April 08, 2005
The most rational thing I've read so far today
The first warning of a coming depression. I often harp about money being lent out for less than the rate of inflation. If I gave you $20 today and you paid me back in a year at only 4% interest, I then go fill my tank with gas with the $20 and get less than a full tank, ie, I lost value while my money was lent out.
Seems simple enough. If you print endless dollars or lend money at ridiculous rates, savings plummets to near zero and the dollars don't buy what they could, earlier. This rule of economics is pretty iron clad. Just because it doesn't set in with a vengence immediately doesn't mean it isn't setting in with a vengence, it merely means the despotic rulers and the gang around him are madly manipulating the currency and the value of the collective estate and the mess is being shoved forwards in time.
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Go read the whole post. Good stuff.
Posted by donna at 09:21 AM
April 07, 2005
Culture of Life Festival!
The GOP's First Annual Culture of Life Festival
Chairman Ken Mehlman
Republican National Committee
Dear Chairman Mehlman,
We need to capitalize on all of the goodwill generated by the Party's recent Culture of Life activities. What better way to do that than to turn the Washington DC Fourth of July Celebration into a Culture of Life Festival?
We'll need to get moving on this right away, so I've put together an event schedule for your review:
Call To Prayer: True Father Sun Myung Moon, Messiah
Honor Guard: Jeff Gannon, journalist
Mr. Gannon will provide our nation's flag with a military escort. Parents are urged to shield their children's eyes.
Warm Up Act: Blastocyst Bob McCullough (Blastocyst-American brother of Presidential Trivia Whizkid Noah McCullough)
Bob will match his amazing ability to rapidly divide and multiply against the mathematical talents of the entire Social Security Board of Trustees.
Scavenger Hunt: Rep. Tom Delay, Sen. John Cornyn, and Pokey the Box Turtle
Rep. Tom Delay* will award a Choose Life T-Shirt to the first 100 people who bring him a judge's ear to add to his necklace. Sen. Cornyn will greet each returning contestant with a hug and the words, "The bastard deserved it." Pokey the Box Turtle will ensure that Sen. Cornwyn doesn't lose interest and wander off.
*Rep. DeLay might have a scheduling conflict. He may be feverishly conducting an abstinence education class for the boys of the Aryan Brotherhood in Cellblock B. If that's the case, we'll get Randall Terry to award the shirts.
Tribute to Freedom: Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
Sec. Rumsfeld will bring freedom to the brown people of Washington's Anacostia district by leveling their neighborhoods with a missile strike.
Life Saving Demonstration: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Attorney General Gonzales will personally beat ten randomly chosen Iraqis to death in an attempt to obtain "ticking time bomb" information that may save countless lives.
Tribute to the Arts: President George W. Bush will honor the Culture of Life by coloring a picture of baby kitties.
Fireworks: Randall Terry
Mr. Terry will preside over the most spectacular fireworks display Washington has ever seen. Every abortion clinic within a 10 mile radius will be hit with napalm simultaneously.
Well, that's it. Let's get together and start planning.
Heterosexually yours,
Gen. JC Christian, patriot
posted by Gen. JC Christian, Patriot | 2:42 AM
Posted by donna at 10:16 AM
April 06, 2005
Do other investors know our bonds are worthless?
Let's hope they weren't watching this performance....
Posted by donna at 01:27 PM | Comments (1)
Constancy
Clear sunlight on falling snow; fire and ice.
Bare boned trees stark to the horizon,
Cold marshes, havens to ducks and geese.
A groundhog sits motionless on a post.
Wherever we are, the constant flow of Tao is ever present. We see the cycles of opposites, such as the juxtaposition of sunlight and snow. We notice the ongoing rhythms of life: waterfowl carrying on their lives even as spring is slow to warm and leafless trees stand in anticipation of warmer weather. All things change, all things move constantly. The world is like the ongoing turning of a magnificent wheel. All things come in their own time.
Just as a groundhog sits motionless in the moving of the seasons, so too should we look within and slowly absorb the time. Within all the movement, the groundhog takes time to be still. Within all the changing of spring, we must take time to notice the constancy of inner devotion.
