CLEANING GRAVEL 2

I finally finished my gravel paths.(see CLEANING GRAVEL) It took quite a bit longer than I  thought it would but you know how it goes. You start by changing a light bulb, find a crack in the wall and end up doing a reno.

The actual cleaning and replacement of the gravel went well. To help keep it clean I then doubled up the stonework to better retain the soil where it slopes down to the paths. Where the paths were low I decided to add more crushed gravel. The new gravel was a finer texture and it looked a lot better than the original. So I made 5, 5 minute trips to the pit, loaded  51, 5 gal. pails of gravel and spread it 11/2 to 2" deep on every foot of path.

Does it look great! As an added bonus the finer aggregate keeps falling debris on the surface so the shop vac works really well. This is good because it is less likely I'll be caught vacuuming my paths.

When I first got into the tasks I had serious doubts about whether I should have even bothered trying to clean either my garden paths or our philosophical paths. The former was a big job but microscopic when compared to the latter. Still the results in my garden leave me somewhat reassured.

HEALTH CARE

Canadians need look no further for their defining characteristic than the continuing debate over health care. Will it ever end? The signs are not encouraging that we will soon be defined as a segment of humanity that has joined the sides of the debate.

To join the sides we need to start at the beginning, where no one wants to go. No one wants to talk about the purpose of life before getting into the purpose of health care. If we agreed on our common purpose there would be no debate. We would simply do what is necessary to accomplish our purpose.

At the present time we have the same dominant purpose. It is the materialistic reaction to the void.(see poem) However, trying to fill the void with money and the things it buys puts us all in conflict. We're after as much as we can get because there is not enough to fill the void. With this purpose pervading our existence we will never have health care. We have treatment that is a cost of living but not health care as a condition of life.

Having the common purpose doesn't simply dump money into the delivery of health care. The common purpose gives each of us responsibility for our own health care. Self-care will remove most of the need. For what we can't look after ourselves we reach out to others who freely give knowing we are only as healthy as the least healthy. What others can't deliver we leave to God. There is no debate.

WAR HERO

Yesterday there was a huge televised funeral for "war hero" Smoky Smith. The media made sure we were aware that until his death Smoky was the last living recipient of the V.C. The story of how he disabled a tank and killed a number of German soldiers was told and retold with a tone of great reverence over the last 10 days.

To me it was a sad story with a potentially tragic ending. Now, I am fully in favor of celebrating the life of Smoky Smith; but no more than anyone else. Ideally our lives should be equally celebrated. Our obsession with the pre-eminence inherent in celebrity shows just how far we are from the ideal and thus close to self-destruction.

The fact that we continue to engage in deadly conflict is further evidence of our willingness to self-destruct. To then praise as heroic killing fellow human beings is simply not an aspect of human nature that is worthy of celebration. It does nothing for self-realization.

Celebrating a "war hero" after 91 years of life honors neither the man nor humanity. All it does is tell us we are only really a bunch of oxy morons. It offers no hope we have any understanding of what "real life" should be. ( see poem)

DIET 3: philosophical facts

Though the physiological facts are simple (see DIET 2 above), the philosophical facts are that maintaining the ideal body/mind we are born with is most demanding even in the ideal context. Being born into the context in which humanity is mostly trying to fill the void it is almost impossible to sustain the thought anything matters.

It requires a great effort keeping fit enough to enable trying to fill the void yet maintaining the ideal body/mind requires so much more. We must believe we are commonly designed to reach out to the limits of our capacities, to others and to God. We must accept the responsibility to reach out to the limits of our capacities, to reach out to others with our utmost effort and thus fulfill our responsibility to God.

We maintain the ideal body/mind only to the extent we reach out.... It is by reaching out... more that we change our context. Changing our context is indeed most demanding; but it will also be most rewarding. (see poem)

DIET 2: physiological facts

• We need each day amounts of protein, carbohydrate and fat specific to our size and activity level. These amounts should be divided into at least 3 but as many as 5 portions and eaten together at roughly equally spaced intervals throughout the day.
• Protein sources are meat, fish, firm tofu, eggs, soy meat substitutes, hard cheese, cottage cheese and generally any food with roughly greater than 2x more grs. of protein than carbohydrate per serving.
• Carbohydrates  sources are fruits, vegetables, grains and all related products, sweetened milks and yogurts, soy desserts, ice cream and generally any food with roughly greater than 2x more grs. of carbohydrate than protein per serving.
• Protein/carbohydrates sources are milk, plain yogurt, soy beverages and generally any food with roughly equivalent grs. of protein and carbohydrates per serving.
  
