Ray Foy's Blog, page 2

A Final Appeal?

…an odious technological tyranny to be established…

08/09/2020 . In May of this year, as the COVID-19 Pandemic Operation was reaching its first highpoint, I ran across this APPEAL FOR THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. It struck me as a remarkable document coming from high-ranking clerics in the Catholic Church. It solidly nails the existence of an insidious global elite agenda behind the current “pandemic.”

The appeal made in this document is noted in its title as being to “Catholics and all people of good will.” Governmental authorities are also noted, however, and so there are two parts to the appeal: the common people are asked to cooperate in support of one another in weathering the crisis, and governments are asked to refrain from using the “pandemic” as an excuse to abuse citizens and abridge their freedoms.

This Appeal Document, presented via a web-page as an electronically signable document, was drawn up by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò. According to Wikipedia , “Carlo Maria Viganò is an archbishop of the Catholic Church who served as the Apostolic Nuncio (Vatican diplomat) to the United States from 19 October 2011 to 12 April 2016…He is best known for his role in the Vatican leaks scandal in 2012 and a 2018 letter in which he accused Pope Francis and other Church leaders of covering up sexual abuse allegations against then-cardinal Theodore McCarrick.”

So the Archbishop is acquainted with conflict and controversy. That would help explain his creating this appeal, which has been endorsed by “…cardinals, bishops and numerous priests…as well as an increasing number of leading personalities of society (doctors, researchers, journalists, professors, lawyers), associations and private citizens.” 

As far as I can tell, the Vatican has no official policy or interpretation for the COVID-19 pandemic (hoax). Their website seems to indicate that they take the pandemic “as advertised.” There also has apparently been some concern among the Church as to whether Pope Francis has himself contracted COVID-19. At this time, the official word is that he has not. All this indicates that Archbishop Vigano is something of an outlier. In my opinion, that’s a good thing.

Early on, the Appeal sums up the problem that surrounds the COVID-19 situation beyond any public health problems:

The facts have shown that, under the pretext of the Covid-19 epidemic, the inalienable rights of citizens have in many cases been violated and their fundamental freedoms, including the exercise of freedom of worship, expression and movement, have been disproportionately and unjustifiably restricted.

While the Appeal does not directly aver that the pandemic is a hoax, it does note the doubt expressed by actual global authorities:

Many authoritative voices in the world of science and medicine confirm that the media’s alarmism about Covid-19 appears to be absolutely unjustified.

The document draws from all this, an ominous conclusion:

The imposition of these illiberal measures is a disturbing prelude to the realization of a world government beyond all control.

The Appeal goes on to condemn social-distancing (”The criminalization of personal and social relationships…”) and even the much ballyhooed (by the mainstream media) vaccine:

Let us also remember, as Pastors, that for Catholics it is morally unacceptable to develop or use vaccines derived from material from aborted fetuses.

The Appeal is crouched in much Catholic language, as you would expect. It notes the Church’s Divine authority to:

...decide autonomously on the celebration of Mass and the Sacraments, just as we claim absolute autonomy in matters falling within our immediate jurisdiction, such as liturgical norms and ways of administering Communion and the Sacraments. The State has no right to interfere, for any reason whatsoever, in the sovereignty of the Church.

Certainly, this applies to all major religions and religious services. 

This document is an appeal to “Catholics and all people of good will” to remember their humanity and to be compassionate to everyone in face of this crisis, whether real or imposed. More than an appeal, it is a plea for mercy to those powers directing this crisis as well as to those reacting to it, whose reactions may even override the controlling dark powers.

Personally, I think the plea/appeal is going to powers that are heartlessly Satanic, and to populations lacking the capacity to see their own danger. Hence, the value of this document is in its statement, by a high-profile voice, of the stakes for the future raised by this existential crisis:

Let us not allow centuries of Christian civilization to be erased under the pretext of a virus, and an odious technological tyranny to be established, in which nameless and faceless people can decide the fate of the world by confining us to a virtual reality.

