Saturday, May 20, 2023

“9 Short Quotes That Changed My Life and Why”

“9 Short Quotes That Changed My Life and Why”
by Ryan Holiday

“Like a lot of people, I try to collect words to live by. Most of these words come from reading, but also from conversations, from teachers, and from everyday life. As Seneca, the philosopher and playwright, so eloquently put it: “We should hunt out the helpful pieces of teaching and the spirited and noble-minded sayings which are capable of immediate practical application – not far-fetched or archaic expressions or extravagant metaphors and figures of speech – and learn them so well that words become works.”

In my commonplace book, I keep these little sayings under the heading “Life.” That is, things that help me live better, more meaningfully, and with happiness and honesty. Below are 9 sayings, what they mean, and how they changed my life. Perhaps they will strike you and be of service. Hopefully the words might become works for you too.
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“If you see fraud and do not say fraud, you are a fraud.” 
- Nassim Taleb
This little epigram from Nassim Taleb has been a driving force in my life. It fuels my writing, but mostly it has fueled difficult personal decisions. A few years ago, I was in the middle of a difficult personal situation in which my financial incentives were not necessarily aligned with the right thing. Speaking out would cost me money. I actually emailed Nassim. I asked: “What does ‘saying’ entail? To the person? To the public? At what cost? And how do you know where/when ego might be the influencing factor in determining where you decide to go on that public/private spectrum?” His response was simple: If it harms the collective, you speak up until it no longer does. There’s another line in Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar.‘ Caesar, having returned from the conquest of Gaul, is reminded to tread lightly when speaking to the senators. He replies, “Have I accomplished so much in battle, but now I’m afraid to tell some old men the truth?” That is what I think about with Nassim’s quote. What’s the point of working hard and being successful if it means biting your tongue (or declining to act) when you see something unfair or untoward? What do you care what everyone else thinks?
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“It can have meaning if it changes you for the better.” 
- Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl, who was imprisoned and survived three separate Nazi concentration camps, lost his wife, his parents, job, his home and the manuscript that his entire life’s work had gone into. Yet, he emerged from this horrific nightmare convinced that life was not meaningless and that suffering was not without purpose. His work in psychology – now known as logotherapy – is reminiscent of the Stoics: We don’t control what happens to us, only how we respond. Nothing deprives us of this ability to respond, even if only in the slightest way, even if that response is only acceptance. In bad moments, I think of this line. It reminds me that I can change for the better because of it and find meaning in everything – even if my “suffering” pales in comparison to what others have gone through.
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“Thou knowest this man’s fall; 
but thou knowest not his wrassling.”
 - James Baldwin
As James Baldwin reflected on the death of his father, a man who he loved and hated, he realized that he only saw the man’s outsides. Yes, he had his problems but hidden behind those external manifestations was his own unique internal struggle which no other person is ever able to fully comprehend. The same is true for everyone – your parents, your boss, the person behind you in line. We can see their flaws but not their struggles. If we can focus on this, we’ll have so much more patience and so much less anger and resentment. It reminds me of another line that means a lot to me from Pascal: “To understand is to forgive.” You don’t have to fully understand or know, but it does help to try.
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“This is not your responsibility, but it is your problem.” 
- Cheryl Strayed
Though I came to Cheryl Strayed late, the impact has been significant. In the letter this quote came from, she was speaking to someone who had something unfair done to them. But you see, life is unfair. Just because you should not have to deal with something doesn’t change whether you in fact need to. It reminds me of something my parents told me when I was learning to drive: It doesn’t matter that you had the right of way if you end up dying in an accident. Deal with the situation at hand, even if you don’t want to, even if someone else should have to, because you’re the one that’s being affected by it. End of story. Her quote is the best articulation I’ve found of that fact.
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“Dogs bark at what they cannot understand.”
- Heraclitus
People are going to criticize you. They are going to resist or resent what you try to do. You’re going to face obstacles and a lot of those obstacles will be other human beings. Heraclitus is explaining why. People don’t like change. They don’t like to be confused. It’s also a fact that doing new things means forcing change and confusion on other people. So, if you’re looking for an explanation for all the barking you’re hearing, there it is. Let it go, keep working, do your job. My other favorite line from Heraclitus is: “Character is fate.” Who you are and what you stand for will determine who you are and what you do. Surely character makes ignoring the barking a bit easier.
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“Life is short – the fruit of this life is a 
good character and acts for the common good.” 
- Marcus Aurelius
Marcus wrote this line at some point during the Antonine Plague – a global pandemic spanning the entirety of his reign. He could have fled Rome. Most people of means did. No one would have faulted him if he did too. Instead, Marcus stayed and braved the deadliest plague of Rome’s 900-year history. And we know that he didn’t even consider choosing his safety and fleeing over his responsibility and staying. He wrote repeatedly about the Stoic concept of sympatheia - the idea that all things are mutually woven together, that we were made for each other, that we are all one. 

