I still like the super high-tech Japanese Toto toilets with their warm warm-up toilet seats, remote sensors and variable car wash (tushy) features, but I’m starting to feel a bit pressured by their increasing demands. Maybe its just me but I fear the advent of AI as it intersects with my youknowwhat. Every time I walk in the bathroom or come out of the shower, it immediately senses me and opens up (literally) as if to say “how about now?”, “Now?” “wanna pee?”
It reminds me of being in South Beach and walking along the sidewalks on Ocean Drive in front of all the outdoor cafés and restaurants with the host and hostesses immediately and quite emphatically asking “Care to dine? “Wanna dine!??” “Care to see our extensive menu items?” Yeah I know the Toto toilet has extensive menu items and options. Too many for my ADHD elderly brain in fact . I had enough trouble figuring out the new beautiful shower with diverter and temperature valve options on my friends Patti and Joel’s Mill Valley guest bath renovation let alone then step out of the glass enclosure and have the Toto toilet accost me like an eager french hostess with “Care to dine, er I mean make wee wee??”
As Sarasota Architectural Salvage closes for good I reflect on the seemingly random and obscure items I’ve picked through as well as the ironic art and cosmic detritus which had my name on it so to speak.
To wit: A plastic Pepsi carton containing multiple discarded Buddha statues that have broken and worn down over time, surrendering to their fate or expiration date and in so doing have paradoxically achieved Oneness. Enlightenment has occurred through the dissolution of their apparent earthly form and a succession of karmic cycles. The human delusion and illusionnof greed, ego and self-justified anger has been extinguished. By following core Buddhist principles these liberated beings of light have successfully detached themselves from their bodily desires and relentless ego-driven head trash. Very inspiring.
Note: Buddhist enlightenment, or Bodhi is the ultimate spiritual goal: an “awakening” to the true nature of reality, leading to liberation from suffering (samsara) and the repeated cycle of rebirth, achieved by extinguishing greed, anger, and delusion, and realizing an interconnected, selfless existence through wisdom, compassion, and mindfulness. It’s not a divine gift per se but a potential within every conscious being attained by following the Buddha’s central teachings like the Noble Eightfold Path to finally see things as they really are.
Core Concepts
Awakening (Bodhi): Literally means “to awaken,” seeing the world without delusion, understanding impermanence and recognizing interdependence.
Nirvana: The state of liberation, the “blowing out” of destructive emotions and cravings, a natural state of inner peace that transcends the common notion and perception of annihilation.
I asked Chat GPT to tell me what “net effect” Artificial Intelligence (AI) would likely have (positive or negative) on Oswald Spengler’s theory in his nearly impenetrable book The Decline of the West” (1918-22). Here is what Chat spit out in about 5 seconds. Only minor CaptCliff edits are included.
AI and Oswald Spengler AI (Artificial Intelligence) most likely will act as a powerful accelerator of Oswald Spengler’s post-war industrial theory of world history extensively detailed in his book “The Decline of the West” and particularly his description of the Faustian “last stage” of dying empires, civilizations and cultures. This predictable winter stage includes an intensification of the pursuit of technics (what Man does with new developing tools and technologies) and the exploitation of nature itself which ultimately hastens the civilization’s decline into its final entropy. AI within the current context of our time, place and culture likely reinforces the Western reductionistic view of the world as merely a commercial “resource” and AI itself as a powerful new form of technology that risks homogenizing cultural diversity, original thought and human creativity. • • Acceleration of “Faustian” Technics: AI represents the ultimate form of the Faustian drive to “master” the world through “better” technology. Spengler predicted a relentless pursuit of technical mastery without regard for longterm consequences, a trend which AI accelerates to its zenith. • Final Stage of Civilization: Spengler in the 1920s argued that civilization reaches a point where it becomes sterile, intellectual (purely analytical) and rigid. AI, by automating thought and reducing original high culture human creativity could be seen as the ultimate form of this sterile intellectual and civilized stasis. • Homogenization and Loss of Culture: The use of AI is leading to a homogenization of ideas and culture itself by reducing the vibrant, unique and creative expressions of a fertile higher culture based in deeply rooted organic growth and human spirit into a more standardized “cheap intelligence”. • Data-Driven Exploitation: AI is intensifying the transformation of the world into mere data and resources, confirming Spengler’s fatalistic prediction of a world where everything is ultimately calculated and exploitable. • Potential for Decline: The dependence on AI for decision-making in addition to the creation of biased “cheap intelligence,” could lead to the kind of severe decay in critical thinking, imaginative spirit and cultural depth that Spengler associated with the final ultimate decline of the West. Ultimately, AI does not contradict Spengler’s theory but rather seems to act as the penultimate tool or symptom of the late-stage “Faustian” culture, confirming his prophecy of a civilization in decline dominated and trapped by its own technical achievements.
