Conjectures of a recovering dilettante --- Welcome to Pizzaonia! Reflections from a different perspective --- Diverti Mento, John Frank Giovanni, Frank John Franco, Vera V. Veronica and all of the Pizza digogo DiVinci family invite you to join us - We discuss and share ideas that are relevant to our new emerging world. A division of the Pizzaonian Newsertainment Network
http://pizzaonian.com
“Fame usually comes to those who are thinking of something else.” Oliver Wendell Homes, Jr.
“Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.” Napoleon Bonaparte
Middle age: when you are sitting at home on Saturday night and your phone rings and you hope it is not for you.” Ogden Nash
“If you cannot separate your selfishness from your service, than be selfish since your service will continue.” Pizzaonian spelunker
“A forgiven heart left empty becomes the target for both old and new sins.” Ben Campbell Johnson
“The only reason for time is so everything doesn’t happen all at once.” Albert Einstein
To believe reasonableness works in politics is the same as believing Gomer Pyle would be a good choice to play the role of Henry VIII. - UNKNOWN
“In my relationships the most difficult person to know well is me” Br. Giorgio, Director of Bakery Operations, Pizza digogo DiVinci
“It’s a sobering thought, that when Mozart was my age, he had been dead for two years.” Tom Lehrer
“That which comes into the world to disturb nothing deserves neither respect nor patience.” Rene Char
“Doing what’s right – that’s easy. Trying to rationalize what’s wrong to make it right – that’s hard work.” Pizzaonian spelunker
“It is the theory which decided what can be observed.” Albert Einstein
"When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, you think it's only a minute. But when you sit on a hot stove for a minute, you think it's two hours. That's relativity." - Albert Einstein
“PIZZAONIA EMERGING” Courtesy of the Pizzaonian Art Institute, Abe Straction, Curator
Six benefits of embracing absurdity as a lifestyle"
“Nothing is proposed that can last more than twenty four hours. We are living a million lives in the space of a generation.” Henry Miller
“Never have so many done so much and experienced so little.” Pizzaonius
When you realize you can no longer tell the difference between absurdity and reality, you have mentally adjusted to absurdity as a way of life. Strange as this seems, this make sense because it explains everything.
We spend countless, frustrating hours trying to understand the very complex issues we deal with each day. The liberating moment comes when you finally grasp that these so-called complicated issues are not explainable. It is the nature of our new world. Welcome to the world of absurdity.
It will take time and patience for this fact to be fully grasped. When you do it is the beginning of your liberation. If nothing else you can stop wasting so much time.
If some of this seems strange to you what else could explain the political situation in the United States? I rest my case.
SIX BENEFITS OF EMBRACING ABSURDITY
1. You relax because you know the people that seem so smart are ridiculous. It wasn’t you after all.
2. You know longer take yourself seriously. Sooner or later in occurs to you, you are as absurd as everyone else. As a result:
3. Politics suddenly makes sense.
4. Politicians suddenly make sense.
5. Wars will cease to exist. No one wants to sacrifice or die in an absurd war.
6. You enjoy yourself more since you now know everything you do is absurd.
TWO EXCEPTIONS:
In the interest of practicality we are obliged to exempt two categories from our world of absurdity: your doctor and your plumber.
Brother Franco, for “The Pizzaonian” - a division of the Pizzaonian Newsertainment Network, Diverti Mento, Editor Emeritus
View from Chapel Window, Pizzaonian Monasteries, Pizzaonia
Sometimes when you have nothing to say, you say the best things. I wonder why that is? I suspect it happens because of low expectations.
When we take the pressure off of ourselves, our minds are free to do their best. Unfortunately, this is not what the hero or heroine is about in our modern cultures - we are impressed when people perform well under great stress. We secretly wish we could be like that.
Now here is when it becomes counter intuitive. When you see someone doing and saying great things under pressure it is because they don’t feel any pressure at all. Hard to believe, but true.
Again, we should ask, “why is that?’ I suspect it is because so much of our assumptions and belief systems in the modern digital world we live in are, in a word, baloney. Think about it. How much time do we spend considering what assumptions we act on every day when, in fact, they were never true to begin with? If you are honest with yourself, you are probably acting on obsolete belief systems that should have been rethought years ago.
The insecure have all left me at this point - few dare to question their core beliefs. To do so would force us to change our lives. However, for the sake of our discussion, let's keep it simple and stick with people doing great things under pressure – a pressure that I say does not exist.
“Look how effortless it is for him.” “She is so natural; she is so relaxed when she performs.” Comments like this are very common when listening to people talking about great performances. Why can some people perform so well under pressure? And, we always presume that if we were in the same place, we could not do what they do – and you are probably right, but there is a reason for it.
