The Fugitive

FW: Please send back, it's hilarious!!!!!

2010-07-25T02:32:00.001-07:00

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From: Mike Boland [mailto:mikedboland@talktalk.net]
Sent: 24 July 2010 10:05
To: Perry Estelle
Subject: Fw: Please send back, it's hilarious!!!!!

----- Original Message -----

From: Brian Philipps

To: annette Bridgett ; Arthur Osborne ; Barry Jenkinson ; barry wainwright ; barry wainwright ; Becky sims ; derek smith ; deryck charnock ; fred wickert ; jaallenzz@hotmail.com ; Jim Rogers ; marcia philipps ; Mike Boland ; R Harrison Marshall ; scotty flink

Sent: Saturday, July 24, 2010 9:01 AM

Subject: FW: Please send back, it's hilarious!!!!!

Brian

For you my friends

Hopefully it will work!



Please send back. ( I did ) It's neat. Don't delete this one, you'll laugh when you see the return message.

I would never trade my amazing friends, my  wonderful life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly.  As I've aged, I've become kinder to myself, and less critical of  myself. I've become my own friend.. I don't chide myself for eating  that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but  looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be  messy, to be extravagant.

I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before  they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer  until 4 AM and sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60 &70's, and if I, at the same time, wish  to weep over a lost love ... I will.

I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with  abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set.

They, too, will get old.

I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I  eventually remember the important things.

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not  break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken  hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will  never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have  my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever  etched into deep grooves on my face.

So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.

As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about  what other people think. I don't question myself anymore..
I've even earned the right to be wrong.

So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I  like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever,
but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could  have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert  every single day(if I feel like it).

MAY OUR FRIENDSHIP NEVER COME APART ESPECIALLY WHEN IT'S STRAIGHT  FROM THE HEART!

Forward this to at least 7 people and see what happens on your screen . You will laugh

your head off!!!!!!!!!!!

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Don't panic re: please read this folks

2009-04-13T04:20:00.001-07:00

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Stand easy everyone!

This is a hoax! A well meaning friend sent this to me and yet another well meaning friend looked under some rocks and assures me its just somebody playing silly ‘b’s’..so that’s how much I know! Sleep well!

It's been going round and round since 2006 (or before)

details here... http://www.sophos.com/pressoffice/news/articles/2006/02/olympictorch.html

----- Original Message -----

From: Perry Estelle

To:

Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 11:24 AM

Subject: Please read folks

READ IMMEDIATELY PLS

Get this sent around to your contacts ASAP...we don't
need this spreading around.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND
CONTACTS:

You should be alert during the next days:

Do not open any message with an attached file called
'Invitation' regardless of who sent it, It is a virus
that opens an Olympic Torch which 'burns' the whole
hard disc C of your computer.

This virus will be received from someone who has your
e-mail address in his/her contact list, that is why
you should send this e-mail to all your contacts. It
is better to receive this message 25 times than to
receive the virus and open it.

If you receive a mail called 'invitation' , though
sent by a friend , do not open it and shut down your
computer immediately. This is the worst virus
announced by CNN, it has been classified by Microsoft
as the most destructive virus ever.

This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and
there is no repair yet for this kind of virus. This
virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard
Disc, where the vital information is kept

SEND THIS E-MAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW ,

COPY THIS E-MAIL AND SEND! IT TO YOUR FRIENDS

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 8.0.238 / Virus Database: 270.11.54/2056 - Release Date: 04/13/09 05:51:00

has notified the sender that this message has been received.

Please read folks

2009-04-13T03:24:00.001-07:00

READ IMMEDIATELY PLS

Get this sent around to your contacts ASAP...we don't
need this spreading around.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND
CONTACTS:

You should be alert during the next days:

Do not open any message with an attached file called
'Invitation' regardless of who sent it, It is a virus
that opens an Olympic Torch which 'burns' the whole
hard disc C of your computer.

This virus will be received from someone who has your
e-mail address in his/her contact list, that is why
you should send this e-mail to all your contacts. It
is better to receive this message 25 times than to
receive the virus and open it.

If you receive a mail called 'invitation' , though
sent by a friend , do not open it and shut down your
computer immediately. This is the worst virus
announced by CNN, it has been classified by Microsoft
as the most destructive virus ever.

