Focus, Balance,
Competition, and Understanding
"And so, the didactic method proved less than
convincing and all attempts were abandoned."
Announcer: "Thank you, Dr. Herb Meier. And
with that, we bring to a close another session of
Mindless Mind, and once again we invite you to join us
again when we say 'Nevermind.' This is UTV. Later, a
program on the problems of monogamy in the development of
poly-faceted entities. Or, on Channel 2, Polka Party. And
now, a special session of Ericka's Bench, with her pooch
Sandy... ARRRF."
Rikkity: "Wow, did you hear Herb Meier. What
a mindless twit. Welcome to S-Span, your cable company's
eternal coverage of spirit--more than just 24/7. And
welcome to my bench, but don't sit. Sandy has just
painted it... great timing, dog... woof. But
this time, we used latex--no fumes... grrrrr.
Well, on with the show which is going to be a standing
joke... hahahehehehe I slay myself... and my elf.
"Ok, let's say welcome to the shadow of the bench,
VR. Don't! sit! Too late. It'll wash off."
VR:
"Hello. I was in Spain about the time you were in
France... but that's another story.
"I was a mystic and medium and seer. And I spent all
my life chasing the esoteric. And this much I learned and
remembered: Whether I chased it or not, it was always
there. But when I hunted it down, it was sometimes less
than itself. Sometimes I would so impose my needs and
understandings that it could not be itself. And sometimes
I focused so narrowly, it could not be its full self. And
sometimes I drove right by it without seeing because I
was so focused elsewhere.
"There is so much talk about this or that path to
enlightenment, and I now see that they all are good and
bad. All it takes is a radical openness to what is. If
your path opens your mind and spirit and heart, it will
be as good as any. But if your path only opens you to
your path, you will miss so much.
"Don't mistake the path for the journey, nor for the
vista. Even as I honed my powers, I missed much because I
was focusing on my powers and not on what they revealed.
Just a warning. It's never about models, it's about
content.
"And I've said enough. No, I haven't. But enough,
and now I've said it." (1/15/2005 - W#335)
Rikkity: "She is so wicked. Wellll, yes and
no. He/she was a man-woman. In which life? And now, an
old friend who will go by the initials of TF. Shhhh...
"
TF:
"Hello. Been a long time. I'm just a simple person
but I do have something to say. How shall I put it...
balance.
"When we focus too sharply, we lose balance. And
balance is necessary for change, which is
counterintuitive. One would think one would need a
direction or a propensity for change, but the greatest
change arises when we feel a sense of balance which makes
us secure enough to risk. Change which is the result of
crisis will breed more crisis. But change bred of
continuity will be more sustained and sustaining.
"The atom which is slowly brought to excitation can
change to new states. The atom brought to a new state of
energy abruptly is unstable and likely to destroy itself.
"An ion seeks desperately to find union, and holds
on so tenaciously that further combination is hard. Those
that are balanced in themselves can find newly balanced
combinations.
"Take a group of unstable people, and with a lot of
work you can make them into a group but it will be a
potentially explosive one. Get a group of together
people, and they will create their own, very sustainable,
group. Hint: When a group seems fractious, look at the
members, not the group.
"Ok, the chicken is calling and I don't know
why." (1/15/2005 - W#336)
Rikkity: "And now, here for a rare
reappearance this soon, Marky."
Marky:
"Bonjour, madame. I come, as always, with a
message of friendship. There is no group on this Earth
which is without conflict. It is the spiritual nature of
a planet of people learning to deal with their
complexity.
"What causes problems often is that people decide to
consider this basic human dilemma as a tribal or national
success or failure. One's own version of stability is
taken as successful triumph over the human condition, and
others' modes as failures. So there is this competition
to see oneself as ok and others as not. But we all are
both. And our unchosen placement in this nation or that
culture does not insure whether we succeed or fail.
"The great wise ones always knew that the truth
exceeded any specific group. Groups emulate, groups
embody, but groups do not create or possess. And wisdom
is knowing this. Good people have died in the cause of
bad ideas. But when was it not so. I go. Au revoir."
(1/15/2005 - W#337)
Rikkity: "And now, he would like a gutteral
with you... woog... ARF. He's sitting on it. Can
he get up? Grrrr. He's up and there's no fur on
the bench. Yay! So let's have our next guest sit down,
MW."
MW:
"A gracious good day. I would not have come if I had
to stand to talk with friends. G and his men can stand!
But I prefer to sit. When one spends energy on standing,
one has less for understanding. And I would understand,
if I can. And so it is with so much else. If I am to be
absorbed in standing at this point on that issue, I must
spend energy taking that stand and so I have that much
less to spend on understanding. One of the greatest gifts
we can receive is an ability to be sustained by an idea
without making it a stand.
"Now, I am not advocating for no values. What one
knows as the truth of her being transcends stands. In
fact, when a core value or ethic is known, one is freed
to look openly on other choices, knowing the assurance of
this as given. Only those things we uphold without a
sense of their ultimate assurance need our standing up
for them. Living a value without compromise is not the
same as fighting for this stand or that.
