November 12th 2015

“If you go down to the woods today you’re sure of a big surprise”.

I believe these are the opening lines of the Teddy Bear’s picnic. Well the Prodigal goes down to Newcastle Wood nearly every day and I believe that while big surprises are rare the forest is always different. Today the rain lashed in the forest, but while in an urban setting this might be unwelcome, in the forest the swishing of the drops through the trees is totally normal and absolutely vital to the entirety of the manifestation of nature as all other elements. Why do I love the glory of the forest above all other settings? I hardly know but the presence of reality and the absence of humans is probably key. The Prodigal went for a lengthy slosh through the trees today and enjoyed it all.

If I were asked to define why it was enjoyable the reasoning would not be simple. Was it because I was able, was it because the exercise was fulfilling or fashionable, was it because the enterprise represented that which is a rejection of the ‘status quo’ or some vainglorious attempt to be different or because of the feeling that this exercise was unique on such an inclement occasion? Fucked if I have the answer.

The basic object of adopting what is ostensibly a healthier lifestyle is presumably to prolong the life itself. If one has lived a lifestyle wherein the principal has consciously chosen such lifestyle as being suitable for the individual then why change it? Is it not the lifestyle logic that “as a man lives, so shall he die” or is this more bullshit? In the Catholic faith it is decreed that if one performs an act of ‘perfect contrition’ immediately before death that the soul flies straight to Heaven. This principle makes a right fuck up of the maxim that style of living determines the style of dying. How important is it to make an indelible mark on humanity by ones finite existence? If the example is important then why is it important and to whom and for what reason and at the start or end of the day what is a reason?

It must be construed that man is the only creature in existence who has developed or inherited the power of creativity but why is this and why should it be perpetuated and to what end and to whose glorification even if we can attempt to define glorification and the possible reasons for its existence if it exists? Are we entitled or obliged to ask these questions or are they questions, and is the very act of asking these questions an example of the much vaunted ability of creativity?

The Prodigal might find some solace in the secure knowledge that if the questions are mine then the answers are mine too and the reactions of third parties to one’s responses are of no consequence. I’m not quite sure what that all means but essentially it summarises as; “if Prodigal has a problem with his deconstruction of logic then that is his dilemma and nobody else’s business”. This conclusion is of no material benefit or succour to me but then again who presupposes that these were the objectives or requirements of any reasonable self-analysis in the first place?

Which is more important? To deliver explanations of the inexplicable or to ask the unanswerable questions? Is one’s contribution to this farcical existence to ask or to answer, to seek or to find, to punish or forgive, to chide, deride, duck or decide? The bottom line, if it follows the top, is to decide who decides and be content with the decision of the chooser of the decision maker. I would be interested in re-evaluating this position tomorrow, if there is a tomorrow, or merely a continuum of today or contagion of present continuous.

Frank would say he knows better, Derval would consider, the Red would say “it’s all bullshit”, Ann-Marie would ponder and say little, and Tilda might say “whatever you’re having yourself”. As Mary O’Rourke might say; “It’s all very strange”.

People are mainly of a sheep mentality as can be deduced from all strands of history. If something is amiss find a fall guy. People need reasons for explaining the inexplicable and if some genius arrives at what seems to be a logical cause for the existence of certain situations and events then all he has to do is convince his audience of the merit of his case and everybody boards the colourful ‘wanderly wagon’. Common folk need to be part of some movement to feel useful and wanted. This can be the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association, Fianna Fail, a Trade Union or The Sheep Dipping Committee. The ‘Herd’ mentality must exist, to avoid exclusion.

Brendan Kennelly got it right; twice!

“They gather together to pool their weaknesses,

Persuade themselves that they are strong,
There is no strength like the strength of one
Who will not belong”.

Or;

“I try to imagine a man who can

Endure it all.
Everywhere I look I see him
Stumble and fall”