Jeremiah Babe, 6/3/24
"Desperate Family Members And Friends Want To
Move Into Your House, Reality Is Hitting Home"
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So, we rise from the rubble...
Monday, June 3, 2024
"The Trial of Winnie the Pooh"
"The Trial of Winnie the Pooh"
by Jim Kunstler
"A solemn silence turned collective gasp in the District of Columbia Woke Circuit courtroom as two bailiffs entered the door beside the jury box with the small cream-colored bear suspended between them, his stumpy hind legs wheeling fruitlessly to seek purchase in the unavailing air. The Queen of Hearts, presiding, banged her gavel as the little bear was seated at the table for the defense beside another rather small, darkish, furtive figure.
The Queen of Hearts peered over her half-glasses at the defendant and snarled, “State your full name and residence.”
“Winnie-the-Pooh,” the defendant said. “From the Hundred Acre Wood.”
“What is your personal pronoun?”
The bear looked perplexed. “Oh, bother,” he said. “Nobody I know has such a thing?”
“Of course they do,” the Queen said.
“Perhaps it’s ‘the’,” the bear said.
“That is a definite article, not a pronoun!” the Queen barked. “Are you an imbecile?"
“I’m not sure. Maybe it’s ‘dear'”—
“That’s enough out of you!” the Queen said. “And let’s have no more impertinence! Do you have counsel?"
“Why, yes,” the bear said. “Mr. Kafka, who is seated beside me.”
“You are mistaken,” the Queen said. “That is a cockroach seated beside you, and the court is displeased to see it. Bailiff, please remove that disgusting cockroach from my court.” Mr. Kafka, gesticulating in protest with all six arms and legs, had to be dragged out.
“First witness!” the Queen screeched. “Counsel for the prosecution….”
"Calling Uncle Remus,” said the prosecutor, Andrew Weissmann, famous for his exploits in the Enron case and with The Mueller Team in the old Russia collusion days. An elderly gentleman-of-color with white beard and a kindly face limped forward and took the witness stand.
“Do you know this bear?” Weissmann asked.
“I knows a Brer B’ar,” Uncle Remus said. “But he a black b’ar. Dishyere one a white b’ar.”
“Exactly!” Weissmann said. “Dismissed.”
“Dat all?” Uncle Remus asked.
“It’s plenty,” Weissmann retorted and smirked at the jury, composed of members from the United Federation of Teachers, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Antifa, who all nodded amongst themselves. “A white bear!” Weissmann repeated for emphasis, shaking his head. “And not a polar bear, either. A white bear. From England. Think about it…!” The jurors emitted growls of opprobrium.
“Next witness,” the Queen cried.
“Calling N-Word Jim,” Weissmann said.
A strapping middle-aged gentleman-of-color, dressed in ragged clothes, strode to the witness chair.
“You reside in libraries all over the world, is that correct?” the attorney asked.
“Yassuh, dat is so. But I’se originally fum Hannibal, Missouri.”
“Are you acquainted with the defendant?”
“I done seen him on many a shelf ‘round de worl’.”
“How much shelf space does he occupy compared to you?”
“Well, fur as I knows, ‘bout double.”
“Does that seem fair to you?”
“Way I sees it, he in mebbe twice as minny books as me and Huck.”
“Huck! Who is this Huck?”
“White boy I done made a journey down de ribber wif one time.”
“What is your experience with white folks, Jim?”
“Well, dey runs mos’ everything, I ‘spect. Leas’ as fur as I kin see.”
“Exactly!” Weissmann argued. “Is it not white privilege to — as you say — run everything?” he added, shaking his head gravely. “Hegemonizing and colonizing literature everywhere you look.”
“Say, what…?” the witness rejoined and pulled his chin.
“You can go back to your raft, Jim,” Weissmann said. “Dismissed. Calling Mr. Christopher Robin.”
A very old man, bent and trembling, shuffled forward to the stand, leaning on his brass-headed cane.
“You’ve been acquainted with the defendant for how many years?”
“Oh, yes, many, since…let’s see… uh, nineteen hundred and twenty-six, I’d say.”
“In all those years, did he ever… touch you?”
“We held hands. And hugged frequently.”
