They are but beggars that can count their worth.
Shakespeare
****************
Hello Frosty
****************
As I add more years of experience to my calendar I come to realize more and more how unimportant my past is. It is preverbal that gray headed ones, particularly those with no grand children, tend to dwell with memories, in an atmosphere of a life lived almost as uif that life was over. There are regrets, of course, but there is also pride of accomplishment and, maybe, satisfaction. Well and good, up to a point. But just because the hair is gray doesn't have to mean that the head is.
Sometimes, in this journal, I may bring up some event from the past to illustrate a point, and I might remember an event in conversation with someone who shared it. But otherwise I don't want to think about the past. It's gone. It doesn't exist. It is not an extant in the world.
The best part is to realize that my past, my childhood, the loss of my father, poverty, scorn, abuse, itinerancy, the education I got, the failures, the successes, the tragedies, the delights, the accidents, the injuries, the pain, the fights, the sex, the loves, the fears, do not define who I am. Put them sll together in a biography and they don't even begin to summerize me.
Woven in and out though all those threads on the loom of time are the invisible, intangible, inestimable virtues and values that have always been there and have always been who I am. Most of the events of my past were cover ups, things I did while I was waiting to discover myself or things that happened to me which beclouded the discovery.
Even if you are a young person your worth is not measured by the events of your life, including your hopes and plans. True human value is above all the tangibles and materials. I discovered this truth by going back and looking at some of the entries in my private paper journal. I was amused and annoyed to discover, in light of my recent slowly growing realization of my real value, how inconsequential many of those entries are.
Think about it. How much of your current life will you count as worth and how much will you eventually discard as worthless? I used to be amused at the answer sometimes given to interviewers of older peopled that if they had it to live over again they wouldn't chance a thing. What amused me was the bland acknowledgement that seemed to imply life was over and the belief that if they thought about it there were probably a great many things they would change. Now, today, I think about it and ask myself if there was anything I would change. My first impulse is to say that I would probably change all of it. But then I think again and say that maybe I would not, in fact, change any of it except to acknowledge to myself that none of it was true.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
**************************
Showing posts with label shakespeare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shakespeare. Show all posts
Friday, June 29, 2012
Friday, June 15, 2012
Amen
The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too.
Rose Schneiderman
**********************
Hello Arlene
**********************
It is truly a beautiful moment when you smile at a flower and see it smiling back at you. It's a reaffirmation of the greatness of nature. The same intelligence that grows the wheat for your bread also brings up flowers upon the earth, Someone once wrote "The Amen of nature is always a flower. " The blessing has been done, the crops are grown, the bread is baked, the live stock has been fed and there is nothing left but "Amen."
When I lived in northern New Hampshire I loved to go hiking in the forest. There were well kept trails all through the White Mountains and almost everyday from Spring to Autumn I would be out for several hours exploring them. I enjoyed stopping to rest in an interesting place, surrounded by the sounds and sights of nature. If there was a brook or river next to me I could hear the laugher of the water as it slipped past the grasp of the banks and occasional "ooo" of amazement as it spilled over a rock formation and now and then the clunk of a stone being placed like a chess piece at a different location on the bottom.
There were trees around me, each with a different character to them. I would focus on one near me and try to listen to it's story. Dickens used to say there were spirits in the trees and if you listen carefully you can hear them speak, if they wanted to. In Shakespeare's ply "The Tempest" Ariel, a spirit of the air, is confined inside a tee by a curse. When Prospero, through his mystical powers releases him, Ariel becomes his servant. Imagine what it would be like if you had the power to release the spirits from the trees. I just listened.
And there are wild flowers in the forest also. And they are as their names imply wild, and do not wish to be domesticated. But they have a special beauty to them and a special smile.
One does not need to go into a forest to enjoy the beauties of nature. So once the bread is baked, if there is a rose anywhere around smile at it and say "Amen."
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never give up.
Rose Schneiderman
**********************
Hello Arlene
**********************
It is truly a beautiful moment when you smile at a flower and see it smiling back at you. It's a reaffirmation of the greatness of nature. The same intelligence that grows the wheat for your bread also brings up flowers upon the earth, Someone once wrote "The Amen of nature is always a flower. " The blessing has been done, the crops are grown, the bread is baked, the live stock has been fed and there is nothing left but "Amen."
When I lived in northern New Hampshire I loved to go hiking in the forest. There were well kept trails all through the White Mountains and almost everyday from Spring to Autumn I would be out for several hours exploring them. I enjoyed stopping to rest in an interesting place, surrounded by the sounds and sights of nature. If there was a brook or river next to me I could hear the laugher of the water as it slipped past the grasp of the banks and occasional "ooo" of amazement as it spilled over a rock formation and now and then the clunk of a stone being placed like a chess piece at a different location on the bottom.
There were trees around me, each with a different character to them. I would focus on one near me and try to listen to it's story. Dickens used to say there were spirits in the trees and if you listen carefully you can hear them speak, if they wanted to. In Shakespeare's ply "The Tempest" Ariel, a spirit of the air, is confined inside a tee by a curse. When Prospero, through his mystical powers releases him, Ariel becomes his servant. Imagine what it would be like if you had the power to release the spirits from the trees. I just listened.
And there are wild flowers in the forest also. And they are as their names imply wild, and do not wish to be domesticated. But they have a special beauty to them and a special smile.
One does not need to go into a forest to enjoy the beauties of nature. So once the bread is baked, if there is a rose anywhere around smile at it and say "Amen."
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never give up.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Take The Plunge
Either you decide to stay in the shallow end of the pool or you go out in the ocean.
Christopher Reeves
*********************
Hello Jon
*********************
1945, summer camp, Saugatuck, Connecticut. There was a medium sized lake and a swimming area marked off. There were raw boats and canoes. There was a diving board just off the surface of the lake. It was parents visiting day and a series of events were planned to entertain them.
When we got to the lake there were swimming races, kids in the canoes and row boats and others making fancy dives off the diving board. But for those events the councilors had ignored and overlooked me (the story of my life) so I had nothing to do. I sat next to my mother and explained that I wasn't given any part in those events.
But soon one of the councilors came up and balled me out for sitting there and told me to get up and do my part. I tried to tell him I was assigned nothing but he walked away. So I got up, stood around and watched.
Next to the diving board there was a tall wooden structure that was intended to have a diving board also. But the camp decided it was too dangerous, being so high. I climbed up the structure. There was noting at the top but a small platform.. From there I jumped feet first into the lake. I think I did it just to show that I had been left out. No one would have been assigned to do that .
But when I cam up out of the water people were applauding. Someone said that it took a lot of courage to jump in like that and not to dive. That made no sense to me. If I go into the deep, without knowing what's there, I want to go feet first and not discover it with my face. Nevertheless, everyone was so impressed that I did it a few more times and ended up the star of the day.
At another time I had won swimming medals (as Brian did), two bronze and one silver for speed, distance and distance underwater. Later, as a young teen I could swim in a club off Long Island Sound. There was a float a good distance from the shore which almost no one swam to. I would swim out to it and far enough away from the sun worshippers on the beach, solatics I called them, I would take off my bathing suit and fling it out into the water, watch it sink and jump in after it, groping around on the bottom until I found it and not coming to the surface until I did. Some times it was so difficult that I was gasping for breath when I finally surfaced. Once I surfaced under the float, which was a shock. This was a major challenge. I had to find that bathing suit. This was before the days of nude beaches and appearing out of the water among the solatics with nothing on would not please the owners.
I didn't realize it at the time but that staying underwater until my lungs were about to burst was actually strengthening them so that years later I could fill a large theatre with my voice and do six lines of Shakespeare in one breath.
I would still like to jump into the ocean. But unfortunately I'm not near the water these days. All I have is a bath tub, the shallow end of the pool.
DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
***********************
Christopher Reeves
*********************
Hello Jon
*********************
1945, summer camp, Saugatuck, Connecticut. There was a medium sized lake and a swimming area marked off. There were raw boats and canoes. There was a diving board just off the surface of the lake. It was parents visiting day and a series of events were planned to entertain them.
When we got to the lake there were swimming races, kids in the canoes and row boats and others making fancy dives off the diving board. But for those events the councilors had ignored and overlooked me (the story of my life) so I had nothing to do. I sat next to my mother and explained that I wasn't given any part in those events.
But soon one of the councilors came up and balled me out for sitting there and told me to get up and do my part. I tried to tell him I was assigned nothing but he walked away. So I got up, stood around and watched.
Next to the diving board there was a tall wooden structure that was intended to have a diving board also. But the camp decided it was too dangerous, being so high. I climbed up the structure. There was noting at the top but a small platform.. From there I jumped feet first into the lake. I think I did it just to show that I had been left out. No one would have been assigned to do that .
But when I cam up out of the water people were applauding. Someone said that it took a lot of courage to jump in like that and not to dive. That made no sense to me. If I go into the deep, without knowing what's there, I want to go feet first and not discover it with my face. Nevertheless, everyone was so impressed that I did it a few more times and ended up the star of the day.
At another time I had won swimming medals (as Brian did), two bronze and one silver for speed, distance and distance underwater. Later, as a young teen I could swim in a club off Long Island Sound. There was a float a good distance from the shore which almost no one swam to. I would swim out to it and far enough away from the sun worshippers on the beach, solatics I called them, I would take off my bathing suit and fling it out into the water, watch it sink and jump in after it, groping around on the bottom until I found it and not coming to the surface until I did. Some times it was so difficult that I was gasping for breath when I finally surfaced. Once I surfaced under the float, which was a shock. This was a major challenge. I had to find that bathing suit. This was before the days of nude beaches and appearing out of the water among the solatics with nothing on would not please the owners.