• Fat sources are butter, nuts, oils and oil products, avocados and generally foods that are primarily fat.
• We need protein to maintain our systems and as a last choice, for fuel.
• We need carbohydrates for fuel and most of the micro nutrients that keep our systems integrated.
• We need fat for fuel and to maintain primarily our nervous system.
• Both protein and fat control the rate at which sugar enters the blood.
• Insulin tries to maintain an optimally constant level of sugar in the blood. It converts excess sugar into fat. Even if sugar is not in excess, if protein and fat are not present in the digestive process, insulin will convert some of the required sugar into fat thus elevating our needs.
• Our body uses fat first. So if there is too much in what we eat, some of even our needed sugar will be converted into fat.
• If we eat what we need, we'll have the body/mind necessary to strive for real life. (see poem)
  

INNER SPACE / OUTER SPACE

At the center of our inner space, beyond the last why, is one unknown. The ideal reaction to that void is to reach out..., into the unknowns of our outer space. (see poem)

AN ANGEL 3

Mom had another brief sad attack yesterday, but this time had a reason. "I'm ruining your life", she cried. "Because of me you have to stay around here." The attack occurred right after brother Don came to get his dog upon returning from Vancouver, just before going to a wedding, even though he'd rather be golfing.

I assured Mom simply that she has not ruined it but instead, has given me life. I've done a lot of satisfying, creative carpentry but that satisfaction pales when compared to what I've felt when trying to explain life. It had been awhile. Now, by needing a bit of help and constant company, Mom rather than being an anchor, has given me the 'wings' of an eagle again.

A-BOMB

It is 60 years since we saw how destructive the A-bomb is and we still have them. God, we are such a stupid species! Not that we need one for lack of evidence, but the A-bomb is the ultimate indication of our willingness to self-destruct.

The A-bomb is at the pinnacle of weapons structures that are used to impose our perceived right or to defend against the imposition of another's perceived right. The resulting conflict is impossible to reconcile with the fact there is simply just one right. (see poem)

With only one right there is absolutely no reasonable justification for weapons of any kind. However, there is no end to the unreasonable justifications for weapons of every kind. To justify the A-bomb is utterly absurd, yet we manage to find a way.

I would say God damn us for being so stupid; but it is unnecessary. We have damned ourselves.

DIET 1

The Atkin's food company filed for bankruptcy protection this week. Although some critics claim the Atkin's diet is hazardous, an interest in it as well as other diets at least indicated a measure of self concern. A loss of this concern is troubling.

After a brief slow down we've once again accelerated our self-destructive descent into a population of fat asses. This will surely initiate another round of studies. Not one of them will mention the simplest fact. Our physical obesity is merely a projection of our philosophical obesity.

Indeed, in just our compulsive effort to fill the void with human rights we are accumulating critically excessive philosophical weight. We will soon collapse under this weight if we don't first self-destruct in our efforts to fill the void with all the things money can buy.

The most convenient, acceptable and legal anaesthetic with which we try to fill the void is...food. We try without concern for the consequences. When trying to fill the void nothing else matters.
 (see poem)

EQUAL IN LIFE AND DEATH

The late King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, formerly the richest man in the world, was clothed in a plain brown robe and buried in an unmarked grave. This is in accordance with Islamic teaching that we are all equal in death. That is true; but what does it matter?

I'm not sure what Islam says about one of us accumulating more than another. It is obviously possible within "The Law of Human Nature" but contrary to the "ideal". According to it we should all be equal in life... when it really matters. (see poem)

PURPOSE OF LIFE

We can assign a purpose to life but after we do we can still ask "Why?" If we do ask it we will find we can not know in the usual sense the answer to this last "Why?"; and that missing fact is the void in our lives. That aside, all the biological evidence suggests the purpose of life is self-realization.  Becoming what we are capable of being is the consequence of what I call natural activity. I define natural activity as reaching out to the limits of our physical/mental capacities to others and to God. It is innate activity that unquestionably begins at conception.

