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This page continues from » Page One (19 Aug 2021).

» Paying Attention to Deceitful Spirits and to the Doctrines of Demons

Doesnt what Dostoevsky says about how people can become possessed by the bizarre ideas of a bizarre ideology to the point that they actually appear to embody some sort of dark, demonic energy ..

.. doesnt the theme of Dostoevsky's novel seem to jibe with what Paul writes here?

1 Timothy 4:1-2 The Spirit declares that in later times some will turn away from the faith, paying attention instead to deceitful spirits and to the doctrines of demons.

Sure does seem like it to me.

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This page continues from a section lifted out of an entry titled » The Darkness Didnt Get It (19 June 2021).

It is a sad, depressing topic to address. Time and again scripture talks about evil forces who deceive the unwitting, who also deceive themselves.

It says a lot of things that would make me very uncomfortable if I were them. And I told them as much.

Scripture says, you know, that God sends a powerful delusion on those who reject the truth.

They repeatedly dismissed my concerns, so I feel as though I genuinely tried to help. I feel like I tried to warn them about perils spelled out so plainly in the scriptures for those on that path.

MAGA flag and Jolly Roger waving beside makeshift gallows, complete with hangman's noose and stairs leading up to the hanging platform, during the sacking and plunder of US Capitol by Trump supporters on 6 Jan 2021

You know what they say about leading a horse to water.

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The inside flap of the dust jacket for the Pevear translation of The Brothers Karamazov (Everyman's Library) says that Dostoevsky's story is told with » hair-raising intellectual clarity and a feel for the human condition unsurpassed in world literature.

The Brothers Karamazov (1881) by Fyodor DostoevskyWhen writing about Dostoevsky in the past I have always focused on another part of the text contained there on the inside flap ..

.. the statement that mentions his » towering reputation as one of a handful of thinkers who forged the modern sensibility.

When I first read that, I set the book down on my lap and wondered, "What does that even mean?"

Impressive as that statement is, it wasnt the thing that impressed me most about his accolades.

When I read that he wrote with a feel for the human condition unsurpassed in world literature, I knew what that meant.

A feel for the human condition.

Every human has a feel for the human condition. You have a feel for the human condition.

Even Sean Hannity has a feel for the human condition .. though not a very good one.

(Kiss my ass, Sean. Reptiles have a feel, too. Just not a human one.)

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I normally use the 11th of January (1-11, or 'one-one-one') as a place, or as a convenient time, where I will challenge myself. Where I will attempt something I have never attempted before.

Speaking of the date, I wonder what time it is. Hold on a sec. I'm going to go check. Dont go anywhere. I'll be back in a jiffy.

Okay, I'm back. Looks like it's 1:11 pm. Here on the Left coast.

Time-n-date timestamp Worldclock San Diego Monday, 11 Jan 2021 at 1:11 pm

It's later than I thought.

Now I will be the first to admit that sometimes I bite off more than I can chew, particularly when I might be trying to impress a super-hottie.

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It probably means nothing to anybody but me .. but the time right now here on the Left coast is » 11:58 PM, and this page is live.

I am not really sure exactly what I will be writing here in this entry .. but, with such a title, I can't wait to see where this thing goes.

There is not much that you cannot fit into the space that lies within the entire range of moral experience .. from the satanic to the divine.

(I bet that Ariana knows what I am talking about.)

» Connection is Why We're Here

There is no telling where this thing will end up .. but I know where I want to start » with this remarkable 20-min TED talk (Houston) by Brené Brown (3 Jan 2011) that I recently stumbled across.

Brené Brown| The Power of Vulnerability, TEDx Houston | Connection is why we're here (3 Jan 2011)

She says that » "Connection is why we're here."

Notice that Brené is wearing brown .. a brown shirt.

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Filling it Up and Sending it Back to Ariya

» Sender was a Woman

Hi Ariya.

I saw your performance in St. Petersburg on 31 March 2019. (Video posted two days ago on 17 April.)

Ariya holding an empty box in St Petersburg that she is sending to me (31 March 2019)

It very much spoke to me .. in a personal and intimate sort-of-way .. which is why I feel compelled to respond.

I found your performance both enchanting and irresistibly seductive .. for a number of reasons. A large number.

» Currently in the Process of Filling Your Box

I just want you to know that I have received your empty box, and that I am currently in the process of filling it up .. as you instructed.

When I finish filling it, I will send it back to you.

Would you like to know what kinds of treats I will be putting in your box? (I bet you would.)

Many delightful and wonderful things .. I can assure you. Maybe even some things that you have never seen before.

» I Feel Like a New Woman .. How Do You Do That?

A number of women have told me things like, "I have never felt anything like that before. How do you do that? I feel like a new woman." 

