Friday, March 09, 2007

The Miracles of Life, Love, and Wisdom (12.06.10)

Humans may be assessed in terms of action, wisdom, and sentiment; or what they can do, what they can know, and what or whom they love (i.e., moral freedom). "Miracles" -- which is to say "signs and wonders" -- can occur on any one of these planes, although Christianity traditionally places emphasis on the last. As Paul said, there who those value wisdom and those who demand miraculous actions, "but we preach Christ crucified," which is to say the mystery of God's ultimate love for mankind.

Nevertheless, as I have written before, whatever principial truth a religion excludes or minimizes tends to return in a disguised form. Therefore, we should not be surprised that at different points, Christianity is as much a religion of divine wisdom and power as it is of love. But each must always be tempered by the others -- wisdom without love or action is merely intellectualism or solipsism, just as action without love or wisdom is either dissipation or the will to power.

As Valentin Tomberg writes, love is the highest freedom, for "it is the sole element in human existence that cannot and may not be demanded. One can demand effort, veracity, honesty, obedience, the fulfillment of duties, but love may never be demanded. Love is and remains for all time a sanctuary of freedom, inaccessible to all compulsion. For this reason, the highest commandment -- 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind... and love your neighbor as yourself' -- is not a command, but a divine-human plea. For love cannot be commanded; it can only be prayed for."

This is also the American secret, for it is the one nation that is founded upon the primacy of spiritual liberty, which is to say, the possibility of genuine vertical and horizontal (i.e., neighborly) love. Just as man was not created for the sabbath but the sabbath for man, American citizens are not here to serve the state, but the state is here to nurture spiritual liberty that we may grow in love, wisdom, and compassionate action -- or goodness, truth, and beauty.

Tomberg points out that the Gospels may be thought of as "holographic" (my word), in the sense that the events described therein are simultaneously signs, signs are teachings, teachings are events, events are parables, etc. Everything in the Gospels is at once "fact, miracle, symbol, and revelation of the truth."

There are only seven miracles described in the Gospel of John, beginning with the transformation of water into wine at the wedding in Cana, and ending with the raising of Lazarus. The conclusion of John points out that if every miracle attributable to Christ were to be recorded, "the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.'" Therefore, Tomberg suggests that the seven miracles of John are intended to be "archetypal," or to summarize certain categories of the miraculous -- of how humans, unlike any other beings in existence, may surpass themselves in love, wisdom, and action.

Might there also be an implicit parallel between these seven miracles and the seven primordial acts of God described in Genesis 1-2? I don't mean to rely on Tomberg so much, but I know of no one else who treats these matters so deeply and thoughtfully. Plus I have a cold, so I think I'll just try not to strain my brain and ride piggyback on his analysis, throwing in my own ideas here and there. At any rate, Tomberg feels that there is an inverse relationship between the seven phases of creation in Genesis and the seven miracles of John. Thus, for example, the wedding at Cana somehow mirrors the seventh day of creation.

Tomberg writes that the sabbath is the day on which "created being attains the highest level of inwardness: freedom. The seventh day of creation is the 'day' of the meaning of the world." And since it is only in love that freedom is perfect, ultimately divine-human love "is the foundation, the meaning, and the purpose of the world." Real love is both the alpha and omega of existence.

If the sabbath is also the consecration of the free "union" between God and man, then a sort of "divorce" occurred as a result of the fall. Man was unfaithful to his vows, so to speak. Tomberg writes that the wedding at Cana symbolically speaks to the restoration of this union, for it seems that marriage often "begins with enthusiasm, with the 'wine' of the honeymoon period, and ends with the 'water' of routine habit."

The renewal of love is indeed a miracle, even though we rarely think about it in those terms. To put it another way, only love can renew the world, one's being, and one's wedding vows. At the wedding, Jesus not only transforms water into wine, but the second wine is even better than the first. In other words, not only does love not degenerate, but it is miraculously renewed and increased; as such, this miracle is the "sign" of the healing of marriage -- i.e., "healing in the service of restoring the marriage relationship to correspond to the divine cosmic archetype, which is the seventh day of creation."

