God is One

You gotta look out for number 1!

And, at the risk of sounding blasphemous, God is not number two (ha).
Urine? Yer in!
Yellow?  Yell "ow"!
One?  Won!
Neo? Noone Escapes Oblivion!
Oblivion? Ob, I liv on!

Retarded? You betcha!

Dog god? Devil lived?  Santa Satan? Live evil?  Good God! 
Nun none?  Mass m' ass.  Church -ch you are ch. 
Catholic means universal.  Meaning is mean?  Universe, one verse?
University -universe itty, or universe city..
Angel in spanish pronounced "on hell".  wtf?  wtc?
enough, already.
right? correct! core wrecked.
left?  Elvis has left the building.  Evil S.
building is both a noun and a verb.

"this is the word of the lord" (just one word?) (Just as in justice?)
why/Y is (si, senor, St. Ignatius, Sports Illustrated) language so Weird?
wired?  I just watched Dr. Strange on netflix.
Y&T.  champion and cross. 
midnite in tokyo, MIT.  wmbr.  5429.  2. 
it.  information technology.  the book.
the summer in winter.  calc you later.  Cal, cu later.  see u. 
holy see.  c, sea, see, si.  wholly.  hole.
is this at all interesting? Not! interred - only resting?
language is fricking bizarre.  not bazaar, biz like business.
busy, busy! -Cat's cradle reference

book-larnin'

I reckon' I'll always be stupid.  Here's why.

I'm having trouble with my goal of reading a book-a-day.
I like music just as much...and I probably shouldn't try and do both simultaneously.
Anyway,
I'm 41 years of age.
The oldest living human (unambiguously documented) is that of Jeanne Calment of France, who lived 122 years, 164 days (1875-1997).  The oldest male is Jiroemon Kimura of Japan, 115yrs, 253 days.

80 years of a book a day is only 29,200 books.
The library of congress, the world's biggest library, has 34.5 million books, plus.
They add like 10,000 items a day.
About 2/3 of their collection is non-english.
So 1/3 of 34.5M is around 12M books in english.
29 thousand is x percent of 12 million?
29/12,000 =.00241, or .241%, about a quarter of one percent
(of just the english-language books)
That's hardly omniscient.
So I'll never be that Godly.
Sorry.
At least I maybe have an idea how stupid I am.
-J

Thou shalt not

take the name of the lord your god in vain...

hm.
My name is Jesse.
That's awfully close to Jesus.
In Spanish, Jesse can be Jesus (heyzeus),
 Chuy (like a wafer), or
 Isai (accent on the second i, eesah-e)

Isa is Jesus in arabic.  I, Isa.
Biblical hebrew often omits vowels, so JSS works that way, too.

Jesus can be rearranged to 'Jess u' -(me?)
And esse in latin is being, while J is the tenth letter.
X (as in xmas) is roman numeral 10...j esse -> christ being?
wwjd

In spanish class, I chose Chuy (pronounced chewy, like Chewbacca)
because who wants to be Jesus, right?
He only lived to around 33.
Not my bag, even if it is laudable to be 'christlike'.

Anyway,
it's debatable whether Jesus is the lord my god
because I actually think I'm better than he was
in the sense that Jesus said don't call me good, only God is good
and I think I'm good, (nothing too radical about that, right?)
and therefore God (like everybody else)
Have I taken the name of the lord my god in vain?
usually people don't think of vanity in relation to this commandment.
It usually isn't literal
It usually means don't say "Jesus Christ" derogatorily.
I see nothing wrong with that, by the way, myself.
In any case,
"in vain" means without effect, or unsuccessfully.
So we shall see what effect my name has.
I didn't choose it, although I do have the option of changing my name,
so in that sense, my name is elected.
I like my name, have no plans to change it, and don't have any alternates, in any case.

and that's just my first name.
My last name, Teshara, is arahset backwards, which has Ra (the sun god) and "set" which is what the sun does.  Jesse has "see" in it, and Isai has two "eyes".  Weirditude.  Jesus is "the light."  holy photons!
Happy hanukkwanzmas and new year, everyone!

The Holiday Spirit

Hint: it has nothing to do with assault weapons or knives

Tit for tat, positivity in return for depravity
What I want to give the world for Christmas/Hannukkah/Kwanzaa, etc.:

Health
Happiness
Peace
Love
Comfort
Friendship
Truth
Justice
Freedom
Prosperity
Hope
Kindness
Understanding
Knowledge
Wisdom
Enlightenment
Joy
Bliss
Entertainment
i.e. internet, movies, music, books, magazines
Pleasure
Basic needs
i.e. food, shelter, clothing, clean water, sanitation
Virtue
Integrity
Compassion
Gratitude
Fitness
Strength
Sharing
Caring
Giving
Creativity
Imagination
Respect
Security
Sanity
Contentment
Purpose
Family
Community
Innocence
Humor
Cheer
Laughter
Smiles
Fun

May you have every one, everyone!
(and in throughout the new year, too)

Iraq war

The stats are in

I read somewhere that the war cost 110,000 Iraqi lives, and 4500 American.
The pricetag? around $800 billion

So, America spent ($/life) around 7 million dollars per corpse.
(around 6.986 million, to be more precise)

This strikes me as supremely stupid.

War, like I said, results in fatalities, injuries, misery, loss of money, as well as opportunity cost.
War is hell.  Shouldn't we be trying to create heaven, instead?
I mean, duh.

And there's the regional instability, displacement, refugees, property damage, hatred, resentment, ptsd, mental illness, and creation of even more terrorists...
I guess I need to see what the argument FOR war is.
It's inconceivable, to me.

I realize the US has ended it's mission there, a year on now.
Is my hindsight 20-20?

