http://www.myfreecopyright.com/email_validation/XdHD6Eq24x
These people cheated me.
They took my email address and password and won't let me use them.
DB
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Vagabondism 116
Vagabondism #116 "In order for an actor to play a scene he must know in what direction the scene is going, and he knows in what direction it’s going because he decides."
http://www.blogger.com/profile/09144446186279708019
http://www.blogger.com/profile/09144446186279708019
Thinking For Dummies
mental vitalityleThe more you have thought, and the more you have done, the longer you have lived.
Immanuel Kant
************************
"All that thinkin' ain't good for the mind."
Friday night I had a long conversation with my friend Charles. We do that about once every 6 weeks. Charles is an actor who lives in New York. He's about my age, a gentleman and a good liberal thinker. Our conversations are always vital, energetic and filled with humor.
What perplexed us both during the call was why some people have given up the right to think for themselves. Why do some people lapse into a pool of attitudes instead of the sea of ideas? Why are people so willing to adopt any theory that floats through the atmosphere no matter how inane it is? Why are they mentally inactive but emotionally reactive, and why do those two qualities seem to go together? There is a definite mental entropy at work in the human race.
A woman I used to know once flattered me by asking "Why do you insist on believing that everyone is as intelligent as you are?" My answer at the time was "Because I want them to be." But now, after some years of flapping my wings and flying over landscapes of experience, my answer would be "Because they potentially are."
I think we have been fooled, allowed ourselves to be tricked, into believing in intellectual self satisfaction. "What I know is enough. I don't need to know anything more" we say. Or, "Some things are beyond my comprehension." Or, "I know what I think and I don't want anything changing my mind." That's the worst.
All human activity begins in the mind. Thoughts, ideas and imaginations bring about the results of human behavior and accomplishments. Why do people seem to be so timid at exercising their right to such things? A candle contains all the heat and light within itself in a potential but dormant state. It only releases its strength and purpose when a flame is applied to the wick. Examples abound of thinkers who offer the flame, but there is that reluctance to accept it.
The essential truth of anything is not complicated. Once all the dots have been connected and the pieces joined together its truth can be stated very simply. But there is mental work to be done. It is easier to be lazy, easier not to do the work even though it costs very little to do.
I don't blame people for being ignorant. We are all ignorant about most things. The fault does not rest with the ignorant man. The fault, which probably cannot be defined, described or understood, is more like a world wide virus of ignorance, a parasite feeding on the innate mental might and leaving the vitals of emotion and undirected energy, an illness of spirit that we must challenge at every sign post.
Mental laziness also produces a life of unimportance. But here again we are fooled. We can be very active doing a lot of things and feel a sense of accomplishment. And one day, maybe, we look back and realize how little we actually did compared to what our potential was. The candle was never lit. We can blame our unsatisfactory lives on destiny, circumstances, environment, childhood and justify it with some religious reason.
"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings" Shakespeare wrote. I want the whole world of humans to wake up and start thinking better. I want to think better than I do. Can you imagine what life would be like for all of us if the human race was thinking better, clearer and with the mental vitality it is capable of?
-------------------------------------
DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
***************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
13 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Immanuel Kant
************************
"All that thinkin' ain't good for the mind."
Friday night I had a long conversation with my friend Charles. We do that about once every 6 weeks. Charles is an actor who lives in New York. He's about my age, a gentleman and a good liberal thinker. Our conversations are always vital, energetic and filled with humor.
What perplexed us both during the call was why some people have given up the right to think for themselves. Why do some people lapse into a pool of attitudes instead of the sea of ideas? Why are people so willing to adopt any theory that floats through the atmosphere no matter how inane it is? Why are they mentally inactive but emotionally reactive, and why do those two qualities seem to go together? There is a definite mental entropy at work in the human race.
A woman I used to know once flattered me by asking "Why do you insist on believing that everyone is as intelligent as you are?" My answer at the time was "Because I want them to be." But now, after some years of flapping my wings and flying over landscapes of experience, my answer would be "Because they potentially are."
I think we have been fooled, allowed ourselves to be tricked, into believing in intellectual self satisfaction. "What I know is enough. I don't need to know anything more" we say. Or, "Some things are beyond my comprehension." Or, "I know what I think and I don't want anything changing my mind." That's the worst.
All human activity begins in the mind. Thoughts, ideas and imaginations bring about the results of human behavior and accomplishments. Why do people seem to be so timid at exercising their right to such things? A candle contains all the heat and light within itself in a potential but dormant state. It only releases its strength and purpose when a flame is applied to the wick. Examples abound of thinkers who offer the flame, but there is that reluctance to accept it.
The essential truth of anything is not complicated. Once all the dots have been connected and the pieces joined together its truth can be stated very simply. But there is mental work to be done. It is easier to be lazy, easier not to do the work even though it costs very little to do.
I don't blame people for being ignorant. We are all ignorant about most things. The fault does not rest with the ignorant man. The fault, which probably cannot be defined, described or understood, is more like a world wide virus of ignorance, a parasite feeding on the innate mental might and leaving the vitals of emotion and undirected energy, an illness of spirit that we must challenge at every sign post.
Mental laziness also produces a life of unimportance. But here again we are fooled. We can be very active doing a lot of things and feel a sense of accomplishment. And one day, maybe, we look back and realize how little we actually did compared to what our potential was. The candle was never lit. We can blame our unsatisfactory lives on destiny, circumstances, environment, childhood and justify it with some religious reason.
"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings" Shakespeare wrote. I want the whole world of humans to wake up and start thinking better. I want to think better than I do. Can you imagine what life would be like for all of us if the human race was thinking better, clearer and with the mental vitality it is capable of?
-------------------------------------
DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
***************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
13 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Vagabondism 115
Vagabondism #115 "We must acknowledge, even in thought, the gap between mere speculation and proven fact." http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
Who Cares?
Let 'em eat bugs.
I will run out of bird seed tomorrow and I can't get to the store until mid week . Let 'em eat bugs. But the woman on the first floor is complaining about seeing seeds in the alley so I had to move the feeder. It means I can't see them any more, but at least I can hear them.
I saw a man standing on a levee with a fishing pole trying to catch any kind of fish out of the New York harbor to feed his family. What if he had no luck that day? Does any Congressman care? Let 'em eat bugs.
The landlord invoked a little known law allowing him to claim the apartment building for himself, so he sent around the Marshall to evict the tenants. They were all rent controlled apartments, the tenants had no place to go. Let 'em eat bugs.
In a New York City family court one day a woman went into the court room. a moment later the clerk came out and called for the Spanish translator. When none appeared the clerk went back inside. After a while they came out and when the Spanish translator finally showed up he had to explain to the woman that the court granted her the $80 in child support from her ex husband she had requested but as a result she had to give up the $110 she had been receiving from Welfare. There was no one in the court room to explain that to her. Let 'em eat bugs.
I know of a man who works as an Assistant Supervisor for a building he can't afford to live in. He holds on to the job hoping that when the Super retires he will get the job and then have an apartment for his family. Meanwhile they are living under a cardboard roof on the metal stairs that lead to the basement of a warehouse. He brings home food for them. His kids go to school. Some of the neighbors look after them but no one has an apartment large enough to take them in. They are a homeless family. Let 'em eat bugs.
In Africa, malnutrition is estimated to contribute to more than one third of all child deaths. 1 child dies every 5 seconds as a result of hunger - 700 every hour - 16 000 each day - 6 million each year. Let 'em eat bugs.
Who cares?
-----------------------------
DB ' The Vagabond
Never give up.
********************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
13 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
I will run out of bird seed tomorrow and I can't get to the store until mid week . Let 'em eat bugs. But the woman on the first floor is complaining about seeing seeds in the alley so I had to move the feeder. It means I can't see them any more, but at least I can hear them.
I saw a man standing on a levee with a fishing pole trying to catch any kind of fish out of the New York harbor to feed his family. What if he had no luck that day? Does any Congressman care? Let 'em eat bugs.
The landlord invoked a little known law allowing him to claim the apartment building for himself, so he sent around the Marshall to evict the tenants. They were all rent controlled apartments, the tenants had no place to go. Let 'em eat bugs.
In a New York City family court one day a woman went into the court room. a moment later the clerk came out and called for the Spanish translator. When none appeared the clerk went back inside. After a while they came out and when the Spanish translator finally showed up he had to explain to the woman that the court granted her the $80 in child support from her ex husband she had requested but as a result she had to give up the $110 she had been receiving from Welfare. There was no one in the court room to explain that to her. Let 'em eat bugs.
I know of a man who works as an Assistant Supervisor for a building he can't afford to live in. He holds on to the job hoping that when the Super retires he will get the job and then have an apartment for his family. Meanwhile they are living under a cardboard roof on the metal stairs that lead to the basement of a warehouse. He brings home food for them. His kids go to school. Some of the neighbors look after them but no one has an apartment large enough to take them in. They are a homeless family. Let 'em eat bugs.
In Africa, malnutrition is estimated to contribute to more than one third of all child deaths. 1 child dies every 5 seconds as a result of hunger - 700 every hour - 16 000 each day - 6 million each year. Let 'em eat bugs.
Who cares?
-----------------------------
DB ' The Vagabond
Never give up.
********************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
13 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Friday, July 29, 2011
Seeds
Let 'em eat bugs.
I will run out of bird seed to morrow and I can't get to the store until mid week . But the woman on the first floor is complaining about seeing seeds in the alley so I had to move the feeder. It means I can't see them any more, but at least I can hear them.
I will run out of bird seed to morrow and I can't get to the store until mid week . But the woman on the first floor is complaining about seeing seeds in the alley so I had to move the feeder. It means I can't see them any more, but at least I can hear them.
Vagabondism 114
Vagabondism #114 "Maturity is being more careful where you throw your snowballs."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
Love's Fool
I'll love you till China and Africa meet
and the river jumps over the mountain
and the salmon sing in the street.
W. H. Auden
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Woe to the caring soul whose mind is filled with thoughts of those he never meets.
Woe to the remembering soul whose love darts never reach their target.
Woe to the lonely fool whose imaginations are his companions in the night.
Alas for the ocean waves that splash and sparkle and then are seen no more.
Alas for the pretty birthday card that was never mailed.
Alas for the dreams of romance faded like the window shade.
Weep for the expected one who did not get off the train.
Weep for the one who had to put the dress and ring away.
Weep for joy, or try to, over the others' happiness.
Tuck away the hopes and expectations for another day.
Sing in silence of heart break to the darkened sky.
Grasp the silver coin of love which cannot die.
________________________
DB
(Never give up)
****************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
13 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
and the river jumps over the mountain
and the salmon sing in the street.
W. H. Auden
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Woe to the caring soul whose mind is filled with thoughts of those he never meets.
Woe to the remembering soul whose love darts never reach their target.
Woe to the lonely fool whose imaginations are his companions in the night.
Alas for the ocean waves that splash and sparkle and then are seen no more.
Alas for the pretty birthday card that was never mailed.
Alas for the dreams of romance faded like the window shade.
Weep for the expected one who did not get off the train.
Weep for the one who had to put the dress and ring away.
Weep for joy, or try to, over the others' happiness.
Tuck away the hopes and expectations for another day.
Sing in silence of heart break to the darkened sky.
Grasp the silver coin of love which cannot die.
________________________
DB
(Never give up)
****************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
13 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Vagabondism 113
Vagabondism #113 "A person who can live in his own darkness and patiently await the dawn with a sense of humor is not crazy. What’s crazy is to be afraid of the dark."
dbdacoba@aol.com
dbdacoba@aol.com
Who's Next
CONTENTS:
Who's Next?
Summer Question
What Is Life? (I am repeating and entry from September 2010 because I think it's important.
---------------------------------------------
The nation that is supreme above all others during one age, will be eclipsed by another in the next age.
Paul Harris
************************
Here we are, the Americans, living in the greatest nation in the world, or so we think. We have military superiority, except in a few cases. We are economically superior, except in our own government. We have the resources to feed, clothe and provide medical assistance to all of our people, with some exceptions. We have a system of democracy that insures the rights and freedoms of all of it's citizens, except for some. Our free enterprise system allows for the growth and success of any business, except those closed down by unfair competition. We are the envy of the world, except for those who hate us. We are the greatest nation in the world, on paper.
And now, again, the petty squabbling, the war of words, the Scrabble game going on in Congress, over some basic measures we need to straighten out our flaws, is writing the graffiti on the wall that no one wants to read. Is our time up? Are we on the downward curve? Is the American Age over? Must we step down? Is it time for another nation to take over authority of the world? And if so, who?
There is a prophesy which says it is the destiny of the English speaking people to rule the world. What that prophesy does not say, and should, is that those who are destined to rule the world are learning to speak English.
We get angry when we can't understand someone whose English is very poor, even though they come from a foreign country. But the fact is we expect them to speak English no matter where they come from. In most countries students are taught English. Yet there are thousand of people in this country who put up barriers against the use of the simplest Spanish, even though Spanish is the number one language of the Western World and the second language of the United States.
So from where is the next ruling nation coming. There used to be something called The British Empire. It seems the Greeks, Romans and Spaniards have had their day. It might have been France or Germany. Russia? We were all afraid of them for a while. If the South and Central Americans could agree with each other and organize that would be a likely choice. Then there is China. Look around and see who is holding the cards.
I'm an American, and I'm proud to be one, most of the time. But if the government by the people and for the people doesn't put a stop to the disgraceful confusion of interests, the giant squid that has taken hold of our power and our money we will have to relinquish the throne.
This country has no monarch, though there a re a few who would like to be. We have no ruling class, we just have one that thinks it is. The great give-away that happened in the 00's, which I like to call the Naughties, has to be paid for in the Teens. Like any unfortunate debt it has come due. Only in this case it's the American people who are owed the money. Balance the budget? Not until that debt is paid.
We are on the cusp of giving up our world leadership, of failing our obligations, of disappointing our friends, of magnifying the loss of our esteem and quitting the field.
Who's next?
-----------------------------------
DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
****************************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
13 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
The ways of the world are weird.
Walter Kaufmann
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
There have been great thinkers in the fields of Science. So why doesn't Science have all the answers? Our museums are filled with great works of art. So why are people still painting? We have been given inspired music. So why are people still composing? We have wonderful poetry to grace our lives. So why do poets still sing? The world is full of great books. So why do people still write?
While Science is still searching at the bottom of every cave or at the vast galaxies of the universe for a law that will explain everything, artists are looking into the same caves and at the same stars through the lens of imagination for the same law.
Why things are, is the big question. As irritating as it is the child will eventually get over the bad habit of peppering your life with the inane repetition of the word "why" but the question remains on the table nevertheless. That the answer to the question is "I don't know" is what sends people to the cave, the cosmos and the easel.
But there's another question lurking in the cave. A question with facets of wonder and dooubt: "What if?" What if there is no fundamental law of nature which explains everything? What if there is no ultimate achievement of wisdom from the exercise of rationality? What if there is no absolute beauty to be found by any artist? Does that mean there is no point to life, no meaning to our hopes, dreams, plans and actions, no value to anything we are or do? It's a question to be seriously considered by those who have the courage to think about it.
That brings me to another question. If it is true that life has fundamentally no meaning to it will that stop me from hoping, dreaming, planning and doing? Kaufmann also says "It does not follow that nothing is worthwhile if the world is not governed by a purpose."
It isn't enough to say that I do what I do because I want to. It's a step better to say I do what I do because I feel like it. The best answer is that I do what I do because I have to. A personal obligation, a personal duty, is the best justification for doing anything worthwhile. Think of the geologist who has a bit of moon rock under his microscope for the first time. Is there any doubt in his mind about the value of what he is doing? Or think of the ballet dancer who will undergo enormous physical effort to tell a mythic story of human legend by describing it in space with his own body.
