I’ve had this page open in Eduardo Galeano’s book Children of the Days–on my desk–since January 30rd:

“January 30

The Catapult

In 1933 Adolf Hitler was named Germany’s chancellor. Soon after, he presided over an immense [Trumpinanesque] rally, as befitted the new lord and master of the nation. [ https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-signs-by-supporters-at-rallies-photos-2019-10 ]

Modestly he screamed: ‘I am founding the new era of truth! Awaken, Germany!’ Rockets, fireworks, church bells, chants and cheers echoed his words.

Five years earlier, the Nazi Party had won less than three percent of the vote.

Hitler’s Olympic leap to the summit was as spectacular as the simultaneous fall into the abyss of Germany’s wages, employment, the mark and you name it.

Germany, crazed by the collapse of everything, unleashed a witch-hunt against the guilty parties: Jews, Reds, homosexuals, Gypsies, the mentally retarded and those afflicted by the habit of thing too much.”

………………..

From: https://www.humancondition.com/wtm-faq-what-is-the-human-condition/?ref=adgrants-search_human-condition&gclid=CjwKCAiAg9rxBRADEiwAxKDTurGCkh6i11sVCu2TTf4hHzHoqNXURK-Fa-exzY4ERIObcEK4R_LDdhoCCdIQAvD_BwE —

“While it’s undeniable that humans are capable of great love, we also have an unspeakable history of brutality, rape, torture, murder and war. Despite all our marvelous accomplishments, we humans have been the most ferocious and destructive force that has ever lived on Earth—and the eternal question has been ‘why?’ Even in our everyday behavior, why have we humans been so competitive, selfish and aggressive when clearly the ideals of life are to be the complete opposite, namely cooperative, selfless and loving? In fact, why are we so ruthlessly competitive, selfish and brutal that human life has become all but unbearable and we have nearly destroyed our own planet?!

The agony of being unable to truthfully answer this fundamental question of why we are the way we are—divisively instead of cooperatively behaved—has been the particular burden of human life. It has been our species’ particular affliction or condition—our ‘human condition’.”

pbm 2/2/2020
[ 7 Ss / VV->^^ ]

My genes, probably especially from Mom St. Louise, are such that I never get terribly despondent/depressed.

Nevertheless, it is almost impossible to not be extremely frustrated & cynical in a world of humans, especially so many humans who consume so much … and who share grudgingly with others including other species … AND leave little for other generations.

Moreover, in these times humans spend a depressingly exorbitant amount on arms & armaments, including nuclear warheads & missiles, the military and military propaganda and recruitment, training, and lifelong maintenance of too many soldiers, etc., etc., i.e., the military-industrial complicated-nuisance has its fangs throughout the whole Eaarth and probably will until “Kingdom Come”.

(I started to post a photo of Mom with her black eye & cut from her fall this week, sitting up in bed reading the SA Express-News. But showing her in this sad–but hopeful state– would have been an action of which my younger living siblings wouldn’t have approved.

Anyway, I am thankful for Mom’s genes!)

pbm
[ 7 Ss / VV->^^ ]

Flowers and butterflies,
They are things of beauty.
Cycles of life beauty.
They make strife so very nice!

In this moment of time
Amelia is the one!
Beautiful! Precious! … Sly!!
Why sly? … See the twinkle
In her telling brown eyes.
Malandrinha. Like dad.
Mischievous. Lovable.
Our last grandchild; she’s two.

Of course, … Abby and Ian …
These sixteen-year-old twins …
They are very special too.
Compared to Amelia
Maybe not so very sweet;
Perhaps more innocent?

William Harvey Martin,
Lane, Owen Zane, Landon?
All are flowers that fly!
And metamorphosing,
These crazy butterflies.

Two, five, seven, four-, six-teen.
Como borboletas
Generally happy,
But sometimes … well … quite blue.
Transforming and transformed.
Through you! … Very anew!

Flowers and butterflies,
They are things of beauty.
Cycles of life beauty.
They make strife so very nice!

pbm

[ 7 Ss / VV->^^ ]

There is much to know
That we will never know.
And so much ignored.
(We … ooohhh …so blatantly manifest
Our prevalence of ignore-ance.)
“Not-so-sapiens”, in particular among all the species, …
This so-called sapiens …
Passes without knowing.

