I carve soap. The largest bars of soap I can find are 12 oz, about 2 by 3 by 4 inches in size. So the objects, people and events I carve can be thought of as small, but they are very large to me...they express my sense of life.
The Burial Mask of King Tut...who reigned for 10 years in Egypt some 3,500 years ago. I wasn't quite sure why I had chosen to carve the mask unti I had almost completed it. It was not just its beauty, but the fact that that long ago, when people presumably knew so little, they were so advanced in creating works of art: simple exquisite expressive beauty.
A Fiddler on the Roof...projects the idea that one solitary individual, though precariously perched, can draw attention, can make a difference, can change the world for the better.
Michelangelo's Painting og God's Hand Reaching Out to Touch Adam's Hand...there is a force in the world, whatever form it is, that empowers man if he is in touch with it, and moves the world.
Moonlit Treed Glade...a soul's need for serenity, tranquility.
A Cow...to honor the bovine family, of which I have been a part for the past two years, a cow valve having been implanted to keep my heart beating properly.
Mark Twain...figure representing the blending of wisdom and humor, of iconoclastic rebellion and joy of living.
Caged Black Panther with Chimpanzee Standing Atop...fierce gnarling fanged-exposed beast and smiling, peaceful ancestor. Is this the ultimate choice: natural blessed freedom or enraged restraint?
Waterfall...the force providing to us what we need, in roaring abundance.
Ancient Water Pot...golden container, spout, handle...beauty to behold in everyday simpler things.
Treasure Chest...small and beautiful, to reflect the value of monetary wealth and fortune, and the true worth of those riches.
The Dead Sea Scrolls...the passing along of ancient wisdom.
The force speaks to us, and we respond, in art.
What do these say?
Samson Tearing down the Temple
The Mayflower
Space Shuttle Liftoff
Albert Einstein
Devil's Face, smiling
St. Basil's Cathedral
Female-figured Drinking Glass
Monk Candlestick Holder
Indian Chief/Buffalo Nickel
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
DIAGNOSIS: TERMINAL
My brother asked me to give a medical examination to our medical industry.
Once healthy and robust, admired as the best in the world, America's health care system is teetering on the edge of fatality. The decline began, I believe, in what seemed innocent, even progressive, at the time. Fifty or so years ago, juries began awarding humongous awards to patients who had been injured, mistreated, in some way by their physicians. Based on an untenable standard of virtual perfection, which few if any physicians could consistently meet, jury awards skyrocketed into the millions.
To protect against the possibility of losing all their accumulated money, physicians turned to insurance companies and malpractice policies. As the awards continued to increase, so did the malpractice insurance premiums. To offset those increases, physicians began to raise fees...easy to do since doctors' fees are rarely discussed with patients before the medical services are rendered. Higher medical fees triggered a substantial increase in the number of people buying health insurance policies to pay the costs of catastrophic illness, and then to pay for all medical services, blood tests, etc. Physicians, who once looked solely to patients for payment of their fees, now had to deal with insurance companies and all of the record keeping and documentation and reporting that the insurance companies required. Their costs mounted, their fees followed suit. Ill people being turned away because the physician does not accept their insurance. The medical profession had transformed into the medical industry.
Compounding the problem, as it always will, was the intrusion of government into this aspect of our lives. Increases in longevity meant greater number of people covered by medicare, medicaid and other government programs. Arbitrarily imposed limitations on fees paid physicians, greater bureaucracy, the requirement that emergency care must be made available to all (overloading emergency care facilities, promoting quicker than advisable treatment and discharges from many hospitals) has brought us to a critical health crisis. The pending takeover of our health care by the federal government makes the diagnosis: terminal.
Once healthy and robust, admired as the best in the world, America's health care system is teetering on the edge of fatality. The decline began, I believe, in what seemed innocent, even progressive, at the time. Fifty or so years ago, juries began awarding humongous awards to patients who had been injured, mistreated, in some way by their physicians. Based on an untenable standard of virtual perfection, which few if any physicians could consistently meet, jury awards skyrocketed into the millions.