Without negating anyone's perception and faith in deity, I keep returning to a humanistic philosophy in my thinking. We are capable of some of the most extremes forms of stupidity and destruction. But we are also capable of amazing beauty, greatness and genius.
Maybe there is no fundamental law of existence, but life is there to experience and to fashion for ourselves and others in the best way we can.
What is life? Who knows? I like this quote from Grandma Moses “Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.”
DB - The Vagabond
*********************
Who's Next?
Summer Question
What Is Life? (I am repeating and entry from September 2010 because I think it's important.
---------------------------------------------
The nation that is supreme above all others during one age, will be eclipsed by another in the next age.
Paul Harris
************************
Here we are, the Americans, living in the greatest nation in the world, or so we think. We have military superiority, except in a few cases. We are economically superior, except in our own government. We have the resources to feed, clothe and provide medical assistance to all of our people, with some exceptions. We have a system of democracy that insures the rights and freedoms of all of it's citizens, except for some. Our free enterprise system allows for the growth and success of any business, except those closed down by unfair competition. We are the envy of the world, except for those who hate us. We are the greatest nation in the world, on paper.
And now, again, the petty squabbling, the war of words, the Scrabble game going on in Congress, over some basic measures we need to straighten out our flaws, is writing the graffiti on the wall that no one wants to read. Is our time up? Are we on the downward curve? Is the American Age over? Must we step down? Is it time for another nation to take over authority of the world? And if so, who?
There is a prophesy which says it is the destiny of the English speaking people to rule the world. What that prophesy does not say, and should, is that those who are destined to rule the world are learning to speak English.
We get angry when we can't understand someone whose English is very poor, even though they come from a foreign country. But the fact is we expect them to speak English no matter where they come from. In most countries students are taught English. Yet there are thousand of people in this country who put up barriers against the use of the simplest Spanish, even though Spanish is the number one language of the Western World and the second language of the United States.
So from where is the next ruling nation coming. There used to be something called The British Empire. It seems the Greeks, Romans and Spaniards have had their day. It might have been France or Germany. Russia? We were all afraid of them for a while. If the South and Central Americans could agree with each other and organize that would be a likely choice. Then there is China. Look around and see who is holding the cards.
I'm an American, and I'm proud to be one, most of the time. But if the government by the people and for the people doesn't put a stop to the disgraceful confusion of interests, the giant squid that has taken hold of our power and our money we will have to relinquish the throne.
This country has no monarch, though there a re a few who would like to be. We have no ruling class, we just have one that thinks it is. The great give-away that happened in the 00's, which I like to call the Naughties, has to be paid for in the Teens. Like any unfortunate debt it has come due. Only in this case it's the American people who are owed the money. Balance the budget? Not until that debt is paid.
We are on the cusp of giving up our world leadership, of failing our obligations, of disappointing our friends, of magnifying the loss of our esteem and quitting the field.
Who's next?
-----------------------------------
DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
****************************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
13 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
The ways of the world are weird.
Walter Kaufmann
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
There have been great thinkers in the fields of Science. So why doesn't Science have all the answers? Our museums are filled with great works of art. So why are people still painting? We have been given inspired music. So why are people still composing? We have wonderful poetry to grace our lives. So why do poets still sing? The world is full of great books. So why do people still write?
While Science is still searching at the bottom of every cave or at the vast galaxies of the universe for a law that will explain everything, artists are looking into the same caves and at the same stars through the lens of imagination for the same law.
Why things are, is the big question. As irritating as it is the child will eventually get over the bad habit of peppering your life with the inane repetition of the word "why" but the question remains on the table nevertheless. That the answer to the question is "I don't know" is what sends people to the cave, the cosmos and the easel.
But there's another question lurking in the cave. A question with facets of wonder and dooubt: "What if?" What if there is no fundamental law of nature which explains everything? What if there is no ultimate achievement of wisdom from the exercise of rationality? What if there is no absolute beauty to be found by any artist? Does that mean there is no point to life, no meaning to our hopes, dreams, plans and actions, no value to anything we are or do? It's a question to be seriously considered by those who have the courage to think about it.
That brings me to another question. If it is true that life has fundamentally no meaning to it will that stop me from hoping, dreaming, planning and doing? Kaufmann also says "It does not follow that nothing is worthwhile if the world is not governed by a purpose."
It isn't enough to say that I do what I do because I want to. It's a step better to say I do what I do because I feel like it. The best answer is that I do what I do because I have to. A personal obligation, a personal duty, is the best justification for doing anything worthwhile. Think of the geologist who has a bit of moon rock under his microscope for the first time. Is there any doubt in his mind about the value of what he is doing? Or think of the ballet dancer who will undergo enormous physical effort to tell a mythic story of human legend by describing it in space with his own body.
Without negating anyone's perception and faith in deity, I keep returning to a humanistic philosophy in my thinking. We are capable of some of the most extremes forms of stupidity and destruction. But we are also capable of amazing beauty, greatness and genius.
Maybe there is no fundamental law of existence, but life is there to experience and to fashion for ourselves and others in the best way we can.
What is life? Who knows? I like this quote from Grandma Moses “Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.”
DB - The Vagabond
*********************
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Vagabondism 113
Vagabondism #112 "There is an unlimited universe of mentality about which most of us know almost nothing."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
The Fresh Start
You are definitely a different person at different stages in your life.
Ben Harper
****************
Last week a friend, an artist and a barber, came over here and gave me a hair cut which I sorely needed. When she was finished I looked at myself in the mirror and exclaimed the old saying "I feel like a new man." But then I thought, not a new man, a renovated man.
A few days later another friend said that I look younger. Again I referred to myself as a renovated man. But after a few days of feeling renovated I thought about it and decided there was nothing wrong with being a "new man." When I go to sleep at night it's because another day has been lived, and when I awake in the morning I have another day to live. I may and do carry some baggage with me into the new day but there is always the hope that during the day some of it will be discarded. It is, after all, left overs from the old day and the old man, the one I was yesterday.
The fact is every new day gives us a fresh opportunity to express our manhood and womanhood in a new way. One of the basic requirements is observation. It is a right and joy to see and contemplate the same old things around us as if we are seeing them for the first time. The picture on the wall, the chair, the coffee pot and everything else that greets us when we wake up, have stories to tell and lessons to teach. What's out the window is a little different than it was yesterday. There's something new about that favorite old song. The chores we didn't get done yesterday we can do today.
But even more important than the whats of our lives are the whys. What do all the things around mean to us? Their meanings are really what define us and we so easily forget them.
Other things we forget are wishes, dreams, plans. Opening doors and boxes we haven't opened for a while reveal old things that are new. Underneath our dusty thinking are surprises we put there and forgot about. There are things that renovate, regenerate, revivify us and make us new. We find strength we didn't know we had and light, hope and a sense of future, a fresh start.
Every decade gives us a right and a reason for trading in the old model. We don't have to be young again to be brand new.
DB - The Vagabond
************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
12 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Ben Harper
****************
Last week a friend, an artist and a barber, came over here and gave me a hair cut which I sorely needed. When she was finished I looked at myself in the mirror and exclaimed the old saying "I feel like a new man." But then I thought, not a new man, a renovated man.
A few days later another friend said that I look younger. Again I referred to myself as a renovated man. But after a few days of feeling renovated I thought about it and decided there was nothing wrong with being a "new man." When I go to sleep at night it's because another day has been lived, and when I awake in the morning I have another day to live. I may and do carry some baggage with me into the new day but there is always the hope that during the day some of it will be discarded. It is, after all, left overs from the old day and the old man, the one I was yesterday.
The fact is every new day gives us a fresh opportunity to express our manhood and womanhood in a new way. One of the basic requirements is observation. It is a right and joy to see and contemplate the same old things around us as if we are seeing them for the first time. The picture on the wall, the chair, the coffee pot and everything else that greets us when we wake up, have stories to tell and lessons to teach. What's out the window is a little different than it was yesterday. There's something new about that favorite old song. The chores we didn't get done yesterday we can do today.
But even more important than the whats of our lives are the whys. What do all the things around mean to us? Their meanings are really what define us and we so easily forget them.
Other things we forget are wishes, dreams, plans. Opening doors and boxes we haven't opened for a while reveal old things that are new. Underneath our dusty thinking are surprises we put there and forgot about. There are things that renovate, regenerate, revivify us and make us new. We find strength we didn't know we had and light, hope and a sense of future, a fresh start.
Every decade gives us a right and a reason for trading in the old model. We don't have to be young again to be brand new.
DB - The Vagabond
************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
12 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Vagabondism 111
Vagabondism #111 "One is never relieved from proving one’s grit."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
Rich And Poor
All the measures of the government are directed to the purpose of making the rich richer amd the poor poorer.
President William Henry Harrison
************************************
"O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."
President Harrison (1773 - 1841) made the above statement 3 centuries ago. Imagine the prescience. He spoke those words before the robber barons came on the scene in full force, before the Civil War, before labor union organizers were shot, before both world wars, before Karl Marx, before the threat of Communism, before Reaganomics, before the Tea Party started running away frightened from an imaginary ogre called Socialism, and here we are in the 21st Century facing the same dilemma about how our country is run as Harrison did so many years ago.
The purpose of any business, enterprise, industry, manufacturing or agriculture is to create wealth. But why should that wealth only go to the wealthy? Why must the wealthy ride on the backs of the lower and middle classes? Why do they want to disestablish the unions that take care of the working person? Why do they want to deprive health care to those who can't afford the exorbitant premiums and whimsical reimbursement policies of the insurance companies? Why do the wealthy say that people are homeless because they refuse to work when their jabs are taken away and sent overseas and the buildings they could afford to live in are taken down and replaced by towers of apartments only wealthy yuppies can afford? Why do they want to deprive older Americans of financial security, men and women who can't work any more? Why do they want to deprive veterans of the compensations they need? Why do major corporations manipulate their fees and prices for the sake of mere shareholder value? Why don't the wealthy pay their fare share of taxes? Why is Congress playing checkers with our future? IT'S NOT A GAME.
We've been through the ridiculous charade of trickle down economy. Even a Conservative friend of mine had to admit that the bottom never even got damp.
There is nothing ethically wrong with the rich getting richer. It's the other end of the equation we should all be fighting against, rich and poor. We should all be getting wealthier. This is supposed to be the greatest country in the world, but it is slowly becoming, or has already become, two nations: the land of the rich and the home of the poor.
Never give up
Dana Bate
Vagabond
********************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
12 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
President William Henry Harrison
************************************
"O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."
President Harrison (1773 - 1841) made the above statement 3 centuries ago. Imagine the prescience. He spoke those words before the robber barons came on the scene in full force, before the Civil War, before labor union organizers were shot, before both world wars, before Karl Marx, before the threat of Communism, before Reaganomics, before the Tea Party started running away frightened from an imaginary ogre called Socialism, and here we are in the 21st Century facing the same dilemma about how our country is run as Harrison did so many years ago.
The purpose of any business, enterprise, industry, manufacturing or agriculture is to create wealth. But why should that wealth only go to the wealthy? Why must the wealthy ride on the backs of the lower and middle classes? Why do they want to disestablish the unions that take care of the working person? Why do they want to deprive health care to those who can't afford the exorbitant premiums and whimsical reimbursement policies of the insurance companies? Why do the wealthy say that people are homeless because they refuse to work when their jabs are taken away and sent overseas and the buildings they could afford to live in are taken down and replaced by towers of apartments only wealthy yuppies can afford? Why do they want to deprive older Americans of financial security, men and women who can't work any more? Why do they want to deprive veterans of the compensations they need? Why do major corporations manipulate their fees and prices for the sake of mere shareholder value? Why don't the wealthy pay their fare share of taxes? Why is Congress playing checkers with our future? IT'S NOT A GAME.
We've been through the ridiculous charade of trickle down economy. Even a Conservative friend of mine had to admit that the bottom never even got damp.
There is nothing ethically wrong with the rich getting richer. It's the other end of the equation we should all be fighting against, rich and poor. We should all be getting wealthier. This is supposed to be the greatest country in the world, but it is slowly becoming, or has already become, two nations: the land of the rich and the home of the poor.
Never give up
Dana Bate
Vagabond
********************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
12 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Monday, July 25, 2011
Vagabondism 110
Vagabondism #110 "Doubt is a closed door that you think is locked, but that isn’t."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
Being Beautiful
Consider the lilies of the field, they grow where they are put.
Osgood Chambers
***************************
On September 9 I will have lived in this town for 11 years. Within 6 months after I moved here I started saying I was going to leave. I didn't know where I was going but it was necessary to go somewhere else, where there was more life, more activity of a cultural and intellectual nature. I still say that, more or less.
So, DB, what have you been doing with yourself for the past 11 years in this boring town where nothing ever happens?
Well, let's see. I joined the Artists of Bristol, finished 4 paintings, had works hung in three exhibits and sent one painting off to a museum in Italy. I have 4 more pieces unfinished and being worked on.
I've written two novels and a flock of short stories. I have three other long stories, unfinished and being worked on. I have written well over a thousand entries in Vagabond Journeys. I have almost three hundred pithy aphorisms in Vagabond Jottings. And I've published three articles in a local paper.
I have two wonderful local friends and a large handful of other friends on the Internet with whom I communicate regularly.
When I was a young man (oh yes I was) I was very busy doing a lot of activities, but I wonder if I ever really accomplished anything outside of my performing arts career. It seems I've been busier and more productive stuck in this quiet town where nothing happens than all my years in New York City.
If I sound like I'm bragging, I am. But the braggadocio has more to do with the realization of the truth of what Osgood has to say. It doesn't matter where we are or what we have. It's what we do with it that counts. Every moment of life is a chance to grow, to grow up, but also to grow out, to grow around, to spread, to blossom like lilies and be beautiful.
---------------------------------
Never give up.
DB - The Vagabond
*************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
12 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Osgood Chambers
***************************
On September 9 I will have lived in this town for 11 years. Within 6 months after I moved here I started saying I was going to leave. I didn't know where I was going but it was necessary to go somewhere else, where there was more life, more activity of a cultural and intellectual nature. I still say that, more or less.
So, DB, what have you been doing with yourself for the past 11 years in this boring town where nothing ever happens?
Well, let's see. I joined the Artists of Bristol, finished 4 paintings, had works hung in three exhibits and sent one painting off to a museum in Italy. I have 4 more pieces unfinished and being worked on.
I've written two novels and a flock of short stories. I have three other long stories, unfinished and being worked on. I have written well over a thousand entries in Vagabond Journeys. I have almost three hundred pithy aphorisms in Vagabond Jottings. And I've published three articles in a local paper.
I have two wonderful local friends and a large handful of other friends on the Internet with whom I communicate regularly.
When I was a young man (oh yes I was) I was very busy doing a lot of activities, but I wonder if I ever really accomplished anything outside of my performing arts career. It seems I've been busier and more productive stuck in this quiet town where nothing happens than all my years in New York City.
If I sound like I'm bragging, I am. But the braggadocio has more to do with the realization of the truth of what Osgood has to say. It doesn't matter where we are or what we have. It's what we do with it that counts. Every moment of life is a chance to grow, to grow up, but also to grow out, to grow around, to spread, to blossom like lilies and be beautiful.
---------------------------------
Never give up.
