I have a question for just about everybody on this earth -- why the hell are you so dedicated to and fanatical about the gods and religions that have been, throughout history, forced upon you all through brutality and violence? In short, it's the old mafia game of making an offer that cannot be refused, and you go along with it out of fear toward doing anything else and actually thinking.
Rev. Al Sharpton is on MSNBC right now and I can hear it clearly from the kitchen TV. He's a black man and an ordained Christian minister of some denomination that is absolutely convinced they're representatives of the only legitimate god. How come? His ancestors were brutally kidnapped and brought by the millions to this and other areas of the world. Preachers took advantage of their subservient and desperate conditions to systematically fill their minds with the garbage that constitutes Christianity. I'm aware that a few negroid people have tried to keep alive some of the original African beliefs through Santoria, but the majority just "Amen" themselves hoarse shouting out their grafted on beliefs in multitudes of churches.
Same with Native Americans. Do any of them still worship "The Great Spirit?" Maybe a few have spurned the nonsense missionaries tried to palm off on the few desperate survivors. (I'm not saying that they had any deep truth before, but it wasn't the crap of a malevolent deity condemning the whole human race to death over eating some fictional fruit, then raping a Jewish girl to impregnate himself into human form so he could sacrifice himself to himself to supposedly set everything right -- if you manage to get the formula right and accidentally end up in the "right" group.)
Throughout the Middle East and Africa, people fanatically worship a religion that was forced upon their ancestors on the pain of being summarily and brutally dispatched if they didn't acquiesce and start flopping on their brainwashed faces five times a day to pray to Allah.
How about you? Where is the Thor, the Odin, etc. our ancestors (if you're white European in ancestry) worshiped and abandoned to keep a sword (or worse) from dispatching them to whatever afterlife they previously looked forward to.
It's about time people started thinking about all those certainties they're so fanatically dedicated to believing out of plain old fear of condemnation.
Talk about Terrorism! The "Stockholm syndrome" controls the world and dictates what most people say they believe, but in the back of many, many minds there have to be deep questions. At least, there should be
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
CURVE BALLS OF LIFE
A good friend of mine and former Worldwide minister tells us this morning that there is a spot on one of his lungs that has to be tested for cancer. Of course, that will take a few days. He had a cancer removed from his shoulder a few months back and has pretty well recovered from that. This is way more serious. Hopefully, it's only a fungus infection. That would still be serious but much easier overall to deal with.
It all seems so unfair, and it is. Here I am, nearly 80 and healthy as an old nearly worn out horse. Of course, there could be some serious condition creeping up on me while I'm blissfully unaware just like they crept up on him. I've noticed how slowly wounds heal now because my body just doesn't repair itself as fast as it used to. I tire out and want to sit down much sooner than I did last year and shockingly sooner than I did a decade ago.
We like to say of cars that it's probably time to jack them up and drive a new one under it, and that's kind of the way with our physical bodies. We are a physical machine after all. Some last longer than others with fewer problems but all eventually break down.
I try not to dwell on these facts, but they're real and can't be totally ignored. That makes each day that comes along more and more precious.
It all seems so unfair, and it is. Here I am, nearly 80 and healthy as an old nearly worn out horse. Of course, there could be some serious condition creeping up on me while I'm blissfully unaware just like they crept up on him. I've noticed how slowly wounds heal now because my body just doesn't repair itself as fast as it used to. I tire out and want to sit down much sooner than I did last year and shockingly sooner than I did a decade ago.
We like to say of cars that it's probably time to jack them up and drive a new one under it, and that's kind of the way with our physical bodies. We are a physical machine after all. Some last longer than others with fewer problems but all eventually break down.
I try not to dwell on these facts, but they're real and can't be totally ignored. That makes each day that comes along more and more precious.
Monday, August 25, 2014
COMPLEMENTARY SEX DIFFERENCES
I love our dogs, and I like to pet them, but if they have a choice, they will go to Phyllis every time. I think I know why.
There's something special about the soft touch of a female. I noticed that early on in life. I know my dad loved me just as much as my mother in many ways, but I always sought out her comfort first. I didn't wear ties much as a kid, but I soon learned how to tie them myself so I didn't have to endure my dad doing it. I characterize it as "whoop, whoop, whoop, whap!" It ended up so tight on my neck that I had to loosen it. So, I learned how to do dad's half Windsor really quick and stepped up to the square knot of a full Windsor when I started college and learned the difference.
