The Universe is Not An Edifice of Facts!

We wear these faces. They are masks.
We inhabit these bodies. They are containers/vehicles.
We are flooded with thoughts and feelings. They are rivers and streams that run thru us.
We are essentially spirits. Invisible. Intangible. The four winds.
We think the universe is built on facts. Facts are flimsy, inadequate constructions of our minds.
Our minds can't encompass the universe. We are left with spirit, even if we can't hold it in our hands or minds.

Go to the Light!

Yes. Go to the light. Sounds like a good plan. Light a candle. Pray. Chant. Call on the "Spirit Guides" to help guide your friend to the light. Yes, our friend did like nature. They loved nature. Finding a spot near a waterfall sounds perfect.

Klosterman Goes for the Bad Guy!

The villain. Right. Why are we attracted to the villain? Maybe not so much in real life, but in fiction for sure? That's the subject of Chuck Klosterman's "I Wear the Black Hat."  I just started reading it last night. Yes, another brilliant book by Klosterman. He never fails to deliver. He's always twisting your brain. 

He is sort of a pop cultural philosopher. 

He makes you think Bernard Goetz is a real-life Batman. Sort of. And Muhammad Ali was a pretty blatant racist. No doubt. And it's not really all that important to actually hate the Eagles. Okay, watch the documentary on the Eagles and you really will hate them. For sure.

And Chuck explains how maybe our opinions about good and bad aren't really all that important anyway. And we are always making shit up to justify things that just pop into our heads.

Like I said, pretty damn brilliant.

Michael Herr One of the Great Ones.

Michael Herr has died. One of the great writers. Of all time. "Dispatches" is one of my all-time favorite books. It's non-fiction, about Vietnam and the war. The best writing imaginable. I just recently re-read it. Life. Death. Blood. Mad. Surreal. Just the absolute best.

Herr also worked on "Apocalypse Now," (all that great narration spoken by Martin Sheen was written by Herr) and "Full Metal Jacket." 

Later in life he "resented his celebrity," gave up writing, and turned to Buddhism.  And there in a nutshell is the reality of the human thing. 

"The Future Has Become Unpredictable, And So Has The Past."

I didn't realize Brexit would be so fascinating. Like a big reflecting diamond. Lights up so many issues/topics. Yesterday I plunged into reading about Britain's exit from the EU - The New York Times and Vox provided an amazing array of great writing on the Brexit phenomenon. 

You think it's a dry topic. Nope. Turns out everything comes into play. The battle of young & old. The longing for a mythical past. Worry about an uncertain future. Anger about a confusing present. Winners, losers, a global world churning and burning.

Many questions left hanging in the air: Who are we? Where are we going? Are we all in this great adventure together? Or really is it all against all?

Loved Rachel Donadio's "Reporter's Notebook." She tells us "nationalism is now back in." And then there's this great quote: "The future has become unpredictable, and so has the past.

I was also excited to discover a very cool blog The Strix. You know you have discovered a writer of distinction when he/she has elevated the conversation by bringing Socrates, Plato and Machiavelli into the conversation. Thrilling!

Division!

The Dali Lama reminds us that we are "Human Beings first." But there's only one Dali Lama. The rest of us, struggle with our demons.

As Human Beings - we are really good at division. Dividing old from young, rich from poor, elite from common, Christian from Muslim, White from Black (or Brown, or Red), city from rural, male from female, straight from gay, Etc.

On our good days we see love, beauty, kindness, generosity, tolerance, brotherhood.

On our bad days we see hate, anger, selfishness, intolerance,  jealously, war vs. all.

Most days it's a battle between the good and bad. A constant flux and churn.

Bold Step into the Past!

Brexit. It wasn't the number one issue on my radar. My first, fairly uniformed reaction: Britain voted against the future and jumped right back into the past. 

You think the future is inevitable. But there is always a churn, and the future isn't really what you think it is. You may have hope for a big united global community, but you also know that that reality is a long, long way away.

BTW - Felix Salmon gives us a good idea about this whole issue. A good read.

