Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Take Control of our Own Lives ~ Primal Seeds

"Learning to produce our own food is essential if we are to ever truly take control of our own lives. It liberates us from the role of passive consumer, remote from real decisions, alienated from nature."



- Primal Seeds

More at
  http://www.primalseeds.org/

Monday, June 27, 2011

It was late June ~ Edward Thomas

Adlestrop  by  Edward Thomas

Yes, I remember Adlestrop –
The name because one afternoon
Of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontendly. It was late June.

The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat.
No one left and no one came
On the bare platform. What I saw
Was Adlestrop – only the name

And willows, willow-herb, and grass,
And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry,
No whit less still and lonely fair
Than the high cloudlets in the sky.

And for that minute a blackbird sang
Close by, and round him, mistier,
Farther and farther, all the birds
Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.





Friday, June 24, 2011

Every Hillside, every Valley, every Clearing and Wood ~ Chief Seattle

"Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every hillside, every valley, every clearing and wood, is holy in the memory and experience of my people. Even those unspeaking stones along the shore are loud with event and memories in the life of my people. The ground beneath your feet responds more lovingly to our steps than yours, because it is the ashes of our grandfathers. Our bare feet know the kindred touch. The earth is rich with the lives of our kin."


Chief Seattle


More at  http://www.synaptic.bc.ca/ejournal/wslibrry.htm

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

God is Within Man ~ Charlie Chaplin

You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don't hate! Only the unloved hate; the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers! Don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke, it is written that the kingdom of God is within man, not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people, have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy, let us use that power. Let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill that promise. They never will! Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfill that promise. Let us fight to free the world! To do away with national barriers! To do away with greed, with hate and intolerance! Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness. Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us all unite!"

— Charlie Chaplin



More at  http://www.lovstrand.com/Quotes/TheGreatDictator.html  (Well worth reading all the speech)

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Is the Question too Simple? ~ Walter Ciszek

"... every moment of our life has a purpose, that every action of ours, no matter how dull or routine or trivial it may seem in itself, has a dignity and a worth beyond human understanding... For it means that no moment can be wasted, no opportunity missed, since each has a purpose in man’s life, each has a purpose in God’s plan. Think of your day, today or yesterday. Think of the work you did, the people you met, moment by moment. What did it mean to you- and might it have meant for God? Is the question too simple to answer, or are we just afraid to ask it for fear of the answer we must give?" 





More at   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Ciszek

Have Another Biscuit — Eddie Izzard

"But with dogs, we do have "bad dog." Bad dog exists. "Bad dog! Bad dog! Stole a biscuit, bad dog!" The dog is saying, "Who are you to judge me? You human beings who’ve had genocide, war against people of different creeds, colors, religions, and I stole a biscuit?! Is that a crime? People of the world!"
"Well, if you put it that way, I think you’ve got a point. Have another biscuit, sorry."



— Eddie Izzard

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

The Value the Work — Laura Ingalls Wilder

"Vices are simply overworked virtues, anyway. Economy and frugality are to be commended but follow them on in an increasing ratio and what do we find at the other end? A miser! If we overdo the using of spare moments we may find an invalid at the end, while perhaps if we allowed ourselves more idle time we would conserve our nervous strength and health to more than the value the work we could accomplish by emulating at all times the little busy bee. "






 — Laura Ingalls Wilder


More at   http://www.liwfrontiergirl.com/

Monday, June 13, 2011

Now I am Ice, now I am Sorrel ~ Henry David Thoreau


"This is June, the month of grass and leaves . . . already the aspens are trembling again, and a new summer is offered me. I feel a little fluttered in my thoughts, as if I might be too late. Each season is but an infinitesimal point. It no sooner comes than it is gone. It has no duration. It simply gives a tone and hue to my thought. Each annual phenomena is reminiscence and prompting. Our thoughts and sentiments answer to the revolution of the seasons, as two cog-wheels fit into each other. We are conversant with only one point of contact at a time, from which we receive a prompting and impulse and instantly pass to a new season or point of contact. A year is made up of a certain series and number of sensations and thoughts which have their language in nature. Now I am ice, now I am sorrel. Each experience reduces itself to a mood of the mind".


- Henry David Thoreau, Journal, June, 1857

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Feeling Satisfied ~ The Dalai Lama

“If one's life is simple, contentment has to come. Simplicity is extremely important for happiness. Having few desires, feeling satisfied with what you have, is very vital: satisfaction with just enough food, clothing, and shelter to protect yourself from the elements. And finally, there is an intense delight in abandoning faulty states of mind and in cultivating helpful ones in meditation.”



The 14th  Dalai Lama

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Not Two Truths, but One ~ Kenneth Boulding

"It is our duty to seek emotional truth, as it is to seek intellectual truth, and indeed as we seek them, we shall find that they are not two truths, but one."
~Kenneth Boulding 




More at  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_E._Boulding

Artwork From Henry Herbert La Thangue
https://artuk.org/discover/artists/la-thangue-henry-herbert-18591929

Not a Bad Public ~ Robert Bolt

 Thomas Moore   
~   "Why not be a teacher? You'd be a fine teacher; perhaps a great one."


 Richard Rich      
~    "If I was, who would know it? "


 Thomas Moore  
 ~    "You; your pupils; your friends; God. Not a bad public, that."






More at-   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Man_for_All_Seasons

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

No One Can Disturb You ~ Meister Eckhart

"Some people prefer solitude. They say their peace of mind depends on this. Others say they would be better off in church. If you do well, you do well wherever you are. If you fail, you fail wherever you are. Your surroundings don't matter. God is with you everywhere -- in the market place as well as in seclusion or in the church. If you look for nothing but God, nothing or no one can disturb you. God is not distracted by a multitude of things. Nor can we be."

— Meister Eckhart




More at  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meister_Eckhart