I didn't realize it at the time but that staying underwater until my lungs were about to burst was actually strengthening them so that years later I could fill a large theatre with my voice and do six lines of Shakespeare in one breath.
I would still like to jump into the ocean. But unfortunately I'm not near the water these days. All I have is a bath tub, the shallow end of the pool.
DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
***********************
Sunday, March 11, 2012
More Life
What's past is prologue, what's to come in yours and my discharge.
Shakespeare
*****************.
Hello Sienna
*****************
I have been writing and posting entries in this Vagabond Journey for many years. (Don't believe what it says in the side bar. It's been more years than that. I don't know how to change it yet.) There are about 1,400 entries not counting Vagabondisms, all of them original documents of my own musings and devising. And what does it all mean?
I am not one to moan about years gone by. I would rather look forward than back. That's the only healthy thing to do. But it is easier to look ahead when your young, there are less anchors to weigh.
The recent traumatic experience of lies and betrayal by a friend, which can only be explained as some sort of insanity, has left me sad and frightened, sad over the loss of friendship and frightened because it has the hint of a last chance gone, with no further life or love to know. That's the kind of suffocating fear only an older person can know.
I look back at some of the vagabond journeys I've been on and I can read a lesson of growing, learning, turning experiences into metaphors for life, finding light in the dark places and not giving up.
I think fear is our worst enemy. That's been said before by wiser men than I, but it is a fundamental truth. Fear of failure keeps people from trying. Fear of loss keeps people holding on to things they should let go of. I've recently seen paranoia turn a man into an enemy of everyone around him. Fear of death is a constant in some people's lives. But even worse is the fear that there is nothing more to live for, that there is no future, that the past is all there is. It is a frightening thing to consider. It's like being entombed without light and without human contact but being kept alive anyway. Fear of having nothing to look forward to.
I am facing up to this fear right now.
The Bible says "Where there is no vision, the people perish." (Proverbs 29) And there is the answer to what happens to many and how to fight against it. A few days ago I wrote an entry entitled "Worthy Life" and in it I said "Only the man or woman who is willing to look at themselves with stern objectivity can measure aright the person they see and thus compare it with the person they could be. To change, to improve, to become better than yourself is a noble task for the benefit of yourself."
But one can't just arbitrarily decide to be someone or something, can one?. Along with the fear of death or fear of aloneness comes the danger of the feeling of futility and despair, of being trapped, the loss of enthusiasm and excitement about life. Making some choice about the future may not be the best choice but it will open up the thought to being led to a better choice and once enthusiasm lights the fire there's a vision, there's a future, there's more life to live.
Dana Bate - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
Shakespeare
*****************.
Hello Sienna
*****************
I have been writing and posting entries in this Vagabond Journey for many years. (Don't believe what it says in the side bar. It's been more years than that. I don't know how to change it yet.) There are about 1,400 entries not counting Vagabondisms, all of them original documents of my own musings and devising. And what does it all mean?
I am not one to moan about years gone by. I would rather look forward than back. That's the only healthy thing to do. But it is easier to look ahead when your young, there are less anchors to weigh.
The recent traumatic experience of lies and betrayal by a friend, which can only be explained as some sort of insanity, has left me sad and frightened, sad over the loss of friendship and frightened because it has the hint of a last chance gone, with no further life or love to know. That's the kind of suffocating fear only an older person can know.
I look back at some of the vagabond journeys I've been on and I can read a lesson of growing, learning, turning experiences into metaphors for life, finding light in the dark places and not giving up.
I think fear is our worst enemy. That's been said before by wiser men than I, but it is a fundamental truth. Fear of failure keeps people from trying. Fear of loss keeps people holding on to things they should let go of. I've recently seen paranoia turn a man into an enemy of everyone around him. Fear of death is a constant in some people's lives. But even worse is the fear that there is nothing more to live for, that there is no future, that the past is all there is. It is a frightening thing to consider. It's like being entombed without light and without human contact but being kept alive anyway. Fear of having nothing to look forward to.
I am facing up to this fear right now.
The Bible says "Where there is no vision, the people perish." (Proverbs 29) And there is the answer to what happens to many and how to fight against it. A few days ago I wrote an entry entitled "Worthy Life" and in it I said "Only the man or woman who is willing to look at themselves with stern objectivity can measure aright the person they see and thus compare it with the person they could be. To change, to improve, to become better than yourself is a noble task for the benefit of yourself."
But one can't just arbitrarily decide to be someone or something, can one?. Along with the fear of death or fear of aloneness comes the danger of the feeling of futility and despair, of being trapped, the loss of enthusiasm and excitement about life. Making some choice about the future may not be the best choice but it will open up the thought to being led to a better choice and once enthusiasm lights the fire there's a vision, there's a future, there's more life to live.
Dana Bate - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Be A Star
Man is his own star and the soul that can render an honest and perfect man commands all light, all influence, all fate.
John Fletcher
*****************
Hello Holly
*****************
To be a perfect man is a difficult achievement. I don't know if anyone has managed it. But surely the first, baby step in that direction is honesty, to be honest with others, honest with ourselves and honest in our approach to truth itself.
To be honest is to be loving. Loving our neighbor as ourselves and the greatest love of all, the love of wisdom. Shakespeare calls love "the star to every wandering bark, whose worth's unknown although his height be taken." Once mariners discerned the constancy of the North Star navigating the oceans became easier and more profitable. "Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds" Shakespeare also says. The same is said for honesty, truth. It is a constant amid all the lies, opinions, theories, beliefs and fantasies. It is the star to every wandering soul through the uncertain sea and which leads to the shore of the perfect man.
For centuries we have depended upon the stars for light in the darkness, for illumination, and for inspiration. Poets and scientists have pondered the stars and now they are probing into their secrets for knowledge of the universe.
The astrologers of old and new have seen constellations and read them to make choices that affect the fortunes of men and nations. I read somewhere that when Alexander the Great was born the doctors held off the delivery until the stars were in their exact location to produce an auspicious birth.
The reading of stars has also been one of the world's most popular forms of predicting the future, the fortunes and fates of people and civilizations. People have given over their destinies to what it says about them in their constellations. Zodiac signs are used to describe the influences and fates of everyone. I'm a Pisces, two fish swimming in opposite directions. What does that make me?
And yet Shakespeare again says "The fault ... is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings." And John Fletcher is saying "man is his own star." That asks the question are we really responsible, after all, for our own light, our own influences and fates? And the answer is, we are, or else we are reluctant, we refuse or we are ignorant.
I may be ornery, but I choose to shine my own light on my life, as dim as it may be, than to wait for two fish to tell me who I am and what to do.
Dana Bate - The Vagabond
Never Give Up
**************************
John Fletcher
*****************
Hello Holly
*****************
To be a perfect man is a difficult achievement. I don't know if anyone has managed it. But surely the first, baby step in that direction is honesty, to be honest with others, honest with ourselves and honest in our approach to truth itself.
To be honest is to be loving. Loving our neighbor as ourselves and the greatest love of all, the love of wisdom. Shakespeare calls love "the star to every wandering bark, whose worth's unknown although his height be taken." Once mariners discerned the constancy of the North Star navigating the oceans became easier and more profitable. "Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds" Shakespeare also says. The same is said for honesty, truth. It is a constant amid all the lies, opinions, theories, beliefs and fantasies. It is the star to every wandering soul through the uncertain sea and which leads to the shore of the perfect man.
For centuries we have depended upon the stars for light in the darkness, for illumination, and for inspiration. Poets and scientists have pondered the stars and now they are probing into their secrets for knowledge of the universe.
The astrologers of old and new have seen constellations and read them to make choices that affect the fortunes of men and nations. I read somewhere that when Alexander the Great was born the doctors held off the delivery until the stars were in their exact location to produce an auspicious birth.
The reading of stars has also been one of the world's most popular forms of predicting the future, the fortunes and fates of people and civilizations. People have given over their destinies to what it says about them in their constellations. Zodiac signs are used to describe the influences and fates of everyone. I'm a Pisces, two fish swimming in opposite directions. What does that make me?
And yet Shakespeare again says "The fault ... is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings." And John Fletcher is saying "man is his own star." That asks the question are we really responsible, after all, for our own light, our own influences and fates? And the answer is, we are, or else we are reluctant, we refuse or we are ignorant.
I may be ornery, but I choose to shine my own light on my life, as dim as it may be, than to wait for two fish to tell me who I am and what to do.
Dana Bate - The Vagabond
Never Give Up
**************************
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Go Crazy
Only exceptionally rational men can afford to be absurd.
Allan Goldfein
******************
Hello Stuart
******************
"O let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven! I would not be mad."
Shakespeare.
There is no madness that isn't firmly grounded in reason. True craziness can only come from a sound mind. Only the logical thinker is truly insane. It takes daily inspiration to be a practicing lunatic. The goal of all learning is authoritative silliness. Only a rational man can provide any genuine nonsense,
Take flying, for example. Why would anyone in their right mind stuff themselves into a metal tube, on a seat that is probably too small and hard, to be thrown through the air at an inhuman speed to get to an airport which probably takes almost as long to get out of as it took to get there?
And space flight? Even worse. You are tucked, tied, plugged and lashed into clothing that doesn't fit any human body, just to be able to enter a totally hostile environment, and then to be strapped into a small space awaiting a blast from a rocket that will thrust you as far away from home as it can. That's not crazy?
Now let's take sports. Baseball. One adult throws a ball at another adult who tries to hit it back with a stick. Meanwhile seven other adults stand around hoping for something to do. Basketball. Adults chase each other around a large room and jump up and down, arm pit to face, after another ball. Football. Adults chase each other around and knock each other down, passionately trying to get their hands on a ball. A what? Yes, a ball. Nonsense.
