Friday, August 25, 2006
what could life be?
These thoughts come as a reaction to life as it passes by. Time has the ability to come back and kick the door in upon us whenever it deems the occasion warranting. Time is a double-edged sword it allows us to experience the world in a subjective context yet leaves us completely in the clutches of its beautiful and treacherous mercy. Dear pilgrim, what would the world have been like for you if you had been born fifty years before you were, or fifty years after you were? What struggles would belong to your generation, what great heights would you reach for, what accomplishments would you find breathtaking. Most importantly whom would you love? What could life possibly look like as we past through this thing we call time. What grand adventures might you be a partaker in? The imagination is something that cannot be found to have a limit, it is a thing that will never be tamed or oppressed, dream on, love on, think on, and find your way through this world that you inhabit…may your heart be blessed knowing that where you are is a good place, a place of opportunity and a place where peace can be found.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
My Dreams have been Dark of late
With the unfolding of recent events, the ocean of melon collie is as apparent as it has ever been, the world seems in slow motion and time ticks by relentlessly, the moments that we spend in desperation and moods of a less than savory nature are more than we can bear despite our ignorance of our oppressor. And we whether forced or by a spirit of inspiration move forward into whatever may come next, the future shrouded in a mist of confusion and peculiarity. We prize ourselves so highly as if we are the only ones that enter into this windowless eternity of thought, but this is blatant fallacy and we damn well know it, we are not the only ones who feel as we feel or seek as we seek, we are the same as so many both past present and future, perhaps somewhere in the recesses of our minds we discover this. Unusual and strange, individualistic or one of a kind, we are not magnificent, we are just another neither better nor worse, simply other. Another soul intrepid, searching for higher ground without a thing in the world figured out despite our familiarly with it, what are we to do, as smoke in the wind shall we pass unnoticed or will another catch wind and scream FIRE at the top of their lungs.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Albert Schweitzer
The past has the ability to come back whenever it wishes and whether we be fond of it or not there it is whenever it desires it can come back and break the door down. Hindsight is always 20/20 and hindsight is like foresight without a future. How are we to remember those who have gone before us? The rest of those who have gone before us cannot settle the unrest of those who follow. But perhaps their voices calling out to us from books and recordings can warn us and in some small way perhaps those old songs of loves gone and lost and all those writings explaining to us a wealth of insight can save us the pain that it took the authors to discover that insight.
Dr. Albert Schweitzer dedicated his life to serving mankind. He built hospitals in Africa, wrote books on theology and philosophy, and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1952.
“A man does not have to be an angel in order to be a saint.”
“You must give some time to your fellow men. Even if it’s a little thing, do something for others, something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it.”
“Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.”
“Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstandings, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.”
“Do something wonderful. People may imitate it.”
“man is a clever animal who behaves like an imbecile.”
“The time must come when inhumanity protected by custom and thoughtlessness will succumb before humanity championed by thought. Let us work that this time may come.”
“Wherever a man turns he can fid someone who needs him.”
“Seek always to do some good, somewhere. For remember, you don’t live in a world all your own. Your brothers are here, too.“
“Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will—his personal responsibility.”
“Whoever is spared personal pain must =feel himself called to help in diminishing the pain of others. We must all carry our share of the misery which lies upon the world.”
“A man can do only what a man can do. But if he does that each day he can sleep at night and do it again the next day.?
Dr. Albert Schweitzer dedicated his life to serving mankind. He built hospitals in Africa, wrote books on theology and philosophy, and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1952.
“A man does not have to be an angel in order to be a saint.”
“You must give some time to your fellow men. Even if it’s a little thing, do something for others, something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it.”
“Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.”
“Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstandings, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.”
“Do something wonderful. People may imitate it.”
“man is a clever animal who behaves like an imbecile.”
“The time must come when inhumanity protected by custom and thoughtlessness will succumb before humanity championed by thought. Let us work that this time may come.”
“Wherever a man turns he can fid someone who needs him.”
“Seek always to do some good, somewhere. For remember, you don’t live in a world all your own. Your brothers are here, too.“
“Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will—his personal responsibility.”
