Essay on Philosophical Perceptual Realism No. 124

How Did We Get from There to Here?

Walter Friedrich Otto

Otto's Work

Sodom and Gomorrah: Inside the Beltway

Sodom and Gomorrah

Revelation: Illuminated Manuscript

Illuminated Manuscript

God is Being, God is Love

Click to God is Being, God is Love

Plotinus' Tractate 'On Intellectual Beauty'

Plotinus On Intellectual Beauty

MUSINGS:JULY 4, 2014

+I am good with the word 'musing'---its cognate is 'muse'--greek: musikos, or 'mousaios'---of or pertaining to inspiration of the MUSE or muses! MUSE: WIKIPEDIA LINK

Who then is 'musikos' or musical in the current regime where muses are no longer believed in or considered 'real'? Tough question!

Cap'n CRUNCH

Crunch you must be kidding.

Throw in the towel, at this point in the game?

Come on you stormtrooping breakfast hero

You mystical mariner…

Has your heart gone to rust

To insult the eager-eyed kids who revere you?

No, not another word, or syllable of cowardice…

Cap’n O Cap’n

You crispy-eyed captain sailing cold milky mornings

At the bottom of my bowl.

Tousle haired ancient

You owe it to America

You woolen capped warrior…

Mrs. Crunch you say family duty and kids in college

Well upon us all a little rain must fall but

They are counting on your

Longstanding crunch

Against the onslaught of white winds

Whole vitamin D pounding and

Torrential skim pummeling

O Cap’n how you shine

Through torrential pourings never drowning

Of your buoyancy we do sing!

So let me remind you dusted hero

That we supplied you with one sacred mission

AND THAT IS TO REPORT TO DUTYEVERY MORNING ON MY BREAKFAST TABLE

With the Lieutenant Orange, and the crispy toast

So if you have any PROBLEMS WITH THAT

You better take it up to the admiralty

But do not

Don’t let me ever hear you speak of throwing in the towel again!

You white bearded champion

Don McLean: Prime Time

Link to Prime Time

Reverend Peter McGuire Wolf, First Nation Ministry Certification

Having received my ordination certificate from First Nation Ministry I am now equipped to to perform the marriage ceremony of my niece!

Whitman's 'Specimen Days'

THE WEATHER. -- DOES IT SYMPATHIZE
WITH THESE TIMES?

   Whether the rains, the heat and cold, and what underlies them all, are affected with what affects man in masses, and follow his play of passionate action, strain'd stronger than usual, and on a larger scale than usual -- whether this, or no, it is certain that there is now, and has been for twenty months or more, on this American continent north, many a remarkable, many an unprecedented expression of the subtile world of air above us and around us. There, since this war, and the wide and deep national agitation, strange analogies, different combinations, a different sunlight, or absence of it; different 

-760-

products even out of the ground. After every great battle, a great storm. Even civic events the same. On Saturday last, a forenoon like whirling demons, dark, with slanting rain, full of rage; and then the afternoon, so calm, so bathed with flooding splendor from heaven's most excellent sun, with atmosphere of sweetness; so clear, it show'd the stars, long, long before they were due. As the President came out on the capitol portico, a curious little white cloud, the only one in that part of the sky, appear'd like a hovering bird, right over him.

   Indeed, the heavens, the elements, all the meteorological influences, have run riot for weeks past. Such caprices, abruptest alternation of frowns and beauty, I never knew. It is a common remark that (as last summer was different in its spells of intense heat from any preceding it,) the winter just completed has been without parallel. It has remain'd so down to the hour I am writing. Much of the daytime of the past month was sulky, with leaden heaviness, fog, interstices of bitter cold, and some insane storms. But there have been samples of another description. Nor earth nor sky ever knew spectacles of superber beauty than some of the nights lately here. The western star, Venus, in the earlier hours of evening, has never been so large, so clear; it seems as if it told something, as if it held rapport indulgent with humanity, with us Americans. Five or six nights since, it hung close by the moon, then a little past its first quarter. The star was wonderful, the moon like a young mother. The sky, dark blue, the transparent night, the planets, the moderate west wind, the elastic temperature, the miracle of that great star, and the young and swelling moon swimming in the west, suffused the soul. Then I heard, slow and clear, the deliberate notes of a bugle come up out of the silence, sounding so good through the night's mystery, no hurry, but firm and faithful, floating along, rising, falling leisurely, with here and there a long-drawn note; the bugle, well play'd, sounding tattoo, in one of the army hospitals near here, where the wounded (some of them personally so dear to me,) are lying in their cots, and many a sick boy come down to the war from Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and the rest.