A technological tyranny, indeed. This crisis is anti-human in nature, promoting the degradation of humans and their subservience to electronic technology. Our futures as free human beings, indeed, our very humanity, is in the balance.

* * *

As I said, this Appeal is a signable document. I am not Catholic (I’m barely Christian), but I did sign it. For me, it is making a statement to the universe of my opposition to the plans of the unspeakable evil driving this COVID-19 crisis. 

The last update on the number of signatories was on May 7th, 2020. It may be that the site administrators are not updating the numbers anymore. The site does note that they stopped publishing the complete list of signatories. At least the site is still up. I can’t imagine it staying up for much longer.

God help us.

Considering Issues in this Time of Chaos

[image error] Thoughts on Ice Age vs Runaway Greenhouse

08/02/2020. I was about to fall back into being erratic with my journal entries. My intent is to produce one every week, but world conditions, particularly those involving the CV19 scamdemic, have kept me down. Journal entries from me during the last couple of weeks would only have been much darker than I want to post, so I didn’t write any. Today, however, I’m feeling inspired by a positive YouTube video from Clif High, and by recent work on my novel.

Now I want to offer something useful to my readers, so today I’m going to give you a few sources you can use to help guide you though this time. I follow a lot of alternate news and commentary websites that I’ve come to trust as providing more truth than mainstream sites about what’s happening. Some you have to dig through to find the nuggets, but it is worth the dig and is my best recommendation.

Also, I’ve been trying to write, determining to finish the novel I started so long ago. It is Power of the Ancients (the working title, anyway) and is a post apocalypse Science Fiction. I have completed drafting the novel and am now looking for a professional manuscript critique for it. If that goes well, I hope to do final revisions and get it published before the end of the year. I am not missing the irony, however, that my post apocalypse novel is being completed as the world enters an apocalyptic time.

My novel posits a collapse of world civilization, with massive loss of live, to a near-stone-age level with pockets of high-tech. The world has also entered a new ice age, due to a particular execution of weather control programs that result in a global superstorm scenario (re: The Day After Tomorrow). I base all this on extrapolating current trends as best I can understand them.

Regarding a coming ice age, it sounds contradictory of the “climate change” or “global warming” meme put out by the mainstream media. It is contradictory. But consider that glacial periods (ice ages) happen at pretty regular intervals, and we are due another. The question is: has human production of greenhouse gasses contravened this natural process to the point of overturning it. Could a runaway greenhouse effect turn Earth into Venus (where surface level temperatures are hot enough to melt lead)? 

There are smart people who aver that humans have NOT introduced greenhouse gasses enough to launch runaway heating. They say the next glacial period still looms in our future. Once such person is Clif High, an economics commentator. He comments on much more than economics and some of his commentary can be pretty fringe and sound weird if you’re not used to such material. In his latest YouTube, though, he outlines his take on the current world crisis and where it is leading. He notes that this crisis is composed of chaos (from the major world paradigm change), a sun disease (CV19), and a time of secrets revealed (i.e., real human history and UFO info and tech). Also, he sees the next ice age happening (though he doesn’t say exactly when) as opposed to the runaway heating. His optimism is in seeing our salvation coming from a momentum of decentralization that counters the central control being imposed on us. 

I have heard that decentralization theme before from noted seer and Nostradamus scholar, John Hogue. He also sees hope for us in decentralization via technology. Hence, humans become very hard for central authorities to control. He also weighs in on the earth heating vs cooling issue. He wrote about that in an appendix in the special edition of his book, Predictions 2015 - 2016 in an appendix entitled, The Fire and Ice Prophecies. This special edition was originally only for donors. The appendix is not in the Amazon edition. I don’t know what its current availability is. You could check Mr. Hogue’s website. He is not as confident of an ice age in our near future as is Mr. High.

