Travel blog 2012-01 Rome is burning

Travel blog 2012 - Rome is burning - by P.K.Odendaal - 28 May 2012.

So it is back to my travel blogs as it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere again, and as always, my mind will take priority on this trip, whilst my body follows the fixed itinerary.

And the location of my body is on board ms Nieu Amsterdam, a drifting island somewhere in the Mediterranean. I find the state form of this island kingdom quite exotic. It is not capitalist, although I can see some strains of capitalism here and there. It is also not communistic, and any sign of socialism has been hidden carefully. I do not know whether this is on purpose. We have a dictator in charge of everything, and he does not care whether I have a say or not - he just won't listen to me or any popular vote on board - in fact here we have no voting rights at all. we call him the Captain, and a real dictator he is at that, but he sees to it that he keeps his word and gets us to the right destination on time, every time. And, come to think of it, he looks really well after us, and has told us that he only has our interests at heart and none of his own ... now that is an excellent good dictator .. you can take my word for it. I wish the whole world was filled with their kind. The food and lodging is better than any country I know of, and we are really free to do what we like ... I mean within bounds. Jumping overboard is not allowed and neither is staging boycotts or strikes.

Philosophy - Part 9 - We are the aliens

Philosophy - Part 9 - We are the aliens - 14 May 2012 - by P.K.Odendaal

I hear the steel drums sing their song
They're singing man you know you've got it wrong
I hear the voice of the yellow bird
Whispering to me this is quite absurd

Sure as bananas need the sun
We are the criminal guilty ones

From Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dream coat.

When I see the aliens in the computer games of young kids, and the things these aliens do, I come to the shocking realisation that what we are, we think them to be and project our violence onto them, whilst in reality we are the aliens, totally estranged from this world and its realities.

So neuroses has really gotten us in a big way. And when we see the way mankind destroys its own, how governments and banking systems are destroying the wealth of this world, leaving man poor and disenfranchised, it is easy to see that the whole world has become neurotic - even psychotic.

Philosophy - the downfall of mankind - Part 8 - The Forces of God

Philosophy Part 8 – The forces of God – by P.K.Odendaal – 1 May 2012

You should not doubt that, even whilst what I served you in the previous part, also started out as nothing, because God created everything from nothing. If we look at the accepted dogma of the creation of the earth, we find basically that the whole universe was founded and formed from nothing but Light and the Forces instituted by God.

What is a force? Nothing you will ever be able to see or measure or experience – therefore nothing in terms of the belief of our philosophers which we now leave with a sense of sadness for them, and a thankfulness for the prime position we now know we have inherited for free. Life and Love eternal.

How do we do know there are forces ? We look at behaviour like the philosophers did – and we only think they are forces, because they seem to disturb the normal state of rest of things or change their state of inertia. That is why we call them forces.

Philosophy Part 7 - Death and Hell in two easy steps

Philosophy Part 7 - Death and Hell in two easy steps – by P.K.Odendaal – 22 April 2012

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Black and White (from The Sunset Limited – in case you missed part 1) is waiting for us where we left them off – ready to end our story – White in the process of ending his life and going the way mankind has always chosen in the face of so many better choices. And the choice is really only between two extremes – Love leading to Life or Despair and Nihilism leading to Death. And we are so apt in choosing Death every time.

And that brings us then to the climax of this series of articles of mine – and of human excellence and human endeavour which is self destructive in the end. It is called more theoretically Scepticism and Nihilism – the first leading to the latter. Why do people who were once so successful, eventually chose the one way they should not – that of Nihilism. Why did Hitler drag a whole world and fifty five million people into destruction with himself after he was so successful in unifying a devastated nation. Why did Russia, via Stalin, go on a bout of self destruction after they were so successful in winning the Second World War against the Germans. Why did China chose the same destructive route with their Great leap Forward. Why do super successful celebrities end in drugs, rehabilitation and ultimately death and self destruction.