• KEEP CLEAR •
“Scientology propaganda?” my wife replied. Although I’d formed my own answer even before I asked for everyone’s opinion—I was already glad I asked because: I’d never have come up with an answer as funny as hers and this was a chance to test some conversation rules (How To Converse, Rule of Thumb #3: Ask Questions; Don’t Make Statements).
Thinking of ROT#3 nudged me to keep the ask-balloon floating, “Is clear what Scientologists want to accomplish?—or is it a term used by people who’ve escaped them?”
She said, “I’m confused; I don’t know how it could be an ex-cult-member term.”
“Unfortunately, I only know about the title Going Clear, which is wedged in my memory without a film or book behind it; so, my imagination has filled that space with an ex-cult-member (How To Converse, ROT#2: Mirror Their Words; Mirror Their Posture”) saying the phrase: ‘I need to get clear of these asshats before they serve Kool-Aid aperitifs’.
“Ahh, OK” she said with a smirk in the back of her voice, “Clear, as I understand it, refers to their belief that people can rid themselves of engrams, which is their term for unconscious traumatic memories, by holding the sweat-measuring part of a lie detector while being interviewed.”
Since she didn’t seem to want to elaborate and nobody else was chiming in, I decided to steer the conversation toward more familiar ground (How To Converse, ROT#5: Plot a Familiar Course) by asking, “Are engrams anything like ‘dust’ in Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials?”
“I can see a similarity—the magisterium thought dust was related to original sin and scientologists think engrams are from trauma, which occur in past lives.”
My friend, Brian, was becoming uncomfortable (probably not a fan of the topic: reincarnation), so I asked for his opinion, “Hey Brian, what do you think that KEEP CLEAR stencil with yellow side-circles means?”
“Maybe it’s just the equivalent of ‘Post No Bills’ since it is on an outdoor bulletin board. I’m pretty sure it would, normally, have fishing regulations and notices for docking boats stapled to it, but because the lake is beginning to freeze-over, all that's been removed for the year.”
I said, as I turned toward Sharon, Brian’s wife, “Interesting! He thinks it was intentionally put there by the park.” Then, nodding toward my wife (who'd walked away from us and closer to the sign), “She thinks it was put there by a graffiti-artist. What do you think?” (How To Converse, ROT#6: Stir the Pot).
Sharon replied, “I’m leaning toward put there by the park but, instead of ‘Post No Bills,’ I think it’s more likely it’s intended to prevent people from blocking the view of the board; more than no standing and no parking, I think it's to say: ‘don’t leave your big-ass trailer in front of here’ - but you’re smiling in a knowing way that makes me think it's time to hear what you think.”
“Ever seen the movie The Fifth Element?” I asked. After noticing everyone’s reply (to the affirmative) I continued, “The scene where police arrive at Bruce Willis’s apartment building and he’s required to put his hands against an interior wall…? Inside two yellow circles? Anyone? Anyone?”
Examining Art and Thinking About What You See
Let's assume you're someone with whom some work of art once inflicted gloom, caused the pace of your heart to bloom, or screamed until your (no longer wavering) attention was totally consumed. Is that you?...Ohh, Good.
If you're unfazed by my directness (still reading), obviously your eye has at least once in its life enjoyed a gaze sufficient to overwhelm—then—I intend to use this amazing Diamond Warrior as my example for navigating the beautifully crazed imagination of the artist Michael Parkes. Stop reading, take another look (below): where did Mr Parkes force your focus?...Ahh yes...as he intended it should.
My eye. It bumps down into the distant horizon near the bottom (where both the rump of the warrior and the [uncomfortably too-near] edge of the painting are found)—peering in—I'm surprised to discover: pyramids on fire and clumps of smoke resound (no rising-sun cliché caused those yellow clouds); and back my focus goes to breasts and a posture slumped against the chest. Is that the profile-face of a captive slave at rest?...Orr, no...I now see two contemplating conquerors (as Parkes expected I would).
What detail brought that conclusion to the forefront of my mind, which your eye sought but failed to find? From breasts beautifully defined—nipples tight, skin-taught and unconfined—my attention traveled to behind: her wings of white (he and she're one-of-a-kind!) And, then, down-past his framing grey wings with her pale body entwined: are her hands gloved in his same-color skin or am I colorblind?...I'mm not...It's grey gloves which rest over her maidenhood.
So it's his adornment I—now—focus on; for assumptions mis-made and conclusions drawn: It's probably not skin but (instead) head-to-toe chiffon which provided protection as he burned the distant pantheon; also, it's not the hilt of a blade jutting out-upon his masculinity's shouldered brawn, but the scabbard of a diamond-powered cremation baton (obviously capable of rivaling the dawn); and what of his helmet's two white fronds?...Err, adjustable antenna (to keep the eye moving bottom-right to top-left is understood).
