Current

Current: (adj) new; present; most recent

I have never gone lockstep with the obvious.

I’m also quite reluctant to be in awe of the over-produced or exaggeratedly promoted.

I smile when people tell me that “the current position on something or other is as follows”—considering the fact that human beings change their minds more often than they change the batteries in their smoke detectors (by far).

Yet I know there are many individuals who are greatly impressed that something has been thrust forward for popular consumption, therefore making it the current fad.

Actually, one of the easier ways to make an immoral decision is to give heed and credence to what has the loudest promoter.

I’m not telling you that silence is golden, or obscurity invites purity.

I’m just saying that the easiest thing to do in life is advertise.

It doesn’t involve creativity, doesn’t require honesty and can change its emphasis in mid-campaign.

When I sit down and decide whether a practice is worthy of my support—one which has become current with the times—I ask myself three questions:

  1. Does it encourage people to accept one another and also challenge them to be better?
  2. Is it honest enough to admit there may be error?
  3. Is it open to revision—or closed off because those who are pushing it want to guarantee the reaction they desire?

If it passes those three questions, I’m prepared to accept any current movement, spirituality, kindness, politics, music or interaction.

If not, I quietly walk away, let everyone play with their toy for a while, and then warmly welcome them back, helping them overcome the instinct to be jaded.

funny wisdom on words that begin with a C

Breathtaking

j-r-practix-with-border-2

Breathtaking: (adj) astonishing or awe-inspiring in quality

Always set it low so you can get high.

I’m talking about your “breathtaking meter.”Dictionary B

There is nothing greater, more spine-chilling and exciting than having your breath taken away. The only trouble is, we become easily jaded and start looking at breathtaking events as common.

In doing this, we remove the majority of the joy from our existence and demand that the Universe impress us–as the Universe stands by, waiting to be impressed.

Sitting in a parking lot, I watched a young boy about ten years old eyeball an old lady, who was pushing her cart. He paused, started to walk away, but then turned and offered his help.

I continued to view this glorious scene as he made it to her car, loaded her groceries into the hatchback, and when she offered him money, he refused. As he turned and started to walk away, overwhelmed by the glory of his own deed, he started skipping.

It was breathtaking.

  • It was not the Grand Canyon.
  • It was not Niagara Falls.

But it was in front of me, it was truly unusual, and it was a feast for my eyes, which are always trying to darken the view.

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Biological

Biological: (adj) relating to biology or living organisms.

There are four things that a living organism can do:Dictionary B

  • Survive
  • Evolve
  • Grow
  • Share

When it comes to our species, those who study the human race cannot make up their minds as to what really fuels our engine.

Obviously, when you have a brain that’s far superior to any other creature on Earth, to merely pursue survival is short-sighted to say the least.

But for some reason, we have decided to clump Homo Sapiens in with lions and monkeys, as creatures who are merely engrossed in feeding patterns and pleasure.

I have great respect for biology, since I am a living creature. But I have to admit that I would become very jaded if I didn’t pursue a higher mission than my own comfort.

So what is the correct order?

Well, I happen to believe that if we know that our survival is based upon our willingness to share, then we can grow into the natural evolution.

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Bimbo

Bimbo:(n) an attractive but empty-headed young woman, especially one perceived as a willing sex object

Dictionary B

The vernacular of vitriol.

Yes–I’m talking about those words and phrases which are tossed off to quickly communicate our disdain, dislike or disapproval of some group of people.

It does not take long to get the pulse of the heartbeat of prejudice.

For instance, when it comes to referring to fat people, we have:

  • Fatso
  • Fat butt
  • Fat ass
  • Fat head

Now, consider the vernacular of vitriol when it comes to skinny. Not as many choices, huh?

So you see, society has decided who should be targeted and how they should be attacked. Never is this any more evident than in a discussion about the genders.

Insults given to men often are received as compliments:

  • Macho
  • Big thug
  • Lunk
  • Muscle-brain

As you can see, each one might be considered a negative–except in the ears of he who actually possesses the attributes.

But when it comes to women, it’s much more pointed:

  • Nag
  • Bitch
  • Air-head
  • And of course, bimbo

So we take a human soul who may be a bit more innocent, less traveled or even purposefully refusing to be jaded, and we target her as good for nothing but sexual pleasure.