Bud

Bored, unmotivated, disinterested

(is it UN-interested? I forget)

Anyway, bud (a word for pot), can have that effect, appropriately enough.
Or maybe you're depressed or bipolar or schizoaffective.

Anyway,
waking up this way can lead to isolation and a choice to stay in bed / not do anything-
which can lead to
feeling lonely, depressed, angry

Lately, for me, though, I wake up and get motivated to attempt to have the perfect day.
It rarely happens, but I've been doing this since I was a boy.
This morning I heard some mindblowing jazz on Harvard radio, which portended a totally awesome day (although I didn't get done everything I wanted to).

My post-it note to-do list was:
Kaiser at 2p,
give Andrea Glover the 4 library info sheets that might prove useful to others with mental illness (emergency meals and shelters, mental health resources, local groups serving people with disabilities, and volunteer opportunities),
go to the SS office (social security, not schutzstaffel)
schedule a dental appt. with the BFC (Berkeley Free Clinic) -it's been 6 months-
Y (YMCA)
Safeway (I have 2 gift cards to redeem)
Library (NYTimes, Economist, F. Affairs)
Radio Shack
Walk the dogs

Radio shack was a disappointment because they couldn't print up a $10 coupon I'm eligible for (I don't have a printer), which sucks.
And I didn't go to the Y because rain was threatening, and I wanted to get home (on my new bike).
And the SS office was too busy, and it (making sure my address is right) can wait for tomorrow.
Safeway was in the opposite direction, can also wait.

my day, by Jesse Teshara, lol.

CBT

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for a very sick puppy
Then again, dogs are gods, too.

CBT at Kaiser, once a week, for 12 weeks, and then a party, has begun.
Today was Class 2.
I really hope this works.

The goal, I think, is Sanity.  That sure would be nice.

The main idea is we can change any of the links in the chain of a three-part dynamic that characterizes all of our social interactions.
The three parts are:
Mood
Thought
Behavior

The triangle of causation and effects flows in both directions.

-Emotion, Mood, Feelings (3 ways of describing the same thing) effect
-Thoughts, Beliefs, Cognition, Ideas, Thoughts, Perceptions, Mental Formations effect
-Behavior, Action...

Another catchy way of looking at it is ABC:
Action, Belief, Consequences (emotional and behavioral)

Here's a list of emotions/emotional consequences we've come up with so far:

Negative:
frustrated, resentful, sad, depressed, angry, mad, scared/afraid/fearful, panic, alarm, anxiety, paranoia, suspicion, caution, confusion, uncertainty, worry, hurt, lonely.

That's mostly what we're working on, negative emotions.

Also, there's maladaptive thinking, like delusions, or false beliefs,
automatic thoughts, a style of thinking, that are bad because they cause us distress.
under the rubric of "Cognitive Distortions".

The thing about perceptions is
You shouldn't believe everything you think.
And just maybe you shouldn't believe anything you think.
The idea here is to avoid mental patterns that cause distress by keeping an open mind- to try to hold in mind that perceptions are usually only theories, suppositions, possibilities, and we might be better off by taking the most charitable interpretation, if any.
My take-away is that the smart thing to do is to hold all possible explanations in your mind at the same time, and just live with uncertainty.

For example, if someone cuts you off in traffic, you might think they're a jerk, disrespecting you, harassing you, reading your thoughts, punishing you, part of a conspiracy, the CIA following you, or just in a hurry, for any number of reasons.

Your beliefs in this regard will affect your emotions and actions.  You might be cautious, angry, suspicious, or  even empathic (e.g. in a hurry for a good reason).  And you might react anywhere in the spectrum from getting in a fight (road rage), to being somewhat irked, to just laughing it off, maybe.  That's the general idea.

It's not all negative.
Positive emotional consequences:
Gratitude, Happiness

And -I think this is important-
You can be emotionally neutral:
Unperturbed, unfazed.
Cool, calm, and collected.
Having equanimity.
"Like water off a duck's back"

I kind of like the idea of being
dour, analytical.

because happiness just isn't in the biochemistry cards all the time, I'd say.

Godhood

I am

I don't require, or even request, admiration, adulation, celebration, or validation.

There is no God but the good that you or I or we do and are.  Without creating God, there is no God.  God is real, but only what we make of Him.

This is what I believe.  If you are not God, then you should be an atheist.   You yourself are your primary reality.  I am not an independent God for you to worship.  I merely bring the truth -which is holy and Godly and good- that all goodness is the incarnation of God, and it is up to you to make real the oft-worded street phrase "it's all good" or even "all right."  Make your life all good.  This is not to say there is no bad or evil in the world.   What I am saying is we can make good of any and all circumstances - that even the most cruel, insidious evil can be converted into the most sacred of blessings.   Loving kindness trumps horror and suffering.   We are all basically good.  Depravity is a twisted form of saintliness.  Love is all-powerful.   To make God real, I am, and love you (all).  Glee: God loves everyone equally, and has no preference or exclusionary attachments.   Pleasure is of course preferable to pain, psychic or physical, and will always be so.

So love one another, make love, love life, love everything, become love, and be good: do good, think good, say good, make good of all life offers  you.  Eschew evil.  What other message could a God conceive of to relate?  Well, be happy, of course.  Living the good life should be fun.  Strive to be an example, a role model, to be pleasant and humorous, to be -as the army used to say- all that you can be, a paragon of virtue, a holy, jolly, incarnation of our highest ideals, a person for others, a servant of development, a friend and companion to all, a respected and appreciated and much-loved member of society, a source of wisdom and succor, a diminished of suffering, a creator of comfort, a bringer of bliss, and a source of strength.

