Free Men Free Minds"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." – Thomas Jefferson
“The peace of life is found not in a man’s own achievement. The way of trust is the way of content. The attempt to achieve peace is doomed to everlasting failure. The willingness to receive peace as a gift from the One we trust opens the door to inner serenity.”
Lynn Harold Hough, The Man of Power, The Abingdon Press, New York – Cincinnati, 1916, pg. 45
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Francis Berger has written a post titled Let’s Practice System Distancing: The Abortion Edition, which delves into how the trumpeting of the possibility of overturning of Roe v Wade is sucking you into continuing to support The System, rather than turning your back on The System and denying The System the support it needs to continue to function. Well worth your time (takes maybe 3 minutes to read). From the post:
“The first thing to keep in mind is this — the System issued the communication and made sure news of it was widespread. This implies that the Establishment very much wants everyone to be acutely aware of the “issue” and to participate in the issue via the System in some way by thinking about it, writing about it, arguing about it, raising hopes about it, fighting about it, etc. Moreover, the Establishment wants everyone to “have a position” on the issue. They want people to become personally invested in this latest communication on terms the System dictates. This applies especially to Christians, for whom abortion is a big concern.
Secondly, this newest current thing is a clear example of the System wanting people to listen to what it is saying about this issue here and now and to forget about what it is not saying here and now. And there are many things the System is not talking about these days — the very same things it could not stop talking about mere weeks or months ago.”
Permalink & CommentI’ll be heading north to my trout camp, Two Arrows, tomorrow bright and early in the a.m. This is the 28th year in a row. A grand tradition with my sons and brothers. For these past 15 years, my dog Elsa has been streamside with me, but alas no more. I told my Lovely Melis that my heart just is not quite in it this year with having to say goodbye to Elsa this past Monday. None-the-less I will go to the water to soothe my soul.
Early Spring fishing is always hit or miss. The fishing report always holds out promise, though. It’ll be good to be in the woods, the stream, and by the fire at night with sons and brothers.
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Yesterday, I had to say goodbye to my dog, Elsa. She’d been with me for 15 years. I’d known her time with me was coming to a close and had been in contact with a local organization that comes right to your home so that death is approached not in a vet’s examining room, but in familiar and loving surroundings. It was a good death. Peaceful. I recommend saying goodbye to your pet at home. The individuals I had dealt with prior to yesterday had been gracious and truly empathetic, for which I am grateful.
The slightly marred aspect of Elsa’s good death occurred immediately at the arrival of the veterinarian who came to administer the drugs that ease a pet’s journey from life into death. When I greeted her at the door, she had a mask hanging from her right ear. I invited her into our home. She stepped inside, set down her bag, and began to reach for her mask, so I said, “You don’t need to wear a mask in our home.” She immediately went into the canned spiel, the great lies, surrounding the use of masks as a preventive measure against the manmade gain of function flu known as COVID-19, and said my wife and I would also have to don masks. I said, “No! We will not wear masks in this house.”
My response in regards to her masking request brought out from her a regurgitation of the many lies fed to the world since this manmade pathogen known as COVID-19 was let loose. I responded to this, first, by attempting to address the uselessness of masks scientifically, to no avail, as she continued to spew the well propagandized lies which have tyrannized the world since early 2020. My anger began to rise.
I then began to attempt to reason with her, rather forcefully, coming close to the point of berating her unmercifully, causing both the veterinarian and my wife to come to tears. During all this time, my Elsa, who truly needed to be compassionately released from this world, lay tired and alone on her bed by my chair. The only time I’ve been thankful that she was mostly deaf.
At this point, I was ready to send the veterinarian packing and pursue other compassionate means of providing Elsa a good death. I was angry and sad to the point of despair. Angry because my Elsa was not receiving the end she needed, and sad that I was dealing with a veterinarian who was so subsumed by the lies associated with COVID-19 she was actually living the lie in my home, which to me is a despairing point.
We ended up compromising. The veterinarian wore her mask, and my Lovely Melis and I remained six feet away from her during the administration of the drugs which ease a pet’s death. Though this was a bit awkward, and an inconvenience, Elsa’s pressing need for release was accomplished.
In fairness to the veterinarian, she was indeed compassionate and caring with Elsa. I find no fault with her in this regard. She gave my Elsa a most peaceful and good death, though I am mourning her deeply even while I type these words. My mourning is compounded, and more deeply disturbs me, because of the fact that there are individuals so terrorized by the propaganda surrounding COVID-19 they are unable to live in reality. They are living in the lie, the lies of men.
Elsa is gone, and I will miss her dearly. She did everything with me. She always watched me like a hawk. Elsa had a good death. Slightly marred. She was a great dog!
…If evil forces see a possible victory, they will take the risk and release chaos upon the world. Whenever this happens they must be restrained not merely by potential but by actual physical force.
…In the presence of recalcitrant evil the society of Christian good will must turn to steel.
Lynn Harold Hough, Patterns of the Mind, Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York and London, 1942, First Edition, pg. 130
Permalink & CommentEvery year, or so, the Ivory Billed Woodpecker is claimed to be sighted, though just last year, 2021, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officially declared it extinct. Well, maybe not. The National Aviary in Pittsburgh, PA claims to have new evidence that the Ivory Billed Woodpecker lives. They have published a paper claiming multiple lines of evidence which suggest that in fact the Ivory Billed Woodpecker is not extinct.
I’ll withhold judgment on the Ivory Billed Woodpecker being alive, for the same reason my brothers chide me when I relate a black bear encounter I had. Unless you have photos, it didn’t happen.
Permalink & CommentTake 3 minutes and 52 seconds to hallow this Good Friday with gracious humor.
Permalink & CommentOnly a man obsessed by a false spiritual aspiration wants to be lost in God. A man of true spiritual ambition wants rather to be found in God. Or to put the matter more adequately, the true desire is not oneness with the essence of God (which would involve a disguised desire to become divine and so to indulge in self-worship) but rather for moral harmony with the character of God so that happy and glorious fellowship with God would be possible. The distinction between moral oneness and metaphysical oneness must never for a single moment be forgotten.
Lynn Harold Hough, Patterns of the Mind, Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York and London, 1942, First Edition, pg. 105
Permalink & CommentAltruism is one of our besetting virtues. And a charming and gracious virtue it is. But we have not learned that altruism which is not subjected to the stern tests of critical intelligence is sure to betray both the gracious lover of his kind and the object of his beneficence…We have not served the cause of those who are oppressed when we have taught them to think only of the wrongs which they have suffered and never of the responsibilities which they must accept.
Lynn Harold Hough, Patterns of the Mind, Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York and London, 1942, First Edition, pg.2
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