I was 38 years old before it really occurred to me, hey who the hell am i, what do i really want out of life, and how do i get it? I should have tried to figure that out at 20, but when i hit the brick wall of responsibility i rebelled against childhood issues…
A New Feudal System The feudal system in the “dark ages” was justified by the belief that one group of people (the nobles) was inherently better than the rest (peasants, serfs, general peons, etc.) – there was a natural hierarchy due to their “breeding.” The “strong” could repress the “weak” because it was their natural…
Capitalism The goal of capitalism is to pay the cheapest wages, use the cheapest materials and processes and sell the results for the highest possible price, to result in the most profit or capital, which is then supposed to be reinvested to make more of the same. We know what the results of largely unregulated…
DEFINITIONS Let’s define some terms to eliminate some usual misunderstandings right away: Communism Communism is derived from the same root as community, common, and commune. Because of all the baggage, a better word is probably “commonism.” Communism is everything that is shared in common, owned collectively by we the people, including even now public roads,…
(NOTE: I didn’t mean for so many of my articles here to have the word “suck” in the title! But it just happened that two of them, written at completely different times, needed to be divided into multiple parts. Anyway, here we go…) The issue here is not really capitalism as a whole, it is…
What is an artist? Creative? Intuitive? Weird. Outside the box. What box? Outside of my own box. Raconteur? That sounds “rakish” but it really just means “storyteller.” We’re telling our stories and we must be arrogant enough to believe enough other people will relate to them for us to make a living at it. Freaks…
Who decided that if I tie something tightly around my neck I will work more effectively? What the hell is that? It’s bad enough that we’re judged by what we look like, what we have, what we do, who we know and how hip we aren’t. All of those assessments are based on the shape…
A little thing i wrote years ago, but, better late than never… Who needs coffee? Just wake up late enough so that if you catch one stop light red, you’ll get fired. It may take awhile of being late to work up to this point, but so much the better. I wake up by screaming…
Here’s a little something i wrote many years ago for a co-worker who left for a new job: Please mark your calendars for a celebration/mourning of sorts, as Diane is leaving our humble enclave for pastures at least as green (although she’ll still be outstanding in her field ? . ‘Twil be a mourning for…
LAST CHANCE I know this is getting way long, so let’s move to the last game of the year. The pressure is on, i have to talk to her, it’s my one goal of the night (in addition to doing my job well as always ? ). But i decide to relax and wait for…
(Shortly here i switch to present tense, i don’t know why but it feels right so i’ma just leave it.) A BAD DAY At a concert i hadn’t seen her the whole time even after walking to the other side to see if i could. Once the event is over i am always hell bent…
This season, Veronica was joined by another girl (we’ll call her Jessica), at least as cute but she just seemed more approachable, so i thought i would make more of an effort if i could, plus with the two of them i could talk to both, less awkward. She is also very young though, and…
This got so long i split it into four parts. I wrote this partly to document it for myself, but i hope people can relate, regardless of the gender(s). Whenever i get a new job, especially a temp one, or join a new group or go to a meeting (or wherever! The grocery store?), i…
It’s easy to say something like “I got ready and left for work” or even, “I woke up, ate, brushed my teeth, showered and left for work.” But that’s way over-simplified, isn’t it? Every activity is made up of a bunch of smaller actions, and if you are intent on each one, it can be…
The word “trinity” is not in the Bible and i think it can block people out when we add “doctrine” to try and categorize all the different things Jesus said. But i do get the concept. We could say that i as a human have a physical body, a mind or personality (some may disagree LOL),…
Many people interpret this parable as if the virgins get shut out because they didn’t plan ahead and bring enough oil. But is that how God works? Do we need to have it all together to “get in”? Here is the parable, only occurring in Matt 25:1-13 (NIV):
Just a quick one, for an explanation of this parable about a Syrophoenician woman, children, dogs and crumbs. It always seemed harsh to me given that Jesus taught us to love our neighbors as ourselves (even towards people who hate us, as Jesus’s example the “good Samaritan” did). But as usual Jesus puts a twist on…
I think i will preface this by noting one big difference between the Pharisees (as portrayed in our Library of Writings known as the Bible) and Jesus. The Pharisees created a lot of separation between themselves, and the Jews and others: Don’t talk to the Samaritans, don’t touch the lepers, hate the tax collectors (who were traitors and…
Creeds like this one seem like they drop a pile of boxes filled with human ideas on top of God, who is so BIG that no human description could ever suffice. I hadn’t had an occasion to read a creed in awhile, so when we read it out of the Episcopal prayer book during my…
(First, see my previous article, “Christianese Substitutions Part 3 – “Hell” which reviews the actual Hebrew and Greek words that “hell” is substituted for throughout the Bible, and their meanings.) I understand the need or want for punishment for people who hurt people; what about murderers, torturers, rapists and thieves (and those of us who…
This is part 3 in a list of words that are Greek, or transliterated directly from Greek, but in this case are translated by a different word – “hell” – even though the Hebrew and Greek words have actual meanings of their own. Also check out “What is Hell?” by Br. Lawrence Damien elsewhere on this…
This set of documents is a list of words that are Greek, or transliterated directly from Greek, or are OLD and do not belong in the Bible. This second part is mostly about names. Even the word “scripture” just means “writings” and the word “Bible” just means “library of writings.” Why not speak clearly in regular…
This is a list of words that are Greek, or transliterated directly from Greek, or are OLD and do not belong in the Bible. Even the word “scripture” just means “writings” and the word “Bible” just means “library of writings.” Why not speak clearly in regular English (or whatever modern language) instead of creating a…
I for sure don’t truly understand the actual experience, and i can’t promise this article is completely PC, but this is just to explain how i dealt with the cultural progression. When we were kids, which for me was in the 1960s and 1970s (but this is likely universal), little dudes were basically afraid of…
Here is a summary of Christianity as i understand it now. You can also check out my Christianity page on my old website (which badly needs to be updated). And i really love the site YHWH.com; wish i wrote it myself! I tried to summarize this all in a few key sentences, but this is the best I could do,…
To start, you can check out All About Me: A Short Spiritual History on my original website that i hand-coded in HTML around the year 2000 (and the rest of the website is accessible from there). As everything there was written so long ago it is hopefully more immature than i am now ? and is written somewhat “off the cuff.”…