NASA Sun, Space & Scream

@NASASun

Sure, why not? It IS Halloween!

Nice News: Eating Pie

When my daughter was 7 years-old, she once interrupted a bedtime story to tell me, "In a pie-eating contest, it doesn't matter if you win or lose because you get to eat pie."  I think about that a lot.

-- NicolasG, nicenews.com

Other Nice News....

We Can Do, Heal, or Correct Nothing

We can try, at great personal sacrifice, to be perfectly righteous, a perfect friend, perfectly responsive, perfectly available, perfectly forgiving. But at the heart of our efforts must lie the knowledge that, by ourselves, we can do, heal, or correct nothing. The point is not to be perfect, but to “perfectly” leave Christ to do, heal, and correct in us what he wills. 

-- Heather King

3 Observations & A Question

Sometimes it is hard to tell whether we should be directing more of life or cooperating more with it.

Our true desires are too often submerged below many layers of other things.

You really can’t expect of someone something they don’t expect of themselves, unless you are willing to do the long, slow work of helping them see what they can expect of themselves.

Where do we get our expectations — are they more largely innate within us or imposed upon us?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question….

Epic Lightning Storm and Swirling Star Trails Caught in One Incredible Photo

Photographer Marc Sellés Limós captured this photo of an epic lightning storm while also encapsulating star trails caused by the Earth’s rotation.  ...continue here.

Those Who Dwell

Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.

-- Rachel Carson

Tyranny of Ignorance & Prejudice

For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information, or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise. 

-- Benjamin Franklin

...we are being seriously played by the current machinery of political personality.

Religious prejudices are the deepest of all prejudices, and religious conservatism is the most conservative of all conservatisms. It may take a whole generation to emancipate the mass of the people from the tyranny of ignorance and prejudice.

-- Philip Schaff, 1885

So, on that premise, it's only going to get worse, unless we embrace a more fundamental shift:

Instagram: sarcasticlutheran

LT: Isn't Linear

Know that career progression isn’t linear — sometimes you have to go sideways for a while before you go up. Broadening your experience is hugely valuable. The more you learn, the more valuable you are to this company or the next.

-- Janet M., Orlando

Patiently Waiting

Ever noticed...that Truth is always just sitting there in the background?

It really doesn’t care whether I believe it or not, whether I know about it, or even whether I engage with it — it just sits there and patiently waits until I’m ready for it.

Seeking God

In many circles, seeking God is, among other things, a virtue.

But too often, seeking God often drifts faster towards clichéd beliefs than towards true activity.

In that context, perhaps it is helpful to contrast what seeking God is with what seeking God isn't.

Contrasts would only scratch the surface, to be sure.  But, at the very least, seeking God would need to include being actively interested in what God is interested in — to be doing the kinds of things God did, especially as represented by what Jesus did.

Population Shifts in the US

AXIOS

3 Observations & A Question

One predator of the 'moment' is analysis.

More than anything else, our experiences (good or bad) inform what we believe.

You can’t really trade the means for the ends — they’re always one and the same.

We just can't avoid this one — why is it that Jesus spent so much time with marginalized people...and so many who claim Jesus don't?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question….

On The Lighter Side: TSN - Top 10 Bad Luck Moments

On the Lighter Side:

  

Verses to the Moon

'Poem for the week' -- "Verses to the Moon":

Oh moon, who now look over the roof

of the church, in the tropical calm

to be saluted by him who has been out all night,

to be barked at by the dogs of the suburbs,

Oh moon who in your silence have laughed at

all things! In your sidereal silence 

when, keeping carefully in the shadow, the

municipal judge steals from some den.

But you offer, saturnine traveler,

with what eloquence in mute space

consolation to him whose life is broken,

while there sing to you from a drunken brawl

long-haired, neurasthenic bards,

and lousy creatures who play dominos.

-- Luis Carlos López

Revealed

There is no deeper desire than the desire of being revealed.

-- Kahlil Gibran

I Got Nothin'

I got nothin' today.

...some days really are like that, aren't they?  

No shortage of material, actually.  Just of motivation — maybe it's how I slept last night, or how I woke up, or some kind of general malaise....

Unless there's something wrong with just me, I'm guessing this is more common than we think (or like to admit).  And, we live in a culture where this is not particularly fashionable — we always have to be presenting something or have something to say.

But, what if we don't?  Will we really lose what we tend to think we would?

Besides, we don't always have something to say — and making up stuff to compensate is more than a little weird (when you really think about it).

So (before I end up contradicting myself by going on and on after all)...

...I got nothing today.

LT: Little Congruence

Instagram: richvillodas

The level of power we hold must be commensurate with the level of inner work we have done (and are doing).  Otherwise we destroy people & ourselves.

This is why there's so many tragedies of leadership in our world:  There is little congruence between our inner and outer lives.

-- Rich Villodas

Approval

I’m wondering…how much of our actions are organized for approval from someone or a group whose approval we need or desire?