"So I am glad I could sit, and I now rise and take
leave. Goodbye." (1/15/2005 - W#338)
Rikkity: "And with the poor eyesight closing
in, we bring this Bench to a close."
MCP: "Hey-a."
Rikkity: "Ok."
MCP:
"Ciao. I just wanted to say that travelers
who are dying to see only one place miss many places. Ciao."
(1/15/2005 - W#339)
Rikkity: "And so we go. For Sandy and me and
all and others and them... but not him... we say 'See
you.' "
Papa:
"Hi, babe. What a time I've been having. Do you have
any idea how hard it is to make ideas concrete. But for
those without voices it is different. But we don't give
them voices, but we teach them to communicate in common.
In life they communicated only in limited ways with
limited people, and we have to help them see universal
possibilities. When you have held your inner self so
closely, you have to learn to let it be communally known
and appreciated. Big doses of fear there to be quelled.
"There is one fear greater than being misunderstood
and that's being totally understood. At least with
misunderstanding you can hide behind what is not
understood, but in the naked noonday of openness there's
no place to hide. And until you realize there is no
reason to hide, there is fear! Remember, all of us here
are sustainable entities so what we are is just fine. If
we have warts, so to speak, they are part of our meaning.
But to learn to not worry or fret over differences is a
struggle. And for those whose lives were defined by
differences it is deep learning.
"But I love it. Sometimes all I have to do is sit in
a car and wait, so they know somebody loves them no
matter what else happens. In a community, as they say,
just showing up is more than half." (3/2/2005 -
W#340)
Threats and Stupidity
Rikkity: "So, here's the scoop. We have three
here... unless they leave. It's time, always time, so
let's get started. Here's GW."
GW:
"Hello again. I am going to be nostalgic–back
to the war days. Not my favorites, but I learned much in
their passage.
"There was not a week that would pass that I would
not read--in this newspaper or that--about the dire
future. Had their words been true, we would all now be
concerned with that duchess woman and not the Bush man.
Accounts of our imminent defeat were abroad. And each new
account brought pessimism to a new high... or should I
say low.
"More than any military strategy, my strength was in
keeping the focus on our dream, not on the predictions.
Chicken Littles will always peep, but not every
courageous visionary will speak. But they must!
"You have a chap over there that we knew well over
here. He had been a clown in the royal circus. But now he
is with you, and his works have sometimes included a
preoccupation with the demise of the world. After all, as
he says, in only 8 or 9 million years the sun will burn
out, shouldn't we be worried. And in his humor, we are
reminded there are always more possibilities than
threats. We are people of solutions. We are creators. And
we miss our mark when we fail our nature and give in to
fear and skies falling.
"Just read the accounts of Halley's Comet and the
fear it provoked about a century and a half ago. But
you're still there. Guess it didn't destroy the Earth...
but wait, my good friend wishes to pick up the
tale." (4/4/2005 - W#341)
Marky:
"Bonjour. The greatest threat to any nation
has never been weapons. But do you know what it is? Ok,
stupidity. And there are many types of stupidity. One is
the stupidity of arms and another is the stupidity of
fear, but the worst is the stupidity of blindness to the
potential for good.
"When any nation loses its focus on the good that is
its future, it is being stupid. Enhancement is the name
of the game! And preaching otherwise is stupid. It takes
little mind to become afraid; it takes great mind to look
beyond the fears. Which do you want to be, little brains
or big brains. Your choice. And the trick is that your
choice will decide your future, not the choices of
others. Sure, times may get rough... but wait, my pal
wants to pick up the tale." (4/4/2005 - W#342)
LD:
"Hello. Times are not always easy. And there are
tough times which extend for too long, we think. But, in
the total, there is a gradual growth toward the whole.
Now, if I had only seen my work in terms of troubles, I
would have become a sot or drowned myself. Think there is
any honor in designing armor? No. But it paid the bills
in tough times that allowed a smile and a bridge and an
enigma. Had I become overcome by the threats of my age, I
would have been famous once and dead too long. Instead, I
have been dead once and famous too long... or not. Ok,
too long.
"It is stupid, as he says, to let the times decide
your mien. Have you no character? Will-o'-the-wisps blow
with the wind, stupidheads do, too. The wise are never
blown over or away by their times. So stay wise and don't
be beguiled by stupidity dressed up in necessity's
clothes. Necessity won't like it." (4/4/2005 -
W#343)
Rikkity: "Ok, there the three are... and
there they go.
"The pandemic of panic. Dire in the desert of hope.
Ok, let's say you hear that a great rain is coming. You
could spend energy telling everyone about it with dire
threats. You could get people together to discuss how
threatened they feel. But hey, maybe a dam or a pump or
an ark would be better than panic.
"Focus on what you want because no one else will do
that for you! And don't be stupid." (4/4/2005 -
W#344)
In London
Rikkity: "This place is full of spirits, and
surprise: most of them were not beheaded. Bloody awful
what they emphasize. For example, here's PN."
PN:
"Hello. I lived in London. I was a seamstress. I had
3 children and one husband. We were wed 45 years. All my
children lived longer than I. I died at 70, one year
after my husband. We both died of natural causes. Life
was never neither grand nor plain, but the joyous mix
which is life.
