The Greatest Thing You'll Ever Learn

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» More Excellent than the Gifts of the Spirit

After spending an entire chapter talking about the gifts of the Spirit .. Paul concludes the chapter by telling his homies at Corinth to » "Eagerly desire the greater gifts .. and yet I show you a still more excellent way."

This verse is Paul's entrée into chapter 13, the love chapter.

» This Feels Like the Best Thing Ever

If you have ever tasted anything that comes from the Spirit of the Living God .. then you know that this feels like the Best Thing Ever.

To even suggest that there is something "more excellent than" the gifts of the Spirit .. this got my attention right away.

This is why I know a lot about love. I learned directly from the Lover.

The muscles that you use in loving are the same as, or similar to, the ones you use in exercising empathy and compassion.

I could so get off on a tangent here. But I'm too smart for that.

» A Very Strange Enchanted Boy

A very strange enchanted boy. Do you know what they say about him, girly? They say he wandered far.

"How far?" you ask?

Very far .. over land and sea.

[ They dont tell you this in the song .. but he also traveled under the sea.

"How far under the sea?" you ask?

I could tell you .. but then I'd have to kill you.

You cannot imagine the places that he traveled to .. both pleasant and not so pleasant.

» Qualifications to Speak as a Buddha (Enlightened Soul)

Girly, do you think that a person needs to personally experience a representative sampling of everything that there is in life ..

.. before they can truly and confidently claim that thus-n-such a thing is indeed the greatest thing?

This is sort of the point that they are making in the song when they say that he traveled far over land and sea.

They are saying that he has seen it all. I bet that Russell Brand knows exactly what I am talking about here.

This is the same theme that legend takes with the Buddha.

He had seen it all, and that's how he knew what true enlightenment looks like.

Regarding the Buddha, the Dhammapada is reported to be sayings of the Buddha .. in verse form. ]

This is how he knew. (Knew what? How he knew the greatest thing.)

» A Little Shy and Sad of Eye

A little shy .. probably because he was a little scared of girls. Because they sometimes reacted to him in ways that he did not understand. They freaked him out by acting psycho.

And sad-of-eye was he. If you saw the shit that he saw .. you'd be sad-of-eye, too. (I'm confident that Lena would concur.)

» The Greatest Thing You'll Ever Learn

There comes a point in some relationships .. where you realize, "This isnt going to work for me. I was hoping that it would. But I can see now that it won't."

This "not working" thing could be termed » dysfunction. Dys means 'bad' and when something is functioning, this means that it is 'working.' So the term dysfunction could be used to describe something that is » working badly.

Just because the thing isnt working .. doesnt means that anyone is necessarily a bad person. I bet that Selena knows what I am talking about here.

This is a sad moment .. when this realization dawns on you .. when you must admit to yourself, "This girl does not have what I need in an intimate relationship. And she never will."

» People Who Do Not Feel Worthy of Love

I have dated enough different kinds of people to know that .. people who have low levels of self-esteem .. even though you might feel that they have plenty of reasons to feel high levels of esteem .. this type of person responds poorly to love.

If a person somehow feels (for any number of reasons) .. deep on the inside of them that they do not deserve love, or that they do not deserve to be loved .. it makes them uncomfortable when you love them .. either consciously or unconsciously.

They only seem to be comfortable when you treat them poorly.

I cannot say that I really understand the dynamics behind such a thing .. but I have done enough experiments with these types to people to reproduce the effect .. again and again. And again.

» Working on Becoming Equipped to be Loved

For example, at t=1:25 in this trailer, Olivia Wilde's character responds to an impromptu marriage proposal by saying, "I may not be equipped to be loved this much."

I like Olivia Wilde. We have us a little thing going on. I might have to flirt with her right proper.

Her statement here suggests that a person needs to be equipped in order to be loved.

I have never heard this before .. but I would tend to agree.

» (The Greatest Thing) Is Just to Love

But, if you want to be with someone very cool .. then we need to become a person who is worthy of such a relationship.

In other words, we have to learn how to love and be loved in return.

And no, it's not as easy as it sounds. Go ahead and give it a try and you'll see what I mean.

But if you are diligent .. then you start to learn a few tricks along the way.

» And be Loved in Return

This self-becoming is not easy. No, ma'am. It's terribly difficult .. not far from impossible, in my opinion, and in my experience.

Sometimes it feels like your soul is being ripped apart .. beyond what you are able to endure. But what's the alternative?

» You Need to Become a Person Who Feels Genuinely Worthy of Love

Notice what Rita Ora sings about in her song (lyrics) » Let Me Love You (6 Dec 2018).

With lyrics such as

I wanna let you inside
Oh, Heaven knows I've tried

and

What's the matter with me?
Oh, I wish that I could let you love me now

I found her lyrics interesting because this has also been my experience in love .. that you cannot simply decide and will yourself into a loving relationship.

No matter how badly you might want to .. there is more at play than simply what you might want.

It would take me far too long to explain .. but suffice to say that you must become this person who feels worthy of love .. before you can feel comfortable letting someone truly love you.

» Alien Covenant Spans the Entire Range of Moral Experience

Oh, speaking of the song Nature Boy .. check this out. Ridley Scott. Alien Covenant, starring Fassbender.

