Lawrence R. Spencer's Blog, page 112

THE DIOGENES CLUB

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

“Watson and I gathered our things and a five p.m. set out in a hansom cab from Baker Street to arrive at the one place at which I was certain to locate my brother in the early evening each day: The Diogenes Club.

“There are many men in London, you know, who, some from shyness, some from misanthropy, have no wish for the company of their fellows. Yet they are not averse to comfortable chairs and the latest periodicals. It is for the convenience of these that the Diogenes Club was started, and it now contains the most unsociable and unclubable men in town.

No member is permitted to take the least notice of any other one. Save in the Stranger’s Room, no talking is, under any circumstances, allowed, and three offenses, if brought to the notice of the committee, render the talker liable to expulsion. My brother was one of the founders, and I have myself found it a very soothing atmosphere.”, I informed Watson as we jostled our way through the streets of London in the cab.

This very exclusive men’s club was named after Diogenes, the Cynic. He made a virtue of extreme poverty, begging for a living and sleeping in a large tub in the marketplace. He was notorious for his provocative behavior and philosophical stunts. He carried a lamp in the daytime, claiming to be looking for an honest man. He regularly antagonized Plato, disputing his interpretation of Socrates and sabotaging his lectures. After being captured by pirates and sold into slavery, Diogenes eventually settled in Corinth, where he was befriended by Alexander The Great.

Fundamentally he was a Western contemporary of the ancient Indian ascetics who abstained from worldly possessions and comfort in favor of poverty as an aid toward spiritual purity. He believed that virtue was better revealed in action and not theory. His life was a relentless campaign to debunk the social values and institutions of what he saw as a corrupt society”, I explained to Watson, having read several treatises concerning the life of Diogenes written by modern day Cynics.

Alexander the Great went to meet Diogenes because he was impressed that the philosopher was so highly admired despite having neither money nor power. However, while Diogenes was relaxing in the sunlight one morning, Alexander, thrilled to meet the famous philosopher, asked if there was any favor he might do for him. Diogenes replied, “Yes. Stand out of my sunlight.”

Alexander declared, “If I were not Alexander, then I should wish to be Diogenes”, I said anecdotally, as Watson absorbed my diatribe, as well as the scenery passing by the window of our hansom.

The Diogenes Club was apparently founded, in part, as a front for the SIS, which, as you may know, is the supreme and indispensable brain-trust behind the British government. This organization secures government secrets and advises the best course of covert action to enable Britain to intervene in the affairs of other nations without detection.”

~ excerpt from the book SHERLOCK HOLMES: MY LIFE, by Lawrence R. Spencer

______________________________

Diogenes of Sinope was a Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynic philosophyhe was born in modern-day Sinop, Turkey, an Ionian colony on the Black Sea, in 412 or 404 BC and died at Corinth in 323 BC.

— https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes_of_Sinope

THE HUMAN RACE

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The Human Race: I’m too busy being someone to be me

HYDRO THERAPY

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Running water in the Mountains is Soothing, Serene and  Hydro Therapeutic….. aaahhhhh….. 

( animated GIFs from Marinus, creator of the Blog, “Head Like An Orange” )

LIE TO ME

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

You got to lie to me…. If you don’t, then nothing moves on. This universe is built of lies. Think about it: if everybody always told the exact, whole, unaltered truth about every detail of their thoughts and actions we would all die an agonizing death of excruciating boredom!  Don’t take my word for it.  Try it.  Tell everyone the exact, unaltered truth about what you really think and what you really do all the time. Do it for 3 days. Even 24 hours.  Or, how about 20 minutes?  I dare you! Send me an e-mail and tell me what happened.  lrs@lawrencerspencer.com

Meanwhile, watch this Tom Waits video of his song title “LIE TO ME”:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3KnCL0S_Ws&feature=share&list=AL94UKMTqg-9BDxNZOybRbK_np1W_t39Ml

NEW AUDIO BOOK! Pan – God of The Woods

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN TO THIS AUDIO BOOK  FREE ! READER COMMENTS —

“Love; the best word to describe my feelings towards this book. It had so many different things in it, real history, science, poetry, fiction, nonfiction, it really kept your attention. To me this book was a real thinker no matter how “fiction” it is. A lot of my real life beliefs were in this book and it honestly hit my heart. Obviously it was fictional with story line and some characters and even if you aren’t into any religion at all it is still an extremely interesting book to pick up.

Honestly I can say I think this is the most original book I have ever read. If you know me you will know I am partial to Pan, and nature, etc but taking that aside it really was original even if I wasn’t interested in this topics. Never before have I seen such an amazing and interesting mix of ideas, writing styles, etc in a book. The only reason  I love the ending and the part where Pan speaks to you. I planted a tree last year and don’t know I can every year but would love too if possible. Amazing story.”

