The Birds, The Webb

August 4, 2022 12:00am

August 4….it is our 38th anniversary. After a hot and exhausting day (on the 3rd), of cutting grass, canning tomatoes and replacing the oxygen sensor in the Accord, I ended up watching Hitchcock’s “The Birds” for the xteenth time. Amazing how there are new psychological insights and philosophical revelations in a movie I’ve seen so many times!

Premonitions of the fate of man and the Earth? Yes, we will not survive the death throes of nature, of the universe. The birds were but a foreshadowing of the agony of the unwinding of the universe. All the wars and conflicts – how meaningless in the final moments. What the design? What the plan? None, none cry we all!

Faith

August 6, 2022 11:55pm

The Enola Gay dropped the first bomb on Hiroshima on this day in 1945.

Today I read about an opinion piece in the L.A. Times in which the writer criticized supreme court justice Samuel Alito who lamented hearing a little boy telling his mother he had never heard of Jesus. This writer believes that the decline in religious faith will yield a more tolerant society in which there will be respect for people who have different beliefs.

There is an unmistakable hostility toward religion among secular society. It almost seems that the unchurched, the non-believers would prefer that no one should believe. Belief is seen by these folks as superstition – a mythology for which there is no logical basis. So, they denigrate belief and believers.

The faithful push back, questioning the beliefs of the other side. Neither can prove anything, but humans must be right so the conflict will proceed as long as there are humans.

What is the place of faith according to an objective observer of the human experiment? Some claim that we would all be better off if religion was not a divisive factor in global relations. Imagine that. Others would say that there is a net good which would be even greater if proud man would not subvert the intent of our sacred texts.

The truth always lies somewhere in the middle but neither side can see the question through the eyes of the other so nothing changes. Modern humans achieved a level of consciousness tens of thousands of years ago that led to the three questions that all faced even before they could express it: where did we come from, why are we here, where are we going?

Early humans clearly invented answers to these questions – answers that included the Gods that controlled the mechanisms of life and fate. So, for tens of thousands of years, humans worshipped the natural world in a changing and fluid manner. Every mythology was oral – changing over time to fit circumstances and preferences.

Then, with the dawn of recorded history these mythologies became better defined and less fluid. Eventually, the current canon of sacred texts developed, and belief systems became more centralized and monolithic. Today, Christianity has 2.3 billion faithful, Islam accounts for 1.8 billion, Hinduism has 1.1 billion, Buddhism – 500 million, Shintoism 104 million, Sikhism -24 million, Judaism -14 million.

The top seven belief systems account for roughly 6 billion people. While we can count believers and tally total charitable contributions, we can never know the number of kindnesses shown by billions of believers every day.

Those who counter by quoting the common misconception that religion is the cause of most of the wars on this planet, would do well to research that claim. In the book “Encyclopedia of Wars,” the authors ascribe 7% of 1763 wars to religious causes and only 2% of total deaths.

What moral and ethical instruction do non-believers provide to their children. What guide for living does the L.A. Times writer share with his children? What is the source of that teaching?

Perhaps one day, all will follow Bertrand Russell’s advice to future generations.

Geese and Mediterranean Food

August 8, 2022 9:16pm

I sit outside after a wonderful meal of Briam – accompanied by copious bread and wine. The moon rose at 6:15pm at my latitude today and the gibbous phase watches over me as I read Gogol’s “Dead Souls.” The moon arcs toward the pines where it will hide well before it sets.

A flock of geese wings overhead; the second squadron I have seen this day. Another certain sign of the change of seasons. It’s happened billions of times before. We are all (mammals, avian) newcomers to this game of genes in which we are engaged. Soon, we’ll all be gone, and none will attest to our existence.

I put down my book and my New Belgium ale and walk the perimeter of our small kingdom. Earlier, an unknown boy walked across the back field and down the path toward the pond…. harming nothing. I watched with curiosity, then returned to washing dishes. Now I walk the same path and hear the whine of interstate traffic in the distance. Sometimes we don’t hear it; all depends on the atmospheric conditions. I wish it were absent leaving only the cicadas and birds for background.

