Change of Environment Not Real Change
Summary = See below
Condensed News Items = See below
News Item Gallery = jcap 1991-07-12 -0907
Transcript = None
Key Words =
Summary
#907 Dec 13, 1991 – 1:00
Notes by TK
Kyroot to :34. Ordinary mentation cannot arrive at its opinions on its own. The mind is nurtured on opinions like the body is on a physical level by food and human contact. Environment really plays no part. Personality is the product of collective thinking. Change of environment is no real change.
The News
No matter how good the city said it felt, one guy wouldn’t back up.
***
All cuts can be cauterized but one: That where man thinks, and life expands.
***
One man keeps his watch set at ten o’clock; for the sake of efficiency — says he.
***
On various mornings this one fellow would, “first-thing, right-off,” confront himself in the bathroom mirror and say, “For the benefit of any of you who might be planning to use my brain today, if you will give me your attention for just a few moments, I will point out some of its more attractive and useful features…”
***
He savored a periodic repeating of “We all have our little idiosyncrasies”; then he took up the revolutionist life, and had to tinker a bit with this favored epigram.
***
As is so often the need in the city, one man re-enforced his position by having his initials engraved on his initials.
***
Everything said to the mind is said twice.
***
A rebellious man over in the red and white light sector has as his own personal operating slogan these words: “The Appearance Of Participation.”
***
When the grease is really boiling, and the fat is really flying, and the city’s really cookin’ — many men feel like they ARE the period to a sentence.
***
One god used to send out little special messages to just those he liked. (He didn’t like no body.)
***
As always (in some places…some times), there are two — (yes, please do count them) — two possibilities open to a
man-person: If you know what you’re talking about, you can either: talk, or, be still. (Think about it!… Ponder it!… Savor the sweet potential!… …Then [as always], go on about your business, and yack it up.)
***
One chap’s press agent sent us his client’s latest line (which goes like this): “A man who quotes others should be glad he has others to tell him what to say.”
***
A man with only one stupid foot may not want to leave town, but if he ever learns to read and talk, before it’s all over, many people will wish he would.
……..
{…Bloomer-Bustin’ Moral: The really, really, REALLY dumb bother nobody. …(S-e-e, morals, too, can be inspiring!)}
***
Another Interesting Story That NO ONE Can Understand: Over in one place they won’t even let you enter the competition if you have a silly name; one man changed his name to a silly one.
……..
{…a man writes: “What is the use in considering the past?” (He predated his latter back to 1974.)}
***
“Working” for life is not the same as being “Employed” by life. …(And someone will want to ask, “Well, how can you know the difference?” [Do it not begin to morely and morely “creep up on you” how the fishes who want to debate the nature of water will be the “last to know” — if even that.])
……..
{…One man had what he called his special “weekend-type, holiday-kind” of attitude. (It resembled suicide.)}
***
One of our correspondents has this particular fix on contemporary times (says he): “Life in the city eventually comes down to just being a series of `Letters To The Editor.'”
***
One man had several different opinions — which were all basically the same — which made him “quite a man to reckon with” –if your reckoning demands weren’t too extensive. …(The above is actually just what one guy said about himself, but he asked me not to tell you that, or else he’s afraid you might think he knows something.)
***
One man told the kid, “If you grow up to be a real person, you won’t know exactly how old you are.”
***
He ran down the street this way, shouting, “Help, help, my kingdom’s disintegrating.” “But,” they called back, “you don’t have a kingdom.” “Help,” he shouted, “it’s even worse than I thought. Help.”
***
Once the wind had passed, it looked back and remarked, “It seems inevitable that everybody makes the first mistake…”
……..
{…One guy “made his fortune” just “being himself,” and when it was all over, he said to his cat, “Big deal.”}
***
At the biannual Ole Soreheads’ Convention they unanimously passed the following resolution: “Be it known: That in our collective opinion, the so-called `human condition’ is not worth the time and trouble it takes to even say it.” …(As they used to say on this one planet, “Even a hunting dog on vacation will find something.” …[Then, of course, remains the struggle between the groups who say that for a parable to mean anything it has to be plain and direct, and those who say it must be complex and imprecise, and those who say, “Shut off the alarm and give me five more minutes.”])
***
Fragment overheard: “Well, at least the passions of the secondary world are as real as the secondary world itself.”
……..
