Know Thyself

[dan]

This thread is meant to be a logical continuation from the previous one, the Metaphysics of the BPWH. This progression is meant to provide a synopsis of all that has come before, wrt the BPWH, much of which is being held in safe-keeping(?) by the various parties to the implosion of OMF.
------------


What do we know about ourselves?

We know that we have opposable thumbs, that we are mortal and that we can communicate ideas.

With Homo habilis, an advanced grasping-capable hand was accompanied by facultative bipedalism, possibly implying, assuming a co-opted evolutionary relationship exists, that the latter resulted from the former as obligate bipedalism was yet to follow. Walking may have been a by-product of busy hands and not vice versa.

Mortality is a ubiquitous feature of life. It raises many metaphysical issues, particularly wrt sapient entities.

Our ability to communicate ideas raises several related issues.



(cont.)

[Cyrellys]

Progress is being made in that respect Dan.

*********

We hold that one of the most fundamental ideas about mankind is that "sound conclusions about "human nature" cannot be derived from studying a single nation or cultural tradition. A comparative, cross-cultural approach is necessary." C. Kottak

We know that "all behavior is in some degree expressive -- even refusing to speak." Sarett/Sarett/Foster

We know that we do not live alone on islands, isloated from other people. And many of us are realizing we do not live in a closed system. C.M. Mediator

We know that "real character and skill development is irrevocably related to natural laws and governing principles; when we observe these, we gain the strength to break with the past, to overcome old habits, to change our paradigms, and to achieve primary greatness and interpersonal effectiveness." S. Covey

We know between "impulse and action, to interpose evidence, reason, and judgement." Paul Brandwein

We know "without self-knowledge in depth we can have dreams, but no art. We can have the neurotic raw materials of literature but not mature literature. We can have no adults, but only aging children who are armed with words and paint and clay and atomic weapons, none of which they understand. And the greater the role in the educational process which is played by unconscious components of symbolic thinking and wider must be this ancient and dishonorable gap between erudition and wisdom." Lawrence Kubie

We know "that humans are stuck in a kind of competition for each other's energy. When we get others to acquiesce to our view, they identify with us and that pulls their energy into us and we feel stronger." J Redfield

Kudos to Dan for continuing to strive for improvement.

Cy

[dan]

Cy,

Thank you for your continued help and patience. Keep me posted on how things are progressing wrt the possible reinstatement of OMF.

If that process continues to lag, I would be glad to compensate someone to temporarily upload the old OMF/DS section to CMF. Whatever would be a reasonable amount.

And thank you for those quotes..... entirely apropos.

BTW, it looks like the celebration/memorial for my sister, Louise, will be in Livingston, in the first week or two of July.
---------------


IMHO, those three items..... thumb, death, communication.... tell us, or should suggest to us, most of what we need to know about ourselves.

Of, those, death does stand out like...... a sore thumb? It is what keeps us on our toes, so to speak. It does keep us guessing, does it not?

Since the Enlightenment, intellectuals have shied away from this topic. According to this entry, Holbach (1723-89) was the first outspoken atheist, but, presumably, most of the others chose to remain agnostic wrt survival. Nowadays, that agnosticism has significantly trended toward skepticism, with only some rebound under the rubric of postmodernism. Pantheism is very much tolerated amongst intellectuals, wherein atheism is balanced against a continuum of the spirit, whatever that might imply. This would relate to the (quaint?!) existential notion of a free will.

But here is where things get complicated, metaphysically, and where most people fall off the tracks, when it comes to comprehending the BPWH........


How do we spell M-O-N-I-S-M......?

Monism is what we moderns have the most difficulty wrapping our minds around.

Modernism is, with a very few materialistic exceptions, all about Mind/Matter dualism. It took me a full five years of struggle, from 1977-82, to finally cut my umbilical cord to Dualism. It was my second born-again experience.

You folks will not be vouchsafed that much time. Otherwise, it will be over my dead body!

When it comes to Monism, the pantheists should be leading the way, carrying that torch.... But, no, they hide that torch under a bushel, all out of political expediency..... an expediency of which precious few of them are even consciously aware.


3:40----------

Why the pantheists ape the dualists.......

They take the path of political least resistance. They provide us moderns with a spiritual alternative to both theism and materialism. It provides an emotional solace, with only a smidgen of intellectual strain or commitment. There is no part of the materialist cosmology which need be abandoned, thereby. It is a painless, frictionless exercise of their otherwise neglected souls. It allows them to sleep peacefully, without succumbing to the existential angst of being an absurdity in a meaningless universe.

Mind you that this is strictly a postmodernist version of pantheism. Oh, but get this......

Pantheism is the perfect complement to the notion of Perpetual Progress. This is a useful article, along with the comments and companion pieces. You gotta love Ray K's log-log plots of from bacteria to supercomputers. The only thing missing are the LGMs, little green men. Fermi's paradox is ne'er to be seen.

But wait, again........ I'm going to need to review James Gardner's book.....

www.amazon.com/The-Intelligent-Universe-Emerging-Cosmos/dp/1564149196/

Chapter 4 is The Fermi Paradox Revisited! It's about the Great Silence. Which may, possibly, speak to the notion that the self-revealing God is also, logically, the self-concealing God.



(cont.)

[gary]

"The atom is the logical extension or completion of the thumb, can't have one without the other."

Dan, the BIG QUESTION is: Since atoms can be in more than one place at the same time, what about thumbs?

[dan]

Evidently, Gary has not heard the expression...... I'm all thumbs......!


The Great Silence......?

Evidently, God deals with us on a need to know basis. Is there a problem with that?


6:40--------

I'm still working on Jim's book, starting with chapter 4...... now on page 98......


Now onto chapter 5..........



(cont.)

[dan]

And onto chapter 6. I had read parts of the Intelligent Universe when it came out in '07. It is more useful to me now, than it was then.

What I like about Jim G. is that, while he takes off from the premises of Ray Kurzweil, he is willing to go beyond the Singularity.

Of course, with an actual singularity, there is no beyond. But in attempting to do so, James provides a reductio ad absurdum. He, and all other transhumanists fail to take into account the teleological/transcendental problem that was fully recognized by Teillhard with his Omega point (1950).

I hadn't previously recognized that any open ended notion of progress implies a teleology, which, in turn, implies something transcendental.

