I don’t know whether it is my age or THE age in which we now live that thoughts of death keep intruding upon me. As my brief biography reveals, I am a widower; my wives Karen and Kim died nineteen and sixteen years ago. My father died three months ago. Thousands of people unknown to me have died in the past several months as a result of earthquake, tsunamis, terrorist attacks, tornados, oppressive and evil governments and natural causes—and I think of them. Were they prepared? If so, who prepared them? Will we be prepared when others of our loved ones pass on? Will we be personally prepared? Who prepares us?
In my last posting I shared a Nice Thought sent to me by a work colleague. Today I will share another nice thought—this time about death (yes, about death; death is but the doorway to another stage of life, and most of us find that life, though challenging, is quite doable with a little help). I found this wonderful story in my voluminous notes. The bottom line or two was unfortunately torn off, but I think you can fill in the rest of the story. It is a fairly long story, but I believe you will find it well worth the reading.
The young mother set her foot on the path of life.
“Is the way long? she asked.
And the guide said, “Yes. And the way is hard. And you will be old before you reach the end of it. But the end will be better than the beginning.”
But the young mother was happy, and she would not believe that anything could be better than these years. So she played with her children, and gathered flowers for them along the way and bathed with them in the clear streams; and the young mother cried, “Nothing will ever be lovelier than this.”
Then night came, and storm, and the path was dark, and the children shook with fear and cold, and the mother drew them close and covered them with her mantle, and the children said, “Mother, we are not afraid, for you are near, and no harm can come.” And the mother said, “This is better than the brightness of day, for I have taught my children courage.”
And the morning came, and there was a hill ahead, and the children climbed and grew weary, and the mother was weary, but at all times she said to the children, “A little patience and we are there.” So the children climbed and when they reached the top they said, “Mother, we could not have done it without you.”
And the mother, when she lay down that night, looked up at the stars and said, “This is a better day than the last, for my children have learned fortitude in the face of hardship. Yesterday I gave them courage. Today I have given them strength.”
And the next day came and strange clouds which darkened the earth—clouds of war and hate and evil, and the children groped and stumbled, and the mother said, “Look up. Lift your eyes to the light.” And the children looked and saw above the clouds the Everlasting Glory, and it guided them and brought them beyond the darkness. And that night the mother said, “This is the best day of all, for I have shown my children God.”
And the days went on, and the weeks and the months and the years, and the mother grew old, and little, and bent. But her children were tall and strong, and walked with courage. And when the way was hard, they helped their mother; and when the way was rough, they lifted her; for she was as light as a feather, and at last they came to a hill, and beyond they could see a shining road and golden gates flung wide.
And the mother said, “I have reached the end of my journey. And now I know that the end is better than the beginning, for my children can walk alone, and their children after them.” And the children said, “You will always walk with us, Mother, even when you have gone through the gates.”
And they stood and watched her as she went alone, and the gates closed after her. And they said, “We cannot see her but she is with us still. A mother like ours is ... [missing conclusion]
Be Prepared. (scout motto) Hint: Help others and we, too, will be prepared.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Beautiful Thought
I have a friend, a Buddhist woman, who sent this thought to me. I concur with the thought and commend it to you.
Beautiful Thought
Once Buddha was traveling with a few of his followers. While they were passing a lake, Buddha told one of his disciples, "I am thirsty. Go get me water from the lake."
The disciple walked up to the lake. At that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy and turbid. The disciple thought, "How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink?"
So he came back and told Buddha, "The water in there is very muddy. I don't think it is fit to drink."
After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back to the lake.
The disciple went back, and found that the water was still muddy. He returned and informed Buddha about the same.
After some time, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back.
This time, the disciple found the mud had settled down, and the water was clean and clear. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.
Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said," See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be, and the mud settled down on its own -- and you have clear water.
Your mind is like that too ! When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don't have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless."
Having 'Peace of Mind' is not a strenuous job; it is an effortless process!
TREAT EVERYONE WITH POLITENESS--
EVEN THOSE WHO ARE RUDE TO YOU. NOT BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT NICE,
BUT BECAUSE YOU ARE NICE.
Beautiful Thought
Once Buddha was traveling with a few of his followers. While they were passing a lake, Buddha told one of his disciples, "I am thirsty. Go get me water from the lake."
The disciple walked up to the lake. At that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy and turbid. The disciple thought, "How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink?"
So he came back and told Buddha, "The water in there is very muddy. I don't think it is fit to drink."
After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back to the lake.
