Fantasy is not reality … so what!

Fantasy is not reality … so what! – by P.K. Odendaal – February 2017

You see things (which are); and you say 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?' George Bernard Shaw.

Ever since I have been ‘poisoned’ by G.K. Chesterton, I am trying to get to grips with the difference between science and fantasy, and the more I think about it the less I understand it.

God and Science – a lecture

God and Science – a lecture – by P.K. Odendaal – August 2016.

(partially rewritten 27 August 2016)

I have been asked to give a lecture on the topic ‘God and Science’ by someone from the University of the Third Age – also called U3A. Of course I will jump at such an opportunity, as I am also actively involved in the University of All Ages at … you guessed it, my blog.

Typically, with me and my big mouth, I told the person that he is asking me to only speak on one subject, and that is God, and that the words ‘God and Science’ is a repetition of objects or subjects.

The law is an ass

The law is an ass - by P.K. Odendaal - July 2106

We all know this adage, but do we know its ramifications?

One of its most basic corollaries is: people who are agents or protectors of the law are also asses - or in the words of Dogberry (from Shakespeare): But, masters, remember that I am an ass; though it be not written down, yet forget not that I am an ass.

A few notes on discordant notes

A few notes on discordant notes – by P.K. Odendaal – July 2016

It struck me recently that what we say and do are really music that emanates from our bodies, tongues, souls, hearts, minds and spirit. If we think that we communicate only verbally, we make a big mistake. In fact, our communication from our sub-conscious mind and spirit into the meta-physical world is much more profound, simple and truthful than what comes from the subjective half-truths emanating from our mouths.

Liberating ourselves

Liberating ourselves - by P.K. Odendaal - July 2016

 

Abstract from the film Chicken run:

Mrs. Tweedy:         
It's all in your head, Mr Tweedy. Say it.
Mr. Tweedy:          
It's all in me head. It's all in me head.
Mrs. Tweedy:         
You keep telling yourself that, because I don't want to hear another word about it. Is that clear?
Mr. Tweedy:          
Yes, luv. But you know that ginger one...?
Mrs. Tweedy:         
They're chickens, you dolt! Apart from you, they're the most stupid creatures on this planet! They don't plot, they don't scheme, and they are not organised!

 

What better analogy to use to depict our own bondage, ignorance and hopelessness when we think we are not free. The film as you know is all about these chickens who want freedom and take this one in a million chance that they can escape the chicken pie machine, and in the end they execute their own liberation. I am not quite sure that the writer of the script did not have this deeper meaning of getting out of bondage in mind.

Pain and anger

Pain and anger – by P.K.Odendaal – April 2016

The ideas which I wish to explore today relate to emotions and I wish to explore two aspects of it:

·         Is it possible that the intensity of emotions might follow the curve posited by Malthus in his Malthusian Growth Model?

·         Can one emotion be replaced by another emotion as a surrogate such as when we replace sugar with honey?

These are two weird and totally unconnected ideas, so we must accept that they are valid just becasue they are weird. It is only the obvious ideas which turn out to be fiction.

To explore that we need to know what the Malthusian Growth Model is.

We become like the things we touch

We become like the things we touch – by P.K. Odendaal – March 2016

I received this adage by inspiration in a vision, and not wanting to let the opportunity of understanding it better slip away unguarded, I decided to pursue the meaning of it as it impacts our lives. I must admit that after contemplating it for some time, it opened new vistas and perspectives far beyond my imagination or expectations and I regard it as a truth which may add new meaning and purpose in our lives. In this article I will try to address some of its more direct implications, inept as I am to realize its full meaning.

The Truth is not Politically correct

The Truth is Politically Incorrect – by P.K. Odendaal – January 2016

It is time someone stands up and expose these hypocritical and paranoid frauds.

To tell a liar that he lies or a moron that he is a moron is not politically correct. It is now expected of us to say that a jihadist self-bomber might have acted just a little bit kinder towards his victims. Maybe he should have put their execution to the vote and let them also participate in that vote. The two victims having democratic rights in the vote against the twenty jihadists who want to kill them. Now, that would be politically very correct indeed.

Marriage – or Forward to the Past

Marriage – or Forward to the Past – by P.K. Odendaal – December 2015

 

Whether it is forward to the past or back the future, I do not really know or care, because what is important is that we do not want to go here – a place we call today. I mean with regard to marriage, the family, education and cultural and social affairs. We have seen enough and we have had enough. Who will save us from ourselves?

When I wrote A Parody on Marriage, there were just too many questions, idiosyncrasies, pretension and contradictions to keep a rational person sane in the dichotomies which developed from the conclusions. So, I had to rethink and relive the whole thing. What was clear, however, was that the way of choosing a spouse today was just not working anymore and was leading us nowhere, if such a destination could be found at all. In fact, the remedies we are applying to save our marriages are exactly those which destroy it.

The Market

The Market – by P.K. Odendaal - November 2015.

If there is one which interests me immensely, it is the Market, but for totally different reasons that you might think – and it is totally non-market related.

I was inspired to write this article after my excursion, in my previous article, into the realms of Cause and Effect, which led me to apply it to the Market and Economics and their offspring called Supply and Demand.

