In such troublesome times, some words to light a path [Archive]

Trinity

02-20-2005, 07:20 PM

Trinity

02-20-2005, 07:22 PM

"What is really important in speculative reasoning is the ability to see the particular within the whole. Just as most people never actually savour a tragedy - for them it falls apart into mere monologues, and an opera into arias, etc. - so also in the physical world; for example, if I walked down a road crossed by two other roads parallel to each other with some ground between them, most people would only see a road, the strip of ground, and then the road. They would be incapable of seeing the whole like a piece of cloth with various stripes on it."

- Soren Kierkegard, "Papers and Journals: A Selection"

fuzzi pariah

02-22-2005, 01:19 AM

This thread is an attempt to encourage individuals to go out and pick up a book.

I was rather intimidated when I began reading historical individuals works many moons ago; as I began to digest their words it seemed more like common sense than anything pompous or arrogant.

They are snippets that when I feel down or lost, I gain and draw stregnth from - a variety of sources, most notably the ancient greeks and romans, as they were just such great damn writers - for they wrote on practical matters that affect human beings in day to day affairs.

On that note, enjoy! Eat, drink and be merry!
Try reading some of Francis Schaeffer's stuff...it's really deep. I think you might enjoy it.

BTW, did you know you were quoting the Bible?

Luke 12:19
"And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry."

;)

Trinity

02-23-2005, 02:03 AM

Try reading some of Francis Schaeffer's stuff...it's really deep. I think you might enjoy it.

BTW, did you know you were quoting the Bible?

Luke 12:19
"And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry."

;)

*arghhhhhhh* runs away from the thread..... ty for the recommend.... Fuzzi.....

I was quoting the bible just the other day!:

"And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." 2 John 16,17

(or something like that.....)

Trinity

02-23-2005, 02:10 AM

"All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.

Love possess not nor would it be possessed;

For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, "I am in the heart of God."
And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself."