James and the Transhumanists may not even realize how much effort they are expending to avoid the teleological/transcendental problem.



(cont.)

[sparky]

Keeping up with this is like watching paint dry.

"My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,"
James 1:18-20

[dan]

Sparky,

Watching the paint dry.........!

If you find this so boring, then why do you keep following it? Would you like to become a disciple?

Just wondering.........
--------------


A long time friend and neighbor of Sam's is Bavo Lievens. He recenly published his long-awaited book..... The Mind Experiment. I would like to discuss with him how it is that Buddhists deal with issues of urgency. I have invited him to lunch.



(cont.)

[sparky]

If not me, then who?
Just trying to help this slow economy.
Why read the newspaper on days when there isn't any interesting news?

"Then it shall be, if ought be committed by ignorance without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bullock for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour unto the LORD, with his meat offering, and his drink offering, according to the manner, and one kid of the goats for a sin offering." Num. 15

[dan]

But why not you, Sparky?
------------

I have posed to Bavo, the one unanswerable question for the Buddhist......

Why is there anything besides Bliss?

This, IMHO, is the Achilles heel for that entire edifice.

IOW, why do you or I exist in the first place?


I have just googled "anything besides bliss"..... and came up with only 10 hits, none of them related to spirituality.

Is it possible that I am the first person in recorded history to pose this question?

Hey, metaphysics..... it's like shooting fish in a barrel!


When I google "nothing besides bliss", there is only one result.......

The God who is a mere assumption does not remain in deep sleep. He vanishes with His created world. Not even the perceiver or the individual personality survives in sound sleep. Nothing besides bliss and rest exists in deep sleep. This is why all beings love the experience of sleep and willingly court it. Deep sleep is a great proof which shows beyond all doubts that the absolute truth is in us and is non –dual (that is devoid of personality or the ego and all thoughts). The state of sound sleep provides us the greatest clarity that we are ‘That’ and the mind with the ego is an illusion like a mirage. It eloquently demonstrates to us that we are that sublime profound ‘Stillness’ beyond the scope of the mind and Maya. It instills in us the hope that we can experience that profound Stillness and peace in Nirvikalpa Samadhi after due efforts (intense reflection and dispassion).

Lets take a look at this......

This advaita vedantist is saying that, in truth, nothing does exist besides Bliss. Well, sure, but what about this persistent illusion that most of us have of being caught up in lives that are usually rather less than blissful?

From whence came this illusion? Does it come from my bad karma? Ok, but, then, from whence came my bad karma?

Further, on that same page.......

Then how to explain this world of plurality and great diversity with regard to the Non- dual Brahman which is singular and one only? Here Vedantin takes recourse to the theory of Maya. As the sleeping man creates the objects of the dream world so does creation occur in this world by the unique power of God’s will. The Upanishads say that in the beginning God willed that He may become many and thus creation began. That creation is a phenomena of the Universal mind or Maya.

Hmmm......

Whoa, sports fans..... Isn't this sounding an awful lot like Genesis? I.e. there is no such thing as a self-satisfied bliss. Creation and Creator are logically inevitable! Am I just the second person, after Arnand V., to have realized this?

In another essay on this same site, Arnand quotes from the Maharishi......

Swami Yogananda: Why does God permit suffering in this world? Should He not with His omnipotence do away with it at one stroke and ordain the universal realization of God?
Maharishi: Suffering is the way for realization of God.
Swami: Should He not ordain differently?
Maharishi: It is the way.
Swami: Are yoga, religion etc, antidotes to suffering?
Maharishi: They help you to overcome suffering.
Swami: Why should there be suffering?
Maharishi: Who suffers? What is suffering?
The conversation ends here.

And someone, please, tell me that this is not precisely where our conversation with Jesus begins.......

But next comes this......

From this above cited conversation Maharishi means that the sufferer (ego or the individual) being an appearance (a non existent myth concocted by the mind) the suffering also is unreal. Though it may at first be difficult to digest (comprehend) Maharishi’s words arising out of His immediate experience we can understand it clearly by the example of deep sleep. Whatever may be the nature of one’s suffering one does not perceive it in deep sleep. Once deep slumber overtakes us we are not aware of any suffering. Even the sufferer mysteriously disappears giving way to absolute peace and happiness. On waking we remember that we slept blissfully and were not aware of anything. This immediate daily experience of ours proves Maharishi’s words brimming with wisdom to be true. This wisdom points out to us that the real self is never tainted by any suffering at any point of time. So suffering never ever exists in the Absolute awareness.  

Whoa, again......!

Have we just discovered the key to all wisdom......?

According to the Hindus and Buddhists, God is Bliss.

According to the Christians, God came to Earth, in order to suffer in our stead.

Muslims believe that Christians are idolators, because they/we suppose that God could or would suffer. Jews believe that their messiah could not be put to death.

Yes, sports fans, I think we have found the Key, IMHO.


2:22-----------

And what does this have to do with the price of eggs in Moscow?

What does this have to do with Grace and Green?

Everything, IMHO......

Nobody wants to suffer, but everybody does, except......... who?

Should God be an exception?

Should we, can we, be 'saved' from our suffering?

Or, more, emphatically, do we need to be saved? Does the world need to be saved?

The only people in the world who believe that the world can be saved are Christians.

But that is not true, is it? Most Christians believe that most of the rest of us are destined to suffer Eternal Torment.

But, no, I'm not talking about He'll, right now. I'm just talking about the Tribulation. Does God want us to suffer the Tribulation?

And what do we mean by Tribulation?

The Tribulation is supposed by most Christians to be an essential aspect of the Endtimes. Doomsday or Doom and Gloom are other, more secular appellations.

The first secular notion of doomsday was ushered in with the concept of the Doomsday Device. Since the bomb, we have invented/discovered many such possible implementations, from viruses to asteroids to overpopulation.

Why do we not all suffer from doom and gloom?

Most of us are resigned to Fate........ such as in....

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Hmmm.......

What exactly is it that you and I cannot change, pray tell?

Lord willing...... you and I can change the notion that God is Bliss, to the idea that God is Love. Is there a difference? I think so, and I also think that the fate of humanity may hang in that balance.


4:17----------

Just got off the phone with my other sister, concerning our memorial visit to Livingston and to L-S Ranch. Things do seem to be progressing on several fronts......

Can there be bliss without love? Can there be love without bliss? Which has the priority, in the cosmic scheme?