Felix: "The result is that we are now entering a world in retreat from progress, a world of atavistic nationalisms and mutual distrust, a world in which we demonize foreigners and prefer walls to bridges. In November, the U.S. will have its own plebiscite, and will likely vote along similar lines to Britain. The cities, and the young, will vote for progress, inclusion, and unity. Meanwhile, the white, rural areas and the old will vote for a sepia-tinged dream of a past in which equality was something only straight white men really qualified for."

Congressional Sit-In!

A congressional sit-in? Really? Kind of warms the heart. Demanding a common-sense vote on guns?  John Lewis, American Hero. Yes. Of course. About time. So glad to see that a few of our paid representatives have the gumption and energy to do something, anything, to protest the gun madness. The obstructionists of the GOP are absolutely letting the country down. Blood on their hands.

Yes, Extremely Funny!

The Saga of the Short-Fingered Vulgarian...

At first I laughed. It was quite enjoyable to watch the Vulgarian mow down the other 16 GOP contenders. He absolutely destroyed Bush, then Cruz. The GOP Godzilla.  And then there was the worrying phase. "Holy shit. This guy actually has people supporting him."

That phase didn't last long.

"The cheese stood alone." And kept talking. Off the top of his head. And it got to be funny again. The Short-Fingered Vulgarian is actually scamming the GOP. Not running a serious campaign. He has no clue how to raise money, no clue how to bone up on the issues, how to appeal to anyone who isn't a racist, misogynist, or xenophobic lunatic.

And he has no money to speak of to run a campaign, and isn't wired to ask other billionaires for money. This is an empty suit running a scam. And the GOP is the mark, the chump, the sucker.

That's funny. Extremely funny.

Summer Single!

Yesterday it was a full moon and the Summer Solstice. Supposedly that hasn't happened since 1967. So a special day.  Cosmically special, right?

To celebrate, our band whitewolfsonicprincess decided to release a "Summer Single" - one of the 1st songs we ever wrote together.

"Everything is Everything" is now a FREE download on BandCamp. It's probably the closest we have ever gotten to a "Summer Single!" Stream it, download it, share it, etc. It's our gift to the universe! 

Various & Random

Various, random thoughts/questions swirling in my head yesterday...

1. Can a Universe get tired, weary, overburdened, run-down, cranky?

2. There are stretches of vast beauty in the land. And stretches of terrible blight. Much of our heartland seems like the "Land of the Left Behind." Burned out. Abandoned, run-down. No visible means of sustainability. Dead zones. 

3. Reality is big and complicated. Contradictory. Is it possible that everything is not as good as it used to be? Or is that just the reflection of being seasoned, I mean, relatively old?

4. It's good to get out of the neighborhood. It's funny when people say things like: "You're not from around here, are you?" 

5. When someone from "over there" asks you: "Are you from California?" They don't mean it as a compliment.

6. Everything sounds better on the radio. Especially if they are playing a song from your latest record!

7. Robert Plant's "Lullaby and the Ceaseless Roar" is such a great album. Perfect road music. Plant really continues to do the good work. In fact, I'd say his late career music is as good as anything out there in the music-verse.

8. Pretzel roll! I have found my new love. My friend tells me they are so "last year." But I have fallen in love with pretzel rolls. I don't care if I'm late to the party, or missed it all together. I say "Pretzel roll!"

Restful. Not So Restful.

Oh how human. You have a "restful" sleep. You zoned out for about 9 hours. Let the sun rise without you. That's rare. You should feel recharged and expectant. Face the day with renewed vigor. 

But of course, it's not like that. Dimly recalled dreams call into question your very existence. A sense of futility, missed connections, a series of failures and disruptions. And you wonder "What is my purpose?" And "Why am I here?" And "How the hell am I gonna make it thru?"

So, not really so restful. Or maybe yes, very well-rested and totally invalidated.  A headful of questions. I wonder if the coffee this morning can change the conversation in my head?

Taste. Not What We Think.

Taste.  We like what we like, because we like it. Or maybe we like what we like because people we like, like it. Taste is a complicated topic. And it's one of those things where there is no there "there."

My friend doesn't like mushrooms. Why? "They feel funny in my mouth." That's as good as any other reason you can come up with when it comes to taste.

