Without going out of your door

Without going out of doors one may know the whole world; without looking out of the window, one may see the Way of Heaven. The further one travels, the less one may know. 

Thus it is that without moving you shall know; without looking you shall see; without doing you shall achieve.

faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of them all is love.

“Love is patient; love is kind and envies no one.

Love is never boastful, nor conceited, nor rude;

never selfish, not quick to take offense.

There is nothing love cannot face;

there is no limit to its faith,

its hope, and endurance.

In a word, there are three things

that last forever: faith, hope, and love;

but the greatest of them all is love.” - Biblical Quote

1st Verse of the Tao Te Ching

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao;

The name that can be named is not the eternal name.

The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.

The named is the mother of ten thousand things.

Ever desireless, one can see the mystery.

Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations.

These two spring from the same source but differ in name;

this appears as darkness.

Darkness within darkness.

The gateway to all mystery.

Paradoxes fill Eastern Philosophy. Paradoxes that to the Western mind can cause conflict and confusion. Yet these paradoxes are not so paradoxical as they first seem. When we humans name a thing, a thing that is greater than us, inexplicable to us, seemingly unknowable and strange to us, we then seek to give it a name so that we can better understand that which we cannot fully comprehend. We could name the great unknowable God or truth or Dharma or nature. The name is immaterial. It is our desire to know the thing that confuses us that causes the problem. Desire of itself presents only greater issues yet once we simply accept that what is is what is, when we stop trying to fathom the unfathomable so we begin to be free of desire and start to be part of the endless continuum. By allowing rather than wanting so we proceed through life contented. It is our desire for things that produces adverse problems within our minds. Stop wanting. Start allowing.

On Leadership by Marcus Aurelius - A Prayer for Donald Trump

Marcus Aurelius was a Roman Emperor. But not just any Roman Leader nor for that matter just any leader. He was an exceptional leader and a very exceptional man. The modern world would be better off to have, if we need leaders at all, more like him. His rules were much like his lifestyle, simple.

1. Get along with other people
2. Be hardworking and conscientious
3. Don’t seek praise or flatter others
4. Don’t be afraid of criticism
5. Be content with the simple things in life

“Among men who rise to fame and leadership two types are recognizable—those who are born with a belief in themselves and those in whom it is a slow growth dependent on actual achievement. To the men of the last type their own success is a constant surprise, and its fruits the more delicious, yet to be tested cautiously with a haunting sense of doubt whether it is not all a dream. In that doubt lies true modesty, not the sham of insincere self-depreciation but the modesty of “moderation,” in the Greek sense. It is poise, not pose.”

The people of America need all the strength and love their President can muster for he has a task with the coronavirus that requires all those component parts but also George Floyd's murder and the subsequent riots to deal with. He needs to have and to adopt - love, fortitude, modesty, to be hardworking, conscientious, unafraid of criticism but above all else to remember Marcus Aurelius words - "Understand that people exist to help one another." 

At the end of the Hope Arched Rainbow

At the end of the Hope Arched Rainbow: There is always going to be that space where time stops and shows you that the moments are never hard to miss. You can still the frame of your picture like-like minutes growing bold as you look at it deeply in the eye. Only that time will give you...

Beautiful words and image.

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Zeno

Zeno was named a Stoic. Laotzi was named a Taoist. Siddartha Guatama was named a Buddhist. Rumi was named a Muslim. Jesus was named a Christian. Baruch Spinoza was named a Pantheist. Those people were wise beyond wise. The names of the groups they were claimed as being of were not what they were. Those names create division. There are no groups. What is is what is. The same wisdom through many words but of one voice. 

Sly Likes: Feminist Poetry from H. Hennenburg

Image by Dimitris Vetsikas from Pixabay

The statue depicts Dame Millicent Fawcett (11 June 1847 – 5 August 1929), an iconic British feminist.

Today I encountered a thought-provoking poem entitled The Shape of Water. It was written by H. Hennenburg in 1998.

"But do you know that a woman's voice will change the world slowly? Light will creep in where she unburdens her heart."

This poem inspired a train of thought for me.

It makes me think of a line from the song by Ten Years After.

"I'd love to change the world but  I don't know what to do. So I leave it up to you."

Then there's another song that comes to mind, this one by Ani DiFranco.

"I am not a pretty girl, that is not what I do."

Here I am, a woman who sees the ways in which we could be kinder to one another and make the world a better place. But since I am a strange old bird and not pretty at all, I have a hard time making myself heard. The world doesn't tend to listen to women who look like me.

Then again, they don't tend to listen to the women that men fall all over themselves to get next to either.

~Sly Has Spoken~

Royalty-free image copyright Julia Henze. Purchased from 123rf.com

Notes

Sly Fawkes is your ornery old Aunt Cie's snarky political alter-ego.

The Icky, Sticky, Nit-Picky Legalese, if You Please (Or Don't Please)

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