Fox News is Not News...

Ha. Speaking of 90 something multi-multi millionaires (see previous post), Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News admits under oath in court that Fox pushed Trump's lies about the 2020 election, knowing that the lies were lies, because they were afraid to piss off their devoted audience, the brain-numb, MAGA hordes,  and, of course, they also wanted to keep their mega-disinformation network paying off in cold  hard cash. You know, for Murdoch and his team, the green stuff trumped all. Democracy in America be damned.

What a disgrace. Fox News is not a news organization. It is total disinformation. It is an amoral, totally partisan propaganda device, a disinfo-money-making machine, with no journalistic ethics, no loyalty to the truth, no loyalty to Democracy. Also it turns out as per Empthywheel:  "Rupert Murdoch, in a sworn deposition as part of Dominion’s lawsuit against Fox, confessed that he helped Donald Trump cheat during the 2020 election. He provided Jared Kushner confidential information about Joe Biden’s ads, the kind of information that Trump had to rely on Russian spies to obtain from Hillary in 2016."

BREAKING FROM FOX NEWS: TRUMP CHEATED … AND HE STILL COULDN’T BEAT JOE BIDEN!

Available?!

An improbable, random sentence overheard yesterday...

Two forty-something women walking & talking on the lakefront, one, excitedly to the other: "He's a multi-multi-millionaire, AND, he's 93!"

Clear...

Clear consciousness. It's such a gift. Something we are lucky to access/possess. At least for a time. It's a mystery too. Do we plug into consciousness, or do we wield it? Does is descend upon us, or does it emerge from us? It's hard to know, I mean, even the really smart folks amongst us aren't sure about the nature of consciousness. It seems like a gift from nature, but it also seems a bit super-natural. Once you realize how powerful and wonderful clear consciousness is, you really come to treasure it, and understand it's a rare, good thing. Sort of a super-power that is so embedded, we take it for granted. There were those times, those years, when clouding up one's consciousness; altering, and befouling it, seemed like fun, or an escape, an entertainment. Now all that seems so obviously wrong-headed and life-killing. There is Human Consciousness, but then, is it just a sub-set of a larger, Universal Consciousness? Who knows? We don't know if it evaporates or disappears when our bodies fail. Do we meld into a bigger consciousness, or do we fade away to a state of no-consciousness? Overwhelming questions this a.m. I awoke to a glorious sunrise. An almost mystical event. It lit me up. I almost feel inadequate to face the day. Reality can be so enthralling, overwhelming, consuming. I vow to stay clear today. Transparent. Alive. Aware. Awake. Seems like the least one can do. Honor the day. Honor the clear consciousness that hovers like a great invisible cloud of light and wonder.

A New Coat of White...

Ha, the theme this morning is White…

It snowed last night. Less than an inch, but it's like a new coat of paint on everything. I am spinning The Beatles "White Album,"  (1968). I  actually put it on without thinking about the theme of White, but maybe subconsciously, of course, it's the right choice. It's a big, overstuffed, rambling & shambolic record. The Beatles 9th album. Supposedly, they were coming apart at the seams, friction in the collaboration, but they were all bursting with creativity. They were in the midst of their "weird" period, psychedelics, meditation, travels to the East, Yoko Ono made the scene; they were no longer the cute Mop-Tops, they were now fabulously rich super-star pop/rock stars, long-haired, unshaven, holed up in the recording studio, refusing to go on tour. They started this phase of their career with "Revolver"  (1966), maybe, their best record and followed that one with "Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band," (1967), which is the "Citizen Kane" (1941) of rock/pop records. By the way, I recently re-watched a new 4k restoration of Orson Welles' fabulous movie. It is truly, masterful filmmaking, it was also the making and unmaking of Orson Welles as boy genius and Hollywood Director, just like his character Kane, Welles followed his obsessions to the end, and in the process he antagonized the rich & powerful to the detriment of his own career. Of course, unlike Kane, Welles was creative, lovable and not an asshole. Still, no doubt, one the finest most creative and innovative films ever. Anyway, The White Album is double-LP, all over the map in sound. Sometimes the lads sound like they are stoned and just fucking around. It has a special place in my heart, one of the first records I ever owned. It is iconic and unlike anything else. There are tracks I'd just as soon as skip, especially some of the singalongs, and some of Paul's sappier songs. The Beatles tastes were wider than my own, but to hear those voices is always a treat.  I have always been fascinated by John Lennon, his voice, his mind, he was an eternal searcher, always onto to the next thing. John was getting political, "Revolution," and avant garde with Yoko in "Revolution 9." There are also some great rockers on the record from George, John & Paul. Great to hear John Lennon's voice again this morning in the midst of white. One of the greatest r&r voices ever. There is an uncommon intelligence, a sense of humor, plus there's sadness, joy, enthusiasm, weirdness, to be found in John's lyrics & vocals. A brilliant, totally overstuffed album. The Great White Shark of Pop!

Transporting...

