Wednesday, August 15, 2012

The Enemy at the Gates of Wonderland

Dog Poet Transmitting.......

May your noses always be cold and wet.

It doesn't matter how hard you try, how self deprecating you may be, or what you admit to, in terms of shortcomings and personal drawbacks, you're always going to have enemies and detractors, who will look to injure you in the eyes of others and also inside your own head, if you let them in. The Devil translated means, 'slanderer'. That pretty much says it all. It's like a continuously perpetuating Fox News. You blare a headline but the content of the article has little to do with the headline. False claims are made and not verified, or justified because all you have to do is claim something and the lumpen proles will just take it as gospel. Some are already inclined to believe lies and others are too lazy to care to check.

Jesus Christ had enemies and he is reputed to have been without flaw or shortcoming. Gandhi had enemies. One of them even killed him. People come around here often to say that he was a fraud and a bad guy. Martin Luther King is painted as a tool, philanderer and what not. Buddha had enemies. Krishna had enemies. My opinion is that you can know the quality and substance of a person by the enemies that they have.

People have enemies for various reasons. Sometimes your way of life stands in opposition to those who bear you enmity. Sometimes you cross their path in an unfortunate (for them) manner. Sometimes it is because of jealousy and envy. Whatever the reason may be, the enemy is there and sometimes their malice and anger are deep and continuous. Earth is a place of conflict. Our bodies are a combination of warring elements. They war within us and they war outside of us, often automatically. Few people are in a state of liberated consciousness, especially in these times. That means delusion and negative perspectives, are preeminent above the virtues, which are often absent, or compromised by the vices that seek expression and can be hindered by virtues; “best not to have the virtues” says the mind of the self indulgent and prisoners of low appetite.

Projection is often the basis for judgments made by the blind. When certain unpleasant qualities exist in us, we project the same outward on to those we encounter. If you are covetous, you imagine that others are plotting to get your goods. If powerful appetites and lusts are operative within you, you imagine it is the same with others. A snake looks into a pool and sees there mirrored a snake. A deer sees a deer. An elephant sees an elephant and all of them imagine that is what God looks like.

A person might want to do something about these misapprehensions, in the hearts and minds of others and depending on the force of clarity and truth within that person, sometimes you can cause a change of heart in others but you will never be one hundred percent successful across the board. People generally focus on the negative impact of enemies but there are all sorts of positive effects provided by the right enemies. I'll leave speculation concerning that with the readers, whom I am sure will see the creative possibilities of resistance and opposition, especially if you are an electrician (grin).

Each of us, because of our astrological predispositions and progressed conditions, suffers from specific circumstances at the hands of enemies as well a particular mutations on a theme. For me it has been treachery and betrayal. John Hall's parents turned me in to the police but they only knew about my 'wanted' status from him. My friend's mother turned me in another time. That wasn't the result of mendacity (except on the mother's part). He was young and a little too candid. I helped out one Rick Glover by letting him come to Hawaii and stay in my apartment for some months. I also helped him get on the police force, indirectly. He used every opportunity to have me put away for life. That turned on him though and he had to leave the police force and the islands. Some guy named Jim from Washington State, who I helped out in several ways, went to the police and offered to trade me for a ticket off the island, telling them tales about me that were patently untrue. When my trial came up they flew him back in to testify. He was destroyed on the stand and my lawyer found out he was wanted for arson in Snohomish County. On his return to Washington State, the sheriff was waiting for him. There are some lesser offenses of the same kind. So it goes.

Some of us seem to have things that others resent and some darkness in them makes them wish us ill. I've not put a lot of thought into motive and source but I just figure these things come with the territory.

Still, the chief weapon of those housing the enemy, seems to be slander, which is also connected to false witness. I used to hear the most ludicrous things about myself, third or fourth hand delivered to my ears. You would think that the truth would be enough. There is plenty to find in any of our lives that can be authenticated and remarked on but for some reason, people feel the need to fantastically embellish, or gild the nightshade (we won't be using lilies in that descriptor because none of the players so involved are pushing up lilies, so far as I know).

I look into my past sometimes and wonder, “who was that guy”? It's pretty much the same when I look into my present. I'm surprised that limitations, which have dogged my footsteps for so long, still remain and then I realize they are there to suit the objectives of the one who uses me, or anyone, as a performance artist woven into the tapestry of life. Maybe it lends more drama and humor to the tale. I've been told they will all go away, when the time is right, but neither intense scrutiny or relentless effort has made much impact on these things.