"Do they mention us on tours, no. We were just some
of millions who lived and learned and loved and
celebrated and cried and ate and walked and etc. Cities
are made of people, not stories.
"They like the myths more than the realities, for in
fact the realities are quite common. Think of a town
where, when you enter, the sign says 'Welcome to a place
where nothing happened except for 1287 lives lived out.'
Wouldn't make the tourist maps, but that's the truth of
most places. On the tour they may mention 100, but how
many millions have been Londoners. It's like saying you
are defined by that single second in second grade.
"And here she is. Ta-ta."
Rikkity: "So, focus on the common. It's
harder to connect to the exceptions, and harder to learn
from them. Can't learn from fear. They don't want to
learn–believe the best was not 'is' or 'will be.'
Empire in decline." (6/4/2005 - W#345)
TJ:
"When in the course of politics... no no no no no.
When in the course of human affairs... no no no no no.
Whenever we feel like it... no no no no no. When in the
course of human events... yes. Wife, puberty, and... no
no no. O hi, I'm TJ, I'm not a revolutionary, though I
play one in history. Do you think I came up with those
words out of my own little brain. I do not claim such. I
was merely the conscientious and courageous soul who put
on a single document the best evolution of human thought.
"Did I write it for the ages, yes and no. What I
wrote was, I hoped, a glimpse of the eternal truths
created by a presence greater than my naming and knowing.
And yet, at the same time, I had to write to my times,
not to eternity. There is a constant need for a fair and
enlightening point of confluence between the theories of
the natural laws and the wants and needs of breathing
people of an age and culture. If I had written that all
people were equal and that slavery was unjust (which I
knew it to be), my words would not have become enshrined
in anything other than the dustbin. The truly prophetic
words are those which point us in the right direction but
which do not presume the ultimate destination of
fulfillment. So, too, with the Bible. Where it teaches me
to walk a Christ-like path and see the moral truths for
myself in my age and place, it is a holy work. But where
it asks me to accept as true the destinations of those
long since dead, it is but an albatross to the true
spiritual traveler.
"Ask of any work: 'Does this point me in a direction
of greater inclusion and holiness, or does it narrow the
path as it narrows the spirit and the mind.'
"I've got work to do... on a trifle for dinner.
Don't look for my path, look from my path for
yours. And don't forget to stop and picknick
awhile."
Rikkity: "He's so cool and deep, we call him
The Well. And one last word from GW: 'Hey, I told you I'm
not the father! Grow your own country!' " (7/4/2005
- W#346)
Bastille Day
Rikkity: "And so, in the winter of 1789,
there were many whose stomachs were empty but whose minds
were full. But who knew what would grow in the soil of
that famous year. 'I do.' No, you don't.' 'Huh.'
"And now, for part 1298 of our recorded story of
France's freedom. In episodes 1 through 1297, we learned
that the dinosaurs became fat and lazy, and so the
English and the bourgeois were made. Now we hear
Pierre entering the inn and saying, ‘Bonjour,
mon amis. How ees the wine.' And they respond,
'Revolting!' and so it starts. Hi. Well, it's a big day
in the Land That Time Forgot because time doesn't exist.
"Ok, serious. Here's a man who has been
kissing MCP."
Marky:
"Hello. Without the little Italian, how could we
have the feu d'artifice. He is my hero. And I
remain your humble servant, Marky.
"It is important that we all remember that
celebrations are only reminder, not event. As the years
pass, too many focus on the celebration and forget the
event. Maybe we need a holiday with no precedent, just to
celebrate. And then we could use the real times to
remember. Just an idea." (7/14/2005 - W#347)
Rikkity: "And now, here's the Gallic
wonder:"
CDG:
"Hello. They say I was a great leader, but I have
this confession: Everything I knew about it came from the
experience of following. We too often speak of people's
qualities in a life as if they were causes, not results.
But I know that all which is accorded great and all which
is accorded poor are the results of lives, not the cause
of fame or infamy. We arrive in each life with the
resources which are the result of much
learning–either at this level or another. What we
bring we use, and what we learn here becomes the
blessings of another go-around.
"I was much more informed at the dairy (the fromagerie)
than at the Sénat. I learned more at the cheese tables
than in the halls of government. It is a process of
aftereffects. Everyone wants it all now. Well, grow up.
Moses, that kind servant they called a leader, never saw
the Promised Land. And none of those who raised the
Tricolor saw the great democratic republic which is
France.
"So don't think of leadership as presence, as much
as a present of experience.
"And on another note, what is this whole thing about
English food. They have excellent cheese.
"So, ponder that, as Her Highness says."
(7/14/2005 - W#348)
“So, a long journey
has a marking place. I hope you can embrace the gifts of
the journey, even while lamenting the losses. If the
focus were to be on 10 years ago, what would it serve but
to negate 10 years and all that I have tried to share.
Can’t choose 'em, but can choose how.
“Each piece of a puzzle we call Life is another
polished facet of our entities. It is tragic when the
allure of focusing on any one facet keeps us from seeing
the brilliant jewel which is us in our entirety. You
can’t get holism without focusing on the whole.