I lost an old friend yesterday. A classic Motobene 10-speed bicycle. I drove it to distraction and dislocation. It was an old, well-cared-for recycled bicycle when I bought it off a guy via Facebook about 4 years ago, and I rode that thing just about every day, thru rain, snow, sleet, mud, high-winds, pelting ice, brilliant sunshine; over pavement, sand, dirt paths, hard trails, smooth roadways. I was hard on that old bike. Most times I rode it for "work" but often I was joy-riding too. And even my day to day rides always seemed to be a bit of a kick. Flying thru the days. I valued it highly, it was cool-looking, black with red-highlights, everything worked. But I was rough with it too. Sometimes it sat out in the elements chained to a post, so it wore the world on its slowly disintegrating frame. Under my watch, it was getting creaky, the brakes were funky, the gears were sticky, I pretty much kept the thing in one gear. The tires were pretty much bald, and a bit wobbly. The chain was sometimes just pure rust, I'd oil it, and  for a brief time, it looked decent, but really that chain was toast. Yesterday the bike fell over, hit the ground hard, and the de-railer broke. I wheeled it to a local bike job to see if I could get a quick repair. Yikes. After the bike tech did an inventory, my $120 bicycle was gonna need about $300 of work to get it back in shape.  What to do? It was suggested I consider purchasing a used bicycle totally refurbished, shiny and new, everything in tip-top shape, it could be mine for $499, ready for pickup in about a week. Ha. Had to dig deep on that idea. Yes, every dollar is hard to come by, I truly do know the value of a buck, my days of labor remind me every day what a dollar means. But, you know, a decent bicycle is not a luxury for me, it is essential, my main mode of transportation, I mean, second to my own two feet, but if I want to get anywhere in the world, in a timely fashion, I need wheels. I pulled the trigger, left my old bicycle in the shop, donated it to the bicycle shop to be recycled once again. Almost like reincarnation. If I think about it, it's almost like trading in my last 4 years, a slice of my own existence, and renewing recharging, putting on another persona. A whole new era begins maybe as soon as next week when I pick up the "new" one. In the meantime, it's gonna be a bit of slog, I mean, you know, "these boots are made for walking…"

The Road...

We must always be diligent & vigilant. The arrows of outrageous fortune can come from any corner, and at any moment. It might make one a bit paranoid & edgy. That's the price of being fully conscious to the moment. It's a big, robust, contradictory, always contending Universe. We are such tiny, infinitesimal pieces in an over-stuffed, much grander puzzle. I was reminded yesterday that every word, every thought has consequence. Every step too. Multi-tasking is a recipe for failure & fuck-up. I am super-good at occupying myself with my own private obsessions. Not so good navigating the highways and byways of others. Feelings, invisible and dangerous, can come crashing down like enormous waves washing everything away in their wake. Clear consciousness. Clarity. Breath. Paying fucking attention. Guide-posts on the road.

Truth and Consequences...

Ha. Well. According to John 8:32, Jesus once said "The Truth Will Set You Free." 2nd hand information. You wonder, is it true? 

BTW - this citation says that Jesus spoke the line to "a group of Jews who believed in him." But really shouldn't it read, Jesus, a Jewish person, said the line to a group of Jews? Folks seem to conveniently forget that Jesus was a Jew too. You know Jesus, Joseph, Mary, were all Jewish. Those White-Supremacist, Right-Wing, Fascist, Christian Nationalists who demonize Jews, and any one of "color," are seriously deluded, and wrong-headed. The Holy Ghost? Maybe not Jewish, maybe just a trippy, mystical pigeon? Who knows? Funny, that.

And anyway, what of…

the hard truths

the ugly truths

the inconvenient truths

You tend to think it's best to live your life in accordance with facts and reality. But, we can all see that often things get confusing. Folks want to believe what they want to believe, damn the facts, damn the reality.

"To thine own self be true."  That comes from Polonius, speaking to Hamlet in Shakespeare's great play. Some interpret it to mean, be true to yourself, avoid self-deception.

Living with your truth, being true, being up to task of facing the truth; these all seem to be admirable qualities. You want to live with Heart, Soul, Beauty and Truth. It seems like a simpler and more righteous way to live. If you are always conjuring up lies, to yourself and others, you are creating a living Hall of Delusion. I think lots of folks would prefer to live with their delusions. But it is a false reality, and it takes lots of energy to try to keep your story straight. Having a clear-eyed view of the world seems like such a good idea.

But… sometimes… maybe the truth is just too hot to handle? I think of the tale of Oedipus in Greek Mythology. Poor guy, ("He was destined to be doomed all his life."),  he accidentally, unknowingly, unintentionally, slept with his Mother and murdered his Father. It was all so disheartening, he ended up blinding himself by sticking two golden pins into his eyes. Yikes.  I mean, he could see, and then he was blind.

Contrary to that other idea: "I was blind but now I see." Which is another Bible verse. Which is cool, but then again you recall that so much of the Bible seems like fabulous invention. More happy talk and delusion?