The disciple went back, and found that the water was still muddy. He returned and informed Buddha about the same.
After some time, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back.
This time, the disciple found the mud had settled down, and the water was clean and clear. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.
Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said," See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be, and the mud settled down on its own -- and you have clear water.
Your mind is like that too ! When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don't have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless."
Having 'Peace of Mind' is not a strenuous job; it is an effortless process!
TREAT EVERYONE WITH POLITENESS--
EVEN THOSE WHO ARE RUDE TO YOU. NOT BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT NICE,
BUT BECAUSE YOU ARE NICE.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
It Goes Without Saying. . .
We hear this phrase and then invariably the speaker or writer goes on to say what he just said ‘goes without saying.’ He says it because it needs to be said. Therefore he should not have uttered the phrase in the first place.
A teacher (who I am) should always say what needs to be said, what should be said, what too often isn’t said for the simple reason that there is always someone who is new to or has no experience with the concept being spoken of. We should make no assumptions that something is common knowledge to everyone. What is crystal clear to one person may be an entirely new thought to another.
Many things have come on like the proverbial ‘light bulb’ to me over the years. But interestingly, for me, the ‘new’ thought more often has come as something akin to a restoration of some previous knowledge or acquaintance with the subject. I have found that I have ‘resonated’ with ideas that germinated elsewhere—a déjà vu, if you will. This re-acquaintance with long-forgotten knowledge has brought me great joy.
Let me share a poem from William Wordsworth that says it well (from Ode: Intimations of Immortality):
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
Shades of the prison-house begin to close
Upon the growing Boy,
But He beholds the light, and whence it flows,
He sees it in his joy;
The Youth, who daily farther from the east
Must travel, still is Nature's Priest,
And by the vision splendid
Is on his way attended;
At length the Man perceives it die away,
And fade into the light of common day.
If we have any traction with people, or hope to as I do with the readers of these opinion pieces, we need to be very clear on what we believe or understand about any topic we bring up. If we are so bold as to bring up or comment on something that ‘goes without saying’ or more accurately clearly needs to be said, then we should say enough to ‘connect the dots’ so that our reader or hearer cannot misunderstand.
To ‘connect the dots’ with what Wordsworth so poetically penned let me make it clear: I believe in a pre-mortal life just as certainly as I believe in a post-mortal life. My earthly birth did not start my eternity. Logic is just as well served by believing in a pre-mortal existence as believing in a post-mortal heaven. This knowledge—faith for some—makes my mortal life much more meaningful.
From here I will trail 'clouds of' experience back to God who is my home.
A teacher (who I am) should always say what needs to be said, what should be said, what too often isn’t said for the simple reason that there is always someone who is new to or has no experience with the concept being spoken of. We should make no assumptions that something is common knowledge to everyone. What is crystal clear to one person may be an entirely new thought to another.
Many things have come on like the proverbial ‘light bulb’ to me over the years. But interestingly, for me, the ‘new’ thought more often has come as something akin to a restoration of some previous knowledge or acquaintance with the subject. I have found that I have ‘resonated’ with ideas that germinated elsewhere—a déjà vu, if you will. This re-acquaintance with long-forgotten knowledge has brought me great joy.
Let me share a poem from William Wordsworth that says it well (from Ode: Intimations of Immortality):
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
Shades of the prison-house begin to close
Upon the growing Boy,
But He beholds the light, and whence it flows,
He sees it in his joy;
The Youth, who daily farther from the east
Must travel, still is Nature's Priest,
And by the vision splendid
Is on his way attended;
At length the Man perceives it die away,
And fade into the light of common day.
If we have any traction with people, or hope to as I do with the readers of these opinion pieces, we need to be very clear on what we believe or understand about any topic we bring up. If we are so bold as to bring up or comment on something that ‘goes without saying’ or more accurately clearly needs to be said, then we should say enough to ‘connect the dots’ so that our reader or hearer cannot misunderstand.
To ‘connect the dots’ with what Wordsworth so poetically penned let me make it clear: I believe in a pre-mortal life just as certainly as I believe in a post-mortal life. My earthly birth did not start my eternity. Logic is just as well served by believing in a pre-mortal existence as believing in a post-mortal heaven. This knowledge—faith for some—makes my mortal life much more meaningful.
From here I will trail 'clouds of' experience back to God who is my home.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Discouragement
“We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed….” (2 Cor. 4:8-9) How did this writer overcome his discouragements?