Perspective is also a name for insight.” (8/19/2005
- W#349)
Strands
Rikkity: “It’s a lazy day on the Bench.
Sanford is asleep under the bench... f. And our
guests are snoozing, too. We’ll wake them one at a
time. Ok, but first, hi. Ok, pssst... hey, wake
up.”
TJ: “Huh. O. Hi. Am I at Monticello?”
Rikkity: “No, this is Iowa!”
TJ: “Very funny.”
Sandy: “F f f f f.”
TJ:
“Hello. Not with it yet... give me a millennium.
“Ok, so I had this friend--big extrovert, great for
PR. You’ve seen his handiwork, right here on my
Declaration. But now a little secret that Mr. Hancock
will not admit. If you examine the Declaration with a
lens like I did, you will see that his big sprawl scrawl
is nothing but a series of little ink dots. To the eye it
looks continuous, but to the inspecting eye it is
otherwise.
“Now, here’s the ponder: Is the whole or are
the point parts the signature. And the answer is yes. His
signature is the line of many points, each flowing from
the former and flowing to the latter; each its own and
yet part of something more. And that’s not all! His
whole signature is part of the flow from past to future,
so you know it as well as I. Just like lives made up of
separate days and then larger lives made up of several
lives--strands running through the perceived time.
“Some point in his signature is connected to its
adjoining points and to a signature on the Magna Carta
and to the written text of his Lord the Christ. It is
connected, not by substance, but by something more
substantial. It is a thread of reality flowing in many
lives--each composed of many lives, each composed of many
days, each composed from many entities.
“It’s a complex thing. You will never know all
the precedents and antecedents, but you will know all the
precedents and antecedents in the fullness of existence.
*yawn* Enough. Bring me some water from the well, if you
would.” (9/5/2005 - W#350)
Rikkity: “Ok. Hey, wake up! God, no more
ambrosia for these dudes. Hey!”
MCP: “Hey-a! O, yes. Hello-a. Did I miss
anything.”
Rikkity: “O, yes. You slept through the end
of the world.”
MCP: “Ooops-a.”
Rikkity: “It will be coming back again.”
MCP:
“Now, I want you to picture your life if I had--one
day when I was young--said, ‘No, go yourselves,
I’ll stay right here.’ But you see I was
prepared to go and so I went, and presto: ice
cream and pasta and fireworks and peace in the East. We
have to be willing to go and do that for which we are
prepared. Otherwise, what’s the point.
“We walk off into the unknown knowing ourselves, and
so are equipt for all that may come. No one is asked to
make the world-transformative journey, but when each of
us does what we have been prepared to do, the world is
transformed. And it will always be scarey, but the best
things are because they’re about change.
“Unless one lives out what one has been prepared to
do, he is only a dilettante at life.
“I guess-a das is das. And I run out of gas.”
(9/5/2005 - W#351)
Rikkity: “No, you’re an old gas
bag.”
MCP: “Hey-a.”
Rikkity: “Go back to sleep.”
MCP: “Ok-a.”
Rikkity: “Now, the hard one. Hey! Wake up. I
mean it! Tickle your toes... “
GH: “Hee hee. I’m up. Hello. I’m
not awake."
Rikkity: “Get up!”
GH: “Five more minutes.”
Rikkity: “No, now.”
GH:
“Ok. We have not met before. I am GH... GHO...
GHOS... GHOST. Just GH. Want to do the penny trick (from
my movie, Ghost). She says I should behave, but
why.
“Ruts are for saps. Can’t see nothing down
there. You want to see where your track is heading? Gotta
get out of the ruts. Get up on some high ground and see
the view. It’s amazing how few people do that and
get a sense of where their track has taken them–and
I don’t just mean physically.
“If you want to understand the thread of which you
are a fibre, you got to be willing to frazzle a bit.
Linear lives are dead lives. Going with the pack is also
deadly. Step up, step out. See for yourself. And if you
must be in a rut or two, at least let them be chosen
ruts... now, there’s a book title.
“But I am filled with ennui. I must doze...
zzzzzz.” (9/5/2005 - W#352)
Rikkity: “He’s gone. Ok, the Bench is
looking mighty tempting. I give it an eye. It’s my
left one. It gives it back because it isn’t
physical, but neither am I nor my eye. The Bench is going
to sleep, too. So we reach the end of the Bench. I mean
we really reach the end of this bench, it just
collapsed. Spirits, bench, dog... all one. And I shall
lay upon it and become it. It is All and I will be one
with All.
“And, by the way, when I said that All That Is
includes All That Is, plus is something more, I meant to
add that the something more is also part of it.
Ultimately, you can’t have anything separate.
Because by the very act of saying there is something
more, you’ve linked to it.” (9/5/2005 - W#353)
Rikkity: “And now, here’s FC, TL, GR, PB
and J. Who did I say I would produce... arrf.
See, Sandy, I was right... grrrr... snap.
So, from the great seadog tradition... arrf...
it’s FC.”
FC: “Hello. I almost said ‘Avast, shiver
me timbers, arrgh'... ARF... arrrgh... ARF. But I’m
not a pirate born.”
