Rabies on an Upswing

Do possums attack people? I sure as hell hope so.

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Animism:

1.	the belief that natural objects, natural phenomena, and the universe itself possess souls.

2.	the belief that natural objects have souls that may exist apart from their material bodies.

3.	the doctrine that the soul is the principle of life and health.

4.	belief in spiritual beings or agencies.

Secular:

1.	of or pertaining to worldly things or to things that are not regarded as religious, spiritual, or sacred; temporal.

2.	not pertaining to or connected with religion.

I have combined these two disparate concepts into a unified whole, a belief system that works for me : Secular Animism.

Dude, you might say, that doesn't make any sense.

It doesn't have to make sense. That's where this comes in handy...

Faith:

1. Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.
2. Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence.

I suppose Secular Animism could be defined thusly:

1. the belief that natural objects, natural phenomena, and the universe itself exist.

This, I admit, is a pretty dull foundation for a religion. In fact, when you take animism and strip away all the parts about 'souls' and spirituality, you are essentially left with little more than science, which can be dreadfully academic. Science also requires proof, which tends to preclude faith.
Proof is also hard work, so we will exclude it and leave science to Dr. Moreau, Dr. Doom and their egg-headed ilk.

In lieu of proof, I proffer possum.


The New Breakfast Snob, March 23, 2008:

Claanad- The Hunter
Is there an award for reverb?

Alvin Lee- The Rapper
Ten Years After twenty years later.

Stranglers- Hallow to Our Men
From 'The Gospel According to the Men in Black'.

Damien Dempsey- Celtic Tiger
Greed. What is it good for?

Pentangle- Storyteller
Deep Purple- Hush
Savoy Brown- Poor Girl
Neil Young- Motorcycle Mama

Damien Dempsey- Colony
I sing the song of the colony
How many years and you're still not free
And your mother cries and you ask god why
Greed is the knife and the scars run deep
How many races with much reason to weep
And your children cry
And you ask god why

I look to the east, I look to the west
To the north and the south, and I'm not too impressed
Time after time
After crime after crime
They raped, robbed, pillaged, enslaved and murdered
Jesus Christ was their god and they done it in his name
So he could take the blame if it's not all a game
With bible in one hand and a sword in the other
They came to purify my land of my Gaelic Irish mothers
And fathers, and sisters and brothers
With our own ancient customs, laws, music, art
Way of life and culture
Tribal in structure
We had a civilisation
When they were still neanderthal nations
We suffer with the Native American, the Indian in Asia
Aboriginal Australia
The African people with their history so deep
And our children still weep and our lives are still cheap

You took what was not yours
Went against your own bible
You broke your own laws
Just to out do the rival
But did you ever apologize
For the hundreds and millions of lives
You destroyed and terrorised
Or have you never realized
Did you never feel shame
For what was done in your country's name
And find out who's to blame and why they were so inhumane
And still they teach you in your school
About those glorious days of rule
And how it's your destiny to be
Superior to me
But if you've any kind of mind
You'll see that all human kind
Are the children of this earth
And your hate for them will chew you up and spit you out

-Damien Dempsey

Whoa. Then I played a few choice snippets of Patti Smith...you know the ones.

Great Big Sea - End of the World
Well, I played 'Colony' and Patti Smith on Easter and lightning didn't strike me dead...but if it had...

John Prine- Please Don't Bury Me
I'm donating myself to science. Unless my cats eat me first.

Velvet Underground- Lonesome Cowboy Bill
Gentle Giant- As old as You're Young
Emerson, Lake & Palmer- Hoedown
Jethro Tull- Moths
Grace Slick & Paul Kantner- Earth Mother
Fiona Joyce- Cry Over You
Frank Zappa- St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast Medley
Steve Hillage- Wait One Moment
Dude. Collect yourself into the Cosmic Power of the Great Healing Wave or something...Hillage is a fantastic guitarist but he would make a lousy secular animist.

Nouvelle Vouge- In A Manner of Speaking
Brian Eno -Mother Whale Eyeless
Altan- Eoghainin O Ragdain
Mr. Acker Bilk - Easter Parade

Roy Buchanan- I Won't Tell You No More Lies
Dude, that's a double negative. Perhaps that is why this song is an instrumental.

Pretty Things- God Give Me The Strength To Carry On
Amen, y'all.

Have a Happy Day, Holy or otherwise.