Something new, thoughts from Bedlam, ideas rattling around in my head that are not yet stories or may never be but deserve to live, however briefly.

Ideas are fragile and precious. Some die instantly, and some move from place to place and live forever. I sent mine out into the great ether like angels, and when they leave me, I never see them again.

These mostly come from my silent meditation time, but ideas constantly rattle around and make themselves known.  Silence and emptiness are not the same thing.

I presume to share them from time to time.

They pile up and are easily lost, but ideas deserve to live, even for a few minutes.

July 24, 2023

Joan Chittister writes that silence is the sabbath of the soul. It enables us to rest from the natural world’s noise, argument, and chaos and think of softer things – music, people we love, good works we wish to do, nature, trees, the wind, and flowers.

Every afternoon now, around 4 p.m., I stop work and sit silently. Every day I feel as if I am walking through a poem. I call it my silent hour – no talking, phone, or texts.

–Living in the country has helped me see the world differently, through other eyes than mine.

I’ve learned that one of the bitter differences that divide the country is this: City people believe that government should solve the problems of people who are sick, homeless, and in need.

-Country people (this is a generalization) believe that people should help themselves and that a powerful government should never be trusted. That is at the core of a lot of the divisions.

They do not care for government to help them or their families, even when it seems necessary or justified. They deeply resent the amount of money that goes to diverse and immigrant people in need. People should help themselves.

–Christians were the first people to argue that all people are equal and entitled to the same rights. I always read that the Greeks introduced democracy but only offered democracy to reach or titled people. But Christians gave birth to the very idea of genuine democracy, even if so many of them no longer believe in that.

-In his book “Making Sense of God, An Invitation To The Skeptical,” Timothy Keller companies the beliefs of the secular culture versus those who believe in God.

Worshippers of God, he says, have hope for the world because they believe there are rewards beyond life for being honest and decent, and compassionate.

He says that secular people think in policy terms – that government will improve things, solve the world’s problems, and help people in need. They look to the government and leaders for hope. They are often disappointed.

Since secular people generally do not believe they will be rewarded in another life for their deeds in this one,  Keller says, they see their death as the end and thus struggle to look other than to God for hope for a better future.

Seculars fear death, he says; there is nothing for them beyond it. People who genuinely believe in God do not fear death because their life is for them after. I can understand that.

–The new work of dogs is to provide emotional support for humans, especially when science, politics, religion, and health care seem to be failing them.

Dogs are not furbabies, but they are Darwinian miracles; they evolve all the time to become what we want and need.

I think they will one day evolve into the four-legged children many people already see them as being. That’s how Darwiniasm works – animals become what they need to become to survive.

-Quite often, people message me lecturing me that I am incredibly blessed – ‘”Lucky”- is the word they use to describe having a partner and wife like Maria.

When I get this kind of message, which is expected, I constantly am reminded I have little respect for luck. I’m with Grandma Moses – my life is what I make of it; no genie or fairy is up there pulling strings. I am in charge of my own destiny and responsible for it.

I don’t expect any God to do this for me.

Maria and I have both earned our love for each other; one or the other is not the lucky one. Neither are both of us together. Love is what we want; love is what we work for daily. I don’t see luck as having anything to do with it. We work for it—every day.

-I am not an ideologue, but I was a good political reporter. Donald Trump will never again be President of the United States. He is a bright, dirty comet sailing through the skies, flaming out and burning before our eyes.

I have no idea whether or not he will go to jail, as he so richly deserves.  It doesn’t really matter. The sooner he goes away, the better for all of us.

He is being chewed to pieces, from the outside and in. Above all things, we hate Gods and Kings in our country. Ron DeSantis will not be President either; he has the charisma of a toad. And being infallible, he can never wake up to it.

Trump is a genius at making fog, denying responsibility for his crimes, cruelty,  lying, and plotting. DeSantis made a poor choice when he decided to mimic his mentor and “out cruel” him.

Now they both carry the distinctive stink of losers. If you think about it, you can see it. One is a cancer to the other.

The two are running the worst and dumbest, and most dispiriting Presidential campaigns in American history. It’s a hate contest. He who hates the most is supposed to win.

Women and the young will chew them both to pieces. Hail The Future. I believe in it.

– A long-time and kind reader of mine messaged me and said she loves my blog (thank you) and sees that I am a new man she likes “much better than the old one.”

I wrote back to say I have no desire to disappoint her but that no man or woman can ever become a different man or woman. We can, if we wish, change. I did want to change. I still want to change.

But I don’t wish to mislead anyone. I’m still very much me.

I have changed and hope that I will never stop changing and growing.

The bad news is that I am still and intend always to be me, not someone else.

I am full of hope, and I don’t even believe in God.

Identity is precious to me, perhaps because I have been fighting for it my whole life. I will never have to stop fighting for it; it threatens many people.

That’s it for today. I will need a notebook if this is doing to work.