It’s one of the lesser-known Stoic concepts because it’s easier to only think and care about the people immediately around you. It’s tempting to get consumed by your own problems. It’s natural to assume you have more in common and the same interests as the people who look like you or live like you do. But that is an insidious lie – one responsible for monstrous inhumanity and needless pain. When other people suffer, we suffer. When the world suffers, we suffer. What’s bad for the hive is bad for the bee, Marcus said. When we take actions, we have to always think: What would happen if everyone did this? What are the costs of my decisions for other people? What risks am I externalizing? Is this really what a person with good character and a concern for others would do? You have to care about others. It’s sometimes the hardest thing to do, but it’s the only thing that counts. As Heraclitus (one of Marcus’ favorites) said, character is fate. It’s the fruit of this life.
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“Happiness does not come from the seeking, 
it is never ours by right.” 
- Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt was a remarkable woman. Her father killed himself. Her mother was verbally abusive. Her husband repeatedly betrayed her – even up to the moment he died. Yet she slowly but steadily became one of the most influential and important people in the world. I think you could argue that happiness and meaning came from this journey too. Her line here is reminiscent of something explained by both Aristotle and Viktor Frankl – happiness is not pursued, it ensues. It is the result of principles and the fulfillment of our potential. It is also transitory – we get glimpses of it. We don’t have it forever and we must continually re-engage with it. Whatever quote you need to understand this truth, use it. Because it will get you through bad times and to very good ones.
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“You could leave life right now.
 Let that determine what you do and say and think.” 
- Marcus Aurelius
If there is better advice than this, it has yet to be written. For many civilizations, the first time that their citizens realize just how vulnerable they are is when they find out they’ve been conquered, or are at the mercy of some cruel tyrant, or some uncontainable disease. It’s when somebody famous – like Tom Hanks or Marcus Aurelius – falls ill that they get serious. The result of this delayed awakening is a critical realization: We are mortal and fragile, and fate can inflict horrible things on our tiny, powerless bodies. There is no amount of fleeing or quarantining we can do to insulate ourselves from the reality of human existence: memento mori – thou art mortal. No one, no country, no planet is as safe or as special as we like to think we are. We are all at the mercy of enormous events outside our control. You can go at any moment, Marcus was constantly reminding himself with each of the events swirling around him. He made sure this fact shaped every choice and action and thought.
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“Some lack the fickleness to live as
 they wish and just live as they have begun.” 
- Seneca
After beginning with Seneca, let’s end with him. Inertia is a powerful force. The status quo – even if self-created – is comforting. So people find themselves on certain paths in life and cannot conceive of changing them, even if such a change would result in more personal happiness. We think that fickleness is a negative trait, but if it pushes you to be better and find and explore new, better things, it certainly isn’t. I’ve always been a proponent of dropping out, of quitting paths that have gotten stale. Seneca’s quote has helped me with that and I actually have it framed next to my desk so that I might look at it each day. It’s a constant reminder: Why am I still doing this? Is it for the right reasons? Or is it just because it’s been that way for a while?

The power of these quotes is that they say a lot with a little. They help guide us through the complexity of life with their unswerving directness. They make us better, keep us centered, give us something to rest on – a kind of backstop to prevent backsliding. That’s what these 9 quotes have done for me in my life. Borrow them or dig into history or religion or philosophy to find some to add to your own commonplace book. And then turn those words… into works.”

The Poet: William Stafford, ”Today”

”Today”

“The ordinary miracles begin. Somewhere
a signal arrives: “Now,” and the rays
come down. A tomorrow has come. Open
your hands, lift them: morning rings
all the doorbells; porches are cells for prayer.
Religion has touched your throat. Not the same now,
you could close your eyes and go on full of light.
And it is already begun, the chord
that will shiver glass, the song full of time
bending above us. Outside, a sign:
a bird intervenes; the wings tell the air,
“Be warm.” No one is out there, but a giant
has passed through town, widening streets, touching
the ground, shouldering away the stars.”

