Oracles Previous postings from the Wm. Thomas Sherman Info Page 2014. By Wm. Thomas Sherman 1604 NW 70th St. Seattle, WA 98117 206-784-1132 [email protected] http://www.gunjones.com ~~~~~~*~~~~~~ TENETS *If we ever experienced a problem anywhere, it came about, in some degree, due to certain wrong assumptions, either co-present with, or just prior to the given problem’s actually taking place. * Unless you believe in God, the One, and or the infinite, every assumption is contingent. * PROCESS (or if you prefer spirit, or activity) PRECEDES IMAGE. Image may, to some extent, (and sometimes almost perfectly) represent process. But process is always superior to and always more real than image. If process precedes image this might suggest also that mind precedes matter and energy. * Everything we believe, or say we know, is based on a factual or value judgment. Both kinds of judgment always entail the other to some extent, and nothing can be known or exists for us without them. * No fact or purported fact is true or false without someone to assert and believe it to be such. If an assertion or claim is deemed true or false then, and we are thorough, we should ask who is it that says so (or has said so), and what criteria are (were) they using? There is no such thing as “faceless” truth or reality -- at least none we are capable of knowing. * You can’t escape reason. If you aren’t rational yourself, someone else will be rational for you; nor do their intentions toward you need to be friendly or benevolent. * Every point of view and opinion has its truth to it -- even the most abhorrent and unacceptable to us. This said, we are naturally inclined to assume that some opinions have much greater truth to them than others. Even so, what little truth there is in any point of view must, at least at some juncture, and certainly with respect to issues of heated controversy, be justly and reasonably respected. Why? Because we would not be honest (and therefore not truthful) if we didn’t. *Ultimately, and when all is said and done, thought without heart is nothing. * Most, if not all, of society’s very worst problems arise from (certain) spirit people and those who listen to them -- whether the former comes in the shape of “God,” angel, devil or what have you. It is these people who are most the source and cause of real unhappiness. If then you chance to have contact with such, while having (one assumes) overcome their lures, deceptions, and pretenses of benevolence and higher knowledge, I recommend that this (i.e., “unhappiness” or “unhappiness itself”) is what you call them. Blame them for (most) everything wrong; for it is it is they who have been and are the ruin of everyone and everything (that is, if anyone is or could be said to be so.) Mottos: “When you can face me, I’ll consider taking you seriously.” “Millions for defense; not one cent for tribute!” “The whole of the city is at the mercy of a gang of criminals, led by a man who calls himself the Kid. And I’m the only one who can find him for you.” Note. The “oracles” are given, top to the bottom of the text, in order from the most recent to the very earliest entry (just as originally presented at gunjones.com); the very first you see below then is the last entered at the website, while the very first entered for the year is given as the last item in this text. 1 A quite incredible story, whether or not his claim proves to be correct. In any case, certainly his facial features and striking resemblance to the mother make his assertions all the more credible. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOX8XdxmNv4 ["Charles Lindbergh Jr. Lives....Amazing!"] Here's some further on the same: http://articles.latimes.com/2004/oct/03/magazine/tm-lindbergh40 http://www.examiner.com/article/man-claiming-to-be-lindbergh-baby-appears-on-coast-to-coast-am ~~~~~~*~~~~~~ My (U.S.) Man in Space collection; with Liberty Bell 7 on the left. For the Record... Since wooden ship models are too expensive for me in terms of time, space, and equipment necessary to build them, my new hobby this past year has been plastic models. It is nice to note that when I inadvertently lost the "United States" decal for my Apollo command module, Revell models obligingly supplied me with a replacement free of charge. Wow, it was just like the old days when businesses all over were as a matter of course customer friendly (unlike say Microsoft in the past 5 years.) --------- After only a few years using it, my Kindle for no apparent reason whatsoever "cracked-screen" on me. Is this pre-planned obsolescence (with, not inconceivably, mischievous as usual magician and "the speelburg" helping amazon out in this?) Hmmm, I wonder. Now when Kindles are put of for sale, and I hadn't encountered this previously, they recommend you purchase a 1 to 3 year warrantee. In any event, I intend on waiting a while before buying a new one. --------- There's a bin at the local grocery store for collecting food donations for pets of the needy; with a sign on the bin reading "Tough Times Are Hard On Them Too." Then about the same time I found out to my utter dismay and disgust that the state of Washington has a sales tax on pet food! Now that to me, honestly, is practically satanic. What on earth is the sense of such a tax? ~~~~~~*~~~~~~ Does or will the beatific vision, or the idea of what is most beautiful, dispense with the moral law? If there is anything like a basic and objective standard, or standards, of beauty, and I personally do, the answer must be no. For one, if there are no basic standards for what is beautiful, then anything is or may be equally beautiful; in which case and if so, there is no point demarcating or distinguishing anything as beautiful, or especially beautiful, to begin with. Furthermore, there are certain dispositions that hate what is beautiful, say out of envy or jealousy, and it is easy to see how those possessing or afflicted with such might adopt such a negative and self-defeating (or beauty defeating) view as a means of attacking it. 2 Some, for instance, prefer material greed far above true and higher standards or beauty; indeed, they will frankly sell their soul to the devil for lucre. As a result, they may attack or disparage true beauty as something inferior to the acquisition of exorbitant and not strictly necessary material wealth or luxury. We might see this, for example, in someone who cuts down an ancient forest or who sells a family into slavery (to give just two illustrations) for purposes of selfish profit. If asked why did they do this, they might respond, intentionally or by implication that the selfish material gain to them is of more value than any respect for the environment or, in the second instance, any respect for rudimentary justice and fairness. Here the pressure of greed works to efface an appreciation for what conscientious persons would see as more beautiful; namely a consideration for nature or fundamental human compassion; as opposed and in contrast to the advantage of increasing excess material riches. True, there may be mitigating circumstances which might palliate if not wholly excuse the hatefulness of a grossly immoral act. Nonetheless, it is not hard to see how the individual, all too prone and ready to dispense with morals, gradually over time grows at odds with and in opposition to what is beautiful -- till they reach a point where they think little or nothing of beauty if it competes or interferes with the pursuit of material selfishness or a craven nature. In addition to the vice of greed, inveterate cowardice might have a similar effect; as in the coward rejects or makes light of the noble deed as being beautiful or of higher worth; simply because the deed is one he himself would absolutely refuse to do under any circumstances. In this, it is easy to see how it is quite possible for a materially poor person to, in a certain sense, be far richer than a materially wealthy one; that is, because he or she possesses an infinitely superior sense of beauty. The rich man may be able to buy beautiful things. Yet the poor person with an inborn, intuitive, and or trained aesthetic sense knows better what actually is beautiful. If we grant the above it then becomes readily apparent why in recent years the movies, television, music, and other popular arts and media have by and large gone to the junk, and that is because the people in charge of producing and making them in the mass media are so obsessed with material acquisition that they have lost virtually all sense of real beauty. Films, music, etc. then become merely venues to show your solidarity with the money hoarding powers that be, and if you want money you will need to evince your support of their shows. What follows in turn is that the arts and music start losing all real meaning, and become mere prescriptions for party validation (i.e., the party of persons who want in on money, privilege, including basic legal rights). The culture at large in turn becomes crass and degraded; such that the public is debased and corrupted to a frightening extent.