Copper Chronicles

Act V

The trial of Job lasts 40 long chapters. I don’t think I am misrepresenting God by saying this was somewhat of a trial for the Almighty, too.

Religious people misrepresenting Him ad nauseum; likening His mighty power to a circus act; then, talking about his Majesty in the third person as if He wasn’t even there. I’m no Emily Post, but I do know that is rude.

The players are bereft of sense, sprawled on the ground like the weak creations of clay they are. The adversary, Satan, is no where to be found. The choice silver of Job’s trial has emerged!

1. We have a mediator and advocate who defends us against our adversary’s claims.
2. Human beings shouldn’t speak unless it bestows some benefit on those who hear it.

There is a hush silence. Everyone is afraid to speak since largely things people say are not terrifically beneficial.

The narrator reminds the audience that speaking and thinking ought not be done lightly! We agree with the Almighty or the adversary. One or the other! It can not be both!!

Curtain closes. Players bow. Thus ends the Story of Job and the Adversary.

The intellectual aspirations of Job and his friends have reached their natural conclusion. Despite Job’s earnest belief that God is good, and frequent Allusions to a ‘mediator,’ or ‘friend,’ who would argue his case before the Almighty, they generally don’t know what they are talking about. Colloquially this is known as “blah, blah, blah.”

The religious establishment is fainting as if on sleeping couches because I said there is “blah, blah, blah” in the Bible. There is necessary context in the Bible. The reason it’s in the Bible is to prove how good God is despite the stupid people in it.

God can’t just write a story about himself, posturing like Captain America, or some hero, without us understanding what is truly heroic about Him. He listens patiently. Eventually, he sets the record straight.

He speaks of the moon and stars, the ocean, the animals in infinity variety. Then, some clever interpreter of the AMPC version, (near to Greek translation I am told) says near the end of His speech, that God wrestles alligators. And wins!

The crowning achievement of God, according to religious people apparently, (chapter 41) is that God quite nearly resembles Crocodile Dundee in magnifence and stature.

In the final scene of Act IV God is a bit angry. Just a hint. The bloviating of idiots has reached its zenith. No wonder God has stepped out of the scene on the large screen of our lives. Did the translators say to God, “God, you know now there are no such things as dragons…”

“Nobody will believe us if we speak of such things.”

Chilled hush floods the scene. Now nobody knows whether there is such things as dragons or whether God is angry about being compared to Crocodile Dundee.

End scene

The story of Job continues with Satan, the adversary, accusing Job for only revering God for the good fortune that alliance with the Almighty bestows. Job is compulsively fueling his bonfire of uncertainty because that is the human condition in the face of the unknown.

Fear compels. “God bestows” that is a useful distinction🤔

The Almighty has been a faithful friend to Job, empowering him with wisdom that Proverbs 8 say is “better than silver and fine gold.”

This may be a case where Job needed “to know” God better, “to experience” Him, in the biblical sense of knowing. You know?

So, the Tempter begins his trial of Job, destroying all the good fortune celebrated for centuries as sign of our loving Creator.

Act III

“The thing I greatly feared has come to pass!!” Job retorts. Then much insightful thought, speech, and introspection ensues.

Jobs friends take Satan’s side in the debate: “You’re guilty!” Whatever has become of you is clearly your own fault! Then, Job’s wife starts nagging him. As though being swallowed up by hell itself! Job persists that God is good!! He will not be deterred by delusional do-gooders.

When we suffer, God really has our attention. We are full force in earnest to do whatever is required to escape our suffering. It’s the human condition, too. I am a human being I know these things.

I think God would prefer that will listened to Him in the first place. Like, “When Jesus says, “Pray to your Father in heaven thy kingdom come,” he means God wants His Kingdom to come. Now, in this time. Among us. See? God is good. Not Hitler.

Narrator exits stage Left

I think there has been done a serious injustice to God in the Book of Job. Pious communities through the centuries hail the patience of Job! We are warned to suffer patiently in our adversity; to posit behind all our suffering is some greater good – God’s hand at work.