Peace.
love,
JESSE

reduce the wrongness
increase the peace
tap into happiness
and love life

What's Wrong

things to work on

money: poverty, unemployment, inequality, underemployment, recession, depression, debt, deficit, inflation, stagnation, greed, corruption

health: hunger, malnutrition, famine, starvation; obesity, smoking, disease, clean water, sanitation

education: ignorance, illiteracy, innumeracy

psych: anger, hatred, rage, wrath, fury, spite, malice, revenge
pain, agony, suffering, torment, misery, anguish, resentment
craving, aversion, attachments, delusion
cruelty, torture, war, terrorism, violence
death, old age, breakup, divorce
mental illness, suicide
alienation, isolation
bullying, neglect, abuse
discontent, nausea, crime, sin
lying, distrust
abortion, meat, capital punishment, nukes
murder, homicide, killing, assassination
tyranny, despotism, authoritarianism, absolutism
sociopathic, psychopathic, amoral
wrong, immoral, bad, unethical, illegal, criminal, unlawful

as for buddhism,
you're supposed to have aversion to aversion, which is tautological.

congratulations, Barack.
Good luck, and may the force be with you in your second term in office.

later thought- old age is natural, not wrong, and actually right, hopefully.
as is death (if it's not unnatural or premature)

Free Online Education

some links

www.edx.org

http://oyc.yale.edu

http://webcast.berkeley.edu

www.ocwconsortium.org

www.coursera.org

www.ted.com

www.j-archive.com

Looking for a room

Contact me if you want me for a roommate!

I'm looking for a Room, Share, or Studio in the Bay Area (SF, or East Bay-Berkeley, Oakland)
-for $650 or less-

I am a 41 y.o. male, who is quiet (I use headphones for tv/computer/music), friendly, respectful, neat, clean, responsible,  and usually out (my daily routine includes exercise at the Y, and going to the public library).  I will not have pets.  I have never been evicted, my credit should be perfect (I have never been in debt), and I don't smoke or use drugs (besides my meds).  I'm actually a bit of a bookworm - I aspire to read a new book every day.  I have family in the Bay Area, and love the people and weather here.  And the resources, too (like libraries, food, university, museums, etc).  I don't have a car, and won't need a parking space -I ride bike and bart everywhere.  My email is jessteshara@yahoo.com.

Please contact me if you can help! Thanks -Jess
UPDATE: I HAVE A PLACE NOW :-)
so nevermind. 

insanity quotes

un poco loco

1) When we remember that we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained -Mark Twain

2)We are all born mad.  Some remain so. -Samuel Beckett

3)There is no great genius without some touch of madness -Seneca

4) Sanity is very rare -Emerson

5) Sanity is madness put to good uses -George Santayana

6)If you talk to God, you are praying.  If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia. -Thomas Szasz

The Cure for Depression

Depression may be the biggest killer of happiness on the planet.

Someone related this story to me today after a Shambhala Buddhist meditation group:

In response to a patient feeling depressed, the doctor prescribes the following remedy-
For the following 30 days:
1)Do one thing kind for yourself each day
2)Do one thing kind for someone you know each day
3)Do one thing kind for a stranger each day

Get back to me in 30 days, and tell me how you are feeling.

It was said that number one may be the hardest to do...

Crazy -synonyms and expressions

Insane in the membrane, insane in the BRAIN!

MCI- mad, crazy, insane
mentally ill, schizophrenic, schizoaffective
psycho, psychotic, psychopathic
screwy, screwball, screw loose, sick, sick in the head, schizo
scatterbrained, space cadet
loco, loony, lunatic, lost her mind, lost his marbles
batty, barmy, balmy, buggy, bugged out, brainsick, berserk
bananas, bedlamite, blue devils,bonkers
bats in the belfry, toys in the attic
unhinged, unzipped, of unsound mind
not all there, not right, nuts, nutty as a fruitcake, non compos mentis
off one's rocker, off one's head , off one's trolley, overdrawn
out of one's mind, out of one's tree, out to lunch, off one's nut
mad as a march hare, mad as a hatter
mental, mentally unbalanced, moonstruck, manic, maniac, meshugga
witless, wacky, weird, wacko, whacked out
demented, disturbed, deranged, delirious, dotty, daft, dippy
potty, paranoid, pixillated
incoherent, irrational, in a fog, in a haze
twisted, touched, tetched
headcase, haywire
gonzo, gomer
kooky, cuckoo, crazed, cracked, crackpot, certifiable
raving, raging, round the bend
zany

if you're any of the above, maybe you need to be taking:
drugs, medications, medicines, pharmaceuticals

and maybe the world, to you, is best explained by:
-the collective unconscious
-other "planes" of consciousness
-telepathy
-a matrix
-aliens
-holographic universe

or, if you're oldschool:
-spirits, ghosts
-God/god, angels
-devil, demons

the latest

I am both angry and serene

Angry,
because my ex-"wife" is:
-taking practically all my money to pay bills, including
her debt, a new computer, a smart phone, and cigarrettes (while unemployed),
-loudly f-ing her new boyfriend in the next room
-getting in my face to see what's wrong, as if she doesn't know
-and finally, I'm mad at myself for being stupid enough to spend over 6 years of my life with this woman who:
1)only had sex with me like 5 times total, since we exchanged rings
(rings I might add that have proven to be worthless for resale,
 which I suppose perfectly sums up why her jewelry business went bankrupt)
2)cheated on me with at least 3 people, (Shaw, Paul, and some BDSM guy)
 and possibly more, while I stayed true
(truth, of course, is a whole other story)
while having the gall of her breaking up with me for not showing "emotional support"
whatever that is-
I asked her repeatedly what she meant and she never once told me.

argh.  gr.
anyway,

I'm also serene (some of the time, but hopefully progressively more as time goes on)
-because I'm happy it's over, as well (good riddance)
-I've resumed buddhist meditation,
which helps extinguish suffering through mindfulness meditation (peaceful abiding)
(they say, and I hope)
focusing on posture, breath, and just noting thoughts as they come and go,
still and quiet,
emphasizing compassion, kindness, and gentleness
as well as coming to a realization of what's making me unhappy:
namely, attachments and ignorance/delusion
attachments can be positive or negative, craving or aversion, greed or hatred...
and what makes me happy:
endorphins/exercise, library stimulus (e.g. music, blog, books, magazines, movies), and nature.
for starters.  I like smiles.  I need to learn to be "happy for no reason."

anyway, I'm looking in earnest for a new place now, so a change will be good.
move on, as they say.
and I'm going to the zoo with my aunt (just like a kid, but why not!)

