Category Archives: OUR BEST POSTS

* Choosing to feel good is not a no-brainer

July 18, 2015Get on your feet, OUR BEST POSTS, The Way of PeaceAmbrose Worrall, Choosing feelings, Rationalism, Self-loveWilliam Tell

A few days ago, in the “smoke pit” awaiting entry to the homeless shelter where I stay, I sat facing a choice of whether to feel good or feel bad. I allowed myself to stay in that state for some time so as to examine it. As I’ve observed many times in the past, it proved to be, apparently, a completely arbitrary choice.

This really puzzled, and puzzles me. Choosing to feel good creates light. Choosing to feel bad creates darkness. There is so much “darkness” in the world, and I want to understand how it comes about. Can it really be as simple as a wholly arbitrary choice? Continue reading * Choosing to feel good is not a no-brainer →

* A landmark study

July 8, 2015Clippings, Justice, National news, OUR BEST POSTS, Poverty, ScienceArrested development, Chaos, Chaos and order, Chaos overwhelms the poor, Developmental psychology, Tohu, University of RochesterWilliam Tell

Stress in low-income families can affect children’s learning

I am very excited about this.

This is, as far as I know, the first study to attempt to measure the degree of chaos in the home.

The researchers in an earlier-mentioned study (Related: Poor children have smaller brains) speculated that “poor families tend to live more chaotic lives, and that stress could inhibit healthy brain development.” The current study seems to indicate that it is directly so.

As of this writing, my hypothesis has become as follows: the chaos of a growing child’s environment causes comparatively more resources to be devoted to the limbic system and less to the cerebral cortex, resulting in a body with reduced capacity to learn.

(Reblogged 10/13/16, 11/18/21.)

o Reducing our carbon footprint – by design

June 13, 2015OUR BEST POSTS, UncategorizedWilliam Tell

Grateful as I am for air conditioning, Baltimore’s current heat wave brought this post to mind, and it may be good to re-blog it just now.

The Homeless Blogger

I don’t hold with those who want to blame global warming wholly on American industry and American cars. The slashing-burning of hundreds of square miles of Amazon rain forest each day, and the air pollution in Mexico City and Beijing, show the need for a global response.

There are two principal ways human beings can reduce greenhouse gases: (1) covering more land with green plants that will consume carbon dioxide from the air; and (2) reducing our carbon dioxide emissions.

Some simple considerations of architecture address both concerns.

View original post 442 more words

* The Freddie Gray demonstrations

May 18, 2015Bible, Clippings, Homelessness, Local media, Local news, National media, OUR BEST POSTSChuck Modiano, Demonstrations, Deuteronomy 30:11-14, False prophecy, Freddie Gray, Here - Now - Can, Riots, What IsWilliam Tell

As of Monday, 04/27/15, let me say this. We had five days of completely orderly demonstrations. Only after that did the interlopers arrive, and only after that did any trouble begin.

Everybody, I think, wants certain things. We want to find out the facts. We want appropriate prosecutions, if warranted. We want …

I’ve just read this article, which indicates interlopers were indeed allowed to address the crowd at the original gathering Saturday 2015-04-25. They said things I do not believe any native Baltimorean would have said. They had to rationalize their presence, and in my judgment, failed.

Continue reading * The Freddie Gray demonstrations →

* The great questions of our time

April 18, 2015Career goals, Get on your feet, Homelessness, Local news, National media, OUR BEST POSTS, The Way of Peace, The William Tell ShowChoosing feelings, Here - Now - Can, Presence, Racial resentment, Racism, Sandtown-Winchester, Sean McElweeWilliam Tell

In recent weeks it has been a matter of some chagrin to me that my Yahoo! News feed keeps bringing articles from major outlets that prove in my estimation to have far less merit than my own; while my own work continues to be ignored.

Frankly, it seems to me that my work is on a par with that of the Washington Post columnists. I see myself as in that league. If I can find my way there, my goal would be not so much to set forth my own views, as to alter the direction of public discourse; to influence, perhaps even at a national level, the way people talk about the great questions of our time.