Hitler? Really? That was God’s plan??

I think assumptions bordering on delusional are designed to control people. We are all “sinners in the hands of God!” Terrifying us into obedience to whatever ruling power and institutions requiring our terror and obedience.

If we want to bring Jesus into it, (helpful in these discussions) didn’t he say go tell the “Good news”? The good news is you don’t have to be terrified of God’s anger anymore. That humanity is forgiven in the death and resurrection of that baby in the manger we see on Christmas cards.

The Bible also mentions people will be won over by the goodness of God (Romans 2:4). We remark on the patience of Job and rightly so. But, I think we must applaud the patience of God as well.

If Shakespeare made a play about Job it may sound like this:

Act I

Job is the richest man by far in his time, owning a large part of his country and cared for the people in it diligently. So, the opposite of rich people today.

Job is creating a continual bonfire of unbelief in his back yard- obsessing over his children whom he fears are behaving badly. He doesn’t know. (There’s seems no proof of this except they often celebrated their birthdays together. ) Hence, Job is acting out of fear. He’s obsessing. The smoke goes up and up into God’s metaphorical ‘nose’ every single day like an ancient SOS.

Act II

Enter Satan.

Remember that sibling that harangued you and harassed you just because they could? Taunted you, accused you falsely to your parents for doing the very thing s/he was doing? Satan is that kid – times a million.

So, Satan I suspect is tormenting Job, which is creating his compulsive fear of offending God. I am afraid something terrible is going to happen! Job is convinced and is creating giant smoke signals to God.

This perhaps may be the origin of the expression “blowing smoke.” 🤔 It could also be referring to annoying religious people in the next Act that are “blowing smoke”, too. Then, Job blows more smoke, again later, projecting the blame on God for his suffering.

See how patient God is?

Intermission

In our culture, one can “Shake it like a salt shaker” according to a modern pop singer. That seems like a useful idea to keep. One can “Shake it Off” like the pretty blonde one sings quite convincingly. Dancing in a dazzling way helps Taylor Swift make this seem like another useful idea to keep.

I am a Yankee, yes. That is the first part of AA rehabilitation program. Confess. Own your experience. Take responsibility. Make amends. All useful nuggets of wisdom I’ve gleaned from our culture. But, explaining why winning the Civil War was necessary and “good” is a bit beyond the scope of the Chronicles. Plus, I’ve only had one cup of coffee.

I’ve other concerns on my plate, too. Like, is it possible the Statue of Liberty is seeping metallic residue into New York City?

People are constantly over-exposed to poisoning unknowingly by metallic substances. At least in Star Trek. One reliable scientist posited Vincent Van Gogh experienced mercury poisoning 🤔

My generation has been mislead to think precious metals are desirable, like Crypto-nite. But, this is not true of all metal substances. Thanks Hollywood.

You’d think it’d be generally understood never to believe anything you hear or see from Hollywood. Fantasy is it’s MO (Mode of Operation.) Fiction, elation-inducing Drama. So, then TV stations can sell you their latest this and newest that.

That is what that state of agitation, that uncertain feeling of not- knowing- what- is- going- to happen next feeling of anxiety is for. To sell you things. Hollywood and the people who own TV stations clearly think we are monkeys to be trained and mimic what we hear:

“Act like a complete idiot” the television says. “Enjoy the false idea that there are no consequences for acting like an idiot” it agitates on.

On commercials, eat food with no actual nutritional value; buy quasi products made in China that appear like a product but falls apart in 5 months.

Then, if you’ve been programmed essentially from birth you start to believe people are idiots. And, You’re a caveman if you don’t own Geico insurance. And True “Liberty” is buying car insurance!

No wonder it was essential to get mother’s out of the house in the Sixties. Baby Boomers You’ve been duped! Who needs mothers when we can have PBS?

It’s a good thing I don’t watch TV anymore. It’s funner to tune into nature’s signals and watch THAT drama unfold.

Coffee!!

