I apologize to anyone I haven't offended, but I'm just too far behind in my remunerative work to continue posting. The patented One Cosmos method of applied non-doodling isn't possible -- or realizable -- if I cannot see before me that vast, trackless desert of slack extending over the purplish-pink ultra-human horizon, i.e., the summa vocation. Hopefully, normal isness upperations will continue once I catch up.
You could say that slack is the nonspecific ether through which we fly with wings of repose. Yeah, something like that.
Even reposting takes time, time needed to get things done in clockworld. Unlike my household gnome, I am embodied, and that's just the way it is.
The Raccoon is not so constituted as to grovel at anyone's surface. Squeezed for timelessness, it's like being rushed through your sleep -- as if, if you really hurry, you can complete eight hours of sleep in just six hours. When that happens, you eventually start dreaming during the day. Conversely, when the Conspiracy impinges, it's like being forced to wake while you really need to be dreaming.
Pretty soon you're completely "awake," but not in the good way. Rather, in such a way that all of the vertical springs, all the interstices of mystery, are bottled up with that familiar tenuro-media excreta that is somehow indigestibly concrete and adhesively slimy.
So, consider this an open thread, if you wish. Here is something to start the conversation, an email from a reader:
"As a longtime reader and fan of yours, I am attuned to your unique style. Yet occasionally I have trouble getting the point of a particular post (assuming there is one) reading it in the conventional top to bottom manner. When that happens I have found better results reading them backwards, not literally, but starting with the last paragraph and working up. Have I hit on something here? A useful technique for reading comprehension? An undiagnosed disability perhaps?"
To which we responded off the top of our head from the center of our cloud: "That is a provocative thought. I think I'll pass it on to readers for comment. Could be because I myself have no idea what the post is about until it somehow wraps itself up at the end, which it does nine times out of ten. The post just kind of finishes itself and says "I'm done. You can get on with your life now."
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82 comments:
Reading it backwards is precisely how it's done, old Bean.
He gets it!
Sometimes. I like foraging through the scattered acorns, though. By the end, it's all acorn.
Working is such a cruel imposition on life.
I think it was Anthony Trollope or someone like that who said that if you want to make money writing, you should write for people who move their lips while reading.
If you move your lips while reading One Cosmos, it most likely is in ecstatic utterance.
Our dear reader has indeed hit upon a method of improving comprehension of our Dear Leader's prose. It is not unlike the approach to any dense writing in a conventional analog book. First, you look at the table of contents, then read the first paragraph of the first chapter. Next, skim through the chapter, read the last paragraph, and ask yourself how the author plans to get there. Then go ahead and read through the chapter.
Note: This will likely only confuse readers of Le Livre.
Oh, now there's an idea. It would be interesting to go through and start reading that way now and then, just to see what else pops out.
Thanks to your reader, and thanks to you, too, Bob, for keeping it up as long as you have.
Seems as though time gets shorter as the kids get longer...
Closed for Isness.... theres a sigh of the times.
Reader has hit on a nice addition to the method Mushroom mentioned, Mortimer Adler wrote a good book on that... had the catchy title of "How to read a book", if I remember right.
Assuming that the Knowa's Archive is staying open for Isness, it seems like I may have some AM time to give it a whirl.
After all, isn't that the way the Cosmos was written? With the end in mind?
From somewhere in the first few verses of the sixth chapter of St. John: Jesus knew what he intended to do.
"Closed For Isness"
I feel my darkness phobia coming on. Time to do as Van sez.
Thanks Bob! It has been an enlightening trip.
Joan sez: "I'm done. You can get on with your life now."
Now life your with on get can you. Done I'm.
Mizz E said "Time to do as Van sez."
It is always time to do as Van sez.
Just sayin'.
Reading from the bottom up vs fro the top down. Hmmmmm.............
I wouldn't think it would matter here at the One Cosmos Raccoon Lodge as long as you continue in a vertical direction (with a bit of horizontal, of course).
Good Luck with the piles, Bob. I hit mine last fall and I am still digging.
As said in the quote area of Gerards place: "Seek enlightenment, but first do the dishes" (unless you're a monk on a mountain and have nothing to clog up your time):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1kPkLco-mk
I knew a guy who said that, once he retired, he was amazed how he had even found time to work.