If you have to ask, then you cannot afford to die, IMHO.


4:44----------

Is there a Prosperous Way Down (2001)? Hmmm.......?

I'll now be reading this book. If there is a prosperous way down, then we won't need any external mediation, will we?

From: Dan Smith
Date: March 16, 2012 5:17:58 PM EDT
To: Bavo
Cc: Sam
Subject: Re: Mind Experiment

Bavo, 

The question I am posing to you is the possible distinction between bliss and love.......

compassmorainn.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=bpwh&thread=96&page=1#952 

Look toward the bottom of this lengthy post...... 4:17 pm..... 

Consider this..... 
 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Does this make any sense to you, or is it gibberish?  

5:35-------

I'm reading part III of Howard's book..... Policies for Tansition and Descent.


6:05--------

I just spoke with Jack Alpert. He is with his family, visiting his older son in Thailand. We will talk again, when he gets home, on the 22nd.

I am proudly wearing one of his RPD buttons that I helped to finance.


I'm on chapter 13...... Starting Down......



(cont.)

[dan]

Will I or won't I go 'public' with my Jesus schtick?

I don't think I have a choice. Who is going to stop me? Am I going to stop me? I don't think so. The global clock and my clock are both ticking.

Hey, I've been trying to go public for the last 35 years, and look where it's got me to...... nearly dead silence, here on CM.

What is different now? What is different is the Baltimore Green Forum. It seems to be one more piece of the puzzle. One more card in the deck. I'm intending to play that card, starting maybe today. I just have to get up my nerve, to declare the emergency.

And I have to go over my 'sanity' checklist.......

#1... Is the Sun an illusion?

Is it real? What about sunburn? Is that just an illusion, too? Solar cells?

In order for me to be Jesus, I have to make it plausible that the Sun, like everything else, is an illusion. Otherwise, all bets are off.....

Am I not my own worst skeptic? Well, for the purpose of this countdown exercise, I'm the only skeptic that's gonna matter. Tell me I'm wrong, just about that much of it.....

I've recently rerun the atom exercise..... who breathes fire into all those quantum/atomic formulas? Mainly it's just us, with some help from above. That much is already written into those formulas.... just check out the Observer problem.

But who breathes fire into the Sun?

I'm only saying that it's the same one who breathes fire into us.

And here I am making a somewhat new observation..... that we are the projections of God, as 'he' is of us. Yes, we are each in a co-dependency situation with the other. The world is a bootstrap operation and we and God are the primary components of the cosmic Bootstrap.

And, yes, the Sun is important, too.

Wrt the Sun, necessity is the mother of its invention. Yes, the logic of the Sun is all in place, but, still, where is the fire? I think, at this point, I fall back...... to, let's say, the little match girl.....

Who breathes fire into her matches? Or, in our case, how is the burning illusion of that fire generated? We drop a matchnin the wrong place, and a whole forest may go up in flames.

Ok, so combustion is the logical outgrowth of metaboic oxygenation. Given oxygenation, fire has no choice, but to burn, baby, burn! If it didn't, we'd just have to conjure it out of thin-air, so to speak. Is my logic becoming circular? Of course, but is it a vicious circle, or is it a virtuous circle? Before this is all over, we'll all be praying that it is a virtuous circle. You pray for me, and I'll pray for you.

So, have I proven my case, about the Sun being an illusion? No, I haven't. Have I made it less implausible? I believe so. Well, it's got to be good enough for Chicken Little.

Let me recap #1......

The world is an illusion, per hypothesis, i.e. per the BPWH. Is that implausible? Yes and no. Implausible wrt what else?

Tell me that you never woken up in the middle a dream or nightmare, and then, after further reflection, realized that you are not actually awake, but are still entangled in a larger dream episode. We think we are awake to a real world, but maybe this is only a further elaboration of a larger dream.

This sounds like a college freshman BS session, or philosophy 101, if there is a difference!

What does it have to do with the price of eggs in Moscow?

Or, more to the point, what does it have to do with Grace & Green?

It has to do with the Cartesian blunder, of trying to separate body and mind, the blunder that gave rise to Modernism.

If we are going to pull our bacon out of the fire, we are going to have to get back to basics. We are going to have to address our ultimate concerns......

Who are we, from whence did we come, whither to we go? This is what it all comes down to.

Are we not now facing our ultimate challenge as a civilization, or whatever the heck we think we are? Have we not come to a tipping point, a turning point? This is what every thoughtful person has been trying to tell us, for the last fifty years, at least.

Maybe we are not at the brink of our oblivion, but you don't know that, and neither do I.

The best minds in the world, have been debating that point for the past fifty years or so, without any agreement.

So who am I to, finally, after all these years to declare an emergency? Well, do I have any choice, other than to declare myself the Second Coming? If there is an alternative, no one has been able to show it to me.

So there you are.... and here I am, in the middle of nowhere, or is it Now Here?

I can do no other...... stop me if you can.....
-------------


1:11------ from 1111 Hampton Garth

On that note, I will commence composing my email to Sam and Lore, both of the BGF.

And don't worry, I'll also be posting it right here, so that none of my loyal fans need feel left out. Oh, the marvels of modern technology.......!

And, yes, the subject line for this email will be...... Getting up my nerve....

From: Dan Smith
Date: March 17, 2012 2:12:07 PM EDT
To: Lore
Cc: Sam
Subject: Getting up my nerve.....

Yes, if truth be known, I am rather like Al Haig..... I'm just a take charge kind of guy.... dang me!  

And, yes, I wanted you, two, to be the first to be apprised of my plot to 'take over' the BGF.  

All you have to do is stop me.... stop me if you can.... 

Ok, so what do I mean by 'take over'.......?  

I am hereby declaring myself to be the ex-officio 'chaplain' of the BGF, having previously eliminated my main competition, our dear Brother Henry, although, I've not yet apprised him of this fact.  Just a minor detail, in the larger scheme..... 

I hope you understand that there is some tongue in cheek, to the above, and to what follows.  I'm counting on the fact that you and Sam are prepared to cut me some slack, in this regard.  

Now, let me address a small matter of logistics..... 