- "The Prophet", Kahlil Gibran

lamb 'o God

02-23-2005, 02:58 AM

Trinity

02-27-2005, 10:52 PM

"Teachers and books have their value, and sources of guidance and inspiration may enter your life in different forms. But never forget that the treasure is already inside you; others cannot give you anything you don't already have; they can only provide keys to your own inner wealth. So listen well to those who speak from experience and embrace wisdom where you find it, but always weigh external guidance against the wisdom of your own heart."

~~~~~~

"What you see depends upon where you choose to look, and where you look depends upon what you expect to see: If you believe, for example, that 'people can't be trusted', you'll see the world through the filter of this expectation and find evidence that supports it. Your beliefs influence the choices you make, the directions you take, even the friends, adversaries, and destiny you meet. Your beliefs set into motion inner processes and behaviours that influence how you move, act and feel. On more subtle levels, your thoughts even affect the size and color of your energy field, to which other people respond. If, for example, you percieve the people around you as friends who like you, you feel relaxed and expansive; your energy and behaviour draw them to you. This is one way your expectations shape your reality."

"The Laws of Spirit: A Tale of Transformation", Dan Millman

Trinity

03-03-2005, 11:19 PM

"We can only improve ourselves in times such as these by walking backwards, by discord not by harmony, by being different not by being like."

"Just as our mind is stregnthened by contact with vigorous and well-ordered minds, so too is it impossible to overstate how much it loses and deteriorates by the continuous commerce and contact we have with mean and ailing ones. No infection is as contagious as that is. I know by experience what that costs by the ell. I love arguing and discussing, but with only a few men and for my own sake: for to serve as a spectacle to the great and indulge in a parade of your wits and your verbiage is, I consider, an unbecoming trade for an honourable gentlmen."

"I embark upon discussion and argument with great ease and liberty. Since opinions do not find in me a ready soil to thrust and spread their roots into, no premise shocks me, no belief hurts me, no matter how opposite to my own they may be. There is no idea so frivolous or odd which does not appear to me to be fittingly produced by the mind of man. So contradictory judgements neither offend me nor irritate me: they merely wake me up and provide me with exercise.

We ought to toughen and fortify our ears against being seduced by the sound of polite words. I like a strong, intimate, manly fellowship, the kind of friendship which enjoices in bites and scratches exchanges just as love rejoices in bites and scratches which draws blood. It is not strong enough nor magnanimous enough if itis not argumentative, if all is politeness and art; if it is afraid of clashes and walks hobbled."

"On Friendship", Michel De Montaigne

'Neque enim disputari sine reprehensione potest.'

Chosen

03-04-2005, 01:24 AM

Matthew 5:1-16
1 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them saying:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of
righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute
you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in
heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets
who were before you.

13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its
saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer
good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

14 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot
be hidden.

15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.
Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone
in the house.

16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that
they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Trinity

03-06-2005, 11:06 PM

"Why atheist today? - 'Th father' in God is thoroughly refuted; likewise 'the judge', 'the rewarder'. Likewise his 'free will': he does not hear - and if he heard he would still not know how to help. The worst thing is: he seems incapable of making himself clearly understood: is he himself vague about what he means? - These are what, in the course of many conversations, asking and listening, I found to be the causes of the decline of European theism; it seems to me that the religious instinct is indeed in vigorous growth - but that it rejects the theistic answer with profound mistrust."

"Beyond Good and Evil", Friedrich Nietzsche

MohammedAli

03-07-2005, 06:31 PM

Trinity: You could not illuminate our paths with a threemillion candle-power spot light; so shut your goddamn scuzzy mouth.

Ono

03-07-2005, 08:54 PM

Perhaps you should heed your own advice.

Droog

03-07-2005, 08:55 PM

Lovely to be in the same thread with you Ono. :)

Ono

03-07-2005, 09:28 PM

.....and you.....Oh my brother! :)

Trinity

03-07-2005, 10:01 PM

makeshift/ability must be bored.....

:add09:

moving on.....

Trinity

03-07-2005, 11:22 PM

"Wisdom and Spirit of the universe!
Thou Soul that art the Eternity of Thought
That giv'st to forms and images a breath
And everlasting motion! not in vain,
By day or starlight thus from my first dawn
Of Childhood didst thou intertwine for me
The passions that build up our human Soul,
Not with the mean and vulgar works of Man,
But with high ojects, with enduring things,
With life and nature, purifying thus
The elements of feeling and of thought,
And sanctifying, by such discipline,
Both pain and fear, until we recognize
A grandeur in the beatings of the heart."

"Wordsworth's Boyhood"

MohammedAli

03-08-2005, 07:19 PM

And the lord said: Fucked are the Floridians for they shall be nuked.

SMOKEY

03-09-2005, 12:58 AM

And the lord said: Fucked are the Floridians for they shall be nuked.

Thank you, those are just the words of wisdom I was expecting from your post. If you are still in Florida, then you too will be nuked.

SPAMMER!

Trinity

03-11-2005, 12:28 AM

"For what is it you resent? The wickedness of men? Reflect on the conclusion that rational beings are born for the sake of each other, that tolerance is a part of righteousness, and that men do not sin on purpose. Consider how many men have been hostile and suspicious, have hated and waged war, and then been laid out for burial or reduced to ashes. Desist then.

Do you resent the portions recieved from the whole? Consider the alternatives afresh, namely "Providence or atoms," and how many proofs there are that the universe is like a city community. Are you still affected by the things of the body? Reflect that the mind, once it has freed itself and come to know its own capacities, is no longer involved in the movements of animal life, whether these be smooth or tumultuous."

"Avoid spasms and tensions above all; be free and look at your troubles like a man, a citizen and a mortal creature. Among the foremost things which you will look into are these two: first, that external matters do not affect the soul but stand quietly outside it, while true disturbances come from the inner judgment; second, that everything you see has all but changed already and is no more. Keep constantly in mind how many things you yourself have witnessed changes already. The universe is change, life is understanding."

"The Meditations", Marcus Aurelius

Trinity

03-17-2005, 10:48 PM

"The library is often the place where you can find the spirit of the monk: in silence, the lustre of old woodwork, the smell of ageing paper, reading, retreat from the world, rules and authorities, tradition, volumes of wisdom, catalogues for contemplation.

In the age of information technology, monks of the library are being put out on the street, no longer finding a home there. Where will they go?

A home library, if only five volumes on a piece of special wood, might give the monk a place of refuge and serve the souls of all who live there."

- Thomas Moore, "Meditations - On the Monk Who Dwells in Daily Life"

Trinity

03-23-2005, 12:47 AM

Autonomy

The Master seemed quite impervious to what
people thought of him. When the
disciples asked how he had attained
this stage of inner freedom, he laughed
outloud and said, "Till I was twenty I
did not care what people thought of
me. After twenty I worried endlessly
about what my neighbors thought.
Then one day after fifty I suddenly
saw that they hardly ever thought
of me at all!"

"One Minute Wisdom", Anthony De Mello

Claire Aiden

03-23-2005, 01:54 AM

I also find it satisfying to be in a thread with Ono. She is very wise.

Trinity, you have posted some very astute things which, while I agree with many of them, think perhaps they are a compilation of many things.

I think you have some wonderful ideas, and "Duck and Coventry" made me laugh hard. So apropos!

Claire

Trinity

03-28-2005, 10:22 PM

"Living blindly, ambitiously and greedily results in the inhumane world of today: a world of extremes, either/or, this or that, never a truth known and lived. If we sit still long enough we can begin to think, and use the considerable mental power at our disposal to begin melting the fears and confounding the ignorance that holds sway. This may seem an absurd suggestion in the darkness - to simple, too 'lilies of the field', but what have you got to lose by giving it a whirl? It's free.

The vast middle ground between extremes holds all the ways and paths to wisdom. It is for each rebel to find the appropriate tension, the one that allows him to ascend. To walk the path is a constant discernment of energy. The rebel is guided by attraction and repulsion. He notes these and ponders; he adjusts and ponders and proceeds along the way with ever-increasing understanding. Thus, by doing the work he learns and heals.

It is said, "the truth will set you free." Each freedom is a liberation from an untruth. Truth is the antithesis of absurdity. Each absurd idea results in dis-ease in life. Every rebel has to face that fact that they, in some way and at some time, have been absurd. This is why the sense of humor is vital."

"A Rebel's Home Companion: A Journey Through Service, Stregnth, Serenity Stability." - author unknown.

Trinity

03-29-2005, 11:39 PM

A promise kept......

please read the post above :re extremism positions and their necessity.......

Trinity

03-29-2005, 11:48 PM

"Caught between the Illusion And The Mystery"

"The rebel can find himself suspended between the absurdity of the illusion and the great unknown Mysteries. This position is probably the greatest illusion and the grandest cause of inertia. An unwary rebel can develop an arrogance towards the material world and, at the same time, an immobilizing awe of the unknown. Nothing makes sense, and he behaves like a pompous ass, spewing platitudes and propounding theories that are not born out of or supported by real insight and experience. It is dissatisfying, but the way out seems hopelessly barred. Everything in the world is irritating, and we must remember that irritation leads to imperil.

The illusion has been mightily addressed, but what of this thing, or these things, called the Mysteries? It seems to be full of huge words and arcane concepts, complex systems and ancient schools, ceremonies and initiations. The sincere, present-day rebel is not very attracted to all this. Could this be avoidance, or is it a true repulsion that must be heeded? Many leave it just there, in inertia.

The rebel has to be able to call everything bunk, and proceed from there. He is his own authority, for as never before his path is one of infinite naturalness. He uses his heart and mind, feeling and reason, to understand and participate in his own redemption. There is nothing really mysterious in who and what we are. There is no question we can ask that will not yield answers. They may not be the answers we expect, but they will always clarify if we continue to investigate and purify and ponder.

There is a lot of stuff out there and a lot of experts telling us this and that - an ocean of information in which to be utterly adrift. Are we powerless in our ability to assimilate it all and become learned? Not at all, if we have the guts to call it bunk first, and then discriminate the poisonous from the life-giving. We don't really have to study a thing, except in our heart and mind as they function and blossom in the world, but it is wonderful to have the companionship of like minds, via the word. Bunk to chais, bunk to artifical complexity, the have no foundations. You do - find them!"

"A Rebel's Home Companion"

Trinity

04-01-2005, 10:54 PM

Remembering

"I remember wondering why things were not like I expected - why teachers did not teach, why companionship was not companionship. These observations were confusing to a child, and time only created greater puzzlement. Teaching was exposed as indoctrination - the love of learning was never mentioned, let alone encouraged or addressed; friends did not have a clue about companionship, and often proved to be rapidly learning the arts of judgement and exclusion.

My life was having very little to do with Life. Apparently it was all about goals and ideas whose folly I inherently recognized. What career was I to choose? What university to attend )for prestige matters)? Apparently everything boiled down to money, and that had to be accepted. Money was a motive, it was a power, and everyone feared the prospect of lacking it.

I did not buy this conception of life. I spent time with horses and dogs, who did not have the same concerns as most humans I knew. I read poetry and looked at art. Soon I was naturally meditating, pondering and finding the right books to lead me on. I was moving out of a world that stubbornly refused to hear its own insane limitations, limitations that I could in no way accept. I was alive - a living, breathing, functioning consciousness that knew it, and I stretched far and wide to embrace the beauty I innately knew was everywhere; beauty that I experienced daily, but which was considered nonsense or insignificant by a rather brutal, unhappy, complaining world. I took myself off to a shirnk, just to state that either I was insane or the world was insane. He calmly replied that I had not been as well programmed as most. That was that.

It is not easy when you know your sensitivity is out of whack with the times. This could be a lonely situation, but it isn't, for as I matured I was never without guidance and support to meed the need. I had to perfect my ability to recognize the lies of all times, and to listen to myself, as well as the great thinkers of the past. Thus, detachment, dispassion and discrimination became a part of my life, naturally. I began to understand the laws and rules to which I was responding instinctually, or intuitionally. Far from being a piece of clay to be moulded by the world, I was finding that I had substantial underpinnnings, and these linked me with the wise of many cultures and times."

- A Rebel's Home Companion.

Trinity

04-01-2005, 11:18 PM

Odd Man Out

Sometimes it can feel as though everyone is hoping that the rebel is wrong. This can be puzzling in the extreme, for the rebel cannot understand why anyone would wish him to be wrong. The freedom he has gained is there for all mankind. He has experienced life transformed to some degree, and can affirm to others that there is a Way. Why would anyone feel threatened by, or hostile to, this good news?

Often it is the people closest to the rebel who are the most unwilling to accpet or be interested in his work. The rebel cannot stop his work at five and hang loose, so to speak. His work is his very livingness - every thought, word and deed. Knowing this is the source of stability, for we recognize that our usefulness and meaning do not lie in some external source, like a 'career' or a set of possessions. This is freedom, and while the rebel is not preaching to others, there are times when he must stand his ground. This can make people very annoyed. At times, it can seem as if his effect is the exact opposite of his intention: he expresses the brotherhood he knows all men share, and the result is that people feel alienated! This can create feelings of doubt, loneliness, confusion. Be strong my brothers!

What is happening is not unusual. It is encountered by all who live in harmony with reality, who follow the laws and rules of the universe, as well as man's laws. Selflessness calls the separated self out to battle, it seeems. People are afraid of one who is not controlled by the same things they are, such as emotionalism and fear. The mind snaps shut and the rebel is dismissed - relegated to the odd ball pile.

Trinity

04-03-2005, 10:39 PM

THOU still unravish'd bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal—yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!

Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unwearièd,
For ever piping songs for ever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd,
For ever panting, and for ever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.

Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
What little town by river or sea-shore,
Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
Is emptied of its folk, this pious morn?
And, little town, thy streets for evermore
Will silent be; and not a soul, to tell
Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.

O Attic shape! fair attitude! with brede
Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
Thou, silent form! dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.'

"Ode To A Grecian Urn" - John Keats

Atlas

04-03-2005, 11:05 PM

Trinity

04-05-2005, 11:38 PM

Imagination

It would be fair to say that imagination is the sine qua non of unplugging from the matrix, the essence of sorcery, and the means by which matrix warriors arrive at total freedom and the totality of themselves. Imagination is also the quality that humatons can be said to be the most sorely lacking, for the very obvious reason that the matrix has hijacked this power for its own uses. Humanity's power to imagine (the same quality sorcerers call will) is what distinguishes us from all other creatures. It is our divine spark, and as such, it is the food which AI endlessly covets to sustain itself, and which it uses to create its own imitation of life.

AI has robbed humanity of its imagination, its power to dream worlds out of nothingness, and used it to spin the matrix world into being.

"Matrix Warrior: Being the One", Jake Horsley

Atlas

04-05-2005, 11:42 PM

<< THIS IS NOT THE THREAD YOU'RE LOOKING FOR >>

Releasing your inner jedi

Trinity

04-06-2005, 11:39 PM

"Be like a rock against which the waves of the sea break unceasingly. It stands unmoved, and the feverish waters around it are stilled.

I am unfortunate because this has happened to me.

No indeed, but I am fortunate because I endure what has happened without grief, neither shaken by the present nor afraid of the future. Something of this sort could happen to any man, but not every man can endure it without grieving. Why then is this more unfortunate than that is fortunate? Would you call anything a misfortune which is not incompatible with man's nature, or call incompatible with the nature of man that which is not contrary to his nature's purpose? You have learned that purpose.

What has happened can then in no way prevent you from being just, great-hearted, chaste, wise, steadfast, truthful, self-respecting and free, or prevent you from possessing those other qualities in the presence of which man's nature finds its own fulfillment. Remember in the future, when something happens which tends to make you grieve, to cling to this doctrine: this is no misfortune, but to endure it nobly is good fortune.

"The Meditations", Marcus Aurelius

Trinity

04-10-2005, 03:32 AM

humanity is displeased with god,

anger runs about

so many years of repression

at some omnipresent beast no longer around.

NOW religion claims its death throws.

tries to fulfil prophecies

because there is NO REPRECUSSION from GOD.

But I propose the following, A peace offering....

The certainty of the human condition

to turn on a dime

With respect to ideology.

So instead, try

to understand the importance of this moment.

and help usher in the next renaissance

~Trinity

Chosen

04-12-2005, 02:26 AM

There is yet another, brighter focal point for humanity. It takes humility to recognize, yet without pride we are then ready for change.

Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Trinity

04-13-2005, 02:03 AM

"You can rid yourself of many superfluous troubles, for they exist wholly in your thoughts, and you will secure a large field for yourself by embracing the whole cosmos in thought, by reflecting upon everlasting time, and by observing the swift changing of each individual thing, how short is the time between birth and death, how vast that before your birth, how equally infinite the time after your dissolution.

All the things you see will soon decay, and those who witness this will soon themselves decay, and one who dies in extreme old age will be in the same position as one who dies before his time.

