Saturday, February 24, 2007

Boogie Boarding on the Righteous Waves of the Eschaton

Only through time is time conquered. --T.S. Eliot

So,
Just how personal
a relationship with Jesus
can one have
before it's no longer Jesus
Wondered Joan,
as the flames rose higher, and
Argghh!

Thus far, most of us have apparently been on the same page with regard to my little coonspiracy theory of the Arc of Salvation, but I expect we'll lose some people along the way. After all, it is only natural that everyone wants to believe that their particular revelation is complete, and presumably no one wants their theology subsumed into some wacky cosmic scheme hatched by Bob on Saturday morning in his grubby little Coon den.

The question is, how heterodox can one be before one is completely off the map and into the area of a wholly private revelation, if such a thing can be said to exist -- distinct, that is, from a delusion? Obviously this is an issue all mystics struggle with, which in turn is why all religious institutions struggle with their mystics -- who, in their own minds, are simply "prolonging" the implications of the revelation in novel ways. However, you will notice that the mystics never struggle with each other. Rather, they just enjoy the view. It's like they say -- no two democracies have ever gone to war with one another. Why is that?

I suppose it's a matter of verticality. Progress in the vertical is defined by two variables, 1) integration (which has to do with the interior) and 2) actualization ("horizontalizing" or externalizing the interior), and there is simply no reason for two fully integrated and actualized people to quarrel, for there is literally "nothing" to fight over -- the divine nothing being infinite and all, there's Plenty O' Nothin' to Go 'Round (which, come to think of it, would have been a good title for my absurcular book).

Now, it is surely no coincidence that all of my favorite Christian theologians happen to be mystical theologians, many of whom have at one time or another been branded as heterodox, even heretical: Origen, Denys, and Eckhart; or Blake and Boehme, who would not really be considered theologians but visionaries in a Christian context; the author of Meditations on the Tarot, who was Catholic but calls himself a Christian Hermeticist, part of a perennial wisdom tradition extending back before Jesus and parallel to Moses; or even Balthasar, a nominally Catholic theologian who is regarded with some suspicion because of his close working relationship with a visionary mystic, Adrienne Speyr, who essentially provided him with "channeled" material. There's simply no other way to put it -- for example, Speyr explained in detail to Balthasar exactly what was going on with Jesus while he was dead and in hell all day on Holy Saturday, between the crucifixion of Good Friday and the first Easter Sunday.

And the more I study Frithjof Schuon, I can see that he struggled mightily to situate himself within orthodox tradition -- indeed, it was the entire basis of his life's work -- even though it is obvious to this Coon that he transcended any small-o orthodoxy and abided within O-rthodoxy itself: beyond religion, so to speak, into the source of religion. This is not to say that he felt himself "superior" to revelation or that he mixed traditions "from below," in the manner of eclectic new-agers. Rather, he did so "from above," which makes all the difference -- and which again cannot but pose a problem for anyone who regards his given theology as absolute-absolute as opposed to relative-absolute, a metaphysically subtle but crucial distinction.

Am I losing everyone so far?

Good! I need to keep driving down those numbers on my site meter, so I can retire back into my personal cloud.

Now clearly, nothing can be absolute with the exception of the absolute, which goes to what we were saying the other day about bibliolatrists who confuse the word about God with God's one and only Word, the logos. It should go without saying that the logos deploys itself not just in space, but in time, and that it is ultimately the "substance" of each. It is why, no matter how far or deeply scientists peel away layers of Oneion and peer within the physical cosmos, they find nothing but more logos -- or ordered truth -- logos within logos, all the way down, all the way up, and all the way back.

But time also represents ordered truth -- which, for example, is what the much maligned practice of astrology is all about. A gifted astrologer -- of whom there are few, by the way -- is not one of those frauds who predict the future. Rather, they are able to look into the deep structure of the now and tell you about the patterns of your own being -- a "temporal youprint" which will play out in the field of time. It is just another way of saying that "character is destiny."

Institutionalized theologies generally contain the shadow of any principial truth they exclude -- for example, the messiah principle seeps into all Eastern religions, just as the guru principle insinuates itself into all Western ones. A case in point is astrology, for what can it mean that we have seen his star in the East and have come to worship him? What do you think it was that made the three wise men wise instead of wise guys?

