"to pass from the comedy of thought to that of action"

In the summer I make hay while the sun shines, barely reading or writing, but always a tinge of guilt prods at me for leaving these muscles to atrophy.

In the fall, in the spring I read again, starting with Vladimir Nabokov. It has to be him because I am a thief, as he is, and before I can lift my own weight I must have another lift me for awhile. The proverbial Standing On The Shoulders of Giants.

I know that I am weak when I fall into the abyss of worldly waste, especially political props. Tyrants, despots, money managers, peddlers of fear and other unimaginative destroyers. Of course, these types fill the pages of history and literature, but it takes imagination to embellish them and make them into great literature, because, really, they are small and stunted.

And so, I have begun my autumn reading with a reread of Nabokov's Bend Sinister. I've barely made it across the bridge. I'm not sure I can make it to the end because it makes me cry and I despise the Toad. But I do so love Nabokov's generous embellishments of undeserving creatures, his gift.

And then, there is Herman Melville's The Confidence-Man, which all who love Nabokov should read. Especially, Chapter XIV "Worth the Consideration Of Those To Whom It May Prove Worth Considering."

The entirety of Chapter XIV is absolutely gorgeous and Nabokovian....but, how can this be? Nabokov was not even a glimmer in God's eye when Melville conceived this. Perhaps, Nabokov is Melvillian. Or perhaps, genius and creativity have a similar hue no matter the author.

Some quotes from Chapter XIV of The Confidence-Man by Herman Melville:

As the last chapter was begun with a reminder looking forwards, so the present must consist of one glancing backwards.

True, it must be urged that there is nothing a writer of fiction should more carefully see to, as there is nothing a sensible reader will more carefully look for, than that, in the depiction of any character, its consistency should be preserved. But this, though at first blush, seeming reasonable enough, may upon a closer view, prove not so much so. For how does it couple with another requirement--equally insisted upon, perhaps--that, while to all fiction is allowed some play of invention, yet, fiction based on fact should never be contradictory to it; and is it not a fact, that, in real life, a consistent character is a rara avis?

If reason be judge, no writer has produced such inconsistent characters as nature herself has. It must call for no small sagacity in a reader unerringly to discriminate in a novel between the inconsistencies of conception and those of life. As elsewhere, experience is the only guide here, but as no man can be coextensive with what is, it may be unwise in every case to rest upon it.

But let nature, to the perplexity of the naturalists, produce her duck-billed beavers as she may, lesser authors, some may hold, have no business to be perplexing readers with duck-billed characters.

But though there is a prejudice against inconsistent characters in books, yet the prejudice bears the other way, when what seemed at first their inconsistency, afterwards, by the skill of the writer, turns out to be their good keeping. The great masters excel in nothing so much as in this very particular. They challenge astonishment at the tangled web of some character, and then raise admiration still greater at their satisfactory unraveling of it; in this way throwing open, sometimes to the understanding of even school misses, the last complications of that spirit which is affirmed by its Creator to be fearfully and wonderfully made

Ah, I love it. Good literature always points the finger at me, poking and prodding, making me laugh and cry with pity. It makes me human again.

Monetized Man

Where shall I begin upon this muddled mess of tangled strings?

Back in 1951 the case of Willcock v. Muckle made it to the High Court of Lord Chief Justice, Lord Goddard [interesting name there, Lord Goddard] due to the fact that some time earlier Mr. Willcock had refused to show his national identification papers to Officer Muckle [also an interesting name].

By 1952 the National Registration Act, which had been passed in war time, was abolished, and the people of Britain were set free....for awhile.

"The National Registration Act was passed for security purposes, and not for the purposes for which, apparently, it is now sought to be used. To use Acts of Parliament, passed for particular purposes during war, in times when the war is past, except that technically as state of war exists, tends to turn law-abiding subjects into lawbreakers, which is a most undesirable state of affairs" (Lord Chief Justice, Lord Goddard, emphasis added)

There are always those that say they don't mind intrusions of privacy, and added laws, and surveillance because they don't break the law or do anything wrong.

Obviously, these people aren't the brightest light bulbs, are a card short of a full deck, their elevator doesn't quite go to the top, and so on and so forth.

If a person is alive, breathes, and has warm blood running through their veins they are a criminal. Not one person exists upon this earth that is innocent of breaking the law. They are ignorant of the fact that they have broken a law and can claim innocence because they have not been caught by a person that does know the law.