We males have a hard time equaling a woman's gentle touch. I guess it's a hormone thing, and there's probably an equal desire on the part of women to feel the strength in a man at appropriate times and circumstances. We complement each other.
There's something special about the soft touch of a female. I noticed that early on in life. I know my dad loved me just as much as my mother in many ways, but I always sought out her comfort first. I didn't wear ties much as a kid, but I soon learned how to tie them myself so I didn't have to endure my dad doing it. I characterize it as "whoop, whoop, whoop, whap!" It ended up so tight on my neck that I had to loosen it. So, I learned how to do dad's half Windsor really quick and stepped up to the square knot of a full Windsor when I started college and learned the difference.
We males have a hard time equaling a woman's gentle touch. I guess it's a hormone thing, and there's probably an equal desire on the part of women to feel the strength in a man at appropriate times and circumstances. We complement each other.
THE AMERICAN HOLOCAUST
Condemnation of the Holocaust is pretty much universal, but the spirit of the holocaust lives on, here in America and elsewhere in the world.
There's a clandestine holocaust going on today against people who are viewed as different -- immigrants, homosexuals, poor and downtrodden (especially if you're black or latino), anyone with a drug or alcohol problem. In short anyone who isn't rabidly christian and monetarily prosperous.
Our prison system has become a bloated source of wealth for private capital while we lock away a greater percentage of our population than any other developed nation in our growing system of concentration camps, knowing full well that when the inmates are released, they will almost certainly have to resort to some sort of crime just to survive and end up right back where they were so the bloated millionaires can continue to rape the economy and ride around in luxury.
Think I'm kidding? Think again! You have to be blind if you don't see what's going on, or just too damn mentally lazy to think about it.
Police are becoming more and more thuggish and militarized. People as a whole are being deadened to the suffering and inequality all around them. It's Nazi Germany all over again. Time to wake up and quit being placid because they haven't come for you yet.
There's a clandestine holocaust going on today against people who are viewed as different -- immigrants, homosexuals, poor and downtrodden (especially if you're black or latino), anyone with a drug or alcohol problem. In short anyone who isn't rabidly christian and monetarily prosperous.
Our prison system has become a bloated source of wealth for private capital while we lock away a greater percentage of our population than any other developed nation in our growing system of concentration camps, knowing full well that when the inmates are released, they will almost certainly have to resort to some sort of crime just to survive and end up right back where they were so the bloated millionaires can continue to rape the economy and ride around in luxury.
Think I'm kidding? Think again! You have to be blind if you don't see what's going on, or just too damn mentally lazy to think about it.
Police are becoming more and more thuggish and militarized. People as a whole are being deadened to the suffering and inequality all around them. It's Nazi Germany all over again. Time to wake up and quit being placid because they haven't come for you yet.
Thursday, August 21, 2014
THE ILLUSION OF PERMANENCE
What is a human life, after all? We all stumble through it with our triumphs and our disappointments.
I drive across the desert or through the plains of the Midwest and Canada and see all the tumble down places and shelter belts that no longer shelter any buildings at all and wonder who once lived there and what they dreamed would become of what they so laboriously built. I wonder how much would still be recognizable on my parent's ranch today.
Even in my younger life, the original 160 acre plots people had homesteaded in the early 1900s had been absorbed in much larger holdings of several quarters or sections, and there were a few traces here and there of buildings and fences that had long since disappeared. Since then, the trend has increased exponentially.
We bought the property we now own (in partnership with Nationstar) in Cottonwood a little over six years ago, and we've made a few improvements and planted some trees and shrubs. Mr. Guhl, the former owner had died, and it was too much for his wife to keep up. She moved into some kind of retirement community, and the place became ours, but that is only interim also. The day will inevitably come when we will either die or have to give it up for someone else to take over.
The last time I was in Pasadena, the downtown was totally different. That great mall on Colorado Boulevard had gone belly up. Ambassador College was still recognizable, but it wouldn't be today. Many of those magnificent old buildings we took such pride in have been razed to the ground and replaced with something more in keeping with what the population of today needs. That, too, will likely only be temporary.
