Category Archives: Hmmm

Faith must be Lived, Practiced.

The heading of a Faith Matters column, “Are you ready for the backhoe’s arrival?” had me wondering why Christian religions seem so focused on death and about the implications contained within statements such as “Are you ready for the backhoe’s arrival?”?

“Are you ready for the backhoe’s arrival?” carries within it the threat ‘the unprepared are going to suffer eternal agony’ which has always struck me as extortion. If you don’t worship ME (God), you are going to suffer for eternity. Suggesting that God is someone you do not want to encounter in a dark alley.

Although this ‘or else’ extortion approach tends to explain why Christian religions are so heavily populated by people who show up at church on Sunday and say all the right words (paying off the worship debt owed to avoid the “or else”) but fail to practice spiritual values in their daily lives.

I was raised in this death focused, ‘or else’ religious mentality and never was comfortable with spirituality. As a result spirituality was not something that existed in or impacted my day to day life.

It was not until my path led through mental illness, homelessness and poverty into recovery and wellness that I became comfortable in my own skin. As this journey of self-discovery and self-growth progressed, I began a journey of spiritual discovery and growth as well.

In sharp contrast to my previous experiences with religion and the concept of spirituality, this journey had nothing to do with death or ‘or else suffer agonizing consequences’.

In the same way my internal journey was about LIFE and the joy of a life lived well, this new spiritual journey was about the joy of weaving spirituality into the way I live, celebrate, LIFE. It was and is about establishing a personal spiritual relationship with my higher power, God as I understand her/it/him/unknowable, a relationship that is an integral part of the way one lives one’s life.

It is not a relationship to be trotted out when convenient or as needed. Indeed, it is a relationship that is often inconvenient and uncomfortable as one struggles with spirituality and the effect spiritual values have on how you live your life.

It is not a relationship that has anything to do with extorting worship, ‘or else’ or fear of death.

It is a relationship focused on LIFE and how you live it; focused on living life well and in harmony with one’s spiritual values each and every day.

One’s spirituality and relationship with your higher power becomes an intrinsic element of your life; fundamental to the way you live your life, every minute of your life.

It is not something one trots out for a few hours on a Sunday then puts away and ignores until it is once again Sunday. It is not a religious spirit one dons for a few hours on a Sunday then puts away so that the rest of the week you behaviour can be self-centered, all about yourself without regard to others, the world itself or spiritual values.

In this way it is not faith that matters; rather it is the spirituality, the relationship with your higher power that faith gives birth to in our lives that matters. All the faith in the world does you no good if it does not lead to a deepening personal spirituality and personal relationship with your higher power.

And no, I am not ready for the backhoe’s arrival. I have to much to accomplish, to many people needing help, to much life to live, a spiritual journey to continue and a personal, conscious relationship to explore with my higher power,

As a result of my ongoing journey I have no fear death, pursuing as I am a deep spiritual and personal relationship with my higher power.

Cavalier’s Saga rolls on

The Saga continues ……

Recapping: four trips to the insurance brokers to get the paperwork done; multiple jumpstarts to get it home; battery won’t hold charge; reconditioned battery not properly conditioned, strain burns out alternator leaving me stranded on Lakeview Terrace with a car that is not going anywhere under its own power without an alternator and a battery that will destroy any new (to the car) alternator; trade the VW I lived in while homeless for a used alternator and its installation, loaned a battery to get home, hooked up re-conditioned battery to trickle charger to charge and condition it, left 5 days because I was to nervous/wary/scared to drive car before that …

… and on the fifth day started the engine and drove to sign over ownership of the VW. Before stepping into the Insurance Brokers the battery was tested and proved to be fully charged, staying cool when charging and the alternator/battery was charging fine.

Driving away … the engine started overheating. The following day it overheated on the way to lunch. Discussing this state of affairs with my things mechanical advisory board over lunch I was advised to purchase and install a new thermostat. Returning home and switching to the dependable Duster, I drove to get the new thermostat for the Cavalier.

The next day I drove down to meet with the person who offered to install the thermostat if I bought and brought a thermostat to lunch Saturday. Unfortunately they were unable to be there to change the thermostat. Fortune did provide someone who could install the thermostat – after they finished work. Patience … Patience … Patience … and the old thermostat comes out in two pieces to be replaced with a shiny new thermostat.

With the new thermostat installed I drive away filled with trepidation, Which proved unfounded as the engine heated up properly and remained cool.

