Satan and Hell

Bring on the pain

Satan is say, ten (4&6: forensics)
10 words: wrong, immoral, bad, unethical, illegal, criminal, unlawful, sin, evil, turpitude.

8 sideways is eternity
8 words: torture, cruelty, pain, agony, suffering, torment, misery, anguish

Hell is he will: he'll

war is hell
chess is war

sure as hell, hell exists (collect them all):
Arizona, California, Michigan,
Grand Cayman,
and a village in Norway (in Stjordal)

Wicked!

10 fingers: fin - grs
Tennessee: 10 -esse: Jesse
Tanasi (I, satan)
"God is One" -Deuteronomy 6:4
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

wick-ed: burning learning
WIBU ICU WEST
This goes up to eleven! -spinal tap

Learning a foreign language

(using a well-stocked library)

I had this idea, last night:

To learn a foreign-language,
for free, and without an instructor-
you need a libary with 3 things:
(to learn spanish, for example)

1) a book in english

2) a translation of that book (into spanish),

and, for proper pronunciation,
3) a book-on-cassette (also in spanish)

I've never done this; it's just an idea...
The koran would be a good way to learn arabic, this way.
Most translated korans have the original arabic, alongside the english. I realize some languages work better than others for this. Finding a foreign language book AND the same book in a foreign language on cassette might be unlikely... you might get lucky, though - and you can always find and buy resources on the net.

The Summer Institute for Linguistics (SIL) Ethnologue Survey (1999) lists the following as the top languages by population:(number of native speakers in parentheses)
Chinese (937,132,000)
Spanish (332,000,000)
English (322,000,000)
Bengali (189,000,000)
Hindi/Urdu (182,000,000)
Arabic (174,950,000)
Portuguese (170,000,000)
Russian (170,000,000)
Japanese (125,000,000)
German (98,000,000)
French (79,572,000)

from (http://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/languages.htm)

Another good resource people don't usually consider is a foreign language dictionary. I don't mean, say an english to spanish/spanish to english dictionary; I mean a regular dictionary in the language you want to learn, with definitions, not synonyms.

I admit this might be a bit harebrained. It's probably only good as a supplement to traditional language-instruction methodology. If it uses the same alphabet you already know, you're better off than trying to figure out, say, chinese.

"Bad" Words

Ah, hell.
The same thing happened to me when I was in Boy Scouts
I list 18 of them at the end of this post.

I said "hell" at summer camp, and they made me promise not to say it publicly again.
Which I think is retarded.
Why the hell would you create hell just for saying the word hell?

I don't even believe in hell.
At least not in the sense of an eternal punishment after you die.
A benevolent God would never create such a thing.
Although he might create a FEAR of such a thing...
"Sure as hell", suffering exists.
Epecially for people with neuralgia.
Who are no worse people than anyone else, I believe..
So, in that sense, there is "hell on earth"
General Sherman, during the civil war, said "war is hell", and I believe him.
Also, there actually is a village named Hell, in Norway, I believe.

But hell shouldn't be a bad word.
"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me"
Is the contraction of 'he will" as "he'll" similarly threatening?

So what are these patently offensive words?
I'll list them (what the hell), with credit going to George Carlin for his classic sketch "the 7 words you can't say on television" that I heard recently on online comedy radio.

I also believe it has literary merit, (especially for people learning english):

the (18) are, and I apologize for both the commissions and omissions:

shit, fuck, goddamn, dick, hell, cunt, ass, bitch,
piss, cocksucker, tits, fart, turd, twat, pussy, jism,
faggot, and (especially) nigger

what's the deal with Tourette's syndrome, anyway?

Did you know, actually, that the bible endorses "salty" language?
Colossians 4:6: Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.Colossians 4:5-7

I guess I'm sort of an expert on hell.
If the bible uses the word (at least 13 times), then why shouldn't I?

John 1:1-3:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
(notice how almost all the "bad" words have to do with genitals and sex. In the beginning was 'fuck', right?)

Simplifications

simplicity, simplified

1)survival and reproduction (how we are programmed, evolutionarily)

2)all we ever do is: Move stuff around (logistics)

3)the goal- chips:
health, comfort, in peace, sustainably

4)input: see, hear, smell, taste, touch
(read, watch, listen, eat, drink, sex)
output: work, play, write, talk, create, exercise,
perform (all the world's a stage)

this is all kind of obvious.
As Kurt Cobain sarcastically sang "forever in debt to your priceless advice"
I'm so vain, I probably think that song is about me.
Vanity of vanities, all is vanity (absurdity, frustration, futility, nonsense)

-props to Darwin, Shakespeare/Goffman, Nirvana, Carly Simon,
and the bible (Ecclesiastes, Omnia Vanitas)

and we Sleep, too. Some say Life is but a dream.
And if so, who's doing the dreaming?
do we dream up ourselves, our own lives, or
are we possessed, or do we "let go and let God" (or all three?)

maybe it's not so simple.

The Goal

Of Politics, Religion, and Life in General
(in a tiny soundbite)

Health, and Comfort
Sustainably, and in Peace.

that's it
reality, boiled down
couldn't be simpler
"chips"

God is imaginary?

http://www.godisimaginary.com/

Here's my response:

God is love
and
love believes all things (lol)

aside-
Maybe I'm imaginary, and a figment of my own imagination.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily...
I'll be dead within 80 years, most likely.
I suppose the blog will outlive me.
But I doubt I will.