There are many reasons—many not of our own making—to be discouraged from time to time. A ‘down’ economy, unemployment, natural disasters, health issues, persecutions—you name it. Yet many people adjust to difficult circumstances and realities whereas others let down, get defensive, give in, or give up. Often they come out the better. What is the difference between those who make it and those who don’t?
Surprisingly, it is not just the highly intelligent who make it through (for many don’t) and the less well-educated or disadvantaged who inevitably become ‘distressed,’ ‘in despair,’ ‘forsaken,’ and ‘destroyed.’ Debilitating discouragement cuts through all levels.
Of course a person should do all he/she could to get more education, develop needed skills, create a reserve (money, food, fitness and health, etc.) for challenging times. But there are a few simple things that I have seen people do that help winners pick themselves up and get moving again.
Let me give you a few favorite examples of the truth uttered by many that ‘Life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it.’
The first is the experience of General George Washington in the Revolutionary War who lost eight battles in a row before winning the 9th which won the war for our independence from Great Britain.
The second is the tremendous 1972 Olympic Games gold-medal victory of American 800 meter sprinter Dave Wottle who entered the race with a sore foot and came from last place to first overcoming everything that the great Kenyan runners could do to block him (watch it on YouTube).
My favorite story is about Thomas Edison who devoted 10 years and all of his money to developing the nickel-alkaline storage battery at a time he was almost penniless. One night the cry of ‘Fire!’ echoed through the building in which he was working. Everything he was working on went up in flames. He was 67 years old—no age to begin anew. His daughter was frantic wondering if he were safe, if his spirits were broken, how he could handle such a crisis at his age. She saw him running toward her. He spoke first. He said, “Where’s your mother? Go get her and tell her to get her friends. They’ll never see another fire like this as long as they live!” At 5:30 the next morning, with the fire barely under control, he called his employees together and announced, “We’re rebuilding.” Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, “Oh, by the way, anybody know where we can get some money?” Virtually everything we now recognize as a Thomas Edison contribution to our lives came after that disaster.
Many, by just changing their outward approach to their situation also create internal changes for the better and thereby give themselves an edge on others who find themselves in the same situation. A positive attitude, a smile on one’s face, enthusiasm, a proactive approach, a reaching outward, a hope and faith in the future can be just what one needs as the catalyst to get things rolling again.
Almost always, those who are successful in overcoming adversity or discouragement focus on a goal outside themselves and they are not afraid to take help themselves and look for every opportunity to give help to others.
Nazi concentration camp survivor Viktor Frankl gives some timeless advice of getting through the worst that life can give you gained from excruciating experience, in his modern classic, Man’s Search for Meaning. Read it.
I end today’s essay with the lyrics to Frank Sinatra’s song ‘That’s Life’:
“I’ve been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet,
A pawn and a king;
I’ve been up, down, over and out
And I know one thing.
Each time I find myself flat on my face,
I pick myself up and get back in the race!
That’s life
I tell ya, I can’t deny it . . .
I’ve thought of giving up but my heart just wouldn’t buy it . . . .
Always remember, trouble has no necessary connection with discouragement.
There are many reasons—many not of our own making—to be discouraged from time to time. A ‘down’ economy, unemployment, natural disasters, health issues, persecutions—you name it. Yet many people adjust to difficult circumstances and realities whereas others let down, get defensive, give in, or give up. Often they come out the better. What is the difference between those who make it and those who don’t?
Surprisingly, it is not just the highly intelligent who make it through (for many don’t) and the less well-educated or disadvantaged who inevitably become ‘distressed,’ ‘in despair,’ ‘forsaken,’ and ‘destroyed.’ Debilitating discouragement cuts through all levels.
Of course a person should do all he/she could to get more education, develop needed skills, create a reserve (money, food, fitness and health, etc.) for challenging times. But there are a few simple things that I have seen people do that help winners pick themselves up and get moving again.
Let me give you a few favorite examples of the truth uttered by many that ‘Life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it.’
The first is the experience of General George Washington in the Revolutionary War who lost eight battles in a row before winning the 9th which won the war for our independence from Great Britain.
The second is the tremendous 1972 Olympic Games gold-medal victory of American 800 meter sprinter Dave Wottle who entered the race with a sore foot and came from last place to first overcoming everything that the great Kenyan runners could do to block him (watch it on YouTube).
