Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
The Woods
If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen.
~ Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)
~ Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
poem
white sky morning
four birds share three black wires
a fifth bird arrives
then leaves
then leaves
two more take its place
fighting for myself
facing fears alone
I dare to let them go
I dare to let them go
on wings in silent space
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Your Most Important Desire
Write the following on a piece of red paper and keep it under your pillow. "I, [put your name here], do solemnly swear on this day, [put date here], that I will devote myself for a period of seven days to learning my most important desire. No other thought will be more uppermost in my mind. No other concern will divert me from tracking down every clue that might assist me in my drive to ascertain the one experience in this world that deserves my brilliant passion above all others."
~ Rob Breszny
Paradox & Bedrock
The personification of the natural is exactly the tendency I wish to suppress in myself, to eliminate for good. I am here not only to evade for a while the clamor and filth and confusion of the cultural apparatus but also to confront, immediately and directly if it's possible, the bare bones of existence, the elemental and fundamental, the bedrock which sustains us. I want to be able to look at and into a juniper tree, a piece of quartz, a vulture, a spider, and see it as it is in itself, devoid of all humanly ascribed qualities, anti-Kantian, even the categories of scientific description. To meet God or Medusa face to face, even if it means risking everything human in myself. I dream of a hard and brutal mysticism in which the naked self merges with a non-human world and yet somehow survives still intact, individual, separate. Paradox and bedrock.
~ Edward Abbey
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
Saguaro National Park
The wind will not stop. Gusts of sand swirl before me, stinging my face. But there is still too much to see and marvel at, the world very much alive in the bright light and wind, exultant with the fever of spring, the delight of morning. Strolling on, it seems to me that the strangeness and wonder of existence are emphasized here, in the desert, by the comparative sparsity of the flora and fauna: life not crowded upon life as in other places but scattered abroad in spareness and simplicity, with a generous gift of space for each herb and bush and tree, each stem of grass, so that the living organism stands out bold and brave and vivid against the lifeless sand and barren rock. The extreme clarity of the desert light is equaled by the extreme individuation of desert life forms. Love flowers best in openness and freedom.
~ Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire, A Season in the Wilderness
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
The Value of Life
Today, Dan Wheldon, this year's Indy 500 winner, was pronounced dead at University Hospital from injuries suffered in a 15-car crash on Lap 11 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. I had a brief encounter with Dan when I met him ten years ago at Portland International Raceway, said hello, and got his autograph. I remember thinking at the time he was kind of snobby, but as he got older I thought he became more cool. From my perspective, he was just starting out then, young, and just starting to build his career, though I know it began much earlier than that. I remember he had a great on-track battle with his team-mate Townsend Bell that day and finished second. I never guessed he would one day be a two-time Indy 500 winner. I got chills all over my body today when they made the announcement of his death. It's weird thinking about how people touch you're life. One second we're here, the next second we're not. Enjoy and love your life. Someday you won't have it.
The Inner Voice
The inner voice is a voice of a fuller life, of a wider, more comprehensive consciousness. That is why, in mythology, the birth of a hero or symbolic rebirth coincides with sunrise, for the growth of personality is synonymous with an increase of self-consciousness. For the same reason most heroes are characterized by solar attributes, and the moment of birth of their greater personality is known as illumination.
~ C.G. Jung
~ C.G. Jung
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Friday, October 14, 2011
Carl Sagan
Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle requires vigilance, dedication and courage. But if we don’t practice these tough habits of thought, we cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that face us-and we risk becoming a nation of suckers, a world of suckers, up for grabs by the next charlatan who saunters along.
Hurtling Through Space
What I remember about skydiving is that I had to surrender to my own death. In everything else in my life I felt that I had a choice. But once I threw myself out the hatch I didn't. It's the scariest thing I've ever done and yet I lived. I'm still not sure I understand why. So I went back and did it again, as if to prove something to myself. I don't know what. Today is my 3rd jump. My feet will be on the ground, but my heart just left the plane.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
3 For 1
You can learn to be lucky. It's not a mystical force you're born with, but a habit you can develop. How? For starters, be open to new experiences, trust your gut wisdom, expect good fortune, see the bright side of challenging events, and master the art of maximizing serendipitous opportunities.
Assume that your drive to experience pleasure isn't a barrier to your spiritual growth, but is in fact essential to it. Proceed on the hypothesis that cultivating joy can make you a more ethical and compassionate person. Imagine that feeling good has something important to teach you every day.
Identify three activities you can do not because they're "good for you" or because they'll advance some goal you're pursuing, but simply for the sheer fun of it.
~ Rob Breszny
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
Imagine Peace Tower
If we want everything to remain as it is, it will become necessary for everything to change.
~ Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Friday, October 7, 2011
Future Technology
Computers come from a form of energy that existed before there were computers. I remember having no awareness of it because there was nothing to be aware of. That energy is ubiquitous and so are the people using it, many of whom have no memory of it not existing. So much of our civilization is based on computers, having replaced the ways in which things were done before. I wonder what more exists that we are not yet aware of. I wonder what's next?
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
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