What kind of directing minds do these men have? What things do they concern themselves with, what do they love and honor? Practice looking at their naked souls. When they believe that they hurt you with their reproaches, or benefit you by singing your praises - what conceit!"

"Meditations", Marcus Aurelius

Trinity

04-16-2005, 03:51 AM

"Revere your faculity of thought; everything depends upon it, in order that there be no thoughts in your directing mind which is at odds with nature or incompatible wiht your status as a reasonable being. It is your faculty of thought which ensures that you be not prone to stumble into error, but at home among men and a follower of the gods."

Meditations, Marcus Aurelius

Trinity

04-19-2005, 12:03 AM

"In every contingency have before your eyes those to whom the same thing happened before. They were vexed, astonished, reproachful. Where are they now? Nowhere. Well then, do you wish to act as they did? Why not leave the ways of others to those who act in accordance to them and comfort to them, and be yourself wholly concerned with how to make use of these contingencies? You will then make good use of them and they will be to you the raw material of life. Only pay attention, and desire every one of your actions to be right in your own judgement, and remember two things: your actions are significant, but the circumstances in which they take place have no significance."

"The Meditations", Marcus Aurelius

Dajjal

04-20-2005, 02:34 PM

Nice thread, I bunged it some stars.

Trinity

04-20-2005, 07:17 PM

Nice thread, I bunged it some stars.

Thanks Dajjal, that's very thoughtful of you. :)

Trinity

04-27-2005, 11:45 PM

"~The Great Work~"

"What is that work? It reminds me of the young child who reaches the stage of questioning. The child wants to know everything about the world. The questions flow. There is persistence and the immediacy of the need to know. This should continue throughout life, as the human grows, no matter what the age of the body. The love of learning is there. What kills it? Not looking far enough or deep enough, too easily becoming discouraged, too easily accepting that there is no more to know, forcing oneself to conform to 'the way it is', rather than changing the mind, thereby transforming the mundane into the supermundane."

- "A Rebel's Home Companion"

sods_law

04-29-2005, 07:23 AM

Trinity: You could not illuminate our paths with a threemillion candle-power spot light; so shut your goddamn scuzzy mouth.
And the lord said: Fucked are the Floridians for they shall be nuked.

Whew your exhibiting insanity...:mad_07:

Trinity

04-30-2005, 03:24 AM

Life Reflection #1 (at age 29)

Its as simple as the fLower at the side of the road.

The cloud above your head,

The bright blue sky.

As Real As The Birds That Fly Above Your Head.
In the midst of insanity.
The Horror.
The Uncertainty.

The wonderment of the human being
in the car beside you

at a red light.

The joy from seeing a stranger in the crowd -
when they still can expose themselves

for a simple smile.

Remembering that all kids
Deserve at least a smile and a wink.

BE THE BEACON THAT LIGHTS THE WAY!
The Fight against the shadows that fall on humanity's soul.

Be courageous and brave - do not ever give up!

The rewards are never materialistic.
But did that ever really matter
To someone walking the modest path?

~Trinity

Trinity

05-11-2005, 01:25 AM

"The Ambience Of Love"

We all
Sit in His orchestra,
Some play their
Fiddles,

Some wield their
Clubs.

Tonight is worthy of music.

Let's get loose
With
Compassion,

Let's drown in the delicious
Ambience of Love

"The Gift", Hafiz

ParaCelsus

06-13-2005, 11:31 PM

The Enlightenment

When I try to change what I dislike in me
by fighting it
I merely push it underground.
If I accept it,
it will surface and evaporate.
What I resist
will stubbornly persist.

I consider the example of Jesus, who sets himself the task of moving mountains and battles with exasperating foes. Yet even in his anger he is loving - he combines a keen desire for change with an acceptance of reality as it is.

I try to be like him.
I start with feelings I dislike.
To each of them I talk
in a loving, accepting kind of way
and listen to what each has to say,
till I discover that, while it can do me harm,
it also does me good,
that it is there for a benign purpose,
which I now attempt to see.

I keep on with the dialogue
till I feel a real acceptance of these feelings
-acceptance, not approval, ot resignation-
so that I am no longer depressed about my depressions
or angry with my anger
or discouraged because of my discouragement
or frightened of my fears
or rejecting of my feelings of rejection.
I can live with them in peace
for I have seen that God can use them for my good.

I do the same
with some of the many other things about my life
that I want to change:

My body's disabilities . . .

My personal shortcomings . . .

The external circumstances of my life . . .

The happenings of the past . . .

The persons with whom I live . . .

The whole world as it is . . .

Old age, sickness, death.

I speak to them with love
and the consciousness that they somehow fit
into God's plan.

In doing so I undergo a transformation:
while everything about me is the same
-the world, my family, my feelings,
my body, my neuroses-
I am the same no longer.
I am more loving now,
more accepting of what is undesirable.
More peaceful, too,
for having come to see
that violence cannot lead to lasting change
-only love and understanding can.

"Wellsprings:A Book of Spiritual Exercises", Anthony De Mello

Ethyl

07-11-2005, 10:35 PM

"5. Freedom of Choice

Man as reason, discrimination and free will such as it is. The brute has no such thing. It is not a free agent and knows no distinction between virtue and vice, good and evil. Man, being a free agent, knows these distinctions and when he follows his highr nature, shows himself ar superior to the brute, but when he follows his baser nature, can show himself lower than the brute.

But this free will we enjoy is less than that of a passenger on a crowded deck. Man is the maker of his destiny in the sense that he has freedom of choice and to the manner in which he uses his freedom. But he is no controller of results. The momet he thinks he is, he comes to grief.

It is man's special privlege and pride to be gifted with the faculities of head and heart both, that he is a thinkingly no less than a feeling animal...In man reason quickens and guides the feeing. In brute the soul lies dormant. To awaken the heart is to awaken the dormant soul, to awaken reason is to inculcate discriination between good and evil.'

"The Way To God" - MK Ghandi.

Shipwrx

07-11-2005, 10:38 PM

Trinity, I like you, calm down and let things roll...

Ethyl

07-11-2005, 10:40 PM

"The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder -- waif, a nothing, a no man. Have a purpose in life, and, having it, throw such strength of mind and muscle into your work as God has given you." - Thomas Carlyle.

(this one I actually yanked from google.)

sods_law

07-12-2005, 01:39 AM

"When it comes time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home."

Chief Aupumut, Mohican. 1725

http://www.greatdreams.com/wisdom.htm

sods_law

07-12-2005, 01:52 AM

http://www.greatdreams.com/stgbull.gifhttp://www.greatdreams.com/sitbull.gifhttp://www.greatdreams.com/sitbul.gif

"I am a red man. If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man he would have made me so in the first place. He put in your heart certain wishes and plans, in my heart he put other and different desires. Each man is good in his sight. It is not necessary for Eagles to be Crows. We are poor..but we are free. No white man controls our footsteps. If we must die...we die defending our rights."

Shipwrx

07-12-2005, 01:55 AM

sods_law

07-12-2005, 09:20 AM

Thats the first time I've ever seen that in Print. I'm shocked actually.
I remember My Grandfather saying them.Well shippy, you should get around more on the internet..lol :add09:

Ethyl

07-15-2005, 01:16 AM

Reading

"I kept Homer's Illiad on my table through the summer, though I looked at his page only now and then. Incessant labor with my hands, at first, for I had my house to finish and my beans to hoe at the same time, made more study impossible. Yet I sustained myself by the prospect of such reading in future. I read one or two shallow books of travel in the intervals of my work, till that employment made me ashamed of myself, and I asked where it was then that I lived."

"it is not in vain that the farmer remembers and repeats a few Latin words which he has heard. Men sometimes speak as if the study of the classics would at legnth make way for more modern and practical studies; ut the adventurous studnt will always std classis, in whatever langugage they may be written and however ancient they may be. Fo what are the classics but the noblest recorded thoughs of man? They are the only oracles which are not decayed, and there are such answers to the most modern inquiry in them as Delphi and Dodona never gave. We might as well omit to study Nature because she is too old. To read well, that is, to read true books in a true spirit, is a noble exercise, and one that will task the reader more than any exercise which the customs of the day esteem. It requires a training such as the athletes underwent, the steady intention almost of the whole life to this object. Books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they were written. "

"Walden", Henry David Thoreau

Ethyl

07-15-2005, 01:45 AM

"It is not all books that are as dull as their readers. There are probably words addressed to our condition exactly, which, if we could really hear and understand, would be more salutary than the morning or the spring to our lives, and possibly put a new aspect on the face of things for us. How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book. The book exists for us perchance which will explain our miracles and reveal new ones. The at present unutterable things we may find somewhat uttered. These same questions that disturb and puzzle and confound us have in their turn occurred to all the wise men; not one has been omitted; and each has answered them, according to his ability, by his words and his life. Moreover, with wisdom we shall learn liberality. The solitary hired man on a farm in the outskirts of Concord, who has had his second birth and peculiar religious experience, and is driven as he believes intosilen gravity and exclusiveness by his faith, may think it is not true, but Zoroaster, thousands of years ago, travelled the same road and had the same experience; but he, being wise, knew it to be universal, and treated his neighbors accordingly, and is even said to have invented and established worship among men. Let him humbly commune with Zoroaster then, ad through the liberalizing influence of all the worthies, with Jesus Christ himself, and let 'our church' go by the board.

We boast that we belong to the nineteenth centuay and are making the most rapid strides of any nation. But consider how little this village does for its own culture. I do not wish to flatter my townsmen, nor to be flattered by them, for that will not advance either of us. We need to be provoked, - goaded like oxen, as we are, into a trot. We spend more on almost any article of bodily aliment or ailment then on our mental aliment. It is time that we had uncommon schools, that we did not leave off our education when we begin to be men and women.

If we live in the nineteenth centuary, why should we not enjoy the advantages which the nineteenth centuary offers? Why sould our life be in any respect provincial? If we will read newspapers, why not skip the gossip of Boston and take the best newspaper in the world at once? Let the reports of all the learned societies come to us, and we will see if they know any thing. We should we leave it to Harper&Brothers and Redding&Co. to select our reading?

Instead of noblemen, let us have noble villages of men. "

- Walden," Henry David Thoreau"

What a friggin' rant!!! :)

OldGit

07-15-2005, 06:51 AM

THOU still unravish'd bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:

...........

When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.'

"Ode To A Grecian Urn" - John Keats

I like Keats a lot and have done since teenage years. I especially like these lines from Ode to a Nightingale

O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been
Cool'd a long age in the deep-delved earth,
Tasting of Flora and the country green,
Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!
O for a beaker full of the warm South,
Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
And purple-stained mouth;
That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,
And with thee fade away into the forest dim:

LOL ... The whole poem is pretty good, rather serious, the guy was dieing of Tuberculosis at twenty five, but I always think of those few lines when I have a 'purple stained mouth,' from a few glasses...

OldGit

07-15-2005, 07:01 AM

Ahhhh Keats.

Best read on a waffle cotton blanket, leaning up against a weeping willow tree,by a cool lake in the steaming dog days of August. Cue the locusts buzzing in the background

Recommended eats cold fried chicken, recommended drinks cold hard cider

Recommended pillow: the lap of the girl youre trying to impress by reading poetry, thou scurrilous dog

:love_02:

LOL - nothing works quite as well as giving her a nice little volume of his poems and so cheap too, but overpoweringly seductive...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140437258/qid=1121425154/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_11_2/202-4282367-4293445

OldGit

07-15-2005, 07:05 AM

"I am a red man. If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man he would have made me so in the first place. He put in your heart certain wishes and plans, in my heart he put other and different desires. Each man is good in his sight. It is not necessary for Eagles to be Crows. We are poor..but we are free. No white man controls our footsteps. If we must die...we die defending our rights."

I think I'll make that my signature...

sods_law

07-15-2005, 12:36 PM

I think I'll make that my signature...That was a good idea to have put it in your signature; we all need to be reminded of this bit of wisdom sometimes.

What got me interested in Native American Indian wisdom; there are a lot of sprite mediums that have Native American Indians as spirit guides.
Reading some of wisdom of what the Native American Indians have said, I can understand this.:D

OldGit

07-16-2005, 04:42 AM

That was a good idea to have put it in your signature; we all need to be reminded of this bit of wisdom sometimes.

What got me interested in Native American Indian wisdom; there are a lot of sprite mediums that have Native American Indians as spirit guides.
Reading some of wisdom of what the Native American Indians have said, I can understand this.:D

In these intolerant times, the sentiment that people should be able to be different, struck me as very apt. Thankyou for bringing it to everyone's attention Sods_Law.

Ethyl

08-06-2005, 02:25 AM

Book VII

27. Do not daydream that you possess what you do not; but take thought for the most fortunate things which are yours, and call to mind on their account how they would be missed if you did not have them. Be also careful, however, that your joy in them does not lead you to overestimate them and to be perturbed by their occasional absence.

30. Give your full attention to what is said. Apply your mind to what is being done and to who does it.

31. Find joy in simplicity, self-respect, and indifference to what lies between virtue and vice. Love the human race. Follow the devine. It was said that 'all things exist by convention, only the elements are real." Siffice it to remember 'all is convention'. This is little enough.

32. About death: either a scattering, if we are atoms; or all is one, either extinction or change of place.

33. About pain: that which is unendurable carries of off; that which lasts can be endured. The mind preserves its own calm by withdrawl. The directing mind has not beem made worse; as for the parts injured by pain, let any such part prove it, if it can.

34. About fame: look at their thoughts, of what kind they are, what kind of things they avoid or pursue; and as drifting sand hides the sandthat was there before, so in life the earlier is very soon hidden by what comes after.

35. Do you think that a mind of great nobility which contemplates all time and all existance will consider human life to be a matter of great importance? Impossible, said he. And will he think death a terrible thing? Not in the least.

"Marcus Aurelius", The Meditations

Ethyl

08-29-2005, 11:56 PM

The World As I See It

"How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection, one knows from daily life that one exists for other people - first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to five in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving. I am strongly drawn to a frugal life and am often oppressively aware that I am engrosseing an undue amount of the labor of my fellow-men. i regard class distinctions as unjustified and, in the last resort, based on force. I also believe that a smiple and ujnassuming life is good for everybody, physically and mentally."

Albert Einsten, "Ideas and Opinions".

Ethyl

10-26-2005, 01:52 AM

Distraction

A debate raged among the disciples as to
which was the most difficult task of all:
To write down what God revealed as Scripture,
to understand what God had revealed in Scripture or to explain Scripture to others
after one had understood it.

Said the Master, when asked his opinion,
"I know of a more difficult task than any of those three."

"What is it?"

"trying to get you blockheads to see reality as it is."

"One Minute Wisdom", Anthony De Mello

Ethyl

11-11-2005, 03:01 AM

On Hope

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.

- Dale Carnegie

Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. ~Anne Lamott

On Faith

Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. And lo, no one was there. ~Author Unknown

Faith is a passionate intuition. ~William Wordsworth

In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't. ~Blaise Pascal

"Never talk defeat. Use words like hope, belief, faith, victory."
Norman Vincent Peale

Jake

11-11-2005, 03:28 AM

Ethyl

12-15-2005, 10:46 PM

O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath.
Because of your wrath there is no health in my body;
my bones have no soundness because of my sin.
My guilt has overwhelmed me
like a burden too heavy to bear.

My wounds fester and are loathsome
because of my sinful folly,
I am bowed down and brought very low;
all day long I go about mourning.
My back is filled with searing pain;
there is no health in my body,
I am feeble and utterly crushed;
I groan in anguish of haert.

All my longings lie open before you,
O Lord;
my sighing is not hidden from you.
My heart pounds, my stregnth fails me;
even the light has gone from my eyes.
My friends and companions avoid me
because of my wounds;
my neighbours stay far away.
Those who seek my life set their traps,
those who would harm me or talk of my ruin;
all day long they plot deception.

I am like a deaf man, whocannot hear,
like a mute, who cannot open his mouth
I have become like a man who does not hear,
whose mouth can offer no reply.
I wait for you, O Lord;
you will answer, O Lord my God.
For I said, "Do not let them gloat
or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips."

For I am about to fall,
and my pain is ever with me.
I confess my iniquity;
I am troubled by my sin.
Many are those who are my vigorous
enemies;
those who hate me without reason are numerous.
Those who repay my good with evil slander me when I pursue what is good.

O Lord, do not forsake me;
be not far from me, O my God.
COme quickly to help me.
O Lord my Savior.

Psalm 38

Ethyl

01-10-2006, 01:06 AM

Psalm 123

I lift up my eyes to you,
to you whose throne is in heaven.
As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master.
as the eyes of a maid look to the hand
of her mistress
as our eyes look to the Lord our God
till he shows us his mercy

Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us,
for we have endured much contempt,
We have endured much ridicule from the proud,
much contempt from the arrogant.

Vast

01-10-2006, 02:27 AM

To the gloomy, doomy dems..well for everyone..

“In spite of failures which I lament, of errors which I now see and acknowledge, or of the present aspect of affairs, do I despair the future? The truth is this: the march of humanity is so long, that of the individual so brief, that we often see only the ebb of the advancing wave and are thus discouraged. It is history that teaches us to hope. Providence is so slow, our desires so impatient, the work of progress is so immense, and our means of aiding it so feeble, the life of humanity is so long, that of the individual so brief, that we often see only the ebb of the advancing wave and are thus discouraged. It is history that teaches us to hope.”

-- Robert E. Lee

Ethyl

01-20-2006, 12:45 AM

"Excuse me, sir" said a timid student. "I couldn't make out what you wrote on the margin of my last paper."

"I told you to write more legibly," said the teacher.

