If one watches the Fawlty Towers episode by this name, you can see some pretty grim--but rather atypically overpatient-- Germans. We Schulers cannot help being German, hence there are some other related problems Germans have that are, uh, not very funny. Some would say that is due to living in the outer darkness of civilization--but there are lots of Swedish jokes--but I must admit no "Black" Forest.
The same would apply to the arguments that cold weather leads to many inclinations: overactivity, frequent brain fevers, the Protestant Ethic--methinks the Germans Protest too much. But then there's the Irish, who rival the Italians as party people and are on the same latitude.
Is it tradition? Of having produced some of the most negative philosophers of all time, and one the side--just to show it wasn't just words--2 World Wars. "Vell you started it!" "No we didn't,' says Fawlty, "you invaded Poland!"
I talked some time ago about epigenetics, first or most convincingly demonstrated in the far north of Sweden. It seems that your longevity can be enhanced by having grandparents in the grip of famine, suggesting a long-rejected Larmarkianism; but more than that showing that heredity and the somatic results are much more complex than we thought. This came just after we decoded the human genome, even though we have no idea of the functions of huge swaths of it. Turns out we are not merely products of DNA, maybe not even mostly.
So in this wise it occurs to me that Germans come by their joylessness by "virtue" of ancestors who lived this way for maybe millenia, passing down attitudes not only culturally and by our OCD nature, but it may take many millenia more before we can have before us a genuine German "joke.'
I would solicit the reader to provide me with some German jokes--I mean real ones, and not ones told by other nationalities on the Germans--which are probably much more of a hoot that anything we can come up with. I'm not saying that they don't exist; but it is certainly telling that everybody has heard about Irish humor, Oly and Sven yokes, and French Folies.
The BBC came up with this article today, which brings up another theory why Germans can't contend in the Humor Olympics: "Why so glum? Germans struggle to find joy, poll suggests." It then shows a priceless picture of the German soccer team lying on the field after losing a match. Pretty much says it all.
But there's more: "Only one in six Germans can recall a moment in which they felt truly happy...and that many feel themselves weighed down by the financial crisis in Europe despite the fact that the country enjoys a record of solid growth." Also they often feel, "incapable of true relaxation, and enjoying their free time..."
"And while 90% of participants said that pleasure makes life worthwhile. only 15% recalled moments in which they felt truly happy. German Perfectionism may be part of the problem; about 80% remarked that they experience pleasure best" ( which apparently is not all that often) "when they have accomplished something."
Of course many others have observed this over the centuries, because this has gone on at least since the Germanic hordes swarmed out the the trees and came close to destroying civilization-- and if they had made it to Ireland, they might have succeeded. What I observe in myself is the phenomenon that no matter what you do, no matter who is pleased with your deeds or words, it's, to quote my Dad, NEVER ENOUGH. This may also account for the fact that the Germans never stop trying to fix the rest of the world, that is, we cannot stop meddling because its one of the few things we know how to do, and according to this article, it is as close to pleasure and happiness as some are going to get.
How I love to make sweeping generalizations! But much of this comes out of being part German myself, and not being able to tell a bloody joke right! (Punning DOES NOT COUNT; because it is just another form of meddling!) It's interesting to me that in college I spent a lot of time with my very German girlfriend and I can tell you she took life very seriously indeed! Of course her Dad was in Stalingrad--but a few beers verked vunders to drive the demons away. What was it that attracted like to like? Yet for that very reason we were incompatible; nor were we destined to spend life together. But it taught me that I need someone very much different than me to complement me rather than just compliment me, if you see what I mean.
Not very funny either, I know. But I will conclude for now with this; it is probably not a good thing to live upon one's self made prosperity and productivity since it makes one more unhappy that the average poor person, who may tend to enjoy whatever he can as often as he can without trying to turn it into a Happiness Machine: but like humility, joy and even "the joke proper" can evade those who technically can have just about all the things and situations they want. (If they actually knew what they wanted, which is the other aspect of the problem. (c.f. The four levels of happiness-- Google that, Mr. Zuckerman!)
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Monday, May 21, 2012
TENANTSHIP
We had a missionary yesterday who prepares teachers and ministers around the world. By his accent, I think he is an Aussie. He recently attended a pastors conference in Orissa state in India. There were at least 1000 indigenous pastors there, most of whom had been beaten or tortured because of their ministry. One man was there whose face was disfigured by acid and had one hand cut off by his tormentors. Orissa in the past has been called the "graveyard of missionaries" because of the constant and hyper-militant response of its people. The government basically looks the other way, so these pastors have to rely on God and God alone.
And yet 1000 attended! Methinks the volk protest too much!
These persecutions, which are increasingly intense in the northern part of India right now, do not make the papers or the slick magazines and websites. No news, for instance, about the pastor recently executed by the government of Iran. And of the Copts in Egypt? The so-called "Arab Spring" has unleashed a new tide of terrorism, church bombings, village burnings, and general mayhem, some of it done by the governments themselves; probably to satisfy the bloodthirsty ambitions of huge factions of fundamentalists poised to recreate their country into a copy of Iran.
Which brings me to my son, Mark Schuler, whom I wholly and full-heartedly support of course. He is soon to be married (1/1/13) and he and Allison will be returning to Burma right after that. The changes in Burma may or may not be in their favor...but it is a known fact that the Burmese government has committed genocide against the Karin people of northern Burma for decades, primarily because this is a pretty much wholly Christian tribe going back many centuries. (The story of Adoniram Judson, a Harvard grad who was the first foreign missionary to anywhere from out of America, is a fascinating--and horrifying- reading.)