{…a chap writes the Advice Doctor: “Dear Doctor: Is it cheaper not to have a phone, or to have an unlisted number?” Dear Chap: Do you mean “cheaper” or “more efficient”? (“Dear Doctor: Is it more efficient not to have a door bell, or just never to answer it?” [And the Doc said to his wife, “I knew that if I ever started it, it’d come to this.”])}
……..
{…It was periodically announced: “Con-grat-u-lations! If your claim to fame is that you’re either “dumb,” or else that you’re “still seeking,” then con-grat-u-lations!” …(It was not announced often enough to suit some.)}
***
Within the confines of his own privacy, one man thought, “So — though lacking happiness myself, I could still be the cause of it in others; so there it is, eh? There it is and I still do not understand it.”
***
And from the ranks of the local Transportation Union comes this letter: “Dear Sirs: As regards a recent Kyroot read, that said, `It’s hard to ride a bus where the driver takes up most of the room,’ I would like to note that it’s equally as difficult to drive a bus with those who don’t want to go anywhere. I trust this will balance out the matter in the favor (as always) of justice.” (Signed), “A Gentleman With Large, Hairy Arms.”
…Well, it could (as always) be worse; one of my imaginary associates here in the office wanted to reply to this and tell the man that at least we didn’t say: “Never shoot a bus driver who’s just taken a laxative.”
……..
{…A kindly ole man (who was once “nearly king”) says that about all that now keeps him going is his undying faith in the bumper sticker that proclaims: “There’ll BE No Rest Rooms In Heaven.” …(Sanitation Update: It’s more difficult to understand some old men than it is others. …[Thank you for your kind applause, and will the last person to understand this and leave the area please “flush.”])}
***
Man’s natural and proper world is one with a non-free primary realm, and a secondary that can dream of an “otherwise.” (But note: The mind doing the dreaming must forever stay in a finite environment — itself, un-free.)
***
Man’s verbal self-reference is the intellect’s
self-regulation, manifested in the manner mentioned.
***
In revolutionist circles, anything that can be proven ain’t worth proving.
***
One man customized his typewriter to fire hollow-body, .38 special bullets; his writing didn’t improve, but its rate of acceptance by publishers rose dramatically. …(There are those who believe the world of arts and letters has little in common with the one of arms and munitions, but in that wondrous realm some like to call life, there are always some who will believe something about any thing. …[“And once you understand this, Prince Jacquerie, many other areas of your kingdom will become comprehensible, and you, `Oh Great Regal Son Of An Illustrious But Dead Father,’ can `lighten up.'”])
***
Anybody who says, “You can’t fool me,” is just asking for it. (“Say, pardner, you look like the kinda guy that’d just be a-askin’ for it. …Hey, am I right or what?!!”)
***
Silent city sinews: If you’re not frightened, you don’t have to be respectable; everyone’s afraid not to be so.
…(Adjoining tendon: Life looks after itself so well that it doesn’t even need anyone to point out how well it does so.
…[And a young lad (cleverly trying to pass himself off as a “young lad”) said, “Wow — that’s just how I want to be if some day ever comes.”] …”Looks after itself S-O-O well that it doesn’t even need anyone to point out how well it does so” — my, my.)
***
Only the ordinary attach any value or significance to irony.
***
When one portion of his brain exclaimed, “All fame is made from someone else’s misfortune,” his nouveau riche liver kneed him in the balls. …(“My yes,” intoned the state’s High Priest, “In this life, each man must struggle with himself.” “And how about with his neighbors?” asked someone in the crowd. “Yes, them too,” he replied. “And how about with your family?” asked another. “Indeed, them also,” replied the cleric. “And how about with words from the mouths of those who attempt to lead you?” inquired yet another, and the pontiff waved and said, “Ahhhh, but enough of this foolishness — back-to-work with us all.”)
***
And another man said, “What I don’t like about your so-called `revolution’ is that it seems to me that you end up with no enemies.”
……..
{…A myth once feared the following: A certain reality once declared, “My weakness is my strength,” and forthwith, collapsed under the weight of its own light-headedness.}
……..
{…one legendary generation told its successor, “Stupidity won’t carry you far, but it’ll carry you far enough.” The younger immediately spoke out and asked, “What, pray tell, can be the difference in what you call `stupidity,’ and the straightforward act of thinking just as much as all situations dictate is necessary?” (And the older one smiled, “I knew your little face was familiar for some reason.”)}
***
The ruler of one grand, neural kingdom (so grand, in fact, is why I don’t try to describe it) finally decided, “Since no man is worthy of my daughter — I shall have no daughter.”
