Page 1 of 4
Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold
Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 9:16 am
by Maia
I'm sure everyone recognises the line from W. B. Yeats's The Second Coming, but whether or not the best lack all conviction, right now, mere anarchy most definitely seems to have been loosened upon the world. A few days ago, on leaving my flat, a balloon hit me in the face, bobbing around in my front garden on the breeze. I patted it away, and it burst. There is rubbish literally everywhere, flying around, with bits of cardboard, polystyrene, and who knows what else, underfoot, on the street. As I've mentioned elsewhere, the bin men have been on strike for the past few weeks, and there are huge piles of rubbish building up outside people's houses and on corners, giving off the most disgusting stench that seems to be permeating everywhere, now. At first I made an effort to clear away any stray items that had blown into my garden, and even, strangely, found an egg partially buried in the grass. A chicken's egg, I assumed, by its size, as wild bird's eggs are usually much smaller, which meant, I thought, that it had come from someone's rubbish pile, perhaps partially buried by an animal. A couple of days later I found a dead pigeon, ripped apart, with feathers strewn all over the grass. That's not the sort of thing that you really want to lay your hands on, just after breakfast, if you weren't expecting it. After that, I gave up trying to clean up the mess. Vermin seem to be stalking the land, and while I assume it was a cat that did it for that poor pigeon, it's not often that cats try it on with pigeons, given their size, so for all I know, maybe it was some enormous, mutant rat, bloated on the feast of rotting detritus laid out for all to gorge themselves on.
Re: Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold
Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 11:09 am
by promethean75
It's like 1868 all over again. Are there any well dressed gentlemen in big black top hats riding through in carriages assessing the damage as peasant children with dirty feet swarm the carriage begging for a shilling or two?
Re: Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold
Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 11:15 am
by accelafine
Surely it can't continue for much longer. It will spread disease.
Re: Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold
Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 11:25 am
by Maia
promethean75 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 06, 2025 11:09 am
It's like 1868 all over again. Are there any well dressed gentlemen in big black top hats riding through in carriages assessing the damage as peasant children with dirty feet swarm the carriage begging for a shilling or two?
Not sure, but we did have the rag and bone men in our road (well, just a tiny cul-de-sac, in fact) a couple of weeks ago. They don't use horses and carts any more, though, just a lorry with a loudspeaker on continuous loop saying "old iron" in a highly distorted voice. A sign of the times, I think.
Re: Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold
Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 11:30 am
by Maia
accelafine wrote: ↑Sun Apr 06, 2025 11:15 am
Surely it can't continue for much longer. It will spread disease.
I suspect it will go on for quite a while, yet. The city council has already declared an emergency, but since it went bankrupt a couple of years ago I doubt if they have any spare cash to do anything about it.
Re: Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold
Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2025 8:21 am
by Maia
I've just discovered that my back garden gate was unbolted. I couldn't, for a moment, work out how that could have possibly happened, since I always keep it bolted shut. It must have been my neighbour, the one on the other side to where the workmen were fixing the leak, who about a month ago asked me if he could cut some branches off a couple of trees in my back garden that overhung his. He said he would need to come into my garden to do it, but that he could easily get over the fence, rather than come through my flat. I was a little surprised at this, since the fence is pretty high, taller than I am, but agreed, anyway. I suppose he must have used a stepladder or something. Anyway, he did the work, when I was out, essentially cutting the trees down completely, rather than just lopping some branches off, which wasn't quite what he had said, but there you go, I suppose, and didn't leave any branches in my garden, either, which was good. But now I realise that he must have unbolted the gate to take them out, via the entryway between my house and that of the neighbour with the leak. Again, perfectly fine, and he obviously couldn't bolt the gate behind him, but he could have told me! How was I supposed to know, otherwise? I only found out just now as I wanted to check the entryway for rubbish, which it's completely full of, all from the neighbour with the leak. So basically, for the past month or so, anyone could have walked in off the street and got into my back garden. Admittedly, an extremely unlikely scenario, especially since the entryway is virtually impassable with bin bags and other assorted junk, including, I think, a rotting, rolled up carpet, but it's the principle of it that matters.