Incidentally, football games all have half time shows. But none of the TV Networks that broadcast the games will ever show you those. They act as if the game had to stop for a half hour because some other group had booked the field and that we. the viewers, are much more interested in watching guys who don't know as much as they think they do, discuss the game we've just been watching, than to see some expert cheerleaders and marching bands perform a well prepared entertainment. Madness.
Now let's take the arts. Otherwise intelligent people will paint their faces, put on clothes, that might fit, and go out in front of other smart people and present a piece of total fiction as if it was reality. And when they're finished those otherwise smart people beat their hands together. Seriously.
A symphony orchestra has musicians who play most of the time and others who hardly play at all. The harpist almost never plays. Isn't there something else she could be doing, ironing some shirts or spending time in the nursery taking care of the children of the other musicians. And the guy in the percussion section who's only job is to play the triangle in the last movement. Why doesn't he go check on the furnace or something, instead of sitting around in his tuxedo for an hour. Ridiculous.
There are times in out lives when we eject the clear light of reason and do things that are purely absurd. We go chasing after other people. We stand or sit watching other people do silly things. Or we put ourselves in ridiculous circumstances for the sake of something we think we want.
And it's a good thing we do, for if we didn't we might all go "mad."
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
*************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Allan Goldfein
******************
Hello Stuart
******************
"O let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven! I would not be mad."
Shakespeare.
There is no madness that isn't firmly grounded in reason. True craziness can only come from a sound mind. Only the logical thinker is truly insane. It takes daily inspiration to be a practicing lunatic. The goal of all learning is authoritative silliness. Only a rational man can provide any genuine nonsense,
Take flying, for example. Why would anyone in their right mind stuff themselves into a metal tube, on a seat that is probably too small and hard, to be thrown through the air at an inhuman speed to get to an airport which probably takes almost as long to get out of as it took to get there?
And space flight? Even worse. You are tucked, tied, plugged and lashed into clothing that doesn't fit any human body, just to be able to enter a totally hostile environment, and then to be strapped into a small space awaiting a blast from a rocket that will thrust you as far away from home as it can. That's not crazy?
Now let's take sports. Baseball. One adult throws a ball at another adult who tries to hit it back with a stick. Meanwhile seven other adults stand around hoping for something to do. Basketball. Adults chase each other around a large room and jump up and down, arm pit to face, after another ball. Football. Adults chase each other around and knock each other down, passionately trying to get their hands on a ball. A what? Yes, a ball. Nonsense.
Incidentally, football games all have half time shows. But none of the TV Networks that broadcast the games will ever show you those. They act as if the game had to stop for a half hour because some other group had booked the field and that we. the viewers, are much more interested in watching guys who don't know as much as they think they do, discuss the game we've just been watching, than to see some expert cheerleaders and marching bands perform a well prepared entertainment. Madness.
Now let's take the arts. Otherwise intelligent people will paint their faces, put on clothes, that might fit, and go out in front of other smart people and present a piece of total fiction as if it was reality. And when they're finished those otherwise smart people beat their hands together. Seriously.
A symphony orchestra has musicians who play most of the time and others who hardly play at all. The harpist almost never plays. Isn't there something else she could be doing, ironing some shirts or spending time in the nursery taking care of the children of the other musicians. And the guy in the percussion section who's only job is to play the triangle in the last movement. Why doesn't he go check on the furnace or something, instead of sitting around in his tuxedo for an hour. Ridiculous.
There are times in out lives when we eject the clear light of reason and do things that are purely absurd. We go chasing after other people. We stand or sit watching other people do silly things. Or we put ourselves in ridiculous circumstances for the sake of something we think we want.
And it's a good thing we do, for if we didn't we might all go "mad."
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
*************************
This invitation is still open for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
A new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for me.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain or the Confused. Tell me your thoughts on any subject you wish.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 13 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Monday, January 2, 2012
Wake Up
Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.
William Dement
********************
Hello Mark
*********************
"We are such stuff s dreams are made on" wrote Shakespeare. If that is so how can we tell the difference between the sleeping dream and the waking dream? Furthermore, if the sleeping dream affords us the right to go insane, doesn,t the waking dream do so too? And if insanity is what the sleeping dream feeds on why can't the waking dream do the same? Or are we all still asleep while we think we are awake?
When I read the news I perceive many human activities that seem to have no other explanation than that someone, or some group of people, has gone not so quietly or safely insane. How else but by madness can you explain some of the outrageous behavior of humans: suicide bombers, decisions by fundamentalist religions, the plundering of citizens by banks and other institutions, the kidnapping of children, millions of dollars being poured into a relatively small Midwestern state to garnish votes of doubtful worth. legalized torture, rape, murder, cruelty, infidelity, police brutality, nuclear weapons, the exploitation of children, other people being paid a fortune for performing acts of dubious quality, home owners being disallowed to display an American flag on their property, drones. Are we all guilty of this daytime craziness, and do we all need to wake up?
"Keep a level head" the saying goes. How level is my head? Rudyard Kipling wrote about that:
"If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you," and
"If you can dream - and not make dreams your master."
That's the question. Are we letting our dreams master us? When a man blows up a building and says that God told him to do it in a dream or in a vision you can be sure there is a mad man loose.
It seems to me the peculiar type of insanity that people are victimized by is not being able to tell the difference between a rational and irrational act or decision. Where is the buzzer, the alarm clock that should wake us up? Are we still asleep after we crawl out of bed? Do we sleepwalk through the day? And when we decide on the mad act, whatever it is, do the non thinking tools of passion, will power and tunnel vision take over our lives and hold us captive?
It's an odd fact that we spend most of days somewhere between asleep and alert. What we need to do is to understand, first of all, that we may well be still asleep and moving through a dream of life. Then let the cold breeze of reality blow across our thoughts and startle us into alertness. We need to ask "Wait a minute, what am I thinking of. Does it make any sense? Do I really want the results I'm heading for? Are these really my thoughts or do they come from some goblin of the night?" We need to be clear, "level headed," to keep our own heads and not rent them out to some inane fantasy. We need to confine our own inexplicable madness to the night time slumber.
"O dreamer, leave thy s dreams for joyful waking,
O captive, rise and sing, for thou art free."
(Rosa Turner)
DB -Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
************************
This is an invitation for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
The new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for mine.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain.
Tell me your thoughts on Chanukah, Christmas, Ashura, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, the New Year. or any subject you wish or associate with this holiday season.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 11 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB
***************************
William Dement
********************
Hello Mark
*********************
"We are such stuff s dreams are made on" wrote Shakespeare. If that is so how can we tell the difference between the sleeping dream and the waking dream? Furthermore, if the sleeping dream affords us the right to go insane, doesn,t the waking dream do so too? And if insanity is what the sleeping dream feeds on why can't the waking dream do the same? Or are we all still asleep while we think we are awake?
When I read the news I perceive many human activities that seem to have no other explanation than that someone, or some group of people, has gone not so quietly or safely insane. How else but by madness can you explain some of the outrageous behavior of humans: suicide bombers, decisions by fundamentalist religions, the plundering of citizens by banks and other institutions, the kidnapping of children, millions of dollars being poured into a relatively small Midwestern state to garnish votes of doubtful worth. legalized torture, rape, murder, cruelty, infidelity, police brutality, nuclear weapons, the exploitation of children, other people being paid a fortune for performing acts of dubious quality, home owners being disallowed to display an American flag on their property, drones. Are we all guilty of this daytime craziness, and do we all need to wake up?
"Keep a level head" the saying goes. How level is my head? Rudyard Kipling wrote about that:
"If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you," and
"If you can dream - and not make dreams your master."
That's the question. Are we letting our dreams master us? When a man blows up a building and says that God told him to do it in a dream or in a vision you can be sure there is a mad man loose.
It seems to me the peculiar type of insanity that people are victimized by is not being able to tell the difference between a rational and irrational act or decision. Where is the buzzer, the alarm clock that should wake us up? Are we still asleep after we crawl out of bed? Do we sleepwalk through the day? And when we decide on the mad act, whatever it is, do the non thinking tools of passion, will power and tunnel vision take over our lives and hold us captive?
It's an odd fact that we spend most of days somewhere between asleep and alert. What we need to do is to understand, first of all, that we may well be still asleep and moving through a dream of life. Then let the cold breeze of reality blow across our thoughts and startle us into alertness. We need to ask "Wait a minute, what am I thinking of. Does it make any sense? Do I really want the results I'm heading for? Are these really my thoughts or do they come from some goblin of the night?" We need to be clear, "level headed," to keep our own heads and not rent them out to some inane fantasy. We need to confine our own inexplicable madness to the night time slumber.
"O dreamer, leave thy s dreams for joyful waking,
O captive, rise and sing, for thou art free."
(Rosa Turner)
DB -Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
************************
This is an invitation for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
The new year is upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I think people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own is why I invite you to write for mine.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain.
Tell me your thoughts on Chanukah, Christmas, Ashura, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, the New Year. or any subject you wish or associate with this holiday season.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 11 Guest Authors so far. Check them out.
All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB
***************************
Sunday, December 11, 2011
5 Steps To Freedom
You really have to look inside yourself and find your own inner strength and say, "I'm proud of what I am and who I am, and I'm just going to be myself."
Mariah Carey
*******************
Hello Sandy
*********************
Knowing yourself is often a hard task and quite tricky, particularly if you've been surrounded by people who have pummeled into a pulp your self respect by constant criticism and harping on your faults. On the other hand it can also be difficult for one has been constantly and inappropriate approved of. In either case self knowledge is one of life's direst necessities.
Mariah Carey has spelled out 5 rules for the journey of self discovery and personal self approval.
