New scholar's thoughts enter into my mind Fresh. Wendell Berry, Mencius--- I have read the Articles of Confederation. Homosexuality ought not bother me, Though I ought to stand firm against it; My chief concern ought to be to understand nature. Civilization is a cycle of good princes Taking hold of the reigns of society And then society decaying from silly talkers And dishonor. And if anything is to be understood by the Articles of Confederation It's that even during the revolution which bought us our freedom There were doubts, and men did not quite understand what they were fighting for. But, like all great ideas On a second try and much Deliberation, it becomes clear What we were fighting for.
Tag: New
Refuting a Demagogue Part II; Not You
No, I'm not talking about you. Perhaps it is that you don't understand That educated men have taken the Idiot's Thoughts, construing it to launch a crusade Against religion. But this Idiot, Misjudging Christianity as the force of evil in the world Mistakes what is something primal For something artificial. Wars between Prods and Papes Are as equal as a civil war Defining what slavery is. And it is hardly a thing common to religion Slavery. Obviously, Your impression of Christianity Is that we like to kill people who disagree with it And that we go around starting Nazi revolutions And banning books about evolution. Silently, I understand your contemplation Though simple. Reality is often nuanced And often bad men have no real ideology beside power. It is that, since the worst of humanity has been touched in this soul To understand what it is that drove Hitler. And certainly it was not the teachings of Christ. Christ, who would be despised by Hitler As Jesus is a Jewish Name. I look at you, And see you influenced by the same Idiot I'm talking about Giving your factoids about how Nazis censored Things which they deemed destructive to the "Volk". You are likely not wise enough to understand it. I do, however. Religion unites a people So does skin color So does nationality. And you reject the fact That the religion was going to be a bait and switch Where men replaced Yah with Thor and Odin. No, it was not Christianity. It was human nature. As simple as a Blood and Crypt killing each other on Harlem's street That is as simple as the in-group out-group phenomena Which you blame on my humble religion. Often my religion has been in the out-group And persecuted by all men... At least the true devotees to my religion. You rage, you rant But I do not blame you for your mistake. I understand what you're saying. But I understand it is easy to look at the artifice And see Hitler built a tower with the remains of Christian mortar. In that, I suppose you're right. It is the worst of religion But it is also the worst of Atheism: It is the worst of ideology; As you do not see it, But I see in your atheism the same kind of destructive heresy That led Catholics into the Dark Ages And led Hitler to slaughter millions of my people. Perhaps you will not see it because you are blinded by it. And with that, It is why I silently bow away from you And let you be led by your Idiot leader. When you want true wisdom, Come here and read and drink From Brandon's Water.
Refuting a Demagogue
The idiot said on national TV Disparaging religion once again, "It is religion that separates us "And maligns the human spirit! "If we just got rid of it, people would have peace." His raging lunatics cry for a third of the earth to be lobotomized. Oh, yes, I read how Prods and Papes Hate each other in Ireland. Eerily, I see a different truth. How Blue and Red hate each other In America, And Democrat and Republican Hate each other. No... there is bitterness enough To be expelled from a man's house Should you consent to the wrong flash of insignia. Or, shall I talk to these idiots About race? How mobs burn down Manhattan Because of skin color And stores are looted because of class struggles? Really, maybe we ought to be adealistic. Then, perhaps we'd have peace But the idiots I referred to Have managed to give Hitlerian mindset To atheists, who assume themselves good atheists Only, throw the unruly Jews--I mean Christians--- Into the Gas Chambers,. Should I ever talk to that idiot I don't think I could speak. He's an excellent rhetorician Who turns a news article about how Hitler was not a Catholic And sources it in a debate To prove that Hitler was. Frankly, I'm about tired of it But in that little microcosm I cannot understand--- Why do Catholics and Protestants hate each other? I liken it to something that isn't religion--- It's just hate, and hate comes in many colors.
The Empress Wears No Clothes; My Retelling
The Empress Shi Wu was extraordinarily beautiful.
Her bosom was supple,
Her face like a well sculpted diamond,
Her stomach like a sack of wheat
With four precious stones,
Her legs were thighs of strength
And her feet were like sparrows.
Her hair was that of a frame
Which framed beauty incarnate.
At the beginning of her reign
She saw the people were poor.
So, she began by making the people richer
By adding tin to their silver coin.
This, by reason,
Made the coin much more plenteous.
The people became poor.
Then, she began to build the merchant guilds.
These guilds she would cause to make merchandise for the poor.
The merchants built and made much merchandise,
So Shi Wu put more coin into the land to buy merchandise.
But, the merchants ended up with all the coin,
And would melt them to make pure silver,
Buying the poor’s merchandise with the dross.
Shi Wu then began to become rich by the merchants
Who supplied her treasury with great merchandise,
Even from greater Persia all the way from the other china.
