Open Thread - 04-05-24 - In the Hall of the Mountain King
Note: I wrote the gist of this piece, below the fold, yesterday morning and left it untitled. When I came in from doing yard work around dinner time I found that Antony Blinken had made this shocking statement, and that lead me to the introduction and my title.
The King's Jester has spoken: King of the Mountain
Blinken says that Ukraine will be joining NATO. Under Article 5, this means that an attack on Ukraine will be considered an attack on the United States. If you want World War 3, vote Biden in November.
Source: X
Blinken says that Ukraine will be joining NATO. Under Article 5, this means that an attack on Ukraine will be considered an attack on the United States. If you want World War 3, vote Biden in November.
— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) April 4, 2024
The world has gone insane. Well, the West has anyway. But that's just my humble opinion, for what it's worth.
Why is the West pushing, poking and prodding the world to the brink? The West that birthed the Enlightenment and pulled it from the depths of darkness following the demise of that other colossal empire, Rome. Perhaps history oscillates like a sine wave and we're sliding down the slope back to the darkness.
Could the reason be that unparalleled greed has destroyed its economies, leaving governments thrashing about in unpredictable spasms of lost power, the very thing that portends the fall of empires? The result of the un-tethered policies of the monied class and the irresistible urge to print fiat currencies will ultimately lead to systemic collapse.
Or could it be that bane of empire down through history, the lust for its neighbor's resources, writ large, since globalization promotes the idea that all nations shall be as neighbors? As vital resources become ever more scarce, the world competes for the remaining scraps. Water and raw materials come to mind.
Or could it be about energy, the driver of civilization? They that control energy control the world, reminiscent of a Mad Max scenario of crazed warlords that compete for the last drops of oil and gas to the detriment of any who stand in the way.
It's likely that it's any, all, or more of the above that drives the hearts of these madmen.
For too long the West, especially the US, has been the King of the Mountain and like a petulant dementia patient demanding that they have their ice cream and eat it too, strutting about and bloviating like a barroom braggart that it will not stand down until the rest of the world bends to their will. The problem is, the patient (the US) has the ability to take down everyone in a split second flash of nuclear insanity, otherwise it would have already been relegated to the rest home of past empires. So the remainder of the world treats the patient like a dangerous rat poisoned by a neocon concoction of hubris and avarice.
These are people that aren't content with running just their lives, their megalomania runs far too deep. They want to drag us all, kicking and screaming into some not so brave new world, whether we like it or not. Of course these people that are pushing us to war see themselves as the victors in all of this. It's either that or they'll rule over the ashes.
I don't know about you but I was content with the flawed world we lived in before this madness started, let's say since about 2019 or so. Surely that world of just a few short years ago had its bouts with lunacy as well, but this reality being thrust upon us now is a layer of delirium beyond the grasp of normal thinking people.
In the Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg
2:26
Comments
Good morning Free Rangers...
"Drizzle, Drazzle, Druzzle, Drome, time for this one to come home."
As Mr. Wizard would say as he brought Tooter the Turtle back home from some adventure in time.
I'm with you, Tooter, it's time for me to come back home too, where home is some saner place in the not too distant past. The 60s would be nice to relive again. It was crazy then but the here and now is just fooking bizarro world.
Then Russia
had best get on with the final and complete destruction of Ukraine (and absorption of the remnants) before they get a chance to actually join NATO.
Utter madness. Our government is certifiably insane.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
I've seen reports...
on the internet about Russia doing just that by pounding Ukraine's infrastructure back into the stone age. We'll never hear about that from the MSM, it goes against the narrative.
But, alas, that's from the internet and we all know the veracity of information from the www. There's just so much unreliable
infopropaganda coming out of the region from both sides that I guess the only real news to trust would be from someone who lives there. But we've seen what happens to boots on the ground journalist in Ukraine.I think that eventually Russia will need to take all of Ukraine, otherwise the natzis will always be a thorn in their side. I also think that eventually the people of Ukraine will have had enough and make a move to change the regime themselves. At least I hope so.
Delusional...
...is my descriptor of western leadership. They live in a fantasy world of their own making. They've drunk their own Koolaid and believe their own propaganda. Mentally and morally bankrupt, but that's the world we have.
I'm hiding in the holler as the empire crumbles for it is in freefall...slowly slowly, then all at once.
