The Right Words

Dear Viewer:I hope you arrived here well and ready to contemplate! Thanks for coming.

Here I discuss—while going off on tangents about social media and pay walls (and a few other things), Dr. Richard Dawkins, the eminently erudite and moral Cambridge professor of biology, famous atheist, lecturer and proponent of reason and virtue and his letter, here on Substack, to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the famous human rights activist. He has written to her regarding her apostasy (if one can call it that) from atheism and adoption of Christianity. Specifically, as the subtitle to this video monologue suggests, I address Dr. Dawkins’ use of two words in his letter—spirituality and religion.I also discuss the merits of declaring oneself a Buddhist—and submitting to—its precepts, if not (as in my case) refraining from accepting the supernatural aspects inherent in some practices of Buddhism an how one can remain an honest atheist at the same time; and I specifically mention how this could benefit Dr. Sam Harris, who seems most of the way there, anyway. Mention is given to Alain de Boton in this endeavor.And there is more, so I hope you’ll give a listen and comment—and finally, join in supporting my podcast.Thank you for reading and listening, if you do.CAWheat Ridge, CO

Thanks for reading The Right Words Podcast! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thanks for reading The Right Words Podcast! This post is public so feel free to share it.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit therightwords.substack.com

Writing, Recording and Image ("For The Collateral Expendable") Copyright 2017 - 2024 Carl Atteniese II / All rights reserved. More below:This image was captured at the World Trade Center Memorial, of a portion of one of the embankments that surround one of the two former foundations which once supported the two destroyed in the terror attacks directed my Islamic Jihadists com…

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit therightwords.substack.com

Welcome to The Right Words Podcast. I'm Carl Atteniese. Anguk is an area adjacent to Insa dong, Seoul, where I lived for a time in the nineties—in the capital city of South Korea. I later moved on to other fascinating locales in that surprising, North-east Asian peninsula nation, but something happened one night, in Anguk--that was scary--but rewarding. There I was, suddenly confronted with the chance to get involved with a stranger—in a way I had never experienced in all my adult years before. Maybe this story will inspire thoughts in you about a life-altering opportunity you had—or could--some day. Please listen and enjoy….

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit therightwords.substack.com

Another version of this is at Wordpress, where my blog is, here.

This is a late posting. It’s been on You Tube since November 13, 2024. I also look terrible in it, because this is before I shaved my head. I’m not bald; I just don’t want to deal with hair for a while, as life has been very challenging, and when it is such, it’s a very feminine endeavor, dealing with hair, in my opinion, for a man to have to be caring for a mop of dead material on his head–which grows out of his head (in my case, very fast, and now, grey–which doesn’t look so bad–but which only adds to prejudice and requires too much work and money). For the sensitive and angry, I have nothing against feminine activities–it’s just that it feels to be a very self-centered and insecure focus to be daily engaged in and emasculating a process–as well as a waste of time–to be caring for hair–which is really an egotistical preoccupation aimed at conformity and attracting people. I will, undoubtedly, fall into that monkey-mind societal behavior, again, someday–perhaps when I am back in Japan and Korea, and trying to repair my single-status—but right now, I am also focusing on my Zen practice–so seeing & feeling my bald head (which, in my opinion looks better than any hairstyle one can create –and I have a full head of hair, if I want it)–seeing my shiny, smooth, bald head in the mirror goes a long way to reminding me of what kind of man I am on the inside and what kind I want people to see on the outside. And now that I think of it–as I am, in fact, adding this addendum sentence you are now reading, after having published this piece–this is yet another thing that sets me apart from people like Trump; it takes a good measure of confidence and security to present oneself as one wants and as one is, rather than primping, coloring, styling and remaking oneself to be something that he or she is not. Anyway, the video is about an observation I made about the Felon-elect of The United States, when he was in the Oval Office, recently, meeting the President of The United States, Joseph R. Biden. Enjoy.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit therightwords.substack.com

