Love, and do what you like.
Saint Augustine
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There was an acting teacher named Michael Shurtleff who would say that the first thing an actor should look for in his character is the love. Where is the love? It could be love for another person, for a family, a job, a career, a hobby, a house, a pet or oneself. Wherever the love is everything else relates to it.
I knew a woman who lived in a big, beautiful house in Southern California with lots of land around it. She had a husband, two grown children and a lot of animals. There was a stable with two horses. In the house was a singing bird of some sort, a tank of tiny fish and a small, sweet dog. Outside the house there were 22 cats. That's not a misprint. 22.
Only one of those cats ever came into the house. The rest lived in the trees and bushes around the property. I was visiting her one day at feeding time. She would mix up a big tub of food, take it outside and put it here and there on some wooden boards in a corner of the property. The cats came from everywhere, out of the trees, from around corners, up out of the ground for all I knew.
She never gave names to any of them although she recognized them all. But one of them was called Trouble because that's what he was. He was definitely the bully of the group and the other cats stayed away from him.
But he got into a serious fight with something because one day he should up at feeding time with a very badly wounded eye. No one could get near Trouble, so it was impossible for her to take him to the vet. She called the vet and explained the problem. He told her to come over and he would give her something to help.
What he gave her was a powder to mix with the food that put all the cats, including Trouble, to sleep for a while. So she walked through a yard full of sleeping cats, picked up Trouble, put him in a box and drove him to the vet. The vet removed his eye, cleaned him up, kept him for a few days and then she came and got him.
When she got home and let him out of the box he took off. But he was back the next day at feeding time.
She loved those cats.
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DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
***************************
SUMMER QUESTION
Summer is moving along, people.
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
Only 13 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************

Showing posts with label Saint Augustine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saint Augustine. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Look unto the hills.
Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature.
Saint Augustine
**************************
It’s amazing that the world didn’t end on New Years Eve 2000 as many had predicted. It also didn’t end on any of the other dates the false prophets were sure of. It’s not going to end next year, or in 2012, or 2020 as they are predicting now. No doubt there will be some apocalyptic changes as time goes by but they probably won’t be rapid. In fact they might be going on right now.
The earth may flip over again as some say once happened, making north south and south north. We may be growing crops for ourselves on some other planet, or growing crops here for some other planet. The natural cycles of existence may change forms but they are not going away.
It’s also amazing, considering the enormous amount of scientific exploration and examination that has gone on over the centuries how little we really know about things. I find that an encouraging and comforting thing. It means there is so much still to be learned and inquiring minds will still be busy learning it in centuries to come.
With each new advance and discovery in science the supernatural folds up another of its cherished gossamer fantasies. Ancients used to consider many things mysteries and miracles which we take for granted today because we now have explanations and principles for them.
Augustine lived in the 4th Century AD, a pagan who converted to Christianity. Even at that early time, when superstition ruled and the supernatural was esteemed, he was able to see that the great unknowns were simply that, unknowns, and not miracles. And yet, here we are 17 centuries later and there are otherwise intelligent people who still blame God instead of Nature for hurricanes and tornados, who believe in myths and call them human history.
I wonder what has brought the human race to such a recidivistic, spiritual blockade.
A person of Faith should be encouraged and comforted to know there is as much, if not more, to learn about their God as there is about Nature.
DB - The Vagabond
-----------------------------
Don't get into that egg nog too early now, you hear me?
Saint Augustine
**************************
It’s amazing that the world didn’t end on New Years Eve 2000 as many had predicted. It also didn’t end on any of the other dates the false prophets were sure of. It’s not going to end next year, or in 2012, or 2020 as they are predicting now. No doubt there will be some apocalyptic changes as time goes by but they probably won’t be rapid. In fact they might be going on right now.
The earth may flip over again as some say once happened, making north south and south north. We may be growing crops for ourselves on some other planet, or growing crops here for some other planet. The natural cycles of existence may change forms but they are not going away.
It’s also amazing, considering the enormous amount of scientific exploration and examination that has gone on over the centuries how little we really know about things. I find that an encouraging and comforting thing. It means there is so much still to be learned and inquiring minds will still be busy learning it in centuries to come.
With each new advance and discovery in science the supernatural folds up another of its cherished gossamer fantasies. Ancients used to consider many things mysteries and miracles which we take for granted today because we now have explanations and principles for them.
Augustine lived in the 4th Century AD, a pagan who converted to Christianity. Even at that early time, when superstition ruled and the supernatural was esteemed, he was able to see that the great unknowns were simply that, unknowns, and not miracles. And yet, here we are 17 centuries later and there are otherwise intelligent people who still blame God instead of Nature for hurricanes and tornados, who believe in myths and call them human history.
I wonder what has brought the human race to such a recidivistic, spiritual blockade.
A person of Faith should be encouraged and comforted to know there is as much, if not more, to learn about their God as there is about Nature.
DB - The Vagabond
-----------------------------
Don't get into that egg nog too early now, you hear me?
Labels:
miracles,
mysteries,
Nature,
Saint Augustine,
science,
supernatural,
superstition
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