I see no house from many parts of the path …. a definite bonus. Only pines, cedars, oaks, and a hybrid poplar are visible, ringing the field to the south. For this privacy, I am grateful.

While reading “Dead Souls,” I am able to access the internet through my wireless connection even though I’m sitting on the barn porch 100′ away. I look up words used in obscure ways ….. with a special eye toward uncommon/antiquated meanings. Salient – the projecting angle of a fortress or ground (political border) …. or an animal standing on its hind legs with the forepaws raised as if leaping…. think – the royal coats of arms…. the lions are “salient!”

Muted World

August 13, 2022 11:40pm

For a brief moment, I saw through a portal which has now closed. The vision, I observed now dark, fading, inscrutable. The truth of our existence lay before me, undeniable, harsh, unrelenting. It was real.

Now, the reality known to all is back and the vision receding. Terrible but true, it was exceeding sharp, cutting to bone. That intensity is short-lived; none can weather its onslaught. A stark choice remains, a fork in the road. Chose the one and rest. Chose the other and limp to the finish watching the seconds of your personal eternity.

No, time takes its toll, and the storm abates, leaving eerie calm in its wake. The world is different now, the blue sky a false token of restoration. There can be no return, only passionless resignation. A truce between exhausted foes living in their muted world.

67

August 19, 2022 9:04pm

I turned 67 yesterday. My wife, who is also 67, turned 67 maybe ten hours before me. We share the same birthday. I tell people she robbed the cradle!

Tonight, I sat out in my dream chair and read “Dead Souls” by Gogol. It is getting better but beware – he never finished the book! You will be left hanging!

Several flocks of Canadians flew over, seemingly bent on some task only they know. Does this presage an early winter? I cannot guess. In the distance, I hear the public address announcer at the high school football field, it is miles away and I cannot make out the words but can only surmise that since school has started back, and it’s Friday night, that high school football is in full swing. We might have gone to the game but tomorrow is travel day for a wedding in Pidgeon Forge. A niece is married on the morrow. Let’s hope for a lasting union!

Praetorian Guard Rising

August 24, 2022 12:10am

While reading about Roman Emperors who reigned during the “Year of the Five Emperors,” I came across the assassination of Pertinax (successor to Commodus) by the Praetorian Guard. Virginian John Dawson referred to this murder during the Virginia ratifying convention of 1788 – this, he said, was reason enough to oppose creation of a standing army. We are now on a path toward a military coup. Oh, it won’t happen for many years, but we’re on the way. We have a “volunteer” army composed more and more of people whose loyalty is to the highest bidder. President Biden just proposed a debt-relief program for student loans…this is just steps away from payouts to the “volunteer” soldiers to insure their loyalty to future administrations. They will ultimately turn on any leader who restrains their pay and their power. This happened again and again as Rome declined – the Praetorian Guard assassinated 13 of Rome’s 82 Emperors, many during the last years of the empire. We are almost there. Compulsory military service is the only remedy. It would make for shared experiences for an overly diverse population, it would ensure that everyone has some skin the game, and it would prevent the intrigues suffered during the twilight of Rome’s empire. But – we are a soft people in a fat land (for now) and we can’t be forced to take care of our own business when we can pay others to do our dirty work.

National Debt Denial

August 25, 2022 10:13am

I should be laying brick right now. But the ignorance of my fellow citizens compels me to write.

A survey of New Yorkers regarding the wisdom of the Student Loan forgiveness revealed an astounding lack of economic understanding. Among the responses was this gem: “This is a rich nation, why can’t we educate our young? Why can’t we foot that bill?”

I would ask that gentleman if he is prepared to write a check for the portion of the national debt that he owes this very second. That amount estimated to be $244,000 dollars. We all (taxpayers) owe that amount on a total debt of $31 TRILLION dollars. We are not a rich nation, we are a nation of stupid people who have let our stupid leaders mortgage our future. We will all pay that debt – one way or another.