♫Boy, you got to carry that weight♫ I guess it applies to all of us. I try to roll with it but sometimes it just rolls over me. As I look at life, it often appears that the grist stone must eventually grind us into powder so that God can snort us and get high. Or we might be trampled grapes, fermented, bottled and decanted so that God can get drunk. Things work in both directions. God is an intoxicant for those possessed of the presence and we are no less an intoxicant for God. I suppose therein lies the difference between stoned, stupid and high.

Life is a fairytale but there are many possible colors from The Brother's Grimm to Lewis Carroll to... Hans Christian Andersen. There are many fables from Aesop to George Orwell. They all tell the tale of life in their own dimension of pain and pleasure, gain and loss. The dramas have color, texture and teachings from Jack London and Joseph Conrad to E.M. Forster and Somerset Maugham. Some of us are whipped with switches and some of us are whipped by our conscience and some of us are whipped with birch branches in a sauna. Some of us are stroked and some of us are poked and some of us are stabbed. I guess it is whatever it takes to make the point, given that we haven't gotten the point and given that life is all about that. Life is a refinery and that will involve heat of some kind at one time or another.

You can't explain yourself to your enemies. They would not be your enemies if you could. Sometimes your enemies are right and don't need any explanation and don't have to “show you no stinking badges”. All of these things go into making what is known as great and enduring art, or cheap and pretentious crap and you need both of them to give value to either. Contrast is a very important part of life but not everyone gets what's going on there. We often only know things best by comparison with other things. We only see the exceptional in some, due to the mediocrity of the many. That's just how it goes.

For myself, I don't trouble “my beautiful mind” about it very much any more (grin). I just accept that there isn't much that I can say that will change what isn't real into something real, nor is there anything anyone else can do, for any length of time, to accomplish the reverse. Our job really, is to strive, endure and never give up and then, we surrender. So much for the shit and giggles of existence.

I recall trying to explain myself to people who weren't interested in understanding anything. Their minds were made up, or their agendas held firm in a vice. They were just looking for some vichyssoise best served and eaten cold. That's the nature of vichyssoise anyway. So many vendettas and resentments have little to do with the life in which you find them and everything to do with what made this particular life necessary in the first place. You just have to go through these things, until you get the point and you can do that in a t'ai chi sort of a way, or you can do it like a bull in a china shop, or any permutation between the two. No martial art has any lasting efficacy that is not seated in the mind, just the same as the marital arts are seated in the heart. We're all just going through the motions and sometimes the choreography is sublime and sometimes it is clumsy and brutal. Each degree has a tactile experience and level of attendant suffering or enjoyment and that all comes down to 'who' is enjoying it or suffering from it.

Yeah, we've come round in circles appearing but for some of us it's a spiral and that particular illustration can make all the difference in the end; as we come to the end of this post.


End Transmission.......

Visible sings: Songwriter by Les Visible♫ Every Fairytale ♫
'Every Fairytale' is track no. 4 of 10 on Visible's 2006 album 'Songwriter'
Lyrics (pops up)

Songwriter by Les Visible

55 comments:

tmcfall said...

'I look into my past sometimes and wonder, “who was that guy”?'
every day Viz, every day. Still not quite sure who I am now, but I am sure glad I'm not "that guy" anymore!
Tom in Searing Hot Tempe Arizona

Pope Shannogh said...

A life well lived will always create ripples in the pond... If we have no enemies then we've had no purpose :-)

Laura said...

As I come to the end of reading this, there is our own personal alchemy and transmutation, the burning fire within our precious crucible of Self that burnishes and tempers us in all kinds of ways. It ain't easy but it is the way to the truth of who we all are. Our so called "worthy adversaries" make us stronger even as they "kick our ass." Fear is the predominant energy of those who attack and intend to harm and being divinely different has its full share of challenges to transcend. There is a clarity and purity that comes about within as the challenges are lived and moved through...an emptiness of ego that has the potential to be filled by the divine and it's attendant redeeming grace.

Thanks, Visible, for continuing to speak your truth.

Laura

Zoner said...

The agony of this separation illusion is in seeing all of these 'effin mirrors everywhere.