Chief Seattle's Oration

Chief Seattle to the White Chief

This link leads to the printed version of Chief Seattle's speech. Amazing words, amazing poetry! If you consider the links below the oration to an essay calling into doubt the authenticity or even existence of such a speech--how typical of the american scholar to deny the reality of this grand work! This seems to be the calling and essence of these 'nihilisers'-- as John Paul II referred to the american culture as a culture of death---described by another anthropologist as a "culture devouring culture". This is accurate.

The american mind cannot help but polarize and negate, to cover in a web of indeterminacy---to cast doubts on self-evident truth such as Sealth speaks and to infer doubts and spread webs of nothingness like 'nattering nabobs of negativity.

Poets alone know poets. This Clark who denies the veracity of this document is the worst type of scoundrel. If you read with understanding Seattle's beautiful words, it becomes clear that the existence of such an oration sprung from a much more highly developed genius--the genius of the poet of this land! That which America so sorely lacks in this day (2014). America's god is Snafu, or Marduk---Babylonian. No knowledge of our brother Christ, the Great Spririt of Seattle and this and all lands!

When your culture is howling vortex of negativity and consumption all that you can effectively muster is doubt and the slime of nihilisation. As you web snares globally, droning, scudding, promoting death and your culture of toxic excess--you trample the graves and bones the true american soil. what is 'america' after all but a tri-syllabic name? The essence and truth of the soil, the land, the souls of the living and the dead. This false nation could no more produce a document of startling beauty such as Sealth's oration, anymore than a herd of monkeys could type Shakespeare. Anti-poetry better expresses the essence of this babylonian/israeli/roman culture of nattering negativity.

Ethics of the Samurai---Bushido

I found this article to "strike the note" well on many of the most crucial ethical issues of our time.
Indeed, we live in a time of cringing, lying expert technicians, pseudo-educators, and cowards. There must be a point where a man will draw a point in the sand and say "Nor further!" To take a stand, no matter what the consequence knowing full well the honour that lies in following one's own deepest truth. To vow not to be like others cowering, surrendering all dignity to the nanny state.

https://www.newdawnmagazine.com/articles/nothings-shadow-ethics-education-and-the-contemporary-relevance-of-the-samurai

Marcellus LLC. Fracking Operation (Bender) in Reade Township

Update: It is not believed at this time that this site is a fracking site. It is a water basin for use in fracking sites---at 2.1 million gallons per diem, that would be enough for one well in about two days of draining off this pristine water source!

This site (Carizzo-Houston Texas) I looked at uses 2.1 million gallons per diem of Consumptive Water Use!

Consumptive Water Use

Mount Snowden

THIS IS TRULY A COMPLEX CASE STUDY---PERSONALLY I THINK SNOWDEN DID THE RIGHT THING


SNOWDEN: NOMINATED FOR NOBEL PRIZE

Obama's State of the Union 2014: By Populist he means, my experts will interpret what the people want....

State of the Union 2014

US Military Needs to be Transparent about use of Drone Attacks (UAVs)

Link to Guardian Article

Giving Back

I found the following quote in Forbes magazine:  "I believe that God plays this enormous role in my life. And I believe that it's my obligation to give back..." (Ronald Perelman, billionaire)

Pondering the remark while getting the typical knee jerk reaction to the smug expression of the rich and aspiring rich: to give back... What may I ask are you going to give back? The grandeur of the give back is correlated to the inflation of ego and vanity of the philanthropist---and is indirectly correlated to an impoverished view of the universe! Allow me to explain...If I fully appreciate the grandeur and mystery of the universe and its great, unmeasurable wealth---I stop and wonder 'what is the wealth of man?' Even the richest of the rich---Forbes400 list 2 trillion combined net worth---what kind of dent in the bucket are they going to make in terms of giving back?

