Yesterday was quiet for me, as I spent most of the day indoor and relaxing. In my diary though I forgot to mention that I joined my old colleagues for our Monday breakfast, where they gently hinted that I could come more often! This I may do, because our abilities are becoming less and we should celebrate that which is still possible. Sober thoughts these, but not without cause.

This aft I’ll visit Juliet again, since Herman’s Quimby course on Wednesday evenings is now finished. Last week Juliet had not met at my request as I was preparing for my talk. Yet, as Fortuna would have it, I did meet with Shirley at 6:30 pm that day.

I’d promised to join her to see Christopher Plummer in his latest movie, where he plays finding an aging old former Nazi camp war criminal. In the movie Plummer himself is an old man as well, which he does not have to act.

However, the show’s images kept skipping out as the sound continued. After about an hour in the scene where Plummer shoots and kills a dog and then its owner in his pursuit of the wanted man, the movie display packed it in all together. We got our compensation, but not the show, which was in its last day running.

For me it-this fore-shortened show-illustrates that the pursuit of vengeance is a dead end.

I thought about this whole series of events and asked myself: “What is the message here?”, as I combined the movies theme of vengeance with its stopping short at the scene in which Plummer kills the wrong man. For me it illustrates that the pursuit of vengeance is a dead end.

It should be replaced by forgiveness as time moves on, as we all learn that life’s course and current often place us in situations that are not of our personal making. It is better to forgive than to seek retribution, which empties out one’s further life. You make yourself a prisoner of the past with all this pursuing of vengeance disguised as justice. That was the message I got from this disrupted show.

A word on Deash. Deash is the latest designation for ISIL, ISIS or IS or in full: ‘The Islamic State of Syria and the Levant.’ Deash is a short for a long Arabic designation of ISIS which as a sound means ‘The Disrupters’. This, because the Arab states do not want to give the power to their enemy that is implied by the ambitious name they chose for themselves.

So, why would I write about this? It is that I am reminded of J.B Peterson’s “Maps of Meaning”, which I read in late 2007. Its subtitle ‘The Architecture of Belief’ was probably the author’s preferred title and at any rate, makes clear what the book is about.

When I ask myself, what it is that the Arab states feel is being disrupted, I recall Peterson’s description of the ‘Old King’ who attempts to ward off unavoidable change and fails. See “The Great Father” pp. 187 and 213, where the ‘territory’ of the tyrannical father is explored.

In this manner tyrannical power seals its own fate, since it so pre-empts its own ability to adapt.

My own view is that ‘power must serve’, but that with time it tends to serve only itself under the genuine conviction that is knows better than any other. This is self serving, but it views it as benefiting all, since it sees itself as omniscient. In this manner tyrannical power seals its own fate, since it so pre-empts its own ability to adapt.

I think it is clear from current history - last one hundred years or so - that ‘The Disrupters’ are indeed banging on the gates of the century old kingdoms in the Middle East. They have made some changes, but have not adapted to meet the expectations of their emancipated populations by relinquishing sufficient power in a meaningful way. So, the banging will become louder, more forceful and prove irresistible…!
<9:07am~