The Circus Mission & Purpose & Hope

The Circus:  
Mission, Purpose & Hope

Inspire   Thinking , Creating, Doing , & Being

Inspire & Facilitate Good Governance & Effective Public Policy  that reflects & supports our Ethics, Values , & long term goals. 

Inspire Awe & Respect for our Planet ,  All  Life , & Culture.

Inspire and Facilitate the Conservation of Nature ;  A Viable & Sustainable  symbiosis  between Nature - Wildlife / Habitat Conservation & the requisites of  Governments,  IGO’s. & Private Enterprise

Inspire and Facilitate a productive symbiosis between , Government , IGO’s , Enterprise , individuals & 

The Planet,  

To crate a sustainable Thriving Ecosystem  

Simplicity is the Operative Principle.

Chaos,  unintended or Manufactured complexity,  Noise,   - is the Enemy to both Practice & Truth

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The Purpose, The Raison D'etre of the Circus - 

Think

Facilitate & inspire -Thought, Discourse, & Action

Engage 

Reveal Unknowns.  

I welcome all to this Blog-without Prejudice.   

To those of you who want to  remain  Outside,   Disengaged; 

The Romantic Lone soul toiling on the fringes of society, battling the forces of conformity & insanity - trying to make sense of life and one’s place in it ,  refusing to be a part of the absurd banter and noise,  i get it.  

Sprawled on the sofa in your Favorite Sweatshirt ;  sipping something easygoing , 

Quietly adhering to your principles and standards and idiosyncrasies,  Refusing to log into instagram  Facebook,  A Stack of Snappy magazines piled  to your Left, something salty to munch on to your Right;   the  tv   primed for hours of quality streaming,

Yes,  i relate.    Even the Dalai Llama has those nights.  

But,  Since we agree that two heads are better than one

& 

Since Finding our way to both understanding, and discovering  productive & permanent  solutions to the overt yet insidious  Problems  & Dilemmas  of our time  -We have to Engage.   Publicly , communally, -Engage.
So not to confuse those on the Extreme R. Center or  L.  (& to underscore- this discourse welcomes anyone)  Public, Communal Engagement- Dialogue,   is not an exercise in The Political , Liberal , Nationalistic, Religious , Tribal:  - identity Woke, militant Politics that has taken over much of our public discourse. 
Communal, Public,  Compassionate ,  Open ,  inclusive Dialogue 
is Fundamental & Mandatory to - a Functional Republic.  
In other words,    - Democracy Depends on it  
Thinking & Being  on occasion needs company.   Discourse is Fundamental to this process.
Manifesting Solutions-  Requires it.   

 

We must take leave from Self ... so Dig on that Netflix Binge , but at some point, - off  the couch with you.

Hut ....Hut .   

Note:  
There’s. No Need to switch the music to Rachmaninoff;   A tie , pressed shirt, “heels”and a snappy suit - not Required

Engaging thinking , Doing , Civic mindedness & Action doesn’t mean Turning your life upside down , sacrificing your treasured pleasures and lifestyle .  You can   Remorselessly  fire up the popcorn popper,  crack open another ipa or Chard,  play video games,  or stream  till you drop;  but  at some point exit the cocoon and -Engage. 

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Why We Write:

To make suffering endurable

To make -evil intelligible

To make-justice desirable

To make-love possible

From Rodger Rosenblatt Quoted from unknown.

....to move the human heart. 

A.D. Pope

To know what we Feel

To learn what we Think

Rodger Rosenblatt

To Discover

To Explain something

Stanley Fish.

Joan Didion Quotes on Life, Love, and Writing 

https://inspiringquotes.com/15-joan-didion-quotes-on-life-love-and-writing/?lctg=cf5651a4-f41e6-433  

On Writing 

I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see, and what it means. What I want and what I fear. 

We tell ourselves stories in order to live. 

Short stories demand a certain awareness of one’s own intentions, a certain narrowing of the focus. 

Grammar is a piano I play by ear. 

As a writer, even as a child, long before what I wrote began to be published, I developed a sense that meaning itself was resident in the rhythms of words and sentences and paragraphs ... The way I write is who I am, or have become. 

You get the sense that it’s possible simply to go through life noticing things and writing them down and that this is OK, it’s worth doing. That the seemingly insignificant things that most of us spend our days noticing are really significant, have meaning, and tell us something. 

I am still committed to the idea that the ability to think for one’s self depends upon one’s mastery of the language. 

To Dwell in the mysteries

Keats.

To turn the Flux of life into words, which in turn, create another reality for the Reader.

John Updike

To Figure Things out.  

A quest-In Search of Answers.

To Give Form to the expression of  different selves.   Unknown.

On the Fourth Estate

*Quality & Integrity  in Journalism 

Bill Keller  NYT Editor / Columnist

This article appears in print on March 27, 2011, Page 11 of the Sunday Magazine with the headline:  "Traditional News Outlets:  Living Among the Guerrillas"

" Time's outlook, steeped in the mores of a big, rambunctious city, tends to be culturally liberal: open-minded, skeptical of dogma, secular, cosmopolitan.