Is it important that John 2:1 says that the wedding took place "on the third day?" Why is that seemingly random fact inserted at the outset? And when they run out of wine, it is specifically Jesus' mother who brings this message to her son. Interestingly, Jesus says something very strange, in that he immediately interprets Mary's news about the wine in symbolic terms, asking her, "what does your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come."

Thus -- I am hardly a Biblical scholar, so I don't know if I'm pointing out the obvious here -- the wedding on the third day clearly has resonance with the entire mission of Jesus, in which he will restore the marriage between God and man.

And again, strikingly, there are exactly six waterpots, apparently referencing the other six days of creation and the other six miracles.

Skipping ahead a bit, wine once again comes into play when Jesus' "hour has come." In John 19:28, only after he knows that "all things were accomplished," he says "I thirst." He is given some sour -- which is to say, bad -- wine, which is placed to his mouth. After receiving it, he bows his head and says, "it is finished."

What is finished? One of the soldiers pierces his side, and "blood and water come out." At Cana, water is transformed into good wine. Here, as it were, bad and sour wine -- which is to say, the hateful karma of the world -- is transformed into water and blood. In the Bible -- and in antiquity in general -- "blood" always had spiritual connotations, and was regarded as the vehicle of life, while water carries two distinct meanings.

Back to Genesis 1. On the second day of creation, God separates the upper waters -- the waters above the firmament, or heaven -- from the lower waters. In fact, heaven is placed between the upper and lower waters, as a sort of dividing line. As such -- again, curiously -- heaven is not at the "top" of creation, but is a sort of membrane between upper and lower, or superior and inferior, waters.

But clearly, Jesus seems to be able to mediate between the upper and lower waters -- to bring about their harmonious union, in which the lower is transformed into the higher, and the higher descends into and infuses the lower.

Exacly what is the sacrament of marriage? I don't really know. Let me look it up.

Got it: marriage "is an inseparable bond between a man and a woman, created by human contract and ratified by divine grace. The nature of the covenant requires that the two participants be one man and one woman" and "that they be free to marry." In the Catholic Church, "it is consent that creates marriage. Consent consists in a human act by which the partners mutually give themselves to each other. Consent must be a free act of the will of the consenting parties, free of coercion or grave external error. If freedom is lacking, the consent is invalid." Interestingly, "it is the spouses who are understood to confer marriage on each other. The spouses, as ministers of grace, naturally confer upon each other the sacrament of matrimony."

Now, back to the union of God and man. Let's think about some of the constiuent components of marriage: freedom to consent to an inseparable bond, absent any coercion; mutual surrender; male (God) and female (the soul); the parties freely choose to confer marriage upon each other, not one upon the other; and the parties become vehicles of grace for one another, through which the regenerative upper waters flow into the world, transforming water into good wine and sour wine into the upper waters of eternal life and love.

Well, that's about the best I can muster today. Bit of an incoherent mess, no? Frankly, it's surprising it doesn't happen more often. But perhaps I've left enough fragments for others to meditate upon and miraculously pull together. To turn water into wine, so to speak.

49 comments:

Van Harvey said...

"Well, that's about the best I can muster today. Bit of an incoherent mess, no?"

Probably has to do with Scott Walker.

;-)

After Jackie, I'm having trouble putting two thoughts together too.

Rick said...

Dr Bob,
I haven’t read today’s post yet..but a little more on Scott Walker if I may…
I see I’m horribly outnumbered.
In case it didn’t come across I was mostly trying to be funny… and actually identifying with you in that I having been trying for years to find the right Rush song to flip the switch in my wife, and most recently my son – a budding musician.
Now I have two sets of eyes rolling at me when I mention Rush.

