Pipeology - The Fine Art of Pipe Smoking and Thought

 I’ve taken the MMPI so many times I have it practically memorized.  But not sure it’s still being used much any longer.  It is a personality inventory used by mental health professionals.  But one of the questions is whether or not anyone understands me.  I have never been able to say no one understands me.  I think I am and have been very well understood as a person.  That is a question about how alone one feels in the world.   As to whether or not God and angels are entities of understanding I have never had a problem with God.  All my life it has always been about people, but never about God.  I grew up being apart from extended family as the church was supposed to be family.  I think that is why I went into ministry in the first place.  No matter where I was I was around ‘family.”   That is okay if accepted, but I never felt accepted.  I was always an outlier.  I think that is why in my later years we are li...

 I’m too old to be neurotic.  I used to care if few read my blog post, but one day no one read it and you know what?  I didn’t care.  I’m too old to worry about what people think.  I’ve had two brushes with death and I realize life is too short to be neurotic.  My wife wasn’t crazy about my Facebook avatar of the Four Horsemen from  Revelation and I told her I didn’t care.  I was going to use them anyway.   I’m at the point where I just don’t care.  I really don’t.  I’m a firm believer in balance.  Always enough but not too much.  Even no one reading my posts is balance.  Why?  Because in all I do it’s about balance.  There is even balance in my message of both Love and Peace.  Jesus says if you’re not accepted move on.  One can only do so much.  This is my philosophy for living.   Move on.  Do what you do and move on.  If no one reads my posts, I’ll do better and just keep doin...

 I do think ahead, but life is lived in the now.  My wife says she wants a more active social life, while I am content pretty much being by myself.  It’s why right now I’m keeping my FB contacts a few.  I’m not actively seeking people on Facebook.  I want a quiet and Peaceful life.  That could change, but I like limiting contacts.  In my thinking the fewer the better.  Which is why I am not friends with one of my sons. I’ve found solace in quiet.  I have a tendency to be too noisy at times.  And I have guilt complex for being too noisy.  I want things simple and not complex.  Simple is always best.  The simpler the better in my thinking.  Historically speaking, my life has been too complex and I can make it so again.  I’d rather not.  I don’t care if it’s just family and no one else.  I like simplicity in life and living.   Simplicity adds to my Spirituality.  My theology is very simple. ...

 A long journey begins with the first step.  I’m in no hurry to acquire a lot of followers or friends on Facebook, but will focus on quality.  I said this the other day, but I want to emphasize quality.  I’m thinking that all I do is a product of good thoughts and intentions.  My thoughts matter.  Maybe it seems I am alone a lot smoking my pipe but I AM connected to the Divine.  I don’t need a lot of distractions to break that connection.  My thoughts matter.  My thoughts might not change the world, but they change people who change the world. I’d rather focus on a few than many.  I have a few.  Jesus began with a few.  I’d rather focus on the few.  If I felt the masses mattered my quality would suffer.  I want my best for a few.  I don’t care if one or two get my best.  The Spirit will add as necessary.  Even if what I do here is for no one but myself it doesn’t matter.  It’s still my best. This i...

 I’ve been hung up lately on my Spirituality and these being the Last Days before the New Beginning.  While this might be true, life is bigger than all that.  I’m still focused on my Spirituality and all I’ve said, but that isn’t where I want to focus my time and energy.  You might say I’m branching out a bit realizing the times we live in today speak for themselves.  Anyone who believes as I do already knows. So, I’m more focused on the present.  What does today tell me?  Stay focused on friends and family.  I’ve learned a lot in the past few days while being on Facebook.  It’s still new to me and I just have two family members as friends.  But I’m looking at the various posts thinking there are so many interests out there on so many things and my world has been much too small.  In a way, I’ve liked that it has been but my needs go beyond the immediate. Today is college football Saturday and I have my two games I have decided to wa...