My enemy is always only me, falling to a position of judgement and comparing (ego), or worse, fear, and usually reflecting back a huge flaw in the program that allows me to feel"apart from" in the first place.

Finding there is no slack anymore, either. Immediate, direct, and increasingly loud feedback/consequence/lesson coming for ANY transgression or lack of vigilance in the workings above the neck. Keep it down in there, wouldja?

The bit at the center is undergoing some rapid and profound changes as well. 2x4's in full swing, yet no knockout blow yet. "Thank you, may I have another?"

What a truly amazing ride it can be.........

Thank you for laying out this sustenance, Visible. Very timely per usual, and truly appreciated

Z


Visible said...

Beautifully said Laura.

and of course, The Pope nails it will all the simplicity that the false Pope does not possess.

Peter of Lone Tree said...

I spent some of my early years on a farm and one morning my mother told me to go to the henhouse and check the chickens and see if there were any eggs. When I returned I proudly announced to mother, "Somerset Maugham."
"I just accept that there isn't much that I can say that will change what isn't real into something real..."

Visible said...

Somerset Maugham? That went right over my head, or under the boardwalk.

Gretchen said...

This Origami hit me personally while drinking my first cup of tea this morning. You put into words as do many others in the comment section so eloquently in ways I think, but can't get through the keyboard.
The enemy for me is the family born into and to put a stop to their abuse, I legally changed my name and leaving the country I was born hoping not to come back. I could go on and on about them, but the sick abuse ranges from trying to catalyze my death by ignoring an acute illness when I was younger, slandering me to people mutually known as well as school and work, having me beaten by the police, stealing my inheritance, and getting me terminated from jobs. It's been going on since I could remember as a young girl from earliest memories, the ringleader was the mother. I was the only child this was done to, of the 8 others she spawned. Sick people. Close friends who have intimately known the situation say it is due to jealousy and envy from observing the obvious physical comparison and they could not believe the stuff they witnessed. I think it was that and more, such as innately being psychopaths.
I will say this; I knew very young I was different than all the others and at this point of life, I still wonder why I chose this path to be a part of in this lifetime.

Anonymous said...

love the comments -- all the comments

they continued the resonance of the column -- tapped in and kept the harmony going as each brought their own melody

yes, the resonance of our 'mind'. intense times here -- there -- everywhere.

woke up cogitating on this: how to be real in an unreal world?

just how incredibly 'hypnotized' the population is -- more than i ever imagined possible. the names in the news are bizarre anagrams -- when did ron paul become paul ryan? and of course, osama bin laden obama joe biden. it is bigger than anyone can believe. deeper. vaster.

and then when we realize this and 'work' to get out all we are doing, in essence, is getting into our own little jesus jetson spaceship and zipping away -- 'so long suckers cruel fucking world' because we think we know the way out -- hahahahhaah -- nope. that little triangle of titanium metaphysics is going to lose altitude and then WHUMP -- you're back. the only way is to 'load the mothership'...guide others up the plank onto the vast vast calder mobile that is patiently waiting to load...not one soul left behind or we don't take off....keep on keeping on!

love you all and eternal gratitude for the writings of les visible.

liz, frying her brains in l.a.


Doug Pearson said...

I can look back and remember when I was gonna get those guys. I was gonna even a lot of scores. One day I realized I was pissed off all the time and it was gonna consume me given the time. So I threw it all away, right then and there. A tremendous weight left my body seemingly on the spot. Talk about a big relief. Gave me a lotta time to focus on positive things instead of all the bullshit. Anywho, I think that time comes for some people about the time they realize they ain't gonna live forever and see their station at the end of the line. I've talked to a lotta real old guys since then and it's kinda strange that many of them still are pursuing those old scores. Don't really know why I posted this but it seemed like the thing to say. I forgave them all but still keep an eye peeled for their mischief.

missingarib said...

vis,seems it's the season for these uncomfortable events to be remembered- I have been the object of similar events that you reviewed in your life -good stuff as always- anyway here is a tune that comes to mind upon reading your post-it's by the Bangels

Time, time, time, see what's become of me.....
Time, time, time, see what's become of me.
While I looked around for my possibilities,
I was so hard to please.
Look around, the leaves are brown,
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter.
Hear the salvation army band
Down by the riverside, it's bound to be a better ride
Than what you've got planned,
Carry your cup in your hand.
Look around you, the leaves are brown now,
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter.
Hang on to your hopes, my friend.
That's an easy thing to say but if your hopes should pass away,
It's simply pretend, that you can build them again.
Look around, the grass is high, the fields are ripe,
It's the springtime of my life.
Oh, seasons change with the scenery,
Weaving time in a tapestry,
Won't you stop and remember me?