Art Therapy

today at Kaiser, we drew a representation of our good and bad traits

characteristics, qualities
Good, Positive, Keep:
1) Intelligence, Curiosity,
2) Kindness, Friendliness, Sociability
3) Happiness, Sense of Humor, Joy
-Strength and Motivation
(keep on keeping on, read all 1001 books)
-Positive Mental Attitude, Optimism, Hope
-Patience and Persistence
4) Fitness, Health, Endorphins
(I bike everywhere, I don't have a car, I go to the Y)
5) Writing ability, blog

Change, Negative, Drop:
1) Gut, belly, BMI -> (physical) Health
2) Symptoms (voice, headshocks, pain) -> (mental) Health
3) Girlfriend, Number of Friends, Solitariness ->"Get a life"
4) Stress (argh!) -> calm, tranquil, peace
5) Anger, Irritation ->Equanimity, endure things "like water off a duck's back"
(take things in stride)

definition of equanimity:
"mental or emotional stability or composure, especially under tension or strain; calmness; equilibrium"

And, of course, the highest ideal, the greatest of all qualities: Love
which is both-
a good quality to have (as an attitude toward everything)
and
something to hope, pray, search for, desire (a true love relationship)

The Middle East

"spiritual center of 8 religions"

Christianity, Islam, Judaism
(okay, we all knew that, people of the book yada yada)

but did you know about:
Yezidi, Mithraism, Zoroastrianism,
Manichaeism, and the Baha'i faith (?)

I've never even heard of some of these.
-Yezidi is a kurdish religion.
-Mithraism (was?) a "mystery religion"
(practiced in the 1st to 4th centuries a.d. in the Roman Empire.)
-Do Manichees even exist anymore?
-Bahai "emphasizes the spiritual unity of all mankind."

Maybe I'm a Bahai and I don't even know it.

John Nash, I remember from A Beautiful Mind, reported his religion as Shinto.
For the next census, maybe I'll report myself as a Mithraist, just to be a freak.
Maybe I'd be the only one (!)

My matrix

How I order my life

I'm either at home, or out.
IN: WERRNEO (7 things)
-Read, Write, Radio, Nap, Eat, Exercise, Online
-omitted: SSTT- sleep, shower, talk, tv
(automatic or extremely rarely)

-Online: JJBOYSMEN (9 things):
J-archive, Joe Frank, Blog, Okcupid, Youtube, Surf, Music, Email, News

-Music (6): Gdradio, Kalx, Whrb, Wmbr, Kcpr, Comedy
-News: MC-CHEW (6) MSN, CNN, CSMonitor, Huffington, Economist, WaPo

OUT (9):
walk the dogs, (4x/day) WTD
library/Y/Free meal (daily) LYM*

visit SF, SF
St. Columba Mass (weekly or less), M
Buddhist meditation (2x/month), BM
Bkly food pantry (monthly), FP
Kaiser (weekly), K
out n about (iso food/female) OA
on a date, D

WLSMBFKOD

*note: I occasionally go to a different library- Doe, GTU, N. branch, or Claremont

aside: when I leave home, I always bring (7):
keys, wallet, watch, glasses, hat, pen, paper
and (usually)
bike, cable&lock, helmet, backpack

Comic Wisdom

according to Bill Hicks

"Today, a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration—that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. There is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we're the imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the weather.[34 "

Is this true? all of this?
As Arsenio Hall said, "things that make you go hmmm"

Overheard

I overheard some people talking about religion, today.

One person said, and I agree, "religion is to help people who are dying, but I don't see people dying to get in."People on their deathbed are comforted, I suppose (by the thought of heaven).providing, of course, that they're not frightened out of their mind by the possibility of hell.If suicide weren't a sin, I suppose some (more) people would "die to get in."

I just don't understand suicide bombers and buddhists who self-immolate, and I don't want to.People want to "go out with a bang", and athlete's want to be "on fire" and comedians want to be able to say "I killed" and businessmen/investors want to "make a killing." But that's all like telling an actor "to break a leg", in that you shouldn't take it literally.

I recently read the Koran, and St. Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises.At the moment, I'm working on the Kingfisher Encyclopedia of History.

John Dewey on God

He didn't believe in a personal God

But, he did say this:
(The concept of god) "denotes the unity of all ideal ends arousing us to desire and actions"
(from Wikipedia)

That works for me.

p.s. my blog went over 6,000 viewers a couple days ago.
Yay! Thanks, y'all.

How much do you love God?

a quote from Dorothy Day:

"I really only love God as much as I love the person I love least.."

Wow.
Hate is so so ubiquitous, God hardly exists, I am prompted to think.
Loving everything (and everyone) is a tall order.

Related thoughts:
-if I can love a spider, I can love anyone.
(I thought, on pot, in college)
-Love me when I least deserve it. Because that is when I really need it.
(a marriage tip)
-that screaming, bitter comedian (SAM KINISON)
said something along those lines (I forget, exactly)
-the Jesuits, I believe, are enjoined to "see God in all things"
(which is actually a radical thought, in my opinion)
-and, of course, my introductory quote by Dostoevsky ("love everything")