"At the heart of all success is not your belief in its inevitability -- at the heart of all success is your ability to overcome the fear that permeates and surrounds your belief." Pizzaonian proverb
Image courtesy of the Pizzaonian Art Institute, Abe Straction, curator (C)2012
"From this life to the next, your courage to simply be will prevail."
Words posted at the entrance of the chapel for novice Pizzaonians
opd 110
A PIZZAONIAN CONCEPTION OF REALITY IF THERE IS SUCH A THING.
LUNCH WITH PICASSO
WAITING FOR CIVILISATION
STILL WAITING FOR CIVILISATION
THIS IS WHAT WE WERE WAITING FOR?
ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF THE PIZZAONIAN ART INSTITUTE. PAINTINGS (PHOTOS?) BY PIZZAONIUS, cira 345 PET (pizzaonian evolutionary time)
opd 3 12
Are there times
When everyone seems
A little nuts to you
Hopefully it’s not
You but your not sure
Maybe it’s the nature
Of the world today
Even though it is
Curious that up is
Down and down is
Up you vote for
One politician because
You don’t like the other
Guy and your guy
Becomes the other guy
Never could figure
Out why that happens
But campaigns are
Different and promise
Change and then
There’s the other guy
Again except this
Time he’s your guy
As I said everything
Seems a little nuts today
Excerpts from “Conjectures of a Recovering Dilettante”
opd510
Conjectures of a recovering dilettante while traveling the road to Utopia.
What to say and how to say it has always been the problem. To seek the polite way of communication, that is to speak with an acceptable voice that resonates with politeness and deference, is often the way of more timid.
This may seem harsh to most, but I am amazed how many times we hide behind politeness. Since politeness is considered a virtue, it becomes an insidious and convenient mask for the faint-hearted.
The obvious problem is that politeness often masks the truth by diluting it and making it palatable, and in so doing it makes the truth less attainable. Once this habit of politeness takes root it helps to establish a belief system that seems very comfortable with its delusion of heroic qualities.
The problem is the truth can only be masked so long, and if you are very lucky, it will finally appear in all of its glorious beauty. For many, this is the beginning of their personal salvation.
Brother Giovanni
opd 811
(C)copyright Pizzaonian Art Institute, Abe Staction,curator
Image: Maturity waiting to happen, by Pizzaonious
It may be a long way to Tipari, but it is a longer road still to maturity. Maturity is the long-awaited condition that we hope age and experience will create - unfortunately, not always so.
In the American experience, maturity is perpetually delayed by entertainment – a process that keeps you from confronting yourself. The business of having to grow an economy cannot have its potential customers sitting around contemplating life. Economies require infusions of cash for new products that somehow always seem to resemble the old products they replace- without this infusion they die.
There is some good in this process. It brings some innovation and increases the so-called standard of living. And, if it does none of these things, it always creates the illusion that growing is good and necessary for our well-being.
The distinction between need and want is the problem that marketers face everyday. If you are lucky, or smart enough, to have a product that people need, you do not have to work as hard as the rest of us.
Most of us have to create the illusion that what people want is also what they need. That is the little kept secret: Making something no one needs, and making that something that everyone wants is the gateway to success. We call this successful marketing. Without it, we would all be in big trouble.
As time goes by actual products run their course. The natural progression of continually making the same look like the new runs out – there are only so many products. Thus was born the service industry. Now we have always had necessary services, but as an industry, we matured. There are only so many necessary services. The rest we call entertainment. In the United States we also call it politics.
The service industry creates distraction: works of art that only exist for the moment. This makes the artist, Christo, a prophet. He said, “Do you know that I don’t have any artworks that exist? They all go away when they’re finished.” Does anything better define the service industry?
Now even contemplation is a product. Create a culture where every waking moment is necessary to survive, and top it off with products that require constant reinventing. Nice work if you can get it.
And we wonder why maturity is a delayed process.
Brother Giovanni, reporting for Pizzaonian Newsertainment Network, Diverti Mento, director
opd 412
ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF THE PIZZAONIAN ART INSTITUTE. PAINTINGS (PHOTOS?) BY PIZZAONIUS, cira 345 PET (pizzaonian evolutionary time) Abe Straction, curator
It always seemed strange to our friends that Franco and I portalized to Pizzaonia. It was a simple and easy decision to make. It became clear to us while we love our country and choose to remain its permanent citizens, our sanity required we find a beta-world country that would have us.
