Love is

Love is - Andrew de Vos, age 6

the poet's beginnings...

The Danger of Love



Courtisane au Caire, Edmond Comte De Grimberghe

CLIVE STAPLES LEWIS 

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.

But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become

unbreakable,

impenetrable,

irredeemable.

- The Four Loves

Clive Staples Lewis, commonly known as C. S. Lewis, was a novelist, poet, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian, and Christian apologist. Born in Belfast, Ireland, he held academic positions at both Oxford University, 1925–54, and Cambridge University, 1954–63. He is best known for his fictional work, especially The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Space Trilogy, and for his non-fiction Christian apologetics, such as Mere Christianity, Miracles, and The Problem of Pain.

Philosopher Turns Touchscreen into Well-Oiled Machine

I was scrolling through the Twittersphere late last night (against my better judgment) when I noticed there were more than the usual number of  #inspirational #motivational quotes floating down my glowing screen. I often find these quotes to be mildly annoying or marginally uplifting. Typical click-bait to some hope in a jar that shatters once you discover its GMO ingredients. Ok, I'll admit, that was pretty harsh. Social media does have the potential to elicit positive experiences from time to time. I’m no Luddite and I certainly don’t want all the #blessed chirps to be purged so that all we have left is one rotten egg. Maybe I could (or should) even pay it forward myself and tweet a few inspirational words.

Quotes to live by, I mused (still scrolling, hoping for quick inspiration). Bold. Wise. Nothing. I had nothing.  Bleary and weary I thought I'd had enough of artificial stimulation for the evening. I had no sooner put down my device than what can only be described as an electrifying image sparked my memory. Give 'em Humdinger! I chirped, muffling my excitement with my pillow so I wouldn’t wake up the whole house.

Most of you reading this blog, I imagine, have never heard of the infamous truth-seeker. Well, let’s just say that Hubert Humdinger (pronounced hum-din-jer) has been called one of the world’s greatest philosophers, thinkers, humanitarians, and psychologists.

A motivational voice from the 20^th century for the 21^st century—a gap bridger, mind-bender, no holds barred influencer. Here’s what the sagacious rogue has to say

on Aging:

“Years go by, but I do not believe in time. I walk with ease. My mind does not toil, nor does it wander beyond my conscious control. I eat healthy and light. I sleep like a dog. If I worried about my age, or about time my mind would toil, and that anxiety would seep into my body and disrupt my cells and make more difficult the immaculate lifestyle I’ve upheld for most of my life.”

on Popular Music:

 "It’s all about mental programming. With their digital tools, today’s popular music is what they called in the olden days a ‘witch’s spell.’ As a vigilant citizen, I’ve analyzed the pounding pop songs. It’s about brainwashing. Destroying the individual thoughts of a person and adapting them into a hyper-sexual world. It’s about acclimating young people to self-destructive tendencies, such as violence, drugs, alcohol, and a worshiping of the lower, darker energies. It’s an absorption of one’s identity into a sickened cultural hell pit.” 

on Manhood:

“Make sure you’re not walking with your legs pointed inward! It’s not attractive to females and it won’t give you a sense of being in control. Inward leg walkers look wobbly. Walk with a wide stance." 

___

The challenge, I’m sure, is how to make such sprightly insights Twitter-friendly without losing anything in translation. So while I start trying to sort that out, I’ll leave you with one more memorable quote uttered almost 45 years ago by the veritable ripsnorter. To be continued!

“I’m here to tell you ‘Your innards are pickled and your DNA is frayed. Your blood is syrupy sweet, and your thoughts are too sentimental to produce meaningful understanding of a complex world and your multifaceted existence in it. It’s time to wake up, or it’s time for society to perish.’ ” - Hubert Humdinger Lecture on Being a Jungle Man, 1970

Selected quotes originally published on DearDirtyAmerica.com

Image: Angry Philosopher/A Christmas Gift from Fairy Land, 1838 (Unknown Engraver)