Although innate, natural activity is one of two possible types of activity we can choose, because natural activity is not mandated by "the law of human nature". The "law" allows us, when we have the necessary realized mental capacity, to ignore our innate purpose and replace any measure of natural activity with an equivalent measure of unnatural activity. I define two types, trying to fill the void and giving up. However, substituting increasing amounts of either unnatural activity for natural activity results in correspondingly greater self-destruction and life diminished accordingly, eventually to the point of unnatural death.

Even though it is one of the two complementary possibilities of life, it must be obvious that self-destruction can not be the purpose of life. In self-destruction and death there is absolutely no hope of ever knowing the reason for self-realization. In self-realization there is at least the hope that we might discover the reason for life; and thus there is purpose in reaching out the limits of our capacities, to others and to God. see (the last why: the poem or the precis or the essay)

VITAL STATISTIC

A couple nights ago I heard on the C.B.C. there are, if I remember correctly, 20% fewer species in the ocean today than 10 years ago. Or was that 20 fewer species? I don't remember and it's not a lapse; it is the presentation.

That statistic is a vital piece of information. If we continue to reduce our biodiversity we will self-destruct. Yet this statistic was presented among so much other information, by the end of the program my mind was numbed to the point that what I remembered was no more relevant than the worship of Sidney Crosby, probably less.

This is why I suggest with the utmost gravity that the C.B.C begins to present a Vital Statistic. It could be so simple. All it really needs to be is the amount of money we spend in conflicts from legal battles to wars. We could add in the number of people that die per second from preventable causes, the loses of species, the number of cities under smog alerts and many other stats. However, because everything is interrelated, I would keep it simple and use just the money stat, since it would 'talk' the loudest.

Peter Mansbridge could present the Vital Statistic right after presenting those that indicate the health of our economy. Its explanation would be simple. As the V.S. increases we move closer to self-destruction. Decreases would give reason to hope. Whether it increased or decreased, I would remember.

NEW ABNORMAL

Mainstream commentators and their media have once again made a degradation of our lives acceptable. After the London bombs, regarding with suspicion everyone we come in contact with, particularly if they look different, has become the "new normal".

This is utterly misleading. Normal should be used to describe what life could be, "the ideal". (see poem) Anything less than normal should more accurately be described as abnormal. If we further degrade our lives from an already somewhat abnormal level, that new level should be the new abnormal. This would then reflect reality.

OUR STORY

A reporter said goodbye after 40 years of telling stories. That's a lot of stories. I only heard a few in the last 4 years. Regardless, I am sure I'll be safe in saying they were all individuals' stories. They would begin with enough wide angle to take in some background but immediately zoom in to the individual level.

All those stories and not one about humanity. In a tribute a colleague lamented these stories have become increasingly difficult to tell because of the change from a world of clearly right and wrong to one of  "competing rights" and growing "turmoil". We hear story after story after story of individuals caught up in the competition but nowhere is there a story about the effect of this conflict on humanity.

It is such a simple story to cover too. No matter at what level, our conflicts are crimes against humanity. One second more conflict than harmony takes humanity to self-destruction. That can be the end of our story. (see poem)

LIGHT IN THE DARK

The intention of the documentary was to shine a light on the effort of one man. What it did however, was reveal the darkness in which the rest of us live. Dr. Chandra lost his wife and two children in the Air India murders 20 years ago. In the years since, as a memorial to them he set up and runs a school and an eye clinic in his wife's home province in India.

The school provides uniforms, a meal and top quality education for 100 students out of probably 100s of millions that remain untaught. The clinic performs 150 cataract surgeries a day while each year 5 million out of 7 million new cases  remain blind.

Dr. Chandra's effort is one of the pin pricks of light in the dark side of humanity. Our essentially materialistic reaction to the void sucks the "light" out of life. (see poem) We can see the light of this unnatural activity from outer space but it is generally dark in our inner space. Our lives are filled with stimulants but they are devoid of spirit.

Make no mistake. Dr. Chandra's effort is no more a sign of hope for humanity than the young Ethiopian woman in HOPE. There will be hope when 100 people are left untaught and 150 of those who are curable remain blind. Then the smile on the face of humanity will light up the world.

AN ANGEL 2

Mom had one of her occasional sad attacks today. I should have known it was coming. Only reluctantly did she come outside and when she did she immediately asked for the broom. She swept and swept and swept but it was no use. She could not sweep the tears away. Can you believe she apologized for the attack?