DB - The Vagabond
*************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
12 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Vagabondism 109
Vagabondism #109 "The biggest problem you ever have to overcome in life is yourself."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
Show Them
For he who'd make his fellow creatures wise should always gild the philosophic pill.
W. S. Gilbert
**********************
William Gilbert wrote the book and lyrics for some the most famous musical comedies of all time. Gilbert and Sullivan operettas are still performed the world over. The quote from above is sung by Jack Point, a jester, and probably the one character closest to Gilbert himself.
Years ago I was involved in a project involving theatre in the schools. It was discovered in one state that the students who could not connect one idea with another and follow a thread of logic in any particular subject, history, math, geography, whatever, were able to do it automatically when they saw a play. When subjects were dramatized for them in that way, their learning was fast and correct. Many teachers came to learn the techniques, many refused. Those with ability and an open mind learned it well, others did not.
Unfortunately there is a lot of prejudice against theatre in this country. There are those, some of them intelligent and well educated, who won't go to the theatre, talk to actors or discuss the art of acting. I have heard and read the most ridiculous reasons why one should not pursue anything that smacks of that "devil's workshop known as show business."
When there was a recession happening one year at a local high school they canceled the theatre program to save the electricity, but they retained the basketball program, where all the lights blazed. Though I know there are many, I am not qualified to discuss the merits of basketball. I'll leave that up to the Phys Ed teachers.
But I am qualified to discuss the merits of theatre. Within the context of a play an actor has no limitations of behavior. He is entitled to be the hero, or the villain, the seducer, the victim, the cop or the jester. From all the roles I've played, following the psychological threads that made the man a good man or an evil man, the special theatrical glamorization of ideas, the gilding of the philosophic pill and the thrill of discovery about myself have made me wiser about the human race and many other subjects than if I had shunned "the devil's workshop."
It's called Show Business because we don't lecture you, we show you.
-------------------------
Never give up
DB - Vagabond Journeys
****************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
12 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
W. S. Gilbert
**********************
William Gilbert wrote the book and lyrics for some the most famous musical comedies of all time. Gilbert and Sullivan operettas are still performed the world over. The quote from above is sung by Jack Point, a jester, and probably the one character closest to Gilbert himself.
Years ago I was involved in a project involving theatre in the schools. It was discovered in one state that the students who could not connect one idea with another and follow a thread of logic in any particular subject, history, math, geography, whatever, were able to do it automatically when they saw a play. When subjects were dramatized for them in that way, their learning was fast and correct. Many teachers came to learn the techniques, many refused. Those with ability and an open mind learned it well, others did not.
Unfortunately there is a lot of prejudice against theatre in this country. There are those, some of them intelligent and well educated, who won't go to the theatre, talk to actors or discuss the art of acting. I have heard and read the most ridiculous reasons why one should not pursue anything that smacks of that "devil's workshop known as show business."
When there was a recession happening one year at a local high school they canceled the theatre program to save the electricity, but they retained the basketball program, where all the lights blazed. Though I know there are many, I am not qualified to discuss the merits of basketball. I'll leave that up to the Phys Ed teachers.
But I am qualified to discuss the merits of theatre. Within the context of a play an actor has no limitations of behavior. He is entitled to be the hero, or the villain, the seducer, the victim, the cop or the jester. From all the roles I've played, following the psychological threads that made the man a good man or an evil man, the special theatrical glamorization of ideas, the gilding of the philosophic pill and the thrill of discovery about myself have made me wiser about the human race and many other subjects than if I had shunned "the devil's workshop."
It's called Show Business because we don't lecture you, we show you.
-------------------------
Never give up
DB - Vagabond Journeys
****************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
12 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Vagabondism 108
Vagabondism #108 "There is nothing in the doughnut that isn’t in the recipe, but you can thoroughly examine the doughnut and never find the recipe."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
Wedging
Sometimes when you think you are done, it is just the edge of beginning.
Natalie Goldberg
***************************
How can we tell where one thing ends and another begins? We build curbs to show the difference between the sidewalks and the streets. But those are man made things. How can we tell where the shore line is? The tide goes in and out, the waves splash on the beach. We draw a line on a map, but it's imaginary. The shore line is in constant flux.
Drawing the human figure is a difficult task because of the uncertain beginnings and endings of various parts of the anatomy. Some people like to think of them as blocks. There's one block sitting on a smaller block and underneath that is a large block that spreads out and has longer, thinner blocks hanging off of it. That may help someone trying to understand proportions. But the human figure isn't made of blocks. There's another, better theory where the parts are seen as wedges connecting with each other. It's a much better idea I think because it allows for one muscle connecting to a bone underneath another muscle and making its appearance as the other muscle recedes. It makes for a fuller explanation of the human figure, and it is also closer to the way things are, naturally, in other areas of life.
I think of igneous rock wedged into stratified rock. I think of the roots of a tree wedging into the earth. I think of the song moving into its accompaniment. I think of the words of the poem moving into and pushing up its rhythm. I think of adolescence wedging into childhood and adulthood into adolescence. I think of the affairs of our nation where new theories and practices are wedging out the former, no longer useful ones. I think of a great idea originating in the bare bone thinking of some philosopher and gradually wedging its way into society and history. I think of the future working its way into a past that hasn't finished yet.
I think the wedging analogy is the truth about existence. When we reach the end of something, the beginning of the next has already formed itself from its primordial bones and is wedging itself into our lives.
------------------------------
Never give up.
DB - Vagabond
***********************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
12 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Natalie Goldberg
***************************
How can we tell where one thing ends and another begins? We build curbs to show the difference between the sidewalks and the streets. But those are man made things. How can we tell where the shore line is? The tide goes in and out, the waves splash on the beach. We draw a line on a map, but it's imaginary. The shore line is in constant flux.
Drawing the human figure is a difficult task because of the uncertain beginnings and endings of various parts of the anatomy. Some people like to think of them as blocks. There's one block sitting on a smaller block and underneath that is a large block that spreads out and has longer, thinner blocks hanging off of it. That may help someone trying to understand proportions. But the human figure isn't made of blocks. There's another, better theory where the parts are seen as wedges connecting with each other. It's a much better idea I think because it allows for one muscle connecting to a bone underneath another muscle and making its appearance as the other muscle recedes. It makes for a fuller explanation of the human figure, and it is also closer to the way things are, naturally, in other areas of life.
I think of igneous rock wedged into stratified rock. I think of the roots of a tree wedging into the earth. I think of the song moving into its accompaniment. I think of the words of the poem moving into and pushing up its rhythm. I think of adolescence wedging into childhood and adulthood into adolescence. I think of the affairs of our nation where new theories and practices are wedging out the former, no longer useful ones. I think of a great idea originating in the bare bone thinking of some philosopher and gradually wedging its way into society and history. I think of the future working its way into a past that hasn't finished yet.
I think the wedging analogy is the truth about existence. When we reach the end of something, the beginning of the next has already formed itself from its primordial bones and is wedging itself into our lives.
------------------------------
Never give up.
DB - Vagabond
***********************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
12 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Friday, July 22, 2011
Vagabondism 107
Vagabondism #107 "There’s a reason for everything. If you're not sure what the reason is, admit it and forgive yourself."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
Curtain Up Anyhow
If you want to do something, you do it anyway, and handle the obstacles as they come.
Benny Goodman
******************************
Here are 2 true show biz stories.
If you described show business to an actuary or a systems engineer they would tell you that it doesn't work, it can't work, don't try it. And yet, in spite if the impossibilities, the curtains go up and the shows go on.
I was dong a long running show in New York. The cast was three men and one woman. The actress had a physical problem that sometimes incapacitated her, so she needed to have an understudy. I helped to audition the understudy and had only one rehearsal with her. She attended every performance but never had to play the role.
Until one evening well into the run I was sitting in the dressing room and outside the door I saw her looking at the call board which is where the actors sign in and check for any notes they might need. I asked her if she was playing that night. She turned with a smile and said "Yup."
She was Miss Cool. I had two very difficult scenes with her. She played them beautifully, as if she had been doing them all along, without the slightest slip up. I wanted her to take over the role. But she eventually got a real acting job and left the show. I heard that she went to California and was working out there. She was quickly replaced by another understudy who was fine.
Actors usually take a role and play it until the show closes. In the case of a long running Broadway show they may play for a year or so and then be replaced by a fresh face. If they work on a film their job is done when their last scene is shot.
With opera singers it's very different in many ways. A singer usually develops a catalogue of roles that fit his vocal range and then sings those roles at various opera houses, wherever he can.
There was an opening night of a new production of a popular opera at a New York City opera company. When the conductor arrived he was informed that the tenor was ill and would not be able to sing that night. So the conductor went to the understudy to discuss some parts of the opera, interpretations, tempo, dynamics and so forth. Just before the performance began he was told the original tenor was feeling better and would sing after all. So he went to talk with that tenor about the dynamics and interpretations, and so forth.
When the opera was about to begin the conductor went to the pit, led the orchestra through the rather long overture and when the curtain went up the tenor who stepped on the stage was a total stranger, a third man It was someone the conductor didn't know and had never met. He didn't even know the man's name. And that was the tenor who sang the opening night.
The show can't go on. Show business doesn't work, it won't work, it can't work. But it does.
DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
**************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
10 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Benny Goodman
******************************
Here are 2 true show biz stories.
If you described show business to an actuary or a systems engineer they would tell you that it doesn't work, it can't work, don't try it. And yet, in spite if the impossibilities, the curtains go up and the shows go on.
I was dong a long running show in New York. The cast was three men and one woman. The actress had a physical problem that sometimes incapacitated her, so she needed to have an understudy. I helped to audition the understudy and had only one rehearsal with her. She attended every performance but never had to play the role.
Until one evening well into the run I was sitting in the dressing room and outside the door I saw her looking at the call board which is where the actors sign in and check for any notes they might need. I asked her if she was playing that night. She turned with a smile and said "Yup."
She was Miss Cool. I had two very difficult scenes with her. She played them beautifully, as if she had been doing them all along, without the slightest slip up. I wanted her to take over the role. But she eventually got a real acting job and left the show. I heard that she went to California and was working out there. She was quickly replaced by another understudy who was fine.
Actors usually take a role and play it until the show closes. In the case of a long running Broadway show they may play for a year or so and then be replaced by a fresh face. If they work on a film their job is done when their last scene is shot.
With opera singers it's very different in many ways. A singer usually develops a catalogue of roles that fit his vocal range and then sings those roles at various opera houses, wherever he can.
There was an opening night of a new production of a popular opera at a New York City opera company. When the conductor arrived he was informed that the tenor was ill and would not be able to sing that night. So the conductor went to the understudy to discuss some parts of the opera, interpretations, tempo, dynamics and so forth. Just before the performance began he was told the original tenor was feeling better and would sing after all. So he went to talk with that tenor about the dynamics and interpretations, and so forth.
When the opera was about to begin the conductor went to the pit, led the orchestra through the rather long overture and when the curtain went up the tenor who stepped on the stage was a total stranger, a third man It was someone the conductor didn't know and had never met. He didn't even know the man's name. And that was the tenor who sang the opening night.
The show can't go on. Show business doesn't work, it won't work, it can't work. But it does.
DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
**************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
10 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Vagabondism 106
Vagabondism #106 "Before you can change the world, you have to learn to enjoy what’s good about it."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
Shine On
We're here for a reason. I believe a bit of the reason is to throw little torches out to lead people through the dark.
Whoopi Goldberg
**************************
This is the story of a college girl named Sandy. She told it to me. She and some friends decided to go to the north country during the February break to do some skiing and snow boarding.
One sunny day Debby took a picnic lunch and went off by herself for a walk in the woods. When the afternoon came and it was time to head back she realized to her dismay that she had lost the trail. She walked around in several directions looking for it, headed down a hill in the wrong direction and tried to retrace her steps. But it was hopeless. She was lost.
Soon night fell and it was very dark. She was frightened. After trying to get through the thick growth of trees and getting more scared every minute she, at last, saw a single light way in the distance. She knew it wasn't near where she had come from. She didn't know if it was a building or a street light or something else. But it was her only point of reference in the darkness, so she started to walk toward it.
It was very difficult because she had to go through a thick forest with foliage all around her that she couldn't see. And it had begun to snow, great thick flakes of snow. At one place she had to make her way down a steep hill and as she did she could no longer see the light. She was worried that if it was a house maybe they turned off the light. But she kept going.
Eventually she emerged from the forest and climbed her way up a slippery hill. when she got to the top she sighed with exhaustion and relief because she could once again see the light.
But it was still a long way off. In front of her was a snow covered field. It was above her ankles and she had great trouble trudging her way through , occasionally slipping and falling face first down into it. But as she moved slowly across the field she began to make out the appearance of a small house. Encouraged, she tried to pick up her pace, but it was just not possible to go any faster. The thick snow and the weariness was slowing her down.
As she got closer to the house she stepped into a very cold stream. Now both her feet were soaking wet and painful. But when she managed to get out of the stream she could see the house had a porch with steps leading up to it.
Painfully she approached the steps which were so covered with snow she couldn't make out one step from another. Nevertheless she pulled herself up to the porch. She couldn't see through the windows because of the shades, but at the end of the parch there was a door. She went to the door and knocked hoping there was someone inside. A long moment went by and suddenly she was flooded in light as the porch lights went on. She saw the shade of the nearest window go up. She went to it and looked into the face of an older man who said something she couldn't hear.
Then her heart gripped as the porch light went out. She couldn't have come this far to be turned away. She heard the latch of the door move but didn't know if it was being opened or closed. Her fears were unnecessary for right then the door opened, the man held out his hand and asked her if she was alone. When she said she was, he helped her inside.
He turned out to be a very nice gentleman. He checked over her fingers and toes for frost bite, let her have a hot shower, loaned her some warm clothes, fed her and gave her a bed for the night. The next morning he drove her back to where her friends were.
Maral: You never know when your light is going to save someone from the darkness.
-----------------------------------
DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
****************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
10 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Whoopi Goldberg
**************************
This is the story of a college girl named Sandy. She told it to me. She and some friends decided to go to the north country during the February break to do some skiing and snow boarding.
One sunny day Debby took a picnic lunch and went off by herself for a walk in the woods. When the afternoon came and it was time to head back she realized to her dismay that she had lost the trail. She walked around in several directions looking for it, headed down a hill in the wrong direction and tried to retrace her steps. But it was hopeless. She was lost.
Soon night fell and it was very dark. She was frightened. After trying to get through the thick growth of trees and getting more scared every minute she, at last, saw a single light way in the distance. She knew it wasn't near where she had come from. She didn't know if it was a building or a street light or something else. But it was her only point of reference in the darkness, so she started to walk toward it.
It was very difficult because she had to go through a thick forest with foliage all around her that she couldn't see. And it had begun to snow, great thick flakes of snow. At one place she had to make her way down a steep hill and as she did she could no longer see the light. She was worried that if it was a house maybe they turned off the light. But she kept going.
Eventually she emerged from the forest and climbed her way up a slippery hill. when she got to the top she sighed with exhaustion and relief because she could once again see the light.
But it was still a long way off. In front of her was a snow covered field. It was above her ankles and she had great trouble trudging her way through , occasionally slipping and falling face first down into it. But as she moved slowly across the field she began to make out the appearance of a small house. Encouraged, she tried to pick up her pace, but it was just not possible to go any faster. The thick snow and the weariness was slowing her down.
As she got closer to the house she stepped into a very cold stream. Now both her feet were soaking wet and painful. But when she managed to get out of the stream she could see the house had a porch with steps leading up to it.