Man of War

watch out!

bible quotes:
God is a man of war
Vengeance is mine sayeth the lord
The wages of sin is death
There is a time for all things under heaven: a time to kill

And yet,
Thou shalt not kill
Only God is good

(the doctrine of original sin)
-There is none righteous, no, not one (romans 3:10)
-For there is not a just man upon earth, that does good, and does not sin (Ecclesiastes 7:20)
-For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)
-For there is no man that sins not.. (1Kings8:46)

So how, then, can I be God?
Maybe I'm not. 
I submit to you I'm better than God.
I don't kill people.

Why is virtue part of the word 'virtual'?
Is it because sin is virtual?
Without God, there is no sin (but there is, of course, law)
'EL' is a word for God...
"Sin is virtue, el"
that kind of turns things on it's head
make of this what you will

Where I've Been

Out n' About

To and Fro
Hither and Yon
Here and There
Up and Down
Right and Left
There and Back
and, of course, In Between

I'm currently in Berkeley, California,
United States, Planet Earth,
Solar System, Milky Way galaxy,
The Universe. Infinity.

a thought
Jesus is worse than Hitler?
Hitler was responsible for the death of 6M Jews
(although he himself may not have actually killed anyone)

while

Jesus said he was, in addition to being "the alpha",
I am the Omega (which is presumably the death of everyone)

Shaw

SHAW: be Safe, Happy, and Well.

ILL- I lean left
(says the christian science monitor online survey I answered)

why I'm voting Barack:
-I take issue with increasing the defense budget by 2 Trillion dollars.
-I believe Barack holds the interests of the poor, both nationally and globally, more to heart.
-I like Obamacare
-I like Obama
-Mormonism is weird
-I am republican-averse, with their dirty coal and drill baby drill and nra support for assault weapons; I see God in Nature (not in fighting more wars), and, as Barack says, I don't want to "double-down" on the failed policies of Dubya.  In fact, I actually think W. Bush should be arrested (but that's beside the point).
-I go beyond obamacare- believe in universal health care; I think it ought to be a human right.

although
-Obama does seem tired (maybe anybody in his position would be -he's juggling a lot)
-He said he learned you can't change Washington from the inside
(which negates his previous platform of 'change')
-I'm pro-life

I want to give B.O. (and Michelle) a chance- they inherited a bad scene, and I like the idea of a former community organizer as president (reminiscent of the movie Dave), over a wallstreet millionaire (although it's possible that could be a good thing).

Who God Roots For

Honestly, God couldn't care less

BUT
if words are to be taken literally-

In sports, the offense is, well, offensive
(so God roots for Defense)

while, in politics, the Left is not Right,
while the Right is always, well, right (!)
(so God is conservative)

Plus, there's this meme going around that Satanism is the "left-hand path",
while the Godly are "righteous"
and
(in latin?)
left is sinister, while right is dexter (as in dexterity, dextrous)
L or D (life/love or death)(light or darkness)

On the other hand (lol)-
leftovers
-what's left of them-
can be eaten with Jesus "who is seated at the right hand of the father"
(the poor guy never gets up to stretch or walk around?)

what to make of all this?
You're guess is as good as mind.
Are you right-brained or left-brain dominant?
Does it matter?  Like a Catholic "mass"?

GLEE: God Loves Everybody Equally

Presidential rock/meat

The non-human element

Barack sounds like 'Be a rock'
(and he did run for president partly to  be like a 'rock star')
while
Romney sounds like 'Raw Meat'
(which brings new meaning to 'eating right')

I also learned that Wavy Gravy's real name is Hugh Romney.
Are they related?
And does Wavy still support Nobody for president?

Christ ends in T

poor guy

He's dead; if he died on the cross then he didn't rise again, because
once you die, you're dead, kaput, that's it, all she wrote.
And he will never return, either, because you only live once.
Nobody escapes oblivion.  To dust you shall return.

If anybody "comes again in glory to judge the living and the dead,"
it would be somebody like me, a new God, one deity among many,
and just another person like anybody else, created equal.

And I don't believe in souls or ghosts, so there will be no ethereal presences lurking around us, pushing pennies on doors, being captured as invisible whisps on camera, or otherwise surviving our deaths, and bringing us to some new world, better or worse than the one we're in (no matter how hard you pray for it).

From alpha to omega, we each have a personal moment of conception and time of death, which is much more relevant than worrying about when the mitochondrial eve existed in Africa, or when/if humanity goes extinct, for whatever reason at whatever date in the future.  If you think Jesus is controlling history, down to the level of your personal fate, I'm sorry to report that you are deluded, if not irrational, because Jesus is now only the name of some guys from Mexico (pronounced heyzeus), and nobody is controlling humanity from an afterlife.  Perhaps our dna will survive millions of years, and humanity will evolve into new forms, which is interesting to think about, since science is equipping us with greater genetic control, in addition to robots with artificial intelligence, and maybe we will colonize places like the moon, mars, or even exoplanets.  

