Deep Thoughts

Tim & Hugh have had some interesting bits on here lately that get to the heart of the deeper questions like, what really is the self, or consciousness, or this thing we call the 'soul'?

The notion that we can't perceive our own existence while sleeping (except during dream states) further raises the issue - we treat consciousness, self-awareness as a 'thing' and give it a name, the 'soul' -- but rather is it really more of an 'event' than a 'thing'?

Identification as an individual distinct from others comes from having an individual body, and having a unique point of view in space, and a unique set of experiences to draw from. Perhaps the 'self' is like a wave on the ocean - it's clearly there, but you can't grasp it and put it in a box - it exists more conceptually, as a reflection of other things. And the water and the ocean continue to be there through and through.

I would then think when you get to concepts like infinite existence, without a body, there would needs be a convergence of awareness and experience, a disappearance of the familiar demarcations that separate the notion of 'I' from 'you'. The notion and awareness of the 'self' would slowly lose its usefulness, I would think.

Paul

Traffic

Dear Hugh,

I don't think we have any readers. If you can't rustle up some traffic for this blog of yours, I fear the exercise is just for our own edification. That is not a negligible benefit, of course, and reason enough to continue. I can use the practice, for when my tiny brain, as yet unformed, should settle, I expect to bestride the earth like a colossus.

Meanwhile, no readers, and what of fame, what of glory, what of (dare one dream it) popularity!?

Your friend in the aether,

~TK

Tax Free Parsonages

During my career I frequently lived in parsonages, manses, rectory, take your pick of names. Meaning it was housing owned by the church I served and provided as a part of my pastoral remuneration while serving that congregation. The church did not pay tax on it as it was church owned. What most folk don’t understand is that pastors do pay social security taxes on that property which is either the estimated rental value or 30% of your salary, whichever was greater. Pastors are self employed so no half payment, you pay the total amount. In essence it is not a great deal tax wise for pastors, except they don’t have to come up with a down payment on a home or worry about selling when they leave. But in effect a number of pastors end their career with no place to live. But it is very helpful for beginning pastors. An okay idea. I always thought it would be a good idea for the church to sell the manse to the pastor who in turn would sell it back to the church when they left; everyone would win. The state would get property taxes, the pastor would build up equity, and the church could attract ministers who needed a beginning helping hand. But that’s probably illegal.

But as with all things this system can be abused. Phil Driscoll is an evangelical musician who has second home worth $400,000 which qualifies as a tax-free parsonage. He is not a pastor but after playing with Joe Cocker and having a pop music career he created what he called “the Mighty Horn Ministries.” Or in other words, he’s doing what he’s always done he just calls it ministry now.

Some of you may know Kenneth and Gloria Copeland and their TV ministry based in Texas. They live in an 18,280 square foot lakefront parsonage on 25 acres, valued at $6.2 million dollars.  And then there was Jim and Tammy Faye Baker with their air conditioned dog house as a part of their perks.

Somehow this seems to miss the original intent of the provision. Oh yes, the U.S. Tax court ruled in favor of Phil Driscoll’s parsonage exemption.

Ah the things that are done in the name of evangelism. In these cases this is good news is for the opportunistic sellers of religion, who tend to be very judgmental of those who don’t believe just like they do. I can see a new book, or song coming, “I Was a Con Artist for the Lord.” 

Dump AMT

If you are not familiar with AMT, it stands for Alternative Minimum Tax. Congress enacted this bit of nonsense in 1969. The idea was that everyone should pay at least a minimum of taxes. Inflation pushes more and more folk into that position so that it is predicted that in 2012 34 million tax payers will be hit by AMT. That is one fourth of all tax returns. These folk have no tax liability at all but must pay the AMT. Dumb.

Almost half of individual tax return show no liability. Thus Congress is giving tax breaks and incentives with one hand and taking them back with the other. One set of rules that apply to all taxpayers should be sufficient without AMT confusing the issue.