It is a dangerous practice which is pursued daily in our country with discrimination and bigotry.

After all, no one ever refers to a white bastard. We prefer black bastard.

We will never uproot prejudice in our country until we gently and intelligently take a microscope to the twisted language of meanness.

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Beast

Beast: (n) an animal, especially a large or dangerous four-footed one.Dictionary B

Disney had to work really hard to make the word positive.

I imagine there were great debates about whether it was possible to portray “beast” as a protagonist, even if you were linking it up with “beauty.”

Beauty and the Beast.

Yet I will tell you–it is exactly the problem, or dare I say, situation, which encompasses our thinking daily. People who only seek beauty either end up discouraged or ethereal, hiding out in a habitat reserved only for their humanity. Those who think “life is a beast” are over-sensitive and constantly looking for a victim to claw.

The unusual, but practical, approach of blending beauty with the beast is ignored or ridiculed for its implausibility.

But if candor has its moment, we must admit that in the midst of the beastly, beauty emerges.

And certainly, while celebrating the beautiful, something beastly lurks in the shadows.

To love life, you must find Beauty and the Beast, and work with the beast in pursuing beauty.

How? Or maybe the question should be “why?”

In other words, why can’t I be jaded, frustrated and disappointed with a life that does not offer me standards, but instead requires too much assemblage?

Shouldn’t it be possible to locate beauty and build a house there instead of occasionally finding ourselves abandoned in the jungle, stalked by the beast?

So long before we get to the “how” of mingling Beauty and the Beast, we are stymied by “why.”

The true beauty of the beast of life is that without the presence of one another, we cease to be invigorated … because we are not challenged by the predator.

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Ballpoint Pen

Ballpoint pen: (n) a pen with a tiny ball as its writing point.Dictionary B

In the pursuit of proving my maturity by adequately sprouting a jaded attitude, I must stop off and admit that many things in life get better.

Once we survive the tenuous nature of invention, the comical attempts at prototypes and the initial product being launched into a market, needing in no time to become “new and improved,” we still often end up with many things that thrust us forward to progress humanity.

This illustrious beginning is presented to you from my wacky consciousness to discuss the ballpoint pen.

I was around when this creature emerged from the deep lagoon of office supplies.

My first memory was the Bic.

It came in a package of 7 or 8.000 (I exaggerate). It was a thin, clear tube with a pen stuck inside, a black stopper on the bottom and a plastic cap on top.

These pens were notorious for writing for about 15 minutes and then either leaking at the tip or ceasing to perform the function, while simultaneously taunting you with visible ink which refused, for some reason or another, to come out–like a spoiled teenager stuck in a room.

One of my friends had the brilliant idea that these cheap pens could be brought back to life by placing the tip underneath a match, thus reopening the surface for use.

It actually worked. I should say–it worked if you were patient and didn’t overheat the pen.

Because I was not so patient, I began to have a bizarre collection of Bic pens around my house in various stages of 1st-. 2nd- and 3rd- degree burns. Some were even melted beyond recognition.

They were cheap enough that you could just go out and buy more–but for some reason I had this sinister desire to scorch them. My friend who made the original suggestion did very well at just barely touching the tip with the flame, to re-engage penning.efforts.

I always went too far.

So I can truthfully say that in my lifetime, ballpoint pens have improved–except for the fact that the last time I used one, it opened up and the ink leaked all over my hands and made me look like a criminal … who had just been fingerprinted.

 

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Bad-mouth

Bad-mouth: (v) to criticize (someone or something); speak disloyally of.Dictionary B

  • Tongue-in-cheek
  • Satire
  • Sarcasm
  • Cynical
  • Jaded

Now, each one of these words is probably considered to be its own entity, but I would contend that what we have here is a descending process toward losing one’s faith.

Because somewhere along the line, joking about the need for change and beginning to just bad-mouth humanity because you’ve abandoned all passion for the race are two quite different things.

Maybe in my own simple way, I could clarify my meaning by giving you definitions for each of these steps in this decline:

  1. Tongue-in-cheek: humorously pointing out a contradiction in our philosophy which shows a need for change.
  2. Satire: comparing that little piece of hypocrisy to previous hypocrisies in a jocular way.
  3. Sarcasm: similar to satire, except accompanied by more of a sneer, a jeer or even a leer.
  4. Cynical: sharing an angry humor over the futility of human effort to achieve anything of quality, while portraying a nasty edge
  5. Jaded: a loss of love for fellow-humans, which also causes one to feel unloved.