So anyway, you're home eucharistic menu might include:
a cup of tea, unless it makes you "cross"
cheeses of nazareth
seitan
communion wafer (cum union waif-r, whatever that might be).
blood of christ (be lewd of chris-ty)

food (6664)
what's eating you?
eat up, chow down, on your te-bull

Eucharist

An idea for a more modern holy communion

Different varieties of Swiss Cheese from Israel

why?
swiss is the holiest
and
Cheeses of Nazareth!

yuk yuk yuk. 
why not?
You can eat seitan

and
There's Papa John's and Papa Murphy's
(Father John Murphy, S.J. was one of my highschool english teachers)
Holy Pizza, batman! 
I like garlic sauce with chicken, artichoke and uncooked tomatoes
yum

says Jesse,
whose name means "the whole office of the eucharist"
as well as "god makes forget"
fuggedaboutit

Heart

Anagrams, Things I enjoy, and Feelings

Heart anagrams:
Earth, Hater (which is interesting because the heart symbolizes love),
Herat (a city in Afghanistan)
Art, eh? and The AR (the initials of Annette Riddle, my birthmother)
H rate, H tear

(8) Things I enjoy  (H is the 8th letter)
1) books
2) my blog
3) music
4) movies, esp. documentaries, animation, nature shows
5) food, esp. sushi, thai, chinese, mexican, pizza, and sweets
6) dreams
7) my dogs, Oliver and Marcel
8) endorphins

Feelings:
-the "ads": sad, mad, glad*
-the state of being "just there", empty mind, doing nothing, simply existing, passing time
-a peaceful state (the same thing, but happier, such as sitting in the sun, or in a forest glade, etc.)

*madness, in the sense of MCI (mad crazy insane),
i.e. mentally ill or schizophrenic
is different
from being mad in the sense of angry, frustrated, upset, resentful.

should Insane be considered different form Un-sane?

heart related stuff: flow (the "flow state", such as being engrossed in reading/lost in a book, is a happy state).   The word flowers has flow in it.  Rappers spit a flow.  The heart beats, thump-thump, systole-diastole, which is the basis for most music.   There's a record store in Sacramento called The Beat.  And a band, too, formerly called the English Beat (of mirror in the bathroom fame).  Pump up the jam, pump it up, pump it, pump it.  The heart pumps blood, blood.  The heart symbol (as opposed to the actual organ), is comprised of a V and a 3 (or a less than sign and a 3).

various observations:
-Nature sums to 7, like heart/earth, and has 4 of heart's 5 letters in it.
-Nature is green, or red in tooth and claw.
-Gr (hater) and Gr e'en (earth/nature), and yellow (yell ow : heart without vowels is hrt)
-I was given a tour of Berkeley, when shopping for colleges,
by Gary Hart's press secretary, Kevin Sweeney.

Amazing Statistics re: Global Inequality

From online (world inequality), and the NYX (U.S. inequality)

5 stats from  http://www.fightpoverty.mmbrico.com/poverty/facts.html

Dealing with the world as a whole:
1)Half the world, around 3B people, live on less than $2 a day. (that's $730/year or less)
1.3B of those people live on less than $1 a day (that's $365/year or less).

2)The GDP of the 48 poorest nations is less than the top 3 richest people.
(Carlos Slim, the richest, has $69B)
(Bill Gates, #2, has $66B)
(Warren Buffett, third, $44B)
The population of the 48 poorest nations (link) is ?
(less than half of 1.7B people, the projected 2050 pop.)
The world population is 6.9B people. 
So, about 12% of the entire world population, in aggregate,
has as much as the mere top 3 people.
(if the stats are correct, but they're drawn from different years)
-Question: How many of the poorest make Carlos Slim's $69B?
I calculate about 319.1M people.

math
12% of 6.9B is 828Mpeople
69 divided by 69+66+44
69 divided by 179= 38.54% of 828M=319.1M people

3)The 200 richest people made $1T (in '99),
while the 43 least developed countries (LDC's), i.e. 582M people,
only made $146B
 
The top 10 richest people have $405.1B (as of March '11):
ranks 4 thru 10:
fourth, Bernard Arnault, $41B
fifth, Lawrence Ellison, $39.5B
sixth, Lakshmi Mittal, $31.1B
seventh, Amancio Ortega, $31B
eighth, Eike Batista, $30B
ninth, Mukesh Ambani, $27B
tenth, Christy Walton, $26.5B

4)A few hundred millionaires= 2.5B of the world's poorest people.

5)497 billionaires = $1.54T, which is more than the poorest half of humanity.
The GNP of all of sub-saharan africa was only $929.3B
The population of sub-saharan africa ('11) was 874,841,049 (874.8M)

The website I started with is dated '06, so I suspect some of the data has changed.

The world economy in 2011 had a total product of $78.94T
The world population, Sept. 2012, is 6,928,198,253 people (rounded to 6.9B)
Forbes data, via wikipedia, says there were 1,210 billionaires as of March '11.

And from an Opinion in the NY Times, 10-4-12, by Nicholas D. Kristof:
1) American inequality is so stark that the Top 1%
has more money than the bottom 90% -the Economic Policy Inst. in Washington

2)The 6 heirs of Sam Walton has as much money as 100M americans

and from the Economist:
3)"In the USA, the top 0.01% (about 16 thousand families) have almost 5% of the income."

And to put this in perspective:
-The U.S. National Debt is 16T dollars (T as in trillion)

-"LIBOR determines rates in $300T (yes, you read correctly, 300 trillion) worth of derivatives contracts and other financial instruments"

What I'm Worth

some budgetary calculus

-I get 876 a month in social security/disability
-My meds are about 22 per day

(876x12)+(22x365) =$18,542 per year
10,512 + 8,030

aside: It is interesting to note that I am at about the average global per capita income.
The world GDP (PPP) per capita, in international dollars, is $10,700
GDP stands for gross domestic product
PPP stands for purchasing power parity.