Re: Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold
Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2025 8:17 am
by Maia
They're apparently sending in the army to deal with the ever-growing piles of rotting, festering rubbish on more or less every street corner, now. Not to actually collect the rubbish, though, or anything useful like that, but to help plan what to do with it. Or at least, that's what the reports are saying, but who knows? There have also been murmurings about closing down the leisure centre where I work, due to health and safety issues, but again, no one seems to know for sure.
Perhaps this is what it was like during the dying days of Roman Britain, with normal life apparently continuing, for a while, as the infrastructure gradually collapsed, piece by piece, around them, with nobody having any idea what was actually going on. This is now it ends, not with a bang, nor even with a whimper, but with an unholy, preternatural stench.
Re: Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold
Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2025 12:19 pm
by Phil8659
Maia wrote: ↑Sun Apr 06, 2025 9:16 am
I'm sure everyone recognises the line from W. B. Yeats's The Second Coming,
Nope, not at all. Yeats was not a teacher of how we do our own work.
If you want to know about the second coming and why, it is not in Yeats, it is in the metaphors of the Bible. Some of its even said plainly.
For example, in Revelation. What would happen in history and why, just a reaffirmation of what was said in Genesis. "To destroy those who destroy the earth." for from the start man is made to tend the Garden of God.
And as you see all around you. There are people who are intelligent enough to do it, but so many not. The Book is not about a single person, it has always been about the whole human race. The single person, is only a book mark.
Everything you need to identify that bookmark is in the text. His job is clear, but it is not about that person, it is about humanities response.
If anyone really wanted to know, they would have spent their life in the study of words, the only power a mind has. We map the future with grammar. We standardize our behavior so as to turn the past into a future and to bring that future to pass. It is called learning to predict the results of one's own behavior.
We are given a perfect method of doing our work. So why bitch about things when you really do not care to do it?
You simply do not have a work ethic. or you insist that what you have to do is something which flatters you. Everyone wants to be flattered. Pet me, pet me,
I would rather die an asshole if I could only learn the Word.
So, if you want to know the name of the Bookmark to come, what the name of the person is who will show how to loosen the seals on the Book, which is a metaphor for the mind. It is a very old metaphor, Who in Revelation was told to eat the book, that it would be taste like honey, but it would lead to a very bitter life in the future?
His name is John.
Literacy is all we can do, words are our only power. They are used for mapping the future. The only magic is within.
Was it not written, from the very start, that mankind would not be free and sent to do his own work until he learnt judgment? And what do you imagine that means? Spewing bull shit with words?
To put it simply as a few other's have put it, the survival of life on this planet is contingent upon our literacy, which is the ability to use words in truth.
If you are like other animals, who cannot care, not bright enough, then no one can change that. You have been given a perfect system, but cannot learn how to use two simple concepts. Let your yea's be yea's and your nay's be nay's. Simple assertion and denial.
Try this metaphor, Good and Evil. If all of judgment involves the verb, the goods of a container, is not then, the container evil? Do we eat the cup we drink the coffee from?
I the lord create all the good and all the evil, I the Lord do all these things.
To become like God, to know the difference between good and evil then means, learn the distinction between the noun and the verb, between the relative and correlatives. It is a child's puzzle.
Re: Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold
Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2025 2:57 pm
by Maia
Phil8659 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 14, 2025 12:19 pm
Maia wrote: ↑Sun Apr 06, 2025 9:16 am
I'm sure everyone recognises the line from W. B. Yeats's The Second Coming,
Nope, not at all. Yeats was not a teacher of how we do our own work.
If you want to know about the second coming and why, it is not in Yeats, it is in the metaphors of the Bible. Some of its even said plainly.