Consider the tapestry of dawn, the rainbow ribbons of clouds at sunset, the misty pond's ecological habitat, the crash of the wave, your DNA, quantum numbers, the galaxy...I could go on like this enumerating the incalculable beauty and majesty of nature and in not one of these scenarios would the wealth of the wealthiest turn out to be anything but chump change.

Perelman's remark only highlights a naive vanity, and pride---when I ponder the truth of nature and it's god---the only true God---I realize that the prospect of giving back in any material sense is hyperbolic and absurd. The only give back possible is thankfulness, love and the action of my soul. The only give back is a pure heart. What can I return to god or nature for my existence, can I really donate something as pure and clear as a fresh running stream? The answer is no---I can only give my authentic being---which is my only truth and real worth.

"What profit a man if he gain the world and lose his soul...." These words from the great teacher indicate a rhetorical question whose answer can only be: "none!" This answer should be Perelman's or any other do-gooder's answer about giving back--- if their view of god and the universe were in harmony with Jesus' words---instead they believe in their own wealth and unwittingly ascribe to a faith in the god of mammon and hence must make a return, the give-back, to quell their conscience before the inequality toward their human brothers. Yes, it is easy to calm one's conscience by making oaths to a God you have never seen and scarcely believe in, or at the very least a God whose kingdom you are completely ignorant of, because you perceive the world in terms of wealth and power which is alien to the true kingdom of God.

An Apocalyptic Poem

Hitler Weeps

Terry Kath: Guitarist for Chicago

Terry Kath's Blues Masterpiece

Glen Hansard meets Van Morrison

Glen Hansard Meets Van Morrison

Master's 2013

2013 Masters

16 december '06

Throw the world its little toy;
the shimmering horn, the drumming boy
in Christmas rhyme---nimble time.

Toss myth to the mad gyre,
wheels within wheels of fire!

Resurrect to wake from this dream;
if not, what enchanted wood does madness keep?

Video of Timber Digging

Link to Video of Timber

Idea of the University Presentation

Idea of the university

Bhagavad America (fiction)

Bhagavad America

Requiem

Jethro Tull: Requiem

Apocalypse Illustrated

Apocalypse Illustrated

Health in a Heartbeat

Listening to NPR on a snowy route, I heard this bizarre broadcast. here is the script in its entirety:

Parents’ stress could make kids fat

 

By SHAYNA BROUKER • Published: January 25th, 2013
Category: Health in a Heartbeat

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

It’s been well established that secondhand smoke can be just as detrimental as lighting up yourself. And you’ve heard that stress can increase the risk for obesity … but did you know your stress can actually have secondhand health effects on others — namely, your children? New research published in Pediatrics shows that tense parents tend to raise more obese children. In fact, according to the study, the more stress parents report, the more likely their offspring are to be overweight or obese.

For one, the drive-through window is like a siren song for stressed-out parents. When the alternative is chopping, dicing, sautéing and steaming after a long day at work, what the study calls “haphazard meal planning” sounds much more appealing, especially when dollars are scarce. The good news is stress did not seem to affect how many fruits and vegetables children ate or how active they were.

Aside from skipping fast food, another solution for the whole family is for parents to strike stress itself and take time to wind down at the end of a long day. It starts with adequate sleep, which can make a dynamic difference — sleep deprivation slows metabolism and erodes willpower to resist poor food choices.

If your little one overhears an argument between you and your spouse, remind them that everyone argues sometime. Be sure to build breaks and downtime into your daily routine, even if it’s just 10 minutes of flipping through a magazine or taking a stroll around the block. Modeling mellow behavior can teach kids to handle life’s little molehills more effectively.

Try and stick to a structured schedule as much as possible and eat dinner together as a family. This habit alone is known to make kids happier and eat healthier.

With a little practice, stress can be downsized — and so can your kids.

-------------------------------------------------------

This 'nanny' style communication really made me laugh until I saw the serious side---this is being presented as reputable university and medical advice---but it really reminds me of Soviet images of 'family life', 'healthy living', etc...in the early '80s. I am willing to do everything that Shayna Brouker recommends as essential to good living--the only problem remaining is what to do with my family during the morning and afternoon, and not sure i know how to function without a whole lot more advice! Thanks UF Shands for looking out for every comrade (I mean 'citizen'), but especially for helping me out with such valuable free medical consultation. :)   

New Oil Painting

Click below to see a new 8x10 oil painting painted for Lisa Dickman.

