"The only thing that stands between us and our bliss are the grievances we imagine we hold justly against what is/was. Nothing happens to us. It all happens for us. It's the exercise of our own magic in finding the pearl that redeems the muck that teaches us to be more and more what we truly are eternally."
So, shall we make a pearl together?
MAGAs, I do not believe you are bad, heartless people. Actually, the only thing I have against any of you is your continued support of trump, and I think I should tell you why trump so upsets me.
We all go through traumas in life, and I've had my share. I'm a survivor of long term abuse (emotional and physical/s*xual) by a p*dophile when I was just a little kid. It was my grand uncle and he got away with it using psychological tactics that terrorize a child more and more so they will not tell what's going on. I know how these abusers work and trump is doing to the whole country what my grand uncle did to me and my little sister--slowly turning up the abuse. It scares me on a primal level. I've never felt so vulnerable and incapable of defending myself and my country and those I love since I was that 5 year old.
It naturally makes me very angry. I want to defend myself and I can't because I must abide by the very law that he tramples in utter defiance and lawlessness every day. And we know the man is a rapist and that he has raped little girls and adult women. It sets me off and it's not his politics. It's the abuse. The phucker is an abuser and you people who support him must be either all rapists and abusers -- or you are clueless to what he is doing because you have been lucky enough to have never seen this behavior before--so you don't recognize it.
Either that, or you've all seen it so much that there's something wrong with your minds: You know what he's doing and you approve or just think it's normal--the way things are, natural. Or maybe you're indoctrinated politically or so full of rage/hate convoluting your perceptions that you can't help but identify with him and his constant defiant tantrums.
Whatever you think gives you just cause to continue supporting him, my fear is that your support marks you all as sociopaths who likely use his bombastic intimidation and lawlessness in your own relationships--or maybe you feel someone is doing all that to you--and supporting trump is how you get even with the world. Whatever it is, surely there must be a way to address your grievances without destroying the whole world for whatever it is that has made you so angry that you refuse to see all the suffering he is causing and simply say "Enough".
I may look at comments but I'm unlikely to participate much. This venue is toxic. With this blog, I hope to make it a little less so. Y'all think and feel before you reply, if so inclined. I am ready for a meeting of the minds/hearts. I've shown you mine. Is there anything loving/constructive in any of you? Show us your jamb.
People come to believe things that serve them in one way or another, and often disregard contradictory information because it doesn't reinforce the ideas that make them less anxious and feel more empowered. Below is a good explanation of an effect of which one only becomes aware as their education reaches college levels of understanding and above. I'd noticed it in myself: the way my perceptions of the world shifted with more and more perspective and knowledge, but I'd never put it into words except to say, "I know that I do not know what I do not know. Being mindful of this, I know a little better." Some people regard a shatter illusion a "bad thing". Not me. Bring them on. If I've an illusion, let it be shattered. This is not the attitude of people who still support trump. THEIR behavior is more typical of schizoid people with tight delusional systems that make them hateful towards anyone who, no matter how kindly, tries to show them facts that do not mesh well with their delusions.
Regarding the virus, obviously trump has his ideas about how to respond to the virus, and he is motivated by a variety of factors, many of which are inappropriate and displacing the energy he puts into what should be his number 1 concern: Reducing fatalities by supporting medical personnel and the folks who are keeping food, utility and supplies available to weather this biological storm. But his followers are ignoring the medical experts, infectious disease experts, etc and what follows is an explanation for why they are prone to doing this. Basically, it's a lack of perspective in which to judge the competence of their own perceptions/ideas created by a lack of knowledge/data. Just like we can't know how deadly the 2019 Corona virus is until we test a huge random sample for antibodies, these people lack the data set that would give them insight. Couple that with an unwillingness to entertain data contrary to their own theories/delusions and you get a MAGA and/or KAGA. Without further delay, the Dunning Kruger Effect:
Copied from Quora where David Blackstone wrote:
"There’s a psychological phenomenon called the Dunning Kruger effect, which explains why the ignorant believe themselves to be smarter than they actually are.
Knowledgeable people, or experts who know more about a subject than anyone else, are more likely to be aware of what they don’t know. They know the extent of the knowledge that can be learned on a subject and consequently are more likely to know how much they know relative to how much there IS to know.
Ignorant people are the opposite. They don’t know how much there is to know because they don’t know much to begin with. So they assume that their knowledge is on par with or better than an experts, purely because they don’t understand how much there truly is to learn.
Because of this phenomenon, knowledgeable people are more likely to underestimate their knowledge while less knowledgeable people are more likely to overestimate their knowledge.
In sum, smart people know how much they don’t know. Ignorant people are unaware of how much they don’t know, so they think they know more than they do."