“I see,” Weissmann sneered. “And this ‘touching’ started when you were, what? About five years old?”
“I suppose. Yes. It was a very long time ago.”
“Do you recall an incident involving the defendant, a person named Piglet, and a broken balloon?”
“Yes… yes, I do!”
“That was not really a balloon, was it, Mr. Robin?”
“At the time, I thought…”
“You thought!” Weissmann barked. “We all think, don’t we? Sometimes maybe a little too much! I’ll tell you what I think: I think the jury can see exactly what was going on between you and the defendant, this very privileged bear. And if they think the way I do — that is, as a normal person with healthy morals — they’ll think that this was depraved behavior on the part of this bear, routinely abusing a five-year-old boy, year after year after year!”
The jury members all nodded avidly and buzzed between themselves.
Christopher Robin looked up at the bench.
“Balloon, indeed!” the Queen snorted, wagging her finger at both the bear and Christopher Robin. “I think we’ve heard enough.”
“No! I have one other witness,” Weissmann said. “Calling Peter Pan….” A figure wearing a leaf-green tunic and tights, and a feathered cap, flew across the room and landed in the witness seat.
“You’ve had occasion to work at the Disney Studios with the defendant, have you not?”
“I would see him around the lot on lunch breaks,” Pan said. “But we weren’t on the same pictures — except one time for a TV Christmas special where we all did cameos.”
“And what was your impression of this bear?”
“He made a crack about not believing in fairies. I didn’t know if he was kidding or not.”
“Were you hurt by that remark?”
“Not personally, but I saw what it did to my sidekick, Tinkerbelle. Her light almost went out.”
“Your honor, ladies, gentlemen, and non-binaries of the jury, we have definitely heard enough.”
“The defense rests!” the Queen of Hearts screeched. “Mr. Pooh, you have led a life of disgusting racism, colonialism, hate-ism, white supremacy, and depravity. I am directing the jury to find you guilty as charged and sentence you to be cancelled.” She pounded the bench with her gavel.
“Oh, bother,” Winnie the Pooh said, still perplexed and bewildered.
“Take him out, burn all those wicked books of his, and put him on top of the fire.”
“Lawks a’mercy,” Uncle Remus cried from the back of the room.
“See you up in sweet Beulah-land, Pooh, honey,” N-Word Jim said.
“Next case!” the Red Queen yelled above the commotion. “The people versus Robin Hood and his so-called Merry Men.”
Roll credits.
Fade to black…"
Full screen recommended.
Jefferson Airplane, "White Rabbit"
"Have It Done..."
”Never explain. Never apologize.
Have it done and let them howl.”
- Winston Churchill
"Obeisance to the 'Greater Good'"
"Obeisance to the 'Greater Good'"
by Jeff Thomas
"Most people in the West are familiar with the biblical story of Moses. In this tale, a spiritual leader, chosen by God, leads his people out of Egypt to the promised land. The Israelites are saved. God provides Moses with a list of commandments that they are to live by – pretty basic stuff: Don’t kill people, don’t steal or lie, don’t cheat on your spouse, etc. But interestingly, the second commandment exhorts the Israelites not to create false gods, nor to bow down to nor serve them.
Unfortunately, when Moses was away, the Israelites did create a false god. They couldn’t resist the very human urge to have a visible deity that would hopefully provide them with good times, as long as they were willing to prostrate themselves before it.
And past eras are filled with such stories – naïve pagans sacrificing animals and humans to the deities in the hopes that they would provide rain, a good crop, healthy babies, freedom from inter-tribal aggression, etc. We can look upon otherwise-advanced cultures such as the Egyptians, the Romans, the Aztecs, etc., and shake our heads at their naivete. All of them created great ceremonies that involved blood sacrifices, in order to appease the deities. So, how are we doing? Have we banished paganism from the modern world?
Well, unfortunately, no. We may live in a more technological age, yet human nature remains the same. Those who are not highly focused within themselves have the perennial tendency to want to put their faith in some magical entity out there who will smile upon them and make all the bad things go away. But even more astonishing is the fact that, just as in days of yore, a majority of people are quite prepared to suspend logic in order to believe in such pagan deities.
