Tag Archives: wise man

Chatter

Chatter: (n) incessant trivial talk.

I make a practice to never refer to myself as an artist.

Using that term is similar to someone who has sex calling himself a lover, or folks who occasionally have a garage sale in their front yard
deeming themselves to be entrepreneurs.

Truthfully, because we’re all a little insecure about the quality and veracity of what we do, we chatter on to try to magnify our significance to the yawning yokels.

How many times do I need to explain what I do before you are truly impressed?

How many different ways can I exaggerate my abilities, hoping deep in my heart that you will finally understand that I am better than you?

Chatter is what people do when they are nervously afraid they can’t cover the time alloted with simple truth.

So they elaborate. They use words like “interesting, wonderful, great, amazing and awesome” at diabolical rates. And they smile a lot, hoping what they have to share is not only convincing, but dazzling.

A wise man once said that it is much smarter to answer questions “yes” and “no.” He contended that anything other than this is usually born of evil.

If by evil you mean the incessant clatter of chatter that doesn’t matter, then…

Amen.

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Cause

Cause: (n) a reason for an action

Even evil has a cause. A wise man once said it was to “kill, steal and destroy.”

So if good is the opposite of evil–or at least doesn’t share rent–its cause would be to bring life, to provide and repair.

Can it really be that easy?

So whenever I find myself killing, stealing or destroying, I have donned my “evil cap.” (Or maybe it’s a cape.)

And when I find myself giving life, providing for others and repairing things that are broken, I become a superhero for goodness.

There are so many causes and places to sign on dotted lines that my mind is blown and my ink pen is empty. I crave simplicity.

I need a plainness to my cause–something I would do whether there was pressure, approval, devils or gods.

Because the truth of the matter is, if I am trying to pursue the cause of the heavens, my earthly fatigue will often abandon the task.

I just don’t want to be evil.

I want to stop killing.

It would be good not to steal.

And probably, to avoid destroying.

I think the wise man was right–when you attempt to contradict the killing, stealing and destroying, you find yourself pursuing the cause of good, which is the cause of humanity…and amazingly, appears to be the cause of God.

 

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Arriviste

dictionary with letter A

Arriviste: (n) an ambitious or ruthlessly self-seeking person, especially one who has recently acquired wealth or social status.

It’s the classic paradox.

For if you actually run across people who fit the definition of “arriviste,” and you decide to expose them for their chicanery, and you call them an arriviste, everyone in the room will assume you are the actual arriviste.

It’s similar to calling another person a hypocrite. He or she will immediately run through their mind-files and conjure memories of your hypocrisy.

Have you ever had the audacity to tell someone he has gained weight? What is the response? He points out that “you’re a little pudgy, yourself,” right?

It’s probably the greatest problem in religion–every faith has some sort of process by which enlightenment or salvation is achieved, which we then would like to share with others, but in so doing, somewhat have to convince them of their lack.

Then they scrutinize our lives–and often find us wanting.

Is there power in keeping your mouth shut and letting things play out?

I know there are exceptions, and of course, it is the classic Adolph Hitler syndrome. “If we had not stopped him, what would have happened?”

I must be candid. It took four years for the world to defeat him in war, but in 1940, his generals and cohorts were already losing faith in him and probably would have killed him within two.

Now, I’m not saying we wasted our time and energy by knocking off the Nazis. I’m just curious as to whether pointing out all the fallacious activity in the world is the best way to eliminate it.

For a very wise man once said, “The measure we measure out to others is the measure that will be measured back to us.”

Although I must say he used the word “measure” too much, the thought was still there.

Don’t call someone an arriviste unless you’re prepared to be called one yourself.

 

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