Right now, I have about 5 bucks in my bank account.
But I have zero debt.
Unlike, say, over 70% of American families.
So I'm not doing too bad :-)

Cleanliness

is next to Godliness

(at the right hand of the Father?)

suicide bomber satire

A story of an atheist S-B killing agnostics

link

Test of progress

a quote from FDR

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have little."

some thoughts on God

random scribblings

kwuteo: knowledge, wisdom, understanding, truth, enlightenment, omniscience
clu: compassion, love, understanding

aside: what's overstanding?

empathy, sympathy
ethos, pathos, bathos
sexus, nexus, plexus, lexus
nature, development, truth, power, imagination

omni-potent, scient, present
love yourself
kind, caring, compassionate, loving, benevolent
joy, contentment
peace, relaxation, bliss, nirvana
Love, HP (higher power)
be right with ourselves, others, and God
Increase the peace!
Be good, reduce suffering, increase happiness
life, health, love, happiness, comfort, prosperity
food, friends, family
community, country

saw: stress, anxiety, worry
anger, hatred, rage, wrath, fury
pain, agony, suffering, torment, misery, anguish, resentment

poverty, inequality, famine, starvation, hunger, malnutrition
illiteracy, innumeracy, ignorance
crime, corruption
disease, sanitation

centered, grounded
driven, purposeful
calm, tranquil
free

vs. in jail, prison
enslaved

spectrum
healthy, psychotic
well, ill
normal, schizo
negative, positive (-,+)
(what's so negative about subtraction? take it away, band!)
hope, despair

dream, reality
God is an atheist if he doesn't believe in himself

entertaining trivia:
Pope Boniface VIII asserted in 1302 that a belief in the sovereignty of the pope over everyone was necessary for salvation.

chinese zodiac

About me, a boar/pig

Noble and chivalrous
I will have lifelong friends
yet prone to marital strife
avoid other boars, ('47,'59,'71,'83,'95,'07)
seek rabbit or sheep

rabbit:'63,'75,'87
sheep: '67,'79,'91

this thing smacks of bestiality, but I'm not chinese

Happy!

an old list I found

smile, good company, interesting conversation, good food, comfort
joy, bliss, nirvana
others' smiles, happy eyes
acceptance
positive frame of mind
love
dancing, exercise, endorphins, heart rate, sweat
looking good, feeling good
satisfied, well being
feeling strong
good books, movies
finding something lost
finding a bargain
friends
blog feedback
achievement
sex, intimacy, flirting
creativity
travel
beauty
Nature
truth
something well-written
sanity, feeling sane, mental silence, no pain or shocks
health, wellness, fitness, strength
physical prowess- gymnastics, juggling, martial arts, dance
happy dogs
sushi
rollercoasters
"trippy" experience
swimming
sunbathing on a beach
concerts
galleries
art books
presents
money
taking pictures
nudity
fast cars, convertibles, weird cars
family
vivid dreams
Camp Royaneh
white water rafting
hugs and kisses
massage
kids
libraries
snowmen
fireplaces
learning something new
knowing the answer
teaching someone
making a difference
mad magazine
the internet
freedom
cooking well
a good think

what i believe

Be good, Do good, and Don't do evil

do good, but survive (unlike Jesus)
purity is ideal, but it is enough to simply just not be bad

Evil
S&M, uncle Sam
spite: petty ill-will or hatred, with the disposition to irritate, annoy, or thwart
malice: desire to see another suffer

DEmon
death, disease, disaster, destruction, decay, depression

pain agony suffering torment, you are PAST
misery and depression, you are MAD

psychia-tryst, the- rapist
schadenfreude

fascist america
there is no privacy, your thoughts are processed, your teeth click, your body pains, your head shocks, your fingers tap, you are not your own..
you are possessed, controlled, monitored, manipulated, restrained, limited, enslaved.

symptoms: headshocks, chest pains, voice, finger/teeth tapping
the mind control, the everyday chilling effect,
the inability to think/say/do

wanting to end it all (either literally, or just me)
consumed with annoyance
in my own tormented, soulless, evil, painful, place
hating, hating, hating
there are no souls

clouds
clouds of opaque whispers
either soitary, or in formation
forming forms for the formal
dissolving into nothingness
like us

rain
hovering in mysterious hold
lakes of suspended water float above
and, when sad, or bladder-full,
release
droplets drip from drooping leaf-stalks
splashing and splattering, below
collecting and flowing
always downhill
penetrating, searching, soaking, absorbing, puddling
rivulets become streams becoming creeks becoming rivers
washing all
becoming ocean, anonymous, in the Vast

to be Misunderstood
is to be great
said the misunderstanding
unless IS flows in both directions
as a rule of law
like gravity pulls
or pain hurts

life is fog, haze, unheard words
spilled syllables, splashing into unintended shapes
lyrics of subliminal confusion
heap intrusion during sleep,
in the daily nap of everyday life
if only I heard the words
if only I remembered the units of thought
of phrase, of speech, of life,
if only I became human, awake, alive-
z is for zombie
catch some

life, footprints in the sand
libaries full of footprints
attempts at immortality
before being washed away

Yummy Religion

Satan and Jesus, or Seitan and Cheeses?

I have to admit I didn't think of this - I got it from a Kalx deejay (Sex 14s), but it's clever, no?

