Fame as Left-over

9.
One day Xeno found Aesop upset. The cynic wanted to know why. They were before a bookshop. He pointed to the wares on display. There were many books supposedly by Aesop and were being sold like hot cakes. “Look at this, ‘Aesop’s Tables.’ Does it look like my work?” “Or this, ‘Aesop Tells It All’.”
A little further down he saw a baker’s shop where the signboard screamed in bold letters Aesop’s Dozen. The board unfortunately was in danger of falling. Spotting the owner Aesop pointed to the sign. The baker immediately called two slaves to attend to it.
Aesop later in the night returned along the same way and Xeno drew his attention to the signboard that now stood in place; it carried some inscription beneath the sign Aesop’s Dozen. It read: Freshly Baked Loaves. Aesop stops here.
Aesop winced in utter embarrassment. Xeno explained it as the price he had to pay for fame. Aesop asked his friend if he would drink somebody else’s leftover. “Never,” Xeno was sure. “If it comes in the shape of fame, there are those who lap it up!”
benny
(selected: The Life of Aesop www.lulu.com/content/344881)

Week-51

Jungian ‘Common experience’ makes both saint and the sinner bedfellows.
Simon of Stylites who is revered as a saint supposedly lived on a column. It typifies the predicament of those ascetics of yore. They would condemn the very pagan artifacts and at the same use it to show off their holiness.
That hair shirt which irritates the skin of anchorite and makes him think of ‘riches stored in heaven’ has been the labor of some poor sinner working in a sweatshop poorly paid and with a family to support.
How holy one can feel if he or she requires labor of others who in all probability were exploited in the bargain?
51. 2nd Day
Saints riding on the back of a suffering humanity maintain inequality a little longer.

benny

Tom Swifties Anyone?

“ Groping charges against me? I am the governor, for gawd’s sake !” said Arnie caressingly.
“ I can walk the line, officer,” said Johnny- come-
lately.
“You look more like Madonna than the girl nextdoor,” snarled the gnome crossly.
“ Those born under Sagittarius are not bowled over easily” said she with an astringent look.
“ There is a familiar ring to Dallas,” whispered JR while tawlkin’ to the Press.

benny

w-49day2

Tides have an ecological role to play. They cleanse the manmade pollutants. Nutrients if accumulated in excess will have a deleterious effect on plants. Urban pollutants are carried through rivers to the sea where marine organisms benefit.
Nature has a way of breaking up pollutants from piling up. Tides show how.
Bivalves and mud shrimps filter what they need while pollutants seep through tidal flats; during low tides it is an opportunity for marine birds to take their pick. These life forms help restoring a balance. Oneness is impartial in letting the results, both good and bad in human civilization, to spread around.
benny

W-49

Behavior of Low and High Tides has same characteristics as that of mankind. In order to understand what causes the tides one needs to look beyond the sea. Or the earth. Power of the moon to pull or slosh the sea around in turn depends on something else. Why one nation takes a higher ground or falls back leaving room for another doesn’t arise solely from the nations themselves. For the same reason the concept of superpowers holds something unpleasant and evil. It means rule of the might: such a rule shortchanges principles of equity and justice for furthering interest of a particular group or nation over others. It cannot hope to last forever.
benny

A Pile of Posts

50. 3rd Day
The trouble with hypocrisy is you got to play a part ill suited to you so often, and surely as everything has its price, you forget what you really are.
50. 4th Day
One of the greatest disappointments in life must be to achieve your dream too early and being swamped under its success you cannot make another one or realize it.
50. 5th Day
It is next to impossible for one with an active mind and good health to sit idle with so much competition going around.
50. 6th Day
Man carries along a world of experience. Of his forefathers. His world is not the same what his parents would have experienced. With such a lot of loose change around is it not a shame not to spend it?
benny

Truth and Beauty

6.
In his first week into the household of Iadmon Aesop was captivated by a marble statue that was set in a park. It shone here and there picked out of darkness by a full moon. He thought it must be that of Aphrodite in her perfection. His fancies were so aroused that he went next morning along that path to go to his work place. To his surprise he realized the statue was that of Medusa. Under that brash sunlight it was calculated to harrow any viewer. So masterly the sculptor had fashioned her form. On looking at it so many times since that initial shock, he realized his first impression under the moonlight was right after all. The horror of her face had its own beauty supplied by the skill of the unknown sculptor.
Remarkable that the sculptor could bring out a certain beauty in what may at superficial glance be seen an ugly subject! Aesop later on had ample opportunity to discuss Aesthetics with artists and sculptors. He would conclude what ordinary people thought of beauty was the freshness of youth. A mistaken notion. Such beauty what was present today and gone next day cannot sustain truth.
That truth of a sculptor’s art made even a horrible aspect of Medusa come alive. ‘Truth gets more mileage out of plain truth the seashells carry, despite these may have been trampled upon by wayfarer. To those with the seeing-eye these shells yield their secret’ so said a poet once and Aesop could understand.
“Gods of Olympus who made humans might see beauty in their wrinkles as well in that vitality shown in youth,” Aesop once spoke at the Babbler’s Club on his views of Aesthetics, ”But for us humans we need to train ourselves to look deeper. So some effort is needed.” Eyes are meant to look but a seeing-eye is yet another.
How an object fulfills in a way or performs in the way it is intended at all time has a beauty: It has character. ‘Humanity shown by man and woman in all circumstances must fit the purpose for which we are created.’ He had said on another occasion. Truth must be beauty indeed.
benny.
This is a selection from my book The Life of Aesop (www.lulu.com/content/344881)

time-out

An elder Cherokee Native American was teaching his grandchildren about
life. He said to them, "A fight is going on inside me...It is a
terrible fight, and it is between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger,
envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment,
inferiority, lies, pride and superiority. The other wolf stands for joy,
peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence,
friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This
same fight is going on inside of you and every other person too."

They thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his
grandfather, "Which wolf will win?" The old Cherokee simply replied..."The one
I feed." (ack: Information Clearing House)
benny

w-48day7

Shortly before his death, at 78 Renoir painted a watercolor- a bowl of anemones. He said it was his visiting card ‘to introduce me to the painters of heaven.”
benny

w-48day5

Renoir, Auguste Pierre (1841-1919)
In old age the painter suffered from arthritis, which twisted his hands and the cramps got worse. One day Henri Matisse watching him wield a brush with his fingertips and continue, despite the excruciating pain involved in each movement, asked why he persisted in painting.
Renoir replied, “The pain passes, but the beauty remains.”
benny

w-50d2

At the height of Thatcherism the Iron Lady seemed to have castigated the poor for being poor. Yes, the poor only have to blame themselves for their predicament. Little did she expect her son Mark Thatcher’s predicament, which came later. The man on the street has no old boy network to fall back upon as Mark had.
The worth of common man is not always visible as an Earl’s coronet or the wig of the Lord Justice. His synergy nations use freely in times of war and other occasions as well. Any society that presses a certain class in line of fire and erects tombs for the uncommon soldier at the end owes to the veterans. It shall not be considered as paid either fairly or adequately, by niggling about the cost of supporting their descendants.

In a society some are bound to go to the bottom and stay there unless the government has some intelligent plans to get them back on their feet.
Tailpiece: taikobente is a Japanese word meaning all for one and one for all. In the Pre-war days in Japan when a student broke a rule the whole class had to take the punishment. It was meant to develop in each student a sense of responsibility. By his negligence he put the lives of his comrades in jeopardy.
benny

News Of The Day

Pfc.J Jodka III, 20 a marine was found guilty Thursday, of charges of killing an Iraqi civilian. His buddy Bakos a petty officer similarly was a party to the search and detain operation that involved a known insurgent who was three times captured and released. The band of five marines would have carried out their mission but as they zeroed in at the hideout someone woke inside.
(You see the civilians in the town of Hamdania sleep poorly what with midnight knocks that go on daily in the country.)
These five brave marines instead went to another house and grabbed a 52 year old Awad and took him to a roadside hole and shot him in the head. They had however the presence of mind to make him look like an insurgent by planting evidence of AK-47 and a shovel.
I feel outraged by such callous disregard for human lives. Much as I hate any wanton killing whether in the name of any cause or by negligence on the highways, the news make me want to puke.
Much as I hate to live under a fleabitten mullah and his silly precepts that smell of mothballs (or camphor) my stomach curdles more listening to a President who is out of touch with reality and still prattle about freedom. If he cannot value life of citizens be it in Iraq or in the US Penitentiary of what use is it?
Tailpiece: I have a doubt. If the terrorists who sneak in and plant a bomb in public places are cowardly what shall we make of these marines? In the line of duty cruising for kicks or patriots?
benny

An Armenian In Paris

Rabbi Benn Weiss followed me close as we made for the exit. “ I love Art and I know what I like.” he had said while staring at the canvasses long and hard.
We came out. He asked, “What makes Beauty? Is it what is unattainable?” I nodded. “Is it because it speaks truth?”
“Oh yes!” I said appreciatively, ”Rabbi, you will be a professional art critic if you stick around long enough. I am going to teach you.”
As we crossed the busy street to the Metro in front of an art store, my companion was for buying a few books to get himself started. “Forget books. Forget what that guide at the Gallery was telling you.” I told him, ”She was far out Rabbi, but she was a peach.”
Rabbi Benn Weiss glared at me at which I suddenly stopped short. Next moment I called out, “See that old lady! See her back is curved and how she leans on her stick?”
“Is that beauty?” my friend was skeptical.
“Why not?” I asked, “Does beauty only reside in a fine form and youth?” “Or does it in my perception of it?”
I was in the mood to explain. “ Think Rabbi Weiss, I do not know her from Adam. How come I suddenly think of my grandmother who has been dead for ages?”
“ She was the most precious thing to me,” I felt a lump in my throat,” she is unattainable. Yet this frail woman down on her last legs brought her image to me. If it isn’t beauty I am ready to listen you for a change.”
“Yes, if you say so, if you say so.” he said impressed, ”why don’t you write to your parents for a change? They’ve almost given you for lost.”
* Beauty is truth. Isn’t what sets us off on a train of thoughts- it could be a frail old or young thing, be connected somewhere? In our mind’s eye. We see a seashell and we think of Botticelli’s birth of Venus. That shell may be dirty on account of being trampled under many. Yet it becomes connected in our mind with a work of art; does it really matter the circumstances of the seashell as much what it represents? It still wears a kind of beauty that has acquired its sheen by our experience. Being old or a baby must thus possess beauty that we can only by our experience really appreciate. Truth of experience.
There are many theories on Aesthetics but without this basic truth it falls apart.
benny

W-13

How do we locate a fixed point in space? If we can lay out the point in terms of length, breadth and depth from where we are stationed it is possible. The difficulty arises when that point is traveling at a certain speed. It would then be necessary for us to account for time. Time as a fourth dimension.
Within such a four-dimensional model shall we consider our earth as one point? In such a case all events we experience and what actions we set off are set in time. In such a model of space and time no action of man can be seen separate or insulated from other chains of events. A classic example of this we see in the way Albert Einstein unsuccessfully tried to debunk the Quantum mechanics in the latter part of his life.
Einstein’s paper on the nature of light in 1905 changed our understanding of our universe completely. Einstein then moved on in search of a Unified Field Theory. He was certain Heisenberg’s theory of probability was flawed. (‘God does not play dice’ as he famously remarked.) But in his pioneering work of 1905 Einstein had advocated light as particles. The proponents of Quantum mechanics notably Niels Bohr among them, continued from where he had stopped. In trying to prove the theory about everything Einstein merely made himself a relic, out of touch with the reality. (Ref: W40)
benny

