"Get thee behind me, Satan" (Matthew 16:23)

Just to be fair and present another view of "God" than the one discussed yesterday...that is, the "Pantheistic view"-- God is one with nature, the laws of the cosmos, mind and matter, an impersonal God-- there is the Platonic view of God. According to Durant, Plato believes that a nation cannot be strong unless it believes in God; ergo "In God we Trust". A mere cosmic force or first cause that was not a person, could hardly inspire hope, or devotion, or sacrifice; it could not offer comfort to the hearts of the distressed, nor courage to those who are embattled. But a "living" God can do all this, according to Plato, and can stir or frighten the self-seeking individual...all the more so if to believe in God is added belief in personal immortality; the hope of another life gives us courage to meet our own death, and to bear with the death of our loved ones. Granted that none of the beliefs can be demonstrated; yet surely it will do us no harm to believe. Of course, Plato was not speaking of a Judao-Christian God, but rather of the Pagan gods; it matters little, however, as long as the god is personal.

The problem with a "personal" God, always is the questions of why "He" allows good people to die; why he allows wars and natural disasters. With an impersonal God, one doesn't have to worry about answers to these questions. Events in life are predetermined. So, take your pick--and then have faith in your faith.

Anyway, I pray to God (in whatever form) that he might allow me to hit a jackpot today at one of the slot machines at The Isle Casino. I doubt very much if I went to a synagogue and asked the rabbi to help me out with this, that I would get a positive response. So, I'll have to rely on my own devices; just in case, however, I'll wear a hat in the casino--it might be a Devil's venue. The other thing I'd like my God to help with is the Dow Jones problem. It went down 366 points yesterday on the anniversary of the big crash in the 20's. Not that I have a lot invested there, but what little I have, I would like to see flourish. Now that I think about it, however, I am not convinced that the aforementioned prayers are appropriate or acceptable to whatever God exists. Mea culpa.

"Here will be an old abusing of God's patience and the King's English." (Merry Wives)

The time has now come for some serious stuff instead of the mundane, daily misadventures, pills and doctors' appointments. It's been said that "Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set ye free"...or something to that effect. Well, I'm not too sure about that. Sometimes the truth will hurt and really tick you off. So, I'm questionning the part that promises "freedom". Freedom from what? From pain; from illness; from penury? Spinoza says, "The greatest good is the knowledge of the union which the mind has with the whole of nature...the more the mind knows the better it understands its forces and the order of nature; and the more it understands the order of nature, the more it will be able to liberate itself from useless things."

The pursuit of knowledge then, is the "liberating" element in one's life and when its pursuit leads to the joy of understanding only then is there power and freedom.. When one comes to the knowledge of God through this understanding it releases the mind from ignorance of nature and the union and oneness of mind, matter, nature, and God. God is not a "person," not an entity that wills good and bad. The eternal laws of nature determine good and evil and this is the essence of God. If one wishes to live with peace of mind...to be liberated from doubt, one has to come to grips with an understanding and acceptance of his own"religion" and his own understanding of God. And this is mine.

Spinoza writes, "I have often wondered that persons who make boast of professing the Christian religion--namely, love, joy, peace, temperance, and charity to all men--should quarrel with such rancorous animosity, and display daily to one another such bitter hatred, that this, rather than the virtues that they profess, is the readiest criterion of their faith." Will Durant states that the Jews have survived chiefly because of Christian hatred of them; persecution gave them the unity and solidarity necessary for continued racial existence; without persecution they might have mingled and married with the peoples of Europe and lost their culture and identity. Spinoza was born in Amsterdam in the 17th Century to orthodox Jews, but eventually came to a different understanding of his God, and for that he was excommunicated by the Rabbis in his beloved synagogue where he was a brilliant scholar.

So back to the mundane things! Can't wait until tomorrow when we are going with neighbors to The Isle Casino in Pompano. There I plan to win lots of $$$ on the slot machines to which I have a slight addiction. I'm of the opinion that I cannot allow a mindless machine to deprive me of my money. Cogito, ergo sum.

"As they say, when the age is in the wit is out" (Much Ado)

I don't feel old. I don't feel anything until I get up about noon. Then it's time for my nap. It's 3pm now and I'm wide awake. I just returned from a visit to the dermatologist. Every time I go there, he zaps me with a spray of I believe...dry ice...or something similar. Then he injects my arm in a couple of places with a numbing solution and proceeds to follow that with an instrument on my arm that produces the smell of smoke...and then I actually see the smoke. Then he sends me the bill. I think when I grow up I would like to be a dermatologist. But rather than the dermatologist, Rhoda thinks I need to see a shrink because she believes I'm depressed.

