Word
Gems
What is a
man but the sum of his thoughts?
What's
New
- This site is under construction.
- I hope it to be so for a long time, a
perpetual work in progress offering inspiring quotes, artwork,
excerpts from important books and some of my own essays.
... so, what's
new?
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10-12-08: Viktor Frankl,
Man's Search for Meaning: Recounting an
Auschwitz experience: "We stumbled on in the darkness, over big
stones and through large puddles, along the one road running
through the camp. The accompanying guards kept shouting at us and
driving us with the butts of their rifles... But my mind clung to my wife's image,
imagining it with an uncanny acuteness. I heard her answering me,
saw her smile, her frank and encouraging look... for the first
time in my life I saw the truth as it
is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom
by so many thinkers. The truth - that love is
the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire.
Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human
poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation
of man is through love and in love. I
understood how a man who has nothing left in this world may still
know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of
his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when a man
cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his
sufferings in the right way - an honorable way - in such a
position man can, through loving contemplation of the image he
carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment... I resumed
talk with my loved one: I asked her questions, and she answered;
she questioned me in return, and I answered." [Frankl would later
discover that his beloved, at this point, had already been
killed in the death camps.]
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9-26-08: A Personal
Statement: War. The 2nd in an ongoing
series of articles. My Uncle Joe was a Korean War GI - here is his
story.
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"When we are parted, we each
feel the lack of the other half of ourselves. We are incomplete,
like a book in two volumes
of which the first has been lost... incompleteness in
absence." Erich Fromm
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9-18-08: Prof.
Laurence J. Kotlikoff, Is the U.S.
Going Broke?, Forbes, September 29,
2008: "The
federal government's takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac
represents
a huge financial tremor. These two institutions now issue 70% of
Americans' mortgages. Their failure would have triggered a
complete meltdown in housing and financial markets. So now Uncle
Sam is on the hook for $5 trillion, consisting of corporate debt
owed by those two institutions and mortgage debt guaranteed by
them. If only the government's total debt were that low. Uncle Sam, for all his righteous indignation, is, in
fact, the father of all deceptive accounting. The
government has arranged its budgeting to keep the great bulk of
its liabilities off the books and out of sight. The real liability facing our government is $70
trillion. This represents the present value difference
between all the government's projected future spending obligations
and all its projected future tax receipts. This fiscal gap takes
into account Uncle Sam's need to service official
debt--outstanding U.S. government bonds. But it also recognizes
all our government's unofficial debts, including its obligation to
the soon-to-be-retired baby boomers to pay their Social Security
and Medicare benefits… There is still time, and there are ways to
put our fiscal house in order. But the longer we wait, the more
likely we're going to get hit by a true financial and economic
earthquake. The earthquake will come via a
collapse in the market for U.S. government bonds as domestic and
foreign investors realize that the only way Uncle Sam can meet his
future spending obligations is to print massive quantities of
money. The result will be sky-high inflation and interest
rates and, most surely, a prolonged reduction in output and
employment. This could happen today. It could happen tomorrow. But
it will happen here just as it has happened in every other country
that tried to spend far beyond its ability to pay. Having our
government acknowledge and fix its long-term fiscal crisis will
provide our financial industry something it so desperately seems
to need -- an honest financial role model. Laurence J. Kotlikoff is a professor of
economics, Boston University, and coauthor of Spend 'Til the
End."
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9-08-08: New Colony
Six, I Will Always Think About You: I
recently re-discovered this favorite song of mine from
1968. If you've never had the pleasure of being taken under by this
romantic-crooner song, you are in for a major treat. I am now
surprised that I had forgotten it for 40 years, and, when I heard
it again, it awakened feelings in me that I didn't know I had. What a
great song! To my dismay, I discovered that, for some
reason, "I Will Always Think About You" is not presently
available for general purchase - hey, so I had "no choice" but
to buy the CD on ebay for $55. Ouch! But listen to it for
free here: http://www.imeem.com/camillatina/music/tiu6ma33/new_colony_six_i_will_always_think_about_you/
- and watch the greying-haired, still-dangerous group perform it
here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lke2eGuvyqI&feature=related -
ENJOY!!
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NEW COLONY
SIX
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"I Will Always Think About
You"
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(1968) |
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I will always think about
you
Even if I live without you
Please don't let
that ever happen
I have too much love within me for you
Baby it's true, baby
I can't find the words to
tell you
Just how much I really love you
If you feel
the same way I do
You will know the love I have here for
you
Baby it's true
Baby, the days we spent together were fine
The nights, the lights were yours & mine, it's true
I'll always love you, always love you
So let us plan our futures together
Love
is here, it's getting stronger
Even if
I live without you
I will always think about you, it's
true
Baby it's you, baby it's true, baby for you
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August 29, 2008.