W-48

Every creation is a death and renewal.
An artist creates; and in creating a work of art he has emptied himself into it a part of himself and broke the mold as it were. A death it is.
Henri Matisse (1869-1954)
A woman who knew what she liked in art was visiting Matisse in his studio. She studied the painting on his easel for a while and said, ”You have made the arm on
that girl too long.” Reply of the artist was as simple as it was profound. He said, “Madame that is not a girl, it is a picture.”
In giving a painting a life of its own the artist renews himself. No more he need to paint it all over again line-by-line.
benny

W-47 day3

In recent times the life of Dr. Albert Schweitzer bears out the surge of power which consciousness and memory will carry to effect a modifying influence on circumstances. The young Albert once got into a fight and knocked down his opponent. The boy told Albert that it would have ended differently had he been as well nourished as he was. It must have touched him deeply. During supper that evening, he left his soup untouched.
It marked a definite break with his past and so did his sense of values. He became a caring person.
Even where he excelled in his intellectual achievements they were to be used in service of others. At 26 he had a triple Ph.D.
Whenever Dr. Schweitzer needed money during his stint in Africa he went on tour and gave concerts and talks. But what connects the son of a Lutheran pastor in upper Alsace to Congo?
As a child Albert had often wondered at a statue of a Negro, strong in body but head bowed and in chains. It made an impact on him. Of courst the fight acted as the catalyst. These were merely points on which his memory would refer and take cues.

One cannot discount the role of chance. What made him decide to become a medical Missionary was due to a Paris Missionary society report, which he came across as if by chance. Thereupon he settled for Lambarene, in the heart of Africa. Where mind of man is colored by collective memory, chance must, so it seems to me, lose some of its mystery.
benny

Intuition and Imagination

Every new experience leads us farther than that of previous generations, which does not however remove its connection with what is old. We are connected to our primordial ancestors though what we may experience of theirs is so compressed: past is manifest in a reflex action duration of which may be no more than a split second. It is intuition.

Imagination on the other hand allows us to widen our search and even jump the line to tap from so many sources. Our art and literature are thus enriched by experience.
2.
Experience of life is never lost; In our ability to make use of our past we make a full circle with the past.
Truth of nature makes one representative of ones race; whereas truth of experience gives the freedom for each to connect where it will. This peculiarity by which it shows its distinctiveness in its choice underlies the basic uniqueness of the individual. Whether woman or man, child or old each has its distinct stamp which no society can ever disregard.
benny

Exclusion principle-2

What is the strength of an embryo? Or its experience? A life-form no more developed than an embryo is complex and has the ability to follow its biological directions. Nature and nurture would give its own evidences from which an infant will be able to express Me-factor accordingly. Experience of the same embryo is no longer the same with the passing of each day. Experience is expressed in terms of eons while that of life-form in hours and days. Any life form might work on the anomaly of matter to be relevant far beyond his or her term of life. Thus the short life of a Mozart or Kafka shall continue to inspire mankind even after they have gone to dust.
Daddy Starbucks who made his billions always prided he owed his riches to the dead. He had hoped his father would give all his wealth to him as he was the first born. But the entire estate went to his younger brother. So he went out determined to prove the dead wrong. Later in life he found among his father's papers the reason why. " You have in you everything that you need. Use it. But John, your brother, he is a zero who I am not sure can earn a cent without a handout from me." Daddy Starbucks who had made millions by then had to thank his father for his farsightedness.
The dead in its ability to affect the living must be considered as one with the living. Daddy Starbucks made money without any help from his father but yet he had in his qualities received from his father. So much so it was as if he had merely carried on where he had stopped.
Exclusion principle (in terms of experience being common for the species) excludes death. Certainly there is no corporeal form but their examples and directions work from within. We carry within us the dead in a manner of speaking and connect them with our future. The only way I can honor my father and also give focus on his life is to give the sterling qualities I found in his life the necessary shine. In short with my deeds.

A World of Illusions

In one of the Central African states the government was hard pressed by rebels. The rebels wanted to takeover the diamond mines that the President of the Republic held in monopoly. “ I am the State!” cried the President and he passed more strict rules to keep his government secure.
In such a violent condition both parties began recruiting child soldiers. Akomo a child volunteered immediately. When he was warned his childhood might not last longer he laughed it outright. ‘ I shall enjoy it after I played soldier!’ He knew he was fighting with real bullets that went bang, bang, left and right. While his classmates escaped to the comfort of distant relatives who all lived out of harm’s way he stayed back. He said such flight was rank cowardice. “ I will come back to my childhood tomorrow or in near future.”
It was an illusion that Akomo came to realize too late. By the time Akomo was discharged he had lost the use of his limbs and the will to live.
* We live in a world where everything changes. Any one who forgets to take note of today lives in a fools’ paradise where illusion is the rule of Law.