Well, I told her, I don't think I am depressed. Just because I sleep late, wear the same clothes, rarely smile (what's funny?), have no appetite, can't walk or play golf, ran out of goals, have PTSD, and etc. Does that mean I'm depressed? Hardly. I actually feel blessed. I've had a very active and fulfilling life...with more to come; I have a wonderful wife (for the second time)...and 25 years with each; I have four great children and they have four great children; I have a few bucks in the bank; I have a computer and we have bonded (like with a pet); I have a car which has served to carry me wherever I want to go for the past eight years; a condo all paid for; two published books; and I have come to grips with my religion--I am Jewish; but like Baruch Spinoza, I could be "excommunicated" for my beliefs which fall outside the teachings of the Bible, of the Talmud, of the New Testament and of orthodox Judaism. I am not an atheist nor an agnostic. Is God a person? Not in any "human" sense of the word; not of the male or female gender; not an entity that sees, hears, observes, wills, etc. Like Spinoza, I am of the "pantheistic" persuasion. I believe in a God that exists in all of nature, in all of the laws and causes of the Universe and in all mind and matter of all who exist in time and space. This is the deity I worship. Everything that happens in this world is pre-determined. We have no say. We have no "free will" and there is no such thing as "good" and "bad" but thinking makes it so. The moving finger writes, and "...having writ, moves on." This is basically a part of the philosophy of Thoreau, of George Eliot, of Wordsworth, and of Spinoza; and I guess another part is to save his shekels by not getting a haircut. Well, I will be going to the VA next week and I'll ask Dr. Sayas if she thinks I'm depressed. What about you?

"We know what we are, but not what we may be..." (Hamlet)

As promised, I've added a few more answers to a 7th grade history test. Don't laugh; it's not funny.

14. Abraham Lincoln became America's greatest Precedent. Lincoln's mother died in infancy, and he was born in a log cabin which he built with his own hands. Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves by signing the Emasculation Proclamation. On the night of April 14, 1865, Lincoln went to the theater and got shot in his seat by one of the actors in a moving picture show. They believe the assinator was John Wilkes Booth, a supposingly insane actor. This ruined Booth's career.

15. Johann Bach wrote a great many musical compositions and had a large number of children. In between he practiced on an old spinster which he kept up in his attic. Bach died from 1750 to the present. Bach was the most famous composer in the world and so was Handel. Handel was half German, half Italian, and half English. He was very large.

16. Beethoven wrote music even though he was deaf. He was so deaf he wrote loud music. He took long walks in the forest even when everyone was calling for him. Beethoven expired in 1827 and later died for this.

17. The nineteenth century was a time of a great many thoughts and inventions. People stopped reproducing by hand and started reproducing by machine. The invention of the steamboat caused a network of rivers to spring up. Cyrus McCormick invented the McCormick raper, which did the work of a hundred men. Louis Pasteur discovered a cure for rabbits. Charles Darwin was a naturalist who wrote the Organ of the Species. Madman Curie discovered the radio. And Karl Marx became one of the Marx Brothers .

The mention of Charles Darwin reminds me of his "Origin of Species," one of my favorite books in which he attempts to explain who we are and how we got here...a question for the ages. Basically we have survived as a "species" because we are the "fittest". Another book which has had a great influence on my thinking is "The Story of Philosophy" written by Will Durant who deals with the lives and opinions of the world's greatest philosophers from Plato to John Dewey. When I took a course in philosophy at Columbia in 1948 it was an epiphany...it opened up a world I never dreamed existed. What interested me most was the concept of "epistemology"; which addresses the following questions: "What is knowledge?", "How is knowledge acquired?", and "What do people know?". According to Plato knowledge is a subset of what is true and believed. Durant offers a historical view of the odyssey of the Jews and our knowledge of this odyssey as both "true" and "believed". In my opinion the survival of the "fittest" of our species, and I believe Darwin would agree.

