Something That Is Absolute

Perhaps the logical question to ask at this point is: Why Go?  The answer is that when a man has been there and undergone the baptism of solitude he can’t help himself.  Once he has been under the spell of the vast, luminous, silent country, no other place is quite strong enough for him, no other surroundings can provide the supremely satisfying sensation of existing in the midst of something that is absolute.  He will go back, whatever the cost in comfort and money, for the absolute has no price.
—    Paul Bowles
From his book: “Their Heads are Green and Their Hands are Blue: Scenes from the Non-Christian World“
[The quote was originally found at one of the blogs I follow: “Live And Learn” on DavidKanigan.com
The specific post: http://davidkanigan.com/2016/05/14/saturday-morning-le-bapteme-de-la-solitude/
a site well worth checking out.   —    KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2016	Animate And Encourage
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2015	In Time
2014	Robust Interconnectivity
2013	What Have We Here?
2012	Tributaries And Eddies
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2011	Penultimate

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A Considerable Amount Of Work

Compared to drawing and carving, the making of pots, and the weaving of baskets, reading is a relatively recent human accomplishment, dating back no more than fifty-two hundred years.  Unlike speech, which is acquired by easy osmosis, reading is not something that comes naturally to most of us.  Instead, it must be learned, slowly and painstakingly, by each successive generation.  The eye works its way across the page in little jumps, known technically as “saccades,” pausing at intervals like a frog on a lily pad, in order to ingest the next new word.  As science writer Simon Ings explains, “The eyes literally cannot see stationary objects; they must tremble constantly in order to bring them into view.”  Whereas listening is relatively fast (one needs only a hundredth of a second between sounds in order to distinguish them), looking takes far longer (one needs at least a tenth of a second between two images if they are not to blur), and reading takes longest of all, requiring a full quarter second for each individual word.  Reading, then, involves a considerable amount of work.
—    Christian McEwen, World Enough & Time
[This quote was found at one of the blogs I follow:  “Live And Learn” at DavidKanigan.com
The specific post is located at:  http://davidkanigan.com/2016/04/03/intense-rendezvous/
David’s blog is well worth a visit.    —    KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2015	Panzer Soldier
2014	Babies (I)
2013	Patriotic == Tell The Truth
2012	30 Days To Go
2011	Altering The Course

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Acknowledging Doubt

Faith cannot block out darkness, or doubt.  When on the cross, Jesus did not cry out “Here I come!” but “My God, why have you forsaken me?”  His disciples brimmed with doubts and misgivings.
Just as courage is persisting in the face of fear, so faith is persisting in the presence of doubt.  Faith becomes then a commitment, a practice and a pact that is usually sustained by belief.  But doubt is not just a roiling, or a vulnerability;  it can also be a strength.  Doubt acknowledges our own limitations and confirms — or challenges — fundamental beliefs, and is not a detractor of belief but a crucial part of it.
…
If we don’t accept both the commonality and importance of doubt, we don’t allow for the possibility of mistakes or misjudgments.  While certainty frequently calcifies into rigidity, intolerance and self-righteousness, doubt can deepen, clarify and explain.  This is, of course, a subject far broader than belief in God.
The philosopher Bertrand Russell put it best.  The whole problem with the world, he wrote, is that “the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.”
Of that at least we can be certain.  I’m pretty sure, anyway.
—    Julia Baird
From her Op/Ed contribution to the New Your Times:  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/26/opinion/julia-baird-doubt-as-a-sign-of-faith.html
[I originally found this quote at one of the blogs I follow:  http://davidkanigan.com/
The specific post is:  http://davidkanigan.com/2014/09/28/lets-hope-so/    —    KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2013	Fulfilled Acceptance
2012	Error Is Tolerated Here (So Far)
2011	In Defense Of Pain

