All posts by LRS

ART, FREE ADVICE, INSIDE THE BOOK, READING MATTER

DOUBLETHINK

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DOUBLETHINK — “To know and to not know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy is impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy. To forget, whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again, and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself.”

~ George Orwell, from the book 1984

...and other stuff, FREE ADVICE, INSIDE THE BOOK, LIVES, READING MATTER, SHERLOCK HOLMES, SHERLOCK HOLMES: MY LIFE, UNIVERSES

PARASITICAL INSANITY

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“Count Dracula, and his kindred spirits, may be considered to be “evil” from the point of view of mankind.  However, apart from the prejudice of the human victims who do not desire to serve as food for others who drink their blood, the vampire can not be considered to be anything other than an immortal spiritual being, attempting to persist and survive in a quasi-corporeal form.

I esteem that there is only one principle difference between a human being who eats a roasted chicken or pork or beef, and a vampire who drinks the living blood of a human being.  That is, that the vampire, by consuming the living blood, derives a more sustainable form of energy than the man who eats the dead flesh of an animal.

The man who eats dead meat lives 65 years, his own spirit is confined inside a fragile piece of flesh, with little or no self-awareness regarding his potential capabilities as a spiritual entity. Whereas, the vampire, consuming only the living blood of its victim, maintains an extreme spiritual power and ability, as well as physical strength and longevity which borders upon immortality!

Who is to say which condition is more or less desirable? There seems to me to be absolutely no limit to the inanity and credulity of the human race. Homo Sapiens! Homo idioticus!

Yet, it is entirely understandable that men do not trouble themselves with grotesque speculations as to the nature of life beyond the grave.  They have enough to do in this world. Life is a beautiful thing. The man who appreciates its beauties enjoys a sufficient understanding of life without dabbling in religions or spiritualism.

Religion is a fraud which have been exposed a hundred times and yet priests continue to find fresh crowds of foolish devotees whose insane credulity and superstitious prejudice make them impervious to all rational arguments.  One can only leave them to seek destinations of their singular Fates, which they have been predetermined for them.

Unless we practice eternal vigilance against these vampires, we will continue to be afflicted and effected by the contagion of their parasitical insanity.  The vitality of every civilization which has crumbled into disrepair and dust was drained of life by these diabolical beings!”

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— Excerpt from SHERLOCK HOLMES: MY LIFE, by Lawrence R. Spencer

 

...and other stuff, LIVES, UNIVERSES

REMEMBERING POMPEII

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When I stop to think about it, I remember the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD like it was yesterday. I was a slave, working in a vineyard in the farmland on the outskirts of the city under the shadow of the mountain.  The soil was some of the most fertile anywhere in the world, thanks to the accumulation of volcanic soil there over the centuries and the weather was ideal for growing grapes.  The city was wealthy, to the point of decadence.  The architecture of the town and the scenery in countryside were idyllic.  It was very much like Napa Valley today.  When the eruption starting in the morning I stole a horse and road as fast as I could toward the villa that housed the owners of the land and winery.  My mother and sister were there, working in the villa as servants.  Although the horse was fast, we were overtaken by a blast from the volcano while on the way and were both suffocated by the noxious fumes and ash.  I never made it back to the villa.  The last think I remember was my grief — not over the loss of my own life, but at not being able to warn my loved ones of the danger.  Do you remember where you were and what you were doing on August 24, 79 AD?  You might, if you try.