*  *  *  *

Here’s another dumb idea from the Governor of Maine, Paul LePage, who is proposing to exempt all pension income from state income tax. Apparently he thinks that will keep old people from from Maine to Florida or Texas. His justification is helping senior citizens. It also effectively raises taxes for all others in his state. Good grief, we leave Wisconsin for the south because it’s warmer. Don’t you think folk from Maine do the same?

It’s rather like a previous town I served as pastor where the mayor, community president or whatever her title was who strangely appointed me and others to a zoning board. The idea given to us was to create a tax break for seniors living in a particular place. The tax break was they would just pay for community services: garbage pickup, water and sewer etc, but not other real estate taxes; or they wouldn’t have to pay school taxes. This was supposed to be a great boon to the community by their spending money in town. Another town had done this and she thought we should follow. I thought that it was a strange and perhaps illegal idea and everyone benefits from good schools, if you have children in them or not. Others on the board agreed and we rejected the idea. That was our last meeting and a new board with a slightly different name was established. Oh yes, the nearby community who did have that arrangement did get into trouble over its legality.

Very nice

Oh, I like this post very much. Thank you, Hugh. Ordinarily, I resist others' characterizations of my position, but yours is very gentle here, I feel. The Wikipedia entry introduces a number of concepts that are useful to explain my views. On the other hand, I cannot say that I am firmly entrenched in any view as yet, there are so many and they often contradict each other. That makes me, I suppose, still like a sophomore, or at best, a junior. But please don't call me sophomoric; I have some life experience to call upon.

In Buddhist schools, I believe, they hold that there was never an individual "soul" to begin with and therefore no aggregate of souls called Atman. This sounds even more heretical to a typical westerner than Hinduism. We feel there is something and call it soul, an everlasting individuality, as you say.

Here I feel you flirt with Jefferson's "impatient of reason" description of the Calvinist, by not carrying your reason all the way through. I do not disagree that "there will be water and fishes until this finite dimension ends," but I am finding no support for the idea that "then we all will be in a new dimension where our individualities still exist but the conflicts between our individualities cease." No support in the realm of reason, that is, so it strikes me as a bridge too far.

Is not "an individuality among other individualities" the very definition of finitude? If it was an infinite individuality there could only be one of them. So do you not thus posit merely another finite dimension after this one? That may be possible but still, by observation and intuition, all finite dimensions are impermanent, along with everything in them.

And what is this fetish we carry for "individuality?" At the end of the day we can hardly wait to go to sleep and be rid of the damn thing for several hours, and while asleep we don't miss it at all. On the contrary, its absence refreshes us for another round of foolishness all the next day long.

~Tim Klay

Time out while I look up "abreactions."

~Tim Klay

The Guppy Responds

As you see from the pieces my friend Tim Klay has contributed to this blog (we also have a perchance for aliases) why I enjoy him so much. He loves abreactions as much as I do and speaks well and clearly. All of this said obviously to butter him up before I attack.

Actually I love his metaphor about the fish and the stream. It reminds me of Zen koans that I am very fond of, which are like fairy tales, myths and legends, that teach great truths. (teaching point: myth and legends may or may not be factually true, but that is not the point, their point is to teach.) I also agreed that many folk have deep religious beliefs but don’t talk about them much. Even though I am a preacher one of my colleagues onces said to me, “Hugh, you are so comfortable with your religion you often sound like a heretic when you talk.” By which, I believe he meant I had an almost entire lack of piety. Religion is just a part of life as jobs, babies, hobbies, etc., just more important but talked about less.

I have also told my friend Tim that he would make a good Hindu, who are the most accepting in practice of all the major religions I know. You may be Hindu and a Christian among other belief systems and just accept their differences and celebrate their similarities. [There is a great little book I read recently about a boy who practiced Christianity, Islam and others, but I forget its name. Anybody recall its name?] And yet, there is a major departure point between the Judeo-Christian tradition and the other mid-eastern and eastern religions; that being the relationship between God and human beings. In the Judeo-Christian traditions God is distinct from people; God’s ways are not our ways. The Jewish theologian, Martin Buber talked about it so well in his book, I, Thou. In the eastern religions God and humans are not so distinct.

