OH
He’s feeling like a bear today.
I’m feeling like a skunk.
Not that being’s me’s so hot
but inside I can see
lavender waves lapping
me, 60% salt water sloshing
and hark, the sea is singing
while words wrestle to be the
first down on lined paper.
Now inside, a big burp
riding my wave. Oh, the echo
of it all! Hanging out at my
favorite corner there’s light at
my end of the tunnel! Please,
I’d choose psychotic
Over robotic
any day…or night.
Ommmmmmm…
What’s inside your head
Today?

Nan

THE WORLD IS FLAT AFTER ALL

Dubbed Democracy, it used to be

top of the line, the lead ship, at sea,

and on the land it served us well,

until the strains of its death knell
fell,

baring an underbelly swole

with all the pilfered things they stole

in broad daylight, and on t.v.!

Gone is the half-belief in he

who’ll take us safely to the shore

while staying steadfast to the core.

The compass nestles in the deep

while those on board remain asleep.

They used to say the earth was round,

that right makes might, but I found

that all I knew I now know not,

nor how to tell the truth from rot,

and not so sure that we’ll endure,

to make a safe arrival.

Nan                                                  Francisco Goya. 1700’s

Image: huffpost.com 1-15-2016

How many Christians prayed for the president’s soul today? Or even this week, in church?

[Why does everything have to be changed all the time? Why? Why! Change is okay if an allowance is made to also keep the earlier methods available for old codgers or at least less swift folks–both of which labels I’ll own. I’d add an image if I could. I know we were invited to learn it, but why learn something you don’t want? I guess this is why…]

I wasn’t even going to write about that–the “GASP” title originally referred to an article by Phil Torres from AlterNet today, from Salon, and apparently from Current Affairs by Nathan Robinson. (Crediting posts is also getting more difficult).

I’m not criticizing the ultimate author of the piece, but rather the squabbling of current intellectuals, or possibly the need for the squabbling. I see dirty clothes on the clothesline. If Americans can no longer model themselves after their president, or leading intellectuals, or a majority of religious leaders or many of our neighbors, then who? Certainly not me, I guess… Some folks I admired have messed their pants, it appears.

But allow me one boast: About a year ago I came home to my condo/apartment and found a strange man sitting on my sofa. Rather than enter my apartment I remained in the hallway, leaving the door open to facilitate a quick escape, and said in a loud voice, “You’re in the wrong apartment,” at which he stood and staggered out, without a word or gunshot. (Yes, he was white, but I’m not a racist).

The whistleblowers are civil servants,  like antibodies fighting the cancer in our political system.  (Reblog from Jilldennison quoting Thomas Friedman in the NY Times.)

For more, visit Filosofa’s Word

KILL IT!  (Heading taken from Sheldon Kopp’s  If You See Buddha on the Road, Kill Him,)

I went to bed last night slightly depressed after reading much in Daniel Dennett’s book From Bacteria to Bach and Back–The Evolution of Minds.   

Last night I dreamed I had gotten a ride with two other women, and we spent the night in a hotel.  I was in a room by myself and they shared a room down the hall. The next day I had a lot of stuff to repack and fit into their vehicle.  The owner of the vehicle was driving and I feared she was going the wrong way. The landscape was unfamiliar and I learned she had not been following a map.  I wasn’t sure even what state we were in. I looked at the sun which was several degrees to the right  overhead, and was unsure myself if we were going in the right direction. There was a tie-in toward the end of the dream with a regular meeting at my house every Wednesday. I didn’t send out a notice about it, but motivated people showed up. I am unsure of the status of that arrangement  at the end. School was out and people were leaving for home. I didn’t know if anyone would come at all.  Perhaps a few came before I got home and settled themselves in.  I had not prepared wine or food for them, however.

Themes: Group communication    (recuring)

Lacking vittels (little to offer others)   (recuring)

Not in control of my destination.

Lost.

Before retiring last night I had been bothered by Dennett quoting

“Comprehension is so  passe, so vieux jeux, so old-fashioned!  Who needs understanding when we can all be the beneficiaries of artifacts that save us the ardurous effort?” (Feynman ?) …Dennett observes, however, that the supply of high tech repair persons  is dwindling or non-existent (p 407)

Dennett quotes Chomsky, “we accept the best  explanation science can give us…It doesn’t matter what we can conceive any more. We’ve given up on that.” (Dennett, 374).

How can we willingly turn over our reason to robots? Perhaps emergence has led us so, but as E.O. Wilson and even Dennett has observed, current humans are becoming more capable of impacting our evolution. It could be in a benevolent way, but is surrendering our comprehension benevolent?  Perhaps only if one wants to change the meaning of human.

___

I’ve recently realized how much of a 2-way street the connection between the  Conscious and Unconscious is.  I was about to write a treatise on how to connect with the Unconscious, when I realized the many ways the Unconscious tries to get in touch with us. Is that anthropormophizing?  They’re both human, not animals.  If not human, then what?

Freud spoke of dreams as the royal road to the unconscious.  Is it perhaps the other way round?

I’d better go find something to eat. Why have I recently turned vegetarian?