(07-03-2024, 11:51 AM)FlickerOfLight Wrote: I had a funny thought as I have come to the end of some conclusions. I'd like to leave this for yall as I cha cha cha out the door once again.

But, I swear, by the time this is all said and done, with all this new madness evolving, with all the truths and all the lies, and by the time I'm an old man sitting in my rocking chair on my front porch shaking my fist at the damn kids on my lawn, I am gonna be straight up coo coo for cocoa puffs.

I'm talking, full on, padded room talking and laughing with the walls cray cray.

(07-03-2024, 06:09 PM)NightskyeB4Dawn Wrote:

(07-03-2024, 11:51 AM)FlickerOfLight Wrote: I had a funny thought as I have come to the end of some conclusions. I'd like to leave this for yall as I cha cha cha out the door once again.

But, I swear, by the time this is all said and done, with all this new madness evolving, with all the truths and all the lies, and by the time I'm an old man sitting in my rocking chair on my front porch shaking my fist at the damn kids on my lawn, I am gonna be straight up coo coo for cocoa puffs.

I'm talking, full on, padded room talking and laughing with the walls cray cray.

In other words, you will fit right in. An active and productive member of f the new normal.

I am giggling right beside you. It is better than crying.

(07-03-2024, 07:46 PM)NightskyeB4Dawn Wrote: When I was in hospital and in rehab, I had all the staff thinking I had lost my mind.

I don't know why, but I found every obstacle funny as hell. When my hands or my legs wouldn't do what I wanted them to do and they did what they wanted to do, I found it hysterical. It made me laugh so hard that I actually cried.

I had conversations with God, out loud and I made it through. The staff was often coming into my room, to see what had me so hysterical, so it was not unusual to have staff and visitors in my room laughing with me.

It is a mad mad world, but I feel fine. I am going to keep on talking to God out loud, I am going to keep on laughing through the pain, over and through the obstacles, and keep my heart filled with love to block out as much hate and evil that I can.

We will look like two old folks sitting on the porch giggling. But we will be fine.

(07-03-2024, 11:10 PM)EndtheMadnessNow Wrote: I've gotten to the point of where the more you learn, the more Qs you have (ad infinitum). Knowing is not always the point because some things you will never know. It's the experience (that our Soul Being chose) which is the point. There is this thing called humor, it's a great thing. There is also this thing called smiling and laughing, even better things. These "things" are good for the Soul. Laugh often and try to make others laugh too. Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive. Misery loves company.

(07-04-2024, 03:27 AM)Ninurta Wrote: I don't worry too much about the world any more. I did my bit to save it, and failed, and only then came to the realization that no one can save it, and it's not going to save itself. It just refuses to even try. What the young do not understand is that the world is a really big place, just too big a place compared to one person, and there are too many other folks working against you trying to destroy it. That realization gave me an "I don't care" attitude, a "nothing matters and so what if it did?" attitude.

There is a reason it's called "clown world". it's a funny place, if you know how to watch it unfold. The people in it are, largely, just plain silly, and that amuses me. So, I sit back, and watch, and laugh. Sometimes I give advice, knowing that no one is going to follow it, and hilarity generally ensues when they don't - but they were told, y'know? I don't care if they follow the advice or not, which is probably a good thing since they usually don't... they know a lot better than me. I'm just that crazy old guy that talks out of his ass all the time. Then, when their actions inevitably end in disaster or semi-disaster, it's funny to watch them backpedal.

Kinda like now, as the Bidenites backpedal because they charged forward without a clue how to win back the voters they are losing. That's just plain funny. It won't matter of course - whomever is going to win has already been selected, and the votes to bring them over the top are being printed in China as we speak. Why get overwrought about it? There's nothing we can do to change it... so we might as well sit back and laugh. Laughing is a lot healthier than stressing over the stuff you can't affect.

And the people! They're all over the top, bad at acting because they put too much effort in to it - and it shows - and most are simply caricatures of what a human being used to be. You know, caricatures. False images that have exaggerated features that make people look more like themselves that their actual self does.

No one thinks any more. Everyone just reacts, and reacting means that whomever they are reacting to is actually controlling them. All the controller has to do is pull the right string and watch them dance on cue. That goes for "Liberals" and "Conservatives" both - whether political, social, financial, or what have you. It's a "clown world", and like clowns, every move folks make is an exaggeration of what pre-"new normal" normal folks would have made.

All of that combines to make life one hell of a comedy show. For folks who are still uptight about stuff, relax. Ain't no one getting out of this life alive, so nothing matters... and so what if it did?

.