~~~

"I hear you have broke your engagement with Tom. What happened?"
"Oh, my feelings toward him changed. That's what happened."
"Are you going to return his engagement ring?"
"Oh, no! My feelings toward the ring haven't changed."

"The Heart of the Enlightened", Anthony De Mello.

Boomer

01-20-2006, 01:02 AM

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz:

1. Be impeccable with your word

2. Don't take anything personally

3. Don't make assumptions

4. Always do your best

I try and I try.......

Ethyl

01-31-2006, 01:35 AM

Some random thoughts:

1. Recognize the political power plays as they occur now in real time - historians can only speak of past events.

2. Events in the news, unless disinformation, inform you of events which your children will read about. You are living their history.

3. What I loved most about the Western world was its ability to love itself and to laugh at itself. I am unsure when these traits died out, but somehow it happened over the course of my lifetime.

Ethyl

02-01-2006, 12:35 AM

<A Disillusioned View of Life>

A good name is better than
precious ointment
and the day of death, than the day of birth.
It is better to go to the house of mourning
than go to the house of feasting;
for this is the end of everyone,
and the living will lay it to heart.
Sorrow is better than laughter,
for by sadness of countenance
the heart is made glad.
The heart of the wise is in the
house of mirth.
It is better to hear the rebuke of
the wise
than to hear the song of fools;
this also is vanity.
Surely oppression makes the wise foolish,
and a bribe corrupts the heart.
Better is the end of a thing than its beginning;
the patient in spirit are better than the proud in spirit.
Do not be quick to anger,
for anger lodges in the bosem of fools.
Do not say, "Why were these former days better than these?"
For it is not from wisdom that
you ask this.
Wisdom is as good as an
inheritance,
an advantage to those who see
the sun.
For the protection of wisdom is
like the protection of money,
and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom
gives life to the one who
possesses it.
Consider the work of God;
who can make straight what he has made crooked?
In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; God has made the one as well as the other, so that mortals may not find out anything that will come after them.

- Ecclesiastes

Ethyl

05-17-2006, 02:37 AM

“Never, "for the sake of peace and quiet," deny your own experience or convictions.”

Dag Hammarskjold

Ethyl

06-19-2006, 01:28 AM

10 sheets to the wind and all is well.

Don't be afraid to go out and learn. Does it really matter if you fail the first few times? If a goal is your ticket the pain and heartache is worth it.

It's such a shame they always kept this ideology in the locker room, for if people truely understood what they meant, we would not be nations of dummies. They would be so friggin' empowered it would ROCK! Tremendeously!

Keep stretching. Keep reaching. Never lose faith. Your paths are your own - and those that know will understand - not good, not bad, but paths that are simply meant to be!

It's a flow of life. It always was.

The biggest bullshit the philosophy departments ever thought up was to teach about a rebel scholar, a man with no credentials. If he is worthy to cut the grade and be taught about, why can't Voltaire's fool? Some one else had to think the books I've read were actually worthy for public consumption.

Has NO ONE figured out that sending smart and slick diplomats prior to the age of communications between civilizations might not make actual great PR skills?

We're nations of whiners, and no wonder other nations don't want to give us the time of day.

We have nations that are fighting wars as we speak and people get upset over frivolous bullshit. If that's not shallow and 'uncitizen' then really I don't know what is.

There are millions dying from starvation, malnutrition, wars and genocide but people are so apathetic they don't give a shit anymore.

And we all will pay because of that. Look at the signs folks, society's a friggin' mess....

and we're the ones to blame for it.

Ethyl

06-20-2006, 02:12 AM

11 Sheets to the Wind and all is Well

Jean Baudrillard, "The System of Objects".

"The technological plane is an abstraction: in ordinary life we are practically unconscious of the technological reality of the objects. Yet this abstraction is profoundly real: it is what governs all radical transformations of our environment.

It is even - and I do not mean this in ary paradoxical sense - the most concrete aspect of the object, for technological development is synonymous with objective structure evolution. In the strictest sense, what happens to the object sense in the technological sphere is essential, whereas what happens to it in the psychological or sociological sphere of needs and practices is inessential.

The discourse of psychology or sociology continually refers us to the object as apprehended at a more consistent level, a level unreleated to any individual or collective discourse, namely the supposed level of technological language.

It is starting from this language, from this consistency of the technical model, that we can reach an understanding of what happens to objects by virtue of their being produced and consumed, possessed and personalized."

Ethyl

06-20-2006, 02:20 AM

(cont)

"It is imperative, therefore, to get a clear picture from the outset of the rationality of the object - a clear picture, that is, of the objective technological structure involved.

<intro>

"Modern Engines are concrete, whereas earlier ones were abstract. In the older version, each component intervened at a specific stage of the cycle and was then supposed to have no further impact on the others; motor parts were rather like people, each doing their job without ever getting acquainted with their co-workers...

The technical object may thus be said to have a primitive form, an abstract form, in which each theoretical and material unit is treated as an absolute needing to be set up as a closed system if it is to function properly.

Such a situation presents a set of problems of integration that have to be resolved. . . . This is the point at which specific structures emergy which, relative to each component, one might call defence mechanisms; for instance, the cylinder head of the internal-combustion heat engine starts to bristle with cooling fins.

These were at first simply an extraneous element, as it were, added to the cylinder and the cylinder head for the sole purpose of cooling.

In more recent engines, however, these fins have come to play a mechanical role as well as providing a ribbing that serves to inhibit the distortion of the cylinder head which is not a compromise but a concomitance, a convergence."

tsk tsk. Philosophers shouldn't play God.

