," day we will tend to put things off as being too important to do without foreseeable contingencies. There are many theories of time and how we perceive it -- linear, cyclical, and infinite/without dimensions just to name a few. The Bible shows us linear time but also shows us that God is not limited to linear time. Science, prior to quantum physics, used and uses biblical/linear time to mark history, all very legitimately. But more recent discoveries suggest that just as God is not limited to linear time, neither is His physical universe. Reductionism however depends ironically, as does materialism, on the Biblical concept of linear time, coupled with cyclical time as marked by feast days and even returning miracles such as at the pool of Bethesda, where God/Jesus broke into his own linear/cyclical arrangement and reversed everything and broke every rule in order to heal one helpless individual who answered affirmatively to Him, "Yes, I do wish to be healed."
These are, again, fragmentary thoughts that are hopefully going to cohere eventually in my own mind and hopefully the individual who reads this will be able to connect their own dots given the points of light that I can see from here. We may be able to collectively see certain constellations if we cannot see the whole of the night sky any more than we can see patterns by looking directly into the sun. To me, if I appreciate what any given person is or has to say, even a single sentence or phrase could change my life. This is what happened to St. Augustine and probably to John Wesley and millions of others. If this has not happened to me yet, it would certainly be my desire and goal to undergo such changes in my 61st year and onwards. I hope what I'm posting will help some but I cannot begin to even appreciate much less summarize 2009 from this the limited location of this temple "of The Holy Ghost". Ask Him if true truth is your passion.
I was visiting my sister, who teaches at the University of Maryland, and she and Flo helped get me out Washington DC prior to the giant northeaster that hit the area yesterday. While flying back, I met some wonderful folks from the Chicago area, who were going to see a Chicago show, presumably musical, which purportedly represents an historic session featuring a jam with Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and Carl Perkins; this was not unlike my comments from last week about the Traveling Wilburys, who played together for more than a year. So, John, there is some more pop culture here; happy for your comments.
Seriously, 2009 and this Christmas/new year season has been a watershed for me, as I hinted earlier in this blog. Subsequent events indicate that, as the year draws to a close, that which I have been seeking, and seeking to share, has only intensified. This blog does not represent just me but all the people that have brought us to this moment of communication. There is not a language on earth that I can use to even describe this, much less analyze it or control it. In addition, it has taken me 60 years to get out of my little boxes, as Pete Seeger used to sing, and to understand that something much larger than my understanding, reason, emotions, or will is involved here. The 3 pound brain that we all each have is in itself physically irreducibly complex. The added factors of billions of these brains any one of which represents the most complex organized unit in the known universe, attempting to communicate from vastly different experiences, genetics, and other influences even harder to define, makes it a genuine miracle that we can talk together and know one another at all. People that I thought I knew, it turns out I didn't know very well at all. Considering the complexity of just existing as a human being, I am not sure why I would've assumed that I even know myself, much less anyone else.
Existentialism is one modern way to evade reductionism and still retain materialism, but even with pure existence being philosophicaly affirmed, there are still many questions; many are looking for a third way between right and left, ideologies, and parties. We are constantly and often unconsciously searching for a happy medium or some third way which probably does not exist except at some locus outside of ourselves, it does not seem to be within ourselves, unless we count mere diversions as alcoholism, drug abuse, and apathy as, "alternatives."
Paradigm shift? New perspective? It may be something more than that and even more difficult to understand, much less accomplish.
But I do know that having spent time with my sister Catherine and watching her at home and at work, has given me another level of understanding of how little I understand another person, who is an unrepeatable singularity and not just a shadow of my own thinking or fantasy or dream life as sometimes artists and even physicians tend to think. Again, I can take only a fragmentary response to a Reality that is far bigger than any of us. C.S. Lewis once commented that if we really knew and could see the immense reality of the person next to us, we would be tempted to worship her or him as a god. But like the proverbial iceberg that sank the Titanic --( "even God could not sink this ship!" )-- most of our soul is under water and not seen; but even before we see the person we may run aground and sink on the unseen and unknown bulk we cannot begin to appreciate / perceive. This may be an aspect of why our relationships are so complicated and why they so often are ruined/shipwrecked. As Murphy's law suggests, the more complicated something is, the more there is to go wrong, the more often it goes wrong, and usually at the worst possible time. Corollary: if you fiddle with something long enough, you'll break it. The more interventions, as with mutations, the more of a monster you will have and not a hopeful monster whatsoever regardless of what Stephen Jay Gould may have thought.
Perhaps the best approach to these matters is the approach that the poet and the parable spinner are forced to take. The Canterbury Tales are certainly one of the first of many approaches- in the English language- to the problem in which we are forced to abandon artificial concepts and boxes in favor of individuals who will outlast the homes they live in and the monuments around them, but not the souls in the midst of whom they dwell. Bon mots, as Einstein said about Christ, are amusing but not pertinent to the enormity of the subject.
Not to trivialize matters, but to use some pop culture to make a point, Dr. Seuss said about Christmas, "it came without ribbons it came without tags, it came without packages, boxes, or bags. Christmas can't be bought from a store......... maybe Christmas means a little bit more." The younger we are, the less we tend to appreciate this; but as we get older, stuff on the material plane begins to shred and fray to show another dimension, a much larger dimension which we can more easily appreciate; or allow it to sink our ship by piercing our hull. Certainly the former scenario has happened to many "larger than life" people such as Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Duke Ellington, T.S. Eliot and WH Auden and, as I just learned, Dave Brubeck the jazz artist who is the only artist I know who had a hit song in 5/4 time! The end of the year and the December season can be very difficult to endure but the opportunities to add a dimension of understanding may be unprecedented. Human beings naturally have ever marked time by seasons, occasions, anniversaries, festivals, birthdays, important dates in history, and so forth. That is in our nature. Indeed, we often use these cyclical days, dates, and seasons to plan for change, when on any given "ordinary," day we will tend to put things off as being too important to do without foreseeable contingencies. There are many theories of time and how we perceive it -- linear, cyclical, and infinite/without dimensions just to name a few. The Bible shows us linear time but also shows us that God is not limited to linear time. Science, prior to quantum physics, used and uses biblical/linear time to mark history, all very legitimately. But more recent discoveries suggest that just as God is not limited to linear time, neither is His physical universe. Reductionism however depends ironically, as does materialism, on the Biblical concept of linear time, coupled with cyclical time as marked by feast days and even returning miracles such as at the pool of Bethesda, where God/Jesus broke into his own linear/cyclical arrangement and reversed everything and broke every rule in order to heal one helpless individual who answered affirmatively to Him, "Yes, I do wish to be healed."