Thanks for the lifeboat here and your OT today!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Agreed...
the neocons are in control and they are bat shit crazy. I doubt the warmongering will cease until they are out of power. It doesn't help when we have a CinC that can be lead around with an ice cream cone on a stick. He excels at his incompetency.
Your holler is the ideal spot to hunker down. I think we're getting close, my friend.
Not Delusional at All
I do not believe western leadership is delusional at all. Ukraine has been the western headquarters for money laundering, human trafficking, bio weapons labs, and arms trading. They have no choice but to see that Ukraine is razed to destroy as much of that evidence as possible. Western leadership is going down, and it is flipping over the chessboard and covering its dirty tracks as much as it possibly can.
Great observation...
BBC. I think Russia may be sitting on all of the evidence. Let's hope that someday they bring it forward and the world will listen.
Thanks.
Good morning JtC, terrific OT, thanx. Love that piece of music
and need to subject you and all here to more of it, first as entertainment, thusly:
So, Baba Ram Dass famously exhorted folks to "be here now", which is silly. One cannot ever really be elsewhere or elsewhen, you is where you is and there, wherever that is, it is always now. As an affirmation, "I am here now" is a tautology, lacking in cognitive content and incapable of conveying any empirical information. Perhaps that ain't what he meant.
To live in the here and now is to be fully absorbed in the moment, intellectually, sensorially, psychically, spiritually, and otherwise; not yearning for any past or future or anywhere else but where you are. There, sadly, is the rub. I'm ok with my immediate here and now but I cannot help but know of the potential for armeggadon and/or ultra-dystopia that is inherent in the current situation. Our ability to see and contemplate that shit is a survival trait that we cannot easily ditch. Nonetheless, I can sort of put it out of my mind for a while, especially if I don't interact with the media and those who might convey its content to me, but, really, there is this umwelt thingie. My here and now is, in a sense, comprised of all the relations between the me-now and everything else in the universe, including fucking anthony blinken. Worse yet, I have this empathy thing, not merely for my brothers and sisters in Gaza or the most impoverished place on the globe, but also for all those less well situated, people in the US prison system or out on the streets or whatever. And that is where, imo, the horrors lie.
So, one has to detach and tune out regularly, if only to preserve one's sanity, but one simply cannot and should not stay that way for too long. The answer, to my way of thinking is to ignore or at least not dwell on the threats and fears inherent in world awareness, but to not lose sight of those concerns which make us human and do whatever small things we can to try to make things at least a bit better.
Now, The Who of The Mountain King:
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Coincidentally
I have been reading a collection of studies on Buddhism recently, that focus on the "mindfulness" issue you've raised here EL, which is a valid one. There is the western style practice or fad if you will of adopting mindfulness based stress reduction techniques as psychotherapy, whether promulgated by health care professionals or self styled "gurus" or "yogis." I'm using the latter terms loosely. Somewhere in the publication mentioned below was the critique of people who go to a class for 8 days (in the west) and consider themselves qualified to instruct others on "mindfulness." Audacious isn't it?
So I've spent a lot of time, hitting dictionaries to understand the terminology, so I could better understand the arguments about what is the tradition in Buddhism, differentiated it from the "mindfulness" fad and its adoption apparently by therapy and self help types. In any case, I had already selected this excerpt from one of the articles on this very issue, before you posted your interesting critique on what I consider the fad as opposed to the tradition.
Elsewhere the author describes the western practice as "McMindfulness." (lol). The author alludes above to the Sumurai problem of Zen as well, which I had often thought about when I had studied Zen at various times earlier in my life. There is a moral context in which "mindfulness" appears in tradition, and it is in an ethical context of the four noble truths and the eightfold path. It probably exists elsewhere but I only know it from it from one South Korean translation are the 108 bows, each accompanied by an example of correct ethical behavior. Unfortunately, I lost my translation source somewhere along the way. It was humbling just to read the 108 bows.
This is source I am currently reading from which the excerpt above is taken (from the third article)-
ASIAN STUDIES FROM ANCIENT ASIA TO CONTEMPORARY GLOBALIZED WORLD:THE BUDDHIST CONCEPT OF MINDFULNESS AND ITS APPLICATIONS IN WESTERN SOCIETIES Volume IV (XX), Issue 2Ljubljana 2016
https://journals.uni-lj.si/as/issue/view/576/389
These are the first three studies-
Traditional Developments in India and China Situating the Concept of Mindfulness in the Theravāda Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Tamara DITRICH
Mindfulness and Its Absence – The Development of the Term Mindfulness and the Meditation Techniques Connected to It from Daoist Classics to the Sinicized Buddhism of the Chan School. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Jana S. ROŠKER
Problems and Possibilities of Intercultural Transmission
Sitting with the Demons – Mindfulness, Suffering, and Existential Transformation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Sebastjan VÖRÖS
I appreciate your observation Enhydra Lutris because I wouldn't have otherwise even mentioned this topic. It is of interest to me, I'm trying to distinguish the eastern tradition culturally as well from its adulteration of the kind you mention.