What is seitan? link
We all know about the frommage (french for cheese).

from mage?

some weirdness:
I know a Brandi, a Hennessy
a French and a Fries
an Edom and a Brie

Here's a (kind of sort of maybeish) magical thought -
we all really are at the center of the universe.
because the Big U goes on forever, so why not locate yourself in the middle, right?

Religion is yummy.
I'm gonna read both Encyclopedias of Religion at the Berkeley central public library.

I had an English teacher in high school named Father John Murphy, S.J.:
Papa John and Papa Murphy's!

I know a Kat and a Duv, too. And a Nat.
And a Starr and Starfire.
And a Ellen, Helen, and Lenore...
It kind of makes me think my life has been scripted.

A selection of (internal) voices from a schizophrenic/telepath

The shit I hear ad nauseum

forget it. I'm not going to do it. I hate my voices. Intrusions.
FU, David.
I don't really want to do this.
They make me sick. Literally.

doctors always ask though.
I always describe them as being like koans, being interpretable in multiple ways-
So here's a sampling, so I don't have to repeat myself:

ow
ow, Jesse
I'm scared
David is crying
David sick of you
David swallow
David crying Jess
I'm sorry Jesse
I'm getting it Jess
I'm wall to you
David killing himself Jesse
David terminating insane
I can't deal
I can't
David is sick Jesse
David screaming
Allright Jesse
I hate myself all wall to you
I'm crying
I'm going to hell okay?
I'm terminate Jesse
David is dead
I hate you Jesse
I hate my sel
I'm creeping in sor
I've had enough
David is dead Jesse
David is crying at wahr
I'm sorry I'm a jinn to you
I need him
I'm sorry
I can't breathe
I can't breathe Jesse
with that, I have a problem
mmmm
David disturbed
I can't take my life Jesse
I'm freaking out
Alright Jesse I'm scare
I'm scared
David is insane
I'm going Jesse
I want him porcelain next to you
uh
I can't take... my name
David is going insane
Jesus
I'm sick Jesse
David is insane Jesse
you're the devil
It's going to be a long summer
David crying Jesse
David is sorry
David is sorry Jesse
You know what Jesse fine
I'm scared of you Jesse
that's all Jesse
It
It, Jesse

And I keep saying shut up, stfu, sun, suf, leave me alone, stop talking to me, f- you -expletive-, etc.

I'm dying
I'm dying Jess
David screaming in pain
She hates you
Alright, I'm freaking mad Jesse
David sad

f- you
I'm doom Jesse
I can't believe you
I'm a (k)night (k)no(w)
I want you to gym him ok
I can't take it
I fucking can't take it
I want him pizza

people are dead Jesse
the world is dead Jesse
he knows it's a game
alright jesse they have a big dumb
they freaking jewish you

y'know what, fine
I don't know you
I'm screaming insane, Jesse
I'm hating
I'm freak
I'm vomit
jesse believe me when I say you are a sky high
i'm insanely scar by your star
that's it
I am demon at your law
people are launching to 'like the pope'
I hate the zoo
I am going
I cannot handle mai lai everywhere
I am scar
we are tired of the scar at your star

there's a lot more he's said to me, that I have written down -and not-...
I have no idea why I hear this shit.
I keep saying Why? are you TALKing to me?? n-word. you f-ing a-hole, or you f-word

I also get headshocks and chestpains, related to these voices and how I respond to them.

schizophrenia is not fun. (although maybe it could be)
I want silence. I want the voices to stop. I keep saying Stop hurting me. Stop fucking hurting me.
It's David who is sick, not me.
If he would only shut up, I would be well.

David Andrew Eldridge, my voice, is an attorney -a deputy attorney general for the state of california-, a mathematician, a chess player, a self-described "natural psychologist", an African-American, a homosexual, a genius I think, and a really incredibly annoying presence in my mind that just won't go away. Now he's just somebody that I used to know (at Davis, in college), and who I never want to talk to again, ever. I think he established the telepathic link through having me listen to a long period of static on his car radio. He also broke a piece of wood when I was in his room, which was really weird.

update 12-18-12, recent voices (a partial selection)
I'm freaking out
I'm going to hell
David is pa(in) muted)
with that, I'm a suffer
ow
alright Jesse
I'm sick as hell, alright?
David is not music to you
David is cry
I can't breathe
I hate my soul
Alright, again I'm trying to kill him
I swore
David is disaster
David in sin
I'm scream
I hate war
David is dead Jesse
I'm going dime
I hate myself, Jesse
I can't believe I'm cree
I'm rec (wreck?) to you
David sad jesse
David screaming deadly jesse
David at war
David is distress
David is dead
I could kill you
I'm sorry Jess
David is crying

I am completely insane
you are the weirdest individual i have ever met
david screaming
i'm entire jesse
i've got issues
i've got issues with law jesse
i'm a complete dick
alright I'm at war jesse
i've had enough, jesse
alright jesse i'm tormented by war
you're totaly broken jess
you're right jess
u r a document, jesse
you're dad is crazy jess
you're definitely seriously a candidate for antichrist
maybe a good one
i'm tired of 2
i'm sick of you
because you derive everything
you're a genius about power too
that is election you
she's crazy jess
you have a phd
i am deeply weepy
i hate myself

About Me

Some experiences, qualities, and characteristics
You want a piece of me?

