Comments on A wayfarer’s notes: Dwelling in one’s tribe

Thanks for your comments, Ghetufool. It's not so e...

2008-07-04T13:02:00.000+01:00

Thanks for your comments, Ghetufool.

It's not so easy for me to recognize my own clan & I spent most of my life thinking I had none. Now, it is a matter of mutual recognition!

Paul, I'm glad it comes across consistently about ...

2008-07-04T13:00:00.000+01:00

Paul, I'm glad it comes across consistently about the little things being the best. Indeed, small is beautiful, as Fritz Schumacher noted at some length, back in 1973.

BBC: leave Jim alone, he's a sensitive soul, unlik...

2008-07-04T12:58:00.000+01:00

BBC: leave Jim alone, he's a sensitive soul, unlike some. And he knows he talks too much. But thanks for sharing, your visits always appreciated.

Scot, responding to your most recent comment, I'm ...

2008-07-04T12:55:00.000+01:00

Scot, responding to your most recent comment, I'm sure there is more than luck that shapes our ends, rough-hew them as we way. Destiny perhaps!

Dav-vid, I never knew I was in danger of timid inc...

2008-07-04T12:54:00.000+01:00

Dav-vid, I never knew I was in danger of timid incest. I thought my admitted timidity in this area of human conduct would protect me from all possible danger of this minority hobby.

it's no harm if you start identifying yourself wit...

2008-07-03T16:27:00.000+01:00

it's no harm if you start identifying yourself with your clan. in the arrogance of youth many of us try to embrace what is not us. we have this fake belief that we are all cosmopolitan. whereas deep in our mind, we all try to relate to our kin. all we want is to exchange a few local dialect and feel at home.
it's no harm if you get back to your own people. it's no sin if you choose to ignore

Nice to read so much consistent appreciation of th...

2008-07-03T03:43:00.000+01:00

Nice to read so much consistent appreciation of the "little" things in life here...

They're the best.

Vincent, I very much like and agree with your conc...

2008-07-01T06:57:00.000+01:00

Vincent, I very much like and agree with your conclusion about the literary aspect of blogging. It is very much the writing of letter to groups of individuals, it is very personal as it is at the same time literature in the most universal sense.

BTW BBC, Happy Birthday! I like to give presents ...

2008-07-01T06:18:00.000+01:00

BTW BBC, Happy Birthday! I like to give presents when it is my birthday, I will happily accept that as yours to me and am pleased with it. Thanks BBC.

No problem for me BBC, tis often true and should b...

2008-07-01T06:15:00.000+01:00

No problem for me BBC, tis often true and should be said. I know the territory well and never take offense when it is walked, walk on my friend and accept my admiration for your frankness, and my sometimes envy for your drink, lol.

Jim..... You talk too fucking much. LOLHey, give m...

2008-07-01T05:27:00.000+01:00

Jim..... You talk too fucking much.

LOL

Hey, give me a break, it's my birthday and I've had a few beers over my limit. Get the fuck over it.

And if you can't I really don't give a shit because today it's about me and not you.

Oh, wait, it's about me everyday. LOL

Oh fuck it, maybe I should shut the fuck up and go to bed?

Wait, I haven't

Vincentand that was really the question. Luck pla...

2008-06-29T13:54:00.000+01:00

Vincent
and that was really the question. Luck plays a part but is it luck that allows us to think/make decisions--something may shape that but not luck.

"I came to the conclusion that blogging is an epis...

2008-06-29T11:35:00.000+01:00

"I came to the conclusion that blogging is an epistolary form of literature. It is a way of writing regular letters: not to a single named correspondent, but to a group, possibly a named group but more generally the broad group of those who speak the same language and are linked over the World Wide Web: which is potentially the entire world."

Yup, though there is always the danger

Scot, you wrote:"So, if you had the chance to do i...

2008-06-28T06:00:00.000+01:00

Scot, you wrote:

"So, if you had the chance to do it over again..."

Let me seize the chance to respond to your comment over again!

