the quiet moments....................

 

    Why me?

    Why was I spared when so many others weren't?

    Why was I gifted with this extra time?

    And what do I do with this gift?

    This kind of introspection isn't merely a luxury of age, it's a necessity, a way to reconcile the randomness of existence with the purpose I sought.  I realized that the answers weren't in the grand events, but in the quiet moments, in the decisions made when no one was watching, in the way I chose to face each new day.

-George Raveling, What You're Made For: Powerful Life Lessons from My Career in Sports

the vital yet messy questions.........

 

The prevailing ethical framework of the [Silicon] Valley, a techno-utopian view that technology would solve all of humanity's problems, has devolved into a narrow and thin utilitarian approach, one that casts individuals as mere atoms in a system to be managed and contained.  The vital yet messy questions of what constitutes a good life, which collective endeavor society should pursue, and what a shared and national identity can make possible have been set aside as the anachronisms of another age.

-Alexander C. Karp and Nicholas W. Zamiska,  The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West

Aging like a fine wine.............

 

Good habits when you’re young are like a bizarre form of time travel. You’re sending little care packages to your future self.
Truth is, no one wants to hear about good habits. They’re not sexy. They’re not even moderately attractive in that “I know you’re bad for me, but I’m drawn to you anyway” kind of way.
-Eric Barker, from this post on aging well

allergic.........................

 

Born and bred a member of the leather-aproned class, Franklin was, at least for most of his life, more comfortable with artisans and thinkers than with the established elite, and he was allergic to the pomp and perks of hereditary aristocracy.  Throughout his life he would refer to himself as "B. Franklin, printer."

     From these attitudes sprang what may be Franklin's most important vision: an American national identity based on the virtue and values of its middle class.

-Walter Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

The Bee..................................

 

........................ouch, that one must hurt.

never ceased..............

 

But the highest minds of the world have never ceased to explore the double meaning, or, shall I say, the quadruple, or the centuple, or much more manifold meaning, of every sensuous fact: Orpheus, Empedocles, Heraclitus, Plato, Plutarch, Dante, Swedenborg, and the masters of sculpture, picture and poetry.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson, from his essay, The Poet

some quotes...............

 

Orpheus was one of the handful of Greek heroes to visit the underworld and return; his music and song had power even over Hades.
-Wikipedia

Many fires burn below the surface.
-Empedocles

Time is a game played beautifully by children.
 -Heraclitus

Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder.
-Plato

As Cæsar was at supper the discourse was of death, —which sort was the best. "That," said he, "which is unexpected."
-Plutarch

Love and the gracious heart are a single thing...

one can no more be without the other

than the reasoning mind without its reason.

-Dante

A life of kindness is the primary meaning of divine worship.

-Swedenborg

Opening paragraphs................

 

     His arrival in Philadelphia is one of the most famous scenes in autobiographical history: the bedraggled 17-year-old runaway, cheeky yet with a pretense of humility, straggling off the boat and buying three puffy rolls as he wanders up Market Street.  But wait a minute.  There's something more.  Peel back a layer and we can see him as a 65-year-old wry observer, sitting in an English country house, writing this scene, pretending it's part of a letter to his son, an illegitimate son who has become a royal governor with aristocratic pretensions and needs to be reminded of his humble roots.

-Walter Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

wisdom....................

 

Whenever you’re not sure what to say, either say nothing, or ask a question.

-Merlin Mann

sandcastles.....................

 

History is a child building a sandcastle by the sea, and that child is the whole majesty of man's power in the world.

-attributed to Heraclitus

On leadership..............

 

The real leader has no need to lead—he is content to point the way.

-Henry Miller

Can I get an Amen.......................?

 

“Success Strategies” could be an exciting new academic field, but it may be even more beneficial if its lessons are addressed in elementary and high schools as a Life Skills program.

-Michael Wade, from his substack 

In the background...............

David Benoit & Russ Freeman....their album

 

Spin...............................

 

When faced with the prospect of admitting you’re wrong or looking for a better explanation, most people get busy looking for an explanation.

-Ben Carlson, from this post

I've cut more than my share.............

In the school of life, every experience offers a lesson. . . .

Some people fully embrace learning, while others choose to cut class.

