Know Thyself through MESSAGING
Reflecting on the recent Grammy’s, Winter Olympic Opening Ceremonies, and the Super Bowl Halftime show; arguably three of the biggest stages before the world’s eyeballs, is it just me or did you also perceive some degree of messaging….say, oh I don’t know, something in the vein of:
Pardon me, America, um…. you could be doing it better.
Just me?
How President’s SHOULD speak to journalists:
For anyone who can’t remember a non-circus White House briefing, how the current President speaks to journalists, particularly women is NOT to be emulated. These interactions with journalists are meant to give the people of the US a better understanding of the goings on about the POTUS, not an embarrassing display of his insecurities. It is not impressive to speak like an impotent ogre to women. It is not a display of power, quite the opposite actually, it shows fear that these journalists, even those without male genitalia, are smarter than you.
I hope the bar will be picked back up, dusted off and put at the proper level someday.
Know Thyself through PHILOSOPHY
I find Philosophy fascinating, such that I’m begun a course to study them chronologically across multiple sources and take note of what stands out from each man.
I like starting from the beginning because I believe it almost impossible to follow geniuses in any field and proclaim they had zero influence.
I want to try and picture when was the first time in history this happened:
Guy A. after hearing someone speak and finding themselves in the company of a friend sometime after saying (in my mind I’m picturing Latin, white guys, togas, and the memory recall that was necessary before he printing press):
Hey, ___ious ___imus I heard this guy the other day say something rather interesting….
and Guy B. follows this with:
Huh?! That is interesting, say it again and I’ll write it down. Where did I put that papyrus?
and this writing or copies of it makes it way through a few thousand of years without deteriorating, being recycled, being seen as heretical, and falls into the right hands and is disseminated, discussed, critiqued, and remembered throughout history as something to learn from. I also like trying to figure out why I want to learn about this, the answers, at least in part, are better summed up by experts:
There are, in all ages, men born to be in bondage to the opinions of the society in which they live. There are not a few who today play the free thinker and the philosopher…-Jean Jacques Rousseau
The enterprise is not an essentially civic one. It does not begin with a settled position on political and moral matters, then seeking ways to enshrine the settled view. Rather the mission is a broadly epistemological one. The search, as we shall discover, is the search for truth, or at least for such illumination as to allow us to see the biases and half-truths that have lead from one blind alley to another in the labyrinth of thought.
–Daniel N. Robinson D. Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Georgetown University
‘So much of our lives is meaningless, a self-canceling vacillation and futility; we strive with the chaos about us and within; but we would believe all the while that there is something vital and significant in us, could we but decipher our own souls. We want to understand;… we want to seize the value and perspective of passing things, and so to pull ourselves up out of the maelstrom of daily circumstance. We want to know that the little things are little and the big things are big, before it is too late; we want to see things now as they will seem forever – ‘in the light of eternity’. We want to learn to laugh in the face of the inevitable, to smile even at the looming of death. We want to be whole, to coordinate our energies by criticizing and harmonizing our desires; for coordinated energy is the last word in ethics and politics, and perhaps in logic and metaphysics too….We may be sure that if we can but find wisdom, all things else will be added unto us. Truth will not make us rich, but it will make us free.’
–Will Durrant The Story of Philosophy:
… more “Know Thyself #122”
The other day I caught snowflakes on my tongue. It was blowing perfectly and the snowflakes had girth yet took their sweet time as they danced down. I think it had been years since I had experienced such a visceral, pointless, moment of focus. It was fun.
I do not wish to be young again. I’m all set with such moments of insecurity, and I don’t wish to unlearn, even for a moment, what life has taught me. But I do think it is beneficial to fleetingly and frivolously live in a moment; to swing, float, or stand in a storm.… more “Know Thyself #121”
Know thyself by trusting your gut
I find, for me, there is a direct correlation between how analog an agreement is and how much I trust it.
For example; I have more faith in a human than a bot, an ink signature to a digital one, a smile to an emoticon; I prefer hearing a voice to receiving an email, a handshake over a secure file location, a test drive as opposed to car-trader-max-vanna, and sex to porn.
I like to clearly comprehend the messages of others through tone, body language, sarcasm, eye contact, and pheromones; because these things are very difficult, if not impossible, to fake.… more “Know Thyself #120”
Know Thyself through being thoroughly entertained.
I watched a DVD, from a DVD player last night and it was amazing!
When I wanted to watch the movie, I put the disc in the player, pressed play, and the movie…..started.
