Damn the Tournedo! Full meat ahead!….

Ffolkes,

In previous posts, for a long time, this intro would be quite long, as I thrashed about in my mind to find something worthy of being written. The process, of course, was complicated by physical issues, and, of course, my own natural degree of weirdness, and my inherently bozoid nature. Then, I got ruthless, for a while, which seemed to help, but, wasn’t very satisfying, as it felt like trickery more than literature…. Now, I’m once again stuck for what to do, without any of the bad habits available for use, since swearing off all whining and/or ranting in this section…. which, quite naturally, leaves me in the lurch, a place I’ve been before, and hoped never to occupy again….. SIGH….

Oh, well, so much for the “plans of mice and men”, as the saying goes…. In this case, I’d prefer it go away, but, one can’t deny reality, so, I’ll just have to deal. I think I’ll use a bit of that vaunted ruthlessness today; it feels as if this could easily get away from me without it. All that being said, to even less purpose than usual, I suppose we should get on with the rest of what we must do to get done….

Very well, then. Please place all beverages in the provided holder, tighten up your restraints, and we’ll be on our way. Luigi! Take us down! Use the proscribed route; I’ve got an exemption for today. Hang on, ffolkes….

Shall we Pearl?

“It’s called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.”- George Carlin

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Phoebe Snow is one of the most underrated artists in our world; her voice is unique, and powerful; her songs touch the very core of the humanity we all share…. To my mind, that makes her one of our Singers, of more value to the Universe than anyone who wears a power suit and flag pin…. or, a cassock and surplice…. Enjoy!….

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A Powerful Ally

From April of 2012:

“As great scientists have said and as all children know, it is above all by the imagination that we achieve perception, and compassion, and hope.” — Ursula K. LeGuin

I think that everyone can agree with the above statement; it would be hard to think of an argument that would have any kind of negative effect on this concept, as it is about as true as true can be. Arguing with this would be akin to trying to describe the contents of a room with no lights or windows, from outside the room, with the door and your eyes closed, with no moving around or touching allowed…. Having thus identified the importance of imagination in human existence, we can move on to a discussion of how powerful a tool it can be when applied to the mechanics of living.

As humans, we use imagination in every aspect of life; whenever we encounter a new situation, whether problematic or merely interesting, it is our imagination that we use to inspect the characteristics of the event, and to judge its relative size, shape, and degree of difficulty. It is our imagination we use to discover a course of action that will enable us to deal with the situation to our best advantage, or not, depending on our own skill at using it. And in those situations where a clear course of action is unclear, our imagination can provide us with entirely new ways to approach and cope with what we have encountered.

Of late, I have been reading a lot of articles written by women who have survived and exited, by their own efforts, the atrociously cruel life of those trapped in the human sex-trafficking industry. These articles are perfect examples of the power of imagination, from women who have experienced, and survived, the most degrading, debilitating, indifferently cruel treatment known to humanity.

That life, or living death, more like, was the lot of these enslaved women, and children, until they were able, by virtue of their strength of will and imagination, to free themselves.  For every single one of them, their imagination was both friend and foe, first as fuel to the fire of their very real fears for their lives, but ultimately, the force that enabled them to see the path they would need to walk to take back their life. Without it, they would be doomed to death, ultimately, for the insane, perverted misogynists who control this deadly trade have no compassion, and no compunctions about silencing those who would defy their will….

But, happily, for these as yet all-too-few amazingly strong, imaginative women, a path to freedom was found, and now, they are all determined not only to live out their own lives according to their own standards, but to support each other, and to speak out against those who would continue the madness from which they fled, to do whatever is needed to give aid to the women and children who are still enslaved by these indifferently cruel masters of evil…. and one of the forms that aid can take, is to stimulate imagination in the victims, so they to may come to an understanding of how it can help even the most despairing soul to fight for freedom…. understanding like this….

That is what it is all about, to my mind. Once these unfortunates are able to realize that they do indeed have worth in the eyes of the Universe, a whole new vista of possibilities opens for them, each one with the promise of freedom shining brightly, to show the way….

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Ashi Akira is one of the few of my most loyal Gentle Readers, perhaps the most loyal, a distinction he shares with Willowdot 21, both of whom have been around since very soon after the beginning of this blog on WordPress. There are several others, who stop by on a regular basis, to catch up if they’ve missed a few, and I really appreciate all of them, since I don’t get much chance to reciprocate, not as much as I would prefer to do; plus, I don’t promote the blog at all, so, I know those who come do so by choice, mostly. I find that a worthwhile reason to do my best at it….

Ashi-san also posts just about every day, though his posts are much easier to read than mine, as he is a master of haiku…. He DOES have other work/pages, which I’ve never had the strength/time online to explore, but, this much I know of him re: haiku…. He has this form of poetry down to an artful science/scientific art…. This one proves it; even to one as dubious as me….

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“He who knows best knows how little he knows.” — Thomas Jefferson

“The liberty of man consists solely in this: that he obeys natural laws because he has himself recognized them as such, and not because they have been externally imposed upon him by any extrinsic will whatever, divine or human, collective or individual.” — Mikhail Bakunin, God and the State

“The veracity which increases with old age is not far from folly.” — Francis, Duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) — Maxim 416

“Look to the essence of a thing, whether it be a point of doctrine, of practice, or of interpretation.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD)
— Meditations, viii, 22

“Believe me!  The secret of reaping the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment from life is to live dangerously!” — Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900)

“Those things that nature denied to human sight, she revealed to the eyes of the soul.” — Ovid (43 B.C.- A.D. 17) born on Mar 20, Roman poet

“Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.” — Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

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The simple act of posting these Pearls for the last two weeks has been an adventure, for lack of a better word. When you see it each day, you can be sure it was an extreme effort to get it there, for it has been, every day now for what seems like forever. But, it’s done for another day, so, I can put aside any possible guilt, and get on with the crap I’m dealing with…. I’ll see y’all tomorrow, come hell, or high water, or, as is most likely, the complete collapse of civilization…. Take your pick; they’re all pretty well certain to be part of our future….

À bientôt, mon cherí….