I also think of that  Neo-Futurist play, "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind." Is there something to be said about not living with too much truth? Do we Human Beings need a little bit of delusion to keep our heads in the game? For sure we need Hope, Dream, Imagination. Tools beyond the cold, hard reality and truth. Sometimes maybe don't to look too closely in the Mirror? You don't want to embrace lies, but maybe you keep a bit of distance to some of the bitter truths? Like anything else, there is probably a healthy balance. But it's mystery to how you actually get there.

Best way forward? Beats me. I mean, Only the Shadow Knows...

Uncertainty & Mishap...

A day, yes, let's call it a day. Yesterday was a day of tiny fuck-ups, little eddies of chaos, tiny streams of entropy, misplaced words, cracked misunderstandings, mis-laid plans. There were false alarms, runaway dogs, strange rumblings, hard-feelings, deep misgivings, broken lines, mystery wounds, tiny cuts on an arm & knuckle, blood trickling, an errant attack from nothing and nowhere. 

I walked the lonely streets late last night. All was clear. Big, lake-side mansions lit-up like overgrown museum pieces, an enormous, looming star-scape above. I looked up and said to myself, "That's the Big Dipper," but how was I to be sure? Maybe it was the Little Dipper? One would be relative to the other. I couldn't get my star-bearings. Uncertainty & mishap seemed to be on the ascendant the whole day.

Overconfidence & Ignorance...

Ha. This may help explain a few things...

"A very disturbing feature of overconfidence is that it often appears to be poorly associated with knowledge - that is, the more ignorant the individual, the more confident he or she may be." - Robert Trivers,  American- Evolutionary Theorist

The Fascist/B.S. Wing of USA...

I came across this phrase this a.m. It applies to so much of what flies across the land like a renegade balloon: Sloppy Propaganda.

What is funny, most of the sloppiest propaganda comes from the far right wing, and our wealthy wanna-be overlords, you know, the Fascist/B.S. wing of USA. They are a bunch of sleazy narcissists, egotists & cry-babies who want to flood us with their obvious bullshit; to confuse us, divide us, and to make us afraid.

Most of us are smart enough to tune them out, or a least turn them down in volume. We know there is a constant chatter of Bullshit coming from the Right, but we don't have to listen closely or to take them seriously. Yes. Ok. They exist. So what? Lean to the light People. That is where our Hope for a good life and a better future lies.

But there are folks who just desperately want to believe the bullshit. What do you say to the folks who are wrapped in a Right-Wing, Fascist, BS strait-jacket? My suggestion: 

"Yes, it's true that we Woke-Democrats think you are idiots to follow obvious bullshit and stupidly-paranoid conspiracy theories, but what's really funny, your Champions, those who are peddling such b.s. to you, also think you are fucking fools. Why are they doing it? They have no respect for you. They are telling you what they know you want to hear in exchange for brand-building, and cold, hard $. They are grifting and swindling you with ridiculous falsehoods. And you, dear, delusional right-wing strait-jacket-wearer are gladly swindling yourself, because you can't admit you are wrong, the Woke-Democrats are right, and you have fooled & grifted your own fragile mind into an echo-chamber of B.S."

Ha. Ha. Ha.

The Bullshit-slingers are so ridiculous, obvious and blatant. They truly have nothing to offer. They are desperate for attention. Ha. We don't have to pay them any attention. We can stifle them with our cold, calculated indifference and our joyous sense of humor. They truly are a plague and a Bad Joke. They are a blight and a scourge. You wonder if they will ever wake up? Probably not. You recall that people cried when Stalin died. Some folks will go off the cliff with their delusions intact. To listen to them is to make us all less intelligent. The best response to their soul-killing, brain-hurting crap: "Fuck Off Fuckers!" Ok. No. Maybe that's too harsh. Maybe best to just give those folks a wide-berth. Avoid at all costs. You know, poor things, a mind is a terrible thing to waste...

Fox News = Empire of Lies!

One, self-assured, finely-constructed, over-loaded line of questioning:

QUESTION: SunnyJimmy were you surprised to find out that Fox News is a corrupt organization, an organization that pretends to be a news network, but in fact is a disinformation platform, that has lied to their audience for years about everything under the sun, and that those lies have undermined Democracy in America, and stoked the Big Lie that Trump pushed trying to cling to power and out of humiliation at losing a free and fair election to Joe Biden, and resulted in an attack on the Capitol on January 6th? Are you surprised that highly-paid grifters and shills like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity knew what they were broadcasting on the air night after night was total bullshit & disinformation, but they did it for entertainment purposes, for the $, to build the brand, and to keep their audience happy like pigs in shit? Are you surprised that Fox viewers desperately wanted to be lied to, that a close-minded, whiny & fearful audience of folks would rather be told lies than to face the real-world, multicultural Democracy that is the present USA? 

ANSWER: Nope. Not surprised in the least. I suppose the surprising part of it is that all of the evidence is presented in glorious black and white: emails & text messages. Yes. We have the smoking guns! The most damaging evidence comes from the shills & grifters themselves. And what is extra-cool, this is all part of $1.2 Billion Defamation Lawsuit brought against Fox by the voting machine company Dominion. Seems the Lying Liars will have to face the music in court.  Ha, ha, ha! Fox News is a plague and a scourge. FOX NEWS = EMPIRE OF LIES!