In Hinduism there is the concept of the Atman described by Wikipedia as “Ātman (IAST: Ātman, Sanskrit: आत्मन्) is a Sanskrit word that means 'self'. In Hindu philosophy, especially in the Vedanta school of Hinduism it refers to one's trueself beyond identification with phenomena. In order to attain salvation (liberation) a human being must acquire self-knowledge (atma jnana) which is to say realise experientially that one's true self is identical with the transcendent self (paramatman) that is called Brahman.”

In my understanding the Atman is the collection of all our souls into one being, the Atman or God. Together we are the deity. Thus in the excellent argument of Mr. Klay, there will be a day when “Oops, there he goes. No more Hugh.” Then I and he and all others will be part of the water.

In my view there will be water and fishes and other such things until this finite dimension ends and then we all will be in a new dimension where our individualities still exist but the conflicts between our individualities cease. At present, I cannot possibly understand how this can be, but I believe it will be so.

~Hugh Drennan  (a.k.a. Minute Thornton, Tiny O’Drennan, Gnarly Blackthorn, Wee O’Draighneain)

Hoisted on His own petard

Eric Cantor, the House Republican Majority leader apparently has gone on record (FOX news) saying that the disaster funding should not take place without major cuts to first responders. FEMA is running out of money for disaster relief and the damages of hurricane Irene are estimated to run over $10 million. While Cantor and other GOP leaders agree that additional funding is needed they won’t okay it until more tax cuts are made. Though he made no such demands when George W. Bush ran up unprecedented bills, the White House pointed out.

He also sung a different tune when tropical storm Gaston hit Richmond, VA, the state he represents. He was right there to receive millions of federal aid to clean up wreckage and a damaged infrastructure. It seems he is caught between a rock and a hard place playing to his Tea Party supporters with demands for reduced taxes while claimed benefits for the state he represents. “This is of the essence” when disaster struck his state, now he seems willing to put roadblocks up for others. Budget watchers have noted this hypocrisy.

It should be an interesting congressional session when lawmakers return from the 5 week August vacation. A quick decision is demanded. Does the term “hoisted on his own petard” ring a bell?

The Fish

In general, talking to people about God (not one of my habits, our host will know better) must be as futile as trying to teach a fish about water. At least it seems that way to me. The fish is interested in other things and doesn't even notice it. For us, what is beneath notice is usually ignored, or if we think about it at all it is conceptualized as if it is far away and uninvolved.

Would it be accurate to say that water is uninvolved in the life of a fish? Perhaps, if we regard water as inanimate and lacking consciousness. But on the other hand, nothing is more involved in the life of a fish than water.

I think the metaphor is apt, because we also are interested in other things and have some doubt or ignorance of God, whereas nothing is more involved in the life of a person, more intimate and present, yet unnoticed.

In The Godfather III a priest picks a rock out of a pool and says to Michael Corleone, "This stone has been in the water for centuries, but the water has not penetrated it even a little. So it is with Christ and those misguided persons (also priests) who betray you."

To me, this is also a part of religion, to become soluble to the great and omnipresent Being in whom we exist. Then someday, looking on, perhaps we say, "Oops, there he goes. No more Hugh."

No more fish, only water.

~Tim Klay

Good Things

After my bit on depravity, let me share with you some wonderful things God favorite critters do. They come from the magazine Christian Century.

A bunch of Harvard law students working out of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau that give the services free to folk in Boston whose houses are being foreclosed. The work with Project One Leaves, and Boston Community Capital who buy up distressed properties and then sells them back to their original owners just above the current market price. Law Professor David Grossman says their efforts are based on a key principle of Jewish ethics ~ tikkun olam, or an obligation to “repair the world.” Wow!