This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and
there is no repair yet for this kind of virus. This
virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard
Disc, where the vital information is kept

SEND THIS E-MAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW ,

COPY THIS E-MAIL AND SEND! IT TO YOUR FRIENDS

FW: David Copperfield: Amazing!!! From Perry

2007-04-21T03:54:00.000-07:00

I hate these emails but this one is so freaky. If anybody could tell me how on Gods green earth this works I will eat my shorts!

Perry

From: Kay Sansom [mailto:blimeylimey7@webtv.net]
Sent: 19 April 2007 14:23
To: Cjmtriley@aol.com
Subject: Fw: David Copperfield: Amazing!!!

From: Rob & Jacolyn
Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 7:28 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients@webtv.net
Subject: Fw: David Copperfield: Amazing!!!

-------Original Message-------

From:; Rob & Jacolyn;

This was cool

THIS SHOULD MAKE YOU THINK A BIT,

PRETTY GOOD CARD TRICK TO FIGURE OUT:

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.25/744 - Release Date: 4/3/2007 5:32 AM

RE: Blog off

2006-06-22T04:41:00.000-07:00

Dear Fugitives

Well, life is full of surprises, that’s for sure. The other week my wife was digging a hole in the garden with no thought of malice to me, but to plant a tree. I was at work conveniently. I am seldom at one with nature unless for ablutive or carnal reasons. Additional help came in the form of none other, than our intrepid family friend wielding a shovel, like a wasp. In his enthusiasm a cable was struck at fifty fathoms, and after closer inspection, only superficial damage was sustained. To err on the side of diplomacy, the next door neighbour was summoned, as to what the nature of the cable was and from whenst, it came. The neighbour went back inside, and after a respectable duration of a few minutes, returned with some land registry document or similar.

“It’s a BT cable by the look of it.” He exclaimed, with conviction. A moment passed and his expression changed to that of a pirate, about to board a ship to loot, and added,

“I don’t want to cause any bad feeling, but by the look of the boundary on my house-plans, my boundary cuts at an angle through your front garden.” He proceeded to measure a line, with one foot in front of the other on gravel, carefully walking as if on a tightrope.

He was also, at that point, in my view, ‘walking a tightrope’ from an un-neighbourly stance. She asked him to, ‘run that by me one more time’. He repeated the claim, of owning a great chunk of our garden, according to his ‘plans’ of demarcation.

My wife retorted with a measure of denia,l and disgust at the very notion.. Saying, she would look at it another time.

The tree. A fifteen foot copperleaved sapling, was going to planted, regardless, boundary or no boundary.

At that point I came home, and I could see my neighbour scurry back indoors, as soon as he saw me.

Well, you know what happens next? I go into ‘over my dead body mode’ and shouting, so they could hear “this is an act of war’. My spouse, trying to subdue me with a cup of tea. Not wishing to be placated, I drove back to work in a fury.

Three weeks down the line I refuse to even talk to them. I blank them. My solicitor, is a personal friend and it looks like, ‘Ghengis Khan’ next door, may have a point, but not without, ‘rights’ in my favour.

I looked up the Web on ‘turf wars’ advice, and they simply pleaded, to ‘stay calm’ and ‘listen to what your neighbours have to say’. At the end of the day we all have to live together.

So, what else should I do? Say to them, ‘Hey, go ahead and take what you need…, help yourself?”

On the one hand, I’m not going to burn them in their beds, but I don’t see how I am supposed to be won over by what is a pretty shitty thing to do. I have seen neighbours come and go in their house and never had an issue. They come along a year or more ago, and think this type of thing wins them friends, and influences people?

Against the wishes of my wife I will continue to ignore their presence and blank them wholesale. They blanked my wife on a daily basis for over a year, simply because they don’t like her. Andrea got fed up with smiling and saying hello, to such ignorance. So, I can be just as childish and stupid.

I am a great neighbour. I am over sociable if anything. I would rather make the peace and sacrifice my principles than cause hard feelings, generally. But an ‘Englishman’s home is his castle’ and all that, I would rather ‘do time’ than give them and inch, so they can take a metre and half.

You welcome neighbours, and embrace them into the happy fold, and they pull a stunt like this.

I’m not playing this game. I won’t fall out with them, but I won’t suck up either.

It was put to me, that undefined boundaries will be a problem, when wanting to sell either property.

Put it this way….they have crossed the line with me already!!

I daren’t turn my back in case they build a feckin’ shed in front of my lounge window!!

See you later when we can abscond together

The Fooge

Selfish! Selfish! Selfish?