Nothing is so permanent as change. Nothing more temporary than our personal accomplishments.
I drive across the desert or through the plains of the Midwest and Canada and see all the tumble down places and shelter belts that no longer shelter any buildings at all and wonder who once lived there and what they dreamed would become of what they so laboriously built. I wonder how much would still be recognizable on my parent's ranch today.
Even in my younger life, the original 160 acre plots people had homesteaded in the early 1900s had been absorbed in much larger holdings of several quarters or sections, and there were a few traces here and there of buildings and fences that had long since disappeared. Since then, the trend has increased exponentially.
We bought the property we now own (in partnership with Nationstar) in Cottonwood a little over six years ago, and we've made a few improvements and planted some trees and shrubs. Mr. Guhl, the former owner had died, and it was too much for his wife to keep up. She moved into some kind of retirement community, and the place became ours, but that is only interim also. The day will inevitably come when we will either die or have to give it up for someone else to take over.
The last time I was in Pasadena, the downtown was totally different. That great mall on Colorado Boulevard had gone belly up. Ambassador College was still recognizable, but it wouldn't be today. Many of those magnificent old buildings we took such pride in have been razed to the ground and replaced with something more in keeping with what the population of today needs. That, too, will likely only be temporary.
Nothing is so permanent as change. Nothing more temporary than our personal accomplishments.
SURVIVAL AFTER DEATH
I was ruminating over the common belief that we go on living in something that's often referred to as a spiritual or astral existence after we die. Those who believe such things assume we're just a physical mirror of something more permanent and invisible that goes on after we die.
Comforting beliefs, but why doesn't that separate existence come into play when our brains are deadened by anesthetic? How can that entity speak without a mouth, hear without an ear, feel without a body, see without an eye, etc., all of which function through a brain that is physical and ceases to operate once its supply of oxygenated blood is cut off?
Resusitation of a dead person doesn't lead to anything except a vegetative existence if the physical brain is deprived of oxygen for any significant period of time and even that has a definite time period attached to it. It looks to me like anything "spiritual" is inexorably dependent on that fatty mass of tissue that resides inside our skulls.
I've not experienced anesthesia more than a couple times, but I can't tell you a solitary thing about what went on while I was "out." Why didn't I astral travel like some people claim they can? All we have as evidence for their doing so is the anecdotal claims they make for what could be nothing more than a vivid imagination and a daydream. I've had some pretty vivid daydreams in my time, and you probably have also. I can dredge up pictures from my boyhood on that North Dakota ranch anytime and about several other places I've lived. I can make them pretty vivid and if I let myself or was impressionable enough, I might even be sure I went back there in spirit.
I know this proves nothing, but neither do extraordinary claims which require extraordinary evidence and proofs before they can be established as facts. Courts don't accept "hearsay," and neither am I prepared to do so.
Comforting beliefs, but why doesn't that separate existence come into play when our brains are deadened by anesthetic? How can that entity speak without a mouth, hear without an ear, feel without a body, see without an eye, etc., all of which function through a brain that is physical and ceases to operate once its supply of oxygenated blood is cut off?
Resusitation of a dead person doesn't lead to anything except a vegetative existence if the physical brain is deprived of oxygen for any significant period of time and even that has a definite time period attached to it. It looks to me like anything "spiritual" is inexorably dependent on that fatty mass of tissue that resides inside our skulls.
I've not experienced anesthesia more than a couple times, but I can't tell you a solitary thing about what went on while I was "out." Why didn't I astral travel like some people claim they can? All we have as evidence for their doing so is the anecdotal claims they make for what could be nothing more than a vivid imagination and a daydream. I've had some pretty vivid daydreams in my time, and you probably have also. I can dredge up pictures from my boyhood on that North Dakota ranch anytime and about several other places I've lived. I can make them pretty vivid and if I let myself or was impressionable enough, I might even be sure I went back there in spirit.
I know this proves nothing, but neither do extraordinary claims which require extraordinary evidence and proofs before they can be established as facts. Courts don't accept "hearsay," and neither am I prepared to do so.
Thursday, August 14, 2014
THINK, DAMMIT!
