LONELINESS

Mortal : 

If You were gonna DO something, 
you shoulda done it when we NEEDED You! 

Where were you THEN? 
 Huh?

God :

I Was Dead.

Mortal : 

Yeah, well... 

Maybe so... 

But you still shoulda DONE somethin’!

Tony, 

I'm glad you're back at the compound. 

I don't like the idea of you rattling around a mansion by yourself. 

We all need Family. 

The Avengers are yours. 

Maybe more so than mine. 

I've been on my own since I was 18. 

I never really fit in anywhere, even in the army. 

My faith's in People, I guess. Individuals. 

And I'm happy to say that, for the most part, they haven't let me down. 

Which is why I can't let them down either. 

Locks can be replaced, but maybe they shouldn't. 

I know I hurt you, Tony. 

I guess I thought by not telling you about your parents I was sparing you, but I can see now that I was really sparing myself, and I'm sorry. 

Hopefully one day you can understand. 

I wish we agreed on the Accords, I really do. 

I know you're doing what you believe in, and that's all any of us can do. 

That's all any of us should. 

So no matter what, I promise you, if you need us…

If you need me…

I'll be There.

ALL PROBLEMS ARE INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP PROBLEMS

YOUTH: Wait a minute! I’m supposed to just let that one slip by? 

‘To get rid of one’s problems, all one can do is live in the universe all alone?’ 

What do you mean by that? If you lived all alone, wouldn’t you be horribly lonely? 

PHILOSOPHER:  
Oh, but being alone isn’t what makes you feel lonely.

Loneliness is having other people and society and community around you, 
and having a deep sense of being excluded from them. 

To feel lonely, 
we need other people. 

That is to say, it is only in social contexts that a person becomes an ‘individual’. 

YOUTH: If you were really alone, that is, if you existed completely alone in the universe, you wouldn’t be an individual and you wouldn’t feel lonely, either? 

PHILOSOPHER: I suppose the very concept of loneliness wouldn’t even come up. 

You wouldn’t need language, and there’d be no use for logic or commonsense, either. 

But such a thing is impossible. 

Even if you lived on an uninhabited island, you would think about someone far across the ocean. Even if you spend your nights alone, you strain your ears to hear the sound of someone’s breath. 

As long as there is someone out there somewhere, you will be haunted by loneliness. 

YOUTH: But then, you could just rephrase that as ‘if one could live in the universe all alone, one’s problems would go away’, couldn’t you? 

PHILOSOPHER: In theory, yes. As Adler goes so far as to assert, ‘All problems are interpersonal relationship problems.’ 

YOUTH: Can you say that again? 

PHILOSOPHER: We can repeat it as many times as you like: all problems are interpersonal relationship problems. This is a concept that runs to the very root of Adlerian psychology. 

If all interpersonal relationships were gone from this world, which is to say if one were alone in the universe and all other people were gone, all manner of problems would disappear. 

YOUTH: That’s a lie! It’s nothing more than academic sophistry. 

PHILOSOPHER: Of course, we cannot do without interpersonal relationships. 

A human being’s existence, in its very essence, assumes the existence of other human beings. 

Living completely separate from others is, in principle, impossible. As you are indicating, the premise ‘if one could live all alone in the universe’ is unsound. 

YOUTH: That’s not the issue I am talking about. 

Sure, interpersonal relationships are probably a big problem. That much I acknowledge. 

But to say that everything comes down to interpersonal relationship problems, now that’s really an extreme position. 

What about the worry of being cut off from interpersonal relationships, the kind of problems that an individual agonises over as an individual; problems directed to oneself. 

Do you deny all that? 

PHILOSOPHER: There is no such thing as worry that is completely defined by the individual; so-called internal worry does not exist. 

Whatever the worry that may arise, the shadows of other people are always present. 

YOUTH: But still, you’re a philosopher. Human beings have loftier, greater problems than things like interpersonal relationships. 

What is happiness, what is freedom? 

And what is the meaning of life? 

Aren’t these the themes that philosophers have been investigating ever since the ancient Greeks? 

And you’re saying, so what? 

Interpersonal relationships are everything? 

It seems kind of pedestrian to me. 

It’s hard to believe that a philosopher would say such things. 

PHILOSOPHER: Well, then, it seems there’s a need to explain things a bit more concretely. 

YOUTH: Yes, please do! If you’re going to tell me that you’re a philosopher, then you’ve got to really explain things, or else this makes no sense. 