Measuring the Day...

Pythagoras: "Man is the measure of all things."

Let me amend this sentence reflecting our "woke" reality. All controversy aside, you really, really do want to be Woke. It is your responsibility as a fully engaged Human Being.

My amended sentence: Human Beings are the measure of all things Human.

Yep. So, anyway, yesterday was an example of the other face of Nature. I have written about the Beauty to be found in the day, yesterday was a distinctly different kind of Beauty. I was measuring the reality of the day and it was awesome in it's nasty rawness.

There were ice-darts flying off the lake yesterday. The wind ran across the lake and picked up water, which formed into crystals and those crystals flew thru the air like tiny, piercing, darts. Pummeling. Stinging. It was a gray, cold day. How many shades of gray? Seems there is an infinite color spectrum. The day was black and splashed with white and gray. White snowflakes swirling. Naked, black, gnarly trees standing against the wind. The lake a mushy, hurly-burly of churning, milk-shake gray. The sky was an oppressive, dirty-cotton-gray. It was all spectacularly un-beautiful. Yikes. My mantra for the day: "Don't fall down." It was a day of survival. I was happy to get home in one piece. I tried my best to measure up to the day. I was totally "woke" to the moment and happy to say "I made it."

Leave the Philosophizing to the Philosophers?

Yeah, all the speculating, and questioning of fundamental principles might be fun and a bit head-spinning, but really, to what end? Idle entertainment? Most of us are just trying to survive day to day. Maybe best to leave the philosophizing to the philosophers?

We are left to decide how to live. How to make it. How not to go crazy. How to stay engaged with the world,  and with reality, and with other Human Beings.  

How do we navigate a world where so much bad shit goes down? You know there is all that chaos, death & destruction. You want to blame someone or some force or entity, but, really bad shit happens all the time. Seems that there is a darkness that is built into the fabric of the Universe.

Good shit goes down too. Seems that there is a light that is built into the fabric of the Universe too. We have to contend with it all. Yes. Contending forces. Swirling around us. We must try our best to keep our heads. Until our "number comes up." We all have something to do here. Be Here Now. Some might say we all have a fate, a destiny, a purpose. If there are deep meanings to our lives, it seems it is up to us to decide what  it is and what that really means. Who knows? We must do what we must do. Damn the torpedos.

A Subversive Read...

Last night I finished my re-reading of Robert Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." It is quite the journey. It takes a strange turn into madness. What's the gist? If you become obsessed with reimagining the fundamental underpinnings of Logic & Rationality, if you question the Scientific Method, Duality and Division, well, it is easy to lose your footing and fall into an endless quest, and an elaborate Hall of Mirrors from which you may not be able to extricate yourself.  A diligent reader is left with basic questions that raise doubts about the foundations of all Western thought. Yes, question everything. Maybe that's the ticket?! Ha. It's a pretty subversive read. Best to approach the novel with a clear mind, and a healthy skepticism.  A sense of humor helps too. Oh yeah, and don't forget Humility. It is rewarding read, to an extent. I suppose my main takeaway, Human Beings are stuck with being Human. And all of our knowledge is sketchy, subject to change & revision. It's hard to pin down what we know, and why, and how, we know what we know. "The more we look, the more we see." And as William Blake told us, we are limited, imprisoned, by our "senses five." And why is it that the most important things in our lives are invisible, hard to pin down, un-dissectible? You know those mysterious things we cling to with all our might: Energy, Intuition, Spirit, Soul, The Good, Quality, Excellence, Truth, Love, Beauty? Are they just Ghosts? Or Chimeras? Can you stake your Life on them? Yes, well, I think so. Maybe?! I mean, fuck yes, why not?! Damn the torpedos. 

Unbidden Beauty...

The last two days, for some reason, I am sensitized to the beauty. Maybe it's the book I'm reading, or the music I am listening to, or something I ate, or, I mean, who knows why? Yesterday, late afternoon, I am riding my bicycle due East, heading to the lakefront. About 2 blocks away from the lake I can feel the air temps change, maybe plunging 10 degrees colder close to the lake. That's nothing new, it's a well-known phenomena, that lake water is super-cold, and the cold air hovers over and around the lake. Still, it was amazing to feel such a quick temp drop. Powerful. I hitched my bicycle to a post, and then looked out at the lake. The sun was setting behind me in the West, but there was a sympathetic glow in the East, a painterly-like wash of pink light, hovering right on the horizon line just below a wash of blue. The lake water was still, no hint of a wave, just a hushed instant, with tiny ripples of water, looking almost like a threaded carpet of darker blue. It was stunning, gorgeous, improbably-strange, a wonderful scene of wonder. It lit me up. The beauty detonated in my being. A small thing, and everything. A moment in a life. A moment of unbidden beauty.

Magnificent...