I will be posting this email on the Internet, wherein, you will be identified as above.  I may, in general, be posting some of your responses, if any, as well.  If you wish to have a private communication with me about any of this, then don't hesitate to call me..... 443-799-xxxx.... seeing as how I don't record my phone calls, and am usually too lazy to attempt any sort of verbatim transcription of my conversations.  Although, I have, on occasion, when I thought it was important for the record, to transcribe my conversations with Ron.  Lucky guy!  I may, only vaguely, allude to such 'private' conversations, when it seems necessary in order to maintain the continuity of...... this possibly historical record.  

Having said this, I will now post this preliminary email onto the CM forum, wherein, I have been already composing the prologue to this communication....... Aren't I just the busy little beaver!  

compassmorainn.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=bpwh&thread=96&page=1#953 

I do like to post my thoughts as they come to me, so our fortunate progeny will have a nearly complete record of my stream of conscious....  Those lucky devils!  

Without further ado, I will post this, and begin composing the ensuing expository emails, you lucky devils.... hostages to our brave new world....!  BTW, when appropriate, Lore, you may wish to think of Sam as the good cop, herein, and me as the bad cop.  Just ask Henry.  And, yes, in the interest of partial disclosure, Sam is regularly compensated by me for these and sundry other labors.  But, of course, I cannot possibly afford to pay him what he is worth.  

(cont.) 

So far, so good?

The next subject line may be..... Dan's little Jesus joke.

From: Dan Smith
Date: March 17, 2012 3:15:34 PM EDT
To: Lore
Cc: Sam
Subject: Dan's little Jesus joke

(cont.) 

So far so good....??  

Here is my present context, and, yes, do keep in mind that I am sometimes guilty of BUI, or blogging under the influence..... dang me!  So, see, if I ever say something truly egregious, I can always blame it on Demon rum.  Is this my ultimate copout?  Sure, can you think of a better one?  If only our politicians would use the BUI excuse, we might all be better off.  

(And, yes, for the record, I do have a call into Aliyah, apologizing for being a very big party-pooper, wherein, at the last minute, I pulled a no-show for our nine day Baja cruise, out of San Diego.  But I did pay for John's nice cabin, nonetheless.  So, are we still on speaking terms?) 

So, back to my Jesus joke...... 

Is this the wine talking?  Maybe yes, maybe no.  Actually, until I met up with Ron/CIA, I was only pretending to be the holy ghost, but then, in one fateful phone conversation, he said, oh, by the way, Dan, everyone knows that I (Ron) am Catfish, and you, Dan, are Sunfish.  Dang me, again, but I thought I heard him say Sonfish, apropos of the Aquarium/Aviary...... 

www.think-aboutit.com/ufo/aviary_the_aquarium.htm. 

This one goes back to 1992, I believe.  I'm not exactly a Johnny come lately.  

Needless to say, the good folks, over at Grace, don't fully appreciate this Aquarium humor.  

That is why, with Sam's help, I come to the BGF.  

(cont.) 

4:23--------

I've just had a lengthy convo with Sam. He had not yet read these emails, but we do seem to be on the same page wrt my little Jesus joke.

We are working out a scenario for next Sunday, the 25th......

Here is the scenario......

The Population affinity group will be meeting at 3pm, on that day, before the usual meeting of the BGF, which is from 4 to 6:30.

At 3, I'll be suggesting that we call ourselves the Difficult Problems affinity group. Someone else already suggesting this name. At 3, I will be recruiting for the breakout session that will be occurring after the presentation by Paul S. on solar energy.

To some extent, I am holding the BGF hostage to my designs on GFC. I only need a couple of volunteers to accompany me to the SfA/GFC. I will be announcing this possibility to the SfA, tomorrow morning. We can be sure that they will be less than thrilled at this prospect. If truth be known, the folks of SfA are much less than amused by my Jesus joke. In fact, they have twice threatened to call the police to have me removed from their midst. My only possible friend at GFC, Rusty R, has been fired, since he and I met with the senior pastor, Danny O. Don't we love the politics that are involved in saving the world?

Yes, the evangelicals are very sensitive wrt the Second Coming, and so they should be, because it may be a big deal. The X2 may be earthshaking. So, who is Chicken Little/Sonfish to have anything to do with anything that might be earthshaking and/or of biblical proportions?

And Sam just sent me this.....

olgabonfiglio.blogspot.com/2012/02/some-sordid-explanations-of-climate.html

Yes, this beat goes on.

So, it will not be easy to recruit the appropriate volunteers, from BGF, to hold the hand of 'Jesus' at the SfA. Is there anyone within the sound of my voice who would be willing to do this? I'm skeptical.


5:18--------

Here is a very interesting article.....

www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/world/middleeast/iran-intelligence-crisis-showed-difficulty-of-assessing-nuclear-data.html?_r=1&hp

What should we do about this? IOW, WWGD.......?

Off the top, I'm willing to suppose that the Israel/Iran set-to is part of our PoS, plan of salvation.

Yes, the Arabs have a case against the Gush Emunim who are so instent upon, quite literally, populating the hills of the West Bank.

This is an aggressive act, on their part. The GE claim to be doing this in accord with what they suppose is God's covenant with them. And, I'm not one to find fault with this supposition. I operate under a similar supposition.

Look, the rationale for the US stockpiling of nukes, is to protect the 'free' world from the incursions of the Asian/Russian hordes.

Well, Russia and Asia now have far lower birthrates than do we.

So, now, we are keeping our nukes to protect the Gush Emunim from the Arab hordes.

But wait, Iran has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, while the GE has, arguably, the highest fertility rate in the entire world.

This does remind me of James Watt.... When we chop down the last tree, Jesus will come.

Or of the GE, when we have inhabited the last hill in the Promised Land, the Messiah will come.

This is what we are up against, while we, concerned citizens, do what we can to recycle our trash.

Does the BGF need to concern itself with these larger issues?

Does the GFC/SfA need to concern itself with these smaller issues?

No, neither one does feel that need. That is why I feel delegated to bring that need to them.

Can I do any other......?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther#Diet_of_Worms

Hey, sports fans, stop if you can.

In the end, this will all be about twitter. Whomsoever can rule twitter, will rule the world, as in Kingdom Come.....



(cont.)