The dangers to an American missionary couple in an urban setting are certainly much less than that of a native pastor in an isolated area. But many atrocities do occur in urban settings, esp. in the Arab world. I am very much encouraged by the gentle victories of The Lady--may she be another Mandela, now that her long imprisonment has been ended. But can she handle the prejudices of centuries? Will the new freedoms be abused to create a backlash against Christians and other minorities, as we have seen elsewhere?
There have been some exceptional ends to atrocites, such as in Rwanda--but no one lacks for critics from the "West." I have begun to think that forgiveness has become a foreign substance in my own land and culture, a trickle-down effect from our intellignesia to our "volk" by means of pop culture and the ever-unapologetic "material girls." This of course has been our contribution world-wide, eclipsing by far any missionary efforts our culture has enabled--which isn't saying much--whatever Christianizing our culture has experienced, it is only borrowed. Cultures aren't Christians-individuals are.
I say all that to reference back to today's Scripture, in Mark 12, the parable of the tenants. "He sent still another, and that one they also killed. He sent many others ;some of them they beat, others they killed."
"He had one left to send, a son, whom He loved. He sent him last of all, saying, 'They will respect my son."
"But the tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come. let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' So they killed him and threw his body outside the vineyard."
Not exactly the fruit that the owner was looking for! Talk about sour grapes!
Life comes with risk and almost certain death--with a few exceptions such as Elijah--but I myself am not risking much personally, and remain very much in the background; even my prayers for my own son are very weak, in comparison with the need. But I trust that the Power of the Heir and His Father will be more than enough to compensate for the feebleness of spirituality in myself and in USA Today. Lord ha' mercy on us all.
And yet 1000 attended! Methinks the volk protest too much!
These persecutions, which are increasingly intense in the northern part of India right now, do not make the papers or the slick magazines and websites. No news, for instance, about the pastor recently executed by the government of Iran. And of the Copts in Egypt? The so-called "Arab Spring" has unleashed a new tide of terrorism, church bombings, village burnings, and general mayhem, some of it done by the governments themselves; probably to satisfy the bloodthirsty ambitions of huge factions of fundamentalists poised to recreate their country into a copy of Iran.
Which brings me to my son, Mark Schuler, whom I wholly and full-heartedly support of course. He is soon to be married (1/1/13) and he and Allison will be returning to Burma right after that. The changes in Burma may or may not be in their favor...but it is a known fact that the Burmese government has committed genocide against the Karin people of northern Burma for decades, primarily because this is a pretty much wholly Christian tribe going back many centuries. (The story of Adoniram Judson, a Harvard grad who was the first foreign missionary to anywhere from out of America, is a fascinating--and horrifying- reading.)
The dangers to an American missionary couple in an urban setting are certainly much less than that of a native pastor in an isolated area. But many atrocities do occur in urban settings, esp. in the Arab world. I am very much encouraged by the gentle victories of The Lady--may she be another Mandela, now that her long imprisonment has been ended. But can she handle the prejudices of centuries? Will the new freedoms be abused to create a backlash against Christians and other minorities, as we have seen elsewhere?
There have been some exceptional ends to atrocites, such as in Rwanda--but no one lacks for critics from the "West." I have begun to think that forgiveness has become a foreign substance in my own land and culture, a trickle-down effect from our intellignesia to our "volk" by means of pop culture and the ever-unapologetic "material girls." This of course has been our contribution world-wide, eclipsing by far any missionary efforts our culture has enabled--which isn't saying much--whatever Christianizing our culture has experienced, it is only borrowed. Cultures aren't Christians-individuals are.
I say all that to reference back to today's Scripture, in Mark 12, the parable of the tenants. "He sent still another, and that one they also killed. He sent many others ;some of them they beat, others they killed."
"He had one left to send, a son, whom He loved. He sent him last of all, saying, 'They will respect my son."
"But the tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come. let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' So they killed him and threw his body outside the vineyard."
Not exactly the fruit that the owner was looking for! Talk about sour grapes!
Life comes with risk and almost certain death--with a few exceptions such as Elijah--but I myself am not risking much personally, and remain very much in the background; even my prayers for my own son are very weak, in comparison with the need. But I trust that the Power of the Heir and His Father will be more than enough to compensate for the feebleness of spirituality in myself and in USA Today. Lord ha' mercy on us all.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
TO ETERNITY--AND BEYOND!
His Infernal Sublimity, Undersecretary Screwtape, gives you fond Christian greetings.
Yes, it's Max McLean again, and various Toadpipes (he wears many a Toadpipe out, you see) and The Fellowship of the Performing Arts, taking his 2-person show on the road again. If you haven't read the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis lately, give it another go, then see the show. One can also prepare by hearing the John Cleese reading of the entire work, another high praise recommendation.
I think of the Oboe Jones/Cornerstone 3-panel cartoon in which son Eugene is listening to a generic shock rocker from one of those Metallica style groups singing, "I'M GOING TO HELL...."
"Eugene! Can't you play some Christian rock?"
ok "YOU'RE GOING TO HELL..." "Something about free will, I think..."
--
There seems to be some agreement here.
