Frog Applause by Teresa Burritt for June 11, 2015

Is that anything like a parade?’Cause I could go for a parade right now.

Dependence on ceremony, and mistaking symbols for the things they represent, are among the signature characteristics of a herd animal. Sheeple, if you will.

Ghost Dance and Chicken Dance….

We all beat to our own drummer…

Should a Rain Dance be a go for California?

That’s a very potent symbol and will probably suit those of us who are truly symbol-minded.

A fish rots from the head.This is actually true, as a fish is airtight and impervious beyond its head holes.Ceremony is the head of the fish, the automatic behaviors that maintain the rest of the fish reside therein.The only ceremonies that actually matter, though, are eating, breathing and the sensing of and avoidance/seeking of dangerous or desirable situations.Silly behaviors as a matter of ceremony are largely useless.It is their uselessness and lack of sensibility that joins their adherents into a cohesive mass by erecting a barrier wall, a Great Wall of Social Ego, to separate devotees from heathens.

Oh, Carl Gustav, where are you? Do we lose everything when we lose Symbolism? Does ceremony not involve symbol? ’Tis a rocky road for the Upland Plover or for the Boy whose Mother Was Planted….

Without ceremonies, holidays, funerals and weddings are just an excuse to raid the buffet table.

Ceremony denotes tradition and organization. It means that things are working according to a plan.I do find the fish helmet to be the most important part of the ceremony.For more about the fish helmet’s origins, see Captain Beefheart: Trout Mask Replica.

The comments make it hard to breathe, which is probably just symbolizing my sentient state anyway.

Man, I’d really like a hat like that. Teresa’s artwork, not the Captain Beefheart.

There’s an (apocryphal) story about Boris Karloff, who is said to have gone to Bela Lugosi’s funeral, looked at the open coffin and said “Bela. Quit putting us on.” I hope someone comes up with something just as fitting for Christopher Lee, who died today.

Ceremony is what turns superstition into religion.

I love Rick Bass … but I don’t stand on ceremony!!!

So say the Druids … okay, wait!!! now I remember, there are no Druids!!!

Deities are like variables in C.They must be declared and initialized before you can use them.You can just declare them and use them, but you get whatever was in the memory address allocated for the new deity.And history is very long.And very dark.And very cold.

“You do your own thing and you see if you survive.” ― Ricky Gervais