We got out of our heads and into the landscape yesterday. Sunny, all-blue sky, not a cloud visible to the eye. Glorious, brilliant, warming, dazzling, sparkling sunshine. Sunbeams dancing on everything. We biked on the lakefront, and then found a spot, up against a friendly wall, out of the wind, and bathed in the warmth and sun for a few hours. Time seemed to stand still, although, everything around us seemed to be alive; nothing dead, or static. We spoke, sparingly, a few words here and there, no words of great importance. We gave our brains a "time-out." Not exactly brainless, but intently silent in the face of such amazing beauty. What to say? Words just didn't seem adequate to the moment. So, yes, sunshine and silence filled us to the brim. There seemed to be an aliveness in the air. Sort of a Universal Consciousness all around us. Everything overflowing with energy, everything thriving, every blade of grass, every naked tree, every stone, every grain of sand, even the air seemed animated with a brilliance & intelligence. It was a magnificent day. Really.

What Makes Us Tick?

Not to beat a dead horse, that would be cruel and unkind and not cool, but re-reading Robert Pirsig's opus (see previous post) reminds me of why  in my University years, I switched from majoring in Literature to Psychology. I realized, with a flash of insight, that it was "all in our heads." If I wanted to be a writer, I really needed to "understand" what made people tick. But at the University I very quickly realized Psychology too is probably more art than science, a moving target, just like pretty much everything else. 

Hah. Also, what's funny, I still don't really know what makes people tick, I don't even truly know what makes me tick, I'm just ticking along, trying to do my best to be my best, but I do think part of being a Human Being is to participate in this unfolding process of "knowing thyself," or following that instruction: "to thine own self be true." 

Right. Being "woke" to our own nature. Being Alive, Aware and Awake. 

There are no perfect Human Beings. We all come with our own foibles, madnesses, crazy-ass dreams, worries, doubts, fears, hopes. We encounter the world outside of us, and try to make our way forward in a sometimes welcoming, and sometimes fiercely hostile environment. We know we are here for a short time only. Life & Death walk hand in hand.

We are armed with some powerful tools, for instance, Will & Discipline. But it turns out we can't impose our will on the Universe, or the beings in it, and we can't discipline the Universe or other other beings either. Those tools are meant for us. We can turn inward, work on our own shit, try our best to keep our shit together.

That's the deal. We must deal with the deal as best we can. I think, for me, the best idea: embrace the world, but don't hold on too tight. Ride the wave, swim in the vibes. Keep the game going. Don't look too far back, or too far forward. Inhabit the moment with all I have at hand. You know, it's all in our heads. And that's ok. 

Lean to the light. Clarity. Clear consciousness. Damn the torpedos. 

Perfect Human Being? That's Funny!

Yes. Continuing my close reading of Robert Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." It is a great book,  one that inspires me to muse and to think. What more can you ask for?

Still, finally, last night, I came across a few lines (in my copy, bottom of page 324, top of page 325) that stopped me cold. A wrong turn, a false path, a poor construction. A flaw in the fabric. A fly in the ointment. I remarked to myself: "Nope. That's silly."

Pirsig writes: "You want to know how to paint a perfect painting? It's easy. Make yourself perfect and then just paint naturally. That's the way all the experts do it."

Hah. This is so laughably wrong-headed. Kind of stupid, really. There are no "perfect" Human Beings. No perfect paintings. No experts. It's just a ridiculously wrong-headed thought-train. Human Beings are complicated, tricky, flawed, damaged. They create art out of, or in spite of, their flawed natures. Name me any great Painter, (for instance: Picasso, Caravaggio, Warhol, Da Vinci, Pollock, Van Gogh, Basquiat, Johns, O'Keefe, Rothko, De Kooning, Gauguin), and you will not find a perfect Human Being, no, instead you will discover a very complicated collection of characteristics; unique characters, with some admirable qualities mixed up with qualities infinitely less admirable.  I mean, all of the examples above have done fabulous work, but many of those folks were  consumed with madness, over-flowing passion, crazed-obsessions. Creative & Destructive. Think: madness, suicide, drug abuse, murder, you know, all that Human stuff alive in a human package. The whole perfection idea is just completely off the mark.

Perfection is a utopian idea that doesn't exist. Maybe it's an aspiration, a chimera to chase. If Human History has  shown us anything, it is that Human Beings embody beauty and ugliness, together, side by side. The best and worst qualities reside inside the Heart of every Human Being. It is the Human thing we all live with. As William Blake (another fabulously complicated creator), once posited, Human Beings are the "Marriage of Heaven and Hell."

Great artists show us Human complexity. They show us the deep contradictions of what it means to be Human. They show us how the "best art," comes out of deep, in the bone, imperfection. "Perfection" is creating work that speaks to us in the throes of our very Human, many-splendored imperfection. That's the way Humans do it.

The Zeal and the Zest of Life...