1. Look inside yourself. We can spend a lot of time, a lot of wasted time, worrying about how we appear to others. The effort involved in that expenditure is strong enough to take our thoughts completely away from how we do look to others and how we appear to ourselves. When you look in the mirror what do you see? Is my make up on right? Is my beard trimmed? How does my hair look? Should I wear this tie? Next time look at yourself in the eyes and work to see the person behind the hair and the tie. That person is there, waiting to be your friend.
2. Find your inner strength. I recently had a conversatin with a woman who was trying to research the causes for everything that she felt was wrong with her. I suggested that instead she should look into the reasons behind everything she felt was right about her and develop those. We can waste more time and effort facing our faults day after day. You're not perfect? So what? It's the good things, the right things, that keep us going.
3. Be proud of what your are. What are you, a scientist, an artist, a teacher, an athlete, a builder, a cleaner, a mother, a husband, an astronaut? Whatever it is you have a right to be proud of your place in the world. Shakespeare wrote, "There's place and means for every man alive." Take your place and perform your tasks with self satisfaction and pay no attention to the negatives.
4. Be proud of who you are. Now that you have become acquainted with the being in the mirror, groomed yourself to your own specifications and learned to proudly take your place and perform with pride your functions in the world, you realize that you are more than the face, more than the clothes and bigger than the job, no matter what it is. You are a remarkable creature, a human being, like no other on Earth. As time goes by you discover more and more about yourself. Ignore the regrets. John Cage said "We need not destroy the past. It is gone." Today is the day to live, and the future is the day to think about. The more goodness, success, fulfillment and joy you can find about yourself the more you have to be proud of.
5. Be yourself. In my unfortunate childhood I was the subject of resentment for being who I was. I learned to put up a front, a facade, in order to minimize the criticisms and scorn I was getting. There was no looking earnestly at myself in the mirror until years later. Succumbing to the world's opinions or even what you think those opinions might be robs you of the freedom to be yourself. Picking off of yourself all the false labels and cleaning yourself of the left over glue of a life of pretenses and avoidances is one of the healthiest things a person can do for themselves. Of all the freedoms we have a right to one of the mightiest is the freedom to be ourselves.
Thank you Marih
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
****************************
Mariah Carey
*******************
Hello Sandy
*********************
Knowing yourself is often a hard task and quite tricky, particularly if you've been surrounded by people who have pummeled into a pulp your self respect by constant criticism and harping on your faults. On the other hand it can also be difficult for one has been constantly and inappropriate approved of. In either case self knowledge is one of life's direst necessities.
Mariah Carey has spelled out 5 rules for the journey of self discovery and personal self approval.
1. Look inside yourself. We can spend a lot of time, a lot of wasted time, worrying about how we appear to others. The effort involved in that expenditure is strong enough to take our thoughts completely away from how we do look to others and how we appear to ourselves. When you look in the mirror what do you see? Is my make up on right? Is my beard trimmed? How does my hair look? Should I wear this tie? Next time look at yourself in the eyes and work to see the person behind the hair and the tie. That person is there, waiting to be your friend.
2. Find your inner strength. I recently had a conversatin with a woman who was trying to research the causes for everything that she felt was wrong with her. I suggested that instead she should look into the reasons behind everything she felt was right about her and develop those. We can waste more time and effort facing our faults day after day. You're not perfect? So what? It's the good things, the right things, that keep us going.
3. Be proud of what your are. What are you, a scientist, an artist, a teacher, an athlete, a builder, a cleaner, a mother, a husband, an astronaut? Whatever it is you have a right to be proud of your place in the world. Shakespeare wrote, "There's place and means for every man alive." Take your place and perform your tasks with self satisfaction and pay no attention to the negatives.
4. Be proud of who you are. Now that you have become acquainted with the being in the mirror, groomed yourself to your own specifications and learned to proudly take your place and perform with pride your functions in the world, you realize that you are more than the face, more than the clothes and bigger than the job, no matter what it is. You are a remarkable creature, a human being, like no other on Earth. As time goes by you discover more and more about yourself. Ignore the regrets. John Cage said "We need not destroy the past. It is gone." Today is the day to live, and the future is the day to think about. The more goodness, success, fulfillment and joy you can find about yourself the more you have to be proud of.
5. Be yourself. In my unfortunate childhood I was the subject of resentment for being who I was. I learned to put up a front, a facade, in order to minimize the criticisms and scorn I was getting. There was no looking earnestly at myself in the mirror until years later. Succumbing to the world's opinions or even what you think those opinions might be robs you of the freedom to be yourself. Picking off of yourself all the false labels and cleaning yourself of the left over glue of a life of pretenses and avoidances is one of the healthiest things a person can do for themselves. Of all the freedoms we have a right to one of the mightiest is the freedom to be ourselves.
Thank you Marih
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
****************************
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Joy, The Girl
Wise men ne'er sit and wail their woes,
But presently prevent the ways to wail.
Shakespeare
********************
Hello Diane
*********************
Let's all sing of woes and sorrows, of rues and regrets, of illnesses and troubles, of heartbreaks and mistakes, of wrongs and errors, of sins and sufferings, of depression and despair, of ugliness and crime, of anger and abuse, of age and weakness, of ignorance and want, of cruelty and condemnation, of lass and lack, of fear and failure, of broken dreams.
The joy that you find here, you borrow -
You cannot keep it long it seems -
But Gigolo and Gigolette -
Still sing a song and dance along -
The boulevard of broken dreams.
***************************************
On the other had, let's not.
-----------------------------------
Life seems to be a festival of things that go wrong. The easiest thing to do is to make a mistake. One can sit around and "wail their woes" or not. A vital precept which no one thinks of until they have logged in a sufficient amount of weailing is that if you make room in your heart and mind for sorrow, sorrow will come and fill it up.
Some positive thinkers, so called, are merely doing battle with the grime and garbage that already rent rooms in their heads. The true thinker, the wise man, entertains no negative guests.
One of the happiest people I ever knew was a girl named Joy, and she was very appropriately named. She went through her days with a smile on her face or an expression that looked like it was going to break into a smile at any instant. She was certainly aware of all the wrongs and troubles in the world but she simply didn't include them on her mental menu. She expected good things to happen to her and to those around her and they generally did. Joy was unselfish. She respected other people and when she had to deal with some ignorant rat she did it with grace and ease.
One day I had lunch with her father and I could see where Joy's qualities came from. There was a man who was intelligent, friendly, solidly self assured, with the full knowledge of his positive place in the world.
Joy and her father were an inspiration. It was a lesson I took with me but didn't apply until years later. Now I'm passing it on. Keep the mind clean of the distractions of doubt and discouragement, treat people with respect as far as they can be trusted and step around the boulders in the way.
DB - The Vagabond
Never Give Up
*******************
But presently prevent the ways to wail.
Shakespeare
********************
Hello Diane
*********************
Let's all sing of woes and sorrows, of rues and regrets, of illnesses and troubles, of heartbreaks and mistakes, of wrongs and errors, of sins and sufferings, of depression and despair, of ugliness and crime, of anger and abuse, of age and weakness, of ignorance and want, of cruelty and condemnation, of lass and lack, of fear and failure, of broken dreams.
The joy that you find here, you borrow -
You cannot keep it long it seems -
But Gigolo and Gigolette -
Still sing a song and dance along -
The boulevard of broken dreams.
***************************************
On the other had, let's not.
-----------------------------------
Life seems to be a festival of things that go wrong. The easiest thing to do is to make a mistake. One can sit around and "wail their woes" or not. A vital precept which no one thinks of until they have logged in a sufficient amount of weailing is that if you make room in your heart and mind for sorrow, sorrow will come and fill it up.
Some positive thinkers, so called, are merely doing battle with the grime and garbage that already rent rooms in their heads. The true thinker, the wise man, entertains no negative guests.
One of the happiest people I ever knew was a girl named Joy, and she was very appropriately named. She went through her days with a smile on her face or an expression that looked like it was going to break into a smile at any instant. She was certainly aware of all the wrongs and troubles in the world but she simply didn't include them on her mental menu. She expected good things to happen to her and to those around her and they generally did. Joy was unselfish. She respected other people and when she had to deal with some ignorant rat she did it with grace and ease.
One day I had lunch with her father and I could see where Joy's qualities came from. There was a man who was intelligent, friendly, solidly self assured, with the full knowledge of his positive place in the world.
Joy and her father were an inspiration. It was a lesson I took with me but didn't apply until years later. Now I'm passing it on. Keep the mind clean of the distractions of doubt and discouragement, treat people with respect as far as they can be trusted and step around the boulders in the way.
DB - The Vagabond
Never Give Up
*******************
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Beth and Ken and the Autumn Visit
My Day With The Riches, Part 2
Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments.
Shakespeare
**********************
Two kind and fascinating people picked me up and took me out to breakfast. I had a feta cheese omelette with grits. Grits ! GRITS? This is Pennsylvania not Alabama. But I enjoyed the grits, the omelette and the conversation.
Photographs were taken all around. Ken even got an unsuspecting passer by to take a picture of the three of us.
Then, after hugs, they left for New York City, my old home town, and I climbed the stairs to my lonely attic garret.
Those wonderful people injected a positive spirit into my life. Ken made sure that I made it safely in and out of his car, through every door and across every street. Beth is just as energetic and dynamic as her writing.
It was a great pleasure for me to have them here. They conquered my heart and took it with them. And now I feel very sad because I fear I may never see them again.
DB
(never give up)
Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments.
Shakespeare
**********************
Two kind and fascinating people picked me up and took me out to breakfast. I had a feta cheese omelette with grits. Grits ! GRITS? This is Pennsylvania not Alabama. But I enjoyed the grits, the omelette and the conversation.
Photographs were taken all around. Ken even got an unsuspecting passer by to take a picture of the three of us.
Then, after hugs, they left for New York City, my old home town, and I climbed the stairs to my lonely attic garret.