For that matter, who keeps time with the timekeeper's daughter while the timekeeper's out keeping time? (I don't know why I said that. I just like the song.)

But time obviously presents a different kind of order than spatial order. Spatial order is fixed, geometrical, architectural; its organ of knowledge (in both the inner and outer sense) is the eye. Temporal order, however, is cyclical, flowing, and musical; its organ (again, both inner and outer) is the ear. You might say that deep time is heard through the third ear -- the kind of "third ear" one requires, for example, to sit through a complete performance of The Ring and actually get it.

But one also requires such a developed third ear in order to hear the song celestial, or Cosmic Suite. For example -- to take a thoroughly mundane example -- in the course of my forensic work, I am rarely overwhelmed by a case. Most humans are so simple that ears are hardly required -- most any Coon (like their Subgenius brethren) can sniff out a person's "soul stench" within about ten minutes, give or take. After that, there are no surprises, at least pleasant ones.

But a few weeks back, I was involved in the Mother of All Cases. The medical file alone took me about 12 hours to review, but instead of the usual coherence that emerged, the deeper I dug into to it, the more confused I became. The reason why was that there was absolutely no consensus of medical opinion, no "center" to the case, just a welter of contradictory information.

I ran it by a colleague who gave me some very helpful advice that I hadn't considered, despite the fact that it was right there in front of my ears. My confusion did not represent an absence of information about this patient; rather, it represented the presence of very precise information about her. Specifically, my state of "chaotic bewilderment" was a counter-transferential reaction telling me what it was like to be this woman -- who managed her own chaos by projecting it into others. She confuses everyone with whom she comes into contact because she herself is so confused. She spreads the confusion outward, including into doctors who just want to make their own confusion go away by coming up with an ad hoc opinion. This is an example of Bion's frequently cited adage that "the answer is the disease that kills curiosity."

I am quite sure that if you give it a moment's thought, you will be able to think of people of your acquaintance who are like this -- perhaps not as extreme, but nevertheless lacking a coherent center, which then uncomfortably reverberates outward, including into you. Obviously many leftists are of this nature, which is precisely why it is so frustrating to try to have a logical conversation with them. This happened to me just yesterday with a person whose arguments were just so ridiculous that it was impossible for me to respond to them on the level from which they arose. On that level, I suppose anything could be true -- which leftist academics never stop proving.

It would appear that many leftists experience conservatives in the opposite manner, as overly rigid and unyielding. Instead of no center, there is a sort of faux center, a set of unbending principles that the leftist equates with being more or less dead, or at least no fun. I know that this is the caricature I had of conservatives back when I was a chaotic liberal, and there can obviously be a certain truth to the perception, at least in certain conservatives. But these are precisely the conservatives I don't care for. Frankly, I don't give them a lot of attention, but they are generally the only ones that the liberal media pay attention to.

Now, back to the question at hand, what are we to make of the Christ event, or phase II in the arc of salvation? For this event is like a huge smoking crater in the middle of creation. When I was a kid, I used to think that "AD" stood for "after death," as in "before Christ" (BC) and after his death (AD). In between was the Big Crater. Or to be perfectly accurate, the big crater was the Resurrection -- which, paradoxically, is when the hole in creation was actually repaired and made whole, so to speak. Prior to that, there was a big hole called "death," or eternal separation from our source, if you will. That hole was filled on the first Easter.

Now, unlike most garden-variety Christians, I did not come to my views via the meteor but the crater it left. Although raised a Christian -- a Christian Scientist, to be exact (even though my mother wouldn't have dreamt of taking me to a practitioner instead of a doctor) -- being forced to attend Sunday school had the opposite of its intended effect, and caused me to be alienated from Christianity from a very early age. I only returned to it much later in life, but in a backwards sort of way, in the sense that I immersed myself in the philosophy and metaphysics -- or what you might call the "shock waves" produced by the meteor as it crashed from eternity into time.

Obviously these shock waves continue to be produced in everyone, irrespective of whether or not they are Christian (in the sense that the logos is not in history, but history in the logos). Those shock waves spread both backwards (i.e., leading to a complete reassessment of the Old Testament) and forward, as the reverberations entirely remade a future that otherwise would not have been. Out of all of the statements made by Jesus, this is perhaps the most exceedingly bizarre one, that this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Er, right.