The story of the Jews since the Dispersion is one of the epics of European history. Driven from their natural home by the Roman capture of Jerusalem (70 AD), and scattered by flight and trade among all the nations and to all the continents; persecuted and decimated by the adherents of the great religions--Christianity and Mohammedanism--which had been born of their scriptures and their memories; barred by the feudal system from owning land, and by the guilds from taking part in industry; shut up within congested ghettos and narrowing pursuits, mobbed by the people and robbed by the kings; building with their finance and trade the towns and cities indispensable to civilization; outcast and excommunicated, insulted and injured;--yet, without any political structure, without any legal compulsion to social unity, without even a common language, this wonderful people has maintained itself in body and soul, has preserved its racial and cultural integrity, has guarded with jealous love its oldest rituals and traditions, has patiently and resolutely awaited the day of its deliverance, and has emerged greater in number than ever before, renowned in every field for the contribution of its geniuses, and triumphantly restored, after two thousand years of wandering, to its ancient and unforgotten home. What drama could rival the grandeur of these sufferings, the variety of these scenes, and the glory and justice of this fulfillment? What fiction could match the romance of this reality?

(The Story of Philosophy...Will Durant)

One of the greatest philosophers was Jewish and his name was Baruch Spinoza whose philosophy I have mostly adopted. His writings about God and the Universe led to his excommunication. I'll get to that in subsequent blogs.. G'nite y'all.

"Hope springs eternal in the human breast...

As promised, here are a few more of the 7th graders' history test answers:

10. It was an age of great inventions and discoveries. Gutenberg invented removable type and the Bible. Another important invention was the circulation of blood. Sir Walter Raleigh is a historical figure because he invented cigarettes and started smoking. Sir Francis Drake circumcised the world with a 100-foot clipper.

11. The greatest writer of the Renaissance was William Shakespeare. He was born in the year 1564, supposedly on his birthday. He never made much money and is famous only because of his plays. He wrote tragedies, comedies, and hysterectomies, all in Islamic pentameter. Romeo and Juliet are an example of a heroic couple. Romeo's last wish was to be laid by Juliet.

12. Writing at the same time as Shakespeare was Miguel Cervantes. He wrote Donkey Hote. The next great author was John Milton. Milton wrote Paradise Lost. Then his wife died and he wrote Paradise Regained.

13. Delegates from the original 13 states formed the Contented Congress. Thomas Jefferson, a Virgin, and Benjamin Franklin were two singers of the Declaration of Independence. Franklin discovered electricity by rubbing two cats backward and declared, "A horse divided against itself cannot stand." Franklin died in 1790 and is still dead.


A few more tomorrow. I could go on forever; you can't believe what a teacher has to go through in 30 years. And I taught all grade levels and all intelligence levels from 7th grade to post grads in college. And so on to the next thought: On yesterday's blog (I hate that word) I did not mean to solicit any donations for the CITY of HOPE from any one particular person. If one reads carefully, I was puzzled by the fact that from over 100 e-mail addresses in my contact list, not a single contribution of ten bucks or so was forthcoming. I don't believe there is one person on that list that cannot afford that tidbit of currency for the cause and/or at the least, to celebrate Rho's Presidency. For example, when Hillary gets elected, I'll send her ten bucks in support of her health plan. Back to you.

"Thus may poor fools believe false teachers" (Cymbeline)

During the course of a teaching career, there are times when you realize something is wrong and wacky with the system. Some kids learn to go along with the flow--answer the question even if you don't know the answer. The following were answers provided by 7th graders during a history test. Watch the spelling! Some of the best humor is in the misspelling. Even funnier --read aloud to someone else!

1. Ancient Egypt was inhabited by mummies and they all wrote in hydraulics. They lived in the Sarah Dessert. The climate of the Sarah is such that all the inhabitants have to live elsewhere.

2. Moses led the Hebrew slaves to the Red Sea where they made unleavened bread, which is bread made without any ingredients. Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the ten commandments. He died before he ever reached Canada.

3. Solomon had three hundred wives and seven hundred porcupines.

4. The Greeks were a highly sculptured people, and without them we wouldn't have history. The Greeks also had myths. A myth is a female moth.

5. Socrates was a famous Greek teacher who went around giving people advice. They killed him. Socrates died from an overdose of wedlock. After his death, his career suffered a dramatic decline.

6. In the Olympic games, Greeks ran races, jumped, hurled biscuits, and threw the java.

7. Julius Caesar extinguished himself on the battlefields of Gaul. The Ides of March murdered him because they thought he was going to be made king. Dying, he gasped out: "Tee hee, Brutus."

