The Audacity of Exestentialism

"We are searching for something that has already found us" -Jim Morrison

"Jim Morrison liked word salads.  But unlike Dylan, Jim Morrison's word salads actually make sense.  You can follow his train of thought.  My words are more likely to have a higher cholesterol content, and run the risk of giving Tea Preachers heart attacks"

When John Lennon exploded in fury in song against Bob Dylan after he'd announced he was Born Again and had found Jesus, my reaction was, "I wish I had thought of doing that".

Exesteitialism is for people who have too much time on their hands.

An extentialist is a person who If they think it's happened to them then it's happened to everybody- and if it hasn't yet happened to them - then they call everybody whom it Has happened to as either a liar or "being excessively hypothetical".

Exestentialists are like babies who play peek-a-boo and think the whole world spontaniously disappears and re-appears.

The whole point of the song Exestential blues is to point out what assholes exestentialists really are.

Too many people go into a hypnotic trance while listening to the Sumdan sermon, and then when someone else actually comments adversely on the content of the sermon, they accuse them of "having a real Faith problem".

Mind games are fine for a lyrical diversion in song, but when the mind games themselves BECOME the whole reality- - you fall into the pitfall of starting to worship your own accidental error.

The trouble with the clergy and religious teachers is that they don't really want me to Love them, or even like them.  They want me to Worship them!

Too many people such as Bob Dylan are so mentally fucked up that if someone suggests they aren't perfect they say "You're problem is that you are being unloving and judgemental"

Well not to quote Lloyd Benson or anything but, "I knew Jim Morrison.  Jim Morrison was a friend of mine.  And Dr. Levy - - you're no Jim Morrison.  Jim Morrison and I both agree that life is meaningless.  This is just a fact of life every man has to deal with.  But it's not enough to base a whole philosophy on once you've recognized the basic reality of it.  I'm pretty sure neither of us believes that you can Petetion the Lord with Prayer - - like the song says.  Both of us also believe in some sort of a caticlismic end of the world at some point that in no way can be foretold when or where.  Jim Morrison believes the world will end in a firey confligration at Dawn - - "Somewhere in the West".  But right off we are confronted with a logical problem.  Here is what it is.  Though an exestentialist will start with saying that Life is Meaningless- - that is all of that "Meaning of Life" the Zen Buhddists talk about- - - he does not then take the next Logical conclusion step and say "further discussion is pointless".  Rather Dr. Levy is always talking about "discovering the meaning of life' or "finding the meaning of life" or "ways of giving your life meaning".  But as I said it seems to me all too often that people who get into Exestentialism are married men in their mid forties going through a "mid life" crisis and want to "find the meaning of life" and suddenly find reason to be bored with their marriage and loyal wives and families.  So in the name of "finding themselves" they go have one affair after another with young chicks.  These people may call themselves exestentialists- - but a more conceise word for them is Selfish Pigs.  Dr. Levy is always talking about how it's out duty to "get our lives to have meaning".  But I think he's confusing his terms.  What I seek is not "meaning" per se- - more likely I am seeking personal fulfillment, or happiness, or accomplishment, or pleasure or just an improved environment.  Screw the "meaning" of it.  This whole "meaning of life" thing seems to imply the Existance of a God who in fact does not exist.  Who wants to read poetry by a person who claims to be seeking something he's already asserted does not exist.  People want love, - - - and they want things, they want pleasure, and hopefully - influence and relivence. Certantly we can all join some moral cause that "matters" and the political campaign of re electing the President would be an excellent way to start  Some say "worldly things only bring temporary pleasure".  Well I've got news for you buddy, we are ALL "temporary" on this earth.  Contrary to Dr. Levy's teachings these worldly things can and do bring happiness.  You know money brings Dr. Levy happiness because otherwise he wouldn't be a member of the Tea Party.  But I've made this last observation before in that Exestentialism is most dangerous in that it is a "Gateway philosophy" that leads to something off-the-wall like Born Again-ism.  Chuck Smith imagines every unsaved person to be an Exestentialist, which he is most emphatically not.  So right off he would lead you down a false "garden path" or train of thought- - with a surprise ending inside an Orange County fundamentalist church and you have no idea why you're suddenly professing all this bullshit you would have laughed at yesterday.  Exestentialists seem to have an inordenant capacity to Self Pity. I think the healthiest thing you can do mentally is just "get over it" ie. the fact that life has no inherent meaning.  There IS mo "Master plan of a loving God you should be made aware of".  If I write something- - I am qualified to say what it means.  If something happens TO me for either good or bad- - - it's not my job to find "meaning" in it.  Not to be flip or anything but, "That's God's problem".  This implies who ever planned my day that day has some "master agenda" it's my personal duty to discover, - - - that is part of some grand design for the world, and for my life.  Stop batting at the air, and just get on with the Business of Living Life itself.  Life is too short to let it slip through your fingers like sand, while you hold endless pointless debate with yourself on some otherwise unknown "true nature of it".