Cliff Note: Spengler’s prediction of late “winter”stage authoritarian leaders and “might makes right” Caesarian public figures fighting for power and control of data driven technology and scientific achievements designed not to improve or better mankind but to maintain social order and gain economic and military advantage further reinforces the grim deterministic view that Spengler foresaw and wrote about in his two volume masterpiece.
Oswald Spengler viewed leaders in the final stage of civilization, or what he called “Caesarism,” as powerful, autocratic figures who casually replace democratic figures, academic scholars and intellectual elites using their personal charisma and brute strength to command rather than to rule through tradition or law. These figures, like Julius Caesar (or Donald Trump) as their principal avatars bring about a “pre-death emergency” period that characterizes and foreshadows a dying severely declining empire.
Key characteristics of Spengler’s view on leaders in the final stage include: • The Rise of Caesarism: As culture declines into increasingly sterile civilization, democracy fails, leading to the rise of individuals who hold extra-constitutional, absolute power (Caesarism) and pecuniary influence. • From Statesman to Technician/Caesar:The creative, organic leader (true statesman) is replaced by the technocrat, the administrator, and eventually, the true Caesar, who commands in a world of declining spiritual vitality. • Charismatic Authority: Caesarism represents the triumph of personal power over dying traditions and are characterized by a “gladiatorial” form of political performance rather than critical thinking, reason, parliamentary input and debate.(Captcliff Note: Bannon/Hegseth/Noemi/Miller/Vance/Musk much?) • Finality of Power: These leaders arise in the context of a “petrified” state, marking the final stage where true creative impulses and original thought are gone, and the focus is on a “culture of money” over a “culture of value and meaning” and the maintaining of social order and control is prioritized within a world-city-culture dominated by uber wealthy private interest elites (ie. bankers, industrialists, speculators) who sequester vast amounts of money and hold unprecedented pecuniary/monetary power.
Spengler saw this as a natural, inevitable, and predictable cyclical lifecycle and societal process, comparable (as just one example) to the shift from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire.
Decadent Stage: Spengler believed that in a culture’s “springtime,” money is simply for exchange, but in the later “civilization” (decadent) phase, society becomes obsessed with money, which then governs all aspects of life.
Pecuniary power refers to the influence, authority, and control derived from possessing significant financial resources, such as capital, assets, and income. It represents the ability to shape market conditions, influence policy, and direct economic outcomes through monetary means. This power is often used to define and control and in legal contexts it relates to monetary penalties or gains used to leverage control and authority. Key aspects of pecuniary power include: • Economic Influence: It enables corporations or individuals to drive investment, regulations, and shape environmental trajectories. • Legal/Financial Definition: In law, it pertains to money-related matters, such as “pecuniary gain” (profit motive in crime) or “pecuniary legacies” (monetary gifts in wills). • Conflict of Interest: “Pecuniary interest” denotes a direct financial stake in a case or decision, which can lead to legal bias. • Mediation/Negotiation: Power imbalances in negotiations often stem from disparities in financial resources. The term is derived from the Latin pecunia(money), often highlighting the material basis of influence in society.
