Flip The Dial

Fire can't be made with dead embers, nor can enthusiasm be stirred by spiritless men.

James Baldwin
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Hello Ernie
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I've spent much time and effort scraping through embers trying to find a spark to light up the spirits, other people's and my own. It's so easy to shut down the fire and settle for the hum drum. "Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear yo not?" (Mark 8) Why do we maintain the habit of looking at the world as if it was mainly uninteresting? Why do we not look for the invisible things, and listen to hear what may be inbetween the sounds around us? Have we forgotten or do we take for granted that we have a mind filled to abundance with thoughts, ideas, dreams?

Remember the radio with two stations? You don't? I bet you have the feeling right now that I am about to remind you. I wrote about it a couple of times. It's a Cabbalist idea. Imagine there is a radio and it plays only two stations. One of them broadcasts only good news, and the other one only bad news. Now image that you turn the radio on and set it at the good news station. But as soon as you turn your back and walk away it automatically flips over to the bad news station. When you realize it you have to go back and readjust the dial, until the next time.

Now imagine that this radio is your mind and the way it works. Right? How many hours a day do you listen to the bad news, the fear, worry, anger, resentment, doubt, depression, despair? Dial flipping is seriously needed there.

Believe me I know how difficult it is to get that dial pointed in the right direction, especially since the bad news station has given you something to worry about or to be afraid of. You don't want to let go of it. You would almost rather chew your head off than hear some cheerful news. You are enjoying the misery. And that's why you need an impulse, a reminder, a kick. And that's where the vagabond comes in.

I have just about typed my finders to the bone stirring up the embers, trying to get people to stay tuned to the good news station and to remind them that the human spirit when armed with the everything of good thoughts and not the nothing of bad thoughts is a powerful force, and when focused on the ins and outs, the ups and downs and the backs and forths of life it can perform miracles.

Remember, the opposite of good isn't evil.
The opposite of good is good-and-evil.

Dana Bate - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up

Standing Better

Follow a straight path and do not walk in the footsteps of ignorant men.

The Koran
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When I read this quote I thought, Well, that's good common sense. Then I ran across this parallel quote from Psalms "Fret not thyself because of evil doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity."

Yesterday I wrote about being a leader and not a follower, or, more precisely, not getting on board when some idiot is riding his hobbyhorse thorough the land.

These two quotes caused me to stop and think. Every morning when I fire up the computer the first thing I do is check the news. It isn't long before I'm irate about something: people who have no authority sounding off about some issue. reading how our money is being wasted by programs that don't work and by large corporation executives pilfering us one way or another, bad laws being enacted and good laws not being administered, courts making stupid decisions, people who think they are clever casting humorous but insulting remarks about other people, pastors praying for the failure and death of our president, congress members vowing to vote against bills for political reasons only, foreign leaders justifying kidnapping, torture and assassination, bombing of civilians, religious leaders assigning divine causes to natural disasters, insane hatred expressed for racial, religious, national, cultural or social reasons, crime, disease, poverty, homelessness, ignorance, desperation and whole groups trying to hold back and reverse the improvements and progress of the world.

I realize I'm doing exactly what the Koran says not to do. I'm walking in the footsteps of ignorance by giving it part of the most impressionable part of my day. I am fretted before I even get to my email. I have been led to get on board and ride the hobbyhorse of anger, outrage and disgust. I'm doing exactly what evil wants me to do. I am an unwitting follower of the workers of iniquity by my reactions and envious fascination with the wrongs of the world.

A better reaction is to begin the day by finding the solid ground of my own sense of peace and right, to stand firmly on it and let it guide my thinking and not get on board the nowhere ride to chaos.

DB - The Vagabond
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SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)

In your opinion what is the most amazing thing that could happen during this decade? Make it as outrageous as you want but keep it within the realm of what you consider a possibility.

Only 7 responses so far.

Answers will be published the first day of Summer.

dbdacoba@aol.com

DB - The Vagabond
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