Those wonderful people injected a positive spirit into my life. Ken made sure that I made it safely in and out of his car, through every door and across every street. Beth is just as energetic and dynamic as her writing.
It was a great pleasure for me to have them here. They conquered my heart and took it with them. And now I feel very sad because I fear I may never see them again.
DB
(never give up)
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Dear Brutus
Destiny is but a phrase of the weak human heart - the dark apology for every error.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
***************************
Hello Rose
***************************
One of the most amazing things about the human race is the intricate and imaginative ways we have of justifying ourselves. If you ask a man what his goal in life is you will probably get an answer, but the answer will most likely have more to do with his purpose in regard to what he does. A life's goal is a deeply held secret thing that is hard, and perhaps impossible, to put into words. It is the unspoken and invisible challenge that motivates but continually frustrates us. It comes from a consciousness we are only occasionally aware of. It is a matter of personal achievement, of finding and filling one's true destiny.
A man can describe himself as a craftsman of some sort. He may say that his goal is to be a better one, a master at his craft, but that brings on the question of why he isn't. And the answer to that question is so elusive it seems to be outside of himself. It's a mystery.
Gradually appearing on the mental horizon comes the nasty four letter word FATE. Yes, there is no doubt in his mind there is something, some unexplainable thing that keeps him from achieving his purpose in life. He has an urgent need to find and understand that thing, that force from beyond him, that keeps him down.
Ancient priests used to sacrifice sheep and read the entrails to find answers. In Asia they would cast the I Ching by reading the lines on the belly of a tortoise. Astronomers could chart the future of men and nations by reading the stars. It is written that the mother of Alexander the Great held off giving birth to him until the court astronomer said the stars were in the exact proper location for greatness. His success was "in the stars." But what does Shakespeare say? "The fault, dear Brutus, in not in our starts but in ourselves that we are underlings."
The search for the mystical truth got more personal with palmistry, gazing into a crystal ball or a circle on the ground, reading tea leaves or coffee grounds. And then there are the cards. The mystic can read your destiny in the cards. Which gives you an ample excuse for failure. If it's "not in our stars" and "not in the cards" where is it?
The emergence of a new kind of religion in the early Middle Ages gave us the answer. It's Satan, Beelzebub, Mephistopheles, the Devil. "The Devil made me fail." That's a good one. It lends itself to all sorts of colorful self justification and ritual confession, sacrifice and cleansing. We all know what the Devil does. Satan is responsible for all tornados, typhoons, hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis, for all non Christian religions, for murder (the illegal kind), for illness, insanity and death, for noisy neighbors, disobedient children and snakes, for Communism, Hollywood and the Democratic Party. Or so we have been told by one pastor or another.
If we could just get the Devil out of our lives our destiny would improve, success would be possible and happiness assured.
But wait. The Devil has been replaced. There's a new crystal ball, a new circle on the ground, a new deck of cards, a new zodiac. DNA. Instead of the Devil it was "my DNA made me fail." The modern mystic can chart your destiny by reading the DNA leaves. It provides a solid scientific reason for self justification
How long will it be before they find a way to alter your DNA, before we decide who lives and who doesn't based on their DNA and thus their probability of success or failure, of benevolent or criminal behavior? When will chemistry take the place of ethics?
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our DNA.
William Jennings Bryan wrote "Destiny is not a matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."
Dana Bate - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up.
**********************
AUTUMN QUESTION
What event over the past year changed your life, a lot or a little?
Only 3 answers so far.
dbdacoba@aol.com
I await your answers.
DB
********************
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
***************************
Hello Rose
***************************
One of the most amazing things about the human race is the intricate and imaginative ways we have of justifying ourselves. If you ask a man what his goal in life is you will probably get an answer, but the answer will most likely have more to do with his purpose in regard to what he does. A life's goal is a deeply held secret thing that is hard, and perhaps impossible, to put into words. It is the unspoken and invisible challenge that motivates but continually frustrates us. It comes from a consciousness we are only occasionally aware of. It is a matter of personal achievement, of finding and filling one's true destiny.
A man can describe himself as a craftsman of some sort. He may say that his goal is to be a better one, a master at his craft, but that brings on the question of why he isn't. And the answer to that question is so elusive it seems to be outside of himself. It's a mystery.
Gradually appearing on the mental horizon comes the nasty four letter word FATE. Yes, there is no doubt in his mind there is something, some unexplainable thing that keeps him from achieving his purpose in life. He has an urgent need to find and understand that thing, that force from beyond him, that keeps him down.
Ancient priests used to sacrifice sheep and read the entrails to find answers. In Asia they would cast the I Ching by reading the lines on the belly of a tortoise. Astronomers could chart the future of men and nations by reading the stars. It is written that the mother of Alexander the Great held off giving birth to him until the court astronomer said the stars were in the exact proper location for greatness. His success was "in the stars." But what does Shakespeare say? "The fault, dear Brutus, in not in our starts but in ourselves that we are underlings."
The search for the mystical truth got more personal with palmistry, gazing into a crystal ball or a circle on the ground, reading tea leaves or coffee grounds. And then there are the cards. The mystic can read your destiny in the cards. Which gives you an ample excuse for failure. If it's "not in our stars" and "not in the cards" where is it?
The emergence of a new kind of religion in the early Middle Ages gave us the answer. It's Satan, Beelzebub, Mephistopheles, the Devil. "The Devil made me fail." That's a good one. It lends itself to all sorts of colorful self justification and ritual confession, sacrifice and cleansing. We all know what the Devil does. Satan is responsible for all tornados, typhoons, hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis, for all non Christian religions, for murder (the illegal kind), for illness, insanity and death, for noisy neighbors, disobedient children and snakes, for Communism, Hollywood and the Democratic Party. Or so we have been told by one pastor or another.
If we could just get the Devil out of our lives our destiny would improve, success would be possible and happiness assured.
But wait. The Devil has been replaced. There's a new crystal ball, a new circle on the ground, a new deck of cards, a new zodiac. DNA. Instead of the Devil it was "my DNA made me fail." The modern mystic can chart your destiny by reading the DNA leaves. It provides a solid scientific reason for self justification
How long will it be before they find a way to alter your DNA, before we decide who lives and who doesn't based on their DNA and thus their probability of success or failure, of benevolent or criminal behavior? When will chemistry take the place of ethics?
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our DNA.
William Jennings Bryan wrote "Destiny is not a matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."
Dana Bate - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up.
**********************
AUTUMN QUESTION
What event over the past year changed your life, a lot or a little?
Only 3 answers so far.
dbdacoba@aol.com
I await your answers.
DB
********************
Sunday, August 21, 2011
No Rules
The artist needs to be possessed of a good disposition as well as a moment of inspiration, because whatever is made according to instructions and rules turns out to be spiritless.
Immanuel Kant
************************
I used to say, half jokingly, half seriously, that I reinvent that art of acting with every role I get.
One of the best directors I ever had the privilege of working with is Charles Hensley. He came into rehearsal the first day of the first play I did with him wearing a button which read "There are no rules." Immediately I knew there was a man I could work with. He is a director who understands one of the basic principles of good theatre and how to achieve it: "Direct the Play, Not the Players."
I have known too many actors and other artists who waste their time (and other people's) looking for a path of instruction, a list of duties, in short, rules. When they find them, or make them up, their work becomes assembly line and uninspired.
The making of rules to work by, for an artist or anyone, is just as dangerous as doing something a certain way because "we've always done it that way." I used to know a world class flutist who told me that he once played with an orchestra whose conductor had a strict method for playing the music and would allow for no originality. He didn't play with that orchestra again.
The creative experience is just that, an experience. It isn't something the artist makes up. It exists in the mental realm of imagination, appreciation and discovery. Inspiration, when it comes, is a gift. But the artist must put himself in the way of it by an openness which doesn't come out of a rule book.
In my opinion, which I will defend with unarguable facts, any time, any where, 2 of the worst things a director can do to mess up the rehearsal process are 1 demand a performance level at the first rehearsal and 2 ask for improvisations before anyone knows the story. I've been through both and can attest how just plain stupid they are. In both cases they delay the creative process instead of adding to it.
I have a friend who is right now involved in a production of a Shakespearean comedy. At the first rehearsal the director wanted the actors to be up on their feet, walking around, speaking up, speeding up and relating to each other. In other words he wanted a performance. It doesn't work that way.
I was in an Off Broadway show where the director wanted the cast to improvise before we had a chance to investigate the script. As a result we improvised ourselves off into a fog. It doesn't work that way either.
On the other hand the actor who was trying to give the director a performance on the first day directed me in a Chekhov play. We spent a long time sitting around, reading and discussing it, learning about Chekhov and about life in Russia during the time of the play. Rich, excellent background work. When we got up on our feet the cast knew their parts very well. Then one day the director asked us to improvise the first act. That was one of the best experiences I ever had in the theatre. I faced and solved acting problems I might have just walked through, without knowing it, using only the Chekhovian dialogue.
And the aforementioned Charles Hensley, the "no rules" man, directed me in a Shakespearean comedy. We spent many days sitting around a table reading and talking about the play. By the time we got up to move around we were a tight ensemble company. Charley trusted us. And the performance that emerged was one of the best I've ever had the pleasure of being in. It was fresh, original, unforced, liberated, exciting and I reinvented myself again.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
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.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
15 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Immanuel Kant
************************
I used to say, half jokingly, half seriously, that I reinvent that art of acting with every role I get.
One of the best directors I ever had the privilege of working with is Charles Hensley. He came into rehearsal the first day of the first play I did with him wearing a button which read "There are no rules." Immediately I knew there was a man I could work with. He is a director who understands one of the basic principles of good theatre and how to achieve it: "Direct the Play, Not the Players."