With the engine running at the proper temperature and my attention no longer focused so singularly on the engine temperature my senses were open to notice that there was hesitancy in the engine and its response, like a runner short of energy or oxygen.

Consulting with my advisors I secured new sparkplugs but when we went to install them it developed that my sparkplug tool lacked the depth of reach to change the Cavaliers sparkplugs. Once I had followed the advice on where to obtain appropriate tools to do the job, at an good (affordable to me price), we pulled the first plug. When that plug, and a subsequent sparkplug checked just to be sure, proved in very good shape I was off to return the plugs and secure air and fuel filters.

When we went to install the air filter it proved to be the wrong size. A return trip to Lordco revealed that the computer showed that air filter as the correct air filter for the Cavalier. Stymied, the person helping me was forced to resort to desperate measures – the actual paper catalogue. The printed catalogue showed the same air filter as in the computer … and a second air filter that proved to be the correct size. Books are such useful and entertaining friends to have around – you should take a book out for a read today.

The new air filter was installed, replacing the completely black old filter.

Then it was on to the fuel filter which is located under the car between the fuel tank and the rear axle. Fortunately I had looked up the location on the internet; unfortunately it was where it was.

With the location and design it is impossible not to have a volume of gasoline spill out when changing the filter. Indeed the gentleman who shimmied under the car to change the filter had to take a fresh air break before finishing the installation.

When we drained the remaining fuel out of the old filter the gas was dirty; suggesting that it might be a good idea at some future point to drop the gas tank and drain/clean it.

Driving away, the engine was running better. So much better that it blew the (rusted?) baffles in the muffler; leaving a muffler that looks fine to an exterior inspection but that, when shaken, rattles to reveal its lack of interior soundness.

Primal Scream; hang and slowly shake head. Take a very deep breath hold it and slowly release it – repeat as needed to reach a state of calmness.

I found myself reluctant to replace the muffler, wondering once the muffler was fixed what next? Hey – it’s not paranoia if the Universe is really out to get you.

However one of the things they do not warn you about when they encourage you to seek mental health recovery and wellness is that it severely compromises your ability to procrastinate. I use to be able to procrastinate with the best of procrastinators. But now healthy ways of thinking do not permit me to procrastinate until something simple turns into a crisis of mountainous proportions.

Being reluctant to discover what would (will) happen after the muffler was repaired I decided to take care of a small repair that should have no consequences. So I headed off to the auto wreckers to find a replacement licence plate holder since the one on the Cavalier was broken, leaving the front plate held by a single screw and flapping in the wind.

Better to take care of the matter before I paid the procrastination price on this by getting a ticket and fine for driving without a front licence plate.

It developed that the Universe was not about to let me procrastinate on the muffler front. At the wreckers I ran into a friend who, having heard me drive in, said he could get me a new muffler cheap. He made a phone call and I was off and procured a new muffler for $40. How could I say no to a new muffler at that price? I may be crazy, but I’m not stupid.

With the new muffler in the trunk I headed off to the library. All the way to the library the muffler was whispering to me – ‘I’m here in the trunk all shiny and new, anxious to be installed and muffle ….’ It kept up its whispering campaign while I was in the library; reaching the point I was forced, for the sake of my sanity and peace-and-quiet in my head, to e-mail a friend with a floor jack asking whether he would be able to install the muffler.

Shortly after I arrived home I received an e-mail suggesting a time the next morning which I accepted with alacrity.

I arrived at his place the next morning, backed in, blocked the front tire; he jacked up the rear end, set up the support brace and proceeded to remove the old muffler. Using his van I made a quick trip to get two new clamps to attach the muffler and Voila! it was done.

A piece of advice: you want to make sure that among your friends who know their way around cars that at least one of them has a set of tools (air/impact wrenches, SawAll, hand held grinder, sockets and wrenches up the wazoo, etc…) that is the envy of every guy.

After a cold pop and conversation on what is going on with homelessness around Abbotsford it was time to fire up the Cavalier. After which I drove quietly home.

As I finish typing this the Cavalier sits in front while I sit here hoping that repairing the muffler does not cause some other domino to fall; that the Universe is through testing or playing with me vis-à-vis the Cavalier and that this is the end of the Saga of Repairs and Headaches.