8. Joan of Arc was burnt to a steak and was canonized by Bernard Shaw.

9. Queen Elizabeth was the "Virgin Queen." As a queen she was a success. When she exposed herself before her troops they all shouted "hurrah."

If you will tune in tomorrow, I will drop in a few more. I'm sure you'll be waiting breathlessly by the computer. Try not to laugh hysterically. It's a known fact that some things are funny and some things are not funny. I realize that that is a deep philosophical truism. What's not funny, but certainly puzzling and mystifying is the fact that in spite of a very large family spread over the entire map of the United States, and many friends--some new, some not so new-- not one donation has come in to the City of Hope, if not for charity, at least in honor of Rhoda's election as President of the Huntington Lakes Chapter. We have cousins in California, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts, Puerto Rico, and Nevada. Rho and I have children and grandchildren galore. So, where are the donations? Could it be possible that not one single member of this extended and grandiose family does not give one red cent to any charity at all during the year to deduct from their taxes? The City of Hope is a fantastic hospital in California dedicated through research to discover cures for cancer and every other disease that bedevils human beings. Rhoda went to a convention there in July, and came back with glowing reports about the facilities, the doctors, the nurses, and every other member of the staff. On the grounds are even housing for parents whose children are undergoing treatment for cancer. It's as worthy a charity as any other I can think of. So if you want to send a check for any amount you can find our address on the internet or send me an email. If you decide to send a contribution make it out to "The City of Hope". And I'm sorry if your feelings are hurt. I'll send more funny kid stuff in the next blog. You'll feel better.

"Go girl; I cannot blame thee now to weep; for such an injury would vex a saint." (Taming of the Shrew)

The following is an item to appear on Tuesday in "The Pioneer", Big Timber, Montana's favorite award-winning newspaper. For those who can not run down to the corner newsstand to pick up a copy, I am including it here for the fortunate few who read this blog (I HATE that name!)>

Mysterious Woman on 4th St. Vanishes

Some of you have seen her.

Her manifestations are said to appear in three ways: being thrown out of Cinnabar Creek in the mornings with a soy caramel latte and a raucous cackle, screaming: "IF IT CAN'T BE BOUGHT AT CINNABAR, YOU DON'T NEED IT!"; with an equally mysterious gray-haired gentleman cowboy who appears to have two wives, both of whom are a little kooky; and with a little varmint that looks like a cat, barks like a dog, can't hold it's licker, and dresses like nothing you've ever seen.

This woman is very fleeting, coming into airport hill on a silver bird and leaving the same way. Some people only know the dog Sophie, who appears all over town and with different people all the time.

This woman speaks in strange tongues, but she claims it's Yiddish. Most of it translates into "ooftah" to us.

She claims to be a recovering government bureaucrat, altho we don't get many round these parts. She claims to have come from New York City, by way of Washington, DC, then Virginia and Florida. She also claims to have visited Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guineau, Peru, Borneo, Samoa, Galapagos, Easter Island, Africa, Portugal, Israel, and most of Europe. We think it's possible she could be either CIA or running from the law.

She is quite eccentric; examples are her little dune buggy called L'il Red, book signings that come with no notice and last for 2 minutes, curious structures that keep appearing at her residence, and strange hats including one that says "Crazy G." The most curious thing about her is her tendency to like little boys, like the Watts boys, the Rennie boys, the Stevens' boys, and that Stensaas kid.

We understand that she will be showing up at some of our Christmas and New Years' festivities, so caution is advised.

Now this is the first I've heard that this woman, whom I assume is my esteemed daughter, is "eccentric". What can you expect a journalistic cowboy to say of a repatriate from the Bronx and Long Island? Of course, if you don't ride a horse out there you must be eccentric. And Robin chooses to scoot around in a "dune buggy".

To keep you up to date, I just got a call from the "President" saying that she has a bunch of frozen food in her car after shopping at Publix and that some "putz" is blocking her so she can't get out. ( See Blog 10/6) Now, I happen to be wearing my hearing aid and I don't know if you've ever heard Rhoda when she is furious, but I assure you that you don't want to. It's frightening. I removed my hearing aid, and it did absolutely no good. Fire and brimstone were spewing forth from her lips. I told her I would rush over to transfer the food to my car and go back later to pick up hers, but as I was walking out the door, she called again and said they finally came out of the store and she said that they should be shipped back to whatever foreign country they came from...probably Uganda or Caladonia.