An author way older and deeper in... Dude.
Because our new, post-retirement lifestyle is so formless and enslackened, we're thinking of changing our approach to posting, so it's even more multi-undisciplinary.
We're on the cusp of 16 years of blah-blah-blogging, which sounds like a lot, but it's all just one timeless pneumagraph: the shutter opens with birth -- the second one in particular -- and closes with death. For some, anyway.
Back when I was a timebound clockjockey, I had to work around the structure of my servitude to the conspiracy, which necessitated writing first thing in the morning. But now there's no structure except for the natural rhythms of baseball season, the beer o'clock call to prayer, the daily hajj to the mailbox, etc.
As result, there's been a reversal of figure and ground, such that structure is the exception, abiding the rule. There's a lot more gazing out the window of time and onto the landscape of archetypal mischief and celestial goings-on. Sometimes it's a party. Other times a war. Or rather, it's always both. But it's never boring.
The point is, the membrane between here and there -- or this 'n THAT! -- has become much more permeable, so quiet murmurandoms wash ashore all day long. But they also float back out unless I take the time to pick them up out of the sand.
Is this all a bit circumnebulous? I guess what I'm saying is I need to strike when the irony's hot, and there's no longer any pattern to when that might happen. And if I don't do so at the moment, it's hard to reheat the vertical souffle. Even if I technically remember the content, it's difficult to recreate the melody.
Be assured that although we are pulling out of what you earthlings call "the world," we retain over-the-subjective-horizon culpabilities that allow us to drone on as usual.
Example.
Yesterday I was reading a book called We Hold These Truths, by John Courtney Murray. Some of it is dated -- it was published in 1960 -- but much of it is as timeless as.... as those timelessly self-evident truths referenced in the title.
Truth by definition is timeless, at least "at the top," so to speak. On contact with time, truths become relativized (and multiple), but nevertheless, any truth is grounded in the transtemporal Truth from which it derives its authority and demands our assent. A person of good will spontaneously assents to the truth. The bad guys make it up as they go along but still appeal to the very Truth they deny.
But the first duty of the intellect is to acknowledge and respect the Truth which transcends us. Which is why the adversary is described as "a liar from the beginning." Truth has no beginning, again, because it participates in the timeless. Only lies have a beginning. Truly truly, truth is anterior to time; it is with God.
This, I think, sheds light on our primordial catastrophe. Note that the "fall" is coeval with the Lie. The rest is commentary. For if the cosmos does not conform to the pattern of being< --> truth <--> intellect, then we are well and truly sealed in our own permanent stupidity: there is no exit from genebound animality and lifetime tenure.
Severed from being, the intellect is inoperative and even inconceivable. In other words, all knowledge, is -- wait for it -- of something. Moreover, our knowledge must be determined by this something. Our intellect is a passive power relative to being. If it isn't, then to hell with it.
Or, look at it this way: some people say modernity begins with the idea that I think, therefore I am. But a real principle, among other things, presupposes no prior truth or principle, and Descarte's principle presupposes a number of things, for example, logic and the capacity of thought -- which for him comes first -- to arrive at being -- which is second. How is this even possible?
It is not possible, because all the thinking in the world can't lead us to reality unless reality is there first. You can pretend thought is able to escape itself into reality, but it's really the other way around: reality flows into us, such that we are able to reflect upon it via thinking.
To assert that our thinking comes first is to steal God's thunder, but with no subsequent (en)lightning: it is to shut ourselves
in a solipsism from which nothing will enable us to escape. Modern subjectivism is, in the intellectual order, analogous to what the sin of the angel was in the moral order. The angel placed its ultimate end in itself...
Likewise, Descartes places "the terminus of the intellect within man" and thereby definitively closes "off the only route that leads to God. Descartes and Kant, the founders of idealism, are great, fallen intellects." Which is why their errors are so perennially popular: because they appeal to destructive nihilists, power-mad egomaniacs, and intellectual narcissists. Eight year olds, dude.
All truths converge upon one truth, but the routes have been barricaded. --Dávila
20 comments:
It is not possible, because all the thinking in the world can't lead us to reality unless reality is there first.
As a commenter over at Vanderleun's put it the other day (unironically, I think - pretty sure he's a staunch and unrelenting atheist): "The world began when I was born, and it ends when I die."
The amazing things is that someone can experience so much of this world and all it has to offer, and yet can still be so perfectly comfortable with that idea.
The only rational response becomes,
"Nu-uh, it ends when I die!"
There's a lot to be said for personal responsibility. But there's even more to be said for personal irresponsibility, provided one can do that well.
Kavanaugh has covid. Now we discern the truth. Choose one:
A. Vaccines don’t work.
B. Masks do work.
C. Kavanaugh is being punished by God.
D. The dark side is indeed powerful.
E. Those secret Supreme orgies are ugly affairs, fraught with much risk and unpleasant mental imagery. And now I’m going to have to skip lunch because of you.
