Penury

A Tract Book Essay

By

Anthony J. Fejfar, J.D., Esq., Coif

© Copyright 2007 by Anthony J. Fejfar

I have a sociological hypothesis. I argue that penuring is a universal,

natural law, sociological phenomenon. Penury, in its’ strict meaning,

according to Black’s Law Dictionary, means “poverty.” However, penury

as has a double meaning in the word penior, or point, or dagger. As a

universal phenomenon, I argue that when a male reaches the age of

approximately 40 years old, and is married with children, reality reacts

against this person my penuring him. Penury may also apply to a woman,

but I think the process is somewhat different. With respect to the male,

penury can mean either withdrawl to a life of relative seclusion and poverty,

that is, simple living, or in the extreme to the torture or execution or

assassination of the male by society, traditionally through having the throat

slit or being stabbed, or crucified. In modern times, the assassin’s bullet

seems to be the typical method of penuring a male. Alternatively, a live of

enforced poverty by reason of the male being “framed” and put in prison or

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a psychiatric ward is also a possibility. Lastly, poisoning of the victim of

penury is another technique.

Now, penury, as a process, is made more intense when the male is a

spiritual person, a “good” person, or a person who believes in justice or

social justice. The natural cause of penury is twofold. First, stemming

from ancient culture, when a male reaches the age of 40 it is unconsciously,

and perhaps consciously thought that he is using supernatural means to stay

alive. It is speculated that the male is an immortal. A male in good health

in his late 40’s is a target for penury. Arguably, his health should be failing,

but it is not. The inauthentic way of avoiding penury is to join a satanic cult

and worship conventional evil. The authentic way of avoiding penury is

more complex and will be discussed below.

The second natural cause of penury is the phenomenon of

ressentiment. Ressentiment, according to Bernard Lonergan, is the

personal and societal reaction of hatred and jealously against a person who

argues for and lives a life of, higher values. So, I argue that history has

shown that men who live lives arguing for justice and social justice are

penured. Examples include, Jesus Christ (state execution by crucifixion),

Thomas More (executed by beheading), William Wallace (state execution

by being hung, drawn, and quartered), Abraham Lincoln (assassinated),

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Ghandi (assassinated), Jack Kennedy (assassinated), Bobby Kennedy

(assassinated), Martin Luther King, Jr., (assassinated). In my own life, I

argue that I have been penured, although I will not go into the details here.

Now, let us talk about the ways of avoiding penury. First of all, if

one’s skin is literally pierced by a needle or a knife, then this counts as a

technical penuring. I suspect that the medieval practice of self flagellation

with a barbed whip was a form of self penuring to avoid something worse.

Namely, crucifixion or being burned alive for heresy. A second technique is

retirement to a monastery or the equivalent thereof. I argue this is a

universal phenomenon. In India, if a spiritual male is married, this is called

the way of the householder. Upon reaching age 40 the houselholder is

expected to leave his home and live the rest of his life in an ashram or

monastery. Curiously, I, personally, was forced to leave my home of my

wife and two children, and now live in a one bedroom apartment in a

different city. Perhaps the reason that there are so many divorces in the 40

year old age bracket is because of the penuring phenomenon.

If the spiritual male seeking justice and social justice does not retire to

a life of seperateness, simple living, and partial seclusion, then it is likely

that he will be penured. As stated before, penury can include: being framed

and put in prison on false charges; being framed and executed by the state;

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being burned or crucified by the mob or Klu Klux Klan; being hit or

murdered by the mafia; being poisoned; being assassinated, being

involuntarily committed to a psychiatric ward.

I, of course, hope that I am completely wrong about about the

hypothesis that I have presented here, but I do not think that I am.