I find the discussions from these two men interesting because, while they recognize the peril of the current time exemplified by the CV19 scamdemic, they maintain there is a “way out” for people from the dystopia that is growing steadily around us. And both men glean a lot of their insight from esoteric sources, such as the writings of Nostradamus. If that puts you off, I can only say that both men are also very logical, scientific thinkers. I have found much insight from both of them, though I also don’t agree with them on all points. If you’re interested, check them out yourself.

Another commentator whom I believe has keen insights into this time is former Assistant Housing and Urban Development Secretary, Catherine Austin Fitts. She recently was interviewed on the YouTube channel, Dark Journalist, where she expounded on her take on what’s happening. She doesn’t see the hope of decentralization that Mr. High and Mr. Hogue do. What she offers is a description of the ruling powers that are effecting this plan for our descent into dystopia. I found most interesting in her interview, her thought on the divisions in the ruling powers as being like opposing syndicates within an organized crime superstructure. To me, that jives with what we can observe. The interview is 1.5 hours long, but well worthwhile.

I think the ice age vs runaway greenhouse issue is one worth researching. There is much BS and disinformation surrounding it, but there is a real subject there if you look for it. It is a study I would like to do and report on here, but I don’t see having the time to put into it. I think I shall at least talk about some of the other issues that arise from this dark time and provide you with places to start your own study. And I’ll note where those issues intersect with my novel as I see them.

A Positive Note

Small things, positive to morale, can help.

07/12/2020 . My fight these days is to sustain my morale. I very much want to be positive in my public writing, but it is difficult owing to the darkness steadily engulfing all things. I don’t mean the COVID-19 pandemic, which I believe to be a hoax. I mean the Unspeakable agenda behind it. So as much as I would like to write about inspirational things like writing, hiking and traveling, I can’t do that and ignore what’s happening. But let me make an attempt at some positiveness.

Small things are often positive. Little incidents that reinforce good associations and allow a momentary escape. Something like remembering your favorite things when the dog bites and the bee stings, and such. Recently, my sons came by for a visit and offered some distraction over a car repair. We went to lunch with one of them and enjoyed a meal in an environment that almost felt pre-pandemic. The next day, my wife and I went for burgers on a day awash in sunshine only lightly filtered by chemtrails. For a brief time, life seemed normal. Such positive life-beats are happy notes within a dirge. They are precious and to be savored. 

Even savoring good moments should be done objectively, seeing their context in the wider world lest our bubbles thicken and we are overcome with delusion. I recently read a new ebook written by Dr. Vernon Coleman, a British doctor who regularly comments on YouTube about the current pseudo-pandemic crisis. I much enjoy his commentary because he has a medical background and can state things succinctly with a droll wit. I have posted a review of his book, Coming Apocalypse, which you can read here. 

Perverse Synchronicity

[image error] The world is morphing into a greater dystopia as my post-apocalypse novel is being finished.

07/05/2020 . Somewhere around the sixth grade, I remember reading in class an excerpt from an Isaac Asimov novel. It concerned a man’s journey through a ruined city. The man seemed like an American Indian and the ruins are gradually revealed (to the reader) to be those of modern buildings (circa 1960s). It seems the world had fallen leaving people living in a primitive state and believing that the ruins were built by gods. 

That story greatly impressed me. It led to my love of post apocalypse and dystopian science fiction (Planet of the Apes, Earth II, The Coming of the Horseclans, The Road, 1984, etc). So when I had to come up with a story idea for a novel-writing course, I settled on a post apocalypse along the lines of the Asimov story. Working on it for over ten years, I’m finally nearing its completion. I spent much of that time just learning how to write a novel while dealing with my day job. Hopefully, you’ll soon be able to judge how much I learned. 

My novel ( Power of the Ancients ) envisions the earth of the 24th century as being in the throws of an ice age with humanity reduced to a basically stone age level. There are pockets where ancient technology (21st century technology) is preserved. Factions contend over possessing this preserved tech for the sake of (remaining) world conquest. Our world’s fall came about as the result of a Day After Tomorrow superstorm, deliberately set off with weather control tech by oligarchs who wanted to ride it out and then come out from under their rocks to rule surviving humanity. 