Painfully she approached the steps which were so covered with snow she couldn't make out one step from another. Nevertheless she pulled herself up to the porch. She couldn't see through the windows because of the shades, but at the end of the parch there was a door. She went to the door and knocked hoping there was someone inside. A long moment went by and suddenly she was flooded in light as the porch lights went on. She saw the shade of the nearest window go up. She went to it and looked into the face of an older man who said something she couldn't hear.
Then her heart gripped as the porch light went out. She couldn't have come this far to be turned away. She heard the latch of the door move but didn't know if it was being opened or closed. Her fears were unnecessary for right then the door opened, the man held out his hand and asked her if she was alone. When she said she was, he helped her inside.
He turned out to be a very nice gentleman. He checked over her fingers and toes for frost bite, let her have a hot shower, loaned her some warm clothes, fed her and gave her a bed for the night. The next morning he drove her back to where her friends were.
Maral: You never know when your light is going to save someone from the darkness.
-----------------------------------
DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
****************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
10 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Vagabondism 105
Vagabondism #105 "One should not follow traditions that one knows next to nothing about."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
Delight Thyself
Most men can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it obliges them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven thread by thread into the fabric of their lives.
Thomas Gold
**********************
What do I think of religion you ask? We, alright, you didn't ask but I'm going to tell you anyway. When I think of religion I don't think of it from any particualr faith or tradition. As it says in my profile, I'm not a fan of rules, rituals and summations. Those things may close the doors securely against doubt, but they also lock doors.
Among by rather large collections of books I have many on the subject of religions. Near my desk and read in rotation are The Book of Common Prayer, The Book of Mormon, The Bahir (what's that?), the Daily Missal, 2 books on Catholic Saints, 3 translations of The Bible, The Koran, Oahspe (what's that?), The Yoga-Sutra, Tao Teching, a Guide to Wicca, The Zohar, all 22 volumes with English translation and commentary (what's that?).
I also have writings by Saint Augustine, Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, Soren Kirkagaard, Karl Jaspers, Martin Buber, Mary Baker Eddy, Thomas Merton and Mortin Luther King, Jr. (I also read a lot of philosophy, history and psychology, so don't get excited.)
One of the obvious observations I can make is that the difference between the writings of those inspired thinkers and the way their followers practice those writings is very big. The human mind, in it's baser levels, tends to take over the simplicity, charm and joy of the spiritual life and translate it into war, bigotry, prejudice, hatred, animosity, exclusivity, limitation and ignorance. That's why I don't adhere to any one religion. I don't enjoy the dogmatic ones correcting my thinking.
The inspired writers of sacred texts were, after all, just like the rest of us. They were human beings, struggling with and trying to explain in human languages visions of deity and its grandeur. That they continued to struggle and still do, and that their followers continue to misunderstand them tends to create strange, mortal, powerless gods that no one wants to worship except the superstitious.
When the mystic knots are all untangled the answer will be very simple and obvious, and men and women will have to give up the complicated threads of theory and muddy rituals for a pure worship of the joy of being.
"Delight thyself in the Lord." (Psalm 37) As far as I'm concerned that is one of the most profound pieces of spiritual wisdom ever written. What do I think of religion? This is what I think.
Once every year throughout the world in fishing villages there is the ritual of the Blessing of the Fleet. The boats line up and sail past the peer where the local religious leader says a prayer for the successful catch and in some religions sprinkles some "holy water" toward the boat as it passes. Years ago, when I was an actor in Provincetown, Massachusetts, I was invited aboard my landlord's boat to participate. The Bishop came up from somewhere and was joined by the local priest. The priest was named Duarte and he was referred to locally as Our Father Duarte in Heaven. After the blessing we went out for a spin in the Atlantic Ocean. It was a beautiful day and a great experience.
I used to have a photograph which I took out of National Geographic of the blessing of the fleet on Kodiak Island, Alaska. In that case it was the Russian Orthodox clergy who were in charge. The bishop was there in all his robes, with a tall hat and long white beard. He had his book and was surrounded by banners depicting holy figures. Next to him was the parish priest in his robes, tall hat and black beard. They both had big, broad smiles on their faces. They were having a hell of a good time. In his hand, the priest held a white plastic squeeze bottle with the words HOLY WATER on it. I thought "Yes! There you go. If you really believe in the holy water than squirt the captain in the face if you have to, but get the water on the boat."
And that's what I think of religion.
-------------------------------------
DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
*********************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
10 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Thomas Gold
**********************
What do I think of religion you ask? We, alright, you didn't ask but I'm going to tell you anyway. When I think of religion I don't think of it from any particualr faith or tradition. As it says in my profile, I'm not a fan of rules, rituals and summations. Those things may close the doors securely against doubt, but they also lock doors.
Among by rather large collections of books I have many on the subject of religions. Near my desk and read in rotation are The Book of Common Prayer, The Book of Mormon, The Bahir (what's that?), the Daily Missal, 2 books on Catholic Saints, 3 translations of The Bible, The Koran, Oahspe (what's that?), The Yoga-Sutra, Tao Teching, a Guide to Wicca, The Zohar, all 22 volumes with English translation and commentary (what's that?).
I also have writings by Saint Augustine, Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, Soren Kirkagaard, Karl Jaspers, Martin Buber, Mary Baker Eddy, Thomas Merton and Mortin Luther King, Jr. (I also read a lot of philosophy, history and psychology, so don't get excited.)
One of the obvious observations I can make is that the difference between the writings of those inspired thinkers and the way their followers practice those writings is very big. The human mind, in it's baser levels, tends to take over the simplicity, charm and joy of the spiritual life and translate it into war, bigotry, prejudice, hatred, animosity, exclusivity, limitation and ignorance. That's why I don't adhere to any one religion. I don't enjoy the dogmatic ones correcting my thinking.
The inspired writers of sacred texts were, after all, just like the rest of us. They were human beings, struggling with and trying to explain in human languages visions of deity and its grandeur. That they continued to struggle and still do, and that their followers continue to misunderstand them tends to create strange, mortal, powerless gods that no one wants to worship except the superstitious.
When the mystic knots are all untangled the answer will be very simple and obvious, and men and women will have to give up the complicated threads of theory and muddy rituals for a pure worship of the joy of being.
"Delight thyself in the Lord." (Psalm 37) As far as I'm concerned that is one of the most profound pieces of spiritual wisdom ever written. What do I think of religion? This is what I think.
Once every year throughout the world in fishing villages there is the ritual of the Blessing of the Fleet. The boats line up and sail past the peer where the local religious leader says a prayer for the successful catch and in some religions sprinkles some "holy water" toward the boat as it passes. Years ago, when I was an actor in Provincetown, Massachusetts, I was invited aboard my landlord's boat to participate. The Bishop came up from somewhere and was joined by the local priest. The priest was named Duarte and he was referred to locally as Our Father Duarte in Heaven. After the blessing we went out for a spin in the Atlantic Ocean. It was a beautiful day and a great experience.
I used to have a photograph which I took out of National Geographic of the blessing of the fleet on Kodiak Island, Alaska. In that case it was the Russian Orthodox clergy who were in charge. The bishop was there in all his robes, with a tall hat and long white beard. He had his book and was surrounded by banners depicting holy figures. Next to him was the parish priest in his robes, tall hat and black beard. They both had big, broad smiles on their faces. They were having a hell of a good time. In his hand, the priest held a white plastic squeeze bottle with the words HOLY WATER on it. I thought "Yes! There you go. If you really believe in the holy water than squirt the captain in the face if you have to, but get the water on the boat."
And that's what I think of religion.
-------------------------------------
DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
*********************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
10 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Vagabondism 104
Vagabondism #104 "One of the reasons why it is so difficult to “know thyself” is because there are things about thyself that you don’t want to know."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
Vengeance
Men of integrity, by their very existence, rekindle the belief that as a people we can live above moral squalor.
John Gardner
***********************
Where are the men of inegrity? Who is standing up and speaking out, loud and clear, against the moral squalor that is sweeping the country?
There's an untold number of death threats against Casey Anthony, any one named Casey Anthony and anyone who looks like her. There are threats against all of the jurors who found her not guilty, against those with the same names as the jurors and anyone who looks like one of the jurors. There are web sites against Casey Anthony where thousands of people have spit their rage. There's a TV news person who still calls it "murder" and refers to the Anthony home as "the crime scene." That person should be ashamed of herself and quit the air waves. There's a lawyer who says that Casey Anthony should not be allowed to make any money from an interview or a book. Why not? She's in serious debt. Where is she gong to get the money? There's a pastor who says we should forgive her. For what? He draws a parallel with the victim who forgave the Nazis. Where's the connection? All this hatred, vengeance and venom illustrates the feces smeared bottom of the American character. It's beyond disgusting
Are people so angry, frustrated and bewildered by the awful condition the country is in that they have to take out their feelings somewhere so Casey Anthony provides a simple target? If so the target of their threats should be against the brain stalled, cowards of Congress who would deprive the American people of the Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, Veterans Benefits and other vital programs while holding on to a financial theory that doesn't work. How can a government be so brutal to its own people?
Vengeance is one of the worst passions human beings can be fooled into. It was revenge that motivated Osama bin Laden, it was revenge that brought down the World Trade Center, it was revenge that began the War in Iraq, it is revenge that motivates terrorism, it causes road rage, fights at children's ball games and domestic violence. It's vengeance that prevents progress and forward motion in the affairs of the country. Where are the men of integrity? Are they cowards like the conservatives in Congress? Am I the only one in the land who is shouting to call off the witch hunt and stop taking vengeance on Americans, stop taking money from where it isn't and start looking for where it is. Is there any place still left in the United States where there is no moral squalor?
-------------------------------------
Never give up.
DB - The Vagabond
********************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
10 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
John Gardner
***********************
Where are the men of inegrity? Who is standing up and speaking out, loud and clear, against the moral squalor that is sweeping the country?
There's an untold number of death threats against Casey Anthony, any one named Casey Anthony and anyone who looks like her. There are threats against all of the jurors who found her not guilty, against those with the same names as the jurors and anyone who looks like one of the jurors. There are web sites against Casey Anthony where thousands of people have spit their rage. There's a TV news person who still calls it "murder" and refers to the Anthony home as "the crime scene." That person should be ashamed of herself and quit the air waves. There's a lawyer who says that Casey Anthony should not be allowed to make any money from an interview or a book. Why not? She's in serious debt. Where is she gong to get the money? There's a pastor who says we should forgive her. For what? He draws a parallel with the victim who forgave the Nazis. Where's the connection? All this hatred, vengeance and venom illustrates the feces smeared bottom of the American character. It's beyond disgusting
Are people so angry, frustrated and bewildered by the awful condition the country is in that they have to take out their feelings somewhere so Casey Anthony provides a simple target? If so the target of their threats should be against the brain stalled, cowards of Congress who would deprive the American people of the Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, Veterans Benefits and other vital programs while holding on to a financial theory that doesn't work. How can a government be so brutal to its own people?
Vengeance is one of the worst passions human beings can be fooled into. It was revenge that motivated Osama bin Laden, it was revenge that brought down the World Trade Center, it was revenge that began the War in Iraq, it is revenge that motivates terrorism, it causes road rage, fights at children's ball games and domestic violence. It's vengeance that prevents progress and forward motion in the affairs of the country. Where are the men of integrity? Are they cowards like the conservatives in Congress? Am I the only one in the land who is shouting to call off the witch hunt and stop taking vengeance on Americans, stop taking money from where it isn't and start looking for where it is. Is there any place still left in the United States where there is no moral squalor?
-------------------------------------
Never give up.
DB - The Vagabond
********************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
10 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Monday, July 18, 2011
Facebook Folly
I think I'm giving up trying to post anything on Facebook. First it makes me log in every time. The when I want to post something it makes me try to decipher their stupid code words, then it either doesn't take the post or maybe it take s part of it. Why waste my time any more?
Vagabondism 103
Vagabondism #103 "One’s perception of other people is usually always bigger or smaller than those people really are."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
The Creatures
The good man is the friend of all living things.
Gandhi
*****************************
It's noon, I just filled up my bird feeder so the finches and other small winged creatures with feathers can enjoy the cuisine. Even though the birds scatter whenever I approach they are entertaining to watch from a distance. I realize there are many other birds too large for my feeder and some of them are predators who would eat my finches if they had the chance.
How can one be friends with "all living things"? It's easy to like a rose or a violet. But who can be friends with the cat tails, and skunk cabbage? We can make friends with a kitten, a puppy, even a sheep or a horse. But how can we be friends with a cock roach, a bat or a rattle snake. The only creature who thinks a wart hog is beautiful is another wart hog.
During hunting season in the north country, men go out and bag one deer as a limit. It's a device to keep down the overpopulation of the deer. But then there are the others who come up from elsewhere dressed head to toe in shocking orange garb, enough to frighten away any creature, start drinking and waiting for the deer to show up. If they haven't killed one by Sunday afternoon they get desperate and shoot anything, goats, cows, horses, each other and themselves, in the foot. Some will even try to buy a local hunter's catch because they would be ashamed to arrive back home Sunday evening without a deer strapped to their fender. What a joke.
Then there is the man who is the full time killer. To him anything with fins, scales, fur or feathers is to be summarily dispatched. To him, apparently, the animal kingdom is to be wiped out. Is he a "good man"? He probably thinks so.
We can't take the world's animals into our homes and hearts. But we can respect their rights by protecting their environments and leaving them to take care of themselves in the own natural ways. That's the best kind of friendship one can show to animal or human.
Besides we had better be "the friend to all living things." I think some of them are evolving faster than we are.
Never give up
DB - The Vagabond
***********************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
10 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Gandhi
*****************************
It's noon, I just filled up my bird feeder so the finches and other small winged creatures with feathers can enjoy the cuisine. Even though the birds scatter whenever I approach they are entertaining to watch from a distance. I realize there are many other birds too large for my feeder and some of them are predators who would eat my finches if they had the chance.
How can one be friends with "all living things"? It's easy to like a rose or a violet. But who can be friends with the cat tails, and skunk cabbage? We can make friends with a kitten, a puppy, even a sheep or a horse. But how can we be friends with a cock roach, a bat or a rattle snake. The only creature who thinks a wart hog is beautiful is another wart hog.
During hunting season in the north country, men go out and bag one deer as a limit. It's a device to keep down the overpopulation of the deer. But then there are the others who come up from elsewhere dressed head to toe in shocking orange garb, enough to frighten away any creature, start drinking and waiting for the deer to show up. If they haven't killed one by Sunday afternoon they get desperate and shoot anything, goats, cows, horses, each other and themselves, in the foot. Some will even try to buy a local hunter's catch because they would be ashamed to arrive back home Sunday evening without a deer strapped to their fender. What a joke.
Then there is the man who is the full time killer. To him anything with fins, scales, fur or feathers is to be summarily dispatched. To him, apparently, the animal kingdom is to be wiped out. Is he a "good man"? He probably thinks so.
We can't take the world's animals into our homes and hearts. But we can respect their rights by protecting their environments and leaving them to take care of themselves in the own natural ways. That's the best kind of friendship one can show to animal or human.
Besides we had better be "the friend to all living things." I think some of them are evolving faster than we are.
Never give up
DB - The Vagabond
***********************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
10 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Weekend Contest Answers
WEEKEND CONTEST ANSWERS
Well, last weekend several of you had some fun substituting a different word for "noodles" in "Love with noodles is batter." So here's a variation. Take a song and change one of the important words. Such as:
Somewhere over the ________.
Or:
I can't give you anything but ______, baby.
Etc.
Well, since there was only one entry (shame on you people) the cloth page book of Sanskrit nursery rimes goes to Geo for:
Somewhere over the cowshed.