New Still Life Painting: December 2012

Stormy (live SAMA Altoona)

http://3stormy.blogspot.com/

1000 Gnats Flitter

In the flickering of the sun beneath the cedars

1000 gnats flit

and the little boy in his red shirt 

flashing in the vacant lot 

I have never known more of paradise. 

Leaning back to gaze through the heavy laden apple  branches

and I have never been more there than now

(so much simpler than widely imagined).

The gossamer filaments radiate in rainbow light

and the spiral web beneath the cedar limbs

so-well equipped to capture evening’s flutter

from the green grass  to the sunken limbs

the golden light splashes upon.

Two squirrels romance and game in luxuriance 

while July’s poet contemplates the ‘be’

 and ‘to be’

of the birds’ persistent whistle.

Reflections on the Beauty of this Day

I am so very thankful for this day! Its crisp, cold wind, its solar radiation, the last flickering of autumn leaves upon the breeze. The greatest gift is not the tree or the, dazzling blue sky, or the big brown dog---it is that I can see these things, I can hear her speaking. This gift surpasses every other miracle.

Here is a wonderful quote from Thomas Merton that I read today in his book, No Man is an Island: "If you go into solitude with a silent heart, the silence of creation will speak louder than the tongues of men and angels."

Lisa

On the trail at Trough Creek

Prayer of a Frog

Today Most Blessed of Days
Today is blessed---today, of all days, the one dipped into the river of eternal presence--the holy Now!

Let your mind be still now! Truth everywhere shines, and everywhere my open eyes bathe in its glory. God is not far away in a distant time or land, God is this Presence---here and now.

The Kingdom of Heaven, like a seed grows into the smallest leaves and into the depths of the sky. It grows in the warm soil of my heart. I see God, I hear God!

There is nothing to separate me from God, no mountain, no sea.

The Clientele Live

Click here. :)

Ian Anderson interviews Ian Anderson!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFO6Z0HqMaA

In this funny and provocative interview with himnself, Ian Andersdon discusses his new album, Thick as A Brick 2 and its upcoming tour. Brilliant!

Ian Anderson: Life's a Long Song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE8YLPHZImw

Ian Anderson resurrects the Baroque string quartet, with drums, piano and flute.
He is the musical 'avatar' of this age, no one even in his league. Also great to see,  in these days of corporate 'music' and pseudo-pop stars performing non-acoustically to cowering audiences, a true musical champion!  

Essays

Click for Essays

Focus

Focus: In and Out of Focus

New Website: Peter Wolf Poetry

Peter Wolf Poetry

The 'Foolishness" of the Cross

It occurred to me that to be a "christian" is synonymous with being a fool in the contemporary scene, particularly in the "brain belts" such as Cambridge-Boston or Palo Alto or the research triangle. Frankly, I prefer ''disciple of Christ'' to the name 'christian'. I realize that the term meant a lot to St. Paul but like so many other terms today it has become dilute---far too many come  in that name who are not truly devout, who moreover do not have the "mind of Christ. There are many other terms which have lost their potency in today's public discourse---for example, 'democracy'---whatever it may have meant back in the day to the founding fathers or even Lincoln, it has become so dilute as to be meaningless. Another analogous disconnection of term and essential signification is 'war' and 'peace'. The Orwellian doublespeak that Ronald Reagan ushered in with the term 'peacekeeper' is a case in point. It reminds me of James Joyce's line in Ulysses: "Love--I mean the opposite of hate."


Well, back to the foolishness of Christ's cross. As history 'advances' and more things are 'known' (history does not advance ---progress is a belief system; and knowledge is not equivocal with amassing and manipulating information) be that as it may in worldly terms or in the mind of someone who has no indwelling of the Holy Spirit, for example, someone like Bill Gates appears to be 'smart', whereas someone who echoes Paul in saying that all earthly knowledge is indeed foolishness compared to the knowledge of Christ. Further this knowledge of Christ is of a different order than earthly knowledge or what might be called 'science'. Science asserts so-called finite certainties like 2+2=4 or E=mc2, whereas knowledge of Christ testifies to a relationship with a person best characterized by the word love.