These are, again, fragmentary thoughts that are hopefully going to cohere eventually in my own mind and hopefully the individual who reads this will be able to connect their own dots given the points of light that I can see from here. We may be able to collectively see certain constellations if we cannot see the whole of the night sky any more than we can see patterns by looking directly into the sun. To me, if I appreciate what any given person is or has to say, even a single sentence or phrase could change my life. This is what happened to St. Augustine and probably to John Wesley and millions of others. If this has not happened to me yet, it would certainly be my desire and goal to undergo such changes in my 61st year and onwards. I hope what I'm posting will help some but I cannot begin to even appreciate much less summarize 2009 from this the limited location of this temple "of The Holy Ghost". Ask Him if true truth is your passion.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Mercy, mercy. (mercy!)
Now for something totally different Greetings from Merry Land University, home of my sister,Professor Catherine Schuler, who got me into the performing arts library where I viewed an exhibit on Roy Orbison, who played with the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and Tom Petty. Most of them looked to Roy as the real pioneer. They were delighted to have him join them in a joint effort called The Traveling Wilburys. ( willbury comes from Harrison's name for a studio technique of "burying" mistakes in the recording by making them sound intentional and contextual.) Rolling Stone did a tribute in which each artist gave an impression of who they thought Roy was.. I thought that the most interesting statement came from a manager or studio head who remarked that when most musicians would make a mistake they would say mostly unprintable (herein) remarks but Roy would just say, "Mercy, mercy......."
"Grace, grace, unto this mountain......."
Mercy is not much discussed or much understood; but I understand that its core meaning would be not receiving what we deserve; grace would be receiving what we do not deserve, i.e. an unearned and unexpected gift.
Coming to a place so unfamiliar to me--urban, sophisticated, and fast-moving--has been an intensely humbling experience for me (thanks Dennis for your comments on true wisdom!) But wherever I go, I am overwhelmed by the Grace and Mercy (and long-suffering of those who put up with me and put me up as well) I receive from virtually every corner, and intense reminders of my utter dependency and weaknesses, so that I am amazed and thrilled at every moment. Thanksgiving can't be over........
I think that Orbison's influence on at least Dylan and Petty, was more profound than musical technique and styling.. I wish that I might have heard him when he was alive but, like missing out on Johnny Cash, I totally opted ignorantly out on the older influences appreciated by genius level musicians but not their fan base. This is all the more poignant now that I also am older. In my present context I/we may be observed to be a mistake--evolutionarily speaking perhaps, although I don't personally know anyone who would say so.....but it would seem to me that each one of us is either a kind of mistake or a kind of "grace observed," as well as "A Grief Observed". As Walker Percy observed, this life is entirely too much trouble and too beautiful and too complex to be a long string of expensive mistakes--see Percy's Interviews with Myself--Questions No One Asked Me So I Asked Them Myself"
Mercy.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
"I think I'm allergic to criticism." --Linus Van Pelt
12-10-09
Oswald Chamber's devotion for today:
"The discerning power of The Holy Spirit is not for purposes of criticism...........Criticism is not a healthy habit for a wholesome spiritual life. When criticism becomes a habit, it destroys moral energy, kills faith, and paralyzes spiritual force. Criticism becomes deadly as it decomposes. If you are much criticized, it has the effect of decomposing you."
"That is never the work of The Holy Spirit,nor the work of the saint; it is the work of [Baal-zebub]."
"Abstain from criticizing others."
"Beware of the attitude that puts you in the place of superiority."
Criticism is one of the essences of a dualistic worldview, which as Augustine and Auden-and Stephen Schuler- pointed out, can only be one of conflicts that do not reflect a larger Reality, which are, "bound to the ground," that not being The Ground of Existence but the Gabbatha stone pavement of judgement of the party spirits, i.e., that of the Pharisee, the Sadducee, Rome and Edom (Herod's place), the religio-political axis which has always, always,always dominated world "discourse" Truly, "Dialectic," which never achieves real synthesis only compromise, has been the rule since Day One.........."the more things change...."
After 60 years of compromise and futile conflict, it is my personal goal to not so much achieve a superiority of view, but more of an inferiority complex, like John the Baptist was forced to accept--"He must increase, I must decrease." But even John could not resign his post without The Spirit and a little help from his friends.
Speaking of Jesus, He said, "Judge not, lest ye be judged." ---which is more often than not--and so000 ironically-- used by people of any persuasion to hurl a subtle invective at the other side. I would like officially here to invoke two helps; that of the Holy Ghost primarily and prayerfully; and that of my readers--please be my watchdogs and accountability partners in this project of letting go of carnal habits of thought and action. Not if, but when I lapse into a critical spirit, I would like not to be criticized so much as to be brought up short, in the manner in which Nathan revealed to King David his murderous ways. See II Samuel 12. Parables are a great thing--be creative!!!
Oswald Chamber's devotion for today:
"The discerning power of The Holy Spirit is not for purposes of criticism...........Criticism is not a healthy habit for a wholesome spiritual life. When criticism becomes a habit, it destroys moral energy, kills faith, and paralyzes spiritual force. Criticism becomes deadly as it decomposes. If you are much criticized, it has the effect of decomposing you."
"That is never the work of The Holy Spirit,nor the work of the saint; it is the work of [Baal-zebub]."
"Abstain from criticizing others."
"Beware of the attitude that puts you in the place of superiority."
