Category Archives: Inspiration

Styles

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, Education, impediments, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Striving

February 10, 2021-

Each of us has styles,in one or more areas of life, that are unique to us as individuals.

I spent some time, during the course of this truncated school day, quietly watching my young charge investigate his world, his way. He is a tactile learner, and so was occupied for a short while in distinguishing the difference in texture, pattern and hardness of various wood and metal surfaces. He tries out different intonations, to see how they feel in his throat and mouth. Although his language is limited, he knows that he can experiment, within bounds, and is in a place where people care.

I pondered some of my own styles- I also sometimes engage in tactile learning, but more often will act after observing my environment and considering what is best for those around me.

After finishing my dinner, at a local bakery-restaurant, I throw away my napkins and drink cup. The dishes remain on the table, so that the busser may know to sanitize it. I don’t, however, want to have the staff deal directly with anything that has touched my mouth and hands. It’s a residue of all the years of wanting to spare my young charges from unnecessary bother, while respecting their doing what is needed, in order to be successful.

In organizing my day, allowing extra time for showering, grooming and easing into my day-with the newspaper and a cup of coffee, breakfast and devotions- before setting out on the day’s events, whether work, community life or a day spent in nature, creates the air of assurance and calm that allows for dealing with even the most unanticipated of events.

Styles of learning, public communication and activity may be hard to synchronize, but there is nothing that says we cannot make the effort-which starts with observing the way others do things, and thinking of the ways in which they are similar to our own methods.

I am getting better at all of this, and of tying one day’s activities into an even flow with the next day.

Substance

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Posted by on in collaborating, Inspiration, Personal Values, Spiritual, Striving

February 9, 2021-

Anything at all that we try to do

must in the end,

be of substance.

Dreams that consist of jumbled thoughts,

need to congeal,

to be revised into a cohesive set of ideas,

not necessarily linear,

in fact, better they are not linear at all.

It’s better they are spiral.

Sensible, but upwardly moving,

and in synchronicity

with our inner talents and faculties.

Like a jungle full of biomedicinal plants,

which are then cultivated,

in a natural way,

turning the rainforest into

a pharmacopea,

while not displacing

the people and animals

who call it home;

so can a jumbled mind

become a springboard

for the finest of ideas and concepts.

Anime Lessons

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Education, Entertainment, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

February 8, 2021-

My special assignment, of last week and the present one, has given me continued observance of what matters to high schoolers, especially in the area of graphic arts. Several of the students are talented sketch artists and cartoonists. One of the springboards for developing this talent is the popularity of the Japanese graphic medium called anime (AN-ih-may).

Anime is also valuable for the considered life lessons it offers, with myriad examples of both positive and negative life choices, presented in a manner that is attractive to teenagers. There is an atmosphere of group decision-making, with interludes of individual soul searching.

In the four episodes presented during the course of today’s classes, a young boy wrestles with his guilt and desire to make amends, for a series of events that he regards as his own fault, whilst his friends and sister refuse to let him face matters alone. An older man shows that patience and perseverence, in his time of imprisonment, result in his maintaining a robust physique, while his jailers ignore him as a worthless, spent being. An egotistical village leader learns that mocking his suffering village’s benefactors does him no good, in overcoming an invading force of militaristic industrialists. Only cooperation with the group of helpers rids the community of the bombastic invaders, and humbles the elder. Humility is also the theme of a vain sword master’s comeuppance, at the hands of a his seemingly inept pupil.

These character issues were well-conveyed by the lead teacher, and duly noted by the students. Anime is not a replacement for academic rigor, but it certainly does set young people to pondering about what matters.

Crawling,or Walking, Out of The Tunnel?

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

February 5, 2021-

I was gratified to see an extended family member write that she was moving on, from a climate of fear and distrust, to affirming her faith in God and country. To be trapped of one’s own accord, in a tunnel of false hopes and unfulfilled promises, is bound to lead to the depth of despair.

I’ve remarked in the past, that there is much to admire in both conservatism and progressivism. Placing value on hard work, a measure of self-reliance and pride in one’s legitimate heritage can see a person through a good many of life’s misfortunes. At the same time, embracing new ways of solving problems, being open to a wide variety of points of view and being inclusive of all groups of people can ensure that a person is never truly alone-even in the direst of times. What matters, regardless of one’s personal ideology, is a deep-seated respect for ALL life. Compassion must ever rule over transaction.