[mdonnall2002]

Mar 17, 2012 8:07:30 GMT -7 dan said:

The Population affinity group will be meeting at 3pm, on that day, before the usual meeting of the BGF, w

To some extent, I am holding the BGF hostage to my designs on GFC. I only need a couple of volunteers to accompany me to the SfA/GFC. I will be announcing this possibility to the SfA, tomorrow morning. We can be sure that they will be less than thrilled at this prospect. If truth be known, the folks of SfA are much less than amused by my Jesus joke. In fact, they have twice threatened to call the police to have me removed from their midst. My only possible friend at GFC, Rusty R, has been fired, since he and I met with the senior pastor, Danny O. Don't we love the politics that are involved in saving the world?

Dan, I thought of your plights today, offhand.

After accepting a random invitation for free dinner, I found myself sitting within a place of worship in an over-watch position, pondering the fate of circumstances of those that were pacing to and fro. Life's pill is more bitter to swallow in some locations than others.

I came to the conclusion - that upon a general survey of the various downtrodden souls beneath those walls - <1% could grasp the initiatives you wrestle with.

There is a pulse you may be missing, or at a minimum have not accounted for. Minds taxed with surviving the system have little time for contemplating philosophy. Those quantum fluctuations of mind focus on propelling the flesh - one more day - and have little or no time to dwell on on such grandiose connections.

Funny thing though, those low moments provided a sense of clarity to its occupants, I suspect.

Poor Rusty....Give him my regards... Spiritual growth is never easy especially when you have been FIRED by God's administrators.

[dan]

Md02,

I thank you for those thoughts. Am I missing something......?

Well, I miss everything.... and I miss nothing.....

I've got their number. Do they have mine? Is it 666? Probably not.

And, now, back to my (chicken) little correspondence course.....

From: Dan Smith
Date: March 19, 2012 8:55:31 AM EDT
To: Sam (and 13 members of the Baltimore Green Forum)

Subject: Unspeakable problems - affinity?  Possibly Jesus?

Yes, who let this dog, with the muddy paws, into our clean Green meeting?  

Well, I'm a big boy.....  I let myself in.  

If we have a big problem, we need a big answer.  I go around pretending that I have the Answer, and even that I might be the Answer.  

This is what I do, e.g. down at Grace Fellowship Church, right here in Timonium.  Yesterday morning I told our little Search for Answers ministry at GFC, that I would be representing them at the BGF meeting.  Naturally, they objected.  We negotiated a joint communique.... I will be representing what I believe to be the best interests of the Evangelical community wrt to saving the world.  

Now, right there, we have a possible bone of contention......  Does the world need to be saved?  

Of all the groups in Baltimore, the BGF has the most direct contact with what a number of experts deem to be the biggest problem facing humanity..... our impending environmental crisis.  

Now I've only attended three of your meetings, but..... I think I'm getting the picture.....  

I would sum it up this way.... Act locally, but don't think Globally, because, well, it just looks too darn Scary, out there!  

Am I being unfair?  Have I missed something?  

I have come into your midst to declare a global Emergency.  But there would be no point in my doing that, unless I thought I had an answer, which is also, per force, to suggest that I might be the answer.  Hence we have the Jesus question.  Who wants to pretend to be Jesus?  

So, yes, my mostly newfound 'friends', I am going to be asking you, very pointedly, before, during and after Sunday's meeting, whether any of you think that the world needs to be saved. 

Hey, if not, then you surely won't need any kind of 'Jesus', now, will you?  

But, I'm not convinced.  Can any of you convince me that we don't need to be saved?  I've been doing my homework, in this regard, ever since I dropped out of physics, almost fifty years ago.  I'll give you even odds that we might be able to muddle through, the next 20 years.  Well, I don't know about you, but I don't really like those odds.  Do any of you like them?  

Therefore, be it resolved, that we purchase some cosmic Insurance.  I'll be explaining that 'purchase' to you, and it will cost you almost nothing, besides a modicum of your precious time and patience.  

See you then...... 

Dan 

And what do I mean by cosmic Insurance? I have no idea, but, hey, the phrase popped into my head.

In one sense, it means that we should have a backup plan. I am the backup plan.

The backup plan is mainly just to do our BPWH homework. No, we don't all have to do it, but some of us should, so that, like minute-men, we could be deployed at a moment's notice.

Deployed where? Well, to other places like Grace and Green.

Prepared? How prepared? Well, we should make periodic practice deployments, kind of like I've been doing at GFC, and will be doing at BGF.

That's all. Is that bit of cosmic insurance going to be too costly? How has it been working for me, down at Grace? Hmmm...... Well, not too good, but not to bad, either.

I haven't played all my cards, at Grace. Well, I have played most of them, but only individually and sporadically. The Green card could be decisive, if it's played properly. That's why we need to practice. Practice makes perfect, or good enough for gummin't work, or whatever. We would be proposing a swap, of sorts. Hmmm....... kinda like a credit default swap, if you will...... You buy some of my 'junk', and I'll buy some of yours, if you see what I mean.


Let's be perfectly honest...... between Grace and Green, not a whole lot of love has been lost. Or, if you look at it the other way, a lot of love has been lost.

Think of my ol' buddy, James Watt....... when we cut down the last tree, Jesus will come!

Doesn't that sum up the hard core of the issue that we are dealing with?

So, my mission and message are very simple....... I represent the compromise position..... Jesus comes and says... ok, sports fans, enough with all those poor trees..... now that I'm here, let's get on with the lest of our Earthly sojourn!

So far, so good, but, then, what's the Encore??

The encore is the BPWH...... nothing more.... nothing less!

IMHO, the BPWH provides enough answers to get us through the next couple of centuries. It would, thereby, be our final earthly dispensation, if you will.


And what is the BPWH? It is the Best Possible World Hypothesis. The BPWH is a WIP...... Every day is a new day wrt the BPWH. But, in the age of the Internet, we do leave traces....

www.bestpossibleworld.com/index06.htm

But that is an old trace, which has barely been updated, since '07. There was a much more recent trace, at OMF, but it has gone MIA.......

lucianarchy.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=othernonserpodisclosures&action=display&thread=1341&page=1

due to circumstances mostly beyond my present ability to control...!


So, what I've been doing here, on Cy's own CMF, is to be making tactical and strategic summaries and revisions.

The gist of the hypothesis is that all of us are asleep, in what is called the Slumber of Materialism. I did not coin this phrase, but, according to google, I'm the virtual owner of it, here, there and everywhere.

Of course, we all like to think we are awake, especially during what we like to think of as our 'waking' hours.

