the new old habit

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Free-associating based on the "anonymous" comments in the post below, I remembered a beloved punch line from an old joke. I can't remember the joke itself except that it concerned a small bird flying in every-diminishing circles around a mountain peak. "Finally," the punch line went, "he flew up his own asshole and disappeared."

Maybe the punch line needs to be reworked a little. Instead of, "he flew up his own asshole and disappeared," the life-relevance to the punch line would be more along the lines of, "he flew up his own asshole and reappeared."

Stupid-er and stupid-er and stupid-er, smug-er and smug-er and smug-er, certain-er and certain-er and certain-er, important-er and important-er and important-er ... until finally you fly into the very center of the universe you have created and realize that the universe was never really necessary at all. Or, put another way, of course it was necessary, but, outside of being the medium through which it was created, you didn't need to fidget and fret about your part in things.

Which brought to mind my old line, "Just because you are indispensable to the universe does not mean the universe needs your help."

To the extent that any of this makes reasonable sense, I do hope I will be forgiven for my aging irritability. Flying up your own asshole is an old and trusted habit. Reappearing is an old and trusted habit.

Don't expect me to get over it any time soon.
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