108 Bows of Great Repentance
語必忠信 行必正直
The ethics of right mindfulness
-
-
in my mind should be a prerequisite of any elected representative.
It would be a simple test. A. state your belief on the cause of human
suffering. B. how will you alleviate said condition? C. Your actions will
will have the consequence of terminating your contract as a
representative.
It is probably next to impossible to enact this type of responsible
governance in the western world, but I would like to see it erase
some of the institutional corruption.
Thanks for your essay!
Well put, QMS
...and succinct as well.
I give all the credit to the authors and editors of the publication I referred to. The authors' opinions are very finely tuned, so I can't hope to express it so well. This is why I posted the link. I was interrupted in the process of posting, but I'll just leave my bad grammar, etc., without editing.
Thanks QMS.
語必忠信 行必正直
Good afternoon soryang. That's quite a piece. FWIW,
I never personally met Ram Dass, but based on discussions with some who did, I think he was the real deal and his little aphorism was intended simply as a reminder that we live in the eternal now and should be aware of it and what is happening within as well as without.
Context means a great deal in all things and I am disadvantaged in some respects because I am a round eye, saturated from birth in round eye culture. Worse yet, I am an epistemologist in the western tradition and a hard core empiricist as a result, but I haven't slipped into philosophical solipsism and thus escape the taint noted in prayers 38 through 42.
The whole list of prayers seem to me to be a pretty comprehensive practice embodying a pretty definitive set of ethical maxims. I myself am not too heavy into practice (how does sitting make a buddha?) but see a lot of value there. The noble truths and eight fold way are more my kind of thing, though I fail to follow as well as I should. To me, one needn't sit under a Bo Tree ever so long to appreciate and understand them, but Lord Gautama had his own background and context. For me, I feel that IF the goal is epiphany, chan or zen is more likely to work for the average westerner if only because of its grounding in appreciation and understanding of the Tao. Gaining that appreciation, however, is likely to be a bit tough for the average westerner, so who can say.
The goal of the western fad isn't the goal of the traditional schools. It is focused solely on mindfulness and arguably rote mindfulness, as purpose behavior aimed at specific personal goals, but not Right Mindfulness. Be that as it may, one would think that some who practice it might achieve some sort of clarity should they either have enough background or enough curiosity to go dig into said background. I recall, in my youth a discussion on "what's all that shit about anyway?" with a bunch of stoned friends. I tried to explain koan as a mental break that let reality sneak in and told the tale of buddha's flower sermon as an example. To my surprise, one dude clearly really got it, so one never knows.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I meant to mention
...that I'm not familiar with Ram Dass. It wasn't my intention to judge his approach. I'm round eyed also and not an expert by any means. I don't think that disqualifies anyone from making observations; I've been the victim of that critique occasionally myself. I'd been prompted by the youtubes to look at Ram Dass videos, because I tend to listen to that sort of presentation from time to time. I'm still stuck on Dr. Gao's classroom. I'm not a practitioner either. It's more of a cultural encounter for me. My initial encounters as a young person were prompted mostly by curiosity. I'm biased in favor of the aesthetic approach, art, and poems. I was intrigued by koans as a young person.
In any case, the whole purpose of the exercise seems to avoid becoming doctrinaire, although my understanding from reading and listening is that the teachers sometimes felt compelled to record their approach. These European authors that I'm reading now, have outlined a conceptual structure that clarified for me the development of the therapy approach and the western cultural transmission, with whatever shortcomings it is alleged to have. I had encountered specifically people who practiced or advocated the therapy approach on rare occasions; I have to say I missed their message as a practical matter.
If I tried to interpret a koan, I'd be the one to get a wack on the head from the master. This is the story of my life. I'm still enjoying the Cold Mountain poems from the pdf link, which you provided as I recall. Thanks again. Thanks for your inciteful reply.
(edited typos)
語必忠信 行必正直
Great advice...
mi hermano. I do try to practice that guidance as much as possible and have written about it in the past. It's wise not to dwell on things beyond one's control.
