The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself in spite of being unacceptable.
Paul Tillich
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Hello Barbados
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I can't think of anyone who frustrates and annoys me more than myself. My life is a living example of Murphy's Law. I need to wear a sign that says "DOLT" when I go out in public so everyone will be forewarned.
I did my income tax today and as usual I got it all finished and in the stamped envelop when I discovered something I forgot and had to redo the whole thing. I used to have it done by the end of February, but these days I have too much to do. I need a personal accountant, lawyer, butler, maid. cook, chauffeur, masseuse, a clinic full of the proper doctors and nurses, a closet full of new clothes, a couple of cats to frolic in the back yard, a dog to walk me every day and a big house to keep them all. In short, I need to be a billionaire so that I would have the people around me to take care of and clean up after the doltish things I do.
Instead I have a few twittery birds on the balcony, eating up all my bird seeds and no one else around (thank goodness) to witness the perilous circumstances I have made and keep making for myself.
I question why I put up with me. No one else would. I think it has something to do with worth, value or permission. I feel i have never achieved and probably never will the one thing that certifies me, that pays the price of having been born, that compensates the world for allowing me to be a citizen of it.
Wouldn't it be something if everything was harmonious? To see the sleek appearance of rightness and fitness everywhere, to realize an unbreakable alliance of beauty and logic, to have one's honest hopes meld into graceful realities, and never have to face problems whose solutions are elusive or questions that have no answers, is to live the acceptable life. Everything is less than, including me.
No I'm not putting myself down. I'm accepting myself as being unacceptable. It gives me something to strive for, and that's probably why I have too much to do. I would have a lot more time to do things it I didn't persist in making doltish mistakes. The only thing I can say for myself is that it's a damn good thing I have a sense of humor.
DB - Vagabond
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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
4 answers so far
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
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This Week's Contest
This is one I put up a few years ago and people seemed to enjoy it, so here it goes again.
You are now ordered to take a famous remark, a cliche or otherwise and restate it in the most verbose manner possible. Example:
Night is an inappropriate time for the manufacture of animal feed.
(Make hay while the sun shines.)
Get it? Ken Riches won this contest the last time, so you're up against some heavy competition.
5 entries so far.
dbdacoba@aol.com
Good luck. Enter as often as you wish. The decision of the ornery, biased, curmudgeon is final.
DB
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Showing posts with label Paul Tillich. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paul Tillich. Show all posts
Monday, April 11, 2011
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Push The Limits
,Anyone who is pushed to do the very best that they can is privileged. It's a luxury.
Twyla Tharp
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In my career I came across three types of directors, the good, the bad and the absent. The bad directors are those who tell you that what you're doing isn't good enough. Those are the ones who make you feel unworthy and try to get you to be better in spite of them. They direct by insult and humiliation. The good directors are those who recognize that you are capable of more and will ask for more because they can see your ability and value. The absent directors are those who sit in on rehearsal but don't seem to care what you do.
Now I know these types are in all walks and stumbles of life. Learning to deal with them is how we grow. I learned to find my own worth even in the face of someone who was trying to convince me I was unworthy. Once I learned how to do that I could really focus on my work and easily leave the bad director in the dust. Paul Tillich wrote "The courage to be is the courage to accept ourselves in spite of being unacceptable."
To be pushed to do the very best is not to be beaten by a stick or tempted by a carrot. It is to discover what is truly of value and importance in what one is doing and to respond to affirmative directions wherever they come from.
To be sure it is difficult at times to ignore the screaming negatives, particularly when they are so insistent, But to ignore them is part of the discipline of achieving the very best and of accepting the best.
Stanislavski, the famous Russian actor, director and teacher, wrote that the actor no less than the soldier must be subject to iron discipline. I wrote the phrase "iron discipline" on a piece of paper and taped it up in front of me wherever I was working. It was the proper goad, the proper guide, to making my work better. When I woke up in the morning it was there to remind me that it was going to be another day of doing my best.
After the show closed was a good time to be lazy, sloppy and undisciplined. But while the show was running I had the luxury of trying to do my best every day.
A constant consciousness that you are better than you have been assessed to be by the negative thinkers, mixed with a sturdy faith in the discipline of your own labors, and a liberal dash of humor, is a good recipe for enjoying your life and yourself.
DB - The Vagabond
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SUMMER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Who are the 2 (two) most important people alive today? Why?
5 responses so far.
dbdacoba@aol.com
Thank you.
DB
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Twyla Tharp
****************
In my career I came across three types of directors, the good, the bad and the absent. The bad directors are those who tell you that what you're doing isn't good enough. Those are the ones who make you feel unworthy and try to get you to be better in spite of them. They direct by insult and humiliation. The good directors are those who recognize that you are capable of more and will ask for more because they can see your ability and value. The absent directors are those who sit in on rehearsal but don't seem to care what you do.
Now I know these types are in all walks and stumbles of life. Learning to deal with them is how we grow. I learned to find my own worth even in the face of someone who was trying to convince me I was unworthy. Once I learned how to do that I could really focus on my work and easily leave the bad director in the dust. Paul Tillich wrote "The courage to be is the courage to accept ourselves in spite of being unacceptable."
To be pushed to do the very best is not to be beaten by a stick or tempted by a carrot. It is to discover what is truly of value and importance in what one is doing and to respond to affirmative directions wherever they come from.
To be sure it is difficult at times to ignore the screaming negatives, particularly when they are so insistent, But to ignore them is part of the discipline of achieving the very best and of accepting the best.
Stanislavski, the famous Russian actor, director and teacher, wrote that the actor no less than the soldier must be subject to iron discipline. I wrote the phrase "iron discipline" on a piece of paper and taped it up in front of me wherever I was working. It was the proper goad, the proper guide, to making my work better. When I woke up in the morning it was there to remind me that it was going to be another day of doing my best.
After the show closed was a good time to be lazy, sloppy and undisciplined. But while the show was running I had the luxury of trying to do my best every day.
A constant consciousness that you are better than you have been assessed to be by the negative thinkers, mixed with a sturdy faith in the discipline of your own labors, and a liberal dash of humor, is a good recipe for enjoying your life and yourself.
DB - The Vagabond
*******************
SUMMER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Who are the 2 (two) most important people alive today? Why?
5 responses so far.
dbdacoba@aol.com
Thank you.
DB
********************
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