* * *

Now the flip side. Kenneth J. Douglas was CEO of Dean foods, a dairy company. He earned about a million bucks a year in today’s dollars and turned down many pay raises because he thought they would be bad for the moral of the company. His successor now makes many times that and lives opulently. Analysts are saying to social norms of the 70’s and that greed now is looked at as a good thing. People at the top believe they deserve what they make. In wage inequality the U.S. ranks alongside developing countries just ahead of Uganda and Jamaica and behind the Cameroon and the Ivory Coast. (Washington Post June 18.)

*   *  *

And a final bit from that issue titled, “All due respect” by Miroslav Volf.  The author contributed an essay for a book on this subject which is based upon the belief that the Christian faith urges equal and universal respect. There are lots of biblical verses he could have used but he found this little known one from 1 Peter 2.17 “Honor everyone…” I’m not found a ripping a text out of context, but I agree it means just that. We should honor everyone, not just those we agree with, who have the same faith as ourselves, or the same interpretation of those faiths. It includes those we even despise. The author tells of a Facebook entry he made of that nature following the time Jared Leer Loughner shot U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and killed six others and wounded 14 more. Responders asked if honoring everyone including the shooter, and he said, yes. He talks of how theologians over the centuries have distinguished between persons and their deeds or between person and work (Martin Luther.)

I have found in my life that those whose actions disgusted me the most sometimes had a tremendous influence upon me and deserved honor and respect. The last two presidents bring out this ambivalence in honoring all to a great deal. Some believe that George W. Bush was dumber than a box of rocks, and has done untold damage to the country both in the short and long term. Today, daily we hear absolutely awful things said about President Obama. Both sides likely feel very self righteous about their statements, but it is a sad commentary on our ability to honor all folk, even the leaders of our own nation.

People of the biblical era knew the concept on honoring and showing hospitality very well. Strangers were welcomed into their houses, fed, and sheltered with the utmost warmth and kindness. This is still quite true in mid eastern nations that we hear such evil about.

We are very friendly to those we know and are close to us. We like phrases such as, “charity begins at home,” which is often just a euphemism for “to heck with those other folk we don’t know.”

The next time you feel Iike really letting someone have it for their wrongheadedness, try to recall this passage. Honor everyone. It’s tough but it seems the right thing to do.

Mind as Mirror

Thank you, Mr. Drennan, for welcoming me to your blog.

I cannot deny that if we take Bernie Madoff and his like as objects of contemplation, it will have adverse consequences on our state of mind. And if we are the sort to jump to conclusions, what you suggest regarding our nature as human beings appears to be reasonable.

However, having seen two black dogs, I cannot logically conclude that all dogs are black, nor can I, having seen two black dogs poop on my lawn, conclude that all black dogs poop on my lawn. There is a righteous limit to using anecdotal evidence as proof of universal truths.

Returning to the consequences of contemplation, the mind is like a reflection, a mirror. What matters most, prior to any conclusions drawn from a particular reflection, is where the mirror is directed. It is for this reason that many wise men have counseled thusly: "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything be excellent or praiseworthy—think on these things."

The modern worldly mind, steeped in iniquity through the contemplation of vicious doings broadcast in media and elsewhere, fears that such a practice sets it in danger of becoming Pollyanna, an unrealistic brightsider. And yet, where does the contemplation of wickedness get us? Is it a destination we should hope to see? I think not.

As you know, I am no adept at contemplating what is excellent and praiseworthy but I try, and I take this to be the essential discipline of religion. In the realm of reflection, the inner world, even "the kingdom of heaven" if you will, we become like that on which we dwell.

~Tim Klay

I object to Mr. Drennan calling me "illustrious." The impertinence!