And taste changes. It's not intuitive or in-built. It is malleable. And we build our lives and personalities on this shifting mound of sand.

But change is good. Our tastes can change. What I like today might not be what I like tomorrow. Tomorrow is a new day.

"Personal Insult, Racist Woofing, and Misogynist Bile..."

Yesterday I came across David Remnick writing about Hillary Clinton and the Short Fingered Vulgarian. I do love the way the man writes a sentence.

"Has a national election ever suggested a more vividly divergent choice? Hillary Clinton has been in the public eye for decades, and her ideology, her instincts, her mistakes, her victories, her intelligence and character, her resilience are as exposed as those of any candidate in recent memory. Donald Trump—gaudy real-estate brander, reality-show star, educational huckster—has been in the glare just as long, but as a bit player in the national phantasmagoria. Not anymore: with his puckered scowl and his preposterous narcissism, he clinched the Republican nomination with ease, serially vanquishing sixteen rivals rendered hapless by a campaign that made improvisation its organizing principle and fuelled itself on an unending stream of personal insult, racist woofing, and misogynist bile."

Character Studies.

Character study. Yes. I think I've always been more interested in the characters of a story than the plot. As an aspiring writer I quickly grew weary of English Lit, and switched to Psychology, thinking if I was ever to write anything worthwhile, I needed to try to understand human beings and the way they thought and acted. 

What makes a human being a human being?

It's a life-long thing. Try to understand your own motives and actions too. A complicated web for sure. So the latest mind-boggling, heart-rending tragedy in Orlando - the shooter is a character worthy of a Dostoyevsky.

A man "sick in the head." Seems there was a war raging in the man's head - rage, self-hate, hate of "the other." Instead of suicide, a mass murder of innocents. So sad, so terrible. Actions of a human being, being human - inhuman, monstrous. A very troubled mind. 

We want to understand that which is totally not understandable. And absorb another tragedy.

Trump - American Nazi!

Kevin Drum over at Mother Jones is pretty much a middle of the road, moderate Democrat. Not extreme. Not an over the top worrier. Does not fan the flames. Is always looking at the data. Trying to be clear-headed, clear-minded. He along with Paul Krugman are pretty much my "go-to" political writers. 

So when Drum describes the Short-Fingered Vulgarian's "industrialized racism," I do take notice. It is remarkable how quickly the Vulgarian has devolved into "fantasies of the Third Reich."

Think of him as "Hitler-Lite!" Or "Toy Hitler." Crazy? Right? Only if you don't believe a word the man says, which is understandable. But if you do listen to the man, and take him seriously, you realize he is imagining some kind of grand demonization and "manifest depravity" of epic proportions.

Now that being said, I do not think this abomination of a human being will be elected President. There are not enough racists/Nazis in America at the moment. He's a fringe candidate leading a major political party. But he is a truly dangerous phenomenon, an obvious fraud, blowhard, and trumped up Nazi, fanning the flames of fear and racism. 

The man is clearly out of his element. Most of what he says is not rational, not ready for polite company. And he does not represent a valid, political movement. Yes, he should, and will be, crushed. That's if he doesn't walk away from it all before the convention, or before the election.

This Nazi will not be President. But maybe it's all instructive for us to witness the blatant depravity of his ignorance, arrogance and racism. Maybe America can learn from this black hole of political ugliness.

Move the Conversation Forward...

The political stalemate over guns is maddening. And seems like a sickness. A branch of crazy. Lax gun laws. Easy access to military-style weapons. And mass shootings just continue to roll out.

Troubled human beings. Armed to the teeth. 

America's love affair with guns is a sickness. And the politicians who stand in the way of sensible gun laws have blood on their hands.

Maybe if we change the language, the way we define, discuss, and frame, the issue can move the conversation forward. I hope so.

For instance: "It's time to talk about gun control as a way to stop terrorism."

Acts of Psychosis...

Yes. Some times something happens and there's really nothing to say. That's how I feel this morning. There's a tremendous sadness hanging over me. A tremendous sadness for us all.

I think Kevin Drum gets it right: "Terrorism and Lunacy are not the same thing." Often we are talking about an act of "psychosis" when we are describing acts of terror - delusions, paranoia, mental disorders, irrational hatred.

