Fessin' Up With the Facts

AND NOW FOR SOME FACTS. Time to set things straight. When someone says it isn't about the money, its about the money. People for whom money maters not don't say that. the ret of us, for whom money matters mcuh, say it, early ad often. When someone that money is just a tool, same story. Why do we do this? Why, to give the impression of being above the fray, of having higher values than thou, of nobility of intent and soul. We wish to conceal our more base motives, like the acquisition of material and liquid wealth. similalry, thos who call themslev geniuses, ike Rush Limbaugh (RIP) and Donald Trump, are not geniuses. Geniuses do not call themselves "geniuses". Rather, they dowengrade their genius to others. Granted, many of us like to think of ourselves as geniuses, and like others to think likewise. As Goethe said, "We are never decieved". We only deceive oursleves". Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the undisputed genius of European literature, said quite a few things, all of which are profoundly wise. He was a true genius, who never even hought about calling himself that. The genius pretenders truly believe their own self flattery, or want to. Also, when somebody says, and you've heard this a million times: "I don't get man very often , but when I do, watch out! (nearly everybody says this) This also is pure rubbish. In fact we all tend to get mildly annoyedvery often, and to get very angry very often, but most of the time we are smart enough to disguise both, or to try to, not wanting to experience the consequences, the reactions of others. We say this becuase we want to project an image of power, and restraint, and again, nobility of mind. "Mind foreruns all conditions, mind is chief, of mind are we made." This is teh opening linie of the Dhammapada, an ancient Buddhist book of wisdom. Obviously this is quite true. We are wht we think. Reality is perception, and so forth. Just as the body is never perfect, and is subject to frequent illnesses, so is the mind. Depression, delusions: the list is long. And indeed depression is a normal, healthy response to life, just as self deception is. It becomes a mental illness only when it becomes so strong as to dominate one's mind, and to render one unble to function normally, as often it does, tragically. Theodore Roethke asked in a poem: "What's madness, but nobility of soul, at odds with circumstance?" But we heal ourselves, mentally, and physically. Sometimes we need a little help. Again, Roethke: "The mind enters itself, and God the mind, and One is One, free in the tearing wind."