"The Maker Of All Things"

                                I call your Attention to an opening phrase in America's  "Declaration of Independence", it is :    "...the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God..." .   The "How" that Nature can have Her own God, is, at the very least, ENORMOUSLY COMPELLING .   Nature, it may be argued, CREATED her own God, which leaves Humankind ON ITS OWN .    Do NOT misunderstand (me) .   I believe what the Ancient Chuang Tsu, also believed and Transmitted in his Inner Chapters, that there is a God, which he tagged as "The Maker Of All Things" .   Since the Maker Of All Things made >All Things< we can include ALL THINGS, those of GOOD and BAD in our Assessment that The Maker Of All Things is RESPONSIBLE for "All Things" INCLUDING WAR, DISEASE, STARVATION AND THIRST .    Folks routinely thanked "the Almighty" for the vaccines that ENDED Covid, while simultaneously IGNORING the FACT, that the Divine Infinite, INFLICTED this Global Pandemic upon Humankind >>> FIRST <<< .   Shit,  we must be SOOOOO FUCKING CAREFUL !!!

                       I steadfastly REFUSE to "turn to God" for Salvation from the Atrocities and abject HORROR inflicted by a HUMAN Government .   WE got us into this fucking cesspool and it is WE who should navigate our own Exit .   Here now the NECESSITY for GLOBAL CONCERN, which is ultimately dependent upon EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US to EXECUTE OUR DUTY to Humankind to DEMAND the Rights and Liberties that have expressly and VIOLENTLY BEEN Withheld by INFERIOR OTHES .    These Demands are the Foundation of Civilizational Existence .

"Shared Commonalities"

                                              I got into the "Cave" at around 4:30a.m.   I settled into "Chairy-Chair" with my fav cold coffee, Hazelnut, and began my Recitations .   When I finished I began the morning's >Mull< in the expectation that a "first sentence" would "arrive",  4 hours later, no such sentence "surfaced" ---  frustrated I resorted to my default, the transcription of a quote "out of" my GIANT 3 Ring Binder of Quotes .   I am EXCEEDINGLY reticent to use my own shit as "Example for others", yet, this morning, I had no (suitable) choice .

                         As usual there was a fucking PLETHORA of topics to consider ----the most important of which was a consideration of "Bottom Line" commonalities, specific to ---> What are to be the "Shared Commonalities" of Global Citizenry ?   I decided that America's "Declaration of Independence" COULD-BE EXTREMELY Useful but when I turned to it I saw only HUGE-FUCKING-DAUNT even though it contained almost EVERYTHING I had in Mind to offer to my Gentle Readers .   

                        Trump's War has put a magNIFYING Glass on not only the Political Ramifications of a MENTALLY ILL President, but also the American Citizenry as well .   Elsewhere I have likened the Iranian Protest to that of American Mal-content --- even for one such as myself it's a fucking s-t--r---e----t-----c------h .    From the gutter this :   Ain't no Americans rioting with "Death to Iran" SCREAMS .   The Shared Commonality is viciously simple :   THE GOVERNMENTS OF BOTH COUNTRIES ARE SAVAGELY BRUTAL AND HAVE NO REGARD WHATSOEVER TO THE PLIGHT OF THEIR OWN CITIZENS .   Here it is where the Declaration of Independence is CRYSTAL FUCKING CLEAR :  we read ;   "it is their DUTY to throw off such government " .   2 words :   HOW ???

Hidden Dragon

                                            "The lake rises above the trees :

                                              The image of Preponderance of the Great .

                                              Thus the superior man, when he stands alone,

                                               Is unconcerned,

                                               And if has to renounce the world,

                                               He is undaunted ."

                                                                                    28.  Preponderance of the Great

                                                                                         I Ching

                   

                                                                           Hidden Dragon

                        "This means a person who has the character of a Dragon but remains concealed .   He does not change to suit the outside world; he makes no name for himself .  He withdraws from the world, yet is not sad about it .   He receives no recognition , yet he is not sad about it .  If lucky, he carries out his principles;  if unlucky, he withdraws with them, verily, he cannot be uprooted; he is a Hidden Dragon ."

                          This is me .

The Sage

                                                I must make a quick 'aside' here to address a problem found in the `works` of the Blind Poet Homer .   Scholars agree that The Iliad and The Odyssey are Sources for the Study of Human Nature as well as Human Conduct and Behavior .   Within the texts are various existential `complications` one of which is, perhaps, the GREATEST QUESTION OF ALL TIME =  "Is it better to love the SHORT Life of GLORY or the LONG Life of MEDIOCRITY ?" .   I confess :   that question bugged the fucking shit out of me FOR YEARS .   I mean, WTF, there are these two choices and ONLY THESE CHOICES ??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!   I smelled RIP-OFF !!!!