- William Stafford

"All Alone..."

“We are all alone, born alone, die alone, and – in spite of True Romance magazines – we shall all someday look back on our lives and see that, in spite of our company, we were alone the whole way. I do not say lonely – at least, not all the time – but essentially, and finally, alone. This is what makes your self-respect so important, and I don’t see how you can respect yourself if you must look in the hearts and minds of others for your happiness.”
- Hunter S. Thompson,
“The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman”

"When We Can No Longer Tell the Truth "

"When We Can No Longer Tell the Truth"
by Charles Hugh Smith

"When we can no longer tell the truth because the truth will bring the whole rotten, fragile status quo down in a heap of broken promises and lies, we've reached the perfection of dysfunction. You know the one essential guideline to leadership in a doomed dysfunctional system: when it gets serious, you have to lie. In other words, the status quo's secular goddess is TINA - there is no alternative to lying, because the truth will bring the whole corrupt structure tumbling down.

This core dynamic of dysfunction is scale-invariant, meaning that hiding the truth is the core dynamic in dysfunctional relationships, households, communities, enterprises, cities, corporations, states, alliances, nations and empires: when the truth cannot be told because it threatens the power structure of the status quo, that status quo is doomed.

Lies, half-truths and cover-ups are all manifestations of fatal weakness. What lies, half-truths and cover-ups communicate is: we can no longer fix our real problems, and rather than let this truth out, we must mask it behind lies and phony reassurances.

Truth is power, lies are weakness. All we get now are lies, statistics designed to mislead and phony reassurances that the status quo is stable and permanent. The truth is powerful because it is the core dynamic of solving problems. Lies, gamed statistics and false reassurances are fatal because they doom any sincere efforts to fix what's broken before the system reaches the point of no return.

We are already past the point of no return. The expediency of lies has already doomed us.

Honest accounts of hugely successful corporations that implode share one key trait: in every case, managers were pressured to hide the truth from top management, which then hid the truth from investors and clients. is the key dynamic in failed oligarchies as well: if telling the truth gets you sent to Siberia (or worse), then nobody with any instinct for self-preservation will tell the truth. If obscuring the truth saves one's job, then that's what people do. That this dooms the organization is secondary to immediate self-preservation.

A distorted sense of loyalty to the family, community, company, institution, agency or nation furthers lying as the  solution to unsavory problems. Daddy a drunk? Hide the bottle. Church a hotbed of adultery and thieving? Maintain the facade of holiness at all costs. Company products are failing? Put some lipstick on the pig. The statistical truth doesn't support the party's happy story? Distort the stats until they do what's needed. The agency failed to fulfill its prime directive? Blame the managerial failure on a scapegoat.

Pathological liars and cheats rely on self-preservation and misplaced loyalty to mask their own failure and corruption. A hint here, a comment there, and voila, a culture of lying is created and incentivized.

Obscuring the truth is the ultimate short-term expediency. Now that it's serious, we have to lie. We'll start telling the truth later, we say, after everything's stabilized, we hope. But lying insures nothing can ever be truly stabilized, so there will never be a point at which the system is strong enough and stable enough to survive the truth.

We are now an empire of lies. The status quo,politically, socially and economically, depends on lies, half-truths, scapegoats and cover-ups for its very survival. Any truth that escapes the prison of lies endangers the entire rotten edifice.

In an empire of lies, leaders say what people want to hear. This wins the support of the masses, who would rather hear false reassurances that require no sacrifices, no difficult trade-offs, no hard choices, no discipline. The empire of lies is doomed. Lies are weakness, and they prohibit any real solutions. Truth is power, but we can no longer tolerate the truth because it frightens us. Our weakness is systemic and fatal."

"How It Really Is"

'I Know Why You Did It..."


“Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn’t there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance, and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who’s to blame? Well, certainly, there are those who are more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable. But again, truth be told, if you’re looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn’t be? War, terror, disease. They were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic, you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent.” – "V" speech to London

"Col. Douglas Macgregor Straight Calls, 5/20/23"

Col. Douglas Macgregor Straight Calls, 5/20/23
"Odessa and Kharkiv Fall Under Russian Control and Authority"
"Ukraine news today and in-depth discussion of 
current geopolitical events in the United States of America."
Video and comments here:
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"We've Seen This Before"

Dan, I Allegedly 5/20/23
"We've Seen This Before"
"Don’t you have a feeling of déjà vu? We’re in very familiar territory right now. It’s just a matter of time until everyone realizes this is going to be an epic crash."
Video and comments here:
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"Prices At Kroger Are Out Of Control! This Is Crazy! What's Coming?"