~Tim Klay

Halleluia! Another writer

Oh sweet joy, someone has joined me on this small blog. The writer, Tim Klay, was indeed a student of mine when I was attempted to loosen the minds of mainly seniors in high school in the 60’s. Tim lived in a very strongly religious and Calvinistic town where dandelions in lawns have been outlawed from yards since its inception. The illustrious Mr. Klay, valedictorian of my first class, I believe, and I have been communicating via email since June 23. How he discovered me I do not know. Since then I have received 63 emails (plus more replies) and he a like amount from me. This discussion/battle of wits/conversation has been a total delight as we examine each other ideas, beliefs, and idiosyncrasies. And now you have had a taste of his wit. Though my student, unless he found the Fountain of Youth, is an old codger now anyway. He is likely smarter than I but I remain a cagey old codger.

Of course, he has to attack the great theologian John Calvin, of which I have been accused of being his reincarnation, and in particular, his doctrine of total depravity. This doctrine, simply put means that all of us at heart are sinful and are limited thus. It has long been a great debate of whether people are by nature good or evil or neither. Note well, this is not to say whether people are good or bad, but good or evil, which is different.

Not devolving into theological constructs to defend the great Calvin and his doctrine I will merely point out some observations. This morning on Good Morning America, listened to a story about Bernie Madoff, who made out to a reporter that he was merely a victim as well as he bilked millions from folk. I saw more about Gary Giordano, suspect in the disappearance of Robyn Gardner. Of course, we have our daily news concerning politicians and their false claims, the wealthy continue to subject the poor and try to convince us that we are the better for it. I read about the war in Libya and the atrocities of Gaddafi and other leaders. I read articles about the obscene salaries of CEOs in our society (more on this in a later piece). I consider our own country and how we are viewed as greedy, self-serving, over-consuming  ugly Americans. I read history, which when taught is mainly a list of wars we as people have fought with each other over power and greed. And then I think of the rigid conservatism, bigotry, and false pride of the folk I cared for in Tim’s hometown. How can any sane person conclude other than that we are evil – meaning self serving, little beasties constantly in conflict with each other and God in our search to be more than we are.

My friend Tim is my friend despite our differences or maybe even because of our differences. This is evidence, I believe, of God’s grace, not our innate goodness. Most all little children known they are naughty little shits, it is only as we delude ourselves and justify ourselves as we age, we come to believe we are good at heart. Of course, I could be wrong, in light of the fact that I am one of those depraved beings.

Welcome friend Tim to the blog. I shall look forward to more installments of your wit and wisdom and hope others will join in as well.

Guest Perspective

The maestro, Mr. Drennan (as we were required to call him in school), weary of being pelted about the noggin by my persistent queries and protestations, which have nonetheless failed to so much as ruffle even a feather in his cap, alas, and him being a prescient gentleman wanting to avoid for me an eventual charge of elder abuse, has sent me here to trouble you instead, dear reader.

And on what topic? Political frustrations and aggravation? Misguided social customs and injustices? Intolerable corruption in the economic sphere? Oh no, too tame. How about something to really angry up the blood? Something like, oh, Calvinism!?

Mr. D. is in the practice of stating his position upfront, and that seems well and good. So, re: Calvinism let me say, I'm agin' it.

Hillbilly diction aside, this may actually be going too far for someone who has not yet been able to figure out exactly what Calvinism might be. I argue that when someone begins by asserting "the total depravity of man," as Calvin has done, I must say "Hold it right there, buckaroo." If that is the case, then I don't even want to hear what else you have to say, because your motives and perception are inevitably tainted, you being a man after all.

Apparently, then, it's actually not a good topic for discussion, because I refuse to entertain it. I find myself intuitively in sympathy with Thomas Jefferson, who wrote, "The blasphemy of the five points of Calvin, and the impossibility of defending them, render their advocates impatient of reasoning, irritable, and prone to denunciation."