So it has been that I have opted for walking out of various tunnels of darkness and deception. Many have offered quick fixes to problems, false hopes for resolution of matters, in which my personal growth actually mandated seeing them through. It was cold and lonely in those tunnels-and the demons that did keep me company were worse than no company at all.

In the gathering light of day, and in the shimmering starlight, walking upright and looking straight ahead have rekindled strengths that I had nearly forgotten, whilst crawling about the tunnel of delusion. Those who maintain clear vision, and retain a healthy sense of their own truth, will be sources of untold strength-to selves and others.

Look Past The Boulders

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Personal Values, Poetry, Social, Spiritual, Striving

February 4, 2021-

Look past the boulders,

to the meadow which beckons,

with its crocus shoots.

Look beyond the barrier,

at the welcoming friends,

who’d love to see you

on the other side .

See the far horizon,

which accents your strength,

and turns your trials

into triumphs.

Be discerning,

but not dissuaded,

by the temporary

murmurs,

or shouts.

Phil Heard Sweet Music

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Posted by on in Community, Education, Historical, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

February 2, 2021- In my mind, as Punxsutawney Phil, the random ground hog who comes out of his (her) hole, each February 2, to be greeted by a troupe of older men dressed in tuxedos and top hats, made this year’s prognostication, the shadow was seen. I also thought of Black History, which transcends the month that has been “granted” for its study.

The story of African-Americans is, of course, far greater and more consequential, than a twenty-eight day period can possibly encapsule. No one ethnic or continental element of our population can be contained by a period of time.

I also wish to devote several posts, henceforth, and at least three days a week, to cultural aspects of a given community. As Punxsutawney is relatively close to Pittsburgh, which has a vibrant Black community, I share the story of the Iron City’s Afro- American Music Institute.

Getting Past Anecdotes

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Community, impediments, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Striving

February 1, 2021-

In explaining both conspiracy theory and compliance theory, there is a tendency to rely upon anecdotes, strung together, to form a pattern. Some of the anecdotes are true; others have tendrils of truth that are mixed with the worst of people’s fears. For example, it is true that a wealthy entrepreneur, who has controlling interest in a railroad, contributed to Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign, and very likely made his thoughts about the XL Pipeline ( a competitor to the railroad) very clear to his beneficiary. It is also true that, BEFORE the contribution was made, both Mr. Biden and Kamala Harris made their opposition to the Pipeline known, and that this was largely based on what was going on at Standing Rock Reservation, in North and South Dakota-as well as on the opposition of several farmers and ranchers in Nebraska’s Sand Hills region. The truth, in most controversial matters, is complicated.

The truth in other matters is less so. For example, there is no question that it is ALWAYS wrong to expect sexual favours from an underage child. The corrupt and emotionally immature, among us, offer excuses for such behaviour, though, and cry out for “understanding” towards abusers. In my humble opinion, it is a hollow cry-to the extent that it negates or minimizes the harm done to the child victim. Yes, there is a common thread of truth to the notion that molested children can become child molesters. This happens when the cult of secrecy has kept them from getting proper help and treatment-as soon after the assault as possible. As a fractured bone, that is not properly set, will heal in a contorted manner, so does a fractured psyche find its own wayward path- often mimicking the very behaviour which led to its trauma.

There is the twisted feature of being stuck in denial, at the news of something seemingly too horrific to process. Thus, there are still those who sincerely believe that no child has been killed by gunfire at a school, since Jonesboro and Columbine- over two decades ago. Their denial, which ought to have been processed, and from which they should have moved on, remains because it is being nurtured and validated, by persons whose interests lie at the very fringes of the public weal.

As someone said, earlier today, in another context. follow the money. Good research never relies totally, or much at all, on anecdotes.

One Spirit

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Posted by on in animal and plant life, Assistance, collaborating, Historical, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

January 30, 2021-

I have an independent mind, the expression of which has left several people around here, and elsewhere, who I fairly trusted, responding with “LOL”, or with sullen silence. The thing that I find funny is that several of them pride themselves on being people of faith. The belief that there is One God, Who created all life, is as central to their pronounced faith, as it is to mine.

So, it is incredulous to me that people can even distinguish between human beings, as to who deserves to live. It befuddles me, that there are at least two classes of people, and this distinction is a point of pride, a cornerstone of belief.

There is, by my reckoning, One Creator, One Spirit, One Universe, One Planet Earth and One Human Race. I have differences of opinion with many, AND that does not diminish their humanity-as far as I am concerned. For saying this, however, I have lost several friends, at least one extended family member and a few members of my own Faith, for not adhering to an orthodoxy that claims to be fighting for freedom-but is rooted in fear.