Let’s take it at face value. These super performers, in fact, do not feel pressure, or they would not be able to do what they are doing. One reason should be obvious. They are so good at what they do their experience and untold hours of practice allows them to know intrinsically how good they are, and they no longer have to worry about it. That’s the trick.
Now, all you have to do is know what you are good at and work hard to bring it into being. Easy to say, you say! Indeed, it is, but if you're going to keep using excuses to avoid the obvious, at least, stop kidding yourself.
Brother Franco. Commenting from Pizzaonia for “The Pizzaonian”
"Pizzaonia Emerging" Courtesy of the Pizzaonian Art Institute, Abe Straction, curator
Musings from
Pizzaonia
A random
conversation between Brother Giovanni and Brother Franco - these conversations usually take place
later in the evening when they have some time to relax.
F: Did you
see the New York Times today? Times seem
to be changing if you take the headlines seriously.
G: Yes I
did. What’s going on in the United
States? Every day that goes by I
recognize my native country less and less.
F: Change is
inevitable, and it isn’t always pretty.
G: I know,
but what is happening there now doesn’t make sense.
F: I am not sure what you are saying. I know what goes on there always affects you
more than me.
G: Maybe it’s my expectations. I know you consider me a naïve optimist, but
what was once the hope of many for a better life seems to be slipping away.
F: I only
consider you a naïve optimist when it comes to politics and our home
country. I am, and I think rightly so, a
realist. I don’t expect much so I am
seldom disappointed. But clearly, things
are changing. What we don’t know is what
it all really means. Is it a phase or
are we witnessing a sea change in what the United States represents and how
about the future?
G: I am not
as concerned with the future as I am with the immediate present. The way things are going, I am not sure there
is a bright future.
F: This coming
from a naïve optimist? How about being more specific. ….
G: I know
it’s hard to evaluate long term from the present, but you can see patterns that
can shape the future. It may be all we have,
but we have to start somewhere. For one
how about the way politics no longer seems to be the way we choose
leaders. Elections now seem to be the
playground for the super-rich. The
common folks are at best spectators and from what I read not only do they feel
that way; many have dropped out of the process.
How can you have a true democracy if all the people no longer
participate?
F: it is
something to think about. It is strange
that the United States has a much smaller voter turnout than other western
democracies. You would think it would be
the other way around. I am not sure anyone has a definitive answer.
G: I don’t
think there is one but there are a lot of reasonable speculations on why this is
happening. For one, as I said before
when the amount of money that it now takes to play in the political arena is so
enormous, it becomes hard for the ordinary citizen to be seriously involved. But, this has been evolving for years, the
question that does not seem to have an answer is how different is it this time.
F: For one
we hear so much about how each party has to placate its hard-core base that folks in the middle are left
out. What you have left is what I like
to call the "nut cases from the far left and right of each party running
the show.
G: It
reminds me of that wonderful political quote from Mark Twain when he said, he
wasn’t sure if they were smart people putting him on, or that they were
imbeciles that actually believed what they were saying.
F: Where did
the rest of the voters go?
G: Either to
McDonalds or to Kentucky Fried Chicken.
F: I think
most of them were there already, but one thing that has played out is the old
saying that all politics are local.
That’s the new political playground. Local politics is where all the
action is now.
G: If for no
other reason, they can relate to what is happening there. God knows they know that Washington might as
well be on the moon from where they sit.
“Pizzaonian Emerging #4” Courtesy of the Pizzaonian Art Institute, Abe
Straction, curator
A Pizzaonian perspective on happenings in the United
States……
A funny thing happened on the way to Utopia – the
very Constitution that protects the minority also made it possible for the
minority to destroy the majority. As
Jimmy Durante would have said, “What a revolting development this is.”
I suspect one of the probabilities the writers of
the U.S. Constitution did not consider was that they could have within their system
of checks and balances, elected representative who were intent on destroying
the federal government.
And who would have guessed the very diversity that
made the U.S. so vibrant and alive would also create the dissension that would
eventually destroy the very fabric of its institutions.
Maybe, there is such a thing as “too diverse and too
big to manage.” What is clear to Pizzaonians and too few of your political
pundits are that the Republican Party extremists have no intention of compromise.
From our perspective their goal seems obvious: to destroy the effectiveness of
the federal government. And shutting
down the government and refusing to extend the debt limit is exactly what will
accomplish their goal.