In our society we must add in the easy access to weapons designed to kill many people very quickly. It is a bad and deadly combo.

And as B. Obama tells it "inaction in the face of mass shootings is also a political act."

"There is no step three..."

This "mock ad" from the Clinton campaign is pretty hilarious. Of course, it's also "true." Trump University was a classic fraud. A scam. 

I do wonder about, and feel sorry for, my fellow Americans who actually thought it would be good idea to give money to Trump U to what, to become more Trump-like? The mind reels at the gullibility of human beings.

Mockery. Yes. Great way to take down a bully. Mock him. And man, oh man, is this guy a big fat juicy target.

Positive and Optimistic!

Hot around here. Yesterday afternoon we found ourselves at the neighborhood coffeehouse, sitting outside, in the shade, sipping excellent coffee beverages. A group of us were talking politics. So much fear and worry on people's minds.

It's funny. I was the most positive and optimistic of the bunch. I am feeling really good about the upcoming election. I know it will be sort of a slog, and there is more madness and ugliness to wade through, but when the dust settles, I do believe that a Woman will be finally sworn is as President of the USA. And this will be a great thing.

And I'm not sure, but I do think that this particular Woman has the potential to be a tremendous President. She's smart, tough, and she will be leading an energized party. I have great hope that a new, more progressive era begins.

And I am also positive that Obama will be remembered as one of the greatest Presidents we ever were lucky to have in office. He is a brilliant man. He has navigated through tough times with absolutely no help at all from the bat-shit crazy GOP. 

This video just makes me so happy. It's so good. Kind of takes you through the highlights of the Obama era. I miss the man already. I do wish I could vote for him again, and again. Fie on the 22nd amendment!  Jimmy Fallon, the Roots and Obama! Big love!

The Most Important Speech of the Year.

Yesterday Elizabeth Warren made the most important political speech of the year. You can watch it in full here (highly recommended):

Yes, it's a complete takedown of the Short-Fingered Vulgarian. She absolutely destroys the man. With facts. Hard, cold facts.

But more importantly as Jeff Stein of Vox explains, the speech made a much bigger argument about the Republican party and how they have systematically attacked the rule of law, and tried to bend it to benefit Corporations and the wealthy. Folks like Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Jeff Sessions have obstructed judges nominated by Barack Obama just because has has nominated good judges who follow the rule of law.

The speech really ties it all together. Beautifully. Yes, it's a takedown of the "nasty thin-skinned fraud" but it makes the case for a complete overhaul of the Senate and House.

I'm rooting for a wave election with a Woman in the White House and lots of new progressive Dems in both chambers of Congress. Thank you Elizabeth Warren. Fantastic!

Life - It's Organic!

Organic growth. That's one way to think of your life. "Of, relating to, or obtained from living things."  Your life is organic in itself. A slow unfolding. No artificial ingredients

Also, no plan. Lots of aimless wandering and spinning. Sometimes spinning out. A few dead-ends. Hard stops. Detours. You emerge, as you emerge.

Early on you may have been attracted to the odd cases, the wizened souls, the interesting characters. And then, one day, you realize you are all that, and more, or less. But not exactly what you imagined you would be.

And you are still living, growing, emerging. At least as long as you breathe...

whitewolfsonicprincess on WGN Radio - The Nick Digilio Show - Weds Morn!

I just don't have the R&R lifestyle thing down. Stay up late. Play music on the big-time Chicago radio Station! Yes whitewolfsonicprincess (3 of us) were on WGN, the Nick Digilio Show... and still up early with the sun and the birds. 

It's that damn coffee machine. It calls me from the kitchen, "Get in here, brew a pot of coffee and let's get started."

I will sleep later. I have coffee to drink and plans to hatch! BTW- Nick was just the best - funny and cool!

Go Woman!

Yeah. This election will be an easy one for me. The first Woman nominated to run for President by a major U.S. political party VS. A Confirmed, Over the Top, Racist?

I can vote and sleep easy, no matter what happens after election day. I will vote my conscience, I will vote enthusiastically. I will hope for a better tomorrow. Go Woman!

