Thanks, Rick. There is definitely some spiritual displacement going on in MAGA World. Hence the worship of their Golden Ass (which could be Trump or Musk, I suppose...).
I was raised as a Roman Catholic. I don’t consider myself overly religious but I do believe in angels and a higher power. In 2006, I was reunited with an old flame from 1974. It wasn’t chance or luck or by design. It was divine intervention. I now live a life that I could have only imagined. Thank you to all my guardian angels. Thank you for this article.
Sunday morning notification calls for time to brew my first cup of coffee and read “Sunday Pages” — Boy, oh boy, I wasn’t expecting to feel tears on my chicks, though! I’m a firm believer and found this really profound. It helped me to transition my anger to sadness finally. Easier to deal with though. Haha - thanks, Greg! Enjoy your Sunday.
“Stochastic”!! My God, word choice. Beautiful. I agree with Sharon Dymond and Paulina: tears. Lincoln’s “better angels” may have referenced both Dickens (“Barnaby Rudge”) and Shakespeare (“Othello” and Sonnet 114). I hope so. Well, of course, Dickens might have referenced Shakespeare, too. Think of the way the rhetorical appeal of the phrase expands in meaning and impact by such references: Rudge set in a period of violent riots, and then poor innocent Desdemona slaughtered by inflamed passion. I am convinced Lincoln intended to suggest a correlation between Desdemona and democracy, but was wise enough rhetorically to merely suggest it. Nothing, of course, could be more true. Democracy is fragile and good and easily destroyed. Thank you for this mind-expanding message this morning.
Thanks, John. "Stochastic terrorism" is a real thing...I'm going to write about it more on Tuesday. I didn't know the word before its use there, and I find it impossible to say.
Now I have to go re-read Othello...which, I'm just remembering, I saw in DC years ago, with Patrick Stewart in the title role, and the rest of the cast Black. The Shakespeare Theater did some really great things...
I recently learned that sexy term too. But I think that what's being called stochastic terrorism is more accurately callable guerilla terrorism, the way we applied guerilla to street theatre 50 years ago. These new, programmed lone wolves are supposed to be unpredictable & random in their targets, but the victims are anything but random.
Maybe only the people capable of caring about others and not just themselves get Better Angels❤️🔥. Funny bc I finally have Covid after all this time as an essential worker. The bf is sicker than me & keeps testing negative 🙃 Apparently testing is a little tricky now w/vaccines & variants. Brave new world lol.
Oh, no, Jenn! I hope you feel better soon. And the bf also. It's crazy, that we're living in the time of a plague, and that doesn't even make my paragraph of bad things...
Well done!! Our better angels have been getting most of us through the growing pains that we must take deadly seriously now but which will be as nothing in our next orbits around the sun. Our music can fill us with a bonus portion of humanity & empathy, keys to connection with all.
The God I grew up with turned into that invention you referenced. GOD is cosmic and astral to me, for lack of a Bible to explain it all to me. Think I’ll stick with my angels in the Cosmos.
"At 14 i decided gods were deluded inventions out of fear." This is what the Catholic religion taught me as a child. Which is why I stopped listening at the age of 6.
Nice, Greg! For what it's worth, here's a turn in mh thinking sd my ninetieth bithday looms around time's next corner. The older I find mnyself gettig, the easier it is to think transcendentally, and the richer life seems.
Thanks, Paul. We watched a movie about infinity last night. Speaking of transcending things. I look forward to experiencing what you describe as I get older.
Quest for Fire. Good film
Thank you krazy
Thanks, Krazy, for subscribing, and the kind words, and the great rec! I like Wenders in general, so excited to check that one out!
Thanks, Rick. There is definitely some spiritual displacement going on in MAGA World. Hence the worship of their Golden Ass (which could be Trump or Musk, I suppose...).
Oh Grego. You got me bawling like a baby. Too much truth. Too much wisdom. Release of searing pain. Bless you. Happy holidays.
Thanks, Karen. No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader, as the saying goes...
I was raised as a Roman Catholic. I don’t consider myself overly religious but I do believe in angels and a higher power. In 2006, I was reunited with an old flame from 1974. It wasn’t chance or luck or by design. It was divine intervention. I now live a life that I could have only imagined. Thank you to all my guardian angels. Thank you for this article.
Thanks, Jocelyn. I'm so glad that this happened for you, whatever the reason! And yes, divine intervention is it.
The Litany of the Saints seems appropriate these days, even for a lapsed Catholic.
St. Michael, pray for us.
St. Gabriel, pray for us.
St. Raphael, pray for us.
All you Holy Angels and Archangels pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, pray for us.
St. Joseph, pray for us.