My favorite story is about Thomas Edison who devoted 10 years and all of his money to developing the nickel-alkaline storage battery at a time he was almost penniless. One night the cry of ‘Fire!’ echoed through the building in which he was working. Everything he was working on went up in flames. He was 67 years old—no age to begin anew. His daughter was frantic wondering if he were safe, if his spirits were broken, how he could handle such a crisis at his age. She saw him running toward her. He spoke first. He said, “Where’s your mother? Go get her and tell her to get her friends. They’ll never see another fire like this as long as they live!” At 5:30 the next morning, with the fire barely under control, he called his employees together and announced, “We’re rebuilding.” Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, “Oh, by the way, anybody know where we can get some money?” Virtually everything we now recognize as a Thomas Edison contribution to our lives came after that disaster.
Many, by just changing their outward approach to their situation also create internal changes for the better and thereby give themselves an edge on others who find themselves in the same situation. A positive attitude, a smile on one’s face, enthusiasm, a proactive approach, a reaching outward, a hope and faith in the future can be just what one needs as the catalyst to get things rolling again.
Almost always, those who are successful in overcoming adversity or discouragement focus on a goal outside themselves and they are not afraid to take help themselves and look for every opportunity to give help to others.
Nazi concentration camp survivor Viktor Frankl gives some timeless advice of getting through the worst that life can give you gained from excruciating experience, in his modern classic, Man’s Search for Meaning. Read it.
I end today’s essay with the lyrics to Frank Sinatra’s song ‘That’s Life’:
“I’ve been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet,
A pawn and a king;
I’ve been up, down, over and out
And I know one thing.
Each time I find myself flat on my face,
I pick myself up and get back in the race!
That’s life
I tell ya, I can’t deny it . . .
I’ve thought of giving up but my heart just wouldn’t buy it . . . .
Always remember, trouble has no necessary connection with discouragement.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
World Opinion
As a youth taking ‘civics’ in school I had little interest in the concept of foreign policy or America’s place in the community of nations or foreign affairs in general. Neither did I give much thought to how we as Americans ‘come across’ or are perceived by others. I remember hearing about Lederer & Burdick’s “The Ugly American,” but I was a college graduate before I got around to reading it. Though not a great novel it got me thinking.
With our nation now economically tied up with nearly every other developed or developing country in the world, with people travelling everywhere by plane as well as now being connected by television and various electronic social media, and being something of a traveler myself I now think quite differently; I very much care about how America and Americans are perceived.
I submit that we have become culturally careless. Seriously careless. Cultures can no longer keep their secrets, and we’ve got some that should be kept until they can be rectified. Part of the problem is that culturally we do not seem to be embarrassed by anything anymore. Author Peggy Noonan notes that “when a culture descends to the lowest common denominator, it does not reach the broad base at the bottom, it lowers the broad base at the bottom.”
There is an ‘America’ in the minds of people and that construct has been formed by what people hear about us and what they see in the images that are projected around the world in newspapers, magazines, and on television. Our image is also projected by what we reveal about ourselves on social media and in person when we visit other cultures or they visit us. With what people see, hear, and read about, judgments are formed. More and more these judgments are negative. Consequently, we lose influence.
So, what should we be more concerned about that will contribute to a positive opinion being formed about an America that has lost or is losing its iconic World Leader image? For starters how about giving attention to these very fixable issues:
• Our sloppy, crass and often immodest dress and grooming and appearance
• Our inane and vulgar television programming and many ‘entertainments’ that foreigners construe as being accurate portrayals of America
• Cleaning up our language, our manners, our respect for others of both sexes and of all ages; of showing tolerance for the rights, religions, and customs of others
• Cleaning up our homes, towns, and environment from junk, litter, graffiti
• Being more charitable toward others
A decade ago Mormon church president Gordon B. Hinckley published a book that reached the New York Times Best Sellers list titled ‘Standing for Something: 10 Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes.’ Civility, the root of the word civilization, is one of the virtues he suggests will bring America back to its place of respect and positive influence.
America is you and me.
An easy starting place for raising world opinion of us is our being a more civil people.
With our nation now economically tied up with nearly every other developed or developing country in the world, with people travelling everywhere by plane as well as now being connected by television and various electronic social media, and being something of a traveler myself I now think quite differently; I very much care about how America and Americans are perceived.
I submit that we have become culturally careless. Seriously careless. Cultures can no longer keep their secrets, and we’ve got some that should be kept until they can be rectified. Part of the problem is that culturally we do not seem to be embarrassed by anything anymore. Author Peggy Noonan notes that “when a culture descends to the lowest common denominator, it does not reach the broad base at the bottom, it lowers the broad base at the bottom.”