Ok this should be interesting. Pete Hegseth the Secretary of War has called for a mandatory face to face meeting of up to 800 major generals and admirals in all branches of active military service. Also great to tell the whole world about this unprecedented Handmaid’s Tale type Commanders event in advance so that some foreign or domestic terrorist, lunatic 19 year old Incel who thinks he’s a “true” patriot or disgruntled Dr. Strangelove/Seven Days in May alcoholic general with bipolar mania, Antifa busboy with a dark web mass murder gaming fetish or even a random AI Chatbot addicted delusional military attache with “Rapture psychosis” could conceivably destroy the entire US military command with one well placed biological agent or Fuhrerbunker briefcase bomb. Let’s face it, keeping things under wraps is not exactly Pete Hegseth’s forte. He’s also a sucker for this kind of “Boys will be Boys” Operation Tailhook strip club debriefings and Top Gun/Top shelf liquor “security meetings” so we can only pray his sobriety remains intact. I’d personally feel better knowing Commander Pete has a surgically implanted breathalyzer which monitors his blood alcohol level 24/7 and livestreams the results to open public Facebook, Instagram, his wife and the Jumbotron kissing cam in Boston’s Fenway Park.
Honestly, nobody really knows what’s going on and it might just turn out to be a Squid Games meets American Ninja Warrior military mass firing, West Wing loyalty test or Orange Theory fitness event utilizing Hegseth and Robert Kennedy Jr’s personal Crossfit expertise to weed out the bloat in dollars and pounds (not to mention diversity,equity and inclusion programming) among the US top brass and flag officers.
Note: It’s now reported President Trump will also be attending the aforementioned Department of War pep rally so let’s hope all the flat or sloping rooftops, grassy knolls and nearby landscape hedges will be swept repeatedly by the Secret Service beforehand since they appear to attract more 21-40 year old Lee Harvey Oswald wannabes and non-binary hunters with sniper rifles than my ivy covered property in Atlanta attracts hordes of bloodthirsty virus infected killer mosquitoes.
With life throwing us curve balls, catastrophes and a “do or die” dead heat presidential election in just a few days it’s probably best to deliberately distract ourselves by focusing on something completely unrelated, totally unimportant and hard to fathom like Stephen Seagal who apparently now lives in Russia. Russia? I thought he was a lousy Hollywood actor who often played a cop, a grossly out of shape martial artist who was reported to enjoy hurting people and more recently a reserve police officer in Louisiana somewhere “down on the bayou”. At least there was a clear and readily apparent theme, common denominator and requisite skill set in all of these post retirement volunteer and professional roles even if the common denominator happens to be a penchant for displaying excessive violence in the name of questionable justice.
However, while surfing the internet recently in an futile attempt to avoid scurrilous misinformation, blatant lies and disgraceful defamatory political ads I happened upon a few photos of Seagal with his best buddy Vladimir Putin. What the hell has Sensei Steven been eating? That’s not body armor or protective gear under his XXXL shirt. I thinking he may have accidentally consumed several Russian models along with the entire oligarch wedding/birthday cake they popped out of like in that 1992 movie Under Siege. I dont think he’s gonna be doing any Bruce Lee one finger push-ups on any social media platform any time soon…and if he does they damn better reinforce the platform first. That’s a lot of meat on the hoof Nico. Also, someone needs to tell him there is a lighter shade of “Just for Men” brown beard dye. I too have gone overboard in an attempt to look younger than my actual age (Putin and I have the same birthday) and quite a few times got caught up writing a never-ending CaptCliff blog and forgot I had dyed my goatee and eyebrows but never rinsed it out. I looked like a cross between Breaking Bad and Groucho Marx.
Bottomline there is such a thing as subtlety. Laozi said we are beings of “profound cosmic subtlety” but I’m afraid Steven Seagal never got the memo. At least Putin just wants to BE Napoleon and not spend all his waking hours stuffing his face with those super fattening but no doubt super delicious Russian style Napoleon cakes. That’s subtlety.