Adventures With Danno, 5/20/23
"Prices At Kroger Are Out Of Control! 
This Is Crazy! What's Coming?"
"In today's vlog, we are at Kroger and are noticing some very strange price increases on groceries! It's getting rough out here as most grocery stores keep raising their prices due to inflation."
Video and comments here:

Friday, May 19, 2023

Read Online: Kahlil Gibran, “The Garden of the Prophet”

“The Garden of the Prophet” 
by Kahlil Gibran

“Oftentimes we call Life bitter names, but only when we ourselves are bitter and dark. And we deem her empty and unprofitable, but only when the soul goes wandering in desolate places, and the heart is drunken with over-mindfulness of self.

Life is deep and high and distant; and though only your vast vision can reach even her feet, yet she is near; and though only the breath of your breath reaches her heart, the shadow of your shadow crosses her face, and the echo of your faintest cry becomes a spring and an autumn in her breast.

And Life is veiled and hidden, even as your greater self is hidden and veiled. Yet when Life speaks, all the winds become words; and when she speaks again, the smiles upon your lips and the tears in your eyes turn also into words. When she sings, the deaf hear and are held; and when she comes walking, the sightless behold her and are amazed and follow her in wonder and astonishment.” 
Read “The Garden of The Prophet” online here:

"Believe Them..."

"When people tell you who they are, Maya Angelou famously advised, believe them. Just as important, however, when people try to tell you who you are, don’t believe them. You are the only custodian of your own integrity, and the assumptions made by those that misunderstand who you are and what you stand for reveal a great deal about them and absolutely nothing about you."
- Maria Popova

"Friends Asking You For Money; Households Are Critically Fragile"

Jeremiah Babe, 5/19/23
"Friends Asking You For Money; 
Households Are Critically Fragile"
Video and comments here:
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"15 Grocery Retailers Reporting Multiple Store Closings Right Now"

"15 Grocery Retailers Reporting 
Multiple Store Closings Right Now"
By Epic Economist

"Americans are having some frustrating shopping experiences at grocery stores for quite a while now. With prices still reaching new record-highs, shoppers have started cutting on meat and produce, and swapping pricier purchases for frozen or canned products, according to a May survey from the Food Industry Association. The slower consumption is leading some struggling chains to cut costs wherever they can, and that oftentimes means closing underperforming locations. Trying to stay afloat, several grocers have been forced to make massive strategic shifts as they cope with difficulties like inflation, labor shortages, shipping delays, and security concerns, at a time sales and profits are going down. News of major companies like Walmart, Amazon Fresh, and more closing multiple stores permanently has been circulating on the internet over the last few months. While we already reported some of these closures in our previous videos, today, we decided to compile all the latest announcements of store shutdowns made by some of the biggest food retailers in America.

For instance, if the Albertsons-Kroger merger gets approved, by the end of the year, at least 300 Albertsons stores may be gone for good. That’s because the chain must sell locations in areas where the grocery chains overlap to try to fend off antitrust challenges to Kroger’s $25B acquisition of the supermarket chain. Earlier this year, a class-action lawsuit filed by a group of 25 US consumers argued that the merger would result in a grocery behemoth with a 36% share of the US market at a time when inflation is still gripping food prices. “If Kroger’s proposed acquisition of Albertsons is consummated, the companies’ combined power will be used to increase prices for groceries, decrease the quality of food, eliminate jobs, close stores, and offer less choice for consumers due to the overlap in geographic areas,” the lawsuit states. 

Regardless of the outcome, Albertsons is now closing 26 locations along the western, northwestern, and southwestern regions of the U.S. to save costs, according to Boise Weekly. Twelve stores are located across Southern California, including Long Beach, Canyon Country, Chula Vista, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, Huntington Beach, Monrovia, Moorpark, Ontario, San Diego, Valencia, and Whittier, and eleven stores across Washington, Oregon, and Nevada, and as well as stores in western Idaho will be shut down because of underperforming sales, said spokespersons for their respective divisions, according to Orange County Register.