…(Gorgeous Genetic Update: Extra-dimensional views of finite landscapes can, by their own choice, be locally sterile. [Which is one reason so little is heard which is not home grown.])
***
On this one world, no one may practice medicine until they can heal themself. (Ministers and novelists fear they’re next.)
***
For certain reasons, one revolutionist would remind himself that “Life is not that far away.”
***
A speaker over in city park (which I think is some sort of symbolism for the human mind) said to the crowd around him, “More people — many more people — enjoy hearing about an `intellectual revolution’ than ever understand what it is,” and his partner (who I believe is some type of metaphor for other areas of his own mind) rejoined, “Why — Why-Oh-Why, do you waste these good people’s time with such ideas?” and the first speaker answered, “Well, it’s either that, or read to them from out-dated bus schedules.” “Oh!” he replied. …(And the Saint Weyerhouser’s Memorial Squirrel Choir sang out, “Oh, oh, oh, indeed; when you’re treed cry `Oh,’ indeed.”)
……..
{…more overlooked, good news at being human: ‘Tis only man who can attempt to seem more intelligent by trying to appear dumber. …(And the Saint Wooly Bully’s Men’s Chorus stood to lustily sing [Hey, there ain’t no need to go on down this particular road any further]… …Hey, is that the name of the song the chorus was going to sing or just your own “commentus interruptus”? …[Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey!])}
……..
{…once upon a time there was a little boy who — when he didn’t know what he was doing — would get either r-e-a-l abstruse, or r-e-a-l convoluted, until one day his little brother asked him, “Do you realize that if Scarlatti were alive today, it’d still be Thursday.” (Without having to say another word, all involved rested-their-case.)}
……..
{…and a viewer writes, “I d-o-o so wish you wouldn’t do that.”}
……..
{…”Just because,” said Oswald to Wildred, “a plane won’t fly in Greenland is no proof it won’t fly in Sri Lanka.” “How true,” added his brother, “in fact, if a ship won’t sail in some particular place, it’s almost proof positive that it will, somewhere else.” …(And the Spirit Of Holidays Past-&-Sideways countered, “If I thought for a `single-ingle,’ `itsy-bitsy’ moment that this had anything to do with the ideas in a man’s mind, I’d leave you all a bunch of rocks and spiders in your stockings, no matter what your names are.”) Only those viewers object to this sort of escapade who also don’t believe in the “lost chord,” who don’t know where rain comes from, and who won’t be satisfied until they can locate the edge of the page, and give themselves a thoroughly nasty paper cut.}
***
One guy joined a circus; and a little later, it joined him.
***
There is a place where speculation is fact; everybody lives there.
……..
{…a fellow identifying himself as “The Founder & Downtown Bedrock” of the Church Of Non-Sequential Squintiness declaimed to the crowd at the corner: “Where do children in heaven go at recess?”}
***
One man kept a wild beast in his home; which went well enough, except it would periodically burst into flames.
***
Over in this one reality many of the common people dream of another reality wherein the ability to “go in debt” is the only requirement for a credit card. …(The respectable sensibilities of all decent folk cry out to know, “If such ideas as this are not metaphorical, then how can I use them to cheat and swindle my fellow man?” …[Only the most disoriented of highwaymen would travel afar to ply their trade when the `fat of the land’ lies so near at home. …(And yet another voice araises itself to call out, “Now, by Jove, sir, if this one is not an allegory of some sort, I, for one [if not more], sir, shall gather up my most human traits and depart from this perplexing place.” …[Whew! I thought they’d never leave.])])
***
One man used to listen to other people’s ideas until he realized how dumb he was. …(Yes! I changed it a bit — so what?!!)
***
Some humans can take a joke better than others, but hardly any of them can take one correctly. …(“But say, Colonel Landfill, isn’t that why they call them humans in the first place!”)
***
One kid asked his ole man, “Do grownups who believe they can `insult the gods’ also believe that a gnat can trip a hippo?” and the elder replied, “I shan’t bother to ignore you, or rap your shins, if you’ll assure me you had in mind your own intellectual creation and operation.”
……..
