About Magic

I tend to read (and write) stories about magic. Why is this subject so engrossing?

Because--magic is power over the world and other people.

We all naturally want power...usually, power to do good for ourselves and others. 

We consciously or unconsciously know that our thoughts have power to shape reality. So eventually we realize that if we control our thoughts we can focus their effect on reality.

Of the ways that have been proposed to focus our thoughts, "belief" is the strongest.

Of the ways proposed to focus our beliefs, religion is the strongest. Focused thought comes from focused "prayers". In praying we focus our thoughts on desired outcomes.  

We believe (or understand) that an outcome that is prayed for will be more likely to come to pass that one that is not. Yes, a simple focus of thought can influence the Universe, as one grain of sand dropped on a scale can influence the measure.

I had a simple demonstration of this while writing this post. Looking out the window of the reading room I was sitting in, I saw a policeman checking vehicles. Oh no! "Please don't let me get a ticket!" There's a 2-hour limit on parking in this neighborhood and it's strictly enforced. I hurried toward my car, arriving just as the cop was writing a ticket.

I got in my car just as a woman who had parked her car behind mine approached the cop and asked a question. He stopped writing the ticket to reply. I started my engine and pulled out of the space. No ticket.

American Icons with Guns!

Mickey and Donald, what a team when they were together in the same action-packed adventure. But of course they could have adventures on their own.

But both of them, when in serious trouble, valued the virtues of a GUN!!!!

Being Creative

From an article in the NYT Sunday Mag on scientist Freeman Dyson, quoting his family:  All six Dysons describe eventful childhoods with people like Feynman coming by for meals.  Their father, meanwhile, was always preaching the virtues of boredom: “Being bored is the only time you are creative” was his thinking." 

I've been espousing this theory ever since we moved to the Vineyard, but haven't achieved that delightful and necessary state yet.

Another famous guy, Pascal, always stayed in bed until noon and claimed that was the secret of being creative. I haven't gotten there, either, yet.

Of course, these make marvelous excuses for my not having done anything worthwhile in a long time...

Again, A Crow

  I continue to watch and (mostly) admire crows. There are many of them around our home, especially at the backyard bird feeder. They're too large to sit on one of the feeder's pegs, so they hang around the base of the pole, finding seeds that smaller birds have dropped.

To watch a crow in action, check out this short video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RPHxA8-aaEffeature-related.

If that doesn't work, go to Youtube and type in Crows in the search field. Lots of material there.

Kaw! Kaw! Kaw!

Maltese Falcon

Haven't seen THE MALTESE FALCON in many years, just watched it today and had this thought. The plot is set in motion by The Woman's (Mary Astor) many lies to Sam Spade (H. Bogart), and at the end he turns her in because he can't trust her to be faithful to him. She's a woman used to manipulating and using males.

What if she had told him the truth from the beginning? There wouldn't have been a mystery and no movie and etc.

But what kind of trustworthy lover is Spade? He had an adulterous affair with his partner's wife, and calls every attractive woman endearing names: sweetheart, etc. And his reason for turning in his sometimes lover is "When a man's business partner gets murdered he has to do something."

Treachery for a treacherous time or universal truths? 

River

River is his name. He's just 5 years old. His life before he came to us was (1) sterling Seeing Eye trainee, and (2) in the breeding pen, living the Hugh Hefner lifestyle.

After fathering many great pups, he was neutered and offered to us as a keeper. He is, definitely, a keeper.

Mostly he dogs Penny's steps: whither thou goest, there goest I. But in the morning he comes to my side of the bed, nudges me and encourages me to give him a good ear and back rub. Sometimes if I'm sitting quietly watching tv or reading, he comes to me and asks for some attention. He may be asking to be taken out for a run.

Great dog.

Jews and Christian Science

I think I was a Christian Scientist even before I ever heard of the actual denomination. As a kid, I knew that I could influence "reality" by how I thought/prayed about it.

I practice Christian Science in my daily life. I don't say that I'm great at it; in fact, sometimes I fall far short of the ideal. Often, even. But sometimes I have a mental breakthrough and pray rightly, and healing results in me or someone else.

I'm not gonna try to explain CS here but to tell a brief story that I just read in an e-mail from a friend. It was a testimony recently in the Mother Church in Boston, by a respected member of the CS community:

"I spoke for a few hours last week with a Jewish Rabbi. He told of coming from Israel a couple years ago to see his father here in the US because the doctors said a disease had progressed to the point his dad had only days to live. After visiting with his dad the Rabbi took a walk to clear his thought and he walked by a CS Reading Room. He walked in and had a discussion with the attendant.

"This happened a couple of days in a row and to make a long story short, his dad was healed in those few days. It caused quite a commotion with the doctors and the family.

"The Rabbi is now quietly sharing this revelation he has found in [the book] Science and Health with friends and acquaintances in Israel, feeling CS is the answer for him and his country. A Jewish Rabbi can discover and demonstrate this revelation so decisively in today's world. To him it's a simple matter, spelled out on pages 360-361 of Science and Health, where the book talks of the Jew and Christian finding common ground in divine revelation."

I know some Jews will brush off this story as propaganda from the Jews for Jesus folks. However, I know the man who told the story and trust him. 

