Life On A B-I7

# 17

When viewing a hill from a distance, it always looks more daunting that it truly is.

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# 16

Find a way to put your mind in a good place at the start of each day.

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# 15

Patience is the key to all good relationships.

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# 14

“There is some of the same fitness in a man’s building his own house that there is in a bird’s building its own nest.” —Thoreau, Walden

“Mr Peggot said birds were like anybody, they like living their own way.”
—Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead

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# 13

Everyone needs to believe in something. I believe I’ll read a book.

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# 12

Always pause and consider the consequences before taking action. This is the best way to ensure clarity, commitment, and consistency.

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# 11

I write every day. Often I don’t have much to say, that’s okay.

The point is I am relaxing and stepping outside of myself for a brief period of time. I am practicing mindfulness.

There are five pillars of good health, mindfulness is one of those pillars…

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iPhone

My iPhone screens are a masterclass in organization. Why? Because I want to spend absolutely as little tines as possible looking at them. According to Bill Maher, phones make you “shady, needy, mean, selfish and passive-aggressive.” Even if he’s wrong, there’s no need to push my luck…

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# 10

It is hard for me to understand how so many of the people that represent us can be so shallow and self-serving. My only answer to that is we all must learn to recognize our shallowness and avoid the urge to be self-serving.

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# 9

What matters is that you think to the best of your ability — even if there are others much better at it than you are.

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# 8

“One thing is for sure, life isn’t always what it seems.” —Mt. Joy

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# 7

Wisdom is a rare commodity. I’m not listening to Tibetan Healing Music at the moment, so there is little wisdom to be found here, at least right now…

It is difficult to take in all that is going on in the world without some way of keeping things in perspective. For me, that’s a “pause” and some quiet time to synthesize all that is happening around me. The aforementioned music helps, as do scented candles. Whatever works for you…

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# 6

My doctor recommended I read the book “Forgetting” by Lisa Genova. (My doctor treats patients suffering from cognitive decline, epilepsy, and demential… the jury is out.) The problem is the title of the book is actually “Remembering.” This raises the obvious question… who is treating my doctor?

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# 5

Ski season is approaching. I’m very excited. This is the best time of the year. I realize that sentiment probably does not qualify as thoughtful, but I hope it is at least revealing. In some ways, to be thoughtful is to be revealing… ergo…

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# 4

“We are all alone together.” —Mt. Joy

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# 3

The goal is to learn something new every day… better still if you manage to remember it…

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# 2

The wax and the wick work together to produce the flame. They have patience. We should all have patience. Few of us do. The few of us that do have patience seem to have it for only fleeting moments. Extending those moments is our challenge.

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# 1

Try hard and wonder. Keep moving. Keep learning.

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Demagogue

This is a personal website which tries its best to present material that originates directly from my personal experience. In other words, I listen to the voice in my head and try not to be too influenced by the speech floating around me. I’m more interested in what I think than I am in what other people tell me I should be thinking.

An added distinction is in order before we get to the topic of this post. People that have taken the time to write down their thoughts and the reasoning for those, do hold sway with me. Our founding fathers are example of those sorts of people. Using those thoughts as background for the formation of our own opinions is a valid approach to opinion forming.

Although I have a degree in Political Science and I enjoy the study of history even at this later stage in life, that does not give me the right to tell you what to think… However, I think it allows me to share with you what I have learned, you can form your own opinion about what this means, as have I.

Taking a look back at the writings of our founding fathers, George Washington and Alexander Hamilton in particular, there are lessons to be gleaned that are applicable today. George Washington’s greatest fear was that a cult of personality would be used to subvert democracy. He expressed this view in letters he wrote during the summer of 1787 when he was attending the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. He even stated that his primary reason for attending was to prevent such an occurrence in a still very young and forming country.