Look around, the leaves are brown,
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter.
Look around, the leaves are brown,
There's a patch of snow on the ground,
Look around, the leaves are brown,
There's a patch of snow on the ground,
Look around, the leaves are brown,
There's a patch of snow on the ground..

live long and prosper

Sash B said...

Know your enemy. :) So this is hiw you leave comments on here... Amen to the birch branches and then the dive into the snow!!! Vis, you have talked a lot about astrology recently. Can you recommend a good /place to start? Other than astrologycafe.

the gardener said...

Vis: "For me it has been treachery and betrayal" awww man... I just hate that 'treachery and betrayal' course.

And since, of course, I was speaking with a friend just yesterday about 'the tempering by the fire' AFTER our cracked vessels are glazed and reglazed' your post should surprise me but it doesn't. Anymore.

I think I use YOU as a mirror to see what it is I am really up to. {{{grins}}} hahahaha

I have two focus points this week to work on before the New Moon on August 17... life keeps getting in the way-I'm keeping a fourth eye out for what distracts and diverts me.

Just read the 'Ezra Pound' piece over at Kenny's... 13 1/2 years in a MENTAL HOSPITAL until he was finally released without charges.

Is THAT why Hemingway did his self in? They were after him too or because he didn't move heaven and earth to free his great teacher?

For some reasons I kept seeing Jackie Kennedy's oh so suave and sophisticated face during that reading.

"Do not fret the evildoers..." Psalm 37 or 35... I have to read that one several times a week to keep my composure and sanity intact and growing.

the gardener

Anonymous said...

Sh*t, Viz!
I swear I just saw Elvis here :-)
Great post - as always.
The Truth told in an entertaining manner.
And thanks for the muzak - it grooves, man :-)

Rob in WI said...

Gretchen,
So sad to read what you've been through. I went through a similar experience due to divorce/remarriage before one year of age. I wasn't told about it for a number of years, and was treated as an outcast by so many. We had moved to a small town, where gossip was the primary sense of entertainment, and finally learned the truth third hand. That was 60 years ago, but it still haunts me when my faith in the Divine wavers. Hope you have reached a point of self reconciliation. There are so many of us, who were provided with enemies at very tender ages.
God bless, and be well, Rob

Richard said...

Mas y Mas Visible
Perhaps those that betray do so because it is in their nature ( ontologically speaking ) to do so. Karma, astrology etc. just brings one into their sphere of influence. Hence the sense of betrayal is inevitable,like listening to a baritone around Pavarotti.
While one can count, in a long and virtuous life, true friends on the fingers of one hand, ' when you can count a 100 enemies, consider yourself close to the Divine' - Mullah Nasruddin.
Now that it has been made oh-so-clear that there is NO moon, no need to worry about the new one on the 17th.
Last few weeks in the Andes, ceremonies with San Pedro, have been most useful. Highly recommended for those who are looking to reprogram conclusions made from past traumas, mending with Love the shattered aspects of psyche.
May the Rose Garden of the Heart always be in Bloom.
Love
Richard

Frog said...

Missingarib,
Not to be petty, but the song was written by Paul Simon and performed by Simon and Garfunkle in '68 or so. The Bangles did a nice cover of it though.
Take care,

Clarity said...

"In order to have an enemy, one must be somebody. One must be a force before he can be resisted by another force."

-Sophie Swetchine

You are most definitely a force, Visible.

Good comments today (and good music too!). They have touched me in different ways.

I feel fortunate in that looking back, there is little in the way of enemies and betrayal.

"You would think that the truth would be enough. There is plenty to find in any of our lives that can be authenticated and remarked on but for some reason, people feel the need to fantastically embellish, or gild the nightshade..."

Now this seemed so obvious once I read it. I imagine it can be useful in learning a lot about the one who is making (up) the accusations.