A quick peek at the current religion of Climate Change reminds us of this. It began as "Global Cooling" but fell flat since a solar warm spell happened to occur just when the concept was introduced. It took the Global Cooling scammers over a decade to decide that they were on the wrong track, but when they did, they changed the name of the conceptual deity to "Global Warming," to match the existing weather conditions. But unfortunately, a cyclical solar cooling period was due to arrive and Global Warming failed to match the new weather conditions.
Time to give up and admit that a false deity had been imagined? Not at all. A further new name was given to the deity – Climate Change – that would encompass literally anything that happened in the weather. From that day forward, the prophets attributed every earthquake, every typhoon, every drought to the Climate Change deity. Every meteorological event therefore provided "proof" of man-made Climate Change.
And like the Pharisees of old, the Climate Change prophets proclaimed that the natural disasters were due to the sins of the population – that they were being punished by the deity… for driving SUVs and relying on coal for heating. And people bought it, as they always do. "The end of the world is nigh" has sold well for millennia. Paganism works every time.
And as any Climate Change activist will proclaim, "We must make sacrifices." The gods must be appeased and the prophets will always assure the tribe that a sacrificial offering is necessary to accomplish this. Thankfully, in this particular case, all that’s required to appease the god is to pay a carbon tax. It’s not clear how this will end Climate Change, but… have faith and pay. But Climate Change is a mere carnival sideshow in comparison to the main event.
Mankind has always had amongst its number those individuals (roughly four percent, according to studies) who are sociopathic, who are obsessive in their desire to control others, whilst having little or no emotional capacity to be concerned about the genuine welfare of the populace. In tribes, these individuals strive to rise to the top. In larger communities, they tend to form groups to provide leadership, and as any community grows large enough, sociopaths rise in prominence, to form and expand governments to rule their minions.
In every case, the larger a population becomes, the greater the opportunity to have power over them, since they can be taxed in order to fund the government. The greater their numbers, the greater the tax revenue. The greater the revenue, the greater the power of leaders to dominate the lesser mortals.
But along the way, some members of the hoi polloi may at times say, "Hang on a minute – why should we let the leaders dictate to us whilst they live off the fruits of our labor?" And invariably, neo-paganism is trotted out to fill its perennial role. The populace is reminded that, without obeisance on their part, there would be chaos and all would suffer. Therefore, all must sacrifice for the sake of "the common good."
The reader might recall Hillary Clinton commenting in 2004, "We’re going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." Mrs. Clinton was very up-front about the intention of the State, echoing predecessors such as Karl Marx, Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and a host of Caesars.
Most all political leaders have the same intent, although they’re generally a bit more subtle in their language. (A veiled intent attracts a greater number of willing followers.) The result is also perennial: The tribe accepts a condition of increased taxation and regulation and thereby becomes increasingly enslaved and subservient to the leaders. After all – to refuse obeisance would be to endanger the common good – to invite chaos.
But how are we to know when we’ve reached this point of subjugation? At what point do we go beyond "willing contributors" and degenerate into "servants of the rulers?" Thomas Jefferson made this distinction, circa 1800. He said, "When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty." When he and his cohorts formed the United States, their primary goal was to do away with obeisance to any government. At the close of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked by a delegate, "What have we got?" Mister Franklin replied, "A republic… if you can keep it." But the republic, as anticipated, devolved into a mere democracy, which then further eroded into a plutocracy/bureaucracy – rule by the very rich in the form of a central banking cartel, enforced through non-elected officialdom.
Obeisance to any "greater being" is regressive, whether that greater being is a deity or a government. Liberty is, by definition, the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s behavior, views, or way of life."
"Wars and Rumors Of War"
John Mearsheimer, 6/3/24
"Israel Is In Big Trouble!"
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Full screen recommended.
Scott Ritter: 6/3/24
"Russia Deploys Nuclear Weapons;
Iran-Backed Hezbollah Bleeds Israel"
Comments here:
Dan, I Allegedly, "Restaurant Apocalypse - The Unstoppable Collapse"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, AM 6/3/24
"Restaurant Apocalypse - The Unstoppable Collapse"
"Restaurants are going down at the record pace. We explore how the economic downturn is devastating the restaurant industry across America. We’ll uncover the broader implications of this crisis for the economy, affecting millions, from restaurant owners to local communities and suppliers."
