Small Talk (43) - American Election Edition

aphorisms and short reflections

there’s nothing here about the election, but it made you click, didn’t it

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the world was stopped. then i looked at her and it all started to move.








people find it odd (or don't even know) that there were greek buddhists before there were chinese buddhists. but it isn't all that strange, if we consider the prevailing philosophies of each place. for buddhism to enter china it had to be completely changed into something else. in greece, it was a natural fit. so much so that those same greeks even managed to twist Jesus' teachings into a religion that in many ways is just buddhism with a different flavor.










Jesus turns every expectation on its head, but one of the funniest ones is that he is supposed to be a sort of second Moses, and lead the people out of exile, but the exile that Jesus leads people out of is... the mosaic law.









it's not the wheat and the tares, but the wheat and the darnel ryegrass. an important agricultural and spiritual distinction.









many years ago i met an old man who had a club for the independence of his little town (with a thousand people at best), and he presumably had copies of old documents proving that the king (can't remember which) had granted them independence and thus he claimed that the portuguese state was an occupying force. he came to fix a window but apparently would tell this to everyone who would listen. and i found it amusing so kept asking questions.










every once in a while, much is made of the name Lucifer, and its (real or imagined) relation with things in the modern world named similarly (like the new catholic mascot Luce). then someone will point out that the name is related to light, not Lucifer. and the real tragedy is how both sides fail to understand how the light-bearer (Lucifer) could be the first satan and all the very important symbolic implications of it.











in Matthew there is a scene in which the disciples ask Jesus why he speaks in parables, and his answer is a little bewildering. he says that to them, the apostles, it is given to know the kingdom, and to the others it is not given (so much for inclusive Jesus). then he doubles down (on the bewilderment, and the noninclusivity) and says that whoever has it (and presumably he means understanding), shall have more, and those who do not have, shall lose even what they do have. and then he concludes that this is why he speaks in parables to the outsiders, 'because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand'. in Mark and Luke there is the same episode, related slightly differently, but even more forcefully (and then, out of character, an explanation of the parable to the disciples - which makes very little sense, both the fact that he explains and the very obviously surface meaning he discloses to them, and that really is not all that difficult to understand, which suggests the real meaning went unspoken). yet the most bewildering and revealing part of this episode is found, not in the synoptic gospels, but in the fact that John has no parables whatsoever.









we became lovers when we realized we were both haters











the purpose of globalism is permanent exile, with a steady supply of manna wrested from the bowels of hell








pandas are masters of wei wu wei









trees move slowly, and only to grow. unless they are stirred by the wind.










your days are numbered, mine are color coded











there is a highway to hell, but the way of heaven is a two way street










earth looks up to heaven, heaven bows down to earth












according to tradition, Lao Tzu was sixty two years old when he was born. one is immediately led to consider what this means. and yes, it means precisely that.










i would much prefer if the masses listened to Andre Rieu instead of whatever is on the radio now. but the trouble is, when they do listen to the first, they also listen to the second, and move from one to the other without blinking. it's all the same to them. and that's the real problem.









on the eve of modernity, Camões wrote the last epic poem, while Cervantes wrote the first modern novel. one looked nostalgically backward, the other joyfully forward. no better description can be given of how different the soul of Portugal is from that of Spain.










the darkest hour is just before the one that comes after, which is even darker. we simply didn't know how dark it could get.











being sinless is good, being repentful is better.











every once in a while i forget every word except aphasia

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