Zoner, an excellent point. Regardless of what is coming at us from external influences, that which is coming from within can often be what is doing the most damage. It can also be easily overlooked. Time spent blaming others is time wasted.

Love and healing to all,
~Clarity

Lee said...

Synchronicity at work again, Mr. Visible. I will repost what wrote on TUT (The Ugly Truth) today.

"

Just a thought. I came to the conclusion that a halo of protection seems to follow those who commit evil. Whether it is done on a personal level to each other, or by corporations and countries, is not known.

I have seen it done by a family member to another family member. These persons commit lies, theft, manipulate, and just get away with it. This phenomenon that I noticed has to be the work of the devil or some dark agent which ever you choose to call it.

Those of you that follow the blog by Les Visible, may have read about his conclusions too. There has to be something to it. I mean, how can people who commit blatant evil, get away with it? Is there any justice in this world?

http://www.smoking-mirrors.com/
"
P.S.
Mr. Visible, I can not remember precisely the comment you made on this subject, as there are so many, however, I hope readers here or anywhere can gain by it.

Anonymous said...

Crazy dog say....

In the dharmic state,the world of karma is ineffective,,,,,,in the karmic state we leave ourselves open to suffering,,,,,,maybe. : )

Lee said...

I wonder if my comment got lost earlier? The Anti-Bot checker is really hard to read. The next thing is probably going to be an optical iris scanner?

The Hazy Shade Of Winter was by Simon and Garfunkel, not the Bangles.

Anonymous said...

Crazy dog forgot to say

Karmic state of suffering perpetuates more suffering or feeling of suffering through everything
Dharmic state opens everything up makes it better,,,

Crazy dog says,,,maybe this is true ?


hereticdrummer said...

I once read about a man trying to impress a very pretty girl he wanted to date. He told her he was such a nice and fine fellow, he never had a single enemy in his life. She looked at him with disdain and said, "You've never had even one enemy? What a little nothing you must be."

Anonymous said...

Like someone else here posted, I too am a prisoner of instant karma. I am a wicked Stepmother to two adult Cinderfellas, one of whom has been a thorn in my side for 14 years. Okay, I am not perfect by any stretch, but this kid (a 27 year old man) is the type who is followed by constant drama, he had two kids by different mothers before he ever had a job. I could go on, but you get the point. At least twice a year, every year, his Dad has to throw him a bone full of money along with a lecture that "THIS will be the last time, blah, blah, blah...."So a couple of months ago, Joe (not his real name) is begging for money (a lot of money this time) again and I go flying off into one of my tirades about "When does Joe grow up" and "Why don't you just say No, for once?" Of course, I have no (human) children of my own which husband always uses against me asking "Why is it that all the parenting experts have no kids?" and then tells me that I would do exactly the same thing (throw money at him) because I spoil my dogs by giving them everything they want, even allowing them to push me off the sofa every day, leaving me to sit on the floor, and never tell them "NO". As if dogs compare to human beings...

So, we are standing outside while all this transpires. We were working on a project with 2x4s (which I saw mentioned here which, in turn, brought this episode to mind). I said something prefaced with "Why don't you..." that got him peeved, and he accidentally drops a 2 x 4 on my big toe. At least I am pretty sure it was accidental. I was wearing a pair of toeless sandals. My big toe then swells up and hurts like hell for days. Then my toenail turns purple, then black, and in the last few weeks has fallen completely off. I have no big toenail and there is no sign of it growing back yet. I've been wearing a bandage on my toe all summer. Every time I look at my feet I think of Joe and the trouble he has caused, or was that me who caused the trouble? Instant karma knocking me in my feet

Pam

Anonymous said...

I have had enemies since I was born.I see nothing noble about the suffering.The experience here can just about kill you,warp you.Did I decide to come here,knowing all about this? Could I have been that naiive? Or are incarnations an evil plan to recycle us unwillingly to extract the maximum pain for the evil ones.Micheal Toppers works strongly suggest this.Kauai

preacher said...

Talking about enemies:

"...there’s one very intimate detail that most people still don’t know about Hillary Clinton, and which I shall divulge: She does not sweat. Literally. She does not even glow. No matter how high the heat, not a drop nor a drip nor a bead nor so much as the faintest glisten can be detected anywhere about her person."

http://www.cntraveler.com/ecotourism/2012/09/visionaries/hillary-clinton

Anonymous said...