benny

w-6day2

My private grief is that I have nothing to grieve about for myself. But being connected as I am, wings of sorrow beating at some far corner of the earth cast its shadow over me.
*As daydreams to sleep is our life to life past the veil.
*The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Except in the case of life between birth and death.
*Proof of the pudding is in eating: in case of life
no such proof is needed. How come?
* Why do angels fly? Because they don’t take themselves seriously.
benny

w-46day7

Being poor isn’t as simple as one might think. According to the US Census Bureau one in eight Americans and almost one in four blacks lived in poverty last year. In the final year of Clinton’ s presidency 11.3 percent of the population lived poverty line. In four years it rose to 15.9 percent (Poverty line is defined as annual income below around $10,000for an individual or $20,000 for a family of four.) Blacks suffer disproportionately from poor education and low quality jobs. According to Michael Tanner of CATO institute a free market think tank in Washington the government is spending more than ever on anti-poverty programs. Then where lies the problem?
Programs when translated by a number of components- state agencies, civil servants and the like, must follow the uncertainty principle. People living in low-income areas of Urban America have to pay for many things: goods cost more and services also unfairly cost more. According to studies 4.5 million lower income families pay 2.7 points more in loan interest rates than families with income $60,000-90,000(9.2 %APR compared to 7.2%) The same disparity is also found in mortgages.
Tailpiece: when you are poor you are likely to be further shafted. Price gouging as it is called in trade circles.

benny

Exclusion Principle

Exclusion Principle states thus: in view of the nature of a life form being representative every advantage it seeks is for the entire species. It being intrinsic part of any transaction excludes what modes it may adopt in furtherance of its end.
Thus ideologies and beliefs of man are to be seen as superficial labels that do not wear well. An example of which we can see in the way we ushered in the nuclear age.

It was thought a nuclear bomb would bring peace sooner at a time much of the world was in a state of war. The scientists who were capable of making a nuclear bomb were by no means hawks; many of them who guided the Manhattan Project were people with deep humanitarian principles and who believed that Science should serve mankind. Niels Bohr as early as 1950 addressed the nascent UN that the Soviets ought to be taken into confidence and they are privy to the nuclear technology. He wanted above all openness but Winston Churchill rejected his idea as a folly: he even wanted the scientist to be treated as a dangerous criminal and be put away.
Politicians who took control then argued ‘ We need the bomb to win the war.’ (This day similar argument we hear from politicians who cry hoarse for curtailing our liberties in order to win the war on terror).
The statesmen of the time however did not reckon for Klaus Fuchs who passed on the secrets to the Soviet who began stockpiling nuclear arsenal as a deterrent as well as to win the Third World War. Nuclear bomb acquired an ideological edge that gave the hawks in Washington ascendancy. Two or three times the world came to the precipice of a catastrophe.
Each man is a representative of his race: he shall have his own sympathies given time and place to something larger than he as an individual. If Klaus Fuchs acted as a spy for the Soviets why not AQ Khan? Having worked with URENCO a uranium enrichment plant in Europe he had access to secret documents. He has confessed to transferring nuclear technology to Iran and Libya.
In the eyes of the West he may be an evil genius but he is to the republic of Pakistan, a national hero. Exclusion principle points out the truth that sadly we always miss owing to our own prejudices.

benny

In Eldorado

Long ago a traveler while in El Dorado went to the king and said he knew a sure way to increase the kings revenues. The king promised him a percentage of his collection for his secret.
The traveler said,” Taxes”.
The king liked the idea so much that he made him straightaway his finance minister. Thus he settled down in that land and amassed in course of time so much wealth from taxes. The king died and a new king who came in found tax a convenient way to make money. The new king was very particular of doing everything strictly within the law. Thus he made it a law that all ministers who were till then exempted from paying taxes to pay up.
“ My ministers ought to set an example and serve the tax-paying public.” The king insisted.
The ministers were given great many titles but their wealth were confiscated by way of tax, ‘Tax on titles’ it was called; The king had made a law of modernizing laws of the kingdom. It meant more taxes that left none.
Integration principle is where every event of the past catch up with the present.
Thus Crusades of the past may be known as Jihad.
Did any one think God gave the Church /a nation license, be it by means of a Papal Bull or Bill of Rights, to roughshod others less fortunate than they?
benny

w-46day6

One Sunday morning George Marshall came to read in his newspaper the flight of three Russians from Moscow over the North Pole. They had taken off in a single engine monoplane two days before and they were scheduled to stop over in Oakland. But it so happened they were overhead ready to land at Pearson Field, south of Vancouver Barracks, practically in his front yard.
Marshall arranged for their breakfast and went out to receive unexpected and already world famous visitors.
They were brought over to his barracks to rest and Mrs. Marshall won their good will and notice in papers throughout the country by supplying ham, bread and a huge G.I pot of coffee.
Before the converging press could interview the visitors Marshall arranged for change of clothes and set up a news room and facilities for broadcasts in his living room. He knew always what was needed of the moment and cut out the ideological claptrap and party politics.
benny

w-46day2

Dirac’s idea was that a negative electron losing its negative charge becomes negative energy. This can also reverse itself into positively charged electron must indeed seem bizarre. It is obvious in the manner mankind has marched on with a little push from representational men who were capable of utmost cruelty. For example a psychopath like Joseph Stalin used his ruthlessness in equipping Soviet Union for the great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany. For that time and place his single-mindedness paid off.
benny

Will The Real Aesop Stand Up?

PREFACE

Mr. Wolf finally took subscription with a cable T.V Company and had a flatscreen installed in his lair. Watching TV became a routine and an addiction. Once surfing channels with his remote he was struck by a talk show. A kid was waxing eloquent and all through the show he ridiculed wolves.
He asked: ”What can one do with a wolf who has become a couch-potato?”
He himself supplied the answer: ”You still got to skin him.” Watching how the lamb was getting all the laughs he fumed: ”Talking head, your wisecracks do not worry me so much as not knowing what you have done with the rest of your body.”

No marks for guessing the source of this story.
Who has not heard of Aesop? Or read his fables? Very little is known of his life and the present book, I hope, shall to some extent satisfy that lacuna.
Who was Aesop?
The answer to this, ah my readers, is to be found in my book The Life of Aesop. Happy reading!
benny

A Buzz Word

In the land of Nod the citizens know their civic responsibilities. Dutifully they would wave their flags in moments of perplexity, which are often. Nod had become a Republic through a bitter, long drawn out struggle. Their history as taught in schools never let them forget the fact. Ever since its birth there were so many problems to which the Noddians always applied patriotism as a cure. It was what their Founding Fathers made as the highest virtue.
One morning there was a cry,’ Fire, Fire!’. One citizen got up from bed startled and rushed down the stairs shooting his rifle in the air. He was hauled up before the Judge. The charge against him was that he did not help the citizens in putting out the fire. His defense lawyer cited The Patriot Act; oh he made a big thing out of the relevant clause that stipulated every citizen to fire away when the cry went up ‘Fire!’ ‘Fire!’ ‘So my client’s patriotism got the better of his good sense,’ thus he rested his case.
The Judge agreed. Thus Oxymoron beat a brave retreat owing to the manner he responded to the emotionally charged word ‘ fire’.

benny

The Terrible Effect of A Trifle

Jochi the eldest son of Genghis Khan was a prince who did not care much for power; he spent much time carousing and hunting with his cronies than living in style as was entitled to. Once over the cups some nobles seeing a jovial figure so common and harmless began to tease him; but the son of Genghis Khan did not say a word.
The nobles continued at their pastime till a bodyguard of Jochi went over to them and pointed out the identity of their victim.
Realizing the danger the tormentors pleaded, ” We are nothing but dust before the Great Khan!” They quickly left the place.
Jochi may not want power; but as a member of that family of Khans that wielded the destiny of Mongols, he represented power despite of himself. His Life Signs was made stronger by his connections. (Ref.< Life Signs). When the question of succession came up it was Jochi’s choice that settled in favor of Kublai Khan rather than Ogodei or his successors.
Without Kublai Khan, history of the world would have been decidedly different.
Each of us belonging to the family of Homo sapiens and holds strengths. Each of us excels in a certain area. Iraq may seem a pushover. A trifle. How the USA is struggling at this moment is a telling example of a trifle. Like Vietnam before.
benny

The Secret of Rainforests

In rainforests the ground cover receive only filtered sunlight. Whereas plants in the middle growing from branches of trees get more share of light. They get light but not as much as trees at the crown. These tree canopies receive sunshine directly from sunrise to sundown. If the ground cover and plant life on the middle were to survive they would require wind to do its job. Wind has been at work for months and years striking the canopies together gradually wearing away here and there, letting more sunshine in. In time there may, by a gust of wind some trees shall be sent down, clearing the way for the ground cover to survive; fire also does its own bit. These are not disasters but Nature’s way of clearing the old and useless so rainforests may still flourish. Happiness of trees is thus regardless of age or external circumstances; in the knowledge that their absence or death is in the nature of things.
Do we call the wind cruel? Or do we call the trees selfish to deny the ground cover from receiving adequate sunlight?
If winds did cast their seeds to create a forest elsewhere their falling ought not seem such a disaster. Man who understands his role similarly shall learn to accept his position and take comfort. He gives his best shot at all times because life offers him opportunities; he is aware that success or failure is outside his control. (He is wise because his strategy is to work with what is in his control.) Happiness for him is beyond external circumstances but made secure as part of the living.

benny

Joy and Happiness

Joy is quite distinct from happiness. Joy or pleasure has its shock value: it owes to the very surprise element it carries; but has not the power to make you forget the passing hour. Joy of being promoted to lead the school team in cricket is over even before the last match played out. Why must it be so? Making the players perform up to scratch and working out a successful strategy is work and often a thankless job. Any captain worth his salt shall not sit back to enjoy the initial sense of joy but get down to work. Joy must earn her keep. In the minutiae of what makes success she has no place.
Whereas happiness goes far deeper: as a tree that has dug deep in. It has found secret reservoirs of springs in the depths by which it can stand the drought which sweeps across the land; in times of winter its sap merely settles down to winter sleep while leaves turn red and gold; come spring the tree shakes itself up and with renewed vigor shoots forth leaves, buds and all. Happiness is the positive strategy that a life form adopts, from resources within and in the interaction with other life forms in any given environment. To sum happiness is that state one is at one with the mystery of the universe.
benny

The Source Of Happiness

Aesop went with the solemn crowd into the House of Mourning. A great many of the family of the dead were gathered there. The dead was a youth of tender age, the only son to a devout couple. This made the occasion very poignant. Nobody spoke but watched the last rites for the dead with sorrow. At last the crowd made their way from the dead and one old man broke the silence saying: “I only wish my son were dead. It would have brought an end to my misery." So sudden was his outburst that the crowd was stunned.
"He is a never-do-well and a wastrel", the old man continued. "Drink, drink is all he cares... my fortune, he has already wasted away. And now I have the misfortune, of tasting the sharpness of his knuckles, woe is me!"
The old man began to sob. Aesop could see how much oppressed the old man was. He mused thus: “On one hand I see the sorrow of parents for the loss of their son; on the other the misery of a father for a son who is alive."
Another man confided: “My son was not bad at all. The only fault was that he was a strapping young fellow. So he was drafted by the army and is now away on a foreign soil.... desolate I am. Each day I dread I might next see him brought home, feet first."
Each man connected in some fashion with the sorrow of the parents: each one was sad for something or the other. One was sad for not winning the Olympic games that had just came to a close. Another for winning a lottery that made him a prey to his friends' envy and spite.
Aesop mused upon all that he had heard that day. Before he blew out the candle for the night he said to himself: "Neither children, nor material wealth can guarantee happiness. Neither failure nor success in an enterprise does in itself hold key to happiness. Had my deformed foot held the key to my happiness I ought to have said gods are fools. No god has allowed a deformity to make me unhappy but to find happiness in spite of it.”

benny

A Fable

Mr.Success and the Stranger

Mr. Success went through cities in a carriage drawn by Hard Work, Grit, Chance and Luck, four sturdy fellows of pleasant features. One day as he came into a city the crowd as usual came to him dazzled by his person; they wanted to touch him and be seen with him. They sure adored Mr. Success. They asked him for advice but he did not answer them. His attention was drawn to one who stood apart from them. After observing how they ignored him, Mr. Success called him up and said with a grin, “ Pardon me, it seems the folks avoid you like a plague.”
“Well, they are so taken up with you.”
“ But I don’ t oblige all.” Replied Mr. Success.
“ Isn’t it a shame?” asked the stranger,“ I am related to all of them, yet claimed by none.”
“ Who are you?” Mr. Success asked. “ Death,” Said the stranger.
benny

Open End

“Ramanna was the closest friend that I had as a child,” Gampa Guru was once telling his disciples who had come from many places to have a darshan of the mystic. “His father was a weaver as my father was. Our houses were divided only by a mud wall and I could sometimes call out to him in the middle of our studies to clarify some point of doubt.”
JP continued,” He was very backward in Sanskrit and for that matter anything of our folklore. Naturally he just scraped through the padhasala with just enough marks.”
“Great was my surprise when one day he turned up to say he was traveling to the east.” “East?” one of his listeners asked. “Yes to China?” the mystic said and his astonishment was still somewhat sharp after some 28 years.
“What took him to that far?”
The mystic shrugged as if it was a mystery.” If I recall rightly there is a Chinese connection. Ramanna had in a jar, some coins with Chinese inscriptions and a pagoda on the other side.” After a pause he added, “In all probability those curious writing and image would have triggered something in him. It led him to the life of the Buddha. To my surprise the last time I saw him he was tonsured and dressed in saffron colors. He had become a monk!”
“Has any Chinese monk ever before passed through the kingdom of Kothipalli?” “Yes,” The mystic said,” some 180 years ago.” “How do you know that Master?” “I saw in the king’s library the other day,” he explained, ”a scroll written in Chinese script, giving the date. It was strange to look at but beautifully brushed unlike anything that I have ever seen in our parts.”
“So you are also into their culture?” “Yes, what attracted my friend naturally led me to know more.”
What is the point of the story, master?” one wanted to know.
“If a culture so removed from our way of life could make such claim on one so supposedly insulated from every strange custom, we are not safe. None of us are.”
After a pause he said, ”We need to see ourselves instead of a closed society, as part of the whole. We are open ended indeed!”
“What will you advice us then master?” “More understanding, - still more, I say!”
benny

A Golden Mean

What makes Lofoton Island off the Norwegian coast situated far above within the Arctic Circle enjoy a mild climate even in severest winter? It is set on the 68 ° latitude but records a temperature 10°C higher than any spot in Siberia at the same latitude. This is the only place in the Arctic Circle where the sea doesn’t freeze thanks to the Gulf Stream that washes with warm currents what would have otherwise been a bleak and dismal shore. Researches carried out in the 50’s and 60 have helped us to understand the nature of ocean currents.
Did I hear anyone say it is 'manifest destiny ' of the Island?
There exists an oceanic deep-sea conveyor belt, which begins from this North Atlantic area. The sea being very cold its salinity is very heavy. Salt contents pour out of the frozen sea like a chimney of cold currents, which in turn is displaced by warmer Gulf streams. The cold currents thus released begin their trek along the shores of American continents driven to the west because of horizontal westerly winds above the sea. Along the continents at a depth of 4000 meters cold currents meanders at 10 cm per second through ridges and valleys cutting across to the Indian Ocean and finally runs into the Pacific covering a distance of some 5000kms. It would take about 2000 years to finally pour itself into Kermadic trenches, which is some 10 kilometers deep. The same current makes its return journey gathering warm currents as it speeds through the tropics; while one half was cold current it is now warm as it finishes off at the Greenland. One half of the loop is decidedly cold while the other is warm, which makes the hot tropics milder and brings in warmth in areas designated as winter zones. If in course of history events create conditions for a nation to the status of a superpower many factors went into its rise.
Come a thaw and let the polar caps melt. All these could change.
benny

Labor vs Capital

In one of those South American republics where Military Junta ruled one after the other, a dictator came to the end of his tether. He asked the new dictator a safe passage for him to live abroad. When he proposed Las Vegas his successor demurred.
“You cannot have any objection to my gambling?” asked the loser.” You gambled all through your career, lives of your soldiers. I promoted you out of turn to a colonel’s rank and you lost quite a few wars. Did I mind that?”
“ Well,” replied the dictator, “ what I gambled was with labor, cheap labor. What you are now proposing to do is, gamble with the capital. The republic may not survive if you have had your way.”
benny

A fable

Aesop and the Ass

The ass was sore with Aesop for having made him look a fool in public. One day he approached the story teller and said,” Well sir, you made me look ridiculous with your ridiculous stories; Am I not more intelligent than a horse?”
“Oh sure, more than a hobby horse.” Aesop said with a chuckle.
“I will take you on that.”
Next morning all over the town large bill boards were seen, with the following words,” Aesop says: An ass is more intelligent than a ‘ hobby’ horse.” The word ‘ hobby’ was in fine print and none noticed it. The advertisement campaign launched by the ass was so successful the price of horses slumped overnight.
benny.
notice:
If you enjoyed reading this fable you may want to check out The Life of Aesop which is available online. www. lulu.com/content/344881

