While watching a YouTube video on Putin, there was a section of the video that showed him (at an elderly age) kissing something in a church and making the sign of the cross. (Hypocrisy unmitigated concerning the exterminator of innocent people!) We’ve also had a so-called leader in the United States, holding a bible upside down while trying to use it as a prop. (By the way, the two are friends.) Donald Trump STILL refuses to criticize Vladimir Putin.
“THE ROUNDED CATALOGUE DIVINE COMPLETE.” by Walt Whitman
[Sunday,–– – ––.–Went this forenoon to church. A college professor, Rev. Dr.——, gave us a fine sermon, during which I caught the above words; but the minister included in his “rounded catalog” letter and spirit, only the esthetic things, and entirely ignored what I name in the following:]
The devilish and the dark, the dying and diseas’d,
The countless (nineteen-twentieths) low and evil, crude and
savage,
The crazed, prisoners in jail, the horrible, rank, malignant,
Venom and filth, serpents, the ravenous sharks, liars, the disso-
lute;
(What is the part the wicked and the loathsome bear within
earth’s orbic scheme?)
Newts, crawling things in slime and mud, poisons,
The barren soil, the evil men, the slag and hideous rot.
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 
When image and words come together…I liked the image especially because it demonstrates the actions of the predator – Trump and Putin – well of course thy are friends! Well Tom you nail it – evil incarnate – whatever it is its getting bigger – did you notice the animals that are demonized in this piece? loathsome bear etc – Animals (with cats as an unfortunate exception) kill only for food – and are for the most part peace loving – isn’t it curious that we project evil onto animals when this behavior is HUMAN in origin. Animals are not evil – but humans are…
Sorry but you misinterpreted part of the poem, Sara. In this piece “bear” means ‘support,’ not the noun as an animal. And there are plenty of animals that kill, not for food, but for territory or dominance for sexual privileges.
Thanks for wisely seeing the connection between Trump and Putin. I didn’t get as many likes so far for this blog posting. I guess a lot of people are tied to dull fear and insanity. 😉
Tom!
To bare can mean to carry a burden – it has other meanings too but in this context “Loathsome bear” seems inappropriate to me – I think this is a reference to a bear – small point. But most disturbing to me is all the creatures that are maligned here – making it easy to draw the conclusion that bear is a loathsome creature because it is hated by so many. It is so normalized to use pejorative animal words to describe disgusting human attributes. It’s what we do – someone’s a pig, rat, or snake etc ad nauseam. And Tom let’s be fair most animals don’t kill for anything but food MOST of the time…. On another tack one idea I had was that maybe people weren’t able to make the leap between what you said about Putin/Trump and all the negative animal attributes – what you are talking about is the split between good and evil
What do you mean “all the creatures that are maligned here”? He mentions sharks and newts, that’s it. Regarding “bear,” Whitman commonly has a lot of misspellings. Anyway, bear in the dictionary is defined as ‘endure’ or ‘carry the weight of’.
Relax already!
Check again on your definitions please!
I checked on my definitions, Sara, and they are quite accurate. Nobody is maligning bears here. Period.
Intriguing little critter – what exactly is it? Regardless, I’d rather invite it in than Putin. Or Trump. Or a number of Trump still-supporters here in Texas. Thanks for the Whitman quote – that’s one I was not familiar with.
What is it? It may be Putin’s soul! Thanks, though, for your comments, Jazz. It’s so very nice to know that some people have decency and moxie in Texas (where my Trump-loving in-laws live)… and online too! 😎
Cheer up, Tom. Lo Zu would say the bad times won’t last forever 😊
I sure hope that you are right about the bad times. But when will people ever learn?
I’ve been donating a lot to various food banks for the Ukrainians. More people should. Kudos to Leonardo DiCaprio for sweetly donating 10 million dollars to the Ukrainians! 😉
Tom my friend, this is one of those mic-dropping, epic messages. 🎤🎤🎤 This part of the poem is spot-on: “Venom and filth, serpents, the ravenous sharks, liars, the dissolute;” 🎯 It seems like the diabolical germinate and morph into bigger slime balls. 🐍 As that old saying goes, “Cut off the head of the snake and the body will die.” I’ll take your cute little critter any day! 🐛🦟🦗
Thanks so much, Kym! 😀
Yes, that critter is cute compared to Putin and Trump… that is for sure! (And probably far more sane!) 😉😎😆
LMAO Tom, I couldn’t agree with you more my friend. I will reserve making any obscene comments that would lead to horrifying nightmares tonight! LOL 😱😆🤣
Ha! Thanks, Kym! As for nightmares, i never have them any longer. Dreaming is indicative of a mind that is not aware enough during the whole day. 😴😴😉
This comment about dreaming is simply not true – many dreamers have access to the future – sometimes years away. I am one of those people. You are not a dreamer, obviously, so how can you be in the authoritarian position of being the “knower”?????
I stick with what i stated. And a lot of dreamers can dream about a whole lot of things, and when one or two happen to take place they think that they are clairvoyant.
You are NOT in a position to know. This is simply your opinion not a truth with a capital T. I’m frankly surprised at this rigidity – my guess is dreams are a negative trigger for you but when you state an opinion as truth you will influence people who might not know how to stay in their own – don’t you see how potentially destructive that might be? You have heard of Carl Jung – yes? I was trained as an analyst and practiced for many years.