Enemy at the gates
Slander frustration
Deception propaganda
Suffering impatience
Division delusion
Caught in contractions
Enemy to self
Adverse reactions
A wasteland of strife
The doorway to nowhere
A prison of indiferance
In shade of despair

..peace..


Anonymous said...

"It doesn't matter how hard you try, how self deprecating you may be, or what you admit to, in terms of shortcomings and personal drawbacks, you're always going to have enemies and detractors, who will look to injure you in the eyes of others and also inside your own head, if you let them in. The Devil translated means, 'slanderer'..."

Well put, Visible.

The reason I frequent your blogs so often, is because you never slander, attack, castigate, or belittle anybody for their views. You never try to, injure people in the eyes of others.

You truly walk the walk and talk the talk...

Lee said...

Gretchen. I can relate to what you have been through. For me it was nothing compared to you. However, my mother was a half breed American Indian born on a reservation. She was kicked in and out from both sides and suffered great abuse and attempted murder.

She would cry about it years later when we were growing up. Abuse of that magnitude is just hard to forget.

Mr. Visible quoted to me while I asked him the purpose of life and why people suffer. "The Lord chastises those he loves".

preacher said...

@Anon 10:59

"That which does not kill us makes us stronger"

Friedrich Nietzsche

And you must be strong to arrive here and taking in all that is written here.
That doesn't mean some more sh*t isn't waiting around the corner, but sh*t makes fertile grounds...

Em (M. Rocknest said...

Vis, re: Peter of Lone Tree -- Somerset Maugham -- Some are set Mom. I'm still around, lapping up your blogs and sipping on the comments and since you started posting them regularly again, dancing to your songs. There is so much light and enlightenment here that the dark meanies will never prevail. Right now I'm blissing out on the small daily harvests from my almost miniscule garden so it's hard to even think of dark meanies but for everyone with one or more of them in their past or present I hope peace will come eventually. And for the biggest dark meanies of all I still remember "Out Demons Out".

Anonymous said...

"...so that God can snort us and get high."
What a laugh I got from that!

Les, I think God smiles at it too.
This posting of yours is awesome in its entirety.

I try hard not to make enemies but, like you point out, sometimes they wouldn't have it any other way.

namaste, Les....

-Steve

Anonymous said...

Notice how those people that tried to trip you up something bad happened to them. With love the Mollusk.

Anonymous said...

via Homer..

Why take a whipping at all?

Not only do you not have to, you're supremely encouraged not to.

It really is a lot like gambling.

Anonymous said...

If the measure of a man is his enemies then Hitler beats Jesus every day of the week, especially so on Mondays. The people that created MLK the hero are the ones that killed the man, so that he may continue to serve in death as he did in life. When in South Africa Gandhi’s main complaint was being segregated with Kaffirs, not with segregation itself. In a world of the blind, the one eyed man is king. In a world of one eyed kings, the third eyed man says: by all means and in every way be the change, but for love of the Gods know what that change is first, or you will be serving one eyed kings.

Rob in WI said...

Clarity,
Since you have been fortunate enough not to experience (very much?) enemies and betrayal; and probably little physical abuse; what gives you the right to pass judgment? Your Sophie Swine can go to hell. How many potential forces have been shut down as children? Being as you purport to work with children, you may have an idea. Do you and the children study the term "pretentious"?). Anyhow, I've said enough.
Rob

Anonymous said...

via Homer..

Yes it's true.

I possess (and can produce) proof of my having a black belt in the oldest form of self defense known to mankind (and a bunch of aliens).

Feets don't fail me now!!!

Anonymous said...

Lest our imaginations gets the better of us.
---------------------------
"And still the indomitable Quakers kept coming. Among the most determined to bear witness was William Leddra. Again and again, Leddra had visited Massachusetts, had been whipped, starved, and driven out, only to return. Now Leddra was being dragged into court in his shackles, having been chained to a log of wood all winter. He was charged with sympathizing with the executed Quakers, with using "thee" and "thou," with refusing to remove his hat – in sum, with being a Quaker.

Promised his life if he recanted his faith, Leddra answered: "What, act so that every man who meets me would say, 'this is the man that has forsaken the God of his salvation!'"