PHILOSOPHER: You were so afraid of interpersonal relationships that you came to dislike yourself. 

You’ve avoided interpersonal relationships by disliking yourself. 

These assertions shook the youth to his very core. 

The words had an undeniable truth that seemed to pierce his heart. 

Even so, he had to find a clear rebuttal to the statement that all the problems that people experience are interpersonal relationship problems. Adler was trivialising people’s issues.  
The problems I’m suffering from aren’t so mundane! 

LEIA: 

Luke. 

LUKE: 

Leia. 

REY: 

I'd rather not do this now. 

KYLO REN: 

Yeah, me too. 

REY: 

Why did you hate your father? 

Do you have something, 
a cowl or something you can put on? 

Why did you hate Your Father? 

Give me an honest answer. 

You had a father who loved you, 
he gave a damn about you. 

KYLO REN : 

I didn't hate him. 

REY : 

Then why? 

KYLO REN : 

Why, what? 

Why, what? 

Say it. 

REY : 

Why did you... 

Why did you kill him? 

 I don't understand. 

KYLO REN: 

No? Your parents threw you away like garbage. 

REY: 

They didn't! 

KYLO REN: 

They Did. 

But you can't stop needing them. 

It's your Greatest Weakness. 

Looking for them everywhere.... 
In Han Solo.... now in Skywalker. 

Did he tell you what happened that night? 

REY: 

Yes. 

KYLO REN: 

No. 

He had sensed my power, 

as he senses yours. 

And he feared it.

REY:

Liar. 

KYLO REN: 

Let The Past Die. 

Kill it, if You Have to. 

That's the only way to become 

What You Were Meant to Be. 

REY: 

No! No! 

FEMALE VOICE: 

Rey? 

REY: 

I should have felt trapped or panicked. 

But I didn't. 

This didn't go on forever, 
I knew it was leading somewhere. 

And that, at The End, 
it would show me what I came to see. 

FEMALE VOICE: 

Rey. 

REY: 

Let me see them. 

My parents... please. 

I thought I'd find answers here. 

I was wrong. 

I've never felt so alone 

KYLO REN: 
You're not alone. 

REY: 
Neither are you. 

LUKE: 
Rey? 

REY: 
It isn't too late. 

LUKE: 
Stop! 

REY: 
It is True? 
Did you try to murder him? 

LUKE: 
Leave this island now! 

REY: 
Stop. Stop! 
Did you do it? 
Did you create Kylo Ren? 

Tell Me The Truth. 

LUKE: 

I saw darkness. 
I'd sensed it building in him. 
I'd see it at moments during his training. 

But then I looked inside... 
And it was beyond what I ever imagined. 
Snoke had already turned his heart. 

He would bring destruction, and pain, and death... and The End of Everything I Love 
because of What He Will Become. 

And for the briefest moment of pure instinct... 
I thought I could stop it. 

It passed like a fleeting shadow. 
And I was left with shame... 
and with consequence. 

And the last thing I saw
were the eyes of a frightened boy,
whose Master had failed him. 

Ben, no! 

REY: 
You failed him by thinking his choice was made - 
It wasn't. 

There is still conflict in him. If he turned from the dark side, that could shift the tide. 

This could be how we win. 

LUKE: 

This is not going to go the way you think. 

REY: 
It is. Just now, when we touched hands... I saw his future. 
As solid as I'm seeing you. 
If I go to him, Ben Solo will turn. 

LUKE: 

Rey... don't do this. 

REY: 
Then he is our last hope.

LUKE: 

Master Yoda. 

YODA: 
Young Skywalker. 

LUKE: 
I'm ending all of this. 
The tree, the text, the Jedi. 
I'm going to burn it down. 

YODA: 

Hmm. (laughs) 
Ah, Skywalker, missed you, have I. 

LUKE: 
So it is time for the Jedi Order to end. 

YODA: 
Time it is. 
For you to look at a pile of old books, hmmm? 

LUKE: 
The Sacred Jedi texts! 

YODA: 
Oh. Read them, have you? 

LUKE: 
Well, I... 

YODA: 
Page-turners they were not. 
Yes, yes, yes. 
Wisdom they held, but that library contained nothing that the girl Rey does not already possess. 

Skywalker, still looking to the horizon. 

Never here, now, hmmm? 

(pokes Luke with his walking stick) 

The need in front of your nose. Hmmm? 

