The object of life

The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority,
but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane

            Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

 

 

 

 

 

True healing

True healing, of deep connective tissue, takes place in community.
        Where is God when it hurts? Where God's people are.

                        Philip Yancey, What Good Is God?

 

 

 

 

 

Poem: Marks

My husband gives me an A
for lasts nights’s supper
an incomplete for my ironing,
a B plus in bed.
My son says I am average,
an average mother, but if
I put my mind to it
I could improve.
My daughter believes
in Pass/Fail and tells me
I pass. Wait ‘till they learn

I’m dropping out.

                    Linda Pastan 

Window cleaning

Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in. If you challenge your own, you won’t be so quick to accept the unchallenged assumptions of others. You’ll be a lot less likely to be caught up in bias or prejudice or be influenced by people who ask you to hand over your brains, your soul, or your money because they have everything all figured out for you.

            Alan Alda, Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself

 

 

 

 

Action!?

As a confirmed melancholic, I can testify that the best and maybe only antidote for melancholia is action. However, like most melancholics, I suffer also from sloth.

        Edward Abbey, A Voice Crying in the Wilderness

 

 

 

 

 

Birthday of the World: A Psalm for Rosh Hashanah

Today is the birthday of the world.
But the world knows nothing
of this invention.

The world just keeps moving about itself,
buzzing and humming, exulting and keening,
birthing and being born,

while the mind keeps on its own way—
form-craving, metaphor-making,
over and over, giving birth and being born.

                Marcia Falk 

Sunshine

The sun will shine on those who stand
before it shines on those who kneel under them.

        Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart