In The Beginning…

There was only the dark infinity in which nothing was.  And something happened.  At the distance of a star something happened, and everything began.  The Word did not come into being, but it was.  It did not break upon the silence, but it was older than the silence and the silence was made of it.
—     N. Scott Momaday
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On This Day In:
2022	Working Out
2021	Fortes Fortuna Juvat*
	Layin’ In Bed
2020	For Sale
2019	Letting Go
2018	Trying To Give More
2017	The Reproductive Value Of A Presidential Election
2016	For Me It’s Been Faith
2015	Where Many Paths And Errands Meet
2014	Rimmed Out
2013	Likeness
2012	Sums It Up Quite Well, Actually
2011	Momentary Abandonment

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Unlimited Curiosity In Finite Time

I want to know what everything is, and nothing is;  the beauty of a note and the silence which surrounds it.  I like to know and understand myself, and those whom I meet, or nearly meet.  I am conscious that I will not always be conscious:  that my curiosity is unlimited but my time is finite, and I cannot waste a moment of it in acquiring things which will not make me richer in a way I value.
The amusing thing is many would consider me as living in la la land, where poetry is a secret form of currency, and music a mode of transport which might carry me to lands and vistas invisible to the naked eye:  to where angels might dwell and we begin to forgive and truly understand the love which passes all understanding.  I can live with the opinions of the “many”, but I cannot live without my imagination.”
One of the great temptations of life is to lose sight of the beauty of the whole, or the mystery of an instant amidst the mass of worries, jealousies and insecurities which crowd in on the average day, including mine, but while I have a breath to draw I will, whatever my circumstances, raise my eyes in wonder to the horizon and marvel at the miracle of consciousness.
—     Peter Wells
Originally found at one of the blogs I follow:  Countingducks
Located at:  https://countingducks.wordpress.com
The specific post is:  A Matter Of Philosophy
https://countingducks.wordpress.com/2022/07/18/a-matter-of-philosophy/
[Please visit the original site if you have a few minutes to spare.  You’ll get hooked, too!    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2021	How Learning Infections Begin
	Stay Young At Heart
2020	Policies Not People
	Just Thinking To Myself
2019	Should I Start With My Religion?
2018	Fear And Hope
	Day 33: Good News & Prep
2017	Directions
2016	Handle With Care
2015	Nothing But Pride
2014	Go
2013	Well, Does It?
2012	Near Misses Aren’t Successes
2011	Uncomfortable Feelings
2010	San Francisco (favorites)…
	Bullets or Butter?

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“Real” Americans Believe In The Separation Of Church And State

Silence is the only language God speaks.  Everything else is a bad translation.
—     Rumi
[My message to the members of the “Christian / American Taliban”…    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2021	It Cannot Be A Science
	Fallin’ And Callin’
2020	What’s Inside You?
	Think Of Me And Smile
2019	Impeaching The Idiot In The Oval Office
2018	My Religion
	Day 22: Step And Hang
2017	Adrift In The Oval Office
	Regrets – The Donald Failed The Test
2016	Just Ask “The Donald”
2015	Did You Pass On It?
2014	Even When It Ain’t, It Is
2013	Still Happens
2012	Possessing Eternity
2011	I Thought We Were Talking About Afghanistan

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6/1 Capitol Riot Commission

Silence in the face of evil is itself evil:  God will not hold us guiltless.
Not to speak is to speak.
Not to act is to act.
―     Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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On This Day In:
2020	Fact Check: Presidential Memories
	Vote In November!
2019	Where Today’s Republican Party Is Failing America (And The President)
2018	Either / Or
2017	Redemptive Power
2016	On Calls To Renew Waterboarding / Torture
2015	Still Struggling
2014	How To Become A Saint
2013	Not Much Change
	Our Biggest Fear
2012	Brain, n.
2011	Styles Of Leadership
2010	Face Front!

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The Silent Word

There was only the dark infinity in which nothing was.  And something happened.  At the distance of a star something happened, and everything began.  The Word did not come into being, but it was.  It did not break upon the silence, but it was older than the silence and the silence was made of it.
—    Navarre Scott Momaday
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On This Day In:
2022	There Is No Fate But What You Make
2021	The Silent Word
	Touched My Hand
2020	Releasing Their Fears
2019	17 Days Until The Next Government Shutdown
2018	Disciplined Models
2017	We Cannot Afford Enemies
2016	Love Is Just A State Of Mind
2015	Waiting?
2014	Big C, Little B (II)
	Where God Has Not
2013	Chasing His Dragon
	Shaped And Molded
2012	Believe In Yourself
2011	Cultural Equivalence
	Why Not?
	Books About Books
	The Basis For Adult Continuing Education

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Sometimes Just Being There Is Enough

The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing. . .  not healing, not curing . . .  that is a friend who cares.
—     Henri J. Nouwen
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On This Day In:
2021	Still Trying To Understand
	V Memories From Saudi Arabia
2020	Sometimes Just Being There Is Enough
	And I Owe It All To You
2019	Or Live For It
2018	Happy Thanksgiving (2018)
2017	Grateful Humility
2016	Obstacles
	Election + 2 Weeks
2015	Done What You Could
2014	Impossible To Other Men
2013	Just In Case
2012	Isn’t This Just Pleasant?
2011	No Void In Sight

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Insensitive To Silence

Writing engenders in us certain attitudes toward language. It encourages us to take words for granted.  Writing has enabled us to store vast quantities of words indefinitely.  This is advantageous on the one hand but dangerous on the other.  The result is that we have developed a kind of false security where language is concerned, and our sensitivity to language has deteriorated.  And we have become in proportion insensitive to silence.
—     Navarre Scott Momaday
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On This Day In:
2019	Judging Success
2018	Something Else
	Day 21: 10% Loss
2017	Courage
2016	Don’t H8! — I’m With Her!!
2015	$20 Anyone?
2014	And Yet I Still Study
2013	Use Your Own
2012	Strengthen Freedom
2011	Attrition = A Lack Of Imagination
2010	Mind The Fire, Love
	Just Beyond My Reach…
	Even A Life Of Quiet Desperation!
	Acts Of Courage

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#45: Diarrhea Of The Mouth, Constipation Of The Brain

Either be silent or say things that are worth more than silence.
—    Leo Tolstoy
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On This Day In:
2019	Four Buffett’s
2018	Change Happens
	Day 13: Ginger / Mint Relief
2017	Still Removing Bricks
2016	Namaste
2015	Still Learning
2014	Dark Processes
2013	To The Last Link
2012	Slept In Again
2011	Home Again, Naturally
2009	Thoughts after a long day of OT…

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Insensitive To Silence

Writing engenders in us certain attitudes toward language.  It encourages us to take words for granted.  Writing has enabled us to store vast quantities of words indefinitely.  This is advantageous on the one hand but dangerous on the other.  The result is that we have developed a kind of false security where language is concerned, and our sensitivity to language has deteriorated.  And we have become in proportion insensitive to silence.
—    N. Scott Momaday
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On This Day In:
2022	But Don’t Forget It Either
2021	Appreciating Intricacy
	I Read It In A Fairy Tale
2020	Insensitive To Silence
	Weaker, Sicker And Poorer
2019	Don’t Be Small
2018	Persistence
2017	Are You A Loser?
2016	Constitution And Conscience
2015	Separate, Fearful And Imprisoned
2014	Something Worth Making
2013	Absolutely
2012	Can Do
2011	Wise Criticism

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In Silence

The contemplative waits in silence and when he is ‘answered’, it is not so much by a word that bursts into his silence.  It is by this silence itself suddenly, inexplicably, revealing itself to him as a word of great power.
—    Thomas Merton
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On This Day In:
2021	Creation Without Reservation
	From The Tiniest Embers
2020	Listening To The Trees
	Your Mind’s Made Up?
2019	In Silence
	Not Much Light Here
2018	A Gift
2017	Unless You Genuinely Are Small
2016	B1
2015	Five Things
2014	Have Faith
2013	Found In A Mine
2012	Two-Sided Coin
2011	Passionately Scorned Rules

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Speak Up / Call Out

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter.
—    Martin Luther King Jr.
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On This Day In:
2018	Does Smiling Count?
2017	Giving Much
2016	Sounds Like Class
2015	Inert Ideas
2014	Worth Anything?
2013	Bruises Before Bed (Or Why You Didn’t Answer)
	Revealed Riches
2012	Extra Gears
2011	Say What?
2010	Hello Frogs…

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Silent Purpose

Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose.
—    Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
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On This Day In:
2018	Just Bake The Cake, Man
2017	Visible Proof
2016	Poor Enough Means
2015	Still Standing
	Follow Your Heart
2014	Just Reminded
2013	A Fine Balance
2012	One Measure
2011	Seeking The Common Ground
	In Brightest Day…

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Prepare For The 2020 Election

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
—    Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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On This Day In:
2018	Why #45 Is Uncivil And Sinking
	Ole! … Ole, Ole, Ole
	Is This Still The United States Of America?
2017	Go Where?
2016	Returning To The Same Box
2015	The Hunter’s Music
2014	Dedication
2013	Unhappy Alternatives
2012	Implications
2011	Never Let Us Down

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Of Course, You Still Have To Listen

Not all of us are called to be hermits, but all of us need enough silence and solitude in our lives to enable the deeper voice of our own self to be heard at least occasionally.
—    Thomas Merton
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On This Day In:
2018	Coming Home
2017	It’s Just Around The Bend
2016	In What Direction?
2015	Embarrassing Myself Again
2014	I’ve Never Have Had
2013	Glory Days (part 1)
2012	Feeling Old?
2011	Even When I Wish Really, Really Hard
	Skeptical Fathers
	Cha-cha-cha-changes

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Quiet, Please!

A loss of silence is as serious as a loss of memory and just as disorienting.  Silence is, after all, the natural context from which we listen.  Silence is also the natural context from which we speak.
—    Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.
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On This Day In:
2022	The Invisible Community
2021	I’d Add Planning
	Whisper A Little
2020	I’m From Missouri
	Do Not Take Freedom For Granted
2019	Before & After
	Quiet, Please!
2018	Heavy On The Starch
2017	But The Beginning Of What?
2016	Today’s Rule
2015	Remembering Oklahoma City
2014	Who Was That Masked Man?
2013	Enemy Mine
2012	Strengthen Me
2011	Service, Please
2010	The Church In Crisis…

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