“Poetry is the art of creating imaginary gardens with real toads.” -Marianne Moore, poet (15 Nov 1887-1972)
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Marianne Moore was a poetess nominated for a Nobel Prize in Literature based on her use of formal innovation, precise diction, irony, and wit. Her poem Poetry was initially printed in Others in 1919. Eventually, the poem underwent four revisions. The poem is interesting because Ms. Moore states she hates poetry except that it is a vehicle for genuine expression.
If the reader would like, Poetry can be heard read here:
The bossa nova moved us to the dance floor With the Brazilian beat, we couldn't ignore My plunging heart was flown in from above Every moment spent with you calls me to love
The shine in your eyes lights my soul With one sweet kiss, I lose control I feel your smile as we start to explore The reasons we love each other a little more
In your little black dress, you aim to tease Holding me close, you were born to please Your loving lips give a caress of my name While my heart keeps your time all the same
Kiss me, and I will melt into your perfection Inch by inch, I drive deep into our connection Your play of eyes releases a glide of smooth skin With every touch, I soar to the moon and back again
We drift away without knowing the reasons why I heard you call my name with your breath of sigh Falling further into our passions' fiery flames I want to play with you; all of our love games
In your little black dress, you aim to tease Holding me close, you were born to please Your loving lips give a caress of my name While my heart keeps your time all the same
Falling ten seconds to bliss, I feel my shaking knees With your eyes, you ask me to please, tell you, please Pulsing through my mind, I burn with your fire Every bit of me tantalized and filled with desire
Your seductive spirit laughs in its infatuation When we make love, we are each other's satisfaction In this book of life, you are all I'm thinking of I smile that you're my wife whom I'll always love
In your little black dress, you aim to tease Holding me close, you were born to please Your loving lips give a caress of my name While my heart keeps your time all the same
(c) November 14, 2024 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
“A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.” – David Hume, Section X of An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748)
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In Section X of An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Hume argues that the evidence for miracles needs to be revised given their inherent improbability. There is a fundamental principle that critical thinking and rationality should prevail. It is wise to avoid making assumptions based on blind faith. Preconceptions and unrestrained bias often impede objective rationality. It is better to approach the world with intellectual honesty and an open mind.
Empirical data and logical reasoning based on this defeat misconception and rely on false information. Descartes held that reasoning and the deductive processes best determine what passes for knowledge and truth. Sensory experience is best to be relied on only partially. Hume’s rebuttal rests on empirical observation and holds that pure reason is limited by its nature. Many believe reconciling this divergent thinking will lead to an enlightened, rational society.
“The plain fact is that education is itself a form of propaganda – a deliberate scheme to outfit the pupil, not with the capacity to weigh ideas, but with a simple appetite for gulping ideas ready-made. The aim is to make ‘good’ citizens, which is to say, docile and uninquisitive citizens.” – H.L. Mencken
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This quote is noted in “A Second Mencken Chrestomathy,” as initially published by Mencken in 1921. The Sage of Baltimore offered this work revised and annotated nearly 50 years after his death. He called things as he saw them, and most of the time, and all of these years later, we would be hard-pressed to find him wrong in many of his pronouncements. Hypocrisy was seen as a capital offense. Mencken is not wrong in this finding.
In a sense, Mencken was a libertarian who distrusted anything that encroached on liberty. The greatest threat was called out in the way government often forces conformity. Dissent was and is to be tolerated as a necessity of thinking. Real education directs itself toward differentiating between workable bits of information serving as facts and the appearances of such facts. Public schools were and are faulty in teaching thinking over presenting information in a one-sided manner. In this manner, at its best, it is a form of propaganda meant to produce good citizens accepting of authority.
Mencken believed that people who received education stopping at the “Three Rs” were more self-reliant, cynical, liberty-loving, and willing to stand up for their individual beliefs. He was perhaps not very wrong in this view. Schools must emphasize critical thinking instead of mass producing a herd of sheep. The problems faced today require such thinking skills and will not lessen in the future. People’s ability to have notions of their own was Mencken’s goal. The world would be better off if we strove for this goal. This is how we find our way toward better lifetimes lived by all, even when some ideas disagree with our own, as they must.
I'm glad to say that I believe In God's promise, not a devil who deceives Life's storms come, but I have strength Enough to last the day's length
With the Bible as my sword I rest on the strength of the Lord The Holy Spirit is overflowing My joy is always growing
There's no doubt in where I'm going My belief in God is always showing In the confidence, there is no guessing Each day as a believer is a blessing
Christ's blood weaves His legacy His mighty name becomes our history The God of all our second chances Sees us true regardless of circumstances
Lending His light to dispel the darkness His presence removes the world's harshness I will not fear but to the contrary I know my king will overcome the adversary
(c) November 13, 2024 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
“If a man loves the labour of his trade, apart from any question of success or fame, the gods have called him.” -Robert Louis Stevenson, novelist, essayist, and poet (13 Nov 1850-1894)
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Individuals deeply devoted to their professions without consideration for recognition or achievement have found their calling. We should all be this lucky in life. Intrinsic motivation and personal satisfaction should be found in one’s work. It is the existential responsibility toward oneself. True value is created with each effort, and significance is found. This is how we make our sense of agency and find purpose in our lives.
Living life with purpose and significance taps into the intrinsic motivation needed to gain a more meaningful and gratifying existence. Markers of success are just that—markers, nothing more. We must honor our individuality and transcend society’s boundaries. Everyone needs to work and have an income, but why not enjoy this as we do? This places the right attitude in our hearts, which becomes gratitude for what God has given us.
