The Slavish Cast of Mind

What, then, is the slavish cast of mind? The slave's mind is consumed with obedience to authority for its own sole sake. The difference between a slave and a free thinking mind consists in the line between submitting to authority for its own sake and submitting to authority for acceptable reasons, that is to say, reasons that are acceptable to you. So far so good. But the problem consists in that reasons can be made out to be acceptable, appearing 'acceptable', if for no other reason than that trustworthy institutions--institutions which we rely upon-- have given a reason which one takes will be acceptable grounds for the authority of the act. Such faith never guarantees that the mind and for that person are not actually enslaved in this dynamic. One thinks of any propaganda campaign in a fascist regime, like Franco or Mussolini, and sees how integrally the vital center (the free market) can evolve into an acceptance of an unjust and therefore unfree social order. Freedom of the mind means both having an open and sharp mind and an awareness of the problem of authority and a robust grasp of its manifold complexity and, perhaps more importantly,one which has the willingness to reject the grounds of authority given to it as a principle of action. Knowing the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate authority is of value, indeed is essential to men free both in person and in thought, and even to the slave whose very existence is made contingent upon this distinction. The slavish cast of mind is to be thought of in opposition to the free mind. It is a mindset that readily accepts authority without either the willingness to challenge or the mind to understand and so reject the authority of an illegitate source of power.

A poem reflecting upon Brueghel's Winter Hunters in the Snow

Jagg'd mountain peaks and skies ice-green
Wall in the wild, cold scene below.
Churches, farms, bare copse, the sea
In freezing quiet of winter show;
Where ink-black shapes on fields in flood
Curling, skating, and sliding go.
To left, a gabled tavern; a blaze;
Peasants; a watching child; and lo,
Muffled, mute--beneath naked trees
In sharp perspective set a-row--
Trudge huntsmen, sinister spears aslant,
Dogs snuffling behind them in the snow;
And arrowlike, lean, athwart the air
Swoops into space a crow.
But flame, nor ice, nor piercing rock,
Nor silence, as of a frozen sea,
Nor that slant inward infinite line
Of signboard, bird, and hill, and tree,
Give more than subtle hint of him
Who squandered here life's mystery.
--
Walter DeLaMere

Let me off!

The working class does not care in any substantial sense about anything so long as they can replicate themselves, with a job, and achieve a modicum of buying power in the current marketplace.

The owner class does not care in any substantial sense about anything so long as they can replicate themselves, own the means of production, and purchase significant distance between themselves and the workers with the proceeds from their ownership.

The ruling class represent a small percentage of the ownership class who do not care in any substantial sense about anything other than maintaining their privilege, power, and distance from both the working class and the lesser owner classes.

This sick game that we are on. This foul cycle. Let me off! Let me off!

The Raw and the Cooked

However, Finneces (Finegas) wanted to catch the "Salmon of Knowledge", called Fintan, and refused to teach anyone. Finneces had a change of attitude towards Finn, when after twenty years, Finneces finally caught the magic salmon on the bank of Boynne River.
The Salmon of Knowledge had eaten some nuts from the Tree of Knowledge. Anyone who caught and ate the salmon would be given wisdom.
Finneces thought that the youth was lucky. Finneces agreed to teach poetry to Finn, in return for the youth cooking the salmon for him. Finneces warned Finn that he must not eat any part of the salmon.
As Finn cooked the salmon, the youth tested to see if the salmon was ready by pressing his thumb to the fish side. The hot juice burned Finn's finger, which he placed his thumb in his mouth.
When Finn served fish to the druid, Finneces asked if the lad ate any part of the salmon. Finn replied no, but when he burnt his thumb he had placed it in his mouth. Finneces realised he was not destined to eat "Salmon of Knowledge", and told the young hero to eat the fish. Finneces saw no need to teach Finn and send him off.

Coleman Peak One Apex II Lightweight Detached One Burner Stove sent to me from R. Ekendiz--Thanks Remz. 

After some fettling the Peak One, primed and fired.

1.4 liters cool tapwater, air temperature about 10 degrees F, flame is full blast. 

Boilage on the Peak One, 6 minutes in. 

The Peak One, top, and MSR Whisperlite fuel valves. 

Unlike the MSR Whisperlite, the Peak 1 has, in addition to a gas spigot on the bottle, a manual control with a half-turn at the stove itself. Some nice simmer capacity. 

rose light and frosted windows