Chorus: “No, he’s not a pirate born.”
FC: “Shhhh. But never have I a
pirate scorned.”
Chorus: “No, never has he a pirate scorned.”
FC: “Damned, this chorus. Hi Gilbert, hi
Sullivan. When I was but a lad...”
Chorus: “Yes, when he was but a lad...”
FC: “...I shot a choir bad. Shhhh.
That’ll keep him quiet. Duck tape, keeps him down.
Yes, I was a seafarer.”
Chorus: “O yes, he was a....”
FC: “Shut up. Sanford me boy, keep him
quiet... grrrrr. Well, as a sailor, I called
nowhere home.”
Chorus: “No direction known? Grrrrrrr”
FC: “So, if I might continue
uninterrupted...”
Chorus: “If he might...”
FC: “Ok, hoist the yardarm high and hang the
tenor there.”
Chorus: “O hoist the yardarm high and... grrrrr.”
FC: “No more tenor, alas. And he does give
good shade. Do you want a piece of the yardarm, too? Why.
Spot o’ rum.
“When I sailed, what always impressed me was how
each port seemed different at first, but then as each
became familiar, they became more similar. The strands
which wove through me were revealed with time and
familiarity. One of the things I learned was to not so
quickly define anything as foreign or strange... except
for him, of course... hhhmmmm hhhmmmm.
“The process of life--for anyone who is both
learning and remembering--is the process of translating
the strange into the familiar... or rather, seeing where
our life path intersects with so much. And if you live in
a straight line, you will miss so much. In my day and, o
yes, especially in my nights, rare were straight lines.
“A good sailor knows the best journey between two
points is often a disjointed series of tacks. And even
the ones which seem to go contrary to desire may either
get us closer or prepare us for a long, steady run.
“If life seems to have blown you off course, maybe
it is better to set a new course than to try to recapture
the old.
“Just a few rambles from an old man and the sea. Ok,
undo the tape. Leash the hounds. I once more go down to
the sea in ships.” (10/7/2005 - W#354)
Chorus: “O yes, he once more...”
Bang!
FC: “Have you heard of Pachelbel’s
Canon. That was FC’s Canon. CT is breathless.”
Chorus: “O yes, he is breathless...”
FC: “ ‘Ahoy, to Sea, to Sea,’ by
FC.”
Rikkity: “Hi. I found him at a party.”
Chorus: “O yes, she found him at a party.”
Rikkity: “C.T., T.L., L.D., G.W., M.W.,
M.C.P...”
MCP: “Hey-a.”
Chorus: “O yes, hey-a.”
Rikkity: “Shut up.”
Chorus: “O yes... ARF.”
Rikkity: “I am surrounded by idiots, dolts,
dullards, and choristers. And I can’t tell the
difference.”
Chorus: “O no, she can’t tell the
difference.”
Rikkity: “Hi. Just another fun time with dead
folks. Ok, get out the harps. A little musicale to lift
our spirits... hehe.”
Strategy
Rikkity: “Like dogs to Pavlov, they come.
ARF? Sandy, this research scientist had dogs... ARF!...
and he would ring a bell... grrr... and then
feed them. ARF! And after a time, he could just ring the
bell and they would salivate. Rrf? That means
they would get all juicy in the mouth like when they were
eating... snap... grrrrrrrrrr. You’re
right, it’s not nice to trick a dog... g...
wooooof.
“Hi. So, today I have a Bench but it’s empty...
well-painted but empty. Shall we fill it? Ok, any
volunteers, just raise your spirits. Ok, you in the
back.”
Volunteer: “Hi. Wow, this is cool. I just got
here and they put me on a Bench. I must be very special!
This place is so cool–everything just the way I like
it. I could get used to it. Some of the others who came
when I did seem out of it. They want to sit around and
connect. Jeez, connect with these dead people... I mean
some of them are old and some are just creepy, and
don’t talk about the coloreds. But I know this is
going to be my place!
“There’s this cute dog. He just stares at
me–probably never saw anyone so downright good. And
he just looks like he’s smiling at me! And this
servant girl, who sat me down. She knew a success when
she saw it. How does someone like her get a Bench? Grrrrrr.
Nice doggie... I think I better be going. Those people
don’t like my type sitting in their ‘hood. What
the hell, I’m stuck. Damn wet paint. Shit, I
can’t get up. Help me! Snap. Bad dog,
you’ve torn my tupa. I can get up
now... rrriiiip. Don’t look. This
isn’t funny. Doggie, stop chortling... grgrgr.
Hey girl, get me a robe.”
Rikkity: “Who you calling girl?”
Volunteer: “You!”
Rikkity: “Ok, Mister Ripped Smarty Pants,
come with me. We have some very special experiences
reserved just for your high class of people. It’ll
be a blast!”
Volunteer: “Ok, but keep the dog on a leash.
Try!”
Rikkity: “He’s gone. And the Bench
catches another. Ok seriously, here’s our old
friend, GW. Wait, don’t sit, here’s some
papers. O that’s right, you know you’re not
physical, so do whatever.”