So I’ve written this post-apocalyptic tale being motivated by the belief that Global Civilization will fall and the planet either destroyed or humans will be reduced to a minimal existence. Years of reading about corrupt governments, secretive ruling elites, and the peaking of crude oil resources and most other resources (re: The Limits to Growth), primed me to tell this story. Indeed, the ruling powers executing their endgame for world domination is some perverse synchronicity with my novel coming together at this time. Karma?

I’ve often said my novel is optimistic compared to reality. I’ve created a fallen world that is, nonetheless, akin to Game of Thrones where I fear it will be more like The Road. I’m being thoughtful in my book while trying to write an engaging story. I don’t know if readers will see it. Well, though close, it’s not done yet.

Mandatory Masking

[image error] d. While drinking, eating or smoking;

06/28/2020 . As of last Friday (6/26), the city of Columbia, South Carolina instigated by ordinance (2020-059) the mandatory wearing of masks in public places. Actually, they mandated wearing “facial coverings or masks.” Nothing more is specified regarding the “facial coverings” so I suppose a Lone Ranger mask would satisfy the ordinance. I’ve considered that. I would prefer it to the “surgical” masks most everyone is wearing who believes in the COVID-19 “pandemic.” (I use a lot of quotes because current language use of language in the mainstream media is mostly a political tool with little meaning).

The consequence of noncompliance with the Columbia ordinance is a $25 for individuals. Businesses can be fined $100 per day of violation until they get in line. Uncooperative business owners can have their operating license revoked and basically put out of business. 

The ordinance does contain some exemptions. Basically, you don’t have to wear the face covering if you’re alone or exercising. I noted with interest that they’ll allow you to be bare-faced if you’re “drinking, eating or smoking.” So I considered wandering the booths of the Soda City Market (held Saturdays on the streets of Columbia) puffing on a stogy. That might be an effective method of protest. Protesters could gather at a local cigar shop beforehand to buy their premium protest smokes.

I detest these forced maskings for several reasons. Mostly because I believe the “pandemic” to be a hoax perpetrated for the sake of a long-planned increase of totalitarian rule by the Unspeakable. But even for protection against the seasonal flu, masks are useless. Viruses are too small to be stopped by the surgical masks people are wearing. A respirator would be needed, but even that prophylactic is of doubtful efficacy. For more info, I refer you to this article: Masks Don’t Work: A Review of Science Relevant to COVID-19 Social Policy , that makes the anti-mask argument based on peer-reviewed medical journal articles from recent years.

I live on the outskirts of Columbia and I will stay out of the city until their idiotic ordinance is lifted. I expect many will do the same, but not enough to make a statement. Most people will wander the Saturday market wearing their masks and staying safely within their two-meter bubbles. 

A Writing Challenge in Difficult Times

Or: What’s the point of writing in times like these?

06/21/2020 . I believe these times to be a continuation, and intensification, of the struggle among humans going on for some ten thousand years (since the so-called, “agricultural revolution”). That struggle is between those who get off on telling others what to do, and those that have no such need. That is, between psychopaths and non-psychopaths; between Daniel Quinn’s Takers and Leavers (re: Ishmael ); between Hemmingway’s Fascists and Freedom Fighters (re: For Whom the Bell Tolls ). I like to follow Thomas Merton’s example and call the psychopaths, Takers, and Fascists collectively, The Unspeakable. I believe that this year, 2020, the Unspeakable have launched their endgame via the COVID-19 pandemic hoax. See Peter Koenig’s article on the Global Research website: Coronavirus – The Aftermath. A Coming Mega-Depression… .

The implication of all this is that we are caught up in a struggle as intense, horrific, and consequential as the Spanish Civil War. I expounded on this in my last journal entry (06/07/2020 Truth from a classic book). I’m not advocating violence—that only plays into the Unspeakable’s hands. But I am left with the anxiety of how to deal with it all.