So America, good luck with this one. Only the courage of the moderates on both
sides of isle can save the Republic. Unfortunately,
this is not likely to happen since they would have to muster the tenacity of
radicals to accomplish such a feat.
Brother Giovanni
…………..
And speaking of courage…….
Excerpts
from Brother Giovanni’s seminar for novitiate monks, Pizzaonian Monasteries
We begin to
survive when we decide to confront our weakness. We may never subdue our weakness, but as we
begin the process of renewal, we find the thorn of our self-destructiveness
fades into the background and loses its power over us.
Life is an
act of courage and faith. Each of us
must believe there is a purpose in our being, and if we do not summon the
courage to bring our gift into being, we not only deny ourselves, we deny the
world of our gift.
I could say
more, but from this point, the rest is up to you.
"May your grain of sand become the pearl
that saves the world."
It is amazing to me that the gifts we bring
to the world find their way into being through our weaknesses. (Note the plural - for most of us, there is
more than one.)
The opportunity to change for the good occurs
when we find, for whatever the reason, moving forward and confronting our
weakness is our only recourse if we choose to survive.
The opportunity to change for the good occurs
when we find the courage to confront our limitations.
This is the lesson we all need to learn: It is not our weaknesses that keep us from
moving forward; it is our focus on them that gives them power over us, and that
power keeps us unable to act decisively with courage.
When we gain the strength to focus on our
strengths, our failings, even though they remain, slowly fade into the
background and gradually lose their power over us.
When we face the future with determination, the
thorn of our self-destructiveness loses it prickly sting and our willingness to
continue the process of renewal becomes an act of faith and courage.
Once we know that confronting our weaknesses
is the only thing we can do to if we choose to survive, is when we begin to make
serious progress in our quest for more fulfilling lives.
Therefore, your choice is simple: You can waste a good part of your life
waiting for that time to come, or you can make an act of faith and summon the
courage to concentrate on the good that is in you now - and you will find that what
is there is good enough.
When we choose to act with positive resolution, our
weaknesses may continue to remain with us, however, they simply no longer have center stage.
“Pizzaonia
Emerging #4” courtesy of the Pizzaonian Art Institute, Abe Straction, curator
Thoughts to
ponder on a lazy weekend afternoon…...from a Pizzaonian perspective
Pizzaonius
asks? “Can an expert and very talented dilettante still be considered a
dilettante?”
..............
Pizzaonius
asks? "Can a procrastinator who never
delays procrastinating still be considered a procrastinator?"
…………..
Why is it
the one thing all humans have in common – they are born, and they will die, has
not developed more empathy between different cultures and religions?
…………..
Worth repeating “.ideological
myopia- a failure to realize compromising a little beats staying stuck in the
present path.” Carmen Nobel Yet, we never seem to learn.
…………..
“In every
person the grain of sand buried deep inside their soul makes the pearl”
Pizzaonius
…………..
There seems
to be three groups of people in each society – the fanatics on the right, the
fanatics on the left, and all the normal people in the middle. You don’t have
to spend too much time thinking about who runs the show. The question is always, why?
When
marketing and advertising are the most important products your society produces,
the inevitable result is the message becomes more important than the products
being marketed.
…………..
Individualism
is a double-edged sword. It is necessary
for each person to know who they are.
The question is “what do they do with that knowledge once it is
realized?” If they continue to focus exclusively
on themselves and self-aggrandizement the community they live in will
suffer. If the community that spawns the
individual is not honored and nurtured, it will eventually be destroyed.
History
shows us this is the way of all empires.
…………..
It is vital
and necessary for free-market economies to grow. The question that has to be answered is
how. For growth to occur, the status quo
must change and continually evolve into something new - even if it is not ready to do so. The unanswered question: “Is there a point
when this becomes self-destructive?”
Unfortunately, you only know the answer after the fact and not before.
And finally
… A funny thing happened on the way to Utopia.
Have you
noticed how conservatives preach “do not spend” or "let's cut the deficit
now” or “you must live within your means” – you get the idea?
Have you
also noticed how they become the biggest spenders in the house? Just check out what is happening in Great
Britain under their conservative majority.
As I recall
reading your history, Ronald Reagan left the biggest deficit of any president whom
he preceded. Nice work if you can get
away with it, and they certainly do.
Till next
time,
Brother
Giovanni, commenting for “The Pizzaonian” a division of the Pizzaonian
Newsertainment Network, Diverti Mento, editor, emeritus
View from Chapel Window, Pizzaonian Monasteries, Pizzaonia - Image courtesy
of the Pizzaonian Art Institute, Abe Straction, curator
Disclaimer: The Pizzaonian
Council of Monks (PCM) and pizza conglomerate, Pizza digogo DiVinci are
concerned when a prominent and respected figure in Pizzaonian
politics like Brother Giovanni engages in an activity many
Pizzaonians consider weird at best and psychotic at worst.
