Toxic Shit is Not Entertainment!

Another recommendation...

Want to stay sane? Ok, never-mind, maybe that's impossible. Want to TRY to keep your shit together? Best advice: Tune out the Loud, Angry Talkers across the Land. I mean it. We tend to amplify the Loud, Angry, Know-Nothings amongst us. We give them the airwaves: talk-shows, opinion shows, faux-news shows, internet streams and videos, blathering, blathering, blathering. There are whole cable networks, YouTube channels & podcasts devoted to that mind-numbing, totally dumbing-down Bullshit. Even cable networks that more closely align with my political persuasion, chatter away in an angry-making, cynical, sarcastic mode. Even "comics" and "comedy shows" stream this toxic shit. You know, just not funny. Not healthy. Air-pollution. Brain-pollution. Toxic to our systems. I think it's all stress-inducing, and your brain actually seizes up. All that toxic talk, pretending to be smart, makes us all less intelligent. And it's NOT ENTERTAINING! If you want to entertain yourself, listen to music, go for a walk, meditate. I mean you can keep informed. I'd recommend listening to NPR, reading the New Yorker, The Guardian, NYT & Washington Post. Reading is such a good, healthy way to ingest the news. I do think we all should also tune into the January 6th Hearings. Be sure to get your info directly from the witnesses. Try to discern facts directly. Inform yourself without intaking the toxic conversation around the cool, clear, reality.  Be AWARE, ALIVE, AWAKE. Seek the Truth. Yes, we all can handle the Truth. And really our lives, our mental-health, and our inter-connected ecosystem all depend upon it. Loud-Talker Opinions? Yikes! Complete Toxic Shit to be avoided at all costs! Let's keep our heads together, people!

"Woke?" - Sure!

Well... sure...

We all should aspire to be "Woke." 

Alive, Aware, Awake.  

Here and Now. How could anyone choose another way?  It is amazing to me that this is a contentious idea. Sure we should all be sensitive to all Sentient Beings. We should be Inclusive & Embracing of all Human Beings of every Race, Creed, Color & Sexual Orientation.

I suppose it gets a bit dicey on the fringes and margins. What to do with those who Hate? What to do with those who want to destroy Democracy? Who want to Discriminate against Others? Who want to be Free to Oppress?

I suppose we must Lead By Example. Show all Sentient Beings that we all benefit if we Lean to the Light: Equality, Fraternity, Liberty.  Free to Love. Think of those Dissenters as "Sick Spirits," folks who need a bit of Healing.  As Dylan once wrote: "Don't Hate nothing except Hatred."

What it is All About.

What to believe in?

You know it's a dicey thing. Best to believe in True Things.  What's True?  Maybe a clue, what's True is what's Real. What's real? Maybe what's left over when what you believe, evaporates before your very eyes? 

You know, I guess, it's all bit confusing, and complicated. Sometimes you end up believing in things you can't touch, or see, and you are not even sure if they really are real or not.

Last night our band did a r&r show, and it was extraordinary in every way. So, this morning, I can say that I believe in the power of music, and of r&r. I do believe that creating and performing music in a crowded room of enthusiastic souls is exhilarating and healing for all involved. It is an energy, a spirit, a vibe, a real thing, not something you can grasp in your arms, but something big, and powerful, and extraordinary.

It's all mysterious and ephemeral. It's a feeling, an experience that connects a whole room of folks. It is something that seems to  be disappearing even as it is manifesting in the air. The creative vibe; it is an act of conjuring, it's a magic trick. A weird magic to believe in; life-affirming, soul-enriching, it is what it is all about.

The Shite-Eaters...

The Masters of Disinformation have learned they can easily hack the knowledge system of humanity. They flood the pipes with total SHITE. And the media, plays their usual "both sides have a point" game. It is a sick form of entertainment, but, you know, we are all addicted to it in varying degrees. So, if you are paying attention, you have to wade thru waves and waves and waves of complete unmitigated BULLSHIT.  Prez #45 (the Gaseous, Nauseous Dirigible), is one of the greatest purveyors of the Ocean of Shite. And he has a cadre of Assholes who also excel at flooding the public square with mindless, toxic, drivel. And the MAGA Death Cult laps it all up. It is amazing. Gob-smacking. The MAGA Death Cult are the folks who EAT SHITE AND SAY IT TASTES GOOD!  The rest of us can put our big-boy boots on and wade thru the RIVER OF SHITE, we can make our way to the safe Island of Truth & Common Sense. It doesn't take a genius, just a decent, sensible Human Being who is really paying attention, and trusting in our "senses five."

A Quick Summary of Hearing Day #3!

I heard on the radio this a.m some folks just don't have the time to watch or listen to the January 6th Hearings. Too busy with their little lives to care about Democracy. Well, as a public service, let me give you all a quick summary of Day #3!

1. Yes, there was an organized attempted Coup on January 6.

2. Yes, ex-Prez, (45 - the Gaseous, Nauseous Dirigible), was fine with and encouraged the crowd to murder his V.P. Pence

3. Yes, lots of creeps and hanger's on were trying to help 45's Coup attempt.

4. Yes, 45 and his crew of henchmen & women, knew they were trying to do something totally Unconstitutional and Illegal.

5. Yes, at least one lawyer wallowing in the throes of his corruption was pleading for a PRESIDENTIAL PARDON after the Coup failed.

6. Yes, a Supreme Court Justice's wife (Ginni Thomas) was deeply involved, up to her neck in planning the coup. BTW - they have a ton of email's implicating Poor Fascist Ginni. I think she will now have to testify in front of the Committee. Popcorn time!

7. Yes, a Supreme Court Justice (Clarence Thomas) is now under scrutiny for not recusing himself on Supreme Court cases related to #45 and the Coup.

8. Yes, VP Mike Pence actually did the right thing (he was trying hard not to, but in the end he did). Surprise, surprise!

Yes. It was a consequential, informative, gob-smackingly, totally-impressive, mind-blowing hearing. More to come next week!

Stupid Reigns...

Stupid Answers to Stupid Questions...

Question: Are Human Beings going to confront Climate Change?

Answer: Probably not. I mean, yes, of course, with their chins. It's all happening NOW.

Question: Are Human Beings going to make Earth an Uninhabitable Hell-scape?

Answer: Probably yes.


Question: Who will they blame?

Answer: God, The Devil, Anyone but themselves.


Question: Is the Trump-MAGA-Death-Cult one of the worst things to happen to USA?

Answer: Yes, no doubt, there is a long list of bad things, but the Death-Cult is probably in the top echelon, (maybe top three?), of bad, fucked up things to happen to our country. A really, really stupid, mind-numbing, brain-fogging, fucked up phenomena.


Question: Can we roll up our sleeves, get our shit together, and fix things?

Answer: Who the fuck knows? It's a dicey question. Not sure I'd bet on it. Human Beings: Tricky, Complicated, Not as Smart as they think they are.


Question: Eternity... is it a long time?

Answer: Yes. Eternity is a really, really, really, long, long time.

The Big Lie was also the Big Grift!

Back to the January 6th Hearings…

Day Two - It was kind of a blockbuster. Again, most of the devastating testimony was from Republican folks who worked for 45 (the Gaseous, Nauseous Dirigible). You want "bi-partisan," this hearing is definitely bi-partisan.

So far, it is a riveting, life-changing narrative, masterly-presented. 

What was the main takeaway in Hearing #2? 

Not only did our Ex-Prez know his Big Lie (the false claim that the election was rigged), was a Big Lie, he raised $250,000,000 from the MAGA Death Cult for a Defense Fund that DIDN'T EXIST! The Big Lie was also the Big Grift. Most of the money vanished into the deep black hole of B.S.

You wonder if the MAGA Death Cult will ever have that moment of clarity: "OMG, that Fat Fucker not only lied to us, he ripped us off AGAIN!"  I know… not… likely… it is hard for folks to admit they have been suckered.

Yesterday, I turned to my friend and said, "The odds of Fat Fuck being indicted have increased immensely."  As they always say: Follow the Money. I'd bet the FF didn't claim those ill-gotten gains on his tax forms, and, well, you know, where did all the money go?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Less Talk, More Silence...

Ha… 

I think Ludwig Wittgenstein was there well before me “Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent”.

I come from a long line of conversationalists. Folks, mostly men in my ancestral line, who like (and liked) to talk. A line of enthusiastic, loud-talkers. I reflect back and think, well, it wasn't all nonsense, but, you know, we'd often get in loud, super-consequential, tooth & nail, verbal arguments about things, "whereof one cannot speak." We thought and fought about things we thought we knew about in a dark fog of "know-nothing-ness."

Was Joe Louis a greater heavy-weight boxer than Muhammad Ali?

Was Picasso the greatest painter? Or Matisse? Or Van Gogh? Or Warhol?

And, by the way, "Why is boxing even a sport?" And "What the Fuck is Art anyway?"

Is Michael Jordan the greatest basketball player of all-time? Well, yes, no doubt, this one is a no-brainer.

Was Stanley Kubrick the greatest filmmaker of all-time? Or was it David Lean, John Huston, Orson Welles, Martin Scorcese, Francis Ford Coppola, Frank Capra, Billy Wilder?

How would you measure any of these things? How would you know what's what? We all would wield our strongly-held opinions like they were deadly, blunt instruments. 