One way of dealing—maybe the most important way—is to not give into fear and depression, and to continue to live. Live as free as possible and pursue human activities in defiance of the Unspeakable. Cultivate and celebrate family, friendship, and the love of unmitigated nature.

For me, working towards these ends means I’ll keep writing. I’ll also support the work of fellow writers through my writers’ group. So I’m launching a long term initiative of working through all the writing exercises in Robert Olmstead’s book: Elements of the Writing Craft . I will do this in the pages of my writer’s group newsletter, Chapter Three . You’ll need to subscribe (it’s free) if you want to follow my effort. You can find more info on this Writing Elements Challenge here.

Truth from a classic book

[image error]Hemingway in Spain 1937 Book Review repost: For Whom the Bell Tolls.

06/07/2020. What’s happening in the world at this time is complex. It is a culmination of momentums that have been progressing for centuries. At it’s root, is the ongoing struggle between that psychopathic portion of humanity that is driven to rule the rest (see Ishmael by Daniel Quinn). Behind that struggle, is something more metaphysical that Thomas Merton called, the Unspeakable. These are heavy subjects and beyond the scope of what I intend with this journal entry. Maybe later.

For now, I’ll just say that this time strikes me as being akin to the early twentieth century when Fascism was spreading across the world, especially in Europe. That Fascism was spearheaded in nations by dictatorial personalities: Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito, and Franco. Extreme nationalism (subordinating the individual to the state) and militarism were also outstanding features. These traits, however, did not define Fascism then, and they still don’t. They are symptoms that can be present outside of a totalitarian regime. Fascism was (and is) a merging of government and corporations. Indeed, it is the domination of government by corporations (where corporations are engines for generating great wealth and their owners are oligarchs). 

Mussolini is said to have said:

Fascism should rightly be called corporatism as it is a merger of state and corporate power.

In the twentieth century, the struggle against Fascism was carried out at a grass roots (or socialistic) level. This came to a head with the Spanish Civil War (1936 - 1936). This war is often referred to in classic films. Usually, the protagonist is noted as having fought in that war and left disillusioned by it (re: Casablanca). What the war was about, is seldom mentioned in any depth.

I didn’t know much about the Spanish Civil War (only that it happened) until I read Hemingway’s classic: For Whom the Bell Tolls. I was impressed with the book and it prompted me to read up on the Spanish Civil War. Hemingway certainly understood what that war was about (as a journalist at the time, he reported on it). He also understood the corporate underpinnings of Fascism and I found that an outstanding feature of his book. 

Back in 2014, I posted a review of For Whom the Bell Tolls on Goodreads. In it, I talk about my revelations about Fascism and the Spanish Civil War that I gleaned from the book. Reading about, and experiencing, current events, I find new relevancy in Hemingway’s work. And so I posted the review on my own website (Arbordin Park Press Ray-Views: For Whom the Bell Tolls ). I hope you can find some insight from it and also be prompted to read the book.

A classic movie was made of For Whom the Bell Tolls starring Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman. I haven’t seen it, though I would like to see how it compares to the book. The greater compare, though, is between the book and current events.

The Locked Down Writer

[image error] The Write By Night writers’ service solicited comments from several of their associates and friends about writing while in the 2020 COVID-19 shut-down. The following was my contribution.




Shut-in by the shut-down. Demanded by executive order and peer pressure, we venture out-of-doors only by absolute necessity, keep several arm’s lengths away from fellow humans, and wear surgical masks lest our breaths prove lethal. Most people seem to see this as sharing the sacrifice for the sake of the common good. Pulling together, they say, we’ll endure until we beat this pandemic and life returns to normal. 

But I don’t see it that way. Life will never return to “normal.”  

Now this is a blog about writing, and so I won’t get into arguments over why I believe this COVID-19 event to be a pseudo-pandemic. I only mention it to offer why I am especially disturbed by what’s happening, over and above the presence of any virus. 