I use this space to run down my own obsessions, and lately my obsessions are inspired by my re-reading of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." Why am I obsessed with this text? I have never owned or ridden a motorcycle. I figured I'd for sure kill myself if I ever tried getting on a motored bike. I stick to the manual kind. I can't imagine fixing or maintaining a motorcycle either. I have very little patience, I am a "shoot from the hip" kind of character, I'm not good with tools, I have a great knack for breaking things, and leaving the pieces in a heap. When Pirsig talks about the division between Rational/Analytical folks vs Romantic folks, I fall solidly, smack dab in the  middle of the Romantic category. I am all about the groove, the feel, the vibe, the aesthetic nature of  love & life.

But I have had lots of experience in the Zen mode of being. Years of dedicated meditation. I have tried many forms and practices: Zen, Transcendental Meditation, Creative Visualization, Simple Breathing, Chanting, Drumming, Walking Meditation too. So much of that "peace of mind" talk totally resonates with me. But I also am attracted to Logic, Rationality, the analytic mode. I guess I pinball around from thoughts and modes. That's just the way I roll.

I think the book inspires me because it poses a few big questions, and then brings it all down into the real world.

Two words cropped up last night while I was reading the book that grabbed and lit me up:

Gumption - "the ability to decide what is the best thing to do in a particular situation, and to do it with energy and determination..."

Enthusiasm - a feeling of energetic interest in a particular subject or activity and an eagerness to be involved in it..."

Yes, that's the key right there, isn't it? To have the gumption to tackle things that crop up in our lives, and to bring enthusiasm to everything we do. To spend our time fully engaged, lit up, on fire, heart, head, and spirit aligned and working at some kind of fever pitch. 

By the way, "The noun enthusiasm comes from the Greek word enthousiasmos, from enthous, meaning “possessed by a god, inspired.” It was originally used in a derogatory sense to describe excessive religious zeal. Today both the religious and derogatory connotations are gone from enthusiasm, but the zeal has survived. Use it to describe great excitement or interest, like what you feel when you’re doing something that you really, really enjoy."

Right, you know, live your life possessed with an animating energy that fully engages you with the beauty and mystery of existence.

Simple Tools for Living a Better Life...

Getting towards the end of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," about 100 pages to go. I previously wrote about some of the "lofty esoteric ideas," to be found in the text, now we get to some handy tools for day to day living. Sometimes the deepest wisdom comes out of simple, mundane, sort of homely ideas. Not so lofty, but maybe useful. 

Pirisig is wrestling with a few existential questions, which I will reformulate as: Why is our world filled with so much ugliness? Why do we make crappy, ugly things? Why do so many folks live crappy, ugly lives?

Hah. Those are pretty zingy questions. According to Pirsig it comes down to a lack of  caring, a lack of being aware & of paying attention, a lack of peace of mind.  After all the searching, all the fireworks, we come to a few basic tools.

Yes. It all sounds so plain & obvious, but at the same time, you nod your head and say "of course."

We all can easily and completely transform our lives just by adjusting our approach to living. Everything we think, everything we say, everything we do can be enriched and fortified by being more mindful, by choosing to do what we love to do, by choosing to do everything we do with utmost care and attention, by caring for ourselves and others too, by paying attention to all the little details, by finding "flow activities" that we love to do, doing them as often and with as much gusto as possible, by taking the time to practice the discipline of sitting quietly to allow inner peace to emerge from the depths of our being.

Hah. Right. Of course. And we can all transform the world if we all do these simple things every day. Everyone can play the game: Business, Politics, the Arts, Science, you know, all human activity & every realm can be transformed. Is it a dream of  some kind of heady Utopia? Not really, just a way of living with Quality, The Tao, The Buddha.  

"Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding is all you see..." - J. Lennon. 

Yes. Instead, living with Eyes Wide Open. That's the ticket!

Joe is Pitch-Perfect. Yes.

We tuned in the radio, NPR, to listen to Joe Biden's 2023 State of the Union address. I suppose we could have watched it on our flat-screen TV, iMac, iPhone or iPad, but my partner and I really enjoy listening to the radio. It such an immediate, old-world, last century way to digest news and information. We don't get to see the "body language," but we do lock in with voices, the inflections, the emotions via spoken word. From a mouth to an ear. Pretty direct. 

We didn't listen to the preliminaries, we didn't listen to the post-speech pontificating. We really despise all that B.S. commentary from the "political experts," and nattering pundits, not our thing.

What of Joe's speech? Seemed pitch-perfect to our ears. Joe comes across as the best of America. He came from a working class family many decades ago. He has lived a life of tragedy and loss. And it seems he has never forgotten the tough times. But Joe comes across as someone who has always done the work. Roll up your sleeves, try to accomplish something, try to make the world a better place than the one you inherited. Joe Biden, great American success story.

As I've written before, I believe Joe is the perfect man for the job that he holds. He is totally in tune with the times. Yes, he is an old-timer, but he seems to be totally with it, fully alive in the moment. A tough, empathetic Human Being. Lots of words last night. But Joe has proven to be a "doer," a man of his words. His political agenda is our political agenda. 

There was no false step, no wrong move or misplaced word. Great speech. Feels like USA is in good hands, at least, for sure, the guy in the White House has the right intention: heart, head, soul.

Our Trippy Universe...