The rest is history. For those who have followed our adventures in Pizzaonia what we have accomplished these past few years is well known. Now that we have retired from our Pizzaonian responsibilities and have returned home, we will occupy ourselves by writing our journal.
It should be clear to all by now that the world is dysfunctional. This seems to be particularly true for the United States. What we are left with are power blocs who use this dysfunction to increase the value of their vested interest. No one even pretends that they intend to fix the country. If they did, why are we subjected to such absurd proposals from those vying for political power?
Each side wraps themselves in some great truth and then proposes ridiculous solutions that no one can accept. This leaves everyone on the high ground – advocates for undoable grand proposals with no chance of seeing the light of day.
However, at the heart of this irrationality sits the one truth that no politician can unravel regardless how hard he or she may try to do so. No matter how bad things get the dream of “evolving toward a more perfect union” persists. This journey still has a rendezvous with destiny that no one can derail.
This is where Brother Franco and I will start. We still have some duties remaining and we will continue to portalize between here and Pizzaonia. However, our full time job will be here in the United States representing Pizzaonian Pizza conglomerate, Pizza digogo DiVinci, and conversing with you.
Until then, remember, “Pop culture is to culture what rocket lettuce is to arugula.” Pizzaonius, founder of Pizzaonia
For me and Brother Franco. Brother Giovanni
opd 312
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FROM: PIZZAONIAN NEWS SERVICE (PNS)
Contact: Publicio Relationio at the PNS office of Public Relations at [email protected]
SUBJECT: Pizza to be considered as a controlled substance.
Today the American Pizza Alliance announced it will begin a campaign to have pizza declared a controlled substance and have it put under the control of the Worldonian (USA) Federal Drug Bureau of Narcotic Control (FDBNC).
This move was anticipated after it was discovered Pizzaonian Imperialism had taken complete control of Worldonian pizza production. Pizzaonian Mozzarella Pizzas are virtually irresistible, and since infiltrating the American pizza market under a variety of alias, Americans have become addicted to pizza consuming an average per capita 365 slices of pizza a year.
Ameri Patriati, head of the American Pizza Alliance was quoted as saying” that’s a hella of lot of pizza.” It seems that APA will now attempt to have Pizzaonia declared a terrorist nation since their “insidious takeover of the American pizza industry is a major factor in creating this nation's high rate of obesity.”
State department officials seem somewhat confused by this turn of events since there is no precedent for working with beta-world countries.
One issue on the table is to restrict portalization from Pizzaonia to Worldonia. Up to now the only criteria for qualifying for portalization to either world was the feeling that your life seemed like you were in a Woody Allen movie. Mr. Patriati said “this is obviously not enough since virtually everyone’s life feels like they are in a Woody Allen movie.”
It is paradoxical to find Pizzaonia, a country that exists without governments or wars, embroiled in such a heated and controversial confrontation.
More as it develops...........
opd810
Image courtesy of the Pizzaonian Art Institute, Abe Straction, curator (C)2012
The devil is in the details
We left off our last letter with this thought: Pizzaonians, I suspect, have developed a more advanced evolutionary response to end the aggressive violence that plagues your entire world.
It is simply a different way of seeing things. Much too simplistic for most, I am sure. But then again, most of the great truths are. However, in case any of us forgets, the devil is always in the details.
What makes Pizzaonian culture different is the concept of empathy. I say concept of empathy since empathy here is more than a defined word. Here it is a cultural phenomenon that has transformed this society into a human experience like no other.
Empathy can be defined simply as the capacity for participating in a vicarious experiencing of an other's feelings, volition's, or ideas. The catch here, if you are to understand Pizzaonian culture, is not to understand the word intellectually, but to have empathy with the word empathy.
When you live in this state of understanding it will not reduce the friction or conflict that all of us experience on a daily basis. However, what it does is regardless of how fervent you feel about any subject, you always feel with equal intensity the needs and concerns of those you disagree with. This inevitably ends with a consideration of everyone’s needs and leads to a peaceful solution.
Many years ago the Pizzaonian elders realized they were resolving all of their conflicts peacefully and without the need for outside litigators, or for that matter, government in general. When they considered the staggering cost of maintaining a government they decided on the bold experiment of eliminating all government, local and national, for a three year trial period.
