From Alan Watts' "Wisdom of Insecurity"

"The common error of ordinary religious practice is to mistake the symbol for the reality, to look at the finger pointing the way and then suck it for comfort rather than follow it. Religious ideas are like words - of little use, and often misleading, unless you know the concrete realities to which they refer. The word 'water' is a useful means of communication amongst those who know water. The same is true of the word and the idea called 'God.'

Monsieur Buisson, C'est L'Homme!<
I really like this guy , who felt like he needed a new name.

God On Our Side
Bob Dylan

Oh my name it is nothin'
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I's taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that land that I live in
Has God on its side.

Oh the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Oh the country was young
With God on its side.

Oh the Spanish-American
War had its day
And the Civil War too
Was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes
I's made to memorize
With guns in their hands
And God on their side.

Oh the First World War, boys
It closed out its fate
The reason for fighting
I never got straight
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don't count the dead
When God's on your side.

When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side.

I've learned to hate Russians
All through my whole life
If another war starts
It's them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side.

But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side.

In a many dark hour
I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.

So now as I'm leavin'
I'm weary as Hell
The confusion I'm feelin'
Ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God's on our side
He'll stop the next war.

Out of the cradle endlessly rocking


OUT of the cradle endlessly rocking,
Out of the mocking-bird’s throat, the musical shuttle,
Out of the Ninth-month midnight,
Over the sterile sands, and the fields beyond, where the child, leaving his bed, wander’d alone, bare-headed, barefoot,
Down from the shower’d halo,
Up from the mystic play of shadows, twining and twisting as if they were alive,
Out from the patches of briers and blackberries,
From the memories of the bird that chanted to me,
From your memories, sad brother—from the fitful risings and fallings I heard,
From under that yellow half-moon, late-risen, and swollen as if with tears,
From those beginning notes of sickness and love, there in the transparent mist,
From the thousand responses of my heart, never to cease,
From the myriad thence-arous’d words,
From the word stronger and more delicious than any,
From such, as now they start, the scene revisiting,
As a flock, twittering, rising, or overhead passing,
Borne hither—ere all eludes me, hurriedly,
A man—yet by these tears a little boy again,
Throwing myself on the sand, confronting the waves,
I, chanter of pains and joys, uniter of here and hereafter,
Taking all hints to use them—but swiftly leaping beyond them,
A reminiscence sing.

PN - What is a music shuttle?

Germain Greer on the Bachelor

"The most threatened group in human societies as in animal societies is the unmated male: the unmated male is more likely to wind up in prison or in an asylum or dead than his mated counterpart. He is less likely to be promoted at work and he is considered a poor credit risk."

Alas!

Caucasian Trash Remembrance #12

A Thug's Life

When I was in the third through fifth grade, I got into a lot of fights. Our entire school had a lot of fights. I thought I was a tough little kid because I would get into a lot of fights and smack around some kids in my grade. One day I saw an older black girl, really tall and big, beat the hell out of a boy who was making fun of her. He was bleeding. I was scared from seeing that beating. I made a mental note: do not fight black girls. Not worth it.

A good friend of mine, Larry, was this stylish little black boy who had an afro and wore polyester clothing, very cool. (This was early 70's, say 1972.) I recall thinking how his style was much more hip and elaborate than mine. My style was tough skin jeans with about a 100 patches sewed onto the knees because I guess I spent a lot of time on my knees, and my parents weren't about to buy new jeans every time I wore out the knee. These jeans came in all kinds of weird colors, like bright greens, blues, browns.

Larry was my friend and even stuck up for me once in a fight. But I remember one day I got too big for my jeans and thought I could beat him up, or that I was somehow "badder." He promptly knocked me in the face and pushed me down. I was humbled and went back to the original set up where he would protect me. We stayed friends until he moved away.

I remember once fighting this kid who thought he knew some kind of marital arts. He practiced and took classes and wanted to try them out. I punched him in the face until his nose bled. I got into trouble for that, spanked by the principle and sent home, where I got spanked again by my dad.

By the time I got to fourth grade, I was losing my edge. I got into one fight with an older boy and he kicked my in the shins during some big brawl type melee. I remember running into the boys bathroom crying. My older brother told me to stay inside and keep quiet.

By the fifth grade, after getting beat up a few more times, I became more pacifist, and learned to make friends with tough guys who, because I knew them, would by association make other guys not want to deal with me and my friends. This is a strategy I maintained all the way through high school.

Closer To God

Mr Roger's (who passed away last week) was perhaps the closest thing on earth in recent years we had to a truly holy man. As one story goes, Mr. Rogers was going to visit a child with severe cerebral palsy, and the child was nervous because to meet him because Mr. Rogers was his idol. When Mr. Rogers arrived he asked the boy if he could do a favor for him. The boy was amazed that Mr. Rogers wanted a favor and yet was ready to do anything. Mr. Roger's asked if the boy could pray for him, which floored the boy. The boy had always been prayed for, and never asked to pray for someone else. And yet the boy did just that. Mr. Roger's said the reason he asked for that favor is that any person who has gone through such suffering and pain must be very close to God.

O Holy Thong

Here's a hip undergarment for the religious-minded woman of today.