Tag Archives: fictitious

Con Man

Con man: (n) a man who cheats or tricks others by persuading them to believe something that is not true

Every once in a while I take a stroll through the Ten Commandments to take an inventory on how many I’ve broken.

That is one of the more ridiculous aspects of that top ten list–it does not serve as a guide to our lives, but rather, a reminder of how futile ourfunny wisdom on words that begin with a C
 attempts often are when we pursue self-righteousness or any form of superiority that makes us feel that we’re near to the heart of God.

For instance, I’ve been a con man.

I didn’t do it for a living. That’s probably good. Otherwise, I might be writing you from Folsom Prison, with the blues, or from Sing-Sing without a song.

But I have presented claims as facts, trying to impress people around me, when in actuality the legitimate information was far less than my boast.

Here’s the only difference between me and the standard con man: I actually believed my own bullshit.

I did.

I had thoroughly saturated myself in fictitious notions that twisted my brain to such an extent that they squeezed out common sense and replaced them with Thanksgiving stuffing.

So not only was I a con man to those around me, but I did a remarkable job promoting it to myself.

This is why self-awareness is probably one of the greatest virtues that a human being can pursue–it makes you stop off every once in a while and read the Ten Commandments and realize how far you have fallen short–as you chuckle over your own inadequacy.

 

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Composure

Composure: (n) the state or feeling of being calm and in control of oneself.

In pursuit of trying to maintain my composure, my passion often stomps out of the room, pissed off.

Do I have to make a choice?

Can I be passionately composed?

Or can I add composure to my passion?

Here is the basic tenets of Buddhism–supposedly the most spiritual state we can achieve is Nirvana, the Great Enlightenment, where we have achieved ultimate funny wisdom on words that begin with a Ccomposure.

Don’t think about the fact that it’s inhuman or that it’s a fictitious position–lasting only until enough travail and tribulation pile onto our shoulders.

Let us just consider whether removing emotional turmoil, emotional desire and emotional pursuits does anything other than destroy our passion, making us so boring that we’re only suited to live monastically.

Yes, I can probably maintain my composure if you give me all my whims and promise not to ruffle my feathers, but then again, that promise would probably be a lie. Because I would certainly come up with new whims and ruffle my own feathers.

When we speak of composure what we’re really hoping is to remove worry, frustration, dark thinking, and allowing a little light to peek through onto our present predicament.

Sometimes all you have to do is give the Earth ten seconds, instead of filling up the space with cuss words.

 

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Aria

dictionary with letter A

Aria: (n) a long, unaccompanied solo for voice, typically in an opera or oratorio.

If human beings were not so pretentious, we would almost be fun. At least it would be closer.

Over the years, I have sung a song or two. Actually I’ve done much more than that–I’ve recorded, written songs and performed on stages all over the United States.

And after the show, folks will come up to talk to me, wanting to make some sort of personal connection.

Some people are just genuine and pour out their hearts with the present words that are floating around inside their minds. They are delightful.

Others feel the need to prove their intelligence and acumen by making a more specific statement, which is usually geared more to promoting their own resume than encouraging my soul. Two categories for these:

  1. “You sound like…”
  2. And “I can tell by your voice that you’ve been professionally trained…”

Concerning the latter, it is an amazing fact that although most people don’t like opera or favor operatic singing, they still use that particular style as a measuring stick for vocal quality. (It is similar to hating Chevys but making your Ford feel bad by constantly talking about the other product.)

I don’t know why we think that opera singers are better at their craft than some guy with a guitar in a coffee shop, intoning his anthem–but we do.

It really isn’t an appreciation for the aria or the performer, but rather, letting everyone in the room know that we are aware of this medium and to a certain degree, can even pronounce the unusual names associated with it.

This is why I got tickled when Pavarotti got a cold and couldn’t sing.

It was so human.

And then, another time, he had voice strain and had to cancel his promised aria.

When you remove all the fictitious ideas from the human race, you end up with a much smaller pile of knowledge.

But it actually all ends up being true.

 

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