INTERESTING TIMES

In God we trust.. but
everyone else must bring data.
-W. Edwards Deming

Cherish your doubts, for doubt is the attendant of truth.
Doubt is the key to the door of knowledge; it is the servant of discovery.
A belief which may not be questioned binds us to error, for there is incompleteness and imperfection in every belief.
Let no one fear for the truth, that doubt may consume it; for doubt is a testing of belief.
For truth, if it be truth, arises from each testing stronger, more secure.
Those that would silence doubt are filled with fear; their houses are built on shifting sands.
But those who fear not doubt, and know its use, are founded on rock.
They shall walk in the light of growing knowledge.
Therefore let us not fear doubt, but let us rejoice in its help.
It is to the wise as a staff to the blind; doubt is the attendant of truth.

--Responsive reading by Robert T. Weston in Singing the Living Tradition

The Power and Perils of Puffery
by Scott Berinato in Harvard Business Review | 9:52 AM Tuesday May 11, 2010
http://blogs.hbr.org/research/2010/05/the-power-and-perils-of-puffer.html

This is a powerhouse blog entry, one of the most important and relevant stories published online in a long time, written in a superior style, and enjoyed by the smartest, most influential minds of our generation.
( text by Berinato, see original at link above )

What is told in the ear of a man is often heard 100 miles away.
~Chinese Proverb
( more quotes )

Before Caroline left town she helped me bathe the kitten in my kitchen sink. Shakti squabbled, putting a paw on each side of the sink and refusing to go in, even though the water was the perfect temperature. Caroline held her while I dished warm water over her shoulders and lathered her up with my shampoo, which I spread on my hands. Soon as she was soapy I started rinsing, being careful to stay away from her head. Shakti reached for the shelves and never gave up her insistence to get away from the sink, but she did not scratch or bite either one of us. The whole bath took no more than 2 minutes.

I wrapped her in a towel and dried her as best I could. Once she found out that I was trying to dry her, she no longer struggled to get away. She let me scrub each part of her with the towel, and went out into the hot Arizona sunshine. She even let me brush her whenever she came back in, and seemed to luxuriate in having someone else care for her fur.

We have found a new level of comfort with each other since that bath. Trust. I now trust her not to hurt me, and she trusts me. We play and relax better with this understanding.