When you live in the monkey cage, it is alright to joke about the odor or maybe even the over-dependence on bananas–as long as you freely admit that you are contributing to the stink, and certainly possess the same addiction to the fruit.

 

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Attune

Attune: (v) to bring into accord, harmony, or sympathetic relationshipdictionary with letter A

Caught between the onslaught of profane extremism and the threat of eternal damnation, the human race is squeezed by greedy zealots out for the common dollar instead of the common good.

So rather than finding these culprits of foolishness and exposing them as the fanatics they are, we instead surmise that the human race is a doomed and failed species, incapable of self-containment, let alone shepherding the earth.

It’s time to attune with one another.

May I begin?

  1. Most of the time, we’re not evil, we’re just bored. Having no vision, we perish in our frailty.
  2. We are creative but taught to table such ingenious revelations in favor of the remake, which guarantees sales.
  3. We are not sexual deviants, but rather, sensual beings who mysteriously have the unique ability of mingling a committed, divine love with a ferocious, exciting orgasm.
  4. We are not spiritual, but we are emotional. This enables us to touch spiritual matters and enjoy them without thinking we’ve figured out the universe.
  5. We’re not lazy–just unmotivated. We are not uncaring–unfortunately, disconnected.
  6. We know that men and women are supposed to be equals, but we resist the premise, fearing that an even playing field would rob us of our uniqueness.
  7. We are neither afraid to believe in God nor frightened to discover He does not exist. But we do require a reason for our lives which allows us to escape the jaded notion that “it’s all meaningless.”

These are 7 that popped into my mind. There are probably many more, but I wouldn’t want to bore you with too many details…and accidentally drive you into sinful behavior.

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Atop

Atop: (prep) on the top ofdictionary with letter A

What is atop the consciousness of our society? And should we care?

Are our children really affected by the passing fame and fancy of those who are pushed upward and given prominence?

Here’s what concerns me: Whatever is atop demands that we gaze up at it.

I don’t know how many times we can lift our heads towards the sky and be disappointed before we stop believing.

What is that number?

Can you lift your head to God, asking for help, only to have your hopes dashed by circumstance, without believing it’s a game?

How many heroes are we supposed to look up to, who end up being charlatans or criminals, before we concede that homage is useless?

It would be nice to put something atop our social order that would survive at least 72 hours of viable praise before the 24-hour-news cycle dismantles it.

Otherwise, I think we’ll become a generation of people who are jaded or fakers:

  • The jaded being the souls who once believed and now are agnostic
  • And the fakers being those who once truly believed and now are pretending to do so.

 

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Ask

Ask: (v) request (someone) to do or give something.dictionary with letter A

“There’s no harm in asking.”

Did you ever notice that some old sayings are not only aged, but they’re also dead and should be buried?

For after all, everyone knows there can be great harm in asking. There’s always the danger that somebody will yell at you for being so presumptuous as to make the request. Shall I also mention that there are folks who can be very hostile in their denial?

So you can come out of the experience bruised, gaining nothing.

That’s why I think it’s important to learn ching and chang.

Now most of you know what ching is. Ching is that energy we have that propels us to do our work or pursue our dreams. It’s the spring in our step; it’s the explosion of hope that causes us to keep going.

But most people don’t talk about our chang. Chang is the needed optimism which we must possess in order to continue to be of good cheer about our lives instead of beginning to look like abused children who flinch every time somebody raises a hand,

Without chang, our ching begins to look desperate instead of eager.

And our chang can only handle so many disappointments and negative responses from other people before we start getting jaded. Once jaded, we no longer ask–we demand, which lessens our possibility for a good response.

So I often don’t ask at all, because my chang cannot afford to be depleted by the grumpy response of the sourpuss standing before me.

There is harm in asking. That’s why, before I ask, I gauge three temperatures:

  1. Who am I talking to?
  2. Are they really willing to be positive?
  3. Will I survive a no?

Try it. I think you’ll like it.

  • Because the ching in our lives is essential to give us a motor for our boat.
  • But the chang is the sense of true joy that keeps our boat from getting holes and sinking.

 

 

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