“Whoever is spared personal pain must =feel himself called to help in diminishing the pain of others. We must all carry our share of the misery which lies upon the world.”
“A man can do only what a man can do. But if he does that each day he can sleep at night and do it again the next day.?
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Authenticity
What many of my friends have been writing about is a little thing they like to call the search for authenticity. I wonder what it means to be authentic and to be the people that we are every day all the time without complicaiton or diversion. The question that I pose is this, is the most important search we have for authenticity? Are we supposed to be authentic even if we are murderers to the core? Is it alright for all of us to simply allow things to slide? Are we called to be authentic to ourselves or authentic to an ideal? Should we be molded to a certain code of ethics in particular, or are we simply to follow our natural inclinations for far too often things are not as they appear.
Friday, August 04, 2006
An observant heart?
This was written in front of a campfire in the woods as the flames kissed my brain here is what came out, I wonder if it will be useful for me later in life or for others later in theirs or perhaps it will be useful today?
What do we want? A question that we are not willing to think about, a question that we are not willing to linger upon because we are terrified that we will not have the answer to this supposed life defining goal. We are afraid of doing nothing, yet we are afraid to commit ourselves to anything. We have no earthly idea what we want, all we know is that we want lots of it whatever it is. We are a people that are wandering in the vacant hallways of our minds, too troubled to move on yet too sentimental to forget where we have come from. We seek solitude to discover this desire, yet when we get to the places were we seek this solitude we are disheveled by the lack of clarity and the lack of communion with others, we seek solitude to discover that we are terrified of being alone and even more terrified of not being understood my another.
What is the world? This is another question that we neglect, we are unaware of the reason for this lack of definition, but we press on hoping to stumble in the darkness toward the light or at least towards a light of some kind. We look to the stars praying that we will find a dream that is worthy of this thing we call life. We seek more than we understand, yet we understand less than that which we seek. Where are we to go, looking for dreams, hoping to leave a lasting impression upon the world, but are we looking to be remembered or are we looking for fame, to this question we turn away and winch at. We search for dreams that may become our own but it is the very world we wish to change that gets in our way. We are a people in search of a vision. The world is a big place, it is the sum total off all the facts that constitute it, however, the world is bigger than we ever dreamed. Full of culture and beauty, decorated with people who make that world good, but beyond that it is made up of ideas, parts, facts, knowledge, wisdom and love. Concepts that are beyond our comprehension yet we aspire to them anyway despite our failings. We are unsure why we see what we see in this world, yet we decide that there is good in this world and that this goodness is worth fighting for, yes, we are not sure what we are after, but we are sure that we are after goodness, we want to be a part of something that is bigger than ourselves, but we want to make sure that whatever that something is that it is good from the start.
We muse and hide, we play the parts, father, mother, sister, brother, friend, ally, enemy and so on and so forth, but what we seek is a transcendent sort of peace within. We all seek to find a small measure of peace in this life and we seek it fiercely and at any cost, which may be the reason that we cannot acquire it. Peace cannot be created quickly or coaxed into being, peace must not be won at the end of a spear, peace must be courted like the dearest sort of love. We may not discover where we are going until we have been there, but we tend to overlook where there is. We have in mind where there is, we believe that it is in a fortress of solitude somewhere in the mountains or at a cabin in the middle of nowhere, we believe it may be near the sea or any number of beautiful places, however seldom do we thing that there is right where we are. Seldom do we think that ‘there’ is among the most beautiful of all creation, other human beings. The matter at hand is not where there is but how we will find there, for there may not be a physical destination at all, it may be held tightly within the spirit of grace. Most of the time there is a place were we find stumbling in the darkness, there is somewhere we fall ass-backward into. Perhaps it is no more than stumbling into the open arms of love with a great hope. But it is also this stumbling that we fear and there has come to be the place that we fear the most especially in view of others. So where do we begin, perhaps it will be in one another that we will see the very face of God and arrive ‘there’.
