Nature's way..........................

Well, isn't it..............................

Nowadays, in our more leisurely style of capitalism, the workaday surfer can be found at surf breaks the world over, stoked in gushing exuberance about the better waves of the day, feeling lighter about the stresses of work, acting as if the whole meaning of human existence can be found in the simple act of riding a wave.

-Aaron James,  Surfing With Sartre:  An Aquatic Inquiry Into A Life Of Meaning

Surf's up...................................

The Chantays..................................................................Pipeline

Child-like...............................

     The Warrior of the Light behaves like a child.

People are shocked;  they have forgotten that a child needs to have fun and to play, to be slightly irreverent and to ask awkward, childish questions, to talk nonsense that not even he believes in.

And they say, horrified: "So this is the spiritual path, is it?  He's so immature!"

The Warrior feels proud of such comments.  And he remains in touch with God through his innocence and his joy, without ever losing sight of his mission.

-Paulo Coelho,  Warrior Of The Light:  A Manual

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

     A song is a short story.  It might have been my buddy Harlan Howard, a writer I met in Nashville in the sixties, who first said a song ain't nothing but three cords and the truth.
     Well, songs come easy to me.  I've written hundreds of them.  I see them as little stories that fall out of our lives and imaginations.  If I have to struggle to write a song, I stop before I start.  I figure if it don't flow easy, it's not meant to be.
     The truth should flow easy.  Same for songs and stories.  If you overanalyze or torture yourself to bring them to life, something's wrong.  Just the way a mountain stream, bubbling with fresh clean water, keeps flowing, stories need to flow free and easy.  The source of water, like the source of the songs, comes from on high.  It's a natural thing.  It's a beautiful thing.

-Willie Nelson, It's A Long Story:  My Life

The world's done gone crazy...............

Willie Nelson.........................................Come On Back Jesus



Come on back Jesus (Come on back Jesus)
Come on back Jesus
And pick up John Wayne on the way
The world's done gone crazy,
And it seems to get worse everyday
So come on back Jesus,
And pick up John Wayne on the way

Time to take off the glove
They just don't respect peace anymore
But if we have old John Wayne
We know he can swing from the floor
While he kicks their butt
We'll just stand there and watch him and pray

So come on back Jesus,
And pick up John Wayne on the way

Come on back Jesus (Come on back Jesus)
Come on back Jesus
And pick up John Wayne on the way
The world's gettin' crazy,
And it seems to get worse everyday
So come on back Jesus,
And pick up John Wayne on the way

It's getting real hairy
If only old duke man was here
He'd call me old bastard
From out past the atmosphere
Lord the news looked so scary
When I glanced at the paper today

So come on back Jesus,
And pick up John Wayne on the way

Come on back Jesus (Come on back Jesus)
Come on back Jesus
And pick up John Wayne on the way
The world's gettin' crazy,
And it seems to get worse everyday
So come on back Jesus,
And pick up John Wayne on the way
Come on back Jesus, come on back Jesus
Come on back Jesus
And pick up John Wayne on the way

Choose wisely.............................

     One of the laws of consciousness is:  We are only subject to a negative thought or belief if we consciously say that it applies to us.  We are free to choose not to buy into a negative belief system.

-David Hawkins

On the importance of a culture............

     The first thing to understand is that the public peace - the sidewalk and street peace - of cities is not kept primarily by police, as necessary as police are.  It is primarily kept by an intricate, almost unconscious, network of voluntary controls and standards among the people themselves, and enforced by the people themselves.  In some city areas - older public housing projects and streets with very high population turnover are often conspicuous examples - the keeping of public sidewalk law and order is left almost entirely to the police and special guards.  Such places are jungles.  No amount of police can enforce civilization where the normal, casual enforcement of it has broken down.

-Jane Jacobs,  The Death And Life Of Great American Cities,  1961

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

At the movies.............................................................Jungle Book

Or you could just follow this blog...........

a blog to follow

Fish evolution......................

Friend Bilbo has fish on his mind

God love Randall Munroe..........

wiki here

Me too..................................

Rare Earth ...............................................I Just Want To Celebrate

Wisdom...........................

1.  Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

2.  When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.

3.  Follow the three Rs:
     - Respect for self
     - Respect for others
     - Responsibility for all your actions.

4.  Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.

5.  Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.


6-18 may be found here.


Thanks Michael

face the fact........................................

“Why do we love the idea that people might be secretly working together to control and organise the world? Because we do not like to face the fact that our world runs on a combination of chaos, incompetence, and confusion.”


– attributed to Jonathan Cainer


via

Might be the news media's main goal as well...

My sense is that we have seen a decline in thinking about politics as a tool for problem-solving. Instead, we act as if our main goal in politics is anger validation.


-Arnold Kling, as excerpted from here

I don't always read David Brooks..............

..................................but when I do, it is usually because he has written something like this:


But throughout history the wiser minds have understood that anger and moral posturing are not a good antidote to rage and fanaticism. Competing vitriols only build on each other.


In fact, the most powerful answer to fanaticism is modesty. Modesty is an epistemology directly opposed to the conspiracy mongering mind-set. It means having the courage to understand that the world is too complicated to fit into one political belief system. It means understanding there are no easy answers or malevolent conspiracies that can explain the big political questions or the existential problems. Progress is not made by crushing some swarm of malevolent foes; it’s made by finding balance between competing truths — between freedom and security, diversity and solidarity. There’s always going to be counter-evidence and mystery. There is no final arrangement that will end conflict, just endless searching and adjustment.


-as culled from his August 15th op-ed in the NYT

For Michael...............................just because

Hey Sweetie..........................

Oh, it's a long, long while 
From May to December 
But the days grow short, 
When you reach September. 
When the autumn weather 
Turn leaves to flame 
One hasn't got time 
For the waiting game. 

Oh the days dwindle down 
To a precious few . . . 
September, November . . . 
And these few precious days 
I'll spend with you. 
These precious days 
I'll spend with you.

Oh the days dwindle down 
To a precious few . . . 
September, November . . . 
And these few precious days 
I'll spend with you. 
These precious days 
I'll spend with you.
These precious days 
I'll spend with you.

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

watch some wondrous lip syncing, before it gets disappeared....