Remember, as far as we know, Jesus wrote not a word of this gospel. Nor did any of his followers even have a clue as to what he was talking about when he said it. A contemporary observer -- unable to peer into the structure of deep time -- would have dismissed this as abject kooky talk, to the extent that he gave it even a moment's attention. Imagine anyone saying this, much less an anonymous peasant in imperial Rome, which was more or less synonymous with the eternal order. No one foresaw its end at the time -- or at least no one but One. It would be far less of a stretch for me to say "yeah, I know, I have only a few hundred readers. But someday the Coonifesto will topple the existing geopolitical structure and be preached in every corner of the internet!"

So, if phase I represented the preparation for the descent of the logos in human form, phase II represented the deployment of the logos in historical time, which continues to act as a veritable wrecking ball to so many human cognitive, spiritual, moral, psychosexual, and political structures. To cite just one example, Saddam Hussein was a recent recipient of this logos. Good and hard, I might add. On a more benign note, the United States is the only country directly inspired by, and consciously founded upon, this logos.

Again, the meteor came and went in a matter of some three years, but its shock waves continue to be felt, to say the least. I mean, I am -- and I assume you are -- feeling them at this very moment -- surfing on them, so to speak, because isn't that what real theology is? Boogie boarding on the righteous waves of the eschaton as we ride history into its safe harbor at the end of time?

A diamond necklace played the pawn
Hand in hand some drummed along, oh
To a handsome man and baton
A blind class aristocracy
Back through the op'ra glass you see
The pit and the pendulum drawn
Columnated ruins domino

Canvass the town and brush the backdrop
Are you sleeping?

Hung velvet overtaken me
Dim chandelier awaken me
To a song dissolved in the dawn
The music hall a costly bow
The music all is lost for now
To a muted trumpeter's swan
Columnated ruins domino

Canvass the town and brush the backdrop
Are you sleeping, Brother John?

Dove nested towers the hour was
Strike the street quicksilver moon
Carriage across the fog
Two-step to lamplight cellar tune
The laughs come hard in Auld Lang Syne

The glass was raised, the fired rose
The fullness of the wine, the dim last toasting
While at port adieu or die

A choke of grief, heart hardened I
Beyond belief, a broken man too tough to cry

Surf's Up
Aboard a tidal wave
Come about hard and join
The young and often spring you gave
I heard the word
Wonderful thing
A children's song
The child is the father to the man --Surf's Up, the Beach Boys

46 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Am I losing everyone so far? Good! I need to keep driving down those numbers on my site meter, so I can retire back into my personal cloud."

I don't think your "cunning scheme" is working...

Anonymous said...

I suppose this is a rhetorical
question.

What is it about Sunday school that
alienates so many before they
can see the truth?

Probably those blind guides.

Been there, done that, got the misery.

-Another Bob

Stephen Macdonald said...

I for one am glad to see the Beach Boys (well, Brian) getting their due! The Van Dyke Parks lyrics are amazing. A tad deeper than Rhonda in a 409.

I also went out and bought the entire Allman Brothers ourvre (most of it--13 CDs I think) because it was the only major rock group I didn't have in my collection (I did have Eat A Peach) that was mentioned here about a month ago in a discussion regarding pop/rock artists who are vertically inspired.

I had all the old bluesmen like Howlin' Wolf already. Hell, I used to go see those guys (John Lee Hooker was my favorite) whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Those are mostly Bob's recommendations, which so far have been very valuable. I'm open to suggestions from the Coon Critics Guild on other musical gems I may be missing out on...

Gagdad Bob said...

Smoov--

Perhaps you haven't noticed that I have been revealing my Ultra-Orthodox and Canonical Rock & Soul Collection, presented A to Z, in the sidebar, updated daily. We're up to "C" already -- Brother Ray today.

And there is always Dupree's "Music to Whack Wack Trolls By."

Stephen Macdonald said...

Heck no, I didn't notice that! I always read the post and then jump to the comments. It's become such a pleasant routine I bypass the ancillary stuff.

Well that's great! Call me a consumerist, but I do like having those Amazon packages waiting for me when I get back from the office.

Next up from the bookpile: Schuon, Gnosis: Divine Wisdom.