I have known too many actors and other artists who waste their time (and other people's) looking for a path of instruction, a list of duties, in short, rules. When they find them, or make them up, their work becomes assembly line and uninspired.
The making of rules to work by, for an artist or anyone, is just as dangerous as doing something a certain way because "we've always done it that way." I used to know a world class flutist who told me that he once played with an orchestra whose conductor had a strict method for playing the music and would allow for no originality. He didn't play with that orchestra again.
The creative experience is just that, an experience. It isn't something the artist makes up. It exists in the mental realm of imagination, appreciation and discovery. Inspiration, when it comes, is a gift. But the artist must put himself in the way of it by an openness which doesn't come out of a rule book.
In my opinion, which I will defend with unarguable facts, any time, any where, 2 of the worst things a director can do to mess up the rehearsal process are 1 demand a performance level at the first rehearsal and 2 ask for improvisations before anyone knows the story. I've been through both and can attest how just plain stupid they are. In both cases they delay the creative process instead of adding to it.
I have a friend who is right now involved in a production of a Shakespearean comedy. At the first rehearsal the director wanted the actors to be up on their feet, walking around, speaking up, speeding up and relating to each other. In other words he wanted a performance. It doesn't work that way.
I was in an Off Broadway show where the director wanted the cast to improvise before we had a chance to investigate the script. As a result we improvised ourselves off into a fog. It doesn't work that way either.
On the other hand the actor who was trying to give the director a performance on the first day directed me in a Chekhov play. We spent a long time sitting around, reading and discussing it, learning about Chekhov and about life in Russia during the time of the play. Rich, excellent background work. When we got up on our feet the cast knew their parts very well. Then one day the director asked us to improvise the first act. That was one of the best experiences I ever had in the theatre. I faced and solved acting problems I might have just walked through, without knowing it, using only the Chekhovian dialogue.
And the aforementioned Charles Hensley, the "no rules" man, directed me in a Shakespearean comedy. We spent many days sitting around a table reading and talking about the play. By the time we got up to move around we were a tight ensemble company. Charley trusted us. And the performance that emerged was one of the best I've ever had the pleasure of being in. It was fresh, original, unforced, liberated, exciting and I reinvented myself again.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
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.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
15 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Connections
Man stands at the juncture of nature and spirit, he is involved in both freedom and necessity, he is both limited and limitless.
Reidar Thomte
******************
My uncle Stanley Bate was a successful painter. He lived and worked in the Hudson River valley, as did many other great painters. I learned an important concept from him, the art of visualization. It's the act of connecting the seen with the unseen, the fact with the fiction, of bringing together two realities, of telling a story by means of a story.
One of my favorite paintings of Uncle Stanley's is a picture of four empty chairs and four empty music stands grouped around in a semi circle. It's called "String Quartet."
Every work of art is limited by dimensions, materials and the craftsmanship of the artist. But there is attached to it something unlimited, something which exists in the artist's imagination. That something is the true story of the work of art. The art itself is merely a manifestation of what is really taking place. the proverbial tip of the iceberg.
I took that lesson and began to apply it to my own work. When a character enters a scene the actor has to know when to start in order to be in the proper place at the right time, or how many steps it takes him to get into place. He also needs to know why his character is entering the scene and where he is coming from. That's the objective reality of the moment. But the actor also has to know and bring on the stage with him the subjective reality of the character, a certain mentality, a remembrance of sights, sounds and aromas, a lifetime of experiences.
I also began to realize how important it was to visualize the life behind the words. Even in the case of master playwrights like Shakespeare and O'Neill there was more work to be done by the performer. Each speech carried the obligation to fulfill the words with the sights and sounds of not only the subject being discussed but the real life that surrounds the person speaking it. The words may evoke the image but the image is different for each actor who speaks them.
Miles Davis said "Don't play what's there, play what isn't there." Louis Armstrong said "What we play is life." An actor who doesn't know his words is lost in a jungle of confusion and uncertainty. Just as an actor needs to know his words, so a musician needs to know his notes. From that basis he can then play the visions and memories in his head, the stuff that "isn't there."
So when we look at a painting, watch an actor perform or listen to a piece of music we have the freedom and obligation to look beyond the facade to the super reality, the unlimited life of the artist and the art. To really listen to the music or the drama is listening instead to what the artist is saying which can't be said in notes and words. When we do that we can experience surprising results.
DB - The True 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.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
Only 14 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Reidar Thomte
******************
My uncle Stanley Bate was a successful painter. He lived and worked in the Hudson River valley, as did many other great painters. I learned an important concept from him, the art of visualization. It's the act of connecting the seen with the unseen, the fact with the fiction, of bringing together two realities, of telling a story by means of a story.
One of my favorite paintings of Uncle Stanley's is a picture of four empty chairs and four empty music stands grouped around in a semi circle. It's called "String Quartet."
Every work of art is limited by dimensions, materials and the craftsmanship of the artist. But there is attached to it something unlimited, something which exists in the artist's imagination. That something is the true story of the work of art. The art itself is merely a manifestation of what is really taking place. the proverbial tip of the iceberg.
I took that lesson and began to apply it to my own work. When a character enters a scene the actor has to know when to start in order to be in the proper place at the right time, or how many steps it takes him to get into place. He also needs to know why his character is entering the scene and where he is coming from. That's the objective reality of the moment. But the actor also has to know and bring on the stage with him the subjective reality of the character, a certain mentality, a remembrance of sights, sounds and aromas, a lifetime of experiences.
I also began to realize how important it was to visualize the life behind the words. Even in the case of master playwrights like Shakespeare and O'Neill there was more work to be done by the performer. Each speech carried the obligation to fulfill the words with the sights and sounds of not only the subject being discussed but the real life that surrounds the person speaking it. The words may evoke the image but the image is different for each actor who speaks them.
Miles Davis said "Don't play what's there, play what isn't there." Louis Armstrong said "What we play is life." An actor who doesn't know his words is lost in a jungle of confusion and uncertainty. Just as an actor needs to know his words, so a musician needs to know his notes. From that basis he can then play the visions and memories in his head, the stuff that "isn't there."
So when we look at a painting, watch an actor perform or listen to a piece of music we have the freedom and obligation to look beyond the facade to the super reality, the unlimited life of the artist and the art. To really listen to the music or the drama is listening instead to what the artist is saying which can't be said in notes and words. When we do that we can experience surprising results.
DB - The True 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.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
Only 14 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Monday, August 15, 2011
Knowing Everything
The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds.
John F. Kennedy
*************************
"The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comedy, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral, scene undividable, or poem unlimited:" (Shakespeare)
An authority: Someone who knows more and more about less and less until he knows all there is to know about nothing at all.
When I was in high school the options were very simple: math, chemistry, biology, physics. That was more or less it. Over the years the more that has been discovered the more specialized science has become: anthrozology, primatology, robotics, evolutionary computation, paleobotany, astrochemistry, climatology, microbiology, crystallography, nanotechnology, nonEuclidian geometry and so on.
How does a young scientifically inclined person make a choice out of that cornucopia of disciplines, especially as they seem to be dividing themselves every day? There use to be a saying that two advanced chemists can't talk shop to each other because they haven't spoken the same language since 10th Grade Chem Lab.
The true mystery of all this is that Nature, like Life, is a very complicated thing and the more we know about it the more there is to know. And also, like Life, there is a lot of guess work involved, trial and error, hypotheses proven or unproven, theories that fly or crash. And, if anyone cares to face it, that's what makes everything so interesting.
I would like to know everything there is to know as impossible as it is. And that's why I'm glad to learn something every day. Being retired I don't have to ask myself what good it's going to do for my career, not that I ever asked myself that. And I am glad there is always something more to learn.
Lunar geology anyone?
--------------------------------
DB - The Vagabond
**************************
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 14 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
WEEKEND CONTEST ANSWERS
4 Weird Songs
Once again Geo was the only contestant. So he wins the grand prize of a stuffed organ grinders monkey, complete with cup and funny hat.
___________________
ZEY NKZ VQ AFQ KCCUQ ED ZEYM NEAFQM'T QZQ, VYA ZEY'MQ IEA KCCQKUWIR AE NQ.
You may be the apple of your mother's eye, but you're not appealing to me.
W REA K METQ VQAJQQI NZ AEQT DMEN JKUBWIR VKMQDEEA AFMEJRF AFQ FEAFEYTQ AE ZEY, VKVZ.
I got a rose between my toes from walking barefoot through the hot house to you, baby.
JFE JKT FKXWIR IKCEJQEIT JWAF LETQCFWIQ JFWUQ VEIQCKMA JKT KHKZ KA AFQ JKM?
Who was having napoleons with Josephine while Bonepart was away at the war?
GWRKMQAAQT KIS JFWTBQZ KIS JWUS, JWUS JENQI, AFQZ'UU SMWXQ ZEY GMKYZ, AFQZ'UU SMWXQ ZEY WITKIQ.
Cigarettes and whiskey and wild, wild women, they'll drive you crazy, they'll drive you insane.
Thank you Geo.
DB
*************************
John F. Kennedy
*************************
"The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comedy, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral, scene undividable, or poem unlimited:" (Shakespeare)
An authority: Someone who knows more and more about less and less until he knows all there is to know about nothing at all.
When I was in high school the options were very simple: math, chemistry, biology, physics. That was more or less it. Over the years the more that has been discovered the more specialized science has become: anthrozology, primatology, robotics, evolutionary computation, paleobotany, astrochemistry, climatology, microbiology, crystallography, nanotechnology, nonEuclidian geometry and so on.
How does a young scientifically inclined person make a choice out of that cornucopia of disciplines, especially as they seem to be dividing themselves every day? There use to be a saying that two advanced chemists can't talk shop to each other because they haven't spoken the same language since 10th Grade Chem Lab.