To protect against the possibility of losing all their accumulated money, physicians turned to insurance companies and malpractice policies. As the awards continued to increase, so did the malpractice insurance premiums. To offset those increases, physicians began to raise fees...easy to do since doctors' fees are rarely discussed with patients before the medical services are rendered. Higher medical fees triggered a substantial increase in the number of people buying health insurance policies to pay the costs of catastrophic illness, and then to pay for all medical services, blood tests, etc. Physicians, who once looked solely to patients for payment of their fees, now had to deal with insurance companies and all of the record keeping and documentation and reporting that the insurance companies required. Their costs mounted, their fees followed suit. Ill people being turned away because the physician does not accept their insurance. The medical profession had transformed into the medical industry.
Compounding the problem, as it always will, was the intrusion of government into this aspect of our lives. Increases in longevity meant greater number of people covered by medicare, medicaid and other government programs. Arbitrarily imposed limitations on fees paid physicians, greater bureaucracy, the requirement that emergency care must be made available to all (overloading emergency care facilities, promoting quicker than advisable treatment and discharges from many hospitals) has brought us to a critical health crisis. The pending takeover of our health care by the federal government makes the diagnosis: terminal.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
UNMASKING BIG BROTHER
Aldous Huxley referred to the government as Big Brother. And that is what is now entrenched in our political perspective: the misguided humanization of our government.
The government is all of us functioning as an entity. The government is us. The government is not a separate being.
The government is not a Big Brother in debt to the tune of 14 trillion dollars (some tune!)...you and I are in debt. We owe that money, and we will have to pay it. The government has no money of its own.
Big Brother has no right to tell me what I can do or must do, no right to my money, my land, my time, my life Why not? Because you don't...and Big Brother is you and you and you...and, yes, from your perspective, Big Brother is me.
When people talk about wanting a bigger government, a bigger Big Brother, they are really meaning a smaller us. When people say the government should help pay for their children's education, or their food or their mortgage, they are really saying you should pay for them. When people say that the government should set a higher minimum wage, they are really saying they will decide for you what you will work for. When people talk about raising taxes, they are really saying they have a right to decide how much of your money you can keep. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Do they? Do you?
Correctly seen for what it is, the government can properly do not one iota more than we individually can do. And that is because, when the mask is removed, lo' and behold, it is us.
The government is all of us functioning as an entity. The government is us. The government is not a separate being.
The government is not a Big Brother in debt to the tune of 14 trillion dollars (some tune!)...you and I are in debt. We owe that money, and we will have to pay it. The government has no money of its own.
Big Brother has no right to tell me what I can do or must do, no right to my money, my land, my time, my life Why not? Because you don't...and Big Brother is you and you and you...and, yes, from your perspective, Big Brother is me.
When people talk about wanting a bigger government, a bigger Big Brother, they are really meaning a smaller us. When people say the government should help pay for their children's education, or their food or their mortgage, they are really saying you should pay for them. When people say that the government should set a higher minimum wage, they are really saying they will decide for you what you will work for. When people talk about raising taxes, they are really saying they have a right to decide how much of your money you can keep. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Do they? Do you?
Correctly seen for what it is, the government can properly do not one iota more than we individually can do. And that is because, when the mask is removed, lo' and behold, it is us.
Monday, November 8, 2010
ABSOLUTELY
The exception does not prove the rule...it is a door opener that destroys, decimates, ravages, evaporates, dematerializes, the rule out of existence.
Why?
1. Because the exception implies the rule is not absolutely true
2. Because "what does the exception really mean"...eg, "You don't have to tell the truth if it will hurt someone unnecessarily"..."hurt", "unnecessarily"? WHO DECIDES WHAT THEY MEAN? THE LIAR?
3. Because the exception implies the original rule has no firm basis in reality.
4. Because the exception, even if specific and well-defined, implies one doesn't really have to follow the rule, there is no punishment for violating it.
Exceptions are destroying morality, destroying our wonderfully-crafted political system:
"We are all equal except for the disadvantaged, the rich, the poor, the handicapped, the homeless, the needy, the have nots"
"You are free to do as you wish unless society believes it is in its interest that you are not free to do THAT...marry whom you choose, smoke what you will, not have health insurance if you don't wish to, etc.