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True, Vibrant And Open

If we are to measure and monitor and improve anything, let it be our presence and character, a mindfulness for who we are and how we are experiencing and relating with the world.  Have I been true to myself?  Have I lived vibrantly today?  Have I loved openly today?  Have I made a difference today?  Let us check in to ourselves in these ways; for, in the end, these are the only measures that matter.
—    Brendon Burchard
[Found at on of the blogs I follow: http://davidkanigan.com/
The specific post is found at: http://davidkanigan.com/2014/05/28/yet-our-useless-fascination-goes-on/
—    KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2013	Remembering, Yet Again
2012	Something Of Value
2011	Sleep All Day

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Where I Stand

Self Portrait
It doesn’t interest me if there is one God
or many gods.
I want to know if you belong or feel
abandoned.
If you know despair or can see it in others.
I want to know
if you are prepared to live in the world
with its harsh need
to change you. If you can look back
with firm eyes
saying this is where I stand. I want to know
if you know
how to melt into that fierce heat of living
falling toward
the center of your longing. I want to know
if you are willing
to live, day by day, with the consequence of love
and the bitter
unwanted passion of your sure defeat.
I have heard, in that fierce embrace, even
the gods speak of God.
—    David Whyte
From his book:  “Fire in the Earth“
[I found this poem on a blog I follow: http://davidkanigan.com
The actual post is:  http://davidkanigan.com/2013/04/09/in-that-fierce-embrace-even-the-gods-speak-of-god/
The poem’s author is David Whyte, who you can find out more about at his own blog/web site:  http://www.davidwhyte.com/home.html    —   KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2012	Hangin’ With His P’s
	Help Save
2011	Six Facets Of Good Leadership

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Before

We must be silent before we can listen.  We must listen before we can learn.  We must learn before we can prepare.  We must prepare before we can serve.  We must serve before we can lead.
—    William Arthur Ward
[Found on one of the blogs I follow.
The site is titled:  “Lead.Learn.Live.” but actually goes to  http://davidkanigan.com
This particular entry is at:  http://davidkanigan.com/2013/02/19/serve/
I don’t mention / encourage this as much as I probably should, but feel free to type the name “William Arthur Ward” into the “Look For Stuff” search box on the right hand side of my blog (hit enter) and you’ll see a number of interesting quotes from Mr. Ward.    —    KMAB]
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Cranky Old Man

What do you see nurses?  What do you see?
What are you thinking when you’re looking at me?
A cranky old man, not very wise,
Uncertain of habit, with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles his food and makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice, ‘I do wish you’d try!’
Who seems not to notice the things that you do.
And forever is losing a sock or shoe?
Who, resisting or not, lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding, the long day to fill?
Is that what you’re thinking?  Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse.  You’re not looking at me.
I’ll tell you who I am as I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, as I eat at your will.
I’m a small child of ten, with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters who love one another
A young boy of sixteen with wings on his feet
Dreaming that soon now  a lover he’ll meet.
A groom soon at twenty my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows that I promised to keep.
At twenty-five, now I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide and a secure happy home.
A man of thirty, my young now grown fast,
Bound to each other with ties that should last.
At forty, my young sons have grown and are gone,
But my woman is beside me to see I don’t mourn.
At fifty, once more, babies play ‘round my knee,
Again, we know children, my loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me.  My wife is now dead.
I look at the future.  I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing young of their own.
And I think of the years, and the love that I’ve known.
I’m now an old man and nature is cruel.
It’s jest to make old age look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles.  Grace and vigour, depart.
There is now a stone where I once had a heart.
But inside this old carcass,  A young man still dwells,
And now and again my battered heart swells.
I remember the joys, I remember the pain.
And I’m loving and living life over again.
I think of the years, all too few, gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people.  Open and see.
Not a cranky old man.
Look closer …  See …  Me.
[Another of those wonderful poems and inspirational words which end up making it to the internet and touching thousands of people.  I found this on a blog I follow maintained by David Kanigan:  Lead.Learn.Live
http://davidkanigan.com/2012/08/19/cranky-old-man/
If you have a chance, please visit David’s site and thank him for sharing this with us…     —     KMAB]
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