A Variety of Thoughts About Everything

 I spent most of my life, growing up and a good size chunk of my, alleged, adulthood being Self Centered. And being totally unaware that I was self centered. I really thought that I was a good guy who cared about others and was giving. Alas, I was mistaken. Many years later I began a program of recovery from addiction. I started working the 12 Steps of Recovery as practiced in Narcotics Anonymous. And I began to get really uncomfortable. What the 12 Steps did, and still do, is peel away the fantasy of who I thought my self to be and introduced me to who I really am. What I found was totally at odds with the picture that I had built up, IE carefully crafted, of myself. And I began to see my total self centeredness. So let us define what it is we are talking about. Thanks to dictionary.com we can do this. Self Centered: adjective concerned solely or chiefly with one's own interests, welfare, etc.; engrossed in self; selfish; egotistical. independent, self-sufficient. centered in ones...

 I was watching an old TV show last night. A Private Detective show that ran from 1974 to 1979. There are a lot of fun things about this show and many observations that I can make from it. Here is one. The main guest that night was a woman who had just 40 years old. Was in denial about her age. And she was a "New Age" spiritualist. She was what could be called, in some traditions, a Seeker. She was on the search for something outside of herself to define herself by. And she kept going in for the Wise Man situation. A guru, or Spiritual Leader, a man, who espoused some way of "Being Spiritual" that was really just a way for him to suck people dry. And the episode showed how she was finally exposed to the truth about her latest guru and how it hurt her. And then, at the end of the episode, some time had passed, and the main character ran into her again at what, I think, was a bus station. And she was professing her faith in a major religion here in the states. Only th...

 Lately I have been seeing a whole lot of social media posts, from people I like and respect, talking about how now is the time to be nice to Trump voters. That if we are just nice enough, polite enough, understanding enough, that we can get them to see the complete error of their ways in supporting this idiot. And I keep thinking, "What F***ing Universe do you live in"? It has been five decades of getting gaslit by these people and their "sources". AKA Talk Radio and Fox "News". And, during that whole time we, meaning Liberals like myself, and Democrats, have been playing fair, trying to find common ground, working with them in order to convince them that we are Real Americans and have some good ideas if you would only see. And the result is this country has been dragged into cuckoo land. And we are almost complete in the process of becoming the Nazi States of America. As we have been trying to find the "Center" the whole political landscape has...

 When I was very young, less than one year old, my family lived in Toronto Ontario. Canada. My parents were members of an expanding organization that they truly believed in. Thus they had travelled a lot. For example, My two older sister wee born in Melbourne Australia. My oldest brother was born in Washington DC, my next brother was born in Opa-Locka Florida. And me, my folks were on a road trip and in was born in a hotel in Detroit Michigan. My next sister was born in Toronto. Then some things happened and my parents split up and my Mother got together with my Step Father. Thus my next sister, brother, and two sisters, were born in Unity/Claremont New Hampshire. My Father, meanwhile, had met a much younger lady and they had my brother Patrick, who later changed his name to David. Then my Father and his wife split up and she had three more daughters, whom I consider my sisters, and the whole family branch is complete. So roots were not really a thing. Now, going back to when I was...

 In the basic text of Alcoholics Anonymous, AKA The Big Book, there is a passage, was page 449 in the 3rd edition, is page 417 of the 4th edition, that says: "Acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing or situation—some fact of my life—unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment." I find that to be true in my life as well. Until I accept everything, exactly as it is and is not, I will not be able to deal with it effectively. So what does Acceptance mean? Let us look at dictionary.com and find out. the act of taking or receiving something that is offered favorable reception; approval; favor the act of assenting or believing: acceptance of a theory For me definition 3 is the one that comes closest for this context. Now let me add some things here about what acceptance is not. I do that s...

 I went to a meeting of Narcotics Anonymous tonight. Not unusual. I have been in Recovery from Addiction for a long time and NA is where I go to get it. After the meeting I was sharing with a newcomer. This person had shared something in the meeting that I have experience with. So we talked. And during that discussion I said something that I remember was said to me a long time ago, that I found to be one of the most important things that I have ever heard, that I share a lot now with newcomers. I said, "You never have to use again. Even if you want to, you don't have to. You have a choice today". And that is true. Once an addict stops using, the substance, behavior, or whatever they are using in order to run away from life, then a whole world of possibilities open up for their life. I know this is true. And I believe that when I say this to another the depth of that experience carries through so that they can actually believe it is possible for themselves. Over the years ...

 The title of this is an ancient Chinese curse allegedly. And I understand why it is considered curse now. The context for that being that Interesting times were times of Chaos and Upheaval with overtones of Disaster. Where everything was being turned on it's head. And, for a different perspective, my Mother tells me that my Grandmother, her Mother, Leigh, used to say that all the time. And she meant it in a different context. Her context was Grow up and go tackle life. Take it on and Master it. So there you have it, Interesting Times. And, for today, I think that we live in Interesting Times in the Chinese Curse context. And let me explain why. For 60+ years there has been a well financed movement to divide America on every front. Politically, Spiritually, Emotionally, in any way possible. And we are in the resulting time. We are no longer the American Community or Family. We are a bunch of separate constituencies that look upon other constituencies with Fear. and Hate. All very c...

 The Human Race as we know it evolved out of the tree climbing race known collectively as the Primate Family. Those are Community Orientated groups. And we continued to be a Community as we evolved. It is hard wired into our DNA, RNA, and whatever other things make us up Genetically. If you look at Human History you will see that the first real punishment that Humans devised for the people that were harming their community was shunning. And, to the people that it was applied to, it was horrid. To be cut off from ones community while still in that community generally broke most people. And if shunning did not work then they came up with Banishment. People got completely driven out of their community and never allowed to return. Often the people that this was done to would end up killing themselves. And then came Religion of the Sky God. And that changed things. We went from a mostly Matriarchal Society with an Earth Mother to a Patriarchal Society with Male Sky Gods. And in that soc...

 Here we are. In the final days of the United States of America as we have all understood it to be. Most people still do not believe, and do not want to believe, the days of any freedom are gone. In just a short amount of time I will probably be arrested or harassed in some way that is nasty because of the things that I write. I will still write them. Until I am no longer able. And everyone is talking about Trump and Elon. And, while I agree, they are a massive problem, they are not the real problem. They are the Result of The Problem. The problem started in the very beginning of "Colonial" days as we separated the European people from the Native people and declared them to be Not Human. And so the Genocide of the Native Peoples began. Then, in 1619, the "settlers" in Jamestown Virginia, bought the first load of Africans from a Dutch "Trader". AKA a Slaver. And the treatment of these "Indentured Servants" was, from the beginning, different from E...