-Frank Sonnenberg

On Camus...........................

 

"I wanted to change lives, yes," Camus wrote when young, "but not the world, which I worshipped as divine."

     His deepest gift, always, had to do with finding the confidence to affirm: "The great courage is still to gaze as squarely at the light as at death."  His enduring lesson was that the difficulty—the irrationality—of life need not rob us of our joy.  That Sisyphus's efforts will always be fruitless need not mean that his life is wasted.  A plague can awaken heroism and compassion precisely because we are no longer sleepwalking through life.

-Pico Iyer, Aflame: Learning from Silence

Normal.....................

 

Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal. 

-Albert Camus

We shouldn't forget, as we learned in school, that normalcy is merely the psychosis of the majority.

Fifty years ago.....................

At the cinema............................................Tommy

 

Liked the album.  Missed the movie.  As Gene Siskel wrote:  "a disappointing, slap-dash pictorialization of the fine music of the Who [with] no cinematic flow."

Asking for directions...............

 

What we need more than ever, though, is help in discovering if we’re asking the right questions and choosing to go to the right place.

-Seth Godin, from this post

unpacking...................

 

Soil.
Air.
Sea.

Basic words for complex things.

Language is amazing,
but it compresses huge, messy concepts
into tidy signifiers like overstuffed pockets.

Unpack the common words.
See what's hiding inside.

Stone.
Sun. 
Tree.

Not simple.
Fundamental.
Each, an invitation.

-Jarod K. Anderson, Definitions

likely true.....................

 I'm crazy enough to believe that the happiest man on earth is the man with the fewest needs.

-Henry Miller

warning........................

 

Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it's the only one we have.

-Émile Chartier

immersed....................

 

We are immersed in beauty, but our eyes have no clear vision.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson, from his essay Art

idle hands..........................

 

When we lack real problems, we create imaginary ones; when we lack meaningful work, we perfect the unimportant.

-Farnum Street

Ah, politics.......................

 

The deep question in American politics today, however, concerns the fate of the Democratic Party. For Republicans, the future will look and sound like Trump and his band of young buccaneers, about to take Washington by storm. They may succeed or fail in arriving at their destination, but the direction is set. It is otherwise with the Democrats: the 2024 election shattered the party, and it isn’t clear how—or if—the pieces will come together again. . . .

Ever since, the Democrats have stumbled inside a house of mirrors, where wish is confused with reality and fatal errors appear as a mere failure to communicate. In that place of illusion, they embrace a mythology that elevates them into wondrous spirits—representatives of science, perpetual guardians of “our democracy,” saviors of a dying earth, adjudicators of perfect justice. By definition, only satanic forces could oppose such a chosen people. To abandon this mythology will be traumatic and identity-crushing. 

-Martin Gurri, from his essay Lost in the Funhouse

In the background..................

The Beach Boys.............the Endless Summer album

 

Truth.............................

 

...............................the paradox of knowledge.

forgettery..........................

 

My 'forgettery' has been just as important to my success as my memory.

-attributed to Henry Miller

questions.......................

 

It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.

-Eugene Ionèsco

Opening paragraphs.............

 

     Those little bastards were hiding out there in the tall grass.  The moon was not quite full, but bright, and it was behind them, so I could see them plain as day, though it was deep night.  Lightning bugs flashed against the black canvas.  I waited at Miss Watson's kitchen door, rocked a loose step board with my foot, knew she was going to tell me to fix it tomorrow.  I was waiting there for her to give me a pan of corn bread that she had made with my Sadie's recipe.  Waiting is a big part of a slave's life, waiting and waiting to wait some more.  Waiting for demands.  Waiting for food.  Waiting for the end of days.  Waiting for the just and deserved Christian reward at the end of it all.

     Those while boys, Huck and Tom, watched me.  They were always playing some kind of pretending game where I was eight a villain or prey, but certainly their toy.  They hopped about out there with the chiggers, mosquitoes and other biting bugs, but never made any progress toward me.  It always pays to give white folks what they want, so I stepped into the yard and called out into the night.

-Percival Everett, James

the light......................

 

The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny - it is the light that guides your way.

-attributed to Heraclitus