Jes' like yore body takes on a shape what reflects how you use it, so does yore mind.
Body habits--exercise or not, nutrition or junk food, drugs and drink
or moderation, all that shapes an' conditions yore body.
Then when yore body gits a certain shape an' condition,
it is capable of much....or not much a'tall. Ain't no use askin' a
confirmed couch potato of 20 years wif' a heart condition
ter run a marathon. His body jes' cain't comply. Ya' could
wave a million greens in front his eyes, but he cain't
run--much less win-- a marathon.
He is a prisoner in the
body his habits done
built fer him.
Natcherly, he could begin a program of
rebuildin' his body...all hope ain't lost, not a 'tall.
It's jes' that to rebuild is dang tough, sweet pets, so tough, most
won't even try 'cause they KNOWS how bad it hurts. Hurts to stretch
them hamstrings, sweat off the spare tire.
An' some, suave and sly,
mere bromides supply:
"Phooey, mah dear,
who'd care to hear them cheer?
Not I, came the reply,
"nor I" cooed passers-by
I Like mah couchiness
far better than ouchiness
who are You to decry
my choices or vices
I'll pay all the prices
I'll ignore all the spry--who cares if they can fly?
I choose to hug earth!
Don't ya' know, don't ya' hear?
Exercise these muscles?
Clean up my corpuscles ?
Not even iffin' the Second Comin' appear!
I'm content in this berth
terra firma is as firm as it gits
fer a fella addicted ter grits
Looky, you, fer wha' its worth
Who cares a fig if my ha-bits
increases mah girth?
But ya'll, some do. Some see that prize (health, the marathon, the greenbacks) and they decide "Whatever it takes, I'm gonna do it!" An' he they change they HABITS so that they can change they bodies so them bodies can be used to do all manner of new thangs, glorious thangs!
Now, ya's figgered out whar this is goin', ain't'cha? An youse right.
Habits of the Mind can shape your mind fer good or for flabbiness.
Oh! How the habits of precision
take care before an incision
into the heart of the matter
less they cause chaos and clatter
lame principles, an' logic all spattered
Ter analyze wif' no obfuscation
to educate wif'out pontification
An' avoid temptations
To innuendo and prevarications,
It ain't so easy,
Rarely very pleasey
Ter some who come jes' to confirm
That its okay to twist, an' okay to squirm
Away from that truth thas' too hard to affirm
Such as they feign hearts so placidInstead it's their minds done gone sadly flaccid
They's grown a Cerebrum of fluffy marshmallow
like the couch potato Pillsbury dough sort o' fellow
Their mind's bogged down wif' PC adipose,
And, "it's all relative, my friend," fructose
It's all gooey and gummed, though they think it so mellow...
It's important to make a wee memo here: Intelligent folks can have flabby minds.
We's all seen former Quarterbacks or beauty Queens whose later habits betrayed they natural body health. Yore mind can also be sabotaged by poor Habits of the Mind.
The true seeker is after one thang only TRUTH. Wherever it takes you.
Mayhap it will take you far beyond yore presuppositions an' cherished ideals. Beyond yore polly-ticks an student passions. It will make you uncomfortable, amaze you with new vision, turn yore haid around to look at history fer important lessons....
See ya'll, we knows this--good habits of the mind include a willingness to go wherever truth takes ya'.
An' the very first thang that evil loosed onto this orb was a lie....
an' among the lies that were born of the first lie is the nasty idea the "truth cannot be known, there is no truth, all truth is relative, there is YORE truth and MAH truth....yadda yadda yadda..."Now truth does have context, but truth is truth, and those who say there ain't none is happy to send it into oblivion so that they can make up whatever they like and name it "truth".
An truth is on its own..it cain't be bent fer this or that agenda or PC dogma.
An now fer a disclaimer: yeah, I know that some religious high-hats is corrupt and some scientific Nobel-ers is liars too....doan even bother ter mention the polly-tician morticians...they's weasels in every arena, pets.
The next few posts will be in parts, I does apologize, but as Contessa done noted, some backdground and history is what's needed to git thangs clear.
Ya'll stay tuned.
21 comments:
Heap another hepin o coal on the burner ma, Aunties done fired up the brain agin!!
I think Seuss would be proud. This is a good start here, but I would suggest an abstract in the beginning of the next few posts... a brief summary of topic... yeah, I DO want it labeled ABSTRACT: too...