GW:
“Hello. One of the greatest lessons I learned as a
young officer was that the most brilliant strategy was
often a vigilant waiting while the arrogant foe would
over-extend themselves–a version of ‘giving
them enough rope.’ When the forces are massed, they
seem impenetrable, but when they scatter to their tasks,
one can begin to perceive their vulnerable points.
“Remember this: There is often a great and seemingly
powerful onslaught just before the collapse–like the
fever that peaks just before breaking. The worst
injustices come just before the restitution of the good.
The dogs and hoses came out just before the Civil Rights
Act. Decades of small injustices were wrapped up in those
intense moments. And if we became enamoured or obsessed
with their strength, we would miss the revealing
weaknesses.
“If you are to give your energies into a struggle,
know to use them against places of weakness. Take a
sledge to a boulder and you will sap your energy hitting
it full-face, but look for a small crack and the
slightest tap will render it asunder.
“Strategy is not about having energy, but using it.
“Good boy... ARF. He’s so cute. He reminds me
of some mixed hounds we had: loyal... arf...
smart... woof... and cute... ppf. Be
well. (11/18/2005 - W#355)
“Hello, my darling.”
MW: “Hello, Mr. President. Will you sit and
have tea with me.”
GW: “No, my dog and I are off.”
MW: “O, is he yours? Grrrrrr.”
GW: “No, just a good friend... woof.”
MW: “Safe travels.
“Hello. He is just magnificent! At your service.
“He speaks of strength and he is right, but I would
remind that, at times, weakness can be equally disarming.
To know when to be meek is also a gift.
“The great blowhards can be disarmed when there is
no resistance to their spent energy. Meet a raised fist
with another raised fist and you get a fight, but meet a
raised fist with a feigned fallback and a quiet laugh and
you have them off balance–so the slightest misstep
will trip them.
“Sometimes your non-use of energy can use their
energy to their regret. Never push tea on anyone, but let
the inviting vapors work their magic. One lump or two?
“O, I must go. He will be coming back with that dog.
And he’s so cute... both.” (11/18/2005 - W#356)
Rikkity: “Hi. Where’s Sandy? Ok,
it’s a short Bench.”
Papa (on his 10th anniversary):
"So, did you know you were
here recently. In a place without time, things happen.
Well, we're all floating through here all the time, hehe.
But if we don't yet have a sense of the whole, we
compartmentalize--see only fragments. But sometimes we
get glimpses and say 'Look who's here,' but then poof
they're gone... just like spirits on your side.
"We are all here all the time, but here and there
are not separate--just awareness, not existence. She says
you should ponder that. And sometimes we get glimpses as
treats. Like when she got here, she got a glimpse of me,
even though you thought I was there, but I am also
here... time. Enough." (11/26/2005 - W#357)
New Year's Day
Rikkity: “We have
five brief histories of... no no no no... five brief
piths. ‘From five pith makers in briefs’... no
no no no no, CT! We begin with a spirit of New
Year’s present.”
MCP:
“Hello-a. There are two ways to travel: One is to
leave and the other is to be left behind. Your
choice-a.” (1/1/2006 - W#358)
Rikkity: “And now, a spirit of New
Year’s present.”
LD:
“We often rush to what appears new but is really old
when, if we looked to our own thoughts, we would find
that old things may actually be new. Many of my
inventions were old thoughts allowed to ripen. Sometimes
old ideas ripen, while new ones rot.” (1/1/2006 -
W#359)
Rikkity: “And here’s the spirit of a New
Year present.”
MW:
“Gracious good year to you. There is never a season
when compassion is not freshly needed. If you expect that
the new year will usher in the era of joy for all, you
will have hardened your heart. A new year asks for a
graciousness, not a demand.” (1/1/2006 - W#360)
Rikkity: “And now, for the spirit of New
Year’s present.”
TJ:
“When one speaks of rights and liberties, one is
always speaking of the future. To be consumed by
grievance is to be holden to the past. We never sought
the fall of Britain, just the rise of our liberty. Give,
add, enhance, rather than detract and destroy. Agents of
good focused on evil are evil.” (1/1/2006 - W#361)
Rikkity: “And now the spirit of New
Year’s present.”
Papa:
“Hi. In the simplest things are the most elegant
ones. Anything which is complicated beyond the
understanding of the common folk is but a charade. At
heart all is simple, and the great ones have always known
this.” (1/1/2006 - W#362)
Rikkity: “And so that’s it for the
spirits. Because without time all spirits are of the
present, and every moment is all moments, and the new
year is ever-beckoning. What more could you ask for?
Always the chance, always the possibility, always the
opportunity, always the challenge. Happy New Year
always... ARF!” (1/1/2006 - W#363)
Rikkity's Bar Stools at the Emerald Pub
Rikkity: “Hi. Friday the 13th and no Bench...
ARF? No, no Bench! Barf? Yes, Sandy, no Bench...
arf barf. O I see, yes Sandy, we will be sitting
at a bar... barf! And let’s see, we have 5
stools... grr... and a big floor dish... arf
arf. So if I am sitting at one stool (of course,
there are no actual stools and I don’t sit, but be
that as it may or may not be), that seems to indicate 4
guests... or a very bad night for the bar. Yum, peanuts
and pretzels. And barkeep, keep the libations
coming.”