Indeed in this climate the one who loves Christ is "dumb and dumber" getting dumber everyday compared to the world that gets "smart and smarter". This reveals a curious inversion of values---at least in the milieu where I was brought up intelligence was considered to be a good thing, a value to be sought for. However, as I go on now with new eyes that see with Christ's mind, I see that what I considered to be intelligence was not good but was a very subtle conditioning via education within my cultural milieu. To quote Dylan" "I was so much older then I'm younger than that now..." I was so much smarter then, etc...


Personally I thank God today for my growing ignorance of worldly affairs. The world powers that be that put The Holy One to death on the cross are still the same---there is nothing new under the sun! And we are still mocked for being enlightened in Christ, and the smug religious leaders and politicians, and peacekeepers go on reviling, cursing and murdering the innocent (very often in the name of Christ---but this is obviously antichrist). Everything is upside down.


The mind that was in Him, that is in me penetrates with understanding to the core of reality. It is the primary 'word' from which the material world is born (genesis). Hence to be enlightened in Christ's mind is to penetrate all understanding and grasp true knowledge. Paradoxically this enlightened grasp of truth which goes far beyond philosophy is by worldly standards 'foolishness' actually a more pithy term would be 'idiot', 'insane', or colloquially 'loser'. Yes, by this world's standards I am a loser, and so is Jesus Christ! 


Consider the Beatitudes---worldy teachers and preachers cannot communicate anything meaningful about Jesus' teaching because the teaching is idiotic, backwards, stupid, insane.  Parents cannot teach their children to imitate Jesus because he was uncool, stupid, demonstrated zero ability to defend himself in front of the court---and did not seek money, fame, ambition or a wife and kids. If a kid acts like Jesus in America he or she gets punished because Jesus teaching is the antithesis of American virtues, ethics and values. The term Christian Nation makes as much sense as 'peace keeper'---it is perfect double speak. To be honest a Christian nation would also lay down its life for its friends, would turn the other cheek, would never kill, etc...


The paradox that Apostle Paul reveals is that to be in Christ is loss for world but gain for the Kingdom. And the kingdom is not a purified American picnic or whatever materialistic fantasy is promulgated. The kingdom is present, yet hidden, is infra and yet beyond, timeless, neither large nor small, true, full of life---both within and without.

Belgian Sketch circa 1990

                       

Here is a sketch I recently discovered in an old book from the days in Belgium, and I added some color to it!

Forest Song

Late Spring’s tributaries are muddy encasements

joining into a larger stream, 

following its source

the forest song 

murky stream murmuring

the sharp whistle of wood thrush

diaphanous light filtering into the canopy 

lime-yellow shining!

I am listening to the forest song

and all that it tells me is ancient and perduring.

Kneeling on the rusty yellow Winter mosses

shielding new red sprouts and tendrils;

lone hanging oak limb

pale buds silhouette the setting sun,

mist on steely grey Glendale.

The song of ripples and wavelets

soothes me in rhythmic caresses.

Giving praise to God in all things, 

worshipping the beauty of the Lord

in this Springtime kingdom;

shining and opening before me

envelops my musing 

gives me a sweet new song. 

Stalker: by Andrei Tarkovsky

The Stalker---what an incredibly rich and original person! I love the film more each time I see it. The 'zone' is completely relevant in the context---the film's theme grows more poignant as we advance into the 21st century. He is the priest of our time!

Ian Anderson (finally) Plays w/Justin Hayward!

Forever Autumn at Canterbury Cathedral

Rob E. Rooster

Here is the rooster that has taken to visiting my porch. He enjoys the bird feed and cracked corn---what a beauty! 

Glendale-Gopala Krishna

Muskrat Beach-Glendale

I returned today to Glendale to find that the water level has been restored to its pre-autumn level. There was ice today and a biting wind, a feeling of vitality, the cold wind biting... 

We Miss You JoePa! 1926-2012

Joe Paterno Vigil

As Megan states in this video Joe Paterno was a "class act"---and in a total sense. The tragic end of this great man full of virtue was fouled upon by the Penn State Board of Trustees. 

Johnny Cash Covers Neil Young's Pocohontas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRoGr24KWyo&feature=related