Have you seen the recent “We Robot” YouTube interview with the newly debuted Tesla androids? IF they are to be believed and are not just iRobot ripoffs with Little People inside they show unusual dexterity and have much nicer and less homicidal tendencies than Will Smith’s mechanoid counterparts.
Elon Musk the weird (and probably on the spectrum) genius has somehow managed to create a remarkably likable even socially adept android using high speed AI algorithms that he claims “for under 20k” not only can serve us cocktails, babysit our children and cut the grass but also shmooze with humans in real time by determining and then utilizing Vonnegut’s “mutual but meaningless” social connections (grandfalloon) to increase their owners comfort and trust, ie. “You a Hoosier? That’s amazing i lived in Grand Rapids for 14 years!”
Of course, my twisted Captain Cliff mind immediately imagined a future Larry David episode in which all of Larry‘s LA friends have Tesla service robots that they absolutely adore while only Larry’s service robot hates his guts and, like Siri, consistently refuses to cooperate. Picture Larry being served Mocha Joe coffee by his pronoun identifying robot now wearing a keffiyah and whispering in his ear, “Free Free Free Palestine!” Add in the greek chorus with Leon Black chiming in, “What the fuck Larry! Did you go and get one of those open box refurbished robots at Best Buy?You know that shit dont ever work out!”
With the world anxiously awaiting the Trump Harris televised debate tonight and girding their loins knowing there will be a heaping pile of unseemly trash talk, finger pointing and general negativity exchanged there is also this trashy news (see below) Somebody really needs to sweep, burn sage and disinfect that room (Presidential debate den of lies) afterwards.
What we say and what we do matters because it either contributes to a better world or it leaves more and more human “debris” and dangerous misinformation for others to have to clean up, clear up, or get off the bottom of their shoe. Do I, CaptCliff, the aging seasick prone pirate need to say what most people are thinking? Down with the scallawags and their filthy lies while your at it pick up your stinking cigarette butts and those little plastic thingamabobs the dentist gives you to floss your teeth and gums but end up in a Safeway parking lot or floating to Timbuktu on a high tide.
From now on, let’s not just think of trash, debris, human lies and baseless conspiracy theories from the perspective of the hard to grasp “butterfly effect” but instead the easy to imagine Cheeto effect. Apparently one little bag of Cheetos dropped on the ground can change an entire fragile ecosystem …and most likely not for the better. I love cheetos but c’mon we can do better about littering, recycling and taking out the trash. Maybe worry a little bit less about an unproven Covid lab leak in Wuhan and more about the exponentially growing floating continent of plastic crap (Great Pacific Garbage Patch) forming in the Pacific Ocean. We may be a highly intelligent species on paper but we’re also kinda gross as far as trash disposal, littering, chemical pollutants and “leave no trace” thinking. Civilized people dont actually poop on the poop deck. They know better. But some picaroons and bilge rat politicians lie like a rug…shamelessly and with no regard for human decency or the actual truth. Maybe thats why a certain circus performer and former president is known informally as the puffed up Orange Cheeto Man.
Three random thoughts about my Privilege, the Cosmos and the basic nature of the ever changing Universe
Even tho I realize change is the essence of life and the essential process of all existence, I really love Open Pit barbecue sauce (only $1.99 at Publix) and hope the original version never ever goes away.
In thinking recently about the concept of “checking my privilege” it is only now that I realize just how obnoxious it was years ago to make dinner reservations using the name “Dr. Mazer” in hopes of getting better seating and possibly more attentive table service. They must have really hated me for doing that and then if necessary correcting them if they said “Ok thank you Mr. Mazer, you as&wi@e, see you at 7:30 pm. Ok… I still do that on very very rare occasions…..Mea Culpa
In watching one hour of the SciFi series 3Body Problem I got turned off not because I am or am not smart enough to understand the planetary science, theoretical physics, quantum mechanics/entanglement and nano-technology referenced in its creative premise but by my absolute disbelief in the casual bro dialogue between it’s central characters as they sit, drink and smoke cigarettes in a karaoke bar while offhandedly saying stuff like, “well it’s been a while since I’ve taken Particle Physics but is that configuration of the Universe on my cellphone app even possible?” I’m thinking Game of Thrones, cutthroat family politics and flame-breathing dragons are far more realistic and believable. But what do I know. I’m still in therapy trying to get over the trauma of Greta Thunberg saying, “ok Boomer…”. That really rocked me because up until then i really thought we were special. Checking my privilege..again.
