Wind
Philosophy and Art ….
Philosophy and Art both render the
invisible visible by imagination.
— George Henry Lewes
Truth
Religion is regarded …..
Television
Television is a medium because
anything well done is rare.
— Fred Allen
The Lights Are On (B&W)
The Lights Are On
Hell
It sure is hell to be president.
— Harry S. Truman
Viagra Distribution Center
The Zen proverb ….
The Zen proverb, ‘in summer we sweat; in winter we shiver,’ is meant to
illustrate the importance of not trying to escape or avoid our present situation.
— Rebecca Otowa
Nature
Let us permit nature to have her way.
She understands her business better than we do.
— Michel de Montaigne
The Zen philosophy …..
The Zen philosophy posits that ‘human beings suffer’ and ‘the cause of suffering is desire.’ The way to put an end to suffering is to stop wanting everything, all the time.
— Karl Albrecht
Egg
A round egg can be made square
according to how you cut it.
— Japanese Proverb
Learning
A man’s work …..
A man’s work is nothing but his slow trek to rediscover,
through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple
images in whose presence his heart first opened.
— Albert Camus
Purpose
Energy
Nature
Nature has no principles. She makes
no distinction between good and evil.
— Anatole France
Cooperation
The only thing that will redeem
mankind is cooperation.
— Bertrand Russell
Snow Covered Park
On my daily walk this morning, I decided to cut through the local park, as the walking was kind of on the treacherous side. Lots of icy spots. I only took this one photo, and it does have a Zen look to it.
Time is a ……
Everyone thinks of changing ……
A newspaper is a ….
A newspaper is a device for making the
ignorant more ignorant and the crazy crazier.
— Henry Louis Mencken
Quote
Wisdom outweighs any wealth.
— Sophocles
Fairy Tale
From my email inbox:
A MALE FAIRY TALE:
Once upon a time, a Prince asked a beautiful Princess, “Will you marry
me?”
The Princess said, “No!!!” And the Prince lived happily ever after and
rode motorcycles and dated skinny long-legged full-breasted women
and hunted and fished and raced cars and went to naked bars and
dated ladies half his age and drank whiskey, beer and Captain Morgan
and never heard bitching and never paid child support or alimony and
dated cheerleaders and kept his house and guns and ate Spam and
potato chips and beans and blew enormous farts and never got
cheated on while he was at work and all his friends and family
thought he was friggin cool as hell and he had tons of money in
the bank and left the toilet seat up.
The end
Ringo Starr and John Lennon
Ray Charles
He knows not ….
He knows not where he’s going,
For the ocean will decide,
Its not the destination,
It’s the glory of the ride.
–Edward Monkton, Zen dog
Do not fear ……
Do not fear to be eccentric in
opinion, for every opinion now
accepted was once eccentric.
— Bertrand Russell
If the bee disappears……
Light Snow Falling
A View Through The Balcony Window
Sun
Took this photo on Sunday. The sun was showing weakly through the overcast sky.
Music
Music is the art of thinking with sounds.
–Jules Combarieu
Moon
The moon is in its Waxing Crescent phase, which is 32% illuminated. Believe me, the moon is in the photo. Shortly after 6:00 pm, it was 31F, -0.6C. Not too bad for the first week of December.
Public opinion …..
Public opinion is no more than this: what people think that other people think. — Alfred Austin
Once a person is …..
Once a person is determined to help themselves, there is nothing that can stop them.
— Nelson Mandela
Age
The problem with getting older is you still remember how things used to be. — Paul Newman
Smoke
Lights and Fog
As I walked out the door …..
Political language is …….
Jeff Bridges & Lloyd Bridges
The first forty years ……
The first forty years of life give us the text; the next thirty supply the commentary on it.
— Arthur Schopenhauer
Quote
Never be afraid to sit awhile and think. — Lorraine Hansberry
Scale
Progress
Sky Photo
Life is not a ……
Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced. — Soren Kierkegaard
Observation
Nothing exists until or unless it is observed. An artist is making something exist by observing it. And his hope for other people is that they will also make it exist by observing it. I call it ‘creative observation.’ Creative viewing. — William S. Burroughs
Criticism
Men in authority will always think that criticism of their policies are dangerous. They will always equate their policies with patriotism, and find criticism subversive. — Henry Steele Commager
A conservative is ….
A conservative is a man who sits and thinks, mostly sits. — Woodrow Wilson
Nature
I don’t understand why when we destroy something created by man we call it vandalism, but when we destroy something created by nature we call it progress. — Ed Begley
You can only go ….
You can only go halfway into the darkest forest; then you are coming out the other side.
— Chinese Proverb
When any government ………
Impossible/Possible
Harvest
Trouble
Most of the trouble in this world has been caused by folk’s who can’t mind their own business, because they have no business of their own to mind, any more than a smallpox virus has. — William S. Burroughs
After all, a homeless man …..
After all, a homeless man has reason to cry, everything in the world is against him.
— Jack Kerouac
November 22, 1963
The question “Do you remember where you was, when President John Kennedy was assassinated”? The answer is yes. I was 14 years old, a sophomore at Lawrence High School. When the seventh period was over, which the last class of the day, there was a guy standing outside on the sidewalk, telling everyone, that the president was assassinated. Just about everybody that heard the news, was in disbelief, shock, or just didn’t know what to say. I can also remember what the weather was like, sunny and not that cold for that time of November. I also remember watching Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald in the Dallas Police Station. It’s still etched in mind seeing it live on a black and white television.
