The Burden Of Faith

Those who never rebelled against God or at some point in their lives shaken their fists in the face of heaven, have never encountered God at all.
—  Catherine Marshall
We cannot bear to regard ourselves simply as playthings of blind chance; we cannot admit to feeling ourselves abandoned.
—  Ugo Betti
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On This Day In:
2019	Are Your Dogs Barking?
	Dangerous Waistcoats
2018	And 40+ Years Later?
2017	He Is Alone
2016	Compensation
2015	Charlie Redux
2014	The Crux
2013	Erosion And Rechannelling
	Alliance, n.
2012	How Many Thought… (One I Know Of)
	Choices And Decisions
2011	Speed Spoils
	Simply Intended
2010	A Second 4 Hour Jog

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Each Meaning

There is not one big cosmic meaning for all, there is only the meaning we each give to our own life.
—  Anais Nin
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On This Day In:
2019	The Deep End
	Is Anyone ELSE Out There Listening?
2018	Defining Characteristic
2017	Just Asking
2016	Still A Burden
	15 And Counting
2015	All A Game
2014	Two Thoughts
2013	RIP – Dear Abby
	Half-Life Problems
2012	To The Soul…
2011	Reverted!!

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Still Crazy After All These Years…

If a man would follow, today, the teachings of the Old Testament, he would be a criminal.  If he would follow the teachings of the new, he would be insane.
—  Robert G. Ingersoll
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On This Day In:
2019	20 / 20 Foresight
	He Knew Damned Well…
2018	Be Someone’s Kindling
2017	When The Moment Comes
2016	Changed Clothes Lately?
2015	Like Stone
2014	Resistance Is Futile
2013	Subtle Humor
	To Look Behind Green Eyes
2012	The Path Is Endless
2011	Happy MLK, Jr Day!!!
	A Factor Of Ten
	Better Late Than Never?
	Whoops!
	Acceptable Beginnings
	Slow Progress
	Useful Confrontation
	When Phenomena Are Different
	Creative Avoidance
	Thinking
	Fast And Flexible
	Surrender Certainty
	Techniques
	Vive La Difference
	Destiny
	Completeness
	Art

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A Profound Source

Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality.  When we recognize our place in an immensity of light‐years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty, and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual.  So are our emotions in the presence of great art or music or literature, or acts of exemplary selfless courage such as those of Mohandas Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr.  The notion that science and spirituality are somehow mutually exclusive does a disservice to both.
―  Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2019	Sad Words
2018	Self-Sorted
2017	Right
2016	At Least One Step
2015	Month To Month Rental
2014	Professional Beliefs
2013	Books Are…
2012	True Distinguishing Marks
2010	Sub-300

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My Thoughts About The X-mas Turkey…

You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.
—  Yogi Berra
[Merry Christmas to all… !!  Hug everyone at your table and say a prayer of blessings for absent friends and family.  —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2018	Merry X-mas – 2018
2017	Focus On Christmas — 2017
2016	Merry X-mas – 2016
2015	Merry X-mas – 2015
2014	Merry X-mas – 2014
2013	Merry X-mas – 2013
2012	Merry Christmas – 2012
2011	I Have Seen

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Word Up

‘In the beginning was the Word’.  I have taken as my text this evening the almighty Word itself.  Now get this: ‘There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.’  Amen, brothers and sisters, Amen.  And the riddle of the Word, ‘In the beginning was the Word….’  Now what do you suppose old John meant by that?  That cat was a preacher, and, well, you know how it is with preachers; he had something big on his mind.  Oh my, it was big; it was the Truth, and it was heavy, and old John hurried to set it down.  And in his hurry he said too much.  ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’  It was the Truth, all right, but it was more than the Truth.  The Truth was overgrown with fat, and the fat was God.  The fat was John’s God, and God stood between John and the Truth.  Old John, see, he got up one morning and caught sight of the Truth.  It must have been like a bolt of lightning, and the sight of it made him blind.  And for a moment the vision burned on the back of his eyes, and he knew what it was. In that instant he saw something he had never seen before and would never see again.  That was the instant of revelation, inspiration, Truth.  And old John, he must have fallen down on his knees.  Man, he must have been shaking and laughing and crying and yelling and praying – all at the same time – and he must have been drunk and delirious with the Truth.  You see, he had lived all his life waiting for that one moment, and it came, and it took him by surprise, and it was gone.  And he said, ‘In the beginning was the Word….’  And man, right then and there he should have stopped.  There was nothing more to say, but he went on.  He had said all there was to say, everything, but he went on.  ‘In the beginning was the Word….’  Brothers and sisters, that was the Truth, the whole of it, the essential and eternal Truth, the bone and blood and muscle of the Truth.  But he went on, old John, because he was a preacher.  The perfect vision faded from his mind, and he went on.  The instant passed, and then he had nothing but a memory.  He was desperate and confused, and in his confusion he stumbled and went on.  ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’  He went on to talk about Jews and Jerusalem, Levites and Pharisees, Moses and Philip and Andrew and Peter.  Don’t you see?  Old John had to go on.  That cat had a whole lot at stake.  He couldn’t let the Truth alone.  He couldn’t see that he had come to the end of the Truth, and he went on.  He tried to make it bigger and better than it was, but instead he only demeaned and encumbered it.  He made it soft and big with fat.  He was a preacher, and he made a complex sentence of the Truth, two sentences, three, a paragraph.  He made a sermon and theology of the Truth.  He imposed his idea of God upon the everlasting Truth.  ‘In the beginning was the Word….’  And that is all there was, and it was enough.
—  Navarre Scott Momaday
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On This Day In:
2018	But Much Is Worth Learning
2017	Mr. President, About Global Warming
2016	Starting To Stumble
2015	Begin Combat
	I Am A Runner
2014	Just Dig ‘N It, Why?
2013	Additions
	The Object Of Instruction
2012	Telling Her
2011	On Torture

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Yet We Should Keep Trying

The author of this poem [the book of Job] is a profound philosopher with a superb command of language and an exquisite sense of natural beauty.  But the astonishing thing about the book of Job is that everyone who reads it comes to a somewhat different conclusion.   Job makes us vividly aware of the paradoxes in one of life’s ultimate questions —  why do we suffer pain?  —  but he doesn’t solve the problem.  He merely demonstrates that there are no easy answers.
This is similar to one of the principal discoveries of computer science, namely that some problems are inherently so complex that they can’t possibly be solved in a finite number of steps.  We must learn to face the fact that an intellectual approach will not lead to an understanding of the cosmos; we can’t transcend our limitations.  Yet we should keep trying.  We should question authority and be aware that the traditional wisdom of religious orthodoxy might be mistaken.  This book says that after an honest search, like job’s, we’ll learn to trust God’s fairness  —  even though some good men suffer, even though some wicked men prosper, even though religion itself remains a mystery.
—  Donald E. Knuth
From his book:  “3:16 Bible Texts Illuminated“
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On This Day In:
2018	Let Us Dare
2017	Two Good To Be Real
	Secrets
2016	Learning Subtle Differences
2015	Dog Eat Dog World?
2014	And Sometimes Blogs About It
2013	Outside-In
2012	They Are All Perfect
2011	Delegation – The “How-To’s”
2009	Diet Update and Other Bits & Bobs…

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