Shi Wu became exceedingly rich.
The people became poor.
The people had traditions,
The people had great science.
Their science said the world was round
That God created the world through nature
And that men were made up of smaller parts.
Shi Wu then saw this.
She said, “Tell the people there is no God
“And that their traditions are worthless.
“That their God says the earth is flat
“And that God did not use nature to make the earth.
“This way, they must buy more.
“Make enriching me their religion.”
So, she did.
The people had tin
And not silver,
And a shekel of tin was worth a grain of wheat.
The people became poor.
But Shi Wu, they heard,
Said that their traditions were stupid.
So, the people began to believe that the earth was flat
Rather than believe Shi Wu.
Obviously, if the earth were flat,
It would explain the lie of Shi Wu.
The people also believed that people
Were not made of smaller parts…
Rather, the people were just one whole
Flesh of writhing sinew.
Their traditions, they thought,
Were correct, so when Shi Wu said
The traditions of the ancestors were that men were sinew
And that the world were flat,
The people began to believe their traditions
Instead of Shi Wu.
This angered Shi Wu,
So she began to tax the people.
For, their traditions held that the earth was flat
And now the people believed the Earth was flat
Because of their traditions
Which Shi Wu said were not good.
Thus, Shi Wu in one last act of defiance
Disrobed, and called in every male within the borders of her country
To come and view her.
Lusty she was,
She did obscene things before their very eyes
Just to humiliate the traditions of their ancestors.
She said, “See! Is not my beauty sufficient?
“You all can have Shi Wu who wants her!”
But, there began a rumor saying,
“The Emperor wears no clothes.”
This angered Shi Wu,
So she said, “Anyone who says, ‘The Emperor wears no clothes,’
“This man, woman or child shall be put to death.”
But, the people, all having seen her shame
Did not believe her, though many were put to death.
For the traditions of the ancestors were stronger
Than the tradition of Shi Wu.
The Empress Wears No Clothes; My Retelling
The Empress Shi Wu was extraordinarily beautiful.
Her bosom was supple,
Her face like a well sculpted diamond,
Her stomach like a sack of wheat
With four precious stones,
Her legs were thighs of strength
And her feet were like sparrows.
Her hair was that of a frame
Which framed beauty incarnate.
At the beginning of her reign
She saw the people were poor.
So, she began by making the people richer
By adding tin to their silver coin.
This, by reason,
Made the coin much more plenteous.
The people became poor.
Then, she began to build the merchant guilds.
These guilds she would cause to make merchandise for the poor.
The merchants built and made much merchandise,
So Shi Wu put more coin into the land to buy merchandise.
But, the merchants ended up with all the coin,
And would melt them to make pure silver,
Buying the poor’s merchandise with the dross.
Shi Wu then began to become rich by the merchants
Who supplied her treasury with great merchandise,
Even from greater Persia all the way from the other china.
Shi Wu became exceedingly rich.
The people became poor.
The people had traditions,
The people had great science.
Their science said the world was round
That God created the world through nature
And that men were made up of smaller parts.
Shi Wu then saw this.
She said, “Tell the people there is no God
“And that their traditions are worthless.
“That their God says the earth is flat
“And that God did not use nature to make the earth.
“This way, they must buy more.
“Make enriching me their religion.”
So, she did.
The people had tin
And not silver,
And a shekel of tin was worth a grain of wheat.
The people became poor.
But Shi Wu, they heard,
Said that their traditions were stupid.
So, the people began to believe that the earth was flat
Rather than believe Shi Wu.
Obviously, if the earth were flat,
It would explain the lie of Shi Wu.
The people also believed that people
Were not made of smaller parts…
Rather, the people were just one whole
Flesh of writhing sinew.
Their traditions, they thought,
Were correct, so when Shi Wu said
The traditions of the ancestors were that men were sinew
And that the world were flat,
The people began to believe their traditions
Instead of Shi Wu.
This angered Shi Wu,
So she began to tax the people.
For, their traditions held that the earth was flat
And now the people believed the Earth was flat
Because of their traditions
Which Shi Wu said were not good.
Thus, Shi Wu in one last act of defiance
Disrobed, and called in every male within the borders of her country
To come and view her.
Lusty she was,
She did obscene things before their very eyes
Just to humiliate the traditions of their ancestors.
She said, “See! Is not my beauty sufficient?
“You all can have Shi Wu who wants her!”
But, there began a rumor saying,
“The Emperor wears no clothes.”
This angered Shi Wu,
So she said, “Anyone who says, ‘The Emperor wears no clothes,’
“This man, woman or child shall be put to death.”
But, the people, all having seen her shame
Did not believe her, though many were put to death.
For the traditions of the ancestors were stronger
Than the tradition of Shi Wu.
B. K. Neifert 