Let’s look at a few matters, more closely:

  1. Human Rights- I hear the First National Youth Poet Laureate say that the mind of a child is paramount. This same person also says that medical professionals should be allowed to put unborn children to death. What happens to the mind of a child who is not even allowed to be born? I hear some of the same people who espouse abortion, as a routine practice, voice opposition to the Death Penalty, even for the most heinous of murders.
  2. Nationalism- I see and hear people of various backgrounds, some with medical degrees and some with law degrees, saying that America should be a White, Christian nation-exclusively. What, exactly, is a White Nation? The continent of Europe, alone, is home to seventy different ethnicities. Jesus loved people of all the known nations of His time-and loves everyone, the world over, now. The first Christians, outside of a smattering of Jews in the Holy Land and a handful of Greeks, were Ethiopians, South Asians and Turkic people in Central Asia. The majority of Christians today are People of Colour.
  3. Wealth- Yesterday, a wealthy investor took to social media to furiously denounce those who have actively engaged in buying inexpensive stocks, offered by companies which produce goods and services in which they have a common interest. His basic point was that there was a move to destroy our economic system. That this participation will actually strengthen the nation’s economy, in the long run, is willfully ignored by those who favour keeping things as they historically have been. There is no club. There is no exclusive society that deserves preference over all other human beings. The very use of the prefix “non-“, with reference to people outside one’s own circle, is odious and needs to be discarded. The selectivity which is promoted by so many leaders of groups may be temporarily necessary, in terms of how each of us structures our time, our attention and our energy-but for it to be a permanent psychological, emotional and legal barrier to seeing the humanity in everyone and the sentience of all beings, is treacherous to those whose rights are debarred- and to one’s own humanity. The concept of any human being superior to the next, even by dint of the preponderance of one’s demonstrated character, is in the long run, an abomination. We are each here to grow, to learn and to become one. There is, in the entire Universe, one Creator and one Spirit animating all life. All distinction is a matter of mental construct. All prejudice and hatred are little more than byproducts of unfaced fear.

Never Doomed

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social

January 27, 2021-

It never fails that, after a day of struggle, there is a burst of communal energy and much is accomplished. So it was today, that my quad mates joined in the shoveling effort, and we got the driveway cleared in less than an hour. I will need to do a bit more, tomorrow, in order to get the car turned around, without backing clear down to the street, but that will be a small project.

It takes a lot of positive energy, and sometimes, extreme patience-but I have never felt the need to reduce myself to a puddle of doom and gloom. Life is never perfect, yet whether it is due to age or to a simple realization that what is meant to work out, will, I have found myself increasingly calm in the midst of whatever storms-literal and figurative- have come this way.

There has been a solution to all that I have encountered, over the past ten years, and whether it is an answer I have devised myself or an insight from those around me, is inconsequential. The problem is resolved, the learning has taken place and life continues much the better.

Old habits are sometimes set aside, in light of novel situations. So, instead of celebrating the passing of the storm and the return of beautiful weather-if only for a short time-by heading downtown to a restaurant, I walked two blocks to the meat market and got the fixings for a meatball and past meal, which worked just fine.

There is always a common sense solution.

So Many Questions

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Posted by on in Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Spiritual

January 26, 2021-

Being the curious sort, I tend to raise matters of “What if?” and “Why?” in my head, while also seeking answers from my heart. The queries I have, regarding this life and its priorities, are largely answered in Baha’i Scripture.

Where I get more querulous, though, is with regard to flashes of images, and feelings that arise, that suggest events that happened long ago and places I’ve never been, both elsewhere on Earth and way beyond this planet. The best explanation I can summon, that is in keeping with my beliefs, is that as an energy being, I am tapping into the energy waves of people long departed, both my ancestors and those of like mind who were not directly related to me, but who had similar personalities to mine. Energy communication, and genetic memory, are like Chinese boxes-writ innumerable. We have no concept of from how far back they have been transmitted-and Quantum Physics devises at least thirteen dimensions, many curled up on themselves, from which energy can conceivably be drawn.

For now, though, I wonder as to the messages that these images and feelings are trying to convey. I am not quite on board with the whole Past Lives theory, but can make sense of the notion that energy, from those who lived in past ages and centuries, and from other parts of the Universe, is transmitted to those of us who are open to it, on a regular basis-and without channeling or summoning, which can be too easily faked.