See if you dont feel a few of these things by the time I am done filling your box .. and when you have had an opportunity to examine the little treats that I made just for you.

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Writers are Forged in Injustice

This entry originated here » More at Stake than Selling Albums (23 April 2018).

What do you think, Tay .. about what Hemingway said about Dostoevsky?

Ernest Hemingway's 1923 passport photo

.. that » "Dostoevsky was MADE by being sent to Siberia. Writers are forged in injustice, as a sword is forged." [ Green Hills of Africa, p 71, 1935 ] ]

Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) is one of a handful of thinkers who helped forge the modern sensibility

You obviously have the songwriting thing going on. Even people who hate your guts have to admit as much. Naz knows what I am talking about.

Taylor on the cover of the August issue of Harper's Bazaar 2018

This makes Kanye's snatch of your mic even more iconic .. in a symbolic sort of way. Tho I would probably sound like a nut-case if I went into any detail.

I see that you draw on this sense of injustice when writing some of your songs. This is why I feel that you will be able to relate to this quote by Hemingway.

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The Smart-Ass Karamazov Brother

[ This entry originated » here. ]

» A Smart Motherfucker

I am a smart motherfucker myself .. without even trying to be. My dad told me at least a million times while I was growing up, "Dont be smart."

What he really meant was, "Dont be a smart-ass."

I could definitely be a smart ass. (Because I am so smart.) No doubt about it. Being a smart-ass is part of what got me into trouble with the captain.

Because I am not afraid to toe-up with authority figures when they are fucking up. Particularly when their fucking up is affecting me or mine.

Or did he really not want me to be smart?

My dad was smart, but not educated. My mom told me, "I married your father because he was smart and because he had good teeth."

» Dad vs Fyodor Karamazov

I can confirm that he was smart, but only in a Fyodor Karamazov sort-of-way.

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Rad note » this entry originated from another page. It was moved here because the subject drifted far enough to warrant its own, separate page, which lets me focus on and reference more easily the concepts under discussion here.

At the end of this entry (that you're reading now) I have included a link that will return you to the exact place from where this entry originated. Here ya go ...

» Reading Colors Writing (Influences)

You might expect with Joseph Frank, after having spent so much time reading after Dostoevsky, that HIS OWN writing might take on the characteristics of Dostoevsky, no?

I mean, how could he not? [ not be influenced ]

I know with myself, how I catch myself adapting (subconsciously) my style to that of the author/writer who I am currently reading. So I cant imagine Joseph Frank, or anyone else, for that matter .. being any different.

And right off the bat, I noticed how Joseph Frank's writing reminds me of Dostoevsky's .. in that both men » take you quickly into the story, deeply.

Ernest Hemingway's 1923 Passport Photo at Age 24Hemingway starts you off in the middle of the action, so to speak ..

.. but that does not necessarily mean that he takes you deep right away.

Joseph Frank takes you right into the meat of Dostoevsky's world.

» Time Travel Using the Imagination

I feel as tho I am somehow being transported back thru the decades and centuries .. and across continents .. to another land in another time.

With different cultures and different traditions and different moral and social norms. Very interesting.

This is all the stuff I really like .. cuz it takes you there so completely.

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Rad note » this entry originated from another page. It was moved here because the subject drifted far enough to warrant its own, separate page, which lets me focus on and reference more easily the concepts under discussion here.

At the end of this entry (that you're reading now) I will include a link that will return you to the exact place from where this entry originated. Here ya go ...

» Russian Greats Weave the Eternal Golden Thread of Scripture Thru Their Timeless Novels

Tolstoy (1828-1910)I noticed that both Tolstoy and Dostoevsky weave verses-of-scripture into their stories.

[ I was going to, instead, write » 'weave into their stories verses of scripture' ..

.. which is better writing.

But notice how that is not weaving the words. And therefore not recursive.

And recursion is where the power is. In writing both narrative and computer programs. ]

Both of them begin their timeless novels, for example, with a short verse that sets the tone and foreshadows things to come .. a mechanism that itself plays off the prophetic. A technique.

Tolstoy begins Anna Karenina (a novel claimed by many to be the finest written, in any language, ever, in the history of our species, homo sapiens) with a verse from the Old Testament that has echoed down thru the centuries » Vengeance is mine; I will repay.

Dostoevsky, on the other hand, begins The Brother Karamazov (a novel acclaimed the world over as one of the supreme achievements in literature) with a verse from John's gospel » Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.

[ I am talking about Writing here. Writing and writers. ]

Hemingway liked to use verses of scripture as his titles. I wonder if he got this idea while he was reading the Russians ..

.. sitting around a fire in the mountains of Austria during the winter months .. when Paris got ugly. And cold.

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