Based on the fact that the "slow gradual road is the best" way to hell--"no signposts, doctors who lie, nurses who lie,"; the pleasures all but dead and the patient "anesthetized upon a table" like a Grey Town London End.
That's the trick, dear Wormwood! Humans have a useful way of thinking about us as "men in tights" "who are always putting things IN their heads--when what WE want is to keep things OUT!"
Yes, it's Max McLean again, and various Toadpipes (he wears many a Toadpipe out, you see) and The Fellowship of the Performing Arts, taking his 2-person show on the road again. If you haven't read the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis lately, give it another go, then see the show. One can also prepare by hearing the John Cleese reading of the entire work, another high praise recommendation.
I think of the Oboe Jones/Cornerstone 3-panel cartoon in which son Eugene is listening to a generic shock rocker from one of those Metallica style groups singing, "I'M GOING TO HELL...."
"Eugene! Can't you play some Christian rock?"
ok "YOU'RE GOING TO HELL..." "Something about free will, I think..."
--
There seems to be some agreement here.
Based on the fact that the "slow gradual road is the best" way to hell--"no signposts, doctors who lie, nurses who lie,"; the pleasures all but dead and the patient "anesthetized upon a table" like a Grey Town London End.
That's the trick, dear Wormwood! Humans have a useful way of thinking about us as "men in tights" "who are always putting things IN their heads--when what WE want is to keep things OUT!"
Saturday, May 19, 2012
WE ARE GOING TO HELL TODAY
Well not all of us--only those with tickets--but more of that tomorrow-- if we come back....
This news item may be of interest, esp. for fans of the short stories "Parker's Back" (O'Connor) and the sequel-fall-of-the house-of-typewriters story, "Idols" from the New Yorker, by Tim Gatreux:
Former Head Skinhead Bryon Widmer, a "glowering menacing vessel of savagery" has had 25 surgeries to remove the extensive tattoos on his face, which has left him with migraines, but, he said: "It's a small price to pay for being human again." The slideshow of his transformation is quite striking. There is a minor documentary about him that I have not seen called, "Erasing Hate," which I intend to access as soon as I can.
"To Hell and Back" in 25 painful steps. "From Hell to Eternity"? Ironically I awoke with a headache myself today--a rarity if I have been faithful in taking my coffee.
Make what you will of it, but if you are not a skinhead, this is a general call to rejoice for one darned ugly goat to become a sheep--as you will see by his grin; no longer grim.
Not a racist--just in time--science has changed its bloody mind about the "races"of men when we are in fact all, "One Blood" Google that, earth!
More later--when I feel better...
This news item may be of interest, esp. for fans of the short stories "Parker's Back" (O'Connor) and the sequel-fall-of-the house-of-typewriters story, "Idols" from the New Yorker, by Tim Gatreux:
Former Head Skinhead Bryon Widmer, a "glowering menacing vessel of savagery" has had 25 surgeries to remove the extensive tattoos on his face, which has left him with migraines, but, he said: "It's a small price to pay for being human again." The slideshow of his transformation is quite striking. There is a minor documentary about him that I have not seen called, "Erasing Hate," which I intend to access as soon as I can.
"To Hell and Back" in 25 painful steps. "From Hell to Eternity"? Ironically I awoke with a headache myself today--a rarity if I have been faithful in taking my coffee.
Make what you will of it, but if you are not a skinhead, this is a general call to rejoice for one darned ugly goat to become a sheep--as you will see by his grin; no longer grim.
Not a racist--just in time--science has changed its bloody mind about the "races"of men when we are in fact all, "One Blood" Google that, earth!
More later--when I feel better...
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
2 stories
As told in Mark 10:35-52
Re: true pride and true desperation, the latter of which was described more fully in SK's "The Sickness Unto Death."
"Can you drink the cup I drink?" said Jesus to James and John, the "Sons of Thunder." This is an old Jewish expression meaning to share one's fate. It is not recorded that either of these men were crucified--stabbed?--but Peter was crucified; and he was the one who said he was not worthy to be crucified!
It is surely prohibited to me to put myself on a humility pedestal. In a recent book on Christian humility, a very evasive topic surely, by William Farley, he quotes C.S. Lewis as saying, "If you think you are not conceited, that means you are very conceited indeed." That is, thinking one is humble immediately strays from the truth, and flies in the face of the fact that we are incurably self-centered untill the day we die, no matter what our convictions. In another paradigm, I suppose this has value as a survival mechanism and is seen in other sentient beings even more so. We make attempts--often mighty and strenuous ones--to hide this socially unacceptable reality--but it is even more openly evident when hidden, because the great drops of sweat on our brows from this futile exercise simply draws more attention to the process. "Be sure your sin will find you out." "Methinks the lady doth protest too much."
Farley goes on to say that this is "...the great paradox: the proud man thinks he is humble, but the humble man thinks he is proud...he aggressively pursues a life of humility, but he doesn't think of himself as humble..." O for the bliss-blessed state of self forgetfulness which I find so rarely--but required for a Knight of Faith..."The proud man is completely unaware of his pride. Of all men he is convinced that he is humble."
Note that the majority of the applications and ongoing struggle about this in our culture are well outside the realm of the traditional religious sphere in which context they were lodged for millenia. We are in fact vastly more materialistic; and relativitistic--when it suits us, that is--to the bloody core.