Ethyl

07-05-2006, 12:30 AM

How ironic:

" 'Imagination' is one of the principle sources of the wrong work of centers. Each center has its own form of imagination and daydreaming, but as a rule both the moving and the emotional centers make use of the thinking center which very readily places itself at their disposal for this purpose, because daydreaming corresponds to its own inclinations. Daydreaming is absolutely the opposite of 'useful' mental activity. 'Useful' in this case means activity directed towards a definite aim and undertaken for the sake of obtaining a definite result. Daydreaming does not pursue any aim, does not strive after any result."

- P.D. Ouspensky, "In Search of the Miraculous".

Mr. Ouspensky, your diatribe is quite harsh of someone else's cultural belief - and quite frankly, a wonderful indication of a wolf in sheep's clothing, for imagination is the heart and soul of the miraculous - where indeed all things are possible - and it is imagination which carries the soul through the best and worst times.

Mr. "Esoteric Knowledge", you are fired!

shadow_wolf

07-05-2006, 12:46 AM

shadow_wolf

07-05-2006, 12:49 AM

Here's one for you that I absolutely love. I have sent it to a very few people that I care about. Maybe you'll like it as well.

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1952.

Ethyl

07-05-2006, 01:11 AM

=============

Great book, I have it in hardcover

It is an interesting perspective on love, but they don't ring my heart...

The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of Heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single,
All things by a law divine
In one spirit meet and mingle -
Why not I with thine?

See the mountains kiss high Heaven
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea -
What are all these kissings worth
If thou kiss not me?
-Percy Bysshe Shelley

I much adore the trials and tribulations of romantic love.

Lord Byron "The First Kiss of Love".

Away with your fictions of flimsy romance, Those tissues of falsehood which Folly has wove; Give me the mild beam of the soul-breathing glance, Or the rapture which dwells on the first kiss of love.

Ye rhymers, whose bosoms with fantasy glow, Whose pastoral passions are made for the grove; From what blest inspiration your sonnets would flow, Could you ever have tasted the first kiss of love.

If Apollo should e'er his assistance refuse, Or the Nine be dispos'd from your service to rove, Invoke them no more, bid adieu to the Muse, And try the effect, of the first kiss of love.

I hate you, ye cold compositions of art, Though prudes may condemn me, and bigots reprove; I court the effusions that spring from the heart, Which throbs, with delight, to the first kiss of love.

Your shepherds, your flocks, those fantastical themes, Perhaps may amuse, yet they never can move: Arcadia displays but a region of dreams; What are visions like these, to the first kiss of love?

Oh! cease to affirm that man, since his birth, From Adam, till now, has with wretchedness strove; Some portion of Paradise still is on earth, And Eden revives, in the first kiss of love.

When age chills the blood, when our pleasures are past For years fleet away with the wings of the dove The dearest remembrance will still be the last, Our sweetest memorial, the first kiss of love.

koban

07-05-2006, 01:53 AM

One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my little nephew to Disneyland, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out warehouse. "Oh, no," I said. "Disneyland burned down." He cried and cried, but I think that deep down, he thought it was a pretty good joke. I started to drive over to the real Disneyland, but it was getting pretty late.

Jack Handy

Ethyl

07-07-2006, 01:54 AM

On Liberty: Of Thought and Discussion

"It is the duty of goverments, and of individuals, to form the truest opinions they can; to form them carefully, and never impose them upon others unless they are quite sure of it being right. But when they are sure (such reasoners may say), it is not conscientiousness but cowardice to shrink from acting on their opinions, and allow doctrines which they honestly think dangerous to the welfare of mankind, either in this life or in another, to be scattered abroad without restraint, because other people, in less enlightened times, have persecuted opinions now believed to be true. Let us take care, it may be said, not to make the same mistake: but goverments and nations have made mistakes in other things, which are not denied to be fit subjects for this exercise of authority: they have laid on bad taxes, made unjust wars.

~~~

"There is no such thing as absolute certainty, but there is assurance sufficient for the purposes of human life. We may, and must, assume our opinin to be true for the guidance of our own conduct: and it is assuming no more when we forbid bad men to pervert society by the propagation of opinions which we regard as false and pernicious."

~~~

"Complete liberty of contradicting and disaproving our opinion is the very condition which justifies us in assuming its truth for purposes of action; and on no other terms can a being with human faculities have any rational assurace of being right."

~~~

"...; for the majority of the eminent men of every past generation held many opinions now known to be erroneous, and did or approved numerous things which no one will now justify. Why is it, then, that there is on the whole a preponderance among mankind of rational opinions and rational conduct? If there really is this preponderance - which there must be unless human affairs are, and have always been, in an almost desperate state - it is owning to a quality of the human mind, the source of everything respectable in man either as an intellectual or as a mortal being, namely, that his errors are corrigible. He is capable of rectifying his mistake, by discussion and experience. Not by experience alone. There must be discussion, to show how experience is to be interpreted. Wrong opinions and practices gradually yield to fact and arguement; but facts and arguements, to produce any effect on the mind, must be brought before it. Very few facts are able to tell their own story, without comments to bring out their meaning. The whole stregnth and value, then, of human judgement, depending on the one property, that it can be set right when it is wrong, reliance can be placed on it only when the means of setting it right are kept constantly at hand."

John Stuart Mills, "Utilitarianism, Liberty, and Representative Goverment"

Ethyl

07-11-2006, 02:44 AM

"His motto, in that archaic Swiss German that he used, reads Eins andern knecht soll niemand seyn, der fur sich bleyben kann alleyn, and it means: Let no man belong to another, who can belong to himself. Such a blend of pride, intrasigence, boastfulness, independence and wounded dignity is the essence of Paracelsus. And here at least was one boast he lived up to - for in all his wide travels, during his many appointments, throughtout his fierce battles and harsh disputes, always he was no one's man but his own."

"Paracelsus simply cannot be dismissed as a credulous fool (at least, not all of the time). He embarasses because he mocks the conviction, once deeply held by scientists and historians alike, that the history of ideas should be arranged into an orderly and unidirectional narrative. The personality imprinted on his writings is raw and urgent, and seemingly unconcerned about the conflicts and contradictions that they present. If we struggle with him, it is because we struggle with his times, when people asked different questions and wrestled with different dilemmas then they do today. The birth of the modern world, these struggles tell us, was neither easy nor painless, but rather it was turbulent, confused and violent."

"The Devil's Doctor: Paracelsus and the World of Renissance Magic and Science", Philip Ball

Ethyl

09-03-2006, 03:19 AM

And in the morning when her eyes opened, she was in a velvety green and alive forest.
Only there weren't any bugs, and nothing to make her feel uncomfortable -no cold, no heat, no pain. Just the comfort of a warm and welcoming sun; a light breeze.

"This is heaven!" she mumbled to no one in particular.........

The pendelum, it swayed towards
the dare of dark; fear and loathing
Man's greatest fears
Psycho-ized
Until the silence and anguish filled the entire room.
Are we so afraid to look at what can be?

Dream-world dream!

TrueAmerican

09-03-2006, 05:18 AM

http://www.magazinecity.com/prodimg_zoom/1086-12.jpg

This is a good reading material and I read it all the time!!!! I advise everyone to read issue 4654 cuz the double page spread on page 52 keeps me coming back for more!!!!!!!!!

:happy_12:

Ethyl

09-05-2006, 10:06 PM

"Carlyle was extreme: only the reimposition of discipline by the aristocracy could preserve order, he argues in Shooting Niagara. On the other side were the liberals and radicals, led in parliament by Mill. But no trial of stregnth and opinion, of so general and central a kind, is limited to known and orthodox positions. It is in this sense that (benedict) Arnold's response is important.

Hyde Park was in his mind when he gave the first lecture of what because Culture and Anarchy. He called it "Culture and its Enemies'. But he stood off from the orthodox political arguements. He criticised the national obsession with wealth and production; there were other things more important in the life of a people. He cricized the manipulation of opinion, by politicians and newspapers; a minority talking down, simplifying, sloganeering, to people they thought of as 'the masses'. He criticised the abstraction of 'freedom'; it was not only a question of being free to speak but of a kind of national life in which people knew enough to have something to say. The men of culture, he argued, were those who had

a passion for diffusing, for making prevail, for carrying out from one end of the society to the other, the best knowledge, the best ideas of their time; who have laboured to divest knowledge of all that was harsh, uncouth, difficult, abstract, professional, exclusive; to humanize it, to make it efficient outisde of the clique of the cultivated and the learned, yet still remaining the best knowledge and thought of the time.

All this was culture - the sense of more things in life than the economy, the opposition to manipulation, the commitment to an extending popular education. Its enemies were the political and economic system, the manipulators, the anti-educators.

- "Culture and Materialism", Raymod Williams.

Ethyl

09-09-2006, 02:21 AM

Pooh and Hegel's Philosophy of Mind

At once, all becomes clear. We see the obvious - through hitherto unnoticed - fact that these three paragraphs sum up Hegel's three stages in the development of Mind (or Spirit): Mind Subjective, Mind Objective, and Mind Absolute. THe following anaylsis should clarify the position for those not immediately convinced.

Right at the beginning, we notice that the Great Bear is first referred to as "Edward Bear". Only at the end of this fairly long paragraph is he "introduced" = and we must pay full attention to that significantly chosen word - as "Winnie the Pooh." This indeterminateness about the correct name obviously exemplifies Hegel's dictum that is in its rudimentary stage Mind is "the idea in its indeterminateness."

The idea of the Subjective Mind's indeterminateness is further developed in the Bear's vague notions about other possible ways of coming downstairs. (I hope it is no longer necessary to remind readers that this ignorance is simply assumed as a pedagogic device.) Moreover, this apparent confusion contains the first and second steps of a Hegelian triad, the three-stage model he so often uses.

"Pooh and the Philosophers: In Which It Is Shown That All of Western Philosophy Is Merely a Preamble to Winnie-the-Pooh", John Tyerman Williams

Ethyl

09-17-2006, 07:19 PM

After the extreme political importance assumed by the geophysics of the globe over the history of societies separated not so much by their national frontiers as by communications distances and timelags, we have in recent times seen the transpolitical importance of this kind of meta-geopyhsics which the cybernetic interactivity of the contemporary world represents for us at the end of the twentieth centuary.

Since all presence is presence only at a distance, the tele-presence of the era of the globalization of exchanges could only be established across the widest possible gap. This is a gap which now stretches to the other side of the world, from one edge to the other of present reality. But this is a meta-geophysical reality which strictly regulates the tele-continents of a virtual reality that monopolizes the greater part of the economic activity of the nations and, conversely, destroys cultures which are precisely situated in the space of the physics of the globe.

We are not seeing an 'end of history', but we are seeing an end of geography.

