Think Of That

True thinking is work. It involves being comfortable with not knowing.

Diane Cameron
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Hello Arlene, ,
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I was talking with a friend the other day and during the conversation I recalled an experience that occurred when I turned 50. I was surprised at how little I knew. I thought, here I've lived half a century, an active life, where is all this wisdom I'm supposed to have? It was then that I began to realize I didn't know any where near as much as I thought I did.

But to gain any sort of wisdom requires thought. It does not want opinion, guessing, throwing dice or consulting the advice column of the newspaper. It requires imagination, probing, investigating, challenging and, very importantly, as Diane Cameron says, being comfortable with the fact that there are many things, too many things, you don't know.

I wanted to understand the books and articles I was reading and not just skim over them. I wanted to join in on discussions people were having around me about subjects that were foreign to me. I was caught up in a trap of not really knowing the things I thought I knew.

I began by going back over some of the books I had read and really digging into them. Then I started buying books on all sorts of subjects, subjects I didn't' really think I was interested in. only to discover I did enjoy learning about them. Books on science, philosophy, history, religion and psychology really challenged my mind and forced me to think.

After a while I found that I was coming up with my own ideas which seemed to intrigue people when I expressed them. As I approached my 70"s I began to write. I suppose at last I have some small measure of wisdom. I'm still baffled by a great many things but I'm comfortable with that since there is always something to learn and to think about.

DB - The Vagabond
Never Give Up
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HYMN FOR THE OCCUPIERS

A glorious day is dawning,
And o'er the waking earth
The heralds of the morning
Are springing into birth.
In dark and hidden places
There shines the blessed light;
The beam of truth displaces
The darkness of the night.

The advocates of error
Foresee the glorious morn
And hear in shrinking terror
The watchword of reform:
It rings from hill and valley,
It breaks oppression's chain.
A thousand freemen rally,
And swell the mighty strain.
(Unknown)

NEVER GIVE UP
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AUTUMN QUESTION

What event over the past year changed your life, a lot or a little?

Only 5 answers so far.

dbdacoba@aol.com

I eagerly await your answers.
DB
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Standing Firm

Peace hath higher tests of manhood than battle ever knew.

John Whittier
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Hello Ally
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Back in mid October I predicted the curfews and the tear gas, the arrests of the occupiers, the cracking down on the protesters by the police and local governments. Where there is brutality it means the authorities are scared. Now I am loath to say this but I wonder when the first occupier will be killed and where it will happen.

ODE TO THE OCCUPIERS

A glorious day is dawning,
And o'er the waking earth
The heralds of the morning
Are springing into birth.
In dark and hidden places
There shines the blessed light;
The beam of truth displaces
The darkness of the night.

The advocates of error
Foresee the glorious morn
And hear in shrinking terror
The watchword of reform:
It rings from hill and valley,
It breaks oppression's chain.
A thousand freemen rally,
And swell the mighty strain.
(Unknown)

NEVER GIVE UP

DB - Vagabond Journeys
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The Stream

All things flow, nothing remains the same.

Heraclius
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Hello Ernie
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In ancient times one of the questions that occupied philosophers was about the stream. If you put your foot into a stream and then remove it. Is it the same stream or a different stream when you put your foot back into it? The shape of the stream, its banks and its bottom may be the same but the water is different because it flows. It was finally concluded that it is a different stream.

Every day someone's clock says high noon. But is it the same high noon as it was yesterday? Of course not. It's a new day, a different day.

I think it was John Cage who said that he didn't understand why people were frightened of new ideas, that he was frightened of the old ones.

There are those who expect and anticipate change. (I hope I am always one of those.) We know that things are going to change, that they are in fact changing all the time and that it's constant change that keeps life vigorous and interesting. There are those who know that things change and try to adapt to it even though they may not like the fact. There are those who resent and attempt to ignore the changes going on around them. There are those who adamantly try to prevent any change from happening. But worst of all are those who flagrantly refuse to accept the fact that things have changed. All things flow. The world must progress. If you try to stop it from progressing it will put a ring in your nose, attach a rope and yank you into the future.

There must be some government officials and large corporation officers who are bewildered and astonished at what is going on world wide with the Occupiers. I heard one American politician ask "What do they want?" The fact is if he doesn't know what they want then he has no right to be in a position to ask the question. Bill Moyers said "Sometimes standing up for your country means standing up to your government." John F. Kennedy said "ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." And that is precisely what Occupy Wall Street is all about.

It took over 100,000 people of all races to convince the muddy minded American Congress to write and pass Equal Rights legislation. How many millions will it take to convince the power holders of the world that the human race means business, that the sordid circumstances of our oppression are no longer acceptable, that new levels must be reached in the ever flowing affairs of the common man and that the world, as we have known it, is changing.

The Occupiers will be killed, beaten, tasered, tear gassed, arrested, tortured, infiltrated, lied to, lied about, scorned and humiliated. But they will keep coming back because "All things flow, nothing remains the same."

DB, Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
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AUTUMN QUESTION

What event over the past year changed your life, a lot or a little?

Only 4 answers so far.

dbdacoba@aol.com

I await your answers.
DB
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