He who is filled with Virtue is like a newborn child

Wasps and serpents will not sting him;
Wild beasts will not pounce upon him;
He will not be attacked by birds of prey.
His bones are soft, his muscles weak,
But his grip is firm.
He has not experienced the union of man and woman, but is whole.
His manhood is strong.
He screams all day without becoming hoarse.
This is perfect harmony.

Knowing harmony is consistency.
Knowing consistency is enlightenment.

It is not wise to rush about.
Controlling the breath causes strain.
If too much energy is used, exhaustion follows.
This is not the way of Tao.
Whatever is contrary to Tao willnot last long.

Gia Fu Feng and Jane English version of Tao Te Ching by LAO TSU, Fifty Five

Contemplation and View

To see and be seen.

"...What is firmly established cannot be uprooted.
What is firmly grasped cannot slip away.
It will be honored from generation to generation.

"Cultivate Virtue in your self,
And Virtue will be real.
Cultivate it in the family,
And Virtue will abound.
Cultivate it in the village,
And Virture will grow.
Cultivate it in the nation,
And Virtue will be abundant.
Cultivate it in the universe,
And Virtue will be everywhere.

"Therefore look at the body as body;
Look at the family as family;
Look at the village as village;
Look at the nation as nation;
Look at the universe as universe.

"How do I know the universe is like this?
By looking."

Fifty Four Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu, translation by Gia Fu Feng and Jane English

There are times when we can't hear

the tones or echoes. This is one of the times.

I don't know how to write anymore,

after studying writing all the time. I knew this would happen if I subjected myself to too many instructors. On the other hand, I know how to write in ways that I never understood in the past. Only problem is I just don't want to do it so much anymore.

I have four children

and they're now 20, 22, 24 and 26! I don't know how I did it but there is a God!

'Passion is something that drives me...

I am at heart a passionate person. Not in some sort of romantic chick flick kind of a way, just in that I latch on to anything completely. I love the idea of committing to something completely. In my previous blog, I talked about how my passions have run my life. Passion I think can be a very good thing and a very bad thing. I've been told by many that it is one of my greatest characteristics, but I'm not so sure. A lot of times I am unable to focus on anything other than what I am passionate about at the time being. Right now, I'm so passionate about guitar and worship music that I struggle maintaining other areas of my life because all I want to do is play guitar or think about arrangements, but how long is that going to last. Infatuation might be a better word here because they don't last. I'm just able to disguise it to others as passion.

A couple months ago I kind of realized that recently I've let these infatuations control my life and almost serve as an excuse or distraction from dealing with life (I guess that would be the most appropriate word). I get so much crap about not wanting to date it's absurd. When I get that pressure I always have the same rhetoric... "I don't want to date because it will distract me from _______." Lately, the fill-in-the-blank word has been guitar. I want to focus on guitar so much that dating would just be a distraction from learning my latest craft. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not, but I do have to question it myself when the blank has been filled with different things for the past 5 years. (By my best estimate, it has been 5 years since my last date, yikes!) After my last relationship ended I said I needed to focus on my education, after that it was my move to California, after that it was skiing, after that it was finding a new job, after that I'm at the guitar phase. Those all seem like they could be legitimate reasons, but I wonder if they aren't just excuses... .

Read the Rest at PresentlyRestless...

i think (really, i do)

that i'm finally learning the real ins ands outs of this blogosphere. really. well hopefully. but i'm trying anyway. (it's a jungle out there, you know.)

the beauty of the blogosphere

is that it doesn't really matter who you are or what your ancestry is or what color your skin is but that you just live, think, breath and blog. amen

i am the happiest person in the world

i never want yesterday
i would never want that again
now that i know more
i would never make the same mistakes
toda
yes i'll make a few new mistakes
but i never wish for
yesterday.

amen

"The world breaks everyone,

then some become strong at the broken places." ~~Rev. William Sloane Coffin

There's a whole lotta stuff

going on.

I love the lord

forhe heard my voice, he heard my cry.

Mercy?

There's a strange world I saw

but if I just keep going and let go of a lot, there's a beautiful world out there even though it takes so much wandering.

Allegiance to earth & flora & fauna & human life that it supports ~~ Rev. Dr. William Sloane Coffin

I’ve been surfing the blogosphere, just linking from one site to another, trying to find something inspiring from blogs I’ve never seen before. I think I feel a strong need to do this when I don’t trust myself, when I don’t trust what I’m thinking and what I’m feeling, or I don’t know how it will be received, taken, understood, misunderstood, et al. That’s why voices on the wind of the world-wide-web help me. It’s someone else saying things that I can hear~~and know I’m not alone. (You might be surprised how difficult the task is, how many hours it can take.)

"The world breaks everyone, then some become strong at the broken places." ~~Rev. William Sloane Coffin

Poetic Justice

According to the April 13 New York Times obituary, he said: “Courage, he preached over the years, was the first virtue, because ‘it makes all other virtues possible.’”

I fear I’m getting close again to politics but here is another quote:

"Patriotism at the expense of another nation is as wicked as racism at the expense of another race," he declared, adding: "Let us resolve to be patriots always, nationalists never. Let us love our country, but pledge allegiance to the earth and to the flora and fauna and human life that it supports — one planet indivisible, with clean air, soil and water; with liberty, justice and peace for all."

New York Times Obituary, April 13, 2006

I'm a journalism student and there is much talk about how we can not trust people on the web. Just wondering...what are your thoughts? (is it just insider jargon?)