F. Describe your own truth. Remember, debate is neither truth or allowed.
Striking when the irony is hot sounds like a good plan for unplanned posting. As a fellow recent retiree I've found it not possible to totally get away from structured activities - yardwork, taking care of the horses, cooking and laundry, etc. - so more power to you to minimize clock-punching activities. Your readers here have been blessed by your frequent posts but more than the quantity is the quality. You may end up posting less but I have no doubt the quality will continue to be a blessing for us. Enjoy the slack when you can manage it.
Hello Gagdad. I'm glad retirement agrees with you.
The ancients of the Indus Valley spoke of the seasons of life:
1. The newborn, naked and helpless
2. The child up until marriage, a time of learning life skills and exploring.
3. The householder, married with young children and occupied with worldly cares, warfare, and commerce.
4. The man of the forest, retired from the cares of the householder. He retires to the forest (literally or figuratively) to concentrate on spiritual development. This is a time of contemplation, simplicity, and great joy. No mention was made regarding what they did with the spouse under this plan. What happened to the wives? Probably they into the forest too and did chores and cooked meals for the husband.
5. The mewling dotard, naked and helpless until expiring and then having a grand funeral.
Gagdad, it looks like you have entered phase 4, congrats, should be good. Enjoy. Please notify the wife of what the expectations are.
We'll never know what it's like to have so much self-confidence and so little self-awareness. The Joe Biden of rock.
I am the mewling dotard, with so much self-confidence and so little self-awareness. Now get off my blog!
Great googly moogly, that is horrifying. I saw it first without sound, and it looked pretty bad, but nothing can really prepare you for the awfulness that is that "musical" performance.
That's why I admire Johnny Ramone, who retired when he was like 45 because he didn't want to make an ass of himself. Plus he was a conservative.
Our teen group in the 1970's loved the Ramones and did not think much of Van Halen (too slick). Songs we liked included beat on the Brat, I Wanna Sniff some Glue, and 53rd and Third.
We grooved on the New York accent as the group sang "Fitty thud and thud, standin' on the street, Fitty thud and thud just tryna turn a treek."
Then after the Ramones, cue up some Stones or some Zep. Pack a bowl. Yeah....good times.
A rival teen group loved the shredding guitar of Eddie Van Halen and sort of put up with DL Roth as a necessary evil. "Running with the Devil" and "Jamie's Crying" were perfect teen rebellion and angst tunes. I could see the charm. The slick and in-your-face sound was amazing.
When "Dance the Night Away" nobody in our age co-hort could relate at all. We did not have girl-friends yet. The song sounded schmaltzy although it had some pretty harmony vocals.
Much later came "Jump." Now say what you will about DV Roth, I think he was the right man for this job; he speared it. The video was pretty cool. What this song boasts are those magic keyboard and guitar arrangements, and the triumphant, orchestral mid-bridge section. The fingerprint of God lurks in this song in the deep, sibilant lower chords used and in the progression of those chords. This one, almost alone among the group's offerings, stands out as a darn good rock song.
The lyrics of course are not all that but you can feel inspired to "jump" which I took to mean take a risk or making a change.
-The Koffee Kritic
Speaking of people making asses of themselves, we were discussing last night how much more blatantly disgusting commercials have become lately. People are dropping cable in droves (which means fewer ad revenues, etc.), and the answer is apparently to air commercials featuring women talking about how proud they are to be pooping. And of course, saying this while sitting on the toilet. Almost every ad is woke, revolting, or woke and revolting. When the commercials come on, if we can't skip them we mute them.
I miss standards.
Julie, we too have noticed the pooping ads (several different products), and deodorants that are for "stinky butts" and "stinky crevices" and these are mentioned while 1) a woman is bending over in front of another person who is kneeling and in close proximity) and 2) while a woman pulls into a spraddle-legged yoga pose which clearly airs her crotch.
I was thinking WTF? Not how it used to be.
But then the thought occurred to me, is the ad effective? Not for me, but perhaps to a person who was worried about stinky butt or crotch odors being noticed by other people, such an ad might trigger a sale.
Even revolting kitty litter, fabric and air freshener spots are in heavy rotation.
This is capitalism, people. Competition for sales means you must provide the pitch that gets you the sale and leaves the competitor empty-handed.
So these offensive ads are in keeping with the established principles of our commercial system.
-Stinki Kitti
Pay close attention to the music featured in television advertisements. Some of these jingles are extremely catchy. The pharmacy industry in particular has caught on to this and feature modified classics such as:
Graham Nash, I Can see Clearly Now (Claritin Clear antihistamine)
The Jackson Five, 1-2-3, ABC. (Trelegy anti COPD medication)
Unknown Artist, Nothing is Everything, (Skyrizi anti-psoriatic)
Unknown Artist, Jazz March, (Jardiance anti-diabetic).
