Bookmarks:
Report: Russian Spy Anna Chapman Tried to Seduce Edward Snowden • Lena Dunham
Continue reading * Report: Russian Spy Anna Chapman Tried to Seduce Edward Snowden
* Status report: A snapshot of my life right now
On Tuesday 12/02, my therapist asked for a thumbnail summary of my overall situation.
I said, “I have goals, I’m taking concrete steps toward those goals, and I have a ton of hope.”
I know no way to account for this but the exact scenario I set forth in “Chaos overwhelms the poor:” I pay attention only to the concrete here-and-how, and to what I myself can do. (Related: Here – Now – Can.) From the farthest reach of my right fingertip to my right, to the farthest reach of my left fingertip to my left: within that range lies all my responsibility, everything that I can control. Here, the world appears orderly. Here, I can order and manage my affairs. Here I have power. I can act effectively. I can easily find hope.
A ton of hope.
Continue reading * Status report: A snapshot of my life right now
* Cosmology
I originally wrote this as an introductory passage for “What the New Testament means to me.” I wound up leaving it out as I didn’t think Ezekah would care for a whole lot of abstraction.
As I view the world right now, I see three elements: (1) What Is, including the material (seen) world, the spiritual (unseen) world, and all possibilities of events that can possibly occur. I may as well call this “God.” (2) A single set of principles that govern existence and all events that can occur. What we call the laws of physics are an example of these principles. I may as well call this “God’s will.”
(3) Human activity. It may be that there are no commandments, and no such thing as sin. Rather, God’s will is inviolable; and it is how we interact with What Is, inevitably in accordance with those principles, that brings weal or woe. If we act this way, we can have a world of harmony, beauty and joy. If we act that way, we’ll have a world of poverty, violence and bloodshed.
So far, there is neither need nor room for teachings of John and Paul that deviate from Jesus’ teachings in the Synoptics: no need nor room for a Son of God, perfect sacrifice, “belief in” Jesus, or heaven or hell — aside from the heaven or hell we create for ourselves in this life, here and now.
“What the New Testament means to me” points to ways to create, in effect, heaven on earth. The opposite path is described in “A living hell.”
Reblogged 2020-08-13.
* Change Begins Here
This is square-on with a forthcoming post of my own, “A place to begin.”
Reblogged 2020-08-06.
I woke up this morning thinking about change. Thinking about how we begin to change our world, one person at a time. That’s exactly it. We create change one person at a time, one action at a time, one THOUGHT at a time.
Change begins with us and within us. The world will not become a better place by leaving it up to someone else. Change will not happen as long as we believe things are not our problem or that we don’t make a difference.
Change begins within us. By changing how we see ourselves and treat ourselves, we begin to change the way we see others and treat others. By changing how we see others and treat others, we begin a ripple effect that reaches out over the miles changing how others see and treat each other.
Change does not and will not happen overnight, but over time…
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* D.C. leasing winter space in motels for homeless families
Bookmarks:
D.C. leasing winter space in motels for homeless families • G.O.P.-led House panel exonerates CIA on Benghazi • Exceptional horoscopes update 2014-12-15 • Limits of TV realism • Deer Encounters Her Doggy Friend and Dances With Joy • Pope Francis: Doggie Heaven Is Real • More about Stuart Chase • George F. Will is upset about Eric Garner
Continue reading * D.C. leasing winter space in motels for homeless families
* Guides to Straight Thinking
Guides to Straight Thinking, by Stuart Chase
Life is difficult.
At this writing, I notice that perhaps a dozen times a day I encounter some fact or situation that I disapprove of, and more than disapprove of; I respond to it as if it ought not to have occurred, as if it ought not be possible in the real world.
In such situations, rather than deal with the facts as they are, human beings are inclined to make up excuses as to why the thing ought not be so, and then have one’s attention cling to the excuses rather than the facts.
At this point, one is no longer thinking straight.
This accounts for a tremendous amount of the confusion and drama we see in discussions of social issues and politics: “we” cling to “our” excuses, “they” cling to “their” excuses, and nobody is dealing with the facts
— with what is —
— with life.
In Guides to Straight Thinking, Stuart Chase examines thirteen of the most common patterns of excuses, or “fallacies.” Clearing away these self-deceptions will make it easier to solve problems not just in politics, but also on the job, in the ‘hood, and in the home.
This book is square on with the goals of The William Tell Show. I highly recommend it; which is why I’ve made it available here.
Guides to Straight Thinking, by Stuart Chase
Reblogged 2020-07-23.
o Syracuse: Another Ban in the Box Success
What is Cory Booker so afraid of?
* My white friends are upset about Eric Garner
Garner grand jury case reaction unifies left and right
Krauthammer: Decision not to indict NYPD officer ‘totally incomprehensible’
Garner was middle-aged, as we are. He had not just robbed a cigar store, rough-handling the clerk; he was selling “loose ones,” as we all do. We all buy and sell them all the time. There’s some risk to it, as in Baltimore this activity in public can get you a $150 ticket (and you must appear for trial).
Death, however, isn’t normally in the scenario.
Continue reading * My white friends are upset about Eric Garner
* GOD
Reblogged 2020-07-09.
GOD
_____
I am Mother
I am Father
I am known by many names.
I am in the Earth
I am in the sky
I do not play your games.
You fight for Jesus
You fight for Allah
The truth you do not see.
There is no one way
No one path
For ALL roads lead to me.
By: Tracy L. Seekins
The Homeless Blogger 