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QotD: We are the Change
Mar. 2nd, 2020 07:33 am"If you look throughout history, all the great changes have come from the people. We are being betrayed by those in power and they are failing us. But we will not back down...And if you feel threatened by that, I have some very bad news for you. We will not be silenced. Because we are the change. And change is coming. Whether you like it or not."
--Greta Thunberg at youth strike for climate February 2020, Bristol UK
Source: https://theecologist.org/2020/feb/28/we-are-change-and-change-coming
--Greta Thunberg at youth strike for climate February 2020, Bristol UK
Source: https://theecologist.org/2020/feb/28/we-are-change-and-change-coming
I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot,
or the look or the words,
which laid the foundation.
It is too long ago.
I was in the middle
before I knew that
I had begun.
~ Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
or the look or the words,
which laid the foundation.
It is too long ago.
I was in the middle
before I knew that
I had begun.
~ Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
QotD: How to Help
Jul. 14th, 2017 01:10 pm"Times are difficult globally;
awakening is no longer a luxury or an ideal.
It’s becoming critical.
We don’t need to add more depression,
more discouragement,
or more anger to what’s already here.
It’s becoming essential that we learn
how to relate sanely with difficult times.
The earth seems to be beseeching us
to connect with joy
and discover our innermost essence.
This is the best way
that we can benefit others."
~ Pema Chodron
awakening is no longer a luxury or an ideal.
It’s becoming critical.
We don’t need to add more depression,
more discouragement,
or more anger to what’s already here.
It’s becoming essential that we learn
how to relate sanely with difficult times.
The earth seems to be beseeching us
to connect with joy
and discover our innermost essence.
This is the best way
that we can benefit others."
~ Pema Chodron
Tags:
QotD: Uncertain Fanatics
Apr. 24th, 2017 04:10 pmYou are never dedicated to something you have complete confidence in. No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They know it's going to rise tomorrow. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kinds of dogmas or goals, it's always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt.
~ Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
About Pirsig and his book: I was made to read this book at approximately age 18, when I first started working at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina. I was quite moldable, impressionable, unformed at that age. Payson Kennedy was in charge of training and orienting all new staff, and reading this book was his one requirement. What it taught me was a lesson that took many years to sink in, that small details deserve our full attention, that doing your best it the only way to do anything right. Thank you Payson for requiring us to read this book, for it has helped form my perspective for over 30 years since then. I think it may be time to reread it.
This of course was all brought up because Pirsig has died at the age of 88. It's encouraging to note that his book was rejected by 121 publishing houses before someone decided to print it.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/04/24/525443040/-zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-author-robert-m-pirsig-dies-at-88
~ Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
About Pirsig and his book: I was made to read this book at approximately age 18, when I first started working at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina. I was quite moldable, impressionable, unformed at that age. Payson Kennedy was in charge of training and orienting all new staff, and reading this book was his one requirement. What it taught me was a lesson that took many years to sink in, that small details deserve our full attention, that doing your best it the only way to do anything right. Thank you Payson for requiring us to read this book, for it has helped form my perspective for over 30 years since then. I think it may be time to reread it.
This of course was all brought up because Pirsig has died at the age of 88. It's encouraging to note that his book was rejected by 121 publishing houses before someone decided to print it.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/04/24/525443040/-zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-author-robert-m-pirsig-dies-at-88
QotD: Reality
Apr. 15th, 2017 08:43 pmI am a lover of what is, not because I'm a spiritual person, but because it hurts when I argue with reality. We can know that reality is good just as it is, because when we argue with it, we experience tension and frustration. We don't feel natural or balanced. When we stop opposing reality, action becomes simple, fluid, kind, and fearless.
~ Byron Katie
~ Byron Katie
What I Have Learned So Far by Mary Oliver
Apr. 13th, 2017 07:52 amWhat I Have Learned So Far
Meditation is old and honorable, so why should I
not sit, every morning of my life, on the hillside,
looking into the shining world? Because, properly
attended to, delight, as well as havoc, is suggestion.
Can one be passionate about the just, the
ideal, the sublime, and the holy, and yet commit
to no labor in its cause? I don’t think so.
All summations have a beginning, all effect has a
story, all kindness begins with the sown seed.
Thought buds toward radiance. The gospel of
light is the crossroads of — indolence, or action.
Be ignited, or be gone.