Afterword: People tend to give me strange looks when I say that I do not regret my journey through mental illness. But while this journey may have replaced the richness of my bank account with poverty, it has also replaced my poverty of friends with a richness of friends and people in my life who will lend me a helping hand when a ‘Never look a gift horse in the mouth’ gift horse turns out to be a bit of a Trojan horse

Post Script: To those who so generosity lent a hand a sincere Thank You.

permissum lector caveo

insanitytraces2

I was speaking with a friend and colleague who disclosed she occasionally feels disorientated when she steps through a doorway, a reaction I experience on occasion myself.

As we know from advances in theoretical physics, reality is made up of an almost infinite number of alternate universes lying side by side parallel to ours. The difference between our universe and the universes that are on either side of ours are so minute that to an observer the differences would be unnoticeable.

It is only in the universes lying further from our own that differences become noticeable. The further one moves from ones starting universe (U0) the more the target universe (Ux) varies from U0 with the variations increasing as x increases. At a certain point (x + 1 or -x -1 since the universes lie to either side of the universe of origin) the observed universe becomes unrecognizable. From the point of view of the observer from U0 the universes beyond x + 1 (-x-1) become more and more bizarre.

As a result of doorways serving as thresholds between locations (rooms, inside/outside etc.) within ones starting universe U0, the membrane between universes becomes thinned by the ‘rubbing’ of the membrane caused by repeated transitions between locations within U0 (universe of origin).

Under certain circumstances the membrane can become so thin that as one steps through the threshold (doorway) one in fact steps from a location in U0 into a location in U1 or U -1 depending upon whether one is going up levels (+) or down (-) from U0.

Since the universe adjacent to one’s current starting universe is not noticeably different from U0, when such a transition occurs most humans do not notice that a transition between different universes has occurred.

Some individuals however are sensitive to the moment of transition. This sensitivity manifests as a feeling similar to, and oft accepted as, disorientation.

Thus it is that individuals who are sensitive to the transitions find themselves feeling ‘disoriented’ when transition through doorways.

If transition between universes due to thinning of the membrane has a probability of occurring, say .1x where x is an indeterminably (in our current universe) high number, why do those sensitive to the transition feel the ‘disorientation’ of transition so often?

Remember we are speaking of, for all intents and purposes, an infinite number of universes. As a result, a transition occurring in at least one universe is not an unusual event but an expected event in the totality of parallel universes.

There are, effectively, an infinite number of multiple yous spread across the totality of universes, stepping through an infinite number of thresholds. Mathematically, at random but not infrequent intervals, one of the yous will transition between universes.

Since two* of you cannot occupy the same universe the you that was in the universe you transitioned to is knocked to the next +universe. Like dominos this continues across alternate universes until a universe is reached sufficiently different from U0 that ‘you’ do not exist. Your transition from the starting universe creates a ‘vacuum’ that is filled when the you in the next –universe is pulled in to fill the ‘vacuum’. Again this continues across the alternate universes until a universe is reached sufficiently different from U0 that ‘you’ do not exist.

*two of you cannot occupy the same universe refers only to involuntary transitions. Using the proper science or mysticism can allow a traveller you to transition to a universe without knocking the resident you into the next universe. Extreme caution must be exercised since this circumstance has the potential to result in a universe annihilation event occurring.

The term starting universe is used in reference to transitions since there is no way to pinpoint ones universe of origin until one transitions into a universe scientifically or mystically advanced enough to be aware of and able to transit between parallel universes.

In universes lacking the advanced scientific or mystic knowledge, the vast majority of transitions that occur go unremarked. In the minority of cases with individuals sensitive to a transition between universes it is usually written off as ‘disorientation’.

Some of those sensitive to transition and curious about the nature of the universe and Reality come to understand what is happening, waiting (hoping) for a transition to a universe that is aware of parallel universes and that transfers between the universes occurs. Hopefully a universe with advanced scientific or mystic knowledge

Generally those aware of the nature of these transfers between universes say nothing to avoid being labelled strange or crazy. As being considered strange and/or crazy is a normal state for me I have no hesitation in sharing the knowledge of why sometimes some people feel ‘disoriented’ when they transition through a threshold (doorway).

It really does not matter what you think about this matter since Reality does not care what you believe – Reality just is.

Be aware to Beware …

“We need to get those MP3 players purchased and ready” I was told the other day. I had been volunteered to write a proposal for funds to replace the old, bulky and failing cassette-tape walkmans with MP3 players. The proposal was successful and the funds await spending.