For many communities, the absence of their local grocery stores is going to be critical. The “Food Access Research Atlas” constructed by the USDA defines low access to healthy food related to being far from large grocery stores or supermarkets. In the last few months, grocery store shutdowns in multiple regions have turned them into food deserts. This term describes regions with a lack of supermarkets to supply local residents with fresh food and produce. 

Needless to say, this greatly affects the community's food security. From fruits and veggies to milk, sugar, and more, a household with elderly or children is always in need of fresh groceries. That's why this situation is so concerning for millions of U.S. families who won't be able to purchase the supplies they need to get by every week and will be forced to travel to other cities to have access to food. This situation must be addressed swiftly, otherwise, more and more food deserts will continue to emerge all across the country."
Video and comments here:

“A Corrupt Tree Bringeth Forth Evil Fruit”

“A Corrupt Tree Bringeth Forth Evil Fruit”
By Brian Maher

“Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit,” says Matthew - “but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.”

"Today we are in transit. We lift our siege of Jekyll Island, Georgia… and take to the aerial ways. Our destination is the Maryland city of Annapolis, by way of the Baltimore-Washington International Airport. Yet before we take wing, we lower our ax upon the root of America’s corrupt money tree… and expose its evil fruit - the fiat dollar.

If you are a regular Daily Reckoning reader you are likely aware of the corruption. Yet as we have argued before: A man must occasionally recall himself to obvious truths. That is because the nose upon his face is obvious. It is so obvious he scarcely notices the nasal protuberance. It would serve him well to remember at times. We believe this is one such time.

The Dual Life of a Dollar: Is there a $20 bill nesting within your wallet? Please haul it up… This $20 bill represents an asset to you its holder. It is a meager asset in these inflationary days - yet it is an asset. It represents a legal claim upon all goods and services available within these United States. Yet this $20 bill of yours lives a coy existence, a dual existence. One aspect is seen. The other is unseen. That is because your $20 asset is at once a $20 liability.

You are aware of the asset, of the purchasing power you command. It is musculature in monetary form. But are you aware of its liability? You likely are not aware of its liability. Consider: All money in present circulation - all bills, coins, all checking and savings deposits, A through Z - was borrowed into existence. That is, all money in existence represents a debt… taken sometime… somewhere… by someone. That debt may not be your debt. Yet it is another man’s debt. This is the inner secret of the schizophrenic $20 bill you presently ponder.

Poor Andrew Jackson: Imagine poor Andy Jackson raging in his bleak Tennessee grave. Imagine how he spins and spins and spins. For this is the man who shuttered the Second Bank of the United States in 1836 - and retired the national debt for the first and only occasion in history.

Yet Old Hickory and his hawkish visage front the debt-fabricated $20 bill. That is, the poor fellow has been dragooned posthumously into the very banking system he proceeded against with such fantastic heat. It is almost as if the monetary authorities mock his memory - purposefully and intentionally. It is almost as if he has been paraded as a trophy of war, a helpless and lifeless captive. “As if” does not constitute proof of an actual doing. We harbor our suspicions nonetheless. But let it go.

Let us now ponder the staggering realities of today’s debt-based money…

$96 Trillion Into Thin Air: Recall, all money under today’s monetary “system” constitutes an expression of debt. The asset merely represents the positive face of the liability, the reverse face. We must therefore conclude, as we have concluded before: If all dollar-based debt were retired - all $96 trillion, public and private - each dollar would vanish into the nonexistence whence it came. It goes flushing into the void. Can you imagine it? Attempt the try.

Now lift your jaw from the floor. Now rediscover your footing. Now recover your wits. Here we do not speculate. We read directly from the book…

The Fed’s Open Confession: Mr. Marriner Eccles bossed the Federal Reserve in May 1941. At that time he sat down in front of the House Committee on Banking and Currency. A bewildered congressman - Patman, by name - asked this Eccles how the Federal Reserve had acquired the funds to purchase $2 billion of Treasury bonds in 1933. Our minions have fished up this exchange from the Congressional Record:

ECCLES: We created it.
PATMAN: Out of what?
ECCLES: Out of the right to issue credit money.
PATMAN: And there is nothing behind it, is there, except our government’s credit?
ECCLES: That is what our money system is. If there were no debts in our money system, there wouldn’t be any money.