"... go wherever truth takes ya..."
where truth takes me, it will not necessarily take you or you ... cos truth lies in perception of truth, and perception relies on the senses on how our flabby brains process said sensory input.
so ... for those who would like to believe that, one who perceives a situation differently have missed the truth ... i say you're delusional. truth must be relative to some degree, unless you all want us to be borgs, and perceive from the same consciousness (i say, 'no thanx, i pass,')
off to read the previous post.
Ruh ro. Looks like Aunty Bellum's setting the table for something.
Thanky Contessa, iffin' ya think Dr. Seuss wouldn't mind....
Red Lady, how could truth be only in the in the perception of truth. honey? . Iffin' ya perception is that ya can fly and act on that version of "yore truth" and leap offa the Sears tower, ouse gonna be a splatt. Yore truth ain't gonna save ya', right?
Ain't it more accurate ter say "opinion"? Opinion is one thang, a subjective perspective on a thang...but not necessarily synonymous wif' truth.
Artfulsub! Git on in heah and be ready ter do some hard cogitatin'....on Islam as per Infini's request.
I just want you to know that I am crazy about you!
"Now truth does have context, but truth is truth, and those who say there ain't none is happy to send it into oblivion so that they can make up whatever they like and name it "truth"."
I promise not t'do that too often.... Lord knows y'know it. you WROTE it.
On the other hand, yer starting the way down the path t'my way of thinking, and none too soon, I must say.
It's gettin' a might lonely here-a-bouts.
I don't believe in the bible.
I can't.
Y'see, I believe some of what the bible says, and one of the things it says is not to create false gods.
The bible is become just that.
C'mon.
Name ANYBODY, past or present that wasn't bad.
But, some of the bible is true, isn't it?
Some didn't get changed by a bunch of paranoid, back biting fanatics that wanted christianity to survive but didn't have the faith that it would. That's why there are so many contradictions in it.
The old testament is no exception to this, either, only jews don't always feel the need to hide the changes. At one time there were ten commandments. Another there were 618. Then, through history, there came to be only one.
So, what am I up about that I copied the paragraph and wandered back here?
"I am the truth and the light and the life...."
That's all. We menkind have no truth. We only have our agenda.
Jesus was the truth.
We ( I'll say it till I die, we all did it...you, me, all our bloggin' buddies and every church and congregation in the world....)
killed Jesus. We hung him up on a cross and beat him with sticks and spit on him.
All we had to do to not do that was not sin.
Too late fer that.
So, as fer the "truth" being different fer different folks, well, that's true. It is different fer different folks. It would have to be to accomodate everybody.
EVERYBODY.
Other than that, I look forward to more posts. I love the sound a good christian makes in the morning.
who says truth necessarily saves one? it may doom one, depending on one's choice. if you agree that we have a choice ~ and you do, i know ~ then it follows that, for each, truth differ, based on those choices. truth is sort of a hybrid between what was/is/will be and what could have been/could be. truth is a result of individual consciousness, and we don't share the same individual consciousness. so, we humans don't share the same vision of truth. mostly, they intersect, tho.
philosophically, i reject the notion that truth exists absolutely. that's where we differ, aunty. but, i see where you're coming from.
maybe i may be contradicting myself, but i hafta add that a think there is a sort of universal truth ~ that thing we call fate ... or what i referred to as what is/will be. but, i think it exists in a separate plane of existence from us ... maybe its God.
so ... truth exists in the universal sense, but ... on a corporeal, individual, perceptual level ... its attached to our living consciousness.
I'se weary of this, pets....
Is they gonna haf' ter be a post on why they is actual truth that the mind of man can discover/ perceive?
Rocks ain't alive and cannot choose where to be a rock. But does ya'll know some bagwam onc't insisted that rocks had memory and feelins'?? See, it was "his truth" that rocks was thinkin' and remembering...but it was not truth...it were only his idea, his hope, his remake of the givenness of thangs.
Now Red, baby, please clarify if how you mean what ya said is that your choices move you toward or away from certain truths, in THAT sense ya's got "your" truth?
Boney, hey...yep, all have sinned, we all killed Christ....the bible is all true, though some parts are not literally true (bejewled streets of paradise is a metaphor)
There are four sense of scripture:
literal, anagogical, allegorical and metaphorical.
The bible has been treated as a god by some--but Jesus did NOT say
"on this *book* I build my Church"
The bible should be reverently read and studied, but ,as St, Paul instructed, the apostles were to hand down the Christian teachings "in word and deed".