LUKE: 

I was weak. Unwise. 

YODA: 

Lost Ben Solo, you did. 

Lose Rey, we must not. 

LUKE: 

I can't be what she needs me to be. 

YODA: 

Heeded my words not, did you? 

Pass on what you have learned. Strength, mastery. 

But weakness, folly, failure, also. 

Yes, failure most of all. 

The Greatest Teacher, Failure is. 

Luke, we are what they grow beyond. 

That is the true burden of all masters.

Well, I was thinking that you drink too much and it was probably gonna Kill You.

Mortal : 

If You were gonna DO something, you shoulda done it when we NEEDED You! 

Where were you THEN? Huh?

God : 

.... 

I Was Dead.

Mortal : 

Yeah, well... 

Maybe so... 

But you still shoulda DONE somethin’!

Oh, I am VERY Real

Oh, I am VERY Real — I’m The Realest Person You’re Ever Gonna Meet.

WORTHY

“I guess I’m just completely riddled with feelings of inferiority.”

PHILOSOPHER: 

I see. Incidentally, Adler is thought to be the first to use the term ‘feeling of inferiority’ in the kind of context in which it is spoken of today. 

YOUTH: 

Huh, I didn’t know that. 

PHILOSOPHER: 

In Adler’s native German, the word is Minderwertigkeitsgefühl, which means a feeling (Gefühl) of having less (minder) worth (Wert). 

So, ‘feeling of inferiority’ is a term that has to do with one’s value judgement of oneself. 

YOUTH: 

Value judgement? 

PHILOSOPHER: 

It’s the feeling that one has no worth, or that one is only worth so much. 

YOUTH: 

Ah, that’s a feeling I know well. 

That’s me in a nutshell. 

Not a day goes by without me tormenting myself that there’s no point in being alive.

“One of the cool things about Thor was the enchantment around Mjolnir and the original inscription on it. 

So I thought, well that means someone else can pick up this hammer and get this power, if they’re worthy! 

So since then, some other big characters, people’s favorites, have picked up the hammer, Captain America, Superman, whoever. 

But at this point, no one had ever picked up the hammer. 

I liked the idea of Cap walking to the bathroom and seeing it, and grabbing and just tugging, not being able to. 

So this had to be someone new. 

This is the most powerful weapon of the Norse gods. 

This hammer is a Killing Weapon. 

It’s used to kill Frost Giants and others. 

So, Superman couldn’t pick it up, cause he’s never going to kill anyone, and the hammer knows that. 

Captain America, he’s too patriotic. 

He’s too much a symbol of America to be chosen by this Norse artifact. 

So he couldn’t get it. 

So I created Bill because he’s noble, 

and he’s designed to kill. 

He’s got a great purpose as a warrior, and also the noble ability. 

That makes him “worthy” whatever that may be.

As far as appearance, back then, comics were these self-contained stories. 

So for Bill, I had to do this in short form. 

This was a four-issue story, and that was my longest on my entire run on Thor. 

We had to take him, make him into a character that the Hammer would recognize. 

So I wanted for Bill, I wanted him to have a “monstrous” look as a visual, so that everyone would think he’s a bad guy, and I got letters after the first issue that said 

“What on earth? Why is this monster picking up the hammer, what’s wrong with you?” 

and I said “I got it!” 

So I basically started with a skull, and then I made him a bit like a horse, with the gap behind the teeth. 

But horses are beautiful creatures. So what I was aiming for is a sense of death, a sense of monster, underlined by beauty. 

His costume was the same so that the minute you see that image, when he strikes the stick and becomes “Beta Ray Thor” or whatever, you know: OK, that guy has the powers of Thor. 

So that’s why Bill had the monstrous face, that’s why that stuff was done the way it was done."

RAGNAROK

Wise men have regarded 

The Earth as A Tragedy, 

A Farce, even An Illusionist's Trick; 

but all, if they are truly wise and not 

merely intellectual rapists, recognise that 

it is certainly some kind of stage 

in which we all play roles, most of us being 

very poorly coached and totally unrehearsed 

before The Curtain rises.

Is it too much if I ask, tentatively, that 

we agree to look upon it as A Circus, 

a touring carnival wandering about The Sun 

for a record season of four billion years 

and producing new monsters and miracles, 

hoaxes and bloody mishaps, wonders and blunders, 

but never quite entertaining The Customers 

well enough to prevent them from leaving, 

one by one, and returning to their homes 

for a long and bored Winter's 

sleep under The Dust?

