“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

Someone wrote those words a long time ago.  They applied then and today mankind is not so much different, even with the education, technology and middle class life style most are accustomed to as compared with the past.

Religious mumbo jumbo by someone who believes in a big guy sitting on a throne up there?  Or is it the truth?

We are all influenced to some degree by something unseen and has no face for good or for evil.

Is this what this is all about?  During the holocaust, the Germans tattooed all undesirables in concentration camps.  The mentally ill, protestors, criminals, blacks, homosexuals, Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses and yes, insurgents.

We are all numbered at birth now, footprints and fingerprints are taken.  Huge data banks follow us during the course of our lives, capturing all the details for someone to later assess and judge as acceptable or not.  If not, what then?  A life as a footstool for others?  Falling between the cracks of “society”?

Whose side is the judge on?   Is he or she working for the rulers of the darkness of this world?

Yes Virginia, life has its dark side and try as we may to suppress it, it always shows its nasty head when we least expect it.

Is there a better way?

Of course.  The light is waiting to touch us, but we have to be willing to walk away from the shadows of darkness first.  That is sometimes easier said than done.

Driving home yesterday I spotted three service stations with gas prices over $4.20 for regular unleaded.  I suppose they want to invade Iran pretty badly or need the taxes on gas to offset their deficits.

In any case, this is a fast jump.

The higher the gas price, the tighter the brakes on the economy.  They always do this and tell us there is no collusion.

You can fool the people some of the time……

She wanted to see my home, so I took her there.  It happened to be a hotel room I lived in for the better part of a year.  “You’re a loser.”  Her contempt was obvious.  That was twenty some odd years ago.

Today, if I was looking at myself from some middle class throne, I would have to agree, I am a loser.

I loved and lost, more than once.  I had and lost, more than once.  I came into this world naked and will be making my exit the same way and won’t be leaving anything behind.

But I have loved and love still.

I usually wake up in a good mood and when I see people I generally smile and say “Hi, how are you today” and sometimes follow through with “Top of the mornin’ to ya.”

If that is being a loser, I guess losing is winning. 

Meanwhile that good looking female exec who decided I was beneath her will probably find me on top today, poor but flying.

So I talked to God, not with my mouth, with my mind and heart.  God can read minds and hearts.  God doesn’t need to hear words spoken.

I was having a problem there was no easy solution to.  I could formulate a solution in my mind, but all the alternatives did not coincide with what my heart told me, so there was a conflict and neither side was giving in or winning, leaving the rest of me in a limbo state of depression.

I always try and be honest when I talk to God as there is no point lying to an entity that knows all.  Lying is an exercise in futility when talking to God, for it affects self in a negative way.

Did I get an answer?  Not in a communicative way, but I felt better after my one way conversation and things looked up today.  That is all I know.

Its obvious what is going down, no different than Iraq, another preemptive strike to nowhere.

What are we going to do with all the Iranians in North America who have family in Iran?  Put them into camps?

I am not so sure that Iran will be as easy to push over as the last 2.5 or more countries.  Methinks, we may be in for a little surprise.  Someone told me one time to never underestinate your adversary.  We have been deluged with propaganda that we are superior in warfare as we have the mostest of the bestest.

We really do not know anything until it is proved.  Preemptive is not now or ever the way, because once a blow has fallen in the name of preemptive, one will never truly know if the other side was really going to do what our leaders would have us believe.

We know from writings and other archeological findings that people from thousands of years ago were no fools and were capable of love and compassion.  Something happened, they are no longer and humanity had to start over again without the benefit of the advances gained in an earlier period.

Now I see smoke signals.  The kind the natives used to make and use to communicate.

I am thinking if we do not come to grips with the worlds problems, most caused by and affecting the human species, and agree to some kind of remedy which makes sense possibly another great age will disappear into this world’s history.

The smoke is the speed of technological development for good and bad, the fact that the middle class is slowly eroding as many have skills which are no longer required.  Man has also diverted major waterways, created pollution and urbanized wide swaths of arable land.  The smoke tells me this may all be coming to a head along with the polarization of people’s views, leading to an inability to come up with solutions.

And there we go, watching the smoke and not doing anything.

The banjo has gone from Africa to American bluegrass, from ragtime jazz, to fusion.  I enjoy hearing the banjo sound being played in innovative ways.

And stuff you never seemed to pay attention to, do matter more to you than you thought?

I’m getting that way.  There are more “It doesn’t matter anymore” items in my life than I can remember and those things that do matter seems to be shrinking.