Criticism is one of the essences of a dualistic worldview, which as Augustine and Auden-and Stephen Schuler- pointed out, can only be one of conflicts that do not reflect a larger Reality, which are, "bound to the ground," that not being The Ground of Existence but the Gabbatha stone pavement of judgement of the party spirits, i.e., that of the Pharisee, the Sadducee, Rome and Edom (Herod's place), the religio-political axis which has always, always,always dominated world "discourse" Truly, "Dialectic," which never achieves real synthesis only compromise, has been the rule since Day One.........."the more things change...."
After 60 years of compromise and futile conflict, it is my personal goal to not so much achieve a superiority of view, but more of an inferiority complex, like John the Baptist was forced to accept--"He must increase, I must decrease." But even John could not resign his post without The Spirit and a little help from his friends.
Speaking of Jesus, He said, "Judge not, lest ye be judged." ---which is more often than not--and so000 ironically-- used by people of any persuasion to hurl a subtle invective at the other side. I would like officially here to invoke two helps; that of the Holy Ghost primarily and prayerfully; and that of my readers--please be my watchdogs and accountability partners in this project of letting go of carnal habits of thought and action. Not if, but when I lapse into a critical spirit, I would like not to be criticized so much as to be brought up short, in the manner in which Nathan revealed to King David his murderous ways. See II Samuel 12. Parables are a great thing--be creative!!!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Advent
From W.H. Auden's "Advent"
Semi-Chorus
"Can great Hercules keep his
Extraordinary promise
To reinvigorate the Empire?
Utterly lost, he cannot
Even locate his task but
Stands in some decaying orchard
Or the irregular shadow
Of a ruined temple, aware of
Being watched from the horrid mountains
By fanatical eyes yet
Seeing no one at all, only hearing
The silence softly broken
By the poisonous rustle
Of famishing Arachne."
Semi-Chorus
"Can great Hercules keep his
Extraordinary promise
To reinvigorate the Empire?
Utterly lost, he cannot
Even locate his task but
Stands in some decaying orchard
Or the irregular shadow
Of a ruined temple, aware of
Being watched from the horrid mountains
By fanatical eyes yet
Seeing no one at all, only hearing
The silence softly broken
By the poisonous rustle
Of famishing Arachne."
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
147 years ago today:
Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation..........
We-even we here-hold the power and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free--honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last, best hope of earth.
-A. Lincoln 12/1/1862
We-even we here-hold the power and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free--honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last, best hope of earth.
-A. Lincoln 12/1/1862
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Ignatius J. Reilly/Myrna Minkoff Night of Joy Therapy Club Presents courtesy of Levy Pants, no,Shorts
from "A Confederacy of Dunces" we get no memorable quotes, only memorable characters, and one dead author. No history of New Orleans, thanks be to God, but talk about extremes! This is not a novel for the faint of ear, nor of the hypersensitive olfactory apparatus. But if you would like a thoroughgoing layman's review of the disorders of the personal pyloric valve, this book is for you! ("say no more, say no more, nudge,nudge,wink wink.") This is how I spent my Thanksgiving vacation. Alas.
Please note my reply to Dennis Hall under the comments section, with thanks. And with gratitude to the Bathroom Readers Institute, from whence will come some of my future quotes--but consider the primary source, and correct as needed. I liked this one, to kick off my series on History Channeling:
"History is mostly guessing; the rest is prejudice."--Will and Ariel Durant
or
"Historian: an unsuccessful novelist." GB Shaw (I think)(what happens to unsuccessful historians? Any guesses? Anyone? ANYONE?)
Please note my reply to Dennis Hall under the comments section, with thanks. And with gratitude to the Bathroom Readers Institute, from whence will come some of my future quotes--but consider the primary source, and correct as needed. I liked this one, to kick off my series on History Channeling:
"History is mostly guessing; the rest is prejudice."--Will and Ariel Durant
or
"Historian: an unsuccessful novelist." GB Shaw (I think)(what happens to unsuccessful historians? Any guesses? Anyone? ANYONE?)
Monday, November 23, 2009
Dead Tired on Arrival, but Mobil-ized
After 20 days of intensive scientific endeavor and modestly successful experiments (nobody died) here are some more fragments unearthed from my sideline of pale-ontology, so named because it is beyond the pale, yea even the wider shade of pale....
Human Dinosaurship--Terrible Lizardry Indeed! Nothing worse than being old, so I am told! So we are postponing that living fossil gambit, and we are living vicariously through our new granddaughter, Alathea(first "a" long, last one short) whose name is Greek for "Truth". "Veritas" perhaps was too formal and rather overused and abused in some venues, I suppose. Alathea Joy Schuler had to be born in Mississippi rather than in Mobile because midwifery at home is still illegal in AL; yet one more reason for me to avoid the AMA. Her birthday, then, would be 11/20/o9, for those of you who are keeping track.
Here then, in her honor, are Two Terrible Truths for our Times:
From Cupid, Inc.,quoted in World Magazine--"The shortest messages get almost the best absolute response rate, and the reply rate actually goes down as messages approach extreme length." And what is "extreme length", pray tell? "Apparently, after about 360 words...you start scaring people off. A message like that is the online equivalent of a face tattoo. Of your life story."
Uh-oh. Good thing I kissed dating goodbye! Pleeeeez ,Mr.( Neil) Postman! Have you got a letter, a letter fo' me???
My old scientific friend, Pascal, knew how to abbreviate hard truths. The following indicates one of the foundational goals of this blog:
"I do not admire the extreme of one virtue unless you show me at the same time the extreme of the opposite virtue. One shows one's greatness not by being at an extremity but by being simultaneously at two extremities and filling all the space in between."
More Post-men later. Rest your eyes and I will too.
Human Dinosaurship--Terrible Lizardry Indeed! Nothing worse than being old, so I am told! So we are postponing that living fossil gambit, and we are living vicariously through our new granddaughter, Alathea(first "a" long, last one short) whose name is Greek for "Truth". "Veritas" perhaps was too formal and rather overused and abused in some venues, I suppose. Alathea Joy Schuler had to be born in Mississippi rather than in Mobile because midwifery at home is still illegal in AL; yet one more reason for me to avoid the AMA. Her birthday, then, would be 11/20/o9, for those of you who are keeping track.