Nor have I ever comfortably called anybody "Baby" other than real babies, so:
I can't give you anything but diapers, Baby (and maybe a shoulder to puke on).
Thank you Geo
DB
*********************
Well, last weekend several of you had some fun substituting a different word for "noodles" in "Love with noodles is batter." So here's a variation. Take a song and change one of the important words. Such as:
Somewhere over the ________.
Or:
I can't give you anything but ______, baby.
Etc.
Well, since there was only one entry (shame on you people) the cloth page book of Sanskrit nursery rimes goes to Geo for:
Somewhere over the cowshed.
Nor have I ever comfortably called anybody "Baby" other than real babies, so:
I can't give you anything but diapers, Baby (and maybe a shoulder to puke on).
Thank you Geo
DB
*********************
Vagabondism 102
Vagabondism #102 "Actors are those who will give themselves notes even after the show has closed."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
Never Give Up
If you think somebody cares about you and believes your life is worth saving, how can you give up?
Geraldine Ferraro
************************
One of the characteristics I sometimes observe about myself is that, generally speaking, I like people better than they like me. I don't know why that is but it probably has something to do with my sense of humor. I guess I'm prone to making light of things which others hold to be sacred or serious. That comes from an opinion that no matter how serious things are, and some things are very serious, there is nothing in life that doesn't deserve to be laughed at.
Even so that doesn't mean I don/t care about people. I suppose I wouldn't be writing this journal every day if I didn't. That means I care about people I don't even know. It's because I want people's lives to be better, happier and more successful. In spite of varying degress of self assurance we tread around this spinning globe with uncertainty and confusion, learning about life every day, discovering things we didn't think were there and rediscovering things we had forgotten about, such as ourselves.
I remember many years ago being stopped on the street one day by a radio news reporter who asked me for my opinion about a certain trial that was taking place at the time. The defendant was in danger of the death penalty if convicted. I wasn't following the trial and told him so but I went on to say I wasn't in favor of the death penalty because I believed that everyone was basically redeemable. I have performed in prisons and half way houses, met convicted criminals and seen men turning their lives around. Don't give up on people. All roads go somewhere.
I've known a bunch of nasty people in my life, both in show business and out, one of them lives not far from here. The fact is that some of those people perform tasks that are very helpful to the world. As much as we would like to believe it good skill and good personality are not necessarily compatible.
It's difficult to care about someone with a rotten personality, but life is sacred thing and a person who can redeem himself deserves to live. He deserves to not give up and he deserves to not be given up on.
It is easy for me to think, in my solitary struggles, that no one cares about me. But through my journal I care about people I don't even know. So if you think no one cares about you, know that people you don't even know care. And that's a good reason for not giving up. Something you do today may have an important result tomorrow in this confusing and uncertain world.
Never give up.
DB - The Vagabond
**********************
WEEKEND CONTEST
Well, last weekend several of you had some fun substituting a different word for "noodles" in "Love with noodles is batter." So here's a variation. Take a song and change one of the important words. Such as:
Somewhere over the ________.
Or:
I can't give you anything but ______, baby.
Etc.
Enter as often as you like, the decision of the mentally stalled judge is final.
Only 1 entry so far.
Good luck
DB
*********************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
10 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Geraldine Ferraro
************************
One of the characteristics I sometimes observe about myself is that, generally speaking, I like people better than they like me. I don't know why that is but it probably has something to do with my sense of humor. I guess I'm prone to making light of things which others hold to be sacred or serious. That comes from an opinion that no matter how serious things are, and some things are very serious, there is nothing in life that doesn't deserve to be laughed at.
Even so that doesn't mean I don/t care about people. I suppose I wouldn't be writing this journal every day if I didn't. That means I care about people I don't even know. It's because I want people's lives to be better, happier and more successful. In spite of varying degress of self assurance we tread around this spinning globe with uncertainty and confusion, learning about life every day, discovering things we didn't think were there and rediscovering things we had forgotten about, such as ourselves.
I remember many years ago being stopped on the street one day by a radio news reporter who asked me for my opinion about a certain trial that was taking place at the time. The defendant was in danger of the death penalty if convicted. I wasn't following the trial and told him so but I went on to say I wasn't in favor of the death penalty because I believed that everyone was basically redeemable. I have performed in prisons and half way houses, met convicted criminals and seen men turning their lives around. Don't give up on people. All roads go somewhere.
I've known a bunch of nasty people in my life, both in show business and out, one of them lives not far from here. The fact is that some of those people perform tasks that are very helpful to the world. As much as we would like to believe it good skill and good personality are not necessarily compatible.
It's difficult to care about someone with a rotten personality, but life is sacred thing and a person who can redeem himself deserves to live. He deserves to not give up and he deserves to not be given up on.
It is easy for me to think, in my solitary struggles, that no one cares about me. But through my journal I care about people I don't even know. So if you think no one cares about you, know that people you don't even know care. And that's a good reason for not giving up. Something you do today may have an important result tomorrow in this confusing and uncertain world.
Never give up.
DB - The Vagabond
**********************
WEEKEND CONTEST
Well, last weekend several of you had some fun substituting a different word for "noodles" in "Love with noodles is batter." So here's a variation. Take a song and change one of the important words. Such as:
Somewhere over the ________.
Or:
I can't give you anything but ______, baby.
Etc.
Enter as often as you like, the decision of the mentally stalled judge is final.
Only 1 entry so far.
Good luck
DB
*********************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
10 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Saturday, July 16, 2011
On The Field
You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again. That's the way life is, with a new game every day.
Bob Feller
***************************
Robert William Andrew Feller (1918 - 2010) was a major league baseball pitcher. He joined the Cleveland Indians at the age of 17 without ever having played in the Minor Leagues. He played for the Indians his entire career, and retired in 1956. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. Bob Feller was famous for his fast ball which once was clocked at 113 miles per hour.
"A new game every day." Past successes may get your name in the paper or an autograph seeker and past failures may earn you some remorse, but they are both unimportant. Taking a lesson from everything we do is what's important and looking forward to more lessons learned as we approach another day.
In the theatre everyone wants to repeat what they did the night before if it was a good performance. But it isn't possible, nor should it be. Every new day is a chance to do better, to throw the ball faster than it's ever been thrown, to perform the role better than it has ever been performed, to do whatever it is your lot to do better than you even expect from yourself before you start. Life gives us the experiences as we trudge along and it is our chance and our great opportunity to not only make the most of them but to turn them into successes that light up the reason for life and our place in it.
"There's place and means for every man alive" wrote Shakespeare. You can find your greatness on a baseball field or anywhere life puts you by looking at the new day, eager for the game.
----------------------------------------------------
Never give up.
DB - The Vagabond
*******************************
WEEKEND CONTEST
Well, last weekend several of you had some fun substituting a different word for "noodles" in "Love with noodles is batter." So here's a variation. Take a song and change one of the important words. Such as:
Somewhere over the ________.
Or:
I can't give you anything but ______, baby.
Etc.
Enter as often as you like, the decision of the mentally stalled judge is final.
Good luck
DB
*********************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
9 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Bob Feller
***************************
Robert William Andrew Feller (1918 - 2010) was a major league baseball pitcher. He joined the Cleveland Indians at the age of 17 without ever having played in the Minor Leagues. He played for the Indians his entire career, and retired in 1956. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. Bob Feller was famous for his fast ball which once was clocked at 113 miles per hour.
"A new game every day." Past successes may get your name in the paper or an autograph seeker and past failures may earn you some remorse, but they are both unimportant. Taking a lesson from everything we do is what's important and looking forward to more lessons learned as we approach another day.
In the theatre everyone wants to repeat what they did the night before if it was a good performance. But it isn't possible, nor should it be. Every new day is a chance to do better, to throw the ball faster than it's ever been thrown, to perform the role better than it has ever been performed, to do whatever it is your lot to do better than you even expect from yourself before you start. Life gives us the experiences as we trudge along and it is our chance and our great opportunity to not only make the most of them but to turn them into successes that light up the reason for life and our place in it.
"There's place and means for every man alive" wrote Shakespeare. You can find your greatness on a baseball field or anywhere life puts you by looking at the new day, eager for the game.
----------------------------------------------------
Never give up.
DB - The Vagabond
*******************************
WEEKEND CONTEST
Well, last weekend several of you had some fun substituting a different word for "noodles" in "Love with noodles is batter." So here's a variation. Take a song and change one of the important words. Such as:
Somewhere over the ________.
Or:
I can't give you anything but ______, baby.
Etc.
Enter as often as you like, the decision of the mentally stalled judge is final.
Good luck
DB
*********************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
9 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Friday, July 15, 2011
My story
My story "Metta Sutta" is published in the current edition of the Levitown Leader. www.TheLevittownLeader.com
Vagabondism 100
Vagabondism #100 "Genuine eccentricities cannot be seen at first glance, if they can, they are mere ostentations."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
Celebrate
No man is a failure who is enjoying life.
William Feather
**********************
What? You don't have your barbecue yet? What's the matter with you?
On Wednesday I went to the mall to make a few simple purchases. Along the long outside wall there was an array of barbecue devises. Some of them were very intricate and as large as a small car. Others were simple and could probably fit into a small car. But they were all there to provide for the same thing: "The Famous American Backyard Cook Out."
As I stood there looking at them (no, I have no interest in owning one) I recalled that when I visited that mall in December along that same long wall there were trees. Evergreens. "Christmas Trees."
I remarked to myself how those two items represent two of the rituals of celebration we experience. Friends and family gathering in the back yard to enjoy some tasty food, or coming together to decorate the Christmas Tree. There are also the New Years Eve party, the Fourth of July Parade, the Thanksgiving turkey, and peppered throughout the year are other special days which, along with birthdays, graduations, weddings and anniversaries, mean that every day of the year there is a reason for some group of people somewhere in the land to have fun.
I'm not a particular fan of rituals, as it says in my profile, but I can see and appreciate other people's pleasure in them. And I say it's a grand thing that we live in a part of the world where people can celebrate an event without being threatened, and where the phantoms of fear, failure, suffering, confusion and distress can be shoved aside by an occasion for people to come together and enjoy themselves.
-----------------------------------
Never give up.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
********************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
9 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
William Feather
**********************
What? You don't have your barbecue yet? What's the matter with you?
On Wednesday I went to the mall to make a few simple purchases. Along the long outside wall there was an array of barbecue devises. Some of them were very intricate and as large as a small car. Others were simple and could probably fit into a small car. But they were all there to provide for the same thing: "The Famous American Backyard Cook Out."
As I stood there looking at them (no, I have no interest in owning one) I recalled that when I visited that mall in December along that same long wall there were trees. Evergreens. "Christmas Trees."
I remarked to myself how those two items represent two of the rituals of celebration we experience. Friends and family gathering in the back yard to enjoy some tasty food, or coming together to decorate the Christmas Tree. There are also the New Years Eve party, the Fourth of July Parade, the Thanksgiving turkey, and peppered throughout the year are other special days which, along with birthdays, graduations, weddings and anniversaries, mean that every day of the year there is a reason for some group of people somewhere in the land to have fun.
I'm not a particular fan of rituals, as it says in my profile, but I can see and appreciate other people's pleasure in them. And I say it's a grand thing that we live in a part of the world where people can celebrate an event without being threatened, and where the phantoms of fear, failure, suffering, confusion and distress can be shoved aside by an occasion for people to come together and enjoy themselves.
-----------------------------------
Never give up.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
********************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
9 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Vagabondism 99
Vagabondism #99 "Admire, respect and emulate, but don’t compare yourself with anyone."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
Tantalus
We struggle to mine the ore of experience and to express the inexpressible, and from that struggle art, poetry and music are made.
DB - The Vagabond
*****************
My first real acquaintance and understanding of the artist's struggle came when I was a teenager and went to see an exhibit of paintings and drawings by Arshile Gorky. Gorky was not his real name. He was born Vostonik Adoyan in Turkey sometime in the early 20th Century, the date is not certain. He was Armenian and when the cruel genocide of Armenians took place he fled to New York City. He had a short life (44 years), his works spanned from Impressionism, through Cubism and into Abstract Expressionism and in that mode he became a pioneer and great influence on other painters.
Gorky had a troubled life. His mother died in his arms from starvation. He and his father were separated. He never achieved financial independence, although his works were well known in art circles and he could not have the family he always wanted. The struggles of a sensitive, creative man to express the inexpressible are clearly seen in his paintings. I saw them that day in the museum. But I did not realize at the time, in my boyishness, how deeply into my being Gorky's vision was reaching.
Since that day I have come to find the same struggle in other artists, like Hoffman and de Kooning, composers like Beethoven, Bartok and Schoenberg.
Gradually I began to discover how important to my own career the struggles of my life had become. No one should ever seek out pain, deprivation and misfortune simply as a background upon which to hang one's creative life. Misfortunes come to everyone. For an artist the worst is to be scoffed, to have one's work scorned and ignored even in the face of great appreciation by one's peers. The artist's creative imagination, when focused on the right ideals, soars at the highest level of human experience, gently contemplating heaven's door.
The artist is always reaching. There is a reaching down into the ore of one's life, trying to bring up sense, answers, truth and something beautiful, and a reaching above to grasp and understand the inextinguishable fire that flashes with spirit and genius and is always just out of reach. As a result the artist is a Tantalus. The art lover, the audience member can never experience the artist's desperate reaching, all they know are the results of that struggle. But that's where the art comes from.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never give up.
**************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
8 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
DB - The Vagabond
*****************
My first real acquaintance and understanding of the artist's struggle came when I was a teenager and went to see an exhibit of paintings and drawings by Arshile Gorky. Gorky was not his real name. He was born Vostonik Adoyan in Turkey sometime in the early 20th Century, the date is not certain. He was Armenian and when the cruel genocide of Armenians took place he fled to New York City. He had a short life (44 years), his works spanned from Impressionism, through Cubism and into Abstract Expressionism and in that mode he became a pioneer and great influence on other painters.
Gorky had a troubled life. His mother died in his arms from starvation. He and his father were separated. He never achieved financial independence, although his works were well known in art circles and he could not have the family he always wanted. The struggles of a sensitive, creative man to express the inexpressible are clearly seen in his paintings. I saw them that day in the museum. But I did not realize at the time, in my boyishness, how deeply into my being Gorky's vision was reaching.
Since that day I have come to find the same struggle in other artists, like Hoffman and de Kooning, composers like Beethoven, Bartok and Schoenberg.
Gradually I began to discover how important to my own career the struggles of my life had become. No one should ever seek out pain, deprivation and misfortune simply as a background upon which to hang one's creative life. Misfortunes come to everyone. For an artist the worst is to be scoffed, to have one's work scorned and ignored even in the face of great appreciation by one's peers. The artist's creative imagination, when focused on the right ideals, soars at the highest level of human experience, gently contemplating heaven's door.
The artist is always reaching. There is a reaching down into the ore of one's life, trying to bring up sense, answers, truth and something beautiful, and a reaching above to grasp and understand the inextinguishable fire that flashes with spirit and genius and is always just out of reach. As a result the artist is a Tantalus. The art lover, the audience member can never experience the artist's desperate reaching, all they know are the results of that struggle. But that's where the art comes from.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never give up.
**************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
8 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Vagabondism 98
Vagabondism #98 "Nothing is ever completely what it is to our understanding. The more familiar it becomes, the more we discover about it."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
The Measure
Do anything that keeps your brain working and your heart filled with passion.