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As to where this will lead us, I'm put in mind of what my Dad would shrug and say in such a situation: "Them that cannot hear have to feel".
You are absolutely feeble and your spineless incompetent criminal POTUS has brass, but no balls. He can't admit he fails and so he can't learn from mistakes he won't acknowledge. And you feeble minded cowards choke on the words "Oops. I was wrong about this guy" and, instead, you try to blame anyone but him (and yourself for supporting him) for all the death and loss.
THIS IS YOUR FAULT. Get a spine and the courage to listen to your better angels. (It's not easy but it will make you a better person and this a better world.) Trump's incompetence is clearly evident thru his total mishandling (and criminal corrupt handling) of COVID19. At last, this makes it clear what a constantly lying, posing, incompetent buffoon he is and, instead of admitting errors so they can be learned from, you people are so scared of admitting you were wrong that you try to make the WHO to blame.
The WHO warned us. Trump does not listen to the WHO or the UN. He hates all globalist organizations. HATES them and always has hated them. NOW he wants to blame an organization he hates and has always disrespected for not MAKING HIM TAKE COVID19 seriously. Trump was warned and warned and warned and he chose to hold rallies and politicize it. I hope the only cure for a MAGA getting COVID19 is a prayer to God before the world: "Heavenly Father, people of the world, please forgive me for being too long the supporter of Trump who was incompetent on every level and ran our country like it was a reality TV show. I'm grateful to have been given this opportunity, at such great cost to us all, to see I have been stubbornly lying to myself about the reality of the situation because I had placed so much hope for things getting better in Trump. I see now that holding onto a delusion is much more costly than accepting a mistake was made and learning from it."
Not many of you would survive it because you are all religious hypocrites as well. Here's Christ calling you to repent of the hate that made you back Trump, and you try to make an organization (OUTside the US & Trump hates and would not listen to) responsible for Trump's malfeasance. Get a grip.
It is Trump's responsibility--NOT the WHO's to get it right IN the United States and, if you can't admit that, you're irrational and/or a coward/psychotic and no one, in any venue, should ever take you seriously again until you come to terms with REALITY.
I've forgotten how to make these vids load correctly here so, pardon my first stab at it!
Prophetic, but then we seem to be on a sliding scale of bad these days. Things just seem to get worse and worse, and we just get used to the new levels of bullshit (and the lowering of our quality of life) so the uber wealthy can continue to live profligate lives. One wonders where the break point is, what will be the last straw, and what the backlash will look like when the pendulum swings back. It's occurred to me lately that preppers knew this was coming because they planned to create it and seeing Trump bringing catastrophe actually makes them happy. There's something wrong with minds that can see all this suffering and not be deeply hurt.
It's been my belief that it's my responsibility to FIND, within circumstances beyond my reckoning/control, REASON to feel blessed by said situations. I wait, believing it's all a matter of time before I see why each trial is/was needed. Perhaps I'm an incurable romantic, but I still believe the universe is a benevolent place, just slapping me/us around, harder and harder, until I/we "get it" and change our evil ways. Apparently, I'm pretty thick at times, but my intentions are good. I like to believe that's mostly the case with all of humanity, but trials bring out the character of us all and, lately, I've been dispirited by humanity's obvious selfishness, panic and hate. But, I realize, we're all under enormous stress. Still, it would be a lot less stress for everyone if idiots didn't hoard and intentionally spread germs.
I'm reminded of the words of someone dear to me named Levi. He says, "My dear, there are, in my experience, two sorts of men. Those of low character and those who judge themSELVES harshly". Taking his point, I try not to judge--but to assess likely outcomes/behaviors. Either people are listening to the subtle wordless inner voice that prompts us constantly to "Do the right thing" or they are ignoring said voice and causing problems for us all. It's hard to judge the behavior and not the behavER and, partly because of all the religious insanity I've seen lately, when someone asked recently what I was giving up for Lent, I replied, "Religion".
Religion is a belief system that says one can be "saved" (unspecified from what exactly) by doing certain rituals.
That's a belief in magic--voodoo--and Trump remains proof positive that voodoo dolls do not work.
What we need now is REASON and compassion and commitment to listen to that inner wordless guide and do the right thing. I don't have to agree with anyone's politics or religious idealization to extend compassion, use reason, and do the right thing. I just need commitment to the truth whispering in all our minds/hearts: Either we pull together and get through this, or we pull apart, tribe up--and perish.
Someone ran down and killed my imaginary dog, "Snatters". He was such a good dog too--never caused any trouble, easy to take care of. The bastard who hit him never even slowed down. People...
