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Nov. 20th, 2014
Thursday Morning
Nov. 20th, 2014 09:22 amA three o'clock morning is a bit too much, though it did come after a marvelous four-hour sleep. I ate a little bit, as well as took care of the morning blogging rounds, thinking that I could go back to bed at about six and perhaps sleep until nine or even ten. It didn't work that way, though. I couldn't fall asleep. I dozed for a couple of hours, and I am still hungry at a little after nine in the morning. It's no biggie, but I do hate being off-kilter like this.
At least I learned something, even if it is a disagreeable lesson. Ratso will come to the patio at six in the morning. I had got it into my head that the hours near the rising of the sun was a good time to put the plate of food outside on the patio, figuring that the nocturnal Ratso must be holing up to sleep for the day by this time. But that was obviously fatuous. Hell, Ratso might not even be noctorunal! I was all the more disappointed to see Ratso at the plate, when I thought that the nearly week-long cold snap might have been enough time to shake off our uninvited visitors. It would seem that I just cannot leave food out there overnight - nor in the early morning. Cripes! That makes life tougher for my cats, as well as for myself.
At least I learned something, even if it is a disagreeable lesson. Ratso will come to the patio at six in the morning. I had got it into my head that the hours near the rising of the sun was a good time to put the plate of food outside on the patio, figuring that the nocturnal Ratso must be holing up to sleep for the day by this time. But that was obviously fatuous. Hell, Ratso might not even be noctorunal! I was all the more disappointed to see Ratso at the plate, when I thought that the nearly week-long cold snap might have been enough time to shake off our uninvited visitors. It would seem that I just cannot leave food out there overnight - nor in the early morning. Cripes! That makes life tougher for my cats, as well as for myself.
Human-Heartedness
Nov. 20th, 2014 02:46 pm<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
It was a basic Confucian principle that ‘it is man who makes truth great, not truth which makes man great.’ For this reason, ‘humanness’ or ‘human-heartedness’ was always felt to be superior to ‘righteousness’, since man himself is greater than any idea he may invent. There are times when men’s passions are much more trustworthy than their principles. Since opposed principles, or ideologies, are irreconcilable, wars fought over principle will be wars of mutual annihilation. But wars fought for simple greed will be far less destructive, because the aggressor will be careful not to destroy what he is fighting to capture.
Reasonable – that is, human – men will always be capable of compromise, but men who have dehumanized themselves by becoming the blind worshipers of an idea or an ideal are fanatics whose devotion to abstractions makes them the enemies of life.
-- Alan Watts, "The Way of Zen"
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
It was a basic Confucian principle that ‘it is man who makes truth great, not truth which makes man great.’ For this reason, ‘humanness’ or ‘human-heartedness’ was always felt to be superior to ‘righteousness’, since man himself is greater than any idea he may invent. There are times when men’s passions are much more trustworthy than their principles. Since opposed principles, or ideologies, are irreconcilable, wars fought over principle will be wars of mutual annihilation. But wars fought for simple greed will be far less destructive, because the aggressor will be careful not to destroy what he is fighting to capture.
Reasonable – that is, human – men will always be capable of compromise, but men who have dehumanized themselves by becoming the blind worshipers of an idea or an ideal are fanatics whose devotion to abstractions makes them the enemies of life.
-- Alan Watts, "The Way of Zen"
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
My little string of lucky breaks anent Kay has snapped. She is coming over, even though it is not commissary week. And it has to be a rainy weekend too, making it so that I will have to be juggling the cats from room to room. Mine is a lazy-going life really, but it does have its stresses.
1980 Reagan
Nov. 20th, 2014 08:52 pm“There is a tidal wave coming. A political tidal wave as powerful as the one that hit in 1932.”
-- Jack Kemp, Republican National Convention (1980)
I finally finished off Craig Shirley’s “Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign that Changed America”. Of course, Reagan received the G.O.P. nomination at this convention, and the rest, as they say, is history, from which we will at least get a lot of quotations.
-- Jack Kemp, Republican National Convention (1980)
I finally finished off Craig Shirley’s “Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign that Changed America”. Of course, Reagan received the G.O.P. nomination at this convention, and the rest, as they say, is history, from which we will at least get a lot of quotations.