Anonymous
********************
Suppose you are crossing a desert, or hiking through a forest, or climbing a mountain. And suppose you've been doing that for a long time and you haven't reached an oasis, the edge of the forest or the summit of the mountain. Since all you see are dunes, trees or cliffs and crags it would be helpful if you had some sort of a map to tell you where you are and how far you have to go, some sort of device for measuring your progress.
So how deeply have you thought things through? How much of your heart have you put into something? We have no devices to measure our own subjective lives. It is too easy to jump to conclusions, to decide on a moment's flash of stimulation that something is right and true, wake up the next morning not so sure and discard the whole idea by tea time.
Is that really what you think? Is that really how you feel? How do we find the monitoring mechanism, the measuring device that keeps us from getting lost in the desert or the forest, confused and uncertain about where we are and what we're doing?
We are all victims of our own impulses, those "moments of truth" that lead us astray in the wilderness. The right answer is to recognize that, make the connection between dull old organized thought and the excitement of foolishness. There isn't much that's exciting about plowing and planting. It's when the crop is ready for harvest that the excitement comes. But the planter knows the thoughtful preparation of the soil and the heartfelt sowing of each seed.
By all means go mad every now and then and do something silly. But when the important things are on the table grab the ruler and measure your thoughts, how deep and practical are they? And measure the convictions of your heart to the opportunities at hand. And when you reach the summit of the mountain you will know how you got there and why.
Never give up.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
8 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Anonymous
********************
Suppose you are crossing a desert, or hiking through a forest, or climbing a mountain. And suppose you've been doing that for a long time and you haven't reached an oasis, the edge of the forest or the summit of the mountain. Since all you see are dunes, trees or cliffs and crags it would be helpful if you had some sort of a map to tell you where you are and how far you have to go, some sort of device for measuring your progress.
So how deeply have you thought things through? How much of your heart have you put into something? We have no devices to measure our own subjective lives. It is too easy to jump to conclusions, to decide on a moment's flash of stimulation that something is right and true, wake up the next morning not so sure and discard the whole idea by tea time.
Is that really what you think? Is that really how you feel? How do we find the monitoring mechanism, the measuring device that keeps us from getting lost in the desert or the forest, confused and uncertain about where we are and what we're doing?
We are all victims of our own impulses, those "moments of truth" that lead us astray in the wilderness. The right answer is to recognize that, make the connection between dull old organized thought and the excitement of foolishness. There isn't much that's exciting about plowing and planting. It's when the crop is ready for harvest that the excitement comes. But the planter knows the thoughtful preparation of the soil and the heartfelt sowing of each seed.
By all means go mad every now and then and do something silly. But when the important things are on the table grab the ruler and measure your thoughts, how deep and practical are they? And measure the convictions of your heart to the opportunities at hand. And when you reach the summit of the mountain you will know how you got there and why.
Never give up.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
8 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Vagabondism 97
Vagabondism #97 "Don’t let your body talk to you. You talk to it."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
Monday, July 11, 2011
The Games I Play
Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
Susan Ertz
***************************
Life is unfinished business. A rainy Sunday afternoon is a good time to start preparing for immortality. Of course, you can waste time like everyone else does by meandering around your mental meadow waiting for your life to start. Or you can get really involved in that crossword puzzle or the jig saw puzzle and tell yourself you're accomplishing something. You can watch the game (there's always a game) on TV. That'll be fun. It's all recreation, and there's nothing wrong with that. But is it really re-creation?
If you have folks around you to share the games, the puzzles, stories, laughs, good conversation, you're lucky. If not you have to be
inventive about how you spend (waste) your time.
When I was a youngster someone gave me a big box of games: checkers, chess, Parcheesi, Monopoly, and I don't remember what else. Since I had no one to play with I learned how to change all of them into solitaire games. I invented games.
I still do. I got tired of child's games. But an artist is always a child at heart, so I began to invent more serious, more creative games. They involved composing music, painting, writing and the performing arts.
I'm not an actor any more but on a rainy Sunday afternoon, or any afternoon, I will be at play, painting or writing my stories. And each thing I invent will go on the alter with a prayer for it's immortality and mine.
------------------------------------
DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
*************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
8 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Susan Ertz
***************************
Life is unfinished business. A rainy Sunday afternoon is a good time to start preparing for immortality. Of course, you can waste time like everyone else does by meandering around your mental meadow waiting for your life to start. Or you can get really involved in that crossword puzzle or the jig saw puzzle and tell yourself you're accomplishing something. You can watch the game (there's always a game) on TV. That'll be fun. It's all recreation, and there's nothing wrong with that. But is it really re-creation?
If you have folks around you to share the games, the puzzles, stories, laughs, good conversation, you're lucky. If not you have to be
inventive about how you spend (waste) your time.
When I was a youngster someone gave me a big box of games: checkers, chess, Parcheesi, Monopoly, and I don't remember what else. Since I had no one to play with I learned how to change all of them into solitaire games. I invented games.
I still do. I got tired of child's games. But an artist is always a child at heart, so I began to invent more serious, more creative games. They involved composing music, painting, writing and the performing arts.
I'm not an actor any more but on a rainy Sunday afternoon, or any afternoon, I will be at play, painting or writing my stories. And each thing I invent will go on the alter with a prayer for it's immortality and mine.
------------------------------------
DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
*************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
8 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Vagabondism 96
Vagabondism #96 "It is a great pleasure for me to occasionally wrestle, like Jacob, with the angel of an idea I’ve never confronted before and to hold on until I understand it."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
Ancient Trails
Our literature is a substitute for religion, and so is our religion.
T. S. Eliot
*********************
This is not a sermon. I am not a theologian, not even an amateur one. But I am a reader and student of theological works as I am of philosophy and history. What follows is not a manifesto or testament of my personal religious beliefs nor a scholarly paper subject to peer review, it is a meditation on some very ancient religious ideas, gleaned from many different sources.
In ancient times, before Christianity, before Islam, before even Judaism, there were in the Holy Land Patriarchs and Prophets who lived in proximity and coherence with their deity, a divine spirit expressed in the sounds EH, OH, AH, which became Jehovah, which became Joshua, which became Jesus, and Yahweh when spoken in reverse. These were names for the nameless.
These Patriarchs lived in the years from before the Flood until the dawning of Abraham. They left a cosmology, codified, arbitrarily or not, in a system of 7 days. The poet who saw and described the myth of the Garden of Eden prophesied what would become the great hubris of man, seen again in the Tower of Babel and the 40 years in the wilderness.
After the Flood, the hidden and difficult (for me) to understand doctrines of the Noachic tradition which symbolically added wine to the bread and meat sacrifices of Cain and Abel, but which did much more to establish the ground work for a return to Jehovah which had been prophesied as coming after the Fall.
These ancient Patriarchs left the world many important lessons, treasures buried in the ground, to be dug up when the need was greatest. Among them are these three: Atonement, Certainty. Empowerment.
Atonement. Many mistakes and erroneous concepts are gathered around the subject of atonement. It is believed that the human race must attone for it's sins in order to be worthy of God's love. But as the Patriarchs declared God loves all of His creation absolutely, unequivocally. He hates none of it. And He pours forth His love upon it in abundance. God sheds more love upon us than we take. Why is that? Because we have set up barriers against it with our erroneous thinking and behavior. We have constructed walls by thinking that we can exist without the Spirit, we can eat the forbidden fruit of our own interpretations, sacrifice the unholy fire in place of the truth. Atonement is the process of cleaning up the mess, tearing down the barriers and realizing the abundance of divine affection that is coming to us non stop from it's infinite source without questions.
Certainty. Certainty is more than belief and stronger than faith. Faith is needed to bear upon an outcome of which we are not sure. It ties itself to hope and a sense of righteousness. Certainty, on the other had, is the quality the Patriarchs held up as the right of man in his real relationship with God. Certainty was tested on Noah when he was told to build the ark. It was tested on Abraham when he was told by God to leave his home and go into a strange land. It was tested at the Red Sea when God refused to answer the prayer of the Israelites except to say in essence, "You have the right to cross the sea. Do it." It is said in one tradition that a Certain Man, named Nacshon, wadded into the water and as he did the sea gradually parted for him. The lack of certainty is what kept the Children of Israel wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. The Patriarchs were certain of God's Word and it never failed them.
Empowerment. The Patriarchs had a daily, conscious, one to one relationship with Deity and that enabled them to receive directly the Divine word and the power that accompanied it. They had no churches, temples or synagogues They had no religions. They had a simple worship of a Deity they understood to be theirs. Moses provided the Israelites with the Ten Commandments which some treat as rules for living (which is not a bad idea) but they are more than that. They are prophecies of what life will be when perfection is reached among the human expressions of the divine, the image and likeness of God, the Kingdom of Heaven Earth. Through the years the ancient lessons of the Patriarchs has shown itself to be present in power, a strength given to man by his adherence to the Divine principles spoken by the Patriarchs and left for the world to own. It was with Joshua at Jericho, it was with David when he met Goliath. It is the power given to man that is greater than the power of wrong.
The history of the Fall, Atonement, Certainty and Empowerment of man is written in the Book of Job, probably the earliest book of the Bible. It is also written in the lives of the Christian, Muslim and Jewish prophets through the centuries.
As I said at the top, this is not a description of my own personal religious beliefs, but a gleaning from various sources of literature on religious subjects and my meditations on them. Thank you for taking the time to read it.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
***************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
8 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
WEEKEND CONTEST ANSWERS
Your task was to supply a different word or words in the place of "noodles." Enter as often as you wish. As usual the decision of the ornery, highly critical judge was final. The winner will receive an autographed copy of the recipe for Armadillo Fettuccine.
Answers:
This is easy. Love with home grown Jersey tomatoes is better.
Love with bacon is better.
Love with pasta ala Italiano is better.
I prefer the minimalist approach: Love with canoodles is better.
"Love is good. Love with Listerine is better."
"CHOCOLATE" absolutley!
love with compassion....
It was a difficult choice. At first the judge couldn't decide between Listerine or compassion. But finally after flipping 15 coins and consulting the gypsy tea leaf reader he decided. So the autographed copy of Sr. Fettuccine's recipe goes to.....
mrs. miss alaineus for -
Love is good. Love with compassion is better.
Thank you all
DB
***********************
T. S. Eliot
*********************
This is not a sermon. I am not a theologian, not even an amateur one. But I am a reader and student of theological works as I am of philosophy and history. What follows is not a manifesto or testament of my personal religious beliefs nor a scholarly paper subject to peer review, it is a meditation on some very ancient religious ideas, gleaned from many different sources.
In ancient times, before Christianity, before Islam, before even Judaism, there were in the Holy Land Patriarchs and Prophets who lived in proximity and coherence with their deity, a divine spirit expressed in the sounds EH, OH, AH, which became Jehovah, which became Joshua, which became Jesus, and Yahweh when spoken in reverse. These were names for the nameless.
These Patriarchs lived in the years from before the Flood until the dawning of Abraham. They left a cosmology, codified, arbitrarily or not, in a system of 7 days. The poet who saw and described the myth of the Garden of Eden prophesied what would become the great hubris of man, seen again in the Tower of Babel and the 40 years in the wilderness.
After the Flood, the hidden and difficult (for me) to understand doctrines of the Noachic tradition which symbolically added wine to the bread and meat sacrifices of Cain and Abel, but which did much more to establish the ground work for a return to Jehovah which had been prophesied as coming after the Fall.
These ancient Patriarchs left the world many important lessons, treasures buried in the ground, to be dug up when the need was greatest. Among them are these three: Atonement, Certainty. Empowerment.
Atonement. Many mistakes and erroneous concepts are gathered around the subject of atonement. It is believed that the human race must attone for it's sins in order to be worthy of God's love. But as the Patriarchs declared God loves all of His creation absolutely, unequivocally. He hates none of it. And He pours forth His love upon it in abundance. God sheds more love upon us than we take. Why is that? Because we have set up barriers against it with our erroneous thinking and behavior. We have constructed walls by thinking that we can exist without the Spirit, we can eat the forbidden fruit of our own interpretations, sacrifice the unholy fire in place of the truth. Atonement is the process of cleaning up the mess, tearing down the barriers and realizing the abundance of divine affection that is coming to us non stop from it's infinite source without questions.
Certainty. Certainty is more than belief and stronger than faith. Faith is needed to bear upon an outcome of which we are not sure. It ties itself to hope and a sense of righteousness. Certainty, on the other had, is the quality the Patriarchs held up as the right of man in his real relationship with God. Certainty was tested on Noah when he was told to build the ark. It was tested on Abraham when he was told by God to leave his home and go into a strange land. It was tested at the Red Sea when God refused to answer the prayer of the Israelites except to say in essence, "You have the right to cross the sea. Do it." It is said in one tradition that a Certain Man, named Nacshon, wadded into the water and as he did the sea gradually parted for him. The lack of certainty is what kept the Children of Israel wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. The Patriarchs were certain of God's Word and it never failed them.
Empowerment. The Patriarchs had a daily, conscious, one to one relationship with Deity and that enabled them to receive directly the Divine word and the power that accompanied it. They had no churches, temples or synagogues They had no religions. They had a simple worship of a Deity they understood to be theirs. Moses provided the Israelites with the Ten Commandments which some treat as rules for living (which is not a bad idea) but they are more than that. They are prophecies of what life will be when perfection is reached among the human expressions of the divine, the image and likeness of God, the Kingdom of Heaven Earth. Through the years the ancient lessons of the Patriarchs has shown itself to be present in power, a strength given to man by his adherence to the Divine principles spoken by the Patriarchs and left for the world to own. It was with Joshua at Jericho, it was with David when he met Goliath. It is the power given to man that is greater than the power of wrong.
The history of the Fall, Atonement, Certainty and Empowerment of man is written in the Book of Job, probably the earliest book of the Bible. It is also written in the lives of the Christian, Muslim and Jewish prophets through the centuries.
As I said at the top, this is not a description of my own personal religious beliefs, but a gleaning from various sources of literature on religious subjects and my meditations on them. Thank you for taking the time to read it.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
***************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
8 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
WEEKEND CONTEST ANSWERS
Your task was to supply a different word or words in the place of "noodles." Enter as often as you wish. As usual the decision of the ornery, highly critical judge was final. The winner will receive an autographed copy of the recipe for Armadillo Fettuccine.
Answers:
This is easy. Love with home grown Jersey tomatoes is better.
Love with bacon is better.
Love with pasta ala Italiano is better.
I prefer the minimalist approach: Love with canoodles is better.
"Love is good. Love with Listerine is better."
"CHOCOLATE" absolutley!
love with compassion....
It was a difficult choice. At first the judge couldn't decide between Listerine or compassion. But finally after flipping 15 coins and consulting the gypsy tea leaf reader he decided. So the autographed copy of Sr. Fettuccine's recipe goes to.....
mrs. miss alaineus for -
Love is good. Love with compassion is better.
Thank you all
DB
***********************
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Weekend Contest Answers
WEEKEND CONTEST ANSWERS
Your task was to supply a different word or words in the place of "noodles." Enter as often as you wish. As usual the decision of the ornery, highly critical judge was final. The winner will receive an autographed copy of the recipe for Armadillo Fettuccine.
Answers:
This is easy. Love with home grown Jersey tomatoes is better.
Love with bacon is better.
Love with pasta ala Italiano is better.
I prefer the minimalist approach: Love with canoodles is better.
"Love is good. Love with Listerine is better."
"CHOCOLATE" absolutley!
love with compassion....
It was a difficult choice. At first the judge couldn't decide between Listerine or compassion. But finally after flipping 15 coins and consulting the gypsy tea leaf reader he decided. So the autographed copy of Sr. Fettuccine's recipe goes to.....
mrs. miss alaineus for -
Love is good. Love with compassion is better.