To their amazement, since there were many disbelievers, they functioned as well without government. Many noted with some validity, they actually did much better without outside interference. They never looked backed.
As far as all other services are concerned, Pizzaonians created national, cooperative corporations that are owned by the people. Since the concept of empathy is operative here, they all function very well, maintaining a very high level of service. Keep in mind, we are not without problems here. What we are with however, is an extraordinary capacity to solve all of our problems peacefully.
Brother Giovanni, Supreme Pizzaonian.
opd 410
“Life, as it is called, is for most of us one long postponement.” Henry Miller
There’s so much written on how to find happiness, I have to suppose a lot of people are looking for it. Are we happy? Do we dare ask the question to often? I think not since I suspect most of us are not happy most of the time.
Not to get to pessimistic here, but looking for happiness may be the wrong way to find happiness. Happiness is not a condition that exists by itself – it is always part of another experience or event. As obvious as this is, it seems to escape us. That’s why the expressions “this makes me happy” or “you make me happy” are often used to express the condition when it exists.
I sense one reason for our ambivalence is how happiness is packaged to sell products. Advertisers successfully create the notion you are supposed to be happy all of the time and somehow buying their product is the cause of our well being.
We all know this is nonsense. We know there is no one thing that makes us happy. But tugging at the back of our mind is the notion that maybe someone really is happy all of the time. We are particularly vulnerable to this nonsense when we are going through a difficult period. Advertisers know this and continually exploit it to make their product more appealing.
I prefer to use the word fulfillment in place of happiness. Part of the definitions of fulfillment is “to measure up to, to satisfy, to convert into reality.” That’s something I can deal with.
No matter what we have to do at any given time, no matter how distasteful or relatively insignificant the chore may be, it usually has a goal or accomplishment attached to its completion. It may be inconsequential or as profound as meeting your family responsibilities or earning a living. As it was once explained to me, “the work is not very inspiring, but it makes for good weekends.” Simply doing something well, can be its own fulfillment.
Discipline and the act of completion have a nice feel to it. No matter what problems are bothering you at the moment, there is something nice about knowing you can get things done. It creates a sense of well being that offsets what Henry Miller said about life being one long postponement.
Life may be, but while we are waiting - we get a lot done and that’s not bad. Try it sometime.
Brother Giovanni
opd 710
Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire. *Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Somewhere in history the leaders of organized, religion got stuck in a time warp. Fortunately, many believers refused to get stuck with them. It is hard to grasp how a dynamic living force as God - has been confined to a single concept or event in time by so many of the so-called faithful.
God created a dynamic living universe, but somehow in the consciousness of so many of His believers is a thought system rooted in concrete. And then to add to this insult, they believe this immutability is sacred.
These words are a sacrilege to many, but equally sacrileges to others is not understanding and grasping the significance of a “Cosmic God"*. If we are to give glory to God as deserved, we have to understand the concept of a living galactic God who is part of all evolving life, including our growth as individual believers.
The difference between those who hold to some immutable, unchanging truth as compared to those who see the ‘sacred’ in the evolving consciousness of the universe depends of whether you trust in the people as the true “keepers of the flame” or believe human nature, by its very nature, cannot be trusted with ongoing revelation.
Some explanation is necessary here. At the turn of the last century we began to see the developing belief in a God more consistent with what humans were discovering about their universe. Many will charge that because many so-called “enlightened humans and their science chose to believe theories not consistent with “old time religion,” they need to be even more adamant about being true to their non-evolving, original beliefs.
What is troubling is how we can see things so differently. From my perspective our original beliefs clearly show us that we are an evolving species. In addition, we have the evidence of the Universe itself. If it is not evolving all the time what else is it? Is it possible that the God who created us, also created an environment separate and alien to us?
Somewhere in the past, with our increasing awareness, it was imprinted into the mind sets of many that our spirituality and the world we live in are diametrically opposed to each other. The consequence of this was to separate us from our environment and make us strangers in our own homes.
This is what we need to correct if we are to achieve the transcendence our faith in God, was meant to achieve.
Science made the universe God; religion made humans God, now it is time to see both entities, not as separate, but as the same God, united in glorious Transcendence.
Brother Giovanni
opd 1214
*Pierre Teilhard de Chardin http://www.ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-voices/20th-century-ignatian-voices/pierre-teilhard-de-chardin-sj/
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