But seriously ‘coons - and most importantly, Dr Bob asked for feedback and I thought I owed him an honest answer. If there’s one thing about Bob’s writing is there’s no BS. Plenty of serious and plenty of humor. A good mix of each.

So I’m happy to announce that my BS detector has never run more smoothly. No pings, no ‘not quite right’ flags. Not a one. That, my fellow ‘coons, is a personal record – by a lot.

We are at 43 days and counting.

And after reading today’s BS Detector Report I see I should give Mr. Walker another go at it.

(And just in case I may have offend any fellow ‘coons with the above, I’m not suggesting any of your comments were not sincere. No pings when they ran through the filter either.)

Anonymous said...

What I get from today's post is that one may choose to marry God, to have union with Him (or Her, if it makes you more comfortable), yet, to my knowledge, God never refuses or withholds consent to marry a person who offers him or herself sincerely.

God would appear a ready spouse for all comers, which I think is wise.

The role of the human spouse is to mirror this union but not to trancend it. In other words, if you had to make a choice between your earthly spouse or your heavenly one, you would be compelled to choose the latter.

Anonymous said...

Once again, you write about things that should have come up in Sunday school, or youth group, or Bible study; I actually want to read these things again for myself, where I used to think the bible was the dullest thing to read ever (and when I did deign to look it over, it was with a very cynical eye - I thought I knew so much...)

Interesting bit at the end about marriage; I have some thoughts, but can't quite coalesce them at the moment. Probably someone else will express them better than I can anyway : )

Gagdad Bob said...

You've been frightened by the music. Now be cowered by the film.

Van Harvey said...

I'm still wading through the Water changing into Wine together with the Blood and Marriage.

Seems to be quite alot under there.
Hmmm...

Anonymous said...

"His voice makes me cry."

Actually, that looks like an interesting movie. There was a soundbite of a song on there that you didn't link to last night, which sounded lovely (towards the end of the trailer, after the Jackie clip and the Sunshine clip)- I don't suppose you know which song that was, and where I might be able to hear it?

Rick said...

Juliec,
I agree completely with your first paragraph and recently came to the conclusion that the material had to be presented to me (by God) in that way you describe, and at that stage of ‘my’ evolution. I attempted the Bible many years ago and had the same reactions. But internally I could not let go of the subject. God wanted me to think on it for years first. I’m ready for the next level now – or almost there anyway, RE the Bible. I’m trying to be patient and internalize the ‘Tarot’ first. Finished Dr Bob’s book just before I started ‘Tarot’. I’m in training for the next attempt. I feel fit so far.

Rick said...

Watched the Walker doc trailer…
Forget everything I said after ‘Hello’.
I’m in.
Thanks, Dr. Bob.

Gagdad Bob said...

Julie:

There's a snippet in there of "30 Century Man," from Scott 3, which I think is his greatest album. Extraordinarly beautful work of true art. At the very end of the trailer, there is a bit from Drift, his latest album, which is probably too spooky for my tastes.

Anonymous said...

Ricky,
Funny - I'm taking the same route you are. I first read OC, and am now on Tarot. When I finish that (a few months, at this rate), I'll look more closely at the Bible, hopefully with a better-developed coon sense searching out the depths I missed before. In the meantime, I read bits here and there at Bible Gateway, but I think I'm just going to have to break down and buy one (after I decide which version I want; so many choices...).

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

Ah, love- the highest freedom. Let's Dance!

(That's not Billy, but the kid does a great job and doesn't sound like he's aping him.)

I think Ricky, Schoun explained it well to me - It is not man who can really know God, but only God can really know himself, so if we know God, it is only through him. Thus Grace, which is ever-present, is required to even understand that Jesus means it when he says, "I and my Father are one", or "Love each other as I have loved you."

Ran into some uncommon grace today, my bro's and sis's. Just when I began to doubt it...

Let us not doubt that which is true.

Anonymous said...