Comments here:
"How It Really Is"
"Biden An 'Elderly Man With Poor Memory'
Who 'Wlfully Retained' Classified Files"
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Col. Douglas Macgregor, 6/3/24
"Trump's Trial as a Turning Point in US -
Battle for Free Elections"
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"Equal justice under the law"? It never existed...
Jim Kunstler, "Which Movie Will It Be?"
"Which Movie Will It Be?"
by Jim Kunstler
“It’s almost as if the principals (prosecutors and judge) were performing for their political audience - with a wink, a nod and a stage whisper (“watch this!”) as they ignore yet another fundamental element of American due process.” - Jack DeVine on “X”
"The ninnies of Bidenworld seem to not understand that by subjecting Mr. Trump to a kangaroo court they’ve made him the kind of outlaw that Americans revere above every other archetypal hero. He’s the new American Robin Hood, the people’s outlaw - with “Joe Biden” relegated as the wicked Sir Guy of Gisbourne, master of foul play and servant of the evil regent Prince John (Barack Obama). The galvanizing moment in this melodrama was not the verdict in Judge Juan Merchan’s kangaroo corral of a court, but the next day in the White House when “Joe Biden” was asked to comment on it as he shuffled away from the podium, halted, turned, and smirked silently at the cameras, a gesture that is sure to live in infamy.
The fun should really kick off when the judge gets to sentence Trump-the-Outlaw July 11, a few days before the Republican convention. Life in some New York state pen? A year on Rikers Island? House arrest? Who knows. But you can bet that just like Robin-of-Locksley, Donald-of-Mar-a-Lago will manage to slip out of his captors’ clutches and cleverly vanquish them. In a sane world, of course, the US Supreme Court would be entreated to adjudicate this gross insult to due process as spelled out in Section 1 of the 14th Amendment:
"No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
But you might have noticed that this is not a sane world, at least not these days, and not a few supposedly sober analysts, such as Jonathan Turley of George Washington University, claim that a SCOTUS review is a long-shot - which only confirms the reigning insanity since it’s hard to imagine a more compelling moment for the SCOTUS to carry out its fundamental duty: to elucidate the meaning of our Constitution and resolve disputes arising therefrom.
Now, it looks like what we’re seeing after a few days for the shock to wear off, is a mighty righteous rage arising among the faction designated as “Red” - that is, the anti-Woke, anti-Globalist, anti-neoMarxist, anti-Deep State blob, anti-Lawfare, anti-Democratic Party chunk of the adult US population. It amounts to a recognition that we are already in some kind of civil war, and that the tactics of “Joe Biden’s” party must and will be opposed by all means. The SCOTUS is the last resort of legal means for redress in this matter, and they would punt this duty at great peril to the country.
To clarify just what this matter is: “Joe Biden’s” White House and Department of Justice conspired with New York County (Manhattan) authorities to maliciously construct and execute a court case made of patently false charges against their principal political adversary, and with a cavalier disrespect to both state and federal law.
As such, the “Stormy Daniels Payoff Case,” as it’s known, is just the latest ploy in a long train of lawless gambits starting with RussiaGate in 2016 (the “Steele Dossier” and all) that have left hundreds of high appointed officials in the federal bureaucracy (plus many retired from it) liable to severe criminal charges ranging as far as sedition and treason. RussiaGate may have started its life as a typical campaign prank by doofuses in the Hillary Clinton organization, but it turned seriously sinister when it was adopted by the FBI and the CIA to execute a plan to harass and defenestrate the elected president, Mr. Trump.
With each subsequent prank, to distract from and cover-up their crimes, the same group of officials has committed more crimes, to the point that the federal government now behaves like a gigantic mafia, dedicated to nothing but crime of one kind or another. The Democratic Party has become this mob’s protective order; the old mainstream media its mouthpiece; and the people of this country increasingly its victims. Naturally, these criminals are now desperate to avoid having to account for their crimes, which is exactly and explicitly what Mr. Trump promises to do.