Here then, in her honor, are Two Terrible Truths for our Times:
From Cupid, Inc.,quoted in World Magazine--"The shortest messages get almost the best absolute response rate, and the reply rate actually goes down as messages approach extreme length." And what is "extreme length", pray tell? "Apparently, after about 360 words...you start scaring people off. A message like that is the online equivalent of a face tattoo. Of your life story."
Uh-oh. Good thing I kissed dating goodbye! Pleeeeez ,Mr.( Neil) Postman! Have you got a letter, a letter fo' me???
My old scientific friend, Pascal, knew how to abbreviate hard truths. The following indicates one of the foundational goals of this blog:
"I do not admire the extreme of one virtue unless you show me at the same time the extreme of the opposite virtue. One shows one's greatness not by being at an extremity but by being simultaneously at two extremities and filling all the space in between."
More Post-men later. Rest your eyes and I will too.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
THE WORMWOOD! THE GALL!
"Take a look at this, Hobbes. Wouldn't you say this is a great drawing?
I mean, can you BELIEVE my teacher didn't like it?! She said it wasn't "serious"!
By golly, if this isn't serious art, then nothing is! Who set up Miss Wormwood up as an artbiter of aesthetics, anyway?
This is a beautiful work of power and depth!"
Tiger: "It's a stegosaurus in a rocket ship, right?"
Calvin: See? YOU understood it!
Et tu (the tiger's goal, by the way) dear reader?
I mean, can you BELIEVE my teacher didn't like it?! She said it wasn't "serious"!
By golly, if this isn't serious art, then nothing is! Who set up Miss Wormwood up as an artbiter of aesthetics, anyway?
This is a beautiful work of power and depth!"
Tiger: "It's a stegosaurus in a rocket ship, right?"
Calvin: See? YOU understood it!
Et tu (the tiger's goal, by the way) dear reader?
Saturday, November 7, 2009
ACHTUNG,BABY!!!
Since there may come new readers to bassocontinuosch, I might encourage newbys to scroll back to the first posts for some background. I expect this blog to build on certain foundations, and a certain sequence may be necessary to follow. Stories can be taken up in midstream (c.f."Pilgrim at Tinker's Creek" by Annie Dillard) but narratives may become tiresome and pointless especially if,"The foundations be destroyed."
Two suggestions to prepare for the future:
Google these! "The Four Levels of Happpiness" of Robert Spitzer and a list of Freud's ego defense mechanisms--the first site I found was Psychology 101 which is nicely succinct.
"No one expects the Jesuit Inquisition!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Two suggestions to prepare for the future:
Google these! "The Four Levels of Happpiness" of Robert Spitzer and a list of Freud's ego defense mechanisms--the first site I found was Psychology 101 which is nicely succinct.
"No one expects the Jesuit Inquisition!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS US
Time for a Walt Kelly tribute, I believe.
The quote noted above is hopefully familiar to almost everyone. However I doubt that too many young readers have any familiarity with the comic strip "Pogo." Walt Kelly was a staple amongst college students just as much as Calvin and Hobbes was 10 years ago but with much more imaginative use of language especially a type of Southern glossolalia. T.S. Eliot was said to have all the Pogo cartoon books sent to England as soon as they were published. Neologisms abounded and I at times find myself floating into this dialect when I am talking to patients. Not good.
I suppose the things that struck me and many others was Walt Kelly's gentleness in poking fun at politics and religion, and his attempts to be as fair as possible, noting the foibles of both sides of contention. As such, it failed as a political cartoon, and, like its predecessor, Krazy Kat, which was also a favorite of Bill Watterson's,it never gained much more than a small but dedicated audience but it
was certainly popular with most of the contemporary journalists. While he poked fun at religious hypocrites like Deacon Mushrat, one got the sense that Kelly really loved these weak characters who would finally join the group for "mo' pie." He would also go after some famous characters on the left, such as the cowbirds who were supposed to be Communists. The characters he was more serious about tended to be on the side of the Jack Acid Society but the members of this august asylum were really just mean-spirited opportunists who wanted nothing more than to shoot up the place and fill the swamp with doom, gloom and paranoia as purblind Molester Mole seemed to both seek and prophesy. And yet...........
My favorite character was probably Porkypine, whose pessimism went far beyond my own and yet, like most porcupines, he was able to stand firm without resorting to dogmatism--or idealism, either one. On Christmas Eve he and Pogo would gather up presents, go to the members of the Jack Acid Society while they were asleep, yell "Merry Christmas!" And run home like mad. At one point PorkyPine humphs,, ".... a highly embellished gesture. Think it'll do anybody any good?" to which Pogo replies, "oh maybe 'jes only us." (There's that enemy again!)
Certainly turning the other cheek like this is highly atypical,not instinctual, and almost impossible to do without outside help, and I suspect that Kelly had more than he realized, at the very least some long-standing and well known if rarely practiced ideas about charity and loving your enemies. I think however that centering on one's own responsibility without casting aspersions on the rest of the world, and "considering others better than yourself," is something also found in books like Walker Percy's, "Lost in the Cosmos". Percy makes the point that we can easily and instantly size up other people and even other planets but have almost no insight into ourselves. I believe that people are designed to be complementary rather than primarily competitive, at least by the time we grow up. It is certainly obvious that liberals and conservatives need each other almost as much as life itself, if for no other reason than each provides an enemy for the other.I even suspect that neither one could exist without the other. Kelly tried to rise above the fray and I think he would be appalled at the Descent of Man that has accompanied our prosperity and material progress. Wisdom today is far less evident and can be taken far less for granted in our current Red Blue incarnation.(Emphasis on the Carnation part--Instant Judgement)
For the sake of clarity, and in the spirit of the above, and without casting stones at those who readily take sides or even demonize designated enemies/targets, I would like to say a little bit more about what I meant by not using this blog to get mired down in politics/religion. I combine these two words because my observations of the last 40 or so years suggest to me that these two phenomena are "joined at the hip." Religion does not require even a taste of the Divine. Atheism is not anti-religion it is simply one of many religions. In my brother's hometown there is a "Freedom from Religion Foundation". Many individuals have also expressed the desire for a "Freedom from Politics Foundation", which probably would often express itself in the terms: "Throw the rascals out!" (I notice that they never include themselves as rascals, so I would presume that they want them selves thrown, "in.")