2006-05-24T07:21:00.000-07:00

Hello Fugitive fiends,

It occurred to me the other day while scraping around for meaningless Fooge Fodder that while civilisation , humankind , and primates have evolved to great heights of altruism/ atrocity (well, they are practically the same…like a pair of shoes ….they both end up getting gravel, in one or the other, and at some stage and causing pain) incapable of one thing!

A selfless act!!

In my view whenever we are in position to show sacrifice we always benefit with a trade-off.

For example let’s look at the most denied of the human population. Nuns.

A nun is a member of a religious community of women ordinarily bound by the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Nuns are generally thought of as Christian, but the term is also used in other religions. Roman Catholic church law uses nun to refer only to women with solemn vows and sister for those whose vows are not solemn.

Bibliography
Campbell-Jones, Suzanne, In Habit (1979); Lieblich, Julia, Holy Women (1988).

Here is the list:

Listing of Women's Orders

General Information

We have tried to include locations and affiliations. We hope to some day add a sentence or two describing the specific focus of each Order. Assistance on all this is appreciated!

Franciscans

Poor Clare Nuns
-- Poor Clare Monastery (In Dutch/English)
-- Poor Clare of the Chicago Monastery (Chicago, IL)
Felician Sisters (Congregation of the Sisters of St. Felix of Cantalice) Franciscan
Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart
Franciscan Companions of the Immaculate
Franciscan Servants of Jesus
Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate
Franciscan Sisters of Joy
Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart
Franciscan Sisters of Mary Immaculate
Sisters of Saint Francis of Millvale, PA - Mount Alvernia
Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia
Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis

Dominicans
Benedictines

The Order of St. Benedict
-- Benedictine Sisters of Sacred Heart Monastery, Richardton, ND
-- Benedictine Sisters of Elizabeth, NJ
-- Benedictine Sisters of the Federation of St Gertrude
-- Benedictine Spirituality for Evangelicals OSB
-- Companions of St. Luke (Benedictine) (Anglican)
-- Ecumenical Benedictines of Heartsong Hermitage
-- Order of Port Royal (Benedictine)
-- Sisters of St. Benedict of Ferdinand, IN
-- Sisters of Bethany (Benedictine) (Cameroon, West Africa)

Augustinians

-- Augustinian Sisters, Servants of Jesus and Mary
-- Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph (care for the sick, the poor and the most needy)
-- Augustinians of the Midwest
-- Sisters of St. Rita (Racine, WI)

Carmelites

-- Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus
-- Cloistered Carmelite Nuns (O.Carm.)
-- St. Therese Centenary Calendar by Carmelite Nuns in Arlington, TX.

Other Orders (approximately alphabetically)

Adorers Of The Blood Of Christ
St. Bedes
Canossian Sisters
Cenacle Sisters
-- Religious of the Cenacle
Claretian Missionaries
-- Claretians Eastern Province
The Community of St. John
Companions of the Cross Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Congregation of Divine Providence
-- Congregation of Divine Providence, Melbourne, KY
Congregation of the Presentation of Mary in Methuen, MA
Congregation of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate
Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, Brentwood, New York
Saints Cyril and Methodius of Danville, PA
Daughters of Charity, Servants of the Poor
Daughters of Mary of the Immaculate Conception
Daughters of St. Paul
Faithful Companions of Jesus, Providence, RI, Toronto, CN, Alberta, CN, British Columbia, CN, USA, and elsewhere
Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Heart of Mary
Holy Family Sisters
St. Joseph Orders
Little Sisters Of The Poor
Living Stream Little Sisters (Celtic Catholic)
Marian Orders
-- Congregation of Marians of the Immaculate Conception
Marists (Society of Mary)
St. Mary's Priory of Faringdon, Oxfordshire England
Maryknoll--U.S. based Catholic mission movement
Saint Meinrad Archabbey
Mercy of God Community
Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception
Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood
Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa MSOLA
Motherhouse
Order of Christ Centered Ministries Inc. OCCM
Order of the Holy Family
Order of Servants of Christ, OSC
St. Paul Orders
Presentation Orders
Religious of the Virgin Mary Congregation
Rivendell Community (Springfield, MO and Memphis, TN)
Sacred Heart Orders
Salesian Sisters
Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco
Salvatorians (Society of the Divine Savior)
Sisters Of Bon Secours
Sisters Of Charity
Sisters Of Charity Of St. Vincent de Paul
Sisters of Christian Charity
Sisters of the Good Shepherd
Sisters of Jesus Our Hope
Sisters of St. Mary of Namur
-- Sisters of St. Mary of Namur, Eastern Province
-- Sisters of Saint Mary of Namur --Western Province-USA
The Sisters of St. Mary Magdalene, SMM
Sisters Of Mercy
Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur
Sisters of Notre Dame of Ohio Providence
Sisters of The Passion and Cross
Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus
Sisters of Reparation
Sisters of Reparation to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Sister Servants of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Society of The Little Sisters of Faith, L.S.
Ursulines
-- Ursulines Sisters of Mount St. Joseph
-- Ursuline Sisters of Louisville, KY
Visitation Orders
Women Uplifting Women Ministries
-- Brothers and Sisters of Charity of the Little Portion
-- Hermitage--Newly Approved Community in the Roman Catholic Church