Continue reading * The great questions of our time →

* I will not be disappointed.

April 4, 2015Bible, Homelessness, Job search/Job prospects, OUR BEST POSTSDreams, Purity of heartWilliam Tell

Friday 2015-03-27

Yesterday in shower I decided to think about things I’d like to have happen. I settled on dreaming of having a cat: a black and white cat; playing with it, petting it, holding it, feeding it, cleaning up.

This vision has positive ramifications: it implies I have my own apartment, and that implies I have a decent job. My own place, my own food, my own clothes: as far as material things are concerned, I want no more than that out of life.

Continue reading * I will not be disappointed. →

* Encounters with clairvoyance

March 4, 2015Bible, OUR BEST POSTS, ScienceAuras, Clairvoyance, Dreams, Messiah Truth, Psi, Spiritual healingWilliam Tell

Originally posted in July 2005 at Messiah Truth; reblogged here 2021-03-11:

Religiosity can express any of various impulses, including these:
(1) Desire to placate the gods.
(2) Desire magically to assure desired outcomes. This is the essence of the Baal cult. Robert Jenson says it is also the essence of all religions except Christianity (:lol ).
(3) Desire to understand, and live in harmony with, the truth.

My earliest childhood memories are of a sense that there is more to the world than we perceive with our five senses, and of a desire to understand and correctly relate to that larger world. I have my moments or months of what some call doubt, of agnosticism or atheism, but in the end this thing always comes back. I feel it in my flesh and bones. This is ONE foundation of my religiosity.

Continue reading * Encounters with clairvoyance →

* Victory is mine

February 14, 2015Audition files, Get on your feet, Justice, OUR BEST POSTS, The Way of PeaceAcceptance, Autonomy, Choosing feelings, Choosing thoughts, Here - Now - Can, The Homeless BloggerWilliam Tell

In a blog post of July 19, 2014, I declared my ambition to become the “Nemesis of the morning glories” in the garden out behind my church. My plan was to spend four hours per week specifically weeding the morning glories in that garden.

On Monday, October 20, 2014, I wrote, “The morning glories are vanquished. As of today, they are under control throughout the entire garden.”

Continue reading * Victory is mine →

* Leadership, Patton and Jesus

February 11, 2015Bible, Get on your feet, OUR BEST POSTS2 Kings 5:1, Embodiment, George S. Patton, Honesty, Integrity, Jesus, Leadership, Luke 23:47, Luke 4:27, Luke 7, Naaman the Syrian, Reincarnation, The Homeless BloggerWilliam Tell

From a 03/31/08 e-mail to my supervisor at the dollar store. This was a young man who had never had a paying job before, and thus certainly no experience in supervision; and I had a mind to give him some pointers on the nature of leadership. Previous conversations had already established that he regarded himself as a devout Christian.

If you’ve never seen it before, I’d urge you to see the movie Patton (link to Wikipedia). Actually, I’d urge you to buy a copy (link to Amazon).

Luke 7:

²A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death. Continue reading * Leadership, Patton and Jesus →

* Doubts about Brown v. Board

January 24, 2015Audition files, Clippings, National news, OUR BEST POSTS, PovertyBriggs v. Elliott, Brown v. Board, Charles Lane, NAACP, Public schools, Race, Richard Rothstein, Supreme Court, The Homeless Blogger, Thurgood Marshall, Valerie StraussWilliam Tell

In the January 13, 2015 Washington Post, Valerie Strauss calls attention to an obscure Supreme Court case that she says may have a greater impact on the educational achievement of black children than any other case since the 1954 Brown v. Board decision.

She republishes a lengthy analysis of the situation by Richard Rothstein. She often republishes Richard Rothstein’s articles. As usual, Rothstein has assembled a mountain of data in support of his position; however, unfortunately, a mountain of data matters little if one’s premises are wrong.

Continue reading * Doubts about Brown v. Board →