Millions of unknown microbiomes
Or biotic communities …
In the oceans,
Existing even in simple manicured backyards
(Which are not so simple),
Deep in the Eaarth,
In the remaining top-soil,
Within largely ignored homeostatic local ecological communities,
In the ecosystems of the Serengeti …
And elsewhere.
In the buccal crevices and in the gut.

All mostly ignored!

We should deliciously munch on this vast unknown
And on all unknowns in the micro–and macro spaces–of the Cosmos.
We should humbly and empathically learn bit by bit
In solidarity with all of our own species.
… And others.
(And all the while—
Because we know so little
And will never, even collectively, know much–
Actions should be always cautious and tentative.)

…………………..
I might mention …
That all the while we should also meet Maslow’s needs
At all the levels and idiosyncrasies of Maslow’s hierarchies.
We should not neglect real ecological needs …
Psychological, socio-political, economic needs …
(Which ARE ecological needs)–
In any local or global realm–
While making earnest and enjoyable passes
Toward knowledge.
Only through knowledge
Can we truly deal with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Topping this all off …
A persevering gnostic journey should be done humbly, lightly, and sharingly.

Not with Might!

With Might we tread on the journey of others.
That’s not ecologically ethical.
That’s not right!

………………..
Scientific knowledge is good.
Ethical and moral wisdom and prudence—
Including an ethic of reciprocity, and abiding by the Precautionary Principle and Second Law of Thermodynamics–
Is better.

(In these rapidly passing anthropocentric times of worship of Power and Might …
Of de facto worship of War, Armaments, Military, Dictators, Generals, and Soldiers …
We should work to know humility and precaution
And the meaning of the Second Law.

“Blessed are the PEACEmakers.”

Positively Ethical Applied Community Ecology is the real route to Truth and knowledge.)

…………………………..

pbm 1/8/20
[ 7 Ss / VV->^^ ]

 

Are dreams better than life?
No. Dreams are life!
…………….
Dreams. The dream. …
Energetics. Genetics. Epigenetics.
Environment.
Conscious. Memory. Story. History.
Conscience.
Dreams. The dream. …
None of these can be separated.
……………
Dream was always,
Even before human-defined life.
And dream will always be,
Perhaps in heaven,
Maybe in limbo … or purgatory;
I doubt in Hell.

..………………………….
“Life is but a dream;
It’s what you make it.
Always try to give;
Don’t ever take it.”

Heard and infused from Raoul Cita
At eight years of age.
But continuing
Como una parte de mi sueno.

…………………………..

DAY AND NIGHT DREAMS

Yes, energy and dream are eternal.
LIFE (that is, matter organized with free available energy) …
LIFE is eternal.
…………………………
Energy, genes, epigenetic methyl radicals.
Life-dream experiences.
The interactions of all
Melded into day-dreaming discussions for a New Braunfels German Kneuper reunion!
A holistic synthesis
• From good genes,
• From favorable epigenetic influences,
• From a fortunate environment.

That night during much sleep-interrupted induced-REM
Some quasi-negatives surfaced. …
It resulted in guilt, empathy, care, love, and panic.
Poet colleagues from beside the creek
Enhanced daydream energetics.
And out sprang night-time fractals.

Kneuper reunion!??!
I need to participate in the cultural mosiac of races
Of Natalia-St. Hedwig Haywood get-togethers.
Lacy and Gene Haywood were my saviors.
Their dad David was a rock of a role model …
(And man did his black Baptist Church in poor little Natalia rock and roll
In recognition of his life services to eternal dream!!!)
Guilt, fidelity, and responsibility knocked in dreams
And said,
“Look up old amigo Lacy Haywood.
Go and daydream together through shared stories.”

The next week these stories
Positively enhanced my energetics, my psyche, my life …
My dream.

These daydreams help mold me
Perhaps to something better,
Perhaps worse,
Even at 73.
…………………………..