NOTE: We believe these above all to be Catholic. Please inform us of others which we have not yet included, or errors in this listing. Several Nuns have told us that even the central Catholic Church does not seem to have a complete listing! There are many groups which are very small, a handful of individuals.

There are also non-Catholic Orders:

Anglican Orders of Women
-- Sisters of the Love of God
-- The Servants of God (Episcopal)
Methodist Orders
-- Order of Saint Luke

So just exactly how much sacrifice is involved to be one of the classes above? Could anyone become a nun? Is being a female martyr fun, and well worth the reward in heaven?

Not much to sit at the right hand of God and get eternal, life meals on duty with free uniform.

Here is the actual job description.

What vows does a nun take
and what do they mean?

Before answering your question, here's some background.

Over the centuries, some Christians, women and men, led by a grace of the Holy Spirit, have sought to follow Jesus in a stable form of life that helps them imitate him who was poor, chaste, and obedient unto death. The church describes them as leading a consecrated life. They may belong to a number of groups in the church that differ according to the graces given them. Some follow Jesus in his prayer, some as he proclaimed the Kingdom of God and did good to people, some as he taught others. In a special way they seek to serve God, to build up the church, and work for the salvation of the world.

To answer your specific question, nuns are women who may belong to one of these groups. They take the three vows--poverty, chastity and obedience--which flow from the evangelical counsels of Jesus Christ.

Poverty

The vow of poverty leads a nun to imitate Jesus who for our sake became poor, although he was rich. It helps her to be poor in spirit as well as in fact, and to live a life of labor and moderation. By the vow of poverty , she gives up the right to control or benefit from personal property and commits herself to live interdependently within a community, according to its constitutions. The purpose of this vow is to free her from being fascinated by material things so that she may be free to serve others.

Chastity

The vow of chastity leads a nun to imitate Jesus who was chaste. This vow frees her from the demands of an exclusive human relationship so that she can give all her love to God, and through God to all people. By the vow she promises not to marry or to engage in romantic behavior or sexual acts.

Obedience

The vow of obedience leads the nun to imitate the obedience of Jesus Christ. by seeking God's will for her and obeying her lawful superiors according to the constitutions of her particular group. As a member of her religious community, she searches for the will of God, not in arbitrary commands, but in prayerful reflection and dialogue with others.

This "Ask a Catholic" response written by Mary Ann Strain, C.P.

Go back to the Main Page of Ask a Catholic
Email us at ask@cptryon.org

How do you solve a problem like Maria?

I think the whole nun thing is probably the most selfish act humanly possible.

It’s 100% hypocrisy. It’s elitist and discriminatory. It’s bigoted. It’s a crap chance for a date on a Saturday night date?

The only purely selfless act, known to man and woman, ever ….has developed as a recent phenomenon.

That’s it…”Poop Scoopin’’! That ‘hand to texture moment’, is proof that you don’t need to take vows when you have already ‘touched evil’, and for us to come to the ready conclusion, that we would much rather leave the matter in god’s hands.

Until we find refuge again

Goodbye

Our guests

2006-05-17T05:14:00.000-07:00

Hello Fellow Fugitives!

Guess what happened to me this week?

I was about to leave my place of work, evening before last, and I was suddenly, patently aware of shouting and screaming, outside my establishment.

I went to investigate, when my eyes fell upon, a struggle between a young man and woman. He was, from my perspective, enjoying some frenzied attack in the half light, punching and threatening a woman, whom, he was trying to force into a car, on his passenger side. I intervened, and the girl, frantic and terrified, hid behind my once, muscular, and now over-nourished frame. I drew myself up to my full height, and snorted my snort. I glared my glare. In true, DeNiro style, I gave a look reserved for fools and drunkards. I huffed and I puffed, with fists and sphincter fully clenched. The furious male, sized up to me, reeking of alcohol. He was, not me. The gir, cowering in my wake, shook with fear, begging me to call the Police, and offering her phone to me, plunging me into this instant dilemma.

“Get in the car you bitch!” He screamed, trying to grab her again. She was Polish. Very pretty, dressed for a night out, with a more command over her English, than, the scenario that was getting uglier by the moment.

I calmly, told the man to leave and quickly, as I was going to report him for his behaviour, as I worked for the Government, and that he was trespassing on Government property. I have spent many hours wondering, if I could have come out with a more stupid remark, justifying my presence during this situation, but have failed to, since.

He was a Turk Kurd, and in harmony with his macho culture thought it ok to seek asylum, and come over to our country, specifically to beat up women. Wouldn’t it be less expensive to stay in his own country, that teaches all its men, to be total shits to women? Where it’s acceptable, to act like an arsehole like the rest of your male friends and fellow wife beaters?

Or, are all Turkish men coming over here, using British holidaymakers as role models?

I will tell you later what happened next …..if….. I feel like it…but what would you have done in my shoes? (Some, runny, pooh, maybe?)

There are always consequences when you are a fugitive.

Cheers

Fooge (editor of www.fugitiveauthor.com )

Freedom

2006-05-12T13:02:00.000-07:00

Freedom is what imprisons us.

We hear a lot about freedom. I believe it does not exist, at least, on this side of the pond and this is why?

We have whole institutions and governments that compile statutes to insure that all men are born equal and enjoy the same freedoms. History has taught us that freedom is predominately reserved for those born into class or power. Well, certain freedoms that is. Freedom, or true liberty is attained through the assertion of either or both. Freedom is rarely given but often taken. Rights, free speech and other prerogatives are a relatively new insight that is the illegitimate child of freedom fighters and real-life heroes. Our whole fabric of society lives and sleeps the virtues of those icons from myth and legend in the past. Robin Hood, Davey Crocket, Mr Christian and Superman of our fairytale books are the ideal freedom fighters that we graphically dream about.

But any freedom no matter how small arrived with great labour pains. Liberty arrives through the forceps delivery of civil right movements and revolution. Pressure groups, petitions and self-sacrifice.

Governments have never embraced freedom of the menials. More a control or destroy policy than have the population doing what they like. The masses have never been handed a blank cheque of unconstraint from the powers that be. Freedom means Non-conformists.

Atrocities abound from the bad midwifery of the worlds leaders against the fragile fledgling of freedom. Ignorant leaderships that allow the umbilical cord of red tape and bureaucracy to strangle the infant.

We have the Bill of Rights, legal rights, consumer rights, statutory rights, civil rights, human rights, rights against discrimination, employers rights, child custody rights etc all for us to 'conform' to. In fact our rights are constructed by a very large departmentalised set of hierarchal machinery that spits out all the terms and conditions, but to what end?

To give rights to one and take another from the other. Freedom with strings attached.

This is not freedom. It is lateral ownership. Stillborn policies that constitute order and control, not freedom. Half-witted intellectual franchised legislation based on fettering the masses for the convenience of the social conscience of the time.

We have seen the lifting of apartheid, women's emancipation, work to rule, floating votes and Arthur Scargill but we are merely truncheoned in to obeyance to follow the sartorial bias of modern economists.

What is real freedom? The nearest to real freedom is the point of orgasm. The point of death and point of life. Freedom is very brief. All freedom is transient. From day one we get our arse smacked to breath the freedom of the womb and our journey begins. First we have to wear clothes and then to be told what to do by parents teachers wives and bosses for the rest of our life.

Freedom is about choice. It's about being empowered. What does choice do to our behaviour? It gives us power. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. In my own work experience, I have seen much choice and options given to adults with mental health and disability only to make them insecure and confused. Abuse becomes rife and behaviour unmanageable. It is no different for ableminded and ablebodied people. What happens to all people who have access to unlimited wealth and freedom to do as they please. Apart from Sir Cliff everybody as if drawn by the moth to the flame goes into self destruct once they have any access to any freedoms. A list of examples too long to name.