It has been my opinion for several decades that politics/religion are fairly good but somewhat feeble tools under the right circumstances and depending on the motives of the individual or group, for ordering society and culture. Sometimes it is more politics and sometimes more religion, but both of these tools are what I would call not only competitively-based but "works-righteous," and necessarily include an elaborate meritocracy and what George Orwell called, "groupthink." I love the sequence in Monty Python's "Life of Brian," in which Brian the captive and very unwilling messiah shouts to the crowd gathered around him, "You've got to think for yourselves! You are all individuals!"
And with delicious irony, the crowd shouts back in unison, "Yes! We are all individuals!" After which a still small voice pipes up, "I'm not."
Lest someone believes I am simply advocating some type of blind or vague spirituality, that really is not the point. The universe is full of Content and does operate by laws, some obvious, some not. Nor am I advocating some type of mythological or hypothetical objectivity, something Walt Kelly certainly would not have claimed for himself. Nor will it do to retreat into Scientism with all of its premature conclusions and virtual absolutes. No, really I am re-attempting a type of agnosticism, which the devotional writer Oswald Chambers said was a kind of a necessity for the brains of people who know far too little--which would include all of us. One most obvious applications is a-Gnosticism, something Dan Brown needs desperately, not to mention a good ghostwriter, no pun intended -- these wordythings just happen!
Religion and politics are certainly based on certain aspects of human need, emotion,rationalizing, and the obvious need of the male intellect in particular to "rise and conquer!" The "testosterone wash" which little boys experience in the first trimester and which differentiates their brain also significantly limits their brains and for the most part men can only listen to one conversation at a time and only use one side of their brain at a time. Women can process up to seven conversations at a time and have a much larger corpus callosum, that is much more white matter, from before birth. In other words, men making rules and regulations is not going to go away. We men esp. spend more time arguing about the rules than actually playing a game of anything. However to ask the ladys' Peggy Lee question, "Is that all there is?" , which probably originated under her Christmas tree as it did in our house 50 or more years ago, simply begs the next set of questions which so far are mostly unanswered and possibly unanswerable. Certainly for science esp. mathematics and physics to be consistent in the face of new-(?)-information, they and we cannot with any assurance at any point say, "That's All Folks!" However that doesn't prevent us from asserting otherwise in order to win the day and defeat the turkeys. Or "cockroaches," according to many of the Hutu persuasion.
Speaking of Rwanda, it is currently one of the few nations in Africa that is actually making economic progress because its president has been insisting on an organized program of, yes, forgiveness both between individuals and groups. The New Yorker ran a piece on this recently but of course doubts that it will work. I love the New Yorker, however it does make a habit of damning by faint praise when it comes to people doing things unfamiliar to their inner circles. As a response to which,I think of T.S. Eliot's "The Cocktail Party." A drama which I can recommend to almost any thinking individual.
So when I talk of not getting bogged down on the blog with the usual political/religious go round, I am certainly not talking about disengaging myself from philosophy nor do I want to neglect to address the most basic assumptions we all must make. Presuppositional thinking is either done or neglected but it cannot be removed. Just sitting in your chair requires a large measure of faith; just try to visualize how much empty space there is between even the larger particles! If a proton was the size of a basketball, the nearest electron would be the size of a hardball -- 2 miles away! That would be the densest possible configuration, by the way. Under these circumstances, most of what is lacking in me/us would be the Will--a la Kierkegaard-- to peek under our various rocks that we throw at one another. No vows of perfection on my part and I would certainly invite correction when I get off on what I call, musically speaking, "The Rude Rabbit Rondo, "something that is quite the rage these days and makes quite a bit of money for Wal-Mart as well. On that Note: "So Long until tomorrow! To Infinity--and Beyond!"
The quote noted above is hopefully familiar to almost everyone. However I doubt that too many young readers have any familiarity with the comic strip "Pogo." Walt Kelly was a staple amongst college students just as much as Calvin and Hobbes was 10 years ago but with much more imaginative use of language especially a type of Southern glossolalia. T.S. Eliot was said to have all the Pogo cartoon books sent to England as soon as they were published. Neologisms abounded and I at times find myself floating into this dialect when I am talking to patients. Not good.
I suppose the things that struck me and many others was Walt Kelly's gentleness in poking fun at politics and religion, and his attempts to be as fair as possible, noting the foibles of both sides of contention. As such, it failed as a political cartoon, and, like its predecessor, Krazy Kat, which was also a favorite of Bill Watterson's,it never gained much more than a small but dedicated audience but it
was certainly popular with most of the contemporary journalists. While he poked fun at religious hypocrites like Deacon Mushrat, one got the sense that Kelly really loved these weak characters who would finally join the group for "mo' pie." He would also go after some famous characters on the left, such as the cowbirds who were supposed to be Communists. The characters he was more serious about tended to be on the side of the Jack Acid Society but the members of this august asylum were really just mean-spirited opportunists who wanted nothing more than to shoot up the place and fill the swamp with doom, gloom and paranoia as purblind Molester Mole seemed to both seek and prophesy. And yet...........
My favorite character was probably Porkypine, whose pessimism went far beyond my own and yet, like most porcupines, he was able to stand firm without resorting to dogmatism--or idealism, either one. On Christmas Eve he and Pogo would gather up presents, go to the members of the Jack Acid Society while they were asleep, yell "Merry Christmas!" And run home like mad. At one point PorkyPine humphs,, ".... a highly embellished gesture. Think it'll do anybody any good?" to which Pogo replies, "oh maybe 'jes only us." (There's that enemy again!)
Certainly turning the other cheek like this is highly atypical,not instinctual, and almost impossible to do without outside help, and I suspect that Kelly had more than he realized, at the very least some long-standing and well known if rarely practiced ideas about charity and loving your enemies. I think however that centering on one's own responsibility without casting aspersions on the rest of the world, and "considering others better than yourself," is something also found in books like Walker Percy's, "Lost in the Cosmos". Percy makes the point that we can easily and instantly size up other people and even other planets but have almost no insight into ourselves. I believe that people are designed to be complementary rather than primarily competitive, at least by the time we grow up. It is certainly obvious that liberals and conservatives need each other almost as much as life itself, if for no other reason than each provides an enemy for the other.I even suspect that neither one could exist without the other. Kelly tried to rise above the fray and I think he would be appalled at the Descent of Man that has accompanied our prosperity and material progress. Wisdom today is far less evident and can be taken far less for granted in our current Red Blue incarnation.(Emphasis on the Carnation part--Instant Judgement)
For the sake of clarity, and in the spirit of the above, and without casting stones at those who readily take sides or even demonize designated enemies/targets, I would like to say a little bit more about what I meant by not using this blog to get mired down in politics/religion. I combine these two words because my observations of the last 40 or so years suggest to me that these two phenomena are "joined at the hip." Religion does not require even a taste of the Divine. Atheism is not anti-religion it is simply one of many religions. In my brother's hometown there is a "Freedom from Religion Foundation". Many individuals have also expressed the desire for a "Freedom from Politics Foundation", which probably would often express itself in the terms: "Throw the rascals out!" (I notice that they never include themselves as rascals, so I would presume that they want them selves thrown, "in.")
It has been my opinion for several decades that politics/religion are fairly good but somewhat feeble tools under the right circumstances and depending on the motives of the individual or group, for ordering society and culture. Sometimes it is more politics and sometimes more religion, but both of these tools are what I would call not only competitively-based but "works-righteous," and necessarily include an elaborate meritocracy and what George Orwell called, "groupthink." I love the sequence in Monty Python's "Life of Brian," in which Brian the captive and very unwilling messiah shouts to the crowd gathered around him, "You've got to think for yourselves! You are all individuals!"
And with delicious irony, the crowd shouts back in unison, "Yes! We are all individuals!" After which a still small voice pipes up, "I'm not."
Lest someone believes I am simply advocating some type of blind or vague spirituality, that really is not the point. The universe is full of Content and does operate by laws, some obvious, some not. Nor am I advocating some type of mythological or hypothetical objectivity, something Walt Kelly certainly would not have claimed for himself. Nor will it do to retreat into Scientism with all of its premature conclusions and virtual absolutes. No, really I am re-attempting a type of agnosticism, which the devotional writer Oswald Chambers said was a kind of a necessity for the brains of people who know far too little--which would include all of us. One most obvious applications is a-Gnosticism, something Dan Brown needs desperately, not to mention a good ghostwriter, no pun intended -- these wordythings just happen!
Religion and politics are certainly based on certain aspects of human need, emotion,rationalizing, and the obvious need of the male intellect in particular to "rise and conquer!" The "testosterone wash" which little boys experience in the first trimester and which differentiates their brain also significantly limits their brains and for the most part men can only listen to one conversation at a time and only use one side of their brain at a time. Women can process up to seven conversations at a time and have a much larger corpus callosum, that is much more white matter, from before birth. In other words, men making rules and regulations is not going to go away. We men esp. spend more time arguing about the rules than actually playing a game of anything. However to ask the ladys' Peggy Lee question, "Is that all there is?" , which probably originated under her Christmas tree as it did in our house 50 or more years ago, simply begs the next set of questions which so far are mostly unanswered and possibly unanswerable. Certainly for science esp. mathematics and physics to be consistent in the face of new-(?)-information, they and we cannot with any assurance at any point say, "That's All Folks!" However that doesn't prevent us from asserting otherwise in order to win the day and defeat the turkeys. Or "cockroaches," according to many of the Hutu persuasion.
Speaking of Rwanda, it is currently one of the few nations in Africa that is actually making economic progress because its president has been insisting on an organized program of, yes, forgiveness both between individuals and groups. The New Yorker ran a piece on this recently but of course doubts that it will work. I love the New Yorker, however it does make a habit of damning by faint praise when it comes to people doing things unfamiliar to their inner circles. As a response to which,I think of T.S. Eliot's "The Cocktail Party." A drama which I can recommend to almost any thinking individual.
So when I talk of not getting bogged down on the blog with the usual political/religious go round, I am certainly not talking about disengaging myself from philosophy nor do I want to neglect to address the most basic assumptions we all must make. Presuppositional thinking is either done or neglected but it cannot be removed. Just sitting in your chair requires a large measure of faith; just try to visualize how much empty space there is between even the larger particles! If a proton was the size of a basketball, the nearest electron would be the size of a hardball -- 2 miles away! That would be the densest possible configuration, by the way. Under these circumstances, most of what is lacking in me/us would be the Will--a la Kierkegaard-- to peek under our various rocks that we throw at one another. No vows of perfection on my part and I would certainly invite correction when I get off on what I call, musically speaking, "The Rude Rabbit Rondo, "something that is quite the rage these days and makes quite a bit of money for Wal-Mart as well. On that Note: "So Long until tomorrow! To Infinity--and Beyond!"
Friday, October 23, 2009
On! On! Pozzo saith
I thought about starting this blog with a bibliography but it got to be much too long. Nonetheless it should be said that there were numerous inspirations for me to start writing online. For my 60th birthday I received the gift of many books, very appropriately for a bibliophile who has a book under his arm almost always. Anyway, I would like to knowledge and recommend without reservation the following list:
Theater and Identity in Imperial Russia, by Catherine A. Schuler better-known as my sister. This is somewhat of a sequel to her first book, Women in Russian Theater. Although these are academic books, I have found many parallels to our own culture in the times to which she refers. She teaches at University of Maryland.
Making the Good Life Last, by Michael A. Schuler, also known as my brother, which is somewhat like an extended essay on various aspects of sustainability. He is the senior pastor at First Unitarian-Universalist in Madison Wisconsin, a very large congregation. He has also directed a large addition to the Frank Lloyd Wright original building, meticulously designed to be very green but also blend into the original design. Well done!