~ Mary Oliver
Meditation is old and honorable, so why should I
not sit, every morning of my life, on the hillside,
looking into the shining world? Because, properly
attended to, delight, as well as havoc, is suggestion.
Can one be passionate about the just, the
ideal, the sublime, and the holy, and yet commit
to no labor in its cause? I don’t think so.
All summations have a beginning, all effect has a
story, all kindness begins with the sown seed.
Thought buds toward radiance. The gospel of
light is the crossroads of — indolence, or action.
Be ignited, or be gone.
~ Mary Oliver
QotD: Inspire Them
Nov. 11th, 2015 06:36 amNo matter what our attempts to inform,
it is our ability to inspire
that will turn the tides."
--Jan Phillips
Tags:
There are no gods, no devils,
no angels, no heaven or hell.
There is only our natural world.
Religion is but myth and superstition
that hardens hearts
and enslaves minds.
--Inscription planned for a monument
to be installed on Arkansas Capitol grounds,
if the state persists displaying
the 10 commandments.
no angels, no heaven or hell.
There is only our natural world.
Religion is but myth and superstition
that hardens hearts
and enslaves minds.
--Inscription planned for a monument
to be installed on Arkansas Capitol grounds,
if the state persists displaying
the 10 commandments.
In Memory of Oliver
Aug. 31st, 2015 02:24 pmI have been increasingly conscious, for the last 10 years or so, of deaths among my contemporaries. My generation is on the way out, and each death I have felt as an abruption, a tearing away of part of myself. There will be no one like us when we are gone, but then there is no one like anyone else, ever. When people die, they cannot be replaced. They leave holes that cannot be filled, for it is the fate — the genetic and neural fate — of every human being to be a unique individual, to find his own path, to live his own life, to die his own death.
--Oliver Sachs
(New York Times, Opinion, “Oliver Sacks on Learning He Has Terminal Cancer,” Feb. 19, 2015)
( This from the FFRF blog: )
--Oliver Sachs
(New York Times, Opinion, “Oliver Sacks on Learning He Has Terminal Cancer,” Feb. 19, 2015)
( This from the FFRF blog: )*Created tags for reason and humanism.
SOURCE
http://ffrf.org/news/blog/item/23735-remembering-oliver-sacks
QotD: What the World Needs
Aug. 29th, 2015 07:36 amDon't ask what the world needs.
Ask yourself what makes you come alive
and then go do that.
Because what the world needs
is people who have come alive.
--Howard Thurman, civil rights leader
Ask yourself what makes you come alive
and then go do that.
Because what the world needs
is people who have come alive.
--Howard Thurman, civil rights leader
Tags:
- activism,
- authenticity,
- goals,
- independence,
- inspiration,
- job,
- joy,
- legacy,
- life,
- mission statement,
- motivation,
- quotes,
- values,
- work,
- world
SCOTUS legalizes gay marriage
Jun. 30th, 2015 06:00 pmI must mark this moment when my LGBT friends are truly heartened by the change in US law. It brings a tear to my eye. My half-aunt in North Carolina is going to marry her longtime partner on Halloween day. Successful gay parents are gloating. My friends from all walks are sporting rainbows. The culture shift is generational as all large shifts must be.
Yes, yes you lawyers out there will have all manner of refinements to put on my headline. I have not really studied on this change, rather I've absorbed its impact while ignoring the news. It's just not OK anymore for states not to recognize gay marriages. Or something like that. I've heard that a state is still not obligated to PROVIDE gay marriages, but that is another step in a very long series. I've been busy with other things.... but I am noting this vibration through the land that something really has changed... and with it brings a little bit of hope that we might manage other changes.
I'm sure the social conservative media is damning. I need an antenna in that world somehow. (Thinking cult: which cults are most anti-gay?)
That cartoon of the rebel flag setting and rainbow flag rising is everywhere. Show me some fresh art, not so trite already.
Yes, yes you lawyers out there will have all manner of refinements to put on my headline. I have not really studied on this change, rather I've absorbed its impact while ignoring the news. It's just not OK anymore for states not to recognize gay marriages. Or something like that. I've heard that a state is still not obligated to PROVIDE gay marriages, but that is another step in a very long series. I've been busy with other things.... but I am noting this vibration through the land that something really has changed... and with it brings a little bit of hope that we might manage other changes.
I'm sure the social conservative media is damning. I need an antenna in that world somehow. (Thinking cult: which cults are most anti-gay?)