Bob -
This article concerning spirituality and therapy contains issues about which one could discuss ad infinitum. Would you comment of your position on the positions which he takes.

http://primal-page.com/spiritua.htm

primal_john

Anonymous said...

River - that's awesome; I bet that guy's fingertips are like rocks!

I've never seen that kind of technique before, so have no basis for comparison (Billy who?).

cootq!

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

Billy McLaughlin. Finger-picker guitarists! They rock. Its a technique similar to that used by dulcimer-players. Talk about folk/american...

Look for 'Out of Hand' and 'Fingerdance'. They are the two albums I have.

Anonymous said...

Plug Scott Walker into Pandora.com for a fairly wide selection of Walker tunes, in between a host of what Pandora considers 'similar' artists: Robyn Hitchcock, Nick Cave, Elvis Costello, The Verve, Van Morrison (!), Alan Price (?), Herman's Hermits (lol), and Bowie, who appears to have cloned at least one of his personas directly from Walker. When heard in that context, it becomes pretty clear why he is so revered among fellow musicians. He's really not similar to anyone.

His leap from his past with 'Tilt' and 'Drift' may be brilliant (debatable), but way too nightmarish to let into my head. Sounds like perfect Dupree music though. :-)

Rick said...

Riv,
Thanks for that.
You add:
“Ran into some uncommon grace today, my bro's and sis's. Just when I began to doubt it...”
Sounds like an inspirational story. Please share if it’s not too personal to even ask.

Rick said...

Yep, same path.

I don’t know about Bible Gateway, but the ‘bits’ I keep finding in Tarot and especially Dr Bob’s post today are providing perfect examples of what I was missing before – which was practically the whole Bible. Here’s one from Dr Bob's today:

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind... and love your neighbor as yourself' -- is not a command, but a divine-human plea. For love cannot be commanded; it can only be prayed for."

A ‘plea’.
That perhaps was the most beautiful part of today’s post for me. I’m getting choked up just thinking on it again...and picturing it. Which is as clear as day to me now.

Why did I never see this before? I was not ready.

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

Well, here's the secret story. I left today.. without my wallet. The girl at the coffee shop I frequent (whom I have a not-so-secret crush on) gave me a coffee anyway (didn't think twice about it), no charge... AND a cop passed me and pulled someone over 2 cars ahead of me (which would have been bad for me.)

I just sort of realized, that as slick as I try to be, it has all to do with grace, and God's Love. It slapped me right in the kisser.

Anyway, I don't want to pretend that her act of kindness had any deeper implications if it didn't... I wonder how one knows!

Anyway, protection from trouble comes in many forms, "Be a shield to me" says old Dave.

wv: racic - how insulting! :P

Anonymous said...

In spite of your viral incoherence, your phrase, "love is the highest freedom," followed by Tomberg's, "Love is...a sanctuary of freedom," cleared up several serious points of confusion for me. Always a pleasure to find distinctions that make a difference!

Obscure aside: I notice that Bill Evans collaborated with Bruce Hornsby on some of his (their?) music.

Rick said...

Dr Bob said:
‘but the state is here to nurture spiritual liberty’

If I may, I would add that the ‘state’ has a primary duty to ‘protect’ and secondly is best when it simply get’s out of the way.

Which is why, in a related way, even as an artist, I am opposed to federal grants for art because of the risks to influence the art - which I think should be created ‘purely’. And you’ve all seen the repulsive results from the NEA lately anyway. I wouldn’t be forced to pay for or have to look at this stuff if not for the federal grant. It wouldn’t have an audience.

I agree with Bob’s comment except wish to request ‘nurture’ be changed to ‘protect’. The liberty can take it from there.

Anonymous said...

Another obscure aside:

Nomo -
As a Firesign Theater afficionado, I wonder whether you're familiar with "Zachariah," their film from the 70's? Some folks thought it contained deep hints of spiritual themes; of course, others just thought it was bizzare....

Rick said...