I recently returned to Chicago on a secret mission…after many years away. While I grew up in the leafy Chicago suburb of Highland Park, I wanted to quietly revisit the big city I always associated with having a multitude of blessings: deep dish pizza, hot dogs, chic sophistication, amazing architecture, fine arts, and of course “elevated” food, ie. “The Bear” versus “Da Bears”.
To be clear I wasn’t searching for a sublime or extraordinary cultural experience by taking in all the priceless Renoir, Van Gogh, or Gauguin paintings at the Art Institute or feasting on the no doubt glorious tasting menus at Oriole, Alinea or Kasama. I will however tell you that Kasama was Filipino fantastic in its refined simplicity and the burger at The Loyalist was beyond amazing. Instead I was on a stealthy mission to remember my childhood. I was intent on recalling some of the peculiar and unforgettable people, places, and things that captured my imagination as a boy (picture skinny kid with crewcut and missing both front teeth) and may have inspired my extreme curiosity and quirky hyperactive mind (think Young Sheldon with a much lower IQ). Going to the Museum of Science and Industry and taking the tacky tourist tour through the captured German U-boat (U505) was one item on my backwards in time bucket list as was walking into the lobby of my parents former condo residence at the Park Hyatt Hotel on Michigan Avenue. Watching a wide-eyed little boy with his Dad pushing all the verboten “DO NOT TOUCH” buttons on the now stationary WWII German submarine and looking intently through the mock periscope made my day. The entire four day experience in Chicago was a bittersweet mixture of “Now THAT’s an amazing burger!”, “ahh, wait..now I remember!”, “boy that looks a lot smaller than I remember” and finally “i guess they’re right when they say you can never go back”.
Honestly I never even made it back to Highland Park where I was told my family house on Brittany Road which my parents built in 1966 on an empty forested lot and lived in until they like many empty nesters moved back to Chicago was for sale after being updated and “customized” several times over the years. From the sales listing photo gallery online I barely recognized the house or the original floor plan. I no longer saw or felt the contemporary FLW style that my mother intended only to be replaced by multiple room additions and the personalized imprint of other homeowners I knew not.
I did however like the impressive collection of sports memorabilia in the now fully furnished and completely built out basement. Where I wondered did they put the all important basement “sump pump”? I remember blowing up and lighting on fire my brother Neal’s meticulously put together Revell ship models down there. Also whatever happened to the ginormous 1960’s era waterbed I dragged in pieces down to that mostly unfinished basement in high school just to be “cool” and to no longer have to share a bedroom with my goody two shoes brother? Finally I had mixed emotions about the miniature Lionel train running around a looping railroad track attached to the cove ceiling in my upstairs shared bedroom. In some ways it reminded me of the “interactive” model train exhibit and “hidden” miniature scenes installed on the main floor Transportation Gallery at the Museum of Science and Industry.
Consistent with my mixed/mixed-up feelings and bittersweet experience revisiting the Windy City I did notice that many of the “PUSH HERE” interactive buttons on the 3500 square foot Continental Railroad “Journey Across America” exhibit, ie. lift bridge, blow up tunnel boulders, make pine tree fall over while recorded voice yelled “Timber!!” no longer worked. Who knows…maybe subconsciously that’s why I installed a completely inoperable BIG RED BUTTON in my reproduction of the Titanic’s Communication Room in my pirate basement in Atlanta. Every time I go into that clever but creepy CaptCliff room I push that stupid red button that does absolutely nothing. I cant help myself (see video).
