Friday, September 29, 2017

Can and Must ~Walter James

"Give and you shall receive, is not sentimental idealism, it is a simple, practical rule. That which we can and must give to the land is work, And if that work is given in love it will not be drudgery."

~Walter James




Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Spontaneous Pleasures ~ C.S. Lewis

"Any patch of sunlight in a wood will show you something about the sun which you could never get from reading books on astronomy. These pure and spontaneous pleasures are ‘patches of Godlight’ in the woods of our experience.” 

C.S. Lewis



More at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis

 Artwork from Louis McNally 
 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/louis-mcnallys-landscapes-of-scotland-picture-preview-2300144.html#gallery

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

An Act of Culture ~ Michael Pollan

“The shared meal elevates eating from a mechanical process of fueling the body to a ritual of family and community, from the mere animal biology to an act of culture.”  ~ Michael Pollan



Artwork from Emmy Lou Packard   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmy_Lou_Packard

Affirming of Others ~ Desmond Tutu

“A person with ubuntu * is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.” 

~ Desmond Tutu

*Ubuntu (Zulu pronunciation: [ùɓúntʼù]) is a Nguni Bantu term meaning "humanity". It is often also translated as "humanity towards others", but is often used in a more philosophical sense to mean "the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity" Source Wikipedia


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

Artwork from Maggie Laubser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggie_Laubser

Monday, September 25, 2017

At the Bottom of your Garden ~David Attenborough

"It's about cherishing the woodland at the bottom of your garden or the stream that runs through it. It affects every aspect of life."

~David Attenborough




Artwork from Gordon Mortensen

Friday, September 22, 2017

Beneath Our Feet ~ William Bryant Logan

“We spend our lives hurrying away from the real, as though it were deadly to us. “It must be somewhere up there on the horizon,” we think. And all the time it is in the soil, right beneath our feet.” 

~  William Bryant Logan





More at http://williambryantlogan.com/about/

Artwork from Louise Stebbing http://www.westnorfolkartists.org/louisestebbing/index.htm


Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Flesh Out the Meaning ~ Richard J Foster



I want to list ten controlling principles for the outward expression of simplicity. They should not be viewed as laws, but as one attempt to flesh out the meaning of simplicity into twentieth-century life.
First, buy things for their usefulness rather than their status. 
Second, reject anything that is producing an addiction in you. 
Third, develop a habit of giving things away. De-accumulate. 
Fourth, refuse to be propagandized by the custodians of modern gadgetry. 
Fifth, learn to enjoy things without owning them. 
Sixth, develop a deeper appreciation for the creation. 
Seventh, look with a healthy scepticism at all ‘buy now, pay later’ schemes. 
Eighth, obey Jesus’ injunction about plain, honest speech. 
Ninth, reject anything that will breed the oppression of others. 
Tenth, shun whatever would distract you from your main goal.
Richard J Foster