When a magistrate asked Leddra if he would agree to go to England if released, the prisoner coolly replied, "I have no business there." "Then you shall be hanged," retorted the magistrate. Leddra appealed to the laws of England, but the court held – as might be expected – that England had no jurisdiction in the case, and pronounced the sentence of death.

Still chained to the log, Leddra calmly wrote shortly before his execution:

I testify … that the noise of the whip on my back, all the imprisonments, and banishments on pain of death, and the loud threatenings of a halter did no more affright me, through the strength and power of God, than if they had threatened to bind a spider's web to my fingers…

Anonymous said...

“I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I love you. Thank you.”

Anonymous said...

You got it figured out then? Em, in addition to resistance and opposition, guided propagation is the key. On the one side.

On the other side, learning is the process of interpolation between two extreme boundaries. Everything lying outside those boundaries is unknown and prone to extrapolation errors that grow exponentially the further away one goes from the bounded region. For some, that outside is just the unknown. For others, it is unknowable in the truest meaning of the word. They will never know it, however intelligent they may attempt to become. At best, they may try to be the masters of this dark world, which is really not much of an achievement anyway.

Intelligence, of any kind, is a highly misunderstood concept.

From a different pov, never make something you don't know how to turn off.

Destruction comes before creation. Take it from those who didn't know better and had to run away before they were destroyed by their own creation. They're next on the pick list, just below their creation sitting at the very top of it.

Visible said...

9:32 AM= The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

Homer= mastery of footjisu

01:00 AM= Wow! I never even knew that the Quakers were persecuted. More amazing, being persecuted for saying, "thee" and "thou".

On to Smoking Mirrors.

Visible said...

A new Smoking Mirrors-

Mesmer-Bot's in the Department of the Depraved.

Clarity said...

Wow, Rob, you sound pretty upset, and to be honest, I don't know why. I'm not sure if it was my words, the quote, or both. Since you specifically referred to the quote, all I can think is that perhaps I interpreted it differently than you did. I have a friend who is a writer, and sometimes I would question what something meant. He told me that once he is done writing, that writing no longer belongs to him. Each reader gets something different from it based upon their individual experiences.

As far as passing judgment, I really am at a loss. I don't know who you think I judged.

Who I am is the sum of every life I have lived, as the essence of me is my soul. I can tell you that in two of my past three lives, abuse was a significant part of both of them. I have considered that perhaps that is why I haven't seen so much of that in this life. I was hit as a child - with a hand, a wooden spoon, and a belt. If there was anything else, I have forgotten. I was pretty well-behaved, so it wasn't a regular thing. It was enough, however, to make me know for certain that as a parent, I would never hit my child(ren). I devoted my efforts towards learning and applying the theory of positive parenting/discipline, and I have carried that into my classroom. In 25 years, I'm sure I have unintentionally hurt some children, but I know from parents and from students themselves that there are many more that I have helped. Ideally, I would have a 100% success rate, but I am not perfect. I never left it to chance, though.

Before I wrote my comment, I thought of enemies and betrayal. A few things came to mind, and if I thought longer, I could have added to the list. Considering what others have gone through, I felt that for me to not appreciate how very fortunate I have been, in relative terms, would be disrespectful to those who have gone through so much more.

I am rambling here because I do not understand what upset you and I am trying to cover different bases. Nothing I wrote was intended to be disrespectful in any way. Beyond that, I really don't know what else to say.

Love,
~Clarity


Gretchen said...

Rob and Lee, thank you for your kind words. After writing yesterday I struggled coming back here to read the comments to follow, mainly due to shame and embarrassment of what went on and speaking out about it only in recent years. I speak with someone now who helps me work through this, which is common with this past, similar to PTSD when not addressed immediately. I don't categorize and neither does the person I speak with. I'll miss him when I leave next month.

My experience has been those that have not gone through similar situations tend to be judgmental and condescending, which has led me to being quiet about it for a long time. Also, sensitive feelings towards others comments thinking they are digs at the dysfunctional upbringing come up and honestly, most don't bother me anymore. They allow me to see who the person is early on.

What I've noticed is the lack of support by others who have knowledge of 'abuse' and turn the other way not wanting to get involved. Very few people do, regardless of what they claim. It is much like those that claim they are always 'good tippers' when they go out to eat, and only leaving 5-10% when they claim they always leave 20. But I digress.

niijii said...