…He heard a gull calling and waves. They seemed to be crashing against rocks far below as he opened his eyes. He was under a windswept oak, dwarfed from living in rocky soil, and tall, lush grass stretched away, ending where the teal sea met the topaz sky. Emerald mounds of distant islands dotted the horizon, like dragon’s humps emerging from the sea. Birds sang and sunlight shattered through fluffy clouds racing away to the east. He rose and cast about. Piles of taupe stones, overgrown with moss and ferns, marked the locations of what looked to be old and famil-iar cairns. He heard children laughing. The sounds of their joy rose on the wind ascending the cliff face and he moved to the drop off.
The sandstone cliff was weathered in ledges, festooned with tropical shrubs and trees, freckled with blossoms of vibrant purple and fiery orange. The rocky base of the cliff gave way to taupe sand, punctuated with boulders. A woman was on the beach with two children. She held her auburn forelock back with one hand and shaded her eyes with the other, and then she smiled up at Michael, waving. The children were tussling – a lank boy and a wiry girl half his size and age. He scooped her up and onto his shoulders. Her coppery hair fell in curls down over her bare shoulders. Naked from the waist up, they too grinned and waved at Michael. They seemed familiar and he scoured his memory as he descended the narrow path, through the terraces of vine draped trees, to the soft beige sand of the beach two hundred meters below.
The woman smiled broadly, bright blue eyes flashing from beneath auburn brows, as she approached, picking her way between the boulders. His heart seemed to splash in his chest at the sight of her. She laughed aloud, the sound of it like crystal bells dancing in a warm breeze. His eyes grew wide as his skin rose in gooseflesh, fire spangling up and down his spine. He opened his arms and she ran to him, falling into his embrace. She was warm and brown and sun-kissed, and he dropped his nose into her hair. Her scent was of honeysuckle mixed with jasmine and sandalwood.
“You’re so warm,” he breathed.
“It’s just the love,” she whispered.
He pulled away and looked into her eyes as a rush of uncaused joy welled and swallowed his cares. Her irises scintillated with shards of violet, swimming in blue. He grinned, stunned and enchanted. She laughed and he saw her fangs gleaming. He ran his tongue across the surface of his teeth and found his blood teeth. Memories of another life tumbled and tangled.
“Where am I?”
“That’s the wrong question,” she breathed, “but you are in Our world, Michael. This will one day soon be your only home.” She gestured to the children drawing night. “Our home,” she breathed. “It’s Tír inna n-Óc, the world of eternal youth. We are building it together, you and I, even now, for us and our children and our family and friends... You don’t remember because you think time runs in but one direction, but time is loops within loops, and the world you think you know is but a dream within a dream.”
“Hi,” the little girl squinted up at him, soft taupe freckles flecked her fair cheeks under pale gray eyes. Sunlight spangled in her coppery curls. It made Michael want to laugh. The boy’s dazzling azure eyes danced with recognition as he held the girl’s legs by the knees, steadying her on his shoulders while she gripped his thick auburn hair. “Where hae ye been?” The wee girl’s accent swept through Michael’s mind, dragging him back to a time he could not quite recall, as if it were another world. He smiled and swallowed a lump of emotion, eyebrows knitted, and looked to the woman. She suppressed her laughter.
(Continued in first comment.)
Munchando a bacon strangled jalipeno stuffed grilled shirmp, grilled asparagus and baby portobellos! With The Banvenie doublewood. After all, who cannae use double wood?! Que cuno... Viva YO!!
Slainte mhor! To the second spring chasing the second summer!
...from my years at University of South Florida.
"...Oui, je sais que tu existeras." Et je sais que Je t'aime, plus j'aime ma vie dans ce monde.
I hope you enjoy this, my friends.
I had this early challenge in my life. My Daddy had lost his bearing in the world. Understandable, really, given what he'd faced, the challenges in his young life. They carried over into mine and we were at odds, despite the fact that I loved him more than I loved my own life. He misperceived what I did and said for many years and it was a great row (conflict). Eventually, he understood that I'd do anything for him -- if he would but ask rather than demand. I do not knuckle under to demands -- ever. I am extremely manipulable if you know where the buttons are. All one need say is "Cailin, it would please me if you'd..." Reasoning too works and, failing that, begging and pleading too are effective.
Anyway, looking back, I find myself at a peculiar juncture. The most, perhaps the only, worthwhile thing I have done in my life was serving to reorient Daddy: to bring him back to his heart -- to love and to see that what love asks, lovingly, is delivered, for what the Beloved longs to do is but to please. Daddy was my Dad, but he was also like a brother and we certainly were friends. Now, at 55, I am looking back and thinking it has all been worthwhile just for the sake of what was real between me and Daddy. I'm pleased, but I am wondering what might be the point of this longevity I never thought I would enjoy. Obviously, there must be a point and I abide, waiting to be of some further use and purpose.
CailinCallaghan Blog (103)
