Our Thoughts.

I feel constrained to amplify what I said about ‘standing on the shoulders of giants.’ I will tell you up front that my future postings will make no pretense of being, necessarily, original, but I fervently hope they will be thought-provoking and helpful.
I suspect that everything I think or believe or will write in this forum has probably been thought or believed or spoken by others—and these people are giants to me. Consider this observation by a very bright man: “Certain authors, when they speak of their work, say: ‘My book, my commentary, my history’….They would do better to say ‘our book, our commentary, our history,’ since their writings generally contain more of other people’s good things than of their own.” (Blaise Pascal, Pensees, Penguin Classics, 1961, p.42)
Over the years I have gathered many ideas taken from prophets, poets, teachers, historical figures, song lyrics, and writers of great books, both non-fiction and fiction, and some of you—some sources long since forgotten--that have colored my worldview and given me knowledge and direction and have enriched my life. I thank them and I thank you. So I will try to give credit where I can, without taking too much trouble to look up everything. But even there, who can say that the credited or uncredited person did not get his idea from another antecedent to him? And, really, does it matter? I now hope to pass some of these ideas and observations, to which I now lay claim, on to you. If you like what you read, embrace it or reclaim it as your own, pass it on, and be glad.