BACK STORIES

Martin was murdered at 39
(younger than my youngest)
By a sick nation; by a sick world.
But his dreams live on
In young African Americans,
• In pacifists,
• In statespersons,
• In those of integrity,
• In the great preachers,
• In truly good people.

“I have a dream today …
I have a dream that one day
Every valley shall be exalted,
Every hill and mountain shall be made low.
The rough places will be made plain,
And the crooked places will be made straight.”

……………………………….

Like Martin, John also spoke to me in the 1960s
In day and night dreams.
John “passed” at 40.
But his dream is still there
• In artists and art,
• In articulate agitators
In dreamers and dreams
All over the world.

“Imagine all the people
Living life in peace.
You may say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one.
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one.”

……………………………

POETRY AND THE DREAM

Poetry is normal expansion of dreaming.
Poetry IS dreaming.
It pings out, rings out in the fractals
From common branches even before the big bang
And long after the saphead sapiens species.
Who knows from whence it came?
Or to where it might go?
The waxing and waning of life
Elucidates, or snuffs out, dreams.
But not dream.

When poets gather
The multifaceted fractals of life,
The dreams,
The poetry
Truly do proliferate!

On this date poet Andy Wilkinson, in his 60s, still lives.
And like Martin and John
Andy will always live through the telling and singing and energetics of his poetry.

“What will we do with this gift of the motherlode?
Pray that the poets and dreamers remember it,
Pray that its guardians hold it in stewardship.
Pray that we honor it,
Pray that we husband it,
Pray for the tribe of the motherlode aquifer
…
Nourishing all who tread lightly and carefully,
Lightly and carefully, lightly and carefully.”
……………………………….

Are poetry and dreams better than life?
No. Poetry and dreams are life!
Poetry and dreams were always.
And dream will always be.
………………………………………………………………………
*Largely scribbled out Sunday on the breakfast table of my wife Betsy’s Alsatian home on the hill over Rio Medina. There at breakfast, 91-year-old Mother-in-Law Florence Hoffmann prodded me on.

(From a presentation by Marika Bordes on creativity and sustainability at a meeting of Siempre Sustainable Network some many years ago now:

“Those who dream while awake are conscious of a thousand things that escape those who dream only when they are asleep.

Paul Martin dreams while awake. A few months ago, I had the privilege to be an attendee at a presentation by Paul Martin about sustainability. Here he was with a cornucopia of local vegetables, fruits and herbs demonstrating the importance of sustainability. For a moment, it brought me back to the Saturday morning farmer’s market of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Some surely remember the same fond memories of Central Park.

Paul’s message ignited my thinking. I was dreaming while awake about the duality of creativity and sustainability. What a marriage! Have you ever thought of the connection between the two? Let’s talk about it.” https://marikasculptures.com/2011/03/15/creativity-sustainability-at-siempre-sustainable-network/ )

*********

pbm 12/11/2019

[ 7 Ss / VV->^^ ]

First of all, I do wish all of you some very happy holidays and emphasize that we do love all of you*.

…………………
I’m beginning this christmas message with a theme which often comes forth from my mind. The image therein is a metaphor for today’s world, a 737 Max at 35,000 feet of altitude with about 0.5-1 billion super-Haves living relatively comfortably (though extremely artificially & unsustainably) in the first-class section of the cabin, ca. 3 billion in economy, and ca. 3 billion relative have-nots clinging to the outer shell of the plane. There are Nature-exploiting tubes from down on relative paradise (Earth/Eaarth) supplying necessary fuel for the plane and the inhabitants, and some of the fuel entering the cabin does leak out as crumbs to those clinging onto the exterior. The plane cannot land because (1) the pilots are absent or inept, (2) of a very poor navigation system and (3) non-functional landing gear, i.e., lack of ecological knowledge & values and critical thinking & decision-making. There are a few in and around the plane working on the navigation and landing systems; however, most in the cabin are just busy living the “good” life and/or working hard to keep the plane flying (with the military/police, fuel providers, artificial information/algorithm-systems personnel being the most important), and those outside are both working to keep the plane flying as well as struggling to get inside the doomed international capitalistic system. Down below on the rest of Eaarth, there are a very few humans and other species living very comfortable low-input/-throughput (sort of Paleolithic or early Neolithic) lives in concert with what is left of dynamic homeostatic symbioses (from the perspective of humans and species associated with quality life for humans).