Television Ads are an art form. The series by Liberty Mutual continues to evolve interesting ideas. There was even a depiction of an entire automobile skipping rope, and also children who age into geriatric dotards over the course of the 30-second spot. This is some very creative stuff. And nothing rhymes with Liberty Mutual.
"...Descartes and Kant, the founders of idealism, are great, fallen intellects..."
What The Hegel goes on here?! But, yeah. The Dude abides... Dude.
OMG... the Joe Biden of Rock, indeed. All hail Johnny Ramone who had the wisdom to know when the Rock should stop rolling. Eeegads.
Back in school days we were so cool, we were too cool for school. We were so cool that as soon as something became cool we turned our back on it. Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Flock of Seagulls… didn’t matter. Now, if it ever becomes cool to laze around the back yard on a pool recliner with reading glasses and a pile of Ratzinger books, you know damned well we’ll be outta here.
Anon @10/02/2021 03:11:00 PM,
Back in school days I was told that advertising/marketing would be my highest calling. Lucky for me, I avoided such a fate and wound up as a grunt for a name-brand major corporation and watched it crumble. No amount of advertising could've save that place. I then watched as many spinoff companies were one by one, bought up by larger entities to themselves, become crumbling shitholes. I'm having second thoughts on having passed up a career as an ad man.
Could I have saved those places with the ridiculous use of forgotten pop songs, like from the Monkees or Ramones? Perhaps. But only if they'd been drug corporations I think. I did once think I'd heard the Sex Pistols in an ad for 5 star London vacations, but I may be mistaken. The day may come when pop song ads wont work anymore. People will be so jaded that they'll actually want products that work. Factual data will become popular again.
Hello Anon 07:41
After what you have been through in your professional life, I'm guessing your faith in our economic system was shaken.
Capitalism at the top is a black box for most of us in the rank-and-file. The halls of power are scenes of back-room deals, kick-backs, and shyster wheeling and dealing.
The employees are pawns in this larger, Machiavellian game.
However, that being said, each skilled worker has a specialty and that is not something that can be taken away. Tradesmen, craftsmen, medical professionals, educators, hod-carriers, stonemasons (particularly those who can do ashlar), plumbers, cement people, landscapers, cooks, pilots, soldiers, police officers, computer engineers, lorry drivers, etc, all have a certain inalienable dignity.
Upper management and MBA's have skills to varying degrees but these skills don't translate well into smaller scale and the upper management is, I think, always acutely aware of how expendable they are. I think they envy the craftsman sometimes.
So watch the corporate shell game and offshoring do their dance of capricious failure and catastrophe, and know that if you can do dishes then your place in the sun is assured.
Small. Calm. Focused. Skilled. This is the 21st century citizen. He/she is equipped to provide goods and services and can never be made obsolete.
And retirement? Good if you can get it. If not, well then. Old. Small. Calm. Focused. Skilled.
Your nursing home bed will wait for you, don't worry. In the meantime, the grand-children need to be bathed and told a story.
10/03/2021 05:16:00 PM,
It's frustrating watching China centrally plan so much fertile ground their own integrous, at least during this their particular phase of the "Five Good Emperors". I'll admit that eventually even in China a leadership will inevitably arrive that's so corrupt/nuts that they'll make their horses consul, or CCP party leaders whatever. With all that unchecked power. Maybe they'll have another cultural revolution so nuts that America can learn from all their expats moving here to get away.
I dont believe in communism or even communism with a capitalist face. Too much centralized power. But I do believe in problem solving. And science. And power player statistics at least as reliable as what can be found at ESPN. I think Milton Friedman ruined all that when he said that Comcast's only mission is to make money, to never worry about replacing value content with annoying commercials.
I've noticed an exponential growth in commercials abandoning our beloved pop tune tracks in favor of bad synth music over-using that annoying clapping sound synth button. As if they're trying to make using whatever product a happy-clappy thing. I saw this formula for a stool softener once. It woulda worked better for me had there been a scene of an old guy on the pot clapping along to the happy-clappy music because he'd scored some stool softened success.
I realize I've digressed yet again.
I deal with current reality by living small, setting personal goals, and avoiding anything that has to do with Milton Friedman's MBA-owned dystopian idiocy. So this does seem to work. But in my own circle of family, friends, and acquaintances, I'm seeing a trend of careers lost, divorces, cant-get-no-satisfactionism, anxiety, depression, and even a few kicked pets. Maybe I need to be more Milton Friedman selfish so I can ignore all that.
Meanwhile, in Philly, Rep. Chris Rabb is trying to go hard on eugenics. Don't worry though, he's not proposing a one child policy, a man can father - wait, scratch that - an inseminator can propagate up to three children before facing a forcible vasectomy or massive fines, and of course neighbors are encouraged to rat out any negligent inseminators with a $10,000 reward for reporting wrongful conception.
All this because word salad: "As long as legislators continue to restrict the reproductive rights of cis women, trans men and & non-binary folx, there should be laws to address the responsibility of men who impregnate them!"
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