It is quite common even among some of the most vaunted Christians and public servants to aspire to intellectual acceptance among those gifted--for better or worse--in this arena. This is where most of my own guilt resides; indeed I would not be writing near so much on a blog if I were not out to "redeem" myself in the eyes of men. Another part of me abhors this and says that redemption has already be accomplished and I of all people, can add nothing to it.
The blind son of Timaeus was not in such a dilemna; his sole concern was to see--hence he cast aside (in faith) the most important thing a blind beggar can possess--his cloak...trusting that he would be able to find it, no problem, when he went back. Yet in another sense, he did not go back--simple gratitude led him to follow Christ on down the road.
Jesus summed it up between these two obviously paired reports when he said: "Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great ("forcibly advance?") must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave to all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and give his life as a ransom to many." (Losing far more than his cloak in the process...)
Re: true pride and true desperation, the latter of which was described more fully in SK's "The Sickness Unto Death."
"Can you drink the cup I drink?" said Jesus to James and John, the "Sons of Thunder." This is an old Jewish expression meaning to share one's fate. It is not recorded that either of these men were crucified--stabbed?--but Peter was crucified; and he was the one who said he was not worthy to be crucified!
It is surely prohibited to me to put myself on a humility pedestal. In a recent book on Christian humility, a very evasive topic surely, by William Farley, he quotes C.S. Lewis as saying, "If you think you are not conceited, that means you are very conceited indeed." That is, thinking one is humble immediately strays from the truth, and flies in the face of the fact that we are incurably self-centered untill the day we die, no matter what our convictions. In another paradigm, I suppose this has value as a survival mechanism and is seen in other sentient beings even more so. We make attempts--often mighty and strenuous ones--to hide this socially unacceptable reality--but it is even more openly evident when hidden, because the great drops of sweat on our brows from this futile exercise simply draws more attention to the process. "Be sure your sin will find you out." "Methinks the lady doth protest too much."
Farley goes on to say that this is "...the great paradox: the proud man thinks he is humble, but the humble man thinks he is proud...he aggressively pursues a life of humility, but he doesn't think of himself as humble..." O for the bliss-blessed state of self forgetfulness which I find so rarely--but required for a Knight of Faith..."The proud man is completely unaware of his pride. Of all men he is convinced that he is humble."
Note that the majority of the applications and ongoing struggle about this in our culture are well outside the realm of the traditional religious sphere in which context they were lodged for millenia. We are in fact vastly more materialistic; and relativitistic--when it suits us, that is--to the bloody core.
It is quite common even among some of the most vaunted Christians and public servants to aspire to intellectual acceptance among those gifted--for better or worse--in this arena. This is where most of my own guilt resides; indeed I would not be writing near so much on a blog if I were not out to "redeem" myself in the eyes of men. Another part of me abhors this and says that redemption has already be accomplished and I of all people, can add nothing to it.
The blind son of Timaeus was not in such a dilemna; his sole concern was to see--hence he cast aside (in faith) the most important thing a blind beggar can possess--his cloak...trusting that he would be able to find it, no problem, when he went back. Yet in another sense, he did not go back--simple gratitude led him to follow Christ on down the road.
Jesus summed it up between these two obviously paired reports when he said: "Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great ("forcibly advance?") must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave to all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and give his life as a ransom to many." (Losing far more than his cloak in the process...)
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
comestibles (sort of)
There are still many insoluble mysteries in the universe far stranger than fiction, science or other.
To wit: Australians continue to consume large quanities of Vegemite--from Kraft foods no less--on a daily basis; worse yet, Brits consume large amounts of the Sister Subtance, Marmite, for no apparent reason; except as seen on seen bean, "Merry Christmas Mr. Bean."
Yet thanks to deck-the halls Jean Hall, I have an ample supply of both!
Eat your heart out Master Monolith!
To wit: Australians continue to consume large quanities of Vegemite--from Kraft foods no less--on a daily basis; worse yet, Brits consume large amounts of the Sister Subtance, Marmite, for no apparent reason; except as seen on seen bean, "Merry Christmas Mr. Bean."
Yet thanks to deck-the halls Jean Hall, I have an ample supply of both!
Eat your heart out Master Monolith!
Monday, May 14, 2012
As promised, see last night's blog first-
from TNY 5/14/12 today!
Anthony Lane on "The Avengers":
"I think Whedon (director) missed a trick; for old times sake, why not zip back to the first Marvel movie and wheel out Howard the Duck?"
"If you are not a Marvel fan, then watching "The Avengers" will feel like being mugged by a gang of rowdy sociopaths with high muscle tone. Absolutely no quarter is given to the ill-informed. the first scene is set in an undesignated patch of outer space, where some masked moaner yaks on in a rich and threatening baritone. I couldn't understand a word until he asked, "The humans--what can they do but burn?" If he is referring to our cooking skills, this is grossly unfair, for we can also poach, broil, gently simmer, and steam en papillote. The speech however will make perfect sense to those familiar with last year's "Thor," whose villain Loki is revived for the new film. Loki is a tall well-spoken megalomaniac who bears a magic spear, although, for anyone who enjoyed Hiddleston's spry and convincing turn in "Midnight in Paris," the world would appear to be at the mercy of F. Scott Fitzgerald with a monkey wrench."