Well, I have this to say about that....... what we usually think of as being awake, may be just one several possible states of consciousness. Am I sounding like a Buddhist/pantheist? Of course. But I'm not quite that..... Nor is the BPWH.

The BPWH is a decidedly theistic concept...... i.e. what we are striving for is the best possible state of consciousness. Some would call that God Consciousness (GC). And, hey, so would I!

GC is the end of our existence. Whoa, Nelly! Hold on just one minute......

Christians would call this redemption or salvation, IMHO. The folks at GFC would, mostly, beg to differ, bless their hearts!


So why should I be bugging the poor Chrsitians about this? Why don't I declare myself a Buddhist, and go on about my merry way?

Why not, indeed?!

Here's why not..........

The answer is very simple, my dear friends....... It comes right back to our Unspeakable Problem......

It has everything to do with our Spaceship Earth. The good Buddhists like to say..... hey, we're doing fine, but your end of the boat is sinking!

Don't the Christians say the same thing?

Yes and no.......

If you are a Christian, you are supposed to have a Evangelical streak. Doesn't everybody?

Yes and no.......

IMHO, the Christians own Evangelism, kinda like I seem to own 'slumber of materialism', at least according to google.

More than anyone else in the world, besides possibly the Fuller Brush Co, we Christians love to come knocking on your door? Am I wrong about that?

And..... that's exactly what I'm doing now, wrt Grace and Green. Knock...knock.... Who's there? Jesus. Jesus who? Jesus Christ, and it's time to wake up!

Do you see the difference? Did Siddhartha ever knock on a door? Not to my recollection. Maybe that's why he died such a peaceful death. Isn't peace wonderful?!

Christians.... peaceful? Onward Christian soldiers......?! Hmmm......

Christians? Are they not a big part of the problem? Hmmm......, again!

Why do I seem to be putting so much store in Christianity? It's really very simple...... TBMK, they are the only folks who are minding the Store.

Whoa...... again!

Isn't environmentalism all about minding the Store? Yes, in theory. In practice..... well, from what I've seen at BGF and elsewhere, they are not quite measuring up to that onerous task.


1:30--------

It's tough. Who wants to be a Cassandra? Who wants to be a Jeremiah? If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all.

This may be where Jesus can shine.......

Hey, sports fans, I've got good news and bad news. Which would you like first?

Most of us would probably want to hear the bad news first.....

The bad news is that the world is going to end!

But...... the good news is that it will end in the best possible way.

See? That's not so bad, now is it?

Even better is the fact that I can make it entirely plausible to you that the BPW is necessarily finite......

IOW, what we are slated to experience is the best possible ending to the best possible world. So what is there to complain about, other than the fact that you no longer have anything to complain about?


Surely, this has got to be too good to be true.

It's so good, that even the Christians can't believe it. What is their problem? What are they complaining about? Well, get this.......

The Christians are complaining, because they want to be sure that the rest of us will burn.... and, quite literally, that is!

Why do they have to be so mean spirited? Why don't the want to share the Bonanza?

Let's see if we can sympathize with their meanness......

Why, in the best possible world, would there be so many stingy meanies?

Very simply, we can blame it on Jesus, no less! He said it. I believe it, and that settles it.... No?

Hmmm....... Therein hangs a tale.......

Hey, I'm trying to keep this a short and sweet as possible. If I can say it in three paragraphs, I'll been doing a lot better than heretofore......

Hey, again, I'll do better than that......

All of this revelation stuff is always on a need to know basis. That's the long and short of it.

Hell has served its purpose, so let's move on....... Easier said than done?

We've all heard of the New Heaven and New Earth. Yes? But has anyone ever heard of the new (improved?) Hell. I don't think so.

So think about it. We've all had bad days, and we've all wanted to tell someone where to get off. No?

Was Jesus 100% human? Did Jesus ever have a bad day.... or two. Such as in...... Father, why has't thou forsaken me? Can we excuse him for that slight lapse in his mission statement? I think we can do that.

But think of all the poor folks who got burned at the stake. Hey, it was in their best interest to suffer a couple of hours of torture, rather than suffer eternal damnation. No? But all of this was just because poor Jesus had a bad day at the office, so to speak? Why couldn't the Almighty have arranged to leave that chapter out of the Good Book? Hmmm.......

There are two reason, just off the top........

1.) Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.

2.) Jesus would have a real good reason to come back, just to set the record straight. No?

#1.....?

It's all about substitutionary atonement, is it not? Why didn't the Inquisitors get this message? Hmmm....... Boys will be boys?

#2......?

Heeeeeeere's Johnny....!


Need to know......?

If we can very sincerely tell a person to go to Hell, then maybe we'll be just a bit less likely to punch them in the eye. That's gotta be worth something.

But, when the J-man sets the record straight, we'll no longer be able to say that, with anything like the appropriate sincerity. Will we?

So, will there be more punching, then?

If I have anything to say about, by then, we'll have much bigger fish to fry. By then, we'll have our eyes on the goal posts.

Pie in the sky?

Well, we'll be moving on....... We'll be in the midst of awaking from the Big Sleep.

So where's your alarm clock, Mr. J-man? It's pretty much everywhere, and Now-here...!

It's kinda like.... look around you, and smell the coffee. Yes, it's even written in the stars and on the (subway?) walls.......

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mkp-Of8sZQ


3:20---------

Speaking of which, Gary just sent us this.......

www.newscientist.com/special/god?cmpid=NLC|NSNS|2012-1903-GLOBAL|god&utm_medium=NLC&utm_source=NSNS&utm_content=god

This is on Joy's subscription, and I don't remember the password.


5:20--------

Finished the God issue of the NS. Well, small steps, Ellie, small steps......!




(cont.)

[dan]

From: Dan Smith
Date: March 20, 2012 11:42:37 AM EDT
To: Baltimore Green Forum
Cc: 13 members
Subject: Ultimate concerns - BGF/affinity group?

There has, quite reasonably, been some question as to my intentions relative to this Sunday's, 3-25, meeting of the BGF.  I guess there are a range of options for all of us.......

The most likely is that I will show up, pushing the envelope of your patience, and, perhaps a few sensitive buttons.  

Forums have decorums, as to who gets to speak when, and on what topics, but then there are emergencies and contingencies......