NOTE to THE LISTENER:Dear Listener:Thank you for being here. This is podcast is a primer for conversation; as such, there are generalizations in this essay that could be developed or further explained in a long-form discussion. Keeping in mind the theme of this podcast and my philosophy (listening for the meaning, not the words), it is important for the good-faith listener to know, generally, what I mean via the context of what I am expressing (and ideally, knowing whom I am as shown in all my writing, videos and podcasts) in such areas as generalizations. I am not an academic or a scientist, but I am a thinker and an honest express-er of ideas that seem valid; I am proposing them for your consideration. When you feel an idea seems extreme, consider re-interpreting it per what you probably know I really mean—instead of taking your decision about it to that extreme; for example, when I say “Show me a liar and I will show you a sociopath” I am not admitting that I am so prejudiced and inflexible as to think in all situations, one who lies is a sociopath in every case—clinically-speaking; I am, of course, suggesting that those who live by lying are probably, to some degree, sociopaths—because they have to be careless about the ramifications of their dishonesty and its affects on others. This way that I am asking you to consider my ideas could be called: using common sense. This allows us to save time and express ourselves in simple, short and non-academic terms. Thank you.CA,New York

© Copyright 2024 The Right Words & Carl Atteniese II / All rights reserved.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit therightwords.substack.com

© Copyright 2023 Carl Mando Atteniese / All rights reserved.

In Zen 1, Carl—AKA “Mando”—explains why we sit in meditation, and the misconceptions about that in terms of Zen; he briefly teaches how to meditate in this primer for future lessons—and describes benefits (often confused as the initial goals of meditation); Carl draws on his own training in Korea and Japan and from his reading over the years; most useful, he gives examples from the things around him, while out for a walk, making this podcast in New York. These serve as representations of the figments of the mind which distract us during meditation.

Join Carl in this first lesson on ideas about meditation and begin to move toward doing what you thought you couldn’t—by starting with an understanding of this millenniums-old method of mind, which is so often misunderstood… at our peril.

Recording and Art © Copyright 2023 Carl Mando Atteniese / All rights reserved.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit therightwords.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit therightwords.substack.com

Written, Produced and Performed by Carl “Mando” Atteniese, Copyright 2023 / All rights reserved. Intro & Outro music: Electronic Future Beats by Cubesounds & Featured track selection: Winning Elevation by Hot Music for Pixabay online. Special thanks to Hecham Dierdari, Nancy Atteniese Gerber & Jon Gerber, Carl & Anne Atteniese and Bobby Dief.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit therightwords.substack.com

by Carl Atteniese II

This is part three in my series called “Believe What What You Want”, questioning whether this concept is hurting us.In my last installment in this series, I mentioned that, because seemingly innocuous concepts are accepted as believable—or accepted as non-problematic, as notions acceptable to think—true and their lack of logic and evidence is ignored and given a social pass, we are having trouble with more consequential issues of a similar type. First, let’s look at the seemingly ”innocuous issues”:

We generally accept–in polite company and even among family and friends–that some people have very different opinions on the truth or falseness of what are actually objective facts and non-facts. For example:

I. The Moon (& Space Program) HoaxIt is an objective and historical fact—verifiable with millions, if not billions of pieces of documented evidence—that human beings have been to the moon—nine times, landing there 6 times, with twelve men having been on the lunar surface and 27 men having visited lunar orbit.