My parents, CW Schuler and Nancy Schuler have also contributed, once again, to my reading list. My father sent me "Armageddon", by Max Hastings which is a detailed recounting of the last year of World War II, in which he actually participated in eastern Germany and Czechoslovakia. He has also written, "Winner Take All,"a novel about this era and this location, in a true existentialist style. My mother sent me something, "and now for something completely different," from a more female perspective which is a new and excellent biography of Flannery O'Connor, entitled, simply, "Flannery". I have read all of Flannery's stories and whatever letters in prose I could find and the reader will probably see various references" pertaining to her works in future posts
My Wonderful Wife, Flo, got me, at the suggestion of my wonderful daughter-in-law, Grace, a book which Grace read under the tutelage of a Kierkegaard scholar; this would be . "Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing" (I must add that Dragonspeak really did not want to do this title. Go figure!)The title pretty much says it all however I am finding this to be a good book to read along with "The Sickness unto Death" by the same author. More about Kierkegaard as we go along but this is an author that I found incomprehensible in college.
I would be remiss to fail to mention the work of another family member, Daniel William Schuler who self published, by hand, with artwork, a collection of his poetry from college days, "Out of the Mouths of Dragons" you will not find this on Google or Amazon.com but it certainly is available by request!
Still another family member has a thesis on Augustine and his influence on W.H. Auden. This would be Stephen Schuler and he is currently seeking a publisher. Hopefully that will become available in the near future. I will also be making references to this work or at least the concepts therein. The frequent references to various kinds of dualisms is probably going to be an emerging theme of bassocontinuo.
Just an additional thought: the basso continuo line often makes very little sense and is not always pleasing to the ear, by itself. Practicing this line, for instance a bass or tenor line on the recorder, is always more difficult and less satisfying than playing the melody. The song is ended but the melody goes on; but the basso continuo does not continue on, it just ends, and very few people can remember it except for possibly professional musicians. I would say that if this blog seems discordant please recall that there is a melody, which I can hear, but others may not. If you like, provide your own melody line! There are endless possibilities. At times I might sound like Pascal and at other times like Bozo the clown but once again, Patience! Patience is one of the four cardinal virtues of sustainability, according to my brother's book. The other three are, practicing prudence, paying attention, and staying put. I certainly am in favor of all four! These basso continuo lines, however, do not play well in the cinema etc. but then again, entertainment is or should be a smaller part of our life than some of these "boring" matters which should be of critical interest/crucial concern. More on all of this to follow, of course. Thank you for reading this and your input is solicited.
Theater and Identity in Imperial Russia, by Catherine A. Schuler better-known as my sister. This is somewhat of a sequel to her first book, Women in Russian Theater. Although these are academic books, I have found many parallels to our own culture in the times to which she refers. She teaches at University of Maryland.
Making the Good Life Last, by Michael A. Schuler, also known as my brother, which is somewhat like an extended essay on various aspects of sustainability. He is the senior pastor at First Unitarian-Universalist in Madison Wisconsin, a very large congregation. He has also directed a large addition to the Frank Lloyd Wright original building, meticulously designed to be very green but also blend into the original design. Well done!
My parents, CW Schuler and Nancy Schuler have also contributed, once again, to my reading list. My father sent me "Armageddon", by Max Hastings which is a detailed recounting of the last year of World War II, in which he actually participated in eastern Germany and Czechoslovakia. He has also written, "Winner Take All,"a novel about this era and this location, in a true existentialist style. My mother sent me something, "and now for something completely different," from a more female perspective which is a new and excellent biography of Flannery O'Connor, entitled, simply, "Flannery". I have read all of Flannery's stories and whatever letters in prose I could find and the reader will probably see various references" pertaining to her works in future posts
My Wonderful Wife, Flo, got me, at the suggestion of my wonderful daughter-in-law, Grace, a book which Grace read under the tutelage of a Kierkegaard scholar; this would be . "Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing" (I must add that Dragonspeak really did not want to do this title. Go figure!)The title pretty much says it all however I am finding this to be a good book to read along with "The Sickness unto Death" by the same author. More about Kierkegaard as we go along but this is an author that I found incomprehensible in college.
I would be remiss to fail to mention the work of another family member, Daniel William Schuler who self published, by hand, with artwork, a collection of his poetry from college days, "Out of the Mouths of Dragons" you will not find this on Google or Amazon.com but it certainly is available by request!
Still another family member has a thesis on Augustine and his influence on W.H. Auden. This would be Stephen Schuler and he is currently seeking a publisher. Hopefully that will become available in the near future. I will also be making references to this work or at least the concepts therein. The frequent references to various kinds of dualisms is probably going to be an emerging theme of bassocontinuo.
Just an additional thought: the basso continuo line often makes very little sense and is not always pleasing to the ear, by itself. Practicing this line, for instance a bass or tenor line on the recorder, is always more difficult and less satisfying than playing the melody. The song is ended but the melody goes on; but the basso continuo does not continue on, it just ends, and very few people can remember it except for possibly professional musicians. I would say that if this blog seems discordant please recall that there is a melody, which I can hear, but others may not. If you like, provide your own melody line! There are endless possibilities. At times I might sound like Pascal and at other times like Bozo the clown but once again, Patience! Patience is one of the four cardinal virtues of sustainability, according to my brother's book. The other three are, practicing prudence, paying attention, and staying put. I certainly am in favor of all four! These basso continuo lines, however, do not play well in the cinema etc. but then again, entertainment is or should be a smaller part of our life than some of these "boring" matters which should be of critical interest/crucial concern. More on all of this to follow, of course. Thank you for reading this and your input is solicited.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Fables for Our Time, "The Bear Who Let It Alone", James Thurber
"In the woods of the Far West there once lived a brown bear who could take it or let it alone.he would go into a bar where they sold mead, a fermented drink made of honey, and he would just have two drinks.then he would put some money on the bar and say,' See what the Bears in the back room will have,'and he would go home. But finally he took to drinking by himself most of the day. He would reel home at night, knock over the umbrella stand, knock down the bridge lamps, and ram his elbows through the windows. Then he would collapse on the floor and lie there until he went to sleep. His wife was greatly distressed and his children were very frightened."