 I took my first plunge into Social Media Wednesday evening for the first time since my heart attack in 2011.  There were stresses with social media that I no longer wanted.  I decided to just drop all social media all together thinking it caused me too much stress after so much discussion with my experience with the Divine.  I didn’t think social media was a healthy outlet for me and may in fact contributed to my heart attack.   I decided on a different approach instead saying in my introduction to myself the date of that experience and the fact that I am a pipe smoker of fifty years.  I included or maybe excluded any ties to where I worked or what I did excluding also any ties to a hometown, colleges, and my seminary.  I want to begin with November 25, 1993 to the present without any ties except for my wife and my one son.   My other son being a public figure would bring too much unwanted attention to me being his father.  I prefer now to j...

 I have my next tobacco order ready to go.  I worked on it after talking to my wife who said she wanted me to order some “nice smelling” tobacco.  I have to admit that after smoking nearly fourteen ounces of Carter Hall, the room note doesn’t smell very good and I’m not crazy about it.  Carter Hall is a typical Virginia Burley blend that leaves a lot to be desired.  It’s okay as most any tobacco is okay, but I’ve had other similar blends I liked better.    Good Stuff might have the best OTC tobaccos I have had including Gambler, Red River, and Super Value. The best OTC might be Captain Black Original and my least favorite was Mixture Number 79, which I think was the worst of the bunch.  Carter Hall is just so-so, but I’m happy to have smoked so much of it.  It is like so many OTC blends.  I’m happy to have smoked so much of it, but I doubt I’ll order it again.   In my order is a Balkian tobacco, which is the holy grail of pipe smoke...

 Divine Intervention is on the way.  But how can I be so sure?  Am I the center of the Universe?  I wish there was some sign of proof.  Something I can point to and say, “There it is!  There is your proof!”  I am not leaving the theme of Divine Intervention.  I seem to be stuck on it.  But that is okay if I am stuck on it.   If you lived in North Carolina right now, you would know the devastation caused by Helene.  Even here in Florida we had to deal with Helene and Milton.  California and out west they’ve had to deal with wild fires and drought.  New York can deal with another storm like Sandy.  But Oscar is headed for Long Island.  Need I go on?  Something is happening with the weather.  I won’t debate whether it is man made of natural causes here, but weather patterns all over the world is changing.  I tend to believe it’s caused by human activity.  Humans have shaped this globe into its ow...

 At my age I should be looking at the end of life.  But on the contrary I am looking for a New Beginning.  I will live to see it happen.  I have no proof of this, of course, but I could say to just take my word for it happening.  Some might say I am just being foolish.  I think of the words of the prophet who said the foolishness of God is beyond the wisdom of all humanity.  I just wish I could prove my beliefs right. But I have no such proof.  Are my words enough?  Probably not, but this is a part of my Spirituality, as I don’t plan for death.  But how can I prove my beliefs?  I don’t even try.  But if I were facing the end of life I would prepare for it.  Am I being foolish or is there something I know that no one else can know?  I might be considered insane if I said it was the latter.  But is my insanity based on fact or fantasy?  People for two thousand years have been saying the same thing and they are...

There are times I need the distraction of both college football and Pro football.  My Spirit Guides can be too much at times.  I have been writing about football a lot this year because it seems I have been torn about football.  First it is a violent sport.  Second, I can pay too much attention to it.  I can’t help but be entertained by both college and the pros, but on weekends five or six football games seems to be too much, plus the analyses during the week.   So, I’ve decided to just choose which games I watch carefully, or other things could be a distraction from football.  I just don’t want football to interfere with my Spirituality, which it so easily could.  I choose my games carefully preferring to choose two college games on Saturday and one pro game on Sundayys and not watch analyses during the week.   I could become a professional bettor on football, but have avoided any temptation to bet on games.  I might be pretty good as ...

