The Great Blessing

The Great Blending

For intervals, then, throughout our lives
we savor a concurrence, the great blending
of our chance selves with what sustains
all chance. We ride the wave and are
the wave. And with renewed belief
inner and outer we find our talk
turned to prayer, our prayer into truth:
for an interval, early, we become at home in the world.

- William Stafford

Practicing Peace

 "We are always at a crossroads, moment by moment. 

We can choose to open the wound further, 

 creating more suffering for ourselves and others, 

or 

 we can choose to heal the wound." 

~ Pema Chödrön, author of "Practicing Peace in Times of War"

SORROW

"Our sorrow is in equal measure love.  

We only mourn what we deeply care for...

In speaking fear, you also show the trust and courage it takes to speak it, in a fear phobic society.

The anger we express has its source in our passion for justice.

And as to this bowl, it's emptiness is to be honored too.  

To be empty allows space for the new to arise."

- Joanna Macy and Molly Brown in their inspired book
Coming Back to Life  

"For Camus ... [our] astonishment [at life] results from our confrontation with a world that refuses to surrender meaning. It occurs when our need for meaning shatters against the indifference, immovable and absolute, of the world. As a result, absurdity is not an autonomous state; it does not exist in the world, but is instead exhaled from the abyss that divides us from a mute world. 'This world in itself is not reasonable, that is all that can be said. But what is absurd is the confrontation of this irrational and wild longing for clarity whose call echoes in the human heart. The absurd depends as much on man as on the world. For the moment it is all that links them together.' ...

Camus

"In November [1940], Camus confided to his journal: 'Understand this: we can despair of the meaning of life in general, but not of the particular forms that it takes; we can despair of existence, for we have no power over it, but not of history, where the individual can do everything. It is individuals who are killing us today. Why should not individuals manage to give the world peace? We must simply begin without thinking of such grandiose aims.' "

Lonesome

 "Between stimulus and response there is a space.  In that space is our power to choose our response.  In our response lies our growth and our freedom." -- Often misattributed to Viktor Frankl, the actual author is unknown

Multiverse

We live in a multiverse in which the world most respected scientists remind us that we can only measure 4% of what seems to exist - and of that 4%, only .04% is physical matter.... As we awaken ever more deeply to such notions we are likely to be humbled to be confronted with such pervasive Mystery. Real faith means holding ourselves open to the unconditional mystery which we encounter in every sphere of our life and which cannot be comprised in any formula. Real faith means the ability to endure life in the face of this mystery.    ~ Martin Buber

Characteristic Feature

The characteristic feature of our universe is that many things are happening at the same time. Time exists in order that it doesn’t happen all at once… space exists so that it doesn’t all happen to you.”

Kabir for life

"Between the conscious and unconscious, the mind has put up a swing;  all earth creatures, even supernovas, sway between these two trees,  and it never winds down.  Angels, animals, humans, insects by the million, 

also the wheeling s"Between the conscious and unconscious, the mind has put up a swing; all earth creatures, even supernovas, sway between these two trees, and it never winds down. Angels, animals, humans, insects by the million, also the wheeling sun and moon; ages go by, and it goes on. Everything is swinging: heaven, earth, water, fire, and the Secret One is slowly growing a body. Kabir saw this for fifteen seconds, and it made him a servant for life."~ Kabir 

Agnotology

Agnotology is the study of culturally induced ignorance. Agnotology questions about what we do not know, and why not. For instance, Agnotology studies processes that impede or prevent acceptance of scientific findings, including the human desire to ignore unpleasant facts, the medias neglect of topics, corporate or government secrecy, and misrepresentation for a commercial or political end. They often generate controversy, much of it ill-informed. Examples include the health implications of tobacco and of genetically modified plants, the safety of nuclear power, the environmental consequences of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), and the existence or extent of man-made climate change.

Power of Love

"Power properly understood is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose. And one of the great problems of history is that the concepts of love and power have usually been contrasted as opposites - polar opposites - so that love is identified with a resignation of power, and power with a denial of love. We've got to get this thing right. What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love. It is precisely this collision of immoral power with powerless morality which constitutes the major crisis of our time." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Bridge

No one can build you the bridge on which you, and only you, must cross the river of life. There may be countless trails and bridges and demigods who would gladly carry you across; but only at the price of pawning and forgoing yourself. There is one path in the world that none can walk but you. Where does it lead? Don’t ask, walk! (Nietzsche)

Character vs. reputation

Conflict

Gaslighting

10 lessons

internal ignorance

"The truth is, going against the internal stream of ignorance is way more rebellious than trying to start some sort of cultural revolution...The inner revolution will not be televised or sold on the Internet. It must take place within one's own mind and heart...Waking up is not a selfish pursuit of happiness, it is a revolutionary stance, from the inside out, for the benefit of all beings in existence." - Noah Levine

Fascism