Then, say, for a while at least, that 

I have found an identity as Ringmaster; 

but that crown sits uneasily 

on my head (if I have a head) and 

I must warn you that the troupe is small 

for a universe this size and 

many of us have to double or triple 

our stints, so you can expect me 

back in many other guises. 

Indeed do many things come to pass.

Time’s Champion : 

The Climax of My Act, Gods of Ragnarok, 

requires something you do not 

possess in great abundance. 

That is, Imagination. 

And it starts, with 

A Piece of Metal. 

This Piece of Metal once belonged, to A Sword, 

and that sword, belonged to A Gladiator. 

(The Doctor throws the piece of metal into the air, 

where it transforms into A Gladius, and then 

A Broadsword drops into His Hand.) 

And that gladiator fought and died 

in this ring to entertain you.

I have fed you enough, Gods of Ragnarok; and 

You found what I have to offer indigestible. 

So, I have taken myself 

off The Menu. 

La comedia e finita. 

DAD: 

We command you. 

MUM: 

You cannot stop. 

Time’s Champion : 

I already have. 

DAD: 

Then you will die. 

Time’s Champion : 

Probably not. 

It's all a matter of Timing, 

don't you know --

(The Doctor points the sword to the ground.)

[Stone chamber]

ACE: 

Oi, sarcophagus face! 

(The Captain turns and Mags kicks the medallion out of his hand and into the well. 

It lands on the sword and the Doctor uses it to reflect the Gods' laser bolts back at them. 

The Eye in the well grows.) 

“If You Behave.”

“POWER! 

It is a Quality that must be CULTIVATED and NURTURED.

It is a reward to be earned through INTELLECT and PATIENCE.

It cannot be gained and held through chance.

In the wrong hands, it will only prove self-destructive.”

— Thanos, The Mad Titan

VULCAN LULLABY

The tale begins with a merchant man 
He sold the finest goods in town 
Accumulating such great wealth 

But Falor knew wealth would not last 
And took his his leave from selling things 
So he began his journey 

Through storms he crossed the Voroth Sea 
To reach the clouded shores of Raal 
Where old T'Para offered truth. 

He traveled through the windswept hills 
And crossed the barren Fire Plains 
To find the silent monks of Kir. 

Falor entered the temple of Kir 
Certain that at last his journey 
Had brought him to this place of peace 

So that his burdens and sorrows 
Could be lifted from his weary mind 
But all that greeted his newfound hope 
Was silence, only silence. 

Still unfulfilled, he journeyed home 
Told stories of the lessons learned 
And gained true wisdom by the giving

It Felt Like a Kiss

He hit me

And it felt like a kiss

He hit me

But it didn't hurt me

He couldn't stand to hear me say

That I'd been with someone new,

And when I told him I had been untrue

He hit me

And it felt like a kiss

He hit me

And I knew he loved me

If he didn't care for me

I could have never made him mad

But he hit me,

And I was glad

Yes, he hit me

And it felt like a kiss

He hit me

And I knew I loved him

And then he took me in his arms

With all the tenderness there is,

And when he kissed me,

He made me his

The DIA destroyed 2.5 TB of data on Able Danger, but that’s OK because it probably wasn’t important.

The SEC destroyed their records on the investigation into the insider trading before the attacks, but that’s OK because destroying the records of the largest investigation in SEC history is just part of routine record keeping.

NIST has classified the data that they used for their model of WTC7’s collapse, but that’s OK because knowing how they made their model of that collapse would “jeopardize public safety“.

The FBI has argued that all material related to their investigation of 9/11 should be kept secret from the public, but that’s OK because the FBI probably has nothing to hide.

This man never existed, nor is anything he had to say worthy of your attention, and if you say otherwise you are a paranoid conspiracy theorist and deserve to be shunned by all of humanity. Likewise him, him, him, and her. (and her and herand him).

Osama Bin Laden lived in a cave fortress in the hills of Afghanistan, but somehow got away. Then he was hiding out in Tora Bora but somehow got away. Then he lived in Abottabad for years, taunting the most comprehensive intelligence dragnet employing the most sophisticated technology in the history of the world for 10 years, releasing video after video with complete impunity (and getting younger and younger as he did so), before finally being found in a daring SEAL team raid which wasn’t recorded on video, in which he didn’t resist or use his wife as a human shield, and in which these crack special forces operatives panicked and killed this unarmed man, supposedly the best source of intelligence about those dastardly terrorists on the planet. Then they dumped his body in the ocean before telling anyone about it. Then a couple dozen of that team’s members died in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan.