Riv,
Great story. Ya never know where that may lead. I have to say it reminds me of how I met my wife of 18 years.
I can remember it like it was yesterday. (And my wife will attest that I have the world’s worst memory.) It began with the most tiny, most trivial ‘accident’. Or so it seemed at the time.
I was in my sophomore year in college. Was at home and trying to get a record album out of my brother’s bookshelf – which was packed so tight you couldn’t jam a screwdriver in there. So I’m pulling, and pulling and WHAM! it comes out and the corner of the album hits me right in the eye. So the white of my eye turns red – fills with blood. Looks really gross.
I decide I’d better get this looked at and drive to a walk-in clinic. The doctor takes care of me and I glance at this young lady down the hall, then a double take, triple take. Man, she looks familiar.
Long section of this story deleted here in how I figured it out – but we went to 6th grade together and our parents knew each other back then.
World’s worse memory-man remembers the face of one girl out of a class of 30 – when all girls were gross.
On our first date I had this big red eyeball.
Apparently she didn’t care.
All started when I pocked my eye with that album cover. That I remember as clear as day also.
So freeze that memory of the free coffee – you may need it again someday.

Rick said...

The bunnies,
I’m no longer recommending the non-instrumental songs. :-) Most folks do not ‘get’ Geddy’s voice. Let me change that to ‘can’t stand’. It took awhile for me to ‘get’ Rush. I find I almost never like the songs immediately. They take time to come together for me.
But the instrumentals – those are masterpieces. The live version of La Villa Stangiato from ‘Exit Stage Left’ is my current favorite. And the drum solo on YYZ – I don’t even like drum solos – I never heard a drummer play an actual song on the drums – a melody - I think it’s the beginning of the Kentucky Derby toward the end of the solo. And he uses that one cymbal/bass drum combination like punctuation between parts of the solo – and there are many, many parts to this solo. That’s what it sounds like to me.

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

Why is it, one wonders, that 'Jackie' ought to be pronounced 'Shzjackie'? The first time I thought he said 'Shaggy'.

Weird Cat.

wv: bioshoie -- you said it!

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

Also, why not Jam to this?

I had forgotten about it. Its the Rock Equivalent of Judith McAllistar's 'Bless The Lord'. (That is, Rocking out for 10 minutes...)

Stephen Macdonald said...

The Bunnies, ricky:

As I mentioned here a while back, I know Geddy Lee and used to hang out in his house back in the 1980s. I married his Austrian au pair.

He's a reserved guy with real passion for baseball. His other big passion was his kid (who is now an adult--time flies!). Rush was exceptionally professional in their approach to creating music. It was highly structured (no booze or drugs, no groupies or flunkies) and planned out in advance. To be perfectly frank I never cared for the music. It always seemed like the sort of thing for kids who would have been into D&D, but took up pot instead. Of course I'm willing to be enlightened...

My old vinyl Scott 4 which I picked up at a flea market around 1981 still gets a spin now and then. Unlike Rush, Scott definitely "clicks" with me.

Another brilliant band that "clicks" with very few people is the Flaming Lips. "Fight Test" is an almost perfect pop song.

Anonymous said...

"In John 19:28, only after he knows that "all things were accomplished," he says "I thirst." He is given some sour -- which is to say, bad -- wine, which is placed to his mouth. After receiving it, he bows his head and says, "it is finished."

"What is finished? One of the soldiers pierces his side, and "blood and water come out." At Cana, water is transformed into good wine. Here, as it were, bad and sour wine -- which is to say, the hateful karma of the world -- is transformed into water and blood."

Venturing out a bit here, I offer my unpolished facet honed from my synthesis of limited experiences with vertical literature and living. Please forgive if I'm just restating the obvious to the Coon Chorus.

Unfinished business, of not "enoughness", is the perceived inequity of unfulfilled desires. [Here I'm paraphrasing from Stephen Levine, with a dash from A Course in Miracles]. Unfinished business is the result of unfulfilled expectation and often unacknowledged personal need and in relationships it's just a projection of business unfinished within ourselves.