………………………..

With eight (8) billion humans going on ten (ten) and a considerable amount of energy being devoted to military/police, fuel, and for the maintenance of flight of the human economy, and rigid–if non-sustainable–mindsets, attitudes and behavior, means for getting out of this predicament & its challenges are extremely complex. However, it would start with:
• a learning system of “positively ethical applied community ecology/PEACE” across all human organization entities,
• a more holistic, comprehensive, and profound understanding of ecological principles and processes (especially connectivity, the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the Precautionary Principle, net primary productivity & embodied human-appropriated net primary productivity, and an ethic of reciprocity & pacifism), and
• a development of plans and actions in solidarity from those perspectives with a goal of: light ecological human footprints, individually and collectively, and increase in parity within the human population as well as realizing protection and enhancement of habitat for other species.

The development of this metaphor, or model, of today’s world and my proposed solutions to its challenges to quality life for all for as long as possible is based on hard scientific facts. Its construction was facilitated by enablers such as St. Louise, Alton, Betsy, Ruth, Darryl, Pete, Dick, Lanier, Marvel, Peggy & Kathy, Helene, Luica, Bill, and Lupe and role models such as Alton, St. Louise, David, Karen, Miguel, and Francis. And even in my 77th year, this model, metaphor, and mindset continues to always be in a state of flux and influenced by ecologists studying various aspects of ecological community, naturalists, and humanitarians of intelligence, energy, and integrity. I encounter these wonderful folk who positively affect my psyche, mindset and core values in many ways, but mostly in volunteer work in Texas, the Great Plains, and Latin America each year with Kids On the Land, Generations Indigenous Ways, Honduran Episcopalian Veterinarian Services, Dos Pueblos, Ogallala Commons, & Siempre Sustainable Network. https://www.facebook.com/KidsOnTheLand/ https://www.giways.org/ http://lovehonduras.org/ http://dospueblosny.org/ https://ogallalacommons.org/ https://marikasculptures.com/tag/siempre-sustainable-network/

I do hope for a world of humans who live sabiamente/wisely, simply, smally, slowly, steadfastly, sharingly, and sustainably. And I do believe that we must all collaborate to get population growth of humans and domesticated species leveled off and consumption by the Haves reduced by as much as two-thirds (2/3). We must tithe+ and share to help to get consumption by have-nots up to levels conducive to quality life and to get needed habitat and resources for other species.
(I do realize these thoughts of mine impact you as a function of:
• your concept of the meaning of human life and life in general for the short & long term,
• what wholes you think are of real importance (e.g., self, family, village, ecological community, Eaarth/Earth, universe(s), or all of these), and
• what you believe the status of the shared natural resource base is.)

Anyway, I do fervently wish for and will continue to attempt to work toward solidarity and PEACE for regeneration & conservation of resilient, sustainable community!

Merry christmas,
paul (and family)

[ 7 Ss / VV->^^ ]

Aphorisms (Truths)

Living Truthfully??

http://www.paulpeaceparables.com/2019/10/16/faith-hope-and-charity-within-humankind-can-we-rally-around-limiting-embodied-human-appropriated-net-primary-productivity1/
………………………………
*There is NO ONE in this world I know of who I don’t love in some way!

I am grateful for this multifaceted jade jewel we call sweet Seguin town.
Here there are plenty of good people all around!
Yep, many fine folk on this Rio Guadalupe can be found …
Some nascent … and some jaded nearly ready to be placed lovingly in the ground.

Seguin populace protected and propagated the wonderful pecan,
Which of all the nuts is the favorite one won.
For much of the year the pecan tree ambiance is nice,
And as far as I know most Seguinites lack lice.

Truth be told …
Yes, I know “Truth” is so very “old”,
Sometimes sold,
Today is mostly boxed up and won’t be told.

