Occupation of Independence

  Help me here, people. I am trying to get worked up to doing a little homework on the Mind-Body Problem of philosophy. But before tackling this, it is worth noting how being a campground host opens your mind up to question democratic pieties of the 1800s. Countries ratcheted their way towards universal suffrage back then, as if going one more notch in that direction was "Progress." I wonder if any of the mighty theorists of universal suffrage had ever worked at a retail store or as a campground host. Now that I have made excuses for dismissing history and political sciences as useless theorizing, let's move on to philosophy. Let's take Plato as the symbol of the Mind-Body Problem. He was a male. Would a female philosopher, tied closer to the circle of life, be as easily taken in by the notion of disembodied thought? Didn't Plato have a house-full of slaves and servants that got him out of doing a hour of honest work in his life? That also makes it easier to sit o

  A couple posts ago I was admiring some campers' fortitude and cheerfulness when bad weather hit.   Yesterday I was in town all day. Returning in the late afternoon, I was surprised to see the campground 1/3 full of undaunted campers. They were quite upbeat despite hours of cold rain. One campsite in particular was fun to drive by. They were the only ones who had managed to get a fire going. The rain was too slow to put it out. The fire had no practical effect on their body temperatures; nor did they cook with it. Everybody uses a stove. But what an effect the fire had on them and me psychologically! Naturally it brings to mind that movie "In Quest of Fire" by the French director, made back in the '80s. Do you suppose they will manage to get the fire started this morning? We have five inches of snow and it is still falling. They are quite intrepid and seem to enjoy the challenge of everything. It would make a wonderful picture if they got it going again. I will run o

What a world it is! It certainly made me appreciate some progress taking placing in the RV industry. I spoke to an older generation RVer who was on their maiden vogage with their loooonnnnng trailer. There were all bushy-tailed and bright-eyed about living the dream. He was from Texas, where his rig might have been a good fit. There were three sites (out of 25) in this campground where his rig would have fit. But of course, they were filled. But he still felt optimistic. After all, they were finally living the dream. from lovethoseclassicmovies.blogspot.com I don't know where they ended up camping for the night. He mentioned that they were now on their way to Moab. Talk about leaving the fry pan for the fire! It was reminiscent of Lucille Ball in "The Long, Long Trailer." I got a kick out of the conversation. In contrast, consider the younger generation in their vans: they can actually fit in campgrounds or parking lots. They are wise to give up on the long RVs of the old

I am still waiting for somebody to explain a bizarre situation that affects many thousands of people per year in Coloraduh. There is this enormous crush of campers trying to get into campgrounds that simply aren't that desirable in the first place.  Why? Don't worry, I won't go on a rant about everything that sucks about Coloraduh camping. The specifics are already well known and are too depressing to read. The explanation is what is at issue. Consider an analogy: my first time in New York City, as a bit of a young hayseed, I exited the taxi from the left side of the back seat. The driver instantly tensed up and shouted, "Hey man, this is New Yawk..." or something like that. With all the traffic rushing by at suicidal speeds just a few inches to the left of the taxi, I believed the driver, took his advice, and didn't make that mistake again. So why is there this crush of people showing up at sunset on a Friday night at a campground in Coloraduh? Couldn't t

I was pleased the other day when I walked up a trail to a tourist attraction, despite disliking tourist attractions and rocky trails. Many people see aversions as a "negative" thing, something to be avoided at all costs. Rubbish.  Aversions are part of a natural cycle that "charges up" the intensity of subsequent pleasures. Without aversions and suffering, experiences are just a bland sugary routine consumer experience. They become American cheese. Yes, the trail was rocky. So I had to reach out in some non-standard-tourist direction to escape this aversion. For awhile it felt good to throw rocks off the trail. Then I got close enough to the waterfall to hear it. It is an interesting and unique sound. Soon we were at the creek below the waterfall, but still couldn't see it. The air was cool and moist. What higher praise can you give? It was a microclimate there along the creek. The trees were tall and straight, unlike the usual scrawny diseased trees of Colorado