Debt
January 1, 2023 10:25am
The beginning brings premonition of times and things near and unlike th’ wee mousie, we guess and fear. This, the time of year and stage of life when days are short and sight fails.
But youth sees with other eyes, the promises and treasures; life in all its fruitfulness and verdant growth. Hope hangs heavy from every vine; the harvest is easy.
And these visions of the aged host and the joyful youth are sides of the same coin. Spend wisely in the coming year, your debts will be called on a day you won’t expect.
The Value of Literature
January 2, 2023 6:00pm
We believe that we are the pinnacle of human progress and in many ways we are. Science and technology have transformed life, in a few centuries, from back-breaking labor and uncertain survival to 1st world comfort for billions. But about 25% of the global population still relies on subsistence farming – that’s about 2 billion people that live on only what they grow.
So, billions are directly and daily dependent on the Earth, the weather, and their own efforts for survival.
Among the elites of the 1st world, there is discussion of hacking the human body – merging people and technology in ways we can only imagine. These augmented humans may find themselves locked in an evolutionary “survival of the fittest” which will surely be won by the non-biological doppelgangers we create and infuse with artificial intelligence. if you thought Covid was bad – wait till you see what these terminators cook up in the virology lab!
And all this brings me to the real question I hoped to address today – What would the world be like if we combined all those “100 Best Books’ lists and eliminated every book that ever appeared on any such list. And I mean “eliminate” as in they had never existed! Would our world be any different? The question before us: Does art matter?
There are folks who believe that literature is a frivolous waste of time, and that humanity would be better served if people solved problems rather than dwelling on the questions raised in classic literature. So….What do YOU say? Would your life be any different – that is, richer/poorer, if you had NEVER read a work of fiction?
11:35pm
Insanity is the protective mechanism of the mind that can no longer assimilate the contradiction of life. Those who suffer on without it face the unrelenting and crushing horror of existence with no salve to soothe their unfortunate souls.
Sport and Life
January 3, 2023 2:14pm
A group of men, a team, kneel to pray for a fallen player. They ask God to heal their friend. I doubt that many of them pray frequently – yet it is uplifting to see them acknowledge that life is more than sport, that we are fragile, and that we control very little in this universe. Now the tears have fallen, the prayers are prayed, the physicians have had their day – and nature will have the final say.
The Intricate Dance
January 4, 2023 10:31pm
The intricate dance we call life makes us move to rhythms we do not choose. Gyrating to the beat we bear, the steps are unknown and halting. The swaying dresses, the bejeweled women, the dashing men, all feigning understanding they do not possess.
Where is the woman of insight? Where the man of vision? All a half-beat behind and lost in the syncopation, the steps are complicated and the dance floor a riot. The dancers devolve and, disjointed, careen into a mound of twitching bodies, corpulent, sweaty, and confused. And this the world into which we are all cast. Good luck.
Currents
January 11, 2023 9:36am
Once the world seemed limitless, now the bounds are narrow. Nothing changed but knowledge and experience. Real choices are few; options diminish. Reality in her paucity is strict, rigid, austere.
But coursing below consciousness are currents that remain hidden from us. Some dark and malevolent, perhaps some of hope and good-will. Do we dare drink from these waters or is it best to refrain? Perhaps the danger exceeds any potential for good. Once you lose your innocence, it cannot be regained. Knowledge saves and damns.
Peace Be Upon You
January 16, 2023 6:36pm
Let us now return, for a moment, to a place and a time when you were content. A time when you were at peace with yourself, your fellow humans and with your life. Do you remember it? Perhaps it was long ago and lasted only a short time, but the sense of relief and freedom lingers to this day.
During that period, you were probably right in the moment, not concerned with the past and mistakes that cannot be corrected – nor were you anxious about the future and things over which you do not have absolute control. No, contentment requires us to be present in the moment – in the now. But this is very difficult because we, the living, all have a past and a future and those two sit on our shoulders and whisper in our ears every day. Shut them out from time to time and focus on your period of contentment, peace, and freedom – you deserve this brief respite.
Fanon
January 19, 2023 10:05am
“Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn’t fit in with the core belief.” – Frantz Fanon
I once had a church friend who was otherwise logical and analytical. However, when it came to his faith, he was immutable. Looking me straight in the eye, he said that he wouldn’t believe absolute proof that contradicted his beliefs. Now, that’s faith…..or something.
There are many who apply the same mind-set to their political and sociological preferences. What can you do when NOTHING will sway folks from their ideology? No, reason must be paramount or we are lost.
A Brief History of…..Everything
January 22, 2023 1:57pm
In the beginning there was energy which evolved into matter. The matter spread throughout space and coalesced into stars and planets. The planets cooled and began to support life. Life became conscious and recognized good, evil, and mortality. Gods were invented to give meaning to short, brutish lives. Emotions were elevated to art. Reason and logic developed. Progress led to questions about the universe. Stars collapsed, matter came together again, and the forces generated turned all the matter to energy. Tabula rasa, baby! The cycle started anew for the “infinith” time. Each cycle taking roughly 100 trillion Earth years.
And that’s the history of everything…. since before eternity started. I left out some details, but this is pretty much how we got here and where we’re going. This history applies to all the other, infinite civilizations out there that have flowered and died and those yet to arise that will exist for a billion years before some cosmic irony extinguishes them. None may escape this fate.
N.B. – Don’t run any of this by your astrophysics neighbor….it’s just my redneck version of cosmology.
So only one question remains. If you have managed to hold on to your faith, you have all your answers. If not, where do you go from here?
Farrago
January 26, 2023 11:30am
It is a raw day of rain, snow and wind. I’ve decided it’s too cold to do any welding on the rock-lifting tool I’m building to help lift the 250lb stones that will be part of the fireplace in the rock house. I did test the tool a couple of days ago with a concrete block and it worked – now it’s just a matter of beefing it up for the heavier weights.
I’m going to Lexington this weekend to help train some SAR (Sons of the American Revolution) members in the finer points of the 1764 Manual of Arms. While investigating a “back road” route to the training, I realized I could pass right by a thoroughbred farm where I worked in the early 80’s. I was completing an M.S. in equine nutrition and working at the farm – then known as North Ridge – part-time. My duties involved a little of everything – mucking stalls, grooming, night watch, foaling, sales. It was very, very cold the winter I worked at North Ridge. A little research revealed that the owner who I saw only one time, is now deceased. He was the owner of a multinational construction company. When I started there, the place was under construction and a rumor floated around that the owner’s daughter had become engaged to one of the construction workers. I can only imagine the complications of that relationship. This same girl showed up at the July Keeneland sale and let one of our yearlings lick her raspberry ice cream cone right before we sent the horse to the sale ring. Anyway, the farm was being built from the ground up and we still had some horses in converted tobacco barns. Now, it is a showplace that has passed through several hands and several names.
One night, in a horrible storm, lightning struck a tree just off the farm, and it caught fire. I was night watch and at first, I could just tell that something was glowing against the night sky. I drove over there and watched it burning for a few minutes. I still see that burning tree.