 As I write this post this morning I want to share an emotional  reaction I had about my experience with the Divine.  I watched a video of the Angel coming to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and I cried like a baby.  That re-enactment really got to me in ways it never had before.  My wife says since hurricane Milton I have been very quiet.  It all came out while watching the video Friday night.  I recalled my experience and it just got to me.  I had seen this account of Mary and the Angel so many times before and it never got to me as it did the other night.   Today as I write, I’m still emotional about it.  I took some time yesterday to watch some college football and that seemed to be a distraction I needed.  I had to get away from the emotions of my experience with the Divine, but when college football was over the emotions of the Experience continued.   I’m not as emotional as I was yesterday morning, but what I don’t understand...

 I make no excuses for my smoking a pipe.  A lot of pipe smokers also smoke cigars as I once did prior to my heart attack.  Now I’ll smoke a cigar maybe a couple of times a year.  It’s not about smoking per se. But it’s about the nicotine and dangers of cigars.  But I’ll always say pipes are different.  One cigar can be equal to about 20 bowls of pipe tobacco.  I don’t know how all that translates to cigarette smoking but it’s about all the chemicals found in cigarettes.  At least pipe and cigars are pure tobacco with no additives. I wish there was a health category for pipe smoking instead of it being equated with cigarette smoking.  But health categories lump all tobacco use together and it shouldn’t be.  Cigarette smoking is NOT the same as pipe smoking.  Cigar smoking is not the same as cigarette smoking, but is much worse than pipes.   As an example, when I first began working out again, I had no problem maintaining a hear...

 My Spirit Guides always come first.  They are my obsession.  I said I would avoid all politics here, but politics are always the elephant in the room, especially in today’s world.  But how do we relax with so much going on politically in today’s world?  I see the Big Picture.  The world is being set-up for Divine Intervention.  Some say it will happen before November 5.  I’m thinking November is going to be a day of chaos.  We’ll see if I’m right.  It might be days later, but it will happen.  It will be prevented if there are no questions about outcome.   I don’t see a smooth transition of power.  Does that chaos set up a New Beginning with Divine Intervention?  I’m beginning to think so.  In fact, I’m focused on it happening.  I see chaos before January 5.  And the chaos here in the US will have global ramifications.  I see it all unfolding where our only hope for the world is Divine Intervention...

 It’s difficult for me to take time off from writing my blogs, because I’ve been doing it daily for so long.  I wasn’t going to write this morning, again, but decided my posts are daily entries into my blog even if no one reads them.  Yesterday my wife asked me if I posted yesterday morning and told her I took a day off.  Then yesterday afternoon I got to thinking that my day wasn’t right because I had not posted anything for yesterday. And my entire day was thrown off because I had nothing to show for it except my having gone to the gym.  My posts are proof I am alive and well.  But I needed a break, but decided I don’t need to break from a daily routine that began with a Pipe a Day.  And I’ve been doing it ever since.  My posts don’t have to be lengthy, just that I do them.  I always have something to say here and regardless of the numbers that read them I don’t write for the hits.  It is a daily exercise routine much like exercise is ...

 If there is one thing a college degree does is helps one understand bureaucracy.  It is a microcosm of the real world.  It helps one understand community.  I might not have fully understood my experience with the Divine without my understanding from both college and seminary.  I had my own understanding but still after the experience I had to grow in that new understanding and I’m still growing.  Growth in understanding IS the meaning of life. A millionaire with three children says he’ll pay for his children’s’ education, but says he’s not disappointed his youngest son has opted out of college.  It is said college isn’t for everyone.  I agree.  It’s not.  College is a microcosm of the real world.  It’s not just about class work.  It’s learning how the real world functions.  But in my case, I now see the big picture.  I fully understand what my Spirit Guides were saying to me.  And without my previous understandi...

 I’ve decided not to post every day, but to write not for the sake of writing.  I’m a little burned out having posted daily for the past few years.  I’ve decided to write when the Spirit gives me something to say.  We’ll see how much I post in the coming weeks.  I feel my writing lately has been below my standards.  So if I have something meaningful to say, I’ll say it and if not I won’t. Sir Elton John worries about getting older and facing the end of his life.  I wish I could alleviate his fears.  I wish I could alleviate the fears of most anyone getting older.  Sir Elton John is just one example.  But those of you who are reading this and getting older really have nothing to fear.  But I have no proof—just my word.  Is it enough for me to say to just take my word for it, unless for some reason fear would cause you to end your life.   Older retirees fear the lack of money or they just fear death.  I have no such fea...