Anyway, Seguin is good … and Seguin is bad.
It can be happy and it can be very sad.
Showers may come and make the air so clean,
Then comes in the cedar sperm which can be so especially mean.
There’s Thanksgiving turkey and apple pie … but methamphetamines and heroin too,
Enough of all this to keep you sunny bright … or rainy-day blue.
And this year on the day of national gratitude,
There was a murder because of a silly feud.

Let’s expand this story a bit about the ecology.
My friend Sylvia sees so much pollution in Walnut Creek.
Plastics, discarded cans, and toxic chemical wasp-bomb too.
It’s no wonder she feels terrible as if she has the flu.
(Flu? True!
Another new Seguin affluenza flu!!
Infecting me and infecting you.)

Seguin hasn’t banned disposable plastic nor styrofoam.
Damn! That will certainly make your whole body groan.
It’s time LULAC, retired teachers, Democrat-Republican clubs, all such units! … get on the ball.
Ban this artificial crap for the good of all.

With this city we may be very, very displeased, I might add,
But sometimes we can be very, very glad.

Wherever I have been north of the Equator or south.
East of the prime meridian or west.
Each and every place can give a very bad taste in the mouth
But at times taste of the very, very best!

Such is the Nature of local and global life.
At times, in places, it’s smooth sailing. Other times, in any places, it’s full of strife.
Yes, even in Seguin we might all get lice.
Life anywhere, at any moment, is a basically a roll of the dice.

Así es la vida en este viejo mundo–este “Eaarth”–de la gente.

…………………………

¿Que Dijo? ¿Quiere Un Cambio? Bueno. … Tal vez.
What did you say? Enough of this game-playing? You want REAL* directed change?

Sure! From the dormant nut to the village smithy’s spreading chestnut tree,
Change can happen, and all are clapping you see.
Smithy work is needed, … … but also sauntering as Thoreau said.
Sauntering in REAL Seguin Nature can REALly help to clean and clear your heart, soul, and head.

Or sit on the porch
That is one way to carry the torch.
Sit and wave to save the soul of all who pass by,
Whether they saunter, or rushingly race, … or even might be prone to sin … such as to lie!

So saunter slowly, observing and learning, and smelling an occasional rose.
And sit in a pensive, meditating yoga Buddha pose.
Transcend to PEACE and tranquility.
No, no not that sea on the moon. Some peace and tranquility here on Eaarth!
Try to appreciate la luna from a neo-Earth.

I do wish for a good change for all, for thee …
The lion, the wildebeest, and the spreading, growing chestnut tree.
Like the smithy I hope that we all work hard for good change, that we all truly try
Though fate does remain within each of the die.

Yep, even though destiny is largely with the roll of the dice
And life is tough with all those lice,
It is a worthwhile journey to maintain the genes and the tribe
Which is what many a good poet attempt to describe.

I do already know what makes life REALly worth the God-awful try.
It’s all the good people we’ll meet in Seguin before we die.

By gorsh, I do love this place of places!
(Oh hell! Snake eyes! I rolled a couple of aces!)

pbm 12/4/2019

[ 7 Ss->^^ ]
…………………………………………………….
*The $65,000 slogan or marketing tag line of Seguin, Texas (the home and place of my wife Betsy and I for 35+ years) is “It’s real.” https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Seguin-s-new-slogan-It-s-Real-7392984.php#

It was tough losing Luther and Lawrence Alton
And other close ones.
However, the subsequent melancholy, the dark,
Is a healing, illuminating, educational process.
Learning about how to live with real and deep gratitude.

Other darks …
Sleep, naps, siestas.
Awaking at night when all is calm and mostly void of light.
Swimming in the abyss and not really looking.
In a tent at Big Bend.
I’m so very grateful for those
Mind-developing, enlightening darks.

Seven foot of cottonseed hulls over me,
And the immensely kind and lovely,
Beautifully dark-skinned Lacy saves me.
He gives me an opportunity to live
And hone Thanksgiving …Thanksliving.

And yes!
I suppose I am always on a dark lark.
I can always see the dark side
And I do cry for change.
But I also see the silly craziness,
The almost hilarious stupidity of it.
(Yes!
I am a dark viewer and appreciator
Of Noah and Colbert.
I also appreciate Samuel Clemens and Will Rogers!)