Within this ‘there’ we desperately want our lives to matter to mean more than those that are around us, we want our lives to be big, we want to be a big deal, but we forget too quickly that sometimes a life that matters doesn’t have to be big or even beautiful it just has to be ours through self-control clinging to hope. We must not forget that our lives can end at the drop of a hat, our lives are fragile and un-equivocated beautiful things, but this life that we own is owned on borrowed time, all we can do is decide what to do with the time that is given to us. (thank you Tolkien) We wonder where our dreams go when the world gets in our way, but we must look no further than where we place them. We must come to see that there is no normal or ordinary life, there is just life, we are placed on this fragile planet to live them not in fear but in light.
Dreams come and go, good friends disappear, wise men and women spin untruths, good men and women sin, rich people beg, mean people laugh and joyful people cry. There is more to life than what we see on the melon collie surface, we are not sure what to look for but its like standing at the foot of the ocean on a star filled night reaching out with our eyes before the colossal deepness and infinite possibility. We are not interested in a group effort to collectively find what we are looking for, and this is our greatest downfall, we no longer find strength in numbers, we no longer find this peace in community. If we are not the body of the living then we are nothing, yet we seek to be whole on our own, apart from the herd before we are willing to commit to anything in a group. We have been handed a false sense of collection, that we must be a collected whole before we are worthy to enter into communion. This is why our society has made a mockery of family; we have disgraced the sacred familia. We are wanderers all seeking our own way. We speak well of the dead regardless of whether or not the individual was a basterd in life, in death they are beautiful individuals that the world will miss, even though nothing is farther from the truth. If we are not sisters and brothers, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, friends and neighbors then we are nothing.
We also cannot worry about the future, we must rather seize the day, we must do the things that we feel are right. We have not choice but to always stand with the oppressed, we have to choose to always speak the truth even if it leads to our death and we must defend those who cannot defend themselves. We must learn from the generations that have proceeded us, we must live and be mindful that life is a precious commodity that cannot be replaced. There is so much that we have to learn, so many questions that we have yet to ask and so many roads that we have yet to walk. We all seek to walk a path that no one has taken, we all desire to think a thought that no one has though before, we all want to have an apple that no one has been eating. We try so hard to be original when what we need is the classic. We struggle to keep our individuality so much that it enslaves us to be someone we never intended nor ever desired to be. It will take us a long time to get back to square one, but if we want to get anywhere, that is where we must get to.
What do we want? A question that we are not willing to think about, a question that we are not willing to linger upon because we are terrified that we will not have the answer to this supposed life defining goal. We are afraid of doing nothing, yet we are afraid to commit ourselves to anything. We have no earthly idea what we want, all we know is that we want lots of it whatever it is. We are a people that are wandering in the vacant hallways of our minds, too troubled to move on yet too sentimental to forget where we have come from. We seek solitude to discover this desire, yet when we get to the places were we seek this solitude we are disheveled by the lack of clarity and the lack of communion with others, we seek solitude to discover that we are terrified of being alone and even more terrified of not being understood my another.
What is the world? This is another question that we neglect, we are unaware of the reason for this lack of definition, but we press on hoping to stumble in the darkness toward the light or at least towards a light of some kind. We look to the stars praying that we will find a dream that is worthy of this thing we call life. We seek more than we understand, yet we understand less than that which we seek. Where are we to go, looking for dreams, hoping to leave a lasting impression upon the world, but are we looking to be remembered or are we looking for fame, to this question we turn away and winch at. We search for dreams that may become our own but it is the very world we wish to change that gets in our way. We are a people in search of a vision. The world is a big place, it is the sum total off all the facts that constitute it, however, the world is bigger than we ever dreamed. Full of culture and beauty, decorated with people who make that world good, but beyond that it is made up of ideas, parts, facts, knowledge, wisdom and love. Concepts that are beyond our comprehension yet we aspire to them anyway despite our failings. We are unsure why we see what we see in this world, yet we decide that there is good in this world and that this goodness is worth fighting for, yes, we are not sure what we are after, but we are sure that we are after goodness, we want to be a part of something that is bigger than ourselves, but we want to make sure that whatever that something is that it is good from the start.
We muse and hide, we play the parts, father, mother, sister, brother, friend, ally, enemy and so on and so forth, but what we seek is a transcendent sort of peace within. We all seek to find a small measure of peace in this life and we seek it fiercely and at any cost, which may be the reason that we cannot acquire it. Peace cannot be created quickly or coaxed into being, peace must not be won at the end of a spear, peace must be courted like the dearest sort of love. We may not discover where we are going until we have been there, but we tend to overlook where there is. We have in mind where there is, we believe that it is in a fortress of solitude somewhere in the mountains or at a cabin in the middle of nowhere, we believe it may be near the sea or any number of beautiful places, however seldom do we thing that there is right where we are. Seldom do we think that ‘there’ is among the most beautiful of all creation, other human beings. The matter at hand is not where there is but how we will find there, for there may not be a physical destination at all, it may be held tightly within the spirit of grace. Most of the time there is a place were we find stumbling in the darkness, there is somewhere we fall ass-backward into. Perhaps it is no more than stumbling into the open arms of love with a great hope. But it is also this stumbling that we fear and there has come to be the place that we fear the most especially in view of others. So where do we begin, perhaps it will be in one another that we will see the very face of God and arrive ‘there’.
Within this ‘there’ we desperately want our lives to matter to mean more than those that are around us, we want our lives to be big, we want to be a big deal, but we forget too quickly that sometimes a life that matters doesn’t have to be big or even beautiful it just has to be ours through self-control clinging to hope. We must not forget that our lives can end at the drop of a hat, our lives are fragile and un-equivocated beautiful things, but this life that we own is owned on borrowed time, all we can do is decide what to do with the time that is given to us. (thank you Tolkien) We wonder where our dreams go when the world gets in our way, but we must look no further than where we place them. We must come to see that there is no normal or ordinary life, there is just life, we are placed on this fragile planet to live them not in fear but in light.
Dreams come and go, good friends disappear, wise men and women spin untruths, good men and women sin, rich people beg, mean people laugh and joyful people cry. There is more to life than what we see on the melon collie surface, we are not sure what to look for but its like standing at the foot of the ocean on a star filled night reaching out with our eyes before the colossal deepness and infinite possibility. We are not interested in a group effort to collectively find what we are looking for, and this is our greatest downfall, we no longer find strength in numbers, we no longer find this peace in community. If we are not the body of the living then we are nothing, yet we seek to be whole on our own, apart from the herd before we are willing to commit to anything in a group. We have been handed a false sense of collection, that we must be a collected whole before we are worthy to enter into communion. This is why our society has made a mockery of family; we have disgraced the sacred familia. We are wanderers all seeking our own way. We speak well of the dead regardless of whether or not the individual was a basterd in life, in death they are beautiful individuals that the world will miss, even though nothing is farther from the truth. If we are not sisters and brothers, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, friends and neighbors then we are nothing.
We also cannot worry about the future, we must rather seize the day, we must do the things that we feel are right. We have not choice but to always stand with the oppressed, we have to choose to always speak the truth even if it leads to our death and we must defend those who cannot defend themselves. We must learn from the generations that have proceeded us, we must live and be mindful that life is a precious commodity that cannot be replaced. There is so much that we have to learn, so many questions that we have yet to ask and so many roads that we have yet to walk. We all seek to walk a path that no one has taken, we all desire to think a thought that no one has though before, we all want to have an apple that no one has been eating. We try so hard to be original when what we need is the classic. We struggle to keep our individuality so much that it enslaves us to be someone we never intended nor ever desired to be. It will take us a long time to get back to square one, but if we want to get anywhere, that is where we must get to.
Perhaps a purpose?
This blog was inspired by a couple of friends of mine who also blog, I am hoping that this will be a spill canvas for my quasi-philosophical, amateur-poetic semi-self-absorbed thoughts. However, this blog will not by necessity be some random vicarious Frankenstein of coincidences either. Perhaps there will be a purpose in the musings of my itty-bitty brain that will produce a beautiful symphony of thought that is not random or by pure chance but perhaps in time will become a well knit together cornucopia of dreams and hope that will culminate in creating an intricate tapestry of articulation that brings hope and maybe even a little color to this drab place we call earth. Here's Hoping!
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