Scam-Artist, Flim-Flam Man!

You can call the guy names. But that doesn't really get to the heart of it. He really is a scam-artist, a film-flam man, a human being totally unqualified to seek the office he is supposedly seeking.

Even his intention to be the Big Kahuna seems like some kind of scam or bluff. It's hard to believe he really wants the job. Actually, it's hard to believe he wants any job, except being himself, he is just a brand name, seeking things in which to slap his brand upon. What an exquisite blow-hard extraordinaire. A blow-hard of epic proportions.

And there is a deep ugliness about the whole scam. But maybe it is that ugliness that he is really selling us. And the ugliness is latent in our politics. The deep ugliness is a feature, not a flaw of the man, and the "movement" (Neo-Reaction?). So if you point out the racism, the misogyny, the xenophobia, the authoritarianism and bullying, well you are actually pointing out the strong points of this particular phenomenon.

Doubt, Fear, Guilt, Worry.

Doubt, fear, guilt, worry. 

Sometimes you think it would be better to live without these things.  Clear your mind. Drop the baggage. Live clean.

But then again maybe they are useful tools. Tools that must be used wisely. It's all about proportion and balance.

Clear skies, cloudy skies.  Each has their benefits and positive attributes. So guilt can be useful. Worry, fear, doubt too...

"I aint' got no quarrel with those Vietcong..." - M. A.

I heard the news today. Decades of my life flashed inside my head. And the tears, they fell like rain...

"Floats like a Butterfly, stings like a bee..."

Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali - 1942 - 2016

“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality. If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years.” M.A.

"It just doesn't matter..."

Bad Day? An astrophysicist explains why "It just doesn't matter."

Yes, the immensity of space does freak me out. Toss in the immensity of time too. Space and time. Both immensities totally do freak me out. Against those two mind-boggling immensities there is me/you. Tiny, insignificant, me/you.

It can be overwhelming. And ego-deflating. 

"Sure, space is unimaginably vast, and you're just a tiny speck of speckiness in the vast wheeling cosmos. But does that mean you're insignificant and unimportant? Yes, it does. And that's awesome because what that means is you're off the hook."

This astrophysicist advises us to embrace our insignificance. No matter what happens, at our level of tiny-ness, "It just doesn't matter." I suppose this totally contradicts one of my core ideas - "Everything counts." But then again, maybe not.

How about "Yes, everything counts and, yes, guess what, it just doesn't matter?!?"

A Leap to Goat!

You think transgender is a leap? To go from male to female, or female to male, or to be indeterminate? Not such a big deal.

How about going from a man to a goat? Or a badger?  Now that's a leap. I have to say that I thought Joshua Rothman's article in the New Yorker was funny. Super-funny.

Not sure if trying to live like a goat in every way possible is ridiculous, fabulous, silly, a pathology, or what. Maybe a bit of all of that. Once we go past imagination, observation & study and try to make the leap into another species, I think we are entering some kind of zone of madness.

Still lots of interesting ideas surfaced in the reading. Especially the concept of "Umwelt" - a "self-centered world." Each species is coming from a completely different world, dictated by their environment. When we as human beings talk about other species, and try to measure them in relation to human beings, we do them a great disservice.  Our worlds are so different. 

"Literally, Umwelt means “surroundings,” but those surroundings can be cognitive and existential as well as physical. “Umwelt stresses an organism’s self-centered, subjective world, which represents only a small tranche of all available worlds,” de Waal explains. A reindeer’s Umwelt includes forests lit with ultraviolet light. An eyeless tick’s includes not just the smell of butyric acid, which wafts from mammalian skin, but the years-long wait for a moment of succulent opportunity. "

Our Job on the Planet!

Yes. So what is our job here on the planet? Be aware. Be awake. Pay attention. Cultivate compassion & empathy. Tell stories. Good stories. Stories others want to hear. Stories that inspire. Take nothing for granted. Remember that every step, every thought, every action counts. Remember you are in charge of yourself. You are the boss of you. You are connected to everything and everyone. You are unique. You are like & unlike any other being that lives, or has lived, or will live. Unlike and alike at the same time. Enjoy your time. It's precious.