Would the actual percentage astonish us?

Doesn't so much of the group behavior that we observe around us really come down to that question? We are believing (behaving) this way, because it gets us some form of approval from the group with which we want to be associated.

IF that's true, what is it that we're really after?

Great Simplicity

The first way to develop presence is in living each day with great simplicity.

The practice of the presence of God, although a little difficult at first, secretly achieves marvelous effects in the soul, attracting an abundance of God’s graces, and when done faithfully, it imperceptibly leads the soul to this simple awareness, to this loving view of God present everywhere. This is the most sacred, the most robust, the easiest, and the most effective form of prayer.

-- Brother Lawrence

3 Observations & A Question

Establishing your ways and becoming set in them are not the same thing.

Even a tacit review of history exposes the fact that many acts we view now as barbaric were not particularly viewed that way at the time.

Religion often tries to manage power. Love releases it.

How can some days feel so monotonous, while others feel so full of wonder?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question….

Fall Tree Of The Day, 2022

In light of yesterday's post, here is this year's contribution to a now annual series — Fall Tree Of The Day:

 

Winona Lake, IN

More Fall pics here....

The Autumn

Poem for the week' -- "The Autumn":

Go, sit upon the lofty hill,

    And turn your eyes around,

Where waving woods and waters wild

    Do hymn an autumn sound.

The summer sun is faint on them —

    The summer flowers depart —

Sit still — as all transform'd to stone,

    Except your musing heart.

How there you sat in summer-time,

    May yet be in your mind;

And how you heard the green woods sing

    Beneath the freshening wind.

Though the same wind now blows around,

    You would its blast recall;

For every breath that stirs the trees,

    Doth cause a leaf to fall.

Oh! like that wind, is all the mirth

    That flesh and dust impart:

We cannot bear its visitings,

    When change is on the heart.

Gay words and jests may make us smile,

    When Sorrow is asleep;

But other things must make us smile,

    When Sorrow bids us weep!

The dearest hands that clasp our hands, —

    Their presence may be o'er;

The dearest voice that meets our ear,

    That tone may come no more!

Youth fades; and then, the joys of youth,

    Which once refresh'd our mind,

Shall come — as, on those sighing woods,

    The chilling autumn wind.

Hear not the wind — view not the woods;

    Look out o'er vale and hill-

In spring, the sky encircled them —

    The sky is round them still.

Come autumn's scathe — come winter's cold —

    Come change — and human fate!

Whatever prospect Heaven doth bound,

    Can ne'er be desolate.

-- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Try Slowing Down

For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.

-- Jane Wagner

Skinning Our Knees

My grandson recently fell and skinned his...nose.

It got me thinking — why do we react, or not react, the way we do...to events like skinned knees (or noses)?

And, I've concluded maybe we all should keep skinning our knees....

When a kid falls down and scratches his or her knee, we seem pretty much OK about it (a little more concerned when it's their face). But, the basics are there — we kind of know a few things about this situation and don’t really worry about it too much.

The reality is that skinning your knee (at any age), even it it feels uncomfortable or painful, is not too “serious". Somehow the bumps, bruises and scrapes of children on things like sidewalks are just part of what it takes for them to understand where and how to be careful — to learn what to watch out for, when to be cautious, etc. We empathize and hold them for a few minutes, but we don’t go overboard and we don’t take them to the hospital. We kind of know that, in some way, it’s a necessary part of their process of discovery in navigating a world where such things are learned about how to avoid some of the problems or things that can be painful in life.

But, here's another observation. It would appear that we have a decreasing capacity to handle much pain individually or as a society. Sometimes it feels like nearly any contrivance is an offense of epic proportions, and one hast to wonder what our kids are learning as a result of that kind of collective disposition to life. It’s almost as if we now have no tolerance for pain, dealing with it primarily by to trying to extinguish it all together with a rather wide variety of tactics.

Perhaps, like many things in our society, a lot of the remedies that we have are no longer viewed simply as situational enhancements. They have become the only means with which we know how to experience something. Take pain medication, for example, if we can't get it, then it appears at times that we think we will die. We know that’s not literally true, but psychologically it sometimes appears as if we believe it is.

Either way, the question might start to become, do we get too good at avoiding our skinned knees situations? Do we get too good at navigating and avoiding; anticipating everything that could result in the scrapes and bruises of life? I’m afraid, sometimes we do; at least, those of us who are privileged to have the option of making those kinds of choices. But, it’s also a little conspicuous that the flip-side of avoiding anything that would be a bump or bruise in life can end up keeping us from doing or trying anything.

The beauty of children and an unanticipated crack is...finish here.

LT: Attention Under Assault

A primary task of leadership is to direct attention. To do so, leaders must learn to focus their own attention. Attention is the basis of the most essential of leadership skills — emotional, organizational, and strategic intelligence. And never has it been under greater assault.

