Good Morning Friends across Locals! Happy Saturday Rubin Report Refugees, Early Birds & Later Dayers! Hello Again Phetasy Phamily, Dawn Patrol and Day Walkers! Hey there Triggernometry Triggeratti (say that three time fast) Fascinating People and Beautiful Bigots! And finally all of you Supporters, Members and Lurkers across these wonderful communities and Digital Neighbors At Padre's.
LORD - Unless you run in religious circles, play medieval fantasy games, are active in the SCA https://www.sca.org/about/ you probably don't use Lord as much more than a low grade profanity or expletive. For the record I was never active in the SCA even if I am D & D geek, but I was often fascinated by their activities on campus when they did their historical reenactments.
Lord - a rather heavy word and concept since it carries authority in its meaning. Hard to think positivity of any authority these days since we have seen far more misuse of authority than humble or selfless use of authority. There are almost no George Washington's left among the the political leadership, corporate leadership, or people within institutions of influence. I would add religion/churches/Christianity since it still carries influence in the lives of many, but anything you can walk away from with no consequence need never be feared for authoritarian abuse. A Good Lord (an occasional expletive among the gentler crowd) is hard to find.
Anything you cannot walk away from without authoritarian abuse is an unhealthy community or relationship. And by abuse, I mean your life or livelihood being threatened with injury or termination. I guess someone like Michael Malice would say that makes almost all governments and the societies created around them are unhealthy. Legacy Media, Big Tech, Academia and Wokertainment have all created cultures of punishment for the outliers, heretics and scapegoats that they designate. They often don't have to do anything themselves, they have flash cancel mobs ready to mobilize on-line and occasionally show up for peaceful protests. Not an abundance of Good Lords or Ladies as it were. I am not so black pilled or jaded to think there are no good people in positions of authority in life, but they are infrequent and rarely celebrated in the current culture. They probably like it that way to be honest, celebrity is one of the quickest ways to wreck your life. I hope you have had the good fortune of finding people in good leadership positions at work or in elsewhere in life.
If you ever find yourself in a position of Lord or Ladyship, I hope you can handle the authority entrusted to you with responsibility and humility. Good Lord, I am thankful I believe in One and I am thankful that my path along life has been filled with a number of humble servant leaders and only few authoritarian d-bags. I am not talking about the world beyond daily interaction, as mentioned previously there are too many who abuse or misuse authority in the world at large. Daily interactions with real people in life and on Locals keeps the cynicism and resignation at bay. Prayer helps too, but that is something to write about another day. Happy Saturday Friends!
Today marks the three hundred and thirtieth birthday of the Frenchman François-Marie Arouet, better known by his nom de plume, Voltaire (1694-1778).
Born into a bourgeois family during the reign of Louis XIV, the “Sun King” (r. 1643-1715), Voltaire suffered tragedy at a young age when his mother died. Never close with his father or brother, Voltaire exhibited a rebellious attitude toward authority from his youth. His brilliant mind was fostered in the care of the Society of Jesus, who introduced him to the joys of literature and theater. Despite his later criticisms against the Church, Voltaire, throughout his life, fondly recalled his dedicated Jesuit teachers.
Although he spent time as a civil servant in the French embassy to the Hague, Voltaire’s main love was writing—an endeavor where he excelled in various genres, including poetry, which led to his appointment as the royal court poet for King Louis XV. Widely recognized as one of the greatest French writers, and even hyperbolically referred to by ...
Padre - Tom Miller invites you to a Coffee Talk, Speakeasies, Schmoozes, Tea Times, Afterhours and other gatherings.
https://teams.live.com/meet/93792382189049?p=DiBHsYfuECPgDrG7vO
2026 Coffee Talk with the ADD Irregulars
Thursday, January 1, 2026
6:00 AM - 8:00 AM (CST)
Occurs every day starting 1/1 until 12/31/2027
Coffee Talk - Daily beginning at 6:00 AM Central Time Zone - USA
White Pilled Wednesday - A break from the heaviness of news and current events to focus upon things more personal & positive for the first hour of Coffee Talk.
Afternoon Chats - Most Tuesday, Friday & Sundays 2:00 PM Central
Other chats as posted in the community.
Good morning, digital neighbors! Blessed Sabbath to all my neighbors in Judaism and happy Saturday to all the rest of us! How about a few quotes on autumn for this fine autumn morning and a trip down memory lane for some of us? Have a great day, my friends!
"Listen! the wind is rising, and the air is wild with leaves, / We have had our summer evenings, now for October eves!" – Humbert Wolfe, "Autumn (Resignation)" (1926)
"Again the wind / flakes gold-leaf from the trees and the painting darkens— / as if a thousand penitents kissed an icon / till it thinned back to bare wood, / without diminishment." – Jane Hirshfield, "Autumn" (The Paris Review, 1988)
"Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits." – Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh (1903)
When I think of autumn and childhood, I always think of this old Disney cartoon. I probably watch it every autumn in the days leading up to Halloween. Enjoy!
...
XIII
The Proud Minister
One day there came into the Garden a man in torn clothes badly bruised and cut, who said to the Lover, “In the name of the Beloved I demand your help.”
So the Lover and the Disciple let him in and dressed his wounds and prepared the best of the vegetables from the Garden for him to eat. When his wounds had been dressed and he had eaten and rested the Lover asked him how he had fallen into this plight, to which the man replied, “I was Minister of the Beloved in a city near this place, where I preached His gospel and expounded His doctrine to the people. I pointed out to them how their sins had made them wholly hateful to the Beloved and how therefore they were utterly beyond the range of His love and He would condemn them to eternal torments, whereon some fell into despair and wept bitterly but many were angry. One day the magistrates called me before them and begged me to leave the city and preach elsewhere for they said I had made many people so angry and desperate that they feared there might be a riot and they might not be able to protect me but that I might suffer some injury. I, however, very zealous for the Beloved and believing that the magistrates only feared that their own sins might be proclaimed, preached the more vehemently, denounced the magistrates and made it abundantly clear that the whole wicked city was foredoomed to eternal punishment by the just provision of the Beloved. Whereon a mob, stirred up no doubt by the corrupt and venal magistrates, fell upon me with sticks and stones, nearly killing me and driving me out of the city in the state in which I came to you.”
“My friend,” said the Lover, “this was not a good deed of yours, for besides denying the unfathomable compassion of the Beloved, you have by your obstinacy caused these people to commit a grievous sin, and this cannot be pleasing to the Beloved, that through you who profess to be His minister the people should become worse. Surely you remember that He Himself said, ‘If they persecute you in one city flee to another.’”
Therefore the man was very angry, and cursing the Lover, said, “I see that I have had a very false report of you and I do not believe that you are a servant of the Beloved at all. When I came to you so injured for the Beloved’s sake you set before me only herbs and fruits although the garden is full of birds which you could have killed to make me a worthy meal. I shall proclaim everywhere that you are no true servant of the Beloved but a mere falterer who dares not suffer in the cause of the Beloved. Be sure that you are foreordained to eternal torments who suffer nothing here.”
For the man was so blinded by his own pride that he could not perceive the scars on the hands and feet and the brows of the Lover nor how the cloth beneath the armpits of his tunic was dyed with a red dye. So he went out of the Garden cursing and shouting.
But the Lover looked sad and said, “A man like this does much harm to the cause of the Beloved, for by thus speaking falsely about the Beloved he may bring men to fear Him but none to love Him, and by love alone can any man approach the Beloved.”