"And is always is the world. One of the failings of Marvel--as of other franchises, like the "Superman" series--is the vulgarity of thinking big. As a rule, be wary of any guy who dwells upon the fate of mankind, unless he can prove he was born in Bethlemem. Superheroes who claim to be on the side of the entire planet are no more to be trusted than the baddies who seek to trash it, nor is the aesthetic timbre of the movies in which they both appear."
Since I was once--and perhaps still-- fascinated by these plasticine figures, I suppose I am not to be trusted, either... but it was always in the back of my mind that superheroes, like rock stars in the adolescent phase of our minds, were simply God-substitutes; which says all too much about us re: our god-preferences. Science fiction is not much different--it approaches profound matters with all the sublety of Thor's mallet. However, as one sage once said, it is bad enough to be king; worse yet to be emperor; and sheer hell itself to be God...and our thrilling saga continues....
Anthony Lane on "The Avengers":
"I think Whedon (director) missed a trick; for old times sake, why not zip back to the first Marvel movie and wheel out Howard the Duck?"
"If you are not a Marvel fan, then watching "The Avengers" will feel like being mugged by a gang of rowdy sociopaths with high muscle tone. Absolutely no quarter is given to the ill-informed. the first scene is set in an undesignated patch of outer space, where some masked moaner yaks on in a rich and threatening baritone. I couldn't understand a word until he asked, "The humans--what can they do but burn?" If he is referring to our cooking skills, this is grossly unfair, for we can also poach, broil, gently simmer, and steam en papillote. The speech however will make perfect sense to those familiar with last year's "Thor," whose villain Loki is revived for the new film. Loki is a tall well-spoken megalomaniac who bears a magic spear, although, for anyone who enjoyed Hiddleston's spry and convincing turn in "Midnight in Paris," the world would appear to be at the mercy of F. Scott Fitzgerald with a monkey wrench."
"And is always is the world. One of the failings of Marvel--as of other franchises, like the "Superman" series--is the vulgarity of thinking big. As a rule, be wary of any guy who dwells upon the fate of mankind, unless he can prove he was born in Bethlemem. Superheroes who claim to be on the side of the entire planet are no more to be trusted than the baddies who seek to trash it, nor is the aesthetic timbre of the movies in which they both appear."
Since I was once--and perhaps still-- fascinated by these plasticine figures, I suppose I am not to be trusted, either... but it was always in the back of my mind that superheroes, like rock stars in the adolescent phase of our minds, were simply God-substitutes; which says all too much about us re: our god-preferences. Science fiction is not much different--it approaches profound matters with all the sublety of Thor's mallet. However, as one sage once said, it is bad enough to be king; worse yet to be emperor; and sheer hell itself to be God...and our thrilling saga continues....
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Presenter:
"...and my revenue forecast says..."
Dilbert:"Did you make any assumptions?"
P: "I made a lot of them."
D:"Then we don't believe your forecast."
P:"Can I tell you about it anyway?"
D: "Do whatever makes you feel less absurd."
I have been revisiting some of my science fiction days, particularly catching up with Arthur C. Clarke, the fabulously successful writer of 2001: A Space Odyssey. And a quintessential logical positivist. His less ambitious speculations were his practical ones, such as satellite communications. He was quite sanguine about technological progress solving the problems of mankind. As such, he was quite the moralist and his novels are full of amateurish philosophy and radical words of judgment upon almost everyone except himself and some scientifically enlightened friends.
His last of four novels on the monoliths is "3001:The Final Odyssey" in which the monoliths represent judgement--adverse and hostile of course, of a superior (of course) civilization about 450 light years off, upon our "new and impoved" solar sytematic civilization.
In his second novel/movie the monoliths make a second sun out of Jupiter, which makes things warm and cosy for almost 1000 years--sound like the millenial reign yet?-- during which time religion has been pretty well elminated ushering in world peace...but the aliens are about 450 years behind of course and don't know about our latest improvements, soooooooooooooooo...
Stop me if you've heard this one...
I confess that I skipped to the end of the Odyssey of all Odysseys (which it is not of course--but we get a 450 year "reprieve") and everything seems to be jammed hastily into the last 3 shortish chapters. So it turns out I didn't miss much--one of the things I used to like about sci-fi was its utter predictability. But let me run through some of the phrases of the last few pages, which will give the reader an idea of the author's default and utterly clear objectives. (Read: "assumptions" )
"religious cultists...mentally deranged...unfortunate oversight... the madness...forced the world's law enforcement agencies to cooperate as never before...maladjusted individuals...perverted geniuses...apocalyptic sects, who were delighted to find this new armory...(the internet) ...cult inspired rehearsals for Doomsday...no serious attacks on society for several hundred years.. the chief weapon...the "Braincap"...it was generally agreed that Communism was the most perfect form of government....it was possible to detect many forms of psychosis--it was accepted that this form of monitoring was a nesessary precaution against a far worse eveil; and it was no coincidence that with the general improvement in mental health, religious fanaticism also started its rapid decline. The challenge to the demon programmers...(of) captured obscenities...evil genius might reinvent them and deploy them...the digital demons should be sealed in the Pico Vault..."(on the moon)
Get the idea? These 50's style machinists of our souls could do with a dose of real tedium and dreariness; and perhaps we can realize that this sort of writing is only a slight cut above the entertainment value of Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose last adaption, John Carter (on Mars) was a complete flop; The "Rama" series of Clarke has been in the works for years but is finally dying on the vine as far as a movie adaption. It doesn't match the spirit of our age, which is postmodernism, which has little use for logical positivists. The depressive tendencies of the later Orwell and Wells are far to be preferred to the overweening ambitions of scientific idealists, who seem to think that the worst thing ever to happen to us is religion, and don't feel that anyone else's opinion counts. It was not religion that brought us nuclear arms but Einstein himself...more than a match for Werner Von Brauhn, eh!
