Replies To Comments #1
In working on my reply to selected comments posts, I found that I was getting far TOO LONG in my overall post length. So, I have decided to break up this week's return to "Replies to Comments" post into two different posts. The first one (below) focuses on my replies to comments related to my recent.... a) pipe smoking posts, b) lack of focus post, and c) food preferences post. Tomorrow (or perhaps Friday) I will finish up with replies for this batch from my recent a) retirement posts, and b) my liquor store posts.
As was my usual, I list comments alphabeticallly by author who wrote the comment and my reply is below that.
From Pipe Smoking Posts:
AC
I know that I must have told you this before, but is sure to have been a long time ago. I tried it early in my university career, I couldn’t keep the damn thing lit. Rather than continue to struggle, I decided that it was too important to me.
No…. you had never mentioned that before! I am a little surprised, given your more “fundamental” sort of upbringing (fundamental may not be the correct word to use, but I mean… the faith you were brought up in seems to be one that is rather against things like tobacco usage and alcohol consumption… Catholic folk are rather neutral about moderate tobacco or alcohol indulgence). The lament that you mentioned about not being able to keep the pipe going….. is a common statement by many folks who try out smoking a pipe. I have read about it frequently on various of the pipe forum groups I read. Strangely, perhaps, for me…. I never experienced any sort of “difficulty” in learning to smoke a pipe when I was a kid….from the very first try of a pipe, it seemed wholly natural and actually rather innate to me…. not sure why. The biggest challenge I actually faced, was not really knowing how to light matches when I was a kid. I often failed at that initially… breaking off the heads of matches etc….. but if I had a match successfully lit, I never had any real difficulty igniting the pipe tobacco in the bowl….and it always felt so magical a transformation for me to do so.
Margaret
I know you're not tempted by cigars like you are with pipes; I'm wondering if you could impose a similar schedule on yourself: one pipe a week, perhaps on a certain day. A on Thursday and a pipe on Saturday? I like how you encourage your students, but also gently warn them of consequences. Nowadays it's also good to transmit those expectations in writing.
“From your lips to God’s ear!” is what I can say. I ultimately WOULD RELISH being able to figure out such a schedule for me with my beloved pipes. I simply have not figured out how to accomplish this….or perhaps more accurately…. I do not feel a whole helluva lot of confidence in myself that I would maintain such a schedule….. I can see so many avenues where I so easily and eagerly morph back into my traditional ways.
Thank you about the teaching aspect in your comment too…. I TRY to guide students on suggested ways to get the success they want….while giving them the freedom to pursue their goals as they ultimately choose.
Pat M
How strange it is, Professor, to see such words coming from a regular cigar smoker who has chosen to abandon his pipes on all but the rarest of occasions. The disjunction must be weighing on you heavily!
Ouch! I find it a bit unnerving to be referred to as a “regular cigar smoker”. I have never envisioned myself to be such. However, it is regrettably true, that from the outside, what you have stated would be a designation put forth by many about my current state of affairs. In the recesses of my mind, however, I do not see myself in this way. I probably should write a more complete post about this, and will try to do so…. but the once weekly cigar I do now indulge in is not REALLY about the cigar itself (although it is pleasant)… but really about the a) camaraderie, and/or b) about having a “destination”…. a “home-away-from-home” so-to speak….. my own variation of a “Cheers” type environment, where I can be an accepted member, albeit probably a “Norm” the postman type.
“Chosen to abandon” my pipes also feels brutal to hear. And, again, from the outside of myself…. looking at my actions, this would appear as true. In my own psyche, though, I see myself keeping my pipes and pipe tobaccos near, and never packed away or given away or destroyed. I try to keep in my mind that I am in the midst of a type of “fast” with my pipes and pipe tobaccos….. but take solace in that they are near.
Yet, I cannot deny the externally appearing “truths” of your statements. It is indeed a difficult disjunction. It feels akin to a battling of the id, the ego, and the superego. I do not know who the ultimate “victor” is….. nor if there can/could be a victor…. other than perhaps if each…. the id, ego, and superego were to return to harmony with each other. Perhaps THAT would be a victory?
Focus Post:
Margaret:
Sometimes solitude and a good book are what we need. I love my friend groups, but also enjoy my alone time, either reading or walking.
I very much agree with you! I have times frequently where I need solitude of some sort in order to find my “center” my “balance”. “Alone” is not the same as “lonely”. I can often find joy in groups and also find joy when alone. But, sadly, I can also sometimes feel “lonely” in a group…. and sometimes “lonely” in an undesired (or poorly focused) time of being alone.
PepperLady
I was like that yesterday, the 20th. Could focus. After I heard how our primary went in here Idaho.
When my mind is poorly focused, it tends to get me feeling rather “edgy” unless I can figure out a way to occupy myself.
Food Preferences:
AC
Tastes are weird. Mine are probably close to opposite of yours. Beans and particularly lima beans are not favoured at all. Eating a lima bean is akin to eating a velvet curtain.