CT: “Yes, ma’am.”
Rikkity: “By the way, the barkeep seems to
resemble CT. How could this be?”
CT: “Because I am CT!”
Rikkity: “O, that’s right, this is my
fantasy and I fantasize about CT with a body... yum.
*Blush* CT’s turning red, CT’s turning red,
CT’s turning red. Ooops, CT is turning to go. ARF?
No, I don’t want a doggie tail, I want a cocktail.
And look, the door is opening and in walks a short little
guy in a hat. I wish he were wearing clothes, but the hat
does cover what it needs to cover.”
MCP:
“Hey-a. And hi-a. Ciao. It has been a long
time--not for me, but for you. I often think about how
much more I would have seen if time were not a factor. In
my own way, I made it less of a factor. I never said
‘Hey-a, I gotta get-a back to Venezia.’ Why
not? Because I spoke Italian. But I didn’t even say
the same thing in Italian because I did what I did until
I didn’t do it anymore. And sometimes I stayed a
day, and sometimes many years, and each was an equal
portion of me.”
CT: “Hey, my little friend, what can I get
you? Grappa? No problem.”
MCP: “Sip... ahhh. Time is always a bugbear.
I love that word. Let’s go out and bug a bear... grrrrrrrr.
Bugdog doesn’t do it. Time should be understood as a
resource. And here’s a radical thought: It is a
renewable resource. Huh.
“Some would say no, because once yesterday is gone,
it’s gone. But I say yes, because as soon as it
becomes yesterday, you get another today. Now, when you
exist apart from time, you realize this more and more:
There is no dimension you can sense that is anything less
than infinite. Some will tell you about newly discerned
dimensions and that they are minuscule, but in each there
is an infinity--a range which goes from before reckoning
to beyond reckoning. Infinities are not comparatives...
and Infinitys are nice cars.
“Sip... ahhh... gulp... ahhhh! So
don’t let the boundaries of your thinking and
knowing become the prisons of your possibilities. All the
dimensions of your being are as infinite as All That Is,
and as infinitely small as the spark of Creation.
“I am going to sit here until... sip, ahhh...
I’m done.” (1/13/2006 - W#364)
CT: “Take your time. No last calls at the
Emerald.”
MCP: “CT, my buddy, you are a great listener,
and I’ll have another.”
Rikkity: “While CT is busy, we’ll just
scoot down a stool with better lighting to see if we can
illumine a few points. Hey, out West near Carson City, a
miner’s home was empty because he got TB. Out back,
his workings were idle but he being a gentleman who liked
to share, was a sign: ‘Ill, U Mine.’ And
that’s where the largest lode of silver was found.
“But out of the restrooms at the back comes another.
Hey, A.”
A: “Hey, R.”
Rikkity: “Hey, A. Let’s stop this and
have a drink.”
A: “Fine by me. Make it an absinthe on the
rocks.”
Rikkity: “No, make that on ice. Here we have
to be careful, with CT pouring. Put the pebbles down,
CT.”
A: “Wow! Absinthe on diamonds! Wish I could
have had this back there. I’m A--just A, like
she’s just R. Together we are known as the ARs, as
in ‘getting your ars in here,’ hahaha.”
Rikkity: “See why I like A. We’ve met
before in which life?”
A: “Denmark.”
Rikkity: “O, I thought it was England.”
A: “No, it was Denmark with these two.”
Rikkity: “If you say so.”
A: “I do, and so blech. Hello. I
sang but did not dance. I was a cripple--a triple cripple
who was known to tipple. ‘There was an old cripple
from Dansk, who could tipple but could not quite
dance...’ “
Rikkity: “Enough!”
A: “Ok, here’s a point to ponder.”
Rikkity: “Don’t say that! It’s
copyrighted.”
A: “O. Here’s a not point to not
ponder... or is that a knotty point to pander.”
Rikkity: “Just tell them!”
A: “Shit, I have to listen to all your
prattle about TJ and CT and Richie and that woman.
“Ok. Which is better, a world that is plain in which
one can have visions of beauty, or a world filled to sate
all senses and without a vision of plainness.
“We so crave for the fullness of the whole, we often
fail to notice that the whole is built up from the
simplest. Sure, it is tempting to leap ahead to
completion, but for me I’ll take a lone sunflower
sitting in a barren landscape to an endless field of the
glorious faces of the sun. One gives hope while the other
becomes the expected. And we grow from hope, not from
easy expectations.
“And yes, I’ll take another, but let’s
make it what he’s drinking.” (1/13/2006 -
W#365)
MCP: “Hey-a!”
A: “I meant the same thing he was
drinking, not his drink!”
Rikkity: “CT!”
CT: “Yes.”
A: “CT, the pretzels do make you look like a
walrus, but I’m the Eggman.”
Rikkity: “Moving, or stumbling, right along,
one more stool over. Wow, picking himself up off the
floor, here’s a sot for sore eyes. Hey, Marky.”
