Rick Beato's story

It is his own story in his own words.   The story is how he became the guy in the video that I just put up.

When I was listening to his story, I got the impression that he was "following his bliss".  That phrase of following one's bliss, is something I remember reading about in one of Joseph Campbell's talks with Bill Moyer.  It was turned into a book called the Power of Myth.

So, what does it all mean?  The hell if I know.  Like I wrote yesterday, so much of life is a mystery.  We don't necessarily know the road that we take, or even why.  If you know that you are following your bliss, you know about as much as you may need to know.  That's what I got out of this video.

What makes this song great?

According to  Rick Beato

The song is Whole Lotta Love by the rock band called Led Zepellin.  The song was released in late 1969.  Of course, almost everyone should know about this song, if you are into rock and roll.  No need for further introduction.

As for Rick Beato, he has a lot of videos that I've watched, but this is the first one that I've blogged about.  He is quite knowledgeable, so it is definitely worth watching.  The thing he does is break down the song in all of its elements, and puts it all back together again.  What he does gives you a greater appreciation of what was done to make the song.

I've written this before, so I might as well mention it again.  At one time, I was attempting to learn to play guitar.  One thing that I got out of this video is why you can never get that sound.  The sound came from the studio.  No way that they could reproduce this in a concert hall.  At least, not in all of its intricate detail.  You would need a bunch of people who reproduced all the sound effects, and those people would have to be different from the people who actually did the original recording.

In other words, at lot of this is artificial.  Just my opinion, folks.  No intention to downgrade the song, just that it is what it is.

Roll the bones

Something made me turn my attention to this song once again.  Yes, I've posted a few times about this song by the rock group Rush.

This time, I thought I might dig a little deeper into the song.

It appears to be about atheism.  You can certainly take it that way.  However, you can take it another way as well.

Life is a mystery. "Why does it happen?".  A question that cannot be answered.  "Why are we here?"  Same thing.  You can take the stand based upon faith, which he criticizes.  Or you can take the stand that life is just a random thing with no meaning, nor order.  The author seems to take the latter rather than the former.  If he were to be brutally honest, he cannot answer so convincingly as he seems to here.  How would you know that there's a meaning, or no meaning, simply because you do not understand "why it happens"?  The author recognizes some of his limitations, but then tramples right over his own conclusions by saying that he knows.

May I offer a theory on why he does that?  To sell records!  Nobody wants disorder.  To claim order in the midst of chaos that one claims exists is a contradiction.  Therefore, he takes a stand.  If he were to be honest, he could only express doubt.  But if he did that, he would not sell any of his records.  People like certainty, and hate doubt.  That's my theory, anyhow.

The only advice offered is to get busy.  Life is to be lived, not understood.  The deeper meanings may well be beyond our comprehension.  But that doesn't sell very well.

Here's the lyrics:

Well, you can stake that claim
Good work is the key to good fortune
Winners take that praise
Losers seldom take that blame  [comment:  how true ]
If they don't take that game
And sometimes the winner takes nothing
We draw our own designs
But fortune has to make that frame [comment: best laid plans can go awry]

We go out in the world and take our chances
Fate is just the weight of circumstances
That's the way that Lady Luck dances
Roll the bones 

Why are we here?
Because we're here
Roll the bones [ comment: atheism ]
Why does it happen?
Because it happens
Roll the bones 

Faith is cold as ice
Why are little ones born only to suffer
For the want of immunity 
Or a bowl of rice? [comment: cannot explain the why's of existence]
Well, who would hold a price
On the heads of the innocent children
If there's some immortal power
To control the dice? [comment: doubts that any omnipotent being controls destinies]

We come into the world and take our chances
Fate is just the weight of circumstances
That's the way that lady luck dances
Roll the bones 

Jack, relax
Get busy with the facts
No zodiacs or almanacs
No maniacs in polyester slacks
Just the facts
Gonna kick some Gluteus max
It's a parallax, you dig?
You move around
The small gets big, it's a rig
It's action, reaction
Random interaction
So who's afraid 
Of a little abstraction?
Can't get no satisfaction
From the facts?
You better run, homeboy
A fact's a fact
From Nome to Rome, boy

What's the deal, spin the wheel
If the dice are hot, take a shot
Play your cards, show us what you got
What you're holding
If the cards are cold
Don't go folding
Lady Luck is golden
She favors the bold, that's cold
Stop throwing stones
The night has a thousand saxophones
So get out there and rock
And roll the bones
Get busy

'ol bug eyes

Actually, she sounds like a 12 year old.  Good reason for that, she has the mentality of a 12 year old.

Liberals used to be funny, but the cuteness has worn off.

Ocasio-Cortez slams critics for mocking her voice https://t.co/UrEbIMMdkN via @nypost

— Greg Meadows (@BootsandOilBlog) April 6, 2019

The end of Western Civilization, or the end of an era?

I make a lot of comparisons of America with Rome.  Rome was a republic.  America is still mostly a republic.

As Rome moved forward in time, it became an empire, with an emperor.  Is that in America's future?

It does appear that way.  The trend is toward more and more centralized government dominated by Washington DC.  The federal republic is being slowly degraded over time, as the government in that quasi city-state continues to amass power unto itself.