The American space program—and most famously, what has come to be known as the heroic space age, beginning with “manned”, or crewed missions in Project Mercury, in the early 1960s, and arguably culminating in 1972, with Apollo 17 being the last mission in which Americans visited the lunar surface—is perhaps the most stunningly and thoroughly documented set of historical events in human history—having involved hundreds of thousands of Americans—up to this day—and the hundreds of people from different countries, there’s more evidence of this participation, there is more evidence of this participation, around the world–and it exists as history in the modern era—meaning many of us were alive during all the missions there—including this writer—who followed it and read about it voraciously! I should also add that I have friends in the space program—and friends of friends of friends—and I am friends with the family of some of the heroic astronauts of that period. So—it’s personal.Multiple countries have photographed the descent stage of the lunar modules and astronaut- & rover- tracks on the surface of the moon—and we still receive reflected-laser-beam measurements, bounced off devises left, there, on the moon for that purpose. Space programs thrive today in other countries—in Canada, Europe, India, China, Japan—and now in South and North Korea. Yet, astronauts have been accosted by bible-toting hoaxers, goading them to swear they waked on the moon. One such person harassed and upset Buzz Aldrin so, that the Korean-war-fighter-pilot, MIT-PhD-astrodynamicist, Gemini 12-space walker and 2nd man on the moon punched the pest in the face. John Young, the astronaut veteran of the Gemini, Apollo, and Shuttle programs—who flew and tested the space shuttle on its maiden flight and walked on the moon—the man who carried the distinction of having flown four types of spacecraft—told the same man to ‘stick it in his ear.’ The disbelief on Young’s face was enough to know he was sure he was speaking to a man whom he thought was on the other side of sanity. Alan Bean, the first artist on the moon—who returned to Earth and launched his career as a painter of wonderfully original impressions of scenes from the missions—a famously kind and open astronaut actually hosted the same hoaxer in his studio and attempted to humor him by placing his own hand on the Bible and swearing for the hoaxer. This writer has witnessed, in many live-video coverage sessions of space-station-spacewalks in online chats—multiple people positing their assertions that the astronauts in such situations are ‘in swimming pools’ or ‘in front of a blue screen, aided by CGI.

And I might add that—while I’m reading this—in a post on Twitter, I saw a flash on my screen from my NASA-friend Dr. Phil Metzger, now a professor of planetary science, who specializes in rocket engine ejecta. We know these people, is what I’m saying.)

II. The ‘Flat Earth’It is an historically, mathematically, scientifically and photographically proven physical and geometrically-verifiable fact that the Earth is an oblate sphere—more typically expressed as “the Earth is round”—and it has been known to be such for thousands of years–provable every day by standard observations and especially with the advent of the aerospace industry—since nineteen-fifty nine.II. We have millions of photographs—and video—which lends itself to point number I (we’re now on point number II about “flat earthers”), as well. We have photographs of the Earth from space—and more coming every day. There is GPS- and other types of satellite—which are limited by reach for the curve of the globe under them occluding what is beyond that curve. We can see diminishing visual evidence of ships traveling over the horizon. We witness the Earth’s circular disk in shadow, eclipsing the moon and sun. We have the seasons—dependent on the curvature of the planet catching light and heat from the sun—in varying degrees different from one location to another, north to south and vice versa, hemispheric-ally, depending on our position in orbit—with summer in one hemisphere and winter in the opposite. We observe different constellations and pole stars north and south of the equator. Who would deny it is day in the Eastern hemisphere when it is night in the West? How would any of this be possible on a flat Earth? Furthermore, the Earth’s core rotates, giving us our magnetic field. Do flat-earthers think it is a disk, or a sphere embedded within the disk of a flat-earth? And—of course, these people could duplicate Eratosthenes’ practicum, measuring shadows in different cities to calculate the circumference of the Earth—the angle of which prove[s] that a staff used in two locations—more than 100 miles apart to measure [their] shadows, will indicate a different sun angle—which is caused by the hiding of some of [one] staff [with the northern-most one producing a shorter shadow in northern-hemispheric winter and the southern-most one doing the same in southern-hemispheric summer] in the curve of the Earth; this wouldn’t happen on a flat Earth. And Eratosthenes calculated, accurately, the circumference of the Earth over 2,200 years ago….

III. ‘Miracles’It is an observable and documented scientific fact that no one we know can prove with evidence that any one of us–minus the aid of falsehood via technology–can be visited by “angels”, become pregnant without sexual intercourse, be guided by a moving star directed in its motion for one or a group, be “born of a virgin”, fly or hover without flying machinery, walk on a body of liquid water, trans-substantiate [inhabit multiple locations simultaneously], heal the sick without medicine or with hands alone, turn water into beverages—without factories—nor loaves into fishes, survive crucifixion when it has actually been performed correctly and the victim is actually dead, nor emerge from a crypt or tomb after actually having actually died.