All you Holy Patriarchs and Prophets, pray for us.
St. Peter, pray for us.
St. Paul, pray for us.
St. Andrew, pray for us...
We need all of them.
Lovely.
Sunday morning notification calls for time to brew my first cup of coffee and read “Sunday Pages” — Boy, oh boy, I wasn’t expecting to feel tears on my chicks, though! I’m a firm believer and found this really profound. It helped me to transition my anger to sadness finally. Easier to deal with though. Haha - thanks, Greg! Enjoy your Sunday.
Thanks, Paulina. It helps to cry, at least for me. God bless Jane!
“Stochastic”!! My God, word choice. Beautiful. I agree with Sharon Dymond and Paulina: tears. Lincoln’s “better angels” may have referenced both Dickens (“Barnaby Rudge”) and Shakespeare (“Othello” and Sonnet 114). I hope so. Well, of course, Dickens might have referenced Shakespeare, too. Think of the way the rhetorical appeal of the phrase expands in meaning and impact by such references: Rudge set in a period of violent riots, and then poor innocent Desdemona slaughtered by inflamed passion. I am convinced Lincoln intended to suggest a correlation between Desdemona and democracy, but was wise enough rhetorically to merely suggest it. Nothing, of course, could be more true. Democracy is fragile and good and easily destroyed. Thank you for this mind-expanding message this morning.
Thanks, John. "Stochastic terrorism" is a real thing...I'm going to write about it more on Tuesday. I didn't know the word before its use there, and I find it impossible to say.
Now I have to go re-read Othello...which, I'm just remembering, I saw in DC years ago, with Patrick Stewart in the title role, and the rest of the cast Black. The Shakespeare Theater did some really great things...
I recently learned that sexy term too. But I think that what's being called stochastic terrorism is more accurately callable guerilla terrorism, the way we applied guerilla to street theatre 50 years ago. These new, programmed lone wolves are supposed to be unpredictable & random in their targets, but the victims are anything but random.
Muslims, Jews, gays, and Walmart shoppers: what a country we live in.
Sto-KAS-tic
Love those lyrics 🥹
Maybe only the people capable of caring about others and not just themselves get Better Angels❤️🔥. Funny bc I finally have Covid after all this time as an essential worker. The bf is sicker than me & keeps testing negative 🙃 Apparently testing is a little tricky now w/vaccines & variants. Brave new world lol.
Happy Sunday Greg!!!!
Oh, no, Jenn! I hope you feel better soon. And the bf also. It's crazy, that we're living in the time of a plague, and that doesn't even make my paragraph of bad things...
Also, thanks for joining The Five 8!
♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
Well done!! Our better angels have been getting most of us through the growing pains that we must take deadly seriously now but which will be as nothing in our next orbits around the sun. Our music can fill us with a bonus portion of humanity & empathy, keys to connection with all.
Thanks, Richard. The music helps. Maybe music itself is a better angel?
Yes. E.g., how do those songs get written.? What or who comes to those creators in moments of satori? .If Bob Dylan couldn't tell you, that's a clue.
I think some songs are just the songwriter being a vessel for the melody of the universe, or something like that.
I’ve wondered what the message is with some of the lyrics I’ve heard in recent years, I’m old
Dylan said something like that, a little more earthbound, in the 60s.
I found that to be true
Digging the cool little vip emojis 🤗
I got way more joy out of those than I had any right to...
Omg I was just thinking -I just showed my ass saying how into emojis I am 🤣🤣🤣🤣. It’s the little things. People should cut us some slack rn 😂
This column and comments are sorta out of range for my brain. I know nada about music and have to look up big words
At 14 i decided gods were deluded inventions out of fear.
Kinda reminds me of politicians pushing the fear angle.
So if "god" did exist i murdered it in 54.
But i can picture a dude in 14000 bc standing on the Serengeti plain in a lighting store conjuring up a supreme being.
Cal at 82 in the Great Sonoran Desert.
The God I grew up with turned into that invention you referenced. GOD is cosmic and astral to me, for lack of a Bible to explain it all to me. Think I’ll stick with my angels in the Cosmos.
Whatever "works"
"At 14 i decided gods were deluded inventions out of fear." This is what the Catholic religion taught me as a child. Which is why I stopped listening at the age of 6.
Nice, Greg! For what it's worth, here's a turn in mh thinking sd my ninetieth bithday looms around time's next corner. The older I find mnyself gettig, the easier it is to think transcendentally, and the richer life seems.
Thanks, Paul. We watched a movie about infinity last night. Speaking of transcending things. I look forward to experiencing what you describe as I get older.
Wow, beautiful piece Greg!
Thanks, Gary!