“The Tragic Absurdity of Our Hopeless Situation Is Almost Incredible” Did Mr. Eccles botch the facts? He did not. Here is the credit manager of the Federal Reserve’s Atlanta outpost, Mr. Robert Hemphill: "If all the bank loans were paid, no one could have a bank deposit, and there would not be a dollar of coin or currency in circulation. This is a staggering thought. We are completely dependent on the commercial banks. Someone has to borrow every dollar we have in circulation, cash or credit. If the banks create ample synthetic money we are prosperous; if not we starve. We are absolutely without a permanent money system. When one gets a complete grasp of the picture, the tragic absurdity of our hopeless situation is almost incredible - but there it is."

There it is indeed.

“All Money Would Disappear” Mr. G. Edward Griffin is the author of "The Creature From Jekyll Island." As we have noted these past two days: That creature is of course the Federal Reserve. And we have visited the site of its conception - its bastard conception. Here Griffin gets in back of Messieurs Eccles and Hemphill:

"It is difficult for Americans to come to grips with the fact that their total money supply is backed by nothing but debt, and it is even more mind-boggling to visualize that if everyone paid back all that was borrowed, there would be no money left in existence. That’s right, there would be not one penny in circulation - all coins and all paper currency would be returned to bank vaults - and there would be not one dollar in anyone’s checking account. In short, all money would disappear…

Every dollar that exists today, either in the form of currency, checkbook money or even credit card money - in other words, our entire money supply - exists only because it was borrowed by someone; perhaps not you, but someone. Let us now strike at the root of today’s corrupt money tree…

Don’t Forget About the Interest: A bank loans a man $10,000. He must repay the $10,000 at a future date - with a bit of interest into the bargain. Assume the $10,000 comes tethered to a 5% rate of interest. Assume further the bankman thunders at his door five years hence, calling in his loan. The debtor must hand the fellow $12,762.74 That is, the principal plus the $2,762.74 in accumulated interest. Where will this sap secure the $2,762.74 to service the interest? The larger question: Must the Federal Reserve issue increasing quantities of money to service all outstanding debt - $96 trillion in the case of the United States? Mr. Griffin:

One of the most perplexing questions associated with this process is “Where does the money come from to pay the interest?” If you borrow $10,000 from a bank at 9%, you owe $10,900. But the bank only manufactures $10,000 for the loan. It would seem, therefore, that there is no way that you - and all others with similar loans - can possibly pay off your indebtedness.

The amount of money put into circulation just isn’t enough to cover the total debt, including interest. This has led some to the conclusion that it is necessary for you to borrow the $900 for the interest, and that, in turn, leads to still more interest. The assumption is that the more we borrow, the more we have to borrow, and that debt based on fiat money is a never-ending spiral leading inexorably to more and more debt.

This is a partial truth. It is true that there is not enough money created to include the interest, but it is a fallacy that the only way to pay it back is to borrow still more. A partial truth? What is the entire truth, sir?

The Exchange Value of Labor: “The assumption fails to take into account the exchange value of labor.” Please elaborate: Let us assume that you pay back your $10,000 loan at the rate of approximately $900 per month and that about $80 of that represents interest. You realize you are hard-pressed to make your payments so you decide to take on a part-time job…

The decision then is made to have the bank’s floors waxed once a week. You respond to the ad in the paper and are hired at $80 per month to do the job. The result is that you earn the money to pay the interest on your loan, and - this is the point - the money you receive is the same money which you previously had paid. As long as you perform labor for the bank each month, the same dollars go into the bank as interest, then out the revolving door as your wages and then back into the bank as loan repayment. Just so. You serve the interest by serving your master.

Yet what if you decline to wax the bank’s floors? What if you fail to serve your master? It is not necessary that you work directly for the bank. No matter where you earn the money, its origin was a bank and its ultimate destination is a bank. The loop through which it travels can be large or small, but the fact remains all interest is paid eventually by human effort.

Modern Serfdom: What - then - are we to conclude from the foregoing? The significance of that fact is even more startling than the assumption that not enough money is created to pay back the interest. It is that the total of this human effort ultimately is for the benefit of those who create fiat money. It is a form of modern serfdom in which the great mass of society works as indentured servants to a ruling class of financial nobility.

This conclusion appalls us. Yet we hazard Mr. Griffin draws a reasonable sketch. And so we hazard this question: Shall we strike the chains of bondage from our wrists? That is, should we all repay each dollar we owe - all $96 trillion? Should we call in all money from circulation?