I could pause, rewind, and replay of my own free will. Even better, the content was NEVER interrupted. No ads, banners, previews, recaps, pop ups, teasers, trailers, commercial content or solicitation is any way shape or form, no breaking news, no celebrities selling out, nor was anyone in the movie branded with logos. No one tried to sell me something through the use of cute cartoons, catchy tag lines, or really happy people monochromatically dancing and singing to distract you from the elongated list of side effects that make you wonder how bad the ailment could be.
I got to focus on the movie, in its entirety, unriddled with commercials, the way those that created it wanted me to.
Entertainment is art, not filler between advertisements.
Pure is good.
In the 1985 movie Back to the Future, Doc (Dr. Emmett Brown), has four portraits on the mantle in his home of: Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein. Standing before Edison, Doc pleads:
‘Tom, how am I going to generate that kind of power?! It can’t be done, it can’t!’
There is a theory that Doc has been thinking about time travel for quite a while, even before 1955. Doc also knows that interference in the past would change the future, altering any photographs of the interfered individuals. The on-line position is that these portraits represent the individuals he would most want to meet if he were to ever concur time travel. Their prime position on the mantel will be proof of whether he manages in the future to go back in time, if the experience changed them.
My four portraits of people I would just want to be around, assuming language is to be no barrier….. I could get it down to eight, but my list includes the ladies….so…Leonardo Da Vinci, Hypatia of Alexandria, Charles Dickens, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Joan of Arc, Benjamin Franklin, Cleopatra, and Dean Cassidy
Who are YOUR four/eight?… more “Know Thyself #118”
I like days the commercial world shuts down: National Holidays that create long weekends and massive weather events necessitating getting anything thought to be necessary while sequestered in advance. If these bonus days happen in the wintertime, all the better. I liked it better before the days of online shopping and delivery for almost everything. I find it cozy and comforting to stock up, hunker down, and dig in. I like being inside my home knowing there is nothing I’m expected to accomplish for anyone else; the day is mine to with it what I want.
If you knew you were going to be snowed in for over 24 hours, what would you do to prepare and then what would you do on YOUR day?… more “Know Thyself #117”
I may disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
– Evelyn Beatrice Hall
This quote is often mistakingly attributed to Voltaire. In fact this phrase was coined by Evelyn Beatrice Hall in the Voltaire biography. The sentiment very well reflects Voltaire’s thoughts, but he did not say it.
Regardless…
Free speech is a right in our society and countless countrymen and women gave their lives for this human dignity, but I’m not sure I would die for the right of hate mongers to further their propaganda. They do have the right to their opinion, they do NOT have the right to claim truths that are otherwise or incite based on perpetuating lies that are self promoting.
What does this quote mean to you? Would you defend the freedoms of those who think the opposite of you?
… more “Know Thyself #116”
Know Thyself through being OBSESSED
The White Stripes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame today.
Jack White ended his acceptance speech this way:
“We don’t know why these things connect with people. But when they do, it’s the most beautiful thing you can have as an artist or a musician when people are responding and sharing with you. And so, to the young artists, I want to say, get your hands dirty and drop the screens and get out in your garage, or your little room, and get obsessed.
Get obsessed with something. You know, get passionate. We all want to share in what you might create.”
What have YOU been obsessed with throughout you life? Are YOU still obsessed?
What are YOU going to be Obsessed with this year?… more “Know Thyself #114”
Know Thyself through your VOCABULARY:
I would like to use a new word in 2026 that describes when something is the pinnacle of itself, the ultimate.
I wish to supplant the outdated, overused, and subjective superlatives. Awesome is dependent on what is being described. Awesome dinner is positive. Awesome typhoon is not. Killer and Fire can also be negatives depending on the situation.
I personally, as described in an earlier post, utilize the phrase; ‘None more black‘ in just such a situation. But I realize that for non-fans of the movie This is Spinal Tap, this reference could come off as racist.
Therefore I nominate Da Vinci as a superlative. Who contributed more to the human race? Who could be considered more accomplished, curious, and brilliant? If you call something Da Vinci, you are giving a nod to history, it has a level of sophistication, it’s Italian with two capital letters, and let’s face it, it’s fun to say.