Rob, I don't see judgement in Clarity's comment, but do in yours. I like you both and perhaps what we've got here is failure to communicate.

Thanks V.

Be well all.

wv: diducme

Rob in WI said...

Hi niijii,
I think the majority of comments are judgmental, as are most blogger posts. Then again, maybe I just have to "get my mind right". Will spend some time in the box, thinking it over.
Clarity,
I'm not upset, are you?
Be well, Rob

katz said...

my husband always used to say "whip me, beat me, pay the rent!"

it just reminded me.....all that talk about abuse and all.

PSO said...

Resonating Post as usual, so thanks again Visible, because what happens for me anyway is that I get to revisit some memories and try to work out different ways to this situation or that -which caused hurt, and the effect of that cause leading me into years of dug and alcohol abuses.

So today's post took me to the place of my youth, somewhere in early new days of '70's.

I remembered now all the times mother would send me to the top of stairs and better 'not see or hear me until she tells me I can.'

I remember it was in those moments that I first saw the faces of the strange and grotesque that eventually -during those strange years- led to odd friendship in the top of the stairs hallway- which led to my room and bathroom 'friends'.

What and who were they?
I stretched way back and then I pulled it to the surface.

How miserably sad I was back then, which made me a sad man, all my life -up until I found mother -lying dead and naked on her bathroom floor.

There I sat next to her and gazed with blank stare back into the eyes of all my old 'friends'.

Yup, I made friends of wallpaper faces, and the Odd knotty pine wall boards- from my visits to my bedroom closet or the family Pine Closet, and all that 70's paneling.

All those weird faces in the grains of the wood. All those eyes staring back, pleading for conversation with my Imagination. All those unspoken for Thought Forms -being created based from an heart of fear, stone -and aching to be loved.

They kept me company -during all the times sent to be quiet while my mom would hide in her bedroom, door closed, locked; windows closed -shades drawn.
-
It reminded me of time I found her bleeding, wrists cut -in a bath of warm water. She must have hated me for finding her -in the wrong time.

-
She died just days after crying and pleading for forgiveness which of course, I had no problem to oblige her in, because I followed her Pattern and so the act was two way, reflection and mirror of Soul. It released me as well, and those 'friends' on the wall, those eyes I see now -all those faces, always a smile in those eyes now.

Long text from me and so I apologize to all that hate walls of texts, in comments -me being one of them now, here.

Maybe in the text, you will see my 'friends' smiling eyes and bring relief to your neck of the WOODS that make up all sorts of faces and eyes that mirror back our own fullness, or lack thereof.
-
I am glad to see you are back and posting :)
Have now a need to listen to a radio show -hopefully you have one coming soon.
-
pso -in Kentucky, or it is the area of Mind- that I occupy for the moment.




gretchen said...

I'll make a judgement and say Clarity's comments are judgmental and passive/aggressive.

Katz: Why are you here?

Anonymous said...

pierre said..

that explains the piss christ then, alternatively Satan's Snot (which it's not, really).

just finishing up on
Andrew Carrington Hitchcock's Synagogue of Satan YT interview

, and a few references in that tome that I will chase up on for the #1 earthly research project.

hard to tolerate many movies these days with these darn clarifying glasses on. interesting to analyse them as projections of the producers, there is no such thing as a pure lie.

Visible said...

A new Petri Dish-

Runaway Stupid and the Train to Nowhere.

Anonymous said...

via Homer..

There is Someone, (very tempting to use the (s)), Who has and will tell a pure lie.



Anonymous said...

pierre...

no pure lie defined as telling anything and not revealing something of themselves in the process which belies the lie (to some extent)? much like quantum entanglement (always an influence - everything's connected - but always to some extent) and the tar baby .

Anonymous said...

Les, you're a good person, you've accomplished more in your life than most people(book published, popular website, avid followers)so let it be and relax. ..Karen Toffan

Visible said...

Let what be and relax. I'm drawing a total blank on this. I think that indicates that I am letting it be and relaxing (grin). One of the purposes of these sites is spirited socio-political and religious intercourse. There has to be some amount of rough and tumble. I don't know know what you are actually referencing and I'm not inclined to go looking for it because that always takes awhile but I assume it is because of some kind of exchange with someone. I am generally always in a good frame of mind and not emotionally engaged in most of what I say in response here.

Anyway, duly noted if not understood.





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