Grey morning, here in the gorge. More rain and maybe ice on the way, but right now it's just misty with little clouds crawling around the far cliff face. The eagles flew out to the lake but they are back already, sitting in the tops of the white pines across from me. This is pretty typical of them. it seems like they are using the weather as an excuse to stay home from work. They make their little screechy conversations saying things like, " Aww, I just don't feel like going out and killing any food on days like this. Maybe I'll go look for something dead already in a little while, but right now I'm gonna sit here and mope around on top of this tree." One that I am looking at is missing some of his tail feathers and I'm wondering just what could be the cause of that? I can't come up with a scenario that makes sense. Eagles are pretty protective about their tail feathers, I think.
They'll sit there most of the day until something disturbs them or they just "feel the need" to do something else.
At some moments I have needs, too. We all do, and it is the best of times for each of us when we identify exactly what that need consists of and fill it perfectly.
It starts with a vague feeling coming from somewhere inside. Some part of our being is lacking and essential element for happiness, but we rarely think about it in such deep terms, or exactly pin it down. It's usually just a "Hmmm..." kinda thing, but sometimes we stumble on the exact one thing in the cosmos that does the trick.
Often the need itself is much simpler than what we try to plug into the emptiness. I can give you an example of this very easily, by pointing out the beverage cooler of any old convenience store, where you will see fifty or so different kinds of artifically colored and flavored sugar water begging to "fill your need" when what will do it best of all is a nice glass of water right out of the kitchen faucet...or even the bathroom faucet. it's exactly the same stuff, you know.
I still have the habit of drinking water from the bathroom faucet out of my cupped hands after I brush my teeth. Good Stuff! We live way out past the water lines so our water comes from a hole in the ground. The pump sits about 200 feet below the well house that I need to fix up before next winter and reliably delivers good cold water to all the faucets. The water has a taste and I have come to like it. It is rather free of bad things acording to the tests, but it has a number of minerals in varying quantity that flavor it oh so lightly. When I am thirsty there is nothing on earth that fills the need as well as a drink of water right out of my sink, usually taken from one of the 18 year old industrial strength cups that use to have "sippy" lids on them. It appears they last at least one human lifetime and are just the right size, except that sometimes they are so perfect I have to drink two of them.
Ramble, ramble, ramble...Oh yeah, needs!
This morning my vague indescribable need was filled perfectly by half of a grapefruit. I sat here happily digging into it with one of those funky spoons, getting squirted and dripping some of the good juice on my shirt. Talk about a "Happy meal"!
*****
Ever think you "Know" something you can't prove? Lots of people claim they do, and that was the big question put to some of the great thinkers of our time by the World Question Center, whoever that is. Lots of the answers are predictable:
"I know, but can't prove, there is or isn't a God" is the most obvious.
" I know but can't prove, that Saddam had WMD's" is the most tragicly stupid.
Here is one example of the responses. It is from Roger Shank, a psychologist and computer scientist (of all combinations of things to be):
I believe, but cannot prove, that people are not...
"...capable of rational thought when it comes to making decisions in their own lives. People believe that are behaving rationally and have thought things out, of course, but when major decisions are made—who to marry, where to live, what career to pursue, what college to attend, people's minds simply cannot cope with the complexity. When they try to rationally analyze potential options, their unconscious, emotional thoughts take over and make the choice for them."
Like I said, some of these are obvious. This makes for fascinating reading:
The Edge
Saint Paul writes about hypocrisy and its acronym:
...the acronym Iokiyar:
"It's O.K. if you're a Republican."
....when the Senate confirms Mr. Gonzales, it will mean that Iokiyar remains in effect, that the basic rules of ethics don't apply to people aligned with the ruling party. And reality will continue to be worse than any fiction I could write.
Krugman
Peace,
Steve
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