Marky: “Bonjour. Monsieur, please a
glass of your finest cognac. What, no it can’t be,
no cognac?”
CT: “I have some nice brandy.”
Marky: “Mon dieu, man, it’s the
same! Give us a snort.”
CT: ssnnn... ARF.
Marky: “Now give us a pour... with a
glass!”
Rikkity: “CT. Sandy, get down, you’re
not a lap dog... lap lap lap... hic. Sandy is
wobbling. Remember, this is all a simulation. No spirits
or actual spirits were harmed. Do not try this at home.
Professional stunt spirits. Ok. Marky!”
Marky: “Rikkity!”
A: “Marky!”
Rikkity: “A!”
A: “Rikkity!”
Marky: “A!”
A: “Marky!”
CT: “Ok, I’ve had enough of you two
pixies. Now get out of here.”
Rikkity: “Clarence, come on, let’s go out with
Mr. Martini and Gower. Marky.”
Marky: “Yes.”
Rikkity: “Don’t speak too loudly.
Shhhhh... ggggr.”
Marky:
“All things to excess finally dispose of their
greatest virtues. Do not seek to have more of what
already elates--and I don’t mean in terms of
physical things alone. A person of faith can become so
faithful that they are filled with fear. Fanatics of
every faith proclaim doubt. And so, too, with politics.
The worst despots are those who so prize liberty that
they will defend her by any means necessary, including
suppression.
“When any good thing is taken from the realm of the
ordinary into the extraordinary, watch out! And when the
extraordinary becomes resident in the ordinary, pay
attention. The former is a subjugation of the whole to a
piece of the whole, while the latter is an expression of
the whole in a piece. One opens the view, and the former
closes it. Just remember this, and all will be ok.
“Now I think I need another shot.” (1/13/2006 -
W#366)
CT: Bang!
Rikkity: “CT! This bar is going downhill
fast. That’s because it’s built on an unstable
bluff... ayyyeeeee.”
“5 bar stools and one of them drunk, he’s
getting up like a wounded skunk. 4 bar stools and one
them drunk, he’s getting up like a wounded skunk.
3... why aren’t we drinking... ok, last stool
standing. Look, pith! Wow, Mr. Livingston, I
presume.”
L: “O yes.”
Rikkity: “Great hat!”
MCP: “Hey-a, it sure-a is.”
L: “It’s not a hat, it’s a
helmet.”
Marky: “Well helmet and good day to you.
Sherry.”
L: “No, I don’t want your trollop, I
want a drink.”
Marky: “Pardon me, mon cheri.”
L: “I did not hear him well. Have you any
digestive biscuits. O, that’s a shame. So there I
was in darkest Africa. One morning I got up and shot an
elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas,
I’ll never know. I was an explorer.”
MCP: “Me too-a.”
L: “Hey, aren’t you....”
MCP: “Yes I am, and you....”
L: “O yes, I am. Well, at last we meet.”
MCP: “How’s Stanley.”
L: “Who.”
MCP: “Ooops. Aren’t you the man Stanley
found in Africa.”
L: “No, I’m an itinerant vaudevillian
from the West and I helped found Livingston,
Montana.”
MCP: “O.”
L: “Look here, don’t... always... I mean
never... I mean be sure to get your facts straight. If
you thought I was this other chap, you would create a
history which was unfounded. And since any one strand
connects so universally, we have a moral imperative to
get things right. You fail at this over and over again,
but trying is vital.
“Now I think I’ll try this sherry...
ahhh.” (1/13/2006 - W#367)
“Ahhh.”
“Ahhh.”
“Ahhh.”
“Ahhh.”
Rikkity: “5 ahs, and so the bar is full and
the ahs have it. And ponder the bar but don’t pound
the bar. And don’t... grrrr... take... grrrr...
the dog to the pound... snap. Ok, the
round’s on me. *splash* CT!”
GW (on his birthday):
“Gracious hello. A good draught of the old wine made
many a day pass more graciously. I raise high my glass
and toast all who know the value of spirits... hehehehe.
“I tried to be a humble servant because I knew any
other kind of servant would actually be trying to be a
master. And she reminded me, thank God. But I always felt
a great trust in the infinite power of the universe--not
in the short time, but in its fullness. We did not win
the war because we defeated the British, but because we
could sustain our cause longer than they could uphold a
tyranny.
“The test is not the time, but the strength of
resolve. Focus, be patient, persevere, persist...
‘perspire’... CT... ‘Well, I didn’t
say purr like a cat.’ No, you didn’t, but cats
could teach us.
“The biggest problem with being president was having
to live out all of those others’ expectations.
Sometimes I just wanted to sit... and I did. You
don’t have to speak to influence (eye rolls). It was
easier than trying to push an agenda... ‘and much
easier than trying to push a desk.’”
Rikkity: “CT, leave him alone.”
GW: “He’s humorous in a half-witted sort
of manner. If he ever met another half wit, they might be
funny.”
Rikkity: “GW!”
GW: “... What is the opposite, just look to
my namesake city.
"Ok, party time. Give me a hat--3 corners,
please.” (2/22/2006 - W#368)
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