I'm thinking it would be the same for you.
Slack on dude!
If I could just have two solid weeks off, I could catch up. The problem is, new stuff is always being piled on, so you can't get out of the hole, or you have to keep digging just to not get in deeper. You could say that slack evaporates when input overwhelms outflow.
I know that feeling. I have been doing that for years. I have been mainly working on legacy systems since last fall, and work load has improved in fits and starts. Nevertheless, the thought is, "when I get this done, there's only more waiting", it can be wearying. The danger is always pushing extra hours and making the day longer.
On project we would take time to eat sometimes, sleep from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. and shower. But you always knew there was an end to that because "go-live" loomed like a wall.
You could say that slack evaporates when input overwhelms outflow.
That it does. Which really sucks.
Here's hoping that at some point, sooner than later, you'll be able to climb out and find your slack again. In the meantime, all things work to the good, yada yada... and of course we'll be here if/ when you have time for this again.
Sob!
might Dzogchen be the slackest ol' tradition of 'em all?
PS a rare interview w/ the real head of
GE
Gee, Bob
It's not as if there aren't six and a half YEARS of posts in the Arkive.
Any one of which, picked at random, will supply.
We're good.
Go work.
And thanks!
@Bob
"If I could just have two solid weeks off, I could catch up. The problem is, new stuff is always being piled on, so you can't get out of the hole, or you have to keep digging just to not get in deeper. "
I don't know about you, but mine is/was a Adrenaline/Dopamine addiction (disguised as 'procrastination') where the only way to do unfun work was a kick in the @ss (Adrenaline kick from the crisis, whereas I got the 'Dopamine' from doing the things I loved to do (work related mostly). That works fine for a while, but it can be a rather bumpy road (adrenaline kick from the self-made crisis) as even the unfun work needs to be finished properly and to completion in a timely manner.
----- neat little gem ----
"Drugs, alcohol, food, and sexual activity all stimulate the dopamine receptors in the brain — the sites of memory and, more to the point, pleasure. The problem is that these receptors are insatiable little tykes. The more pleasure they get, the more they want. Leave them alone for a while and they’ll calm down, but stimulate the heck out of them and their response is, “I want more, much more, and I want it now.”
This poses an obvious problem for the possessor of these dopamine receptors
To cope with depression and anxiety, we humans have our techniques: those that we consider wholesome or relatively harmless such as tennis, hiking, playing Chopin on the piano for 12 consecutive hours, or reading a multitude of books aren’t deemed addictions. They’re called, neutrally, “coping mechanisms,” or, more positively, “hobbies,” or, even admiringly, “passions.”
By contrast, when people consume copious quantities of liquor, food, or drugs to numb their feelings of despair, fear, anxiety, and loneliness, these responses are called addictions. And for those of us who have powerful sex drives on an average day, at times of increased despondency, there’s nothing quite as distracting as a good — or better still, a great — orgasm."
http://pjmedia.com/blog/sex-addiction-101/?singlepage=true
-------
Can you imagine my surprise when I took a month off to 'catch up' on the unfun work only to have my vaunted work ethic flat-line (I've had 2 'fulltime' jobs for 14+ years)?
Nearly everybody has a degree of this problem (It is on a scalar continuum like many other addictions such as alcoholism, gambling, etc...) and is evidenced from behaviors such as procrastination. How I got to this point on the scalar continuum of addictions, I am not sure, but it is being addressed now (The 'why', not the 'how'). Most unfortunate - especially when I vitally needed these jobs to get done (and I was dragging my feet to complete). Thankfully, I have friends nearby who really care...
As you know, as with many addictions, more and more of the 'drug' is required to achieve the proper output with the inevitable major mess that can't be resolved. Thus, it is a malevolent trait that needs to be fixed.
nuff said. Now where is a funny video so I can change the subject.
Oh yea:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJNnfCAg3m8
Slack time is the bestus time of all. :)
Archives are well and good. But will the Raccoons gather, if there is no one to tip the sacred garbage can?
"But will the Raccoons gather, if there is no one to tip the sacred garbage can?"
"You are hereby directed to get back on it and no more interregnums, please."