You would never describe something bad as Da Vinci. This dinner was Da Vinci works. The typhoon was Da Vinci, does not work. To avoid bastardization you can personalize it: ‘I find that, Da Vinci‘, ‘That’s Da Vinci to me’, or ‘In my experiences, nothing has been more Da Vinci‘.… more “Know Thyself #113”
Know Thyself through A Christmas Carol
You probably have heard versions of some of Dickens’ great words in A Christmas Carol, probably a bit of ‘(Christmas) has done me good, and will do me good’, a ‘Golden Idol has displaced me’ and ‘Scrooge was better than his word…knew how to keep Christmas well…bless us everyone.’ But as with Dickens works, I love best the bits you probably never heard. Therefore, in homage to the Man who invented Christmas on Christmas Eve, see what you think of the exact quotes from A Christmas Carol exactly as Dickens wrote them:
-When Scrooge’s Nephew Fred when he comes to visit him in his office on Christmas Eve:
‘There are many things for which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say.” returned the nephew: “Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round….as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time, the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good:”
-When Belle breaks up with Scrooge, I never realized she was dressed in mourning as her parents just died leaving her penniless:
“It matters little,” she said, softly. “To you, very little. Another idol has displaced me; and if it can cheer and comfort you in time to come, as I would have tried to do, I have no just cause to grieve.”
“What idol has displaced you?” he rejoined.
“A golden one.”
“This is the even-handed dealing of the world!” he said. “There is nothing on which it is so hard as poverty; and there is nothing it professed to condemn iwht such severity as the pursuit of wealth!”
“You fear the world too much,” she answered, gently. “All your other hopes have merged into the hope of being beyond the chance of its sordid reproach. I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until the master-passion, Gain, engrossed you. Have I not?”
-The Ending:
‘Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, FOR GOOD, at which some people did not have their fill of laugher in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up there eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed; and that was quite enough for him.
He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!’
The End
-Charles Dickens
Happy Holidays.
Know Thyself through your favorite book
My favorite book is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I love what this book stood for, the intent and purpose behind its inception, the method and process of its production, its indelible morale, and the beauty of the words.
When describing Scrooge’s public persona, Dickens writes:
“Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, ‘My dear Scrooge, how are you? When will you come to see me?’ No beggars implored him to bestow a trifle, no children asked him what it was o’clock, no man or woman ever once in all his life inquired the way to such and such a place, of Scrooge….
But what did Scrooge care? it was the very thing he liked. to edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance…”
When describing Scrooge’s house, Dickens writes:
“They were a gloomy suite of rooms, in a lowering pile of building up a yard, where it had so little business to be, that one could scarcely help fancying it must have run there when it twas a young house, playing at hide-and-seek with other houses, and have forgotten the way out again.”
I read the book at least once around this time of year and I believe I have watched all movie versions.
Like all cherished books, I like and dislike certain aspects of many of the movie versions. There are reasons why they are cherished, retain those and you are fine.
I do not require the plot to stay faithful to Dickens’, just as long as the message remains true, in fact, Scrooged with Bill Murray is one of my favorites. All the essence is kept yet almost all the details were altered, consistently, and therefore, okay by me.
What I do not like is when a version is set in the 1840’s and while attempting to remain ‘true’ to the book, disregard important points or dialogue, and worst of all, changes or adds seemingly unnecessary details. Now I understand a movie can’t be verbatim and therefore there are aspects I believe the storyline can afford to strikethrough, for example:
But what I viscerally do not like are when details of this perfect story are changed for no apparent reason. If it ain’t broke…. examples of frequent offenders:
Honor the Dickens. When a story has remained relevant for over 180 years, never going out of print, then, in my opinion, the new story teller should change all of it or none of it. I don’t care who you are, you are no Dickens. He didn’t miss anything so don’t add.… more “Know Thyself #111”
Know Thyself through Rob Reiner and the joy he gave us.
His movies truly added to my life. There are phrases that have become a part of my vocabulary because of this amazing actor, director, and human.
In This is Spinal Tap, Nigel Tufnel, the simple guitarist of the band is considering a sample of their new, all black album cover (which is supposed to be as classy as the Beatles White Album but completely misses the mark). After contemplating and also missing the irony, he says, ‘It’s like, how much more black could this be? and the answer is none. None more black.’ None more black comes into play in my real life whenever confronted with something that couldn’t be more like itself than it already is.
In Princess Bride, Inigo Montoya is continuously saying ‘I don’t think that word means what you think it means.‘ This is useful in today’s world when words are bastardized like ‘Literal’.
and in When Harry Met Sally, in a museum Harry says; ‘I think hieroglyphics were a comic strip about a character named Spyinxy‘, well that’s just fun.
Please Rest in Peace Mr. and Mrs. Reiner. I’m so sorry someone who brought us so much joy experienced last moments of fear.
That doesn’t seem fair.… more “Know Thyself #110”
