It’s The William Tell Show.  I call myself William Tell; you can call me Bill.  Thank you for including me in your world.

Thanksgiving is coming, and I invite you to look forward to it in possibly a different way.  Many families routinely have the holiday almost ruined by that one bigoted uncle who starts spewing off his issues.  By analogy to how I am currently learning to handle bigots who may call in to my radio show, the key may be, the bottom line, not to engage the person in any debates about his issues, but rather simply love him.  First and last, just love him.  And speak solely on the basis of that love.

The music for today is the Beatles song, “The fool on the hill,” and I would encourage you to pause the podcast right now, and listen to the song before going any further.

I take a smoke break every two hours, including at 3:30 in the afternoon, and again at 5:30 and 7:15.  I sit on a kiosk outside the casino on Russell Street, facing due southwest.  There are long shadows now at 3:30 in the afternoon; but at 9:30 in the morning, the waning half moon is almost straight overhead.  So I do not understand, and never have understood, how the ecliptic moves through the course of a day, and through the course of the seasons.

During my 5:30 break, the sun goes down at a spot I can see on the horizon.  At 7:15, the sky is black except for two planets that I can see, one about 20 degrees above the horizon due southwest, and another about 45 degrees above the horizon due southeast.

The fool on the hill sees the sun going down, and the eyes in his head see the world spinning ‘round.

So, that’s been me; and that’s been me in other ways also.  I’m calling him a role model.

Actually, there’s another Beatles song that’s very similar, “Nowhere Man.”  I invite you to listen to that now, also, before we go on.

The second segment is going to be quite a chunk as I explain all this, so we may as well take the break now.

“I’ll be back.”

[Commercial break]

A good way to use idle time, such as when you’re waiting for a bus, or in line at the supermarket, or stuck in a traffic jam — is to just let your mind be empty, without any thoughts, and observe the material things and events around you; just taking them in, accepting them as they are and as they happen, without any judgments or particular feelings.  If anything unusual happens, you can say, “So, that happened.”

I’ve spent a lot of time in this state in recent weeks, especially on smoke breaks.
On the one hand, it’s very peaceful.
On the other hand, it has the effect of erasing bad karma.
Edgar Cayce said that any automatic reaction to an event, any reaction of sheer impulse, is karmic, a continuation of habits one established in the past.
I note that if it IS automatic or sheer impulse, one is not likely to have or feel any choice about it.
In the state I have described, where one delays any reaction whatsoever, one is free to choose whatever reaction one may want.
This can establish new and better karma.

And so one can be like the fool on the hill, or like the nowhere man.

How does this apply to me?
It is a current learning.

Joe Blystone is a Republican candidate for governor of Ohio.
He means to primary the incumbent Republican governor, Mike DeWine.
One of my FaceBook Friends, a high school classmate, supports Blystone, and often shares his posts.

He’s really from the right-wing fringe, and FaceBook constantly fact-checks his posts.
He posted the hoax about the Southwest Airlines disaster.
He posted the hoax about 350,000 service members getting dishonorably discharged for refusing the vaccine.

Looks like this will be a short episode; I have 104 words left.

My history has been that I tend to get real upset about people like Blystone, who lie, and like my classmate, who believe lies.
The “Nowhere Man” state gives me different option.  Now, when I come across one of Blystone’s hoaxes, I can simply say about it, “So, that happened.”

I have already discussed the music for today.  If you haven’t listened to it yet,
you might like to do so now.

So, that happened.