The real tragedy of our time lies not so much in the unprecedented external events themselves as in the unprecedented ethical destitution and spiritual infirmity which they glaringly reveal.
Paul Brunton
Category: Musings
No Self Is An Island
‘No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main’ … John Donne
‘For eternally and always there is only now, one and the same now; the present is the only thing that has no end.’ … Erwin Schrodinger
Whether we like to admit it or not, we need other people. Other people in our lives help to teach us about who we are. Their actions and attitudes are like a mirror that reflects to us not only aspects of human behaviour but also facets of our social conditioning.
It is said that our most dominant feature as humans, and similarly our most ignored facet, is that when we are speaking about other people, or things, we are actually speaking about ourselves. Because of this blindness we actually need other people in order to project ourselves onto them. And then perhaps in some moment of clarity we will gain the insight that our descriptions of others are in fact descriptions of ourselves. It is through our social environment and connections that a light may eventually shine back at us.
Open Letter From A Chronic Pain Sufferer
As Oro’s spouse I watch as he wages war everyday with his chronic pain. There is nothing like the feeling of helplessness when you know you cannot ease the pain of the person you love.
This article is copied in its entirety with links to the original site I discovered this post on. I didn’t write this but it is amazing to me how much it mirrors what I have been wanting to say for a long time.
Having chronic pain means many things change, and a lot of the changes are invisible.
Unlike having cancer or being hurt in an accident, most people do not understand chronic pain and its effects, and of those that think they know, many are actually misinformed.
In the spirit of informing those who wish to understand: These are the things that I would like you to understand about me before you judge me.
- Please understand that being sick doesn’t mean I’m not still a human being. I have to spend most of my day in considerable pain and exhaustion, and if you visit, sometimes I probably don’t seem…
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Independence Day … a Few Facts
Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?
Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.
Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.
Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.
They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
What kind of men were they?
Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties…
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October Apples
Prologue
It was easy to tell when it was time to start preparing for the annual Apple Butter making ritual. The leaves would start to show a hint of color as the nights got cooler. Soon the first hard freeze would bring out Autumn in all it’s colorful beauty. Labor Day weekend was a distant memory as the calendar stated it was time to prepare for Halloween. The second week of October was usually unseasonably warm during the day with cold nights which was perfect weather to put the finishing touches on the apple orchards and their bounty.
I grew up in a family that believed in things like planting a big garden every year so there would be plenty of food to be preserved by either freezing or canning. There was also hunting to be done during this time of year for rabbits, squirrels, wild turkey, and deer. The…
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Thistle Soup Recipe – Good Witches Homestead
This Thistle Soup Recipe is made using edible food from the wild.
Make thistle soup by chopping (scissoring would be a better word since an old pair of shears is the best thing I’ve found for cutting up green plants) a pan of thistles. Push them down in the pan and add just enough water to cover the plants. Bring to a boil and let simmer for at least twenty minutes. Now you can season this soup and eat it just as it is or you can add some boiled fish, leftover rice or anything else you happen to have. It’s guaranteed to be good and you can use this stock in a stew. […]
Read the entire post at the Source: Thistle Soup Recipe – Good Witches Homestead
Knowledge & Experience …
Logical thinking cannot
yield us any knowledge of
the empirical world;
all knowledge of reality
starts from experience
and ends in it.
Propositions arrived at by
purely logical means are
completely empty of reality.
~ Albert Einstein
Related Article:
The Life of Albert Einstein ~ At Emily’s Quotes or her page of Albert Einstein’s Quotes
English: Albert Einstein Français : Portrait d’Albert Einstein (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Astrological Musings & More
The Universe does truly try, energetically, to give us every opportunity to change our lives for the better. Take what’s about to happen right now. First, on December 29th, there’s a New Moon – something that’s always great to help us with new beginnings. Following that is a New Year, which we all know is good for making a fresh start in any or all areas of our lives. This, however, isn’t just any New Year. It makes the end of a number “9” year and the beginning of a number “1” year.
If you’re new to my writings then let me state that numerology and astrology go hand-in-hand. One, almost always, proves out the other. There are certain vibrations that are very individual to each of us and then there are “universal” energies that can affect all of us or to which any of us can avail ourselves to…
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Embracing the Darkness at the Winter Solstice
The period of time around the winter solstice, when the light of the sun is weak and our days are so short, is a period of difficulty for many. Darkness is something that we fear in industrialized cultures; it is something that we work to drive away through our own inventions and ingenuity. We instinctively feel the need to light up our lives every waking moment–our houses at night become as bright as the sun, the various screens projecting intense light, keeping us up and wired late into the night. If a room’s lights aren’t bright enough, we call them “dim” and see this as a deficiency, working to make them brighter. Even as I’m walking down the streets of my town at night, motion sensor lights blind me as I walk past people’s houses on the sidewalk. Consciously, automatically, and unconsciously we are continually working to drive away the dark–and…
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End of the Year: A Personal Way to Work with Mercury Retrograde – Cosmic Sensations
Astro Facts: The 19th of December Mercury turned retrograde, less than 1 degree before the exact conjunction with Pluto in Capricorn. Mercury will be retrograding Capricorn, and getting back into Sagittarius for few days. This retrograde transition will last 3 more weeks. Sun is now in Capricorn, along with Pluto and Mercury: end of the year. Mars is now in Pisces, along with Neptune and Chiron.
This is an interesting way to leave 2016 and start a new year.
Mercury was conjunct to Pluto, and less than a degree before the exact conjunction, it turned retrograde on the 19th of December, 2016.
As some people already know, Mercury retrograde is a time to slow the pace of our activities and re-think, re-assess, reflect and re-evaluate our choices and actions.
With Mercury retrograde, important decisions deserve more time for being evaluated, while every-day experiences deserve assimilation and calmed observation. It is a time for grounding our perceptions. For appreciating the things we normally don’t.
Read the rest of the article at the Source: End of the Year: A Personal Way to Work with Mercury Retrograde – Cosmic Sensations
Paths I Walk 
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