Something tells me that one is going to require several re-readings...

A lot of this material I have to re-read, including the Coonifesto and OC blog posts. I'm still not used to dealing with the difference between k->(n) and O->(k) (did I get that right?).

I gain new insight constantly though. Aside from OC my other spiritual influences are the Buddhist mentor I see regularly (there is MUCH overlap in what he imparts and what I read here) and my cousin, the life-long Christian missionary.

NoMo said...

Bob said about Schuon, that he "transcended any small-o orthodoxy and abided within
O-rthodoxy itself: beyond religion, so to speak, into the source of religion". Beautifully put. To what else should any of us aspire?

Anonymous said...

Sure, it's all metaphysical and harmless until someone says, "hey! let's have a bonfire!"

----

Actually, I totally respect today's post and almost gasped at a few things you said because, well, to say them is to risk the singeing of eyebrows and toasting of toes. But hey, it's your pyre, this blog.
It's kinda nice to have some company up here on the combustible heaps of horizonatal hysteria.

Marshmallows, anyone?

Anonymous said...

Ray Charles went to the D-n-B school about 3/4 of mile from my coon-den here.

Does that make me cool by some sort of two degress of separation?

No?

Sigh...

Anonymous said...

Let me guess: P is for Pet Sounds.

Stephen Macdonald said...

Another Bob --

This brings up the whole question of how should we talk about spirituality and religion with kids?

I agree that Sunday School seems to be fairly ineffective, so what else should we do, especially given the fact that kids are awash in paganism and infrahumanism from too many sources to keep track of?

Anonymous said...

Alan Watts, possibly in "Beyond Theology" said: "The purpose of religion is to relieve anxiety"

I think religion is like a cook's recipe. If my goal is to make a goulash then I need to not only gather the correct ingredients but possess the
necessary skills for pulling it off. Going to Church is like going to cooking school - some are decidely better than others, if you're seeking to nourish your soul.

I was raised on Episcopal recipes by kind and loving master chefs. When I left home for college I was introduced to the Orientals by a Brahmin priest; aethism by Ayn Rand; Zen by Watts and Suzuki; est by Erhard; gestalt by Fritz - you get the idea - I was hooked on the wh-o-le enchilada, entirely missing miss the wh-O-ley
Ghosty.

I've learned more about O while cooking in my kitchen than any other place.

In my kitchen, I reduce sauces to deepen both substance and flavor. If I don't take time to reduce the sauce, the whole meal will be something other than what I intended. It takes time and patience to reduce everything to its essence. I have to pay attention, but I'm no longer anxious about it. There is a point where a sauce can move quickly from reduced to burned. Who cares for ashes or Raccoon Goulash?

After 40 years for cooking, I rarely need to rely on recipes, I actually love going to the cupboard and creating a delicious meal with what's on hand - Mystic Goulash.

Somedays a bread n' butter sandwich is all I can come up with. That's when I get out the recipe book for inspiration and guidance. Ok, back to the Coonfesto.

Gagdad Bob said...

Ms. E--

That is very interesting -- sort of a metaphysical gustatory vision, or "hearing in tongues," you might say.

Stephen Macdonald said...

Further to my questions above re religion and children, this sort of knocked my socks off (and will probably grossly offend any radical feminists lurking about):

A statistical report from Switzerland in 2000, "The Demographic Characteristics of the Linguistic and Religious Groups in Switzerland," reviewed the results of a 1994 survey of Swiss religious practice, and arrives at a fascinating conclusion about the impact of mothers' vs. fathers' church attendance on the future religious observance of their children.

The detailed survey indicated that if the father attended church regularly, and the mother was non-practising, then 44% of their children became regular church-goers. But if the mother attended regularly, and the father was non-practising, then only two per cent of their children became regular church attenders.

Even when the father was an irregular attender and the mother non-practising, a full 25% of their children became regular attenders, while if a mother was a regular attender and the father irregular, only three per cent of the children became regular attenders.



No wonder feminists are so anti-religious!

Gagdad Bob said...

Those statistics make perfect sense.

Anonymous said...

I like this post. I don't know if we agree but I continue to see the arc tracing its way to authority, sacraments and institutional revelation finally leading to the individual transcendence that brings us to the presence of God.

NoMo said...

Smoov said, "...how should we talk about spirituality and religion with kids?"