However, in the interests of full
disclosure, we support The Pizzaonian’s decision to publish these letters and
conversations between Brother Giovanni and the man he calls “Jesus.” All
letters are published as received without editing of any kind. Sister Veronica, Supreme Pizzaonian
Dear Giovanni,
Forgive me for again not writing sooner. I know that I am not expected to show such
fundamental human traits as procrastination, but I do get overcome by events.
As you know, I have been spending sometime in
the Middle East, and in a word or two let me say, “what a mess!’
If your history shows the Romans as bad, you
should see the current crop of small-time empire builders here now. It gets so confusing with so many factions
vying for power, that even I can’t understand who is who without a program.
I like to keep this light, but that is impossible
here. You have so many megalomaniac
political incompetents that are causing so much misery and pain it is hard to
describe fully how bad it is.
As you know, I can only intervene so far -
free will and other stuff like that.
However, it is not easy. I was
checking over the prayer list from some of the main players here and even that
is hard to deal with – they are all asking for us to help smite the other guy.
Without going over the details their idea of smiting is pretty brutal.
The other day I was taken to task by this
young man who wanted to know how I knew what all the their prayers were about since
they were not all praying to the same God.
Well I hate to let the word out, but they all end up in the same place.
There are going to be a lot of surprised faces
when they arrive in the next life – and many of them are going to be
flabbergasted when they get the full story.
However, enough of this - as you know a lot of people get very upset
with me when I talk more than I should.
What else is new – remember the parables and all the talk they still
create.
I have been reading some excerpts from recent books written about me. It seems using my name can still get you on
the best sellers list. I do get a kick
out of the notion that I am considered a revolutionary. I guess by their standards “loving your
neighbor as yourself” is considered pretty rebellious. Somehow I always had the
notion that was the way it was supposed to be.
I need to move along, but before I leave I
can’t help but comment on the political situation in the United States. I know it is a major topic in Pizzaonia. The thing that always occurs to me when I am
in the Middle East is the difference between these two worlds.
In the Middle East the issue is survival –
life and death – and people who live with this terror every day. The problems in the West are the problems of well-fed
people concerned with the quality of life – not whether they will still have
life at the end of the day. Add to this as I mentioned before, the pain and
horror that go on with essentially helpless people being uprooted and running
for their lives.
And what troubles me the most is the countries
powerful enough to do something about the daily horror that I witnessed are so
caught up with their own myopic problems, the tragedy that plays out here every
day is totally ignored.
Sorry, didn’t mean to go off like that – but
you get the point.
Before I go, I wanted to share with you a
quote I read in one of the airline magazines on my flight back. (Yes, I do fly commercial like everyone else,
and yes I do fly coach.)
"All
Congresses and Parliaments have a kindly feeling for idiots, and a compassion
for them, on account of personal experience and heredity." Mark Twain
This could explain a lot.
When you write let me know what you think of Francis, the new pope. Till next time,
View from Chapel Window, Pizzaonian Monasteries, Pizzaonia - image
courtesy of the Pizzaonian Art Institute, Abe Straction, curator
Disclaimer: The
Pizzaonian Council of Monks (PCM) and pizza conglomerate, Pizza digogo DiVinci
are concerned when a prominent and respected figure in Pizzaonian
politics like Brother Giovanni engages in an activity many
Pizzaonians consider weird at best and psychotic at worst.
However, in
the interests of full disclosure, we support The Pizzaonian’s decision
to publish these letters and conversations between Brother Giovanni and the man
he calls “Jesus.” Sister Veronica, Supreme Pizzaonian
Dear
Giovanni,
Thanks for
your recent letter; sorry I have not been able to get back to you sooner. As you know, I try to spend several weeks a
year traveling like an ordinary person.
Unfortunately, I have had many interruptions this year, which has
conflicted with my travel. Sounds like I
am complaining.
I need to get
an opinion from you. I run across a lot
of Christians, who proclaim me, somewhat quietly I might add, but none the
less, do claim me as their Savior. Of
course, they do not know who I am when they talk to me, and that works for me.
Let me tell
you what’s bothering me. Though they wear the Christian mantle well, they do
not seem to go beyond that. I see some
concern for the poor, and they all give some money to feed the hungry. However, the whole thing seems pretty abstract
to me. I not sure their fervor ever goes
any deeper than that. It could be the
Churches let people off the hook. I know they preach the gospel, but does it
stick?