-- Daniel Goleman

We All Make Assumptions

I've noticed...we make assumptions about other people all the time; at least I do...often to my chagrin.

My chagrin, however, is likely not the most significant thing about doing this....

Happy Are The Peacemakers

5 minutes on Jesus' version of peace....

Randoms...?

Many current manifestations are related to prior problems.

New times test old assumptions.

Empathy requires understanding and understanding requires acknowledgement.

At the end of the day, truth is exhausting (at least the human experience of it) — but, isn’t this why the beauty and power of truth is not as much its integrity or perfection (completeness), as its ability to come to life through the human experience of it?

Prior Randoms...?

2022 Audubon Photography Awards

Amazing photography:

2022 Audubon Photography Awards

A Decade

'Poem for the week' -- "A Decade":

When you came, you were like red wine and honey,

And the taste of you burnt my mouth with its sweetness.

Now you are like morning bread,

Smooth and pleasant.

I hardly taste you at all for I know your savour,

But I am completely nourished.

-- Amy Lowell

Nothing For You

Character is how you treat those who can do nothing for you.

-- Anonymous

Which History?

UPDATED:  Full-disclosure — the first version of the below was…well, a bit of a mess (really needed an editor, at the very least).  Hopefully, this version makes a little more sense, of the essence anyway.  At the very least, a little more readable.

I've been thinking more about last Wednesday's post.

When considering the nature of history, it seems important to ask a question pretty quickly — which history?

I know, for example, that I grew up quite differently than many other people — not necessarily in my neighborhood, but certainly in my geography.  It wasn't better per se, just different.  Is that important to recognize?  If not, when could it be?

As a society, we have and continue to discover the diversity of our lived experience historically.  So much so that it, in fact, surprises us.

You could have the impression right now, especially in some sectors of our society, that the value of history (other than the one I'm familiar with) is relatively insignificant.  It could seem as if the only thing that really matters is our present experience. Certainly, our present experience matters. But, we must acknowledge that the way we experience the present is highly conditioned by our particular past.  And, the ideas that our mythologies have brought us influence the ways we try to understand the present experience we have.  This is especially true collectively, which of course translates to how we see and do things personally. By asking this question about history, we both acknowledge and potentially address the reality that the experiences of different groups of people can vary greatly.

We can have a kind of cognitive integrity and acknowledge that any recording or documentation of history is influenced largely by the context that the person or people who are doing the recording are living in. Obviously, this is a given, because you can’t record something that you’re not seeing or experiencing. This would have to mean that history itself is largely a recording of specific sets of experiences, even if experienced commonly by other people, due to things like circumstances, or technologies, or whatever else the context may be.  Any particular recording of history involved is a record of what felt important to record at that place in that moment of time. 

We know, for example, that a record of history in eras when transportation was nearly exclusive to animals would have had all kinds of implications in terms of both what was experienced and what wasn’t (simply because of technology that was yet unavailable). Or, what about astrologers?  They were able to deduce through observation (mostly using the human eye or perhaps primitive versions of telescopes). Obviously, they could not portray what can be seen now, in both depth and range, with  telescope technologies available today.  So, the rate or extent of understanding, at any given point, by any given person or people recording things, was obviously constrained by what was able to be a) seen and b) recorded. 

We could go on and on, but a question might be bubbling up...finish here.

LT: Must Belong

If a movement is to have an impact, it must belong to those who join it, not those who lead it.

-- Simon Sinek

Psychological Gaps

Ever noticed...that, in one way or another, nearly everyone has gaps psychologically?

Even when these are difficult, perhaps they are among our better opportunities to extend kindness.

That It Is You, God

When the signs of age begin to mark my body (and still more when they touch my mind); when the ill that is to diminish me or carry me off strikes from without or is born within me; when the painful moment comes in which I suddenly awaken to the fact that I am ill or growing old; and above all at that last moment when I feel I am losing hold of myself and am absolutely passive within the hands of the great unknown forces that have formed me; in all those dark moments, O God, grant that I may understand that it is You (provided only my faith is strong enough) who are painfully parting the fibres of my being in order to penetrate to the very marrow of my substance and bear me away within Yourself.

-- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Stickers

 Sometimes, it’s all about the stickers.

Randoms...? (from Others)

BONUS (given that it's now October!):

I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.

-- L.M. Montgomery

Now, back to the music:

Imagine living life so carefully that there are no signs you lived at all.

-- Raven Leilani

Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. -- Paulo Coelho

The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn. -- Gloria Steinem

Your mind can deceive you and put all kinds of barriers between you and your nature; but your body does not lie. Your body tells you, if you attend to it, how your life is and whether you are living from your soul or from the labyrinths of your negativity.

-- John O’Donohue

...any thread?  Prior Randoms...? (from Others).

Seriously?

AXIOS

I saw something similar this week, too, in our our town.  They're selling...because we're buying.

Oh, regarding those selling us stuff, it's challenging sometimes to avoid being cynical at patent self-interest of our politicians: