622.

Principles

Aging

Age 

As we get older
we zero in
on how to be good.

At the same time

as we get older
we see bad
as not so bad.

Even so

as we get older
good seeps in
to the good and bad

621.

Principles

Art 

Edge

The young man on a post on Facebook spoke of having and needing an edge.  His sharp features, speedboat racing, ambitious astrology served the millennials mantra 'You can have it all.'  He was an edge, a total edge, saying 'To stand out, you need  edginess.'

When talking on the phone with my ex wife Maggie, she spoke of an artist she knew, Stanford graduate, kind of weird, who suddenly was becoming popular.  Maggie said she used gold leafing on her works.  I think I recall seeing them but forget my response.  I know in general gold leafing never really integrates with the rest of a painting.  I said 'it's almost an attention getting device.'  Maggie answered today you need an edge, that they are all looking for edges.

I said 'My art is about searching and internal.  I don't want an edge.  I want to be 'edgeless.'  The gel that connects us is what I seek, not an edge.

Maggie, upon reflection, agreed.

620.  Past

Spiritual Living

In the background

Should one look to God or to life?  Should one talk to God as a partner as one goes through life?  Doesn’t this replace a real partner?  Can it be dangerous to be too spiritual?  Is the best way, when active in life, to have God in the background and not in the forefront?

619.

Culmination

Is it time?  

Is it time to come to the maker?  To even think about doing so?  To be serious about it?  Or is it not yet time?  I feel it though, although not quite completely.  We still have our needs, our wants.  We still want what we haven't had.  We still want our share here. We want what we think is our entitlement.  But when shall we let go and jump.  Not yet, but soon.  Maybe.

Our lives still have some pleasure.  Something is still gotten out of life, but there are a lot of dead ends.  Many things have become stale.  Many things disappoint. There is little redemption in most of what we do, run across or have.  Nothing feels good, like “that's it.”  Nothing satisfies.  There are still unfinished desires and needs.  There is much that is incomplete, but is there enough time left to complete?

618.

Philosophy

'All against all'

At a lady's friends home, who I was once helpful to,  I found myself in the middle of an argument between she and her boyfriend.  She had been drinking too much and he became justifiably angry but went too far and demeaned her and physically intimidated her right in front of me along with  a worker/friend who was also present.  He even said to me, 'how can you be her friend when she is like this?'  Caught in the middle I said she should apologize for drinking but then added he had no right to demean her dignity so ruthlessly and totally.  It is not for one person to undermine another person's  right to exist.  I added no matter what she had a good heart.

Some banter went back and forth and his anger and hostility was dissipated but still felt.

Wanting to checkmate this exchange, I brought up a 19th or 18th century philosopher, 'Or or Oz' or some brief such name, who succinctly stated 'All is against all.'

I added, let's be honest, we all want to dominate any way we can and terminate all opposition to this dominance.  We compete to eliminate.  This is our starting point.  We can stay there or rise above it and become civilized.

His rage had become handcuffed and he faced a moral choice, not a predetermined fate.

617.

Principles

Living  

A way to live

There is a way to live
where your plans and God's plans
are the same plans.

There is a way to live
where your plans and God's plans
are not life's plans.

There is a way to live
where all plans, yours, God's, life's,
become blessed plans.

616.  Past

Principles
Help

“All that’s left”

All that’s left is help.  If there is no help, then one should be quiet and just wait for the real thing.

615.  Past

Theology

Retains “an above”

In a different time, place, there are different ways to realize there is a God.  An American Indian, Black Elk, did everything imaginable.  He raped, killed, looted, scalped, yet still came to the conclusion there is a maker.  He participated in his culture and still was able to realize this all along.  I found it surprising one could be so brutal and still retain an above in their consciousness.  It kills any preconceptions one might have.