Also there was the nonstop coverage of what happened on that fateful day in Dallas. Seeing Vice President Lyndon Johnson taking the oath of office. The horse with no rider, signifying the death of the president. The slow and long walk to Arlington National Cemetery, and seeing his son, John-John giving the salute, as his casket was going by.
Its a day and the next few days that followed, I will never forget the big debate of whether the National Football League should go ahead and play that weekend or cancel the games, well they went ahead played the games, and there was a lot shit the NFL had to deal with. By the way, the old American Football League cancelled their games. I believe the National Basketball League cancelled their slate of games too.
The country lost a great man that served a 1,000 days, and if none of this happened, would the country be better? I don’t think anybody can answer that.
The ache for home ….
The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned. — Maya Angelou
How mad is she?
Building Lit Up
Jack Nicholson
Guess who kept everybody ……
From my email inbox:
Leadership …..
Living
Instructions for living a life.
Pay Attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
–Mary Oliver
The next time you get a call ….
Life Support
So ……
So earlier today, A Pondering Mind was outside getting some air. This was close to noon time.
Well, out comes one of my neighbors and this was the gist of the conversation:
He: Nice day, huh!
Me: What?
Off he went on his merry way.
This happened with an overcast sky, 40F, and a damp/raw feel to the air.
Five hours later, a similar conversation took place. This time with a female.
She: Hi
Me: Hi
She: It is snowing.
Me: Huh? It’s 60F, and a light mist.
She: It feels cold.
Me: Whatever
She left a minute or two later.
Nice people, but …. Wow! Talk about living on another planet.
First you start staying out late …..
Sure I’d like to come over ….
20 years later ……
Everything
If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything.
In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.
— Shunryu Suzuki
Aw I don’t wanta go ….
Aw I don’t wanta go to no such thing. I just wanta to drink in alleys.’…But you’ll miss all that, just for some old wine.’ There’s wisdom in wine, goddam it’ I yelled. ‘Have a shot! — Jack Kerouac
Shower Radio
Somebody just gave me a shower radio. Thanks a lot. Do you really want music in the shower? I guess there’s no better place to dance than a slick surface next to a glass door. — Jerry Seinfeld
How long a minute is ……
How long a minute is, depends on which side of the bathroom door you’re on.
— Zall’s Second Law
Stephen Hawking, 1963
Friday Afternoon Sunset
It was 60 degrees at 4:28 pm. When I saw the colorful sky, I knew I had to take the photo of it.
In about 4 weeks, the sun will be setting at or around 4:10 pm.
Truth
Socrates showed us that thinking the truth is not enough. Truth demands to be lived. –Americ Azevedo
No matter what people say …..
No matter what people say about you, know who you are. Their blame can’t injure you, nor can their praise elevate you. You are what you are; nothing anyone can say can change that. — Daniel Levin
If you propose to speak ….
Moon – Waxing Gibbous
Socrates
Socrates
Keep this in mind the next time you are about to repeat a rumor or spread gossip.
In ancient Greece (469 – 399 BC), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom. One day an acquaintance ran up to him excitedly and said, “Socrates, do you know what I just heard about Diogenes?”
“Wait a moment,” Socrates replied, “Before you tell me I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Triple Filter Test.”
“Triple filter?” asked the acquaintance.
“That’s right,” Socrates continued, “Before you talk to me about Diogenes let’s take a moment to filter what you’re going to say. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”
“No,” the man said, “Actually I just heard about it.”
“All right,” said Socrates, “So you don’t really know if it’s true or not. Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about Diogenes something good?”
“No, on the contrary…”
“So,” Socrates continued, “You want to tell me something about Diogenes that may be bad, even though you’re not certain it’s true?”
The man shrugged, a little embarrassed. Socrates continued, “You may still pass the test though, because there is a third filter, the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about Diogenes going to be useful to me?”
“No, not really.”
“Well,” concluded Socrates, “If what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me or anyone at all?”
The man was bewildered and ashamed. This is an example of why Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.
It also explains why Socrates never found out that Diogenes was banging his wife.
Meditation
Meditation is not about finding the self–quite the contrary: it is about finding one’s way beyond the self. Meditation is also not about ‘explaining the mind’. It is instead about clearing away clutter created by the mind. — David M. White
America is a land …..
America is a land of taxation that was founded to avoid taxation. — Laurence J. Peter
Conversation
A conversation is so much more than words: a conversation is eyes, smiles, the silences between the words. — Annika Thor
Gray Day
Sun And Trees
When someone says ….
Opinions
But opinions, judgements, memories, dreaming about the future–ninety percent of the thoughts spinning around in our heads have no essential reality. — Charlotte J. Beck
Reality
To think in terms of either pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth. The problem is to see reality as it is. — Thich Nhat Hanh
We may believe ……
We may believe that we know what another person is thinking, but most often our efforts at ‘mind reading’ are projections of our own inner, self-centered concerns.
— Susan Edmiston, Leonard Scheff
Thinking
I came to a point where I needed solitude and just stop the machine of ‘thinking’ and ‘enjoying’ what they call ‘living’, I just wanted to lie in the grass and look at the clouds.
— Jack Kerouac
Green and Red
Red
Hot Air Balloon
From my email inbox:
So you think you’re having a bad day…
Journey
Do not judge …..
Do not judge a person until the lid of his coffin is closed. — Chinese Proverbs
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