"Myopathy" the disease not of the muscles but of our myopic vision, and our self-righteousness and the perpetual misuse of "projection," --assuming, again, that all the evil is "over there", not "over here--has caused the death of more peple than any form of supernaturalism per se. (Some of which does leak over into Clarke's visions, which literally are quite a bit like seances with mysteriously moving hair brushes lovingly applied to his dying mother by the ghost --in the machine of course--of a dead astronaut.) Demons everywhere.....reminds me of the fields of "Zelda."
The Land of Tommorrow--or thereabouts--I will bring to bear to this subject Anthony Lane, satirist and movie reviewer who just skewered "The Avengers" in the last issue of TNY. (Now that's good writing!)
Dilbert:"Did you make any assumptions?"
P: "I made a lot of them."
D:"Then we don't believe your forecast."
P:"Can I tell you about it anyway?"
D: "Do whatever makes you feel less absurd."
I have been revisiting some of my science fiction days, particularly catching up with Arthur C. Clarke, the fabulously successful writer of 2001: A Space Odyssey. And a quintessential logical positivist. His less ambitious speculations were his practical ones, such as satellite communications. He was quite sanguine about technological progress solving the problems of mankind. As such, he was quite the moralist and his novels are full of amateurish philosophy and radical words of judgment upon almost everyone except himself and some scientifically enlightened friends.
His last of four novels on the monoliths is "3001:The Final Odyssey" in which the monoliths represent judgement--adverse and hostile of course, of a superior (of course) civilization about 450 light years off, upon our "new and impoved" solar sytematic civilization.
In his second novel/movie the monoliths make a second sun out of Jupiter, which makes things warm and cosy for almost 1000 years--sound like the millenial reign yet?-- during which time religion has been pretty well elminated ushering in world peace...but the aliens are about 450 years behind of course and don't know about our latest improvements, soooooooooooooooo...
Stop me if you've heard this one...
I confess that I skipped to the end of the Odyssey of all Odysseys (which it is not of course--but we get a 450 year "reprieve") and everything seems to be jammed hastily into the last 3 shortish chapters. So it turns out I didn't miss much--one of the things I used to like about sci-fi was its utter predictability. But let me run through some of the phrases of the last few pages, which will give the reader an idea of the author's default and utterly clear objectives. (Read: "assumptions" )
"religious cultists...mentally deranged...unfortunate oversight... the madness...forced the world's law enforcement agencies to cooperate as never before...maladjusted individuals...perverted geniuses...apocalyptic sects, who were delighted to find this new armory...(the internet) ...cult inspired rehearsals for Doomsday...no serious attacks on society for several hundred years.. the chief weapon...the "Braincap"...it was generally agreed that Communism was the most perfect form of government....it was possible to detect many forms of psychosis--it was accepted that this form of monitoring was a nesessary precaution against a far worse eveil; and it was no coincidence that with the general improvement in mental health, religious fanaticism also started its rapid decline. The challenge to the demon programmers...(of) captured obscenities...evil genius might reinvent them and deploy them...the digital demons should be sealed in the Pico Vault..."(on the moon)
Get the idea? These 50's style machinists of our souls could do with a dose of real tedium and dreariness; and perhaps we can realize that this sort of writing is only a slight cut above the entertainment value of Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose last adaption, John Carter (on Mars) was a complete flop; The "Rama" series of Clarke has been in the works for years but is finally dying on the vine as far as a movie adaption. It doesn't match the spirit of our age, which is postmodernism, which has little use for logical positivists. The depressive tendencies of the later Orwell and Wells are far to be preferred to the overweening ambitions of scientific idealists, who seem to think that the worst thing ever to happen to us is religion, and don't feel that anyone else's opinion counts. It was not religion that brought us nuclear arms but Einstein himself...more than a match for Werner Von Brauhn, eh!
"Myopathy" the disease not of the muscles but of our myopic vision, and our self-righteousness and the perpetual misuse of "projection," --assuming, again, that all the evil is "over there", not "over here--has caused the death of more peple than any form of supernaturalism per se. (Some of which does leak over into Clarke's visions, which literally are quite a bit like seances with mysteriously moving hair brushes lovingly applied to his dying mother by the ghost --in the machine of course--of a dead astronaut.) Demons everywhere.....reminds me of the fields of "Zelda."
The Land of Tommorrow--or thereabouts--I will bring to bear to this subject Anthony Lane, satirist and movie reviewer who just skewered "The Avengers" in the last issue of TNY. (Now that's good writing!)
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Blog # 100. Oh help Oh bother
"You will give an account for every careless word you have spoken"
"Words are seeds; and seeds always produce after their own kind. The free empowerment of grace is transferred through words." John Bevere, from a chapter about Grace and Truth.
"By your words you will be justified; by your words you will be condemned."
"If you plant an apple seed, a maple tree will not grow. If you plant a mango seed, you'll not get a cotton bush. The seed will always produce after its own nature."