~~~~

A global de-localization, which affects the very nature not merely of 'national', but of 'social' identity, throwing into question not so much the nation-state, but the city, the geopolitics of nations.

-"The Information Bomb", Paul Virilio

Ethyl

10-19-2006, 12:55 AM

INVOLVEMENT

The Master, while being gracious
to all his disciples, could not
conceal his preference for those
who lived in the "world" -the
married, the merchants, the farmers-over those who lived in the monastery.

When he was confronted about this,
he said, "Spirituality practiced
in the state of activity is
imcomparably superior to that
practiced in the state of withdrawl."

-Anthony De Mello, "One Minute Wisdom"

Ethyl

10-19-2006, 12:58 AM

Sterility

The Master had no use at all
for scholarly discourses. He
called them "pearls of wisdom."

"But if they are pearls, why do you scorn them?" said the disciples.

"Have you ever known pearls to grow when planted in a field?" was the reply.

- Anthony De Mello, "One Minute Wisdom".

Ethyl

11-13-2006, 01:19 AM

"He who lets the world, or his own portion of it, choose his plan of life for him, has no need of any other faculity than the ape-like one of imitation.

He who chooses his plan for himself, employs all his faculities.

He must use observation to see, reasoning and judgement to foresee, activity to gather materials for decision, discrimination to decide, and when he has decided, firmness and self-control to hold to his deliberate decision.

And these qualities he requires and exercises exactly in proportion as the part of his conduct which he determines according to his own judgment and feelings is a large one."

~

"Human nature is not a machine to be built after a model, and set to do exactly the work prescribed for it, but a tree, which requires to grow and develop itself on all sides, according to the tendancy of the inward forces that make it a living thing."

John Stuart Mills, "Utilitarianism, Liberty and Representational Goverment: On Liberty; Of Individualism."

Ethyl

01-31-2007, 01:38 AM

463 (1885)

My Precursers: Schopenhauer; to what extent I deepened pessimism and by devising its extremest antithesis first really experienced it.

Then: the ideal artists, that after-product of the Napoleonic movement.
Then: the higher Europeans, predcessors of great politics.
Then: the Greeks and their origin.

478 (March-June 1888)

One must not look for phenomenalism in the wrong place: nothing is more phenomenal (or, more clearly : nothing is so much deception as this inner world which we observe with the famous "inner sense."

We have believed in the will as cause to such an extent that we have from our personal experience introduced a cause into the events in general (ie: intention a cause of events---).

We believe that thgouths as they succeed one another in our minds stand in some kind of causal relation: the logician especially, who actually speaks of nothing but instances which never occur in reality, has grown accustomed to the prejudicie that thoughts cause thoughts ---.

We believe - and even our philosophers still believe - that pleasure and pain are causes of reactions, that the purpose of pleasure and pain is to occasion reactions. For millennia, pleasure and the avoidance of displeasure have been flatly asserted as the motives for every action. Upon reflection, however, we should concede that everything would have taken the same course, according to exactly the same sequence of causes and effects, if these states 'pleasure and displeasure' had been absent, and that one is simply decieving oneself if one thinks they cause anything at all: they are epiphenomena with a quite different object than to evoke reactions; they are themselves effects within the instituted process of reaction.

In summa: everything of which we become conscious is a terminal phenomenon, an end -- and causes nothing; every successive phenomenon in consciousness is completely anatomistic --- And we have sought to understand the world through the reverse conception -- as if nothing were real and effective but thinking, feeling, willing!---

"The Will To Power", Fredrich Nietzsche.

Ethyl

08-30-2007, 01:11 AM

11

Cultivate relationships with those who can teach you. Let friendly intercourse be a school of knowledge, and let culture be taught through conversation. Thus you make your friends your teachers and mingle the pleasures of conversation with applause for what you say and you gain instruction from what you hear. We are always attracted to others by our own interests, but in this case it is of a higher kind. Wise people frequent the houses of great nobility as theatres of heroism not temples of vanity. They are renowned for their worldly wisdom, not only for being oracles of all nobleness by their example and their behaviour, but because those who surround them form a courtly academy of worldly wisdom of the best and noblest kind.

- "The Art of Worldly Wisdom", Baltasar Gracian

Ethyl

08-30-2007, 01:13 AM

4

Knowledge and courage. These are the elements of greatness. Because they are immortal they bestow immortality. Each is as much as he knows, and the wise can do anything. A person without knowledge is in a world without light. Wisdom and stregnth are the eyes and hands. Knowledge without courage is sterile.

"The Art of Worldly Wisdom", Baltasar Gracian

Ethyl

08-30-2007, 01:23 AM

98

Write your intentions in cypher. The passions are the gates of the soul. The most practical knowledge consists in disguising them. He that plays with cards exposed runs a risk of losing the stakes. The reserve of caution should combat the curiousity of inquirers with the policy of the inky cuttlefish. Do not even let your tastes be known, lest others utilize them either by running counter to them or by flattering them.

101

One half of the world laughs at the other, and fools are they all. Everything is good or everything is bad according to who you ask. What one pursues another persecutes. He is as insufferable ass who would regulate everything according to his ideas. Excellences do not depend on a single person's pleasure. So many people, so many tastes, all different. There is no defect that is not affected by some. We need not lose heart if something does not please someone, for others will appreciate it; nor need their applause to turn our head, for there will surely be others to condemn it. The real test of praise is the approval of renowned people and of experts in the field. You should aim to be independent of any one opinion, of any one fashion, of any one century.

167

Know how to rely on yourself. In great crises there is no better companion than a bold heart, and if it becomes weak it must be strengthened from the neighbouring parts. Worries die away for the person who asserts himself. One must not surrender to misfortune or else it would become intolerable. Many people do not help themselves in their troubles and double their weight by not knowing how to bear them. He that knows himself knows how to strengthen his weakness, and the wise person conquers everything, even the stars in their courses.

Ethyl

08-30-2007, 01:25 AM

180

Never guide the enemy to what he has to do. The fool never does what the wise judge wise, because he does not follow up with suitable means. He that is discreet follows still less a plan laid out, or even carried out, by another. One has to discuss matters from both points of view - turn it over on both sides. Judgements vary. Let him that has not decided attend rather to what is possible than what is probably.

256

Go prepared. Go armed against discourtesy, faithlessness, presumption, and all other kinds of folly. There is much of it in this world, and prudence lies in avoiding meeting with it. Arm yourself each day before the mirror of attention with the weapons of defense. Thus you will beat down the attacks of folly. Be prepared for the occasion, and do not expose your reputation to vulgar contengencies. Armed with prudence, a person cannot be disarmed by impertinence. The road of human intercourse is difficult, for it is full of ruts that may jolt our reputation. Best to take a byway, taking Ulysses as a model of shrewdness. Feigned misunderstanding is of great value in such matters. Aided by politeness it helps us over all, and is often the only way out of such difficulties.

Ethyl

08-30-2007, 01:35 AM

283

Have the gift of discovery. It is a proof of the highest genius, yet when was genius without a touch of madness? If discovery be a gift of genius, choice is a mark of sound sense. Discovery comes by special grace and very seldom. For many can follow up a thing when found, but to find it first is the gift of the few - the first in excellence and in age. Novelty flatters, and if sucessful gives the possessor double credit. In matters of judgement novelties are dangerous because they lead to paradox, in matters of genius they deserve all praise. Yet both equally deserve applause if successful.

Ethyl

08-31-2007, 02:23 AM

213

Know how to contradict. A chief means of finding things out - to embarass others without being embarassed. The true thumbscrew, it brings the passions into play. A little disbelief makes people spit up secrets. It is the key to a locked up heart, and with great subtlety makes a double trial of both mind and will. A sly depreciation of another's mysterious word scents out the profoundest secrets; some sweet bait brings them into the mouth till they fall from the tongue and are caught in the net of astute deceit. By reserving your attention the other becomes less attentive, and lest his thoughts appear while otherwise his heart were inscrutable. An affected doubt is the subtlest picklock that curiousity can use to find out what it wants to know. Also in learning it is a subtle plan of the pupil to contradict the master, who thereupon takes pains to explain the truth more thoroughly and with more force, so that a moderate contradiction produces complete instruction.

Ethyl

08-31-2007, 02:27 AM

291

Know how to test people. The care of the wise must guard against the snare of the wicked. Great judgement is needed to test the judgment of another. It is more important to know the characteristics and properties of people than those of vegetables and minerals. Indeed, it is one of the shrewdest things in life. You can tell metals by their ring and men by their voice. Words are proof of integrity, deeds still more. Here one requires extraordinary care, deep observation, subtle discernment, and judicious decision.

Ethyl

08-31-2007, 02:31 AM

300

In one word, be a saint. So is all said at once. Virtue is the link of all perfections, the center of all felicities. She makes a person prudent, discreet, sagacious, cautious, wise, courageous, thoughtful, trustworthy, happy, honored, truthful, and a universal hero. Three things make a person happy - health, holiness, and wisdom. Virtue is the sun of our world, and has for its course a good conscience. She is so beautiful that she finds favor with both God and man. Nothing is lovable but virtue, nothing detestable but vice. A person's capacity and greatness are to be measured by his virtue and not his fortune. She alone is all-sufficient. She makes people lovable in life, memorable after death.

Ethyl

09-15-2007, 12:03 PM

241

Put up with mockery but do not practice it yourself. The first is a form of courtesy, the second may lead to embarassment. To snarl at playful jokes seems beastly. Audacious mocking is delightful and to stand for it proves your power. To show oneself annoyed causes others to be annoyed. Best leave it alone - that is the surest way of avoiding fitting the fool's cap. The most serious matters have arisen out of jests. Nothing requires more tact and attention. Before you begin to joke know how far the subject of your joke is able to bear it.

Ethyl

11-01-2007, 01:03 AM

"But great fiction not only broadens our range of character-interests, it directs our attention to the essentials of character. As complex as human nature is, the central factors are not many. Love, growth, honour, sympathy, idealism, faith, fortitude, truth, tolerance, cooperation - these are the fundamentals, and it is on these or their opposites that the masters put the stress."

"Individuality is in accent, not in spelling; and the study of great fiction is the study not of character-spelling but of character-accent. Our fifteen characters are as different as fifeteen characters could well be, but each one of them is a study in essentials. A few qualities give the key, and the result is a revelation. To see how needful this lesson of the essentials is, ask the average man to analyze and interpret the character of some one whom you both know. See if he does not talk all around the character, giving age, dress, colour of hair and eyes, and ending with some vague generality as impersonal as air.