Does not Jesus's "thirst" - his last seeking for satisfaction from without - to realizing the futility, to his passage through "the long slow pain" into his "it is finished" - his completing, finishing with the ego's need for external gratification; his letting go of desire, result in his reunification with O within?

NoMo said...

Walt - My tastes have always gravitated toward the weirdly brilliant or the briliantly weird. However, being neither myself, I'm not sure I always hit the mark. That said, I'm embarrassed to admit that the movie "Zacharia" is one of the Firesign-related experiences I have missed. I say "related" because, although they wrote the original script, they weren't allowed to work it out into production like they usually do - so it is described by some as "so bad its good" and by others as just bad. I might have to put it on my list.

NoMo said...

Walt - I do however have bragging rights to having seem them perform live a few years back on their 25th Anniversary Tour on the pier in Seattle -- and met them afterwards. I was encouraged that they too seemed to be real ordinary guys.

Anonymous said...

"For love cannot be commanded;  it can only be prayed for." This is the heart of our political controversies, for a command-and-control utopia, however good it might sound to the unwary, thereby disallows love intersecting all the nodes.

"Love is and remains for all time a sanctuary of freedom, inaccessible to all compulsion" helping explain for me the conviction that a well-functioning market system is a small humble outpost where a beginning kind of love happens. A willing buyer and a willing seller...

A family business we have frequented for 20 years just went out of business for several reasons, including hanging on longer than the bottom line indicated because they cherished giving fine custom service to so many of us.

Real grieving. If we'd waited to be introduced, or had to be related in the same tribe, we would never have known each other, to the detriments of hundreds.

In another vein, Tomberg has several lists of seven (miracles, Discourses, parables of the Kingdom, others). Some add the cascading clauses of the Lord's prayer, all of which fit the Kabbalistic tree of life mapped on the body, and, oh, my Goodness! at the intersections. I don't expect ever, this side eternity, to graduate from Tomberg!

In yet another, here are typical water jugs from Qana/Kana/Cana. A son who cannot resist the plea for love-in-action, no matter what revisions to the plan. The kind of love where free will and foreknowledge meet and kiss, a treble ceremony with Mercy and Truth, and Righteousness and Peace. No banns.

Anonymous said...

The Rolling Stone Record Guide has a good description of Rush: "middlebrow philosophizing and sci-fi fusionoid pomposity" expressed with "clawing banshee howl vocalizing" over "pointlessly tricky time signatures and busy solos that hypnotize fans and bore everybody else."

Anonymous said...

I don't know whether to admit this or not... :-)

I've seen 'Zacharia' a few times, actually, for a reason NoMo will figure out quickly (inside joke - sorry, Coons). And yes, it's so bad that it can't help but be a classic.

I saw the Firesigns at a little theater in Santa Barbara in 1971, when they were still freshly minted. It was a mind-altering experience to say the least, which I'm happy to report become permanent.

NoMo said...

Bob - Very interesting, beautiful and thought-provoking "esposition" (esoteric exposition?) of scripture today. Gonna take some digestin'.

A couple stories here today have compelled me to share my own - in brief. My wife and I are celebrating our 31st anniversary this week. Ready for the punchline? - We met for the first time on Valentine's Day 1976 and were married three weeks later. Speaking of "miracles".

Anonymous said...

Nomo and Cosa -

Look at it this way: Zachariah made Don Johnson the "big star" he is today.

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

Mercy, Truth, Righteousness and Peace..

S A T B?

That's some cosmic 4 part harmony.

Rick said...

Hi Smoov,
You said “It always seemed like the sort of thing for kids who would have been into D&D, but took up pot instead.”
That description seems to fit 99% of their concert audience.
So I soon stopped going to their concerts.

If you see Geddy again, tell him I ‘get it’.

How are the bad guys doing today? Are we still winning out there?