But the maestro, Mr. Drennan, an admitted Calvinist, has taken my bushels of disdain on the topic with exceptional good grace, which requires me to admit that, underneath, I secretly suspect him of something better.

~Tim Klay

Ways of Looking at Life

I have a couple of Facebook Friends: one blames Obama for everything wrong in the world, a kinda mini Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter. The other constantly makes a positive statement each and every day about life. Both have health issues but I think one is living a much more enjoyable life. Read below and see what you think.

Ann Coulter information and statements:

Fired from the National Review Online after bad mouthing Arabs and Muslims.

Embraced the Grateful Dead and a Dead Head. (prophetic)

Fired from MSNBC in 1996 after telling a disabled American on the air, “People like you caused us to lose the war.”

Said, “As the leader of the 12 apostles, even Jesus had more executive experience than Obama.

Said, “I love to engage in repartee with people who are stupider than I am.

Said, “Liberal soccer moms are precisely as likely to receive anthrax in the mail and to develop a capacity for linear thinking.”

Said, “My only regret with Timohty McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building.”

Rush Limbaugh quotes

Feminism was established to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream.

Says Steinbrenner Was A “Cracker Who Made African-Americans Millionaires”

 “Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it.”

 “The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.”

 “They’re 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?”

[To an African American female caller]: “Take that bone out of your nose and call me back.

 ”I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well.  They’re interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well.  I think there’s a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn’t deserve.”

 “I mean, let’s face it, we didn’t have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back; I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark.”

“You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray [the confessed assassin of Martin Luther King]. We miss you, James. Godspeed.”

“Obama is “more African in his roots than he is American” and is “behaving like an African colonial despot”

“Let the unskilled jobs that take absolutely no knowledge whatsoever to do — let stupid and unskilled Mexicans do that work.”

“Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?”

My Facebook friend Obama Blamer: (unnamed)

Obama said that the fault that was the cause of the earthquake was Bush's Fault!

Obama is on vacation at Martha's Vineyard with all those terrible rich people. I wonder whose house he is using and if he is sucking up so he can get a job in 2012?

Obama goes to Iowa and asks for advice about how to get jobs. Hw has the most advisors than any other President, maybe he should just hire Iowans and dump the ones he has!

Don't you find it scary that most of the shootings where numerous people are killed happen where persosn are not allowed to enter legally carrying firearms. Again, when you take away legal guns, only illegal guns will remain!

Instead of watching the speeches last nite, I watched "Pawn Stars", it was more realistic! Obama hasn't had a plan since the "free healthcare" fiasco and that was a lie from the beginning.

Dear Prez, how are you going to get 4 Trillion dollars out of the rich? Maybe your government and union owned auto companies can pay for it.

Dear Mr. President, I heard you say you will not guarantee SS checks if the debt ceiling isn't raised. Why is it the scare always has to do with SS, Medicare, & our Soldiers pay? Why not stop your pay or all of Congress, Senate, Governors to save more money for our country? Why use Seniors, Soldiers, & our Needy as examples? Take the money from those who take no risks and reap the benefits? 

Love the quote, "Obama makes George W. look like a Friggin' rocket scientist"!

Obama should set the example and volunteer to have his millions from his book sales taxed at 70%!

Most of the Government just consumes money. Every department is bloated. Getting more tax dollars just means the politicians will figure out how to spend it!

Obama said he's going to concentrate on jobs again! Maybe if he quit trying to punish "THE RICH", they would actually hire some people to work for them. The Government can't afford to hire anyone since they're broke!!

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

My other Facebook friend: Dan Boonstra quotes:

We don't quit playing because we grow old, we grow old because we quit playing.

Being hurt by someone you truly care about leaves a hole in your heart that only love can fill.

When we are truly healing, we are all alone, is when we need others the most

If those I love can't recognize me with my soul out in the open, I will no longer retreat and show what is familiar.

No bird can fly without opening its wings, and no one can love without exposing their heart.

