tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6345889130053053070.post1110191449754635808..comments2023-08-20T21:14:43.398-07:00Comments on Before Nine: Who You With?Mongo, At The Momenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00973606827337262084noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6345889130053053070.post-75665458597839177552016-05-28T19:18:09.540-07:002016-05-28T19:18:09.540-07:00The power structures that run the planet are too p...<i>The power structures that run the planet are too powerful to change. </i><br /><br />well, maybe - it's hard to make predictions, especially about the future<br /><br />todd rundgren's band utopia had a song "one world"<br /><br />"politicians and dictators and the guys with the dough<br />they think they run the world but they just don't know<br />'cause out here on the street we got it under control<br />from berlin to san francisco, from new york to tokyo"<br /><br />obviously this is false, although it feels good to sing it - in what sense is it true?<br /><br />it is true in the sense that - as todd put it later in "change myself" - there is a part of the world that is potentially, to some extent, under our control - that part being ourselves - our way of thinking, the emotions we choose to give free reign to and enjoy, the actions we take or refrain from taking<br /><br />and it is, of course, true that it is an unusual person who has developed to the extent that they can reliably act in accordance with their intentions - but the struggle to do so is what seers and saints and sages have advised, over the ages<br /><br />i spent a lot of time reading books by idries shah at an earlier point in my life, and in some ways i took them too literally, i realize now, but there was a poem in them that still comes to my mind from time to time - not one he wrote, or at least i don't think so<br /><br /><br /> TAVERN PLEDGE<br /> <br /> ‘It may be said: “They came in vain”.”<br /> Let it not be that they came in vain.<br /> <br /> We leave, this, the bequest, to you.<br /> We finished what we could, we left the rest to you.<br /> <br /> Remember, this is work entrusted –<br /> Remember, beloved, we shall meet again.’<br /> <br /> Dervish Song<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Idries Shah. Wisdom of the Idiots<br />mistah charley, ph.d.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06303695341246058680noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6345889130053053070.post-59449629129804979402016-05-28T02:17:30.106-07:002016-05-28T02:17:30.106-07:00 As the saying goes, compared to what? Recently I ... As the saying goes, compared to what? Recently I saw the paper by Robert Reich in which he made the same argument for Lesser Evilism which I have seen from Noam Chomsky as well. It is emotionally unsatisfying but seems to me to be realistic.mistah charley, ph.d.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06303695341246058680noreply@blogger.com