Some years ago, a colleague tried to sum up the essentials that set us apart from agenda-driven journalists of the right and the left.

The first is that we believe in verification rather than assertion. We put a higher premium on accuracy than on speed or sensation. When we report information, we look hard to see if it stands up to scrutiny.

So there is a corollary to this first precept: when we get it wrong, we correct ourselves as quickly and forthrightly as possible.

Being right is necessary but not sufficient. We also strive to be impartial. We are agnostic as to where a story may lead; we do not go into a story with a preconceived notion. We do not manipulate or hide facts to advance an agenda. We strive to preserve our independence from political and economic interests, including our own advertisers and including our own government.

Impartiality is, for us, not just a matter of pretending to be neutral; it is a healthful, intellectual discipline. Once you proclaim an opinion, you may feel an urge to defend it, and that creates a temptation to overlook inconvenient facts when you should be searching them out.

In short, our mission is not to tell you what we think or what you are supposed to think, and it is certainly not to pander to your prejudices. It is to supply to you, as best we can, the basis to make up your own minds."

The Circus  Aspires to these ends

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Purpose & Mission

Achievement,  Excellence, -Living Well &  Sustainably ,   Be it in Culture, Business, Politics,  Self-   is never the result of random behavior.

It is to these ends that the Following Proceeds.

Nothing is omitted from Discussion

The playing field is not Level.  

All topics will be treated with extreme prejudice & bias,  as this is the nature of -Thinking & Action.

The Good News , No subject will be prejudiced by -Agenda,  Special Interest, or even -a very pretty Girl.

No money,  political pressure,  or support of any kind,  will ever influence or distort  the content.

Admittedly, if someone were to cook me a Great meal ...that  may temporarily sway an opinion, 

but as irrational as my Roman  stomach is - Integrity will prevail.   Scouts Honor.

Thinking.  

The Beginning is -Thaumazein.   Greek for -Wonder.  Understood as the place where Philosophy

begins.  

There is a parallel in Zen Buddhism.  Zen Mind.  The purpose of Zen Mind is to make you Wonder, or more precisely,  make possible-Wonder.    It  is the very soil of a pure mind  whereby  -Thinking & ultimately -Enlightenment,  is possible.

Answering a profound Open Curiosity with the deepest expression of your nature- is the idea of Zen. 

Shoshin is -Beginners Mind.  Shoshin is Empty minded, Ready minded. It  includes both doubt and possibility.   It is the ability to see things Fresh and Anew.  It is a mind without preconception that -closes us to possibility -to understanding- to thinking.  Simplicity , Ready Mind,  Openness - is the Foundation.

See-   “ Zen Mind Beginners Mind” By  Shunryu Suzuki - In Print.

The Circus  aspires to what's 

Interesting. Brilliant. small.  Creative.... Planet saving , earth shattering,   Conflict Resolving -   ideas ,   stated with Alacrity, Poise , Clarity & 

The majority of the essays in this Blog will be about Policy , Business,  Science,  Economics,  Environment,  Planning & Design,  Sustainable Development,  & Technology, bla bla bla.  

Since this is a Blog...Since the content doesnt have to conform to an Editorial Program , answer to anyone , ...conform to the Hot Toddy of the week 

And since this Blog is entirely of my Life & Mind- yes , its idiosyncratic and Biased.

I am sharing my  Ideas.  Experience.   Knowledge. 

I am doing so because I am Deeply driven to correct the Fundamental Wrongs of Human Behavior on This planet.  That is,  before the planet and the Gds tire of our Folly and Hubris and - decide to do away with us.

Then ..there are the Small but delicious things in life that actually make it worth Living.

Call it -etal.  We cold call it - "Why we Get out of Bed" ...but for now i defer to brevity.

In a Section Titled  -Et al.  will be the pieces on Ed. Begley and his quest for Green 

Thinking of Going back to Vinyl?  ..or never been there.  -Comprehensive sound advice.

What is the best Italian made Urban bicycle on the planet?

What is the best Hiking Trail or cycling trail a walking distance from downtown Moab?

Looking for an excellent little place to chill,  gather your senses , in Istanbul?

Do you put Campy, SRam, or  Shimano on that new Road Frame? 

Wondering how to disconnect from Cable television and not miss  Jeff “Flipping out” or Ed Begley build his new “Green” House?  

How do you Host a Dinner party for say ..Bill Gates,  without breaking a sweat?

Wondering How you provide  consistent discipline & guidance to your children Yet -not go to jail,  & remain on speaking terms with your spouse ?

Wondering why we have spent nearly 2  Trillion Dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan while the pot holes on your neighborhood streets keep getting bigger,  & we cant 

get 30% of our kids out of high School, and well over 50% through College?

As for any Entry that May be defined or interpreted as -Journalism.

I defer to The New York Times Definition on integrity and ideal Journalistic Standards 

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