The inward battle, against our mind, over our wounds, and the residues of the past is more terrible than the outward battle

I'm only lost if I'm going someplace in particular

The thing that really drives me crazy, is it me or the others that are crazy!

To see takes time.

Not to feel is to stop the heart from breathing.

There is no sadness like that caused by love, or the loss of love.

Loneliness is the most terrible poverty. Mother Teresa

Perhaps the shortest and most powerful prayer in the human language is Help

Loneliness is the scariest thing there is!

We honor those we love, with the very life we live.

We are here to live out loud. Balzac

How much more congenial life is without the habit of worry. Worry is too worrisome.

Everyone dies, the goal is not to live forever, but to create something that does.

For those who fight for it, life has a flavor the sheltered will never know.

I'm having trouble with politics. I used to very indecisive, now I'm not sure.

How can there be "self help groups"?

Henny Pennys

The more I attempt to get a handle on today’s international macroeconomics, the more confused I seem to become. It is very very complicated and to say it is anything else is naïve. And then I thought of a very naïve children’s story, or at least it seems to be. You likely remember it, but I want to share it once again.

One day Henny Penny was scratching in the farmyard looking for something good to eat when, suddenly, something hit her on the head. "My goodness me!" she said. "The sky must be falling down. I must go and tell the king."

She had not gone far when she met her friend Cocky Locky.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" he called out. "I am going to tell the king that the sky is falling down," said Henny Penny.

"I will come with you," said Cocky Locky.

So Henny Penny and Cocky Locky hurried along together towards the king's palace. On the way they saw Ducky Lucky swimming on the pond.

"Where are you going?" he called out.

"We are going to tell the king the sky is falling down," replied Henny Penny. "We must go quickly, as there is no time to lose."

"I will come with you," said Ducky Lucky, shaking the water off his feathers.

So Henny Penny, Cocky Locky and Ducky Lucky hurried on together towards the king's palace. On the way they met Goosey Loosey, who called out, "Where are you all going in such a hurry?"

"We are on our way to tell the king the sky is falling down," said Henny Penny.

"I will come with you," said Goosey Loosey.

So Henny Penny, Cocky Locky, Ducky Lucky and Goosey Loosey hurried on together towards the king's palace.

Round the next corner they met Turkey Lurkey. "Where are you all going on this fine day?" she called out to them.

"It won't be a fine day for long," replied Henny Penny. "The sky is falling down, and we are hurrying to tell the king."

"I will come with you," said Turkey Lurkey. So Henny Penny, Cocky Locky, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey and Turkey Lurkey all went on towards the king's palace. Now on their way they met Foxy Loxy who asked, "Where are you going in such a hurry?"

"We are going to the king's palace to tell him the sky is falling down," replied Henny Penny. "That is a very important message," said Foxy Loxy.

"I will come with you. In fact if you follow me I can show you a short cut to the king's palace, so you will get there sooner."

So Henny Penny, Cocky Locky, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey and Turkey Lurkey all followed Foxy Loxy. He led them to the wood, and up to a dark hole, which was the door to his home. Inside his wife and five hungry children were waiting for him to bring home some dinner.

That, I am sorry to say, was the end of Cocky Locky, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey and Turkey Lurkey, for one by one they all followed Foxy Loxy into his home, and they were all eaten up by the hungry fox family.

Henny Penny was the last to enter the Fox's hole and she heard Cocky Locky crowing in alarm in front of her. 

Squawking with fright and scattering feathers, she turned and ran as fast as she could for the safety of her own farmyard. There she stayed and she never did tell the king that the sky was falling down.

There appear to be quite a number of people today that are telling us that the sky is falling in, and the more they tell it, the more it seems to be believed. I’m not sure that parts of the sky are indeed falling in.

But despite the fears of Henny Pennys and friends, I am more afraid of the Foxy Loxys of this world who appear to be consuming the Henny Pennys and friends by promoting their fear in order eat them up.