Yes. Now I know why Robert Pirsig's book, (see previous post), had such an impact on my young mind in my formative years. It has the same impact on my old mind today too. It's a mind-twister of a book. It throws you back on first principles. I realize it kind of set the tone for the way I approach the world. You start to question what you know, and why you know what you know. And it affirms the impression that the Universe is a bit of a Mystery. So, even though, you use logic and rationality, and intellect, to try to understand things, you also come across these strange almost mystical ideas:

The Subliminal Self - "the portion of an individual's personality that lies below or beyond the reach of his or her personal awareness."

A Priori Ideas - "An a priori concept is one that can be acquired independently of experience, which may – but need not – involve its being innate, while the acquisition of an a posteriori concept requires experience."

Intuition -  "Intuition is that feeling in your gut when you instinctively know that something you are doing is right or wrong. Or it’s that moment when you sense kindness, or fear, in another’s face. You don’t know why you feel that way; it’s just a hunch."

And you know there is that really weird, all-pervasive thing we all have that we can't really explain why we have, or what it really really made of, and, whether it exists inside us, or outside us, but we know we need it, and are sort of enchanted by it: 

Consciousness - "at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence.  However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguists, and scientists. Opinions differ about what exactly needs to be studied or even considered consciousness. In some explanations, it is synonymous with the mind, and at other times, an aspect of mind. In the past, it was one's "inner life", the world of introspection, of private thought, imagination and volition. Today, it often includes any kind of cognition, experience, feeling or perception. It may be awareness, awareness of awareness, or self-awareness either continuously changing or not. The disparate range of research, notions and speculations raises a curiosity about whether the right questions are being asked."

I am thrown back on my own devices. Universe & Mind. The Map is not the territory. I think Universe = Territory, Mind = Map. 

WTF. Does anyone have a doobie? The great conundrum: Minds trying to Understand Minds. A mirror in a hall of mirrors.

Some folks turn to the great Philosophers for insight: Plato, Socrates, Zeno, Hume, Descarte, Poincare...

I turn to that prodigiously creative and inventive thinker, a last century Wizard & Mage with an finely-tuned musical sensibility, John Lennon. He kind of laid out a framework of a wandering mind trying to understand his mind, and other minds too...

"Tomorrow Never Knows" -  (1966) "Turn off your mind Relax and float down stream, It is not dying, It is not dying..."

"Strawberry Fields Forever" (1967)  - "Always, no, sometimes think it's me, But you know, I know when it's a dream, I think I know, I mean—er—yes, but it's all wrong, That is, I think I disagree..."

"I am the Walrus" (1967) - "I am he as you are he as you are me, And we are all together..."

"God" (1970) - "God is a concept by which we measure our pain..."

"Mind Games"  (1973) - "So keep on playing those mind games together, Faith in the future out of the now, You just can't beat on those mind guerrillas, Absolute elsewhere in the stones of your mind, Yeah we're playing those mind games forever, Projecting our images in space and in time..."

Quality, The Good, The Tao, The Buddha...

I am in that part of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" when it's all about "Quality." I think it's a bit of a mind game. Quality = The Good, Quality = The Tao, Quality = The Buddha.

We all know what is Good. See Iris Murdoch's "The Sovereignty of Good." Yes. Good transcends all. It seems simple and true. 

We lean to the Light. We know what is good without rules and commandments. We don't need the promise of Heaven or the punishment of Hell to want to live a good life. Life is good. Life loves Life and Living things.

Yesterday it was a day of leisure and rest. The highlight of the day was a walk on the lakefront, bathed in glorious Sunshine. The temps were a bit more moderate. We landed at our favorite Thai restaurant and sat in our favorite booth. Sun crashing thru the window, the street alive with folks bustling down the sidewalk.

Eating well: Ginger drink, Miso Soup, Pad Kee Mao with Tofu; healthy, clean, delicious. A rambling  conversation. No stress. No worries. No deadlines. We kind of floated thru the day. Later listened to music, my partner worked on a drawing, I put some headphones on and luxuriated in the music of Sigur Ros.

We finished the evening with an episode from that South Korean epic, "The Alchemy of Souls." Passionate, Head-turning, Heart-tugging, mind blowing. So great. 

Yes, Quality. It was a day devoted to Quality, The Good, The Tao, The Buddha...

The Balloon Kerfuffle...

What about that Chinese balloon?

Ha, ha, ha... the first act in the coming World War III? I think not. I find the whole episode pretty hilarious. President Joe is the man, no doubt. The right man, the right time. Shooting that balloon down over water so no one could be harmed in the doing was absolutely the right thing to do. Some folks think Joe is too old for the job of Commander in Chief, but I think his age is actually his super-power. He has no more "fucks" to give. He has no need to worry about his legacy or what he is going to do in the future. His legacy and future is NOW. He doesn't have to aspire, or reach for some lofty goal, he just needs to be him, doing what thinks is the right thing to do. Joe Biden is in the flow of the moment, and it's just fucking damn perfect. His heart, head and spirit is perfectly aligned. I think of Joe as sort of a Zen Master. This whole balloon kerfuffle is perfect symbolic event that we can all understand. Joe knows his shit and he gives a shit. We can all be assured that the ship of state is in good, competent, decisive, intelligent and wise, old hands. You go Joe...