In as matter-of-fact and simple a way as possible. And, of course, actions speak volumes beyond words.

Stephen Macdonald said...

I surprised that the effect was so emphatic and pronounced.

Fathers have a duty to go to church.


jcbdxgbf - meaningless string of letters?

Stephen Macdonald said...

nomo:

"And, of course, actions speak volumes beyond words."

As that Swiss study I quoted makes abudantly clear.

Anonymous said...

I was riding a transit bus the other day and there was a grandmother and her grandson on the bus. The young, wide eyed boy was radiating innocence and the grandmother, love , pride (the good kind)and protection. It brought tears to my eyes.
The scene brought into consciousness my imperative to live ALL moments of my life, even the private ones so as to be an example to innocent children. Living with this in mind also gives the added benefit of starving out the mind parasites.

As a child I was also compelled (bribed) to attend Sunday school where afterwards we were taken to the local mom and pop store to get candy. Though I rarely attend church, looking back can see it was a good experience for me. It helped me put a human face on an intuitive connection that I already possessed.

Anonymous said...

Ms E:

As someone who recently (2 years ago) abandoned a career in technology to begin one in cooking, I can wholeheartedly agree with the rich metaphysical parallels that can be drawn within the culinary arts.

Especially given the very high standards of the kitchen I currently work in, my personal motto has quickly become: "It's not hard. All it takes is everything you've got."

mary said...

I, too, missed the sidebar listing Bob's Ultra-Orthodox and Canonical
Rock and Soul Collection. What was playing for "A" & "B"?

Van Harvey said...

"What is it about Sunday school that alienates so many before they
can see the truth?"

Perhaps it has to do with,
"the answer is the disease that kills curiosity."

Attempting to impose an answer on those who insist on remaining curious, is going to make the Answer Man look a dull bully, and the curious looking elsewhere...

Van Harvey said...

NoMo said...
Smoov said, "...how should we talk about spirituality and religion with kids?"

In as matter-of-fact and simple a way as possible. And, of course, actions speak volumes beyond words.

Something else, taking into account the Sunday School kiss of death - how about Reading the material, and Talking about it, instead of exclusively telling, or listening to someone else telling them what it says?

Seems odd that the two most successful cultures of the world were based on books (Illiad,Odessey, Aeniad for the Greco/Romans, and the Bible for Judeo/Christian), which now that they are seldom read, everyone is looking around asking "What's wrong with our Culture?"

Doh!

wv:pudyra - how insulting!

Van Harvey said...

Smoov said "jcbdxgbf - meaningless string of letters?"

Nah, hairball.

Anonymous said...

Great statitics smoov! I think it has been discussed here at OC but a big problem with Christianity and men is that Christianity has become feminized along with the general trend in society. Rather than challenging men to be better men, the message is "be more like women". My hypothesis is that where there is alignment of the ideals of manhood and christianity (whether in the head of the man only or in the explicit teachings), there is a higher percentage of men participating regularly.

robinstarfish said...

the edge of this world
marks the end of all things known
taste of new water

NoMo said...

Robin - Man, I wish I could do that!

Anonymous said...

I was browsing in the Christianity section at my local Borders today.

"The God Delusion" was displayed front and center.

And they didn't have The Coonfesto in stock.

I guess the world just sticks it to you some days.

Anonymous said...

;~)

NoMo said...

Bob's got me thinking lately about the state of the world before the line of Abraham, before the law of the Hebrews changed everything. Long before Abraham, according to Genesis 6, "God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, 'I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark...'

Hmmm. Now, I know that many dismiss Noah and the flood as mythology, but no less than Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. (Matt 24).

Just who was this Jesus, anyway? Referring to myths like they were real. Da noive.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Whoa! Quite a feast you cooked up today Bob!
Rare, saucy, tender and tough, crunchy and smooth, bold yet delicate, salted and spiced to perfection, with a Heavenly nutty flavor, served piping hot, and topped with a gravy to die for.

Mrs. E-
What a tasty, artistic analogy you have dished up!
As a non-formally trained cook, I really appreciate this unique way of experiencing the O; an exquisite shadow of the Feast to come.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

River said:
"Bob, isn't the revelation incomplete until God's purpose is fulfilled?"