Thank you all
DB
***********************
Your task was to supply a different word or words in the place of "noodles." Enter as often as you wish. As usual the decision of the ornery, highly critical judge was final. The winner will receive an autographed copy of the recipe for Armadillo Fettuccine.
Answers:
This is easy. Love with home grown Jersey tomatoes is better.
Love with bacon is better.
Love with pasta ala Italiano is better.
I prefer the minimalist approach: Love with canoodles is better.
"Love is good. Love with Listerine is better."
"CHOCOLATE" absolutley!
love with compassion....
It was a difficult choice. At first the judge couldn't decide between Listerine or compassion. But finally after flipping 15 coins and consulting the gypsy tea leaf reader he decided. So the autographed copy of Sr. Fettuccine's recipe goes to.....
mrs. miss alaineus for -
Love is good. Love with compassion is better.
Thank you all
DB
***********************
Vagabondism 95
Vagabondism #95 "Life is our sweetest gift. It should never be wasted on war."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
Going To Press
I'm pleased to announce that two of my Journeys are being published this
Summer in a local paper. The first about a compassionate Good Humor man and his experiences in a ghetto, which I wrote about a year ago. And the other about the bull frog who helped me find water for my stalled car, which I wrote a few days ago.
DB
*************************
Summer in a local paper. The first about a compassionate Good Humor man and his experiences in a ghetto, which I wrote about a year ago. And the other about the bull frog who helped me find water for my stalled car, which I wrote a few days ago.
DB
*************************
The Common Mind
The idle mind knows not what it wants
.Quintus Ennius
********************
I used to proclaim that all the self help books I read began with chapter 2. Chaoter 2 states that with the system contained in the book you can achieve your goals in life and find success.. Chapter 1, which isn't in the book says that you can easily determine what it is you want in life what your goals are. In other words the books were written only for those who already had an objective in mind, who knew what they wanted out of life.
Things are a bit different now. There are books which encourage one to learn to understand himself well enough to have purpose, a goal, a thing to strive for, Monday morning self analysis. But does that mean there are no longer any idle minds? Hardly. The mind that does not know itself is as common as grass. I shall call it the Common Mind.
Boredom is one of the alarm bells of the Common Mind. To fill and justify an empty and idle mind perople will become sports fans to the point of extreme emotions and even violence. We can see it on the field and off. Others will spend hours in front of a TV soaking up sentimentality and thinking it's real feeling, or soaking up amused shock at some celebrities misbehavior, or soaking up false moral outrage delivered by some personality, or fancifully fearing the various illnesses provided by one drug company or another. Or else the bored one goes out looking for something to fill the void such as conflicts, the destruction of property, or worse.
The Common Mind may find much satisfaction in alcohol or drugs, and may sleep a lot. Those are very effective ways of avoiding the emptiness of an unfulfilled, unfulfilling life: bliss from a bottle, ecstacy from a pill, joy from endless day dreaming.
The Common Mind will spend hours playing games, around a table, at the keyboard or in the casino. Others will compensate for their lack of purpose by messing around with someone else's goals and desires.
Confusion is another warning signal of the Common Mind. If you don't know what you want how can you decide between this, that and the other thing. Nothing seems to relate to anything. Choices are arbitrary. The person with a clear objective in life will grasp the right object, or move in the right direction.
Laziness is another alarm bell. To the Common Mind all time is time off. Relaxation, unearned peace, delicious inactivity is the goal of the lazy mind. Even the most active and productive individual in the world will some day face the question "What have you done with your life?" That individual will probably think he hasn't done enough. Imagine what the man of the Common Mind will answer when his turn comes. On the other hand some people fill up their lives with busyness, a mound of unnecessary and unimportant tasks convincing themselves that they are all obligations, and thus can retire at night, exhausted, and fall asleep not having to face the fact that they have no purpose in life. As Ernest Hemingway said, "Never confuse motion with action."
We are all capable of more than we do. In spite of what some people may say, I believe the cure for the Common Mind begins with self-respect, an abibing sense of worthiness, a real expectation of accomplishment. Imagination and reason are mighty tools, but no matter what physical or mental limitation, no matter what lack of opportunities one may have, the race is on. You may run it, walk it or stand firmly in place but the only finish line is the one you are certain to be worthy enough to spend you life on reaching.
---------------------------------------
Never give up.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
***************************
WEEKEND CONTEST
There's a saying "Love is good. Love with noodles is better."
Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to supply a different word or words in the place of "noodles." Enter as often as you wish. As usual the decision of the ornery, highly critical judge is final. The winner will receive an autographed copy of the recipe for Armadillo Fettuccine.
[GEO's WARNING: "Armadillo Fettuccine was probably the most devious figure of the Renaissance --credited with picking Machiavelli's pocket as he bowed to royalty-- and the only one who left a recipe for his own recomposition. To whomever wins this document I suggest caution."]
Love with ______________ is better.
5 entries so far.
Good luck
DB
************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
8 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
.Quintus Ennius
********************
I used to proclaim that all the self help books I read began with chapter 2. Chaoter 2 states that with the system contained in the book you can achieve your goals in life and find success.. Chapter 1, which isn't in the book says that you can easily determine what it is you want in life what your goals are. In other words the books were written only for those who already had an objective in mind, who knew what they wanted out of life.
Things are a bit different now. There are books which encourage one to learn to understand himself well enough to have purpose, a goal, a thing to strive for, Monday morning self analysis. But does that mean there are no longer any idle minds? Hardly. The mind that does not know itself is as common as grass. I shall call it the Common Mind.
Boredom is one of the alarm bells of the Common Mind. To fill and justify an empty and idle mind perople will become sports fans to the point of extreme emotions and even violence. We can see it on the field and off. Others will spend hours in front of a TV soaking up sentimentality and thinking it's real feeling, or soaking up amused shock at some celebrities misbehavior, or soaking up false moral outrage delivered by some personality, or fancifully fearing the various illnesses provided by one drug company or another. Or else the bored one goes out looking for something to fill the void such as conflicts, the destruction of property, or worse.
The Common Mind may find much satisfaction in alcohol or drugs, and may sleep a lot. Those are very effective ways of avoiding the emptiness of an unfulfilled, unfulfilling life: bliss from a bottle, ecstacy from a pill, joy from endless day dreaming.
The Common Mind will spend hours playing games, around a table, at the keyboard or in the casino. Others will compensate for their lack of purpose by messing around with someone else's goals and desires.
Confusion is another warning signal of the Common Mind. If you don't know what you want how can you decide between this, that and the other thing. Nothing seems to relate to anything. Choices are arbitrary. The person with a clear objective in life will grasp the right object, or move in the right direction.
Laziness is another alarm bell. To the Common Mind all time is time off. Relaxation, unearned peace, delicious inactivity is the goal of the lazy mind. Even the most active and productive individual in the world will some day face the question "What have you done with your life?" That individual will probably think he hasn't done enough. Imagine what the man of the Common Mind will answer when his turn comes. On the other hand some people fill up their lives with busyness, a mound of unnecessary and unimportant tasks convincing themselves that they are all obligations, and thus can retire at night, exhausted, and fall asleep not having to face the fact that they have no purpose in life. As Ernest Hemingway said, "Never confuse motion with action."
We are all capable of more than we do. In spite of what some people may say, I believe the cure for the Common Mind begins with self-respect, an abibing sense of worthiness, a real expectation of accomplishment. Imagination and reason are mighty tools, but no matter what physical or mental limitation, no matter what lack of opportunities one may have, the race is on. You may run it, walk it or stand firmly in place but the only finish line is the one you are certain to be worthy enough to spend you life on reaching.
---------------------------------------
Never give up.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
***************************
WEEKEND CONTEST
There's a saying "Love is good. Love with noodles is better."
Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to supply a different word or words in the place of "noodles." Enter as often as you wish. As usual the decision of the ornery, highly critical judge is final. The winner will receive an autographed copy of the recipe for Armadillo Fettuccine.
[GEO's WARNING: "Armadillo Fettuccine was probably the most devious figure of the Renaissance --credited with picking Machiavelli's pocket as he bowed to royalty-- and the only one who left a recipe for his own recomposition. To whomever wins this document I suggest caution."]
Love with ______________ is better.
5 entries so far.
Good luck
DB
************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
8 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Weekend Contest
WEEKEND CONTEST
There's a saying "Love is good. Love with noodles is better."
Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to supply a different word or words in the place of "noodles." Enter as often as you wish. As usual the decision of the ornery, highly critical judge is final. The winner will receive an autographed copy of the recipe for Armadillo Fettuccine.
[GEO's WARNING: "Armadillo Fettuccine was probably the most devious figure of the Renaissance --credited with picking Machiavelli's pocket as he bowed to royalty-- and the only one who left a recipe for his own recomposition. To whomever wins this document I suggest caution."]
Love with ______________ is better.
5 entries so far.
Good luck
DB
************************
There's a saying "Love is good. Love with noodles is better."
Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to supply a different word or words in the place of "noodles." Enter as often as you wish. As usual the decision of the ornery, highly critical judge is final. The winner will receive an autographed copy of the recipe for Armadillo Fettuccine.
[GEO's WARNING: "Armadillo Fettuccine was probably the most devious figure of the Renaissance --credited with picking Machiavelli's pocket as he bowed to royalty-- and the only one who left a recipe for his own recomposition. To whomever wins this document I suggest caution."]
Love with ______________ is better.
5 entries so far.
Good luck
DB
************************
It Takes A Friend
CONTENTS:
It Takes A Friend
Weekend Contest
Summer Question
----------------------------
A friend is one before whom I can think out loud.
Emerson
******************
"Trust a few" said Shakespeare.
I live alone. It's okay. I keep excellent company with myself. I agree with most of what I say. I don't complain about dirty dishes in the sink. And when I come home everyone here is glad to see me.
For almost everyday of the week I am left alone with my own thoughts and sometimes I'm astonished at the range and depth of my thinking. Sometimes. Not all the time.
Do I get lonely? Yes. Now and then In the past that loneliness has tempted me to share my thoughts with people who, for one reason or another, were not worth it. People who took my words and tuned them to a different key.
It's a matter of estimation. Hiring an employee, trusting your well being to a professional healer or deciding on a soul mate are all acts in which it's a good idea to judge someone's character and qualities. But when it comes to friendship why can't we take people as they are and not as we want them to be?
Beware of the gossipers and the controllers.
The gossipers is one who listens to you in a seemingly friendly manner but edits and reinterprets what you said then spreads it around to his own world of "friends" as an estimation and description of who you are and what you are about.
The controller is one who listens to you and misinterprets your observations about life as a complaint or plea for help and tries to take over your life with advice and a reorganization of your affairs and activities.
To the gossiper I say "Stop it. I am not advertising myself." And to the controller I say "Stop it. I'm not asking to be made over."
Today I have a few friends with whom I can share my thoughts without threat. And they are those who can share their thoughts with me without threat. I know that because they do.
My life and my private thoughts are my own business, and if I want to share them with someone, outside of Vagabond Journeys, I will choose a friend I can trust. Your life and your private thoughts are your own business and if you want to share them with me you will find an ear that hears without judgement, underestimation, misinterpretation or control.
P.S.: I also have a sense of humor.
-------------------------------------------------------
Never give up.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
WEEKEND CONTEST
There's a saying "Love is good. Love with noodles is better."
Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to supply a different word or words in the place of "noodles." Enter as often as you wish. As usual the decision of the ornery, highly critical judge is final. The winner will receive an autographed copy of the recipe for Armadillo Fettuccine.
Love with ______________ is better.
4 entries so far.
Good luck
DB
************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
8 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
It Takes A Friend
Weekend Contest
Summer Question
----------------------------
A friend is one before whom I can think out loud.
Emerson
******************
"Trust a few" said Shakespeare.
I live alone. It's okay. I keep excellent company with myself. I agree with most of what I say. I don't complain about dirty dishes in the sink. And when I come home everyone here is glad to see me.
For almost everyday of the week I am left alone with my own thoughts and sometimes I'm astonished at the range and depth of my thinking. Sometimes. Not all the time.
Do I get lonely? Yes. Now and then In the past that loneliness has tempted me to share my thoughts with people who, for one reason or another, were not worth it. People who took my words and tuned them to a different key.
It's a matter of estimation. Hiring an employee, trusting your well being to a professional healer or deciding on a soul mate are all acts in which it's a good idea to judge someone's character and qualities. But when it comes to friendship why can't we take people as they are and not as we want them to be?
Beware of the gossipers and the controllers.
The gossipers is one who listens to you in a seemingly friendly manner but edits and reinterprets what you said then spreads it around to his own world of "friends" as an estimation and description of who you are and what you are about.
The controller is one who listens to you and misinterprets your observations about life as a complaint or plea for help and tries to take over your life with advice and a reorganization of your affairs and activities.
To the gossiper I say "Stop it. I am not advertising myself." And to the controller I say "Stop it. I'm not asking to be made over."
Today I have a few friends with whom I can share my thoughts without threat. And they are those who can share their thoughts with me without threat. I know that because they do.
My life and my private thoughts are my own business, and if I want to share them with someone, outside of Vagabond Journeys, I will choose a friend I can trust. Your life and your private thoughts are your own business and if you want to share them with me you will find an ear that hears without judgement, underestimation, misinterpretation or control.
P.S.: I also have a sense of humor.
-------------------------------------------------------
Never give up.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
WEEKEND CONTEST
There's a saying "Love is good. Love with noodles is better."
Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to supply a different word or words in the place of "noodles." Enter as often as you wish. As usual the decision of the ornery, highly critical judge is final. The winner will receive an autographed copy of the recipe for Armadillo Fettuccine.
Love with ______________ is better.
4 entries so far.
Good luck
DB
************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
8 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Friday, July 8, 2011
Weekend Contest
WEEKEND CONTEST
There's a saying "Love is good. Love with noodles is better."
Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to supply a different word in the place of "noodles." Enter as often as you wish. As usual the decision of the ornery, highly critical judge is final. The winner will receive an autographed copy of the recipe for Armadillo Fettuccine.
Love with ______________ is better.
Good luck
DB
************************
There's a saying "Love is good. Love with noodles is better."
Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to supply a different word in the place of "noodles." Enter as often as you wish. As usual the decision of the ornery, highly critical judge is final. The winner will receive an autographed copy of the recipe for Armadillo Fettuccine.
Love with ______________ is better.
Good luck
DB
************************
Vagabondism 93
Vagabondism #93 "Human history is a myth whose meaning we must grow to understand before we can discard the myth and replace it with reality."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
Take A Break
Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation. For when you come back to your work, your judgement will be surer.
Leonardo DaVinci
**************************
I once heard a joke that went "Keep your eye on the ball, your shoulder to the wheel and your nose to the grind stone and then try to work that way."
Life, like the slowly spinning globe we live on, is a moveable thing and we must have the intelligence to move with it. One of man's most destructive traits is possessiveness. A man who owns a business has the right to possess it, but when he starts believing he owns the people who work for him there's trouble. Similarly when a worker starts thinking he owns his job, there's more trouble. I saw a woman come to work one morning at about 5 minutes to 8. She found an all night worker sitting at her desk who was just finishing up his night's work. They got into an altercation in which she said that he was sitting at her desk. He pointed out it was not her desk, it was the company's desk and it had been his work place for the night and he was almost finished. This woman could not deal with it. She wanted him gone right then, When he finished his work and got up from the desk she said he had ruined her whole day. Well now, isn't that a shame.