Last night you guessed it – I had a dream about being invaded by “boys” – interesting in view of yesterday’s conversation. To dismiss one’s profession like you did with me is disrespectful Tom – taking a class in psychology in college is not comparable to six years of intensive training and two graduate degrees – one a PhD. and that does not include working experience. I do not wish to belabor my position but I cannot let this go without some kind of defense. We have too many knowers in this world and not enough learners –
That Jung stuff and analysis stuff is largely primitive and crude. The analyzer is the analyzed. If you are not appreciative of my viewpoints then don’t come to my blog site.
Good heavens -I am shocked – I
do not .have the right to disagree with one of your “insights”????? Wow talk about either or
Look, Sara, on your blog site, i often just like what is there. A lot of times i disagree with what you say but i do not start a lot of negative feedback about it. There are a lot of blogs that i follow, some even about orthodox Christianity and orthodox Buddhism, for example. But i like their blogs without making a fuss about why they are off track. At least they are trying. I like courtesy. If they write something that is really wrong, usually i just do not like their posting for that moment. I don’t mind criticisms or disagreements… frankly, it’s the way you insinuated things that was upsetting. What i am writing about is not “potentially destructive”; if you think it is, maybe you should stop following my blog. I’ve studied psychology (in college) too.
I am sorry if I offended you – that was not my intent. I am a very direct and honest person so if I read something and disagree I do express my opinion – kindly I hope. Gosh I surely was not insinuating anything beyond what I expressed outright. I like your blog a lot. I think you must know that – am still not sure what went wrong today. But I felt upset with you too. Shall we let this go and start again?
It’s easy (perhaps too easy) to think of our species as inherently evil, especially when we witness the horrific pain we inflict upon one another through war, corporate greed, intolerance, willful ignorance, etc. However, this isn’t an either-or Hobbes (we’re born bad to the bone) vs. Rousseau (we’re born good until corrupted by society) matter. We’re way more complex than that, and I think that we can take some solace in the fact that most of us choose to act morally and righteously regardless of the attractions of power, materialism, and malignant egotism and sometimes at great cost to our personal comfort.
pstachowski, i think many of us act morally (according to the norms of society) but it usually is a very banal, ordinary kind of morality. Of course, there are a lot of really caring and compassionate people out there too. Whitman is just writing about the nefarious rotten apples here, not about people as a whole.
Not to put too fine a point on my comment above, but thankfully most people do rise to at least a level of conventional moral development, which, I assume is what you mean by “banal” and “ordinary.” To give them the credit they deserve, they at least keep society going, even though the motivation for moral behavior at this level is mostly extrinsic. If there’s any hope for us as a species, it’s going to come from individuals whose moral reasoning and behavior are largely intrincically motivated and based upon the ideas of a social contract and universal ethical principles. Needless to say, there are far fewer of these folks around.
I really like this “middle ground approach – it’s too easy to get caught by either or – evil exists but it is an extreme all the same. Great point.
Tom, maybe Putin is defending against bioweapons reasearch that the US has been sponsoring all over Ukraine. not something we will hear on mainstream media.
although i definitely don’t agree with Putin’s actions, this story has more than one side. let’s not forget how many times US has invaded countries in the name of ‘good’, and ended in thousands of civilian deaths.
I know that the U.S. has done a lot of questionable things too. But a lot it was involving the curtailing of real suppressive regimes. But with all of the chemical and bioweapons that Russia itself has, that is a very lame excuse for an invasion of another country. Putin is a monster. And Trump is a monster regarding seeing Putin as a likable genius.
Do you live in Russia? Here is a recent news posting on Google today…
Russia’s latest ‘false flag’: Moscow accuses US of helping Ukraine with illegal bio-weapons research on Black Death, anthrax and rabbit fever in frenzy of allegations to galvanize domestic support for Putin’s war and justify invasion.
(It’s a sad tactic of a real Hitleresque nefarious madman.)
On March 8, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland has expressed concernes if Russia gets control over ‘research facilities’. Read here, if you are curious
https://www.timesnownews.com/world/they-called-it-a-conspiracy-theory-but-united-states-just-acknowledged-existence-of-bio-labs-in-ukraine-article-90097467
“Biological Research Facilities” doesn’t mean that they are for military purposes. Period.
But Russia is saying that they are military. Russia propagandizes a lot of things (while bombing hospitals and schools with children inside).
I am a global citizen. What Russia is doing is now the result of a cruel dictator. Period.
Tom, I did not say Putin’s actions are not cruel. I said things are not black or white, as Americans tend to see them.
ps you are very quick to judge. I do not live in Russia, I live in Canada, and my grandmother was Ukrainian.
I am not naive about what the U.S. has done in the past. And the annihilation of the Native Americans (by both Canadians and people in the U.S.) is about as diabolical as it gets. Your grandmother was Ukrainian! Then do not dishonor your heritage by posting stuff that is giving Putin leverage. I said that i know that the U.S. has done a lot of questionable things too. Yet you say that i am too quick to judge. Maybe that statement by you is in itself a quick judgment. All i want is for people to see the cruelty — stemming largely from one dictatorial, murderous so-called man — that is befalling upon the poor and victimized people of Ukraine at this time. If you cannot just let that be for the simple thing that it is, all i can say is: “Wow! Weird!”
you know, Tom, there is a way to look at all things objectively without inciting hate, and encouraging others to join you. where there is cruelty, people are not blind.
wishing you a peace-full day🙏
I stated that i am a global citizen — i have lived in other countries — and you continued to insinuate that i was American. Oh, for goodness sake, one was not inciting hate here. Monica, you have issues, which is why i haven’t followed your blog site. Have a good day. (My perception about you and your comments: Wow! Weird!)
Exquisite image, Tom. As to your post and comments, spot on.
Perfect image for Putin — if only he was that easy no squash