I am not sure
they ask very much of the faithful in my name.
I know they say all the right things in generalizations, but how much of
it becomes meaningful to the so-called faithful. You might bring this up to Brother Franco. I would love to hear what he
has to say about all of this. As you
said before, Brother Franco is the most faithful anti Catholic you have ever
met.
I am heading
for Syria and Egypt for a few weeks. Seriously,
I am very concerned with what is happening there. I am not sure most people understand the
suffering that is happening on a daily basis
If I am
lucky, on my way back, I will have some time to spend in my home town. Have things changed there in the last 2000
years. Do you know I can get a
McDonald’s hamburger just a few miles from where I was born – amazing!
Can you
imagine if anyone else saw this letter, they would be convinced that I am a nut
case with severe delusions? It is hard
for anyone to take me seriously as an ordinary human being. I will be surprised if Sister Veronica lets
you publish it.
I have to
tell you this before I go. Here is a perfect example of what I am talking
about. I am in a café the other day talking
to this man, and I give him a hint who I really am. So he asks me the usual question. “If you are
who you say you are, show me a miracle.”
I get up and leave without saying a word. Just as I get to the door, I look back and
this same guy is about to drink his cup of coffee.
I could not
resist it. I let the whole cup spill
into his lap. Then, just as he realized
what happened, I let the coffee rise up and go back into his cup as if nothing
happened. He looked bewildered and then
he caught my eye just as I was about to go out the door. I looked back and winked at him and left.
Probably
should keep this little story to yourself.
Not everyone, including folks I am very close to, would understand. But we all need a little comic relief once
and while.
Write soon
and let me know what Brother Franco has to say.
"Becoming Pizzoania," courtesy of the Pizzaonian Art Institute, Abe Straction, curator (C)2012
Conjectures of a Recovering Dilettante and other
stuff……
On
doing impossible things……
When a person is said to have done the impossible you know this cannot be right. What the person has
done is to exploit and understand what is possible. To bring the possible into being, you must
first fully understand in detail what you are attempting to do. This takes
understanding, vision, courage and tenacity.
Most people fail to adequately plan this first
step. It is easy to see why. At this point the only reality is the dream
of what you are going to accomplish.
Please note – we said “going to accomplish” not “attempting to
accomplish.”
What makes exploiting the possible so difficult is
in the beginning there is no one there but you.
It is a lonely and isolated place.
Only your courage and determination can get you through this birthing
period. From here the rest is comparatively
easy.
“Perpetual
optimism is a force multiplier.” - Colin Powell
When
a scandal is a scandal, or is it?……
On our recent portalization to the United States, we
were amazed to see the political act of governing reduced to the new game in
town “destroy your political opponent.”
I don’t know if an app has been created for this game yet, but I am not
sure you need one when you have Fox News and MSNBC to watch. Perhaps there should be a new constitutional amendment
to change the name from the United States to the Divided States of America. This would at least get rid of the illusion
that all is well.
One aspect of this new game demonstrates how far propaganda
has evolved as an art form in the American political process. It seems you can take any event that has a
modicum of controversy about it and immediately label it a “scandal.” Remember when waiting for the facts before you
judged was considered prudent?
The most amusing part of this new “scandal game” is it
forces the accused to defend themselves against the alleged scandal charge,
whether it is real or not. As they are
finding out, it is very hard to defend yourself against a scandal that may not
be a scandal after all. This of course
makes little difference to the accuser since the truth was never what it was
about it the first place.
It seems both political parties have mastered the subtleties
of this game very well. One side benefit of this new game is that neither party
has to concern themselves with governing anymore. That certainly makes their job much easier!
When
the shoe is on your foot instead of the other guys…..
Brother Franco could not resist commenting on the “change
of heart” that most politicians have when the shoe is on the other foot. The tragedy in Oklahoma brings this home to
the elected politicians there.
On
the nature of what we believe and other stuff……
“It is easy to embrace absurdity when you realize at
least 90 per cent of what you believe is based on assumptions.” Brother Franco
Brother Franco shared this quote with me the other morning,
and I did spend some time thinking through its implications. It is amazing when you consider carefully how
much of what we believe to be true, is based on assumptions – hopefully assumptions
founded on the best evidence available – if there is any actual evidence to consider..
This is a subject for years of study, so suffice for
my purpose that you consider what you are willing to live and die for. I hope, for all of our sakes you are on solid
ground.
Commenting from Pizzaonia for “The Pizzaonian” –
Brother Giovanni and Franco.