Religion and politics are both a money and power game. That's why our founders tried so hard to keep them separate and why we had to have a Bill of Rights before the former colonists would ratify the Constitution. It's been under assault continuously ever since.
The problem with religion is not the average "believer" who carelessly goes along with whatever his forbears and the culture saddles him with, and the same is true with the average political loyalty of the average person who just buys in emotionally to some groups propaganda for innumerable psychological reasons.
The problem is the "leaders" whose power and affluence depend on selling a bill of goods which furthers their nefarious objectives of control, and enrichment, I saw it in action when I was ensnared in Herbert Armstrong's cult. He was ruthless once he had a power base and reacted in fury to any challenge of his position while he lived the luxurious life of an oriental potentate.
I've learned to ask, "What's the real agenda here?"
Think, people! I know it takes effort, and it's not fashionable. But -- just think!
The problem with religion is not the average "believer" who carelessly goes along with whatever his forbears and the culture saddles him with, and the same is true with the average political loyalty of the average person who just buys in emotionally to some groups propaganda for innumerable psychological reasons.
The problem is the "leaders" whose power and affluence depend on selling a bill of goods which furthers their nefarious objectives of control, and enrichment, I saw it in action when I was ensnared in Herbert Armstrong's cult. He was ruthless once he had a power base and reacted in fury to any challenge of his position while he lived the luxurious life of an oriental potentate.
I've learned to ask, "What's the real agenda here?"
Think, people! I know it takes effort, and it's not fashionable. But -- just think!
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
FACING REALITY
Another famous dead person from show business, Lauren Bacall. At least she died of a massive stroke at the age of 89. That's a good long life!
Soon all those of my generation are going to be among the fondly remembered and in a few decades, they'll slowly slip from people's minds just like the silent film era stars did. It's the inevitable fate we all face.
I guess that's why the fiction of continuing existence in heaven, reincarnation on earth and numerous other fanciful notions are so compelling. We don't like the thought of just disappearing from reality in a blast of finality. We're too unique, too special. We just can't fathom not being anymore, not seeing, not hearing, not doing loving things for people dear to us, etc.
I've had to struggle against the reality that cold reason and plain old facts forces upon us. That's another reason I don't seek after funerals and memorials anymore. I know what people expect, and I just can't conscientiously deliver it. I'm not a liar. I don't believe in furthering fantasy and false hopes. For a while I could skirt the edges because I wasn't totally convinced myself. That has all changed now. I'm absolutely convinced that this temporal existence is the real "it." I'll be just as gone as those moths being fried in my bug light.
It would be comforting to still believe in a resurrection or wafting off to heaven and some waiting 'pearly gates.' Waiting for Santa every Christmas used to be comforting too to my naive little mind. Then, I got smart and pretended to be asleep and knew all about my parents pulling stuff out of the attic and putting those things under the tree and pouring all those goodies into the stockings.
It happens to stars. It happens to everything else in the universe. Birth, existence in more or less a blaze of glory for a definite period of time and then it's all over. Even the earth on which we depend won't last forever.
I had my birth. Much of my life was a blaze of glory now that I look back on it. Now, it's beginning to fade at an increasingly rapid rate. One day, it will be over, just like Lauren's and Robin's lives and just like all those others I've known, interacted with and who are now gone.
Do I like it? Can't say I do. I just have to face it and make the most of it.
Soon all those of my generation are going to be among the fondly remembered and in a few decades, they'll slowly slip from people's minds just like the silent film era stars did. It's the inevitable fate we all face.
I guess that's why the fiction of continuing existence in heaven, reincarnation on earth and numerous other fanciful notions are so compelling. We don't like the thought of just disappearing from reality in a blast of finality. We're too unique, too special. We just can't fathom not being anymore, not seeing, not hearing, not doing loving things for people dear to us, etc.
I've had to struggle against the reality that cold reason and plain old facts forces upon us. That's another reason I don't seek after funerals and memorials anymore. I know what people expect, and I just can't conscientiously deliver it. I'm not a liar. I don't believe in furthering fantasy and false hopes. For a while I could skirt the edges because I wasn't totally convinced myself. That has all changed now. I'm absolutely convinced that this temporal existence is the real "it." I'll be just as gone as those moths being fried in my bug light.
