Happy New Year

Shinto: Today is Tohji-taisai. The Grand Ceremony of the December Solstice, which celebrates the ending of the yin period of the sun, when it declines in strength, and the beginning of its growing power or yang period.

Wicca: Today is Yule. The New Year in the Anglo-Saxon and northern traditions of Wicca is the celebration of the birth of the god as the winter-born king symbolized by the rebirth of the life-generating and life-sustaining sun. This archetype is metaphorically the masculine sun born of the mother earth and is therefore more similar to our culture's baby new year than any judeo-christian patriarchal sort of king. It is a time for ritually shedding the dross of the past year.

Note to Nameless Daughter: Perhaps we ought to be putting suns on top of our trees rather than stars.

3 questions

Ted, as your questions were more research related than personal, you invited my professional self (part of my income is derived via research) so I conducted 20 minutes of inquiry and can offer you enlightenment.

1: How does Butterball get that little red thingy to pop up at the perfect time when the turkey's done?


My experience is exclusive to Tofurkies, so I was compelled to confer directly with the confident kitchen consultants of Butterball (the one I spoke with seemed to have one of those red pop up thangies firmly lodged up her butt). She declared very proudly that they do not, in fact, use those pop up thangies with their superior turkeys. Furthermore, they discourage the use of them. She declared earnestly that the plastic thangys are too easily displaced during the turkey's many josslings from the store, to freezer, to counter, to pan etc, etc, etc. (It sure sounded to me like they are just sore that they didn't come up with that promotional item first and that maybe they take their birds a leetle too seriously.)

That said, it seems that the pop up mechanism is activated when a heat sensitive metal attains the necessary temperature to lose its grip on the spring loaded rod. …I'm definitely sticking to the side dishes. See here for full details and diagrams.

2: How could 59,054,087 voters be that full of fear to vote that way?

I like to assume that people are doing their best—that if they do great harm then I console myself that they didn't intend to, but are working from a deficiency. Kohlberg, a moral theorist, would say that most people don't attain a level of moral development beyond that of adherence to the authority of g-d and country (level 3). Given his thesis and my assumption that people are trying their best, if the propaganda machine spins well towards this g-d & country hierarchy of values (as they did) they will always win the race. (Note that Kohlberg classed himself in a minority group at the uppermost level of his scale with Ghandi, Jesus, Buddha and all the most abstract thinking and highly principled individuals…last I heard he walked into the ocean to join the fishes.)

Further research leads me to a fellow researcher Inspector Lohmann . He conducts his bleak investigations in very different ways than I. In this link he explores your question via a minuette He also offers the possibility that the US is no longer reality based.

Lohmann's colleagues would say that Diebold fixed the race and that we cannot be certain even that that many did vote that way. Reference any of the difinitive source, American Samizdat ...or the following for further mumblings on how it may not be a question of a missguided populus but of a usurped government:
1
2
3
4
5
or 6

For myself…it is simply the fact that questions like these are all too easy to ask these days that I moved North of the border. Though in keeping with my wish to join the rest of humanity in doing the best we can, I do try to do anything I can to instill a more sane way of being than fear based voting even now that I'm a bit out of the fray.

3: If Miss Issippi had a new jersey, what would Della ware?

I'm remember vaguely that Della is of French extraction, if so, then surely she wears Ma chausettes . But then really, Idaho, Alaska...



Note to Nameless Daughter: Diversions can be refreshing as long as they don't take you too far from your path. Get back to work!

Note to Ted: Thanks for the fun.

Art Sensibilities

I just learned of an artist who is now among my favorites. His sensibility meets my own in several ways. Pol Turgeon

My own sensibility usually gravitates toward the following. I always enjoy a merging of mechanics including automata; masks and expressiveness or containment of expressiveness; homunculi or almost complete but somewhat soulless bodies, or bodies in stasis—including puppets and characters from The Commedia Del'Arte—all alienated figures resembling humanity while not quite achieving complete humanity and often at odds with themselves and/or their environment; anatomy and other symbology from the natural sciences as well as from linguistics. I especially enjoy these combinations if the piece also has elements of 16th century sensibilities.

I strive to include these elements in my own work too. All of these elements speak to a sort of alienation with our own bodies and beings, yet also to the complicated nature of our own workings and of our own selves. I like that by combining elements from the natural sciences, machinery and humanity expression naturally emerges of the fine line between our complexity and our fragility/ our undeniable presence and functionality against our alienation, awkwardness and mortality/ the absurdity of our lives against the structural integrity of our lives.

...Sometime soon, when I'm a bit more settled, I do hope to be able to resume sculpting and creating.

Not all Turgeon's images work well for me, but check out especially his Justice card and this onethat to me almost looks like an homage to Frida Kahlo.


Other artists I favor that jump to mind readily are James Groleau, Odd Nerdrum, George Tooker, Paul Delvaux, and E.J. Taylor, Hieronymus Bosch, The Codex Seraphinianvs, and Fritz' Lang's art direction in Metropolis, though there are so many many more.