You know, we all had deep, in the bone, opinions. Sometimes they'd shift, but often we'd just club each other with our opinions and smile.

And then there were the grand concepts that none of us really knew WTF we were talking about:

The Future

Reincarnation

Heaven, Hell, Purgatory

Original Sin

Damnation

Redemption

Economics

Revolution

Philosophy

God, Death, Life

Vietnam War

Iraq War

Gulf War

9/11

The Generation Gap

Meaning and Purpose

Nature vs. Nurture

Life AFTER Death 

Love & Salvation

Topics of the Day

Blind Human Beings stumbling in a dark closet.

We were clueless even about simple questions like: Why are here? What should we do with our time? What to think? Where to go? What's it all about Alfie?"

So yes, well, we filled the air with our voices, thinking maybe it was important, or certainly entertaining, but, nowadays I'm thinking silence, quiet contemplation, sustained moments of staring into the yawning void, would have been beneficial.  You can eliminate lots of topics of conversation right off the bat. Clear the deck of anything you can't pinpoint and verify. Clear the air. Keep it simple. Speak of things you know thereof. You could fit them in a thimble, a shot-glass or a matchbox.

For instance: "What did you do today?" "What did you do yesterday?" "What did you have for lunch yesterday?" "What's for lunch today?" Beyond that, well, it is sort of  dropping into a pointless cloud of unknowing.  What's gonna happen today?  Maybe best to just live and find out.

Laughter & Tears...

Ah well…

It is was an uncommon Sunday. We traveled to the Big City for a memorial service for a fallen friend and relation. It was all about transportation, and the perils of public transportation. 3 trains to downtown, 1 train back. Everything takes longer in the this post-pandemic era. Everything looks a bit tired and shabby. And summer in Chicago means a cold breeze zipping across the river. A June chill. We saw some familiar faces. Years hanging over all of us. We saw a celebration of a life, cut short. An unimaginable illness, unimaginable loss. We all seemed to be just grappling with the basic facts & meanings. No answers. We told stories, we laughed, we hugged, tears welled up in our eyes.  A line my father always used to say: "What's it all about Alfie?" Hung over me. Right?! Not sure what it is about at all. What was the theme for the day? EVERYTHING IS PRECIOUS. It all can (and will) be snatched away in an instant. In the meantime, take care. Do good. Be here now. The rest is just a big Mystery. No sense talking about the big subjects, they are all wrapped in clouds, you know, Life, Death, God, Meaning. It seems clear there are no definitive answers, only existential questions. We have to live with the questions. How to do it? Who knows? It's up to us to Live as best we can, knowing what little we do. Maybe, be kind to each other, try to see the Light, and share it? Contain multitudes. Remember: Laughter and Tears of Joy. Everything is Hard-Earned. That is the best we can do, be True.

Truth-Seekers, Truth-Tellers...

It is obvious to this Humble Observer that the January 6th Hearings are writing history NOW. An event happened, (an Insurrection),  and, even to this day, we are still sifting through the evidence, discovering facts, putting the narrative together. It's a tale of skullduggery and intrigue. The Congressional Commitee is determined to unearth the facts, to discover and uncover the truth, and present it to the world. It is an honorable task. It doesn't matter if some people don't care. It doesn't matter if some people continue to LIE over and over, and swear that there are no facts, there is no Truth, and what we can see and hear with our own eyes and ears didn't really happen. We must not be BAMBOOZLED by the loudest, no-nothing voices. So funny to see that the MAGA Death Cult just refuses to see the obvious. They can yell, and pound the table and swear that their Gaseous Dirigible Candidate was cheated, but it's all just Gaslighting, maximum B.S. They have no leg of evidence to stand upon. I throw my lot in with the Truth-Seekers and Truth-Tellers. Let the facts and the evidence live. We can handle the truth. And we must face it. It is the only way to reclaim and renew the USA and it's always under attack Democracy.

"Gimmee Some Truth…" - J. Lennon

Ha. In these politically-polarized times, total Bullshit is given equal time to the cold hard facts. So we get, for instance, the Big Lie, a multi-year campaign where that bloated dirigible, ex-Prez 45 yammers on about totally fictional hallucinations of a stolen election: total fabrication, disinformation, ridiculous, totally debunked B.S. But it turns out for a percentage of the population (30 %?), it is a convenient Lie, an entertaining fabrication, something to cling to as if their lives depended on it. It is appalling. The Big Lie sits in the punchbowl like a very big, ominous, ridiculous, deadly turd. We all have to try to maneuver around it. Maybe best to avoid the punchbowl completely? Best to find an alternate brew. The Truth is out there. It isn't up for debate. Truth is Truth. Why do those folks cling to the Lie? They can't admit they are wrong, they've duped by a total Clown and Fraud? Yes, probably so. The rest of us scratch our heads and wonder: why are so many of my fellow Americans fed up with Democracy, you know, why do those supposed "true Americans" hate so much of what makes America great? Beats me. I think it's a kind of a nihilistic death cult: Trumpism. Yuck. The worst of the worst embodied in one man and one movement. 

So yes, the January 6th Hearings (see previous post), are all about telling, exposing, highlighting the truth of the events that led to the Insurrection. It is a necessary, healthy, important thing to do, to show to the world. The cold hard facts, the basic, simple truth of what happened must stand up against the B.S. that swirls around us. It is not entertainment, it is a cleansing, a truth-seeking tonic for what ails us. Let it come down. What happens when all see the plain truth? Who knows? The Death Cult will probably shut their eyes to it. But it is worth the effort. It is essential. Existential. Fuck the Liars. Fuck the B.S. As John Lennon once sang: "Gimmee Some Truth."

Stunning, Sad, Enraging, Informative...

We watched the January 6th Hearing last night on TV. We pretty much tuned out the the pre & post commentary, and just watched the hearing. It was stunning, sad, enraging, informative. Stirred us up. Made us realize how fragile our Democracy really is, and how close we all came to seeing it crash and burn.  Not sure what happens next, but it seems like lots more folks who were in the loop of this dastardly plot hatched by 45 must stand and face the consequences of the law. As Liz Cheney (?!?) pointed out, there is only ONE PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY (45) who decided they did not want to submit to the PEACEFUL TRANSFER OF POWER.  So after being trounced in the election, 45 waged a crazy-ass campaign, the Big Lie, that even his Attorney General knew was total "Bullshit," to overthrow all reason, logic, common sense, and the Constitution. WTF! That Dude is a plague and a scourge on the land. We must rid ourselves of this pestilence. How to do it? The Rule of Law. Justice. It is supposed to be Blind and it grinds slow, but here's hoping a reckoning and cleansing is coming. Hoping.

My Own Personal Gospel...

I found myself, off the cuff, just spit-balling, improvising in the moment, talking off the top of my head, preaching my own personal creative gospel yesterday to a small group of musicians. We had just finished an astonishingly good session, playing songs together, flying, vamping, listening, responding, creating vibrations with heart & soul, totally alive, aware & awake in a rehearsal room, all connected & inspired, doing the good work.

I talked about energy, vibrations, healing, the power we were conjuring in the moment. I preached how we were all "healers," we were doing essential work that our fellow human beings were thirsting for, and craving. It all came out in a blizzard of words and feelings. I didn't know I was going to speak my truth, there was no forethought, I don't usually let it all hang out like that,  I mean, usually we play together and let the music have the last word, but this was a sympathetic group, folks who I admire, respect and trust, and they often inspire me with their beauty and dedication to their instruments and the music we create together.

So I laid it on thick. The opposite of a "fire & brimstone" sermon, it was a sermon of love and energy, and vibrations, and discipline and fun, and the creative mission. It was a riff on our purpose. There were smiles all around. I think the message landed in hearts and minds. We all kind of glowed. It was a good session.

Gentle, Quiet, Clarity...

The Noise Machine. We face it every day. It is enormous, overwhelming. It blares out at us from every corner. Often, we are just trying to navigate thru the noise to get to some basic gentle, quiet, clarity. It is there beneath the BABEL.

Onto the Next Thing...

I can't help myself. It seems I'm always onto the next thing. It seems like an attitude, a proclivity, a modus operandi, that is embedded deep in my being. I think it is a healthy way to engage with the world. But not sure I have a choice in the matter. It just seems like a part of my makeup, like having blue eyes, crazy hair. I wonder to myself, has this tendency always been so? Yep. Pretty much. At least I think so. Maybe it's a by-product my impatient nature, my natural curiosity, my over-stimulated brain? Whatever. Onto the next thing. It is sort of guiding principle to live by.

Working On It...

Ah yes. I try to be common-sensical. I do think it's good to keep my feet on the ground. To keep my head clear. To live in the moment. To stay clear of the dark clouds and soul-killing negativity. It is important to accept loss, to take in the darkness, to integrate it, to lean to the light and BE RESILIENT! It is essential to be completely Human. To realize there is no perfection. We must understand our limitations, our flaws, our quirks, our blind-spots. We must know that we are blind, but at the same time we can try to be vigilant: ALIVE, AWARE, AWAKE. We can navigate towards the LIGHT. In some ways that is our JOB. To gravitate and cultivate the LIGHT. It is a MYSTICAL notion. Yes. I am a common-sensical MYSTIC. Humble. Uncertain. Working on it.

