Letter to Hugh

I thought that this letter to a friend, my former NLP instructor, was worth saving. He humorously referred to this State as "Fornicalia."

Hi Hugh,

Fornicalia is, in my experience, a wonder to live in. Even with the financial stress these days it is difficult to complain. But as you know, happiness is a matter of choice, focus, and action. But between even my shortcomings and that of my environment, the overwhelming nod goes to happiness.

I recently met a wonderful woman and we are getting along very well. We have very similar interests and spend a lot of time just talking with each other. She makes me smile just being around.

I continue to be grateful for the education I had under your tutelage. I use it on myself and sometimes others if asked. I am increasingly inclined to do more, and am quite sinecure in my saying that I would attended your sessions there. Here the economy is such, though, that I do not bring in monetarily but a ridiculously small portion of what I made very easily there. That, really, is my only regret about being here, other than missing my good friends. Don't get me started. But though it is easy to blame, I am responsible for how I set my rudder, so I keep trying.

Yes, Fornicalia would be an apt title for the shenanigans going on here on many levels, but there are so many books, essays, and shows on the topic, I feel it is well covered and that I can devote my energy to more viable pursuits than chronicling evil and complaint. I am often active in City and County level meetings and activities and do some volunteer work. That is what I have to offer in that arena, and it is enough to tell me much about how government works.

Mostly it is not in the interest of stakeholders, but of those who have money enough to hire others to harangue policy makers. That tells me that most lawmakers have little of their own minds, little education in social, civic, and financial dynamics, and are mostly self interested. Usually I vote to get people out, as choices for those who are sane are radically limited. But as you might see, this Country has devolved into a second rate nation already, and people being what they are seek refuge in denial and inaction until there is an actual incontrovertible disaster. "Stataras Flondarans": Pity the poor Earthians.

But the mass psychology only effects what I have to deal with, not how I feel about myself. I wish there was a global "Reset Your Brain," but short of a Day the Earth Stood Still scenario (the old version,) it ain't gonna happen. Maybe the race will have another choke point and the survivors retain some good sense this time. Too bad; this planet could be a Paradise beyond imagining save for fear and greed. The root of morality goes widely undiscovered despite being readily available apart and distinct from denominations and -isms. But money and power are fabulous insulators. And so it goes, and so history unwinds.

But that, Hugh, is why we owe gratitude to you and others who maintain and promote sanity. Those who do that are to a degree anti-entropic. We have to be happy about that as we benefit greatly from such work. And we do know that the emergence of higher forms of anything always comes with fragility, and fewer numbers, and a commensurate vulnerability to the vagaries of anything, especially ignorance.

But I think that that is what makes it such a thrilling adventure. Life is Good, Hugh, and it will try anything, even its own destruction, to express every possible mode of experience. Who can fault that? It is the Great Unfolding, the Great Experiment of "What if???" Pretty darned exciting, eh?

Best,

Anton