In Washington’s day, the word demagogue was not commonly used as an insult or in a derogatory way. When it was used, it was not as easily dismissed as it is today. This is largely I believe because today so few people really understand what it means. The meaning of the word has been known since Greek and Roman times. It was as clear to Washington in his day as it is to historical scholars today, the meaning is precise. A demagogue is someone who uses distrust, fear, threats, emotional appeals to prejudice, and yes, even lies to obtain power. Almost always the power sought is personal power. I’m not aware of any incident in history when demagoguery was used to obtain power so that altruistic goals could then be pursued.

In the Federalist Papers No. 1, Alexander Hamilton writes:

“History will teach us that… of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants.”

It is clear what Washington and Hamilton thought about demagogues and what the result of the words and actions of demagogues will lead to. The take-away is to avoid allowing our emotions to lead our decision making. Relying on the wisdom and the experience of others, and what history teaches us, is a much more reliable guide.

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I Write

I write every day.
Often I don’t have much to say… and I rarely rhyme.

The point is to step outside of myself
for a brief period of time.

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The Future

The sun is shining through the window, casting a shadow on the page as I write. I see the movement of the pen across the page. When I set the tip of the pen to paper, the shadow joins the ink, the two work together to lay down words onto the page. I have only a vague idea what the words about to come out may be… Like life itself, we cannot look into the future and say “this or that will happen.” It’s best to look into the future and simply say, what comes to me tomorrow will be the fruit of the seeds that I plant today.

Writing as Meditation

I try to write every day. I find that writing can be a form of meditation when there is no preconceived idea of what should be placed on the paper. (My writing usually goes into a hand-written journal before it appears here, if it appears here…) This morning the following words appeared on the page and seemed worthwhile.

I think my cat has helped me. We need an animal spirit to teach us how to live — or at a minimum, to point out to us where we need to focus. My cat is the picture of contentment, gratefulness, and play. As I should be. Sometimes when I most want him close to me he declines to share the moment. That’s not bad. I have to respect that his needs don’t always align with mine. When that happens, it is a message to be patient and wait for the proper moment to reach out. It takes two. One alone is not how it works. The only time one alone need not worry about someone else is when there is no someone else. As long as someone else chooses to be a part of our life, to join with us on this journey, however they choose to do that, respect and patience must rule our thoughts, emotions and most importantly, our behavior.

Seeds

”Many think that seeds improve with age. I have no doubt that time discriminates between the good and the bad; and when at last I shall plant, I shall be less likely to be disappointed.”

Henry David Thoreau

I guess it’s obvious now that I’m reading “Walden”. I run into a passage now and then that strikes me. I’m not sure you can read Walden and not be struck dumb at times… He may be talking about seeds and planting in this passage, but I prefer to think the idea runs deeper. He seems to be telling me that I shouldn’t be quick to form judgements or even make decisions, but rather the opposite. The best decisions are those that are considered carefully. I can think of many examples in my life when I have not followed Thoreau’s advice. Perhaps I should have read “Walden” with a critical eye much earlier in life, but then again, I have to admit that it is better to stumble late to this advice than never.

Rich

”…for a man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.”

Henry David Thoreau

It pains me to think that I can elaborate on this thought. At the risk of trying to place myself in the same company as Thoreau, a vain thought, not one that I would entertain for a second, let me say that what we live without is more defining than what we live with. This knowledge comes from age and experience, but it doesn’t hurt to have someone as wise and eloquent as Thoreau to occasionally remind us.

Proper Punctuation

I’ve been reading “The Elements Of Style” by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White. It is a fascinating book that attempts to teach people how to be better writers. This may be a cause lost on me but I find it worth the effort regardless. I discovered this morning that all of the titles to my journal entries have been improperly punctuated. Complete dates, like the one used in the title of this post, contain parenthetical clauses (as does this sentence). The separate parts of the date should be delineated with commas, like so:

Saturday, September 9, 2023 not Saturday September 9 2023, as I have been doing my entire life.

I find it utterly useless to acquire this knowledge this late in life, but also utterly charming.

You have probably noted that I created a sentence above that contains two parenthetical clauses, one separated by commas and the other delineated using parenthesis. I have no clue what William Strunk would have to say about that, but I suspect he would find it appalling.