Randy Rhodes seemed to be on the same blogger wavelength as me remarking about what a devoid of morality or humanity – lying- sleazebag Mitt Romney was.  Great minds think alike.  She stated plainly that Harry Reed out-ranks her on the Latter Day Saints and there is some kind of a personal vendetta on between the two of them.  Reed told Nancy Pelosi the identity of the guy who informed about Romney’s lack of taxes.  Someone at Cable News Network also was told who it was.  This secret won’t stay secret for long.  The Koch Brothers were being investigated by the Clinton justice department and had 97 charges filed against them basically in the area of benzene pollution and water table contamination and a swath of cancer deaths in its wake.  All Koch had to do was pay a lot of money and the Bush Administration dropped the investigation right away.  That’s what you call pay for play.  As much as they donate to Republicans like Romney- - you can bet for them it’s an investment and they will get a lot more money yield out than they put in.  Pay for play.  And of course Sheldon Addelson is being investigated now by the LA District attorney and by this justice department with any number of really serious charges.  Randy Rhodes read from a lengthly article with all the specifics of the many criminal violations involving leaders of foreign countries.  Of course if Addelson gives Romney enough money- - he can make this all go away.  These naked types of influence peddling don’t bother Judy one bit.  She regards people like this as pure as Jesus Christ.  Perhaps it might be a good idea to reexamine the moral integrity of Jesus Christ.  You know, every day brings something new with Mitt Romney, and there is still lots more to come with revelations about other as yet unknown, seedy aspects of Bain Capital.  We find it all out in time.

That lady host of the morning show used to be a juvenile parole officer.  I just hope she’s fair and doesn’t have a chip on her shoulder or something.  She seemed pissed at some juveniles and said “If my kids tried that kind of balk talk it would be the first and last time”.  It’s like that Mother with the whole child management program that says “And if you talk back to me after this program I will take steps to make sure you never talk back to me again”.  The lady seemed to regard these private “boot camp” delinquent child agencies as just fine, no matter how much the kids are ranted and screamed at.  They’ve done pieces on these sort of pay for correction outfits on Sixty Minutes.  There seems to be a lot of blatent verbal and physical abuse at these camps.  I guess I'm thinking that if I already have "issues" with my family - - all of this isn't going to help. The host suggested it would be a good idea to retrain the parents so that there would be no recurring misbehavior.  That way the child can have the same wonderful environment at home that they- - had to endure in the camps.  All I can say is that if it were me- - suddenly I’d see running away from home as a much more viable- and perhaps self-preservation option.

You know that I think Obama's book title "The Audacity of Hope" is a little too self descriptive for his own good.  Hope without a plan becomes audacity.  It's this old pie in the sky crap that too many Christians preach.  I'm not referring to those who stand by Faith in certain Bible passages that "speak to them" sometimes explicity, about various promises of God.  On the contrary I have no problem with people like Kenneth Copland, Kenneth Hagen, and Joel Olsteen.  However many people are one way in rhetoric yet when you meet them one on one they are anything but positive, as far as how they regard Your future.  Many pastors use this "pie in the sky" rhetoric to cover up the fact that they do not believe At All.  Doubt is not a sign of unbelief.  On the contrary testing and questions and unresolved issues- - are things that people walking a Christian path encounter.  If a person really din't have "Faith" he'd have no problem with doubt.  He would never "try" or "test" God, because he would have already declared him irrelivent.  Dr. Levy likes to talk of being optimistic and upbeat, and yet he is anything But - - when it comes to the US economy, which he is forever forecasting the worst about.  The thing is if you cast your lot with Obama you are positive in that you already Believe- - that we are now on the Right path and we need only to Stay on that path and not deviate from it.  If you believe your salvation lies in Romney, you have to believe we start from scratch from square one.  This is an inherently harder task, mentally.  Especially when Judy says - or has - - that "Things have to get a lot worse before they can get better".  Even though these people plainly admit that the sort of slash and burn government cutbacks they contemplate- - would further harm the economy- - they believe in God, they claim (now) and that somehow God will look down and see our Piety and a hand will come down and rescues us from not only all of our economic problems but presumably solve all of our ecological and race relation problems, too.  Just between you and me- - I much prefer my Hope to be Hope with actual HOPE behind it- - meaning the odds of success are substantially elevated from what they were before said Hope.  I see nothing "Hopeful" or uplifting - and I see no plan - - in anything candidate Romney says or does.