The framers of the Constitution were right about not trusting politicians.  The checks and balances were written into the document because of this basic distrust.  If "we the people" could trust politicians, then why have any checks and balances at all?

These checks and balances are still there, but there doesn't seem to be the will to use those powers.  If those powers aren't going to be used, then they will be lost.  An end to the Republican era, but what about the civilization that remains?

It seems that the military is still in good shape.  It would be difficult to beat the United States in a war.  Even if that happened, it would be a Pyrrhic Victory.  As long as this holds, and nobody can really win a war, the United States will still exist as an civilization.  But what it will be like is another matter altogether.

Republic or empire?

Obligatory, 4.4.19

One news item that I didn't mention was the political outlook for Trump seems to be getting better all the time.

That might take the edge off the gloom and doom type stuff that I posted yesterday.

But it isn't going to change the fundamental trend unless the Trump presidency can become a movement that spans over time.  If it doesn't, then we'll see a repeat of what happened after Reagan gave way to Bush.  Bush managed to squander the GOP unity and success that followed the Reagan years.  The Democrats were disarray, and were about to sink into oblivion until Bush rescued them.

The news item that I mentioned in the first sentence was that Trump's polling is finally all positive.  What I mean by that is that he strong support v. strong opposition is now in plus territory.  For the first two years, I don't think he has had that good of a Rasmussen poll number.  I checked today's number, and it is back under water at -2.  But that number may be trending up, as yesterday's was plus one.

Quick Review of Why Things Are Falling Apart

Originally posted 2.13.13, updated on,

4.3.19:

A second re-visit of this post.

In contrast with my original optimism, I am getting a bit pessimistic.  What makes me more pessimistic is persistent lack of will in those who say that there are conservative.  The left doesn't seem to lack will.  Indeed, it seems to define them.

It isn't an economic cause.  The economic situation is a symptom, not a cause.  The cause is deeper.  In fact, it could be a lot like the kind of conversation about the cause of the Roman Empire collapse.  Even after all this time, does anyone know for sure why Rome collapsed?

If it is an organic phenomenon, it may well be unavoidable.  Civilizations may roughly follow the same life cycle of an organism.  It is born, it grows and becomes mature, and then it declines and dies.

It then becomes not a matter for optimism, nor pessimism.  It becomes a matter of acceptance and preparation for when it isn't around any longer.

10.16.17:

A re-visit of this post, which is almost five years old.   It impresses me with how good a job I did with the review.  That is to say, after studying the book a bit more closely, I cannot say that my review changes much.

An addition that I want to make with respect to what to do about it:  a lot of this right v. left stuff is what is holding us back.  This is what the powers-that-be use to keep us in check.

The people need to wise up to the political class, and start demanding answers.  But isn't that what this original post said?  Isn't that what the book says ( if you read it)?



the original post follows

For one thing, it is a long title.  I've been referring to this a "the book" in a series of blog posts thus far on this topic.  Just suffice it to say that the book is mostly about why things are falling apart.  The "what to do about it" is but one section out of six.

Most of the book is a hard read for me because I tend to want to remain optimistic about things as they are.  The book's main message flies right into the face of that.  According to this book, things are not going to stay as they are for much longer.

I began with the notion that I agreed that things are falling apart.  The book confirms that and much more- which to my chagrin, is not necessarily what I really wanted to believe.  What I wanted to believe, and still do, despite this book, is that we can work out our problems.  The thing that is missing is the will to do so.

The book isn't really political, but there is some political stuff in it.  Does it tend towards the right or towards the left?  Actually, neither.  However, those on the left may think the book is aimed directly at them.  In a way, it is.  That's because the dominant paradigm today is big government liberalism initiated by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his New Deal.  But it may be noted that a lot of so-called conservative Republicans tend to like their big government too, and are therefore wedded to this paradigm as well.  The book also goes after capitalism, but does not extol socialism nor communism.  To the contrary, it is critical of these systems as well.

 The book's solutions tend in the Club of Rome, Limits to Growth genre.  That won't work with the modern day real conservatives who believe in limited government and economic growth.  I count myself as one of these, but not whole-heartedly so.  I would tend to agree that growth for growth's sake isn't the way to go.  But to eschew all growth and accept sharp limits is not my cup of tea either.

Yet, some of his ideas are plain old common sense, which I've heard is not held in high esteem amongst some on the left or the elite in general.  I agree, they don't seem to have much common sense.  The difference is that they are actually proud of that, which shows all the more how cock-eyed they are.  This book hits them squarely in the groin, but it also hits everybody else squarely in the groin.

He gives short shrift to technological solutions.  He seems to deny that these will prove to be helpful in the long run.  I disagree.  I think there are technologies that could help but are being blocked by the same self-interested elite that he is so often critical of in this book.

On the whole, it is an excellent read.  It will challenge you to the maximum.  If you are one of those people who sneer at common sense or believe in your ideology like it is a religion or something, you will not like this book.  You may even hate it.  But that may be the crux of the problem.  People have to realize that there's a problem here, and denying it won't help us solve it.