But great fiction not only presents character in its variety and vitality, but presents it more completely than we can see it in the men and women about us."

"What Can Literature Do For Me?", C. Alphonso Smith, 1922.

Ethyl

11-22-2007, 12:19 AM

Manager:

To please the public I am most desirous;
"Live and let live," has ever been their maxim,
Gladly they pay the trifle that we tax 'em
And gratitude should with new zeal inspire us.
Our temporary theatre's erected,
Planks laid, posts raised, and something is expected.
Already have the audience ta'en their station,
With eyebrows lifted up in expectation;
Thoughtful and tranquil all - with hopes excited,
Disposed to be amused-amazed-delighted!
I know the people's taste-their whims-caprices,
Could always get up popular new pieces;
But never have I been before so harassed
As now-so thoroughly perplext, embarrased!
Every one reads so much of everything;
The books they read are not the best, 'tis true:
But then they are for ever reading-reading!
This being so, how can we hope to bring
Anything out, that shall be good and new?
What chance of now as formerly succeeding?

On men so various in their disposition,
So different in manners-rank-condition;
How is a miracle like this effected?
The poet-he alone is the magician.
On thee, my friend, we call-from thee expect it.

Goethe, "Faust"

Ethyl

12-03-2007, 12:59 AM

Enlightenment and the Hero

Enlightenment is a popular word. It simply means to lighten the load. A person has become less dense, both literally and figuratively, for light cannot shine through a rock. The mind of a person who is oriented to the physical plane is often referred to as the concrete mind; it is rock-like. Enlightenment, then, is not such a glamourous subject after all. The hero is merely a person who is dissatisified with concrete for a mind, and who is willing to sacrifice all or some of the ballast [heart].

Enlightenment is a continous process of refinement. As we refine our thinking, we are able to experience thoughts of a higher and higher quality; as we refine our speech, we are able to translate the finer thoughts into words that can express these thoughts; and as we refine our lives, our deeds are increasingly in keeping with our thoughts and words. Thus, we create an ever-moving-forward unity within ourselves. Our higher nature has access to the physical plane via the ability of a human to function as a soul on earth; that is, to access the link to our heritage as a needed and valued part of the Whole.

As we enlighten, we, our true selves, the engaging electrical units that we are, vibrate faster, because we are less dense. There are built-in protections at work here, for we all know that if a rock vibrates too fast it bursts apart. We are also told that if a person reaches Satori (?) before he is able to understand, it is a fleeting and bewildering experience. THus, this business of consciously participation in one's own evolution (maturing) is a steady preparation. It is often referred to as The One Work. From this One Work comes all else. This is the single-pointed life, referred to in the Wisdom Teachings as "the razor's edge path".

It is wise to remember that one of the greatest enemies of walking this path is the little word "but". Observe what follows the word "but" - it can be the cohort of expanding consciousness, or it can support the doubt that denies expansion.

"A Rebel's Home Companion"

Ethyl

12-10-2007, 01:24 AM

"People who have Air dominant in their psychological make up are flexible, versatile, dextrous, tasteful, idealistic, original, individual, and tolerant. However, they can also be distant, opinionated, easily bored, impatient, self-deceiving, superficial, indecisive, quarrelsome, manipulative, thoughtless, cruel, fickle, inconsistent, unreliable, and two-faced."

- "Working With Faries".

Ethyl

12-18-2007, 12:12 AM

Revolution:

There were rules in the
monastery, but the Master
always warned against
the tyranny of the law.

"Obedience keeps the rules,"
he would say. "Love knows when to break them."

-Anthony De Mello, "One Minute Wisdom"

Ethyl

12-19-2007, 11:47 PM

- Lonliness is the great curse that hangs over a writer. A while ago I wrote twelve novels in a row, plus fourteen magazine pieces. I did it out of lonliness. It constituted communication for me. At last the loneliness grew too late and I stopped writing; I left my then-wife and then-children and took a great journey. .... For a short while I ceased to be lonely. Then it came back, late one night. Now I know it will never go away. ... That's just the way it is.

Philip K Dick

Ethyl

01-01-2008, 04:56 PM

..."Men and women employed in continuous-process industries are made indirectly familiar with many more modern battlefield phenomena: they are to a considerable degree inured to very high constant noise levels and to emissions of intense light, they work in proximity to dangerous machinery and chemicals, including poison gases, and they are invovled in high-speed automatic processes - stamping, turning, reaming, cutting, moulding, the pouring of molten metals and plastics - which requir perfectly timed human cooperation and imitate in many respects the actions of modern weapons systems, such as automated artillery pieces, self-loading tank guns, machine-guns, flame throwers, rocket dischargers and the like."

John Keegan, "The Face of Battle".

Ethyl

03-12-2008, 11:39 PM

"I wish you would dress more in accordance with your position. I'm sorry you have allowed yourself to become shabby."

"But I am not shabby."

"Yes, you are. Take your grandfather. He was always so elegantly dressed. His clothes were expensive and well tailored."

"Ha! I've got you there! These are my grandfather's clothes I am wearing."

"The Heart of the Enlightened: A Book of Story-Meditations", Anthony De Mello

IBinFarteen

03-13-2008, 01:30 PM

Have you noticed that people from the 19th century and before were so much more focused than we are?

Everyone back then kept their concentration on one topic for so much longer than we do now.

Their literacy and knowledge of the English language was enormous compared to even the most scholarly among us now.

Probabably because they didn't have anything else to distract them?

Ethyl

03-13-2008, 10:15 PM

Maybe they appreciated the gift of being able to read and write more than we do, though what you're saying definately must play into it.

I read somewhere (and I'm sorry to pick on the Americans, but I just read the article recently) but something like 40% of the American population hadn't read a single book in the last year.

Guest4

03-13-2008, 11:08 PM

I read somewhere (and I'm sorry to pick on the Americans, but I just read the article recently) but something like 40% of the American population hadn't read a single book in the last year.

I understand what you're getting at. But really..why should that seem important?

Ethyl

03-13-2008, 11:16 PM

I understand what you're getting at. But really..why should that seem important?

It's tragic, really (and a really high number). At a point or two in history, the only people who were provided a decent education and thus, the ability to read and write, were the elites.

A literate society is an educated society and an educated society is one who can indeed make decisions for themselves - and not be subjected to slavery.

Guest4

03-13-2008, 11:23 PM

It's tragic, really (and a really high number). At a point or two in history, the only people who were provided a decent education and thus, the ability to read and write, were the elites.

A literate society is an educated society and an educated society is one who can indeed make decisions for themselves - and not be subjected to slavery.

But we're not talking about the people and times of history.

I agree with your second statement, but am not clear on how you're equating being informed or literate, with reading books specifically.
At a point or two in history, there were no other means of getting information. Not so today.

Ethyl

03-13-2008, 11:29 PM

But we're not talking about the people and times of history.

I agree with your second statement, but am not clear on how you're equating being informed or literate, with reading books specifically.
At a point or two in history, there were no other means of getting information. Not so today.

(Caveat: Depending on the 'book')

Reading books leads to a longer attention span, leading to logic and critical thinking. It also spurns creativity and imagination (argueable, there are other methods to gain these skills). This is not the same as gleaming information on the internet, or that found in news or blogs. There are no short cuts. "News" has always been around - whether that found in print or that from word of mouth.

Guest4

03-13-2008, 11:37 PM

(Caveat: Depending on the 'book')

Reading books leads to a longer attention span, leading to logic and critical thinking. It also spurns creativity and imagination (argueable, there are other methods to gain these skills). This is not the same as gleaming information on the internet, or that found in news or blogs. There are no short cuts. "News" has always been around - whether that found in print or that from word of mouth.

Thats probably true in a general sense. I don't think its actually true though to the extent you make it out to be. I don't see the longer attention span=logic=critical thinking. Theres some really, really dumb "smart people" hanging around universities and such, reading book after book.

Ethyl

03-13-2008, 11:42 PM

Thats probably true in a general sense. I don't think its actually true though to the extent you make it out to be. I don't see the longer attention span=logic=critical thinking. Theres some really, really dumb "smart people" hanging around universities and such, reading book after book.

Perhaps dumb from a societal perspective - but if almost half of your population hasn't bothered picking up a book to read, I don't think that's much to worry about. :sad_01:

Here's my own example:

I recently finished reading of "Not Wanted on the Voyage" - the 'story behind the story' regarding Noah and the lead up to the ark. At the end I was reminded of the crucial part of the story of Noah - the rainbow, and how the rainbow was God's word that the world would never be flooded again.

I thought of the "Global Warming - the arctic is melting so we're all going to flood, hence we're all going to die brigade."

How can these two different truths both be true?

If God promised he wouldn't flood the world again, we have nothing to worry about, right? If the world does get flooded, it does prove the Bible to be a bit of a sham.

All from a very creative story. Ideas spawn ideas. ;)

Guest4

03-14-2008, 09:22 AM

Perhaps dumb from a societal perspective - but if almost half of your population hasn't bothered picking up a book to read, I don't think that's much to worry about. :sad_01:

Here's my own example:

I recently finished reading of "Not Wanted on the Voyage" - the 'story behind the story' regarding Noah and the lead up to the ark. At the end I was reminded of the crucial part of the story of Noah - the rainbow, and how the rainbow was God's word that the world would never be flooded again.

I thought of the "Global Warming - the arctic is melting so we're all going to flood, hence we're all going to die brigade."

How can these two different truths both be true?

If God promised he wouldn't flood the world again, we have nothing to worry about, right? If the world does get flooded, it does prove the Bible to be a bit of a sham.

All from a very creative story. Ideas spawn ideas. ;)

It seems that pretty much all books are either somehow technical or societal, and unless forced or by honest curiosity, people read what supports their existing views, and doesn't necessarily lead to honing critical thinking or reasoned deduction.
If the study showed that Americans read 4 books a month, what would that mean if the books read were fluff? Theres a lot of misinformation and crap books out there. Is reading in general important? Absolutely. Is reading a number of books in some selective time frame indicative of either intelligence or stupidity? No, imo.

Ethyl

03-27-2008, 12:09 AM

FLOW

When it became clear that
the Master was going to
die, the disciples were
depressed.

Said the Master smilingly,
"Don't you see that death
gives loveliness to life?"

"No. We'd much rather you
never died."

"Whatever is truely alive
must die. Look at the flowers;
only plastic flowers never die."

"One Minute Wisdom", Anthony De Mello.