(07-04-2024, 03:27 AM)Ninurta Wrote: I don't worry too much about the world any more. I did my bit to save it, and failed, and only then came to the realization that no one can save it, and it's not going to save itself. It just refuses to even try. What the young do not understand is that the world is a really big place, just too big a place compared to one person, and there are too many other folks working against you trying to destroy it. That realization gave me an "I don't care" attitude, a "nothing matters and so what if it did?" attitude.

There is a reason it's called "clown world". it's a funny place, if you know how to watch it unfold. The people in it are, largely, just plain silly, and that amuses me. So, I sit back, and watch, and laugh. Sometimes I give advice, knowing that no one is going to follow it, and hilarity generally ensues when they don't - but they were told, y'know? I don't care if they follow the advice or not, which is probably a good thing since they usually don't... they know a lot better than me. I'm just that crazy old guy that talks out of his ass all the time. Then, when their actions inevitably end in disaster or semi-disaster, it's funny to watch them backpedal.

Kinda like now, as the Bidenites backpedal because they charged forward without a clue how to win back the voters they are losing. That's just plain funny. It won't matter of course - whomever is going to win has already been selected, and the votes to bring them over the top are being printed in China as we speak. Why get overwrought about it? There's nothing we can do to change it... so we might as well sit back and laugh. Laughing is a lot healthier than stressing over the stuff you can't affect.

And the people! They're all over the top, bad at acting because they put too much effort in to it - and it shows - and most are simply caricatures of what a human being used to be. You know, caricatures. False images that have exaggerated features that make people look more like themselves that their actual self does.

No one thinks any more. Everyone just reacts, and reacting means that whomever they are reacting to is actually controlling them. All the controller has to do is pull the right string and watch them dance on cue. That goes for "Liberals" and "Conservatives" both - whether political, social, financial, or what have you. It's a "clown world", and like clowns, every move folks make is an exaggeration of what pre-"new normal" normal folks would have made.

All of that combines to make life one hell of a comedy show. For folks who are still uptight about stuff, relax. Ain't no one getting out of this life alive, so nothing matters... and so what if it did?

.

(07-04-2024, 04:43 AM)FlickerOfLight Wrote: ...

Fast forward to today, and I still care, but I throw my hands up finally. I do, finally, agree that it's time to hang that up. Find me a quiet spot. And go coo coo in p3ace.

Nature and solitude are the remedy im needing.

...

(07-05-2024, 03:52 AM)Ninurta Wrote:

(07-04-2024, 04:43 AM)FlickerOfLight Wrote: ...

Fast forward to today, and I still care, but I throw my hands up finally. I do, finally, agree that it's time to hang that up. Find me a quiet spot. And go coo coo in p3ace.

Nature and solitude are the remedy im needing.

...

When my war was over, I was just... tired. I wasn't sad, I wasn't happy. I pretty much felt nothing at all but just... tired.

Back then, it appeared as if we had "won". We didn't understand yet what a colossal loss it had been. I should have been happy I suppose, but I wasn't. I was just... tired.

I found that spending long periods of time in the woods was healing. I could feel something like the "spirit" of the land, the trees, the plants and critters... the totality of nature. That "spirit", for lack of a better word, would seep into me out there, rejuvenate, revitalize, recalibrate, recharge me. It was "healing" I guess is as close as I can get to explaining it. I reckon it would have calmed me, too, had I needed calming. As far as I can tell, however, I was already way too damned calm. Calmer than I reckon I ought to have been. That kinda spooked me a bit.

I didn't quite know how to handle "peace", such as it was. So I kept putting myself into situations that would result in "not-peace", just to feel alive again, if only for a moment. I eventually took a job for an agency where I could tote a gun for a living, more or less legally, and worked several government contracts (among other security contracts) for them. I did that for around 14 or 15 years before I decided it was time to hang it up and go legit, mainstream... but I never quite made it to mainstream. For me, "mainstream" was just boring and empty. I went through the motions, but I wasn't happy about it.

Even now, I can be in really, really deep shit, and still that unnatural calm is with me. I might just fall all to pieces afterwards, but while the shit is still deep, I'm just calm.

I ended up, as you mention, in solitude surrounded by nature. I've moved into the house my grandparents built, a place that has a lot of happy childhood memories. I can step out onto the deck, and in my minds eye see my grandpa tending the bee gums he used to keep under the shadow of the big white pine tree out there. The bee gums are gone now, and the tree is somewhat bigger, but I can still see the scene.

I have no real contact with anyone other than Grace and our son who stays with us, and one cousin who lives next door, and who can be a mess at times. My yard is a fenced in half acre, and that is completely surrounded by woods. All I have to do is step out onto the deck and breathe, and I can still feel that "spirit" of nature surrounding me, like being wrapped in a security blanket.

The woods around me are like a cathedral that God Itself built, just for me.

It's peaceful, and that's all I ever really wanted, even when I didn't know that's all I wanted. I have arrived. You will, too.

.