My Sunday Thought for 101517: What It Ain't It Ain't

Reality is what it is, and what it ain't, it ain't.

Sometimes, what it is it ain't, and what it ain't, well... it is.

Other times it is nothing, and then it ain't nothing.

But, if it is nothing, it ain't, and if it ain't nothing, it is.

Acknowledging nothing gives nothing existence;

Therefore, whether it is or it ain't, it must be,

Because even nothing that ain't, already is.

-- Tony Villari

Is this to be yet another esoteric discussion of the obvious?  For some, perhaps, for others may be providing a little food for thought, a crumb of reality, or ply a warning for lemmings trying to keep up with their mindless mentors while holding onto the paper cup of cyanide-laced fruit punch as they race toward the abyss while chanting, "The end is nigh!"  Most of us will go through our daily lives seeing nothing on the road ahead for us.  They miss the very obvious fact that... there is a road.

I have hitchhiked along roads which seem endless, and hills in the distance which take forever to get closer; the heat, the dust, and flies for traveling companions.  Where most might look around and see a barren desert, I would find the odd flower in a crack between two rocks with no visible soil or water, just unbearable heat, and yet it thrives.  Where many see nothing, I try to find something, if only a lesson.  What it is it is, you simply have to look for what your mind refuses to understand in order to see what it ain't.

“Even so, I’m somebody.

I’m the Discoverer of Nature.

I’m the Argonaut of true sensations.

I bring a new Universe to the Universe

Because I bring the Universe to itself.”

-- Alberto Caeiro (1889-1915), poet

"Nothing" is like time, a failed human construct to explain something we don't understand.  Time only exists because we sense the passing of it, and as for nothing, it exists because we sense the emptiness which it consists of.  What we don't understand, or comprehend, we find hard to see and acknowledge, but we will take the effort to name it just so we can go about trying to explain it.  All we sense about us is what it is; we simply have to understand that which we sense in order to comprehend what it ain't.  If we can comprehend why it is, we can better recognize whatever it is because of why it is.

It is what we make of it, whatever it is, but if it is what we make of it then it was, potentially, always there to begin with.  Like an artist, we bring out of the medium what was always within it.  A bomb must explode for it to reach actualization, to be all that it can be.

“Don't go on discussing what a good person should be. Just be one.”

-- Marcus Aurelius (121 - 180), Roman emperor, stoic philosopher

To what end is an esoteric discussion of the obvious?  It is, after all, obvious!  One can discuss the obvious ad nauseam, but to what end?  To argue about the obvious would be like two jackasses supporting each other's arguments against each other. Sometimes it seems we argue simply for the sake of argument, though it benefits no one and proves no point, kind of like the U.S. Congress.  We create our own problems because we refuse to recognize that which confronts us and. good or bad, we seem hell-bent on defeating it just to make some insane point.  

“If I'm not me, who am I. And If I'm somebody else, why do I look like me?”

-- Popeye the Sailor Man

More than any lesson we should learn in life is being true to one's self.  If you're an honest man, be honest, and if you're an ass, be the best ass you can be; there is much to be said for a sense of character, good or bad, as long as your character is strong enough to own itself.  The bad character reminds me of a story told by Elie Wiesel in his book, Night, about his time in the Nazi concentration camp.  Upon telling one of the patients in the camp clinic that he had heard the battle was getting closer and they would soon be free, the patient brings Elie back to earth by stating the more probable outcome, "I have more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He alone has kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people."  Hitler and his minions were insane, yet the Jewish people knew exactly where they stood, the remaining prisoners would be executed before the camp was abandoned and, as it turned out, this was, in fact, the plan.  

It always amazed me, with the prisoner's own acknowledgment of what had gone before, as well as the inevitable outcome promised for all remaining Jewish prisoners, that they didn't constantly rebel, from the beginning, against their captors, until not one Jew was left alive for slave labor.  As it turned out, the Allies were soon to push all Nazis into rapid retreat and defeat, and the liberation of the camps was, indeed, at hand.  The evil character of Hitler and his Nazis could not stand up to the righteous character of the Allied forces.  Be true to yourself, above all else, and you will have no problem being true to your family, your country, your comrades and, as with the Jewish prisoners, to your faith in God.  You will probably find in this an even simpler truth - it is what it is.

I yam what I yam and I yam what I yam that I yam

And I got a lotta muscle and I only gots one eye

And I'll never hurt nobodys and I'll never tell a lie

Top to me bottom and me bottom to me top

That's the way it is 'till the day I drop, what I am?

I yam what I yam.

-- Popeye the Sailor Man

Editor's Note 

(Re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card) 

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider another viewpoint.

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and while engaging in peaceful, constructive discussion in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth. After over twenty years with military intelligence, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we learn from the experience, and what we do afterward.

Pastor Tony spent 23 years with United States Air Force Intelligence as a planner, analyst, briefer, instructor, and senior manager. He spent 17 years, following his service career, working with an Institutional Review Board helping to protect the rights of human subjects in pharmaceutical research. Ordained 1n 2013 as an "interfaith" minister, he founded the Congregation for Religious Tolerance in response to intolerance shown by Christians toward peaceful Islam. As the weapon for his war on intolerance he chose the pen, to wage his "battle" in the guise of the Congregation's official online blog, The Path, of which he is both author and editor. "The Path" offers a vehicle for commentary and guidance concerning one's own personal, spiritual, path toward peace and the final destination for us all. He currently resides in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he volunteers as Chaplain Program Liaison, at a regional medical center.