He began to see God and the church and those activities that he thought of as the world - education, business, politics - as male and serious, perhaps comically so; while women were their own temples and walked cryptic, oblivious, and brooding across the earth.

Andre Dubus

The House Across the Way

The leaves looked in at the window
Of the house across the way,
At a man that had sinned like you and me
And all poor human clay.

He muttered: "In a gambol
I took my soul astray.
But tomorrow I'll drag it back from danger,
In the morning, come what may;
For no man knows what season
He shall go his ghostly way."
And his face fell down upon the table,
And where it fell it lay.

And the wind blew under the carpet
And it said, or it seemed to say:
"Truly, all men must go a-ghosting
And no man knows his day."
And the leaves stared in at the window
Like the people at a play.

Ralph Hodgson, Poems (1917).

Writing long books is a laborious and impoverishing act of foolishness, expanding in five hundred pages an idea that could be perfectly explained in a few minutes.

- Jorge Luis Borges

We keep hearing and talking about some event called “Collapse”.

Some believe it’s coming in 10 years. Some believe this year. Some believe it’s happening right now. And some even believe it has already taken place. I’ll tell you what, Collapse is not relevant in those terms, i.e. what you or someone believes or thinks.

The collapse I’m referring to has nothing to do with earthquakes in NZ. Nothing to do with what’s happening in Wisconsin. Nothing to do with sabotaged oil fields in Libya. Nothing to do with the price of a gallon of gasoline. Nothing to do with the price of Gold. Nothing to do with what Charlie says or what Marc says. Nothing to do with what Mac says. Nothing to do with what I say.

No, Collapse has to do with something else and here’s how it works-

When you are cold and can’t get warm,
When you are hungry and can’t satisfy that hunger,
When you are sick and can’t get well,
When you are tired and can’t sleep, night after night after night,
When the bills are piling up and there’s not one cent in the “closed” account,
When the police are knocking down the door,
When you are trembling with fear and your body shakes uncontrollably,
When the world appears to be imploding around you,

When you experience any of the above, then, and only then, does the word “Collapse” have any relevancy to your life because then you “own” it. Until then, it’s non sequitur. Not lived, not felt, a make believe, illusory, fantasy world.

So you see, Collapse, in those terms, will be experienced by billions of people, when the time is most appropriate. When the lesson comes knocking on the door.

Fortunate are those who will never hear that knock.

We keep hearing and talking about some event called “Collapse”.

Some believe it’s coming in 10 years. Some believe this year. Some believe it’s happening right now. And some even believe it has already taken place. I’ll tell you what, Collapse is not relevant in those terms, i.e. what you or someone believes or thinks.

The collapse I’m referring to has nothing to do with earthquakes in NZ. Nothing to do with what’s happening in Wisconsin. Nothing to do with sabotaged oil fields in Libya. Nothing to do with the price of a gallon of gasoline. Nothing to do with the price of Gold. Nothing to do with what Charlie says or what Marc says. Nothing to do with what Mac says. Nothing to do with what I say.

No, Collapse has to do with something else and here’s how it works-

When you are cold and can’t get warm,
When you are hungry and can’t satisfy that hunger,
When you are sick and can’t get well,
When you are tired and can’t sleep, night after night after night,
When the bills are piling up and there’s not one cent in the “closed” account,
When the police are knocking down the door,
When you are trembling with fear and your body shakes uncontrollably,
When the world appears to be imploding around you,

When you experience any of the above, then, and only then, does the word “Collapse” have any relevancy to your life because then you “own” it. Until then, it’s non sequitur. Not lived, not felt, a make believe, illusory, fantasy world.

So you see, Collapse, in those terms, will be experienced by billions of people, when the time is most appropriate. When the lesson comes knocking on the door.

Fortunate are those who will never hear that knock.

- European American

7. Abandon any attempt to get along with my fellow man, and just accept that i do not belong in this or any possible world and should therefore just continue as i am, apart;

- Elberry

"In the field of strategic knife
defense, the Pekiti-Tirsia System
of Kali is THE most progressive,
practical and sophisticated system
of tactical knife self-defense and
edged weapon awareness that I
have ever encountered"

Guro Dan Inosanto

Looking for your light,

I went out:

it was like the sudden dawn

of a million million suns,

a ganglion of lightnings

for my wonder.

O Lord of Caves,

if you are light,

there can be no metaphor.

--Allama Prabhu

Six months went by and I asked to see the head monk and they refused to let me see him. I waited and eventually he came out and I asked for my second lesson. He told me I had graduated and to leave him alone. Again I begged him to teach me the second lesson. He again told me that I had graduated but I told him more about my work as a Dr. at the mental hospital and after a while he
(a much smaller skinny little guy) grabbed me by the shoulder and hauled me to the edge of the rocks. He said see Victoria Peak? They have guns there that can shoot us and blow up this monastery. What is the point of learning martial arts? It is worthless since there are guns. More important is to be a good person and have compassion. Do you fight the patients in your hospital? Have no enemies and you can forget about locking your door.

- patfromlogan