This “pandemic” has been called “9-11 part II.” I believe that is true, and this current distress is an extension of that earlier watershed event. Indeed, this is the slow strangling of human freedom. The total-surveillance, police state envisioned by Mr. Orwell is leaving the shadows. In a bad flu season, it offers us a protective embrace sure to tighten until we suffocate. 

For me, seeing this adds broken morale on top of quarantine, masks, and social distancing. If you want to begin to see why I feel this way, let me point you to this article written by economist and geopolitical analyst, Peter Koenig.

So how, as writers, do we deal with this situation? Stuck in the house (even if working remotely), do we have lots of time to fill, or to kill? Surely, we can work on our novels, critique online, submit short stories, write articles, and such. We could make it into a stay-home writing retreat. Perhaps we can do all that if we’re able to keep our spirits up, look adversity in the face, and write anyway. Maybe even draw inspiration from the event. Maybe we can say, with Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes, “You are here and it is now!” That is, we start from where we are, with what we have, and move forward.

I teeter between that bravado attitude and despair. 

With that preface, I’ll address the Write By Night FIVE QUESTIONS asking how writers are dealing with the COVID-19 lock-down. 


1. What's making you smile/laugh?

I smile in admiration for those persons in my circle of writers who are persevering in their work with determined courage. At the lock-down’s onset, our group immediately began asking how we could continue our critique work online (via Internet). I setup a framework for doing that using Dropbox as a platform. So our work is continuing, though at a reduced level and slower pace. The Dropbox work shows me that our writers, despite challenging conditions, are continuing their projects.

Recognizing the importance of this time (the curse of “interesting times”), some of us have taken to journaling or otherwise writing about it. Dr. Kasie, for instance, aired a segment on her radio program describing the types of stories you find written about COVID-19, especially on the Internet. And Danielle is keeping a VLOG about being shut-in with young children. I am making some notes in a private journal, but until now, haven’t been able to muster the morale to do such work for public consumption.

I am most happy that my own family is together and well. Icing on that cake is my writing family also being healthy and working.


2. What's making you cry (happy and/or sad)?

I have long been heart-broken over the loss of the world I knew as a child. I’m a trailing edge Baby Boomer and I remember truly blue skies and summer days containing a natural vibrancy that inspired the joy of just being alive. Even then, a dystopia crept steadily over the world. It took a great leapt on 9/11/2001, which event took me a few years to appreciate. This current event is an even greater leap in that dark direction.

Realization of this “critical challenge of the hour” (as Thomas Merton described our times) casts a constant shadow in my mind and spirit, infusing my writing with melancholy shades. Ergo, hopeful writing is difficult for me. Even my novel-in-progress is in the post-apocalypse genre (though I’m sure the world I depict is overly optimistic).

3. What's giving you hope, encouragement?

Encouragement comes from feeling safe in the bosom of my family, where we can together endure the storm, at least for now. I thank the spirits that I earned enough over my working life to have retired early when I had to. We can live, and I am able to write.

On the writing side, I have learned enough and progressed enough that I can legitimately see the end of my WIP and anticipate the next ones. That is a reason for personal hope. And little extra projects, like this blog post, also help very much. All this represents the continuance of that self-expression an artist is compelled to make. I see it in my writers’ group. It is a joy in the way that taking a deep, clean breath is a joy.


4. Are you finding new ways to be creative, and/or are the old ways still working?

I can’t say that this lock-down has prompted me to adopt any new or alternate ways to work. After all, I am retired so I’m generally at home, anyway. What’s different is the wider world that throws new boundaries around my writing endeavors.

What’s mostly changed for me is an acceleration of what I’ve tried to do in recent years—that is, learning to write creatively. I’ve learned so much about story craft that I can talk about it and apply principles to my fiction that make it readable. Feedback from my writers group helps much with this. And then there’s the confidence that allows me to, pretty much, sit down at the keyboard and bang out whatever I need to compose. I guess you reach that point through practice in any creative discipline.