 I have habits I carried over to my new iPhone.  I still do Android stuff on my phone and Apple seems to know this.  So my phone gives me suggestions on how to use my phone better.  Instead of doing this it tells me to do that instead.  It really is a Smartphone and teaches me how to utilize the best options.  My phone probably knows me better than anyone including my wife!  It will make suggestions.  So, after a week of using it, I’m still learning how it works.  It seems to know my old phone was an Android based phone. Apple makes everything integrate with the phone.  It even suggests how an Apple Watch can be integrated into the phone.  But I am far from getting an Apple Watch although I can see why so many Apple users have all things Apple.  Sometimes one needs an Apple computer.  Sometimes one needs an Apple Watch.  And they all integrate and talk to each other seamlessly.   But right now my focus is on lear...

 A wealthy woman in Tampa bragged on social media how her husband, a builder, built a hurricane proof home.  But what she couldn’t count on was the storm surge and the loss of electricity.  I haven’t heard what happened to her and her family, but from what I could find that although her home could withstand the fiercest hurricane, no home can withstand the rising flood waters from a hurricane like that of Milton.  From what I can find they finally fled.  They feared the rising sea waters and the lack of electricity. It is foolish for anyone to believe any hurricane is just about wind.  There are island houses built to withstand hurricane winds, but no house of any kind can withstand the sea.  We evacuated just for this reason, but after evacuating we found out later we didn’t have to.  This house never lost power and was far from flooding, but as my wife now says, it gave us a chance to interact with others.  We had a steak dinner we shared w...

 We survived Helene.  That one just brushed us with tropical winds.  We’re in an alert status right now, but we have evacuation plans if necessary.  We are about 150 miles from the Tampa Bay Area and that means high surf warnings here and preparations to evacuate if necessary.  We get constant weather updates and I get text messages from the city on my phone.  We’ll finalize our preparations later on today.  But my thoughts turn to those debated by Helene.   The thing of it is is that while I can’t go into the area to help, I have my thoughts and prayers.  These things have happened long before humans settled into these areas.  And as devastating as these storms are, people always manage to put their lives together before it happens again.   I could be a philosopher this morning and ask why these things happen, but civilization just makes any natural phenomenon just that much more catastrophic. But in the case of a hurricane, we can...

 Do I do enough for my Spirit Guides?  I have wondered about this question.  But I think right now I do.  Our thoughts matter.  We might not think so, so we think we always have to be doing.  But we do with thoughts.  My thoughts often give me something to say here as I’m constantly thinking about this blog.  I don’t sit around asking why there is air, nor are my thoughts about the mundane.  Sometimes I wish they were.  I am always searching for the meaning of life and living. Yes, I’ve found it in relationship to friends and family.  But lately I have been reading about how those relationships of others so often end in tragedy.  My life could have been one of those tragic stories.  I’m not sure what would have happened to me if there was not Divine intervention.  I’m just not sure.  I have wondered about it quite often.  But would my life have been just another of those tragic stories?  Maybe.  I ...

 I have no special gifts from my Spirit Guides except maybe one—the capacity to love.  That is it.  Before my experience with the divine, I struggled with love.  Sure it’s easy to love family, but I’m not even sure I had love for myself.  In some ways I hated myself.  But after my experience with the Divine all that hatred went away.  I was left with one gift only—love. I was transformed.  And I have been transformed ever since.  I wish I could explain it, but this is the best I can do.  I was transformed.  I’m not talking about romantic love, but a genuine love for others.  But maybe most all a love and thankfulness to my Creator.  It took years for a complete transformation and I won’t say that I love perfectly.  But any hatred I harbored was completely gone. I never hated to the extent some people hate, but I had a dark side that totally disappeared.  And it was replaced with a feeling of love including love f...

