"Do you really think it is weakness that yields to temptation? I tell you that there are terrible temptations which it requires strength, strength and courage to yield to."
Oscar Wilde
"Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book."
Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon
"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug."
Mark Twain
Mark Twain
The face of comfort.
Every teaching of spirituality is a heroic attempt to share the inexplicable in words.
Traditions and teachings can only point us in the right direction - but unless scripture awakens an answering resonance from within, it will remain only mental.
The mind contorts and con volutes to make itself grand. But wisdom looks on with the quiet pleasure of comprehension. . .
Light, color, bird song are all vibrations. A bed of flowers is a massed choir: harmonies and soloists respirating each in their own voice. . . Stop and listen!
Whales sport off Maui. In neighbor island uplands, fireplaces warm and scent the crispy nights. On the Big Island, lava is flowing into an indignant sea. Typical Hawaii February weather: high clouds, brief showers. . .
What will happen next?
None of us knows.
So keep your eyes half open, like kitty does (above) even as you lay your 20th Century burdens down.
Inventing a better future is fearsome work. So why do we whistle as we stroll through the wreckage?
A L O H A! Cloudia
Fearsome work. But really we can't lose, so let's enjoy the road!
ReplyDeleteThat is really a beautiful post Cloudia....
ReplyDeleteCloudia,
ReplyDeleteYou are right, we certainly are writing on the same page today... or reading from it? Who knows, but I do feel a peculiar resonance with much of your thought processes, as they are written down.
Interesting question, why are we whistling?
Is it the whistling while we work or the obliviousness to the task ahead?
When I read politicians, more often from your country, denying basic science and any factual basis for global warming I recognize the oblivious self-interest and wonder how that can be pushed aside or through.
And then there are people like SandyCarlson who recognize the road that must be trodden and say, hey, lets enjoy the work as we are doing it. Which seems sensible. Quite zen too.
The quote from Gibbon is quite something.
Must run, take care.
Tschuess,
Chris
Sandy, Braja & Chris:
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for stopping by for a wee visit.
I love you guys. Aloha-
100% right, Cloudia.
ReplyDeletebeautiful images and superb quote by oscar wilde!
ReplyDeleteLots to think about here. Beautiful words.
ReplyDeleteI think about the environment and everything connected daily, but I feel powerless. A friend of mine was or still is very depressed because we see disasters all around us. Rivers that are polluted, fish that is poisoned. Food that has been manipulated. People dying from cancer. Bushfires in Australia and last year in Greece and the USA. There's no security on earth.
ReplyDeletePerfect quotes, and the key is to keep walking forward.
ReplyDelete