“It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes.” – Andrew Jackson, in his Veto Message to Congress regarding the Bank of the United States (July 10, 1832)
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This statement regarding the Bank of the United States was made on July 10, 1832. Then as now, politics seems to remain largely the same. Like Trump, Jackson was adulated and hated beyond comparison to most, if not all, of our presidents. It is no wonder that Trump respects Jackson perhaps too much. Though there are many things to dislike about Jackson, he did stand up against the corrupt rich at this time and against demonstrable corruption.
The struggle over rechartering the Second Bank of the United States led to a veto and culminated in its demise. As this bank became defunct, it was replaced by state banks. Many supporters argued that the Bank of the United States created stability. The prevailing counter to this was the unavoidable fact that widespread corruption was associated with the bank. Jackson and his faction fought to clean up the Swamp (another connection between Trump and Jackson). Essentially, the principles of equal opportunity were violated through public money used for risky private investments, political interference, and economic privileges conferred by preference on a small group of stockholders and financial elites.
Today, as we have seen through the years of lawfare and other corrupt acts, these corrupt practices still need to be guarded against.
Some pursue the fine arts for immortality That makes a degree of sense thoroughly After all, you start with a marble block But see what you will transform from rock
Like water, the shape begins to conform The chisel drips patiently to transform Art is pleasure in a thinker's mind What is wasteful, somehow remains behind
Rodin believed in the depth of his vision Contemplation felt deep and with precision The heights and depths of a man's appetite Starts and finishes with feeling right
Right with nature; right with God's home And the knowledge that we're never alone Love won and lost is just another complication Felt deep with a sculptor's contemplation
It is the reflection of an artist's heart But only his guided hand knows to start Then to finish so that any work is just so And any fool will be sure to see and know
Rodin believed in the depth of his vision Contemplation felt deep and with precision The heights and depths of a man's appetite Starts and finishes with feeling right
There is truth in the movements observed And all the names called as if deserved There in the spontaneous act called reality Is the genuine spark we call creativity
Terra-cotta, plaster, bronze, and stone The lonely, tortured heart must atone Drip by drip comes the light of better days Announced without words, the artist says
Rodin believed in the depth of his vision Contemplation felt deep and with precision The heights and depths of a man's appetite Starts and finishes with feeling right
(c) November 12, 2024 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
“Patience is also a form of action.” -Auguste Rodin, sculptor (12 Nov 1840-1917), attributed to Rodin in Hesitation: Impulsivity and Reflection, p.124, by Leonard William Doob
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Action is most commonly thought of as being proactive and doing something tangible. However, it is a profound and strategic choice to accept the challenge of waiting for the right timing and being patient. For example, a sculptor must have the patience of water, chipping away at stone for the desired form to come to fruition. It is a matter of deliberation that is manifest in many human activities if we wish them to come out correctly.
Our fast paced society often forgets this. Overly hasty responses often lead to immediate but less than perfect results. It is better for market conditions to be favorable and until products have been refined and fully tested for safety and other pertinent considerations.
This is also true in personal development. Delayed gratification can lead to more rewarding and satisfying outcomes. We study to achieve great grades. We save money to make the purchase we want rather than what we can simply afford. Good things take time. Deliberate and strategic choices lead to the best long-term results. Int his way, patience is a reliable strength in our endeavors.
“I am not at all concerned about that…. But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord’s side.”– Abraham Lincoln, cited in F.B. Carpenter’s Six Months At the White House , p. 282 (1866) p. 282.
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In or about 1863, in the middle of the Civil War, a man described only as a pious minister remarked to Lincoln that he hoped God was on the Union’s side. Lincoln without hesitation, replied that it was the nation’s part to be on the Lord’s side. Though the exact wording of Lincoln’s response is a little contested, the encounter is not. Our republic needs to remain on the Lord’s side always to our best ability.
Heading out of Australia to escape this Aussie winter. First stop Japan, then UK/Ireland and if work doesn't call me back, onto Chicago. I will make it up as I go along
Thought For the Day: The Plain Fact Is That Education Is Itself A Form of Propaganda – A Deliberate Scheme To Outfit the Pupil…With A Simple Appetite For Gulping Ideas Ready-Made
“The plain fact is that education is itself a form of propaganda – a deliberate scheme to outfit the pupil, not with the capacity to weigh ideas, but with a simple appetite for gulping ideas ready-made. The aim is to make ‘good’ citizens, which is to say, docile and uninquisitive citizens.” – H.L. Mencken
—
This quote is noted in “A Second Mencken Chrestomathy,” as initially published by Mencken in 1921. The Sage of Baltimore offered this work revised and annotated nearly 50 years after his death. He called things as he saw them, and most of the time, and all of these years later, we would be hard-pressed to find him wrong in many of his pronouncements. Hypocrisy was seen as a capital offense. Mencken is not wrong in this finding.
In a sense, Mencken was a libertarian who distrusted anything that encroached on liberty. The greatest threat was called out in the way government often forces conformity. Dissent was and is to be tolerated as a necessity of thinking. Real education directs itself toward differentiating between workable bits of information serving as facts and the appearances of such facts. Public schools were and are faulty in teaching thinking over presenting information in a one-sided manner. In this manner, at its best, it is a form of propaganda meant to produce good citizens accepting of authority.
Mencken believed that people who received education stopping at the “Three Rs” were more self-reliant, cynical, liberty-loving, and willing to stand up for their individual beliefs. He was perhaps not very wrong in this view. Schools must emphasize critical thinking instead of mass producing a herd of sheep. The problems faced today require such thinking skills and will not lessen in the future. People’s ability to have notions of their own was Mencken’s goal. The world would be better off if we strove for this goal. This is how we find our way toward better lifetimes lived by all, even when some ideas disagree with our own, as they must.