Shadow Self...

One morning this week my good friend asked me: "Do you ever struggle with your Shadow Self?"

My answer: "Every... damn... day..."

No Counting for Me...

I remember reading a Saul Bellow novel, and if I recall correctly, a character in that novel remarked that "Life is not a business."  It is not about numbers or $. You know, life doesn't really add up.

Right. It's not about sums and summing up. Life is about living. Human Beings tend to count. We count the days, the years, we look back on anniversaries. I think all that counting is counter-productive, contrary to living a fully-realized life in the moment.

I don't like to count. I just really want to live in the moment. No sense in accounting, summing up, totaling, etc.  Live. That is my thing. And if you live in the moment, you are in the glow of the mystery or as Ludwig Wittgenstein once wrote: “If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present.”

Best to be Open-Ended...

I am big believer in believing, but, you know, believing is a tricky thing, you have to be very careful in picking and choosing what you will entertain as a core belief. It so easy to get lost in cul-de-sacs & rabbit-holes; to chase after ghosts, chimeras and unicorns. We are tricky beings. We are so easily fooled, we love to fool ourselves too. We are susceptible to lies and the big fancy liars. There are political movements and political parties (for instance the death-cult lemmings of the MAGA GOP), that has gone hook, line and sinker for the biggest, most ridiculous and soul-killing lies. They refuse to face Truth and Reality. Truly a scourge across the land.

What to believe in? Best to be open-ended & open-minded.

Suggested things in which to believe:

A Better Day.

Grace & Kindness.

Humility.

Reality.

Truth.

Creativity.

Imagination.

Hope.

Democracy.

Equality.

Humor.

Discipline.

Hard work.

Good deeds.

Improvisation.

Music.

Laughter.

Love.

Common Sense.

Responsibility.

Way too much disinformation & noise out there. And Bad Actors. Assholes. A Legion of Assholes. A Plague of Assholes. Best to avoid and work around the Assholes.  We need a Fierce Optimism. A willingness to roll up our sleeves. To apply ourselves. To try to do the things we can do to the best of our abilities. Every day! Damn the torpedos!

Reality is the Teacher...

Reality is the teacher. And the doing, the facing, the enduring is putting the lessons into action. We lose our way when we get hung up on clinging to what we want, to what we believe, to our ideas, our fantasies, all that's in our heads, in the face of the MAGNIFICENT REAL.

We must use our senses five. Maybe our senses six? 

Alive. Aware. Awake. To everything. The connections of everything. Life is big, bold, complicated, more than we can take. We take as much as we can. We are in it, of it. It's a personal thing, but we must not take anything personally.

Reality. The teacher. Every day, every moment of every day, a lesson.

Wit...

Let us keep our wits & wittiness about us. A dose of humor, a dollop of laughter. Not cynical laughter. Genuine. Bellyful. Laughter of Wonderment.

An Agreeable Aimlessness...

Yes. This morning: post-vacation. 

After a couple days of lounging by the pool. Not our pool. Exquisite. Plus a  few long, rambling walks. Good meals. Music. We rediscovered "The Piano Man." We hadn't seen him during the covid-lockdown years. So happy he made it thru and we made it too, to hear him play his keyboard near our favorite willow tree on the lakefront by the pond. We caught some ABBA, some Queen, "Yesterday," and my absolute favorite Elton John song, "Daniel." I got a little tear in my eye hearing that one.

A couple days of not having to go anywhere, if we didn't want to go anywhere, and we really didn't. You might think aimless, yes, a bit aimless, but it was an agreeable aimlessness.  This morning there are things to do, places to be. Back to being "Woke:" ALIVE, AWARE, AWAKE. Summer-time Woke-ness. Living is Easy in the moment.

Spiritual Sponges...

We had a quiet day yesterday. We found a secret garden, a sanctuary, and spent a long afternoon in a quiet, sunny vibe; healing and restorative. We both (my companion and I), know the world is filled with sadness and pain, we are both quite empathetic, shattering world events weigh heavy on our spirits, it is sometimes hard to take it all in, and at that same time, there is beauty and wonder everywhere. We soak it all up. Spiritual Sponges. It is a dance, a balancing act, and a full-time discipline to not get overwhelmed, plowed under, or carried away. There is so much to process. We are all in the same boat. Floating in the ether. It is enough to blow our minds, daily.

Maybe Silence?

Sunday. Maybe silence is the only good response to unimaginable events? So much suffering and trouble in the world. It all so badly reflects on all of us. Sadness and loss, a very deep well with seemingly no bottom. How to keep our heads together? How not to lose heart? I type words. Life does go on. Everything counts. All the good, all the bad. Being Silent Witness to it all is cold comfort. A new day beckons. Silence.

A Children's Crusade?

You hope the outrage and pain can be transformed into political action. Maybe a "Children's Crusade?" The inaction and abdication of responsibility maintained by the GOP in the face of relentless mass slaughter is maddening and disheartening. 

We are failing the Children. 

Concerned Citizens and Parents need to unite and rise up. This is a political fight that can and must be won. USA, we need 60 or more Democratic Senators. We need Representatives willing to face the music, roll up their sleeves and legislate. Folks need to vote with their hearts on the their sleeves.

There are no good arguments against sensible gun control. No one needs to own an AR-15 or similar weapons. Those types of weapons must be banned and confiscated. We must make it really, really hard for people to get a gun. It is a major task, but one worth taking on. 

Sensible. Common Sense. Responsible. 

The majority of Americans are aligned on this issue. The GOP and the NRA are obstructors to gun sanity. It is no longer tolerable. All of their arguments fail. 

A change of consciousness can happen in an instant. That time is now. Concerted action is required. This problem can be fixed. No doubt. We need to see clearly, to take action. We owe it to the Children and to ourselves.

Of Course We Can Stop It!

Yes. Cartoon by Barry Blitt.  The GOP has blood on their hands. No doubt.

I'm not sure if I am a proponent of Existentialism, (a philosophy that... centers on the subjective experience of thinking, feeling, and acting), some days, probably so, but, for sure, I really do take this quote from Jean-Paul Sartre to heart:

"Our responsibility is much greater than we might have supposed, because it involves all mankind."

Horrific events perpetrated by my fellow Human Beings seem to me to implicate my whole fucking species. The details of the latest mass school shooting are just too disturbing and soul-sucking to dwell upon. But the cold hard facts reflect upon all of us in the USA. We are the only advanced nation on the planet that allows this type of mass shooting with military grade weapons to continue to plague us.

A deep, dark, black-hole of nihilism. Some weird compulsion for death and destruction. Yes, it's like a virus in the Human Being tool-kit, USA version.

Some cynics throw their hands up and say nothing can be done.

Some hardcore creeps say we just need more guns.

Some folks bury their heads in their Bibles want to petition their God to intervene.

How about instead some common sense, can-do action? For instance: "Universal background checks, ban or restrict large magazines, require liability insurance, allow gun manufacturers to be sued for damages, ban assault rifles, require safety training and permits, don’t sell guns to people under 21." - Colin Peters

The Idiocy of our Gun Laws...

Yikes. If we as a Species are faced with Man-Made Horrors, are we smart enough to mend our ways, to roll up our sleeves, and try "fix" things?  Reflecting on the History of Humanity, the answer is pretty much not encouraging.

As a Species we don't seem all that smart. Sure there are smart Humans amongst us. And most of the innovation, invention & creativity comes from a small subset of the great, over-populated Human Herd.

Our permanent record is definitely a mixed bag. Murder, Rape, Dismemberment, Torture, War, Genocide,  Bad Blood, Bad acts, Unimaginable Horror. That's one side of the equation.

Kindness, Love, Beauty, Heart, Grace, Intelligence, Creativity.  You know, there are few positive qualities in our kit-bag, but we are complicated messes.

USA is a "Gunaholic Culture." The Idiocy of our Gun Laws betrays a will-full blindness, & madness. It's probably not possible to fix Human Beings, we are not Clockwork Oranges. But of course, we can fix the Gun Problem. Even the 2nd Amendment contains the phrase: "Well-Regulated." 

There is no reason, except for a nihilistic Death Wish to allow Americans to own Military-Grade Weapons. Complete Fucking Idiocy too. OK. Maybe we aren't that smart. But we at least have to try to do better. To throw our hands up and declare that there's nothing to do is just an abdication of responsibility.  Blood on our hands. All of us.

Gun Sickness...

Another school shooting. It's heartbreaking. No doubt. And the political stalemate to actually do anything to try to prevent these tragedies is soul-sucking & brain-numbing.

We have a Human Being problem. Flawed Humans capable of anything, armed with too many guns, guns of every type, military-grade, weapons of mass destruction, so easily available to anyone & everyone in the USA.

This is a Mental Health issue, and a Gun Law issue. Wrapped up together. The compulsion to own guns is a sickness. Anyone arming themselves is suspect. Let's assume, for good reason that they are not right in the head.

Yes. Of course, guns should be banned. It should be really, really, really hard for a citizen to get a gun. Maybe it should be impossible. And if you are a Human Being stocking up on weapons, you really need to have your head examined. Gun Sickness.

Rainbows...

From Killing Eve: "She's a rainbow in beige boots."

