As we increase our spiritual competency we simultaneously increase our spiritual capacity.

When you expand your horizons, you expand ALL your horizons.

That’s why it works both ways. If you expand Yin, you expand Yan.

Everyone (?) Thinks they have a personal interest in furnishing proofs of an offense and in arresting the guilty party.

A. Tocqueville

Laws are the children of customs.

Physiognomy

Americans love their towns for the same reasons Highlanders love their mountains.

Because union with his fellows seems useful to him and he knows that this union is impossible without a regulating authority.

A very civilized society finds it hard to tolerate attempts at freedom in a local community; it is discussed by it’s numerous blunders and it’s apt to despair of success before the experiment is over.

The problem begins with audiobooks, and ends with multimedia – with a short journey though movie deals in the middle.

• Bibliotheca – In the beginning. If it was anything, it was written. On stone, clay, wood, paper… If the information was important, somebody somewhere would figure out some way to write it down.
• Books: Eventually, some people began to enjoy reading. And then, of course, some people enjoyed having their work read. Q2
• Audiobooks – Read me a book mommie 🙂 kills the connection with the author and replaced it with a connection to the orator. Mommie, show me the pictures.
• Chapter Books: Adult books (no pix) for “smart kids”. Great for authors who wanted a tight connection to a reader. But when books started going to screen (and making big bucks) authors gave way to writers, and writers wrote screen plays to make max money.
• Multimedia – Allows for printed text, but “black & white” can’t compete with star-spangled. And really, it shouldn’t even try.

If I am going to read a book, it needs to be obligatory. The only way I can have the experience is tough a dead-tree.

What NEEDS to be on paper?

Q1. Do PDF’s work/count?

Q2. Writers Vs. Authors?

1. Study how, and what, you learn best.
2. Repeat those behaviors that are health for your brain.
3. And break those behaviors and habits that are not.
4. Practice.

Leaning is about doing the work that *your* brain requires.

Lara Boyd

The challenge is to feel that although we have not always been exactly who we are now, we will nevertheless always recognize ourselves.

Sheena Iyengar

1. People are more alike than they think.
2. What people believe about themselves, or what they would like to believe, doesn’t vary much from person to person.
3. Each person is convinced that he or she is unique.

Sheena Iyengar

Real beauty is only recognized in the eyes of the ugly.

Clint C.

The problem is the popular definition of the term “authentic” – this is NOT original, unique, true, or special.

Authentic is to be: Self-done, Self-made, Self-created, Self-origin-ed.

So being authentic is a rate of how close one’s character matches their ideal self/ego.

And there is the rub. The goal of ideal self, or ideal ego – what you want, and why you want it. Who you Are, how you were made, and who you were meant to be.

Temptations:

1. You ARE what you HAVE.
2. You ARE what you DO.
3. You ARE what others SEE.

#1 Includes “teratorialism” and the urge to hold onto the parking space, or the table space, and even the left-turn space.

#2 Of course, is the “I’m a DOCTOR” thing, or lawyer, or movie star… whatever…

#3 Is about living up to (or down to) the expectations of others. And judging yourself accordingly.

Maintain an eternal perspective of the day-to-day.

All your deeds be an act of worship.

The most useful generalizations are of the negative sort.

Benjamin Graham

The REAL leaders are the people working toward a cause, ideal, a philosophy. They may attract fame, fortune and power – But that’s all secondary.

The faux leader, puppet, boss. Is driven completely by personal needs. Needs for greed, impress others, validate there existence, improve their environment… They may be supporting a real leader/idea, but their base driving force is personal gain.

The commoner is openly self-oriented and just surviving.

The REAL leaders are the people working toward a cause, ideal, a philosophy. They may attract fame, fortune and power – But that’s all secondary.

The faux leader, puppet, boss. Is driven completely by personal needs. Needs for greed, impress others, validate there existence, improve their environment… They may be supporting a real leader/idea, but their base driving force is personal gain.

The commoner is openly self-oriented and just surviving.

The REAL leaders are the people working toward a cause, ideal, a philosophy. They may attract fame, fortune and power – But that’s all secondary.

The faux leader, puppet, boss. Is driven completely by personal needs. Needs for greed, impress others, validate there existence, improve their environment… They may be supporting a real leader/idea, but their base driving force is personal gain.

The commoner is openly self-oriented and just surviving.

We crave happiness. We evolved to survive, but we NEED to be happy.

• Love
• Peace
• Safety
• Comfort
• Fun / play
• Excitement

And more, all plug into HAPPINESS.

These are also the tools/weapons that we use again fear (of death).

We fear the unknown.

We fear death – All of us – Because NOBODY knows. KNOWS…

There are degrees of ignorance, of self-delusion. And in your heart of hearts you can “know” … some dogma…

At the bitter end, it’s unknown, it’s fear…

One day you are going to lose everything you have. Nothing will prepare you for that day. Not faith… Not religion… Nothing.

If you are someone who has nothing to lose, then your lesson is a much more difficult one.

(John Bergin)

Most people don’t want/need/desire *freedom* – They crave “equality”. They would prefer equality under oppression to inequality from freedom. (DeTocville)

I’m growing an idea about people having already decided as to how they want to go when they die. I was of the idea that most (all) people waited until the end to desperatly reach out for Heaven. But I’m seeing that there are “some” people acting with evil intent, and trying in ernest to turn others away from seeking heaven (or God even).

   There is a definate hirarchy of “demons”. One vile/evil person, followed closely by a henchman, followed loosly by a looser – one without any real character.

   The demon is commited, he’s not turning back to good. The henchmen are invested, looking for the pay-off, they could back-out, but really can’t. They greed the pay-off.

   The looser? His way out? He needs to be let go. He’s caught in the wake of a huge ship, too weak to crest the waves. He’s doomed, unless the power of prayer can reach across the divide, and free him from the vortex of evil. ?  idunno

Raising children with no standard is a terrible waste.

Raising children to the standards of others is vile and evil.

   This is true, as when one looks​ over the fence they also look across the grass on the other side – seeing only the leaves of grass. When one looks down upon their own grass, they look along the leaves, seeing deep into the dirt and roots and thatch…

   Looking across another’s life, only the surface is noted. It all looks green and good and easy. All problems, on the surface, seem easy to solve.

   But when we into our own lives, our own problems, we see the tangled mess below the surface. Not so easy to solve.

J. Graff

I steal the idea from Blaise Pascal… This is just a collection of ideas that come to mind for no particular reason, but should not be missed?