My Own Life So Far

My natural father was French, and met my mother on the battlefield. She was an Army/Red Cross Nurse and drove an ambulance. He was Securite General and a Colonel in the Resistance. She was secretly OSS and worked for General Donovan. He worked for General Charles De Gaulle. So the Saint (a Christian) said “Go ahead and have that baby, it will be OK.” This made me be alive instead of dead. I ended up being born in 1947. The Saint was a Baptist and made sure I got baptised at St. James Church on 71st and Madison in NYC. In 1963 I took Confirmation classes, and I was confirmed an Anglican by the Bishop of Lausanne in Switzerland. In the 1960’s I became a Taoist after study of Tao Te Ching in Taiwan China. My belief is in Te (personal strength) and in Ching (the old book that tells about the path to strength — path is Tao). There was a bang, but what was around before the bang, I don’t know. Maybe nothing, maybe something. Anyhow God seems to be not necessary unless you think the universe is a big watch and it needed a watch-maker to craft it, and make it tick. To me the universe seems like a big place made of hydrogen, and with hot things in it, and with swirly things like hurricanes in it. And there’s fusion, and that makes the sun shine. I would be happy to entertain the God idea if it were necessary, but it’s not, so I don’t. My theism is non-existent, my ethics comes from Taoism. My logic comes from Dean Sparrow (Logic and Reason) and he got that from Henry Veatch, whose books I read. So the Jesuits as well as the Baptists have played roles in my life. Having it — the Baptist guy. Knowing how to think — the Jesuit guy. I learned enough Chinese to read Lao Tse. And I read Alan Watts, a fallen Anglican, like me. So the Watercourse Way seems true. My first job was as a poetry reader at Cafe Basement near Washington Square on McDougal Street. Poems and books have shaped my life. I went to the Great Books college in Annapolis Maryland. I read Lucretius. The writer who made sense to me. And Camus, who also talked good sense. I was a federal trial lawyer for 40 years, part as a Navy JAG, part as a diplomat. I never was a spy, but my parents were both spies. I got a patent, and published 20 books on Amazon (Books by Robert Fenton Gary — on Amazon.com). Should have got a piece of land, should have got a wife, missed a few things. Head was in ideas. I was what some call a “fool of books”. I have never harmed anybody. I am tame, civil, upstanding, decent, and good enough.