And yet–we accept social, familial an…

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit therightwords.substack.com

This poem can also be read here.

Beyond The Fishbowl Crossfield flew across the barrier* Then Shepard rocketed so high And of Gagarin and Kamarov before them– What did they feel? Not ‘why?’Truly, there is no membrane; We live on a gas-ensconced globe, Spinning and wobbling ’bout its axis Barrelling in lock and roll Circling a star–in turn racing Round the galaxy’s swirling bright core Itself shot out from the center Venturing By expansion thus far

. . .

All this violence in balance Enormous–yet mutually constrained Their motions play out like ice skatersIn a gliding dance of refrain

. . .

Armstrong & Aldrin first walked on the moon With Cernan & Schmidt, the last two On the face of that satellite ’til next time They did what most should dream toBecause We’re like fish in a fish bowl Or children confined to a yard The fish not knowing of oceans! Nor the child of nations afar! Until a day whence One jumps the fence— To glimpse the extent of the gloom At an old age, but an Earth sageMay just see the limits of home

. . .

There are trillions of planets Round trillions of stars

Yet those nearby We’ve but seen from afar; In our own system: Two-hundred worlds, Five dwarf planets, A hundred-eighty-nine moons . . .Let’s see far neighbors! The Jovian skies With more than mere cameras! With Man’s naked eye!

Like children and fishes, Pets chained to rocks, Moonshots— Are feral* Though great!

Man— Goes To the stars!

CA

This poem is in honor of all who have contributed to human flight—on and off the Earth (crewed and unmanned)—and in specific advocacy of expediting deep space missions to the outer planet systems—such as to the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, which potentially hold a much higher probability of sustaining life than does Mars. It is this writer’s contention that though far away—and requiring a staged mission-project-platform approach—such as those which enabled our success in the Apollo deep space missions—the economic, scientific, and inspirational benefits of human journeys to the gargantuan and heart-stopping beauty of the Saturnian and Jovian systems would be well worth the difficulty and effort and they are are not destinations which should wait fifty years—like the tragedy of our disrespectful delays in returning to the moon.

Happy Birthday Dr. Buzz Aldrin & Congratulations on your wedding to Dr. Faur! Many stellar years of happiness to you both!

Writing, Narration, Art, Production and Performance by & Copyright Carl Atteniese 2022/All rights reservedMusic Licensed from Pixabay:

1. Electronic Future Beats by Qubesounds2. Cosmic Glow by Andrewkn3. Astronaut and space-derived recordings courtesy of NASA Sounds

NOTE: The views you may glean from this work are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of whom I mention in the acknowledgements.

A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T SSpecial Thanks to These Special Friends:*Profile image of Carl………..Mark Longmire*Founding Contributor…………..Hicham Derdari, Promoter*Historical Consultant……………..Professor Lois Honeycutt*Art Life Contributor……………….Professor Yukuhiro Yamaguchi*Art Life Contributor……………….RMD, Musician, Teacher, Advisor*Art Life Contributor……………....Professor Sahara Shin, Sponsor*Art Life Contributor…………..…..Professor Harris Kim, Teacher, Sponsor*Art Life Contributor……………....Alfred DiBlasi, Host of Alfred.TV, Sponsor*Art life Contributor…………..…...Paul B. Kwak, Teacher, Sponsor

And for Great Support & Esteem from:

* Mr. Carl Atteniese Sr., my loving father—airline facilitator electioneer, historian

* Mrs. Anne Carroll Atteniese, my doting, loving mother & friend to all people

* Charles XF Carroll (RIP), uncle, poet, friend, camera tech, soldier, sailor, gentleman

* Mrs. Nancy Atteniese Gerber, my enormously supportive psychotherapist sister

* Mrs. Mary Atteniese Pustarfi, my other enormously supportive and teacher sister

* Mr. Jon Gerber, my brother-in-law& good friend—a scientist and…

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit therightwords.substack.com