It would be comforting to still believe in a resurrection or wafting off to heaven and some waiting 'pearly gates.' Waiting for Santa every Christmas used to be comforting too to my naive little mind. Then, I got smart and pretended to be asleep and knew all about my parents pulling stuff out of the attic and putting those things under the tree and pouring all those goodies into the stockings.
It happens to stars. It happens to everything else in the universe. Birth, existence in more or less a blaze of glory for a definite period of time and then it's all over. Even the earth on which we depend won't last forever.
I had my birth. Much of my life was a blaze of glory now that I look back on it. Now, it's beginning to fade at an increasingly rapid rate. One day, it will be over, just like Lauren's and Robin's lives and just like all those others I've known, interacted with and who are now gone.
Do I like it? Can't say I do. I just have to face it and make the most of it.
Monday, August 11, 2014
COULD I BE SUICIDAL?
There has to be a lot of pain and/or despair in someone's life for them to commit suicide. On the surface, one would think Robin Williams had it made. He was famous. He was loved and respected, praised as a talented comedian and actor. I doubt that he had deep financial worries and he was married to a woman I assume he loved deeply and had children he loved very much.
His wife's parents used to live in unit 5 of the condo complex Phyllis bought into in Phoenix and which I moved into when we got married. However, they were no longer there at that time. He used to come by to see them.
I saw on TV how he felt that the most wonderful things that had happened to him in life was welcoming his children into the world. I can identify with that. Yet, something was just too overwhelming for him to face any longer.
Would I ever come to the place where I'd rather die than go on? I have to honestly say, yes. Right now, no. Life is just too good and too interesting. But, that could easily change. There could come a time when the pain of going on is just too much, the struggle more than one can bear.
And, don't give me any high falutin' "spiritual" garbage about it. If a revered Israelite king could fall on his sword to prevent capture by and humiliation from the enemy, I can decide life has become intolerable and end it all. That would be my business and nobody else's.
So, thanks for all the laughs and for all the good you tried to do, Robin. You'll be remembered longer than most people are, so that's a little bit of immortality -- the only kind any of us can count on achieving.
His wife's parents used to live in unit 5 of the condo complex Phyllis bought into in Phoenix and which I moved into when we got married. However, they were no longer there at that time. He used to come by to see them.
I saw on TV how he felt that the most wonderful things that had happened to him in life was welcoming his children into the world. I can identify with that. Yet, something was just too overwhelming for him to face any longer.
Would I ever come to the place where I'd rather die than go on? I have to honestly say, yes. Right now, no. Life is just too good and too interesting. But, that could easily change. There could come a time when the pain of going on is just too much, the struggle more than one can bear.
And, don't give me any high falutin' "spiritual" garbage about it. If a revered Israelite king could fall on his sword to prevent capture by and humiliation from the enemy, I can decide life has become intolerable and end it all. That would be my business and nobody else's.
So, thanks for all the laughs and for all the good you tried to do, Robin. You'll be remembered longer than most people are, so that's a little bit of immortality -- the only kind any of us can count on achieving.
Friday, August 8, 2014
LIFE'S REALITIES
I drug the steam machine out of my van and hauled it into the house so I could clean our carpets. They really needed it. I ended up totally exhausted and torn over whether to put the machine back in my van or figure a way to store it at home. I knew this day was coming, but I didn't realize how devastating it would be emotionally.
You know life forces changes on you, but until they actually come about, it's somewhat hazy and ethereal and the actual reality eludes one for a long time. At eighteen, sticking a pitchfork into the corner of a stack of hay and glorying in rolling it into a hay wagon like it was nothing became a way of life for me until way past middle age. Young men really do glory in their strength and it's hard to really grasp what it's going to be like when it begins, with ever growing rapidity, to decline.
I sat for a while on the patio and mulled the situation over, only to have a former neighbor stop by and ask if I'd be willing to do their living room and kitchen carpets for them and what I'd charge. I guess I can handle that yet, but it was only a short while ago that I would have greedily sought after such a job. Now, I don't even advertise for them.
If you're young, treasure that strength and agility and employ it judiciously so you don't end up with a bad back or some other problem. Enjoy all you can while you have the ability and you'll be able to look back with satisfaction when you get where i am at things you've done and accomplished. It's still going to hurt though when it all goes bye bye.