My partner and I can relate. We too sometimes feel like rainbows in a beige world, which has not always been peaches and cream for us. If you are radiating a wide-color-spectrum, you are always visible, and vulnerable to others in the Human Herd.  Standing out has it's hazards. There are many folks vying to swat us down. Sometimes, it would be easier to fit in, to belong, to not make waves, and just get along. 

Often, for us, that is not possible. Probably good that we have found each other, we can radiate together. It really helps when we have a r&r show. Performing together onstage, radiating the full spectrum. But it takes energy, and we can't always modulate or control it. Sometimes there is more out-going than in-coming. Energy management is a tricky thing.

Sometimes a really good show, means a "broken rainbow" the next day. Then it's all about shades of gray, of black and white, a spectrum of monochrome. Silence, long meditations, good meals, couch time are then required. 

We do our best to recharge, refresh, reconstitute. Get ready to radiate another day.

Beware the Noise...

Yes. Someone talking about "the Future," or "God," or what's gonna happen next, are really just exposing their own doubts, fears, prejudices, worries. 

We have the moment. We live in it. Getting beyond the moment is pretty much aimless speculation. Noise. Beware the noise.

Survival & Joy...

I know, survival first. We all need food, shelter, clothing, a safe harbor, an education, a way and a means to navigate the world. Then, if we are lucky, we get to try to maximize joy (see previous post). There are no promises, and we are all victims of circumstances beyond our control. We all have to contend with what we have to contend with; some of us face ceaseless bleakness, gloom, death and destruction. Some of us get to bathe in a happy light. Most of us, maybe all of us, must live and die with a bit of both. Death hovers over everything.  That's just way the Universe rolls.

William Blake said it best: 

"Every Night & every Morn
Some to Misery are Born
Every Morn and every Night
Some are Born to sweet delight
Some are Born to sweet delight
Some are Born to Endless Night"

You hope to experience sweet delight, often.... and, yes... a you hope everyone else can experience sweet delight too.

Hedonism of Joy!

Hedonism, for some reason, (let's blame the Puritans, the Bible-Thumpers, the Doomsday Folks & Gloomy Gus folks?), sort of gets a bad name, like, pursuing pleasure and happiness above all else, is somehow, bad, or sinful, or silly, or not worthy of a serious Human Being.

Maybe there is an error in the thought-process? What of a simple, disciplined, common, ordinary, grounded, soulful hedonism? A way of life dedicated to maximizing joy, pleasure, happiness, without engaging in risky, soul-nullifying behaviors? What of a Hedonism of Goodness? A Hedonism of Gentle Kindness?

Think of Joseph Campbell's great advice: Follow Your Bliss!

You may ask, Why be good? Why be kind? Why be gentle? Well, that is simple, it feels good, and makes others feel good. And the more of us  in the world who feel good, the better the world will be for all. Goodness is not a zero-sum game. Be fruitful and multiply the joy.

Buddha told us: Life is Suffering.

Jesus showed us Suffering was Transcendent.

I say, they were wrong. A Hedonism of Joy. That's the ticket, baby!

Stray Lines...

I'm going to paraphrase, just to test my powers of recollection. I was reading a little article about Ludwig Wittgenstein (greatest Philosopher of the 20th Century? Yikes, that's top billing!).  

Little Ludwig was a handful.  There are a few stray lines that resonate with me this a.m. For instance, (again, I am paraphrasing): 

To live in the moment is to live in the Eternal.

The Happy Human Being experiences a different world than the Unhappy Human Being.

What we know is dwarfed by what we don't know.

We should be silent about things we don't know.

Joy. It is the only way to live.

Okay, that's my morning take on Little Ludwig. Take what you need and leave the rest...

Like the Rain...

Happiness is like the Rain, Love too. We want to be Rainmakers, we can try to conjure, command, enforce our will, but just like Happiness & Love, Rain just descends upon us when it does, unbidden. We are powerless in the face of the really, really important things. We can lean, we can hope, we can simplify and try to accentuate the positive, we can do our best to be Alive, Aware, Awake. And then, we are left with conspiring forces swirling out there, beyond us. 

Crystalline Consciousness...

Funny, seeing clearly does pay off. You know, best to try to cultivate "crystalline consciousness." Be clear in thought and intention. Visualize.

This morning the thought-bubble in my head: The Overlords amongst us, those with all the Power & Money, Fame & Celebrity, are basically Pretenders & Frauds. Human Beings, flawed, contradictory, no better than any one else hanging out on the street-corner. Turns out lots of rich, powerful, well-known folks are pretty much clueless idiots. It may be that Power, Money & Celebrity are all crutches, truly obstacles and impediments to being well-rounded Human Beings. 

We all get it wrong. God is not Love. LOVE IS GOD. What's needed? Humility. Silence. Common Decency and Kindness. Small acts of being Small, ordinary. Just a Human with no B.S. - nothing to sell, nothing to prove, not worried about competing, stacking up, or about being judged by some weird, counter-human standard.

The a.m. soundtrack - Son Volt's "The Search" (2007) - Sounds amazing this morning. Revelatory. Inspiring. What a fabulous band. A band and a record a bit under the radar. This record is magnificent. And truly an artistic & humanistic statement worthy of attention. "It's the search, not the find..." - Jay Farrar

The Bright Shiny Beast...

The Bright Shiny Beast. It's multi-headed. Multi-armed. Multi-legged. It's always on. It's always got something bright and shiny to share. It takes up all the oxygen. It fills all the silence. It takes up enormous time and space. It is abundant, it is legion. Everlasting.  The Bright Shiny Beast is not your friend. You think the Bright Shiny Beast is a giving creature, but it is taking, always, always taking. You are just compost, fuel, beverage. You will be Consumed. Taken apart cell by cell. Vaporized. Crushed into tiny, invisible molecules. You will probably go willingly, maybe even with a smile on your face. That's the big joke at the end of the road. Ha! The joke is on us... all of us... the Bright Shiny Beast rules the roost! It will destroy everything, and keep destroying well after we are all gone.  The Bright Shiny Beast. All hail!

Living & Dying in the USA...

Living in the USA...

Living with Bibles, Guns, Guns, Guns & more Guns...

Living with RACISM & White Supremacy, and other forms of Mental Illness...

Living with inequality, and stupidity, and HATE...

Sure, most of us are kind and decent, we just want to make it thru to the next day, live our lives, with joy, love and laughs, but we are surrounded by a very Hateful, Conspiracy-Minded Minority, spoon-fed the daily-hate by Cable TV (FOX), and Internet liars, hucksters, and a rancid, performative group of GOP-ers, who rile a rabid mob that is LOUD, Proud, Armed and deeply, ill...

A scourge across the land.

Gluttons of Data...

Too much information. 

Overload. 

Yikes. Pretty sure the Human Brain just can't process the constant data flow of a global, 24/7, multitudinous platform. We are armed with too much technology. The tentacles, the connections are ubiquitous, snaking across the globe with a gazillion tiny fibrous strings. Over-stuffed, over-saturated, overwhelmed.  We are gluttons of data. We are drowning, suffocating, sinking from the weight of  too too much.

The Bench...

Yesterday afternoon. One of our favorite rituals. 

Sitting on a bench, looking out at Lake Michigan. A vast expanse of water, sometimes calm, sometimes stormy. It looks like an ocean, but it's only a lake. A large one. The beaches aren't officially open yet, but the beaches are teeming with life; young kids, old folks, teenagers, mothers, fathers stomping around in big, droopy shorts. The water is cold, ice cold. There are a few brave souls wading into the water, and finally diving into the waves. Most come scurrying back out, shivering.

There is also a path, a very popular byway. Bikes, skateboards, rollerbladers, baby strollers, wagons. Human Beings of all shapes and sizes, walking, talking, running, laughing, listening to their headphones.

We sit on the bench and just let the passing scene roll over us like an ever-changing wave. We sip our cold beverages. We speak of the world and everything in it. Our conversation is framed by long stretches of silent witnessing. Sometimes it's best to just observe, to sit quietly and take in the sights and sounds. 

A big, bold, blue sky above us. Wispy white clouds like cotton dotting the blue. Just a day. In the life. On the bench.

A Solid Afternoon of Destruction...

Does everyone have a special skill?

I ask, because I think I have one. What would it be? Destroying things. Taking things apart. Breaking things. Clearing out debris. Knocking down things.

I'm not so good on the building things side of the equation. You know, building solid, tangible things? I failed "Shop" in High School. I kept planing and planing and finally the little wooden box I was making was so misshapen, ill-formed, and frankly ridiculous, that I tossed it in the garbage bin, said I lost it, and got an "F" because I couldn't face the humiliation of such a badly made thing. 

I have a bad sense of proportion. Materials never seem to fit, or match up. I take something apart, put it back together, and I always end up with spare screws, springs, washers.

Anyway, back to my special skill. 

It was on full display yesterday. I worked the garden plot. I hacked, and chopped, and uprooted, and dug and scraped, and clipped, and used all my muscle to transform an over-grown jungle of dead and weedy land. I sweated, I bled, ended up with a bandage on my hand,  just a scraped knuckle, my head was spinning like a top in the heat. Oh yeah, and the best tool in my hands, new set of garden clippers? I broke them.

