Recovery and Geographical Change

 "Nothing changes inside us because of a change in landscape."

    --12-step program (Alcoholics Anonymous, et al) proverb, commonly heard at the meetings.

One day, it happened that I noticed I was living permanently in a beautiful place, in an area of town I adore with all the elements of my dreams of such matters, dreams going back to the middle 1980s and beyond. In fact, that day is today, Christmas Eve at my home, and all is well with everything, including my family and health. As usual, I did not take the time to truly appreciate what I had come to in my life. I looked around me and was astounded that I had, in fact, succeeded in this area of my long and eventful life. I was living my dream. I had arrived. 

But...

Apocalypse

Turning and turning in the widening gyre   

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere   

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst   

Are full of passionate intensity.

This snippet of poetry is the first stanza in William Butler Yeat's famous poem "The Second Coming". Written in 1919 as a response to the horror of World War I, it is a bleak, dark poem with absolutely no optimism for the human race at all. Looking at the numerous news reports of thousands of people demonstrating in favor of the Hamas terrorists, who butchered, tortured, raped and killed thousands of innocent people, I am inclined to agree. 

Morning Thoughts, December 11, 2023

What do you think when you see someone who passionately believes something which is false? Do you think maybe there is some sort of mental illness involved? Or is it because of the effect of social media and it's distortion and erosion of reality? Witness hundreds of thousands of people who believe Israel is a brutal conqueror, an occupier of stolen land. Even more people believe that climate change is an imminent threat that must be addressed now. Both of these beliefs are false, but just look at them with all their passionate intensity. Notice the self-righteous scorn they use whenever their beliefs are challenged.