FONDLY, BOB
get comfortable!Â
​FONDLY, BOB is a memoir that dives into dreaming and death, Jungian thought, good and evil, homelessness, and a 22,000-mile odyssey of escaping a "perfect match," then skidding into a bizarre courtroom, still reeking of smoke and steam. Re-visit Othello’s projections, Dulcinea’s innocence, and Iago’s evil, through Stephenson’s droll narrative. Like Bob, it’s all somewhat incongruous, but it all works. Flashbacks and next challenges, domestic violence and religious fervor blend into this true 18-month ride with Abigail, her Scotty pup who became a respectable Alaskan boat dog.
"MAD GENIUS"
For authenticity like none other you have ever read, this book is recommended - quirky, radically artistic, wholly unique, and individualistic, there is nothing to compare it to!
(“MAD GENIUS,” Jennie Louwes, Reedsy)
This is storytelling that wades into the floodwaters of seductive projections that lurk under the surface of instant, digital relationships. Test your mettle against Lyme’s disease, religious fervor, and escape. Early draft comments included, “can’t put it down,” “should be a movie,” and feelings at the end of “having lost a friend.” Pack for a fast ride, stormy weather, fire trucks, and maybe a few chuckles. Deemed an inspirational and self-helpful finalist by the Storybook Trade Awards judges and “Best Debut, Non-Fiction for 2024, Memoirs” it’s a piece perhaps worthy of your curiosity, especially if you're a bad example too.
Are not all brave, beautiful immortals aware that time raps at every window? I cannot claim to answer that question, but I can report that emboldened by beauty, strength, and dreams, youth has no appetite for desserts offered on a cart 40 years hence. Who doesn't remember breezing by also, lacking awareness or interest during the gloriously happy days they have lived? What wasn’t easy when retrospect arrived was whether wisdom held its hand or did it drag a gaggle of brats kicking like nightmares, misdeeds, and victimhood lacking cause? And besides, why write of it? Who cares? The players in all dramas scatter and the ashes settle. Why tell my story? Why write about people who once lived in places unknown, whose concerns were concluded, their joys burst like bright balloons, the echoes of their laughter long silenced?
And besides, why must I still choose a point? Perhaps rather than a point, I wanted a portrait of myself celebrating the many riches I have known. Oh, but I have barely begun. Might age provide rest’s luxuries of reflection and silence? Might responsibility rise from a wizened elder stick figure tottering in sidewalk traffic, driving slow in the fast lane, or taking too long searching a chalkboard menu with the day’s special, or simply soup, would soup be better what with the snow outside and all? Stories spoken by elders, after all, are frequently dismissed as whimsical fantasies told by jesters born in yesterday’s timepieces held by the hands of laughing ignorance both young and old. But then, who mocks the storytelling of time, mocks the mirror into which they preen.
STARTING WITH THE EPILOGUE FIRST.
LIKE DESSERT, ONLY DIFFERENT.
but: WHITHER YOU ASK ?
I CHING
you ...
THE...
... I CHING does not solicit inquiries. One is well-advised to approach the I CHING with respect for it has entertained nations and dynasties, wars and killing fields, and accusations of irrelevance and evil. If parables speak the language of symbols, setting their stories in unmeasured times that suggest parallel realities, is the I CHING rooted in parable? If metaphors entertain human experience, is the I CHING a series of metaphors? The answer is no. The I CHING contains 64 hexagrams chosen randomly by an ancient arithmetic formula. Original texts contain layers of counsel whose scholarship this work cannot hope to resemble. This work aspires to simplicity still within the parameters of the original disciplines.
... have arrived at a place of ancient mysterious considerations evidenced by countless, timeless reports, both pro and con. The author joins a host of subjective explorers examining the natures of contemporary players and ancient Chinese ghosts, the properties of good and evil intent, and the values of advance, decline, or retreat. For the purpose of this work, good is that which creates and binds. Happenstance can instantly divide or destroy that which is created, however is distinguished from evil which sustains division and destruction. If the reader deems what cannot be denied, but which cannot be explained, that it contains evil intent, then flee of course. But first, might you know how evil hopes to expand its territory by advancing what you define as good? If you consider that ordinary living things could be mysterious products for which you need explanations, logic, definitions, or a warranty, this place will fail your curiosity.
Reflections from the Foreword
The Call to Introspection
"Experience, to be beneficial, requires a forensic visit into the past. The I CHING, 'black magic' so deemed by skeptics, contemplates tomorrow or next week. Dare at your peril to invite that disordered countenance to dine with your thoughts."
The Wisdom of Jung
"What we do not bring to consciousness becomes our fate. Jung captured the flyaway pieces of random occurrences into one word: synchronicity. He distilled what he saw, touching the far reaches of that which cannot be known."
A Journey in Alaska
"I set out one morning beneath a thick quilt of fog that hushed and perfumed the world... Two glowing phantoms approached, glistening in rain gear, their explicable halos drawing me deeper into the magic and mists."
The Role of the I CHING
"The I CHING offers not mere respite, but sound counsel set upon a bedrock of unfailing wisdom and unabashed consciousness. It is a holy mystery, disinterested in accolades or appreciation."
The Lessons of Humility
"Humility enlightens; projection darkens. To approach the I CHING—or indeed any great scriptural passage—requires humility, for it ordains not self's will but the will of heaven."
SUSAN STEPHENSON, A fellow pilgrim, assuredly no scholar, through this glorious, tragic, wonderful, terrifying, endless, brief, mysterious holy experience we call life.
INDEPENDENCE, KANSAS 2025
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whatever is,will chanGe...
REMEMBER THAT:
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To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.
eNTER
Robert Lewis
Stevenson
the kindly,
TIMELY ORACLE
Through a series of 64 hexagrams, the I CHING observes the current energies impacting an individual and suggests actions to achieve favorable outcomes.
This, the first of 64 hexagrams.
1
CREATIVITY
IMAGINE...
change is the only constant
... you are a madly ambitions acorn. Skepticism surrounds you, mockery seeks your demise. You, the tiny kernel in the funny little hat, wish to become a giant oak? How dare you imagine such a position of royalty in the family of life? Are you prepared to stand against prevailing winds that toss about dreams and inspiration like leaves dying on the branches of your grandfather's bones? Have you shopped for amiable counsel or reality? Do you propose creativity cobbled together with unearned authority? Does jealousy motivate your pursuit or ambition's vice to gain the world and lose your way? Stand in your utter silence and listen to what your instincts advise. What disciplines are required to actualize your vision? Regret is the cost of abandoning your soul to please the mandates of others. Visit your talents, weigh the merits of your vision, and challenge negatives rising from others, Self, and ego. Guard against false humility, the mirrored image of arrogance. Cast away random or trivial acts, tangents, and associations. Heed nature's cycles and seasons of advance and the benefits of rest. Heed the plain acorn's refusal to yield its destiny to oppositional forces that seek to cripple its momentum. This heroic, tiny brute's legacy will become nobility whose shade will cool otherwise barren landforms, its branches provide homes for squalling fledglings, and under its roots it will invite tiny four-legged prey racing for shelter. This exercise bodes well when you have identified your goal's merits, recognized your purpose, examined your ethics, and assessed what cost your spirit can afford to bring it to fullness.