The question is theoretical, of course. As we have maintained before: We can no more afford to break the chains of debt than we can afford to break our necks. We are locked in. These chains will snap only when they can no longer endure the relentless weight pressing upon them. Not because we choose to snap them. That is, the chain-snapping will be imposed upon us. On that bright and glorious day, however distant, we shall finally be free… Free… without one penny to our name…"

Musical Interlude: Matt Simons, "After The Landslide"

Full screen recommended.
Matt Simons, "After The Landslide"
Oh, we're in the landslide alright...

Musical Interlude: Liquid Mind "Awakening (Cosmic Sea)"

Full screen recommended.
Liquid Mind "Awakening (Cosmic Sea)"

Be kind to yourself, savor this beautiful video...

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Point your telescope toward the high flying constellation Pegasus and you can find this expanse of Milky Way stars and distant galaxies. Centered on NGC 7814, the pretty field of view would almost be covered by a full moon. NGC 7814 is sometimes called the Little Sombrero for its resemblance to the brighter more famous M104, the Sombrero Galaxy.  
 Click image for larger size.
Both Sombrero and Little Sombrero are spiral galaxies seen edge-on, and both have extensive central bulges cut by a thinner disk with dust lanes in silhouette. In fact, NGC 7814 is some 40 million light-years away and an estimated 60,000 light-years across. That actually makes the Little Sombrero about the same physical size as its better known namesake, appearing to be smaller and fainter only because it is farther away. A very faint dwarf galaxy, potentially a satellite of NGC 7814, is revealed in the deep exposure just below the Little Sombrero.”

"Mark Strand on Dreams: A Lyrical Love Letter to Where We Go When We Go to Sleep"

"Mark Strand on Dreams: 
A Lyrical Love Letter to Where We Go When We Go to Sleep"
“Something nameless hums us into sleep… 
We feel dreamed by someone else, a sleeping counterpart…”
by Maria Popova

"The mystery of dreams has always bewitched humanity, tickling art and science in equal measure. Freud was besotted with it when he laid the foundation for the study of the subject, as was his eccentric niece Tom when she illustrated that gem of a vintage children’s book about dreams. Dostoyevsky found the meaning of life in a dream, and so did Margaret Mead. Leonard Bernstein sought the solution to his sexual identity confusion and the key to the creative process in his dreams.

However detached from the reality of life dreams may seem, they affect our every waking moment and even help us regulate our negative moods. And yet, try as we might to control our dreams, we still know so very little about where we go when we slip into that nocturnal wonderland. For all the advances science has made, it still seems best left to the poets - and the best of poets only.

In one of the many masterpieces in his "Collected Poems" (public library), Pulitzer-winning poet and MacArthur “genius” Mark Strand (April 11, 1934–November 29, 2014) explores the delicate and disorienting world of dreams with unparalleled elegance. The poem is a supreme testament to Strand’s belief that it is the artist’s task to bear witness to the universe, within and without."
"Dreams"

"Trying to recall the plot
And characters we dreamed,
     What life was like
Before the morning came,
We are seldom satisfied,
     And even then
There is no way of knowing
If what we know is true.
     Something nameless
Hums us into sleep,
Withdraws, and leaves us in
     A place that seems
Always vaguely familiar.
Perhaps it is because
     We take the props
And fixtures of our days
With us into the dark,
     Assuring ourselves
We are still alive. And yet
Nothing here is certain;
     Landscapes merge
With one another, houses
Are never where they should be,
     Doors and windows
Sometimes open out
To other doors and windows,
     Even the person
Who seems most like ourselves
Cannot be counted on,
     For there have been
Too many times when he,
Like everything else, has done
     The unexpected.
And as the night wears on,
The dim allegory of ourselves
     Unfolds, and we
Feel dreamed by someone else,
A sleeping counterpart,
     Who gathers in
The darkness of his person
Shades of the real world.
     Nothing is clear;
We are not ever sure
If the life we live there
     Belongs to us.
Each night it is the same;
Just when we’re on the verge
     Of catching on,
A sense of our remoteness
Closes in, and the world
     So lately seen
Gradually fades from sight.
We wake to find the sleeper
     Is ourselves
And the dreamt-of is someone who did
Something we can’t quite put
     Our finger on,
But which involved a life
We are always, we feel,
     About to discover."

Complement the immeasurably rewarding "Collected Poems" with Strand on the heartbeat of creative work and his lyrical love letter to clouds.”