"Immigrants have to enter the country legally and pass certain health and security checks, unless they are Spanish or Latinos or drug dealers or violent criminals or terrorists"
"You cannot lawfully initiate violence against anyone, except if it is your infant or minor child"
Proper rules are right because they are based on objective facts of reality, and objective facts of reality do not change color at will. Facts are facts, they are what they are notwithstanding the anyone's subjective whim or fancy. A is A. If you think the rule has an exception, redefine the rule with greater specificity.
We are equal under our law , not sometimes, now and then, only if...but always.
We are free, not just when others approve of what we do with our freedom...but always.
We have no unchosen duties to others...none.
I have a right to live for my own sake and not for the sake of my neighbors, society, future unborn generations, the world...but for I, me, myself, numero uno, my spirit, my soul.
Absolute, and absolutely simple.
Why?
1. Because the exception implies the rule is not absolutely true
2. Because "what does the exception really mean"...eg, "You don't have to tell the truth if it will hurt someone unnecessarily"..."hurt", "unnecessarily"? WHO DECIDES WHAT THEY MEAN? THE LIAR?
3. Because the exception implies the original rule has no firm basis in reality.
4. Because the exception, even if specific and well-defined, implies one doesn't really have to follow the rule, there is no punishment for violating it.
Exceptions are destroying morality, destroying our wonderfully-crafted political system:
"We are all equal except for the disadvantaged, the rich, the poor, the handicapped, the homeless, the needy, the have nots"
"You are free to do as you wish unless society believes it is in its interest that you are not free to do THAT...marry whom you choose, smoke what you will, not have health insurance if you don't wish to, etc.
"Immigrants have to enter the country legally and pass certain health and security checks, unless they are Spanish or Latinos or drug dealers or violent criminals or terrorists"
"You cannot lawfully initiate violence against anyone, except if it is your infant or minor child"
Proper rules are right because they are based on objective facts of reality, and objective facts of reality do not change color at will. Facts are facts, they are what they are notwithstanding the anyone's subjective whim or fancy. A is A. If you think the rule has an exception, redefine the rule with greater specificity.
We are equal under our law , not sometimes, now and then, only if...but always.
We are free, not just when others approve of what we do with our freedom...but always.
We have no unchosen duties to others...none.
I have a right to live for my own sake and not for the sake of my neighbors, society, future unborn generations, the world...but for I, me, myself, numero uno, my spirit, my soul.
Absolute, and absolutely simple.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
THE LOST JEWEL
Language, meanr to express thoughts and feelings, has become passe...for most, most often.
1. We say things not because we mean them, but because we think we should.
2. We refrain from using language to say what we do mean because we think we shouldn't, or have no right to.
3. We use words to kill the silence around us, silence we perceive as proving there is something wrong with us.
4. We use words as noisemakers to prove we are there.
5. We use words without having mastered their meaning...like love, justice, freedom, rights, independence.
6. We use words that are open to multiple meanings...like fine, better, sure, good, best, cheapest.
7. We use words to moan, groan, complain, about our lives, rather than doing something to solve the problem.
8. We use words to cover up the fact we have nothing to say.
"Thanks to words, we have been able to rise above the brutes, and thanks to words, we have often sunk to the the level of the demons." Aldous Huxley
1. We say things not because we mean them, but because we think we should.
2. We refrain from using language to say what we do mean because we think we shouldn't, or have no right to.
3. We use words to kill the silence around us, silence we perceive as proving there is something wrong with us.
4. We use words as noisemakers to prove we are there.
5. We use words without having mastered their meaning...like love, justice, freedom, rights, independence.
6. We use words that are open to multiple meanings...like fine, better, sure, good, best, cheapest.
7. We use words to moan, groan, complain, about our lives, rather than doing something to solve the problem.
8. We use words to cover up the fact we have nothing to say.
"Thanks to words, we have been able to rise above the brutes, and thanks to words, we have often sunk to the the level of the demons." Aldous Huxley
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL!
My daughter tells me that one thinks a picture beautiful if it projects the beholder's sense of life. The picture above conveys key elements of my sense of life.
A new day dawning...fresh, bright and getting brighter, untouched, unspoiled
Man capable of controlling great forces of nature
Peaceful relations among men, as the given
The dominance of purposeful action over talk
An unpretended life; bliss in being
The rapture of quiet serenity
The beauty of existence, all about
The undulations of terrain (life) retaining tomorrow's surprises
A masterpiece!
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