I ducked the statement and avoided committing, not because I seemed to have now been volunteered to carry out the acquisition and preparation of the MP3 players, but because I have become aware of the reality and dark purpose driving the iPod/MP3 player revolution. Aware of what the real source of the technology behind the small, lightweight size of current digital music players with their large memory capacity and flexible music loading and playing management systems is.

All of these innovations were designed to maximize the number of people using this new generation of digital music players. The stratagem has worked and the use of these digital audio devices has become ubiquitous within our society. It has become “normal” for human beings to be seen to have a tendril running from an ear or ears to disappear into the persons clothing and for the person to appear distracted or “not all there”.

Seeing a person in such a state we automatically assume that the tendril is a wire(s) connected to a speaker in the ear and that at the other end of the wire(s) is a digital audio player. Since digital audio players are now so small we find nothing unusual in not seeing the device the “wire(s)” are assumed to be attached to.

I spoke of it becoming normal for human beings to be seen with thin tendrils running out of their ears and down to somewhere on their bodies because this digital audio technology is of extraterrestrial origin.

I can hear you and your sceptical “not another wacko alien conspiracy to take over the human race”.

I do not blame you for that attitude. After all, the human race has been brain washed by the government and media to believe that aliens do not exist and that even if they did exist, aliens have the fatal flaw of rushing into their conquest of humanity. Thereby permitting a miraculous, if improbable or impossible, salvation strategy to be found by the handful of humans aware of the impending doom to not only overcome the obstacles presented by the inertia of disbelief of billions of humans and the actions of humans already controlled by their alien masters but to successfully destroy the alien conquerors.

It was with those in media that we first began to become use to seeing human beings with tendrils (wires) leading out of their ears out of sight. It was in media that we also became use to seeing the lumps of what were assumed to be merely electronic devices under the clothing of those with tendrils running from their ears.

The truth is that any race that has learned to cross the vast distances of space has had to learn patience.

Reality is that, faced with the inertia of billions of humans and opposed by those already become hosts, a handful of human beings cannot save the human race from becoming hosts to their alien parasite masters without somehow managing to expose the truth of this slow moving conquest to humans as yet without a “puppet master” alien parasite directing and controlling them.

So begins the defence/salvation of the human race by those aware of the reality, the truth, behind the digital music player revolution and alien conquest strategy.

This awareness cannot be shouted from the rooftops. That would only warn the would be alien conquerors/enslavers, advance the alien conquest by making the shouter and his claims a laughingstock, imperil the shouter and others aware of the slow subjection of humanity occurring and deny those aware of the conquest underway the time needed to disseminate knowledge of the truth and assemble an army to defeat this insidious threat to the future of the human race.

No, this information must slowly be disseminated through out the entire human race so they can be on their guard and become ready to repel this invasion.

Now YOU know. Pass it along quietly and carefully. Be prepared to answer when the call for action to throw off these alien masters and their lackeys comes.

Until then to avoid servitude, avoid anything that would make people use to seeing you with a tendril running out of your brain (ear), as do I. Temporize.

Caveat.

A cautionary Tale.

It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and then to loosen up. Inevitably though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker.

I began to think alone – “to relax,” I told myself. But I knew it wasn’t true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time.
I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don’t mix, but I couldn’t stop myself.

I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, “What is it exactly we are doing here?”

Things weren’t going so great at home either. One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother’s. I soon had a reputation as a heavy thinker. One day the boss called me in. He said, “Skippy, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don’t stop thinking on the job, you’ll have to find another job.” This gave me a lot to think about.

I came home early after my conversation with the boss. “Honey,” I confessed, “I’ve been thinking…”

“I know you’ve been thinking,” she said, “and I want a divorce!”

“But Honey, surely it’s not that serious.”

“It is serious,” she said, lower lip aquiver. “You think as much as college professors, and college professors don’t make any money, so if you keep on thinking we won’t have any money!”

“That’s a faulty syllogism,” I said impatiently, and she began to cry. I’d had enough. “I’m going to the library,” I snarled as I stomped out the door.

I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche, with NPR on the radio. I roared into the parking lot and ran up to the big glass doors… they didn’t open. The library was closed.

To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night.

As I sank to the ground clawing at the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye. “Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?” it asked. You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinker’s Anonymous poster.

Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker. I never miss a TA meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was “Porky’s.” Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting.
I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just seemed… easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking.