"Barbara O’Brien’s wide-ranging account of Zen history is conveyed with a master storyteller’s ability to keep the forest from getting lost in a myriad of trees. Wearing her scholarship lightly, she blends just the right amount of skepticism about her hagiographic sources with a deep appreciation for the Dharma." — Barry Magid, author of
Nothing Is Hidden and
Ending the Pursuit of Happiness Order here!
Happy Thanksgiving to all! If you can, try to forget politics for the day, enjoy family, friends and football!!
I give thanks for my Mom, you, maha, and my friends here and at other sites!
Without you, I'd be as crazy and untethered as tRUM…
Ok, maybe crazy and stupid, but NOT THAT DUMB!!!!?and
I’m doing my best to forget about politics.
No big dinner for me, the meetup point I usually go to for Thanksgiving got snowed in.
If you like Christmas music – and not the childish stuff you hear at shopping malls – our great classical music station has a free, commercial-free Christmas music stream here. I’m so looking forward to getting into a month of soaring holiday music this year.
Thanksgiving is about turkey, and people talk turkey even if they prefer and serve other entrees. At some point some turkey spouts something authoritatively and cites common sense. This is a red flag and proper civility should requite a red flag alert warning before the common sense card is played.
Common sense: these two words are used in conjunction often, and lack any sort of definition. Definition in the sense that at least two or three people might agree that is at least a workable one. Well, lets try this contextual definition which might lead to a solution to this paradox.
First let us agree that if common sense exists at all, it is not that common. Second let us consider the definition of Alfred North Whitehead, Bertrand Russell, or whoever deserves citation that the sole criterion of common sense is that new ideas or ways should look like old ones. Let us just say then common sense has a conservative bias or in newspeak meme rejecting. So onward to our contextual definition.
The problem with common sense is that people do not have enough common sense to know when the common sense solution is wrong or inferior to a new one, and try to impose it anyway.
This working definition is so simple why did I not come up with it sooner, Besides that. it just makes common sense. Or at least it is something at least a few of us can agree upon.
I can't wait until next Thanksgiving, when I will be prepared and armed for the inevitable next authoritative appeal to the unicorn like term, common sense.
So onward to the Solstice and remember to always keep it properly Pagan. At least this year Solstice is falling on a weekend. I'll attribute that one to the god of good luck. May her blessing fall liberally on her faithful.
I burned into memory a comment on a blog – probably by someone from Australia – in response to someone crying "socialism!!!" about "the gummint" providing services. They used a quip that I now often use to rebut right-wingers: "what you call 'socialism' everyone else calls common sense"
And so the elastic term "common sense" can be used by more than just right wingers (who use it not to think) just give it your own, bigger context, and shatter their tiny notion of "normal".
I don't know what keeping the Solstice pagan means but in yin/yang terms it is Return of the Light which means yin has reached its maximum and yang becomes dominant. Thank goodness at least nature follows the rules.
I don't know what keeping the Solstice pagan means but in yin/yang terms it is Return of the Light which means yin has reached its maximum and yang becomes dominant. Thank goodness at least nature follows the rules.
Keep the solstice Pagan is word play on a Xmas saying. Thanks for the Yin/Yang grannyeagle, I am a big fan of the return to more light. I would go for more harmony too.