Note to Nameless Daughter: Expression is essential as an attempt to come to terms with life

More Momento Mori

Some nicely done Memento Mori can be found here. Unfortunately, I couldn't lift any of the images to place here.

I'm brewing a new commitment to my own goals and have formed a pact with someone else who has this goal

Here is a note sent to my partner in this process. More to follow obviously. Busy with another project for now.:

I really liked your statement "I need to do less thinking and more doing" I too have come to that conclusion (repeatedly) and am trying my best to put it into practice.

...I mentioned that we should check in at least every 2 days. Ideally, it would be in more depth than this, but for now this will have to suffice...

As I said, I'm entirely swamped with previous commitments until Monday. Fyi, the commitments that are swamping me don't go away then, I just have some rays of time (does time come in rays?) that open up after the camp board meeting is over, so I'll wedge other priorities in then. First and foremost, will be commitments to myself such as our stated goals. (... btw, I have already started saying "no" to external commitments 2 weeks ago, so these are all previously made and confirmed worthy commitments that I'm working on at this point). I'm enjoying the projects I'm currently working on (more than not) and they are indeed a part of my previous commitment to do "more doing" and "less thinking." Following thru on them is important for several reasons, thus, I'm waiting to really ramp up on our project. I want to affirm that this doesn't mean that I don't take our commitment to our own goals seriously. I do, and after Monday, no excuses will suffice.

Last thought: My being busy is also a result of my previous commitment to connect with things when they excite me rather than just watch them pass by. Clearly, I've practiced enough and have found that I'm able to do this well enough. Now, I do need to swing the pendulum back to doing more for me as well. Balance is indeed necessary.


______
I'm thrilled that you have been so enthusiastic as to have written so much towards your goal novel. Kudos! and keep at it. It is exceptionally important to maintain momentum. I'm really glad to be partnered with you on our paths.

For my part, even though I'm not setting aside dedicated time to my project just yet, I am jotting down random brainstorms that relate to it as they float into my being. This will hopefully help inertia from setting in before I even begin. After Monday, I think there will be no good excuse to not dedicate a set amount of time to it each day. It might take time to find what that ideal amount of time is (in relation to other things in my life and to keep from doing too much thinking) but we can work on that when I officially start.

All of this is to say, as the Brady Bunch professes in one of their hit numbers: "Keep on, Keep on, Keep On Keeping On!..."


And because there is often power in the maudlin(much to my disillusionment):

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you NOT to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people won't feel unsure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. As we let our own Light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

—Marianne Williamson

Note to Nameless Daughter: Sometimes we need marching partners.

Questions by James W. Fowler

What commands and receives your best time, your best energy?

For what causes, dreams, goals and institutions are you pouring out your life?

As you live your life, what powers do you fear or dread?

As you live your life, what powers do you rely on and trust?

To what or whom are you committed in life or in death?

With whom do you share your most sacred and private hopes?

What are your hopes, goals, and purposes in life?

A volley to those who kept pushing me to read The Da Vinci Code

Thanks, I enjoyed it and am glad that the mainstream is showing interest in the roots of Western Culture.

If you are interested in a volley, here is a short list of other excellent entertaining books that are also page turners while offering analysis of Western Culture. Most of them are full of intrigue and action along the lines of "The DaVinci Code" and they also offer more depth into the foundations of Western Culture, with an emphasis on Church and State, and "the power's that be." They are all among my favorite novels and well worth the read.

"A Case if Curiosities" by Allen Kurzweil—very accessible and quite enjoyable. A coming of age story set in 1700s. ...Thoughtful and enjoyable.

"The Devils of Loudun" by Aldous Huxley—about demonic possession set in 17th century France. It is very entertaining and brilliant but also unsettling. Note also that Ken Russell made it into a movie that is worth watching (WITHOUT the kids!) but the movie lacks all the wonderful historical commentary and analysis. Penderecki also made an opera of it. I haven't seen the opera, but given the subject matter and Penderecki's reputation, I expect it is brutal. ...Intense and well worth the read.

"The Betrothed" by Alessandro Manzoni—a masterful classic of this genre. A fast paced adventure romance set during the 1600s feudal culture with the black plague and the manipulations of the church and money'd classes as background. ...Sweet, intelligent and fun.

Joseph Heller's "Picture This"--a fantasy historical fiction that is laden with art history and philosophy. From Amazon: "Picture this: Rembrandt is creating his famous painting of Aristotle contemplating the bust of Homer. As soon as he paints an ear on Aristotle, Aristotle can hear. When he paints an eye, Aristotle can see. And what Aristotle sees and hears and remembers from the ancient past to this very moment provides the foundation for this lighthearted, freewheeling jaunt through 2,500 years of Western Civilization " ...Thoughtful and enjoyable.

For another very interesting novel intertwined with esoteric concepts, suspense, intrigue, numerology, kabbalah, religion, meaning of life, power, etc, etc, etc... try Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum"—though know that it's a tighter knot than Da Vinci Code and is not really a page turner. I haven't read it but it has a huge following. Eco also wrote "The Name of the Rose" (which was made into a movie with Sean Connery) another mystery, which is more accessible and has a huge following too.

Thanks, and enjoy.