There is an ‘America’ in the minds of people and that construct has been formed by what people hear about us and what they see in the images that are projected around the world in newspapers, magazines, and on television. Our image is also projected by what we reveal about ourselves on social media and in person when we visit other cultures or they visit us. With what people see, hear, and read about, judgments are formed. More and more these judgments are negative. Consequently, we lose influence.
So, what should we be more concerned about that will contribute to a positive opinion being formed about an America that has lost or is losing its iconic World Leader image? For starters how about giving attention to these very fixable issues:
• Our sloppy, crass and often immodest dress and grooming and appearance
• Our inane and vulgar television programming and many ‘entertainments’ that foreigners construe as being accurate portrayals of America
• Cleaning up our language, our manners, our respect for others of both sexes and of all ages; of showing tolerance for the rights, religions, and customs of others
• Cleaning up our homes, towns, and environment from junk, litter, graffiti
• Being more charitable toward others
A decade ago Mormon church president Gordon B. Hinckley published a book that reached the New York Times Best Sellers list titled ‘Standing for Something: 10 Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes.’ Civility, the root of the word civilization, is one of the virtues he suggests will bring America back to its place of respect and positive influence.
America is you and me.
An easy starting place for raising world opinion of us is our being a more civil people.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
A Royal Couple with Life on Their Own Terms
Along with millions upon millions of other people I watched on television at least some of the pomp and pageantry surrounding the wedding of Prince William and his bride the ‘princess’ Catherine. It cannot be denied that they made a handsome couple and that the people of England put on a show that would rival or surpass the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. Their enthusiasm for this union matched and to some degree made up for their despair following the death of their darling Diana.
As grand as it all was, I was saddened to learn (I guess Royalty-watchers knew this for years and apparently didn’t care) that the couple had been living together for several years prior to their nuptials. The bishop of London, in his wedding sermon I think almost unwittingly revealed this: He said, “As the reality of God has faded from so many lives in the West, there has been a corresponding inflation of expectations that personal relations alone will supply meaning and happiness in life.” Alas, a true observation.
But what the bishop didn’t say was that this wedding was supposed to represent the nation’s highest ideals. Beauty and youth and enthusiasm, as highly valued as they are today and were in the decline of Rome (see my last essay), are not the highest ideals, not substantial enough to rest the hopes of a nation, which was what this wedding was supposed to represent.
What would have been, I think, a disqualifying scandal a generation or two ago, was blithely overlooked because God and his purposes, notwithstanding William and Catherine’s ‘prayer,’ are in reality out of the picture, as their bishop said.
Finally, what I do take issue with is the bishop’s remarks that “We shall not be converted to the promise of the future by more knowledge, but rather by an increase of loving wisdom and reverence, for life, for the earth and for one another.” Though an “increase of loving wisdom and reverence for life, for the earth, and for one another” are laudable, they are not foundational.
Knowledge of the ‘type’ of which the Royalty is based (the Kingdom of God), knowledge of the purposes and laws of God for which the hopes of a nation or a newly wedded couple can be achieved (repentance, goodness and trust in God) must be essential (the essence) in the mix.
As grand as it all was, I was saddened to learn (I guess Royalty-watchers knew this for years and apparently didn’t care) that the couple had been living together for several years prior to their nuptials. The bishop of London, in his wedding sermon I think almost unwittingly revealed this: He said, “As the reality of God has faded from so many lives in the West, there has been a corresponding inflation of expectations that personal relations alone will supply meaning and happiness in life.” Alas, a true observation.
But what the bishop didn’t say was that this wedding was supposed to represent the nation’s highest ideals. Beauty and youth and enthusiasm, as highly valued as they are today and were in the decline of Rome (see my last essay), are not the highest ideals, not substantial enough to rest the hopes of a nation, which was what this wedding was supposed to represent.
What would have been, I think, a disqualifying scandal a generation or two ago, was blithely overlooked because God and his purposes, notwithstanding William and Catherine’s ‘prayer,’ are in reality out of the picture, as their bishop said.
Finally, what I do take issue with is the bishop’s remarks that “We shall not be converted to the promise of the future by more knowledge, but rather by an increase of loving wisdom and reverence, for life, for the earth and for one another.” Though an “increase of loving wisdom and reverence for life, for the earth, and for one another” are laudable, they are not foundational.
Knowledge of the ‘type’ of which the Royalty is based (the Kingdom of God), knowledge of the purposes and laws of God for which the hopes of a nation or a newly wedded couple can be achieved (repentance, goodness and trust in God) must be essential (the essence) in the mix.
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