This photograph of the old Hotel Wisdom in the desolate and isolated town of Wisdom, Montana, reminds me in both name and verse of the old Eagles’ song “Hotel California”:
‘We are programmed to receive.
You can check out any time you like,
But you can never leave!’
Wisdom itself is like the conclusion of that old Eagles’ song. Once we begin at birth to acquire knowledge, no matter by what means, our minds are forever bound to a lifelong quest and need for more knowledge. Eventually we can try to turn off our innate curiosity, our inquisitiveness, our agendas, interests, inquiries and analyses, but we can’t because “We are programmed to receive” You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”
Sometimes over the years many of us resist the urge to learn, acquire knowledge, and find wisdom, but it does those of us who fight it no conceivable good in the long run. In fact allowing our innate curiosity to go stale is probably the worst thing we can do with our lives because it leaves us behind on the valuable scale of knowledge in a very competitive world. And once we fall behind, it is nearly impossible to catch up. So we decide to “check out”, taking the easy way out, and that involves learning from others like ourselves by word of mouth, never knowing if that new knowledge is fact or fiction, but if it seems logical or reasonable in our uneducated minds, we begin to pass it along to others we know. Some of that is what once was known as”old wives’ tales”, but now includes full-blown “conspiracy theories” or propaganda promulgated by the thousands of lies by ignorant people as important as even the president of the United States, and he knows that a minority of the population will believe his lies and follow. But his is a losing effort, because at some point his house of cards will all come tumbling down by the wind of his own hot air.
About two-thirds of America’s population are knowledgeable enough to see through this president and some even have the wisdom to rail against him and his treasonous coup attempt (with Russia and a complicit GOP-led congress) to destroy what the Democratic Republic of America has always stood for and replace it with autocratic fascistic rule where we the people have no civil, social, or even human rights
Those of us who have endorsed the Trumpian world view have, somewhere along the way,, lost their will to learn and use the knowledge they never had, and the wisdom they never gained. giving themselves no pause to consider or evaluate the lies, propaganda and conspiracy theories spewing forth from Trump, his administration, sympathizers, and sycophants.
Hopefully the delusional dreams of Trump’s and all his minions’ dangerous dark new world is about to go down in a blaze of glorious delight with the midterm election on November 6th, 2018 and criminal justice shortly thereafter. But all of you who wanted to check out will never be able to leave. ~llaw
“We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe. We weaken it when we hide behind walls, rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of our ideals.”
Cathedral Rock near Senator McCain’s ranch in Sedona, Arizona
A friend asked me a while back if there was anything more important than politics, money, corporations, religion, and philosophy concerning the fate of our future on the planet. This was my response: “There are three things–respect for science and the feminine way, and hope like hell for help from above.”
The attached opinion article offers well-considered food for thought on the question of nuclear deterrence or nuclear disarmament, something that I will explore in depth on this website as time goes by.
