The well of providence is deep, it's the buckets we bring to it that are small.
Mary Webb
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Hello Rose
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Someone once remarked that every time human beings discover something pleasurable and enjoyable to do some government will pass laws to regulate and limit it. Why should there be any limits to life?
Why should there be any limits to good? Where did we get the idea of "going too far"? It is those who go too far that stretch the limits. The sour notes sung by the negativists are simple challenges to the spirit of the adventurers, the ones who do what can't be done or "shouldn't be done."
Just over 100 years ago the automobile became the mode of travel for those who could afford one. It was said by great authority that it was impossible for the human being to travel faster than 8 miles an hour and survive. "Holy cow, look at us now." Some of us travel through space faster than the speed of sound. "Yeah, but you can't travel faster than the speed of light and survive." Well, we'll se. Won't we?
Why should there be any limits to wealth? Those unfortunate millionaires who hoard money think there are. "If I don't have more than enough I don't have enough."
Why should there be limits to happiness? There are no limits to technology and engineering. Do we measure our happiness by the number of gadgets and machines we own? If so we are limiting our happiness. There will always be another, better gadget. I read about a robot that has another robot attached to it that makes repairs on the first robot. How far can they carry an idea like that? As far as they want to. There are no limits.
"Well, you have to draw the line somewhere." Oh? It's the drawing of unnecessary lines that keeps our buckets small.
Why should there be any limits to evil? There should be no evil and therefore no limits. The only measurement of evil is how long it takes to destroy itself.
'Whoa! Slow down. Back up." No. Look forward and go that way. Enjoy the life you have, even with its limitations, and find ways to make it better.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
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Look here. I have 10 Guest Author entries since I started offering this invitation. Now I want yours. If you haven't posted one here yet, please do so, or Santa won't come down your chimney. (I know he won't anyway, but that's beside the point.)
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 end of the year holidays are upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I know that 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 celebrations 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, New Years Eve. 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 10 Guest Authors so far. Check them out. Can I hear from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America? All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB
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Showing posts with label limits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label limits. Show all posts
Friday, December 23, 2011
Friday, July 16, 2010
Turn Back O Man
Experience which destroys innocence also leads us back to it.
James Baldwin
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Sometimes I perceive living as one huge elliptical orbit around wisdom and self-knowledge. One year we find ourselves doing something or thinking something we would never dream of in another year. Just when we think we know ourselves circumstances turn things around and we find responses we didn't know we had. What is it that takes us on these strange journeys, how do we know when we've reached the limits and what is it that turns us back? Those are questions to ponder.
It may be that life becomes too repetitive. We get bored or depressed with the "same old-same old" no matter how good it is and we start looking for something to spice things up a little bit. Maybe we take up a hobby or some extra activity that gives us pleasure and makes the "daily grind" less draining. Let's say you take up golf. That's a good choice. There's some exercise, It's a target sport which gives you the sense of challenge and accomplishment. Soon your friends are saying they never thought of you as a golfer and you have to admit you never thought of yourself as one. But there you are playing golf every weekend weather permitting. But maybe the weather doesn't permit and you had to miss your Sunday game. But if you leave early from work on Friday you can make up for it. And the following Friday you do the same thing just in case it rains on Saturday, which it doesn't. Soon you're leaving work early on other days and playing all weekend.
How do we know when we've reached our limits? You can go on making excuses to yourself and your colleagues for a while. But one Monday morning you come to work with your clubs ready to leave early because it's a beautiful day, and no one is talking to you. How come? It seems that you forgot and left a job undone and the fellow down the hall who wanted to get home to take care of his wife who wasn't feeling well had to stay late to straighten out the mess you left. That is what might happen if you're lucky. If you aren't you might come in and find someone else at your desk.
What is it that turns us back? It's a wake up call. What drew you to this job in the first place? And isn't it the job that paid for the golf clubs and your membership in the local clubhouse? What will you do if you lose the job? You won't be playing golf if you have to spend all your time looking for another job. It's time to stop focusing on the hole and start looking at the doughnut.
So you straighten things out with the boss and your fellow workers and settle down to being a good conscientious worker. Everything is fine, your life is good again. Then one afternoon on a sunny Saturday a buddy takes you fishing. And there you go again.
Is golf a sin? Of course not. Is fishing a sin? No, but anything carried to such an extreme that it interferes with the harmony of your life is certainly something that punishes itself and that is what a sin is.
What if instead of golf it becomes a behavior, like bullying, criticizing, belittling, carping, resenting, hating or some other disgusting action? What will it take for you to wake up to yourself?
Or what if it's gambling, alcohol or drugs, the really habitual self destructions? How far away from the center of your life, the harmony of your life, are you going to get before you turn back, o man. Some people never do. Whether they're gold addicts or drug addicts they just fly off into outer space and burn themselves up.
But it's those moments of realization and fear that you are about to go too far that, if heeded, can turn you around and head you back to regain your innocence. And it's a great feeling when it happens.
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
********************
James Baldwin
******************
Sometimes I perceive living as one huge elliptical orbit around wisdom and self-knowledge. One year we find ourselves doing something or thinking something we would never dream of in another year. Just when we think we know ourselves circumstances turn things around and we find responses we didn't know we had. What is it that takes us on these strange journeys, how do we know when we've reached the limits and what is it that turns us back? Those are questions to ponder.