                      Years and YEARS later, a something 'arrived' which both calmed and soothed me, and it was the result of studying the Ancient Chinese Masters {and Poets} .   This 'something' was a THIRD option :   the Life of the SAGE .    I had found my HOME !!!!!!!!   Here it was where the Study of Martial Arts combined with Study and Research in other intellectual pursuits generated a Peace and Harmony, a milieu, that satisfied even the most heinous existential considerations, meaning, the SAGE had it all .   Here it is where my Love and Devotion was "Grounded", where both could function as Foundation for all the "Politics of Experience" .    

"Dress to THRILL"

                                             It isn't just traits and characteristics that are important to "the Sense" of one's >>Being<< .    Personal comportment is SOMETIMES dictated by one's attire , uniforms. costume and the like, and in this vein one's STYLE is a something that broadcasts one's >>>Essence<<< .    In one of Burt Reynolds' films he was wearing a herring-bone sport coat with jeans and (I'm guessing) Frey boots .   The Image he broadcast was insanely BEAUTIFUL and I just HAD-TO-HAVE his "Look" .   That herring bone sport-coat was "TO DIE FOR" and I saved every penny so that I could have and PROJECT that same Look .   Years later a herring bone jacket was worn by Clint Eastwood in one of his "Dirty Harry" films---- I was inwardly EXULTANT .     

                       I must include that Dr. Jambec of Shakespeare and Medieval Lit was perhaps my FIRST Paradigm for Personal Attire presentation.    Every class he was INSANELY Perfect, right down to the cufflinks he sported .   He had SUPER-BRAINS  and spoke Old and Middle English--- a fucking IMPOSSIBILITY for an ordinary Human Being .   I LOVED him .

                        That OLDE expression :  "Don't judge a book by its cover"   is completely fucking YAK shit .

"...anybody, anywhere, anytime..."

                                            Know that it is completely acceptable to locate and then extract traits and characteristics, philosophies, and ideologies from those that reside in Pop Culture which includes TV and Cinema .   Books aren't the only Sources of "Characters" that exhibit such traits and the like that are attractive to "The Seekers of Truth" {in all ITS manifestations} .   In my early Martial Arts career the film "Taxi Driver" starring Robert Dinero, arrived and from it I extracted this Gem :  "Anybody, anywhere, any time" .   That's how it is when you Study the Arts, where the ultimate Goal is the Defense of Self under any and ALL Conditions .  You train your Body and Mind to address an Opponent REGARDLESS OF HIS SIZE AND WEAPONRY .  Here, Confidence in one's own Abilities is GUARANTOR of a Successful outcome, one in which Truth is Victorious {The Truth of one's Training} .    

"Arete"

                                               We must ask "about" the Nature of Soul and the Nature of "Center" .

                            What follows is from The Greeks, H.D.F. Kitto's Master-work :

                                          

                            The Soul of the Homeric Hero --- =

                             "What moves him to deeds of heroism is not a sense of duty as we understand it---duty towards others--- it is rather DUTY TOWARDS HIMSELF ."

                              "...in the context of a man, it will connote excellence in the ways in which a man can be excellent----morally, intellectually, physically, practically .   Thus the Hero of The Odyssey is a great fighter, a wily schemer, a ready speaker, a man of stout heart and broad wisdom who knows that he must endure without too much complaining what the gods send ;   and he can both build and sail a boat, drive a furrow straight as anyone, beat a young braggart at throwing the discus, challenge the Phaecian youth at boxing, wrestling or running:  flay, skin, cut up and cook an ox, and be moved to tears by song .   He is in fact an excellent All-Rounder, and has surpassing "arete" (Personal Excellence) ."

                           "Arete" implies a respect for wholeness or the oneness of life, and a consequent dislike of specialization .    It implies a contempt for efficiency---or rather a much higher idea of efficiency :  an efficiency which exists not in one department of life, but life itself . "

                           Odysseus is my Paradigm and has been so since I graduated .   I need my Gentle Readers to find a suitable Hero that you may use as your Paradigm ,  a someone within whom you can see your Self .   If you undertake the "Journey" alone,  there's a distinct possibility, nay PROBABILITY, that you will get LOST.