Ethyl

05-27-2008, 12:03 AM

"... To comprehend this choice, it helps to recognize that, in some periods of history, Plato's ideas and attitudes make obvious sense to thinking people, while in others, Aristotle's vision of the world seems far more realistic and inspiring. In Aristotelian epochs, economic growth, political expansion, and cultural optimism color the intellectual world. People feel connected to each other and to the natural world. Confident that they can direct their emotions instead of being dominated by them, they are generally comfortable with humanity. Proud of their ability to understand how things work, they believe that they can make use of nature and improve society. The natural world seems to them vast and harmonious, populated by highly individualized people and things, but integrated, purposeful and beautiful. Aristotelian thinkers know that they will die as all nature's creatures do, but the environment that nurters them seems immortal, and this gives meaning to their lives. Curiousity and sociability are their characteristic virtues, egoism and complacency their most common vices.

Platonic eras, by contrast, are filled with discomfort and longing. The source of this discomfort is a sense of contradiction dramatized by personal and social conflicts that seems all but unresolvable. Society is fractured, its potential integrity disrupted by violent strife, and this brokenness is mirrored in the souls of individuals. People feel divided against themselves - not ruled by reason but driven by uncontrollable instincts and desires. The universe as a whole may not be evil, but it is far from what it should be - far, indeed, from what, in some other dimension, it truely is. Latter-day Platonists are haunted by a sense that the wold people call real is, at least in part, illusory... and this is also the source of their longing. They believe there is a better and truer self, society, and universe await them on the other side of some necessary transformation. Earthly life is therefore a pilgrimage, a stern quest whose pursiut generates the virtues of selflessness, endurance and imagination. THe characteristic Neoplatonic vices (the dark side of its virtues) are self-hatred, intolerance, and fanaticism."

"Aristotle's Children: How Christians, Muslims, and Jews Rediscovered Ancient Wisdom and Illuminated The Middle Ages", Richard E Rubenstein.

Ethyl

06-14-2008, 12:37 AM

203

Know the great people of your age. They are not many. There is one phoenix in the whole world, one great general, one perfect orator, one true philosopher in a century, one really illustrious king in several. Mediocrities are as numerous as they are worthless; eminent greatness is rare in every respect, since it needs complete perfection, and the higher the species the more difficult is the highest rank in it. Many have claimed the title Great, like Caesar and Alexander, but in vain, for without great deeds the title is a mere breath of air. There have been a few Senecas, and fame records but one Apelles.

- "The Art of Worldly Wisdom", Baltasar Gracian

Boomer

06-14-2008, 01:19 AM

pixikill

06-14-2008, 01:29 AM

Trin. You inspired me to re-read "Lolita".
thats my fave book of all times. i have 2 copies in hard cover.

thirsty

06-14-2008, 03:17 AM

thats my fave book of all times. i have 2 copies in hard cover.

"Lolita", "Hard", any other meta tags to add?

Ethyl

07-13-2008, 02:18 AM

"Chapter 7: The Herd in Education"

"Every collection of human beings in habitual close proximity develops a herd feeling, which is shown in a certain instinctive uniformity of behaviour, and in hostility to any individual having the same proximity but not felt as one of the group.

Every new boy at school has to submit to a certain period during which he is regarded with unfriendly suspicion by those who are already incorporated in the school herd. If the boy is in no way peculiar, he is presently accepted as one of the group, and comes to act as the others act, to feel as they feel, and to think as they think. If, on the other hand, he is in any way unusual, one of two things happen: he may become the leader of the herd, or he may remain a persecuted oddity. Some very few, by combining unusual good-nature with eccentricity, may become licensed lunatics, like 'mad Shelley' at Eton."

"Herd pressure is to be judged by two things: first, its intensity, and second, its direction. If it is very intense, it produces adults who are timid and conventional, except in a few rare instances."

"Too much herd pressure interferes with individuality, and with the development of all such interest as are not common among average healthy boys, eg. science and art, literature and history, and everything else that makes civilisation."

- Bertrand Russell, "Education & The Social Order."

Ethyl

07-13-2008, 02:19 AM

Dear hopping rabbits, Boomer.

Lalita? *shudder*

(fair enough)

Shamshir

07-13-2008, 03:24 AM

Ethyl

07-15-2008, 01:19 AM

I was (and still am) rather hairy. The herd did not accept me because of the copious amounts of hair I possess.

Same thing happened when I first came to America, I had a very British inflection to my voice and the herd kept pointing this out.

I just think its a very astute observation of Babble. Naturally, I must give credit where its due, that being Mr. Russell. :add08:

(nasal sound "oops, did I just say that outloud?")

:)

ah the herd... the herd... at least I know now where the name comes from, eh? ;)

Ethyl

07-24-2008, 11:25 PM

"The Purpose of Writing

In your case, do you think literature has fulfilled all its promises?

I don't believe it can fulfil them - not in my case, nor in that of anyone in particular. What I have in mind are the exigencies of pride. An insane pride is necessary to write - you can only afford to be modest after you've sunk your pride in your work. Having said this, it must be confessed that the author can miss his mark; he can also be interrupted in the middle of his work. So what? You have to aspire to everything to have hopes of doing something "

"Between Existentialism and Marxism", Jean-Paul Sartre

Voice of Reason

08-25-2008, 12:24 AM

Les Misérables (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/135/135-h/135-h.htm), Victor Hugo, 1862

As for the Bishop, it was a shock to him to have beheld the guillotine, and it was a long time before he recovered from it.

In fact, when the scaffold is there, all erected and prepared, it has something about it which produces hallucination. One may feel a certain indifference to the death penalty, one may refrain from pronouncing upon it, from saying yes or no, so long as one has not seen a guillotine with one's own eyes: but if one encounters one of them, the shock is violent; one is forced to decide, and to take part for or against. Some admire it, like de Maistre; others execrate it, like Beccaria. The guillotine is the concretion of the law; it is called vindicte; it is not neutral, and it does not permit you to remain neutral. He who sees it shivers with the most mysterious of shivers. All social problems erect their interrogation point around this chopping-knife. The scaffold is a vision. The scaffold is not a piece of carpentry; the scaffold is not a machine; the scaffold is not an inert bit of mechanism constructed of wood, iron and cords.

It seems as though it were a being, possessed of I know not what sombre initiative; one would say that this piece of carpenter's work saw, that this machine heard, that this mechanism understood, that this wood, this iron, and these cords were possessed of will. In the frightful meditation into which its presence casts the soul the scaffold appears in terrible guise, and as though taking part in what is going on. The scaffold is the accomplice of the executioner; it devours, it eats flesh, it drinks blood; the scaffold is a sort of monster fabricated by the judge and the carpenter, a spectre which seems to live with a horrible vitality composed of all the death which it has inflicted.

Therefore, the impression was terrible and profound; on the day following the execution, and on many succeeding days, the Bishop appeared to be crushed. The almost violent serenity of the funereal moment had disappeared; the phantom of social justice tormented him. He, who generally returned from all his deeds with a radiant satisfaction, seemed to be reproaching himself. At times he talked to himself, and stammered lugubrious monologues in a low voice. This is one which his sister overheard one evening and preserved: "I did not think that it was so monstrous. It is wrong to become absorbed in the divine law to such a degree as not to perceive human law. Death belongs to God alone. By what right do men touch that unknown thing?"

In course of time these impressions weakened and probably vanished. Nevertheless, it was observed that the Bishop thenceforth avoided passing the place of execution.

Ethyl

11-24-2008, 12:31 AM

"This disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despise, or, at least, to neglect persons of poor and mean condition, though necessary both to establish and to maintain the distinction of ranks and the order of society, is, at the same time, the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments. That wealth and greatness are often regarded with the respect and admiration which are due only to wisdom and virtue; and that the contempt, of which vice and folly are the only proper objects, is often most unjustly bestowed upon poverty and weakness, has been the complaint of moralists in all ages."

- Adam Smith, "The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759)"

Ethyl

09-18-2009, 02:58 AM

"Our society, which seems so stupidly built out of concrete and custom, is just a temporary resting place, a hotel our civilization checked into a couple hundred years ago and must one day check out of. It's an inevitablity tourists can't help but realize when visiting Mayan ruins, Egyptian ruins, Roman ruins. How long will it be before someone is visiting American ruins?

That's how the world looks through apocalypse eyes. You start filling in the blanks between a thriving city and a devastated one. You imagine how it could happen, what it would look like, and whether you and the people you love could escape."

"Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life"; Neil Strauss

(A fun read - includes "Tips on Death Cult Etiquette")

Ethyl

10-26-2009, 01:35 AM

bump

Ethyl

10-28-2009, 12:51 AM

Biology and ecology of earthworms

By Clive Arthur Edwards, P. J. Bohlen

p 291

http://books.google.ca/books?id=ad4rDwD_GhsC&pg=PA291&lpg=PA291&dq=radiation+fallout+%2B+mercury&source=bl&ots=38f3vCVsz2&sig=CCHjLtbcO7CUwInMHAWd_-yNOts&hl=en&ei=Cc3nSt6xJ4yyswPgquyvBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CA4Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=radiation%20fallout%20%2B%20mercury&f=false

Ethyl

02-06-2010, 12:19 AM

"On the other hand "bad", "base", "unhappy", have never ceased to have for the Greek ear similar connotations, with "unhappy" predominating: this as a heritage from the old aristocratic valuations, which even the despised accepted.... The "wellborn" felt themselves to be the "Happy" ones: they did not have to create their happiness artifically by looking at their enemies, as resentful people must do; and likewise they know, being strong, active people, that happiness in inseparable from action-activity was a necessary part of hapiness for them. All very much the opposite of "happiness" among the impotent and oppressed, festering in their poisonous feelings of hostility, to whom it appears as a narcotic, a drug, peace, calm, the Sabbath, soul's-ease, stretching out the legs, in brief passively . While the aristocrat lives for himself with confidence and openness ... the resentful man is neither sincere nor honest nor straightfoward with himself. His soul squints; his mind loves hiding places, secret paths, and back doors; everything hidden impresses him as his world, his security, hiscomfort; he knows silences, not-forgetting, waiting, self-depreciation, self-humiliation. A race of such resentful men in the end will of neccesity be cleverer than any aristocratic race; they will honor cunning to a much greater degree, as a vital condition of their survival, whereas to an aristocratic people braininess savors slightly of decadence and over-refinement, and is not nearly so substantial a quality as the perfect functioning of regulative unconsicous instincts, or even a certain thoughtlessness, perhaps a brave recklessness in the face of danger or the enemy; or that enthusiastic suddenness of anger, love, awe, gratitude and vengeance for which all times aristocratic spirits have been noted. "

"Realism, Naturalism and Symbolism: Modes of Thought and Expression in Europe, 1848-1914." 1968.