Something Right – July 19

There is a line in a song, it may even be the title, I simply don’t know but it says or at least implies “Somewhere, somehow, I must have done something right”. Or maybe it’s just our “Western” (and Eastern influenced) way of thinking which tries to account for the reality of our experiences through a “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction” or the “cause and effect” Newtonian-Cartesian mind set. A mind set which takes very well to the concept of “Karma”. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, but on the other hand there are the acausual synchronicities which cannot be explained through the “cause and effect” model. They simply happen, at most explained as some deeper inner psychic or (to use a controversial idea) spiritually related occurrence. Or to be even more difficult to comprehend (though established through physics and science) the Quantum nature of reality witnessed on the micro and macro levels of reality beyond normal human senses and sensation.

Regardless of what it is, or is not (as a means of explanation or accounting for). “At someplace, somehow, I must have done something right.” I don’t know, it simply is … Some would say “It is ‘God’”. I don’t have a problem with that  except “That is the easy ‘cop-out’” assuming we, the human being cannot comprehend, cannot think and understand and ultimately are not made in the image of the ‘God’ some would account any unknowable too. Yet it is continually evidenced, knowledge increases, and that once attributed to no other than one or another deity, is known and understood as simply the way the universe and reality is.

I do not find this to be refutation of “God”. Neither do I propose the absolute reality of some “other” figure or supreme-being as “God”. But it is my acknowledgement of our, the human beings, growing and increasing knowledge and understanding of that which is the divine. And if there is a “mind of God”, it is accessible to us and ultimately “in us”, as is proclaimed by the Apostle Paul himself that “we have the mind of Christ”. The error of the “Orthodox Church” is their literal absolute universal claim to exclusivity regarding this mind.

Yet, something’s work out right and no explanation seems sufficient. It is kind of the opposite of “Shit Happens”.

Hats – July 12, 2013

In this Texas sun and being outside a lot, I need to wear some kind of hat. Now I do not feel comfortable in one of those wide brimmed “cowboy” hats that many down here wear. An I will not, even as a joke, put on a sombrero, which is not uncommon. But a simple baseball cap, with a bill in the front to shade my eyes is ideal for me.

When Mary first got here and we had a little cash and not having a hat, I cleared it with her to get one for just about five dollars. A large blue star was front center and immediately I was assumed in the ranks of fans of the Dallas Cowboys. Not such a bad place to be, but I don’t follow football ( or any other sport team). But being quiet and a disposition to be agreeable (on matters of little importance) and bow to the expertise of self-proclaimed authorities, maintaining a satisfactory relationship within the community was relatively easy.

Now the Dallas Cowboys did not have a very good year and on New Year’s Day at a dinner for the homeless I was able to acquire a new hat, this one with the phrase “House the Homeless” on the front. But receiving the hat I was told I’d have to turn in my Dallas Cowboys hat. I think he was joking, but I responded with “Well, they aren’t doing anything this year” and laid my Cowboy’s hat on the desk. My new “homeless” hat was not the quality of the first, but it did have a bill and did the job of keeping the sun out of my eyes.  

Now not having clippers to regularly trim my beard, it was starting to grow out and it was not uncommon to be complimented on it. It was full and well-formed and gave the appearance of an Old Testament prophet or Santa Clause. It was not uncommon to hear “Hey, Santa Clause” from over-weight women in Wal-Mart, or ‘frat’ boys half-drunk wanting to impress some UT coed.

Now my hat was becoming well-worn and stained from the sweat of my head, my beard untrimmed, eventually grown out about eight inches, I was often addressed by younger, more polite street people as “Hey, Old timer”. Older, more mature businessmen, believe it or not, addressed me as “Sir”.  I often would forget what was written on the front of the hat, as I also am unconscious of my tattoos, which are also prominent and unmistakable. But occasionally, as I remembered, I realized I was unapologetically getting in the face of many who would rather I, and my like, were not there. I was a reminder that the system does not work for all. My demeanor fit the stereotype. I was not a drunkard or hopped up on drugs. I was able to survive on the streets, never being ticketed or arrested, but I was there and something didn’t fit … I didn’t fit. I didn’t fit the profile. Eventually, I lost that hat. It was no great loss, I should have thrown it away a long time before.

At a Thursday breakfast at the Presbyterian Church, shortly after Mary returned to Indiana, I was looking through a bunch of hats on a table and one kept my attention. It was corduroy, burgundy, with a large T in the center and slightly smaller A & M on each side of it. I knew immediately it was a Texas A and M cap, and it looked good, so I claimed it. Texas Agriculture and Mechanics, this is a college about 60 miles east and at one time a rival school to the University of Texas at Austin. I realized that if I wanted to get in someone’s face, this was the hat to do it.

Now beard was trimmed to a civil length, and except for the fact that I usually have a backpack on I do not appear “homeless”. I am approached regularly by “pan handlers”, but I set them straight as to the realities. Most simply ignore my brandishing the A&M. I really believe they are afraid of biting off more than they can chew, but there are several former A&M alumni that have expressed their appreciation, and amidst a community, not so distant, a respect for being bold, though I admit initially, ignorantly.

Collateral Damage – July 12, 2013

What is the difference between the collateral damage caused by a landmine and that of an unmanned armed drone aircraft? Is there a moral difference between the use of one and the other? One is place there and virtually forgotten. The other is controlled by a technician, isolated and out of harm’s way, thousands of miles away. If this not the end product of all those video games we have placated our kids with throughout their formative years? Kill and be killed, only to resurrect and do it all again … and again. Antiseptic, conscienceless … clean assuming that there was a conscience there to begin with. Or is the conscience grown, developed … matured? And has our collective conscience not been sacrificed, the collateral damage of our lusts for higher technology and convenience?

Closet Heretics – July 12, 2013

A few years back a friend of mine, Don under the pseudonym Delbor Greebies, commented on a blog I had written about the spiritual relationship between a man and a woman culminating in the act of making love, that this was in fact the only “true” religion. I believe he was, or is, absolutely correct. All other religious functions which we engage in are merely artificial edifices that we construct as means of relating to one another under the auspices of an illusory deity presumed “Lord” over all.

Some reading this understand and know exactly what I am talking about. Some, the more culturally captive, possibly Fundamentalist, are quite offended by the idea. Some agree whole heartedly, although would never do so publically. To you, I would say, “You are in actuality a closet heretic. It’s Okay to come out of the closet. You don’t have to play somebody else’s game.”

What is your relationship to your spouse? Significant other? Domestic  partner? Whatever? ‘There’ is your relationship to your ‘god’… there is your experience with the ‘divine’.