That cartoon of the rebel flag setting and rainbow flag rising is everywhere. Show me some fresh art, not so trite already.
Tags:
Quote: To Be Hopeful in Bad Times
Feb. 1st, 2015 06:10 pmTo be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.
What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.
--Howard Zinn
What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.
--Howard Zinn
Tags:
Quote: Chains
Jan. 26th, 2015 10:16 pmPeople that don’t move
will never notice
the chains
they carry.
― Shannon L. Alder
will never notice
the chains
they carry.
― Shannon L. Alder
Of course the corporations with an interest in keeping Americans in the dark (and unconcerned) about what is going on spent 3x (or more) on very slick and convincing media to get that result. But we the people are not completely ignorant or apathetic. So we vote with our dollars. I have cut out several items from my regular shopping list, and am finding good alternatives. Being flexible gives us power. Our ability to BOYCOTT companies that resist labeling laws makes it possible for influence the market. Teach your family about this, and you increase your influence.
Quite a few of the manufacturers that oppose labeling GMOs also make items that are labeled “organic”. GMO food ingredients are mostly grains grown by large scale agricultural businesses that use millions of tons of herbicides and pesticides. "Organic" foods are supposed to be free of GMO ingredients. We can reduce our intake of toxic pesticides and herbicides by eating "organic" foods, however if these GMO supporters have brands labeled organic, we need to pick and choose in order to hit them in their pocketbooks the way we want to.
I just knew that "o" organics (at safeway) wasn't a brand I wanted to buy. I am disappointed to stop buying Larabars (I was in on that when it was still a small company). There are a few others that I would sometimes buy, so this list has influenced my grocery expenditures. I hope it does too.
A few brands and products to avoid: • PepsiCo: Naked Juice, Tostito's Organic, Tropicana Organic • Kraft: Boca Burgers and Back to Nature • Safeway:"O" Organics • Coca-Cola: Honest Tea, Odwalla • General Mills: Muir Glen, Cascadian Farm, Larabar (I’ve switched to Kind bars) • Con-Agra: Orville Redenbacher's Organic, Hunt's Organic, Lightlife, Alexia • Kellogg's: Kashi, Bear Naked, Morningstar Farms, Gardenburger • Smuckers: R.W. Knudsen, Santa Cruz Organic • Unilever: Ben & Jerry's • Dean Foods: Horizon, Silk, White Wave.
If you see something in that short list that you buy every time you go to the grocery store, maybe it is time to do a little research and figure out an alternative that suits you.
Quite a few of the manufacturers that oppose labeling GMOs also make items that are labeled “organic”. GMO food ingredients are mostly grains grown by large scale agricultural businesses that use millions of tons of herbicides and pesticides. "Organic" foods are supposed to be free of GMO ingredients. We can reduce our intake of toxic pesticides and herbicides by eating "organic" foods, however if these GMO supporters have brands labeled organic, we need to pick and choose in order to hit them in their pocketbooks the way we want to.
I just knew that "o" organics (at safeway) wasn't a brand I wanted to buy. I am disappointed to stop buying Larabars (I was in on that when it was still a small company). There are a few others that I would sometimes buy, so this list has influenced my grocery expenditures. I hope it does too.
A few brands and products to avoid: • PepsiCo: Naked Juice, Tostito's Organic, Tropicana Organic • Kraft: Boca Burgers and Back to Nature • Safeway:"O" Organics • Coca-Cola: Honest Tea, Odwalla • General Mills: Muir Glen, Cascadian Farm, Larabar (I’ve switched to Kind bars) • Con-Agra: Orville Redenbacher's Organic, Hunt's Organic, Lightlife, Alexia • Kellogg's: Kashi, Bear Naked, Morningstar Farms, Gardenburger • Smuckers: R.W. Knudsen, Santa Cruz Organic • Unilever: Ben & Jerry's • Dean Foods: Horizon, Silk, White Wave.
If you see something in that short list that you buy every time you go to the grocery store, maybe it is time to do a little research and figure out an alternative that suits you.
QotD: Do Something
Jun. 27th, 2014 07:44 pmAnything else you're interested in is not going to happen if you can't breathe the air and drink the water. Don't sit this one out. Do something. You are by accident of fate alive at an absolutely critical moment in the history of our planet.
--Carl Sagan
--Carl Sagan