What about spiritual freedom? Freedom is not bestowed. It was never on the menu. No man has suckled from the breast of freedom. It has been fought for with the spilled blood of millions of lives. The Church have that blood on their hands more than any. The bible says 'the truth will set you free' yet it was the early Christians who proclaimed the kingdom and its so-called truth who were thrown to the lions and exiled. The concept of heaven as ultimate freedom is also flawed. A sort of freewheeling fantasy designed as the only hope and escape from the shackles here on earth. I put it to you that the whole ideal of hell or heaven is a contradiction to freedom if that is the only choice we have!

So Freedom is not the luxury of all earthlings. To the contrary we love our little prison of a life and love to wallow in conflict (we only have to watch Eastenders to see how we really want to live!). Freedom is neither heavensent or what we homosapiens desire because with it comes a transaction. In order to enjoy freedom we would have to overcome the most dominant of traits in humans, Guilt. If we are free and others are not we engineer our own destruction based on that. I do not say that freedom is unattainable just that none of us suit it and if we pursue it to our demise then at least we will not feel guilty anymore!

We live our lives only in one margin on the page and we want boundaries and restrictions to kick against. We need authorities to incite and disobey to tell us what side of the road to drive on. We are too imperfect to enjoy freedom

What is freedom of the mind? Now you are talking. The most positive of options. The mind can take you where you want and especially the subconscious (yes, that old chestnut!). We are born with our eyes closed. The scales lift and we have a beautiful world of senses to enjoy. Those should be enjoyed. Hedonism is the nearest scratch to our itch. Freedom does not have to be found in what the word Hedonism stigmatises. Physical excesses are not my understanding of freedom. Merely elastoplast for what really hurts us.

What is that?

Our own mind. It will hogtie us or liberate us. It is our real authority.

My illustration of childbirth as the 'newborn freedoms' we supposedly enjoy is only lipservice to what we can all experience as true freedom.

If our minds are free of the stodge of prejudice and negativity, and we are true to ourselves then we have taken the first step to freedom (I am still in the waiting room!). I mean if we truly want to be free we have to reach into our deepest thoughts and find their purity. If we base this search on understanding and not fallacies and falsehoods then we can at least in part be free of the twisted interpretations and hidden agendas of those who wish to grant us freedom.

Freedom is about power. But who has the real power the person who possesses it or the person who claims it from them.

Suspicious as this all sounds I am a true believer that freedom should not be granted but taken by force if necessary. Primitive and Neanderthal? Look at what is happening since September 11th. Our 'freedom' was threatened and we had to forcibly take it back by whatever means even if it violated certain basic rights and freedoms of others. You have to smash a few eggs to make an omelette.

Freedom as it is, is perceived by a society that is very ambiguous and insincere. It has clay feet. It is used not to 'set free' but to deceive and confine. Like our 'baby' freedom is one of Siamese twins where one must die for the other to survive. Freedom is disguised in this country to mean one thing and be another. A credit facility of 'immunity' that if you overstep the limit, your spending will cost you heavily in interest. Freedom, or the offer of it can be very influential and thus bargained for unscrupulously.

Freedom is about choice, but we can all make bad choices through the offer of freedom that end up as chains that bind us. With bad choices comes blame and with blame comes guilt which equates to my earlier argument.

Being deluded or to be in a constant state of denial is probably the best, yet, remote sense of freedom a lot of people have. We have been too classically determined to enjoy full freedom in every sense of the word. Physiologically, we have a nervous system that makes our behaviour too predictable. Our physical embodiment is our own penitentiary. Our brain mechanisms are as predetermined as the predictable machinery of our solar system and universe. Freedom will never be found there. Through the exercising of choice our behaviour is often if not always manipulated by external forces. If this has to happen it is not freedom but the opposite, i.e. control or suggestion.

However the 'mind' is another matter!

Freedom can be good or bad. Freedom is an invite of abuse. Fighting for it may not justify the means to achieve it.

Freedom is non-existent.

Insight and knowledge and the inevitable actions that derive from it, is the nearest thing to personal Freedom. But then, the old saying goes "ignorance is bliss". Every song sung and every story told resounds the fight for freedom, but is it what we truly want?

Imagine the utopian Jehovah's Witness promise of freedom. Endless peace and no war with physical eternal life on a perfect earth in full health forever! Within a short time Cain will slay Abel again and good old (un)comfortable conflict will reign again!

We need conflict and oppression to feel free. It makes us feel alive! We can only be free by being Pirates of Freedom. Buccaneers of Liberty.

That's why God put adrenal glands in us! We are predators who would rather kill for freedom than have it 'giftwrapped' and put on a silver platter.

The Fugitive Author

2006-05-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

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