So, there it is: a criminal regime versus the people defended by their outlaw hero. Does the SCOTUS want to aid and abet this gang of criminals - led by the way, and just so you know, by Barack Obama and his Kalorama coterie, John Brennan, Mary McCord and her Lawfare coterie, Hillary and Bill Clinton and their henchmen, and scores of additional DC lawyers, fixers, and judges - or, will the SCOTUS avert an epic crisis of legitimacy by stepping in to quash the ridiculously fake New York case just concluded?
If they demur in some cowardly blur of excuses, then it’s onto the next truly nation-ending stage of this game. The “Joe Biden” regime would like nothing more than an outbreak of civil violence they can blame on “right-wing extremists.” In fact, they could and probably will gin that up themselves, just as they transformed the Jan-6-21 mass protest against widespread ballot fraud into a “MAGA insurrection.” You are also certainly aware of the sinister millions, mainly young men from faraway lands, who “Joe Biden” imported across the border the past three years. And you might imagine how they could be put to use against American citizens, along with the Democratic Party shock troops known as BLM and Antifa. Summer’s here and the time is right for fighting in the streets. And, of course, even if the SCOTUS puts an end to this latest bit of Lawfare fuckery, the “Joe Biden” crew can always opt to just up and kill its opponent. Nothing is beneath them now. But when that happens, we’ll be in a very different kind of movie."
Bill Bonner, "Beneath the Law"
"Beneath the Law"
The verdict didn’t matter. The case itself was just more evidence
of a decline. The trial of Donald J. Trump was no renewal;
it marked a further slide towards corruption, dysfunction and chaos.
by Bill Bonner
"Show me the man; I’ll show you the crime."
- Lavrenti Beria, chief of Stalin’s secret police.
Dublin, Ireland - "No one had to show New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg the man. Everyone knew Donald Trump was the target. He had challenged the Establishment (albeit in a clownish, and ineffective way). If the voters elected him to the White House again... democracy would be doomed. Or so they said. The elites were out to get him... to derail his campaign. If they could just keep him out of the White House for a few more years, he would soon be too old to cause more problems. Or, so they reasoned.
Bragg found the crime…a complex of New York state laws that - if you put them together - might make it illegal to do what Mr. Trump had done. He had plenty to choose from. By our estimate, there are about a half a million federal laws and regulations. And countless state and local restrictions too, many of them difficult to understand. Ignorance of the law may not be the best legal defense, but it is probably the most honest one.
We felt sorry for the jury. They had to go back to the judge, asking for clarification. ‘Where was the body?’ they seemed to want to know. ‘Where was the stolen loot?’ ‘What, exactly, had Mr. Trump done wrong?’ Curt Mills: "The most disquieting facet of this case is that it did not pertain to: anything Trump did as President, nor anything Trump did during his current run for office, nor anything Trump did in the macabre transition process four years ago. It involved his actions nearly 10 years ago, in relation to the concealment of an alleged crime for which other prosecutors declined to ever charge the former President."
The crime, ‘falsifying business records,’ did not seem like enough. Not for a courtroom drama that was watched by much of the entire world. “Which way do you think it will go,” a cab driver in Dublin asked us. “Maybe it doesn’t matter. Now we all know what a sleazy guy that Trump is. And that fixer of his... Cohen... who wants a lawyer like that?”
The verdict didn’t really matter. The case itself was just more evidence of a decline. The trial of Donald J. Trump was no renewal; it marked a further slide towards corruption, dysfunction and chaos. And now the verdict is in; the two sides face off outside the courtroom. Democrats say ‘justice has been done,’ congratulating themselves. Alvin Bragg is a hero.
Republicans say the verdict merely proves that Trump has been right all along. The system is rigged. The courts have been weaponized. And money flows into Donald Trump’s campaign from outraged MAGA supporters all across the country. In our judgment, both sides are right... though not necessarily as they hoped.
BFD: Yes, the verdict shows that when you have too many laws, you might as well have none at all. Your society becomes ruled - not by the laws themselves - but by the fixers, donors, and grifters who decide how to apply them. In this case, it is hard to imagine so many judicial resources put to work on such a complex case that was likely to go the other way.
This was not low-hanging fruit. Who cares if Trump paid Stormy Daniels to shut up? Who didn’t know he lies? So what if the payment should have been properly disclosed as a campaign expense? BFD. It was the payoff —- stopping Trump - that must have seemed irresistible.