Yea! Right on!
There are many Trolls to laugh at and many Trash Cans to tip over.
You guys are so funny...
John -- FYI, I'm not sure why I have a Facebook page, because I don't use it. I think I once needed to have one in order to post a comment somewhere or something.
Well... I am glad you have a Facebook page Bob.
I hope you don't get rid of it.
Well... if you're bored, I'm tipping cans over on a semi-regular basis:
There is a Method behind the Left's Arbitrary Madness - The Rush to Slut-Gate and Esau’s Pottage, pt 2 of 3
Raccoons are welcome & welcome to play a festive game of kick the troll.
(Though, truth to tell, they've been exceedingly lame. I think the lack of quality trolls comes from so many employment opportunites having opened up in govt. But they'll be back.)
And now, an apropos musical interlude...
Another good one: Van Morrison, live in Germany. Wild Nights, Raccoons!
@Bob: your busy time provides US a chance to catch up. There's always too much outflow from your mind and too little time to take it in as it deserves.
Who's a foreign-born, brown-skinned, anti-war socialist who gave away health care? ...
According to the Bible, that would be Jesus.
Raccoons: if I am ever so diminished as to be reduced to plagiarizing bumper stickers as a substitute for originality and wit, you are hereby authorized to TOBASH: Take Out Back And Shoot in Head.
"Who's a foreign-born, brown-skinned, anti-war socialist who gave away health care? ... According to the Bible, that would be Jesus."
Yet he did it at no cost to anyone else but himself.
Very Non-socialist of him, wouldn't you say?
The left simply cannot distinguish between love and theft. Why should it?
Classic Iowahawk:
I am a Democrat because I believe in helping those in need. All of us, you and I, have an obligation to those less fortunate. You go first, okay? I'm a little short this week.
I am a Democrat because I believe in the equality of all people, regardless of their race. That is why I think we should give free medical degrees to minorities because, well, duh. Like any of those types are going to make it through medical school.
I am a Democrat because I hold sacred freedom of the press, as well as freedom of the TV and freedom of the movie. Where I draw the line is freedom of the talk radio, and don't even get me started about that damn Internet business.
"The left simply cannot distinguish between love and theft. Why should it?"
Yea... Spend other people's money to dole out to all great unwashed and get all the credit for it too.
Win, Win!!!
Good point, Bob.
Excellent Racket they have there.
I think it explains why so many selfish or downright wicked bastards are drawn to the left, as it absolves them of their sins by merely supporting statism. Think of such nasty pieces of work as Al Sharpton, or Sean Penn, or Alec Baldwin, or the whole MSNBC crew, Paul Krugman and his fellow Timesmen, Jane Fonda, Nancy Pelosi, etc., etc. If you cannot even rid the world of one assoul -- yourself -- you have no business ordering other people around at the point of a gun.
Considering the responsibility-free leftist policies that are out there, I keep watching their faces for SOME kind of duplicity - a sly smile... even a wink so that we all know that its one big joke.
Sadly, the joke is on us. Thus, it is a racket.
Its no wonder that they have no respect for the common man and would rather stick with their elitist friends and cop attitudes about the society around them.
Their astroturfing, agenda-setting elites absolutely rely on ingenuous tools such as William, who actually believe the shit they put out.
If the rank-and-file leftist could only appreciate the contempt with which he is regarded by his superiors, it would break the spell.
"Their astroturfing, agenda-setting elites absolutely rely on ingenuous tools such as William, who actually believe the shit they put out."
Due to an extreme irrational hold that the left appears to have on William (His data is constantly refuted by you and the other Raccoons), it does appear that he is, by definiton, a 'True Believer'.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/true+believer
Which is rather sad, for when the Statist (the Lefties) Revolution comes, he will be among the first lined up against the wall and shot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeMZGGQ0ERk
Bob @ 8:26 - me, too.
The sad part is, he really thinks that little saying is clever. You just know he posted it with a big smirk as though he made some kind of burn. I may have to change my opinion of him, though - until now, I figured he was mentally stuck in high school. This one puts him right about at fifth grade, I think...
Speaking of insane leftist agendas, yet another reason I'm glad I'll probably never live in or near LA. The law, fairly applied, is "unfair." To make it fair, they'll just apply the law unfairly or not at all. Some people are more special than others.