The true mystery of all this is that Nature, like Life, is a very complicated thing and the more we know about it the more there is to know. And also, like Life, there is a lot of guess work involved, trial and error, hypotheses proven or unproven, theories that fly or crash. And, if anyone cares to face it, that's what makes everything so interesting.
I would like to know everything there is to know as impossible as it is. And that's why I'm glad to learn something every day. Being retired I don't have to ask myself what good it's going to do for my career, not that I ever asked myself that. And I am glad there is always something more to learn.
Lunar geology anyone?
--------------------------------
DB - The Vagabond
**************************
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 14 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
WEEKEND CONTEST ANSWERS
4 Weird Songs
Once again Geo was the only contestant. So he wins the grand prize of a stuffed organ grinders monkey, complete with cup and funny hat.
___________________
ZEY NKZ VQ AFQ KCCUQ ED ZEYM NEAFQM'T QZQ, VYA ZEY'MQ IEA KCCQKUWIR AE NQ.
You may be the apple of your mother's eye, but you're not appealing to me.
W REA K METQ VQAJQQI NZ AEQT DMEN JKUBWIR VKMQDEEA AFMEJRF AFQ FEAFEYTQ AE ZEY, VKVZ.
I got a rose between my toes from walking barefoot through the hot house to you, baby.
JFE JKT FKXWIR IKCEJQEIT JWAF LETQCFWIQ JFWUQ VEIQCKMA JKT KHKZ KA AFQ JKM?
Who was having napoleons with Josephine while Bonepart was away at the war?
GWRKMQAAQT KIS JFWTBQZ KIS JWUS, JWUS JENQI, AFQZ'UU SMWXQ ZEY GMKYZ, AFQZ'UU SMWXQ ZEY WITKIQ.
Cigarettes and whiskey and wild, wild women, they'll drive you crazy, they'll drive you insane.
Thank you Geo.
DB
*************************
Sunday, July 31, 2011
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 9, 2011
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
************************
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Good Choice
History is the sum total of things that could have been avoided.
Konrad Adenauer
***********************
Life is just a catalogue of results. We live mainly with the consequences of the choices we made or the choices that were made for us one way or another. When we start out we have no choices of our own, they are made for us. We didn't choose to be born. We're given a name before we are consulted about it. We didn't choose our parents or where we live. The best we can do is to make demands by means of loud noises. By the time we reach the age when someone finally asks us what we want we are so unused to making choices that we probably don't know. Then we may make a choice we regret.
The choosing process usually doesn't take long but the results of our choices can last a while, maybe even the rest of our lives. Some people claim our destiny is written in the stars or our DNA. I claim it is more likely written in our choices. In so many of the simple, so called trivial moments of our lives we are likely to make choices that have far reaching results. You make a simple choice to go one way and not the other and your entire future has changed even though you don't know it yet.
Why is the world in such a mess? Because over the many years of our human existence choices were made, some good, some not so good and some dreadful. So many of the rocky, thorn bush lined paths we've trod as citizens of the earth could have been avoided if only someone had made a better choice way back.
Along with the bundle of results we have to live with as a result of our decisions is the nasty crop of regrets. A wiser person may say "Don't do that. You'll regret it." Do we listen and heed? Maybe. If we're smart we do. But maybe not and then we have our own personal regret to live with. Regrets are negative crops, the weeds that grow up along side the wheat. They should be rooted up and discarded. What's the point of regretting? It's a Herculean waste of time and effort. "The past is prologue" Shakespeare wrote. The future is what is important, and since you've learned now to make better choices (haven't you?) you can look forward to better results.
Some wise person once said "You always get what you want. So be very careful about what you want."
DB - The Vagabond
--------------------------
Never give up.
**************************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
Come on. 11 diverse and interesting answers so far. Where's yours?
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
******************
Konrad Adenauer
***********************
Life is just a catalogue of results. We live mainly with the consequences of the choices we made or the choices that were made for us one way or another. When we start out we have no choices of our own, they are made for us. We didn't choose to be born. We're given a name before we are consulted about it. We didn't choose our parents or where we live. The best we can do is to make demands by means of loud noises. By the time we reach the age when someone finally asks us what we want we are so unused to making choices that we probably don't know. Then we may make a choice we regret.
The choosing process usually doesn't take long but the results of our choices can last a while, maybe even the rest of our lives. Some people claim our destiny is written in the stars or our DNA. I claim it is more likely written in our choices. In so many of the simple, so called trivial moments of our lives we are likely to make choices that have far reaching results. You make a simple choice to go one way and not the other and your entire future has changed even though you don't know it yet.
Why is the world in such a mess? Because over the many years of our human existence choices were made, some good, some not so good and some dreadful. So many of the rocky, thorn bush lined paths we've trod as citizens of the earth could have been avoided if only someone had made a better choice way back.
Along with the bundle of results we have to live with as a result of our decisions is the nasty crop of regrets. A wiser person may say "Don't do that. You'll regret it." Do we listen and heed? Maybe. If we're smart we do. But maybe not and then we have our own personal regret to live with. Regrets are negative crops, the weeds that grow up along side the wheat. They should be rooted up and discarded. What's the point of regretting? It's a Herculean waste of time and effort. "The past is prologue" Shakespeare wrote. The future is what is important, and since you've learned now to make better choices (haven't you?) you can look forward to better results.
Some wise person once said "You always get what you want. So be very careful about what you want."
DB - The Vagabond
--------------------------
Never give up.
**************************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
Come on. 11 diverse and interesting answers so far. Where's yours?
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
******************
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Under Cover
Angels and gods huddle in dark unopened books.
Charles Simic
*********************
Hello Aboisso Ivory Coast
***************************
I love books. I have an apartment full of books. They're piled up against all the walls in the other room. They're stacked under my desk, in and on the milk cartons next to my desk and there are a few on the table next to my computer. I have books on art, biography, history, philosophy, religion and science. I even have a few novels. I just ordered three more biographies.
But in spite of all this paper weighing down the floor and taking up space there are still many books I want.
The grandfather of all my books is, of course, my complete Shakespeare, which I have mentioned ad nauseam. I bought it brand new off the shelf at the Harvard Coop for $6.50. It was the first book I ever bought with my own money that wasn't a school textbook. It's almost as old as I am and is falling apart, like me. It has been with me through in and out, up and down, rain and shine, thick and thin.
These days it is more likely that people get their literature from a computer screen and I must admit that I do too, sometimes, but the truth is I would rather have my hands on a book than a mouse.
That there are angels and gods huddled in my books is undeniable. Every now and then when I go through the stacks looking for something I come across a book I had almost forgotten about, open it and am taken away into the visions of some other world. Those gods and angels are waiting for me. The writings found on your computer page are easily dispensable with a click, the books stay around to fill my life and my mind with ideas, facts and inspiration without any interference from any electronic orneriness.
As some wise person said, if you have some money, wear the old coat and buy a book.
DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
***********************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
Come on. 11 diverse and interesting answers so far. Where's yours?
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
******************
Charles Simic
*********************
Hello Aboisso Ivory Coast
***************************
I love books. I have an apartment full of books. They're piled up against all the walls in the other room. They're stacked under my desk, in and on the milk cartons next to my desk and there are a few on the table next to my computer. I have books on art, biography, history, philosophy, religion and science. I even have a few novels. I just ordered three more biographies.
But in spite of all this paper weighing down the floor and taking up space there are still many books I want.
The grandfather of all my books is, of course, my complete Shakespeare, which I have mentioned ad nauseam. I bought it brand new off the shelf at the Harvard Coop for $6.50. It was the first book I ever bought with my own money that wasn't a school textbook. It's almost as old as I am and is falling apart, like me. It has been with me through in and out, up and down, rain and shine, thick and thin.
These days it is more likely that people get their literature from a computer screen and I must admit that I do too, sometimes, but the truth is I would rather have my hands on a book than a mouse.
That there are angels and gods huddled in my books is undeniable. Every now and then when I go through the stacks looking for something I come across a book I had almost forgotten about, open it and am taken away into the visions of some other world. Those gods and angels are waiting for me. The writings found on your computer page are easily dispensable with a click, the books stay around to fill my life and my mind with ideas, facts and inspiration without any interference from any electronic orneriness.
As some wise person said, if you have some money, wear the old coat and buy a book.
DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
***********************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
Come on. 11 diverse and interesting answers so far. Where's yours?
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
******************
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
To Flip Or Not To Flip
The choices we make determine the choices we get to make.
Dana Bate
****************
Hello Abu Sunbul, Egypt
*************************
I once knew a young man who was a typist for a law firm but who had plans to become rich. One day he said "The only thing I want to worry about is whether to shop at Gucci or Fendi." He might as well have said Tiffany or Cartier. Those may be hard choices for a wealthy person, but they are non choices for a man on a limited budget such as myself. Sometimes, if I happened to go that way, I would stop and admire the fabled window displays at the Tiffany building. But go through the front door? No.
Rich or otherwise our lives are comprised of choices. Like beads on a string, one choice leads to another and another after that. And each choice we make eliminates all the others, at least temporarily. It's very tempting to look back over our lives and wonder what would have happened if we had gone left instead of right, or if we had taken a chance on something which we avoided. But it's a thoroughly pointless pastime. You didn't go left, you didn't take the chance, so don't think about it. Or if you do, do it to learn about yourself. (Arlene understands that. Don't you Arlene?)
Choices are very simple, whether to have a fried egg or a boiled egg for breakfast. On the other hand they may be very complicated, which college to go to, what career path to take, whether to get married or not, where to settle down. Once one of those choices is made it opens up a whole series of other choices, other beads for the string, and each one of those choices presents another series of choices. Ethical, financial, social, professional, religious, physical, etc. we never run out of choices.