Still, it felt good. I mean, it was all quite exhilarating. It is good to be good at something. Destruction. A clearing in the dirt. Dead branches cut down and stacked. A job well-done. A solid afternoon of destruction. Success!

Uncommon Day...

Suddenly "Summer." 

Funny. Lots of sun and warm temps in the Heartland the last few days, when we have had a long slog of  months of very little sun, and very little warmth. It is amazing how much the weather outside can influence the weather inside.

Everything is blooming here. Flowers proudly standing up. Leafy trees tossing in the air. Nature pushes it's way into our little citified enclave. Yesterday I was riding my bicycle down the avenue when I looked to my left and saw two female Deer trotting across green-carpeted lawns heading over to munch on some leafy green bushes.

I called my friend on my cell phone to come over to check it out. We watched these two amazing creatures as they grazed. So otherworldly. It was a bit astonishing & enchanting. This primal wildness, beautiful and graceful in the midst of tamed land. We could see they were thirsty. A neighbor brought a sliver bowl of water. The deer trotted into a sheltered backyard. I placed the bowl on the ground, hoping they would discover it. We watched for a bit, and then, well, we figured they knew what they were doing and we trekked on home.

Kind of transformed the day. It was good day, an uncommon day. Hushed. Beautiful. Enchanting.

Being to Being...

Beings are Beings. 

I am of the Human variety. I spend lots of time with the Bird and Dog variety. I learn a lot by hanging with other types of Beings. Seems to me Birds and Dogs are pretty honest. I mean, hard to tell all that is going on in their worlds; Birds & Dogs have powerful means of perception, very different than I do. I don't know how they see, how they use their noses, what kind of calculations are swirling in their heads. Probably very different from my perceptions and noodle-ings. But of course, just as valid and powerful in navigating reality.

We have pretty clear, and straight-forward relationships. We all give each other lots of undivided attention. We tend to lock-in on the same wavelengths whether we are sitting in the sun room meditating, listening to music, having lunch (Birds), or out walking on the path (Dogs).

We meet Being to Being. We learn to respect each other, to trust each other. We are all seem very pleased to be together. There is a noticeable enthusiasm (giddy chirping, tail-wagging, jumping and playing),  when we meet and greet.

You know, attention, affirmation, food and treats are the currencies of our relationships. I primarily extend the hand, and they accept what I offer with what seems to be joy, pleasure, happiness, contentment, loyalty, dedication.

All this is in contrast with the Human to Human thing. In that realm? Lies, evasions, bad blood, false narratives, guilt, suffering, button-pushing. It is amazing how hypocritical Human Beings can be. And how cruel, how full of righteousness, anger and shit.

Seems counter to well-lived Life. Counter to Being Real. Human Beings will Lie themselves to the grave. Strange Beings, for sure. 

We Humans should take some lessons from all of the other Beings co-existing with us.  No doubt, we are a complicated, confused and contradictory species. Looks like we are really Fucked Up. And we are Fucking Up the Life-Supporting, Interconnected, Web-of-Life that exists on this spinning Blue Planet.

We can do better. The CLOCK IS TICKING!!!

Simplify!

Another thing...

Simplify! 

In all ways. So much dreck we can eliminate from our day to day. Living in the moment helps. Mindfulness is the watchword.

Know your history, but, remember you can't live in, or change, the past. Maybe you can change how you think about past events. Draw up new lessons. "Take what you need, you can leave the rest."

Expect a future, but don't put a lot of energy there. One step forward, one step at a time. Be kind to yourself and others. Be ready to improvise (see previous post),  and always be willing to recalculate your route in the face of the obstacles of reality. 

Fretting is no good. Fretting/Worrying is a Glitch in the wetware/software. Not worth the energy to fret about the past, or the future. Fretting in the moment is off-target too!

As the Dali Lama once said: "Kindness is my Religion." You can simplify all those holy texts down to adopting a simple code of kindness, with a dollop of a devil may care attitude: "damn the torpedos!"

That's good. Simple too. Simply, perfectly, good.

Yes, indeed. Simplify!

Yes... And...

Long-form improvisation. How long? A lifetime. You have to keep the game going. Morph. Evolve. Keep saying "Yes... and..."

Useful...

Ha! I think it is useful to have a Nemesis. 

Why? Helps you clarify who you are, who you aren't, what you are for, what you are against. It also illustrates that not everyone is on your side. There are people and forces that must contend with, people and forces to navigate around and thru. The world is an amazing place, but it's not all for you. So many competing interests and forces.  And enemies? There is that Biblical hard bit of advice: "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."

I don't know, that is a tough cookie to crumble. But maybe we can love what our enemies teach us? You know, lessons? They show us what not to do, what not to be. Maybe we can use them as mirrors, to see our own flaws, inconsistencies, dark moods, and bad acts? Point us the way to do and think better?

T&T

TRUTH AND TRANSPARENCY

TRANSPARENCY AND TRUTH

Not a bad code* to live by. It should be the goal of every conversation, every relationship. We should demand it from every institution, every company, every organization, every government. 

Clean. Simple.  Simple-minded? Maybe, but worth fighting for...

*It helps to live by a code of honor. Keep it open-ended. You know, like, be aware, alive, awake at all times. Lean to the light. Tell the truth. Be transparent. Be open-minded and open-hearted. And, for sure damn the torpedoes, the slings and arrows, the nay-sayers and soul-eaters.

Regulate and Criminalize...

Life. Right?!

Not to get too Icky, but what about all that sperm? Those little fancy-tailed sperm critters that all those young boys and men of all ages shoot off in unlikely places?   

Do we need to regulate and criminalize the random, unnecessary shooting off of sperm? 

Bad Faith Juju...

I am not a lawyer. But I am fascinated by the Law and how it is wielded to protect the powerful and subjugate the weak. I am also fascinated by language, and it's many uses for both good and evil.

The draft opinion by the White Christian Ayatollah Black-Robed Supreme Court Judge Samuel Alito, striking down Roe v Wade (see previous two posts),  is based on this slim reed: “the inescapable conclusion is that the right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the nation’s history and traditions”.

By the same logic you could take away reproductive rights from Women, Ban Gay Rights, Trans-Rights, Voting by Black Folks, Voting by Women, Marriage Between Races, you know, you could basically take down the Progressive Movement that has been unfolding over the last 100 years or so by the roots.

It is a dastardly bad-faith opinion. Seems Alito is saying that the only rights that are "real" are the rights of Privileged White Men. Everyone else is subject to their whims and dictates.

Gob-smacking. Bad Juju.  Bad Karma.  I do hope this will wake up the forces of progressivism. We can take nothing for granted. Vote. Organize. As Bob Marley once sang: "GET UP, STAND UP, STAND UP FOR YOUR RIGHTS..."

Witch Trials Coming Next!

Okay. So maybe that black-robed White, Christian Ayatollah who decided that only white men have any rights at least rendered a legally sound opinion when striking down the rights of Women to have autonomy over their own bodies?

Hmmm.... well... er... not... so... much...

And you know, this is a wider attack on any sense of privacy, and personal rights...

1st from Adam Serwer:  "Alito’s Plan to Repeal the 20th Century"

"If you are an American with a young daughter, she will grow up in a world without the right to choose when and where she gives birth, and in which nothing restrains a state from declaring her womb its property, with all the invasive authorities that implies."

“This draft does the same thing: It envisions a notion of federalism so weak, so toothless, so bereft of substance that the federal government has no legitimate role in protecting women from states imposing forced births upon them.”

"Aside from rights specifically mentioned in the text of the Constitution, Alito argues, only those rights “deeply rooted in the nation’s history in tradition” deserve its protections. This is as arbitrary as it is lawless. Alito is saying there is no freedom from state coercion that conservatives cannot strip away if conservatives find that freedom personally distasteful. The rights of heterosexual married couples to obtain contraception, or of LGBTQ people to be free from discrimination, are obvious targets. But other rights that Americans now take for granted could easily be excluded by this capricious reasoning."

2nd from Laura Bassett:

"In Leaked Abortion Decision, Justice Alito Relies on Jurist Who Supported Marital Rape, Executed 'Witches'"

YIKES! Witch Trials!??!? 

"Also among Hale’s greatest hits: sentencing two women to death for witchcraft at a time when “the more enlightened” people of the 17th century had already begun to doubt the existence of witchcraft—an opinion the Salem, Massachusetts, judges relied on in their notoriously deadly witch trials. (According to The Boston Globe, 25 people were killed during those trials: “All 19 who were executed through a hanging died at Proctor’s Ledge. Five others died in jail, and one was crushed to death.”)

It’s quite fitting that Alito would cite this guy’s opinion on abortion in deciding to revoke the right from the American people, nearly a half century after Roe legalized the health procedure in 1973. The reason Roe was needed in the first place is that American women were dying from unsafe, so-called “back-alley” abortions.

As many have pointed out: The movement to ban abortion is not about and has never been about protecting fetuses. It started as a way to galvanize conservative voters in support of racial segregation—to motivate misogynistic people who really only care about punishing women to also turn out in support of the entire right-wing agenda." - Laura Bassett in Jezebel

Tyranny of the Minority...

It looks like the White Christian Ayatollahs of the Right sitting on the blatantly partisan and supremely corrupt Supreme Court have decided that Women are just passive, biological receptacles for Men to do with as they please. This does not bode well for anyone who thinks they have rights that conflict with the views of the Ayatollahs. 