And yes, the Republicans are right too. The system is rigged. It has been corrupted by too much power and too much money. We have too many laws, too many regulations, too much spending, too much debt, and too many ways that lawmakers can interfere with our happiness and productivity. Debt goes up. GDP growth goes down. More and more of the economy is “fictitious.” And a credit crisis is on the way.
And who’s to blame? Democrats... and Republicans. Year after year, they collaborated to give more and more authority to district attorneys, the FBI, Homeland Security, the NSA... and the rest of their enforcers - more crimes to investigate... more threats and punishments to deal out... more money to spend keeping their opponents in line. And now, no one is above the law. Instead, we are all beneath it... and in danger of being crushed at any time."
Adventures With Danno, "Food Items At Meijer You Should Buy Before They Become Unaffordable!"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, AM 6/3/24
"Food Items At Meijer You Should Buy
Before They Become Unaffordable!"
Comments here:
"Economic Market Snapshot 6/3/24"
"Economic Market Snapshot 6/3/24"
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Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...
Only the consequences are real - to you!
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"It's a Big Club, and you ain't in it.
You and I are not in the Big Club."
- George Carlin
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Market Data Center, Live Updates:
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Comprehensive, essential truth.
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Financial Stress Index
"The OFR Financial Stress Index (OFR FSI) is a daily market-based snapshot of stress in global financial markets. It is constructed from 33 financial market variables, such as yield spreads, valuation measures, and interest rates. The OFR FSI is positive when stress levels are above average, and negative when stress levels are below average. The OFR FSI incorporates five categories of indicators: credit, equity valuation, funding, safe assets and volatility. The FSI shows stress contributions by three regions: United States, other advanced economies, and emerging markets."
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Job cuts and much more.
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Commentary, highly recommended:
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"The more I see of the monied classes,
the better I understand the guillotine."
- George Bernard Shaw
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Oh yeah... beyond words. Any I know anyway...
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And now... The End Game...
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Sunday, June 2, 2024
"Alert! NATO Crosses Red Line This Week; Cyberwar Article; China; Israel; Germany 900,000
Canadian Prepper, 6/2/24
"Alert! NATO Crosses Red Line This Week;
Cyberwar Article; China; Israel; Germany 900,000 Troops"
Comments here:
"Scott Ritter: Iran Call For Destruction Of Cancerous Tumor Israel"
Full screen recommended.
"Scott Ritter: Iran Call For Destruction Of Cancerous Tumor Israel,
New Equation with China, Turkey"
Comments here:
Adventures with Danno, "Be Ready, We're In Trouble! Prices Set To Reach All-Time Highs!"
Adventures with Danno, PM 6/2/24
"Be Ready, We're In Trouble!
Prices Set To Reach All-Time Highs!"
Comments here:
Jeremiah Babe, "Americans Are Out Of Money, Time & Luck"
Jeremiah Babe, 6/2/24
"Americans Are Out Of Money, Time & Luck;
Get Ready For Tough Times And Tough Decisions"
Comments here:
"Turkey Leaves NATO After They Do Nothing To Israel For Latest Attacks On Rafah!"
Full screen recommended.
Tech Beat, 6/2/24
"Turkey Leaves NATO After They Do Nothing
To Israel For Latest Attacks On Rafah!"
"In this video, we look at the huge geopolitical upheaval as Turkey withdraws from NATO due to the organization's perceived passivity in response to Israel's new strikes on Rafah. This decision represents a watershed event in international affairs, calling into question NATO's future and the Middle East's power balance."
Comments here:
"A Look to the Heavens"
"Braided and serpentine filaments of glowing gas suggest this nebula's popular name, The Medusa Nebula. Also known as Abell 21, this Medusa is an old planetary nebula some 1,500 light-years away in the constellation Gemini. Like its mythological namesake, the nebula is associated with a dramatic transformation. The planetary nebula phase represents a final stage in the evolution of low mass stars like the sun as they transform themselves from red giants to hot white dwarf stars and in the process shrug off their outer layers. Ultraviolet radiation from the hot star powers the nebular glow.
