America is Only an Idea

America is Only an Idea or Chasing a Dream

345 words 12-1-2016

we live on the cusp of a wave of human hope

the rolling lip of monumental energy welling up,

from a source deep under what is visible to our eyes,

and the crest of this silent force assumes a sinewy shape,

containing an undeniable strength and resiliency we recognize,

and call our own without regard to it's true nature,

and we live fully formed on this moving edge,

but without the x-ray vision of a superhero or a simple soul,

we forget that the monumental energy is not exactly us,

but a natural and super-natural magnetism beyond our imagination,

and because we have no words and no ability and no way to name it,

we invent a million ways to give shape to what we cannot describe;

we start communities and churches and organizations trying to symbolize

the ineffable and indescribable and utterly impalpable gift,

we have been given:

to live, to witness, to share, to connect,

to touch the vibrant part of the living energy we are a part of,

but cannot put our finger on or find a way to wrap our minds around,

because we are only a small part and our vista is truly limited,

regardless and thoughtless and clueless we wander over the interior landscape

of our fearful and desolate imaginations, bereft of a Sense,

that we belong here, inextricably rooted,

tied to a golden miracle by a million silken strands,

woven seamlessly joining us to everything there is,

and to the ultimate secret and silent source of the Big Om,

the big breath we all breathe,

the yearning we share with each other to find God,

and have a communion with what is sacred and holy,

in our spiritual and most sensual intercourse with each other.

So thank you America and God Bless the Spirit of all those seekers of brotherhood,

and seekers of community, and those who have tried to do the right thing

and hold the love of God and their brothers in their hearts.

OUR ERA OF POST TRUTH

'Post-truth' declared word of the year by Oxford Dictionaries-uncredited story –

dated Nov. 16, 2016

                                   http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37995600

Oxford Dictionaries says post-truth is thought to have been first used in 1992.
However, it says the frequency of its usage increased by 2,000% in 2016 compared with last year.

To my friends and all the rest of you very intelligent free humans:

 

We are all full of crap  and everybody's crap stinks. I have written about truth and perhaps how we find the truth. I feel this to be an important topic. Bogus news is a plague. 

There are reasons for this, as documented and discussed in the following links. (A quick scan of the links and/or the stories provides some of the details.) The basic concept is that all of us exist inside of our own 'filter bubble', our own 'echo chamber', made worse by the algorithms of google and facebook. In political terms, both left-wingers ( like me ) and right wingers, tend to gravitate to 'news' and 'content' that supports our own beliefs. This is all pretty obvious, especially to most of the savvy and sophisticated users of diaspora. Whether we want to admit it or not, is another matter.

No one is prefect and we are all subjective. At least we can start there. No one has the absolute truth, only what we perceive to make the most sense to us. Most post links and some kind of documentation to amplify their ideas. But there are a plethora of fake news sites, pseudo opinion sites, and outright 'pure' propaganda sites.

One problem with the recent US election was the 'narratives' of each political group took precedence over what could be defined as relatively objective truth, if such a thing exists. I would maintain it does; if you look deep enough and hard enough and if you are willing to grapple with the ambiguities of life's great and small mysteries. 

You can add another fact to the equation. Language is constantly morphing as we find new expressions to describe our feelings and discard other words and expressions that do not seem relevant to our lives. Thus the relevance of the Oxford Dictionary in reporting on word usage and the emergence of new phrases.

All of this adds up to quite a quandary. 

As an aside, I find that the word choices of my 'spellcheck' seem to have become less accurate for some reason. So if you are a bad speller like me, and the spellcheck is not providing an appropriate spelling, you are in real trouble. But that is a small problem.

The bigger problem is how do we talk to one another. If you accept the purpose of social networking and the whole internet is to facilitate communication between free humans, we obviously need a way to talk to each other, in language which we can agree on, and with honesty and respect. That Is the purpose of our endeavor here, isn't it ?

1. - rise of fake news -

Uncredited story – Nov. 6, 2016
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-37846860

2. - Zuckerberg plans to combat problem of Facebook fake news - http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38039506

Uncredited story – dated Nov. 16, 2016



3. - How we got to POST-TRUTH -
https://www.fastcompany.com/3065580/how-we-got-to-post-truth
BY RUTH READER , a writer from Brooklyn, NY – dated Nov. 18, 2016

Why I am grateful today

Why I am grateful today:

I am grateful for the sunlight streaming in my window,

for being able to hear music and the cat's meow,

for having two legs that work and being able to walk,

I am grateful my electricity is still on though I am late on the bill,

I am grateful I am not in Aleppo,

for being on the green side of the grass,

for being able to write words with my keyboard,

I am grateful that company is coming for the holidays this week,

I am grateful for the good health of my family,

I am happy to feel the cold air and winter will dress the earth in white snow again,

I am happy that I have projects and plans ahead of me,

I am grateful for understanding how fake news works on the internet,

I am grateful that at least half of America is happy, though maybe for a little while,

I am happy for being free of pain and able to breathe air,

I am happy I do not have to be anywhere today,

I am grateful for being whole-hearted and at peace in my head,

for being in touch with my brothers,

for being out of touch with my enemies,

for being hungry,

for being.