This will/should not stand.  Check out this "Brief History of Abortion Law in America:"  "Abortion is as old as antiquity. As long as people have been having sex, there have been women having abortions. The American debate over whether a woman should have the right to end her pregnancy is a relatively new phenomenon. Indeed, for America’s first century, abortion wasn’t even banned in a single US state."

The USA is not a Christian nation. It is not a Theocracy. The right-wing minority should not be tyrannizing the rest of us with their retrograde religious hokum. This decision also spells trouble for other "rights" that many of us have taken for granted. The Ayatollahs of the Right are coming for you! WTF.

Time to organize, to march, to vote like every vote and every election matters, because you know, our Democracy, our Freedom and our expectations of Equality for All, and our Very Lives depend on it.

What About Dat?!

Then there is  WHATABOUTISM: "a variant of the tu quoque logical fallacy that attempts to discredit an opponent's position by charging hypocrisy without directly refuting or disproving the argument." 

We Tricky Monkeys love to play the "what about game;" it is a scourge, it is maddening, it makes hash of sensible arguments. It is employed across the globe. Sometimes you just can't get past it. It's a deal-killer, brain-numbing, a great tool in the fabulous disinformation dystopia.

Sometimes the only thing to do is walk away.  WHATABOUTISM is a dead, black hole for any kind of sensible discussion. Cooler heads must refuse to play.

Smart > Smarter, Stupid > Stupider...

The best thing I've read describing the Internet: The Internet makes Smart People Smarter, and Stupid People Stupider. 

Maybe there aren't as many Stupid People as it appears. You know, they are the ones who talk the loudest, and with the most force. Often Stupid dominates the conversation. The Internet gives Stupid People the ability to feed off other Stupid People. 

It's a problem...

Counter to Nature...

 Human Beings warring with Mother Nature? 

Another... really... really... bad... idea... !

Snakes...

 Watch out for the Snakes in the Grass!

Bad Idea!

Human Beings playing God? 

That... is... a... supremely... bad... idea!

"The World's Greatest Drug..."

You gotta bounce. The coffee helps. This interview in the Chicago Reader with Fran Lebowitz totally resonates this a.m. I mean, I think Fran is my Spirit-Animal!

Question: Is she ever at a loss for words? 

Answer: "No. Truthfully, I have no idea where it comes from. The secret to this is coffee. The world’s greatest drug. I just drink gallons of coffee. I have a rider in my contract and the rider is mostly about coffee: how much coffee has to be in the dressing room and my hotel room. There has to be coffee all around me. That coffee is my entire cognitive ability." - Fran Lebowitz

Limits of Being Human...

You are reminded when it comes to the most important things in Life, you are pretty much helpless. We have this illusion of control, but really we are swimming in an enormous river of events, just doing our best to go with the flow, and keep our heads above water. We can't control the flow, maybe we can try to control how we  act & react in the face of circumstances dire and mundane. We basically have to take what comes, try our best to endure. You hear some very distressing news, and you realize, you are powerless to do anything about it, except, Hope for the Best, Think Positive Thoughts, Conjure Up some Healing, Golden, Vibes. So you do all of the above, but you wonder if any of these creative psychic visualizations have any substance or influence in the wider world? Who knows? You think: Everything is Connected (String-Theory!), Everything Counts (a mystical notion - as above, so below). You tell yourself that the Universe is basically a multiplicity of energies; vibes, positive & negative. You are left with Chanting, and Praying, and Focusing your Intention on Positive Outcomes, but these rituals seem sort of paltry in the face of catastrophic events. Another lesson in the reality of being a Human Being in this vast, wondrous, distressing, confounding Universe. 

Chemical Cocktails...

I am convinced we are elaborate chemical cocktails. Want to feel good? It's all about the chemistry. The right elements in the right quantities swimming about in our bodies interacting, collaborating. The best way to get the chemistry right? Food. Organic. Fresh. Probably best to cook it. Eating a variety of foods, mainly or exclusively vegetarian.  You might want to add supplements too. B-12, magnesium, garlic, cayenne pepper, aloe vera juice, vitamin C. I am one of those kooky folks who thinks we are what we eat. Food is the best medicine. Still, it's an ongoing project, a moving target, and you have to adjust and reassess all the time, get it wrong, the chemistry gets out of whack, and you feel bad, it can lead to disease. Best to try stuff. Experiment. We are all unique. We each need to discover the optimal mix. Pick your poisons carefully, Dear Pilgrim. Everything counts.

Sunday Answers...

My friend and I often say, just before we go to sleep: "Let's get an answer." Sometimes we do. I wake up from a very deep sleep with these thoughts on the tip of my mind. I suppose most of this is stuff I know that I know.

Do not take anything for granted, especially not all the things we do take for granted.

Be humble and kind even in the face of indifference and hostility.

Don't be afraid, even in the face of all that scary shit that comes our way.

Do the work. Always, with determination, with inspiration, with gumption, and damn the torpedos.

Have fun. Play. Laugh. Smile often.

Don't worry about what others think, or do, or say.

Listen to everything in the air, but don't take it personally.

Be aware of the nay-sayers, the soul-eaters, those who want to have what we have.

Protect yourself. Meditate. Ground yourself. Eat well. Lean to Clarity and Charity.

Fierce Hope, Fierce Creativity. Fierce Intention.

Do the Work. Do the work. Do the work.

Biblical Days...

Some days have a sort of "Biblical" vibe. Like there is some test or challenge thrown down at your feet, you must pick it up and wrestle with it. You wonder is it God doing the testing and challenging, and if so doesn't she have anything better to do? Or is it a team of Deranged Demon Monkeys who are thinking up funny impossible shit for you to do? 

For instance you have be THERE & THERE & THERE & THERE and pronto! Lots places to go in a short window of time.  Just do it, and be quick about it. And at the same time it is cold, raw, windy, rainy, ok, it's not a rain of frogs, but you know, it is certainly raining cats & dogs, and you are out in the elements unprotected, exposed, vulnerable, on a bicycle, and on your feet, and you are truly, madly, deeply getting soaked to the freaking bone.

What to do? You just do it. And laugh. Yeah. It is sort of funny. And, well, no one is shooting at you, you will survive this day. 

In fact, by late afternoon you are snuggled up on a big comfy couch with a fat little bulldog at your feet, reading Ken Kesey's great novel "Sometimes a Great Notion." (1962). It is truly a mad, burly beast of a novel. You had a bit of trouble at first, getting into the damn thing, but now it's got you hooked, and you are convinced it is some weird-ass masterpiece, even though most folks probably think of Kesey's first novel, not his second as a fabulous, phantasm of an American epic. In Kesey's Universe everything, human, animal, mineral is alive. You are at the 500 page mark and you are really tracking now.

And you took a book-break, put your headphones on and listened to Roxy Music's first album (1972) - an overstuffed masterpiece of many sonic flashes, and Roxy's beautiful baby "Avalon" (1982), pure, gorgeous sonic bubble-bath of sultriness. And you get so much joy and pleasure and inspiration from such great works of art. You know, like, great books and great records totally fill you up. They are important, powerful, necessary fuel. Totally restorative and essential. And you realize that this day kind of encapsulates, everything,  the whole thing, the whole weird-ass experience of  being alive: the testing, the challenging, the lounging, reading, listening, luxiouriously sinking into other states of consciousness.

Luckily, everything worked out. And, now, this morning, glorious sunshine. A new day. Amazing.

"Spiritual Gumption!"

Photo by Kim Morgan on the Set of "Nightmare Alley."

Hell and damnation have been in my consciousness since I was Wee Lad in Catholic grade school. The black-habited Sister Mary Aquanata, my 3rd grade teacher, very "Darth Vader-like," had a mission, she had me convinced that I had a one-way ticket to "The House of Damnation," and I was free to cash in my ticket at any time.

For some reason, this did not scare the "Be-Jesus" out of me. I sort of resigned myself to Hell, and figured, I might as well accept my fate, and try to live my life the best I could. I never thought I'd win that old nun over. Hah! Funny. I am kind of surprised at the "Spiritual Gumption" of that Wee Lad. Maybe it was also a bit of laziness, you know the power of goofing off. Still, even then I had a little bit of that rebellious spirit animating me. Okay, Heaven was not for me, I'd have to make the best my days on the planet. No choir of Angels for me. "I've got nothing Ma, to live up to..." - B. Dylan

Today, I'd say "The House of Damnation" is always with us. I lean to the Jean-Paul Sartre idea that "Hell is Other People." Right. Be careful who you choose to hang with, pick your poisons carefully, everything counts. Damnation is around every corner. Of course, the best parties are found in Hell, but that burning heat is everlasting! Yikes! Step lightly dear Pilgrim!

The Calm...

After the storm, the calm. Everyone scurries for cover, and then, the darkness passes and everyone comes out to face the new day. There is a hangover vibe in the air: weird doings, clouds of drama, now gone, just vapor trails left hanging in the breeze. We must carry on. Do what we have to do, and do it to the best of our abilities. The search for meanings will be put off for another day. Heads down, time to get busy and do the work.

A Hornet's Nest of Twisted Shite...