I like Ridley Scott. I like Fassbender .. even tho I give him shit about being with a much younger girl. ( "You fucker, Fassbender." )

Notice how this trailer says that the "path to paradise" (t=1:07) begins in hell (t=1:26).

Does that not sound a lot like » spanning the entire range of moral experience .. from the satanic to the divine?

» There's a Boy that Me-n-Whitney Know

Girly, speaking of nature boys,

do you remember when you sang the beginning of that Whitney Houston song?

The one that begins with the line, "There's a boy ..."

I liked when you sang that song.

I liked it a lot.

Probably more than I should.

You were pattern-matching on me.

I remember the feeling that I had. "This girl is pattern-matching on me. What huevos rancheros she has."

It's a weird feeling .. when somebody takes your thing and points it back in your direction.

I keep probing and trying to determine where your limits lie. And all I keep getting from you is, "You aint there yet .. keep coming."

I like you, girly. You sing so fucking good. You somehow make me feel things that I dont even understand.

That's a good trick. You'll have to show me how you do that sometime.

» Nature Boy by Gregory Porter and Jon Batiste

Oh, girly .. speaking of Nature Boy .. you gotta see this » Gregory Porter singing the song with Jon Bastiste on piano, and a dude on well-worn sax.

That actually made me cry. I have already watched it a bunch of times.

That's the best version that I have ever seen .. and I have seen every version online that I could find.

Very understated .. with beautiful camera-work and lighting.

I obviously like this song. It obviously speaks to me. It obviously speaks to me on a level below the rational logical.

What a voice this guy has. Holy smokes. Very expressive. Very rich. Very masculine.

I googled him. He is 46. He grew up in Bakersfield .. with his minister-mother, who died of cancer when he was 21. (I was 27 when my mom died of cancer, but bro was 21, too.)

It is definitely a very rubber-meets-the-road kind of story.

He won the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal album in both 2014 and 2017. So he's a bad dude in his own right .. even when he not singing with Jon Batiste.

» Mr. Snazzy Dresser

That Mr. Batiste is one snazzy dresser, isnt he?

He must have the coolest looking guy's closet. They must give him a nice wardrobe allowance. He adds sparkle to the show. They mic him live. You can tell that they like him and appreciate him.)

I wonder what he thinks of these jazz women. I bet he knows them.

I wonder what he thinks about Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone » saving jazz. You must admit .. it was a funny skit.

» An Impressive Degree of Skillcraft Assembled and On Display?

Girly, is it just me .. or does that performance not represent of very high degree of execution? Of musical and artistic expression.

You are a musician. You are a successful musician. You are an artist. Heck, you are the artist of the year. You have sung jazz. You know jazz people. You no doubt stand in a position that is well equipped to speak to such things.

I was very much impressed. When you bring together people of extraordinary caliber .. well, you see what happens.

How about the play between the piano and the sax? I was totally feeling that.

That little finger-play thing that he does beginning at t=2:07 .. dancing fingers. He's got that something-extra.

I have also found myself listening to this song when I need to write a thing that feels bigger to write than my huevos rancheros feels capable of.

So I guess that you could say that I find it encouraging. Which is especially nice .. when so many discouraging things have appeared recently.

» The Years of the Most Muscular Throwdowns

I have felt for some time now that the years between ages 45 and 50 .. these are your most muscular throwdown years.

By this point you have lived enough of life to have a pretty good handle on just what the fuck is going on .. and where your values lie. Where your priorities lie. What your strengths are. What your particular gifts are.

And this is the final hurrah, so to speak, before a relatively steep physical decline sets in beginning around age 50.

Now, certainly the artist can accomplish many remarkable things after age 50 or 55 or even 60.

But the period spanning the years between 45-to-50 .. this is a special time and should be treated as such. (What do I mean by that?)

» Smack-Dab in the Creative Sweet Spot of Life

And this guy is right smack-dab there in the sweet-spot of creative life. He is 46.

I bet that he knows exactly what I am talking about here .. about throwing down with maximum muscularly.

And ten years from now, he will know even more. He will think back and say, "That writer-dude was right. He was exactly right. He is one smart fucker. I'm glad that I threw-down so muscularly when I had the opportunity."

It is a period in your life where you make a special type of mark. In maleness, physical prowess is very important. So the looming specter of physical decline .. this is a very mind-fucking sort-of-thing .. in a male, masculine prowess sort-of-way.

Overlaying the enlightened soul of a divine spirit still lies the wrapper of an animal. A type of animal. A supposedly highly-evolved species. But that is debatable.

It is a time where you take all that you have learned over the years from you varied experiences and you bring together your skills and your talents and your gifts and your creative energy and your uniquness and your confidence ..

.. and here is where you throwdown to make your mark for all the ages .. with the muscular flex of a virile, masculine male.

There is an element of self-testing that comes into play .. where the artist really sees what he is made of. Where he goes for the gusto.

If ever there were a time to push beyond the limitations of reality and tap into the unlimited creative potential of your imagination .. this is it.

I was telling Blow about this on his 45th birthday. He remembers.

» The Future of Men Aged 45-to-50

Regarding the age-group which includes those aged 45-to-50 .. remind me talk about about the implications behind the following graph:

Notice how the pattern is identical for the two youngest groups, which include a total of ages 18-to-44. That is the future.

For the group aged 45-64, I bet that you could sub-divide that large age group even further into smaller ones .. which more closely match the characteristics of their closest-aged neighbor.

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