It will go bye bye!
You know life forces changes on you, but until they actually come about, it's somewhat hazy and ethereal and the actual reality eludes one for a long time. At eighteen, sticking a pitchfork into the corner of a stack of hay and glorying in rolling it into a hay wagon like it was nothing became a way of life for me until way past middle age. Young men really do glory in their strength and it's hard to really grasp what it's going to be like when it begins, with ever growing rapidity, to decline.
I sat for a while on the patio and mulled the situation over, only to have a former neighbor stop by and ask if I'd be willing to do their living room and kitchen carpets for them and what I'd charge. I guess I can handle that yet, but it was only a short while ago that I would have greedily sought after such a job. Now, I don't even advertise for them.
If you're young, treasure that strength and agility and employ it judiciously so you don't end up with a bad back or some other problem. Enjoy all you can while you have the ability and you'll be able to look back with satisfaction when you get where i am at things you've done and accomplished. It's still going to hurt though when it all goes bye bye.
It will go bye bye!
Saturday, August 2, 2014
GOD IS A "FUCK UP!"
(fROM fACEBOOK.)
I was finishing up a late breakfast and Phyllis was showing me some things she was thinking of ordering, including a non-sticky fly catcher. It got me ruminating about things that pissed me off at "god" even when I was dumb enough to wholeheartedly believe in that nonsense.
I couldn't begin to list all the travesties of the natural world that inspire loathing and revulsion at the very concept of a "loving" creator but mosquitoes have to be near the top of the list. Any supreme being who could think up those insidious little blood sucking, disease carrying monsters has to be a sadist on galactic proportions. The disgusting litany of horrible parasites that infest us and the rest of the natural world have to be right up there with them.
Then, what about all the genetic horrors that seem to come out of nowhere to afflict just about every species inhabiting this planet. I mean, we can, when we're careful about it, mass produce perfect products in an endless stream, but "god" can't stop a mongoloid child from coming down the pike.
Supposedly, he's all knowing, all powerful, all wise, ad infinitum and ad nauseum. In fact, that fictional construct is a "fuck up" of cosmic proportions that only infantile and deluded minds could have dreamed up.
I used to love Superman comics when I was a kid and all the other super hero constructs as well, but then, I grew up and became a bit more rational. However, it was a process that took many decades because, at age 18, I substituted something just as ludicrous as Superman, etc. and dutifully served and preached that nonsense for a mighty long time.
Come on, now. There's one statement Paul made that I agree with, but even he wasn't following it. "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things (KJV)."
God concepts originated when the human race had hardly reached the toddler stage yet we hang onto them like a scared little kid who won't go to sleep without his or her "teddy."
I was finishing up a late breakfast and Phyllis was showing me some things she was thinking of ordering, including a non-sticky fly catcher. It got me ruminating about things that pissed me off at "god" even when I was dumb enough to wholeheartedly believe in that nonsense.
I couldn't begin to list all the travesties of the natural world that inspire loathing and revulsion at the very concept of a "loving" creator but mosquitoes have to be near the top of the list. Any supreme being who could think up those insidious little blood sucking, disease carrying monsters has to be a sadist on galactic proportions. The disgusting litany of horrible parasites that infest us and the rest of the natural world have to be right up there with them.
Then, what about all the genetic horrors that seem to come out of nowhere to afflict just about every species inhabiting this planet. I mean, we can, when we're careful about it, mass produce perfect products in an endless stream, but "god" can't stop a mongoloid child from coming down the pike.
Supposedly, he's all knowing, all powerful, all wise, ad infinitum and ad nauseum. In fact, that fictional construct is a "fuck up" of cosmic proportions that only infantile and deluded minds could have dreamed up.
I used to love Superman comics when I was a kid and all the other super hero constructs as well, but then, I grew up and became a bit more rational. However, it was a process that took many decades because, at age 18, I substituted something just as ludicrous as Superman, etc. and dutifully served and preached that nonsense for a mighty long time.
Come on, now. There's one statement Paul made that I agree with, but even he wasn't following it. "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things (KJV)."
God concepts originated when the human race had hardly reached the toddler stage yet we hang onto them like a scared little kid who won't go to sleep without his or her "teddy."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