A person can live a long, long, time- hearing things but cannot “know” a thing until s/he experiences it in the flesh. Like the biblical use of “To know,” You know?

“To Experience, to be One with.” I feel my Puritanical, New England-self blushing at the sound of it. But, I am in the state of Virginia now, and Virginia is for Lovers.

😃

Anyhow, you can’t “know” a thing until you experience, it is a useful tool or device or ‘wise word’ I learned in an earlier post and re-remembered today.

Avoiding the too common expression, “It’s funny,” because it isn’t quite funny. It’s more than quirky, or ha-ha laughing funny. ‘More like a clown you don’t quite trust funny. Your kind of on edge, in a not-so-sure-what’s-going- to- happen- next condition. Like that.

Anyhow, in my on-edge condition, I awakened to realize how my head is full of phrases, “isms,” slogans, sayings – half of which I am clueless to their meaning and origin.

That would make me like a monkey, mimicking things I’ve heard, as if I know what these things actually mean. 🤔

Like who is the Iron Lady standing in NY City Harbor? Why doesn’t she let anyone sleep?? Can she be melted down to pay the national debt? What is she actually made of, I wonder. Copper?

She definitely doesn’t give me that cheery happy feeling that Copper- the -Hen, gives me. “Lady Liberty” seems ice- cold like…well…a Statue.

People have been loving, and fun and sweet here. Like I am God’s gift to the world. Not more so than anyone else, of course. That is what makes the experience genuine. I am special just because I am a human being, I think. Such an intoxicating, and disorientating sensation for this coffee- drinking, nervous by comparison Yankee.

I’ve not received any brutal treatment since I arrived in this place. Except, well, either one foolish bird crashed into my window, or a local hostile threw a rock through it.

A pebble really, ‘sort of like a pin prick from my New World that people from Massachusetts are suspect, even in the State of Love.

Perhaps the slogan, “Yankee,” puts the same metallic taste in their mouths, like “Lady Liberty” suddenly puts in mine?

Copper Chronicles has been a happy and harrowing experience both learning how to care for hens and learning how hard it is to be a hen and care for them.

Unlike Lady, my one remaining hen who moved south in search of an hospitable climate for hens, I have no illusions about Copper’s absence. Copper died suffering circumstances beyond my control. Rocky died, too. Rocky was the champion prize fighter hen who did a glorious dirt bath performance, ridding herself of all filth and pests. Emerging victorious from her hard labor, like a phoenix.

I don’t think Rocky ever read Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations, but she mastered the concepts precisely. This leads me to believe hens are living on another frequency. And KNOW things. More about that later.

I miss Rocky the most, since I had little time to spend with her. She died, too. In a egg laying tragedy. Bravely and mercifully. Quickly. It may frustrate lovers of language like myself, that my punctuation does not always abide by last century’s rules of punctuation.

James J. Kirkpatrick may never read Hen Chronicles, but he may benefit from the happiness and courage the hens inspire. Snobbery has no benefit that I can think of? I do agree with him that the English language is devolving into utter calamity.

Take for example Simon Cowell. Love his show! But when the judges say: “Your performance was really, really, really, really good,” I ache for articulation! “There called adjectives!!” I shout at the television set, alarming my husband. Anyone know what an adjective is anymore?? Bueller? Bueller?? Hello?

Looks like this generation took too many days off from school. Or, perhaps modern educators don’t know what adjectives are either? Who needs to communicate clearly and effectively anymore when we have emojis to do it for us?😃

Anyhow, I have a good excuse for breaching last century’s rules of articulation when I say: “Rocky died. Bravely and mercifully. Quickly.” The reason IS: the period separates thoughts. Meaning pause and reflect. Each part is significant and important. Articulating clearly what you have experienced helps you own what you are experiencing. And make sense of it.

Owning our experience is how we live effectively and stop doing stupid things😃. Like owning the tragedy that I don’t know whether a “performance is good, or terrific, or beautiful?” And whether to use adverbs or adjectives to describe performances? 🤔

All I know is Simon Cowell says: “Your performance was really, really, really, really good” sometimes. Seems like our generation needs more words.

