It's The Weather, Stupid!

❧

It's too fast, man. We had record high temperatures for the longest time ever this past summer. I don't remember how many consecutive days it was over 90° (32.2° C), but it was week upon week. The last week has been cooler, but before that it was over 95° (35° C) and 95% humidity. It barely got down to 70° (21.1° C) at night and I had to sleep and perspire at the same time. It's in the fifties (10+° C) now, and I'm freezing. There was no transition between really, really hot, and a merely cool autumn day. Damn!

The few people I've talked to face to face around here are ready, really ready, for some cool weather. It ain't like I don't appreciate that it's finally here. I got convinced this last record-breaking summer that global warming is a real threat to my personal existence. My sympathy and compassion ain't got no long tail. I don't care about what happens to people all over the world, just within shouting distance of my house.

That's what watching the six o'clock news on TV has done to me over the years. They've shown so much death and violence from all over the world on such a constant basis that I've become apathetic and somewhat sarcastic about all these tragedies all the time. It makes me think of two of the sayings from the Gnostic library in the Gospel of Thomas:

6 His disciples asked him and said to him, "Do you want us to fast? How should we pray? Should we give to charity? What diet should we observe?"
Jesus said, "Don't lie, and don't do what you hate, because all things are disclosed before heaven. After all, there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and there is nothing covered up that will remain undisclosed."

And:

14 Jesus said to them, "If you fast, you will bring sin upon yourselves, and if you pray, you will be condemned, and if you give to charity, you will harm your spirits.
When you go into any region and walk about in the countryside, when people take you in, eat what they serve you and heal the sick among them.
After all, what goes into your mouth will not defile you; rather, it's what comes out of your mouth that will defile you."

http://users.misericordia.edu//davies/thomas/Trans.htm

Its the line about giving to charity that surprises me. That's why the Gnostic library found in Egypt in 1945 is so interesting. It's written in Egyptian Coptic (the language of the Pharaohs) and predates the stuff the Catholics changed to suit their dogmatic purposes.

"and if you give to charity, you will harm your spirits."

The Protestant and Evangelical churches in the Bible Belt are practically based on what they call "Christian charity", but in the original versions of what was to become what is called The Bible, Jesus stated that doing it will harm your spirits. Who needs that? Adopting such an attitude fits in perfectly with me being a miser. '-)

This Dutch guy I exchange e-mail with occasionally wrote me again today in order to provide me with a link to the English version of their discussion of the Gospel of Thomas. I seem sure he won't really mind if I share it with you.

http://gospelofthomas.org

Not many, if any of the people I associate with are interested in this kind of thing. I don't find any blame in that. I'm not interested in a lot of the topics they obsess over, but I hang around with the kind of people that ain't got no couth anyway. Most of them had it beaten out of them as kids. "Spare the rod, spoil the child."

Monday is the day I take the methotrexate to combat the aches and pains of rheumatoid arthritis. I'm not looking for to the side-effect of nausea that's gonna be evident for a couple of days. I'm taking a solution of honey and apple cider vinegar daily on the advice of a passing stranger. Oddly, that's why I think it might help. It makes me burp a little like antacids do.

The sun is supposed to come out eventually. It's brightness replacing all the misty grayness has gotta help my emotional stability. The weather ain't done nothing but piss me off lately. Grouchy old man...
❦