There is so much that is dark that is good.
Karnes City’s June Butler was a hell of a quarter-miler,
And I desperately wished
I had his ebony, very long, and very muscular body.

Licorice is so amazingly delicious,
As is a dark, moist, rich chocolate cake,
Perhaps with dark chocolate chips on the side
And a large hot mug
Of dark roast cafe de Siguatepeque!

And a large ceramic cup of hot, robust,
Flavor-laden Oaxacan cacao
There at the Zócalo
En la ciudad de moles …
Icluyendo los oscuros.

I do want to continue
To practice Thanksliving,
But now
After that dark chocolate de Oaxaca,
I am ready to die.

pbm

[ 7 Ss / VV->^^ ]

Particularly because
I am a straight male christian gringo
In the very overly powerful U.S.A.
Living in the post Second World War euphoria of the Allies,
I have benefited greatly through conventional capitalism.

Many grain-fed hogs sold to Swift & Company in the 1950s, 60s, 70s.
Texas vegetables to Arkansas’ Allen Canning Company during those formative times.

And power also came my way
From the joined-at-the-hip military-industrial complex.
Work at Kelly Air Force Base.
From when I was an ensign in Naval Air,
Military-initiated USAA insurance for 50-plus years.
GI Bill benefits.

Taxes on corporate business
Which provided community college learning
And Land Grant university opportunities.

And so much more.

I am a product of conventional capitalism!

…………………………………………

Nevertheless, I know we desperately need
DEMOCRATIC eco-socialism
Via the Bern and AOC
And others like them!

You … We … have to know that the market isn’t free.
The invisible hand doesn’t recognize the invisible man, the invisible woman-man;
Invisible species.
(Moreover, expressed as individuals
These taxa, and others, are always TRANS,
Fluid and dynamic,
Never discrete, static, and dogmatic
As in our artificiality
Of homo and hetero
Of black, brown,
Red, yellow,
Pink or white …
Or even poor and rich,
Haves and have-nots.
This means …
We must work empathetically
In solidarity toward some semblance
Of equity, equality
And not leave it to the invisible hand.)

What has conventional capitalism given us?
Yes! All of the many benefits I received
As a lorded white male “American”.

Many of us Haves ARE benefiting
In our bubbles,
Behind our walls
In a world of widespread capitalism.
But awash in and dependent on
Nature’s economy-destroying fossil energy,
Living systems-destroying fossil energy,
And original and mortal sins of …
• Slavery,
• Genocides to get Land,
• Depletion of nature,
• Immoral usurers,
• …
Exploitation, exploitation, exploitation, exploitation.

Too great a cost!
To the others—
Other species,
Other humans
(Other humans often conveniently considered not human
By the powers that be,
By the power that is.)

Too great a cost
To those unborn.

Depletion of topsoil.
Severe atmospheric pollution
Including greenhouse gases;
Devastating atmospheric disturbance.
Loss of quality water.
Excessive and destructive transformation of energy
By one chosen species.
Paucitification of biodiversity
And disruption of dynamic homeostatic symbioses.

Totally insane strategies
Of mutually-assured-destruction. … War.
• Insane production of automobiles, cruise liners, and aeroplanes (or even battery-powered scooters),
• Insane increase in amount of artificial living space,
• Insane rates of transformation of kilocalories of energy by the Haves,
• Insane human appropriation of net primary productivity!

Incredibly insane proliferation of plastics,
The killing of estuaries, of ocean life
In the Anthropocene,
The Plasticene2.
…………………………………….
It may be cliché—

Mr. Democrat,
Mr. Libertarian,
Mr. Republican,
Mr. Capitalist,
Mr. Know-Nothing,
Mr. Do Nothing

–But the best definition of insanity
Is doing the same thing over and over
(Conventional “free”-market, trickle-down capitalism)
And expecting a better result
(Toward quality life for all for as long as possible).

…………………………………………………………………………………..
1Triggered by: https://www.wsj.com/articles/making-capitalism-great-again-11574726835

2 https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-imperiled-ocean-review-a-dive-into-the-deep-11574726587

************************************************************************************************************

pbm

[ 7 Ss / VV->^^ ]