"At length the bear saw the error of his ways and began to reform. In the end he became a famous teetotaler and a persistent temperance lecturer. He would tell everybody that came to his house about the awful effects of drink, and he would boast about how strong and well he had become since he gave up touching the stuff. To demonstrate this, you would stand on his head and on his hands and he would turn cartwheels in the house, knocking over the umbrella stand, kicking down the bridge lamps, and ramming his elbows through the windows. Then he would lie down on the floor, tired by his healthful exercise, and go to sleep. His wife was greatly distressed and his children were very frightened. "
"Moral: You might as well fall flat on your face as lean over too far backward."
Commentary: this might be called, "The Pharisee/Sadducee Complex" I include this because I have extensive experience with both sides of the coin. I hope to turn this coin into the Bank in exchange for some foreign-currency of the alien type. This will become clearer, I hope, in the future commentaries/exchanges.Meantime,"Render unto Caesar.............."
"At length the bear saw the error of his ways and began to reform. In the end he became a famous teetotaler and a persistent temperance lecturer. He would tell everybody that came to his house about the awful effects of drink, and he would boast about how strong and well he had become since he gave up touching the stuff. To demonstrate this, you would stand on his head and on his hands and he would turn cartwheels in the house, knocking over the umbrella stand, kicking down the bridge lamps, and ramming his elbows through the windows. Then he would lie down on the floor, tired by his healthful exercise, and go to sleep. His wife was greatly distressed and his children were very frightened. "
"Moral: You might as well fall flat on your face as lean over too far backward."
Commentary: this might be called, "The Pharisee/Sadducee Complex" I include this because I have extensive experience with both sides of the coin. I hope to turn this coin into the Bank in exchange for some foreign-currency of the alien type. This will become clearer, I hope, in the future commentaries/exchanges.Meantime,"Render unto Caesar.............."
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Please note the following corrections, I am thanking Mr. Blogspot not thinking him. Although I certainly was doing both now that I think about it!
Next time I promise to proof read a little bit better. So if you find this first offering a little confusing, give it some time; and of course I would be happy to help you clarify anything obscure at any convenient time.
Father to teenage son: "you must think gas grows on trees!"
Scientific son to clueless father: "It does, Dad, it does............. "
Next time I promise to proof read a little bit better. So if you find this first offering a little confusing, give it some time; and of course I would be happy to help you clarify anything obscure at any convenient time.
Father to teenage son: "you must think gas grows on trees!"
Scientific son to clueless father: "It does, Dad, it does............. "
bassocontinuo
testing testing 123 testing 123
Credit where credit is due, this new blog is brought to you by the marvels of Dragonspeak. I have long been acquainted with the Dragon and I should assure you that this is a tame Dragon. I also have been tamed -- please see The Little Prince, "if you please, sir, draw me a sheep."
There is a certain intimidation factor in starting something as new to me as writing onlinebut it is also obvious that getting into it is easier than ever so I do think Mr. Blogspot for helping me into what I anticipated to be a project taking several days or possibly altogether impossible.
Also thinking about and thanking, "smoke on the water and fire in the sky," which I will eventually compose differently once I have the ability to post a photograph.
I do not want to cast any stones in this blog nor do I want it to crystallize prematurely; I would like to keep it as malleable as possible. If I have a primary goal it would be to look at the world or the people in it not as mere objects or, worse, as a sum total of their current opinions.
An aside:The term,basso continuo, is a musical term to designate something like background noise only more organized. One example would be the piano line used to accompany a soloist or even a trio just to imagine a couple of possibilities. In fact, there are many possibilities suggested by this term. I came across the term many times in playing recorder music and many times my mother came to the rescue providing the basso continuo lines some of which of course include the bass clef, something which I never learned to read or play even though I have sort of a bass voice. Currently I am playing drums mostly and am being asked (or forced perhaps is a better word) to provide the bass line for the entire group which has only a piano and no guitars. A secondary goal might be to spare the world any bass drum solos.I am reminded of a cartoon in The New Yorker which is a drawing of a person behind a large drum set, asking, "Any requests?"the title for this particular work is, "Drum Bar." "What's wrong with a five-minute drum solo?"
Answer: it's 4 1/2 minutes too long!
With that, I think I will close. I think it important to keep these postings fairly brief. To quote T.S. Eliot, "I shore these fragments against my ruins," -- but hopefully not against yours! With love, Bill Schuler
Credit where credit is due, this new blog is brought to you by the marvels of Dragonspeak. I have long been acquainted with the Dragon and I should assure you that this is a tame Dragon. I also have been tamed -- please see The Little Prince, "if you please, sir, draw me a sheep."
There is a certain intimidation factor in starting something as new to me as writing onlinebut it is also obvious that getting into it is easier than ever so I do think Mr. Blogspot for helping me into what I anticipated to be a project taking several days or possibly altogether impossible.
Also thinking about and thanking, "smoke on the water and fire in the sky," which I will eventually compose differently once I have the ability to post a photograph.
I do not want to cast any stones in this blog nor do I want it to crystallize prematurely; I would like to keep it as malleable as possible. If I have a primary goal it would be to look at the world or the people in it not as mere objects or, worse, as a sum total of their current opinions.
An aside:The term,basso continuo, is a musical term to designate something like background noise only more organized. One example would be the piano line used to accompany a soloist or even a trio just to imagine a couple of possibilities. In fact, there are many possibilities suggested by this term. I came across the term many times in playing recorder music and many times my mother came to the rescue providing the basso continuo lines some of which of course include the bass clef, something which I never learned to read or play even though I have sort of a bass voice. Currently I am playing drums mostly and am being asked (or forced perhaps is a better word) to provide the bass line for the entire group which has only a piano and no guitars. A secondary goal might be to spare the world any bass drum solos.I am reminded of a cartoon in The New Yorker which is a drawing of a person behind a large drum set, asking, "Any requests?"the title for this particular work is, "Drum Bar." "What's wrong with a five-minute drum solo?"
Answer: it's 4 1/2 minutes too long!
With that, I think I will close. I think it important to keep these postings fairly brief. To quote T.S. Eliot, "I shore these fragments against my ruins," -- but hopefully not against yours! With love, Bill Schuler
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