The Secret Handshake

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It seems like lately has been a time of remembering.

Do you find that you have 'times of'? Spells of cleaning, DVDing, arting, chocolating?

What is that song from long long ago?


(just couldn't resist, just a thought pop.) I guess this really date's me like a stamp on milk.

I digress... my real memory is... I love poetry.

What was that wwwwhhhoosh? you let your breath out and rolled your eyes! That's it? you say.

Wellllll, not really, I like good poetry and, scrapbook poetry too of course, quick happy sweet smelling little snippets that make you want to make a card in their honor, feel good chirpy sunny sonnets.

But what I want to talk about is the kind of poetry that makes you think, the kind that you read and realize you feel like that, it's happened to you but you just couldn't quite put it all together in your brain, the fuzzy foggy wobbly thought that escaped.

In my office chair travels, I've happened across a chap named R o b e r t B r u c e who has corralled my attention. So far, I'm a fan, a really big fan in 10 minutes of reading and a big enough fan that I wanted to share him with you.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
http://www.knifegunpen.com/press/

We know that he
worked as a carpenter
until
he gave it up to
travel
tell stories
and generally
piss off people like me

We know that he
was a homeless man
without
his own bed
he relied on the
starry sky and the four walls
of friends and strangers
for brief moments of solitude
and rest from it all

We know that most of his
close friends ended very badly
either
tortured and executed
for association with the Jew
or
exiled to a distant island
plagued by terrible visions
in old age

We know that he
was not a social climber
managing
to make powerful enemies
whenever he opened his mouth
he turned to the broke
dined with IRS agents
walked openly with hookers
sat too close to the sick
talked too long to the criminal

We know that he
was sold down the river
by one of his best friends
for around
twelve thousand
That he
spent his final years
on the run from the government
That he
turned down the desperately
hoped for plans of a Coup d'etat
That he
talked more than anyone else
about unfashionable things like hell

That he
willingly rode to his execution
on a borrowed ass
And yet we still believe
that
Jesus' main objective
through his hard living
and bloody slaughter
was to make you a
millionaire
To make sure
That your life is
as comfortable as possible
That your kid
attends the right college
That your mortgage
is paid up
That your portfolio
is properly diversified
That your career
moves from success to success
That you are given due respect
for your efforts
And finally
that your confidence
in the Dollar, the Euro and the Yen
is so complete that it
blots out
any need
you may have once had
for hispresence

J e s u s Wa n t s T o Ma k e Y o u A Mi l l i o n a i r e
b y R o b e r t B r u c e
Jesus Wants To Make You A Millionaire is Copyright © 2007 Robert BruceThis PDF Broadside was published on May 9, 2007 by Knife Gun Pen Press knifegunpen.com

Now this is the one that sparked my fandom, and you all know I am a nut for things of God, but you must must must take a visit to his web page, his blog:http://www.knifegunpen.com/

Because he's not a religious nut as I am. He does put it into words, and you are sort of amazed that someone can think it through and verbalize. ~ ;0)

One other thing that struck my fancy was this thought found:http://www.conversiondiary.com/2008/04/art-secret-handshake-of-soul.html

She says,

"Let me see if I've got this right:All good art, by definition, conveys truth.

That is its purpose. But we're not talking about truths like "the grass is green" or "the sky is blue." We're talking about the truths that lie outside the material world, the truths that you'd have to have a soul to know about.
For example:

-All beauty and goodness has a living Source. In modern parlance, we call this source "God."
The closer we get to God, the closer we get to perfect joy.

-We have a strong tendency to drift away from God. Yet further away we get, the more unsettled and miserable we are.

-When other people drift away from God it makes our lives more difficult.

-The pleasures and comforts of the material world seem like they will make us happy, but don't.

-We love other people, but not as much as we should.

-Acts of evil are shocking offenses to the way things should be.

-There is evidence of God in the material world, and our hearts soar when we see it.

And so on. All of these conditions are true objectively (they're not "your truths" or "my truths"), all have been known in some way or another to every person who ever lived, and none can be discerned from the material world alone. It delights us to share our experiences of these truths with our fellow human beings, because it creates a bond that surpasses our animal instincts and connects us at the level of the soul.

And that's where art comes in.

Art is the secret handshake of the children of God, the inside joke among those with souls. "

Happy thinking!