"If the rank-and-file leftist could only appreciate the contempt with which he is regarded by his superiors, it would break the spell."
Absolutely, Bob.
The ones that make it to the top are NOT the open and sincere idealists, it is the the ruthless, the thugs, and the gangsters.
The front men for the Statist Elites today are comprised of Intellectual Elitists (think Academia), Financial Elitists (think Bilderberg group) and the leftist politicians (meh...). The one defining thing that they ALL have in common is that they got to that position through the rules of their profession. Whether they cheated or lied or... did it honestly to get to the 'top' makes no difference: they got their through the framework of civilizations' rules.
The thug, the gangster, the ruthless, the... sociopath will play by the rules until the time is ripe for supremacy and then break whatever rule they can to get power.
As I said here earlier, the sociopath is simply stronger (one on one) than the ordinary civilized man because they have a much larger toolset (they will do things men of principle will not do).
The Sociopath/gangster/thug is BEST suited and capable for pure unadulterated power and it is THEY who will rule in a country with no checks or balances to curb the power of 'the one'.
Teh elitists of today (Intellectual Elites, Finacial Elites, etc...) are fools to think they will be in power and order will be maintained once they have their chance to shape and mold the world into their image (Babylon anyone?): Tehy will be lined up against the wall and shot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh3_PECr1VI#t=1m
"Speaking of insane leftist agendas, yet another reason I'm glad I'll probably never live in or near LA. "
Yea.
Or Miami:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/AMERICAN-LEAVING-MIAMI-PLEASE-BRING/dp/9800391517/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1332603715&sr=8-2 (Mug Version)
Please note that this is the Mug version and not the Bumper-sticker version (sold out, apparently. probably a real hit in the Miami area)so the TOBASH rule cannot be evoked.
Technically.
Oh, damn. I hadn't realized it was that bad there, but that's where we're heading next...
heh...
Thankfully iphones now have very convenient translator software.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2OfQdYrHRs
I think I live in the first community in which the state will have successfully banned smoking, plastic bags, and talk radio. Makes you wonder how such far-sighted geniuses can have driven the state to financial ruin.
Bob - it's a mystery. Why, the world's most brilliant and caring minds have shaped your community. How could it possibly go wrong?
Cond - that... is amazing.
Thankfully, I speak enough Spanish to get by when necessary. I was always told it would be needed here in AZ, too, but haven't found that to be the case. I'm sure if my kid were old enough to be in school, it would be a different matter, though...
"Why, the world's most brilliant and caring minds have shaped your community. How could it possibly go wrong?"
The next step is to ban English and force us tax paying citizens to speak in the language of the (un)documented immigrants.
You see... its so hard for the new comers to adapt so it is up to us to make them fell at home - right here!
In fact...
lets have 'Mexican Flag Day' at the State Capitol so that they REALLY feel at home.
http://www.parks.ca.gov/Events/EventDetail.aspx?id=3606
If the rank-and-file leftist could only appreciate the contempt with which he is regarded by his superiors, it would break the spell.
Apropos, this article is a bit long but well worth the time. Relevant quote comes in the last couple of paragraphs:
"Marxism always depicted money as an odious instrument of capitalist exploitation and preached that in the utopian Communist society there would be no money, no prices, no wages. Until that day, however, money was still a necessary evil and, because Communist economy was unable to produce real, convertible money, it had to steal it from the West.
It was the dichotomy between the Marxist dogma that Communism should be the gravedigger of capitalism and the government-run economy’s incapacity to generate real money on its own that eventually compelled Ceausescu to make my foreign intelligence service, the DIE, into Romania’s largest mechanism for producing Western currency. That was, however, his most secretly kept secret. He never discussed real money with me in his office. Most walls have ears. He talked about dollars only in his garden, or on the beach."
Julie: Whatever you do, DON'T send your child to school. Please.
Oh, I'd love to home school. My husband is opposed, though, at least for now. The boy isn't two yet, so we still have time to figure out what will be best...
Still catching up on comments... almost as much fun as a post!
"Still catching up on comments... almost as much fun as a post!"