To Peter: "Get thee behind me, Satan; you savor the things of men, not the things of God." How easily and quickly we are misled? Of whose nature are we? "Practical Darwinism"?
"Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said:
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give inexchange for his soul?
If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes...."
Q ffffffdafkljljls
"Words are seeds; and seeds always produce after their own kind. The free empowerment of grace is transferred through words." John Bevere, from a chapter about Grace and Truth.
"By your words you will be justified; by your words you will be condemned."
"If you plant an apple seed, a maple tree will not grow. If you plant a mango seed, you'll not get a cotton bush. The seed will always produce after its own nature."
To Peter: "Get thee behind me, Satan; you savor the things of men, not the things of God." How easily and quickly we are misled? Of whose nature are we? "Practical Darwinism"?
"Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said:
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give inexchange for his soul?
If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes...."
Q ffffffdafkljljls
Saturday, May 5, 2012
From: The "Reformed Rabbit, the Better Bunny, the Happy Hare."
Didja know: that the creator of Roger Rabbit is from Earlville, Mendota's near neighbor to the east? Roger That!!!
But seriously, volks: I have decided to go back to this box and type by hand. The last debacle was caused by a combination of blogger and Dragonspeak and a "dictation box" that I use at work to increase accuracy. Dragon likes itself, wera, wera mooch (Krazy Katishly sp...eek!!!...ing) But not anyone else--c.f. the only bully in the sandbox--"does NOT play well with others=(
Dragons hoard their treasures you know, as will be seen this Christmas in "The Hobbit." EEEK, can't wait!!"
According to the Word, God is a bit more reliable than any computer, and not nearly as arbitrary. Reading about Moishe and the golden calf godz today in Exodust 32, I have a few thoughts.
God said to him" "Go down, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt." Sounds like unto a mother who, after a trying day with Wild Boy, says to her husband, "Let me tell you what your son did today!"
But "Moishe" reminded Him that they were His people, not his: "It was YOU who brought them out of Egypt with a Mighty Hand...do not bring disaster upon YOUR people.
This chapter, though a major setback for all concerned, has plenty of humor, as in Aaron's miserable excuse that, "We threw this gold in the fire and out came this calf!" Ah yes-- and what is that you're hiding behind your back, Err On? (see verse 4, eh?)
Kidding aside and seriously folks-- this background is essential to establish the reality of the gift of free will; and the willingness of God to relent, and to use the evil that men do to fashion a better way that "You would not believe even if I showed it to you." And see the story in Luke of hypothetical parable-Lazarus. Especially, the Exodus 32 sequence also establishes the rationale for, and efficacy of, prayer--esp for Knights of Faith who do walk personally with God and are said to be a friends of God. And of course there is infinitely more for the relinquishing types like me...yet to be established even though we see it as , "The End, Man."
Speaking of which, son Dr. Stephen reminds us that this is Soren Kierkgaard's birthday. More fear and trembling for me, Foo-raw Foo-raw!!!
Be it noted that there is not one Knight of Faith who does not wear foibles and foolishness on both sleeves. They are Knights; not The King! "King, eh? I din' vote for ya!" Thank you Dennis (not Hall but a very positivist peasant from "The Holy Grail. ) "You don't vote for king..."
But seriously, volks: I have decided to go back to this box and type by hand. The last debacle was caused by a combination of blogger and Dragonspeak and a "dictation box" that I use at work to increase accuracy. Dragon likes itself, wera, wera mooch (Krazy Katishly sp...eek!!!...ing) But not anyone else--c.f. the only bully in the sandbox--"does NOT play well with others=(
Dragons hoard their treasures you know, as will be seen this Christmas in "The Hobbit." EEEK, can't wait!!"
According to the Word, God is a bit more reliable than any computer, and not nearly as arbitrary. Reading about Moishe and the golden calf godz today in Exodust 32, I have a few thoughts.
God said to him" "Go down, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt." Sounds like unto a mother who, after a trying day with Wild Boy, says to her husband, "Let me tell you what your son did today!"
But "Moishe" reminded Him that they were His people, not his: "It was YOU who brought them out of Egypt with a Mighty Hand...do not bring disaster upon YOUR people.
This chapter, though a major setback for all concerned, has plenty of humor, as in Aaron's miserable excuse that, "We threw this gold in the fire and out came this calf!" Ah yes-- and what is that you're hiding behind your back, Err On? (see verse 4, eh?)
Kidding aside and seriously folks-- this background is essential to establish the reality of the gift of free will; and the willingness of God to relent, and to use the evil that men do to fashion a better way that "You would not believe even if I showed it to you." And see the story in Luke of hypothetical parable-Lazarus. Especially, the Exodus 32 sequence also establishes the rationale for, and efficacy of, prayer--esp for Knights of Faith who do walk personally with God and are said to be a friends of God. And of course there is infinitely more for the relinquishing types like me...yet to be established even though we see it as , "The End, Man."
Speaking of which, son Dr. Stephen reminds us that this is Soren Kierkgaard's birthday. More fear and trembling for me, Foo-raw Foo-raw!!!
Be it noted that there is not one Knight of Faith who does not wear foibles and foolishness on both sleeves. They are Knights; not The King! "King, eh? I din' vote for ya!" Thank you Dennis (not Hall but a very positivist peasant from "The Holy Grail. ) "You don't vote for king..."