The Big Red Broken Button in the Pirate Basement
These are the kind of highly personal signs, quirky clues, queer symbols and hidden messages that our child self leaves us like some psychopoetic treasure map with “x marks the spot”. In time and with the sands of time slowly running out of the metaphoric hourglass we are beckoned to follow the clues and remember who we authentically are as well as reconnect with the joy, beauty, imagination and innocence of who we once were. By consciously choosing to do that not only do we create a sense of wholeness and self acceptance within ourselves but perhaps we are also more able to face and embrace the inevitability of change in the world.
Besides the sappy title this blog may seem like it’s going to be about Harmony my sweet, loving and infinitely loyal Black Lab rescue dog who is now somewhere around 13 yrs old. How Harmony came into my life (actually into my open garage prior to me getting working garage doors) is a whole different story. This true tale and longwinded CaptCliff blog is actually about the necessity of facing ones mortality and the importance of remembering who you once were and reconnecting with that childhood self. “Inner child” may be a close approximation but in this case it’s not about peace, love or flower power. Neither is it about some idealized angelic version of childhood.
By “childhood self” I’m mostly referring to the original, pure, innocent, unadulterated and unconditionally loving part of our being as well as the unbiased unadulterated early in life preferences, interests, desires, likes (yum!) and dislikes (yuck!) that once defined and described an individual’s true nature. There are no six-year-old accountants or eight-year-old attorneys. Only little kids in their most real, authentic and original state of being. Admittedly it’s not an easy concept to pin down precisely but if you asked a family friend or older relative who knew you at age 4-9 years old they would likely be able to describe certain key elements or personality traits that stood out as far back as they can remember. For many children who are now fully grown adults or even aging Baby Boomers like myself our original self was often characterized by a boundless amount of physical energy, vivid imagination, untamed emotions (and emotional vulnerability), an inherent sense of play and playfulness and non-stop curiosity about everything which is not very different from my dog Harmony’s basic personality…minus maybe the energy part nowadays.
Consider this: Once upon a time we were all children. Amazingly that even includes monsters like Hitler, Stalin and whoever created TikTok and the reality TV shows Jersey Shore and The Swan. Taking into account the wide range of basic human temperaments, all of us were more or less sweet, adorable, playful, emotionally open, unconditionally loving, and lacking in prejudice…also like Harmony. Then “shit happened” in our lives and in our varied and various life journeys, ie. deep pain, devastating loss, hurt, rejection, life threatening illness and psychological trauma like death, divorce, physical and sexual abuse, economic problems etc..
As a result we developed coping mechanisms in an attempt to deal with everything we couldn’t adequately deal with or process at the time, Not our fault. Our brains, bodies and minds were not developed enough to do so. For many of us these predictable but also often maladaptive coping methods included deep denial, dissociation, drinking, drugs, depression/anxiety/PTSD etc. and selective forgetting/repression. In other words a lot of our early life experiences, memories and primal feelings were shut off and stored away someplace in our mind/body and metaphorically speaking got “lost” in a purposely disorganized pile of old papers with a small child’s hand-scrawled sticky note instruction to “remember this and figure this out later”.
The inconvenient truth is as follows:
To be genuinely ok with ourselves (self love/self care) and fully loving towards others (truly open to giving and receiving love) we have to re-connect with our lost or repressed childhood memories including painful feelings and eventually find a healthier, better and more conscious way to process, honor and appreciate BOTH the wonderful positive and the terribly traumatic experiences we’ve been through. Another way to describe that kind of fully processed physical, mental and emotional state of being would be “living in harmony”….which again is much like good old Harmony Mazer the black lab rescue dog who by the way also had a very traumatic early childhood but now seems to appreciate most things in life just as they are and even counts her daily blessings…especially her favorite soft dog chew treats and car rides. She does however much prefer bites of my double bacon croissant breakfast sandwich over the lower calorie turkey bacon muffin at Starbucks.
