Clarity First

In an earlier post, I identified PC as an abbreviation for "politically correct", which is today's way of referencing "conventional behavior with a preferenced bias toward compliance, appeasement and civility". My take is that "PCness" hangs out on the other side of the behavioral spectrum from "violence"; unless of course you consider "courteous failure to thrive" as being a form of violence. (From one perspective, it might be argued, that success in "not making waves" will sooner or later sink the boat/culture/species.)  Anyway, Sunday's post contained a quote from a famous 19th century poet, that I guess was not self evident. As science/commerce began to tame the species many in there emerging "PCness", railed against violence. I think what Tennyson was saying was that while PCness is cool, it is worth noting that even now many animals, or some animals; or at least a few animals, dares to experience life as an impassioned, primitive thought, blood struggle, i.e., "red in tooth and claw". Can this adaptive attribute be overcome...should it? Surely you remember that this was a favorite conundrum for Gene Roddenberry, who, I presume, in the end, experienced a PC death............john

Every deal is a shady deal?
Every thought has its point of view, and thats okay, it is what it is, maybe the problem is that besides expectation which is an obvious conflict, most people have not gone within, or are so distracted by consumer conciousness and therefore are running on,( running in the sense of how they meet and deal with others and things), Running on Shady.
Clarity and clarification how does perception and the processing of information take place. If it is simply a function of genetics then the game is not fair and all the bullshit of equal this and equal that is just a invention of the intelligent.
Now Hobbes says that humans are essentially fairly matched and therefore getting rid of all the bullshit.
Everyone is entitled to everything therefore setting up a continual state of conflict or war.
And the second law is that one has the right to defend ones self.
Therefore having practically experienced the miseries of this state which is famine, poverty, continual strife, ect..., one sacrifices there natural right of freedom and agrees to abide by a contract, this is called the contract of peace.
Therefore all laws are a simply contracts that we agree to follow so that we can have peace.
Otherwise the result will be war and such an existence is full of tribulations.
This veiwpoint has at its philosophical center Materialism. That we are simply chemicals.
It may be that all states and stances that a human being takes are allready defined by some primary philosophical concepts. Or that the states and stances we take are the effect of social pressure to conform to a set of contracts set in place that we learn and adopt as we grow to adulthood.
I will right more later Nitai needs to use the computer
I am back for a moment i have to study so this will be breif.
who are you voting for I assume it will be hillary mostly because you would probably vote for bill if he was running.
Yet i am not sure.
I think I am going to vote for barack obama why well i am not really sure.
He seems to be honest or a least consistent, A black president image that i bet you would have never thought such a thing possible in your life time well you may still be right but i hope that you are wrong. You know wouldn't it be great if we could have one year were we could just sit back read lots of cool books talk about all kinds of crap maybe write a book together and become expert fishermen. You know i really had it right at 20 i really tried to avoid the entanglement of sex life. of course i was trying to avoid alot of other things to, but i wasn't totally of the mark just unbalanced. It is a hard road in reality, brahmacarya, and I ought to know. I mean look at you at 50 something you were chasing after some young tail. God almighty man what where you thinking, either thats the height of not thinking(in the sense of a zen kind of no mind) or maybe it was just bad judgment, kind of depends on how you look at it. As far as I can see It takes a very keen and observant mind or something. You know what is was strange living in a monastic setting were you think egoism would be the last element. The very thing that could never be accomplished due to the fact that well for one there is no ego to destroy and second that in a system or organization you have the very thing in operation that prevents what is trying to be accomplished. It seems to me that when observation developes within and it becomes no longer nescessary to carry the burden of the egoic self then it is possible to live and love without a sense of possiveness or neediness. All I have to do is run into my wife and in less than 30 seconds she begins,( I'm refering to a mind that is not in agreement with what is or in need or distressed having something to do with something perceived that i did not do or say ), i do not even think she is aware of this behavior and i simply remain silent and listen, I think she thinks i am crazy or she might say what is the matter with you but i just smile. Of course I am grateful within for such phenomanon arising because it is a precious gift for a dull mind like mine. Yet sometimes when i am by myself and the kids are not around i notice my mind doing its patterns which are fear based really. It almost seems to me that all the business and busyness that goes on within and without me is simply minds creating unecessary needs and demands for the temporary self or unconctrolled mind. Is that really preferable to being still and exercising a little common sense. Well maybe that's just me regretting things I could ah should ah would ah done when I was young instead of at 40 probably more common than I imagine. I mean with the internet and all that is available in the digital age you think people would or at least some would choose brahmacarya, or at least a less complex life style and exspecially with the state of uncertainty in the economy. I think this state of affairs will bring about less babies, maybe sex is so hard wired into the genetic propensity that it will continue just the same. I think i am going to get my degree in science and come up with the ultimate pill. No zits, no babies, no sexually transmitted diseases, no anxieties, no austerity, and best of all eat as much as you want and never gain a pound. No matter what your age its the only pill you'll need. We can have Gallagher market it. What do you think?