Thursday, May 3, 2012
poetical poots and SK
My Dad suggested that my blog reveal me to be "a seeker." I told him I would enlarge on that.
I am a seeker in the same sense that Walker Percy and Flannery O'Connor would be
This would be the situation in "Waiting for Godot." Much of the dialogue is spent in trying to explain things one to another. They also explain that "to have lived is not enough--they have to talk about it." At the end of the play ,. SEE BELOW--the ghost in this machine has totally trnsmixed the paragraphs. You will have to work at unravelling this--sorry--think of it as a prose poem or a long Kierkegaardian sentence to be unravelled!
Poems can suggest by an oblique mechanism but do not instruct.
In other words, poems are a matter ofexploration not explanation. In that sense, anyone who embarks in the poetics fields will be a kind of seeker--especially experimentally, to stretch the limits of language, create neologisms, and to be less than totally penetrable. Poetry can explore even politics but not prosaically or all of its effect will be lost. (I will excuse the satiric for the moment.) Garcia Lorca's political self was well-shrouded in fantastic word combinations; I think that was what kept him from being executed for at least enough time to leave a legacy of fascination that goes well beyond Franco or the limits of human understanding.
SEE ABOVE--with no guarantees that stuff hasn't been left out!!!
–as I have always like to think–in an oblique manner rather than a literalist prosaic fashion. Poems are not confessionals--at least not the best ones. One has to do some work rather than just imbibe--as such they are not the ideal form of entertainment unless they are sagas etc. Knight of Faith that one has to go through this stage and exhaust it. It is my theory that this is what occurred to T.S. Eliot and W.H. Auden and a host of others, particularly poets who are after all seeking the ineffable. "Poems aren't for teaching; they insinuate."--From Maureen N McLane on the back cover of Poetry magazine in the May 2012 issue.
SEE ABOVE, it is interesting that the two tramps do remain faithful believers, after all was said and done, and, "They do not move." They are resigned to Infinity/eternity and, for the moment anyway, have stopped making any inquiries. This fits the Kierkegaardian definition of the absurd; without the negative connotations brought to the fore by later secular thinkers.
Secular critics bring their best guns to the works of Walker Percy and do not even aim remotely at the works or the man. I could call this the Secular Sieve which strains out all great or infinite matters and lets through only the most Trivial Pursuits--rather like dry sand. THE END by Mr. Thomas MoreLater and Mr. Smoketoomuch. . I would be probably in the category in which most Christian believers fall into, which would be Kierkegaard's, "Knight of Infinite Resignation.", The sort of person that typically wants to be reductionist in the sense that people, I think particularly males, want to have lots and lots of explanations which they can understand in order to reduce reality to their level where they can "handle it." Actual reality of course is overwhelming not only to the senses but to the intellect and tends to paralyze the will, as well.
I am a seeker in the same sense that Walker Percy and Flannery O'Connor would be
This would be the situation in "Waiting for Godot." Much of the dialogue is spent in trying to explain things one to another. They also explain that "to have lived is not enough--they have to talk about it." At the end of the play ,. SEE BELOW--the ghost in this machine has totally trnsmixed the paragraphs. You will have to work at unravelling this--sorry--think of it as a prose poem or a long Kierkegaardian sentence to be unravelled!
Poems can suggest by an oblique mechanism but do not instruct.
In other words, poems are a matter ofexploration not explanation. In that sense, anyone who embarks in the poetics fields will be a kind of seeker--especially experimentally, to stretch the limits of language, create neologisms, and to be less than totally penetrable. Poetry can explore even politics but not prosaically or all of its effect will be lost. (I will excuse the satiric for the moment.) Garcia Lorca's political self was well-shrouded in fantastic word combinations; I think that was what kept him from being executed for at least enough time to leave a legacy of fascination that goes well beyond Franco or the limits of human understanding.
SEE ABOVE--with no guarantees that stuff hasn't been left out!!!
–as I have always like to think–in an oblique manner rather than a literalist prosaic fashion. Poems are not confessionals--at least not the best ones. One has to do some work rather than just imbibe--as such they are not the ideal form of entertainment unless they are sagas etc. Knight of Faith that one has to go through this stage and exhaust it. It is my theory that this is what occurred to T.S. Eliot and W.H. Auden and a host of others, particularly poets who are after all seeking the ineffable. "Poems aren't for teaching; they insinuate."--From Maureen N McLane on the back cover of Poetry magazine in the May 2012 issue.
SEE ABOVE, it is interesting that the two tramps do remain faithful believers, after all was said and done, and, "They do not move." They are resigned to Infinity/eternity and, for the moment anyway, have stopped making any inquiries. This fits the Kierkegaardian definition of the absurd; without the negative connotations brought to the fore by later secular thinkers.
Secular critics bring their best guns to the works of Walker Percy and do not even aim remotely at the works or the man. I could call this the Secular Sieve which strains out all great or infinite matters and lets through only the most Trivial Pursuits--rather like dry sand. THE END by Mr. Thomas MoreLater and Mr. Smoketoomuch. . I would be probably in the category in which most Christian believers fall into, which would be Kierkegaard's, "Knight of Infinite Resignation.", The sort of person that typically wants to be reductionist in the sense that people, I think particularly males, want to have lots and lots of explanations which they can understand in order to reduce reality to their level where they can "handle it." Actual reality of course is overwhelming not only to the senses but to the intellect and tends to paralyze the will, as well.
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