No matter how much is going on outside of oneself, one still reaffirms what is on one's heart, taking comfort in the regular pulse. What works in the shelter of home or temple works everywhere. Only when we know such constancy will we know that our quest is succeeding.
Posted by donna at 08:48 AM | Comments (0)
April 05, 2005
travel
Body is the tabernacle.
Traveling one thousand miles,
The gods are still in place.
The body is the temple of the gods. It should be kept clean and pure, so the holiest of events can take place. Sacred, it should be kept undefiled. Consecrated, its interior is where the deepest questions are explored.
In olden times, the devout carried tabernacles so that they could keep up their devotions even when far from their homes. Their gods were inside these boxes, protected and treasured. Followers of Tao believe that the gods are within themselves. Therefore, wherever they go, they carry the gods within them.
During their travels, when they come to a resting place, they open not a receptacle but themselves. They carry their sense of "place" within themselves. Even while sojourning, they remain oriented to their inner sacredness. Perhaps they can even make breakthroughs more quickly, for the preoccupation of the mind are no longer present to interfere with the flow of the divine. Once people connect to their inner strength, there is no end to the wonders of travel.
A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving. ~Lao Tzu
I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within. ~Lillian Smith
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime. ~Mark Twain
Too often travel, instead of broadening the mind, merely lengthens the conversation. ~Elizabeth Drew
I love to travel, and would like to be able to do more of it. I finally got to New York just this year, a trip I've wanted to make for a long time. It's a beautiful city, really. I also love going to San Francisco and had a great time up there earlier this year. I really want to get back to Ireland, and over to Europe, and also head over to Asia. It's easier to travel now that the kids are older and can be left on their own or aren't a pain to take with us.
Going to Hawaii was good last year, especially getting to drop my parents off in the ocean. Their remains will get to travel to Tahiti and who knows where else! Such a lovely way to end up, just traveling all over the world. I can't decide if I want to do that in a few years or live at the golden retriever ranch raising goldens or both. Anybody out there got a ranch and want to raise golden retrievers and travel the world? Well, I think it would be fun.
Posted by donna at 10:45 AM | Comments (0)
April 03, 2005
Confidence
Confidence -- Ellen F. McCormick Martens
Truth perceived gives assurance.
Skill yields self-reliance.
With courage, we can defy danger.
To increase power, increase humility.
Though constant contemplation, we can arrive at the truth. The more experienced we are, the more thorough our understanding, and thus the more we can come to rely on our knowledge. When we exercise what we know, it not only extends our understanding of the truth but helps us take action in meaningful ways. The more we do, the more self-reliant we are.
Every achievement brings a wonderful dividend of confidence. We try greater and greater ventures, until we are brave enough to accomplish undertakings far beyond what the average person imagines. When we reach that level of consummate skill, it is a time of both celebration and extreme caution. We are justified to rejoice, for this is the level of ability that we have been striving so long and hard to attain. It is also the time for caution because the foolish will eventually try something too great for them to handle. Pride and passion will lead to their downfall.
Therefore, the more accomplished one becomes, the more circumspect one should be. The higher one's skills, the more precarious one's road. The most powerful followers of Tao are also among the most humble. By veiling their light until the proper moments, they escape the greatest danger of all: hubris.
Yes, I think hubris is probably the greatest danger America faces as a nation today. The current administration thinks nobody can bring it down, and so they will continue their plans until they make their final error.
Individual hubris can be just as costly. My own has cost me three wonderful friendships. Granted, I was ill at the time and didn't realize it, but there it is, all the same. I'll always regret those losses, but they did teach me to be humble. But I have lots to be humble about. I'm not rich or famous, or a supermodel, or much of anything else. I'm just me, and have to be happy with that, as we all do.
But I do have confidence in myself these days. I know my own limits pretty well, and I know where I need to improve things and work on doing so. I don't really care about defying danger. I have great respect for danger. I don't have anything to prove to anyone anymore, even myself. And perhaps that is the greatest confidence of all.
Posted by donna at 12:29 PM | Comments (0)
April 02, 2005
Accuracy
Make every move count.
Pick your target and hit it.
Perfect concentration means
Effortless flowing.
A life that is spiritual requires focused action. It needs quick reflexes, accurate timing, and abundant skill. This is why followers of Tao are always compounding their self-cultivation: They want the ability to do whatever they want.
Each day your life grows a day shorter. Make every move count. All that matters is accomplishing what you envision with the greatest dispatch. Once you do, that aspect of your interest is discharged, and you can then go on to some new interest. If you do not engage in this ongoing process of action, you will never satisfy all the various aspects of the soul, and realization will never full mature for you.
Some assert that there is no end to desire, so we should undercut our ambition. But this doesn't address the need for satisfaction. We need to have satisfaction in what we do in order to have a good sense of well-being. If we undercut our ambition, then we will never make any achievements nor satisfy our yearnings. This only leaves us with frustration, uncertainty, and timidity. Therefore, to follow Tao, we must identify our inner longings and dispatch them with a hunter's accuracy.
So many people suppress their ambitions in life, doing what others tell them they ought to do, or working to buy things they think they need instead of following their own dreams. Once you figure out that there is very little in the way of material things you actually need -- food, clothing, shelter, the basics -- then you are much more able to pursue your own ambitions and goals, the real ones, not the societal ones.
What do you really want to do? Find a way to do it. Then you can be so much clearer on what you want in your life. Take the class, read the books to teach you, find someone to teach you, but learn how to accomplish those goals. Don't keep waiting for the right moment or time in your life to do something. Do it while you have the ambition and inspiration to accomplish it. That is the only way to feel satisfied with your life.
Posted by donna at 08:22 AM | Comments (0)
April 01, 2005
Well Said, Indeed
The Blogging of the President: 2004
The Mark of Hell
by Stirling Newberry
I am amused by the recent boom in the phrase "the culture of life" - with its combination of meanings of kulturekampf and catholicism mixed together. It will, indeed, be the rallying cry for invasions, the death penalty and crack heads ranting along with Rush Limbaugh. Given their choice of martyr's - a brain dead woman who the courts had ruled wanted to have her suffering endeded, they should really call it the horticulture of vegetable life.
But more seriously, if you know your theology you know that God is not where they are coming from, instead, as the writings of CS Lewis make clear: the unswerving devotion to a mechanistic sense of life is a mark of hell, not heaven. The spiritually prepared do not fear death, nor do they regard death as the prime evil. As Lewis has one of his devils say: "They believe that death is the prime evil, and life the prime good, because we have taught them so."
On a moral level, the ghastly stew of Spencerian dog eat dogism that lives under the phrase should be enough to cause any individual of faith to reject it. It also tells me why they can't stand Darwinian theory - dogs eating dogs don't like even the appearance of competition.
In Lewis' series of novels -- Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra and That Hiddeous Strength -- Lewis attacks the mechanistic view of life as being the source of great evil. At first it shows up in the desire to propagate ones seed, and in the second in the desire to achieve personal immortality. The demon inhabiting the body of the villian makes it plain that the dead hate the living, because once through the order of life, there is nothing but a dry chaos. In Lewis' world, the afterlife of the damned is very much like ancient Sumerian mythology - to descend into a realm of permanent shadow and eat mud.
This mechanistic worship of the life force, as Lewis is also at pains to explain, often masquerades as spirituality and religion itself: the devil teaches others to worship the self and the ego as he does. The worship of the mere continuation of life is a theme in other Christian stories. It is, specifically, at the root of stories about the undead.
The undead are those who have not only sacrificed their immortal soul, but their connection with the divine, in order to subsist in this world for longer. They do not merely trade life and salvation for unlife and damnation, but also recruit others into their ranks. They spread horror, disease and terror - and swell the ranks of the damned.
It should not escape notice that the first battle of this new cult which is to be America's new state religion, was not over a living person, but over a person trapped as a technological undead. Alive in body, but not in spirit or personality, and subsisting, continuing. Gaining not more life, but merely the continued association of mere molecules.