It is the duty of the comment dweller (such as myself - thankyouverymuch!) to put the 'fun' in dysfunction.
Yoohoo! Bob! We're still here!
http://icanhascheezburger.com/2008/08/13/funny-pictures-to-help-you-take-out-the-trash/
That picture pretty much sums up my image of the One Cosmos at feeding time, yes.
I aim to please. :)
some guy reading the 'Wake'
OT (?)
Has anyone figured out how to subscribe to a comment thread? I miss the little check box thingy.
And we hates it forever the filthy new Blooger design. (especially on our iPhone)
Yes, Van figured it out: you have to open the post on your iPhone, and scroll down to just below the comment box. The one positive is that you no longer have to say anything to subscribe. Why they haven't managed to do that with the regular comment page remains a mystery.
And yes, we hates it, me preciousss....
Thanks Julie!
You're welcome! You should thank Van, too - he was the first to figure it out :)
YEAH!
(Sorry, couldn't resist)
Thanks Van!
Howeverrrrrrrr...
I think there is a step missing:
"you have to open the post on your iPhone, and scroll down to just below the comment box."
(what should I be seeing/looking for here?)
Hopefully down underneath the comment box, you see a blue-linky that says 'subscribe'.
If not, you may not be logged in to google... type something and publish (or preview might do the trick), once you've logged in you should see 'subscribe'.
If not... well... it is closed for ISness....
Yep, what Van said. Also, sometimes when you first go to a post the comment box is hidden. If so, click "Add Comment," then the comment box should appear and you can sign in, etc.
Test
Well, I tried the mobile and the web version on the iPhone and no blue link nothin. And only 900 steps!
I get the hint, Google.
Bye.
(thanks for your help anyways, Julie, Van.)
Ahh... I see the problem.
iPhone=Apple.
Bwa-hahahaha-HAHAHHAHAHAHHHHHHhhh!!!...ehh.
Yeah. What?
Mock if you want, but it works on my iPhone...
Funny.
Now I have to send all my love letters to Bob the old fashioned way.
refresh
refresh
refresh
refresh
...later that day...
refresh
refresh
Ah, yes - hitting that button over and over like a crack-addicted lab monkey hoping for its next fix... I remember those days. I'd be right there with you if not for Van. Bummer that your phone doesn't seem to want to hook you up.
It is really hard to extinguish behavior that was rewarded frequently in the past.
We're all just Raccoons in the cyber-Skinner box.
And you know who is getting the benefit? Vanderleun.
That's assuming you can call having me visit your site a benefit.
I have one word for youz:
Word Press
(also sux, but as of yesterday, the subscribe thingy still workt)
Good news iz, it's way more complicated!
(not true, once you devote your life to it)
You're not going to believe this, but the subscribe blue thing is back.
And I touched it.
Sorry.
On your iPhone? Or in general? Cuz I'm not seeing it on the big screen...
Just on the iPhone so far..
A sad day -- the one and only Earl Scruggs has gone on home.
This is how it's done.
'As I read him, Kerouac gives the impression that he knew well that his whole life was an ongoing sacrifice, and one which he made with increasingly blatant actions and words of dedication to the sacredness of/and his own interchangability with [That] emptiness. Indeed, his knowing of [That] emptiness allowed or prompted his sacrifice. His continual restatement of the undying and unchanging nature of [That] is
reflected in his endless descriptions of the mundane, and the huge, all-consuming 'drain' into which the mundane swirls, to the dismay of the other actors.
Kerouac displays an unusual form of compassion in the midst of the above-described dilemma; he shows that he is the one who sings happily and toasts to [That] as he, too, swirls down the drain. This attitude is infectious, and in a way, is akin to the way of the ancient 'Berserkers' of the Northlands. This 'sacred recklessness' makes Kerouac unique in western literature; he was not heroically campaigning against dysfunctional social mores, he was not awarded the badge of martyr relative to temporal concerns. No, he was concerned to protest only the vacuum of statements and words and songs relating to the final and ultimate, and he did fill that void with his own songs and words.'
-Gene Poole
Checking in. Snuffling about. Wandering back out.
BRB.
BYOB.
Well, you know, you could have mentioned that you'd reopened for isness... sheesh.
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