It may be that life becomes too repetitive. We get bored or depressed with the "same old-same old" no matter how good it is and we start looking for something to spice things up a little bit. Maybe we take up a hobby or some extra activity that gives us pleasure and makes the "daily grind" less draining. Let's say you take up golf. That's a good choice. There's some exercise, It's a target sport which gives you the sense of challenge and accomplishment. Soon your friends are saying they never thought of you as a golfer and you have to admit you never thought of yourself as one. But there you are playing golf every weekend weather permitting. But maybe the weather doesn't permit and you had to miss your Sunday game. But if you leave early from work on Friday you can make up for it. And the following Friday you do the same thing just in case it rains on Saturday, which it doesn't. Soon you're leaving work early on other days and playing all weekend.
How do we know when we've reached our limits? You can go on making excuses to yourself and your colleagues for a while. But one Monday morning you come to work with your clubs ready to leave early because it's a beautiful day, and no one is talking to you. How come? It seems that you forgot and left a job undone and the fellow down the hall who wanted to get home to take care of his wife who wasn't feeling well had to stay late to straighten out the mess you left. That is what might happen if you're lucky. If you aren't you might come in and find someone else at your desk.
What is it that turns us back? It's a wake up call. What drew you to this job in the first place? And isn't it the job that paid for the golf clubs and your membership in the local clubhouse? What will you do if you lose the job? You won't be playing golf if you have to spend all your time looking for another job. It's time to stop focusing on the hole and start looking at the doughnut.
So you straighten things out with the boss and your fellow workers and settle down to being a good conscientious worker. Everything is fine, your life is good again. Then one afternoon on a sunny Saturday a buddy takes you fishing. And there you go again.
Is golf a sin? Of course not. Is fishing a sin? No, but anything carried to such an extreme that it interferes with the harmony of your life is certainly something that punishes itself and that is what a sin is.
What if instead of golf it becomes a behavior, like bullying, criticizing, belittling, carping, resenting, hating or some other disgusting action? What will it take for you to wake up to yourself?
Or what if it's gambling, alcohol or drugs, the really habitual self destructions? How far away from the center of your life, the harmony of your life, are you going to get before you turn back, o man. Some people never do. Whether they're gold addicts or drug addicts they just fly off into outer space and burn themselves up.
But it's those moments of realization and fear that you are about to go too far that, if heeded, can turn you around and head you back to regain your innocence. And it's a great feeling when it happens.
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
********************
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Right Regimen 10/01/09
Artistry is possible only for those who acknowledge necessity as a condition of, rather than a limit upon, their freedom to act.
Aaron Ridley
************
A good October day to you.
________________________
Many people start talking before they know what they are going to say. I often begin writing this journal before I'm sure what is going to eventually be in it. Painters will begin a painting with a firm idea in mind and the result, when it's finished, may not be what they started out to do.
There is usually always a germinating idea somewhere, but it may lead the speaker or the artist in an unexpected direction. Furthermore, some ideas that seem like very good ones end up providing a mediocre result and thus land on the trash heap, while some other ideas that seem flimsy and of no substance may produce a masterpiece.
I have heard two seemingly conflicting remarks made by actors in the past. One of them is "I don't want any limitations placed on me." And the other is "I've learned what my limitations are." As with the speaker, the writer, the painter, the actor there are inherent limitations in whatever work one does. And as for personal limitations, those are the things that should be exceeded.
In the artists eternal search for beauty and truth, when working on something one learns in which direction one can go and in which one can not go in order to maintain the integrity of expression and meaning. It is alright not to know specifically what result one is going to achieve by working things out. Even the smallest details can alter the work in a positive and more communicative manner if attention is paid to them. There are times when an actor will say that in one performance the role played itself. Writers sometimes have the same feeling about their writings.
Trouble comes when an artist tries to impose the inappropriate on the work or deny it its necessities. A work of art is a living, growing thing and needs it's proper nourishment. The artist is the steward, keeper, parent, providing the care and labor that allows nature to take its course.
DB - The Vagabond
______________________
May you see a joyful thing today.
*****************************
Aaron Ridley
************
A good October day to you.
________________________
Many people start talking before they know what they are going to say. I often begin writing this journal before I'm sure what is going to eventually be in it. Painters will begin a painting with a firm idea in mind and the result, when it's finished, may not be what they started out to do.
There is usually always a germinating idea somewhere, but it may lead the speaker or the artist in an unexpected direction. Furthermore, some ideas that seem like very good ones end up providing a mediocre result and thus land on the trash heap, while some other ideas that seem flimsy and of no substance may produce a masterpiece.
I have heard two seemingly conflicting remarks made by actors in the past. One of them is "I don't want any limitations placed on me." And the other is "I've learned what my limitations are." As with the speaker, the writer, the painter, the actor there are inherent limitations in whatever work one does. And as for personal limitations, those are the things that should be exceeded.
In the artists eternal search for beauty and truth, when working on something one learns in which direction one can go and in which one can not go in order to maintain the integrity of expression and meaning. It is alright not to know specifically what result one is going to achieve by working things out. Even the smallest details can alter the work in a positive and more communicative manner if attention is paid to them. There are times when an actor will say that in one performance the role played itself. Writers sometimes have the same feeling about their writings.
Trouble comes when an artist tries to impose the inappropriate on the work or deny it its necessities. A work of art is a living, growing thing and needs it's proper nourishment. The artist is the steward, keeper, parent, providing the care and labor that allows nature to take its course.
DB - The Vagabond
______________________
May you see a joyful thing today.
*****************************
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