Yes, I am constantly thinking how I would do everything differently, dependent on the chance of course. My childhood didn't exactly have the kind of horrors within it that helped shape the adult Charles Bukowski, but all the same...

Hayden, yes, I think in the world's life as well a...

2008-06-28T05:53:00.000+01:00

Hayden, yes, I think in the world's life as well as the individual's the preponderance of desk-based jobs---with all the unhealthiness involved, psychological dissociation from our true nature being the worst---will one day (I hope soon) be seen as a bad mistake, a blot on our history, just as various events of the "Dark Ages" are viewed with horror.

thanks zacl. I've been thinking a lot about your r...

2008-06-28T05:50:00.000+01:00

thanks zacl. I've been thinking a lot about your remark that blogging is indeed publishing, and how to respond to my literary friend.

I came to the conclusion that blogging is an epistolary form of literature. It is a way of writing regular letters: not to a single named correspondent, but to a group, possibly a named group but more generally the broad group of those who speak the same

Tim, the difference in the Methodists wasn't of co...

2008-06-28T05:40:00.000+01:00

Tim, the difference in the Methodists wasn't of course literally in their speaking, but their earnestness of a particular kind, in particular their leaning towards abstinence from alcohol, and their sense of superiority about it. It was probably I who distanced myself from them, rather than the other way round!

BBC, I admire you for having always recognized a p...

2008-06-28T05:36:00.000+01:00

BBC, I admire you for having always recognized a preference for manual work. My grandmother taught me to read before I was five and from that point on, I took refuge in books, which promised a less disordered world than the one I knew, with its abrupt changes and periodic abandonment.

When I went to the junk yard the other day for car parts, I felt I was one of those oil-stained men who

Jim, you are welcome. I have been waiting for your...

2008-06-28T05:29:00.000+01:00

Jim, you are welcome. I have been waiting for your response in fact. I feel close to your thoughts about bugs and man. I admire the sheer intelligence of such tiny creatures, that lets them survive, sometimes in a world which tries to eliminate them. I watch birds a lot and see how their rivalries are sometimes bitter, sometimes avicidal, if that word could refer to their killing of a fell-bird.

Vincent, this is another of those rich and wealthy...

2008-06-28T03:58:00.000+01:00

Vincent, this is another of those rich and wealthy posts, the true art piece, the microcosm of the macrocosm that you can most often touch thru the personal.

I was outside a short bit earlier in the dusky darkness to smoke, as I turned to come back in the door, in the darkness of the brown wall I spied the vague form of one of those eldertree bugs waiting for me to open the door, this

I've always preferred manual work.

2008-06-26T17:06:00.000+01:00

I've always preferred manual work.

I wonder why it is that Methodists spake such diff...

2008-06-25T22:20:00.000+01:00

I wonder why it is that Methodists spake such differently...

Even so, it seems our lot in life to simply exist where we are and do what we can in ways that we can. It seems you've done that successfully.

You have a fascinating life to write about. You a...

2008-06-25T18:11:00.000+01:00

You have a fascinating life to write about. You also are able to, I am impressed with this post. You are a wordsmith.

Does not your friend realise that writing a blog which is writing in a very public forum is a form of publishing.

You are indelibly on my tabs bar so I can easily visit your blog.

Yes, you and I share a common view of luck. One m...

2008-06-25T15:57:00.000+01:00

Yes, you and I share a common view of luck. One may work fingers to the bone - still luck is the master.

And I do agree about the rewards of labor as well. That is a central conviction that is sending me back to Michigan, where working hard with my hands - gardening, building, caring for animals - will, I believe, be a satisfying way to live.

If I had the chance to do it over again... I take ...

2008-06-25T13:04:00.000+01:00

If I had the chance to do it over again...

I take a rather passive attitude to this, Scot, in the sense that we are shaped by our luck, and whilst we may learn to shape luck to our own ends, the process of that learning has to utilize the luck we received.

And luck has the characteristic of chaos theory: unforeseen divergences and outcomes. If it all happens again, it