Cause and Effect

Cause and Effect – by P.K.Odendaal - November 2015.

Up until now I have broadly written about cause and effect as if everybody knew exactly what it was, but on reflection I realise that I have buttered over its more serious and subtle aspects and paid lip service to its own cause and effect.

As a start we all know that every cause has an effect and some causes have a multitude of effects called ramifications, but I have not yet stood still to consider who or what causes these causes. We should also realise that many or most effects are again causes in themselves, if they are not corrected or relegated. They can in fact be managed and altered quite successfully, and the earlier you start, the easier it gets to change them.

Finding ourselves

Finding ourselves – by P.K.Odendaal – November 2015

I have heard many people say that they want to calm down their lifestyle to find themselves and I have also in the distant past made this remark, but what bothers me really is that none of those have ever told me that they have indeed found themselves. This was rekindled in my mind a few days ago when someone repeated that desire in my presence, to which I replied: Forget it, nobody has ever found them self.

Or have they?

The root of suffering

The root of suffering – by P.K.Odendaal – August 2015

 

I think we have lost the thread somewhere or we got blindfolded by the biblical axiom.

The biblical axiom says that the love of money is the root of all evil. If that is so then we are exempt from the injunction that we are the sinners – money really is; so that cannot be, as we know too well. Giving money the blame for all our sins will just not fly. I think we read that axiom incorrectly or our deduction of the relationship between sin, evil and suffering is wrong.

Doubt and Fear

Doubt and Fear – by P.K.Odendaal – July 2015.

I have, like everybody else, my doubts about many things and I find that I know and believe what other people doubt, and I doubt what other people know and believe. I also know that doubt, like fear, pervades our whole existence and none of them should, as they should only be present to protect us from our own folly.

As for fear, I have largely learned how to fight it and to use it as a protection, and I might have made some progress in fighting doubt and using it for my protection.

Love and Marriage – Part 2 – Here comes the Bribe

Love and Marriage – Part 2 – Here comes the Bribe – by P.K.Odendaal – July 2015.

I have written quite a few articles on marriage and although, when I start, I am adamant to write seriously about it, I always end up in satire. Why this is so I do not know, but I would think that a healthy dose of satire and humour is an essential ingredient to making marriages work.

Secondly, I am always uncertain from which viewpoint I must write about it. From my own viewpoint it would be quite farcical, emotional and chauvinistic, but this article is not a farce and neither should it be emotionally loaded and it should also be a balance between the sexes, because a successful marriage is a very delicately balanced institution.

Wholism, Synergy and Symbiosis

Wholism, Synergy and Symbiosis - by P.K.Odendaal - July 2015.

So I am again delving deeply into things sinister and profound. What do these three things have in common and how does it affect us? Superficially I think that they are all important to us, but somehow this generation has sold them down the river, when in fact they are crucial to our survival - individually or as a race.
There are at least three definitions of Wholism or Holism and the one that I will be using here is the philosophical and political one which states that the whole is stronger or better than the sum of its parts. The extra strength is not in this case because the parts are just fitted strongly together, but rather the notion that the whole takes on a life of its own as it applies to groups because of synergy. In a group almost all the individuals are stronger than what they are individually because of the synergy which can easily develop in such groups.

Killing me softly

Killing me softly – by P.K.Odendaal _ June 2015.

The only thing a man ever needs to fear is himself - from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

No, this is not about the song by that name but a siren song of humans. It is about killing ourselves in a subtle way and is a continuation of my previous article on self-destruction.

Reception, Deception and Rejection

Father’s day 2015 and self-destruction – by P.K.Odendaal – June 2015.

For Father’s day 2015

Go ask the rolling river (a living thing)
Why it flows in ceaseless motion (from where it originated in the mountain)
To the all-absorbing ocean, (its grave)
Finding there the final goal. (its death)
It will say, I’m driven onward
By a force beyond control. (gravity)
From The Elixir of Love by Donizetti

The cause of rejection in ourselves is mainly from a mistaken identity. We have not identified or found ourselves or our place in this world, or we have not fashioned our identity at youth to someone we admire and respect, mainly for not having such a person on our radar, and the effects of this is devastating in our lives.

Love and Marriage - Part 1

Love and Marriage - Part 1

By P.K.Odendaal - 6 May 2015.

PATIENCE: Lady Angela, tell me two things. Firstly, what on earth is this love that upsets everybody; and, secondly, how is it to be distinguished from insanity?

(from Patience by Gilbert and Sullivan)
 

A well-known song goes like this:

Love and marriage goes together like a horse and carriage.

Pondering Chance ... or what you lose on the swing

Pondering Chance ... or what you lose on the swing - by P.K.Odendaal - April 2015

If you know what the meaning of this heading and even the rest of this article is, then you know much more than I do, which is not very difficult, I have to admit, especially for my readers.

In fact, one of the reasons I write these articles is that I know so little about these subjects I write about, and that prompts me to think and rethink them from all possible angles and viewpoints so that I might come up with some flimsy untested hypothesis based on a new perspective and some logic in which I can believe - much like the great scientists of our day do.