Druthers

On the whole, I think this afternoon, I may prefer to be a woman.

Unencumbered by male vanity and arrogance, impossible dreams and missions.

The females I see and read are, on the whole, superior to the males. 

Better authors, for one thing; more readable, more humane, more sensitive and peace-loving.

Women seem to contain this giant unspeakable...SECRET that their quiet subtle smiles leak.

Unknowable by a male such as myself, I can only look at their physical attributes and lust for what is contained within.

Sobbing quietly, I withdraw into myself and find....

DROOD, mystery of

DROOD, a recent novel of immense size by Dan Simmons, purports to tell the story of the relationship between Charles Dickens and fellow author Wilkie Collins (THE MOONSTONE, WOMAN IN WHITE, etc.). Told through Collins' narration, it reveals some biographical details of Dickens (he walked fast, about 4 mph, on daily strolls of 10-20 miles), was somewhat vain, etc. But about Collins the book is savage: according to this, Collins, an opium and morphine addict, hated just about everyone and loved nobody--except, perhaps, Dickens...with whom he had a serious case of competitive envy and ended up plotting to kill Dickens...and did, in an opium dream.

Which reveals the most serious flaw in the book: we cannot believe much of what Collins tells us. In fact, it seems that Dickens had mesmerized Collins (aided by the daily doses of opium) into believing in the existence of a supernatural creature named Drood.

Drood and Collins introduce us to many scenes of horror: rotting corpses, hideous murders, scary things in the dark, etc. But none or all of it may be real. 

I couldn't read the whole book: I read the first 150 pages, then skipped and rambled through the rest until reading the last part, where Collins dies in a horror-filled dream.

Pfui.

Peace I ask of thee, O river

Penny was feeling sad this morning, overcome by too many responsibilities, until she remembered a song she learned at Girl Scout camp in the Fifties. She started to sing it and I started to tear-up. We don't know the source of the song but here are the words and one among many URLs:

http://dragon.sleepdeprived.ca/songbook/songs6/S6_21.htm

Peace I ask of thee, O river, peace, peace, peace.

When I learn to live serenely, cares will cease.

From the hills I gather courage, vision of the day to be,

Strength to lead and faith to follow, all are given unto me.

Peace I ask of thee, O river, peace, peace, peace.

The Dibble and Me

Saturday morning we went to the beach road between Oak Bluffs and Edgartown. Many volunteers gathered there to plant beach grass. The beach grass was in clumps as provided from a nursery and it had to be separated and one stalk dropped into a hole punched in the sand.

Punching holes in the sand was the job for Guys like me carrying Dibbles. A dibble is a shovel-sized pole--on its end a fork consisting of two tines, 12 inches apart. I moved along, punching two holes at a time, while my wife and another lady followed and planted beach grass. 

After a couple hours we decided to leave because so many other volunteers showed up. It was a great day to be out working.

What I didn't realize until I got home was how tired I was. It continued this morning, when after church I went to help clean a park of dead sticks. I was able to work for only an hour. Pooped. 

I have to admire all the volunteers on Martha's Vineyard. Intelligent hard-working people. We're happy to be among them.

Who Am I?

Which comic kid best represents the Me of Me?

Charlie Brown or Calvin.

(Both comics are expired, now, but I'm not.) Now approaching the Golden Years, I still contain within myself the young boy I was and am.

A younger friend, Christina Bone, 

seems to be going through a crisis of Selfhood on her Facebook page, and I can only assure her that as far as my experience is authentic, the doubt persists and we may as well enjoy and comment on the adventure. 

So... Calvin? 

or Charlie Brown? (In previous panels he confessed his most secret desire to Lucy, who swore not to laugh: which was for everyone to call him "Flash"...)

I'm in the Comics!

See me in action at

http://tinyurl.com/aq91dt

MY NEW WEBSITE!

At last, after almost a year of hesitation, doubt, whimperings, I've put up a website that contains some funny stuff AND a free download of my novel about Hitler. 

Yes, Adolf Hitler, der fuehrer, der head of the Third Reich. Hitler is dead and my novel purports to explain how he died. Or, Who Killed Adolf HItler? Four kids, using Invisibility Bubblegum and a Lucky Indian Head Penny. 

No more info here, you gotta read it. I think it's fun and interesting. If you think so, please let me know. If you don't think so, I'd appreciate hearing that from you too. But be gentle, please.

Yes, just go to: 

http://web.mac.com/donhinkle/Penny_Crusade-Kill_Hitler/Adolf_Hitler_the_Anti-Hero.html

 or, the shorter version: http://tinyurl.com/3tzap7.

And I'll do the same for you someday.

warning: there's a graphic novel called I Killed Hitler, by a Norwegian artist named Jason. It's interesting too. And gets many more hits on Google than I do.

If you have a website, please consider putting a link to mine because that helps influence Google.

"No Doubt" It's a Lie

My wife used the expression "No doubt" in a statement to me a short while ago.

It's one of the few times when I didn't get a feeling of irritation at the words.

Most of the time, when I read the phrase, it's in a context that I know consciously and unconsciously is false--a deliberate lie.

It's used in politics often to seek to force a response in the reader. 

If the statement is true, there's no reason to use the words "no doubt".

Check it out.