________

señor coconut…

Bob is that you?
I said I was sorry about the Walker thing…

Rick said...

Nomo,
31 years. That’s wonderful - and married after 3 weeks. People giggle when I tell them we were engaged after 1 month. I’m thinking ‘what took me so long!’

Anonymous said...

Wow - congrats, Nomo!

My husband & I have been together for 13 years, but it took us 6 to get married; I think part of the reason it worked for us (living together, I mean) where it fails for so many others is that in my mind we were married long before any ceremony made it official. Then again, there are a lot of things we do that work fine for us, but not so well for most other people.

Big 'Possum said...

That was some darn fine muster. Some of best insight into scripture that I've come across in a while. And thanks for the turn on to Tomberg.....hadn't met the rascal. Looking forward to a closer look.

BP

Stephen Macdonald said...

ricky:

"How are the bad guys doing today? Are we still winning out there?"

Backscatter scanner in place in Phoenix. It will make it a lot tougher assuming the TSA can convince the public to "get naked" for the scanner every time they fly.

Still doesn't deal with the elephant in the room though: surgically implanted devices. Otherwise, expect tighter controls on domestic flights within 18 months (that is partially what is behind the national driver license initiative).

Rick said...

Smoov,
“surgically implanted devices”.
Sheesh. I hadn’t thought of that one.

Anonymous said...

smoov - your description of Rush fans describes every fan I knew. I spent part of my childhood in Sarnia, where Rush came from, but was at an age where I thought anyone who listened to that type of music was going to hell (because my cousin who liked it painted his room black and did all sorts of not nice things)!

ms e. - interesting insight... at the last, all the horizontal could provide was bitter.

Anonymous said...

"surgically implanted devices"

I lost my car keys last week; 3 people searched high and low for 2 days to no avail. All my spare keys were locked up in storage - and, yes the key to storage was on the key ring. I'll be first in line to get a surgically implanted thingy to locate my missing keys. aghhhhhh!

We ate Chinese tonight. Inside my fortune cookie was a long lost saying of Coonfucius:

-- Coonfucius say 'keys to the kingdom' scamper to their hiding places whenever owner becomes preoccupied doing something else.

robinstarfish said...

marie's wedding day
father's killed the fatted calf
you may kiss the bride

Anonymous said...

Excellent post, Bob!

River-
Offer to buy her dinner, for buying your coffee.
See where it goes from there...

Anonymous said...

Great Haiku, Robin!

Rick said...

One more word on Rush…if I may.

I promise this will be the last word on it from me.

It was songs like the one below that started in me to wonder if there was more to this weird band than met the eye.

I’m not sticking up for me as much as I am for them. I owe them that.

You may not like their taste in music – which is fine by me – I don’t mind - but they are proficient players. I personally think among the best.

But I admire most what they try to do – which I think is quite unique for the category they are unfortunately assigned to - the “manufactured heavy metal hair band”. They cover subjects I didn’t see being covered in any other bands of my period.

Now it may be painfully obvious what historical event is actually being described below. But to a 15 year old surrounded by alternatives such as Twisted Sister, sex, drugs and rock & roll, it made me reconsider the so much blah, blah, blah I was getting in the classroom. I see now this was the way to reach guys like me – and start them thinking instead of just wasting my fertile brain.

"The Trees"

There is unrest in the forest
There is trouble with the trees
For the maples want more sunlight
And the oaks ignore their pleas

The trouble with the maples
(And they're quite convinced they're right)
They say the oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light
But the oaks can't help their feelings
If they like the way they're made
And they wonder why the maples
Can't be happy in their shade

There is trouble in the forest
And the creatures all have fled
As the maples scream 'Oppression!'
And the oaks just shake their heads

So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights
'The oaks are just too greedy
We will make them give us light'
Now there's no more oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe and saw.

Van Harvey said...

Ricky Raccoon,
Believe it or not, that was the song that caught my attention, that and the little instrumental lead in.

Theme Song

Theme Song