Surface reflections

Law
Custom
Ritual
Belief


Now that I've taken care of those...


Ethics


The Imperial Chinese political and social arrangements were certainly as valid as those of Medieval and Renaissance Europe, at least as far as I can tell from reading half a book about the Chinese empire.  There were expected ways of carrying on life by the elite that relied heavily on artistic and intellectual achievement, which I of course have always favored; and these ways compare favorably with the cobbling together of "universal" law as a glue for societies divided and impoverished by the loss of the unity (of a kind) that the Romans provided.

I write this only to demonstrate that when American and other politicians go on about the sanctity of the rule of law, they know very well that they are asserting only a very partial understanding of the varied ways in which human societies have often very successfully worked.  The place of the individual, of ethics, belief, ritual and custom, are made abstract thereby contributing to the ever-present confusion about the relations of people to the government and to each other.  Is there a valid human justification for this?  I don't know.  All I know is that there is more than one way to skin a cat.

Now for the inchoate personal stuff.

I have found myself wondering what I can do about my life at this possibly late stage.  I wish to tell each and every one of my friends that I love them.  I do not know how to become better than I am.  I am sorry.



Important attributes that are hustling a rose:

Me.


I wish to engage my life with freedom, devotion, happiness.

May all your steampunk endeavors yield brassy fruit.

And maybe all your life will be free.

Love,

Julia




someone with dreams of safety is real.