“This book was one of the most original and creative books I have ever read! I absolutely loved it and would recommend it to any one who is up for a good read.““I would never have imagined that anyone would be brave enough (or perhaps stupid enough) to write a book about being a God. Yet, this book pulls it off — with uncanny understanding, humility and humor. This is truly one of the most unique, exhilarating, provocative and spiritually uplifting books I have every read! The author’s descriptions make the “out-of-body experience” seem normal and commonplace. After reading this book, I feel like I can actually do it myself! I am very grateful to the author for this book. It has changed my whole view of life…and life after death.”

 

SURVIVORS OF THE ALIEN INVASION

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Are you afraid that an “Alien Invasion” might wipe out the human race?  Are you concerned about Armageddon?  Are you afraid that looming signs of the “End of Days” are all around you?  Do you think the NWO may be planning your extermination to reduce population?  Well, meet some people whose ancestors already experienced it.  There are a few of them still living among us.

 Learn more about the culture and history of the original citizens of the American Continents, before they were hunted almost into extinction by the Caucasian European Invasion.  Before Columbus, The Spanish Conquistadors, The Pilgrims and the hordes of ignorant, filthy, greedy Caucasian European Invaders migrated in their blood-thirsty millions to the Americas there were estimated to be 100 Million people already living here.  Caucasian Europeans systematically set about slaughtering every man, woman, child on the entire continent with guns, fire and blankets infested with small pox.

Visit the wonderful website below to experience some of the majesty, dignity, beauty and pain of those indigenous people.

http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Pictures/American-Indians-00.html

VISIT TO PICASSO

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

I own a video cassette copy of a film (The Mystery of Picasso) showing Pablo Picasso painting on a plate of glass, filmed from the opposite side.  As an oil painter myself, I found it utterly mesmerizing!  I was delighted when I found an earlier film on YouTube (in 2 parts below) showing similar footage of Picasso at work in his studio sixty-three year ago, in 1949.  (This film is nearly as old as I am!)

Visit to Picasso is a Belgian documentary film from 1949 directed by Belgian filmmaker Paul Haesaerts. In an effort to capture the nature of Picasso’s creative process, Paul Haesaerts asked the Spanish painter to apply his magical brushstrokes to large glass plates as Haesaerts filmed from the other side. This actually predates the more famous art film The Mystery of Picasso (1956) by Henri-Georges Clouzot in which Picasso also paints to large transparent canvases as the director films from the other side. The filming took place in Picasso’s studio in Vallauris. In 1951 Visit to Picasso was nominated for best documentary by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).  Even if you are not an artist or art connoisseur, you may appreciate this film.

Vivre la vie avec un esprit de l’art de!

A POSITIVE RESULT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The National Child Labor Committee, an organization dedicated to the abolition of all child labor, was formed in 1904. By publishing information on the lives and working conditions of young workers, it helped to mobilize popular support for state-level child labor laws. These laws were often paired with compulsory education laws which were designed to keep children in school and out of the paid labor market until a specified age (usually 12, 14, or 16 years.)ti

In 1914 the Arkansas state Federation of Labor placed a child welfare initiative on the ballot prohibiting child labor, which the voters passed.

In 1916, the NCLC and the National Consumers League successfully pressured the US Congress to pass the Keating-Owen Act, the first federal child labor law. However, the US Supreme Courtstruck down the law two years later in Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918), declaring that the law violated a child’s right to contract his or her own labor. In 1924, Congress attempted to pass aconstitutional amendment that would authorize a national child labor law. This measure was blocked, and the bill was eventually dropped.

It took the Great Depression to end child labor nationwide; adults had become so desperate for jobs that they would work for the same wage as children. In 1938, President Franklin D. Rooseveltsigned the Fair Labor Standards Act, which, among other things, placed limits on many forms of child labor.

EARTH: FROM THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

This truly marvelous film gives us, the inhabitants of one tiny planet, lost among a nearly infinite number of planets in this physical universe, an extraordinary view of Earth from the outside looking in!  The basis of all of human stupidity and superstition revolves around the idea that WE ARE THE CENTER of the universe!  When we watch this simple film of the Earth from the OUTSIDE looking down, how can our myopic delusions of grandeur not be expelled once and for all?  It becomes immediately obvious that we, as physical universe organisms, inhabiting a blue speck of dust in space, are simply an infinitesimally, microscopically tiny organism in the macrocosm of the space, time, energy and matter of the physical universe!  In fact, there are a trillion, trillion planets floating within a billion, billion galaxies that are no less significant that Earth!

Yet, you and I, as Immortal Spiritual Beings, are, collectively, The Creators of it ALL!  The simple, obvious proof of this assertion is this:  If YOU can perceive it, YOU are creating it!

Time-Lapse | Earth from Bruce W. Berry Jr on Vimeo.

Photo Manipulation Throughout History: A Timeline | Ethics in Photo Editing

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The history of doctoring photographs dates back to the 1860s, only a few decades after Niepce created the first photograph in 1814, photographs were already being manipulated. The nearly iconic portrait of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is a composite of Lincoln’s head and the Southern politician John Calhoun’s body.

Source: Photo Manipulation Throughout History: A Timeline | Ethics in Photo Editing