For example, in Revelation. What would happen in history and why, just a reaffirmation of what was said in Genesis. "To destroy those who destroy the earth." for from the start man is made to tend the Garden of God.
And as you see all around you. There are people who are intelligent enough to do it, but so many not. The Book is not about a single person, it has always been about the whole human race. The single person, is only a book mark.
Everything you need to identify that bookmark is in the text. His job is clear, but it is not about that person, it is about humanities response.
If anyone really wanted to know, they would have spent their life in the study of words, the only power a mind has. We map the future with grammar. We standardize our behavior so as to turn the past into a future and to bring that future to pass. It is called learning to predict the results of one's own behavior.
We are given a perfect method of doing our work. So why bitch about things when you really do not care to do it?
You simply do not have a work ethic. or you insist that what you have to do is something which flatters you. Everyone wants to be flattered. Pet me, pet me,
I would rather die an asshole if I could only learn the Word.
So, if you want to know the name of the Bookmark to come, what the name of the person is who will show how to loosen the seals on the Book, which is a metaphor for the mind. It is a very old metaphor, Who in Revelation was told to eat the book, that it would be taste like honey, but it would lead to a very bitter life in the future?
His name is John.
Literacy is all we can do, words are our only power. They are used for mapping the future. The only magic is within.
Was it not written, from the very start, that mankind would not be free and sent to do his own work until he learnt judgment? And what do you imagine that means? Spewing bull shit with words?
To put it simply as a few other's have put it, the survival of life on this planet is contingent upon our literacy, which is the ability to use words in truth.
If you are like other animals, who cannot care, not bright enough, then no one can change that. You have been given a perfect system, but cannot learn how to use two simple concepts. Let your yea's be yea's and your nay's be nay's. Simple assertion and denial.
Try this metaphor, Good and Evil. If all of judgment involves the verb, the goods of a container, is not then, the container evil? Do we eat the cup we drink the coffee from?
I the lord create all the good and all the evil, I the Lord do all these things.
To become like God, to know the difference between good and evil then means, learn the distinction between the noun and the verb, between the relative and correlatives. It is a child's puzzle.
As a Pagan, I prefer to take my inspiration from nature, and this has very little to do with words, and everything to do with emotions. But that's just me, of course. Each to their own, and all that.
Re: Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold
Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2025 3:10 pm
by Phil8659
Maia wrote: ↑Mon Apr 14, 2025 2:57 pm
As a Pagan, I prefer to take my inspiration from nature, and this has very little to do with words, and everything to do with emotions. But that's just me, of course. Each to their own, and all that.
I am well aware that you have chosen to be a person of no value. My choices are to be of value.
I have devoted my life to the extinction of stupidity. And, as you claim not to care, it amazes me when you bitch;.
You are a walking talking contradiction, fighting yourself all the time
Am I really the one who is counter productive? .
Re: Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold
Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2025 3:26 pm
by Maia
Phil8659 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 14, 2025 3:10 pm
Maia wrote: ↑Mon Apr 14, 2025 2:57 pm
As a Pagan, I prefer to take my inspiration from nature, and this has very little to do with words, and everything to do with emotions. But that's just me, of course. Each to their own, and all that.
I am well aware that you have chosen to be a person of no value. My choices are to be of value.
I have devoted my life to the extinction of stupidity. And, as you claim not to care, it amazes me when you bitch;.
You are a walking talking contradiction, fighting yourself all the time
Am I really the one who is counter productive? .
Well aware? I doubt if you've even bothered to read a single one of my posts, from beginning to end.
If all your studying of the Bible has given you this sort of attitude, you can keep it. I'd rather be a person of no value, thanks.
Re: Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold
Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2025 3:32 pm
by Phil8659
Maia wrote: ↑Mon Apr 14, 2025 3:26 pm
Phil8659 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 14, 2025 3:10 pm
Maia wrote: ↑Mon Apr 14, 2025 2:57 pm
As a Pagan, I prefer to take my inspiration from nature, and this has very little to do with words, and everything to do with emotions. But that's just me, of course. Each to their own, and all that.