The Medusa's transforming star is the faint one near the center of the overall bright crescent shape. In this deep telescopic view, fainter filaments clearly extend above and right of the bright crescent region. The Medusa Nebula is estimated to be over 4 light-years across."
The Poet: John O’Donohue, “In These Times”
“In These Times”
“In these times when anger
Is turned into anxiety,
And someone has stolen
The horizons and mountains,
Our small emperors on parade
Never expect our indifference
To disturb their nakedness.
They keep their heads down,
And their eyes gleam with reflection
From aluminum economic ground,
The media wraps everything
In a cellophane of sound,
And the ghost surface of the virtual
Overlays the breathing earth.
The industry of distraction
Makes us forget
That we live in a universe.
We have become converts
To the religion of stress
And its deity of progress;
That we may have courage
To turn aside from it all
And come to kneel down before the poor,
To discover what we must do,
How to turn anxiety
Back into anger,
How to find our way home.”
~ John O’Donohue,
from “To Bless the Space Between Us”
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“Do not lose heart. We were made for these times.”
– Clarissa Pinkola Estes
"And It May Be..."
“It’s extraordinary how we go through life with eyes half shut,
with dull ears, with dormant thoughts. Perhaps it’s just as well;
and it may be that it is this very dullness that makes
life to the incalculable majority so supportable and so welcome.”
– Joseph Conrad, “Lord Jim”
"Marcus Aurelius: How To Live Without Fear”
"Marcus Aurelius: How To Live Without Fear”
Developing strength by having power over the mind.
by Harry J. Stead
“The Roman Emperor Antoninus died in 161 and Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus assumed the roles of co-emperors. But, Aurelius’ rule was a challenging period for the Roman Republic. He spent the first years of his reign fighting the Roman–Parthian War of 161–166. During this war, the Empire suffered great difficulties and losses but eventually re-occupied Edessa in Greece where the deposed king was returned to the throne. However, the returning soldiers brought back with them a plague that would torment much of Europe for years, killing around five million people.
Later, from 166 to the end of Aurelius reign in 180, the Empire fought the Marcomannic Wars, where Germanic tribes continuously invaded Roman territory across the northern frontier regions. The Roman army, after a long struggle, managed to push back the invaders and re-establish the frontiers of the Empire.
Marcus Aurelius acquired the reputation of a philosopher king within his lifetime, and the title would remain his after death. He was a practitioner of Stoicism, and his personal philosophical writings, which later came to be called Meditations, are a significant source of the modern understanding of ancient Stoic philosophy.
Marcus Aurelius wrote the majority of the twelve books of the “Meditations” at Sirmium (modern day Serbia), where he spent time planning military campaigns and strategy during the Marcomannic Wars. A few of the books were written while he was positioned at Aquincum on campaign in Pannonia. And, the internal notes tell us that the first book was written when he was campaigning against the Quadi on the river Granova (modern-day Hron in Slovakia).
“Meditations” served as Aurelius’ journal, a private source of his own guidance and wisdom during times of darkness. His words are simple and honest, and the sentences are delivered like entries in a diary; the pages seem to be a list of quotations, all varying in length from one sentence to long paragraphs. It is unlikely that Marcus Aurelius ever thought someone would publish these writings. He simply wished to record what he believed to be true.
But, when reading “Meditations”, we do not get the sense that the author was, at the time, the most powerful man on the continent. The vulnerability of Aurelius’ words falls onto one’s heart, and you feel yourself empathising not with the vast fears of a Roman Emperor, where war and power are all that must occupy the mind, but, instead, with the melancholy struggles of a rather lonely man. For Aurelius was a man with no equals, a man who had all the wealth and beauty in the known world, yet no one to share it with. So sad are his words that the reader imagines the author to be a fragile being with the same worries and doubts as ourselves, rather than a head of state with a breast plate and a red cloak.
The journal was an attempt to counsel himself through his own darkness. The reader feels comfortable and calm with his words; we cannot help discover ourselves in each of his little splashes of wisdom. But, I suppose this is the nature of the diary. For diaries are intimate and individual, they allow the author to open their hearts and express their deepest passions.
And, by expressing our own unique message, the lyrics of our hearts, we touch upon a universal truth that speaks to everyone. Here lies the beauty of Meditations and the reason why it has been a major source of guidance to a great many people for almost two thousand years.
“A blazing fire makes flame and brightness
out of everything that is thrown into it.”
- “Meditations”, Marcus Aurelius
John Dalberg-Acton, a 19th century British politician, expressed this opinion in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.” He was correct. Power does tend to corrupt the individual, but only because power exposes the true nature of the ruler, not because it turns the ruler sour.
Marcus Aurelius is, perhaps, the exception to this law in Western history. He was the only ruler that somewhat resembled Plato’s idea of the philosopher king – he was the last Good Emperor. This is easy to see when reading his journal.
The central theme to “Meditations” is that if one wishes to keep a tranquil soul, then he should live according to nature. This is the underlining idea of almost every sentence he wrote in “Meditations.” Clearly, he tried hard to remind himself of this wisdom lest he become a tyrant just as those who came before and after him did.
“If you are distressed by anything external,
the pain is not due to the thing itself,
but to your estimate of it;
and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”
- Marcus Aurelius, “Meditations”
The temptation to control and handle every movement of the European continent must have been overwhelming. Because, as an emperor, Aurelius had to stand firm against the weight of a vast and over stretched Empire; he was a god, waving a red sword over a map of the entire world. Yet, he was also a man among men, carrying the same limitations and burdens of those who served him. He was not all-powerful or all-seeing, but the people expected him to be.
But, nature made Aurelius an emperor and so he believed it his calling to live up to his greatest potential. He did not lose himself in wine and women and become a victim of lust and desire, as many others had done, nor did he rule from fear and anxiety. The man had a beautiful soul. He could have had everything he wanted, he could have fulfilled his deepest passions and desires, yet he chose instead to pursue the end that was good for everyone. Power does not corrupt, power entertains the irrational and exposes the dirt within the soul.
“You have power over your mind – not outside events.
Realize this, and you will find strength.”
- Marcus Aurelius, “Meditations”
The wise man, the truly good man, Aurelius thought, is in control of his own soul. This is all that concerns him – to be at peace with his own spirit. He only fears making chaos of his soul for it is the only power that he has responsibility for. If he loses control, then he loses himself and is powerless to fulfill his obligation to nature. And, tranquility requires that one releases all that which he cannot control. But, how great of a challenge must this have been for an emperor! For Aurelius stood over a kingdom that faced continuous threats of invasion from all sides, even from within.
Marcus Aurelius lived with a radical acceptance of nature. He moved through his days with no expectations; he never struggled against his fate nor did he resign himself in self-pity if the world betrayed him. No event should be mourned or celebrated. Because the victories of today may well be the cause of our demise tomorrow. Acceptance, only acceptance. And, with acceptance you will be able to find pleasure in each thunder and lightning that befalls you. Each event, in the eyes of a wise man, is a teacher, a lesson, a chance, a sign.
Aurelius believed that life never ought to be different from what it is and so he was able to greet the future with joy and compassion. Life continues to unfold and we should rejoice in every page for it is our fate, the will of nature.
Nature is unchangeable; we must not fight against it. Fighting against that which does not fall is foolish and will only leave us with a troubled spirit. Nothing outside of yourself should have power or friction over your peace.
Leave that which you do not control in the hands of God or nature. But, for that which you do control – your soul, your emotions, your thoughts – learn to steer them in your favor. Because every man suffers a great deal in their life, but not all people pity themselves. There is a choice.
Aurelius constantly reminded himself of this message in his journal so that he could practice its wisdom in his day-to-day life. And, in doing so, he freed himself from all that which could harm the peoples of his Empire – grief, fear, anger, and anxiety. For the peace of the Empire mirrored the peace of the emperor — he was the embodiment, the great incarnation of the kingdom. Because, in an autocracy, when the emperor falls sick, so must the Empire.
“The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to
look things in the face and know them for what they are.”
- Marcus Aurelius, “Meditations”
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Marcus Aurelius’ work “Meditations,” written in Greek while on campaign between 170 and 180, is still revered as a literary monument to a government of service and duty. It serves as an example of how Aurelius approached the Platonic ideal of a philosopher-king and how he symbolized much of what was best about Roman civilization.”
Freely download, in PDF format, “Meditations,” by Marcus Aurelius, here:
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