Enemy!! Hey there....welcome to the madness we giit into back here onc't in awhile...and thany fer yore sweet comment.
Red, youse been victimized by PC refuse. There is truth, it does not need our permission
Easy folks, we'se dealin' with an intellectual olympian here! Best mind what we says lest she spot our flabby ways! Ah'm breathholidin mah pot in as ah type!
But y'all knows theres some folks waste all those fancy fizzical jerks, never put them to use, just pose? Stand around hopin' all the others will ooh and ahh and gasp at the size of their bits?
Well same goes fer minds!!!
LABELS : snide; dissembler; Islam-lover; dares-to-criticise-the southern crissty-crossies;oops; help;
There was a Cracker Yakker, Auntie Belle
Whatever she wrote she misspelled
She applied to their mind
No use they ain't her kind
There was another line but it wouldn't jell
Give it up.
Truth is inconvenient.
P.S. Is there a prize for this limerick?
its funny how i'm "right" when you agree with me ... and i'm a victim of refuse, when you don't.
truth is not absolute. that's where we differ. does that mean i'm full of shit? or that you are? NO IT DOES NOT! it just means we don't see things the same way. for heaven's sake ~ tolerate those whose opinions differ from yours!
i seem to recall some words i heard .... judge not lest ye be judged ... how 'about it?
and yes, 'anon' ... the truth indeed seems inconvenient. for each of us.
Hey Red Lady--happy ter see ya'....I agrees, that different opinions is fine, we give and take on that sorta thang--shure.
Aunty's point is that somethangs is true. Not relative, not open ter debate. Thas' all. Some truth is absolute. Might be uncomfortable. Might be unpleasant. But some truth is absolute. This is proven by literally thousands of scientific realities and historical records.
To state the truth is not the equivalent of "judgin'", honey. Youse not likin' the message mebbe, but to call the messenger "judgmental" is pretty unfair.
In fact, ter use yore example of "judge not lest ye be judged" I could say that is not true since ya cain't prove the validity of the statement, not havin' any proof that they is a judgin' mechanism in the sky...
As fer discipline of the mind, what Aunty is advocatin' is that to have genuine exchange, we need ter be clear about whas' opinion, whas' fact.
its all in the delivery, sista. it matters less what's said, as compared to how its said.
i feel at philosophical odds with the notion of absolute truth. it seems a sterile concept, given the universe's expansion ... given the passage of time ... given that knowledge evolves. i have to think that a universal truth exists ... like, the glue that holds the matrix together. but ... we, being elements of the matrix, cannot really conceive of that nebulous glue which binds us ...
i like to think of truth as optimal ... but no truths can be absolute ~ not really. not in this realm. like i said before ~ the only universal truth is God. But, in a way he does not exist for those who choose not to believe in his existence. that's hard to wrap one's head around. but, i get what i'm saying.
as for truth ~ in our existence. its relative ... just ask any cop who questions 10 different witnesses about the same event. now in this case, occurence = truth. but ... we all know that that cop will get 10 different "versions" of one event. is one person telling the truth, and the rest, lying? lying implies intent.
they all believe what they say is true. they all interpret events thru their own 'lense' ... that's what i mean by truth = perception. so, we have 10 versions of truth. the optimal one is the one that seems most congruent with actual events. so ... they question maybe should be what the heck is truth?
i'll give you another example. take the florridly psychotic person. he's hearing voices ~ voices that are telling him all sorts of awaful things. he hears them. i, his caregiver, do not. do i tell him ~ that's not true, you're imagining things ... ? nope. to him, the voices = truth. for me, my truth involves no tortuous voices in my head.
which one of us is right? the existence of absolute truth to me implies that one of us is right, and the other, wrong. i disagree with this conception of reality and existence.
You may not want me wanderin' over, even to the back porch after this here.
Contradictions means not truth.
Paul lied. A lot.
And, he says so in a funny sort of way (and I'll start lookin' fer that "say" this afternoon...)
But then, he felt he had to.
Them Corrinthians weren't up t'listen to the guy.
But mankind uses other words for "lies" did'ja know?
literal, analogical, allegorical and metaphorical
my, we do use some fancy words fer it, don't we?
and these words let us slip and slide around as if we're following the truth of the matter when all we're doing is delaying the work.
Here's one that gets me in trouble around the church some...
