Compass

Greetings good citizen, like maps, compasses tell us what direction we are headed in but like so many other things in life, if there is more than one choice humans have a tendency to argue about which one is accurate, often for no other reason than to be 'contrary'. Show them the map and the compass and they will argue both are upside down despite the evidence of either.

Where is this going? Today's sojourn started with trip down the 'happiness' rabbit hole and ended with puzzle for the MAGA cap wearing morons regarding the record high suicide rate.

Are we 'Great' yet or do we ALL need to off ourselves?

Encountered a similar puzzle yesterday with the markets poised to launch a new batch of millionaires thanks to another IPO boomlet.

Property prices in (of all places) San Francisco are spiking just in anticipation of this fresh demand.

Why would anybody buy in the land that burns and shakes? [What kind of sense is that again? Somehow I don't think that's what term 'common' refers to.]

Let us return briefly to this morning's encounter with a 2 year old article from the Atlantic that raised the question of why 'Smart' = unhappy...and then proceeds to chase that thought across the landscape losing sight of both truths.

Smart is not the font of 'happiness' just as money has zero to do with intelligence.

If you have money in this society you are a criminal, easy-peasy.

Um, the now ancient observation that to a thinking man this life is a comedy [because almost everything we do is stupid, often hilariously so.] and to a feeling man this life is a tragedy (sometimes of epic proportions) as we idiotically discard/bypass what is most precious in the pursuit of our baser desires.

The world is not a happy place largely because most of us have no frickin' clue what happiness is. Doesn't matter if you are smart or dumb if you fail to appreciate the entire package.

[Preacher mode: ON] Life is 'holistic'. Tyranny isn't enjoyable (not even for the tyrant, contrary to popular belief.) Living as we do, drowning in a sea of injustice because our belief system is totally devoid of equality [even God is our 'Master' that doesn't want us to thrive, his principle commandment is OBEDIENCE!]

Humans seem incapable of understanding that there is more than one factor involved in building a 'happy' life. Worse, those who have lead in the past have ignored Equality because it meant 'more for them'. More for them is the ONLY reason anyone seeks the mantle of leadership which is why it is foolish to bestow such a powerful gift upon the self-serving, it is a double curse to hand it to the stupid.

ASP is designed around Equality, Justice and Peace. [We are] One people with One goal, survival. Survival relies on managing what there is so it will be there for future generations. Do ANY of our 'meat puppets' 'politicians' even nod at this basic necessity?

Don't think on that one too hard because the obvious answer is the correct one, it is also the short answer...no.

Because you 'assume' it doesn't mean they are even thinking about it.

One last thing before I disable Preacher mode, Life is neither good nor bad, life simply is. [The good or bad comes entirely from YOU.]

Were we, er, 'insightful enough' to appreciate the 'duality' of fate we would be able to appreciate that our happy often comes at the price of someone else's dreams being dashed.

[Preacher mode: OFF]

Can't resist the urge to 'pontificate' a bit more [what some consider 'belaboring the obvious' is still educational to the befuddled!]

It is from the observation that 'luck and doom' are two sides of the same coin that we derive the eternal struggle for 'balance', not so much between good and evil but between action and inertia.

Stasis is death, the end result of 'conservatism'.

Viva chaos!

Gegner