Sunday/Apiarians

"Were I to be the founder of a new sect,

I would call them Apiarians, and, after the example of the bee,

advise them to extract the honey of every sect."  

- Thomas Jefferson

Art should be like a holiday:

something to give a man the opportunity to see things differently

and to change his point of view. -

Paul Klee, painter (18 Dec 1879-1940)

“You are one thing only.

You are a Divine Being. An all-powerful Creator.

You are a Deity in jeans and a t-shirt,

and within you dwells

the infinite wisdom of the ages

and the sacred creative force of

All that is,

will be and ever was.”

~Anthon St. Maarten

 “I think I could turn and live with animals,

they are so placid and self-contain’d,

I stand and look at them long and long.

They do not sweat and whine about their condition,

They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,

They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,

Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented

with the mania of owning things,

Not one kneels to another,

nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,

Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.”

~Walt Whitman

HOW IT SEEMS TO ME

Ursula K. Le Guin

In the vast abyss before time, self

is not, and soul commingles

with mist, and rock, and light. In time,

soul brings the misty self to be.

Then slow time hardens self to stone

while ever lightening the soul,

till soul can loose its hold of self

and both are free and can return

to vastness and dissolve in light,

the long light after time.

Apiarians

"Were I to be the founder of a new sect,

I would call them Apiarians, and, after the example of the bee,

advise them to extract the honey of every sect."  

- Thomas Jefferson

"I could do nothing without my problems; they toughen my mind.

In fact, I tell my assistants not to bring me their successes

for they weaken me, but rather to bring me their problems,

for they strengthen me."

~Charles Kettering (1876-1958)

"If you look at Earth from space you see a dot, that's here.

That's home. That's us. It underscores the responsibility

to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another

and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot,

the only home we've ever known."

~Carl Sagan (1934-1996)

Your voice dries up if you don't use it.

-Patti Page,

Culture is the widening of the mind and of the spirit.

It is never a narrowing of the mind or a restriction of

the human spirit or the country's spirit.

-Jawaharlal Nehru

If your morals make you dreary, depend upon it they are wrong.

-Robert Louis Stevenson

Patience is also a form of action.

-Auguste Rodin

"Reason is always slave to the passions"

-David Hume

"My formula for living is quite simple.

I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night.

In between, I occupy myself as best I can."

~Cary Grant (1904-1986)

The truth isn't always beauty, but the hunger for it is.

-Nadine Gordimer, novelist, Nobel laureate

"In the Western tradition, we have focused on teaching as a skill

and forgotten what Socrates knew:

teaching is a gift, learning is a skill."

~Peter Drucker (1909-2005)

Apiarians

"Were I to be the founder of a new sect,

I would call them Apiarians, and, after the example of the bee,

advise them to extract the honey of every sect."  

- Thomas Jefferson

When Alexander the Great visited Diogenes and asked whether he could do anything for the famed teacher, Diogenes replied: "Only stand out of my light." Perhaps some day we shall know how to heighten creativity. Until then, one of the best things we can do for creative men and women is to stand out of their light.

-John W. Gardner, author and educator

"The spiritual mind is always metaphorical.

Spiritual thinking is poetic thinking.

It's always trying to put a very diaphanous experience into words,
realizing all the while that words are inadequate."

~Sam Keen (b.1931)

"Those who build walls are their own prisoners.

I'm going to go fulfill my proper function in the social organism.

I'm going to unbuild walls."

~Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018)

"I think of the need for more wisdom in the world,

to deal with the knowledge that we have.

At one time we had wisdom, but little knowledge.

Now we have a great deal of knowledge,

but do we have enough wisdom

to deal with that knowledge?"

~Jonas Salk (1914-1995)

"My experience of emptiness is that it is alive

with the possibility of everything waiting to be born."

~Mary Martin (1913-1990)

“You've gotta

Dance

like there's nobody watching,

Love

like you'll never be hurt,

Sing

like there's nobody listening,

and

Live

like it's heaven on earth.”

~William W. Purkey

Apiarians

"Were I to be the founder of a new sect,

I would call them Apiarians, and, after the example of the bee,

advise them to extract the honey of every sect."  

- Thomas Jefferson

"A garment that is double dyed, dipped again and again,

will retain the color a great while;

so a truth which is the subject of meditation."

~Matthew Henry

When we were children, we used to think that

when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable.  

But to grow up is to accept vulnerability. .

. . To be alive is to be vulnerable.

~Madeleine L'Engle

Better is an handful with quietness, than both the

hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.

 Ecclesiastes 4:6

The past is to be respected and acknowledged,

but not to be worshipped.

It is our future in which we will find our greatness.

-Pierre Trudeau, 15th Prime Minister of Canada

"Louis Armstrong said you have to live a life.

And that's right. If you don't live a life,

you don't got nothin' to come out your horn."

~Sally Field (b. 1946)

In the mountains of truth you will never climb in vain:

either you will get up higher today

or you will exercise your strength

so as to be able to get up higher tomorrow.

-Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

"The notion of a Christian commonwealth should be exploded forever..

.Government should protect every man in thinking

and speaking freely, and see that one does not abuse another.

The liberty I contend for is more than toleration.

The very idea of toleration is despicable;

it supposes that some have a pre-eminence above the rest

to grant indulgence, whereas all should be equally free,

Jews, Turks, Pagans and Christians."

John Leland   (May 14, 1754 – January 14, 1841)

Apiarians

"Were I to be the founder of a new sect,

I would call them Apiarians, and, after the example of the bee,

advise them to extract the honey of every sect."  

- Thomas Jefferson

If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.

-Samuel Adams, revolutionary (27 Sep 1722-1803)

"The Greeks understood the mysterious power of the below things.
They are the ones who gave us one of the most beautiful words
in our language, the word enthusiasm....
The grandeur of human actions is measured by the inspiration
from which they spring. "

~Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)

“To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it’s about,

but the inner music that words make.”

-Truman Capote

Seven blunders of the world that lead to violence: wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, politics without principle.

-Mahatma Gandhi (2 Oct 1869-1948)

"Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope.

And wind the clock, for tomorrow is another day."

~E. B. White (1899-1985)

"When your time comes to die,

be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death,

so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time

to live their lives over again in a different way.

Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home."

~Chief Tecumseh (died 1813)

"I long, as does every human being,

to be at home wherever I find myself."

~Maya Angelou (1928-2014)

"By replacing fear of the unknown with curiosity

we open ourselves up to an infinite stream of possibility.

We can let fear rule our lives or

we can become childlike with curiosity,

pushing our boundaries, leaping out of our comfort zones,

and accepting what life puts before us."

~Alan Watts

October 4th is the traditional day for honoring St. Francis of Assisi who said, "If you have people who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have people who will deal likewise with their fellow humans."