Hear Jim’s 4-minute podcast on youtube:https://youtu.be/Q3ld67RV7aw

or read the transcript below…

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Life, actually…

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THE IMPORTANCE OF TURNING ORDER INTO CHAOS AND CHAOS INTO ORDER

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I’m about to wax philosophic right now, so you may wish to duck and run.

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If you are feeling adventuresome, you can stay around for a couple of minutes and hear me out. Either way, my condolences to your state of mind.

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Here goes.

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Maybe I’m living too long, but I still enjoy the journey so much that I keep hanging on. After all, I long to see how you and yours turn out, in the scheme of things.

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I know too much already about the things I do not want to know too much about, and I will never know enough about the things I really want to know everything about.

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In order to maintain any kind of positive attitude about living and loving and laughing, I have to be flexible. Sometimes I have to be wishy, other times I must be washy. I notice that if I decide Life is just one single one-way journey upon a smooth and shiny track, I am bound to be brought up short and chastised by the Cosmos. Sometimes, one track serves me well, other times I have to switch to another track to avoid mayhem.

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I know now that I never know the right way all the time, no matter how hard I wish, no matter how hard I push.

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The above chaotic rendering of bumper-car thoughts is obviously one of the reasons that GOIN’ FISHING was invented, the reason taking a long walk became fashionable, the reason that karate classes and meditation groups and garden clubs and horse breeding exist, the reason playgrounds have slides and monkey bars. All these things and all things similar to these things are mandatory in order to momentarily distract us from the chore of contemplating the uncontemplatable Universe. The more contemplating, the more confusion…the more Facing Reality, the more sleeplessness.

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Quick, take me out to the ballgame before I scramble my brain.

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Since the Cosmos has no sense of humor, you and I have to maintain our bemusements. Our amusements. Our bouts of unrestrained laughter. Laughter at the senselessness of things. Laughter at our conceits and struts and fantasies.

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Laugh and the world will or will not laugh with you. Regardless, the laughter must be revived every Monday morning, just to produce the energy required to face down the obstacles. A good laugh breaks the pattern for a split second. A good laugh helps me re-boot my attitude. A good laugh at its best breeds yet another good laugh, and another.

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This is great for indigestion, this burst of laughter. It is also a very human way to deal gently with the concerns of our companions—the people we are on earth to help and encourage and nurture.

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If I can put aside my concerns over things I cannot alter, then I can concentrate on offering a helping hand to my fellow travelers as we figure out how to get through the week in one peaceful piece.

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You can breathe now. At ease! Please proceed with your daily journey. May you love long, live long, laugh long

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© 2024 A.D. by Jim Reed