All Foam And All Dreams

Oh how smoothly, how swiftly and horribly, how cruelly and thoroughly, one discovers the powers and prowess of Maya, the Supreme Power of Illusions!  With a simple sleight of her hand, léger de main, everything changes in a moment; electrically charged, exciting years of life shrink to moments – just to realize that all that fascinating reality had been a dream.  Perhaps all that happened before had been a continuous sequence of beautiful images that one would admire and fall in love with, only to realize at the end that it’s all a game of dreams, illusions and Maya.  The reality also strikes, at the same moment, that everything one would still experience in the future, would see with one’s eyes and feel with one’s hands, up to the moment of one’s death — that everything is not going to be any different in substance, or any different in kind.  Why should it be?  It’s always been all a game, all foam and all dreams.  It’s Maya, the lovely and frightful, delicious and desperate kaleidoscope of life with its searing delights, intertwined with its searing sorrows, the amazing show that has been ongoing since the dawn of Universe.
— Deodatta V. Shenai-Khatkhate
Originally found at:  https://dshenai.wordpress.com/2015/01/03/illusions-of-maya/
[I followed this blog for a couple of years.  Unfortunately, it is now a “private” site on WordPress.  Our loss…  —  KMAB]
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2016	Inconvenienced By Degree
2015	Sincerity
2014	Prayers For Junior
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2013	Interesting Drink
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2012	Smile
2011	Come Forward

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Senate Perfidy

Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed.
—  Albert Einstein
[Friday’s vote in the U.S. Senate…  I’ve been reading some of the press releases from the Republican Senators who voted to block all new testimony and evidence in the impeachment trial of President Trump:  We don’t need anymore new evidence because the House Managers have proven the President is guilty and we don’t want the American public to hear anymore evidence in “our” (Republican controlled) chamber.  We’ve closed the book on this case, so let’s get on with voting to dismiss the impeachment because we Republicans don’t care that he’s guilty of violating his oath of Office by abusing his power.  (paraphrasing Tennessee Republican Senator Lamar Alexander)  What Alexander didn’t say was:  “I’m not even willing to discuss the President’s guilt in obstructing Congress ’cause I just said he was guilty and why should a guilty Republican President have to provide evidence (documents or witnesses) about his own guilt just because a Democratic controlled House of Representatives wants us to fulfill our Constitution mandated oversight responsibilities.”
The above quote (from Einstein) was found at one of the blogs I follow:   https://aponderingmind.org
The specific link is:  https://aponderingmind.org/2020/01/01/three-great-forces-rule-the-world-stupidity-fear-and-greed-albert-einstein/
Please visit the site if you have a spare moment…  —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2019	Contributing To Congress
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2018	But Take Heart
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2017	The Few, The Many, The Most
2016	To My Brother
2015	For Junior
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2014	Hmmm
2013	What’s A Motto With You?
2012	Worthy Companions
2011	Bourne Again
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Curing With Salt

The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.
—  Isak Dinesen
[Found at: The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally
The link to the specific post is:  https://annkoplow.wordpress.com/2017/10/16/day-1750-water/
The site is maintained by:  Ann Koplow.
Please give her blog a visit if you have some spare time.  —  KMAB
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On This Day In:
2018	A Politician With Skills
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2017	A Lone, Brave Voice…
2016	Job Security
2015	For I Have Always Lived Violently
2014	We Stand !! (I Stand With George)
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2013	In The Present Day
2012	Feeling It
2011	Stretching Science

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Not Personal

Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience, but the conscience of the whole of humanity.  Those who clearly recognize the voice of their own conscience usually recognize the voice of justice.
—  Aleksandr Solzhenitshyn
[This quote was found at one of the blogs I follow:  I didn’t have my glasses on….
The original post can be found at:  https://ididnthavemyglasseson.com/2019/09/08/disorientation/
Please give the site a visit if you have a spare moment or two…  —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2018	Preference For Irrationality
2017	All At Once
2016	One Of My Vices
2015	The War Lord
2014	Orange October (II) – Giants Win NLDS Game 2 In 18 Innings (2 to 1)!!
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2013	Fulfilled Acceptance
2012	Error Is Tolerated Here (So Far)
2011	In Defense Of Pain

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My Last Must Be My Best

I will live this day as if it is my last.
And what shall I do with this last precious day, which remains in my keeping?  First, I will seal up its container of life so that not one drop spills itself upon the sand.  I will waste not a moment mourning yesterday’s misfortunes, yesterday’s defeats, yesterday’s aches of the heart, for why should I throw good after bad?
Can sand flow upward in the hourglass?  Will the sun rise where it sets and set where it rises?  Can I relive the errors of yesterday and right them?  Can I become younger than yesterday?  No.  Yesterday is buried forever and I will think of it no more.
I will live this day as if it is my last.
And what then shall I do?  Forgetting yesterday neither will I think of tomorrow.  Why should I throw now after maybe?  Can tomorrow’s sand flow through the glass before today’s?  Will the sun rise twice this morning?  Can I perform tomorrow’s deeds while standing in today’s path?  Can I place tomorrow’s gold in today’s purse?  Should I concern myself over events, which I may never witness?  Should I torment myself with problems that may never come to pass?  No!  Tomorrow lies buried with yesterday, and I will think of it no more.
I will live this day as if it is my last.
This day is all I have and these hours are now my eternity.  I greet this sunrise with cries of joy as a prisoner who is reprieved from death.  I lift mine arms with thanks for this priceless gift of a new day.  So too, I will beat upon my heart with gratitude as I consider all who greeted yesterday’s sunrise who are no longer with the living today.  I am indeed a fortunate man and today’s hours are but a bonus, undeserved.  Why have I been allowed to live this extra day when others, far better than I have departed?  Is it that they have accomplished their purpose while mine is yet to be achieved?  Is this another opportunity for me to become the man I know I can be?  Is this my day to excel?
I will live this day as if it is my last.
I have but one life and life is naught but a measurement of time.  When I waste one I destroy the other.  If I waste today I destroy the last page of my life.  Therefore, each hour of this day will I cherish for it can never return.  It cannot be banked today to be withdrawn on the morrow, for who can trap the wind?  Each minute of this day will I grasp with both hands and fondle with love for its value is beyond price.  What dying man can purchase another breath though he willingly give all his gold?  What price dare I place on the hours ahead?  I will make them priceless!
I will live this day as if it is my last.
I will avoid with fury the killers of time.  Procrastination I will destroy with action; doubt I will bury under faith; fear I will dismember with confidence.  Where there are idle mouths I will listen not; where there are idle hands I will linger not; where there are idle bodies I will visit not.
I will live this day as if it is my last.
And if it is my last, it will be my greatest monument.  This day I will make the best day of my life.  This day I will drink every minute to its full.  I will savor its taste and give thanks.  I will maketh every hour count and each minute I will trade only for something of value.  I will labor harder than ever before and push my muscles until they cry for relief, and then I will continue.  I will make more calls than ever before.  I will sell more goods than ever before.  I will earn more gold than ever before.  Each minute of today will be more fruitful than hours of yesterday.   My last must be my best.
I will live this day as if it is my last.  And if it is not, I shall fall to my knees and give thanks.
—  Augustine “Og” Mandino II
From his book: “The Greatest Salesman in the World“
The quote is more popularly referred to (known by) as:  “Scroll V“
I originally found this at on of the blogs I follow:   https://yabakientelbaki.wordpress.com/
The original post from that site is located at:  https://yabakientelbaki.wordpress.com/2019/07/30/the-scroll-marked-v-i-will-live-this-day-as-if-it-is-my-last-5-numarali-parsomen-bugunu-son-gunummus-gibi-yasayacagim-og-mandino/
Please visit the original blog if you have a moment. I will be posting about the other nine scrolls in the future.  —  KMAB
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On This Day In:
2018	Making Friends
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2017	Sea Worthy
2016	Rising Integration
2015	No Worries
2014	Devouring The Present
2013	But So Far…
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2012	Just Like Bubbles
2011	Caring and Driving
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2010	Unwise To Trust
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2009	As for me…
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If One Is Lucky Enough

Those in the first flush of youth can tell us about the drives of the libido but will never understand the changes that happen later in life when libido flags.  They will never understand how Sophocles felt he’d escaped a “savage monster” and George Melly felt “unchained from an idiot” when libido thankfully waned.
It also takes time and experience to learn the wisdom of the importance of sex other than as a recreational pursuit.  Those searching for partners, or looking to establish families, are likely to offer fewer pearls of wisdom than those who have managed to establish long-term relationships and created stable families where the importance of sex for bonding and reproduction come to the fore.  One needs to be older to know, if one is lucky enough, how to sustain a long term sexual relationship once the novelty has faded.  Even more importantly, it takes time and consequently age, to know how to sustain love in a relationship when sexual life has changed with age and infirmity.
Found at one of the blogs I follow:  Looking back in sadness
The specific post link is:  Young People and Sex
Please visit the original site if you have a spare moment.  —  KMAB
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On This Day In:
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2017	I’m Seeing It, Too
2016	Personal Decisions
2015	Verbal Fluency
2014	Familiar
2013	Unbending
2012	Simple Sayings
2011	Wupped Again?
2010	3 and 1…
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Just Asking…

QUESTIONNAIRE
by Wendell Berry
1.  How much poison are you willing to eat for the success of the free market and global trade?  Please name your preferred poisons.
2.  For the sake of goodness, how much evil are you willing to do?  Fill in the following blanks with the names of your favorite evils and acts of hatred.
3.  What sacrifices are you prepared to make for culture and civilization?  Please list the monuments, shrines, and works of art you would most willingly destroy.
4.  In the name of patriotism and the flag, how much of our beloved land are you willing to desecrate?  List in the following spaces the mountains, rivers, towns, farms you could most readily do without.
5.  State briefly the ideas, ideals, or hopes, the energy sources, the kinds of security, for which you would kill a child.  Name, please, the children whom you would be willing to kill.
Found at one of the blogs I follow:  https://www.brainpickings.org/
The specific post link is:  https://www.brainpickings.org/2019/08/14/wendell-berry-questionnaire-amanda-palmer/?mc_cid=e1165a44ab&mc_eid=a1951a747c
Please visit the original site if you have a spare moment.  I HIGHLY recommend following this blog, but caution, the posts can be QUITE deep and insightful.  —  KMAB
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On This Day In:
2018	Or Attacks On A Free Press
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2017	Still Looking For The Key
2016	Not So Much Anymore, Boss
2015	Green Binge
2014	Overdone
2013	The Courage To Remake The World
2012	Minor Gifts
2011	I Love It When A Plan Comes Together…
2010	Eloquence
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