PoM 176
“All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.”
Al-anon
This means that all my problems are caused by me…in my relationships with other people.
Yep, that feels pretty much dead on the money.
PoM 177
“It is a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.”
Leviticus 1:9
“The priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering, a pleasing aroma. All the fat is the LORD’s”.
Leviticus 3:16
Cause “Everybody likes a good barbecue…”
PoM 178
I was asked today to write about money:
“Health and youth, honour and the sacred, savage delicacy of still-young flesh, truth of heart, virginity, modesty, those protective garments of the soul, all are put to the vilest of uses in the blind struggle for survival that must encounter, and submit to, every outrage.
Les Miserables
“…for he who is poor has no share of the good things of life. ”
Don Quixote
“ there is a kind of contagion, which, like that of poverty, communicates itself to all who approach it.”
History of Tom Jones
“…they had put all their money into it—and they were working people, poor people, whose money was their strength...the thing by which they lived and for lack of which they died.”
The Jungle
I have great empathy for those in poverty because I have lived in a tent, received welfare, and food stamps.
But…on the other hand:
“Let it be said in passing that the hatred of luxury is not a sensible hatred. It implies a hatred of the arts."
Les Miserables
Only 38% of Americans attend a religious service each week to find God.
After having spent more than half a century as a performer, what I have noticed is that people come see great artists to experience something greater than themselves, and in that sense, they are experiencing God.
While I am not one of those with monstrous artistic talent that people see greatness in, it is impossible to deny the divine sublimity people experience listening to Beethoven, reading Shakespeare, or looking at Michelangelo’s statues.
So, for the 62% of us they do not find organized religion useful, many of us find spiritual consolation and joy, or “re-creation” in art.
To do that…There must be wealth, and generous wealth, at that.
Me?…I serve others and find God, amply and freely, there.
PoM 179
My very first sponcee in the SLAA program was a gay man.
I asked him once about some strange looks I had received from men from time to time.
He explained that that was called “cruising”, an activity that gay men engaged in while looking for potential sexual partners.
As I was running by the San Francisco Bay today a man in his 20s, with a baseball cap, a Starbucks Grande in one hand and a poodle in the other…did that.
Involuntarily, I spoke out what I was thinking and said “What’s wrong with you…I’m gonna be 67 next Wednesday”.
I support L,G,T,B,Q civil rights…but, I don’t like poodles.
PoM 180
Ten signs that you are a food anorexic:
You’re on an Expresso Diet.
All your jeans contain 4% Lycra.
Your wedding dress is made of white Spandex.
You’ve decided you’re going for the “Latin look” cause your butt’s so big.
You weigh and measure your laxatives.
You don’t put on your deodorant before your weigh.
You think that sex is form of exercise.
You believe that orgasm is a secret form of purging you don’t have to tell your sponsor about.
The spiritual high point of your day is a BM…because it’s the body weight low point of your day.
Your favorite gum is Xylitol.