Values

The basic clear-cut philosophy

Of a Tom T. Hall

Appeals to me.

 

“I love leaves in the wind, pictures of my friends,
Birds of the world and squirrels.
I love coffee in a cup, little fuzzy pups,
Bourbon in a glass and grass.
And I love you, too.”

 

“Ain’t but three things in this world that’s worth a solitary dime,
But old dogs and children and watermelon wine.”

 

On the other hand,

Perhaps,

I’ve always ached

To get deeper

…

If that is possible?

 

Classmate and friend Richard Guajardo gave me that first terrible mental ache

In seventh grade catechism classes.

He and I both came from mixed marriages

Of Catholics and Protestants

And he gave the nuns hell

About a natural right to attend Protestant services

As well as Mass.

Richard jump-started questioning in me

Of status quo values of the tribe, the castes therein, and of family.

 

Post Richard Guajardo in those formative years of the 1950’s and 60’s

I began to go across the street from St. Joseph’s

And attended Baptist services with heartthrob Donna DiRusso.

I began to wonder if sex was as bad as Father Smith preached it.

Morally and ethically, do we really have to work as hard as Dad says we do?

Hmm.  Really? … MY folks ask Mexican and negro friends and workers inside

For our noon dinner at our generally white-assed table.

And we work along-side these wonderful people

Struggling to accomplish as they do

And perhaps begin to empathize with them

In their difficult attempts

To meet insurmountable challenges.

 

I AM attracted to the simple philosophy/poetry of

A garden,

A desert, a prairie,

An ocean shore,

A Gulf of Mexico white sand island, a Carpathian mountain,

A Texas Hill country river,

The beauty of all that is nature,

Love of my fifty-plus year partner Betsy,

The innocence of children,

Succinct, poignant poetry.

 

On the other hand

I at least pretend to seek a deeper understanding,

An ecological, spiritual, moral and ethical, consilient, philosophical/poetic understanding of a Pablo Neruda or Timothy Morton.

 

Truth.

Is truth a lie?

 

Logic.

“Consider jobs.

Not Steve Jobs!

Job jobs. …

As a human,

You have a job.

It’s called doing the universe.”¹

 

Natural law.

Determined by evolution.

 

Reciprocity.

The law of cooperation and conflict resolution.

 

Epistemology.

Justified belief or opinion.

 

Metaphysics.

Existence

And its nature.

 

Object-oriented ontology,

Are all experiencing existence?

 

Tautology.

“Communicating” in circles.

 

Reality.

All known and unknown.

 

Maybe even God? … Naw.

It’ll remain a mystery.

 

Anyway,

If Biden and Harris win,

And the next presidential administration and congress of the most powerful entity on Eaarth

Listens to the needs of dynamic homeostatic symbioses

And acts accordingly,

Then I will retire and devote more time to consilience

Through reading, traveling,

And visiting true friends … children.

 

Or perhaps die first.

 

pbm

( 7 S’s / VV->^^ )

……………………………………………….

1 Jacques, Robert A.  2017.  Reality 101. Everything you need to know about reality so you don’t spend the rest of your life in total stupidity. 288 pp.  Bottom of the Hill Publishing, Memphis, TN