This cult of the life force is, then, a cult of undeath, and, as with its previous incarnations, one which is profoundly both sadistic and masochistic. This can be seen not only in their demand to keep alive someone who is dead, but also in their cultural artifacts: The Passion of the Christ is an erotic celebration of self-flagellation. The revival of this worship of suffering comes with two parts: one of course is guilt at material prosperity, the same people who protested outside of Schiavo's hospice would not send money to prevent famines in Africa - and fear. The cult of death and the cult of the life force live hand in hand, the desire to be consumed is next to the desire to consume.
That this form of pharisee-ism is renewed in a time where the United States is, vampire like, sucking the prosperity from the other developed nations of the world - nations which stood by us duiring that long twilight struggle that was the cold war - is not an accident.
This new cult then, is opposed, not to the culture of death, but to the society of spirit and the life of the mind. By placing something other than grace as the prime good, it is, consequently, a rejection of God, and his message of love and salvation.
Because those who know they are saved do not fear death, nor cling to life beyond that hour which has been appointed for them.
Posted by donna at 06:26 PM
Funeral
Hearse of weathered black enamel.
Undertakers fingering cigarettes.
Family, some crying, some bored,
Some only thinking of themselves.
Hired marching band out of tune.
Even in death we find no accord.
If you look closely at a dead person, can you truly see a soul? Is there anything left of the person that you knew? No. There is only a corpse, one that doesn't even look familiar; whatever animates people is gone. Have they flown to heaven? Have they gone into some cycle of transmigration? I don't know. Theories about what happens after death can only be conjecture.
A funeral is for those left behind. It is a ritual for us to come to grips with what has happened. Sometimes, one wonders if the weeping is more out of fear for ourselves than it is sympathy for the deceased.
All our lives, we seek union. We try to please our parents, we try to do well for our teachers and society, we try to make love and get married, we try to touch the universal through art, music, and meditation. Yet all our lives, our every attempt is flawed. Accord and harmony are transitory states. Their duration and quality come only from our determination. Once our mind gives way, we can no longer hold the connection that we want.
Don't wait for death to solve your difficulties. Do what you must while you are alive.
Good weapons are instruments of fear;
all creatures hate them.
Therefore followers of the Tao never used them.
The wise man prefers the left.
The man of war prefers the right.
Weapons are instruments of fear;
they are not a wise man's tools.
He uses them only when he has no choice.
Peace and quiet are dear to his heart.
And victory no cause for rejoicing.
If you rejoice in victory, then you delight in killing;
If you delight in killing, you cannot fulfill yourself.
On happy occasions precedence is given to the left, on sad occasions to the right.
In the army the general stands on the left, the commander-in-chief on the right.
This means that war is conducted like a funeral.
When many people are being killed, they should be mourned in heartfelt sorrow.
That is why a victory must be observed like a funeral.
-- Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching
I haven't written much about the Schiavo schism. In this one poor sad family is America's current crisis, writ small. Michael Schiavo, trying to do the right thing by his wife, trying to respect her wishes. The parents and the right wing, wanting to control her life since she is helpless to say for herself what she really wants. It is how they want all women to be - voiceless, helpless, unable to say what is best for themselves. The right and their "culture of life, if you are unborn, or unable to speak for yourself, or willing to let us speak for you and tell you what to do", vs. the left "culture of living", with the right to die gracefully, the right to live as you choose to, the right to be who you are without being told who you are by your parents, by the government, by anyone but yourself.
Even in death, for poor Terri Schiavo there are seperate funerals. At one, she will be remembered as the daughter, helplessly wronged in death. At the other, her life will be celebrated, her love remembered, her spirit honored. Michael will do those things in her memory. Her parents will only mourn their own loss, not celebrate Terri's life.
My dad's funeral was a celebration of his life, with so many people telling me what a great man he was. My mother's funeral was a remembrance of her service to others. (I used the bird of paradise image because she loved Hawaii, so I had tropical flowers at her funeral). That is what should happen - people should be remembered and celebrated at their death. We sorrow for their loss, but need to honor them in their death for who they were.
Do what you must while you are alive - indeed. That is the only way to live life. Don't expect a great reward in the beyond for being what someone else thought you ought to be and living in the way they thought you ought to live - be who you are, and celebrate yourself in your own life and time.
Posted by donna at 10:37 AM | Comments (0)