The powers that should not be would love for us to live constantly in their version of the here and now, that of fear and reverence for their authority. Compliance is what they seek, refusing to live in their here and now is a big middle finger to them and their goals.
I can not accept responsibility for those
-
whose sole desire it is to rule the world. I do not harbor those
types of fantasy and have trouble imagining how anyone would.
It is easy enough to recognize the evil for what it is. Just as it
is to appreciate the selfless good intentions of others. The later
subset is not as well publicized as the former.
Thanks for the OT!
There are givers...
and there are takers. Right now the takers are dominant.
On a side note, I bet sailing the deep blue is a great way to forget the former, the evil. Unless, of course, the captain's name is Ahab.
Article 5
I think Scott Ritter and others have pointed out that Article 5 only requires other NATO members to think about whether they want to do something (or not) -- there is no other action required. And in any case, the USA has shown that it is quite willing to ignore international law/treaties/the USA Constitution at anytime it seems expedient to do so.
There also needs to be a Ukraine before it can join NATO.
Nato knows...
it would be hard pressed to take on the Russians head to head, just as the US knows it can't take on Russia, China, Iran, North Korea combined in conventional warfare. Thus this paragraph from this piece:
It's why so many counties want to join the nuclear weapons club.
NATO proclaiming that Ukraine will join the treaty is a dangerous game of chicken in so far that the Russians may not want to wait around and see if NATO decides to do something or not.
JtC,
your essay is profound and so beautifully stated. I think the main motive for the insane behavior of the military industrial complex is fear. They know they have committed countless atrocities, and they know they will be brought to justice if they lose control of events. They know events that cause terror, catastrophe, and death keep us frightened and keep us hemorrhaging money at them. They clearly know they will die if they are brought to justice, and so their threat to us is that if they go down, we all go down. It will make no difference to them if the whole world dies. They have no humanity or respect for nature. But their threat to take us with them keeps us from acting against them.
What's the solution? I used to think they would bankrupt us and put themselves out of business. But, of course, we've learned that they keep printing money for themselves with absolutely no limit. It makes no difference to them if the national debt is twice a year's Gross Domestic Product or ten times GDP. No problem. So maybe ending the federal reserve bank would put an end to them. It's the only thing I can think of.
On the other hand, Ray McGovern fairly shouted the other day for CENTCOM to show up at the gates at Rafah to escort the trucks into Gaza, which to my mind sounded like suggesting the U.S. military to do the right thing! Wouldn't that be a game changer?!
Thank you, Linda...
and well said.
I'd love to see some justice, but those that would mete out that justice are complicit.
The plan may be to bankrupt the country, there's that CBDC thing supposedly just over the horizon.
The military doing the right thing would be a sight to behold, would it not.
Thanks, my friend.
This fits in with the general theme the US is not
as capable of hegenomy as they think.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
A country...
need not be a competent hegemon with a nuclear arsenal to back them up.
That was a great allegory. Thanks my dear.
Reading various sites today
.
I was wondering if this current time period of constant fear mongering and doom and gloom outlook for life is the worst it’s ever been.
Thanks for answering that question. I feel very bad for the younger generations because of how bad their future looks. I spoke with a 20 odd woman yesterday and she was telling me how hard it is to make ends meet with just one job. She’s thinking of getting another one. Rental, groceries, gas, insurance, ect have all gone up while her paycheck has stayed the same. Young people blame the older generations for this mess and I agree with them. We kept voting for the people who kept screwing us didn’t we? Biden, Pelosi, Schumer, McConnell….all have been in government for 4-5 decades. They got richer while we got poorer.
Plus as you say the neocons have brought us to the brink of collapse and nuclear annihilation. And for what? So the 1% of the parasite class can get richer. $10 trillion was transferred from the working class to the parasite class in just the last 24 years. Imagine how that money could have been used for we the people. And very few people object to it. Most propagandized indeed.
Half of Americans agree that we have to stop Putin and half have no idea that Israel is murdering Palestinians because they want their land and resources. I cannot express my disgust with Americans enough. We see through the propaganda. Why can’t they?
Off my soapbox and heading for a walk before the rain hits…. Or maybe I’ll walk in the rain and smell the wonderful smells it brings. I know I won’t melt.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
recognizing the publicity for what it is
-
and what it wants
is a good start
rebel
Did you read this?