We've spent many long minutes staring at two beings who can fly like linnets. One wearing a egyptian-blue lady's favor (tiny stars within it); the other bearing an expression of contentment or disdain or—you decide what she exhibits. Hopefully you paused to wonder about one incongruous tenet: If the artist intended to enforce—like a martinet—a constantly angled swirl-sweep of our eyes across his palette, why add, on her head, that single indigo pinnate?)...Mmm, to claim the warrior is looking anywhere but at that purplish gem would be a falsehood.
Chewed Beech Tree - What Say You?
Do you query what I think’d gone thru the beaver’s mind?Might the theory just be link’d to hew that river’s wynd?
Or feel cheery as wood plink’d in-lieu of dreamer’s grind?
‘Insist peering!’ (poem inked) ‘unto dam-weaver’s blind!’
‘Commandeering!’ (author thinked) ‘undo demeanor’s kind!’
‘Empty clearing!’ (muskrat winked) ‘bayou designer’s find!’’
personal values in a poetic vocabulary lesson
Virtuous behavior … have you some?Vitriolic neighbor … don’t become.
Values we favor … eschew none!
Veach Glines's list ere … 5 to 1:
Innate compersion – admire their joy and jealousy rot
Hypocrisy aversion – always guilelessness in thought
Active conscience – embrace Jiminy Cricket taught
Logical reasoning – superstitious belief in naught
Simple comforts – enjoy materials less bought
vindictive or rude … forgive and it’s done.
vampiric in mood … run narcissist - run!
verisimilitude … "jeez gurl z’at a gun?"
vibrant beige food … fun oxymoron
Spend a Few Minutes to Think Like a Stoic —
What is one of your important plans or goals?
Now—think about a possible problem—something which would derail those plans. What will your initial reaction be when you learn the bad news and, then, what do you do next in this hypothetical situation? Do you react and move forward, abandon the plan completely, or make some adjustments to the original plan?
This visualization technique requires you to use pessimism to bring about a positive effect when faced with future challenges.
Assume you’re planning a holiday-vacation. You’ve already got time off from your employer, purchased tickets, and researched the destination. Now imagine that the person you were going to be traveling with tells you—last minute—they can no longer go. Envision the emotions you would feel (anger, sadness, etcetera) and then what options you would in-this-instance consider [going alone; offering the tickets to someone else (who?); postponing (how long?); cancelling).
Some of life’s problems aren’t urgent (failure to receive promotion, power outage, sickness in the family, unplanned pregnancy, etcetera) and, for those, we have time to consider options when-and-if they occur. However—many (most?) of life’s difficulties are panic-inducing emergencies (waking to house on fire, witness a crime, spouse wants a divorce, etcetera).
To successfully practice the philosophy of Stoicism, it’s imperative to deal with life’s complexities by evaluating and making calm, logical, decisions. One way to accomplish this is by pre-visualizing the shit-hitting-the-fan emergencies and then mentally walking thru the series of actions required for you to make the best of a bad situation.
People in high-risk jobs (police, firefighters, soldiers, etcetera) continually train. Since it’s impossible to train for every possible negative situation one could experience in life, pre-visualizing is the most valuable mental training available. A Stoic doesn’t wait for bad news to arrive and think, “Now what do I do?” (while adrenaline fuels their emotions and, subsequently, thoughts). Instead, a Stoic calmly considers how they will maybe, someday, possibly be required to act, if/when they receive information that’s objectively-universally negative (laid-off from their job; death in the family; cancer prognosis; vehicle totaled in an accident, etcetera). By routinely doing this (once a week) Stoic practitioners prepare themselves for the inevitable, exercise their metal elasticity, and train their brains to be able to effectively, calmly, handle decision-making under duress.
Other articles about Stoicism and Philosophy:
tang.abstract.houghts
The title of this artwork — tang.abstract.houghts — is intended to cause you, the reader, to re-read and re-examine the three groups of letters separated by dots and (hopefully-maybe) make some of the following associations: the word 'abstract' is between the two dots; when the last 't' in abstract is added to the letters 'houghts' (sounds like: hots) the word thoughts is formed; abstract thoughts; would adding any of the first letters in abstract make a word out of the the letters 'tang'?; tang a b s t r . . . nope.; the word 'tangible' is out of reach; tang has many definitions: an orange drink powder, the part of a knife below the blade (hidden inside the handle), and it's the abbreviated form of the colloquialism poontang. tang-abstract-hots ... Hot Abstract Poontang?
hey there below | moiaq ajayf hau
Everchanging you,
which I only, never, view
thy faceting edge of —
Please
just keep knocking.
In-depth ranging clue,
rich *sigh* bonetree, sever, two
my hassling pledge: love —
Freeze
thrust-deep rockfling.
Neap breath strangling stew
ditch-lie lonely lever, new
lie babbling dredge 'bove —
Degrees
nonplussed teat-shocking.
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