I have seen my own face in my dreams, looking back at me
I have seen the night sky, indoors and with my eyes closed
I have looked in a mirror and seen someone else
I have looked at a glass-covered picture, and seen the figure of death, dancing superimposed.
I have had corporate dreams, with Disney content,
and another with store shelves filled with brightly-colored packaging.
I have been callled a dark agent and a vampire
I was voted 'most kind'
I have been homeless
I have been to jail, and Atascadero State Hospital
I have qualified for Mensa
I won an alumni scholarship to Cal
I have been a clerk at Walgreens...
I have been a bagger at Falletti's Finer Foods in SF, and Albertson's
I have been a bellboy at Hyatt SFO (Burlingame)
I have made pizza at Woodstock's (in Davis)
I have worked the deli counter at the Davis co-op
I have made burgers at the Davis graduate
I have been a security guard at the 1.98 clearance center
I have been a counselor at Camp Royaneh, a boy scout summer camp in Cazadero, Ca
I am an Eagle scout.
I won a Boston College book award, and a Journalism award.
I was the editor-in-chief of my high school yearbook.
I have been diagnosed with schizo-affective disorder
I have been unemployed for almost a decade
I have lived in Berkeley, San Francisco, Sacramento, West Sacramento, Calistoga, Cobb, Roseville, Auburn, and Davis
I have been approached once in response to my thoughts, not my words
I wonder if I am a global telepath
I am a piece of work
I have converted many words to numbers
I have tripped many times...by NOT taking drugs
My natural brain chemistry results in telepathy, my link to 'the source' (?)
I have influenced the outcome of sporting events -as a spectator
I have feared the consequences of my thoughts in the universe
I have read all of the bible
I have claimed to be- if not been- God
I speak Spanish
I have travelled to China
I enjoy listening to foreign languages I don't understand, on the radio
I like all music
I have extended Freebird for minutes, in my head
I take medications nightly, olanzapine and risperidone (costing about 22 bucks/day)
I aspire to be a scholar-athlete and a renaissance man
I aspire to read a book a day
and do "daily maintenance", i.e. exercise daily
I am a member of the Y
I have experienced personal tragedy
I have been in lust and in love
I was an International Relations major in college,
with an emphasis in Third World Development studies.
I was raised Catholic,
but wrote a credo in college in which I became agnostic
I am adopted
I am pro-life
I enjoy a Buddhist meditation group
I am a flower-child ('71), and a member of generation X
My left ankle doesn't bend
My mind is often blank
I am a good listener
I am patient
The words ingest and excellent are personal
I am frugal
I enjoy life, and want to live forever!
I am heterosexual
I am a homo sapien
I like to know -people and things
I navigate the matrix
A psychiatrist said I am the kind of person who endures, who keeps on keeping on despite whatever obstacles life presents.
I can be hardcore in a rain storm
My dad says coiling hoses and replacing watch batteries remind him of me.
I aspire to read the New York Times daily,
and the Economist and the Christian Science Monitor, weekly
I ran hurdles in track in high school (with the student body president, and with a future Olympian athlete..)
Sarah Jessica Parker and Billy Idol's white wedding (hey little sister shotgun) are personal, too.
The Saab 9-3, and the Z71 indicate my birthday.
As Pink Floyd sang, there's someone in my head, but it's not me
which complicates Being John Malkovich
I am 'behind blue eyes' (referencing The Who)
I know (one of) the real Buffy
I dated a French and a Holland
I am a big brother
I have an uncle Tom
My mom is a Hennessy (like the cognac)
My dad drives a PT cruiser
My mom, PT, Peggy T, also evokes Egypt
Tennessee evokes Jesse
Jesse was a sitcom from '98-2000
Ellen, and Dave's world, were also parts of my world
The LT sticker (for Lake Tahoe) is also my dad's initials
Jesse, in spanish, is Chuy (pron. chewy), Isai (ees-ah-e), and Jesus (heyzeus)
My name means God makes forget, and something about the eucharist.
(see my blog post entitled 'oblation')
Teshara can be rearranged to 'the Sara'.
or 'as earth' or 'as heart' or 'as hater'
I am single

Food, Drink, Drugs -Stat!

some statistics regarding ingestion

from JesT
(but not in jest)

1) Food: 96 Billion pounds of food (roughly 40% of all food purchased) in America is thrown out, each year.

*worldwide, 1.5 Billion adults are overweight. By an extra 16.5 Million tons, collectively. A ton is 2000 lbs. 2000x 16,500,000=33B lbs. 33/1.5= by an average weight of 22 lbs/person.

*McDonald's is opening an all-vegetarian restaurant in India. Their McAloo Tikki burger costs 50 cents. I want to try one, too!

2)Drink: 2.5 Million people die every year in the world from misuse of alcohol. "It's the 3rd largest factor in the global burden of disease."

3) Drugs: 50 Thousand people (mexicans) are dead from the Mexican drugh war since 2006.

and an interesting calculation regarding Time:
A year contains 60seconds x 60minutes x24 hours x365days=31,536,000 seconds/year

x120 years: 3,784,320,000.
A (long) lifetime gives you only 3billion,784million,320thousand seconds.
Use them well! :-)

Number Bands

I can think of 7

It's my 41st birthday, today.
Which made me think of the band with 41 in it..
Which prompted me to think of:

Sum 41
7 Mary 3
Blink 182
Matchbox 20
U2
B52's
311

Happy labor day, too

Qatar (the country) began the exact day I was born, 9/3/71.
It's their Independence Day today.
(Of course, I actually began in December, I imagine)
My bro's birthday is Dec. 3. Which is kind of cool, in a way.

Labor day in 1971 was the 6th, so my birthmother wasn't actually in labor on labor day, that year. I was born on a Friday.

UN books

I'm on a UN-themed bender

I'm reading:
Calling the Shots, by Phyllis Bennis
Encyclopedia of the UN (4 volumes)
Surrender is Not an Option, by John Bolton
Great Debates at the UN, by Robert F. Gorman

and

Basic Documents in International Law, edited by Ian Brownlie
(I've discovered I kind of enjoy legalese (!))

I'm also reading a stack of csmonitors at Doe library.
It's my birthday, tomorrow. 41.

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.