 If indeed we are in the Apocalypse as many suggest, let me say there are bright spots about it.  It's not all gloom and doom.  I have this sense I can't quite explain that not all is lost.  Evil is NOT the victor although it seems like it should be.  I wish I could explain more here, but the thinking that we are somehow at the end of human history just is not true.  What is coming is a foreshadow of hope.  It's about love and Peace which is why I can be so relaxed. I should be a very wealthy old man, but I'm not.  My Spirituality didn't bring me wealth.  My Spirituality gave me a different kind of wealth.  Old wealthy men can afford most anything their heart desires.  But for me it's different.  My Spirituality isn't measured in dollars and cents.  It's measured mostly by being able to love.  Money can buy anything but it can't buy love.  Only love is a commodity that must be earned and never wasted. But it's lo...

 I just got a new iPhone.  If things seem a bit different it’s because they are.  I’m getting acquainted with my new phone and I’ve typed all my blog posts on my phone.  My fonts are smaller and you’ll have to bear with me if you see typos in my posts.  I’ll get used to it all, but I’m learning how it all works.   I love going back in time to see what futurists back in the 50’s and 60’s thought life would be like in the 21st century.  But back then futurists had so much technology in our lives that what they couldn’t envision was a hand held device that did everything they envisioned—wirelessly.  But they just couldn’t see a phone of the future that did it all.   I woke up this morning and my phone told me all about the weather.  Back in the day, futurists thought every home would have its own weather monitoring system.  And the homeowner would walk over to a panel that get the weather information from the home’s weather statio...

  I have been anticipating my order of Carter Hall.  It is such a relaxing tobacco.  I knew I'd like it and am not sure why I waited so long to try it.  I guess it's because it comes in a 14 ounce can.  I've  known all along I would like it.  I've had several bowls the other day and now have had a number of bowls in several pipes and can now say I am very familiar with it.  Carter Hall is considered a Burley and Virginia blend and has a hint of sweetness.   I don’t have a whole lot to say about Carter Hall except that it’s a simple tobacco and isn’t complex.  I can see why it has been around for 135 years.  My wife likened the room note of it to somewhere between an English and an aromatic and for her that is quite a compliment.  I won’t say that it is an Aromatic, but is far from being English.  It’s just an unpretentious blend that doesn’t try to be something it isn’t.  It’s more comfort food as opposed to gourmet. ...

 I seem to struggle week after week as to how much football I am going to watch.  There for awhile I was watching all the analysis of the collegiate games and decided I was simply paying too much attention to football.  I cut way back last week and as the season begins to unfold I have to ask myself how much is too much?  I didn't watch one pro game last weekend and hadn't followed the analysis of collegiate games all week.   Then I found myself having a kind of withdrawal and decided I can watch whatever football I want to watch as long as it doesn't interfere with my Spirituality.  But at what point is too much too much?  My wife and I talked about this last week as I cut back on watching and we both decided that I like football and I shouldn't have to be thinking about how much or how little I watch.  I enjoy the games.  College more than the pro's.   I don't have to watch the analysis, but I like College Game Day and I like...

 I was talking to our houseguest last night and I was telling her about "old codger" tobaccos.  According to Google an old codger lives in yesteryear and always talks about how things used to be.  But even my generation has changed from their carefree days of being hippies.  I'm not even sure at times how things used to be.  I told our houseguest I ordered an old codger blend of tobacco when I ordered my tin of Carter Hall that is arriving later today. I had to explain to a thirty year old girl what an old codger is, but I don't live in yesteryear, although often, my wife and I reminisce about the old days.  We both remember the same stuff.  After 50 years of marriage we have no secrets from each other.  I told my wife yesterday she doesn't know how to relax.  She always finds something to do.  I fear if she thought the world could go on without her it would be the end of her.  In that regard I hope she never finds time to just rela...