This is a day I want to remember. Introduced
today at 11 AM EST as John McCain's Veep, Governor Sarah Palin
instantly struck me, the very tone of her voice, as an
authentic person of courage and integrity. And we have now
learned of her heroics both at home, her decision to spare and
care for her Down's baby, and in Alaska state politics as she
single-handedly took on and defeated entrenched good-old-boy
Republican corruption. Mark my words carefully, my friends, we
shall be hearing more from Sarah Palin; at least, if we shall
be so blessed. May "The Barracuda's" fortitude rally and
inspire many others - especially our young, and
especially young girls - to selfless and principled
public service; and let that "glass ceiling" finally be
smashed. Today was the first day in a very
long time that I have felt good about the prospects for America.
Yes-s-s-s!
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8-25-08: Benjamin
Disraeli: The British Prime Minister was asked by a
newly-minted House of Commons member as to whether he should
actively participate in floor debate. Disraeli, appraising the
young man, responded, "No, I think it would be better if you did
not; better if the House wondered why you
didn't speak than why you did."
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Jesus became God in 381
C.E. -
that's the year that the "church fathers," one group of them
at least, mafia-like, finally succeeded in excommunicating
and, whenever possible, murdering their
opposition. The process took close to 200 years with the
"Jesus as Man but not God" faction leading the
controversy much of the time. They eventually lost. The
circumstances surrounding the final doctrinal decision, one
that would frame and define ensuing Christianity for thousands
of years, were not pretty and, upon close inspection by an
objective reviewer, would not inspire confidence in the
truth-promotion process. Our knowledge of the details of that
ancient debate is fragmentary with information scattered over
a wide array of sources. Jewish historian, Dr. Richard E.
Rubenstein, invested 15 years or more tracking down these
various sources and piecing together a picture revealed
to be a tawdry state of corrupt church
politics.
The stakes were high.
Ecclesiastical demagogues knew full well that if they allowed the common
people to view Jesus as a Man who could grow and
develop and progress -- well then, this, of course, was a threat to
the church's power over people -- because if people can change
and grow by themselves and appeal to the Father directly for help
in life, why then, the people will surely conclude, do we
need the church to save us? This book is only for those
who are ready for the truth. Be prepared for
some cognitive dissonance as it will alter your view
of yourself, your view of Jesus, and how you fit into the
divine cosmic plan. I would also recommend a book by my old
professor, Sir Anthony Buzzard, The
Doctrine of the Trinity, Christianity's Self-Inflicted
Wound. Professor Buzzard reveals what the original
languages of the scripture actually say about the nature of
Jesus and why the early church, for the first few hundred
years, saw Jesus as a Man - not as
God! |
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8-13-08: Silver Birch,
discarnate entity from the OtherSide: "... wherever [real] love exists, sooner or later those who are united by its willing
bonds will find one another again, despite all the
handicaps and obstacles and impediments that may be in the
way." [see full
text]
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8-13-08:
Joseph R. Fornieri, The
Lincoln Forum, Lincoln
Revisited (2007): Fornieri, in this collection of Lincoln essays, helps us to
understand Judge Douglas’ central undergirding platform, the
doctrine of “popular sovereignty,” which would allow new
territories to extend or deny the institution of slavery. This
precept of self-determinism is “perfectly logical,” responded
Lincoln, “if there is no difference between
hogs and negroes… [but the question is] whether a negro is
not or is a man. If he is not a man … he who is a man may, as a matter
of self-government, do just as he pleases with him. But if the negro is a man [shall he not]
also govern himself? When the white man governs himself that is
self-government; but when he governs himself, and also governs
another man [without that other man’s consent], that is more than
self-government – that is despotism.” Lincoln went on to
explain how the European “Divine Right of Kings,” something from
which we had recently extricated ourselves, employed, in
principle, this same notion of privileged and superior certain
ones ruling over a lesser class of beings. All of this violated
the “ancient faith,” a term by which Lincoln referred to the
precepts of the Declaration of Independence, the moral foundation
of the nation, in its statements that “all men are created equal.”
“No man,” Lincoln asserted, “is good enough to
govern another man, without that other’s consent. I say this is
the leading principle -- the sheet anchor of American
republicanism.” Douglas
weakly responded with a claim that God had
placed Adam and Eve in the garden and had told them to make their
choice – exalting “choice” as a universal trump card. Lincoln
bashed this sophistry with “God did not place good and evil before man,
telling him to make his choice. On the contrary, he did tell him
there was one tree, of the fruit of which, he should not eat, upon
the pain of certain death.” Fornieri, speaking even more plainly:
“If taken to its logical conclusion, Douglas’ reading
of the Bible would obliterate any firm basis for moral judgments
by making them entirely relative to personal choice.” Lincoln
then goes further and eviscerates notions of choice and prattle
of self-government as nothing more than an undisguised policy of
“self-interest” masquerading as morality. Lincoln began speaking of these issues with
earnest in 1854, after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. His
continued insightful commentary culminated in the famous
Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858. Judge Douglas won the Illinois
senate seat in ’58 – but Mr. Lincoln, his punch-and-jab speeches
gaining the respect of some and the attention of all, found
himself catapulted to the Presidency only two years later.
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8-4-08:
Arthur
C. Clarke's three "laws" of prediction: (1) When a
distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is
possible, he is almost certainly right. When
he states that something is impossible, he is very probably
wrong. (2) The only way of discovering
the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them
into the impossible. (3) Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic.