I am well aware that you have chosen to be a person of no value. My choices are to be of value.
I have devoted my life to the extinction of stupidity. And, as you claim not to care, it amazes me when you bitch;.
You are a walking talking contradiction, fighting yourself all the time
Am I really the one who is counter productive? .
Well aware? I doubt if you've even bothered to read a single one of my posts, from beginning to end.
If all your studying of the Bible has given you this sort of attitude, you can keep it. I'd rather be a person of no value, thanks.
You lie with ease. Since when has a fuzzy warm feeling ever saved a forest?
Just say, you are a lazy liar who sells bull shit so that you can have a life of ease.
One does not Study the Bible, they study words, and learns how to use them for doing our job.
Re: Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold
Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2025 3:56 pm
by Phil8659
Maia wrote: ↑Mon Apr 14, 2025 3:26 pm
Phil8659 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 14, 2025 3:10 pm
Maia wrote: ↑Mon Apr 14, 2025 2:57 pm
As a Pagan, I prefer to take my inspiration from nature, and this has very little to do with words, and everything to do with emotions. But that's just me, of course. Each to their own, and all that.
I am well aware that you have chosen to be a person of no value. My choices are to be of value.
I have devoted my life to the extinction of stupidity. And, as you claim not to care, it amazes me when you bitch;.
You are a walking talking contradiction, fighting yourself all the time
Am I really the one who is counter productive? .
Well aware? I doubt if you've even bothered to read a single one of my posts, from beginning to end.
If all your studying of the Bible has given you this sort of attitude, you can keep it. I'd rather be a person of no value, thanks.
Many people believe that the Whore of Babylon refers to a woman in the perceptible, It actually refers to the mind, not gender. A mind by those who trade their own work for a life of what they believe to be a life of ease. It is hard to think. So, from start to back, it is not about gender, it is about the gift of life, we are all given.
Every life support system of the body, all of them are called a woman, the source of life. Also called the seven spirits of God. Seven horns, seven ways to protect life.
It is a running metaphor. Can you even name your seven major life support systems? Each one a savior, each one a protector, giver of life, each one how we express our will to live.
Words, judgment, is the only power a mind has, and the only thing by which he can buy and sell with in truth,
No man can buy and sell unless he has the mark etc. Or no illiterate person can do their own work.
Re: Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold
Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2025 3:26 pm
by Maia
There's been a collection. But foolishly, not expecting anything, I hadn't left my bin out. The piles of stinking rubbish on street corners have been cleared away, thankfully, and my neighbours' bins are no longer blocking the pavement. I don't know if this was just a one off, and haven't heard anything about the strike being resolved, but time will tell. As for the cat-sized rats, that people have been reporting, I suppose they'll just have to go on a diet.
Re: Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold
Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2025 4:06 pm
by Phil8659
Maia wrote: ↑Sat Apr 19, 2025 3:26 pm
There's been a collection. But foolishly, not expecting anything, I hadn't left my bin out. The piles of stinking rubbish on street corners have been cleared away, thankfully, and my neighbours' bins are no longer blocking the pavement. I don't know if this was just a one off, and haven't heard anything about the strike being resolved, but time will tell. As for the cat-sized rats, that people have been reporting, I suppose they'll just have to go on a diet.
I tend to look at longer segments of time. The achievement of order over time is a very slow process and it depends on specific individuals showing the advantages. Looking at a bigger picture, when the present is kicking you in the ass, is hard. Plato did a very good dialog on it, Protagoras. It is called in its physical form, near sightedness. And it shows how we are supposed to use mathematics, to correctly work the sums.
Plato was teaching grammar for its true purpose, the regulation of behavior over time. Something grammar teachers who cam after him forgot.