There Is Something More

I would put myself in the way of revelation.

Bate - The Vagabond
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Years ago I knew a lay preacher at a large Baptist church in Harlem. She wasn't clergy but she was a good woman, very devout and dedicated. She would often preach to the congregation of that church which she said had some members who had come through terrible times of poverty and drug addiction. Even though I was not a member of her church or even a church goer myself, and she knew it, she seemed to think I had positive advice to offer her and so she would discuss her sermons with me

One day she went through a list of Bible references and concluded that if you are a believing Christian then the answer to all of life's problems is faith. Well, that answer wasn't good enough for me, so I asked her if that was all there was to it. What else could there be? She went back into her references and said that she guessed love for God and man was part of it. "What else?" I asked. Then she came across things like honesty, compassion, obedience and so forth, and she finally said "You know what? You're right. There is always something more."

I had a conversation with a friend's 14 year old daughter who said her favorite thing to study in school was science. I asked her if she preferred lab science or field science and she said she wanted to do them both. It must be a very interesting and rewarding life to be a research scientist, not someone who mixes the same old formulas over and over again, but someone who is always in the process of discovery.

One of the great pleasures in my retirement is reading. I read all the time, books, magazines, newspapers. It's slow going because I have to use a magnifying glass, but I don't care. If I get my eyesight back I think I would read just as methodically as I do now because I don't want any ideas to pass me by. There are old forgotten ideas to rediscover, new discoveries, discoveries hidden in familiar material that I missed before, there are even discoveries within discoveries. Some discoveries are surprising and some are awesome.

My black lady preacher friend also said that even if we don't know they are there they remain to be revealed. One of the greet discoveries of all is that behind each new idea, even behind the process of discovery itself is something which has to be experienced to be understood. Even the most sublime idea is merely a sign post, a trail marker pointing us toward revelation, toward the awakened land of enlightenment. That I will find that road and stay on it is where my faith is.

Bate - The Vagabond
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WEEKEND CONTEST

You are to give me a song title or a lyric substitution for one of the words the word "pumpkin" as in "Somewhere over the pumpkin" of "My pumpkin 'tis of thee"

Enter as often as you want. The winner will be whoever can get the sour, angry, nihilistic judge to laugh so hard he pees in his knickers.,

Good luck
DB
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Get Busy

If every day is an awakening, you will never grow old. You will just keep growing.

Gail Sheehy
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Someone, I think it was Thoreau, said understanding yourself is like trying to look behind you without turning around. When I woke up yesterday morning at the first blink I saw daylight and a voice in my head said "Come on. It's daytime. Get up. Get busy." Then I said "Wait a minute. It's the weekend, it's very hot and I'm retired. I will get busy on my own terms, thank you."

But what was that morning voice in my head? It comes from years ago. It was the first thing my teacher and mentor said to me, my first lesson. It was a lesson in life as well as in acting. He siad "Can;t you find something to do?"

That remark set my life spinning and ever since I've been on a journey of discovery, of awakening. As an actor I leaned, as long as my character wasn't asleep or dead, to be fully focused and concentrated on some goal, some objective, some action, "something to do" that was appropriate to the play. I was known to be actively involved in considering the next step in the characters life as the lights faded down on the last scene.

I carried over that instruction of finding something to do in every area of life. I would get frustrated with myself if I watched aimless television or busied myself with crossword puzzles when there were other things of a more productive nature
demanding my attention.

I also learned another lesson as a result of my teacher's remark and that is about consciousness. The discovery is that we all have much more control over our own thinking than we imagine or exercise. It isn't just a matter of forming our own opinions and not being swayed by others. It is also a matter, and a much more important one, of deciding what we are going to think and disciplining ourselves to think that way.

As an actor I was responsible for the characters thoughts and when those thoughts were charged with emotion and energy they produced a decided effect on the drama. And why not accomplish the same thing in real life? Not by will power or coercion but by choosing what we are conscious of. and what we are allowing ourselves to be aware of. A genuine and vigorous expectation of good will awaken us to it and allow us to be prepared to take advantage of it when it comes.

On Monday afternoon I had a conversation with a very nice social worker who is trying to help me with some of my physical and financial problems. I had to describe to her all the things that are wrong and in the process I had to recount some of the desperate circumstances of my childhood. She said that in spite of all the problems I have and have had in my life I sound like a "happy man." I replied that I guess so, I have a sense of humor and I expect to laugh every day.

I also expect to discover, to learn something and to wake up every morning ready to find something to do.

DB - The Vagabond
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My story "The Savior" is continuing, up to part 10 now, on Vagabond Tales
http://db-vagabondtales.blogspot.com/

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WEEKEND PUZZLE

Here are some well known issues as if they were reported by the modern news media. What are they?

1. Last night while the occupants were asleep an intruder entered the house somehow and left behind some suspicious looking boxes. The FBI is investigating.

2. Instead of remaining by the river two youngsters stupidly thought they would try their luck further up. They both toppled off a cliff, which served them right. The boy is listed in serious condition. Doctors have not as yet reported on the girl.

3. Responding to complaints police found a man in the middle of town hiding under a tree and making a horrible noise banging pieces of metal together.

4. Police report that a mad man came speeding through the city in the middle of the night shouting at people to load their rifles.

5. Parents in this community are very distraught. An itinerant worker, in a dispute over wages, has been kidnapping their children. Amber alerts have gone out all around the area. None of the children have yet been located.

6. There was a standoff between the two gangs at the stream. Witnesses say it might have ended peacefully except that one guy fired off his rifle. A fight ensued.

Good luck.
Leave your answer on dbdacoba@aol.com in case others don't get to it until later.
DB