It occurs to me that the volumes of Non-sense stirring around this world means the universe is speaking. Loudly!

If I could summarize what I’ve learned from my Copper Chronicles journey it’s this: there is a tornado of Non-sense moving across the planet- destroying everything in its path. Hens know that instinctively. That is why everyday they were about the business developing their expertise at whatever they were designed to do.

In hens’ case, hunting and pecking and staying extremely in tune to their environment. Though lowly they may be in stature and social status, they are more diligent and sensible than most humans I know. In an environment prone to chaos, they keep their heads down, attuned to their business. Like Joseph Conrad’s ferry captain in the Heart of Darkness.

It’s humbling to know that I have been talking for months in this journal. Discovering what there is to know and trying to make sense of my journey. And, my concluding summary is contained in one paragraph above:

Be diligent doing what you are designed to do. Keeps your head down (for safety) from debris flying in the tornadoes. Stay in tune to your environment. Listen. The Universe is Speaking!

I can’t speak for Lady on this matter. She is just a hen afterall. However, if I had a friend who was a hen, I’d like to consult her on these matters. And think she shared my Awe and Wonder at it all.

Hens are loving creatures and have highly in-tuned sensitivity to their environment. They no more than you think! As we discovered in an earlier post called “Hens on the Lamb.”

For example, there’s some things that don’t make any sense. As I learned in the beginning of Copper Chronicles experience, there ARE things that make sense. And, I posit these things are “good” because who likes to be confused?? Unless you’re into drugs where confusion is fun, to some, I suppose.

I think Lady would agree with me that things that don’t make sense may be generally called: “Things that do not make sense.”

I am not nearly qualified to judge the “goodness” or “badness” of many things. But, something that doesn’t make sense is questionable. It’s like the universe is saying: “Hello! You, there! The one I told you to NOT to spread too much hay in the hen pen and you ignored me anyway. Yah, You!!”

I am grounded suddenly with equal parts Fear and Wonder! Who, Me?

People don’t usually talk to me. Nobody ever talks to my friend, Lady, sad to say. Neither of us mattered much in the scheme of things, we imagined. I guess there’s a huge mistake at believing what other people think.

New England can be a beautiful and scary place. If I may make an allusion to feminity generally speaking, without someone throwing a rock at my window. I’d compare New England to a beautiful and terrifying woman.

If you slack off, people don’t like you. Largely because no culture that I can remember in history ever valued useless people. Does any farmer, say: “I have labored hard, day after day, for the reward of harvest. Here everybody (who has not labored for it) Help yourself! It’s FREE.”

I think the hardy folk upon whom our lives depend, would say that I am right about this. Who works a lifetime except to derive some future benefit from their labor?

When things don’t make sense, the universe is speaking! Yah, you!!

Moving South began a big adventure. Having only lived in New England, Lady longed to escape the cold. And continue the quest for finding happiness that has, since Copper’ disappearance, largely eluded her.

This is a hot place for a cold-hardy hen, she thought. Lady was born and bred to survive in cold climates. No one actually explained that to her. She wasn’t born with a manual attached to her like, “Life’s Little Instruction Book for Hens.”

Perhaps seeking happiness meant more than escaping the harsh environmental elements- like freezing cold and food shortages. And hungry predators eager for a meal.

Now that Lady left the environment she was born to thrive in, what next? What to do when all the mechanizations that sustain your life become irrelevant? Clearly her hen breeding helped her thrive in New England. Now that she’s down South, so what?

It’s not clear whether she’s betrayed some code of scientists, or rebelled against some universal Law by making her own choice.

But, that is what she signed up for, to be free to find these things out for herself. She was certain that was what Copper’s ancestors taught Copper, and Copper told them at the hen pen. That THAT was THE CODE.

Seems like finding things out for yourself proves much harder than she thought. It feels kind of chilling and lonely- even though she is sweating in heat. There are lots of people here and they seem happy. But it’s not clear why.