from the Tao: who can make the muddy water clear?

Who can make the muddy water clear?  Let it be still, and it will gradually become clear.  Who can secure the condition of rest?  Let movement go on and the condition of rest will gradually arise.  -Lao Tzu

The clear pure light of deity....

The clear, pure light of the morning made me long for the truth in my heart, which alone could make me pure and clear as the morning, tune me up to the concert-pitch of the nature around me. And the wind that blew from the sunrise made me hope in the God who had first breathed into my nostrils the breath of life; that He would at length so fill me with His breath, His mind, His Spirit, that I should think only His thoughts, and live His life, finding therein my own life, only glorified infinitely. -George Macdonald
 

charles spurgeon on good deeds.

"One good deed is more worth than a thousand brilliant theories."

-Charles Spurgeon.

fence, today, loving work.....

Build a little fence of trust
Around today;
Fill the space with loving work
And therein stay.

mountaintop ontology

On the mountain top, there is nowhere to go 

but down.

From the bottom, spiritually, physically, the world is opened-up and even the least little thing is suddenly become a probability: even spitting on one's on shirt.

Confuseus came upon Hepzibah, who was downcast, thoughts elsewhere.  Hepzibah told Confuseus at length that he had been at the top of the mountain, but was finding now that all else seemed so insignificant in the offing.

Confuseus wrote in his scroll, "After the mountain top, all else is failure and despair."

But Confuseus had known days of want and worry, and new the endless trail of possibilities afforded to people that were on the bottom in so many ways.

In other words, when the container is empty, even the least bit is gain.

memeload: "for only 19.99..."

 

he said his own tine, the 1800s were the peak of society.

"The present is an age of talkers, and not doers; and the reason is, that the world is growing old.  We are so advanced in the arts and sciences, that we live in retrospect and dote on past achievements."

"...a mind reflecting ages past, a voice like the echo of the congregated roar of the dark rearward abyss of thought.  He who has seen a mouldering tower by the side of a crystal lake, hidden in the mist, but glittering in the wave below may concieve the dim, gleaming, uncertain intelligence of his eye: he who has marked the evening clouds unrolled(a world of vapours) has seen seen the picture of his mind, unearthly, unsubstantial, with gorgeous tints and ever-varying forms.... "

William Hazlitt, defining his own age while being seemingly bedraggled and jaded against future advancements in the arts and sciences....

personal growth and shining.

Hope and despair are but days of sun or gloom along our path; we are as innumerate as the stars and the sky, and often shine even when we don't think we do.....

Ilia Delio on Love and Politics: link back.

  We are trees and flowers, sun and stars, and blades of grass all gathered into a beating heart and a self-reflective mind.  Those who see have a sense of the world as a unified whole in movement. Those who do not see, do not see beyond the multiplicity of things. They perceive the world as fragmented and ultimately absurd.-Ilia Delio Christogenesis.org

https://christogenesis.org/politics-and-the-power-of-love

Memeload: An autumn scene and a Green Footprint.

 

Forgiving oneself

You're human, and you know it; so don't spend too much beating yourself up.

Tomorrow or later today is a chance to do better, if its only in a small way.

Daily Tarot 11/12/22

Today favors relationships, and maybe even meet-ups.

You'll feel secure in your feelings.

Take a few moments to either pray, meditate, or take stock in self.

Daily Tarot 11/11/22

Our judgement is in control if we let it;

a situation maybe comes to a head with authority.

We watch

though we're just young bulls, often more focused on self,

we choose the path that is right for everyone.

Some sh*t we go through.

If you can't flush it all down, let the sh*t sit long enough, and either strays will eat it, or it will grow the most beautiful, healthy plants in time.

Moral of the story:

Some sh*t we go through is just fertilizer for better things.

meme round-up, nov 10, 2022. "Eight arms to befuddle you, Petunia."

 

From the Tao: True Knowledge.

True knowledge is knowing that you don't know.  All else unfolds thereafter.

Daily Tarot Nov 10, 2022

We're introspective as Nicole approaches the Eastern US seaboard.

Regarding work, we have insight and clarity.

Love is a bit of a battle, but with the right preparation and mindset, all will be well.

Daily Tarot 11.09.22 But to stand and watch.

But to stand and watch, in self control,

despite authority being in the news, authority on your near radar,

emotions, 

but accusations come to an end,

and then we celebrate.

Daily Tarot. 11.08.22, in the wake of the Blood Moon or the "Beaver Moon".

At an ending is the contest against worries; ready and attend to reflection.

You, in yourself, can be too flippant or contrary to some worries, but there is an end, and there are fruits to be reaped of those concerns.

Heck, life itself is worry.

But for today, reflect, go inside oneself and plan, go inside an inventory, find something to cherish while the worries are at bay.

If you fear the dog....

If you're scared of a dog, do not pull his chain and then not anticipate a rush of fear.

In other words, fearing the dog means fearing the chain; however, if you can muster enough unction to grab the chain?

Then you partly control the dog, don't ya?

spurgeon on God's gifts bestowed on people......

As the earth drinks in the rain, as the sea receives the streams, as night accepts light from the stars, so we, giving nothing, partake freely of the grace of God. The saints are not, by nature, wells, or streams, they are but cisterns into which the living water flows; they are empty vessels into which God pours his salvation. -Charles Spurgeon

cs lewis on keeping things dear.

No one will believe this who has not lived long and looked hard, so that he knows how suddenly a passion for which has for years been wrapped round the whole of the heart will dry up and wither. Perhaps in the soul, as in the soil, those growths that show the brightest colours and put forth the most overpowering smell have not always the deepest root. Or perhaps it’s age that does it. 

-CS Lewis

the undiscovered country

We are but archaeologists uncovering our futures, brush stroke by brush stroke, as someone called the future an undiscovered country.  We dig durther still towards the prize at the bottom of the box.

Pray for the addict who still suffers.

But wild thrusts in the dark, a great timult for a little puchase.... another month, bebies.

So comes November 2022, another chance, one more time to try and get it right.

What of doing the same old things?  The same old things should yield the same old results.  Indeed, insanity is the act of repeating the same actions hoping for a different and unique outcome.

We should only repeat the productive, beneficial and sociable elements of our retinue.

But what of our schema for measuring success?  Money?  Mood?  Rest?  Stuff they show us on TV?

How about some inner peace?  A hopeful little inner-dialogue up in the control room between and behind the orbula occulus.

What metric?  What the art?  By what hand?

CS Lewis on sadness.

"The most mischievous—and painful—by-product of any sorrow is the illusion that it isolates one, that one is kicked out alone for this from an otherwise cheerful, bustling, ‘normal’ world. How much better to realise that one is just doing one’s turn in the line like all the rest of the ragged and tired human regiment!"  -CS Lewis