Without question, the biggest change in my writing life has been suspending our in-person writers group meetings. As I noted, we’ve moved to online critiques. Some of our writers are very uncomfortable with such Internet-based work, though, and others are too busy working remotely at regular jobs to make use of it. So it’s a reduction in our work, but it is still there. Using a newsletter and “status” emails, I’m trying to keep a thread of communication going. So far, the response has been positive.

5. In what way(s), if at all, will you come out of this thing a changed writer? A changed person?

I am changed from realizing the closer approach of that anti-artistic principle of evil long at work in the world (aka: “the Unspeakable”; re: Thomas Merton ; also James W. Douglass ). It is a difficult thing to see and will affect everything I write from here on, whether I intend it or not. The consequence for my writing impulse is twofold. On the one hand, I feel an outrage that makes me want to write my opposition to the dark forces of totalitarianism, like Victor Laszlo in Casablanca. On the other hand, I’m basically a coward and feel inclined to hunker down within my house arrest and write my passions. Something like Cervantes, perhaps, or maybe E. Dickinson.

Sometimes, I just sit in my stay-home exile on my screened-in back porch on a temperate evening. There, I imagine august literary company. Sitting in the dusk with cigars and whiskey, I discuss drama by lamplight with Mr. Tolkien, Mr. Hilton, Mr. Welles, Mr. Wells, Mr. Orwell, and others. It is a fleeting balm for my soul beyond the reach, or understanding, of the Unspeakable. I suppose most writers have such a snug place in their imaginations. Ultimately, that may be the truest refuge for our sheltering.
———————————————————————--
This essay was first published in five posts on 2020 April 12 and 18 on the Write By Night blog.

On the Beach redux

​The COVID-19 Event and Literary Insight


Several years ago, I came across a reference to the 1957 novel, On the Beach by Nevil Shute. Considering the novel’s premise based on a review, I was so struck by its relevance to current times that I bought the ebook. World events have prompted me to consider its message on many occasions. Lately, I’ve thought much about it. In a nutshell, the story is about people facing approaching death from the aftermath of a nuclear war with no sense as to why the war was even fought. The story is simply told, though powerful in its simplicity. Two movies were made from it.

I think of it now because current conditions feel apocalyptic. Dystopian forces look to be reaching openly into society like roaches leaving their crannies to feed in the light. The roaches are the world’s authority structures. Their food is our life and freedom, taken in the name of protecting us. What they give the survivors is 24X7 surveillance, restrictions on movement, and much fewer options in life.

Those who see it, seem to just sit and watch. Maybe, like the characters in On the Beach, they are trying to make the most of their remaining time. They love those around them and indulge those pursuits that have real meaning. They would rather proclaim their love for beauty, family, friendship, and learning, and die in the indulgence of these, than to give into despair. Such despair is the only offering from those powers who see destroying the world as a reasonable consequence of their desire to be God.

And so I think a reread of On the Beach is in order. There is a strange comfort in such. Like rereading Orwell’s 1984 and observing how eerily it describes modern life. Does such comfort come from knowing the true nature of the killer blow coming at you? Thomas Merton speaks to that in his essay, Letter to an Innocent Bystander found in his book, RAIDS on the Unspeakable. He questions simply by-standing in the face of provocation, saying:

I am no longer certain that it is honorable to stand by as the helpless witness of a cataclysm, with no other hope than to die innocently and by accident, as a non-participant. (Merton)

Anyway, I recommend reading On the Beach and considering its message. How would you react in the face of steadily approaching extinction? Is that what we’re facing now? You can find my review of the novel, here .

This journal entry may seem harsh and too dark in a time when we need to encourage one another. I can get behind encouraging friends and neighbors, but not the offering of pseudo-encouragement wrapped in saccharine delusion. I can’t get through the day that way. My stronger desire is to know the truth.