"yer wasting yer time at Sunday school class. Go help somebody. That's the real lesson.
Red, I thinks I'se gettin' what youse aimin' at--that our own experiences is the veil we see the world through--thus fer us how we see it is "our truth"--an' that is EXACTLY right....
but Darlin' that is EXACTLY what Aunty is hopin ter do-- invite folks to pull back that veil they's been lookin' through so that they can discover the actual real thang that IS true.
Please, hang in heah wif' me an let's see iffin' I can formulate what I'se tryin' ter get at, okay?
Here is what ya wrote, Red:
"they all believe what they say is true. they all interpret events thru their own 'lense' ... that's what i mean by truth = perception. so, we have 10 versions of truth. "
Aunty would say, no, we do not have ten versions of truth. Truth --by definition--doan have versions. We have ten perceptions of truth.
There is one truth of what akshully happened--we live in a physical world where material actualities do not share actual space wif' all the perceived versions of what happened
in that space at that time.
See whar' I'se aimin'?
In the example of a murder, and all the folks who give testimony to what they saw is givin' testimony to what they *thought* they saw. Iffin' they's ten versions, the versions ain't the actual physical truth of WHAT happened in that space to that body in that time--an' so...we have detectives whose job it is to find out what did happen. TO wade through folks ' versions an' discover truth.
The reason some movies is not "age appropriate" fer instance is the young child cannot distinguish some acts that appear violent to them from what is life-saving. To subdue a person trying to commit suicide will appear as a fight. Chile' ain't got no connept at all of such a thang as suicide. It wil jes' looky like a fight to that chile'.
Or,
A child of two sees his mama pound the chest of a dying husband wif' a heart attack, an' it will appear to a child as Mama beating daddy....when daddy dies anyway, the boys has revulsion fer MAma...thinks she killed daddy. grows up hatin' mama and thinks she "got away with it". Even when it is later explained, he thinks: "I was there, I know what I saw".
But his two year old brain saw accurately, yet is unprepared to process what he seen. He processes erroneously.
The trouble is this: The emotions that chile feels is real and true--he truly feels hate and anger and loathing and fear fer Mama--
That child's version of what he sees ain't the truth of it. BUT, at a tender age that vision of what the child takes to be a beating
will forms that chile's --his idea of his mama, of violence, or fear, of any number of thangs--an' all based on an erroneous understanding of WHAT REALLY IS TRUE.
Nobody would leave that chile' in his misunderstandin' and jes' say:
"Well, thas' 'his truth' an he's entitled to it."
No no...a good counselor would work the chile' through it...hep that boy see wif' mature eyes (as he grows up) that what he THOUGHT he saw was scary, was awful...but the reality of what he saw was good and
lovin.'
See whar' this takes us? That chile NEEDS fer his own healthy emotional life to discover the truth--he doan need ter be left in "his truth." is.
But...an now here's the rub, Honey, that boy will resist knowin' the actual truth on account of it feels like he's dyin'. It feels like givin' up the whole world he done constructed out of his misunderstandin'...and it ain't his fault that he growed up feelin' what he felt and so misunderstandin' a lot a thangs--his world view is colored in a particular way, and it is a deep part of him....
Fer him to let go of how he feels, what he thinks he "knows," is like dyin', really feels as if his very self is comin' apart. SO he fiercely clings to "his truth".
Now, Red Lady, heah is whar' Aunty is gonna say somethin' that might git some folks back up...and it is this:
The task of maturity is ter search fer truth in all thangs.
Natcherly, the corollary of that is that it is immaturity that seeks to sling to one's perceptions as
truth.
Sometimes our perceptions is right, but ever'body have baggage that needs ter be culled--erroneous ideas poisons the ability to achieve clarity of thought. That work--discovering WHAT IS---used ter be the job of education.
Now the educators too often is nuthin' but palliative care fer dying minds, poisoned wif' error.
The educators soothe ya wif' crap like "I'se OK, youse OK,." --an' that is morphine ter the soul--(youse a nurse, so ya will git this) and the line between morphine fer pain and a lethal dose is razor thin near the end.
SO we's got a heap of folks out there on palliative care for maimed minds, and they ain't gettin' education that calls them ter the HARD work of learnin' how to think wif'out any emotion, but wif' only the beauty of the REAL-NESS of whas' true.
Back to the two year old boy who is now grown and based his whole life on what he thought was "his truth"...that man has hard hard work ter accomplish--ain't his fault--but needs doin'.