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8-4-08:
Michael Talbot,
Holographic Universe: "Our brains
mathematically construct objective reality by interpreting
frequencies that are ultimately projections from another
dimension, a deeper order of existence that is beyond time and
space: The brain is a hologram enfolded in a holographic
universe... What is 'out there' is a vast ocean of waves and
frequencies, and reality looks concrete to us only because our
brains are able to to take this holographic blur and convert it
into the sticks and stones ... that make up our world... When a
[china teacup] is filtered through the lens of our brain it
manifests as a cup. But if we could get rid of our lenses, we'd
experience is as an interference pattern... we even construct space and
time."
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8-3-08:
Thomas Paine : "War involves in its progress such
a train of unforeseen circumstances that no human wisdom can
calculate the end... The world is
my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my
religion... Moderation in temper is always a
virtue; but moderation in principle is always a
vice."
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N.
Riley Heagerty, The French Revelation:
"The Spheres! No tongue can describe them. There are thousands...
millions... countless in number... all rounded into complete
worlds, and all the habitations of those who cherish the special
idea which rules the sphere... There are spheres of every mental
light, thought, and knowledge; spheres of special grades
of intellect and wisdom. In all and each [person] is a special need of
happiness... There are spheres of love, where tender
natures cling to one another until they are drawn by
higher, broader aspirations to broader planes of thought..." [Editor's note: The French Revelation features select
testimonies from the OtherSide via direct-voice medium Emily
French - thousands of spirit-interviews were recorded over a
20-year period. We are told that many souls upon
entering the next life are "burned out" and in need of rest
and healing. Each person harbors a private definition
and "special need of happiness," and it would appear that
there is a world, a "sphere," waiting to address each
person's unique unfulfilled aspirations. More than
hedonism is at stake here. This experience of personal
fulfillment seems to be necessary before it is possible for one,
from a greater sense of inner wholeness, to progress toward
higher states of being. A common form of suffering in our
world is that of the loss of love or unexpressed love. We are
told that there is a special world designed
for each person(s) to address this human tragedy; a
world uniquely and particularly devoted to recuperation for
individual lovers! There is a happy ending for every
"Splendor In the Grass" couple! Notice the word
"until ." While lovers
will eventually find healing and devote time to the
"broader aspirations" of humanitarian service, nothing happens until these
hurting hearts have had their therapeutic fill of clinging to one another, loving one another
! Imagine a place arranged only to satisfy a private and
particular definition of "happiness"! How far we are from home! In
another testimony, a counseling spirit-person informs us that he
is not at liberty to offer much detail regarding
specific joys that await us lest some here should unadvisedly
consider ending their mortal lives in order to reach
that world of tailor-made happiness! Maybe you'll
remember the old joke about the minister who asked his flock
if they wanted to go to heaven. One fellow refused to raise his
hand, protesting that he didn't want to go today. Well, he
might have been a little more amenable to the idea if
he'd understood what is waiting for each weary soul, each hurting
heart.]
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7-24-08:
Dr. Edgar Mitchell: NASA astronaut and moon-walker Dr Edgar
Mitchell - veteran of the Apollo 14 mission - has
stunningly claimed aliens exist. And he says extra-terrestrials have visited Earth on
several occasions - but the alien contact has been repeatedly
covered up by governments for six decades.
Dr
Mitchell, 77, said during a radio interview that sources at the
space agency who had had contact with aliens described the beings
as 'little people who look strange to us.'
He said
supposedly real-life ET's were similar to the traditional image of
a small frame, large eyes and head. Chillingly, he claimed our
technology is "not nearly as sophisticated" as theirs and "had
they been hostile", he warned "we would be been gone by now".
Dr Mitchell, along with with Apollo 14 commander Alan
Shepard, holds the record for the longest ever moon walk, at nine
hours and 17 minutes following their 1971 mission.
"I happen to
have been privileged enough to be in on the fact that
we've been visited on this planet and
the UFO phenomena is real
,"
Dr Mitchell said. "It's been well covered up by all our
governments for the last 60 years or so, but slowly it's leaked
out and some of us have been privileged to have been briefed on
some of it.
"I've been in
military and intelligence circles, who know that beneath the
surface of what has been public knowledge, yes - we have been
visited. Reading the papers recently, it's been happening quite a
bit." Dr Mitchell, who has a Bachelor of Science degree in
aeronautical engineering and a Doctor of Science degree in
Aeronautics and Astronautics claimed
Roswell was real and
similar alien visits continue to be
investigated. See the youtube
interview:
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- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhNdxdveK7c
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- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7ByWlRZlq0&feature=related
- 7-24-08: Edmund Burke : "Facts are to the mind, what food is to the
body. On the due digestion of the former depend the
strength and wisdom of the one, just as vigour and health depend
on the other. The wisest in council, the
ablest in debate, and the most agreeable companion in the commerce
of human life, is that man who has assimilated to his
understanding the greatest number of facts."
And here are some of the best
"Word Gems" on this site...
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