W-46

Ideas are like wings; wings do not by themselves make sense. A tawny owl a-winging in the darkness has its beauty: made more defined by its ability to use its tawny feathers act as a drag. Airborne its wings work with the body and must take advantage of its surroundings.
A liberal education must allow man to make use of the currents properly. Also direct his path with an unerring aim. If failed in some attempts he must be able to revise his plans. A liberal education gives one freedom to change opinions and directions satisfactorily.
benny

w-47

One day Zeus thought he would escape Hera who was very particular that he behaved more like a god. Lately she had taken to task of lecturing various qualities he ought to cultivate. ‘It is very annoying!’ he thought. The evening before she had said in exasperation. “You are the first among all gods. For the mercy of Zeus behave like one.” It was the last straw. He fled.
The dawn broke and Zeus took his seat in his lonesome splendor. He thought he had shaken off Hera from his back. He wondered how wonderful it would be to reign over cosmos footloose and fancy-free. “Ah I am Zeus Oh for the mercy of Zeus!” Immediately his broad brow darkened and he recalled the words of Hera. He looked up to see his daughter Athena. “How did you find me here?”
His daughter gave a serene smile and said, “Remember I sprang fully grown from your godhead.”
“Poppycock. That is history!”
“Yes,” the goddess of wisdom said, ”but you just now recalled last evening. Did you not?”
We use memory and it is connected, whether we are conscious of it or not, to the beginning of things.
benny

A touch of tao

To one who wished to quit blogging:
Leave your heavy tread of thoughts in silence;
the wind cannot read but I,
who has broken the eternity of silence can.
benny

Critics Choice

Supposing newspapers were available in the days of Nero, the morning after the Emperor's abortive attempt to burn down the Capitol, would have witnessed in the Senate Hall a scene on the lines given below, more or less.
Waving a newspaper Nero growls in the best traditions of a student of Rhetoric: "I feel almost tainted by the scurrilous piece of writing!" A pause. Nero continues: "Look, it smacks of the underground press."
Before an attentive body of senators in varying degrees of corruption, he sniffs his nose in disgust and adds: "An infamous rag which goes by the name of 'The Christian Monitor'. What it insinuates is too much for a sensitive soul to bear!"
One senator: "Ave Caesar! 'Roman Tribune' is no better. Did you read its editorial? What a gall to run down your policies!" Quoting from the article in question he adds: "The Emperor needs to check his burning enthusiasm for creating a brave new world, which only encourages divisive forces at work...."
Shaking his neronic locks of which he was unduly proud of, Caesar interrupts: "Bah! A conservative paper funded by the patricians! One cannot expect them to smell bacon when it is done to a turn."
"Ah, here it is!" Nero nearly leaps with joy, "One column in this is worth all the trouble! What a sensitive piece of writing!" He has a tabloid in his hands now. "Read, you must Gaius." he exclaims, tugging at the sleeve of a portly senator. "My lyre-recital has been well received by the music critic of 'La Scala'. By Jove I already feel deified!
Newspapers like cheese come with all kinds of flavors. Viewpoint of each may be different, but what consistently one can pick are holes in them."

benny

Dear Me!

I read the news and note some 655000 Iraqis have been decimated since the War on Iraq has begun. It must be a figure, an astronomical figure at that, which Saddam Hussein for all his wayward ways in securing his own control over the country could only dream of. Yes he gassed and sent his goons to finish off every one who merely expressed his disgust at the oppression. Now he is put away for his crimes.
But who is responsible for this present needless carnage?
Some one must answer for these killings. Otherwise the way things are going on shall make such a stink, and I dread to think, America in the decades to come shall be a byword for everything reprehensible and evil. John Doe deserves better.
Now the blame game in Washington fought on bipartisan lines gives me a shiver. Earlier we had Nero who reportedly played The Fall of Troy while Rome burnt. It was a canard but it got good mileage nevertheless. George Bush is in danger of being portrayed in somewhat similar role and with him the good name of the USA shall be associated for something of a cruel joke. The poor and the afflicted may not have the clout to hit back with anything else.
benny

w-45d7

Freedom per se is a mirage. Without restrictions one cannot know what it is to be really free.
One learns alphabets and to make sentences; and rules of grammar are set in place so sentences can be constructed without fault. Without rules, language is dead and merely trotting words is confusion. One masters the language so his mastery is demonstrated in his ability to break the rules where it adds to the sense and highlight a certain mood. If Shakespeare had not, how poorer the English language would have been? The context decides the breaking of rules. Never for the sake of exercising one’s freedom. So it is with every sphere in our lives.
A citizen cannot be free absolutely anymore than the highest of the republic. Good governance must depend on both parties: the ruled and the ruler. Without respecting the spirit of the times the statesman who rigidly sticks to his position is a rank fool!
A prayer: ‘O God grant me freedom so I may not ever want to restrict freedom in others.’

benny

w-45d6

* The only simple thing about life is this: it is a four-letter word.
* Jealousy is praise with claws drawn.
* Life constantly reminds me where I ought to take a stand. Somewhere in between with that dot over i in place. The significance of that dot? It reminds me of my thinking case. It would be bad if I lost my head. Wouldn’t it?
* Prejudice is the self-induced strokes of the mind.
benny

w-45d5

‘Children ought to be seen and not heard’ was formerly accepted as a wise counsel. In a society that equated grayness as maturity and folly with the young, such counsel belied wisdom of the past.
20th century showed of what worth was the rule of conventional wisdom. Two Great Wars of which only the old had any interest, brought their hold come crashing down: it was natural the youth ask themselves: ‘What makes the old (who reached the end of the road) think they know better than us?’
Self-interest in the old and idealism of the young shall never agree. Such a realization caused great unrest in the sixties and Seventies and in the ensuing trouble the old order changed beyond repair.
Gerontocracy was a thing of the past.
benny

w-45d4

Neither love nor hate towards fellow men makes good policy in a leader. A cool head will do.
benny