Yes and no, since part of God's purpose is revelation, and part of our purpose is to realize revelation.

The revelation we have realized is complete, yet we are always realizing revelation in Eternity, and just in time too.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Dear Leader said:
"Again, the meteor came and went in a matter of some three years, but its shock waves continue to be felt, to say the least. I mean, I am -- and I assume you are -- feeling them at this very moment -- surfing on them, so to speak, because isn't that what real theology is? Boogie boarding on the righteous waves of the eschaton as we ride history into its safe harbor at the end of time?"

Coonabunga! Do'ed!

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Joan of argghh! said...
Sure, it's all metaphysical and harmless until someone says, "hey! let's have a bonfire!"

Difference being: at OC it's
"Hey! Let's have a Bobfire!"

Anyone for roasted clams on a stick?

WV: lokbob...eureka! I won the coona-lot'O!

Anonymous said...

I am intruiged by Joan of Argggh's post--where she writes about being tied to a stake with combustile materials underneath her.

What is happening here? Is this a coon-spat of some sort? I wish plain language could be used during disputes, so I can follow them.

Disagreements are the best thing abut this blog, and they seem to be coming fewer and farther between, which aint a good thing.

When we mix it up, let us not mince words. Direct, I say.

Anonymous said...

Compassion--

Empathy plus caring. Where is it?

Cold, cold cold!

Anonymous said...

The declining readership is a sign that you've had a good effect. No longer needing the guidance of writings, including yours, the god-seeker, fortified by your writings, at last launches into inner space to find God himself.

The Gita sums it up best: "abandon all laws of conduct and take refuge in Me alone; I will deliver you from all sin and evil; do not grieve."

When no one needs to read of God and is seeking directly, your mission will be over and you can stand down.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Dick Van Dike said:
What is happening here? Is this a coon-spat of some sort? I wish plain language could be used during disputes, so I can follow them.

Dick-
As the late, great Burgess Meredith said:
You can wish in one hand and shit in the other and see which one fills up first.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Cordelia:
Turn up the heat or get more blankets if you're cold.

Better yet, quit projecting your coldness and do something about it.

Idiot.

Anonymous said...

Ben--

Thanks for watching my back when I was pass, er, asleep. I may have to make you my second special assistant, especially during Mardi Gras month, which is my, ah, crazy time of year. How handy are you with pliers and a blow torch?

Anonymous said...

Bob, I recall reading a story about a scientist who went up and up in a weather balloon, to study the atmosphere first-hand at high altitudes. At around 20,000 feet, when he could barely breathe from lack of oxygen, very cold etc., he noticed "little things" clinging to parts of his balloon. When he examined them, he found they were thousands of tiny spiders, that had been floating along in the stratosphere, each clinging to a little strand of web.

Re-reading through your Arc of Salvation over the last few days, I get the feeling that you are taking us up to higher altitudes. The imagery you used to communicate yesterday DID IN FACT reverberate through my whole day, from your comments about Easter, and Schuon's perspective, to a late-afternoon re-view of your book. Pretty "rarefied" air, it seems to me! The 360-degree view you are pointing-out is altering so many perspectives! I wish I could ADD to the conversation, but most days, am left just... trying... to catch my breath....and hoping to "digest" the food you serve.

Anonymous said...

Dear Van Dyke Dick,

What a perfect little bit of combustible compost you provide. However, you're burning up the wrong stake and won't find me or anyone else to flame.

(And please do excuse my salutation. I find alliteratives so difficult to get in the right order.)

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Cousin Dupree-
It was an honor, to say the least.
I know you guard my six when I'm pass...asleep.

Pliers and a blowtorch? Rightaroonie!
I'm also pretty good with a hammer and chainsaw (for heavy-duty wetwork).
Artistic expression and stuff.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

River C.-
In that context, I hear what your sayin'.
It's always crucial that revelations, or revealations, jive with established principles; the self-evident sensible kind.

BTW, you kinda answered your own question. :^)

Van Harvey said...

Ben & Dupree Trolling together, One if by land, two if by sea! (Psst! Ben, keep an eye on Dupree below decks... it being a bad place to go hunting for a murphy bed and all...)

Anonymous said...

"...no two democracies have ever gone to war with one another."

Heheheh.

Loved the rewrite, btw. ;-)

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