Family

August 27, 2022 11:04pm

Friday, Dad and I drove to the Aliceton Camp Meeting, held near his childhood home, Gravel Switch, KY. He is 90 and says that when he was a boy, (in the depression/war years) those week-long revivals were the only special social events, aside from a Christmas trip to Springfield, KY.

Thinking of Springfield reminds me of a summer when I was staying with my paternal grandparents. We drove from the Beech Fork farm to Springfield to shop. My uncle Baute on my mother’s side took items from my grandmother’s shopping cart and when she realized what was happening, and who was doing it, she laughed with a tinkling laugh she shared with her son McKinley (my uncle- his laugh reminiscent of the voice of our ancestor Simon Kenton) – anyway, all came together in familial fellowship there in the A&P grocery. Now, all dead except me, but I still remember the connections and the laughter.

I wish I had taken a photo of me and Dad at Aliceton; it doesn’t exist, though the memory of the day is etched in my mind. I too was washed in the blood at the age of 10 but that was many years and many miles ago; yet, those early lessons bear heavily on my mind. What else could ever take their place? Now, I question all and understand the universe in a different way, but still respect the devotion and belief I see at the camp meeting, and I know that these are my people.

Faith has stumbled over a rocky path through the ages; little we see is true to the founders of any belief system. All subject to interpretation, apologetics, and minute analysis and all now packaged in the slick marketing of modernity to fulfill the desire for a simple, easy answer to that most profound question – the meaning of life. You get to select from a whole smorgasbord of offshoots, schisms, interpretations, and doctrines. I’ll have a #2 with a diet and can I substitute Pelagianism for the Augustine and can I have some Nestorianism on the side? Or perhaps you prefer Ali to Abu Bakr. How ’bout Gaon of Vilna versus Baal Shem Tov? So, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are just the tip of the iceberg. All religious faiths show similar divisions, preferences, and schisms within their body of believers.

Meanwhile, back at the camp…..I saw a few familiar faces and some distant relatives I had heard of but never met were present. The sermon was like a thousand others I’ve heard. There was singing and praying. And at the end, an altar call for the unsaved. This is the Baptist way.

I sat outside tonight reading “The Satanic Verses” the day after the camp meeting. Salman Rushdie is still recovering from the stabbing he suffered a few days ago, the fatwa finally coming true, while Rushdie’s truth suffered from the rabid fundamentalism of the faithful. Which faithful, I can’t say.

I looked into the blue twilight of a cool late-August evening, thinking of the light-years of empty desert to the next star that may support life and I thought of caravans traversing the silk road of old, the vast distances, the solitude, the travails of the journey and I thought of our little blue ball as an oasis on that black and airless desert. An outpost of life in a desert vast and I felt a dissolution of the barriers between belief – finally overcome by the undeniable bond of the living in an unforgiving universe.

Mid-Life in the Rear View

August 31, 2022 10:01am

Joel Hirst has written a very good summary of the approach to mid-life here The Misery of 47 Years | Joel D. Hirst’s Blog (joelhirst.blog). This is why I read Joel….he not 47 but he can see the handwriting on the wall. He nailed this.

Here’s the comment I posted below his excellent essay:

A summary of every life ever lived on this planet! By choice and nature, as a youth, I was a late bloomer, trying to figure things out before committing to anything. Before I knew it there was career, marriage, kids. Then, just as you say, we all hit a wall; mine coming months before my retirement at age 63. I experienced an upheaval that was unexpected for one who had investigated existentialism, mortality, and ontology from a much younger age. But this was different, taking me places never before seen. I realized I had never been the man I thought I was. Ego is powerful and blinds us to the truth. I realized that all of my philosophy of life was based on wishful thinking rather than observable facts. This realization was so intense, it was almost unbearable…. four years on, it is dulled but still present, lurking in the back of every thought and action. I have written all my life, but my online journal is mostly the attempt to make sense of this cataclysm in the hope that it will be of some help to others as they, in their turn, hit that inevitable wall.