W-45d3

Does it make sense to react angrily to those who when they see a Jew mistake him for an American? What intelligent dialogue any one can hold with one who dubs all ‘unbelievers,’ as pigs and monkeys?
benny

w-45d2

Has hate, I mean pure hate, won kingdoms? Not that I know of. I know of kingdoms lost because of blind hatred. Hitler might have come to power on the wave of hate but his Third Reich didn’t last for 1000 years. Barely thirteen years. If hate can only have so much staying power don’t be a sucker for it.
After September 11, 2001 we see a hate campaign hotting up in the Arab media. Some hot headed Imams also have been at it. In such circumstances a controversy over Danish cartoon can only be said to be distracting and totally uncalled for.
benny

w42d6

Andre Gide, (1869-1951) writer
A few days after the death of Andre Gide, fellow writer Francois Mauriac received the following telegram: ‘There is no hell. You can go on a spree. Inform Claudel'
-Andre Gide.
2.
Jean Cocteau, (1891-1963) poet, artist
When asked for his view on the existence of hell he replied with a smile, “Excuse me for not answering. I have friends in both places.”

w-33d6

Castillo of Seville was noted for his amiable disposition. The celebrated Spanish artist once came across some paintings of his nephew Murillo. He looked as if thunder struck and turned away meekly muttering, "Yà murio Castillo! (Castillo is no more!)” He went home in anguish and it is said to have hastened his death. He was never again known to have taken up drawing from that moment.
benny

week-34day2

Every life form traces its origin to the point of Singularity. Where matter was compressed so tight to a point. It may have been exploded to create our universe. In such a case our material nature must hold in some curious ways a relationship to that point.
Oneness of the point of singularity is the basic order set in material nature. It is in the heart of an atom: Truth of its inward parts every life form shall bear as matter that make up macro cosmos. It has its nature that atoms even though compounded do not cause confusion.
benny

week-34day5

A genius has a first rate capacity but not enough to excel in so many directions. Cicero was a genius who failed as a poet; La Fontaine unrivalled as a fabulist found his opera hissed; Charles Lamb had the mortification to find himself among audience once, at a time when his play was being booed off the boards. The ruckus was so bad that he also joined with the rest lest he should be taken for the author. Lamb under the penname of Elia proved with his essays how patent his genius was. Where Cicero found his sure touch in oratory Addison was hopeless in it.
benny

dear diary:

'I came, I saw, I concurred.' - the motto of of a yesman

Now, Stay-at-Home! Who's sorry now?

Since NASA succeeded in putting man on the Moon we have given man’s age old dream a purposeful direction. With the initial success of 2005, People’s Republic of China plans to land their taikonauts( taiko means space in Chinese) and measure the abundance of helium-3, set up an astronomical telescope by 2017. Neil Armsrong’s grand gesture’one small step for man….’ is given a lead by the hand as it were, by the Chinese. They plan their ultimate leap forward by their space program Chang’e.
If the Apollo series manned missions of NASA (1969-1972) have given Shenzhou series (Szhenzou means divine vessel) the drive, mankind can only feel proud of the level of sophistication the human kind has attained.
The Earth has become too narrow for our intents and purposes, I say. Rightly too, what with global warming and acid rains our manifest destiny lay in ruins. We looked for our Promised Land in the New World and instead we barely see a thing ahead of us for the smog of our ambition. The Earth is no longer the idyllic Eden that we had envisioned once. So the Moon surely must hold a giant step for mankind.
If you believed in it you shall believe in anything. What do you think will get you there in the firstplace? Platitudes?
Already some hucksters are talking about reserving seats for you at 100 million dollars. It is not clear if the price is one way or not. One thing I am certain: Those Plutocrats who send up people to live there could not have made their millions in the first place if not for the Earth. Did they despoil or enrich the Earth? Who can answer that question? In whichever case these are the new breed of Haves.They shall be the Keepers of the New Colony, a Law unto Themselves.
A Colony did I say? Yes the New Earth or the New Jerusalem mentioned in the Book of Apocalypse.
Of course the Have-nots will be those who cannot afford to pay the price of passage to that colony: we shall be condemned to eke out our living in our home planet somewhat ruined irrevocably.
benny

week-45

The music of Gustav Holst comes as a surprise to a listener who might be hearing The Planets for the first time. His Mars, the Bringer of War conjures up a terrifying vision of war, which we after having experienced war on such a brutal scale as the piece conjures up, can well appreciate. When he wrote it in 1914 World War was still in future. Born and bred in Cheltenham in England he obviously was spared all those brutalities that Europe had witnessed of the last century. His grandfather in the early 1800’s emigrated from St.Petersberg and settled in England into a life peace and respectability. So the question arises: from whence came the clairvoyant quality of his music? Great writers and artists all have shown such remarkable skill to anticipate events before they actually occurred. The names of Jules Verne and Arthur C. Clarke come to mind.
Does man carry memory of his race? Truth of his experience allows him by leap of imagination to present matters that can well be true.
benny

bell-peppers

bell-peppers
Originally uploaded by bennymkje.

In The Name Of....

Why is this man in the White House? The majority of Americans did not
vote for him. Why is he there? And I tell you this morning that he's in
the White House because God put him there for a time such as this: Lt
Gen William Boykin, speaking of G. W. Bush, New York Times, 17 October
2003

=
God gave the savior to the German people. We have faith, deep and
unshakeable faith, that he was sent to us by God to save Germany. Hermann
Goering, speaking of Hitler

=
A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion.
Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom
they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less
easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side:
Aristotle

=
If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier - just
so long as I'm the dictator. George W. Bush, 18 December 2000

=
International law? I better call my lawyer; he didn't bring that up to
me; George W. Bush, 12 December 2003(ack: Information Clearing House)

I never knew God was in the business of backing wrong horse.
benny