I often fall back on my go-to phrase: "People are Tricky," (see previous post). I think it is a  quite useful, and true formulation, because it's open-ended, vague, and can account for the crazy-ass spectrum of actions and behaviors of my self, and my fellow Human Beings. Human Psychology =  a hornet's nest of twisted shite. "Everyone has their reasons," and their histories, and their Genetic Blueprints. You know we are the meeting place of Nature vs. Nurture, and when Nature and Nurture collide there will be sparks and blood. We all come from long winding lines of Dead People who also had their loony narratives, dramas and traumas, and comedies and tragedies, and other tales of ordinary madnesses. I do think we carry on the sins of our fathers and mothers. We wear the trauma in our bodies, and in our psyches. 

It is funny and baffling and confounding and sometimes inspiring to come across a Human Being. It is so easy to see all the flaws and foibles and madnesses, horrors and idiocies in someone else. It is instructive. Entertaining. Sometimes horrifying. Harder to see all of this in our own actions and thoughts. We all have our biases and blind-spots, our prejudices, it takes work to try to get past those blocks. I think we read novels, non-fiction, biographies, and watch theater and TV dramas because we are fascinated by what it means to Be Human. We want to see how other people live. What they do, what they think, how they explain themselves to themselves. It's a life-long class. Every day a new lesson. Let's do that Human Thing today and see where it goes.

"Don't be an Asshole." That's kind of a target to shoot for. It's as simple as that. Try to be gentle and kind. Even if the world we inhabit doesn't necessarily value gentleness or kindness. Of course, sometimes you are left with "Fuck that guy," but it's just a moment. And then, well, you know, "people are tricky..."

Apotheosis of Ego & Id...

Yes. I met the cultured, privileged Little Prince. He is an arrogant, grand, snotty baby. His oozing contempt for me and, well, pretty much anyone else within his sight was a live palpable thing in the room. It was like being locked in a plush cage with a feral, witchy animal. Something terrifying and magnificent to behold. The Little Prince is someone who has never had to lift a finger, who has always been pampered, fed, buffed and polished. Someone who has always been praised. No doubt, "a genius" a very special, precious and unique entity. Holy Shite, the World should be so grateful that this amazing being even exists, and that he deigns to be alive in our realm. Not Human, nothing like the rest of us. His "black-hole-sun" burning, smoldering silence is an awesome phenomena to behold. Deeply hostile. Steel-hard. Smoking-cold. Miserable. The Little Prince looks right thru you. Say a word to him, maybe a simple greeting, a friendly "Hello,"  and it vaporizes in the air before you. You walk away stunned by this putrid cloud of pure, supremely-indifferent hate (can hate be so indifferent?),  that hangs above him. Maybe he is choking on the fumes of his own self-loathing & self-hatred? Fetch the Psychoanalyst, pronto! This Little Prince wields a grand indifference to anything alive, anything that is not him.  It is the Grand Apotheosis of Ego and Id. So, so funny. Hilarious. Really. Truly. Madly. Deeply. I had to laugh. As soon as I was safely out of his orbit, beyond the clutches of his strange, dark & wicked gravitational pull, I laughed and laughed, deep belly-laughs; and the surprisingly forceful words popped out my mouth, with no fore-thought, I mean, I spit them into the wind, completely unbidden: "Fuck that Guy!"

Giving Yourself Up to the Elements...

Yeah... what's holy...? Everything/Nothing?

How about:

Spit

Sweat

Blood

Phlegm

Tears 

Piss

Shit

It's been said, "The Meek Shall Inherit The Earth."

You have get "down there" with the dirt, the mulch, the roots, the dead leaves, the broken branches, the rocks, the ants, the grasses, all the various shit. 

Floating in the jet-stream, alive in the Hurly-Burly. Can't be afraid to get your hands dirty. I'm not saying wallow in the mud, but you know, maybe you have give yourself up to the elements. Maybe even eat a little dirt, it probably won't kill you. Let go. Sink in. I mean, I really think so.

Bucket Sunday!

Well, you may be celebrating Easter Sunday, the day that supposedly the stone rolled away and that Major Dude rose up to the Heavens. A quaint notion and nice tale of renewal, rising from the Dead, Resurrecting!

Here in our household we celebrate Bucket Sunday every other Sunday, and well, it turns out TODAY is Bucket Sunday. That's when we put out the Collective Resource Composting Bucket for Monday morning pickup.  A shiny Orange Bucket filled with food-scraps, coffee grounds, etc.

Same concept: Easter and Composting. 

You know, transformation.  

Nothing is really ever dead. Everything turns into everything else.

Little microbes & bacteria: "... gives the vitamins and minerals of food scraps back to the Earth to create healthy soil..." And then from that soil grows new life.

You know, the cycle. Birth, Death, Renewal. Rinse and Repeat. Amen, Brothers & Sisters...

God-Like = Imagination...

Thinking about GOD this a.m. The "Great Almighty," The Big "Whats-it," "The Grand PooBah!" You know, Passover, Easter, Ramadan all collide this weekend. As Bono (Rabble-rousing singer & Protestant Preacher, often playing Jesus),  says (why do I think of GOD and Bono in the same breath?),  All Sons & Daughters of Abraham must COEXIST, seems we can't escape the wafting aura of things holy and profane this weekend.  Oh yeah, just a reminder: don't forget all those Holy Scribes, Prophets, Poets, Preachers of all faiths and flights of fancy were/are human beings, flawed, fallible, complicated, tricky, murderous, lecherous, intolerant, and corruptible.

Can't avoid the apocalyptic headlines this morning either. It's almost like an rolling apocalypse every day of the week. That's one of the results of being plugged into the Global information network. So yeah, the bleak, strange, horrific, illogical, fantastic and disturbing visions of Revelations seem to roll out across our consciousness and eyeballs every damn day. Apocalypse Now and Now and Now...

I coined this phrase on my own: "Everything is Holy. Life is Cheap."  The sacred and the profane are like a cross that we all carry every moment of our lives. Life: A beautiful gift that can be crushed and snatched away at any time. Life: precious, and totally ubiquitous.  One thing, everything, nothing.

If GOD, it's a phenomena that we can't even conceive. I mean conceive away, but it's all rubbish. Think maybe: Not human. Not benevolent. Not all-seeing and all-knowing. Just like a DUMB ROCK. Magnetic. Emitting vibes. Not a creator. Just an energy. Clueless and Careless.

We invent poetic images, we try to paint a different picture. We imagine a Big Daddy.  We don't realize that really our SuperPower is to Imagine, what is there and what isn't...

Plus Ketchup!

"Walk the Mystical Path on Practical Feet." 

Somewhere along the line I came across that line in a book on the Tarot. I try to live it too. Not exactly sure what it means, maybe keep your feet on the ground, even while your head is dancing in the stars? Something like that.

Anyway, before you can try to figure out the big picture of Love & Spirit and Meaning, you have to walk, and talk and eat lunch. Every step, every breath and every bite counts.

Yesterday, post-lunch this was my text message to my good friend, giving a report of my latest meal. 

Yesterday 4:35 p.m. - "Beyond Burgers and pretzel rolls? Like eating GOD. Plus ketchup!"

Maybe You have to Be a Hustler to Understand a Hustler?

We watched "Licorice Pizza" (2021), a film by the great Paul Thomas Anderson a week or so ago. It totally resonated with my partner and I. How would I sum it up? BTW - (I actually hate summing it up, by summing it up, I am not doing it justice) - it is a great, funny, life-affirming film; a story of two, wacky,  misfits, alive in the early 70's, people who just have "no place," don't fit in anywhere, but who possess lots of energy, and ambition, and who are always, always hustling, hustling and hustling!

I mean, I guess, we saw a lot of ourselves in those two characters. And we loved the music, the filming (every frame suffused with art and intelligence).  Funny too. Really funny. I recommended the film to two different sets of friends, and in both cases I was later told: "We just didn't get it."

Puzzling. But, you know, thinking about it now, this morning, of course, they didn't get it. My partner and I, we live in a very affluent neighborhood, we don't really belong here, we are just barely hanging on the margins, keeping afloat with smoke and mirrors, and pluck and pure HUSTLE! And we both come from families who always had to hustle and scrape to make ends meet. We live and work with folks who grew up in totally different circumstances. It is easy to forget there is an Upstairs, and a Downstairs, (see previous post about status games), and although we can rise up from Downstairs to rub shoulders with the folks Upstairs, we really are interlopers. We are tolerated, treated kindly, but really, we are fish out of water.

My friends, my "acquaintances" exist in a completely different social class. These folks are quite wealthy.  And they come from a long family tree of wealth, prosperity, and success. If anyone "belongs," these folks do. They always have done so.

Safe to say these folks never had to hustle a day in their lives. I mean, they are intelligent, accomplished folks, friendly, admirable. Society's winners. Inherited wealth beyond the imagination. You know, on the surface, human beings just like everyone else, folks just like us, but then again, it is true, the Rich truly are different. Their experience in the world is totally different than folks like us. These folks BELONG. They have always belonged.

A movie about quirky hustlers always on the make? They just didn't get it.

Touchstone Book by Johnstone...

I read this Keith Johnstone book "Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre," in the 90's. No doubt one of the greatest, most revelatory books I've ever read. Yes, it's about theater, comedy, improvisation, and teaching, but essentially it is also fundamentally about what it means to be a Human Being. It will change the way you look at the world, and all human relationships in the world.