Only he can do it. Others can facilitate, but he has ter care MORE about discoverin' what is REAL, what is objectively true, iffin' than he cares about defending the way he is.
His choice is ter cling ter his error, an' passionately defend it from all attempts ter show the truth ter him. He will do this by insistin' his personhood has a "right" ter believe whatever he thinks is "his truth" ....
ok, well, that is one choice but
he ain't gonna lead a life of authenticity. He thinks to discover truth will undo him..all his cherished notions...in fact, it will free him!
He might have some backtrackin' ter do--reconcile wif' family members, even tell his own young'uns he was wrong about the granny...whatever is needed to set it aright..an thas' heroic.
This is what Aunty means when I'se askin' ter leave emotions and presuppostions out of thangs. Less
look at objective thangs. This is why "tone" or "how you say it" is not helpful--first cause "tone" cain't be heard in a combox, an also because whas' needed is attention to the data, not the tone. Objection to "Tone" always carries wif' it an implied "right to reject" ..why? Because people want ya to tip toe around they feelin's and protect their cherished notions no matter how off base those notions is...
This means, Red, that for some folks they ain't no way even an angel could git the tone correct enough too tell him somethin' the doan wanna hear. Somethin' that mayhap pull ya into reassessin' some of yore ideas.
I ain't suggestin' it's alright ter be hurtful in tone. Like the boy in the example above, it ain't his fault he grew up wif erroneous ideas, so makin' fun of him fer those ideas or callin' him a moron etc...al that is WAY OFF BASE.
We cain't know why it is that a person thinks the way they does--so we need ter proceed wif' some charity --an Aunty can shure fall short of that--I'se in constant need of reminsin' meself of this very thang--be more charitable.
But..but iffin' that boy stays in those erroneous ideas, iffin' he doan make the effort to look around and discover what really is true, then that will be his own fault. Then he has ter own the title of an Invincible Ignorant .
We got too many travelin' this earth who has been tole they have a right to they ignorance iffin' they wanna keep it...
Whoa!--that is a recipe fer unhappiness, alienation, confusion and finally, the loss of ability to think--the flaccid mind of the poem in this post. They lose ability to think, they become all about emoting.
In the end, the most charitable thang of all is to insist on truth.
Iffin' ya been eatin' Mind Twinkies fer years, it is real hard to cut the addiction.
I ain't sayin' this is yore own case--naw, Aunty is impatient an' would not spend so long on a mind that were no longer there. I thinks yosue a smart cookie, Red. I does fer shure. I admires yore own efforts of late.
I jes' wanna invite all of us ( who choose) ter have a discussion on the merits an' demerits of Islam wif'out the deflection that comes wif emotions. Emotions can crowd out truth.
"Natcherly, the corollary of that is that it is immaturity that seeks to sling to one's perceptions as truth."
Your words AB.
Think about it.
What people rail against here is that you don't see that simple fact. In otherwords that the only version of truth that you will countenance is your own perception of it.
The pot methinks, is calling the kettle black.
And not for the first time!
And finally PLEASE think about the art of precis...........why use 500 words when you could use 50????
A
"The task of maturity is ter search fer truth in all thangs."
beautiful.
you are right on about the veil too. We all view events through our own perception. And there are absolute truths in the world.
Death is unknown
Love can be painful
Music affects mood
stuff like that.
and the more you find a truth repeated, the greater chance that it is indeed an absolute.
One other point Auntie,
I like to follow this creed:
Respect your elders.
I am sitting in my seat with an open mind.
By the way, I just got another invitation to the golden key international honour society.
I am going to accept this key too.
"Emotions can crowd out truth"-
Amen.
Most of us, or me at least, like to avoid suffering of all kinds, physical, emotional, spiritual...
I know the "truth" of my body needing a 2 mile walk several times a week- but I dread the temporary suffering that comes with it. Sometimes I can let my emotions talk me out of going for that walk...(oh- that bone spur is going to be hurting like mad, and your knee is going to throb, and what if your asthma acts up???)
But in the long run (no pun inteneded)- the walking will strengthen my body- my heart- my lungs- my knees- even my mind.
My emotions can "excuse" the truth, as well as crowd it out.
In my reply here I only spoke about physical things...but the emotional and spiritual "excuses" I sometimes make are far more dangerous I think.
I look forward to reading your next post~
i'll see where you go with this, aunty belle..
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