As I said, I wish to declare an emergency, and, TBMK, no institution has any protocol wrt declaring general emergencies.  By definition, the declaring of an emergency must necessarily proceed in an ad hoc manner.  That is the manner in which I will endeavor to proceed, on Sunday.  

It might have been different, if you had a designated leader, but you make quite a point of not needing such a one.  Instead, there is an ad hoc planning group, and there are, occasionally, affinity groups.  

Prior to the meeting before last, I requested that there be a spiritual affinity group.  There was, and it was dominated by one of the attendees.  I could have resorted to, or demanded, some sort of baton passing protocol, but, no, I just bided my time.  Now, I feel more prepared to return the 'favor', and then some.  

What I'm bringing up to you, in this admittedly impetuous manner, is the question of priorities.

I'm coming to you with what I believe should be the #1 global priority for everyone.....

(Aside..... I'm an inveterate blogger.  What I'm doing now, is what I've been doing for the past 34 years, many years before blogs even existed.  I am posting these emails on my current blog/forum site.....  compassmorainn.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=bpwh&thread=96&page=1#955 .  Leading up to Sunday's meeting, I will be continuing this exposition.  If any of you wish to be removed from this list, please let me know.)


(cont.)

From: Dan Smith <[e-mail]>
Date: March 20, 2012 12:56:30 PM EDT
To: Baltimore Green Forum
Cc: 13 members......

Subject: Are we a Cancer or Chrysalis?

(cont......)

Addressing this question ought to be the #1 global priority.  But try repeating the experiment I have just performed..... googling "cancer or chrysalis", and you will see that this phrase has only been used once before.  I have previously alluded to this issue on my blogs, but not quite so succinctly, evidently.  

There are two existing sides to this issue...... the Doom&Gloom folks and the New Agers.  But the vast majority of us suppose that we will muddle through, somehow, and this seems to be where most environmentalists reside, though they are seldom confronted with this issue, explicitly.  

Barbara Marx Hubbard is, arguably, the most active amongst the Chrysalis contingent.  It has been suggested, quite reasonably, by one of you, that I should 'channel' my energy in her direction.  

Like most New Agers, however, Barbara has no plan, no agenda, not even a discernible rationale, TBMK.  I come to you with each of these.  

The closest approximation to my Best Possible World Hypothesis.....

www.bestpossibleworld.com/index06.htm.

...... is the Christian worldview.  

Ah, wonderful, so why don't I take my concerns to them?  Why do I have to pester the poor environmentalists?  

The answer is very simple..... I have been and continue to take my concerns, every Sunday, to the Search for Answers Ministry of Grace Fellowship Church in Timonium.........

www.gfc.org/answers/  

Over the course of the past year, there have been two occasions at GFC where individuals have threatened to have me forcibly removed, but cooler heads have prevailed.....   


(cont.......)

From: Dan Smith
Date: March 20, 2012 2:02:12 PM EDT
To: Baltimore Green Forum
Cc: 13 members.......

Subject: Re: Are we a Cancer or Chrysalis?

(cont.......)


IOW, it's fair to say that I'm engaged in a one person Occupy Grace movement.  

I come to you looking for a fellow occupier, or two......  Now, I understand that this is a very tall order, and I would be quite surprised if any of you would be willing to take me up on this offer.  

IOW, I show up on Sunday, and ask for a volunteer, and no one volunteers.  Why shouldn't I just take 'no' for an answer, and go on my way?  Well, think of me as a starving Fuller Brush salesperson, with my foot in the door, and yours is the last house on a long street.  This is the situation that you and I are finding ourselves in.  Let's all try to make the best of it, and even try to keep smiling, because, believe it or not, there are ironic, even humorous aspects, herein, as I will attempt to explicate and implicate.....


Back to Cancer or Chrysalis.......?  

As I say, most of us go well out of our way to avoid difficult questions.  This has been my uniform experience, over the past 35 years, in more venues than any normal person would attempt.  I must be some sort of energizer-bunny, wrt lost causes.  

You good folks, in the environmental movement, are doing what you can to maintain a positive, constructive posture wrt some seemingly overwhelming problems.  What else can you do, other than join a survivalist movement?  Occupy Grace?  Hmmm.........

Actually, I am aware that many of you are loosely affiliated with various survivalist spin-offs, such as Transition Towns, Resilience Circles, etc.  More power to you!  

Do I have a better offer for you?  Frankly, I don't know, certainly not with any certainty or certitude.  But, TBMK, I'm the only one within the range of google who has an offer of anything close to the BPWH, which is, by definition, the best possible offer that you will ever get.  But maybe my line of reasoning is faulty.  


(cont......)

From: Dan Smith
Date: March 20, 2012 2:51:26 PM EDT
To: Baltimore Green Forum
Cc: 13 members......

Subject: Re: Are we a Cancer or Chrysalis?

(cont......)


One thing we all have in common, BGF, GFC, BPWH, is hope.  

All I'm saying is that my, BPWH, hope may trump your hope, on the cosmic scale.  And I want you to check it out.  I would not ask you to support me in any endeavor with which you were not familiar and comfortable.  And I have all the time in the world to explain the BPWH to any or all of you, at your early convenience.  

This is what I propose to do at 3pm on Sunday, before the plenary session of the BGF.  This time-slot has already been requested by Sam.  I am, hereby, proposing to Sam that he allow me to preempt this time-slot.  This sequence of emails has the immediate purpose of putting people on notice, concerning my intention wrt 3pm.  

Sam has advised me that, if folks feel uncomfortable wrt my preemption, no one will show up.  You, all, will vote with your feet.  Of course.  

But then comes 4pm.....

If no one besides, say, Sam, Lore, and I show up at 3, then what should be done at 4, pray tell?  Will I not take 'no' for an answer?  Hmmm........

I guess that we'll all have to take it under advisement.  

Thanks for your patience......

Dan

Phew! That was not one of my lesser challenges. This is why there is no substitute for boots on the ground. Where would Twitter be, without Tahrir, pray tell? Me? I have all the patience in the world, and, yes, all the time in the world.

It's after 3, already. Is it ok if I break out the wine? Thanks!


5:30-------

I've had a brief convo with Bill S, and a lengthy convo with John C, both of GFC.

I alerted Bill to this post, which he promised to peruse. John and I discussed everything from the Rapture to the Republicans. John supports Newt, for good reasons, with which I may not entirely agree.

