Nasty weather around here this evening. I gotta check the rain-gauge as soon as I feel like going out back. (It won't be tonight.) Looks like I need to check the gutters, though maybe it was just the heavy rains.
......
I know it marks me as a musical sicko, but I've always like Michael Jackson's music. I was pessimistic about his chances today, and I'm afraid his aquittal doesn't make feel better. I guess I'm stricken by the "where there's smoke, there's fire" syndrome. More Michael Jackson music isn't sufficient compensation for more pederasty victims. Or maybe I should say, victims of pedophilia.
Which Saint should we ask to pray for us here?
[BTW, I'm something of a bastard: all puns intended.]
......
I used to have a link to Michael Miller's Quack Grass.com. I let it die with the redesign of the site, but I still feel that he has some insights to offer, so I'm bringing him back.
In a comment, I mentioned this essay in particular, "The Philosopher's Stone."
Let me quote a few paras as a taste:
Alchemy hovered between worlds. It emerged in a time-between-times, after a Dark Age had brightened but before a Renaissance had dawned. It came from Arab and Greek sources, but it flourished in theWest. It lay between faith and philosophy; it still dreamed of heaven, but it focused on the Earth. Alchemy sought abundance in this world for the sake of living men.
Alchemists aimed to transmute base metals into gold. Why gold? Evidently because observation declares that gold is the principle of wealth. A man who has drink may not have food, or he may have these but lack fine clothing, or horses, or mansions, or lands. But a man who has gold may have all these and more. Gold is special; it is not just one kind of wealth among many: it is a means to the rest. Gold is the means to everything that can be bought.
But what is the means to the means? What is the means to gold? Alchemists proposed to use the philosopher's stone, a mysterious, unknown substance which they believed to have the power to transmute base metals into gold. If they could find the philosopher's stone, gold would become plentiful and (so they thought) wealth would be abundant. Thus, for centuries, alchemists sought the philosopher's stone.
[Emphases are his.]
It's a simple answer, but not an easy one. (I'm assuming you read the rest.) There is no assumption that you're goal in life is to aquire money nor material goods, nor that it should be.
All right, so you're not going to let me off that easily: you're goal should be to aquire the time you need to create your ideal...whatever. And, as I imply by being the proprietor of a blog named Bourgeois Philistines of Minnesota, you're not allowed to denigrate the constructive efforts of others. (Or, at least, you're not allowed to destroy them physically. Social, emotional and psychological destruction - via persuasion - are allowed. But history may find your judgment wanting.)
No comments:
Post a Comment