Off the top of my head I can reel off the astonishments that have resonated with me all these years later: 

All Human relations are "status games." Every damn one. High Status vs. Low Status. All comedy & tragedy stems from status reversals. We derive great joy and pleasure in observing status games. We can also be totally humbled and destroyed by them.

Human beings are hierarchal  animals. Always. In every realm of life. There is a structure of relationship. You will play many roles in life, High Status, Low Status, sometimes the roles will change from one sentence to the next.

Adults are damaged, traumatized children.

All human being are fundamentally creative beings.  Some of us are better able to access that creativity than others. But we all have the capability of being immensely creative. Most of our schooling dulls and destroys our ability to access this creativity. Often it is luck and pluck and circumstance that allows some of us to escape the destructors.

Put a mask on and Human Beings will transform and reveal new selves, darker souls. As Dylan remarked: "Someone puts on a mask, they will tell you the truth."

We all wear masks all the time. For instance: "Rationality is a mask we wear." Yes, we are all basically crazy, batty, totally kooky. As Johnstone reminds us, get to know anyone and one of the first things they will tell you: "I'm crazier than I look!"

Hah! Good morning!

The a.m. soundtrack - Explosions in the Sky "All of a Sudden, I Miss Everyone"  (2007). Glorious, shimmering electric guitars and explosive drums and bass. Instrumental. Lightness. Quicksilver. Love.

Again, For the First Time...

Maybe best to wake up to every day with Shoshin - "Beginner's Mind"  - "an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions." Sort of a blank slate. This is not "Groundhog Day,"  although sometimes it feels like it. We are not reliving the same day, no, every day is new, unique, and what we think we know about the day, the world, and even ourselves is actually untested & unknown in this moment. We have experiences and memories, but best not to be imprisoned or clouded, or fogged by them. I always think of Firesign Theater's great line: "Everything You Know is Wrong."  Yes, start the day with that, and see what happens. You know, be "certain of nothing," and well, maybe see what & where being alive, aware, awake to every moment leads you.

Doing the Work...

The Wise Ones (they will remain unnamed this a.m.) tell us:

"Work on yourselves."

Yes. Indeed. We are all works in progress. Perfection is a flashy chimera shimmering out there on the horizon. Don't let that unicorn dazzle or distract you. Get busy. Dig deep. Notice the flaws, the biases, the contradictions, the idiocies, the over-confidences.

We can all do so much better. There is "clarity," a "quality" of living within reach. Listen. Open your eyes. your head, your heart. Take in the moment. Reflect. Come on, do the fucking work Pilgrim...

The a.m. soundtrack: "Mermaid Avenue" (1998). Listening to this fabulous album this morning, does it make me a better human being? Just listening, just simply paying attention? Probably yes. Woody Guthrie, Jeff Tweedy, Billy Bragg, Jay Bennet, early-edition Wilco. Brilliant, beautiful, so, so human. Makes one feel good, and want to do, and, be, good, too. Eternal Delight!

Off the Top of My Head...

Morning maxims:

"Everything Counts..."

"One step at a time..."

"You don't know what you don't know..."

"Everything is Everything..."

"Everything is holy..."

"Everything is cheaper than it looks..."

"Life is precious..."

"Life is cheap..."

"Every moment is precious..."

"Coffee is the will to live..."

"Be humble, gentle & kind..."

"Serpentine!"

"Keep moving, keep smiling, keep laughing..." 

Storm-Tossed...

Tossing and turning all night long. It was like being on a storm-tossed ship. Couldn't get my "sea legs." A bit fuzzy this a.m. The sun is breaking across the land, that's a good thing, kind of a new development. And, yes, well, the coffee (it's always about the coffee, right?!), is doing the trick. Wonder what the day will be bring. Bring it!

Don't Be Too Much...

You have to modulate...

Too happy, you make others pissed off.

Too optimistic, you make others want to kick you.

Too enthusiastic, you make others laugh at you.

You don't want to be "too anything."

MODULATE!

Too visible, they all want to squash you.

Beware, be careful, don't be too much. I mean, yes, be too much, but keep it close to the vest. Let the flame burn high inside, but only show so much, otherwise others will try to douse that flame. It's just the way of those others... funny, that...

Good vs. Evil...

Thinking of those black-habited nuns that helped raise me all those many years ago. I felt like a little caged monkey (I believe in Evolution, yes, Darwin's Dangerous Idea is spot on!), in Catholic Grade School. Couldn't wait to escape out into the neighborhood. Always tried my best to be invisible during the long, boring hours in school. The whole religion thing was delivered to us with such a heavy, literal-minded hand. I resisted immediately, and carried that resistance deep in my DNA for many, many decades afterwards.

Today, I'd say I'm mystically & poetically, (for more on this topic check in with Patti Smith & Nick Cave), connected to my religious upbringing. I see the magic of the mass; the incense, the pomp & circumstance, the theater, the transubstantiation, the wine into blood (ritual vampirism), the bread into flesh (ritual cannibalism), the consuming of the body of the Lord by the the gathered flock (how to get close to Jesus, not to worship him but to BE JESUS? Consume his blood and flesh, TAKE HIM INTO YOUR BODY!), as a symbolic, magical ritual, that was orchestrated to get us to some kind of transcendent state.  Count me in as a mystic, a pagan, a druid, a spirit-seeker and soul-stirrer.  

And what does it mean to BE JESUS? "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Humility, Forgiveness, Love, and an ability "to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" without complaint: "they know not what they do."

What was the point of all the smoke and mirrors, the hurly-burly, the grand pomp? 

Today I'd say it was simply a drama of GOOD vs. EVIL. A sort of play-acting that illustrated the concept that both GOOD and EVIL reside deep in the Human Heart (see Carl Jung & Joseph Campbell). All of us in the Human Herd are capable of the GREATEST GOOD AND THE MOST VILE EVIL. And we know the difference. We can choose, we don't need a Heaven or a Hell to reward or punish us. We embody heaven and hell, right here, right now. We can embrace the symbolic nature of everything around us: practice rituals and embrace the poetry & the myths. Try to transcend our human flaws & foibles, hold ourselves to account.

And, well, we see that big ponderous drama played out every day. Yes, there is GOOD in the world, and there is EVIL. Easy to see it, it is IN us. We can all choose to throw our lot in with one side or the other, (as Dylan said: "you've got to serve somebody"), but it is important to realize, to know definitively, that there is an existential game going down right before our eyes every damn moment of every damn day. And there ain't no Jesus, or God, or Demon who is gonna come down and save us. We need to dig deep and get our shit together all on our own, (Patti Smith: "Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine, Meltin' in a pot of thieves, Wild card up my sleeve, Thick heart of stone, My sins my own, They belong to me, me..."), leaning to the light.

Human Beings. Universal Human Rights. Catalog the "Crimes Against Humanity" (See the latest Putin edition of Hell). Turn to the Questioning Gospel according to Nick Lowe: "What's So Funny about Peace, Love and Understanding?"

Don't Have to Play that Game...

There is a game...

Bigs eat Littles, the Strong beat down the Weak, the Haves lord it over the Have Nots, the Rich rule over, and squelch, the Poor, the Powerful crush the Powerless.

We don't have to play that game. We can choose to transcend the "needing, wanting, grasping," we can choose to be gentle & kind, and wish the best for all. It's not too starry-eyed. Really.  I mean, hell, why not? I'm pretty sure it's the "kind and gentle game" that is the best game in town.

Work, Eat, Sleep, Dream...

Lately, for me, it's all about simplifying my day to day. Doing one thing at a time. Refusing to multi-task. Trying my best to approach everything with my full attention. Un-scatter my head. It helps to live in the "real world." You know the world of pavement, sidewalks, trees, squirrels, lake, sun, cloud, mud and grass. To breathe in the air of a day. Take it in and let it animate.

I scan the morning headlines, I feel it is my duty to try to "keep up with the news" but most of it is sad and terrifying. I spend lots of my time attending to my favorite "art:" movies ("Licorice Pizza," "The Lighthouse," "Coda", "The Witch," "The Big Lebowski") a good novel (Ken Kesey's "Sometimes a Great Notion") and music.  Mainly music. I let the sound-waves roll over me and enrapture me. Spending lots of time with Sigur Ros, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Stones, Dylan, Peter Gabriel, Nick Cave, you know, the usual suspects.

Work, eat, sleep, dream.  That's pretty much the whole she-bang. One thing at a time. And don't forget: Do the hard things first, no hesitation. That is a lesson learned.

The human story, it will bring you to tears. Sometimes tears of exuberant joy, sometimes tears of grave, deep, despair. I don't think the volume of tears evens out: joy vs. despair. We are left with a vast, brimming pool of tears, deep enough in which to drown. Is it too much to ask to hope to float?

Watching the sunrise this morning. It moves so fast. Reminds me that everything moves so fast. You can cannot hold it, or stop it.

As soon as I said the words "I'm lucky," I regretted it. I could see the Fates & Furies getting ready with some apocalyptic mischief.

Morning thought:: the deepest wisdom is bone-deep; simple, direct, easy to understand, easy to miss, or dismiss.

Back to low tech blogging for a couple of days. Today's phrase of the day: Godsmacked & Bedazzled!