This is the story of 9/11, brought to you by the media which told you the hard truths about JFKand incubator babies and mobile production facilities and the rescue of Jessica Lynch.

If you have any questions about this story…you are a batshit, paranoid, tinfoil, dog-abusing baby-hater and will be reviled by everyone. If you love your country and/or freedom, happiness, rainbows, rock and roll, puppy dogs, apple pie and your grandma, you will never ever express doubts about any part of this story to anyone. Ever.

This has been a public service announcement by: the Friends of the FBI, CIA, NSA, DIA, SEC, MSM, White House, NIST, and the 9/11 Commission. Because Ignorance is Strength.

ENDGAME

Chess is a Game of War — and Pawns Linked Together can WIN a Game of Chess :

• In The Opening, We link Together and control the flow of The Board;

• In The Midgame, WE TRADE AWAY THE LEADERSHIP;

• In The Endgame, We Change and Elevate Our Nature to Become The NEW Leadership Cadre.

The Gift of Tears

What Is The “Gift Of Tears”?

Dear Father John, Would you please explain the “gift of tears”? I know some people who say they have the “gift of tears” because they cry at the drop of a hat. But, I have a feeling this is not what the saints and mystics are talking about when they write about this gift. What is it exactly? And, how does one know if someone has it? Thank you. God bless you in your ministry.

The Gift of Tears per se is not mentioned in the Bible, nor in the Catechism. It is a phenomenon mentioned in spiritual writers since very early in the Church, and it refers to an intense personal experience of God that overflows in abundant tears. It is the overflow of a spiritual experience in an emotional/physiological expression that creates deep comfort in one’s soul, and deep encouragement for the person who receives the gift, as well as (sometimes) for others who happen to witness it.

What This Gift Doesn’t Mean
Like all gifts of this sort (generally referred to as “charismatic” gifts, from the Greek, New Testament word for “gift”), it is freely given by the Holy Spirit in accordance with God’s wisdom. It can be given once or multiple times, or it can even recur throughout one’s life, though it certainly doesn’t have to. In itself, it is not an indication that someone has achieved a high level of holiness, nor does it directly create a higher degree of union with God. Rather, it is meant to encourage the person who receives it and those who witness it. In this sense, it can be a powerful stimulant to greater fidelity to God and God’s will in one’s life, a confirmation of good decisions already made, and shield against future temptations. If someone receives this gift, they should accept it gratefully and humbly, but not build their lives around it.

Supernatural vs. Natural Tears
This gift of tears differs from normal tears both in what triggers it (it is triggered by an experience of God, not by natural pain or sorrow or joy, for example), as well as in how it occurs physiologically – generally, these tears are abundant and are not accompanied by the usual kind of sobbing or the distortion of the facial muscles. So you can see that your instinct was right. Someone who has a particularly sensitive nature may often be moved to natural tears by beautiful spiritual realities. This can be a very good thing, but it may not be, strictly speaking, the same as the gift of tears. Likewise, someone may go through periods or moments when their natural sensitivity is heightened (by stress or exhaustion, for instance), and this could make them more susceptible to shed tears in response to normal emotional stimulation – perception of beauty, sorrow at sin, etc. This type of crying can be emotionally renewing and of great benefit for the person (crying releases many hormones and toxins that are known to reduce stress levels), even though it may not, strictly speaking, be the gift of tears.

I hope this helps. God bless you! Fr. John

+

Art for this post on the gift of tears: Las lágrimas de San Pedro (The Tears of Saint Peter), Diego Velázquez (1599-1660), unknown date, PD-US author’s life plus 100 years or less, Wikimedia Commons.

The Richard Burton Diaries

21st August 1969

Yesterday was another terrible day, insulting Elizabeth, drunk, periodically excusing myself rather shabily, and then starting the rough treatment all over again.

Sometimes, I am so much My Father's Son that I give myself the occasional creeps - He had the same gift for damaging with the tongue, he had the same, temporary violence. 

“It’s not my province. 

I give it away.

Give it to My Family.

Or — I Buy Enormous Presents for Elizabeth Taylor. Or Did.

The fact that I have been able to take care of a certain amount of people has given me some pleasure — the fact that I had the power  to do it.