I remember discussing this once while studying Uncle Tom's Cabin. The instructor thought it extremely important to point out the fact that the only reason escaped slave Eliza made it across the Ohio River was due to the help of an ignorant Kentuckian (evidently, Kentuckians weren't known for their knowledge of laws and were considered ignorant Americans).

If the Kentucky farmer (a slave owner, by the way) had been aware of the law and that it was illegal to help a slave escape he may not have helped Eliza. But he thought himself an innocent and law-abiding citizen, thus breaking the law and doing the right thing all at the same time. No one caught him breaking the law and he was able to return to being a lawful slave-owning Kentuckian.

Also, during the time of this discussion of laws, ignorance, and knowledge I studied one of the greatest books of all time (far superior and far smaller than that whale of a book, Moby Dick), The Confidence-Man by Herman Melville.

The Confidence-Man could have been written in a time like ours in which we classify people by their proof of identification. It brilliantly asks if a person is human, "authentic" without paper or others to vouch for them. Melville casts judgement upon those that trust paper over people. He also judges those that do or don't trust based upon stereotype, rather than taking risks and finding out for one's self the honesty or dishonesty of each person they meet along the river of life.

Yes, my route is a circuitous, but I'm getting nearer the top of the peak. It's a switchback and there are boulders falling in the way.... Onward!

At this time the world is in a post-Babel state. It is chaotic, confused, and dispersed. But the Corporations entangled with the Governments are fervently working on rectifying this situation, laying the foundation for restoring order, community, and one language. The giant Corporation-Government (Socialism) wants the nations enrolled in identification which will enable them to finish off that Tower project that was so rudely interrupted a few years ago.

Mankind must be numbered in order for this to take place. Already, we have been numbered. We are ranked with a credit score, each time we take a test at school, every time we have a birthday, each pay day, on our driver's license, and at census time. But these numbers are all fairly separate.

The Confidence Man has gotten our confidence, has us convinced that for our own safety and convenience a national identification and tracking card or chip which combines medical info, bank account, fraud prevention, proof of legal citizenship and whatever else is a good thing, a modern thing. All of this is grasping at bedpans(see last few pages of The Confidence-Man in which Melville elaborates upon the willingness of mankind to be conned by the sales pitch of false safety).

National Identification is the opposite of safe. And it will protect no one. It will create great disparity and inequality for mankind.

At this time, when one's account numbers and cards are stolen, it is possible to clear up the situation, although it can cause real devastation. But it is possible to disconnect from the problem.

When one's home is broken into and material possessions are stolen, again it is devastating, but the person can go on with their life because they are not the possession.

A National Identification card or chip will make a person equal the sum of their achievements and possessions, never able to free themselves from the burden of them.

According to earthly law the value of man is his health, good looks, education, achievements, all he owns, what he wears, and who he associates with. It's a point system. A National Identification card will number a man based upon these factors and many others, making each of us the commodity traded upon the stock market.

Rather than us spending and making cash, we will be the cash. We will be monetized. This is one reason we are moving towards a cashless society. We are merging with money, because as those witty writers of the 18th Century often told us, money is only as valuable as the person earning and spending it. Money has never been anything other than a physical tender of our own self (see Pamela, Anti-Pamela, Moll Flanders).

And so, tabulate the points and compare yourself with another person. Number their value and hold it against yours. Are they wealthier, do they own more property, are they healthier, are they more educated, are they younger, do they earn more? What is their number?

Will those with lower numbers ever be allowed to rise above the numbers assigned to them by mankind? Will those with a lower number be allowed to participate in society the same way as those with higher numbers? No.

If a human or a computer were to calculate the number of your name what would it be? Of course, it would be the number of a man.

We must not count the value of others. We must remember that our name is not a number and that we are not the sum of our closeness to perfection. We each are given a name.

Remember, as George Bailey noticed during the run on the bank in It's a Wonderful Life, "Potter's not selling! He's buying!"

The Governments and banks aren't crashing. They're cashing out the paper money and buying the only valuable thing on this planet -- mankind. What number brick will each of us be?

30 pieces of gold. The monetary value placed upon another. One became the first in a burial ground for those with no numbers to their name. One overcame the number and has an eternal name.

images: Louise Weiss Building, Seat of EU Parliament, Strasbourg; The Tower of Babel (1563), Pieter Brueghel the Elder