Simple Things ~ Edwin Way Teale

“Our minds, as well as our bodies, have need of the out-of-doors. Our spirits, too, need simple things, elemental things, the sun and the wind and the rain, moonlight and starlight, sunrise and mist and mossy forest trails, the perfumes of dawn and the smell of fresh-turned earth and the ancient music of wind among the trees.” 

~ Edwin Way Teale

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

Artwork from Janet Laura Scott http://gerrie-thefriendlyghost.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/janet-laura-scott-and-john-hall-thorpe.html

Even Terrorists ~ Robert Griswold

"The result of terrorism is never what terrorists think it is going to be. Terrorists believe that their act is going to get people to change their ways or to 'teach them a lesson they won't soon forget.' The hope of terrorists is to instill a level of fear in people that will make them willing to give up their status as persons worthy of respect and care and thus, become submissive to the icon (religious, patriotic, tribal or whatever) of the terrorist. Terrorists can believe this works only because they have themselves given up their status as people worthy of respect and care and have become submissive to an icon. They have been afraid at the meaninglessness and hopelessness of their lives and have made a pact to exchange their fear for a rage that offers only their own (and others) extinction. As Nietzsche said, 'Rather than believe in nothing, people will believe even in nothingness.'
But the faith of terrorists never succeeds. Most often the result is counter-terrorism which is merely terrorism itself in a new disguise. Those attacked become afraid and in their fear they become willing to give up their status as persons worthy of respect and care by becoming willing to cease treating others as persons worthy of respect and care. Instead of accepting the terrorist's icon, they cling to their own icons and hide the reality of what they have surrendered under the flag or the cross or the hammer and sickle or the swastika or the six pointed star or the tartan or the family or 'our way of life.' Those attacked become terrorists willing to inflict injury on any and all who have come to represent the source of their fear even it in the process many innocent bystanders are killed. The common consequence of counter-terrorism is the spread of terrorism and the breeding of more terrorists.........

If we hold fast to our Inner Guide, we will be able to let go of our fear. We will be able to retain our love, compassion and recognition that even terrorists are human beings, however lost they have become. Both love and hate have power to change people. But love alone can heal the world. The only hope is to let go of fear and equip ourselves with love. All the rest is a snare and an illusion."

~ Robert Griswold

More at http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ptop/plain/A662942

Artwork by Lena Karpinsky http://www.artbylena.com/

Static Things ~ John Fowles

“In some mysterious way woods have never seemed to me to be static things. In physical terms, I move through them; yet in metaphysical ones, they seem to move through me.”

~ John Fowles

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

Artwork from Nick Wroblewski  http://nickwroblewski.com/

Continue the Illusion ~ Frank Zappa

“The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.”

― Frank Zappa

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

Artwork by Jamie Temple http://jdatemple.com/

What is Worth Keeping ~ Dinah Maria Mulock Craik

“Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but to pour them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then, with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.” 

― Dinah Maria Mulock Craik

More at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinah_Craik

Artwork by Tirzah Garwood http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirzah_Garwood

Quiet Transition ~ Tove Jansson

“The quiet transition from autumn to winter is not a bad time at all. It's a time for protecting and securing things and for making sure you've got in as many supplies as you can. It's nice to gather together everything you possess as close to you as possible, to store up your warmth and your thoughts and burrow yourself into a deep hole inside, a core of safety where you can defend what is important and precious and your very own. Then the cold and the storms and the darkness can do their worst. They can grope their way up the walls looking for a way in, but they won't find one, everything is shut, and you sit inside, laughing in your warmth and your solitude, for you have had foresight.”

Tove Jansson

Artwork by Tove Jansson

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

Life from the Center ~ Thomas Kelly

"Life from the Center is a life of unhurried peace and power. It is simple. It is serene. It is amazing. It is triumphant. It is radiant. It takes not time, but it occupies all our time.”

More at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Raymond_Kelly_(Quaker_mystic)

Artwork from Peter Clayton http://www.peterclayton.org/