Saturday ~ March 9, 2019

There is no mystery greater than our own mystery. We are, to ourselves, unknown. And yet we do know. The thought we cannot quite think is nevertheless somehow a thought, and it lives in us without our being able to think it. We are a mystery, but we are a living mystery. The most alive thing about us is what we are when thought breaks off and our mind can go no further - for that is where our yearning begins, our inconsolable yearning, and the loneliness that begets compassion, the forlornness that prepares the heart for love.

(A. Powell Davies, 1902 - 1957)

Friday ~ March 8, 2019

Peace is not the product of despair.
An army's most invincible least used.
Strength engenders weakness when abused,
Serving best by merely being there.
One conquers in the end by being just,
Vanquishing the conscience with right.
Each child that's passed over in the right
restores just one-half bullet's worth of trust.

(Nicholas Gordon, 1940 -  )

Thursday~ March 07,2019

When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So what the hell, leap.

(Cynthia Heimel, 1947 - 2018)

Wednesday ~ March 6, 2019

Build your life one action at a time, and be happy if each act you perform contributes to a fulfilling and complete life. No one can prevent you from doing this.
"But what if some outside circumstances stands in my way?"
Not even that can stop you from acting justly, wisely, and reasonably.
"But it may block me from doing something I want to do."
Yes, but welcoming the obstacle and by calmly adapting your action to it, you will be able to do something else in harmony with your goals and with the sort of life you are seeking to build.

(Marcus Aurelius, 121 - 180)

Tuesday ~ March 5, 2019

You and I and the most distant star and the dragonfly's wing and the rustle of leaves as they fall - these all have one thing in common, which is that they all are, we are all are, part of Being. What is Being? Think of this World. Think of the great globe itself, the cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous places, the solemn temples, and all the people of this world. Then take it all away, take the world itself away and us away and so that not a rack is left behind. Think of the universe itself. Then take away all the planets and the stars, take away every form of matter and energy, take away space itself and take away time. What is left? Non-Being. So Being is what we have instead of this. Your Being and mine, the Being of our world.


(Frederick Buechner, 1926 -  )

Monday ~ March 4, 2019

In America I saw the freest and most enlightened people placed in the happiest of circumstances that the world affords. Yet it seemed to me as if a cloud habitually hung upon their brows, and I thought them serious and almost sad, even in their pleasures. In the United States, people build houses in which to spend their old age, and they sell them before the roof is on; they plant gardens and sublet them just as the trees are coming into bearing; they bring fields into tillage and leave others to gather the crops; they embrace a profession and give it up; they settle in a place, which they soon afterwards leave to carry their changeable longings elsewhere.... They who have set their hearts exclusively upon the pursuit of worldly welfare are always in a hurry, for they have but a limited time at their disposal to reach, to grasp, and to enjoy it.

(Alexis de Tocqueville, 1805 - 1859)

Sunday ~ March 3, 2019

It's a good thing to have all the props pulled out from under us occasionally. It gives us some sense of what is rock under our feet, and what is sand.

(Madeleine L'Engle, 1918 - 2007)