I hugged her. That usually helps because mom does not like to be hugged. I guess she figures if she quits crying I'll quit hugging. It is only recently she agreed to a morning hug but if we miss it, too bad.

I always ask her what she was thinking. It's been a long time since she's mentioned all the things she had but now has nothing. I used to tell her she had me and she always laughed...I'm not sure why. Maybe by laughing she didn't have to explain that's what she meant by nothing. Through tears about the time of a grandson's wedding mom managed to get out "baby" and "now married". Of course, she has mourned the loss of dad.

Most often now mom just says I don't know. I can only guess that while she would like to have a more acceptable reason for the tears, it is likely they are her way of saying being old simply sucks. It makes me cry too thinking  of all the moms and dads who, because of the way their children live, have to be old alone.

SECOND COMING

If Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay play in the Stanley Cup finals next summer and the ice melts it won't matter. Sidney Crosby will be able to skate on it anyway. I like Sidney. I enjoyed seeing him score last night. However, our empty-headed, self-destructive preoccupation with the preeminence reaction to the void, among others, makes me sad; and do we ever demonstrate that preoccupation, with our continued worship of Sidney Crosby.

Most of us put just as much effort into our life activities for an entire lifetime and never get a moments notice. If we believe this notice is necessary to give meaning to our lives, I think even alone, not being able to get this recognition can make us desperate enough to take self-destructive drugs, shoot someone or even to blow up others along with ourselves; and there are 7 other reactions to the void.

 I sense I might be the only one entertaining this motivation; but if I am right we have a serious problem. The generally accepted wisdom is that given enough resources we might be able to win the war against those of us wishing to cause terror, by eliminating superficial causes. I think we are fighting an expression of the terror caused by a sense of meaninglessness, and sadly, even with the wealth of the universe, this is a battle that will end in self-destruction as long as we continue trying to fill the void.(see poem)
 

CLEANING GRAVEL 1

When I set up my garden I created plots separated by about 170' of gravel paths. At the time only half my brain was working. It took a season for me to realize if I didn't clean the fallen needles out of the gravel, it would be  buried; and then there are the weeds.

Last year I removed, cleaned, and replaced the gravel in one path, a lot of work. This year I tried a shop vac, a risky  move in public but worth taking. It worked...sort of. A lot of the needles had decomposed, and with no boundary between the gravel and the existing ground I was vacuuming a lot of dirt. That's when the other half of my brain decided to remove and clean the gravel and replace it on landscaping cloth.

One day  last week I awoke from a nap devoid of confidence any part of my brain was working. I felt this web site was such a stupid idea. So much effort and who really cares the paths we walk  are overrun by 'weeds' and covered with decaying philosophical matter.

As I was wondering why I should bother getting up I thought of mom's answer in AN ANGEL 1. With a renewed sense of purpose and her help I removed, cleaned and replaced 24' of gravel. It went so well I started on another path by first building steps on a slope mom finds difficult. picture

A lot of the time I still wonder why I bother. But then mom says my steps  look awesome, a word I had never heard her use before. And the cleaned gravel looks so good. It looks like we care. I think we will continue.

JUDGES AS EVIDENCE

So, President Bush nominated a supreme court judge. It was noted he will probably be naming another before he leaves office. Thus, observers suggest his domestic legacy will be that he changed the "fabric of America" to a more conservative weave. The conservatives celebrate while the liberals morn, the move to the right.

I'm quite sure I'm alone in thinking we should forget moving left or right  and all move back from the brink of self-destruction. The way I see it, in real life there are no sides. (see poem) So a society that requires judges to dispense justice to the various sides is somewhat removed from real life.

How far removed is indicated by the number of sides and the resulting conflict in our existence. Clearly, the evidence confirms we are guilty of living a life that is critically distant from the ideal and thus perilously close to self-destruction. All the while, we fight over which side a judge should be on.

WAR CRIMES / STUPIDITY

The juxtaposition could not have been more appropriate. The headline was, "3 British soldiers are charged with war crimes. Then, "stay tuned for the award winning documentary 'Stupidity' ". The term war crimes has always seemed absurd to me. Whenever I hear it I visualize the war planners getting together and agreeing to kill each other's soldiers in a humane way.

It is as if war is not a crime against humanity and yet within the framework of war there can be designated war crimes. It just doesn't make sense to me. It could be I simply lack the necessary "military intelligence" to understand the reasoning that this is war but don't be cruel.