Cthulhu Gazes Right
It ties in publicity with propaganda with lots of examples how Bernays created propaganda….
I haven’t read it all yet, but think some might find it interesting.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Our generation...
the boomers, are the most propagandized generation ever. We were the fist generation to grow up with television, the prime vector of propaganda. We've been at it for a long time, and it shows.
But you're right, the younger generations mostly don't stand a chance. It's time we boomers stand aside and let the younger generations take control of their future.
Thanks snoops. Take a walk with Sam and take it all in, that's a great elixir.
Well…
I got to the cemetery just as it started raining hard with brutal winds and snow. I waited it out and got in a 20 minute walk before it started up again just as we got back to the car. Sheesh you wouldn’t know that it’s supposed to be spring. But the Sam is happy and that’s what counts. Right.? Gotta make the dawg happy.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
If there is someone guilty of whacking the hornet's nest there
is no doubt that this individual is involved.
Every administration have their designated
-
bad guy
Blinken is Bidens
Unfortunately considering that Genocide Joe is a few cards
short of a full deck I think that it is Blinken who is calling the shots.
Did you catch my tag...
"Antony Blinken and Nod"? I wish he'd sail off on a river of crystal light, into a sea of dew, just like the poem says.
Actually tags show up on my screen smaller than regular text
and greyish and I rarely notice them.
Define
normal thinking
let alone people
individually we’re wack as people
and fucking Dangerous in groups
I ain’t got words beyond
Soul Sucking Ghouls the
lot of ‘em(well, it’s me, I
gots Lotsa words)
Lord knows they’re
soulless themselves perhaps
that’s their problem
thanks for the ot
and the raft
Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .
Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .
If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march
Soul sucking ghouls...
is how they got to where they are, it's a prerequisite for the job. In the olden days people like them would be pushed off the nearest cliff, nowadays the sociopaths work their way to the top. We, the people are "wack" for allowing it to happen.
I think I have mentioned this before.
My nephew on occasion did something right. When complimented, he would brag, "I mart."
JtC, you're mart.
Nephew is next in line to be the next Fire Chief of a huge Texas city.
We shall see!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I know some people...
that would say that's up for debate.
Howdy y'all
Hey Chief!
Hope it's all good all over out there! Looking like a bazillion tourists showing up out here for the cloudy forecast on Monday. Provisioned yesterday and locking the gate.
I was not a classical music guy in my youth. But that doesn't mean "Hall of the Mountain" does not set off my lizard brain. Mine was somewhat different however. From the days when I was an under-assistant
west coast cerebral chemical promo man...
Hall of the Mountain Grill - Hawkwind 1974 (Lemmy still on bass)
The Mountain Grill was a place the band frequented. Listened to this album many a wee hours when we were 'spacing out by spacing in' (which is the refrain in the song D-rider).These guys were big in the UK and EU, but mostly a cult following in the states, of the early space-rock people. Here in states, Lemmy took Motorhead (a UK term for speed freaks which Lemmy was) far bigger than Hawkwind ever dreamed.
Hope all are having as much fun as possible!
Ya gotta cough to get off...
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
Hey dysto...
here in East Texas we get a >90% view. The forecast for Monday is 90% chance of rain with a chance of severe weather to boot, so we'll just lay low and hang out. The hype is over the top with lots of wild predictions, I guess that's a sign of the times.
I wasn't much of a classical music fan in my youth either. I've always like Wagner's Ring Cycle so I listened to that and I own this LP. The Siegal-Scwall Band was one of the most popular blues bands in Chicago back in the mid 60s to early 70s. Corky Siegel, the blues harp player, has such a fantastic tone. I wanted to sound like him. When that LP came out I had to have it. It was kind of some cutting edge stuff back then.
Here's a little taste of the blues/symphony groove from that LP:
Hawkwind, great band, I have a couple of their LPs. The Mountain Grill sounds like a gas.
Heh, "cerebral chemical promo man" been there done that!
Thanks for stopping in, man.
awesome sounds!
Mornin' JtC!
Outstanding music, never heard of it. Sounds fantastic! Got a buddy that will love it too.
Thanks for the pointer!
Currently here Weather Underground is showing 90-100% chance of clouds Monday here. Gonna be a bunch of mad people driving home Monday.
Have a great weekend!
edit to swap percentage symbol for the dollar sign typo...
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
Maybe Blinken was just trying to cheer up Vlod
It's hard to pin WWIII on a war that's gone on so long.