Some things look like choices which aren't. Did you choose to drop that jar of jam on the floor? Of course not. It's what to do next that is your choice Did you choose to have the automobile accident? No, but what's next, to go and rage at the other driver or to calmly get the important insurance information and get on with life? Sometimes life throws us a curve ball. The choice is to hit it or let it pass.
I used to be a horse player, I wagered money on horse races, and I was good at it. I made a profit because I was very careful and conservative about how I used my money. I carefully researched every horse in a particular race, never played favorites because they were favorites, or long shots because they were long shots. The odds didn't concern me. Profits large or small were what concerned me. I used to refer to it as investing in a small business, with four legs, a head at one end, a tail at the other and a small person sitting on it. A major lesson I learned from that experience was that the time to worry is before I put my money down, not after. Once the wager is placed sit down, enjoy the sunshine, watch the race and wait for the result.
Sometimes it seems as if life is waiting for you to make a decision, but not offering any advice. Then as soon as you make a choice life says "Okay. In that case you have the following options" and you wonder why you didn't know the options before hand. It's not knowing what is behind the doors you are facing that makes life frustrating and makes choosing difficult.
Then there comes the most difficult choice of all, to give up on life or to go on living.
"To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?"
(Shakespeare)
Drowning in a sea of troubles is a very real possibility and a very real choice. But if the only armor you have against the approaching tide is a rock then throw the rock at the sea and search for another one. The tide will go out and if you fill up the shore with enough rock hard choices when it comes back in again it may not reach you.
To compromise myself by letting all the results of my wrong choices and the flying arrows of outrageous bad luck wash over me and then quitting the fight is not my option. Even in the face of creeping errors and meager opportunities, I have other roads to seek and other doors to open. In front of all the great philosophers I read, from ancient Greece to modern California, my rule of life is summed up in three simple words: never give up.
DB - The Vagabond
**********************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
Only 6 answers so far
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
******************
Dana Bate
****************
Hello Abu Sunbul, Egypt
*************************
I once knew a young man who was a typist for a law firm but who had plans to become rich. One day he said "The only thing I want to worry about is whether to shop at Gucci or Fendi." He might as well have said Tiffany or Cartier. Those may be hard choices for a wealthy person, but they are non choices for a man on a limited budget such as myself. Sometimes, if I happened to go that way, I would stop and admire the fabled window displays at the Tiffany building. But go through the front door? No.
Rich or otherwise our lives are comprised of choices. Like beads on a string, one choice leads to another and another after that. And each choice we make eliminates all the others, at least temporarily. It's very tempting to look back over our lives and wonder what would have happened if we had gone left instead of right, or if we had taken a chance on something which we avoided. But it's a thoroughly pointless pastime. You didn't go left, you didn't take the chance, so don't think about it. Or if you do, do it to learn about yourself. (Arlene understands that. Don't you Arlene?)
Choices are very simple, whether to have a fried egg or a boiled egg for breakfast. On the other hand they may be very complicated, which college to go to, what career path to take, whether to get married or not, where to settle down. Once one of those choices is made it opens up a whole series of other choices, other beads for the string, and each one of those choices presents another series of choices. Ethical, financial, social, professional, religious, physical, etc. we never run out of choices.
Some things look like choices which aren't. Did you choose to drop that jar of jam on the floor? Of course not. It's what to do next that is your choice Did you choose to have the automobile accident? No, but what's next, to go and rage at the other driver or to calmly get the important insurance information and get on with life? Sometimes life throws us a curve ball. The choice is to hit it or let it pass.
I used to be a horse player, I wagered money on horse races, and I was good at it. I made a profit because I was very careful and conservative about how I used my money. I carefully researched every horse in a particular race, never played favorites because they were favorites, or long shots because they were long shots. The odds didn't concern me. Profits large or small were what concerned me. I used to refer to it as investing in a small business, with four legs, a head at one end, a tail at the other and a small person sitting on it. A major lesson I learned from that experience was that the time to worry is before I put my money down, not after. Once the wager is placed sit down, enjoy the sunshine, watch the race and wait for the result.
Sometimes it seems as if life is waiting for you to make a decision, but not offering any advice. Then as soon as you make a choice life says "Okay. In that case you have the following options" and you wonder why you didn't know the options before hand. It's not knowing what is behind the doors you are facing that makes life frustrating and makes choosing difficult.
Then there comes the most difficult choice of all, to give up on life or to go on living.
"To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?"
(Shakespeare)
Drowning in a sea of troubles is a very real possibility and a very real choice. But if the only armor you have against the approaching tide is a rock then throw the rock at the sea and search for another one. The tide will go out and if you fill up the shore with enough rock hard choices when it comes back in again it may not reach you.
To compromise myself by letting all the results of my wrong choices and the flying arrows of outrageous bad luck wash over me and then quitting the fight is not my option. Even in the face of creeping errors and meager opportunities, I have other roads to seek and other doors to open. In front of all the great philosophers I read, from ancient Greece to modern California, my rule of life is summed up in three simple words: never give up.
DB - The Vagabond
**********************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
Only 6 answers so far
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
******************
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Wake Up
We are not human beings on a spiritual journey, we are spiritual beings on a human journey.
Stephen Covey
************************
Years ago I went to visit a very wise man. I was seeking his advice. My acting career was going fairly well. But I was also doing a lot of broadcasting work and could drop everything and stay with that full time. I had also been doing some teaching and wanted to do more. My drawings and paintings were becoming better known. I was confused about which direction I ought to go with my life and just wanted to talk it out with him. I spelled it all out and said I was uncertain about which of those activities I should focus on. His reply, which I've never forgotten, was "The answer is none of the above. What you should be doing is waking up."
That remark has stayed with me all these years as one of the touchstones of my life, something to test all fundamental questions against. I once wrote isn't it odd that we spend most of our adult lives somewhere between asleep and awake?
These are some of those fundamental questions. Why aren't we fully awake yet? Why do we see "through a glass darkly"? and are unable to view reality face to face? Is the glass dark, or is it our own darkness that obscures the view? Is the glass a window, or a mirror, a telescope, a microscope, or all of those? Is the truth in the image on the glass or in the one behind it?
I used to take a train from Westchester into New York City. That route is a particularly busy one for trains going in many directions. Out the window I would see other tracks as they slid in under the train or fanned out from beneath it, and feel the rumble and bump as those tracks moved under the train. Eventually the ride would smooth out as we made it on to the main track and shortly after that into the tunnel which took us to Grand Central Station.
It is necessary and important for humans to make a lot of changes on their journeys. There are changes in schools, jobs and careers, in dwellings and neighborhoods, family and friends and changes in experiences, beliefs, opinions and understanding. At a certain point some people click on to the final track and know that the destination is enlightenment and spirituality. But is spiritual evolution simply a matter of waking up? Are all the choices, changes, bumps and rumbles along the journey happening in our sleep? "We are such stuff as dreams are made on" said Shakespeare.
"Know thyself" is another one of those vital touchstones of life. I have a lot of questions and some of them are fundamental and have cosmic importance to my life and to the world. But I won't have many answers until after I wake up. "Now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." When I truly understand myself I can wake up, become enlightened, cease looking for myself through a glass, know myself as a spiritual being and find my place on the journey.
(I Cor. 13)
DB - The Vagabond
********************
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
What was the most significant event that happened in 2010?
dbdacoba@aol.com
Only 5 responses so far
I await your answer.
DB
******************************
Stephen Covey
************************
Years ago I went to visit a very wise man. I was seeking his advice. My acting career was going fairly well. But I was also doing a lot of broadcasting work and could drop everything and stay with that full time. I had also been doing some teaching and wanted to do more. My drawings and paintings were becoming better known. I was confused about which direction I ought to go with my life and just wanted to talk it out with him. I spelled it all out and said I was uncertain about which of those activities I should focus on. His reply, which I've never forgotten, was "The answer is none of the above. What you should be doing is waking up."
That remark has stayed with me all these years as one of the touchstones of my life, something to test all fundamental questions against. I once wrote isn't it odd that we spend most of our adult lives somewhere between asleep and awake?
These are some of those fundamental questions. Why aren't we fully awake yet? Why do we see "through a glass darkly"? and are unable to view reality face to face? Is the glass dark, or is it our own darkness that obscures the view? Is the glass a window, or a mirror, a telescope, a microscope, or all of those? Is the truth in the image on the glass or in the one behind it?
I used to take a train from Westchester into New York City. That route is a particularly busy one for trains going in many directions. Out the window I would see other tracks as they slid in under the train or fanned out from beneath it, and feel the rumble and bump as those tracks moved under the train. Eventually the ride would smooth out as we made it on to the main track and shortly after that into the tunnel which took us to Grand Central Station.
It is necessary and important for humans to make a lot of changes on their journeys. There are changes in schools, jobs and careers, in dwellings and neighborhoods, family and friends and changes in experiences, beliefs, opinions and understanding. At a certain point some people click on to the final track and know that the destination is enlightenment and spirituality. But is spiritual evolution simply a matter of waking up? Are all the choices, changes, bumps and rumbles along the journey happening in our sleep? "We are such stuff as dreams are made on" said Shakespeare.
"Know thyself" is another one of those vital touchstones of life. I have a lot of questions and some of them are fundamental and have cosmic importance to my life and to the world. But I won't have many answers until after I wake up. "Now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." When I truly understand myself I can wake up, become enlightened, cease looking for myself through a glass, know myself as a spiritual being and find my place on the journey.
(I Cor. 13)
DB - The Vagabond
********************
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
What was the most significant event that happened in 2010?
dbdacoba@aol.com
Only 5 responses so far
I await your answer.
DB
******************************
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