{…and with this fine suit comes not two, but two pairs of pants: (to wit): A man who can’t bamboozle, then smile-at, his own mind either ain’t got one, or is else, “going places.” …(“But Pa Pa, if you live in the city, where else can you go but places?!!” …[Then, enough being enough, even around these parts, he kicked the little snot right in the middle of his hemstitch.])}
***
As the bus taxied out onto the runway, the captain came over the intercom and said, “Remember and ask yourself: In case the trip gets rough, would you prefer to be sitting by a `man with a mission,’ or a `man with a cushion’?” …(“But wait!” sang three stewardi in unison, “One should also remember that the easier the question, the glitzier the prize.” …[“There is no way,” stated the Minister Of Affairs, “that His Grace will allow any of this to apply to the neural commerce of his loyal subjects, or to any awards or meaningless recognitions that he might upon them bestow, pertinent thereto.”] — —(Quick! Batten down the hatches, here come some more of them damn hatches.)])
***
As a gentle form of self-directed (and financed, I might add), remedial reminder, this one chap, ofttimes when confronted with a calendar, would point at it and say, “Okay, just w-h-o-s-e bright idea was this, anyway?”
……..
{…El Pop-O Quiz: What do they use for counterfeit in a land where the question mark is the legitimate currency?}
……..
{…and backstage, a would-be contestant who had missed the final cut kicked the Key Grip and grimaced, “Is this yet another dumb way of trying to get us to consider if you could `fake’ stupidity?” …(And the bimonthly Best Boy thought, “If you did want to `fake denseness,’ and were insufficiently placed up the `non-density-chain,’ how could you ever be certain — I mean, like, really certain — that you were faking it.”
…[This all finally proved so upsetting to some of the chorus line waiting around to rehearse that they collectively pirouetted themselves right into an afternoon funk, from which nothing could extricate them, save the Second-Coming-Of-The-Renaissance, or a box of chili dogs from that vendor over on Fourth Avenue. (“See,” said he, “isn’t it somehow comforting to know that show-biz people are not that much different than you and I.” [No reply was forthcoming, nor was one expected.])])}
***
Only the one man among the many who wouldn’t take “no” for an answer knew what he was doing. …(But should I add that he wouldn’t take anything for an answer, either.)
***
Knock-Knock: If the human mind is a machine, who is to repair it? Who’s There?: It’s not broken. …(And the great-uncle of this one local reality declared in disgust, “I didn’t travel all the way here just to be told that everything is alright!” He threw down his hat and told them all that they’d best remember that next time potential new, neural relatives come to call.)
***
One warm, slow day, a certain reality looked down on one of its worlds (a planet of trees) and decided to “send down” a special messenger with a “special message.” He sent down a squirrel. Now, if you believe that squirrels and trees speak the same language, you’re one of two things: Either a man who’s created his own reality, wherein such things are possible, or else you’re as dotty and naive as a tuba player in a monsoon. (Now I must admit, for the benefit of you Music majors in your final year, that this does not fully cover the matter, but then again — what does?!!!) …A young marcher back in the oboe section says that if the lightning gets too bad, he’ll volunteer to hold up his instrument real high. …(“That’s all we need,” huffed the fifty-yard line, “martyrdom shifting from the church to reed players!”)
……..
{…And a correspondent corresponds: “While watching your programs, I sometimes believe I’m about to understand what you’re talking about, more than I do at other times, but usually when this is about to happen, my telephone rings. Is this just a coincidence, or what?”}
……..
{…There was once a grocer, who, when he would run out of cabbages, would pretend to go into a mystical trance. …(This not only saved his business, but picked him up a few extra bucks on the side.)}
……..
{…”Most grand illusions are based on simple props,” said the ole man. “Then,” replied the kid, “it’s a good thing the secrets are known only to the magicians.” “Oh no,” said the ole man, “you can buy books full of the stuff anywhere; just look around you.”}
……..
{…Once upon a time, there was a reality that told its fresh beings, “Okay, look, you got your choice, you can either `see the humor’ — OR — `be creatures.’ I say, ole dears, it’s up to you.” (They just don’t make realities like that any more.)}
***
All “tricks” and “secrets” come from watching a three-handed poker game through binoculars.
……..
{…One man said, “I’m sure you’re holding out.”}
……..
{…And another man said, “Who did he say that to? And who are you inferring the speaker to be?”}
……..
{…And after a respectable pause, yet another man said, “After thinking about all of this — I don’t want to know.”
…(Now that’s more like it.) And a well regarded local chipmunk noted, “One of the great things about being human is that if you can wait long enough, a bus to everywhere will eventually come by.”}
……..
{…and in reply this one reality would always say, “Sure, I know who you are.” …(What a kidder — what a kindhearted kidder.)}
***