"What I Think I Know" is Dr. Harpole's "book" of essays.

DEAR READER

          When one feels deeply an excruciating psychic pain, a torture that will not leave you regardless of how you attempt to occupy or distract your mind, you will have to do something. When one lacks a loving companion (the only known temporary surcease) to whom to express the pain, you will have to do something. You are driven.

          Art comes from this pain. And, madness. And, acts of extreme violence. The pain is from frustrated love, which explains spousal and child abuse for one thing, and it can come out in many ways, but always passionate ways.

ANOTHER “DEAR READER” MESSAGE

          This book is written in short chapters, each with its own subject.  Some of the subjects are related to the others, and some are not.  Sometimes I will cross-reference the chapters, and sometimes I do not.  The chapters are short for several reasons.  I could say, and it would be true, that today’s reader has a short attention span.  You gotta get ‘em quick or lose them.  Poetry has known this forever.  Or, I could say that this is all I think one should say on the subjects.  But, my best answer is:

          THIS BOOK IS DIVIDED INTO SHORT ESSAYS SO THAT AT LEAST ONE ESSAY CAN BE READ DURING THE AVERAGE TIME IT TAKES TO TAKE A SHIT.  Read these essays while sitting shitting, and you will see what I mean.  Outside of New York City, no one reads anything that will not make them money or is part of their job.  So, I got it down to a few words.  I hope you see the wisdom of this strategy.  And, I hope you have a good, thorough, pleasurable shit.

AMERICA’S EVOLUTION

2008

          How will the United States decline?  Because every other empire/dominant state has declined, probably so with the United States.  But how?

          The answer is present in 2005-08 in the public face of George W. Bush and that is arrogance.  Arrogance will be the demise of the United States.  After all, arrogance is the automatic and unquestioned assumption of self-superiority.  “We are the best.”  And, we will fuck you up if you do not agree.  But arrogance contains flaws within it that guarantee its demise.

          Arrogance eliminates self-reflection and the possibility of seeing error.  But, being human, we know error will occur and that, in the arrogant, it will be undetected.  Error grows and eats away at the arrogant.

          Arrogance – watch for it.

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America depends on ethics, but . . .

2001

          The political and social structure of the United States of America depends on it citizens upholding a high standard of ethical behavior.  The social contract in this brand of capitalistic representative democracy is based upon honesty and on citizens (and politicians) holding in check their natural greed and lust for power.  Everything in our society depends on honesty, from the Internal Revenue tax system to vast open shelves of products in stores.  The America stock market depends on ethical standards being upheld because really when one is buying stock, they are just purchasing a piece of paper that someone else swears represents actual value.  The democratic political system depends on ethical behavior of its representative legislators actually to REPRESENT the citizens, not just those who give them money. 

There must have been a time when there were actions that most people “just would not do” (like directly lie and cheat for profit or go naked on a beach).  If there were such a time, it was during that time that the foundation documents of America were written, the Constitution, for example.  But, that time has ended.

          Something happened to America after WWII whereby many folks in positions of political power and/or economic power decided that ethics were an impediment to their well being and were something that they could comfortably live without.  These folks took out a loan on the future because, for a time, with the massive wealth and resources of this country, it was possible to withstand the abuse of ethical behavior upon which our social contract relies.  But, now just after the turn of the 2001century, the loan is coming due.  The abuses are coming home to roost and the wealthy and powerful are being exposed for the lying cheats and thieves that they are.  The corruption is very deep and goes into every part of American life. 

          What is really too bad is that the lying cheats and thieves will get away with it.

          But like all villainy, contained within the villainy are the seeds of its own destruction.  Oh, but the wait . . . .

ALWAYS IS

2007

          Ole Bill Clinton was more correct than he likely was aware when he, in a tight corner, said that it all depends on what your definition of is is.  Is is an answer of profound consequences.  Is is a state of being now.  It is a very powerful concept that allows easy entry into many basic questions about the nature of things.

          Because time is an illusion, is takes its place.  Everything just is.  A fundamental error of many religions—myths really—rests on their idea of a beginning, a starting point of everything.  Big error.  There is no start and no end—everything just is.

          Humans are hung up on time because of aging and death.  We can clearly see change and we call that “time” as though—mistakenly—change invents and maintains “time” like a good handyman always on the job.  But the change we observe in our human powers and human dimension, is simply a view of what always is.

          Traditional thinking concludes that change over time necessitates a start point, progression, and even perhaps an end point.  But, that is the error.  All of what we call change is simply that which is.  Sixty-three years and some months ago, I am being born.  That event is always happening as it is happening “now” and has happened and will happen within the human concept of time.  The event just is.

          But, you say, before my birth moment, I did not exist as a full human being.  Well, wrong.  “Before” I was born, I “was” always born.

          Clinton said it.  Is is a powerful word.

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