Haha! Even though I love lima beans….. I really like your analogy! I will remember it!!!! It is a great analogy.
Even at lunch, I eat a chewy bagel and Sue eats a different brand that is crispier. We had scrambled eggs tonight. I cook them properly,, after which she tends to burn and blacken hers.
Like you, I prefer chewier textures rather than crispy…. And I like my eggs to be delicately cooked….. not brown at all.
Margaret:
I'm with you on some of these--I hate being around the frying of food although I do eat some of it. However, I dislike fried chicken which John finds strange. I also love all beans, including lima beans. However, I strongly dislike melons, especially cantaloupe. I can choke down watermelon if I have to but it's not enjoyable for me. Food likes and dislikes are interesting to me; I always wonder why so many people love a food that I hate and vice-versa.
Truthfully, the only fried foods I will occasionally WILLINGLY eat would be French Fries, or perhaps Tater Tots. Sometimes at events, I “have” to eat other fried things….. to “fit in”….. but I try to avoid those sorts of situations whenever possible, or sometimes pretend I am not hungry (technically….. I am NOT hungry for the fried food, but may be hungry overall). It is interesting that compared to both my side of the family and my wife’s side of the family….. most of our relatives only like what I would consider “bland” (unspicy) foods of the more “meat and potatoes” style foods. My wife and I and our kids all relish all sorts of spices and flavors….. and eat more “exotic” foods compared to our relatives.
Pam J:
I've spent some hours now trying to think of any food (other than okra) that I dislike. Didn't come up with much, except liver and pizza with ham and pineapple.
Haha! Your pizza dislike had me chuckle! I do not mind pizza with ham and pineapple, although ham is not a huge draw to me. For both my wife and me, our FAVORITE pizza would be one that has Italian Sausage, onions, and green (Bell) peppers…….. and if my wife isn’t around, I would also add black olives (she sadly abhors olives of ANY sort, much to my olive-loving chagrin).
2 Comments:
Professor, might you entertain some thoughts about your notion of "fasting"?
One would never think (at least not appropriately) of fasting from goodness, or from beauty, or from charity, or from peace. One fasts from those things that can be enjoyed to excess. One wouldn't fast from giving money to the poor, but one might reasonably fast from giving money to Starbucks.
Your pipe-related posts suggest to me that you are facing a challenge in that you locate your pipe-smoking in both of those categories. Pipe-smoking is a source of beauty and peace in your life. Yet the world around you pushes you to consider it an indulgence or even as something undesirable, something that should best be minimized or eliminated. As long as you see your pipes in both ways, I'm not sure you'll ever be comfortable with smoking your pipes, or with not smoking your pipes.
I'm reminded of your recent post in which you lamented "what we have now where political 'leaders' spread b*llsh*t about science they themselves know nothing about." But are you letting your current choices be dictated by those who in truth know nothing about your pipe-smoking? I'm sure you remember the original 1964 Surgeon General's Report, which discovered that pipe-smokers actually had life-spans slightly longer than non-smokers, and significantly longer than cigarette smokers. The truth of the matter was that pipe-smoking was found to be one beneficial element of an overall lifestyle -- a lifestyle favoring peace and relaxation, quite different from the rushed-gratification lifestyle that correlates with cigarette-smoking.
Of course, the public health "authorities" couldn't abide those facts, and quickly the studies were re-jiggered so as to avoid duplicating that finding. And once cigarette smokers saw the result, many switched to pipes but kept the rest of their lifestyle unchanged, forever confounding the question of pipe-smoking as one of many beneficial elements in an overall lifestyle.
Professor, you are surely familiar with the notion of the "seamless garment" -- the idea that values and choices should be seen as inextricably interconnected. I would argue that pipe-smoking can be part of a seamless garment of life choices that are an objective source of goodness and beauty, and that trying to separate your pipes from your (former?) overall lifestyle is an effort that will end up doing violence to your lifestyle. If you tried to "fast" from giving charity, or from appreciating beauty, or from showing kindness, you would expect that the "seamless garment" of your life would be torn.
An appropriate fast will mortify the flesh but enrich the spirit. If your "fast" is mortifying your spirit, I would argue that it's not a proper fast. Does that make sense, Professor? Take it for whatever it may be worth.
That’s fun. What I forgot to say at the time was that, unlike you, I need my hot foods hot and cold food (mostly drinks I guess) cold. I may tend to seem to eat too fast in order to have it hot. I keep my pop fridge quite cold. If the drink has a little ice in it, so much the better. Coffee I can take warm but not cold like some people like it.
About the pipe and my religious roots, you are correct, and I was very religious at the time. I guess I distinguished between pipes and cigarettes. The latter would have been verboten. I remember a friend saying something like CH Spurgeon (I think it was him) saying something like smoking a pipe to the glory of god.
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