I mentioned RAIDS on the Unspeakable which is a book written by the Christian scholar and monk, Thomas Merton, in the 1960s. I am reading it now and finding amazing insight in it. Maybe some comfort. I’ll come back to that.

Proceeding...

[image error]Me and Mr. Faulkner It’s been over a year since I last posted an entry in this journal. I apologize for that. Web stats indicate this blog gets checked a good bit, so it seems somebody out there is looking for something from me. 

Honestly, I stopped making entries here when world conditions and events became too bleak in 2018. After a hopeful start for that year, I soon found little to be hopeful about and didn’t want to make just one dark post after another. I did make a post in June about Anthony Bourdain soon after he died. His death moved me, I think, because I took his work as an inspiration of food and travel. Beyond that, I felt overwhelmed.

“So are things better now?” you might ask. At the level of world events and conditions, no. Things are much worse. At the intimate level of family, friends, and personal work, however: yes. There is hope for the individual. Viktor Frankl said a person can at least suffer well. That’s no small thing, but at this point, we can still do more than just that.

I won’t go into politics or philosophy here. I mean for this to be a kinder, gentler restart. So let me just lay out a few points of how I want to proceed, and we’ll see where it takes us (we are traveling together, after all).

In recent months, I’ve put a lot of emphasis on the literary. That comes mostly from my efforts to build up my writers group (after losing members) and from the book reviews I’ve been doing as an exercise for years now. Both efforts have yielded some good results and positive feedback that I’m glad of, and even find surprising. I think, somewhere, I hit a channel to a wider audience that has responded. It seems there are still a lot of people out there who enjoy the stimulation of reading. 

For those literary lovers, I’ll keep posting reviews, centering on the Arbordin Park Press site (Ray-Views). Also, Amazon invited me into their Vines program (to review items in that program; I will concentrate on books). My hope was that they would place soon-to-be-released books in my queue. So far, I’ve only found one I wanted to read and review. It was a YA novel called, Caster. Otherwise, I haven’t seen any books in my Vine queue that appeal to me.

So I’ll keep doing the Ray-Views and post commentary on other literary/entertainment subjects as I come up with them. I also want to include some help for aspiring writers, sharing what I’ve learned. I have started a series of blog posts in that vein and the first has appeared on the South Carolina Writers Association website: The Petigru Review . My intention is to write more such posts.

My local writers group continues to be a big help for me and, I think, for the other writers in it. I want to see it evolve to produce work from the lot of us that people will find interesting and helpful. I see our main vehicle as being our newsletter, Chapter Three , which is a chronicle of our group’s activities.  I would like to grow it into an eclectic sort of compendium of links and articles of commentary, micro-fiction, and such—something a non-member might enjoy reading.

As for this journal, I’ve kept it for years, though erratically. At times, it has gotten quite dark. I want to continue it as a place of personal commentary (for public consumption), though hopefully, I can keep it at some level of inspirational. But whenever there are heavier issues to consider and share, I’ll do it here, if I do it anywhere.

I’m not big into social media, but I do post links on Facebook when I come out with a new review, blog post, or want to share an event. Some people like to follow Facebook, though I find it awkward and too controlled. I’ve discovered Twitter and will post stuff there, as well. Of course, Twitter is a vehicle for much political commentary. It may be where the world’s political discourse happens these days. My tweets will be mostly literary. If you want my views on issues, you’ll more likely find them in this journal.

I welcome comments, but I don’t intend to debate commentors. Debate on the Internet can quickly become contentious gridlock and I don’t want to spend my life on such. I want to help and uplift as much as I can. I won’t promise not to be irreverent in the process, however.

The wider world can be perplexing, inspiring, beautiful, ugly, frightening, and even unspeakably evil. So how can I offer commentary without touching on all of the above? I think I can’t. All I can do is promise to be honest with my readers and share as much inspiration and insight as I am able to muster, and we’ll see where it takes us.