A Friday Life Lesson...

Yesterday was a bit of a life lesson in dichotomy & contradiction. 

On the one hand, bone-chilling, blood-freezing cold. The kind of cold temperatures that hurt your body, your skin. Everything is harder, less forgiving, crunchy, brittle. Layers of  sweaters and coats to keep warm. Two pairs of socks, two pairs of gloves. A furry winter hat. You walk around like a multi-layered abominable snowman. 

On the other hand, a brilliant blue sky. Glorious, transcendent, dazzling sunshine lighting up everything. The snow on the ground sparkling, sunbeams bouncing off all surfaces and angles. Blazing, naked trees, light and shadow dancing. A bright, shiny, bold day. You couldn't help seeing the beauty all around, and it was magnificent. Massive waves crashed into the beach, packed with ice and snow. Far off on the horizon, improbable, puffy, dark clouds, looking like floating mountain ranges. 

Harsh cold & dazzling beauty wrapped together.

Sucking the Air Out of the Room...

Kevin Drum, long-time blogger. He is a sensible, hard to ruffle Human Being, who writes about politics, culture, economics, etc. I always check in with him. He usually has charts and data to back up what he writes about. He is usually, cool, calm and collected. Sometimes he's a bit dry and boring, but he always grounds his thoughts in reality. That is a rare thing in our hurly-burly, ball of confusion reality. Here he writes about the "Lunatic Fringe," and of course, it is clear and insightful.

It is amazing to me that vast swathes of the Human Herd are entertained and easily conned and misled by the Loud, Shameless, Ignorant, Racist, Flame-throwers. Angry voices desperate for attention, always promoting crazy-ass conspiracies, ripping down straw-man liberals and progressives. It's all so soul-killing, contrary to Intelligent Discourse. Wrong-headed and ridiculous too.  As they say, "A mind is a terrible thing to waste." Those Mad Lunatics are sucking the air out of the room, killing brain cells with every raging, hateful, flailing, word. Yikes!

Yes. Luck & Pluck. Miracles & Wonder. Don't Cry Baby.

"Did you make it?"

That is one of our go-to phrases around here. Did we both make it to another day? Every brand new day is an act of survival. Every brand new day is a gift and a bonus. There is a mix of Luck and Pluck. "These are the days of miracles and wonder, and don't cry baby, don't cry..."

That extraordinary Paul Simon song is dancing in my head this morning, "its lyrics explore starvation and terrorism, juxtaposed with wit and optimism." I hear Peter Gabriel singing this one with an orchestral backing. The lyrics, the tune, magnificent...

The Boy In The Bubble 

It was a slow day

And the sun was beating

On the soldiers by the side of the road

There was a bright light

A shattering of shop windows

The bomb in the baby carriage

Was wired to the radio

These are the days of miracle and wonder

This is the long-distance call

The way the camera follows us in slo-mo

The way we look to us all

The way we look to a distant constellation

That’s dying in a corner of the sky

These are the days of miracle and wonder

And don’t cry baby don’t cry

Don’t cry

It was a dry wind

And it swept across the desert

And it curled into the circle of birth

And the dead sand

Falling on the children

The mothers and the fathers

And the automatic earth

These are the days of miracle and wonder

This is the long-distance call

The way the camera follows us in slo-mo

The way we look to us all

The way we look to a distant constellation

That’s dying in the corner of the sky

These are the days of miracle and wonder

And don’t cry baby don’t cry

Don’t cry

It’s a turnaround jump shot

It’s everybody jumpstart

It’s every generation throws a hero up the pop charts

Medicine is magical and magical is art

Thinking of the Boy in the Bubble

And the baby with the baboon heart

And I believe

These are the days of lasers in the jungle

Lasers in the jungle somewhere

Staccato signals of constant information

a loose affiliation of millionaires

And billionaires, and baby

These are the days of miracle and wonder

This is the long-distance call

The way the camera follows us in slo-mo

The way we look to us all, oh yeah

The way we look to a distant constellation

That’s dying in a corner of the sky

These are the days of miracle and wonder

And don’t cry baby don’t cry

Don’t cry, don’t cry

© 1986 Words and Music by Paul Simon and Forere Mothoeloa

Savagery & Poetry...

You recoil from the reality of the latest Human savagery against a helpless, defenseless Human. You hold your head in your hands. How is it possible? How could Human Beings be so cruel, so savage, so callous to other living things? It is hard to get your head around.

You stumble across Patti Smith's remembrance of Tom Verlaine, and you wonder and marvel at the beauty and poetry of Human Beings. The care, the soul, the heartfelt memories. You want to live in this world, surrounded by the poetry in all things.

It's that kind of Life. The savagery vs. the poetry, always competing & contending.

"... a golden filament in the vibrant violet light." - Patti Smith