Here’s why this topic is currently on my mind. Last week Harmony who follows me around 24/7 no matter where I go whether it’s to the bathroom or to take a five minute car ride to Starbucks or Publix for the first time chose not to get up from her comfy couch bed upstairs to accompany me and Mochi ( her younger Toy Havapoo sister) to take Argentine to her 10:30 am Pilates class. Harmony loves two things: food and car rides. She basically views riding in the car as both an enjoyable hobby as well as an important and serious job. After struggling a bit to jump up and get into the back seat of the car (more so lately) she goes into “working dog” mode by looking out the windows intently at everything she sees (or can still hear) and then assumes this hyper-focused body posture with a certain look on her face that says “Hey this is serious business everybody and my job is to witness it all no matter how unimportant or inconsequential.” Of course seeing squirrels cross the road and other medium to large dogs on the way to our chosen destination is an added bonus and special perk of her “ride or die” sidekick position in my life. I guess in the end everyone, including dogs want their lives to have some defining purpose and special meaning. In fact, when you think about it we are probably here to “witness” everything we can as well and so in a way that’s our cosmic job as sentient human beings.
Without a doubt another big part of Harmony’s life purpose is to love me unconditionally which is not always an easy task. She can recognize if Im in a good or bad mood or if I dont feel well and she responds accordingly. While choosing to not get up to stretch and painfully paddle (due to age related arthritis) down three flights of stairs might seem unimportant I instinctively took note of it as a kind of subtle but significant milestone in her and my already long life and in our special relationship together.
There is probably a good reason why people are inextricably drawn to a poignant love story (think for example “The Notebook”) whether by reading a book or watching an unusually powerful or unforgettable movie. A really good book or film whether it has a “good” or “bad” Hollywood ending makes a person reflect about their own life in ways that are deeply moving, thought provoking as well as emotionally bittersweet…. because every life is like that. When you get to be 70 years old, even though everyone says you should be “mindful” and “live in the present”, you cant help but start to look back at your memorable but probably also checkered past as well as begin to ponder your inevitable future. The inevitable future, as hard as it is to accept and truly comprehend is about no longer being around. People also talk a lot about “telling one’s truth” but there are many different truths. Sort of like a certain little kid holding an official library card I now remember (maybe around 10 or 11 years old) who was dropped off by his proud Jewish parents at the Highland Park public library well before the internet existed, everyone has to choose the right book, story or magnum opus for their life and find among the tall seemingly endless stacks of classic literature, historical autobiographies, scientific journals, encyclopedias, novels, novellas and personal narratives the most genuine, most honest “quintessential” theme and thesis for their brief but purposeful human existence. It’s important to do so because time is both relative (Einstein) and relatively short. Whether they all go to heaven or not, dogs always die and so do people including Albert Einstein. In other words, a person like myself cant help but notice that not only is my beloved dog Harmony getting old but certain inanimate objects like the modern sculpture outside of the Highland Park public library and the bronze lions outside of the Art Institute of Chicago haven’t changed a bit over the years while everything else including that little boy now a 70 year old guy in the bathroom mirror is nearly unrecognizable.
So in the end it probably makes the most sense to face facts and reconnect with that ever curious kid seen in photo albums and in the Fells Shoes shoebox full of old black and white Polaroid photographs and come to terms with him/her/it (to be somewhat politically correct today). Come to terms essentially means to reconcile, accept and love as is, as was and as always will be which might sound a bit cosmic because well…it is.
Finally, it would also be smart to choose a life story that has the most personal meaning, makes the most moral sense (based on a ones fundamental values and cherished beliefs) but also feels “genuine” or what certain people today like to call “authentic”. Authentic means real and not just a figment of somebody’s self-serving or exaggerated imagination… or God forbid some orange guy’s ginormous ego and reality TV show fantasy of ones life.
In case you wondered …the young boy who was dropped off at the public library carrying his own library card with his very own name on it who disappeared into the tall stacks of books in some quantum universe way “never to be seen again” picked out two seemingly quite different if not dialectical books to sit on the floor and read over and over again. One was The Odyssey by Homer (with illustrated map). The other was Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion. Not so surprisingly, both main characters got lost for a very very long time before eventually finding their way home. Just like Harmony.
captaincliff 