That woman and others like her have dug a hole for themselves, a neat comfortable fantasy from which they do not want to be disturbed, a solitary prison cell.
I have seen too many case of people, from top management down to temporary workers, who have become slaves to their work. And it's really a matter of attitude. No one should claim that a job should not be done as efficiently as possible, whether one is working for oneself or others. But the tide turns. If we continually hold our breath we'll pass out.
During my career I was always glad to have time off. I didn't spend it frivolously. If I hade a script to work on it was with me. And I found that each day of rest was also a day of discovery, a clearing up of the mental desk, a reorganizing of the information and evidence of my life and my art.
I read somewhere that some wild animals, and perhaps all of them, have down time. What that says it that the relentless pursuit of something or other is just not natural. If Mother Nature gives the goose, the lion and the manatee an occasional park bench in the shade, who are we to go against her wishes?
DB - The Vagabond
*************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
8 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Leonardo DaVinci
**************************
I once heard a joke that went "Keep your eye on the ball, your shoulder to the wheel and your nose to the grind stone and then try to work that way."
Life, like the slowly spinning globe we live on, is a moveable thing and we must have the intelligence to move with it. One of man's most destructive traits is possessiveness. A man who owns a business has the right to possess it, but when he starts believing he owns the people who work for him there's trouble. Similarly when a worker starts thinking he owns his job, there's more trouble. I saw a woman come to work one morning at about 5 minutes to 8. She found an all night worker sitting at her desk who was just finishing up his night's work. They got into an altercation in which she said that he was sitting at her desk. He pointed out it was not her desk, it was the company's desk and it had been his work place for the night and he was almost finished. This woman could not deal with it. She wanted him gone right then, When he finished his work and got up from the desk she said he had ruined her whole day. Well now, isn't that a shame.
That woman and others like her have dug a hole for themselves, a neat comfortable fantasy from which they do not want to be disturbed, a solitary prison cell.
I have seen too many case of people, from top management down to temporary workers, who have become slaves to their work. And it's really a matter of attitude. No one should claim that a job should not be done as efficiently as possible, whether one is working for oneself or others. But the tide turns. If we continually hold our breath we'll pass out.
During my career I was always glad to have time off. I didn't spend it frivolously. If I hade a script to work on it was with me. And I found that each day of rest was also a day of discovery, a clearing up of the mental desk, a reorganizing of the information and evidence of my life and my art.
I read somewhere that some wild animals, and perhaps all of them, have down time. What that says it that the relentless pursuit of something or other is just not natural. If Mother Nature gives the goose, the lion and the manatee an occasional park bench in the shade, who are we to go against her wishes?
DB - The Vagabond
*************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
8 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Vagabondism 92
Vagabondism #92 "The time to mull and worry is before the decision is made, not afterwards."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
To Find Water
Life's adventures are truly fulfilled through cretivity and resourcefulness.
Gabriel Catani
**********************
I was recently reminded of this event. I know I've probably told this story before, but it's one of my favorites, so here it is again.
It was Summer. I had a job working for a small radio station in Conway, New Hampshire. My shift ended at 11 p. m. My summer house was across the border in Bridgeton, Maine. One night I was driving home and as I left the last town in Maine before I got home, just as I was heading up a short incline my car started to die.
Up ahead was a John Deere tractor company. Above the building was a sign identifying it. I had never seen that sign lit up after the shop was closed for the day, but on this particular evening it was. I had just enough speed to coast in under it and stop.
I got out and opened the hood. By the light of the John Deere sign I could see immediately what the problem was. The dull orange colored hose leading from the radiator had split. The water had evaporated. All that was left of it was some hissing steam. I found a small piece of metal in the glove compartment to twist around the hose and close it off.
When you do any country living there are some things you learn, and one of them is about the things you always carry in your car: a jack, a tire iron, a shovel and an empty can. I had an empty oil can in the back, so I got it out and went around the John Deere building looking for a spigot to draw some water. There was none.
It was a very dark night and very quiet. I knew that at that hour there would be no other traffic along that back country road. I stood, leaning up against the fender of my car wondering what to do.
Then, in the distance, I heard the sound of a bull frog. Now I don't know everything about country living, but one thing I know is that where there is a bull frog there is water. So I followed that sound off into the night stepping on who knows what kind of terrain, disturbing who knows what sort of wild life, until I got close to the sound of the frog. And sure enough there was a small pond.
I filled the can, took it back and poured it in the radiator. I had to make several trips back and forth to get enough water to start the car. The bull frog kept up his croaking the whole time.
When I finally got the car started, I slammed down the hood, put the can in the back and drove home. As I was leaving I said "Thank you John Deere. Thank you Mr. Bull Frog."
The next morning I went to the nearest auto shop where the mechanic replaced the hose and refilled the water. He handed back the small piece of metal I had used to tie off the hose and said "Don't lose this." I put it back in the glove compartment. One never knows.
--------------------------
DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
*************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
7 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Gabriel Catani
**********************
I was recently reminded of this event. I know I've probably told this story before, but it's one of my favorites, so here it is again.
It was Summer. I had a job working for a small radio station in Conway, New Hampshire. My shift ended at 11 p. m. My summer house was across the border in Bridgeton, Maine. One night I was driving home and as I left the last town in Maine before I got home, just as I was heading up a short incline my car started to die.
Up ahead was a John Deere tractor company. Above the building was a sign identifying it. I had never seen that sign lit up after the shop was closed for the day, but on this particular evening it was. I had just enough speed to coast in under it and stop.
I got out and opened the hood. By the light of the John Deere sign I could see immediately what the problem was. The dull orange colored hose leading from the radiator had split. The water had evaporated. All that was left of it was some hissing steam. I found a small piece of metal in the glove compartment to twist around the hose and close it off.
When you do any country living there are some things you learn, and one of them is about the things you always carry in your car: a jack, a tire iron, a shovel and an empty can. I had an empty oil can in the back, so I got it out and went around the John Deere building looking for a spigot to draw some water. There was none.
It was a very dark night and very quiet. I knew that at that hour there would be no other traffic along that back country road. I stood, leaning up against the fender of my car wondering what to do.
Then, in the distance, I heard the sound of a bull frog. Now I don't know everything about country living, but one thing I know is that where there is a bull frog there is water. So I followed that sound off into the night stepping on who knows what kind of terrain, disturbing who knows what sort of wild life, until I got close to the sound of the frog. And sure enough there was a small pond.
I filled the can, took it back and poured it in the radiator. I had to make several trips back and forth to get enough water to start the car. The bull frog kept up his croaking the whole time.
When I finally got the car started, I slammed down the hood, put the can in the back and drove home. As I was leaving I said "Thank you John Deere. Thank you Mr. Bull Frog."
The next morning I went to the nearest auto shop where the mechanic replaced the hose and refilled the water. He handed back the small piece of metal I had used to tie off the hose and said "Don't lose this." I put it back in the glove compartment. One never knows.
--------------------------
DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
*************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
7 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Vagabondism 91
Vagabondism *91 "My paint brush is like a telescope. It helps me to discover things."
http://tinyurl.com/6xvgzz8
http://tinyurl.com/6xvgzz8
Walking In The Light
I speak the truth, not as much as I would, but as much as I dare, and I dare a little more as I grow older.
Catherine Bowen
*********************
"I know everything about art, but I don't know what I like." James Thurber paraphrased the old saying. I astonish myself when I think back upon how many years I spent trudging through mental thorn bushes thinking I was in the clear light and proudly, smugly telling everyone what was true but never being forced to explain it.
Growing up is a process of throwing out all the old evidence and seeing more clearly the difference between the shadows and the light. It's a long, slow, difficult process and requires courage, commitment and humility.
But there is a comforting and encouraging part to it. As your little patch of wisdom grows you begin to realize that there were certain things you knew way back at the beginning that were true and still are. Perhaps you couldn't explain them, perhaps they were only the result of intuition or conviction mixed in with doubt and confusion. How carefully we trod on those stepping stones across the flowing ignorance. When we gathered more stones we made a foot bridge and then eventually built a roadway across the mist to reach some solid rational conclusions.
There comes a time when we are given permission and the daring to speak the truth because we know why it is. But then a danger arises. We find that people don't want to hear the truth. They will turn away, set up barriers and some will even try to prevent us from speaking. .
The light is on or the light is off. No one can tell you you are just imagining things if you see the light. Walk in the light if you see it and pay no attention to those who walk in the dark.
I speak the truth.
---------------------------
Never give up.
DB - The Vagabond
*************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
7 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Catherine Bowen
*********************
"I know everything about art, but I don't know what I like." James Thurber paraphrased the old saying. I astonish myself when I think back upon how many years I spent trudging through mental thorn bushes thinking I was in the clear light and proudly, smugly telling everyone what was true but never being forced to explain it.
Growing up is a process of throwing out all the old evidence and seeing more clearly the difference between the shadows and the light. It's a long, slow, difficult process and requires courage, commitment and humility.
But there is a comforting and encouraging part to it. As your little patch of wisdom grows you begin to realize that there were certain things you knew way back at the beginning that were true and still are. Perhaps you couldn't explain them, perhaps they were only the result of intuition or conviction mixed in with doubt and confusion. How carefully we trod on those stepping stones across the flowing ignorance. When we gathered more stones we made a foot bridge and then eventually built a roadway across the mist to reach some solid rational conclusions.
There comes a time when we are given permission and the daring to speak the truth because we know why it is. But then a danger arises. We find that people don't want to hear the truth. They will turn away, set up barriers and some will even try to prevent us from speaking. .
The light is on or the light is off. No one can tell you you are just imagining things if you see the light. Walk in the light if you see it and pay no attention to those who walk in the dark.
I speak the truth.
---------------------------
Never give up.
DB - The Vagabond
*************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
7 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
vagabondism 90
Vagabondism #90 The creative act should be a joyous one, whether you’re designing a tea cup or a temple."
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
Step To The Right
Travel only with thy equals or thy betters, if there are none, travel alone.
The Dhammapada
**********************
I'm not a bum. When I stagger down the street with my cane, my long hair and beard, and my baggy pants I look like either a poet or a bum, depending on your point of view.
Now the Amish , with a few exceptions, are a polite and gentle people. There's an Amish market near here. I was in there one day with a friend and one of the clerks called the front to have someone one come and politely check me out. Another of the clerks looked at me with suspicion as I approached her counter, until I hoisted up the big bag of potatoes I was buying and handed her the cash.
I finally got smart enough to realize that just because someone looks like a rogue it doesn't make them one. As a result of that knowledge I have had the privilege of knowing some very interesting people whom the squeaky clean world would leave alone.
When I hitchhiked across the country in 1960 I picked up a fellow traveler in Kansas who went with me as far as the Oklahoma border. He was a full time road person, a perpetual hitchhiker, a hobo, and he looked the part. But I soon found out he was a well educated man, had graduate degrees in business and economics. He had his reasons for dropping out of society and taking to the road. He had family spread around the country, including a sister in Missouri who would take him in whenever he showed up there. I learned a lot about life from him.
Now, in my senior years, my fellow travelers are mostly those I meet along the way on the intricate pathways of the Internet. I consider some my equals. But there are a few I definitely consider my betters. Thus I'm still learning about life.
Dhammapada, a Buddhist text, can mean feet of righteousness, or path of truth. But righteousness is more than being kind and respectful to others, and truth is more than not cheating and lying. I think the overall cosmic journey the human race is on has a destination which is greater and more important than we can ever imagine. Thus it is vital to avoid the real rogues and bums, especially the ones in suits and skirts, and find fellow travelers who are our equals and particularly our betters who can help us through the swamps, up the mountains and down the city streets of life learning. Or else we travel alone.
Never give up
DB - The Vagabond
**********************
Weekend Puzzle Answers
All of these questions have to do with United States history.
1. In which hand does the Statue of Liberty hold the torch?
Right hand.
2. Who was Martha Skelton?
Mrs. Thomas Jefferson
3. Which was the last of the original 13 colonies to ratify the Constitution?
Rhode Island
4. Who was Emma Lazarus?
Poet of "The New Colossus", part of which is on the base of the Statue of Liberty
5. What happened on Christmas, 1776?
General Washington crossed the Delaware River to retake Trenton
6. Who was Alexandre Eiffel?
He designed and built the structure tha holds up the Statue of Liberty.
7. Which was the first of the original 13 colonies to ratify the Constitution?
Delaware
8. Who was Martha Custis?
Nrs. George Washington
9. How many stripes on the US flag are red?
Seven.
10. Who was Frederic Bartholdi?
The sculptor who designed the Statue of Liberty.
11. What does the Statue of Liberty hold in her other hand?
A tablet which read July 4, 1776
There are two winners of a genuine Tupperware American Flag decal: Geo and Val. Good going guys.
DB
***********************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
7 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
The Dhammapada
**********************
I'm not a bum. When I stagger down the street with my cane, my long hair and beard, and my baggy pants I look like either a poet or a bum, depending on your point of view.
Now the Amish , with a few exceptions, are a polite and gentle people. There's an Amish market near here. I was in there one day with a friend and one of the clerks called the front to have someone one come and politely check me out. Another of the clerks looked at me with suspicion as I approached her counter, until I hoisted up the big bag of potatoes I was buying and handed her the cash.
I finally got smart enough to realize that just because someone looks like a rogue it doesn't make them one. As a result of that knowledge I have had the privilege of knowing some very interesting people whom the squeaky clean world would leave alone.
When I hitchhiked across the country in 1960 I picked up a fellow traveler in Kansas who went with me as far as the Oklahoma border. He was a full time road person, a perpetual hitchhiker, a hobo, and he looked the part. But I soon found out he was a well educated man, had graduate degrees in business and economics. He had his reasons for dropping out of society and taking to the road. He had family spread around the country, including a sister in Missouri who would take him in whenever he showed up there. I learned a lot about life from him.
Now, in my senior years, my fellow travelers are mostly those I meet along the way on the intricate pathways of the Internet. I consider some my equals. But there are a few I definitely consider my betters. Thus I'm still learning about life.
Dhammapada, a Buddhist text, can mean feet of righteousness, or path of truth. But righteousness is more than being kind and respectful to others, and truth is more than not cheating and lying. I think the overall cosmic journey the human race is on has a destination which is greater and more important than we can ever imagine. Thus it is vital to avoid the real rogues and bums, especially the ones in suits and skirts, and find fellow travelers who are our equals and particularly our betters who can help us through the swamps, up the mountains and down the city streets of life learning. Or else we travel alone.
Never give up
DB - The Vagabond
**********************
Weekend Puzzle Answers
All of these questions have to do with United States history.
1. In which hand does the Statue of Liberty hold the torch?
Right hand.
2. Who was Martha Skelton?
Mrs. Thomas Jefferson
3. Which was the last of the original 13 colonies to ratify the Constitution?
Rhode Island
4. Who was Emma Lazarus?
Poet of "The New Colossus", part of which is on the base of the Statue of Liberty
5. What happened on Christmas, 1776?
General Washington crossed the Delaware River to retake Trenton
6. Who was Alexandre Eiffel?
He designed and built the structure tha holds up the Statue of Liberty.
7. Which was the first of the original 13 colonies to ratify the Constitution?
Delaware
8. Who was Martha Custis?
Nrs. George Washington
9. How many stripes on the US flag are red?
Seven.
10. Who was Frederic Bartholdi?
The sculptor who designed the Statue of Liberty.
11. What does the Statue of Liberty hold in her other hand?
A tablet which read July 4, 1776
There are two winners of a genuine Tupperware American Flag decal: Geo and Val. Good going guys.
DB
***********************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
7 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
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