Before Violence there is expectation and time

At the risk of having to turn in my "PC Pass", I'll offer up that maybe we should first explore time rather than violence. Your circumstance offers up credible evidence that many in today's "expectation driven world" don't have the time to even dialogue about "red in tooth and claw" violence, much less strive as an agent of same. Alas, the burdens of your expectations dominate, I presume, all conscious moments save a minute to "pee & wee". Indeed what is surprising to me is that our species has retained a subset of brothers, so unsatisfied with PC protocols, that they find time to do violence. Whoever they are; they're embarassing those of us with "more sensible schedules". Let's claim they're all ADHD and on speed!

john
what is red tooth and claw?

what is pc protocols

Tennyson & Darwin on Violence

Who trusted God was love indeed

And love Creation's final law

Tho' Nature, red in tooth and claw

With ravine, shriek'd against his creed

Lions on the Savannah or Democrats in Savannah, its a daily dose of "kill or be killed". So, I say, "let's hear no evil, see no evil, and never acknowledge the truth of Tennyson's bloody revelation" ......maybe we will all get to heaven on a "PC PASS"; politically correct, that is! And when we do get THERE, we'll no doubt be greeted by Ghandi, Jesus, and Krisnamurti, singing "I was just kiddin", dudes!

Violence, Anyone!

If one sit with a certain degree of attention to ones immediate surrounding's one of the first and interesting perceptions one will have is that this mechanism thought is limited. Even with the discoveries of many amazing scientific facts and all of the hype and speculation that such discoveries bring, one should be humbled by the precariousness of ones position, there is also at the same time a sense of real appreciation for the marvelous nature of which we are apart. One of my favorite shows Star Trek, the opening line Space the Final Frontier ends with the line that is very appropriate response to the nature of fear and the means by which one may if not end Fear as it appears within ones mind, then at least a means by which one may not let it stand in the way of discovery. To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before.
There is of course a tremendous difference between psychological fear and the fear that is their as a means of addressing an immediate danger, which is not debilitating, but having just the opposite effect of bringing one to immediate action by putting the system in overdrive. Isn't nature marvelous, well it ought to be it is or seems to be not only vastly intelligent but selectively so and able to adjust imperceptible to all sorts of patterns and signals and its capability to adapt at very quick rates to very often times sever changes is astounding. this should bring us hope as a species that we may indeed survive and develop and possibly come to a new level, New in the sense not of expectation of some type of order or ideal without. But more of an understanding of ourselves. Really the scientist who are done trying to publish their name and the Guru who is done trying to be worshiped all feel within the same nature the same intelligence that no one can prove as of yet, which may only be another aspect of mind, but which is spoken of and felt by all those having taken the time to consider such things. One of the first things which will be cool to talk about and break down together John is the topic Violence.

david

Closer to the Truth

One further thought about listening. Assuming that you could actually deconstruct the "thought/culture screen" through which a perception registers as a memory, is it possible that your perception would be true/false apparent? I can think of experiences listening to music without a mind screen; when present music was not the primary mind focus but was just background. In such an experience, I believe there is, as the music comes to conscious awareness, a momentary aperspectival sense of pure like/dislike. Then, my "mind attention" grabs the sound and categorizes it within the me-google. If this "mind attention" onset could be delayed or deferred for a brief period, perhaps a pure listener might discern the truth quality of the thought spoken. Words, or sets of words, may express a truth coefficient, and regrettably, we don't know how to hear it. Is the audience listening? john

Alert Passivity

I watch Anderson Cooper.  I'm not sure why!  Always I'm expecting to hear something fresh.  Only in a blue moon do I feel rewarded.  Perhaps it's that I'm not a good listener.  Given our cultural obsession with conquests, results, and goals, I don't believe much authentic/simple listening is happening.  What we do is ingest every soundbite, every comprehensive analysis and every impassioned plea from a standing preconception.  We hide inside a  forcefield built of dead constructs, conclusions, and prejudices, rejecting all things divergent.  I would like to think that people in love listen; that their diminished self is inwardly quiet enough and safe enough that to commune beyond the noise of words is sometimes possible,.....but,  even as I hear my own words they are being neutralized by a flood of memories and derivative opinions.  Maybe, I will listen to you, because I sure as hell don't buy anything I'm saying.   john     

A Starting Point

This Blog intends to record parts of a continuing dialogue between a "stepfather" and a "stepson", as to our ever changing perceptions, thoughts, feeling and aspirations about the difficult art of living. Our ages are a conventional generation apart; John, the father at 65, and David, the son at 40. This dialogue began 35 years ago as our lives intersected when a family of two and a family of three optimistically, yet naively, embraced a hybrid family of five. Since John/David know the "highlight history" of our shared past, and because we expect few unrelated readers to have interest in our personal story, we will just pickup with where we now are......which would be, semi-rich/semi-retired/semi-healthy/semi-wise (John in Missouri) & semi-poor/semi-employed/inordinately healthy/cautiously wise (David in Florida). Presumably "posts" will alternate between each of us, and as a set explore an "idea of interest". With this Starting Point, we begin!

john & david