All three of us agreed that members of the BGF would be welcome at GFC/SfA to discuss the Endtimes. This is a major step forward, IMHO. Will anyone at the BGF wish to accept this kind offer? That is what I'll attempt to ascertain on Sunday.



(cont.)

[dan]

Andy Murray brings the following to my attention......

www.thedailybell.com/3716/The-Big-Lie-of-Peak-Oil-Now-Confirmed

Apparently the environmentalists are being used as the patsies of Big Oil, in order to keep the price of gasoline artificially high.

I would agree that most of us act as if we believed in perpetual material progress, although precious few of us have ever actually verbalized that belief. The simple point is that we don't wish to be confronted by the possibility that this party might ever end. We don't want to have to face the possibility of physical limitations.

The mere notion of Sustainability is an anathema to the modern minded.

Even if not yet explicitly, at GFC I could easily be branded as a doom & gloom scaremonger who is promoting socialism, via the Green Dragon. Certainly, that would be an initial prevalent attitude toward anyone accompanying me from the Green Forum!

I can probably get away with declaring an emergency at the BGF, but that will not work at GFC. Thanks to Andy's timely intervention, I will be better prepared to confront this strategic (tactical?) dichotomy, on Sunday evening at the BGF.

How, exactly.......?!

It's all a question of timing........ Forewarned is forearmed.

That is why I have spoken about seeing any initial forays as being of an experimental, preparatory nature. How far are we from the glass-ceiling, if you will? How is this particular cookie likely to crumble, when push does finally come to shove?

If, per impossible, an initial experiment happens to be unexpectedly successful, what's the harm? Would we be causing an unnecessary (premature?!) panic? More power to us, if all of our panics could be premature!

Will this be alarmism? Will we be crying wolf? All that we are saying is that out there, in the woods, is roaming a hungry wolf. Should we not have a plan, in case we happen to run into this Beast?

People are, very naturally, in denial about the existence of this hungry Beast....... this Mother of all Party-poopers. The mere thought of just having a Fire Drill seems to send many of us into apoplexy. One may well wonder why we are so jumpy, relative to very notion of physical limits.

The fact we are deposed to whistle past the graveyard, seems to be a general acknowledgement of its proximity.
-----------


In any case, I'm not inclined to focus on any particular manifestation of our potential resource crisis, certainly not with regard to Grace Fellowship. Rather, I'm focusing on the potential theological issues.

How do I most succinctly charaterize the theological problem.....?

Would or should God arbitrarily intervene in human affairs? The presumption would be that God has a plan for our salvation. Should that plan seem nonsensical to us, either in prospect or in retrospect? If we are to be the targets of this plan, would there be a reason for God to render us incapable of participating in it? Quite the contrary...... no?

The Evangelicals, bless their hearts, suppose that God is disposed to treat us as incompetent children. Wrt the Endtimes, we are to be mere spectators. It will be the Greatest Show on Earth. It will be Shock&Awe.

But wait...... Why has there been this 2,000 year delay in the Second Coming? Is this just another manifestation of God's arbitrariness? I don't think so.......

The evangelicals have been neglecting their own theology..... And, if truth be known, they are anti-theological, as they are anti-intellectual, and have they not had ample justification for this stance, especially within the last several centuries of intellectual history?

We(?!), intellectuals, are possibly turning out to be the Prodigal Sons, are we not? Who has been shepherding the sacred flame, while we've been out galavanting? Fool me once, you're to blame. Fool me twice, I'm to blame! Burned once, twice shy?

Should we expect to be welcomed with open arms, or will they have ample cause to look this gift-horse in the mouth?

Ok...... but here is my theological point.......

What is the Prophetic tradition about, if it is not about the God of history, pray tell?

Can any of us afford to ignore history? Would God ignore history?

A lot has happened in the past 2,000 years. Remember that commandment about being fruitful and multiplying? Has God been blindsided by the Population Bomb, or was it, just possibly, part of the Plan? But, gee whiz, why wasn't Jesus in the loop? Why did he have to be blindsided? Might it have just a little to do with John (16:12ff)? The historically self-revealing God is, necessarily, also self-concealing. Get over it.....

Or, for that matter, was God blindsided by the A-bomb, etc.? By the Internet, by Twitter? Hmmm........

Evangelicals have a love/hate relationship with Science. As well they might, and as we all do, at one level or another. Science is wont to remind us, frequently, that we are meat machines..... absurdities in a meaningless universe.... survival(?) machines, where might makes right...... Thank you very much! And why go out with a whimper, when Science has given us all the tools to go out with a Bang?


Cancer of Chrysalis? You pays your money and you takes your choice!

But, hey, suppose we make the 'wrong' choice? We go and get our hopes up, just to have them dashed, yet again, against the rocks of Reality!

Well, for starters, I'll ask you this...... Is it better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all? Can we ever truly afford to give hope and love the cold shoulder? How choosey can we beggars be?

Cancer or Chrysalis?

The caterpillar spins its cocoon. Have not we, with, maybe, just a bit of help from on high? What is our cocoon? Well..... are we not wirelessly wired? Is our umbilical to the Noosphere not already in place?

Have we not been well prepared for our virtual Fire Drill? Are we not ready for our Coming-out party?

Do we need to wait for the food riots to go global, before we check to see if our systems are Go? Do we truly have to cut down that last tree? Do we truly have to build that last settlement, on the last hill, on the West Bank?

When can we declare our Mission into this wilderness to have been accomplished? When can we print the t-shirts? Do we have to wait until our very last gasp? Is it just possible that God is waiting for us to get up our nerve, and step up to the Cosmic plate? Do we truly think that he is going to throw a spitball? How about a meatball? Don't I look a lot like a meatball?

Chrysalis..... coming out..... into what, pray tell?

Into the icy blasts of interstellar space? Our cute little butterfly wings being torn to shreds? We of little faith!

Anyone for Apokatastasis? Oh, gosh, but we can't possibly be ready to meet our maker. Well, I might be ready, but surely not those other folks. And, please, dear lord, spare our children!

Maybe, just maybe, that's why we have been vouchsafed the best possible ending to the best possible world. Hey, why would God not grant us all the time in the word, to pack our bags, and settle our affairs..... every last one of them?

Hurry up, and wait? Sure. Who wants to storm heaven's gate? Keds and applesauce? Nah. That's just for pretend. That's just showing-off. Talk about jumping the gun!




(cont.)